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☆ Perplexity AI in final stages of raising $500 million round at $9 billion valuation
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-05 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Perplexity AI, the artificial-intelligence search engine startup, is in the final stages of raising $500 million in funding at a $9 billion valuation, a source familiar with the situation told CNBC. Perplexity most recent valuation was $3 billion in June. Perplexity started the year with a roughly $500 million valuation. Despite the AI boom, Perplexity has been embroiled in controversy due to accusations of plagiarizing content from media outlets. WATCH: Perplexity unveils AI election hub: Here's what you need to know

Persons: Perplexity, OpenAI, Microsoft's Bing, Der Spiegel, Dmitry Shevelenko, Shevelenko Organizations: CNBC, Google, Institutional Venture Partners, New York Times, Media, The Texas Tribune, WordPress Locations: ChatGPT

☆ OpenAI announces content deal with Hearst, including content from Cosmopolitan, Esquire and the San Francisco Chronicle
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-08 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

OpenAI announced a partnership with Hearst, the media conglomerate behind outlets like the Houston Chronicle, the San Francisco Chronicle, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Elle and others. "Our partnership with OpenAI will help us evolve the future of magazine content," Hearst Magazines President Debi Chirichella said in a statement. The deal is the latest in a recent trend of media outlets entering into content partnerships with AI startups. OpenAI announced a similar partnership in August with Condé Nast, which owns media brands such as Vogue, The New Yorker, GQ, Vanity Fair and Wired. Reddit also announced a deal with OpenAI in May to allow the ChatGPT maker to train its AI models on the social media company's content.

Persons: Sam Altman, OpenAI, Elle, Debi Chirichella, Condé Nast, Der Spiegel, WordPress.com, Reddit Organizations: Economic, Hearst, Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, Cosmopolitan, OpenAI, Vogue, Yorker, GQ, Wired, Media, The Texas Tribune, Time, News Corp, Wall Street, Barron's, New York Post, Center, Investigative, Microsoft, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News, The New York Times, Southern, of, Apple Locations: Davos, Switzerland, U.S, of New York

☆ Why WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg has gone 'nuclear' against tech investing giant Silver Lake
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-05 | by ( Ari Levy | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Automattic founder, Matt Mullenweg Source: AutomatticMatt Mullenweg, who turned 40 in January, has now spent more than half his life working on WordPress. Silicon Valley private equity firm Silver Lake bought a majority stake in WP Engine in 2018, investing $250 million and obtaining three board seats. WordPress took the drastic step of banning WP Engine from using the WordPress resources necessary to serve its customers, which preceded a lawsuit filed on Wednesday by WP Engine against Mullenweg and Automattic. In the post, Mullenweg criticized WP Engine for not contributing enough back to the WordPress ecosystem. A Silver Lake spokesperson said WP Engine was handling all inquiries.

Persons: Matt Mullenweg, He's, —, I've, Mullenweg, he'd, Neal Katyal, Tomasz Tunguz, Tunguz, Automattic, Lee Wittlinger, they're, didn't, Bob Perkowitz, Perkowitz, he's, They've, wouldn't Organizations: WordPress, WP, Silver Lake, CNBC, Theory Ventures, WordPress.org Locations: U.S, WordCamp, Portland , Oregon, Silver, Auotmattic

The FBI said Monday afternoon that it is investigating what the Trump campaign has characterized as a successful effort to hack into its campaign and steal private documents. A Trump campaign spokesperson said Saturday that it had been hacked in June. The claim from the Trump campaign adds to what had already been a deeply antagonistic relationship between Iran and the former president. The apparent hack of Trump campaign files echoes the 2016 Russian campaign against Hillary Clinton, but so far seems notably less elaborate in distributing the hacked files. There is no apparent similar distribution system for the hacked Trump files, at least so far.

Persons: Trump, Hillary, Hillary Clinton’s, Donald Trump, Chris Krebs, SentinelOne, ”, Krebs, Qassem Soleimani, Adam Schiff, ” Schiff, Schiff, Hillary Clinton, Simin Kargar Organizations: FBI, Politico, The Washington Post, The New York Times, NBC News, Microsoft, United Nations, Democratic National Committee, U.S, Republican, Infrastructure Security Agency, Biden, Iran’s, Former U.S, Rep, House Intelligence Committee, Intelligence, Democratic, Trump, WikiLeaks, Atlantic, Forensic Research Locations: Russia, China, Iran, Tehran, U.S, Romanian

☆ Perplexity AI will share revenue with publishers after plagiarism accusations
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-30 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Perplexity AI on Tuesday debuted a revenue-sharing model for publishers after more than a month of plagiarism accusations. Media outlets and content platforms including Fortune, Time, Entrepreneur, The Texas Tribune, Der Spiegel and WordPress.com are the first to join the company's "Publishers Program." Under the new partner program, any time a user asks a question and Perplexity generates advertising revenue from citing one of the publisher's articles in its answer, Perplexity will share a flat percentage of that revenue. "Some of it grew out of conversations we were having with publishers about integrating Perplexity APIs and technology into their products," Shevelenko said. But not all news organizations are gearing up for a fight, and some are instead joining forces with AI startups like OpenAI, Perplexity and others.

Persons: Der Spiegel, WordPress.com, Forbes, Weeks, Perplexity, Dmitry Shevelenko, Shevelenko, ScalePost.ai, OpenAI, Jonathan Franzen, John Grisham, George R.R, Martin, Jodi Picoult Organizations: Media, The Texas Tribune, Wired, Google, CNBC, Center, Investigative, Microsoft, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News, Time, News Corp, Wall Street, Barron's, New York Post Locations: Perplexity

☆ This scientist who worked for Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates is now a VC funding other 'mad scientists'
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-23 | by ( Hayley Cuccinello | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

And while he wants to tackle the world's biggest problems such as waste, impact isn't Deep Future's sole priority. Related storiesIn some ways, Deep Future's mission harkens back to Silicon Valley's roots, he said. As for Deep Future's investments, the challenge is whether the technology can be built and made cost-effective, ideally within its investment horizon of 10 years. One of Deep Future's portfolio companies, Descycle, is developing non-toxic chemicals to separate gold in electronics in landfills. Getting investors on board with mad scientistsWith Deep Future's niche, getting investors' attention has been easy, Holman said.

Persons: —, Pablos Holman, Jeff Bezos's, Bill Gates, Michael Reid, Holman didn't, Holman, Matt Mullenweg, that's, Alfred Steiner, I'm Organizations: Service, Origin, Ventures Laboratory, Business, Investors, WordPress

One of the most important steps you can take is building a website for your business. I got my first business website around 2000. I vowed never to have another business website I couldn't manage myself. I built my freelance writing website in WordPress, which is much fancier than I could have designed without those tools. One way to choose a page builder is by looking at templates and using the builder for the template you like.

Persons: — Organizations: Service, WordPress, Beaver

☆ I work in the unpredictable film industry so I started blogging as a side hustle. Now it supports me fully — here's how I built it.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Elle Hardy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

I could be on a three-month film set or a nine-month series set and then go months without a call. I started working on YouTube thumbnails and event flyers for the music industry. For example, a friend helped repair my dishwasher, so I put together "gift ideas for makers and tinkers." AdvertisementI started posting in groups and asking for gift ideas to write blog posts about. It's not money I would make on a film set, but it was something.

Persons: —, Ana Julia Gomes, I've, John Wick, Jessica Jones, It's, I'm, DINK Organizations: Service, Business, Constellation, Apple, DJ, WordPress, Facebook Locations: Berlin, Cuba, Miami, New York City

☆ Shopify plans a reorg of its Support division as the ratio of managers to 'crafters' falls below target
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-29 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Read previewShopify is planning a reorganization of its Support division, and employees worry cuts are on the way. He said that Support teams working with Shopify's largest enterprise merchants would not be affected. OpenAI recently hired Glen Worthington, Shopify's former vice president of global support, to lead its own customer service operations. Jen Bebb, previously Shopify's director of global merchant and product support, left the company in March when Worthington left. Clovis Cuqui, who previously led support as Shopify's VP of merchant acceleration, announced his departure in October.

Persons: —, David Kohl, We've, Kohl, we're, crafters, Shopify, OpenAI, Glen Worthington, Shopify's, Jen Bebb, Worthington, Clovis Cuqui Organizations: Service, Business, WordPress Locations: Philippines, Canada, mstone@businessinsider.com

☆ OpenAI poaches Shopify's former head of support as the e-commerce giant's support org faces a shake-up
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-09 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

He's the latest among a string of leaders in Shopify's support organization to leave. Shopify's work with AI has incorporated large language models, including those developed by OpenAI. Shopify's Support organization has undergone some leadership changes in recent months. Jen Bebb, previously Shopify's director of global merchant and product support, left the company in March when Worthington left. Miqdad Jaffer, who led companywide AI initiatives as a director of product at Shopify, joined OpenAI's product staff in March.

Persons: OpenAI, Glen Worthington, Worthington, Shopify, Toby Shannan, generalists, Jen Bebb, Clovis Cuqui, Worthington isn't, Miqdad Jaffer Organizations: Business, OpenAI, Operations, Engineering, LinkedIn, WordPress Locations: Shopify, OpenAI, mstone@businessinsider.com

☆ Tumblr is selling user data to train AI. Things could get weird.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read preview404 Media reported that Auttomatic, the company that owns WordPress and Tumblr, is making a deal to provide data from their sites to help train OpenAI and Midjourney. The blog post says that Auttomatic's sites currently block AI crawlers, but when they start sharing data with the AI companies, they'll offer an opt-out from doing so in the future. Reddit has a $60 million-a-year deal to license its data to Google to train its AI. This can be controversial for some users, who feel uncomfortable about their content — on Tumblr, this is often personal writing or photography or art — being used to train AI. When platforms with user-generated content are selling that content to train AI, it feels, well, understandably weird.

Persons: —, Auttomatic, Sherlock Holmes fanfiction, Sherlock, Watson, Reddit, I'm, Midjourney Organizations: Service, Business, Google, Facebook

☆ 7 in-demand side hustles you can do from home—some can pay as much as $100 an hour
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-24 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

There are dozens of in-demand, non-tech side hustles you can do remotely to earn extra cash — some of which can pay as much as $100 an hour. These jobs have dozens of active listings and offer remote, part-time opportunities. Some of these remote side hustles can pay upwards of $100 per hour, depending on your level of skill and the project. Bookkeepers on Upwork, for example, can charge as much as $175 an hour or, for some projects, $300 an hour. The most salient benefit of pursuing one of these remote side hustles, says Frana, is the flexibility.

Persons: FlexJobs, Toni Frana, Frana, Angelique Rewers, BoldHaus Organizations: CNBC

☆ AI spam is already starting to ruin the internet
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Scammers are using AI to spit out web pages and YouTube videos that game Google. AdvertisementA little over a year after the public launch of ChatGPT, we're starting to see one prediction come true of how it could affect the internet: AI spam is flooding the web. First, 404 Media, a new tech blog, wrote about how they've had to modify their website because of AI spam. AdvertisementThe New York Times recently reported on the pain these AI-generated YouTube videos caused a real grieving family. After a college student died accidentally falling onto New York subway tracks, YouTube videos and AI-generated articles quickly appeared.

Persons: —, they've, Jason, Taylor Swift Organizations: Google, Service, Media, Wired, New York Times, New, Times Locations: New York

☆ Zuckerberg says Threads will dip its toe in the 'fediverse' as it opens to Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-14 | by ( Kevin Collier | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Meta will begin testing a system that allows posts from its microblogging platform Threads to appear on other social media services, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday. The fediverse is still tiny compared to Threads, with about 11 million users, the vast majority of them on Mastodon. Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, wrote on Threads that the platform is starting with the ability to follow Threads users from other ActivityPub platforms, adding that the ability for Threads users to follow accounts from other platforms is in the works. If Threads goes through with full ActivityPub integration, people will be able to follow Threads users and see their posts without having to join the platform (Threads currently forces users to sign up through an Instagram account). Similarly, Threads users will be able to follow users and see posts from across ActivityPub's network.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, Evan Prodromou, It's, X, Adam Mosseri, Instagram, Mike McCue, Flipboard, Christine Lemmer, Webber Organizations: Meta, Mozilla Locations: Europe, United States, Israel

☆ Check out the pitch deck that startup Aditude, whose tech makes it easier for publishers to sell ads, used to raise $15 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-03 | by ( Lauren Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Aditude, a startup that helps publishers manage their ad businesses, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Founder and CEO Jared Siegel started Aditude in 2019 consulting for ad-supported publishers before building products for publishers. Siegel said the average publisher Aditude works with has between 700 million and 1 billion monthly ad impressions. Aditude can also recommend layouts of where publishers should place ads on pages and what size ads to sell. Here are the key slides from the pitch deck Aditude used to raise its Series A funding.

Persons: Jared Siegel, Aditude, Siegel Organizations: Aditude

☆ AI is killing the grand bargain at the heart of the web. 'We're in a different world.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Kali Hays | Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

AdvertisementAdvertisementAI is undermining the web's grand bargain, and a decades-old handshake agreement is the only thing standing in the way. Now, though, generative AI and large language models are changing the mission of web crawlers radically and rapidly. Without a supply of potential consumers, there's little incentive for content creators to let web crawlers continue to suck up free data online. It's also open to manipulation, especially given the voracious appetite for quality AI data. Because robots.txt is voluntary, web crawlers can also simply ignore the blocking instructions and siphon the information from a site anyway.

Persons: Microsoft's Bing, Joost de Valk, It's, de Valk, Nick Vincent, Valk, OpenAI, robots.txt, Jason Schultz, Catherine Stihler, Archie, NYU's Schultz, Steven Sinofsky, who's, Andreessen Horowitz, De Valk, Stihler Organizations: Big Tech, Google, Wordpress, NYU's Technology, Policy Clinic, AWS, Creative Commons, Creative, Microsoft, Nvidia, Star Wars, DC Comics, Warner Brothers, Marvel, Disney, Atlantic, Meta Locations: CCBot, EleutherAI

☆ I built my own app without knowing a single line of code. It was surprising how fast I got everything to work using AI and other tools.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Ryan S. Gladwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

James Brooks is a social media marketer who turned to AI and no-code apps to create extra revenue. He uses the AI tool Magai to help whenever he gets stuck using no-code tools. I used no-code tools as the foundation to my product and utilized AI to help when I got stuck. I used AI to help meThingy Bridge is very database heavy so I used AirTable , a low‒code database platform, and Make, which helps connect services. If you have used AI to build a product or generate revenue and would like to share your story, email Jenna Gyimesi at jgyimesi@insider.com.

Persons: James Brooks, Taco, I've, influencers, what's, —, Claude, Magai, that's, we've, JournoMofo, Twitter —, you've, isn't, it's, Jenna Gyimesi Organizations: KFC, Subway, Taco Bell, Brands, Twitter Locations: AirTable

☆ My 10-year-old spends up to 5 hours a week learning to code. Here are the best resources I've found to help him get ahead in his future career.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( Robin Madell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Joel Gratcyk's son Wesley spends a few hours a week learning to code in Python, PHP, and Swift. Wesley started taking free courses when he was 7 and uses both online and library resources. Gratcyk said that whether or not Wesley goes into coding, he'll have an advantage in his career. Another one he's done is freeCodeCamp , which offers over 3,000 hours of tutorials for all levels of computer programming for free. The amount of time Wesley spends on coding changes from week to weekWesley enjoys coding most days.

Persons: Joel Gratcyk's, Wesley, Swift, Gratcyk, Joel Gratcyk, It's, He's, I've, we've, we're Organizations: Service, Khan Academy, Apple Locations: Wall, Silicon, Illinois

Yeah, you’re going to need one of those fancy pizza ovens to replicate this in your home. I think right now, every media company in the world is trying to figure out what replaces Twitter. And they say, you’re going to about to make the easiest money you’ve ever made in your entire life. You’re going to have more people beating a path down your door than you thought was possible. We now have Ubers that are so — I don’t know if you’ve looked at your Uber receipts recently.

Persons: kevin roose I’m, casey newton, kevin roose, casey newton They’re, kevin roose Gang, casey newton Oh, let’s, Kevin Roose, ” casey newton, Casey Newton, —, Casey, casey newton Mhmm, it’s, kevin roose I’d, you’re, you’ve, — casey newton, Sam Altman, casey newton Isn’t, that’s, Silly Putty, I’m, casey newton Well, Kevin, what’s, kevin roose Totally, casey newton I’ll, Unobtainium, James Cameron, You’ve, Meissner, we’re, There’s, they’re, casey newton Here’s, Twitch, kevin roose There’s, Iris_IGB, she’s, there’s, casey newton There’s, Russia she’s, I’ve, They’ve, hasn’t, ChatGPT, Claude, They’re, hydroxychloroquine, Joe Rogan, Bravo, “ Fortnite, casey newton That’s, we’ve, casey newton Kevin, India Venom, Lydia Tár, we’ll, don’t, casey newton Sure, ”, Joe Biden, casey newton I’m, casey newton Mike Masnick, he’s, Mike, — casey newton Look, who’d, It’s, HatGPT, kevin roose —, casey newton We’re, Rupert Murdaugh, Beast, James Donaldson, Jimmy Donaldson, a.k.a, Beast — casey newton James, Uber, Beast Burger, Burger, We’re, Meta, Abraham Lincoln, Facebook — Abraham Lincoln, casey newton It’s, kevin roose Oh, Abraham —, roose, casey newton Greg Rutkowski, Greg Rutkowski, Greg Rutkowski’s, Greg, You’re, casey newton Wow, Elon Musk, San Francisco NIMBYs, Don’t, kevin roose It’s, you’re Uber Organizations: Mmm, casey newton Mmm, The New York Times, Quantum Energy Research Center, collider, Twitter, Capitol, Federal Trade Commission, Netflix, Heritage Foundation, Republican, Democrats, Republicans, California, Tax, Facebook, YouTube, HatGPT, BBC, WordPress, Health Department, Financial Times, Ford Theater, ” Workers, San, Wall Street Locations: Seoul, Russian, Russia, India, KOSA, SESTA, The, Kashmir, tooting, Washington, San Francisco, Ha, Canada

☆ 10 in-demand side hustles you can do from home—some can pay as much as $100 an hour
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Remote job opportunities might be dwindling, but there are dozens of side hustles you can do to earn some extra cash without leaving the comfort of your home — some of which can pay as much as $100 an hour. These jobs have dozens of active listings and offer remote, part-time opportunities. If you're interested in starting a remote side hustle, consider monetizing your creative skills: The most in-demand remote, part-time gigs employers are hiring for are in writing, editing and design, according to new research from FlexJobs. Other remote side hustles can pay upwards of $100 per hour, depending on your level of skill and the project. Some remote side hustles, like bookkeeping or graphic design, have more flexible hours than others, Gardner says.

☆ Blogs are a low-lift but high-reward tool for starting your own business. Two founders share tips for how to use blogs to stand out and prove credibility.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Alexandra York | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

They share best practices for search-engine optimization and choosing the right blog platform. "The blog is the thing that supports your mission, that continues to prove your credibility and value to people," Dunlap said. Dunlap and Curtis shared their tips for launching a blog, including leveraging search-engine optimization and choosing the right platform. Dunlap said SEO should play into every aspect of a blog post, including the browser title, post title, URL, blog copy, and image captions. "If a brand is paying me for a social-media post, I offer a sponsored blog post for an extra amount," she said.

☆ I make up to $13,000 a month from my digital-marketing business and still have the flexibility to travel and snowboard — here's how I built it
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Perri Ormont Blumberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

She and her partner made $180,000 in 2022 while maintaining the flexibility to ski and snowboard. I now live near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, during the winters to snowboard and run my digital-marketing agency, Snowmad Digital. When the pandemic hit in March 2020, the PR agency I was working for fired everyone, and I started wildland firefighting. One of my newer clients said they saw the video and just hired me this month largely because of it. I never work with my clients' competitors, and I work with clients all around the country and the world.

Employees have been working around the clock to onboard as many startups as possible in the wake of the implosion of Silicon Valley Bank. Silicon Valley Bank, which had more than $175 billion in deposits and served nearly half of US VC-backed startups, was taken over by US regulators on March 10. "That said, I am worried that this bias towards a Big Four bank is a double-edged sword," Shekar added. "SVB did not think like a big bank. They could understand your operating plan when a big bank would balk at it," Ashley Tyrner, CEO and founder of FarmBoxRX, told Insider.

☆ My blog that I started as a side gig made 6 figures in revenue last year — and it's helped me pay off $40,000 of debt
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Latasha Peterson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Latasha Peterson started her blog, Arts and Budgets, in 2016 to help people find ways to earn money. How can I help my target audience with my product and services this month? Should I create a new product or service to help my target audience on a deeper level? What do you want to accomplish in the next three to six months with your side hustle or blog business? Consistency has also helped me develop relationships with my target audience, brands, and collaborators, which has helped my blog become profitable.

☆ Entrepreneurs, Small Business Owners in US, UK Paying Virtual Assistants $2.50 Per Hour
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Aimee Pearcy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Virtual assistants help small-business owners with tasks like entering data, managing email, answering calls, creating client invoices, handling live chat support, and bolstering social-media engagement. Other virtual assistants aren't as fortunate. Since Jonas launched OnlineJobs.ph in 2009, he said, it has become a leading platform for Filipino virtual assistants, with over 2 million profiles offering services. Paying virtual assistants similar rates, regardless of whether they're also in a Western country, is an obvious solution. "Virtual assistants work with a client constantly.

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