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One proposal to Mr. Zuckerberg for 45 new staff members was declined. It was rejected and he returned to Mr. Zuckerberg in November with a scaled-down proposal for 32 new hires. It is unclear what Mr. Zuckerberg decided. At the hearing, Mr. Zuckerberg plans to suggest that Apple bear the responsibility for verifying ages via its App Store, according to his prepared remarks. Mr. Zuckerberg has long positioned Meta — and the internet writ large — as a place for both good and ill.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, Meta, Richard Blumenthal, Marsha Blackburn, Mr, Blumenthal, “ We’ve, Andy Stone, Sheryl Sandberg, Nick Clegg, Clegg, Zuckerberg’s, ”, “ Organizations: Meta, Facebook, Republican, Apple Locations: Connecticut, Tennessee

☆ Focused Cuts and Fewer Layers: Tech Layoffs Enter a New Phase
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Mike Isaac | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Amazon, Google and Microsoft also cut tens of thousands of workers. And the companies — including X, formerly known as Twitter, which has chopped nearly 80 percent of its staff since late 2022 — continued operating. And a month into 2024, tech companies have entered a new phase of cost cutting. After last year’s widespread layoffs, the largest firms — including Amazon, Google and Microsoft — have in recent weeks made smaller, targeted job trims while focusing on fewer projects and shifting resources to key products such as artificial intelligence. Some tech start-ups — such as Flexport, Bolt and Brex — have slashed more deeply to stave off potential extinction.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, — Organizations: Meta, Google, Microsoft

Soon after, an Amazon executive sent a private message to an executive at another company. He said Anthropic had won the deal because it agreed to build its A.I. Amazon, he wrote, wanted to create a viable competitor to the chipmaker Nvidia, a key partner and kingmaker in the all-important field of artificial intelligence. over the last year exposed just how dependent big tech companies had become on Nvidia. They have spent billions of dollars on Nvidia’s systems, and the chipmaker has not kept up with the demand.

Persons: Amazon, Anthropic Organizations: Amazon, Nvidia Locations: Anthropic, San Francisco

☆ Tech Chiefs From Meta, TikTok and Others to Testify on Child Safety Online
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-24 | by ( Cecilia Kang | Mike Isaac | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

At 1 p.m. on a Friday shortly before Christmas last year, Kent Walker, Google’s top lawyer, summoned four of his employees and ruined their weekend. The group worked in SL1001, a bland building with a blue glass facade betraying no sign that dozens of lawyers inside were toiling to protect the interests of one of the world’s most influential companies. For weeks they had been prepping for a meeting of powerful executives to discuss the safety of Google’s products. The deck was done. But that afternoon Mr. Walker told his team the agenda had changed, and they would have to spend the next few days preparing new slides and graphs.

Persons: Kent Walker, Google’s, Walker Locations: SL1001

Page, hampered for more than a decade by an unusual ailment in his vocal cords, described his vision of a digital utopia in a whisper. If that happens, Mr. Musk said, we’re doomed. Finally he called Mr. Musk a “specieist,” a person who favors humans over the digital life-forms of the future. That debate has pitted some of the world’s richest men against one another: Mr. Musk, Mr. Page, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, the tech investor Peter Thiel, Satya Nadella of Microsoft and Sam Altman of OpenAI.

Persons: Page, Musk, we’re, ”, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Satya Nadella, Sam Altman, OpenAI Organizations: Valley, Meta, Microsoft Locations: Silicon

Sam Altman was reinstated late Tuesday as OpenAI’s chief executive, the company said, successfully reversing his ouster by the company’s board last week after a campaign waged by his allies, employees and investors. The board of directors will be overhauled, jettisoning several members who had opposed Mr. Altman. Adam D’Angelo, the chief executive of Quora, will be the only holdover. “We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo,” OpenAI said in a post to X. “We are collaborating to figure out the details.

Persons: Sam Altman, Altman, Adam D’Angelo, Sam, Bret Taylor, Larry Summers, ” OpenAI, Greg Brockman, upended Organizations: Quora

For much of the past year, OpenAI’s board of directors has been criticized as too small and too divided to effectively govern one of the fastest-growing start-ups in Silicon Valley history. On Friday, the board’s dysfunction spilled into public view when four of its members fired Sam Altman, OpenAI’s popular and powerful chief executive. Mr. Altman, 38, returned to the company on Tuesday night, after days of haggling over his job and over the makeup of the board. The board and Mr. Altman’s allies discussed more than a half dozen options for its future. The departing board wanted to be sure the replacements would be independent thinkers and experienced enough to stand up to Mr. Altman.

Persons: Sam Altman, OpenAI’s, Altman, Altman’s, Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve Jobs, Brian Chesky Organizations: Emerson Locations: Silicon Valley

More board members, who could be plucked from OpenAI’s biggest investor, Microsoft, and the A.I. Mr. Altman was not named to the board on Tuesday night, and it was not clear if he ever will be. But some already argue that it will not be as attuned to OpenAI’s original mission to create A.I. The tech industry — perhaps even the world — will be watching to see if OpenAI is any closer to balancing those dueling aspirations than it was a week ago. “This needs to be a trustworthy organization that’s aligned with its board, and at the end of it all, OpenAI is a more valuable organization than it was a week ago.”

Persons: Altman, ”, Aaron Levie Organizations: Microsoft

Nearly all of OpenAI’s 800 employees have threatened to follow Mr. Altman to Microsoft, which asked him to lead an A.I. lab with Greg Brockman, who quit his roles as OpenAI’s president and board chairman in solidarity with Mr. Altman. The board has not said what it thought Mr. Altman was not being honest about. There were indications that the board was still open to his return, as it and Mr. Altman held discussions that extended into Tuesday, two people familiar with the talks said. But there was a sticking point: Mr. Altman rejected some of the guardrails that had been proposed to improve his communication with the board.

Persons: OpenAI, Altman, Greg Brockman, Brockman Organizations: Microsoft

OpenAI’s four-person board shocked the tech industry early Friday afternoon when it removed Mr. Altman, saying they could no longer trust him. One of the board members who pushed out Mr. Altman then reversed course on Monday and signed the letter demanding that he be reinstated. The decision by the board set off a frantic weekend of unexpected corporate jockeying that ended with Mr. Altman joining Microsoft to start a new A.I. By early Monday morning, the 700 employees had signed the letter, according to three people familiar with the matter. The upheaval leaves the future of one of the fastest-growing companies in Silicon Valley history in doubt.

Persons: Sam Altman, Altman Organizations: Microsoft, Mr Locations: Silicon Valley

The board of directors of OpenAI, the high-flying artificial intelligence start-up, said in a note to employees on Sunday night that its former chief, Sam Altman, would not be returning to his job, while naming his second interim replacement in two days. Emmett Shear, the former chief executive of Twitch, will replace Mira Murati as interim chief executive of OpenAI, the board said. Ms. Murati, a longtime OpenAI executive, had been appointed to that role after Mr. Altman’s ouster on Friday. The board said Mr. Shear has a “unique mix of skills, expertise and relationships that will drive OpenAI forward,” according to the memo viewed by The New York Times. It was signed by each of the four directors on the company’s board; Adam D’Angelo, Helen Toner, Ilya Sutskever, and Tasha McCauley.

Persons: Sam Altman, Emmett Shear, Twitch, Mira Murati, Murati, Altman’s, Shear, ”, Adam D’Angelo, Helen Toner, Ilya Sutskever, Tasha McCauley, “ Organizations: OpenAI, The New York Times

Talks at OpenAI to bring back Sam Altman, the artificial intelligence start-up’s recently ousted chief executive, continued on Sunday afternoon but there were disagreements over the makeup of the company’s board of directors, according to two people familiar with the discussions. Mr. Altman, 38, spent the weekend waging a pressure campaign on the start-up’s four-person board of directors who ousted him on Friday afternoon, three people familiar with the matter said. The result was a groundswell of support from investors, employees and OpenAI executives. Mr. Altman was at the OpenAI headquarters on Sunday afternoon. Members of the board have not yet agreed to what a restructured board of directors might look like — nor is Mr. Altman’s reinstatement an inevitability, two of the people said.

Persons: Sam Altman, up’s, Altman, “

Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, two top executives at OpenAI who left the company after a dramatic board meeting on Friday, are talking again with board members about returning to the artificial intelligence start-up, two people with knowledge of the matter said. The discussions follow an outcry after Mr. Altman, 38, was ousted from his role as OpenAI’s chief executive. Since then, OpenAI’s investors and Mr. Altman’s supporters have pressured the board members of the start-up to bring Mr. Altman back, six people with knowledge of the situation said. There is no guarantee that Mr. Altman or Mr. Brockman will be reinstated at OpenAI, the people said. work is done — the company’s investors have no official say in what happens to the start-up or who leads it.

Persons: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Altman, Altman’s, Brockman Organizations: OpenAI, Microsoft Locations: OpenAI

Mr. Altman plans to launch the initiative with his longtime partner and co-founder Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s former president who stepped down in solidarity with Mr. Altman on Friday, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plans for the new company are not yet public. Details on the potential company are scarce, because Mr. Altman and Mr. Brockman are still working through what it will be. Plans could change quickly, as the pair are keeping a wide range of options open, the sources said. OpenAI’s board of directors shocked the tech industry on Friday when it abruptly fired Mr. Altman from his position as chief executive. By Friday night, the two men were already working on their plans to pitch investors on their next venture.

Persons: Sam Altman, Altman, Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s, Brockman Organizations: OpenAI

☆ Meta to Require Political Advertisers to Disclose Use of A.I.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Mike Isaac | More About Mike Isaac | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It put systems into place and developed policies for what types of political ads were and were not allowed on its platforms. The Silicon Valley company said that starting next year, it would require political advertisers around the world to disclose when they had used third-party A.I. software in political or social issue ads to synthetically depict people and events. Meta added that it would bar advertisers from using its own A.I.-assisted software to create political or social issue ads, as well as ads related to housing, employment, credit, health, pharmaceuticals or financial services. Those advertisers would be able to use third-party A.I.

Persons: Meta Organizations: Facebook

☆ Mark Zuckerberg Taps the Strengths of WhatsApp
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Mike Isaac | More About Mike Isaac | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 billion nearly a decade ago, Mark Zuckerberg made a promise: The Facebook chief said he wouldn’t meddle often with the messaging app so as not to mess with a good thing. Mr. Zuckerberg stuck to that philosophy as WhatsApp amassed more than two billion users globally — until 2019, when he began tapping the app’s growth and business potential. Now WhatsApp has become increasingly crucial to Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram and other apps. Ads on WhatsApp and its sister messaging service, Messenger, are also growing so rapidly that they may reach $10 billion in revenue this year, the company recently said. “If you’re envisioning what will be the private social platform of the future, starting from scratch, I think it would basically look like WhatsApp,” Mr. Zuckerberg, 39, said in a recent interview.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, wouldn’t meddle, Zuckerberg, WhatsApp, Mr Organizations: Facebook, Meta

But there was one topic Mr. Gilani was always wary of raising: The treatment of Palestinians. Instead it was attributed to “Muslim, Palestinian and Arab Google employees joined by anti-Zionist Jewish colleagues.” The New York Times discussed the matter with seven Google employees and reviewed messages posted in employee channels for this article. Google said the acrimony described to The Times by both Muslim and Jewish employees was limited to a small group of its many thousands of workers. “The overwhelming majority of those employees are not engaged in internal discussions or debate.”Google isn’t unique in facing this turmoil. Even compared with its Silicon Valley peers, Google has become a hub for employee activism, a legacy of the company’s open and informal founding culture.

Persons: Sarmad Gilani, Gilani, ”, Mr, Israel, —, ” Courtenay Mencini, Donald J, Rachel Westrick, Westrick, Israel’s, Sundar Pichai, Thomas Kurian, Kurian, he’s Organizations: Google, Hamas, New York Times, Times, Hollywood, Democratic Party, Microsoft, Pentagon, Asian, Meta, Washington Post Locations: Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, Palestinian, “, United States, Meta, Palestine

☆ Meta Posts 23% Growth as Ads Rebound, With Profit More Than Doubling
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Mike Isaac | More About Mike Isaac | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, spent the past two years weathering a slump in digital advertising and cutting costs. Profit was $11.6 billion, more than double the $4.4 billion from a year earlier. Meta’s growth was bolstered by a rebound in digital ads, which has also fueled the financial performance of other companies. On Tuesday, Google reported increased ad sales, with Snap also disclosing rising sales after revenue declined for two quarters. But Meta’s results were also helped by its cost cuts, as expenses fell 7 percent from a year earlier to $20.4 billion.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg Organizations: FactSet, Google

The head of Instagram’s Threads app, an X competitor, reiterated that his social network would not amplify news. The company has laid off news employees in two recent team reorganizations, and some publishers say traffic from Google has tapered off. If it wasn’t clear before, it’s clear now: The major online platforms are breaking up with news. Publishers seem resigned to the idea that traffic from the big tech companies will not return to what it once was. Even in the long-fractious relationship between publishers and tech platforms, the latest rift stands out — and the consequences for the news industry are stark.

Persons: Campbell Brown, —, Adam Mosseri, Elon Musk Organizations: Twitter, Google, Publishers Locations: Instagram

Hamas is barred from Facebook, removed from Instagram and run off TikTok. Yet posts supporting the group that carried out terrorist attacks in Israel this month are still reaching mass audiences on social networks, spreading gruesome footage and political messages to millions of people. Several accounts sympathetic to Hamas have gained hundreds of thousands of followers across social platforms since the war between Israel and Hamas began on Oct. 7, according to a review by The New York Times. That account, Gaza Now, is aligned with Hamas, according to the Atlantic Council, a research group focused on international relations. “We’ve seen Hamas content on Telegram, like bodycam footage of terrorists shooting at Israeli soldiers,” said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, the chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League.

Persons: “ We’ve, ”, Jonathan A, Greenblatt, “ Organizations: Facebook, Hamas, The New York Times, Atlantic Council, Defamation Locations: Israel, Gaza

In a WhatsApp text conversation this week, we asked Jane Austen — yes, the 19th-century British author — how she felt about Mr. Darcy, a character from one of her most famous works, “Pride and Prejudice.”After a few seconds, Ms. Austen responded. “Ah, Mr. Darcy. Everyone remembers him as one of my characters,” she said, her face appearing in a small window above our conversation. But a modern interpretation of her likeness was used by Meta, which owns WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, as part of an artificially intelligent character that could chat across the company’s messaging apps. Characters based on other people’s likenesses — including the former quarterback Tom Brady, the social media influencers Mr.

Persons: Jane Austen —, —, Darcy, “, ”, Austen, “ Ah, Tom Brady, Charlie D’Amelio, Snoop Dogg, Microsoft’s Bing Organizations: Meta, Facebook

Those who pay for Facebook and Instagram subscriptions would not see ads in the apps, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plans are confidential. That may help Meta fend off privacy concerns and other scrutiny from E.U. regulators by giving users an alternative to the company’s ad-based services, which rely on analyzing people’s data, the people said. Meta would also continue to offer free versions of Facebook and Instagram with ads in the European Union, the people said. It is unclear how much the paid versions of the apps would cost or when the company might roll them out.

Persons: Meta Organizations: Facebook, European Union Locations: United States, Europe

☆ The Armed Is One of Punk’s Biggest, Oddest Mysteries. That’s Changing.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Mike Isaac | More About Mike Isaac | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

There are bands that are challenging to get into, and then there is the Armed. Its self-produced, highly weird music videos have a “Jackass”-meets-David Lynch aesthetic, with surprisingly advanced production values for an obscure Midwestern hardcore group. The Armed considers itself more of a collective or an art project than a band, with dozens of rotating members. Now, the Armed has a grand opportunity to capitalize on its years of toiling in relative obscurity. Harder acts like Scowl, Gel and Zulu are thriving, and Turnstile, the Baltimore-based hardcore group, has found a way to bridge hardcore to the mainstream.

Persons: David Lynch Organizations: Porsche Locations: Detroit, Baltimore, ”

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