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☆ How Bill Nye, ‘The Science Guy’ educated Google Bard on how AI can help save the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-29 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

You may not know this, but Bill Nye, "The Science Guy," has professional experience overseeing new and potentially dangerous innovations. Still, computer science is not the skill that Nye thinks is the most important for students to learn. We don't want a smaller and smaller fraction of people understanding a more complex world," Nye said. During the conversation with CNBC's Tyler Mathisen at the TEC Summit on AI, CNBC surprised Nye with a series of questions that came from a prompt given to the Google generative AI Bard: What should we ask Bill Nye about AI? Watch the video above to see all of Bill Nye's answers to the AI about how it can help save the world.

Persons: Bill Nye, Guy, Nye, CNBC's Tyler Mathisen, Bard, —, Bill Nye's Organizations: Boeing, CNBC Technology, Summit, TEC, CNBC Locations: New York City

☆ Israel arms civilian security squads, fearing internal strife
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-22 | by ( Dan Williams | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The last Gaza war in 2021 saw sometimes violent pro-Palestinian protests among the Arab citizens who make up 21% of Israel's population. Israeli police have arrested dozens of Arab citizens on suspicion of incitement and support for Hamas, based on social media posts. An additional measure has been the setting up of volunteer security squads to patrol the streets and back up police. Shabtai said security squads would be subordinate to police. "It is good that there will be a lot of security squads and force, but caution must be exercised with this," he said.

Persons: Ammar Awad, Israel's, Kobi Shabtai, Itamar Ben, Gvir, Shabtai, Ben, Eliezer Rosenbaum, Naella, Dan Williams, David Holmes Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, West Bank, Hamas, Thomson Locations: Old City, Jerusalem, Israel, Gaza, Lebanese, Haifa

☆ How AI assistants are being positioned for everyday work and school life
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-10 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Experts predict the role of hotel concierge is a profession example of where analyzing decades of data and experience can allow an AI assistant to guide human workers to the best decisions. San Francisco was an obvious choice: "This is the epicenter, where all the work is happening," said Vijay Karunamurthy, Field CTO at Scale AI, which plays a key role in providing the data to AI companies whose large language models need to advance their exponential learning. "A couple of square blocks around our office in Mission, you have OpenAI, Google, Meta… pretty much everyone is flocking here. 1 predictor of success in a higher education program is the removal of life barriers. "A model that understands where you are in your journey and can understand those challenges and relate."

Persons: Alistair Berg, Digitalvision, VCs, CNBC's, Vijay Karunamurthy, Julia Boorstin —, Omer Davidi, Shah —, — Karunamurthy, Shah, Dan Rosensweig, ChatGPT, Chegg, … Organizations: Google, CNBC Senior Media, Tech, CNBC, Fortune Locations: San Francisco, Francisco, Mission

The newly-formed Sustainable Media Center is intent on stopping companies from using algorithms to push damaging information to vulnerable youths, dark things like suicide methods. Political Cartoons View All 1199 ImagesThe Sustainable Media Center is not alone in this effort. Waituntil8th.org urges parents to not give children smartphones until they reach the eighth grade, and to keep them off social media until they're at least 16. He said he hoped the group could take some dramatic action to give the social media issue greater visibility. The Sustainable Media Center is working with Columbia University to do a comprehensive review of research on the issue, Rosenbaum said.

Persons: Bradley Tusk, Steven Rosenbaum, ” Rosenbaum, Vivek Murthy, Waituntil8th.org, Josh Golin, Fairplay, ” Golin, Tusk, Leo Hindery Jr, Roger McNamee, “, Eric Gertler, David Hornik, Rosenbaum, Emma Lembke, Zamaan Qureshi, Aidan Kohn, Murphy, Sen, Cory Booker, Booker, ” Tusk, he's, Gen, Golin, it's, ” Organizations: Sustainable Media, Venture, MTV, NYC Media, U.S, Sustainable Media Center, YES, Facebook, U.S . News, New, New Jersey Democrat, Columbia University Locations: U.S, New Jersey

☆ 'Everything gets harder from here': Why top investors are down on the market, economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Some of the market's biggest stock market investors echoed this view. Ackman said on Monday morning he didn't expect another rate hike. "If you just listen to their words, you know, you have to be pretty fearful there's going to be another rate hike. "Those numbers need to be supportive," Rieder had said of inflation data and jobs data including the JOLTS report in an interview with CNBC on the sidelines of DA. Ackman, even betting against another rate hike, has a view of inflation that sees it being persistently higher and placing more pressure on yields.

Persons: Bill Ackman, Katie Koch, reprice, Koch, Cash, Brad Gerstner, Gerstner, We've, Ackman, That's, they're, Jerome Powell, Volcker, Rick Rieder, You've, Rieder Organizations: Federal Reserve, Dow Jones, CNBC, Alpha, TCW, DA, Fed, Labor, BlackRock

☆ Delivering Alpha live updates: 'More things will break' in stock market, economy, top investors say
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Many investors were burned in the years leading up to Covid during the rise of ESG and bear market in oil. "We like that investment," said Jase Auby, the chief investment officer for the pension system, which has a 6% allocation to energy and energy infrastructure. Auby said his pension system stress tests for oil prices because it is very volatile. The Texas pension system is a long-term investor and looks at energy that way, as it does the broader commodities complex. "I get the hedge in the inflation scenario," he said, adding that the pension system holds commodities in its risk parity portfolio for inflation reasons.

Persons: Jase Auby, Auby, — Eric Rosenbaum Organizations: of Locations: of Texas, Texas

☆ Corporations say they have a new No. 1 risk, and they're spending big to defeat it
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

The Q3 survey of corporate finance chiefs finds a sharp rise in CFOs pointing to government regulation as the biggest risk factor for their business. From Q1 to Q3 2023, the percentage of CFOs saying government regulation is their biggest risk jumped from roughly 6% to 40%. This quarter, only 10% of CFOs cited inflation, while the 40% who pointed to regulation represented a more than doubling quarter over quarter. watch nowFor the business community's biggest advocacy group, getting back to normal also means confronting a new normal. "The emergence of government policy as risk relative to other risks has been growing substantially over the past decade."

Persons: Mark Wilson, Trump, Sanjay Patnaik, Neil Bradley, Patnaik, Obama, Biden, Bradley, it's, Dan Clifton, we've, It's, UnitedHealth —, Cisco's, Clifton, Lina Khan, She's Organizations: U.S, Capitol, Getty, CNBC, CNBC Global, Federal Trade Commission, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, U.S . Chamber of Commerce, Brookings Institute, Corporate, industrials, Corporations, ., Apple, market's, Union, EU, Horizon Therapeutics, Activision Locations: WASHINGTON, DC, Washington ,, Covid, Russia, Ukraine, China, U.S

In a recent interview with CNBC's David Faber, Disney CEO Bob Iger said the linear TV business has degraded over the past year more than he expected. "If anything, the disruption of that business has happened to a greater extent than even I was aware," he said. Shortly after that, CNBC media reporter Alex Sherman reported that the MLB, NFL and NBA were in discussions with ESPN and Disney to take minority stakes. The NBA said it is always interested in discussions about "the future of its partnership" with ESPN. One of the key executives in those discussions, ESPN chairman James Pitaro, is up first at Game Plan and all eyes and ears will be on his comments about the future of the sports network.

Persons: Plan's, CNBC's David Faber, Bob Iger, Iger, Faber, I'm, Alex Sherman, James Pitaro, — Eric Rosenbaum Organizations: Disney, ESPN, CNBC, MLB, NFL, NBA, Warner Bros, Discovery

☆ Israel launches privatisation of revamped postal service
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Steven Scheer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JERUSALEM, July 11 (Reuters) - Israel on Tuesday put its postal service on the block after completing a recovering and financial stabilisation process and formulating a strategic plan for the coming years. The state's privatisation agency said it would sell 100% of Israel Post Co. to an investor or group of investors. In addition to traditional mail and fast delivery services, Israel Post includes the Postal Bank, which has some 1 million active customers. Israel Post also owns 278 real estate assets valued at around 600 million shekels ($162 million), it said. In the first quarter, the company posted adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of 67 million shekels and it estimated adjusted EBITDA of 235 million shekels in 2023 after a 36 million shekel loss in 2022.

Persons: Michal Rosenbaum, Mishael Vaknin, Steven Scheer, David Evans Organizations: Israel Post Co, Israel Post, Government Companies Authority, Postal Bank, Thomson Locations: Israel, Tel Aviv

☆ More bullish on Dow, but not on a soft landing for economy: CNBC CFO survey
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Now, just over half expect a recession to hit in 2024 – 36% saying it will begin in the first half of the year. And while U.S. consumer spending and credit has remained relatively strong, CFOs rate consumer demand (18%) as the next biggest risk. 1 risk, the factor moving up the most in the results, while the risk of Fed policy declined quarter over quarter. The quarterly CNBC CFO Council Survey was conducted among roughly one-quarter of the 100-plus CFO members from June 16–June 26. Thirty-seven percent of CFOs expect the 10-year yield to be 4% or higher.

Persons: CFOs, Milton Friedman, Jerome Powell, Powell Organizations: Dow Jones, CNBC, Fed, Dow, Survey Locations: CFOs, New York City

"It's hard to think of an area that this couldn't help," said Diogo Rau, Eli Lilly chief information and digital officer. He said Lilly already is using generative AI to write patient safety reports and clinical narratives, and ultimately, it will play a role in drug discovery. One of the most anticipated uses for generative AI is in customer relationship management, and that is happening at more companies. Others noted their firms are in the early days of rolling out code generation tools using gen AI, as well as AI "co-pilots" across many roles, and using generative AI to help make investment decisions. Generative AI could enable a more customized and pro-security posture for organizations," he said.

Persons: OpenAI, Diogo Rau, Eli Lilly, Lilly, Rau, Eddie Fox, It's, Fox, Nicole Coughlin, Cybersecurity, ransomware, Jim Richberg, Richberg, Joe Levy, Sophos, it's, Levy Organizations: CNBC, Nvidia, Google, Microsoft, TEC, CNBC Technology, Epic, AIs Locations: Cary , North Carolina, Fortinet

☆ For ILWU, West Coast port deal to be union-ratified, here's what has to happen next
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

But the proposed labor deal is a far way from being fully approved, according to the International Longshore & Warehouse Union. "The ILWU is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with PMA last night," said a statement from ILWU President Willie Adams on Thursday afternoon. "These delegates will carefully review the tentative agreement and make a recommendation to the rank and file who will then vote on the tentative agreement," Adams said. "We will not be sharing details of the tentative agreement publicly until we have completed the ratification process," he stated. President Biden nominated Acting Secretary Su on February 28 to replace Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, who stepped down in March.

Persons: Julie Su, Willie Adams, Adams, Labor Su, Biden, Su, Marty Walsh, Price Rupert, CNBC's Lori Ann LaRocco Organizations: Biden, Labor, Warehouse Union, PMA, Pacific Maritime Association, United Mine Workers, AFL, Senate, Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, U.S . Chamber of Commerce, ILWU, U.S . Locations: West Coast, California, San Francisco, Seattle, West, Vancouver, U.S . West Coast, Panama, East Coast

☆ The message top corporate CFOs are sending directly to Fed presidents isn't a bullish one
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

The Fed remains focused on the labor market and cooling wage growth while raising unemployment as the key to bringing hot services inflation down. "I shared with him [a regional Fed president] that they should stop, not pause," said another CFO on the call. "The consumer is being smart," the CFO said, but the Fed focus on bringing unemployment up can break the consumer. "I gave this message to him [a Fed president]: we can manage through this with unemployment below 4%." CFOs said the labor market remains tight and the wage gains, while slowing, have created a higher wage base which can't be turned back.

Persons: Jerome Powell, Drew Angerer, That's, Wall, Randy Kroszner, CFOs, Sara Eisen, Kroszner, it's Organizations: Federal Reserve, Federal, Market, Fed, CNBC, CNBC Fed Survey, Chatham House, Corporations, University of Chicago Booth School of Business Locations: Washington ,

☆ 'It's not people shoplifting': Why retail is focused on organized crime
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

watch nowIt's been hard to get an exact read on the rise in retail theft. But this quarter's batch of retail earnings have brought the theft issue to the forefront again. Target said organized retail crime will reach $500 million more in stolen and lost merchandise this year compared with a year ago. The National Retail Federation says organized retail crime is the main reason for retail "shrink" — a mismatch between actual inventory and what is on the books — which reached $94.5 billion in 2021, an increase of almost $4 billion year over year. But shoplifting is a big part of organized crime.

☆ The clock is ticking for companies to speak clearly like Musk about China's Taiwan policy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Elon Musk spoke this week on a topic few CEOs want to weigh in on publicly: China's intentions to ultimately integrate Taiwan as part of the People's Republic of China. "The official policy of China is that Taiwan should be integrated. And he added, "the situation is actually a lot worse for a lot of other companies than Tesla. "I don't think it's imminent but I do think companies should heed what he [Musk] says." The U.S. government policy remains to not take an official position on Taiwan as an independent and sovereign state.

☆ EV big rigs already make sense for half of the $4 trillion freight truck market, says Einride CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Swedish EV trucking startup Einride has been able to so far go toe-to-toe with Tesla and its Semi in attracting top corporate clients. "In the $4 trillion freight mobility space, between 40%-50% should be electric driven by the business case today," Falck said on CNBC's "Worldwide Exchange" in an interview on Thursday after his company ranked No. "In the near-term, of course, the business case for diesel becomes slightly better," Falck said in the April interview. In freight, unlike the consumer market, "it's not about range, it's about how to secure the business case," he said. Swedish electric vehicle maker Einride will supply two of its heavy-duty trucks to PepsiCo as part of an expansion into the U.K. Einride

☆ Early MIT research shows 'Industrial Revolution-level large' leap for workers using ChatGPT, generative AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

He did say the time-saving component of the tech is among the things that struck him. I mean, the amount of time it could save you, if you were doing all kinds of things, is unbelievable," Buffett said. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told CNBC's Julia Boorstin in an interview after being named the No. 1 company on the 2023 CNBC Disruptor list this year that the legal profession is a good example. "That is a pattern we're seeing again and again in many industries, and I'm super excited about it," Altman said.

☆ The driver-optional EV tractor at center of agtech boom right next to Silicon Valley
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Tesla's market cap is roughly $500 billion, and that's after a roughly 50% haircut since it topped $1 trillion in 2021. Monarch Tractor, which recently debuted another key electric vehicle born in the state of California — a driver-optional, all-electric tractor — valued by investors in the private market at $271 million. Farmers are struggling with high labor costs and their diesel engine carbon footprint, while corporations are facing new sustainability costs. These are problems that Monarch Tractor can solve in combination. "It's more efficient on the labor side but decreases the emissions and can power all the other equipment on the farm," Penmetsa said.

☆ Can Literal Mall Rats Save the Mall?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Claudia Rosenbaum | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Alia Mahmud visited Westfield Annapolis Mall in February 2022, she didn’t go to buy clothes, or to watch a movie or to even meet up with her girlfriends. She was looking for rats. A week earlier, Ms. Mahmud saw a post online about a pack of rodents at the SPCA of Anne Arundel County, whose shelter opened an outpost at the mall in September 2020. When she arrived at the new location and approached the rat enclosure, she saw Snoofles, Algernon and Ikit, 5-month-old sisters who perked up and pressed their pink noses through their crate to get a better look at Ms. Mahmud and her boyfriend. “They kind of ran up to us and said hi,” said Ms. Mahmud, 32, a school therapist in Alexandria, Va. “They melted our hearts with how little, affectionate and outgoing they were from the beginning.”But it wasn’t until a meet-and-greet days later when Ms. Mahmud finally decided to take them home, where Snoofles proceeded to run down her shirt.

☆ Shopify's president on why he prefers paying micro-influencers to grow his own side hustle
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

But Finklestein also had another side business on his mind last week in an interview that had been pre-taped for CNBC's Small Business Playbook event, the loose-leaf tea side hustle, Firebelly Tea, that he co-founded as an independent entrepreneur. Finkelstein said it will be cheaper and also likely a more effective way to grow a new business. The creator economy is changing the way business success is generated, Finkelstein said, with the old "Field of Dreams" model — "If you build, it, they will come" — no longer enough. But that does not mean every small business owner with a great product should be chasing MrBeast or Emma Chamberlain for product endorsements. He cited the TikTok hashtag "TikTok Made Me Buy It" which has 50 billion impressions.

☆ Problems are mounting in the economy, big companies say, and another Fed rate hike may be one too many
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

While that's good for them, it also means "we're definitely moving towards a slowdown," one CFO said. "They are trying to fight a problem but there's evidence around the U.S. that says the economy is slowing. One concern voiced by CFOs is that the top end of the consumer market has been masking deeper problems in the economy, with companies tracking a rise in credit delinquencies, and that is now starting to spread. But inside major corporations, executives say they see signs of mounting trouble for the economy and as another interest rate hike looms, it may be time for the Fed to stop. While traders are betting on rate cuts before year-end, the CNBC Fed Survey shows a belief from economists and money managers that the Fed will hold rates higher for eight months.

☆ The US Navy is putting its submarines on rare public display in a message to Russia's growing undersea force
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Christopher Woody | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The US Navy has announced several visits by its subs to North Atlantic ports in recent years. Since 2020, when Norway allowed NATO subs to use a port near Tromsø, announcements of such visits appear to have increased. 'We're in your backyard'British Royal Navy attack submarine HMS Astute sails to the base at Faslane in November 2009. Russian Navy Yasen-class submarine Kazan at its base in Severomorsk on Russia's Arctic coast in June 2021. During the Cold War, US attack subs operated in the high north to get the Soviets to keep their attack subs close by to protect their ballistic-missile subs.

☆ $70 billion Los Angeles retirement plan says higher rates may 'change everything' and portfolio moves are coming
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

A year into the most significant period of Federal Reserve rate hikes in decades, you might think investors had already cemented their investment portfolio strategies for a higher interest rate world. According to LACERA's 2022 annual report, its investments were split between roughly $24 billion in public equities, $19 billion in bonds, $13 billion in private equity, $6 billion in real estate, $4 billion in hedge funds and $1 billion in real assets. Last year was the first in the prior three fiscal years that the pension fund's investment portfolio lost money. By contrast, investment returns of 25.2% in 2021 were far ahead of the 7% percent, which LACERA attributed to the strong performance from global equity and private equity assets. A shift to more fixed income among top investors will flow through to the "whole economy," Grabel said.

☆ Tax refunds are getting smaller, and fit into the picture of a slowing economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

But as pandemic-related tailwinds run their course, another example becoming a thing of the recent past is bigger than typical tax refunds. "Earlier in the quarter, we were seeing taxes, your tax refunds higher year-over-year, during the last probably five or six weeks we've seen that decline. As pandemic-era benefits and tax credit wane, the tax refund data factors into the broader economic picture and the consumer as a source of strength. watch nowAll spending, not just retail spending, will be impacted by lower tax refunds, and that will continue into next quarter. The smaller tax refunds should not be a surprise to businesses — the data has been mounting over the past four to six weeks.

☆ If it's the start of a new bull market, CFOs aren't buying it
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Even fewer CFOs this quarter rate the chances of a new high in the Dow (under 15%) as being more likely than a fall back below 30,000 (57%) of CFOs. There was elevated uncertainty within this C-suite group versus the prior quarterly survey, with nearly one-third saying they don't have conviction about the next trend in stocks. In the previous survey, CFOs were evenly split — roughly 40% in each camp — on whether the recession would begin during the first half or second half of this year. More CFOs believe inflation has peaked – that finding has moved higher across three consecutive quarterly surveys, from under 50% to roughly 75% now. More than half of CFOs predict that inflation will not return to 2% until 2025.

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