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☆ Garbage AI posts like Shrimp Jesus are destroying Facebook
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Meghan Morris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Related storiesLast week, a duo from Stanford University and Georgetown University published a paper — not yet peer-reviewed — about AI images on Facebook, after studying 120 Facebook pages through early March. It's been covered by other media outlets well before last week's study; 404 Media wrote about it in December. Meta's president of global affairs said in February that the company is working on generative AI labels it will roll out later this year. Notably, this comes in an election year that's already been marred by generative AI issues, online and off. But I don't want to see labeled generative AI content in my feed — I don't want any generative AI pictures at all.

Persons: —, I, Joseph, Jesus, I'm, Mark Zuckerberg, Matthew, that's Organizations: Service, Business, Facebook, Stanford University, Georgetown University, Media Locations: Indiana, mmorris, insider.com

☆ A new Netflix show featuring a woman who turns into a chicken nugget shows just how much we love the bird
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Meghan Morris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewThe year of the chicken nugget (2017) and the chicken sandwich wars (2019) might have paved the way for fried chicken's latest role: star of a Netflix show. Next month, the streaming giant is releasing a bizarrely fun-looking comedy based on a Korean web cartoon called, fittingly, "Chicken Nugget." 🐣 Premiering March 15 pic.twitter.com/syGYVrzZS7 — Netflix (@netflix) February 15, 2024The premise of "Chicken Nugget" is silly, of course — but the show underscores the bird's soaring global popularity. And in the early 1960s, a renowned Cornell University professor engineered one of the Ivy League's greatest contributions to humanity: the frozen chicken nugget. It's unclear if the young woman in the forthcoming Netflix series turns into a particular flavor of chicken nugget.

Persons: —, ike, ince, ounger,, oung Organizations: Service, Netflix, Business, ust, EO Locations: oman

☆ This chart shows people who got phones earlier in life report more mental distress as adults. Isn't that sadly obvious by now?
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-23 | by ( Meghan Morris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

A study recirculating this week shows a depressing relationship between the age a kid first got a smartphone and mental health. Women who used smartphones earlier in life reported far worse mental health as adults. 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 . This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers.

Persons: — Organizations: AIM, Service, Business

☆ Reddit Warns That Meme Stock Investors Could Come for Its Own Stock
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Meghan Morris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

As Reddit prepares to go public, the social-media company issued an unusual warning to investors. AdvertisementGameStop, AMC, and other companies saw huge swings in their stock prices starting in 2021, thanks to chatter on social-media platform Reddit. In lawyerly language, Reddit wrote that individual ("retail") investors may home in on the company's stock. AdvertisementReddit S-1 cautions that retail investors could make the stock volatile Reddit S-1 screenshotReddit is offering its most frequent users a chance to buy into the IPO alongside institutional investors. Reddit users, meanwhile, gather on WallStreetBets (mentioned five times in the S-1) and other subreddits, where many posters are bearish about the company's upcoming IPO.

Persons: Reddit, Redditors, — Organizations: GameStop, Service, AMC, Securities and Exchange Commission

☆ Travis Kalanick's CloudKitchens loses its chief financial officer
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Meghan Morris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The chief financial officer of City Storage Systems, the umbrella company of Travis Kalanick's foodtech juggernaut, left last month, two employees told Business Insider. Before City Storage Systems, Curran spent more than a dozen years at Amazon, where he was most recently the vice president of finance and chief financial officer for the international consumer business, per his LinkedIn. His social-media profile lists a January end date for his latest role, the chief financial officer of "stealth startup." City Storage Systems is a multifaceted effort to reinvent food production, just as Kalanick aimed to upend the taxi industry by founding Uber. Tech and real-estate businesses such as City Storage Systems face challenges, including inflation and higher interest rates.

Persons: Travis Kalanick's, John Curran, Curran, Uber, Kalanick Organizations: Storage Systems, Business, City Storage Systems, Uber, LinkedIn, Otter, Tech, Systems

☆ After job cuts at Travis Kalanick's food tech startup, an exec discusses challenges and rallies staff with bullish comments on Future Foods
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Meghan Morris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A particular focus was an Otter business called Future Foods. But now, Future Foods is generating healthy revenue, relative to the cost of customer acquisition. He did not disclose revenue for Future Foods or other businesses on the call. 'Healthy tension'Gabrielli did admit there's a "healthy tension" with the Future Foods team, saying that they "tend to sandbag a little bit their capabilities." Future Foods also asks would-be customers if they maintain at least a four-star rating on one delivery app.

Persons: Travis Kalanick, Uber, Otter, Guido Gabrielli, Gabrielli, it's Organizations: Storage Systems, CSS, Otter, Tech, Foods, Future Foods

☆ Travis Kalanick's $15 billion ghost kitchen company lays off staff
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Meghan Morris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Travis Kalanick's ghost kitchen company laid staff off on Wednesday. In 2021, Kalanick raised $850 million at a $15 billion valuation for the company. The cuts come as tech and real estate companies rethink staffing needs in a more difficult market. Travis Kalanick's ghost kitchen company cut jobs on Wednesday, two employees told Insider. It wasn't immediately clear how many CSS employees were affected.

Persons: Travis, Kalanick Organizations: Storage Systems, Staff

On Monday, WeWork's stock trading was halted ahead of the opening bell. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementAdvertisementEmbattled real estate giant WeWork filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday. WeWork's bankruptcy comes amidst a years-long reorientation for the office industry. Offices globally emptied, and the once-stable commercial real estate sector was thrown into unprecedented chaos, from which it has not fully recovered.

Persons: WeWork, —, David Tolley, Adam Neumann —, SoftBank, Regus, wasn't WeWork, I've, Masayoshi Son, Adam Neumann, Jackal Pan, Sandeep Mathrani, Neumann, Marcelo Claure Organizations: Service, WeWork, Wall Street, New York Stock Exchange, Visual China, Getty, CNBC Locations: Canada, WeWork, York

☆ Startups are hitting a road block when selling their AI to big companies. Investors and founders explain how to get around it.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-04 | by ( Meghan Morris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The procurement team, responsible for sourcing and pricing the services the company buys, can introduce significant barriers to enterprise startups. Sellers must navigate a thicket of data concerns and increasing price sensitivities, among other issues, with procurement teams that may have little familiarity with AI. Enterprise software deals are taking longer to close compared with last year, per a September survey from New York-based SAAS financing startup Capchase. "That's leading procurement teams to ask sellers 'what works here, tell me where I could have unanticipated outcomes?'" Nemeth said procurement teams want to be educated and help see deals through.

Persons: Samir Kumar, Kumar, Barack Obama, Obama, Reuters Kumar, Obama's, Miguel Fernandez Larrea, Fernandez Larrea, Tola, Sheila Gulati, Charles Cotugno Gulati, Rachael Nemeth, Nemeth Organizations: Microsoft, Qualcomm, Touring Capital, Companies, White House, Reuters, Enterprise, Vanderbilt University Locations: United States, New York

But a person who worked closely with Ramaswamy said, "He thinks people are put on this earth to serve him." Roivant attracted investors including Masayoshi Son's SoftBank Vision Fund, Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, and the hedge fund Viking Global Investors. Former Roivant employees said Ramaswamy worked hard and expected the same of others. McLaughlin called the employee's recollection "inaccurate," adding that Ramaswamy "has never once raised his voice or used bad language with employees." At Roivant, Ramaswamy kept his politics largely to himself, former employees said.

Persons: Vivek Ramaswamy, Ramaswamy, He's, Donald Trump, Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Trump, George Soros, didn't, Taco Bell, he's, —, Vivek, Tricia McLaughlin, he'd, McLaughlin, takeout, Forbes, Vivek doesn't, they've, Roivant, Masayoshi, Peter Thiel's, Thiel, JD Vance, Bill Ackman, who'd, . Ramaswamy, Erik Gordon, Vance, John Phillips, Joyce Rosely, Phillips, Anson Frericks, they'd, Rosely, Frericks, They're, they're, Eric Balchunas, Todd Rosenbluth, Rosenbluth, Christopher Lenzo, Brandon Bell, Vivek Ramaswamy's, Katherine Long, Jack Newsham, Meghan Morris Organizations: pharma, Army Rangers, Biotech, Republican, nab, GOP, of Education, FBI, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Federal Reserve, Florida, Roivant Sciences, General Electric, Yale Law School, Army, Rangers, Harvard, Yale, Fund, Viking Global, Leerink Partners, GlaxoSmithKline, Forbes, Big Pharma, Japan's Sumitomo Pharma Co, ., University of Michigan, FDA, US, Yale Law, ESG, The, Texas, Indiana, BlackRock, Vanguard, Bloomberg Intelligence, Fair, SEC Locations: Mexico, FiveThirtyEight, Roivant, Patagonia, Iowa, New York, Ohio, The Lever

☆ CloudKitchens, ghost restaurant news and updates
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Meghan Morris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

In 2021, Kalanick raised $850 million at a $15 billion valuation from backers including Microsoft. One, a physical ghost kitchen arm called CloudKitchens in the US, transforms mainly warehouses into private kitchen spaces that big companies and mom-and-pops alike can rent. 2021 fundraiseTravis Kalanick Theo Wargo/WireImageIn late 2021, CloudKitchens' parent company raised $850 million at a $15 billion valuation, Insider exclusively reported. Some entry-level sales employees have struggled at Otter, Insider reported. CloudKitchens US locationsA 2021 Insider analysis showed how CloudKitchens (and competitor Reef) snapped up properties across the US.

Persons: Travis, Kalanick, Travis Kalanick, Uber, –, fundraise Travis Kalanick Theo Wargo, CloudKitchens, John Curran, they're, Sawyer, Meghan Morris Organizations: Microsoft, Morning, Storage Systems, CSS, Investors, Uber, Financial, City Storage Systems, Wall Street, Amazon, CIA, Otter Locations: Los Angeles, Saudi, Miami

☆ Inside Otter University: How Travis Kalanick's sales boot camp for young techies went off the rails
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Meghan Morris | Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +21 min

"It seemed like a cool, innovative new company," Lam said. Starting in early 2022, the company poured millions of dollars into an experimental sales boot camp called Otter University. She joined the company in 2020 as Otter's head of sales enablement and helped dream up the idea of a sales boot camp a year later. Two former OtterU employees said that Law and another Otter executive urged managers to join their teams for late-night drinks following team dinners. But the late nights and free-flowing alcohol struck some OtterU employees as inappropriate for the workplace, especially when managers had to deal with hungover teams the next day.

Persons: Brian Lam, messaged, Travis, Lam, Uber, It's, Kalanick, voraciously, they're, Otter, wasn't, salespeople, Cory Epstein, Phoebe Law, Law, people's, –, Kalanick's Uber, Otter's, Kate, Samul Beal, I'd, Beal, didn't, terminations, he'd, OtterU, I'm, grads, Salespeople, Guido Gabrielli, Keith Dunphy, Dunphy, Bram van Staalduinen, Phoebe Law's, Debra Glaser, Jen Zablotny, there's, Ordermark, Burger, Meghan, Darius Organizations: Texas, Otter, Storage Systems, Microsoft, Otter University, Law, Adobe, SAP, Houston, OtterU, hungover, NCR, Google, Brands, Houston Rockets Locations: Korean, Houston, Toronto, LA, Las Vegas, Miami, Seoul, South Korea, Houston ., OtterU, Otter, Canada

☆ What does Elon Musk's 'Burnt Hair' perfume really smell like? We asked our newsroom to do a blind test of the new fragrance.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-30 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Elon Musk's Boring Company launched a $100 perfume called "Burnt Hair" in October. Last October, he added "perfume salesman" to his list when he began selling a scent called "Burnt Hair" to the world. The unisex fragrance is sold through The Boring Company, where it was originally listed for $100. Upon sniffing Burnt Hair directly from the bottle he concluded that it actually smelled better than most perfumes. "It's pretty gross…It does smell like burnt hair."

Persons: Elon, Elon Musk, Musk, it's, Boring, Madeline Renbarger, Nathan McAlone, Darius Rafieyan, Rafieyan, Taylor Rains, Meghan Morris, Maddie Berg, who'd, Brad Davis, Tim Levin Organizations: Elon Musk's Boring Company, SpaceX, The, Company, Twitter, The Boring Company, eBay, Boring Company, Boring, Aviation, Transportation Locations: Colorado

Mobile ordering and delivery have boosted Starbucks' bottom line and have become an incremental and growing part of the business. Starbucks would not share specifics on the size of its delivery business but has previously said the segment has seen a 20% year-over-year growth. CloudKitchens, which rents small, private kitchen bays that share a reception, offers one solution to delivery growth. Starbucks plans to open the San Francisco ghost kitchen on August 22 and operate it from 7am to 6pm, per a March filing with the city. The ghost kitchen will not sell alcohol.

Persons: Uber, —, Travis Kalanick, Laxman Narasimhan, Travis Kalanick Steve Jennings, CloudKitchens, Pat Grismer, Brady Brewer, Gloria Dawson, Darius Rafieyan, Meghan Morris Organizations: Starbucks, Service, CloudKitchens, Mobile, Buffalo Wild Wings, Getty, TechCrunch, Food Locations: Francisco, San Francisco, China, New York

☆ Travis Kalanick's CloudKitchens startup is cutting jobs as a pandemic-era surge in food ordering subsides
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Nancy Luna | Meghan Morris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

CloudKitchens, the richly valued startup founded by former Uber chief Travis Kalanick, is cutting jobs as a pandemic-era boom in online food ordering subsides and a recession looms. The ghost kitchen operator has shed corporate recruiting employees, a move made to get closer to profitability, according to a person close to the matter. On November 1, employees on the recruiting team were asked to attend an impromptu Zoom meeting, described as a "global update." Tunna said Kalanick's goal is for CloudKitchens to be profitable next year, and with that, the startup has to make some changes, according to the witness. CloudKitchens raised about $850 million last fall from backers, including Microsoft, in a round that valued the startup at $15 billion.

☆ YouTubers are pushing dodgy crypto investment advice. Here’s why you should ignore it.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Rob Price | Meghan Morris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

Together, these revenue streams mean cryptocurrency influencers profit off their viewers no matter which way the market turns. Of course, crypto YouTube is a far cry from the regulated world of traditional finance. Armstrong told the Post that he made "maybe close to a million" from before dropping sponsored content in January 2022. A price list leaked by ZachXBT appears to show that dozens of small crypto influencers also have menus for similar undisclosed deals. But with little regulatory oversight, crypto influencers show little sign of slowing down — despite the precipitous decline of the crypto market.

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