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☆ Leaked email outlines Amazon's big plans for 'AGI,' the AI tech all of Silicon Valley is chasing
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

"I am very proud of what this organization has already delivered for Alexa and AGI," Prasad added. Amazon's AGI team wasn't launched in response to this drama. The change also follows last week's job cuts within the AGI team, as BI previously reported . The cuts were part of a broader layoff that primarily affected Amazon's Alexa team. These are the six new teams formed within the AGI unit, as per the internal email:• AGI Product: defines AGI services and engages with internal customer teams to ensure end-to-end success.

Persons: Amazon's, Rohit Prasad, Prasad, Sam Altman, that's, Altman wasn't, didn't, wasn't, Andy Jassy, AGI, It's, • Organizations: Alexa, Devices, Business, Microsoft, Google, AGI, Amazon, TV

☆ Leaked email shows Amazon is cutting 'several hundred' jobs across Alexa business, including the newly launched Artificial General Intelligence team
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Amazon's Alexa business is laying off "several hundred" employees, including those on its recently launched artificial general intelligence team, Business Insider has learned. Rohit Prasad, SVP of the Artificial General Intelligence team, followed up with a separate email, saying his team, which launched in July, would be impacted as well. "While this was a hard decision to make, we remain very optimistic about the future of Alexa," an Amazon spokesperson told BI. The move continues to impact Amazon's Alexa unit, which has suffered from slow growth and low morale in recent years. The move continues to impact Amazon's Alexa unit, which has suffered from slow growth and low morale in recent years.

Persons: Amazon's, Daniel Rausch, it's, Rausch, Rohit Prasad, Prasad, Geekwire, Dave Limp, Alexa, Panos Paney, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Andy Jassy, Eugene Kim Organizations: Alexa, Business, Fire, BI, Artificial General Intelligence, Amazon, Microsoft

☆ An Amazon team is racing to launch new AI products similar to those from Microsoft GitHub, leaked email shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

An Amazon cloud VP sent a motivational email to his team last week after GitHub, the developer code-sharing site owned by Microsoft, held an artificial intelligence event and released a bunch of new products. In it, he noted the products announced at the GitHub Universe developer conference were similar to what his team is currently working on. One of the big products announced at GitHub Universe was the general availability of its Copilot Chat, a chatbot that helps answer developer questions and identify bugs. AWS, meanwhile, has announced products like Bedrock, a service that makes foundation models more easily accessible, and CodeWhisperer, a coding assistant app. The new chatbot for AWS developers is one example of that strategy, as it's intended to guide developers towards more AWS services when they are building AI products, the person familiar with the project told BI.

Persons: GitHub, Deepak Singh, Singh, They've, Google's Bard, it's Organizations: Microsoft, Business, Amazon, Services, GitHub, BI, AWS

☆ Amazon is blocking promotions of employees who don't comply with its return-to-office policy, leaked documents show
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Amazon told its managers last month that employees slated for promotions must comply with the company's return-to-office policy, which requires them to be in the office at least three times a week. Last month, Amazon told managers that they now have discretion to fire employees who refuse to comply with the return-to-office policy, as Insider previously reported . Amazon employees have been unsuccessfully protesting the RTO mandate since February, when it was first announced . And then, Amazon told managers they were allowed to fire employees who didn't comply. They are:An employee's role must have the capacity to be performed at the next level.

Persons: Slack, Jeff Organizations: Amazon, Business

☆ Apple asked Amazon to block rival ads. Insider found evidence of this special treatment, while others suffer from 'junk ads'
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Other companies's product pages are cluttered with a mix of ads and product recommendations from competitors or sometimes irrelevant brands. The latest Apple product pages on Amazon have none of this extra marketing. In contrast, Amazon search results for other brands, such as Samsung and Sony, show at least two or three sponsored ads from rivals. At the time, Apple also asked Amazon to make its product pages clean, without any non-Apple product recommendations. By providing "accurate, relevant and qualitative content on Apple Product pages," Apple has been able to address much of the counterfeit issues on Amazon, the iPhone maker said.

Persons: Jeff Bezos, Apple, Jeff Wilke, Kaziukenas, Amazon's, Wilke, Bose, it's, I'm, —, Bezos, Amazon Organizations: Amazon, Federal Trade Commission, Samsung Galaxy, Microsoft, Samsung, Apple, Sony, House, Committee, LG, Galaxy, FTC, Adidas

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailHow I transformed Canada Goose from a small family business into a $1.1 billion luxury brandWhen Dani Reiss took the reins as CEO of Canada Goose at age 27, he was running a company that brought in $2.2 million per year in revenue. Today, the luxury brand is worth $1.1 billion. Canada Goose parkas, with their iconic shoulder patches, cost more than $1,000 and the company sells more than one million jackets a year.

Persons: Dani Reiss Organizations: Canada Locations: Canada

☆ Amazon expects about $100 million in revenue through unique Thursday Night Football ad products, leaked document shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Amazon rolled out two new ad products within this year's Thursday Night Football broadcast — and internal projections estimate they will lead to almost $100 million in additional revenue, Insider has learned. Additionally, Amazon expects another $15 million in revenue from a second but similar type of ad unit. "In traditional media, everybody sees the same ad creative in an ad slot, hence reduces the ROl of the ad," the document said, referring to return on investment. "With audience targeting, advertisers can split the ad slot to display relevant targeted ads for different audience segments. Advertisers will get more returns on their ads and thus increase average CPM per ad slot and increase revenue per game."

Persons: Amazon's, John Ghiorso, Ghiorso Organizations: Amazon, Google, Football, Orca

Rodriguez and her four siblings grew up working on the farm and selling its products at farmers markets back in the city. Farm to operating tableThough she's close with her family, it was difficult breaking the news to her parents that she didn't want to continue working on the farm beyond high school, Rodriguez says. Her parents helped some, and she applied for scholarships, allowing Rodriguez to earn her bachelor's without taking on student debt. In fact, working with patients is one of the highlights of her work. How she spends her moneyEven after paying off her debt, Rodriguez has continued to save around 50% of her income.

Persons: Rodriguez, Chabely Rodriguez, Liam Mays, hasn't, CAAs, Andrea Desky, they're, undergrad, hustled, Donald Trump, I've, Gene Kim, HBO Max, she's Organizations: CNBC, CAA, Brooklyn College, District of Columbia, Nova Southeastern University, Housing, HBO, Toyota Corolla, YouTube Locations: Tampa , Florida, New York, Mexico, Brooklyn, Florida, Fort Lauderdale , Florida, anesthesiology, Costa Rica

☆ Leaked email shows Nvidia is paying its Israel-based employees a bonus and raising $10 million in humanitarian aid for the Israel-Hamas war
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Nvidia is doubling down on its effort to help those affected by the Israel-Hamas war. In an internal email on Monday, obtained by Insider, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the company will add a bonus in the upcoming paycheck for its Israel-based employees "to help in a small way." "The devastating war has caused unimaginable suffering and turned the lives of our families in Israel upside down," Huang wrote in the email. Nvidia is one of the US tech companies more directly affected by the war in Israel. Nearly 400 of those Nvidia employees have returned to military duty, Huang said in a separate email, viewed by Insider.

Persons: Jensen Huang, Huang, Nvidia's, Mellanox's, Eyal Waldman Organizations: Nvidia, Hamas, CNBC Locations: Israel, Gaza, Tel Aviv, Palestinian

☆ Amazon tells managers they can now fire employees who won't come into the office 3 times a week
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Amazon is now giving managers leeway to effectively fire employees who fail to meet the company's three-times-a-week, return-to-office mandate. That's according to updated global manager guidance on Amazon's return-to-office policy obtained by Insider. The guidelines tell managers to first hold a private conversation with employees who don't comply with the three-times-a-week requirement. Giving managers the ability to fire employees for non-compliance is the strongest measure Amazon has taken over its return-to-office policy. In February, Amazon said that corporate employees would have to come into the office at least three times a week starting in May.

Persons: Amazon's, Amazon, Andy Jassy, Rob Munoz, Munoz, We'll Organizations: Amazon, Amazon's

☆ Leaked document shows Amazon wants to bring personalized ads to its smart shopping carts in grocery stores
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-18 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Dash Cart users are required to sign in to the cart using an Amazon or Whole Foods account. At the time, Amazon made the Dash Cart available at select Whole Foods stores, in addition to many of its Fresh grocery stores. Once personalized ads are rolled out, Dash Cart users would get ads based on things like the area of the store they are in. Dash Cart users are able to automatically check-out products placed in the cart without having to go through a cashier. But its physical stores revenue, mostly coming from Whole Foods and its Fresh grocery stores, grew just 6% year-over-year last quarter to $5 billion.

Persons: Dash, it's, Jefferies Organizations: Amazon, Foods, Investment

☆ Leaked email shows Amazon's private label boss moved to a new job internally after the company cut dozens of in-house brands
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-16 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Amazon's executive in charge of its private-label business has found a new role on the supply chain side, following the company's decision to axe dozens of house brands, Insider has learned. Matt Taddy, formerly Amazon's VP of private brands, is now VP of supply chain optimization technology, also known as SCOT, according to an internal email reviewed by Insider. Amazon's private label business launched dozens of in-house brands in recent years across a number of categories, including clothing, furniture, and electronics. The Federal Trade Commission said in a lawsuit against Amazon last month that the company "degrades its search quality by stacking the deck against third-party competitors of Amazon's private label products." In response, Amazon started significantly scaling back its private label business, and decided to cut many of these brands, according to the Wall Street Journal .

Persons: Matt Taddy, Taddy, Deepack Bhatia, John Felton, Felton, Matt, didn't Organizations: Worldwide Operations, Federal Trade Commission, Amazon, Wall Street, University of Chicago, Microsoft

☆ Strange Amazon job posting suggests the company is fishing for 'opportunistic' hires
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-13 | by ( Ashley Stewart | Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Amazon accidentally published a job posting for a director of security engineering for something called "Project Panda" with a strange description indicating the listing would be used to find "opportunistic candidates." "This posting was listed in error and we're working to remove it," Brad Glasser, an Amazon spokesperson said. "Pooling requisition for security," the now-deleted job posting repeatedly stated. The job posting, and the description in particular, fueled speculation among insiders over if Amazon is advertising positions the company doesn't intend to fill, one told us. Amazon laid off 27,000 employees over the past year, and has put a hiring freeze in many teams across the company.

Persons: Brad Glasser, that's, Eugene Kim Organizations: Amazon, LinkedIn, AWS Locations: Detroit

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWhy Americans are relocating to Mexico City for a better lifeWhat does it take to achieve the American Dream? For some, it means moving to Mexico City. CNBC Make It spoke to several Americans who have relocated in search of a better life. For locals, it's complicated.

Organizations: Mexico City, CNBC Locations: Mexico

☆ Americans are flocking to Mexico City where rent is cheaper and life is more laid-back—for locals, it’s complicated
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( Celia Fernandez Tasia Jensen Beatriz Bajuelos Castillo | Celia Fernandez | Tasia Jensen | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +18 min

Moran moved to Mexico City in 2019 and is now a permanent resident and lives with Dai, her Mexican boyfriend. "When North Americans come to Mexico, especially to Mexico City, they do not come for survival reasons," Osorno says. Alberto Martinez believes that the Mexican government needs to come up with a way to control rent prices in Mexico City. In 2022, the Mexico City government partnered with Airbnb to promote the city as a global remote working hub. In 2022, Airbnb and Mexico City announced a partnership that caused an uproar among CDMX locals.

Persons: it's, Gene Kim, Kyla Moran, Moran, Dai, Tasia Jensen, Beatriz Bajuelos, Hutchins, Caitlin Hutchins, Cora, Victor, Adalia, —, Aborisade, Hutchins isn't, I'm, Keith Brown, Brown, George Floyd, There's, doling, I've, Darnell, Tiara Darnell, Guillermo Osorno, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Leticia Lozano, Lozano, Anais Martinez, Martinez, It's, Leticia Lozano López, Alberto Martinez, Airbnb, Lozano López Organizations: CNBC, Mexico City, Black American, Spanish, U.S, Spotify, National Institute of Statistics, Human Rights, Osorno, Roma, Mexico's Foreign Affairs, New, of Labor Statistics, National Autonomous University of Mexico, The New York Times, Urban Regeneration, MIT, Airbnb, Nurphoto Locations: Mexico City, Mexico's, Ciudad, North America, Mexico, U.S, American, Hutchins, North Carolina, Texas, Mexico City's, United States, Buffalo , New York, Buffalo, Roma Norte, La, Osorno, Tourism Secretarait, Mexican, New York City, —, La Condesa, Airbnb, Latin America, Barcelona, Florence, Congress

☆ Leaked email shows an Nvidia employee was one of the civilians kidnapped by Hamas in a viral video
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-11 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told employees that an employee in Israel had been kidnapped by Hamas. Huang told affected employees to "delegate critical work to our colleagues all around the world." download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementAdvertisementAn Nvidia employee in Israel was kidnapped by Hamas over the weekend during the attacks by Hamas on Israel. In his email on Sunday, Huang told employees to "stay home" and "prioritize your family."

Persons: Jensen Huang, Huang, — Organizations: Nvidia, Service Locations: Israel, Silicon Valley, Gaza, Tel Aviv

☆ Leaked memo shows Amazon will make Fresh grocery deliveries for Prime members a lot cheaper again
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( Ashley Stewart | Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Amazon Prime members in the US will soon be able to get free grocery delivery orders from Amazon Fresh when they spend over $100 on the site, Insider has learned. In an email to Insider, Claire Peters, Amazon's worldwide VP of Amazon Fresh, said the change will go into effect Thursday afternoon. Amazon offers grocery delivery to Prime members in more than 3,500 cities and towns across the U.S. Non-Prime members in a dozen metro areas, including Austin, Boston, and San Diego, can also receive grocery deliveries. Amazon is considering a separate, standalone grocery subscription service for Prime members, as Insider previously reported . The internal document about the new Fresh fee structure reflects Amazon's willingness to keep investing in the Fresh grocery business.

Persons: Claire Peters, Peters, Amazon's, it's, Amazon, It's, Brian Olsavsky, Eugene Kim Organizations: Amazon, Foods, U.S . Locations: Austin, Boston, San Diego

☆ Amazon sees its new AI search engine, codenamed Project Nile, helping to increase sales from mobile users
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Amazon is working on a secret new initiative, called Project Nile, that overhauls its search engine to add AI chatbot technology. One potential outcome from the upgraded search experience is more sales from mobile users, according to a transcript of an internal presentation earlier this year by Joseph Sirosh, VP of Amazon Search and Alexa Shopping. Sirosh said it will be "mobile first" because that's where the new features may have the biggest impact on sales. "If we can increase the conversion on mobile, because we provide great experiences, great expert answers, then that could be a potentially significant lift to Amazon," Sirosh added. During the presentation, Sirosh said the new AI conversation layer will be added to the currently existing Amazon search bar.

Persons: Joseph Sirosh, Sirosh Organizations: Amazon Search, Alexa, Google

☆ Insider Today: Amazon's secret search plan
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

AdvertisementAdvertisementThe retail giant is overhauling its search bar with ChatGPT-like features that'll act as a sort of concierge for customers, offering expert answers and product suggestions. Dubbed Project Nile, Amazon's top leaders, including CEO Andy Jassy, view the new search bar as a top priority. AdvertisementAdvertisementHowever, Amazon's overhauled search bar will arguably be the most impactful implementation of generative AI from Big Tech for US consumers thus far. insider intelligenceIn reading Eugene's piece, three follow-up questions immediately came to mind:How will Amazon sellers try and game the new search bar? However, Joseph Sirosh serves as VP of Amazon Search and Alexa Shopping, suggesting Alexa could get a much-needed boost from the new search bar.

Persons: —, Mike Blake, Alyssa Powell, Amazon's, Andy Jassy, Eugene Kim, Joseph Sirosh, Alexa, TikTok, Ben Sun, Anu Duggal, Susan Lyne, Josh Wolfe, Matt Harris, Jillian Williams, Melissa Kwan, Sergey Brin, Brin, Hugo Herrera, Sam Bankman, Fried, Dan DeFrancesco, Naga Siu, Hallam Bullock, Lisa Ryan Organizations: Service, Reuters, Nile, Microsoft, Big Tech, Alexa, Amazon Search, Getty, Wall Street, BBG Ventures, Lux Capital, Apple, Bain Capital Ventures, Cowboy Ventures, Prosecutors, BET, MLB, American League and National League, Houston Astros Locations: Atlanta, Sonoma , California, New York City, San Diego, London, New York

☆ Inside Project Nile: Amazon's secret AI-powered plan to change the way you shop online.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-02 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

"Project Nile is a confidential initiative wherein we're building a conversational shopping agent for Retail customers," one internal document explained. Wearing that "I love AI" t-shirt, Sirosh, VP of Amazon Search and Alexa Shopping, introduced Project Nile as a "super confidential" project. Project Nile isn't the only move Amazon has made in the popular generative AI space. For Amazon's retail side, Project Nile is one of the most important projects. Sirosh has told his team he's "staffing up very rapidly" as Project Nile is the "absolute top priority."

Persons: Joseph Sirosh, Sirosh, Stephen Lam, It's, they're, Andy Jassy, Doug Herrington, Jassy, Rohit Prasad, ChatGPT, Microsoft's Bing, Google's Bard Organizations: Amazon, Microsoft, Retail, Amazon Search, Alexa, Nile, ChatGPT, Google Locations: Anthropic, OpenAI

☆ How companies spy on their employees as they push return-to-office — from monitoring badge swipes to tracking breaks
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-01 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Here's how firms use "bossware" to keep tabs on employees, from tracking keystrokes to breaks. AdvertisementAdvertisementJPMorgan's dashboard "provides the percentage of days employees were in the office out of the possible eligible days," a description on the company intranet says. AdvertisementAdvertisement"We help companies get peace of mind with productivity analytics," he previously told Insider. Sensors tracking employees' whereabouts in the officeSome employers may even keep tabs on where employees spend the most time in the office. CEO Alex Birch previously told Insider the devices don't identify individuals but render them as dots on a screen.

Persons: —, Insider's Eugene Kim, Rob Munoz, Goldman Sachs, it's, Carlo Borja, Insider's Reed Alexander, Alex Birch, Big, It's, Sean Grundy Organizations: Service, JPMorgan, Bevi

☆ Leaked screenshot shows Amazon is now tracking individual employee office attendance records, reversing its anonymized data policy
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Amazon is now tracking and sharing individual office attendance records, a reversal of an old policy, as the company doubles down on forcing employees back into the office. Amazon employees in the US are now able to see a "Badge Report" on their own internal HR dashboard, according to a screenshot obtained by Insider. The report shows "days badged per week" data and the exact "days of week" each employee badged-in for each of the past 8 weeks. The report excludes data for non-corporate Amazon buildings, like warehouses, data centers, and 3rd party offices such as WeWork. The memo added badge data is not available to employees in Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Korea, or Taiwan.

Persons: Peter DeSantis, Rob Munoz, Munoz, Andy Jassy, it's Locations: Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Korea, Taiwan

☆ Amazon SVP pledges to clarify RTO policy, says warning email about office attendance was meant to be a 'nudge'
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

He also told employees to share anecdotes of being pressured to immediately relocate with his HR team, so he could "dig into" those situations. "I think we created some noise, which I think is important because we really do want people back in the office," DeSantis said, according to the transcript. 'Take another whack at clarifying this message'At the town hall meeting, DeSantis said the employees who were asked to relocate were those "in purely virtual locations." 'Kind of a nudge'In August, many Amazon employees received an email accusing them of not adhering to the company's RTO policy. The warning email, he said, was "well-intentioned" and only meant to be a "nudge" for people who weren't complying.

Persons: hasn't, Peter DeSantis, DeSantis, Rob Munoz, Munoz, Andy Jassy Michael M, Andy Jassy's, what's Organizations: Amazon, Utility Computing

☆ Amazon employees slam its Clubhouse-competing app in internal meeting following abrupt leadership change: 'This place is becoming a circus'
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Eugene Kim | Katherine Long | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A sudden leadership change at Amazon's Amp live radio division this week has drawn a rancorous response and trenchant questions from employees, reflecting the mounting hostility within the failing business. Shortly after the announcement, employees submitted a long list of questions for leadership at an internal town hall meeting scheduled for Wednesday. 'Failing to lead Amp to success'Many questions submitted by employees asked about the general direction of the Amp business. Another person noted the Amp team has missed some of its key performance goals, such as monthly active users. Employees expressed a strong distrust of the leadership team, too.

Persons: Matt Sandler, John Ciancutti, Alok Verma, didn't, Nicki Minaj, Sandler, John, Eugene Kim, Katherine Long Organizations: Amazon, Amazon Music's, Amazon Care, Employees

☆ Amazon considers new subscription plans for its healthcare and grocery services, and a potential One Medical integration with Prime
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Amazon is considering new subscription programs across grocery and healthcare, a potential shot in the arm for its Prime membership program. One of the ideas is to offer One Medical's service at a discounted price to existing Prime members, one of the people said. Amazon is struggling to attract younger customers and low income households to use its Prime membership program, one of the people said. Aside from Prime, Amazon offers separate subscriptions for video and music streaming, as well as its Audible audiobook service. Previously, Prime members received free grocery deliveries on orders over $35.

Organizations: Amazon Prime, Amazon, Foods, Rings, Power

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