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☆ Man Behind California Forever, Silicon Valley's City of the Future
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-05 | by ( Hugh Langley | Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +29 min

He sees California Forever. And if he can't undo the damage, there may never be a California Forever. California Forever may be a subdivision, but it's precisely the kind of subdivision America needs right now. But here's the thing: California Forever may be a subdivision, but it's precisely the kind of subdivision America needs right now. Places like California Forever aren't being opposed by the people who are desperate for a place to live.

Persons: Jan Sramek's, Goldman Sachs, Sramek, Reid Hoffman, Laurene Powell Jobs, Marc Andreessen —, They've, Christie Hemm, Peter Thiel, Jan Sramek, Jan, Thiel, Goldman, CheatSheet, Sramek's, hadn't, Jonas Rave, who's, —, Guy Saidenberg, Evernote, Marc Andreessen, Jane Jacobs, He's, he'd, Robert Moses, growth.y Christie Hemm, Flannery, Bronson Johnson, David George, Andreessen Horowitz, Marilyn Farley, Farley, Solano County's, Kathleen Threlfall, Bill Mortimore, California Forever's, Jessica Christian, he's, Lyle Lanley, Solano, Sam Houston, weren't, Gabriel Metcalf, You've, John Garamendi, Garamendi, isn't, they'll, latte, Christie, Travis, I've, aren't, They're Organizations: Silicon, California, BI Development, University of Cambridge, London School of Economics, Party, Rising Star, Facebook, York, Sramek's, BI Sramek, Google, American, Planners, Sacramento -, Travis Air Force Base, Area, titans, Farmers, councilwoman, California Forever, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Air Force, Flannery Associates, Disney, San Francisco, Vallejo Naval, Historical Museum, Rep, BI, Solano, Sierra, Goldman Locations: San Francisco, It's, Sramek, California, Rio Vista, Solano County, Napa, Sacramento, Silicon Valley, America, London, Zurich, England, Czech Republic, Dřevohostice, York, British, Eastern Europe, Cambridge, Bay Area, Hayes Valley, America's cutest, Atlanta, Phoenix, Copenhagen, Barcelona, New York, Sacramento - San Joaquin, San Francisco Bay, Lake Tahoe, Toledo , Ohio, Silicon, Google's, Toronto, Big Tech, China, Calif, Springfield, Vallejo, He's, Atherton, Foreverville, Fairfield, Austin, Solano, Valley, Europe

☆ AI boom in Silicon Valley is going to worsen the housing problem, says CEO of billionaire-backed company trying to build a new city near San Francisco
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-03 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Jan Sramek, CEO of California Forever, wants to build a new city in Solano County, California. The recent "AI boom" will only make the housing crisis worse, Sramek told Kara Swisher. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Previously published information from California Forever revealed that the city will be about 18,600 acres with a capacity to welcome 400,000 residents. A California Forever spokesperson didn't address the question in an emailed response to Business Insider.

Persons: Jan Sramek, Sramek, Kara Swisher, —, Goldman Sachs, didn't, The Lever Organizations: Service, Silicon, California Forever, Business, International Monetary Fund, IMF, Research Locations: California, Solano County , California, Northern California, Solano County, San Francisco, Golden State, Bay, Palo Alto

Though the music festival begins this month and tickets are going quickly, there are still a few avenues for how to buy Bottlerock Napa Valley 2024 tickets. If you're still wondering how to buy tickets to BottleRock Napa Valley 2024, we've got you covered. BottleRock Napa Valley 2024 scheduleFour different types of tickets can be purchased for the three dates of BottleRock Napa Valley's festival. Date City StubHub prices Vivid Seats prices Time May 24, 2024 Napa, California $186 $174 12 p.m. May 25, 2024 Napa, California $160 $173 12 p.m. May 26, 2024 Napa, California $191 $207 12 p.m. May 24–26, 2024 Napa, California $250 $244 12 p.m.How to buy tickets for BottleRock Napa Valley 2024 music festivalSince BottleRock Napa Valley 2024 tickets went on sale in January, the number of remaining original tickets is extremely limited. Very few original BottleRock Napa Valley 2024 tickets remain, which means there's only one price available on the festival's site.

Persons: Tom Petty, Stevie Wonder, Miley Cyrus, Stevie Nicks, Pearl Jam, Ed Sheeran, Megan Thee, we've, Vincent, Nelly, Miike Snow, Bebe Rexha, Jessie Murph, Gogol, Loveless, Pete Yorn, Royal Otis, The Moss, Chris Shiflett, Grace Bowers, Alexsucks, Con Brio, Akira Galaxy, Sage Bava, Kali Uchis, Oliver Tree, Holly Humberstone, Jack Kays, Mondo Cozmo, John Cruz, Linka Moja, Grace McKagan, Mama Said, DJ, Queens, Dominic Fike, Norah Jones, Stephen Sanchez, Bronson, Stephen Marley, Talib Kweli, Monsieur Periné, Brittany Davis, Forrest Day, Jane Leo, Jared Harper, Naima, Sophia Zamani Organizations: Business, Sunday, Vivid, Pearl, Record Company, Napa Valley Youth, Colony, Rebels, Silverado Locations: Northern California, Napa, Napa Valley, California, BottleRock, StubHub, Royal, The, Colony House, Mononeon, Tors

Steve Bowsher, In-Q-TelSteve Bowsher, president and CEO of In-Q-Tel. He made an early bet on Palantir, blowing the doors open for Silicon Valley techies to go after federal contracts. The son of a federal employee who grew up devouring spy novels, Bowsher has always been interested in the work of the government but actually cut his teeth in Silicon Valley. After graduating from Stanford, he worked for three startups and spent eight years at venture fund InterWest Partners. By combining Silicon Valley's swashbuckling ethos with a government agency's mission-driven mentality, Bowsher has helped shepherd some of the biggest defense tech success stories of the past two decades.

Persons: Steve Bowsher, Bowsher Organizations: Magazine, Stanford, InterWest Partners Locations: Menlo Park , California, Silicon Valley

☆ Stripe co-founder says high interest rates flushed out Silicon Valley's 'wackiest' ideas
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Kate Rooney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Rising interest rates crushed technology valuations and had a chilling effect on Silicon Valley. Stripe had to take a major haircut along with the rest of the industry as soaring inflation and rising interest rates, starting in 2022, pushed investors out of the riskiest assets, lifted borrowing costs and and forced startups to tighten their belts. "Valuations are a product of interest rates," Collison said. While many tech companies took a hit in 2022 and 2023, Collison said the rising interest rate environment succeeded in flushing out the "wackiest" startup ideas, leaving the best ones to get funded. He pointed to an "overfunding" of marginally good ideas, and "zombie companies" taking too long to go bust.

Persons: John Collison, Collison, Patrick, Elon, We're, Jerome Powell Organizations: CNBC, SpaceX, Wall Street Journal, Federal Locations: Silicon Valley

☆ Zuck just revealed the secret ingredient in his bromance with Jensen Huang
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Mark Zuckerberg talked about his budding friendship with Jensen Huang in a new podcast. Related stories"He and I, at this point, are the longest-standing tech founders of Big Tech companies," Zuck said. Zuck wrote in a comment: "He's like Taylor Swift, but for tech." Jensen Huang is the clear leader of the tech industry in this regard." Representatives for Zuckerberg at Meta and Huang and Nvidia did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Jensen Huang, cheesesteaks, Huang, Time100, —, Jensen, Roberto Nickson, Zuck, Elon Musk, Zuckerberg, they'd, Taylor Swift, Zuck's, we've, I'm Organizations: Nvidia, Meta, Service, Big Tech, Bloomberg, Elon, Facebook, Business

☆ Tesla's awful 2024 is getting much worse
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Tech: A "social walkie-talkie" app is the newest thing tech insiders are excited about . Tesla's awful 2024 got much worse this week when the company cut 10% of its workforce , and a major executive resigned after 18 years at the EV maker. AdvertisementSlaven Vlasic/Getty Images for The New York Times; Chelsea Jia Feng/BIIn the meantime, Tesla's stock keeps falling. Even worse, people who are in the market for EVs aren't necessarily interested in Teslas .

Persons: —, NASA's Chandra, Tesla, we've, Elon Musk, Steve Granitz, Scott Olson, Jia Feng, Graham, Elon Musk's, robotaxis, Slaven, Chelsea Jia Feng, Tesla's, Musk, Andy Sieg, Merrill Lynch, Abanti Chowdhury, who's, Piper Sandler, Dan DeFrancesco, Jordan Parker Erb, Hallam Bullock, George Glover Organizations: Service, Business, Tech, Adobe Stock, The New York Times, EVs, Teslas, Trump, SWANSON, Apple, Microsoft, BI, CNBC, Economy Summit Locations: Chelsea, China, Teslas ., States, New York, London

☆ AI CEO says people's obsession with reaching artificial general intelligence is 'about creating God'
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-13 | by ( Ana Altchek | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Mistral's CEO Arthur Mensch said the obsession with creating general AI is about "creating God." The AI CEO doesn't believe Elon Musk and Sam Altman's predictions that AI will surpass human intelligence. AdvertisementMistral's founder and CEO Arthur Mensch doesn't believe in god — and therefore, he doesn't believe in artificial general intelligence. Artificial general intelligence, also referred to as AGI, is a level of AI that will outperform humans. Mensch said he felt uncomfortable with Silicon Valley's religious fascination with general AI.

Persons: Arthur Mensch, doesn't, Elon Musk, Sam Altman's, Mensch, —, Arthur Mensch doesn't, Mistral, I'm, Sam Altman, Anthony Levandowski, Donald Trump, Levandowski, It's Organizations: Service, The New York Times, Elon, Pollen, Microsoft, Google, Union, Intelligence, Big Tech Locations: Paris, Europe, Levandowski, France, United States, China

☆ Adam Neumann opens up about his billion-dollar plan to transform apartment living and explains why he wants to buy back WeWork
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-11 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

In August 2022, former WeWork cofounder Adam Neumann announced he was back, starting a new company called Flow to transform apartment living. I spoke with residents and staff, but my many requests to speak on the record with Neumann himself were always rebuffed. Whatever happens with Flow, Neumann will always be remembered for WeWork, which he resigned from in 2019. The launch occurs as Neumann is trying to buy back his bankrupt former company for more than $500 million. I think people are skeptical of how Flow is a tech company.

Persons: Adam Neumann, Andreessen Horowitz, Neumann, Neumann's WeWork, it's, We're, we're, It's, WeWork, You've, Ben, Horowitz Organizations: Business Locations: Fort Lauderdale , Florida, South Florida, Fort Lauderdale, Miami

☆ Meta loses top AI figures as Silicon Valley's talent battle continues
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-05 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The departures come as Big Tech firms battle for top AI talent with chunky pay packages. Elon Musk this week dubbed Silicon Valley's talent war as the "craziest" he's ever seen. AdvertisementMeta has lost three top AI employees within a week amid Silicon Valley's ongoing battle for talent. "The talent war for AI is the craziest talent war I've ever seen!" AdvertisementPrior to that, the cofounder of Meta's AI lab, Rob Fergus, jumped ship in 2020 to join Google's DeepMind.

Persons: Meta, —, Devi Parikh, she'd, Erik Meijer, Meijer, Abhishek Das, Mark Zuckerberg, He's, Google's DeepMind, Meta's, Zuhayeer Musa, Elon Musk, Rob Fergus, Google's Organizations: Big Tech, Elon, Service, Meta, Research, FAIR, Wall Street Journal, Street, Business Locations: OpenAI

☆ Jon Stewart takes aim at Sam, Satya and Sundar for 'false promises' on AI and jobs
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-03 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Jon Stewart is taking aim at tech bros over their "false promises" about AI and work. "The Daily Show" host blasted AI as labor-replacing, calling it a threat to jobs. Stewart also mocked the suggestion AI was creating new jobs like prompt engineers. AdvertisementJon Stewart is taking aim at tech bros over their "false promises" about AI and work. "The Daily Show" host mocked some of Silicon Valley's most influential AI leaders on Monday's episode, sharing clips of OpenAI's Sam Altman, Microsoft's Satya Nadella, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai among others.

Persons: Jon Stewart, Stewart, —, OpenAI's Sam Altman, Microsoft's Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, he'd, Lina Khan, Apple Organizations: bros, Service, Apple, Federal Trade, CBS, Business

☆ How Big Tech Companies Sabotage New Startups — From the Inside
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-01 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

They don't replace the tech giants — they just get bought by the tech giants. A new paper by two leading scholars suggests that these days, Big Tech doesn't have to resort to buyouts to crush aspiring startups. At this point, Big Tech looks at promising startups the way evil alien empires in science fiction look at helpless planets. The data that Big Tech shares — or doesn't share — can play an instrumental role in shaping a startup's work. Finally, the big companies use their clout on Capitol Hill in an effort to impose stricter regulations on the startups they're ostensibly trying to help.

Persons: that's, That's, Joe Biden, Mark Lemley, Matt Wansley, they're, Wansley, Who, Lemley, Sam Altman, Satya Nadella, Barbara Ortutay, Florian Ederer, Elon Musk, OpenAI, Marc Andreessen, watchdogs, Ederer, Anthropic, Adam Rogers Organizations: Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Federal Trade Commission, Justice Department, Big Tech, Stanford University, Cardozo School of Law, Google, Facebook, Star, Yale, London Business School, Tech, Boston University, titans, IBM, Dells, Business Locations: Silicon Valley, —

A significant chunk of that money was strategic, in that it came from tech companies rather than venture capitalists or other institutions. The company has refocused much of its product development on generative AI, and its newly rebranded Gemini model, adding features into search, documents, maps and elsewhere. Alphabet and Nvidia are also investors in Runway ML, a generative AI company known for its video-editing and visual effects tools. Microsoft has invested in many of the techniques underpinning generative AI through its Microsoft Research division. Apple researchers recently published details of their work on MM1, a family of small AI models that can take both text and visual input.

Persons: Satya Nadella, Sam Altman, Justin Sullivan, Claude, Fred Havemeyer, Havemeyer, that's, Anthropic, Gemini Ai, Michael M, It's, Amy Hood, dealmaking Daniel Newman, Mustafa Suleyman, Newman, Lina Khan Organizations: Getty, Getty Images Tech, aren't, GPT, Microsoft, Meta, Apple, Nvidia, Google, Web Services, Amazon, Santiago, AMD, Runway ML, Mistral, Big Tech, Microsoft Research, Baidu, Futurum, Anthropic, Federal Trade Commission Locations: San Francisco, Macquarie, Anthropic, New York City, Mistral, U.S, China

☆ Anthropic-backer Menlo Ventures is preparing for a 'gold rush' of AI infrastructure startups. Here's why.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-18 | by ( Samantha Stokes | Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Menlo Ventures has been an early backer of AI powerhouses including security startup Abnormal, LLM developer Anthropic, and vector database Pinecone. "AI itself is not new, I think it's just how mainstream it's become," Matt Murphy, a Menlo Ventures partner who invests in SaaS and robotics startups, told Business Insider in an interview. AI's "picks and shovels"Murphy and fellow Menlo Ventures partner Tim Tully say that 2024 will be a big year for the "picks and shovels" of AI. There's room in the game for more LLMsSam Altman's OpenAI has been at the forefront of the generative AI revolution. Other vector database startups including Chorma and Weaviate have also raised millions from VCs.

Persons: —, Siri, Warby Parker, Matt Murphy, OpenAI, AI's, Murphy, Tim Tully, Tully —, Sana, Lindy, we've, Tully, Sam Altman's OpenAI, it's Organizations: Service, Valley's, Menlo Ventures, Business, Menlo, Cisco, Oracle, Meta, Google Locations: Snowflake, Anthropic

☆ Laid-off techies face 'sense of impending doom' with job cuts at highest since dot-com crash
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( Alex Koller | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

Last month's job cut count was the highest of any February since 2009, when the financial crisis forced companies into cash preservation mode. CNBC spoke to a dozen people who have been laid off from tech jobs in the past year or so about their experiences navigating the labor market. Additionally, some listings required applicants to have advanced degrees or professional experience in machine learning and artificial intelligence, a new development in Croisant's experience on the job market. "It is a combination of how well you brand yourself, about your access through networking to any given position — to the hidden job market." Still, Powers said she's trying to stay optimistic, "because giving up is not going to get me a job."

Persons: Ed Jones, Allison Croisant, Croisant, Roger Lee, Layoffs.fyi, Lee, I'm, Powers, who's, Tayfun, Christopher Fong, Fong, Michael Kascsak, Kascsak, It's, Lee of Layoffs.fyi, Amit Mittal, Amit Mittal Amit Mittal, Mittal, he's, Bill Vezey, —, Vezey, She's, would've, she's, Jennifer Elias Organizations: Afp, Getty, PayPal, Meta, Microsoft, eBay, Unity Software, SAP, Cisco, Wall, CNBC, Google, Anadolu Agency, Nationwide Locations: New York, Omaha , Nebraska, Comprehensive.io, Natchez , Mississippi, View , California, United States, Austin , Texas, U.S, who's, India, Chicago, Santa Cruz , California

☆ The tech CEO who quietly built a bigger fortune than Tim Cook
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-04 | by ( Geoff Weiss | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Former Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman has achieved vast wealth as a non-founding tech exec. Bloomberg pegs his net worth at $3.7 billion — higher than both Tim Cook and Satya Nadella. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementThe wildly successful and outspoken tech executive who just stepped down as CEO of Snowflake may not be as well-known as Apple's Tim Cook or Microsoft's Satya Nadella — but he's wealthier than both.

Persons: Frank Slootman, Tim Cook, Satya Nadella, He's, —, Nadella, Cook, Slootman, Snowflake, Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Palmer, Katie Warren, Sridhar Ramaswamy Organizations: Snowflake, Bloomberg, Service, ServiceNow Inc, Data, Google Locations: Netherlands

☆ Silicon Valley's elite are moralizing about the future of AI
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-04 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

It has reignited the savior complex of Silicon Valley's biggest personalities too. AdvertisementThough some questions are being asked about how much of a case Musk has here, the whole saga has offered plenty of incentive to Silicon Valley's more opinionated leaders to moralize on the future of AI. The open option — in theory at least — champions AI models that are transparent about how they're trained and collectively developed by a global community of developers. (2) Big companies, small companies, independent developers, and open source communities should be free to pursue AI. But which side of the battle the rest of Silicon Valley's AI leaders fall on will be watched just as closely.

Persons: —, Elon, Sam Altman's OpenAI hasn't, OpenAI —, they're, Meta, Sam Altman, Andrew Caballero, Reynolds, Marc Andreessen, Vinod Khosla, Andreessen, shouldn't, isn't, 2VqL6T5qZe, Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸 ( Organizations: Service, Microsoft, OpenAI, Business, Getty, Manhattan, Chinese Communist Party, Big Locations: China, San Francisco, jure

☆ Retiring early is a dream for many. In reality, some regret it.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-03 | by ( Matt Turner | Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . But when Nupur Dave walked away from corporate life at 40, becoming part of the FIRE (financial independence, retire early) movement, she soon came to regret it . Many of the early retirees who've spoken with BI in the past have shared the challenges that come with quitting work altogether. And there are many more striving to make early retirement a reality .

Persons: —, Nupur Dave, Dave, FIREgret, Dave's, who've, Rebecca Zisser, it's, Jenny Chang, Rodriguez, Alyssa Powell, Steve Pemberton, there's, Pemberton, Robert L, Johnson, America's, Matt Turner, Jordan Parker Erb, Dan DeFrancesco, Lisa Ryan Organizations: Business, Service, Microsoft, Google, Wall, Getty, Walgreens, Toyota, BET Locations: New York

☆ Inside Smashmallow, Silicon Valley's Failed Marshmallow Startup
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-03 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +20 min

"We wanted a marshmallow to have a little bite to it, not just be a foamy air," he says. Jon Sebastiani, Smashmallow founderSmashmallow had a killer brand — but the product was still basically being made one batch at a time, on kitchen counters. If Smashmallow couldn't produce enough marshmallows, Tanis wouldn't get its dough. The thing is, even though Smashmallow failed, Sebastiani didn't. "In that industry, a snackable marshmallow is a Smashmallow, like a copy machine is a Xerox," says Kwasniewski.

Persons: Jon Sebastiani, Sebastiani, Krave, jonesing, marshmallows, Liam Eisenberg, aerated, Cook, Jens Hoj, Hoj, Smashmallow, he'd, It's, Theranos, wasn't, Elizabeth Holmes, Tanis, Wolfgang Confectioners, Smashmallow Smashmallow, Wolfgang, Tanis wouldn't, Smashmallow couldn't, Richard Hartel, Sebastiani didn't, David Kwasniewski, Kwasniewski, Smashmallows, it's, Adam Rogers Organizations: Hershey, Michelin, BI, Kraft, Target, Walmart, Doumak, Workers, University of Wisconsin, Area, Xerox, marshmallows, Business Locations: Paris, California, Sonoma, Hershey, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Hobart, Chicago, Las Vegas, Netherlands, Tanis, Pennsylvania, America, Sonoma Capital, Smashmallow, Santa Rosa, San Francisco, Colorado, North America

☆ How Google lost its way
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Hugh Langley | Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +17 min

Just two months after Google launched Gemini, its flashy new AI model, the company revealed that it had already built a better version. AdvertisementThen, days later, Google scrambled to explain why its image generation tool spit out racially inaccurate depictions of historical figures. Users have long bemoaned — and researchers recently found — a decline in the quality of Google Search results. The fact that Google is not far and away the self-driving-car leader, it's, like, a total joke," the former Google director said, adding that the problem of Google's lost supremacy is "maybe impossible to solve, frankly." Google now is reminiscent of the Steve Ballmer-era Microsoft, which missed the smartphone, search, and cloud waves and was overtaken by Apple, Google, and Amazon.

Persons: OpenAI, Sora, Sam Altman, Sundar Pichai's, Pichai, —, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Lea Suzuki, Getty Brin, Page, Google, Googlers, Axel Springer, Diane von Furstenberg, Giovanni Giannoni, Michael Avrukin, Vuk Valcic, wouldn't, Patrick Mork, Eric Lehman, Lehman, ChatGPT, Caesar Sengupta, Sengupta, Alexa, Google's, Steve Ballmer, Satya Nadella, Hugh Langley, Lara O'Reilly Organizations: Google, Hollywood, Industry, San Francisco Chronicle, Business, Penske Media, Microsoft, Amazon, The New York Times, Oracle, YouTube, Apple, IBM, Meta Locations: Silicon Valley, Silicon, —

☆ Google is starting to feel like any other business, and staging a comeback won't be easy
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. In today's big story, we're looking at how Google has gone from the tech industry's vanguard of cool to just another boring company . AdvertisementGoogle has long stayed atop Silicon Valley's volatile popularity contest — but the best place to work in tech is starting to feel like any other business , Business Insider's Hugh Langley and Lara O'Reilly write. Bureaucracy, an aversion to risk, and deference to Wall Street over employees — things Google long eschewed — have become the norm. The latest example is the debacle surrounding Gemini — its flashy new AI model that faced backlash for being too "woke."

Persons: —, Rebecca Zisser, Hugh Langley, Lara O'Reilly, Alistair Barr, Sundar Pichai, Hugh, Lara, Mateusz Wlodarczyk, BI's Peter Kafka, it's, David Rosenberg, Gary Shilling, Snowflake's Frank Slootman, Ozgur Hakan Aslan Toyota, Boxabl, Elon Musk, Tesla, Hewlett Packard, Dan DeFrancesco, Hallam Bullock, Jordan Parker Erb Organizations: Service, Google, Business, Gemini, Meta, Big Tech, OpenAI, Corporations, Nvidia, SEC, Universal Music Group, Universal, BI Locations: —, New York, London

☆ Tourists are paddle boarding and frolicking in one of Earth's driest locations after record rains
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-25 | by ( Lauren Edmonds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewHeavy rainfall created a temporary lake in Death Valley National Park, one of Earth's driest locations, prompting travelers to take a potentially once-in-a-lifetime swim. The unexpected phenomenon began earlier this week at Death Valley's Badwater Basin after recent rainstorms battered California. Tourists wading through Death Valley's temporary lake. Tourists paddle boarding and wading in Death Valley's temporary lake. Two tourists sit beside Death Valley's temporary lake.

Persons: —, Ty ONeil, Andler, DAVID SWANSON, Heather, Bob Gang, Heather Gang, Guo Yu, hydrometeorology, Tiffany Pereira Organizations: Service, Lake Manly, National Park Services, Business, Associated Press, AP, Tourists, Research, Getty Locations: Death, California, Badwater, Lake, Lake Manley, Southern California

☆ Silicon Valley's biggest ever 'dogfooding' experiment has begun. The implications are huge.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Big Tech companies are testing AI tools internally in a massive 'dogfooding' experiment. This involves Big Tech companies taking large language models and generative AI tools and putting them to work inside their own organizations. The findings could also change how Big Tech companies operate — and how many expensive engineers they need. Big Tech companies want to sell AI tools to help businesses, developers, advertisers, creators, and other customers reach this new productivity nirvana. If these dogfooding tests go well, Big Tech companies may not need to hire as many workers in the future.

Persons: —, It's, Googler Anthony Vallone, Ruth Porat, Hugh Langley, it's, BI's Ashley Stewart, Stewart, there's, Urs Hölzle Organizations: Big Tech, Google, Microsoft, Service, Microsoft Microsoft Locations: Silicon

☆ Elad Gil, tech's biggest solo capitalist, sees an AI app wave coming
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. AdvertisementThe year of the "AI app layer"Gil sees 2024 as the year that the “AI app layer” will start to crystalize, bringing the power of rapidly advancing foundation models to the masses. For someone with so much skin in the AI game, it’s notable that Gil’s portfolio does not include the big foundation models companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. Gil says he has been impressed with how quickly the legacy tech companies have moved to corner the market on cutting-edge AI research. But with the Biden administration’s more robust antitrust posture, Gil says there’s a lot of much-needed consolidation that’s not happening.

Persons: —, OpenAI, Elad Gil, Harvey, Character.ai, “ We're, ” Gil, ChatGPT, Gil, Gil's, ”, “ they’ve, Biden, there’s Organizations: Service, Business, Twitter, Mixer Labs, Google, Apple, Fortune, “ Enterprises Locations: Airbnb, MistralAI, Silicon Valley

☆ CNBC Daily Open: Big Tech earnings on tap
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Sumathi Bala | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. China's luxury reboundChina's luxury sales market is bouncing back. Tech layoffs surgeSilicon Valley's tech companies are slashing headcount at a rapid pace. Since the start of January, some 23,670 workers have been laid off from 85 tech companies, according to the website Layoffs.fyi.

Persons: Google's Bard, Hong, Dow, It's, Brent, Kingsley Jones, Jevons, Tesla, Jones Organizations: Microsoft, CNBC, CSI, Nasdaq, LVMH, Hamas, U.S . West Texas Locations: Asia, Iran, Jordan, U.S

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