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Big Tech Wants You Back in the Office
07 Nov

Big Tech Wants You Back in the Office

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Lauren Goode: Oh, really?Zoë Schiffer: Yes.Lauren Goode: I did not have that experience on Caltrain.Zoë Schiffer: Well, you weren't reading Infinite Jest on the Caltrain, were you now?. That was my catfishing technique.Lauren Goode: What was your worst commute, Mike?Michael Calore: There was a period of time in the early 2000s when I was living out in the Sunset district of San Francisco. Which there's a couple of trains that can bring you downtown, but they take an hour. And it was pre-mobile technology, so we had Discman Walkman players, portable CD players, so you had to bring a little…
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Zoom Is Going After Google and Microsoft With AI-Driven Docs
05 Aug

Zoom Is Going After Google and Microsoft With AI-Driven Docs

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Starting Monday, Zoom users will have the option to open a document tool from within their video calling app and create sharable files based on their meetings—but they’ll also be prompted to use generative AI to help them write and edit them. This new feature, essentially Zoom’s version of docs, is the latest effort to compete with Microsoft and Google to become an everything workplace for businesses.The docs feature Zoom’s AI Companion, a generative tool built on LLM models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and the company's own models, unveiled last fall. It can take a meeting transcript and organize it…
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Here’s What Happens When You Give People Free Money
22 Jul

Here’s What Happens When You Give People Free Money

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s decade-in-the-making effort to understand how handing out free money affects recipients and the broader economy delivered its first big results Monday. OpenResearch found that when it gave some of the poorest Americans $1,000 a month for three years with no strings attached, they put much of the money toward basic needs such as food, housing, and transportation. But what amounted to $36,000 wasn’t enough to significantly improve their physical well-being or long-term financial health, researchers concluded.The initial results from what OpenResearch, an Altman-funded research lab, describes as the most comprehensive study on “unconditional cash” show that…
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The Metaverse Was Supposed to Be Your New Office. You’re Still on Zoom
14 Jul

The Metaverse Was Supposed to Be Your New Office. You’re Still on Zoom

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When Mark Zuckerberg rebranded Facebook as Meta in 2021, he estimated the metaverse could reach a billion people over a decade. Not long after, Bill Gates predicted that within two or three years “most virtual meetings will move from 2D camera image grids—which I call the Hollywood Squares model, although I know that probably dates me—to the metaverse, a 3D space with digital avatars.”In fall 2022, Microsoft announced a partnership with Meta that would bring Mesh, a platform for collaboration in mixed reality, and its set of Microsoft 365 applications to Meta’s Quest products. Meta has launched Horizon Workrooms for…
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STEM Students Refuse to Work at Google and Amazon Over Project Nimbus
18 Jun

STEM Students Refuse to Work at Google and Amazon Over Project Nimbus

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More than 1,100 self-identified STEM students and young workers from more than 120 universities have signed a pledge to not take jobs or internships at Google or Amazon until the companies end their involvement in Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract providing cloud computing services and infrastructure to the Israeli government.The pledgers included undergraduate and graduate students from Stanford, UC Berkeley, the University of San Francisco, and San Francisco State University. Some students from those schools also participated in an anti–Project Nimbus rally on Wednesday outside Google’s San Francisco office with tech workers and activists.Amazon and Google are top employers…
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AI Is Coming for Big Tech Jobs—but Not in the Way You Think
17 Jun

AI Is Coming for Big Tech Jobs—but Not in the Way You Think

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Aaron Damigos’ inbox was hit with a dreaded, ubiquitous business-update calendar invite on June 3. The meeting included someone from HR, his manager, and upper management—and ultimately resulted in the sudden end to his job as a web support associate with Microsoft.Microsoft reportedly laid off some 1,000 people in early June, pulling from its mixed reality and Azure cloud departments, and also Damigos’ consumer sales division. An email to employees from Jason Zander, executive vice president of strategic missions and technologies at Microsoft, leaked to Business Insider, blamed a pivot to invest in artificial intelligence: “Our clear focus as a…
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LinkedIn’s AI Career Coaches Will See You Now
13 Jun

LinkedIn’s AI Career Coaches Will See You Now

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Many burned-out workers have likely dreamed of hiring a career coach or résumé writer. Now, LinkedIn is introducing chats with generative AI career experts based on real people. Other new AI tools within the platform will help people write résumés and cover letters or evaluate their qualifications for jobs posted.LinkedIn has ramped up its generative AI tools in the past year and is moving to incorporate the tech into even more of its offerings. On Thursday, the career site announced new features like a pilot for AI-powered expert advice, an interactive chat to break down information in LinkedIn courses, and…
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06 Jun

An AI Cartoon May Interview You For Your Next Job

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The cartoon interviewer greets you on screen. He looks a little young to be asking questions about a job—sort of a cartoon version of Harry Potter, with dark hair and glasses. You can choose other interviewers to speak with instead, representing various genders and races with names like Benjamin, Leslie, and Kristin. Alex, the name given to this AI interviewer, asks about your professional experience, theoretical questions about programming, and then gives out a coding exercise.Alex is an AI interviewer developed by micro1, a US company that describes itself as an AI recruitment engine for engineers. The tech provides an…
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AI Agents Are Coming for Mundane—but Valuable—Office Tasks
30 May

AI Agents Are Coming for Mundane—but Valuable—Office Tasks

stp2y0 CommentsGenAI, , , , , , ,
For all the bluster about generative artificial intelligence upending the world, the technology has yet to meaningfully transform white-collar work. Workers are dabbling with chatbots for tasks such as drafting emails, and companies are launching countless experiments, but office work hasn’t undergone a major AI reboot.Perhaps that’s only because we haven’t given chatbots like Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT the right tools for the job yet; they’re generally restricted to taking in and spitting out text via a chat interface. Things might get more interesting in business settings as AI companies start deploying so-called “AI agents,” which can take action…
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