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OpenAI has unveiled a new artificial intelligence model that it says can “reason” and solve harder problems in science, coding and math than its predecessors.
The model, the first in a series called OpenAI o1, was released Thursday as a preview, with the firm saying it expects regular updates and improvements. It will gradually become available to most ChatGPT users. READ MORE
Job-hunting in the current labor market can be a daunting prospect, especially as other candidates pursue the same openings.
Competition has ramped up this year as LinkedIn job listings in all 50 states have seen increases in the number of candidates seeking consideration for roles, Resume.io reported in a new study.
Uber announced Friday it is expanding its partnership with Alphabet’s Waymo to offer robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas, and Atlanta beginning in early 2025. Shares of Uber jumped 5% on the news while Alphabet rose about 1%.
Uber riders in those cities can be matched with a driverless Waymo car for some trips, according to the companies. The rides will only be available through Uber’s app, unlike in San Francisco and Los Angeles where riders book through the Waymo app. A Waymo spokesperson said it had no plans to partner with Uber in San Francisco and Los Angeles. READ MORE
Elon Musk is nearly as inescapable as Donald Trump. The owner of SpaceX and Tesla and the world’s richest man, Musk makes headlines weekly. But these days, it’s more for X, where he stirs up controversy by seemingly amplifying right-wing views and reposting comments suggesting that women should not have the right to vote (only “high status males” and some others should). Musk also recently hosted an interview with Trump that was filled with falsehoods. Last week, Trump proposed a government efficiency commission headed by Musk. READ MORE
At around 9:00 a.m. on October 27, 2022, Parag Agrawal, the CEO of Twitter, summoned his leadership team into one of the large glass-doored conference rooms that lined the suite of offices on the seventh floor of Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters. After months of tension and worry, there was a grim clarity in the air—Musk was finally completing the acquisition.
Twitter’s top-ranking employees crammed into the room. Agrawal’s deputies were there, as well as vice presidents from finance, product, human resources, and sales. Even more executives dialed in on video conference from New York and around the globe, their faces tiling the screen at the end of the room. READ MORE
Apple and Google were both handed separate defeats Tuesday in their defenses against the European Union's efforts to rein in the dominance of major tech firms.
The EU's top court, the European Court of Justice, sided with the bloc's executive arm, the European Commission (EC), in a case that requires Apple to pay some $14 billion in back taxes to Ireland. The high court also upheld a $2.7 billion fine against Google for alleged antitrust violations. READ MORE
Tesla has been working on its Optimus robots for years, infamously, debuting its project in 2021 with a person dancing in a costume. Musk has said the humanoid robots will enter limited production for internal usage next year.
By the end of 2024, he expects more than 1,000 robots will be working at Tesla. Two robots are already on the factory floor, although Tesla has not said what duties they perform. READ MORE
The home of the Golden State Warriors was packed on Tuesday evening this week, but it wasn’t to watch Steph Curry. Thousands of fans gathered at the Chase Center in downtown San Francisco to watch one of Silicon Valley’s biggest ballers, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, sit down for a conversation with the hosts of the Acquired podcast, David Rosenthal and Ben Gilbert.
Shortly after hopping onstage, Zuckerberg joked that he might need to schedule his next appearance in order to apologize for whatever he was about to say. After a beat, he added that he was just kidding and that, in fact, his days of apologizing are over. READ MORE
Tax policy has taken on an outsized role in this year’s presidential campaign and was mentioned repeatedly in the recent presidential debate. The prominence of tax policy makes sense. In the first year of the next administration, lawmakers will have to address the automatic expiration of almost all of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
In addition to addressing existing policy expirations, both presidential candidates have proposed trillions of dollars of new and expanded special interest tax breaks that undermine the simplifications made in 2017 and make the 2025 fiscal cliff even more daunting. READ MORE
In his first week on the job, 50-year-old star CEO Brian Niccol pledged to restore Starbucks to its former glory when the ubiquitous coffee haunt served as a second living room for many of its patrons.
The turnaround wizard who revived the fortunes of Chipotle during his more than six-year stint at the fast-casual Tex-Mex chain said the 39,000-plus Starbucks stores around the world needed to return to their roots, offering tailor-made, high-quality coffee that consumers can enjoy on the premises. READ MORE
In poll after poll, Americans have indicated the economy is their top concern as they prepare to cast votes this election.
Dealing with high inflation for years will do that to you. Although inflation has cooled significantly since it peaked at a 40-year high in 2022, Americans are paying around 20% more for goods and services now compared to before the pandemic, according to Consumer Price Index data. READ MORE
One of the world's biggest consulting and accounting firms plans to monitor its employees' locations to ensure compliance with a stricter return-to-office policy set to take effect next year.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, known as PwC, announced that its U.K. branch is "placing more emphasis on in-person working." It initiated a new policy that requires staff to spend at least three days a week, or 60% of their time, in the office or with clients. That's up from the previously mandated two to three days in the office or with clients, according to the firm. READ MORE
For some employees, the culmination of a year’s hard work and the accompanying rewards or lack thereof still depend on the singular event of the annual performance review. Long a critical component of an effective employee performance management program, are annual performance reviews losing their relevance in today’s rapidly evolving workplace?
Detractors see little upside, citing limited engagement because of their infrequency and resulting delayed feedback and employee anxiety because they often focus on weaknesses instead of achievements. In response, forward-looking organizations increasingly are shifting toward a continuous performance management approach that motivates rather than demotivates employees. READ MORE
It couldn’t be clearer at this point that the US labor market is cooling.
Even though the unemployment rate edged lower last month to 4.2%, joblessness is still hovering near highs not seen since the fall of 2021. On top of that, employers have hired significantly fewer workers in recent months compared to prior years and the number of job openings fell in July to the lowest level since January 2021, according to Labor Department data. READ MORE
Americans may be finding it a little tougher to land a job these days, but not so much in one field in which salaries are climbing fast and employers are offering robust perks. READ MORE
Covering tech startup IPOs generally involves writing about companies that lose money.
Sure, there are exceptions. Blockbusters, like Google, which was minting search advertising cash well before its IPO. Or, more recently, companies like Instacart or Klaviyo that tapped public markets shortly after turning a modest profit. READ MORE
Yuki Watanabe used to spend 12 hours every day toiling away in the office. And that’s considered a short day.
A typical 9-to-9 workday is the bare minimum. “The latest I would leave [the office] would be 11 p.m.,” said the 24-year-old, who used to work for some of Japan’s largest telecoms and e-payment companies. READ MORE
When recruiting talent in today’s uncertain hiring environment, HR professionals may be more willing to get creative than they used to. However, one rising trend—the use of so-called “ghost jobs”—could do more harm than good for employers’ chances of capturing top candidates.
In its recently released 2024 Recruiting Trends Survey, career and resume service MyPerfectResume found a significant 81% of the more than 750 recruiters nationwide it polled are posting so-called ghost jobs. Such a practice refers to strategically advertising for a job that isn’t actually open, either because it is already filled or non-existent. READ MORE
Robby Starbuck, a former Hollywood music video director and turned conservative activist, has caught fire campaigning online against some major American brands’ diversity, equity and inclusion programs (DEI), support for gay Pride marches and LGBTQ events, strategies to slow climate change and other social policies.
Starbuck is both riding a wave of right-wing hostility to DEI programs and corporate advocacy on issues like climate change and LGBTQ rights and advancing the opposition himself. He has channeled energy on the right to target specific brands popular with politically conservative customers — Harley-Davidson, Tractor Supply Co. and John Deere — and relentlessly drawn attention online to their past publicly-stated policies. Starbuck has also claimed credit for Brown-Forman and Lowe’s internal announcements in recent weeks to scale back some of their diversity and inclusion programs. READ MORE
Some big Kentucky names are moving away from their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs.
Louisville-based Brown-Forman is one of them. The company said since it launched its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy in 2019, the world has evolved, its business has changed and the legal landscape has shifted.
Officials did not provide specific details about what will change, but said it "adjusted its work" to drive business results. READ MORE