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☆ Microsoft's cloud is 'no-brainer' for some AI startups, helping Azure gain ground on AWS
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-02 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

However, after EzDubs went through the Y Combinator startup program last year, the company made a quick pivot, adding Microsoft's cloud into the mix. That's because EzDubs' founders learned of a partnership that enabled Y Combinator companies to receive $350,000 worth of credits on Microsoft Azure. The current offer includes $350,000 in AWS credits, plus $300,000 reserved for tapping the custom silicon, the spokesperson said. A spokesperson later said 58% of Y Combinator startups had taken up Microsoft's credit offer, a figure that doesn't reflect actual Azure usage. "Leading AI startups use OpenAI to power their AI solutions, therefore, making them Azure customers as well."

Persons: Amrutavarsh Kinagi, Kareem Nassar, Padmanabhan Krishnamurthy, EzDubs, Krishnamurthy, Y, Annie Pearl, it's, Satya Nadella, Sam Altman, Hayden, CNBC InKeep, OpenAI, Nick Gomez, InKeep's, InKeep, Gomez, CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin, Prady Modukuru, Modukuru, Anthropic, Daksh Gupta, Gupta, Nassar Organizations: Google, Microsoft, CNBC, Amazon, Services, Alchemist, AWS, Hayden Field, Sync Labs, Sync, OpenAI Locations: Palo Alto , California, OpenAI's, San Francisco

☆ Female Invest, a Y Combinator-backed fintech startup, is expanding to the US after raising $11.2 million. Check out its 12-slide pitch deck.
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-29 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Female Invest, a fintech startup, has raised $11.2 million in funding to expand operations. Founded in 2019, the platform offers trading and investing education for women globally. AdvertisementFemale Invest, a Y Combinator-backed fintech startup that encourages women to invest, has raised $11.2 million in funding. CEO Anna-Sophie Hartvigsen told Business Insider that there was "there's a big pull from the market for this product." This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers.

Persons: —, Anna, Sophie Hartvigsen Organizations: Service, Business

☆ Openness in AI is necessary to promote fair and competitive markets, said FTC's Lina Khan
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-25 | by ( Sri Muppidi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

"These conditions have allowed, in some instances, the biggest technology companies to get a layup in the AI space," Khan said. In particular, Khan called for AI models' weights to be publicly available. In the age of AI, Khan said both consumers and enterprises are uncertain of their data's protections when using foundation models. "We only focus on deals that have problems…it's a narrow set of deals that satisfy a narrow set of criteria." In March, Microsoft paid $650 million in a licensing deal to Inflection AI, an emerging OpenAI rival, to use its AI models and hire most of its employees.

Persons: —, Lina Khan, Khan, We've, you've, Jonathan Kanter, Kevin Dietsch, Kanter, execs Organizations: Service, Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Big Tech, Microsoft, Google, Business, Meta, Antitrust, Department of Justice, DOJ, Apple, Tech, New York VC, YC, Amazon Locations: OpenAI, America

Amazon will double the value of credits it offers some startups to use its cloud infrastructure, CNBC has learned, as the company faces heightened competition from Microsoft in artificial intelligence services. Seed-stage startups will still be eligible for $100,000 in credits, AWS said. But Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud are growing more quickly, and are benefiting from rapidly advancing AI models. During Selipsky's time at the helm, Microsoft and Google increased their share of the cloud infrastructure market. Participants will be able to access up to $1 million in cloud credits, according to the website.

Persons: Matt Garman, Garman, Garman's, OpenAI, Anthropic, Adam Selipsky, Grant, Amazon's, Rohit Prasad, David Luan Organizations: Amazon Web, CNBC, Microsoft, AWS, Google, Gemini Locations: Las Vegas, Silicon, Silicon Valley

☆ Silicon Valley figures are not holding back after Biden's disastrous debate
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-28 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Read previewSeveral Silicon Valley figures have offered their thoughts on President Joe Biden's performance in Thursday's presidential debate — and it's not a pretty picture. AdvertisementSome Silicon Valley figures have warmed up to TrumpHeading into Thursday's debate, the election was clearly splitting opinion among Silicon Valley figures. AdvertisementTonight was a clear victory … for memes — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 28, 2024Plenty of other tech figures did not hold back when discussing Biden's performance, however. Some tech figures leaned into mockery. Y Combinator cofounder Paul Graham posted on X that "Biden bombing the debate" was good for the party as a better candidate would emerge.

Persons: —, Joe Biden's, it's, influencers, Donald Trump, Biden, Reid Hoffman, Vinod Khosla, Joe Biden, Kimberly White, Elon Musk, Musk, Elon, there's, Hoffman, Khosla, Trump, David Sacks, Sacks, — David Sacks, @DavidSacks, Jason Calacanis, Biden —, Nikita Bier, Shaun Maguire, Delian Asparouhov, Ralph Wiggum, Sarah Guo, Paul Graham, — Paul Graham, @paulg Organizations: Service, Business, Republican, Trump, Cuban Missile, America, Founders Fund, Democrats, Biden Locations: America, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Sequoia, Delian, San Francisco, Silicon

☆ Chipotle's latest marketing campaign shows how restaurants are getting creative to win your lunch break
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-21 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

In today's big story, we're looking at Chipotle's newest pitch in the big business that is winning your lunch break. Market research firm Future Markets Insights pegged the lunch takeout market at $215.3 billion in 2022 . Chipotle's latest marketing campaign shows how creative restaurants are getting to nab your lunch order. Bitcoin's cooldown might be a warning for the stock market. A Stifel strategist predicted a late-summer stock market decline based on bitcoin's 10% sell-off in the past few weeks.

Persons: —, Chelsea Jia Feng, Keith Lee, Alyssa Powell, haven't, Taco Bell, Tim Hortons, Burger King, sarayut Thaneerat, Tyler Le, Ken Griffin, Bitcoin's, isn't, That's, Jensen Huang's, Satya Nadella's, Marc Piasecki, Elon Musk, They're, Alfie, Alfie Health, Donald Trump, Dan DeFrancesco, Jordan Parker Erb, Hallam Bullock, George Glover, Annie Smith, Amanda Yen Organizations: Service, Business, nab, bros, Chipotle, Getty, Brands, KFC, Taco, BI Citadel, Sunshine State, Congressional, Nasdaq, Apple, Apple Intelligence, Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, Elon Locations: Cava, Illinois, Florida, China, New York, London

☆ Sequoia-backed security startup Vanta will see its valuation soar past $2 billion in new funding round, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-20 | by ( Ben Bergman | Sri Muppidi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

It will be valued at more than $2 billion in a new funding round, Business Insider has learned. AdvertisementVanta, a startup that helps companies comply with security standards, is set to be valued at more than $2 billion in a new insider funding round, multiple sources told Business Insider. Vanta was last valued at $1.6 billion in a 2022 funding round led by Craft Ventures on October 12, 2022, according to Forbes. CrowdStrike Holdings, Atlassian Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, Workday Ventures, Acrew Capital, Pioneer Fund, ASDF Ventures, Zag Capital, Sequoia Capital, Frontline Ventures, Y Combinator and LAUNCH Fund also participated in the last round. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers.

Persons: —, Vanta Organizations: Sequoia, Craft Ventures, Service, Business, Forbes, CrowdStrike Holdings, Atlassian Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, Acrew, Pioneer Fund, ASDF Ventures, Zag, Sequoia Capital, Frontline Ventures Locations: Acrew Capital

☆ He tried to oust OpenAI’s CEO. Now, he’s starting a ‘safe’ rival
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-20 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —The OpenAI co-founder who left the high-flying artificial intelligence startup last month has announced his next venture: a company dedicated to building safe, powerful artificial intelligence that could become a rival to his old employer. Ilya Sutskever announced plans for the new company, aptly named Safe Superintelligence Inc., in a post on X Wednesday. Sutskever then worked on Google’s AI research team, before helping to found what would become the maker of ChatGPT. It’s also not clear exactly what the new company thinks of as “safety” in the context of highly powerful artificial intelligence technology. “By safe, we mean safe like nuclear safety as opposed to safe as in ‘trust and safety,’” Sutskever told Bloomberg in an interview published Tuesday.

Persons: Ilya Sutskever, Sutskever, Geoffrey Hinton, Sam Altman, Altman, Kara Swisher, ”, It’s, ” Sutskever, OpenAI, Jan Leike, Daniel Levy, Daniel Gross Organizations: New, New York CNN, Superintelligence Inc, SSI, Google, CNN, Bloomberg, Apple Locations: New York, OpenAI, “, Palo Alto , California, Tel Aviv, Israel

☆ Exclusive: A16z-backed Knownwell is buying AI-powered Alfie Health to supercharge its obesity care
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-20 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

With that market shaking out this year, one obesity care startup just scooped up another. Knownwell, which provides obesity-centered primary care and weight management, has acquired Y Combinator startup Alfie Health, Business Insider has learned exclusively. But many investors leaned away from backing obesity care startups as the virtual prescription-focused model clashed with medication shortages. AdvertisementKnownwell has taken a different approach to weight management, with in-person providers alongside its virtual care services, and primary care in addition to obesity care. Alfie HealthGetting obesity care rightBoyarsky Pratt founded Knownwell alongside Dr. Angela Fitch, the president of the Obesity Medicine Association and the former associate director of Massachusetts General Hospital's weight care center.

Persons: —, Alfie, Alexander Singh, Ozempic, Knownwell, It's, Andreessen Horowitz, Alfie Health, Y Combinator, Nina Capital, Brooke Boyarsky Pratt, Boyarsky Pratt, it's, Angela Fitch, Vineeta, Kindbody, Agarwala Organizations: Service, Health, Business, Alfie Health, Knownwell, Flare Capital Partners, Nina, Obesity Medicine Association, Massachusetts, Oak, Carbon Health Locations: WeightWatchers, Plenty, Needham , Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Dallas, Minneapolis

☆ Exclusive: Legal AI startup Leya is in talks to raise new funding just weeks after raising a seed round, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-11 | by ( Callum Burroughs | Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

AI startup Leya is in talks to raise substantial new funding weeks after its seed round, sources say. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementStockholm-based legal AI startup Leya is already in talks to raise a substantial new funding round, weeks after it raised its seed round from US fund Benchmark. Leya, which went through Y Combinator six months after its founding, works with law firms to help them use AI to improve their operations. The startup previously received $10.5 million from Benchmark, accelerator Y Combinator, which also participated in the round, London-based VC Hummingbird, and San Francisco-based SV Angel.

Persons: — Organizations: Service, SV Angel, Business Locations: Stockholm, London, San Francisco

☆ How to sleep like a millionaire: a 5-part guide
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-05 | by ( Hilary Brueck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Longevity investor and XPrize founder Peter Diamandis uses a relatively elaborate multi-part system for getting better sleep. Martine Paris"The Oura ring doesn't help me sleep better," Diamandis said. "It helps me remain true to my commitment," by encouraging him to get at least seven hours of sleep per night. Carlina Teteris/Getty ImagesThe most important element of Diamandis' sleep routine is the timing. Sticking to this strict sleep schedule is the only way he can guarantee he gets close to eight hours of sleep each night.

Persons: —, Peter Diamandis, it's, Diamandis, you'll, Kim Kardashian, Prince Harry, Mark Zuckerberg, Gwenyth Paltrow, Lance Armstrong, Martine Paris, Oura, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerburg, Tim Ferriss, Carolyn Van Houten, he's Organizations: Service, Business, Washington, Getty

☆ Malibou, a Y Combinator-backed French payroll startup, just raised $3.3 million using this 11-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-04 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Malibou, a French HR and payroll startup, has raised $3.3 million in seed funding. The startup targets small and medium-sized businesses in France that lack efficient HR tools. Malibou aims to offer expert payroll support and modern HRIS, competing with firms like PayFit. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementMalibou, a French startup that helps small businesses with payroll and HR, has raised $3.3 million in seed funding.

Persons: —, Maxence Drummond, Breega Organizations: Service, French VC, Business Locations: France

☆ With Trump, Silicon Valley elites see AI regulation as they see fit
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-02 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

While Musk hasn't formally endorsed Trump, one reason Silicon Valley heavy-hitters could be gravitating toward a convicted former president is a desire to see less regulation on tech development in America. AdvertisementCuban, a vocal opponent of Trump who has expressed his support for Joe Biden, told Business Insider in an email that he views the support from Silicon Valley and Wall Street billionaires for Trump as "self-serving." "So unless it's very light touch, which is unlikely at this point, the more influence they have over Ai regulation the better the opportunity to advantage themselves." "It's still very early to be imposing regulation," Sacks said. That's not to say every Silicon Valley player investing in AI and Trump hopes to see an unrestrained, Wild West of artificial intelligence development.

Persons: —, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Shaun Maguire, Trump, David Sacks, Biden, Puck, Sacks, hasn't, Mark Cuban, Joe Biden, Cuban, BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, Maguire, Sacks didn't, Garry Tan, Y, That's, Chamath, Palihapitiya, Musk, Rishi Sunak Organizations: Service, Silicon, Trump, Business, Sequoia Capital, Venture, Wall, acc, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Wildlife Service, British Locations: Russia, Ukraine, San Francisco, America, Silicon Valley, Cuban

☆ Veteran investor Paul Graham breaks down why Sam Altman left Y Combinator
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-31 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has faced a lot of negative press recently, impacting his once-clean image. Not least among the controversies was the collapse of OpenAI's safety team. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementOpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been hit with a bout of bad press in the past few weeks, which has cast a shadow over his once-squeaky-clean image. There was also the abrupt breakdown of OpenAI's safety team, which raised doubts about the company's commitment to responsible AI development.

Persons: Sam Altman, Paul Graham, —, Scarlett Johanssen Organizations: Tech, Service, Business

☆ Y Combinator founder says Sam Altman wasn't fired
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-31 | by ( Kwan Wei Kevin Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Read previewOpenAI CEO Sam Altman wasn't fired from his position as Y Combinator president in 2019, the startup accelerator's cofounder Paul Graham said on Thursday. "People have been claiming YC fired Sam Altman. Both outlets reported that Altman was asked to leave the organization for favoring his personal interests over Y Combinator's. AdvertisementRepresentatives for Altman and Y Combinator did not immediately respond to requests for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours. "We do not accept the claims made by Ms Toner and Ms McCauley regarding events at OpenAI," Taylor and Summers wrote.

Persons: —, Sam Altman wasn't, Y, Paul Graham, Sam Altman, That's, Graham, OpenAI, Sam, Jessica, Jessica Livingston, Altman, he'd, 3YvBDH7oqV — Paul Graham, Graham's, Y Combinator, Combinator, OpenAI's, Helen Toner, who'd, Toner, Tasha McCauley, Bret Taylor, Larry Summers, McCauley, Ms Toner, Ms McCauley, Taylor, Summers, Toner's, Mr Altman Organizations: Service, YC, Business, we'd, Wall Street, The Washington Post, BI, OpenAI Locations: OpenAI

He attended the University of Virginia, where he met his Reddit cofounderAlexis Ohanian in 2014. Vince Talotta/Toronto Star via Getty ImagesWhile at university, Ohanian met Steve Huffman, who would be his Reddit cofounder. But when I arrived at my dorm at the University of Virginia, Steve was playing Gran Turismo 2, and I was like, 'Hey, what's up?' We lived together all four years of college, then almost five years after," Ohanian told Inc in 2012. "You guys need to build the front page of the internet," Graham told them, according to Inc.

Persons: Alexis Ohanian, Vince Talotta, Ohanian, Steve Huffman, Steve, Huffman, Paul Graham, Graham Organizations: University of Virginia, Toronto Star, Getty, Gran Turismo, Inc

☆ Keep it secret, keep it SAFE: Inside the growth of AI founders choosing uncapped notes to raise investor cash
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

AI startups are reviving the SAFE funding mechanism to secure investments without dilution. SAFE notes enable quick fundraising for nascent AI startups amid the sector's rapid growth and hype. Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementFinancial wizardry is nothing new in the venture world, but the rise of AI startups has prompted a return to the funding mechanism known as a SAFE.

Persons: Y, — Organizations: Service, SAFE, Business

☆ Welcome to anti-office Fridays and quiet vacationing
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

In today's big story, we're looking at the push for WFH Fridays and how that plays into the "quiet vacationing" phenomenon . The big storyAnti-office FridaysHector Roquet Rivero/Getty Images; Jenny Chang-Rodriguez/BIWith all due respect to summer Fridays, we've found a year-round replacement: WFH Fridays. But WFH Fridays' staying power remains to be seen. Which brings us back to WFH Fridays. The end result could be employers saying abuse of WFH Fridays means they need you back in the office… for good.

Persons: —, Hector Roquet Rivero, Jenny Chang, Rodriguez, we've, Insider's Juliana Kaplan, Noah Sheidlower, It's, Taiyou Nomachi, millennials, they've, BI's Kelsey Vlamis, haven't, it's, Momo Takahashi, Goldman Sachs, SEB Research, That's, Andrew Caballero, Reynolds, Isabel Fernandez, OpenAI, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Altman, Y Combinator, Tyler Le, Mark Cuban, Vivek Ramaswamy, Burger King, Dan DeFrancesco, Hallam Bullock, George Glover, Grace Lett, Laine Napoli Organizations: Service, Business, Workers, Companies, RBC Capital, Pujol, BI, Microsoft, Google, Bloomberg, Finance Ministers, Central Bank Governors Locations: Dublin, Germany, Meta, BuzzFeed, New York, London, Chicago

☆ Investor Paul Graham explains why it's better to take a job at a startup over a big company — even if it ends up failing
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Geoff Weiss | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Y Combinator cofounder Paul Graham said you should work for startups, not big companies. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementFamed entrepreneur and Y Combinator cofounder Paul Graham says it's wise to work for startups over big companies — even if they're more likely to fail. Working for big companies might be "safer," the investor shared on X, but the connections forged with startup colleagues can cue up future success. "In ten years they'll be running everything," Graham wrote of startup employees, "even if the startup tanks."

Persons: Paul Graham, —, Y, Graham Organizations: Service, Business

☆ Amazon, Meta back Scale AI in $1 billion funding deal that values firm at $14 billion
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Riley De León | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Artificial intelligence startup Scale AI said Tuesday that it has raised $1 billion in a Series F funding round that values the enterprise tech company at $13.8 billion — almost double its last reported valuation. 12 on this year's CNBC Disruptor 50 list, has now raised $1.6 billion to date. Existing investors including Y Combinator, Nat Friedman, Index Ventures, Founders Fund, Coatue, Thrive Capital, Spark Capital, Nvidia, Tiger Global Management, Greenoaks, and Wellington Management also participated in the round. Scale AI is playing a key role in the rise of generative artificial intelligence and large language models, with the data — whether it is text, images, video or voice recordings — needing to be labeled correctly before it can be digested and used effectively by AI technology. Scale AI has evolved from labeling data used to train models that powered autonomous driving to now helping to improve and fine tune the underlying data for nearly any organization looking to implement AI, powering some of the most advanced models in use.

Persons: Elad Gil, Y Combinator, Nat Friedman, Alexandr Wang Organizations: CNBC, Accel, Cisco Investments, Intel Capital, ServiceNow Ventures, AMD Ventures, WCM, Color Genomics, Meta, Ventures, Founders Fund, Spark Capital, Nvidia, Tiger Global Management, Wellington Management Locations: San Francisco, AGI

☆ One of Y Combinator's newest AI startups landed $2.8 million in seed funding using this 5-slide pitch deck. We got an exclusive look.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Apriora's tech uses conversational AI to conduct job interviews. The startup, which just graduated from Y Combinator, raised a $2.8 million seed round. We got an exclusive look at the presentation Apriora used to raise its seed funding. AdvertisementJob seekers are already using ChatGPT to prepare for job interviews, and one startup is working to even the playing field by bringing AI tools to hiring managers. Apriora, a startup that uses conversational AI to conduct job interviews, just announced its $2.8 million seed funding round led by 1984 Ventures.

Persons: Y, —, Dan Gross Organizations: Service, 1984 Ventures, Pioneer Fund, Business Locations: HOF Capital

☆ Brex: 2024 CNBC Disruptor 50
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-14 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Since SVB, Brex has continued to invest in differentiated services, including AI-powered tools to help streamline expense reporting, booking and management capabilities, accounts payable and procurement management. Within 36 hours, Brex signed up nearly 4,000 companies, taking in close to $2 billion in deposits. It has since backtracked on that position, and has doubled down on its roots serving tech startups. The spend management space has become more crowded, with fellow Disruptors Ramp and Navan, as well as Expensify, Mesh Payments, Airbase and Center competing for market share. Tech companies laid off more than 191,000 workers in 2023 — a trend that has continued into 2024.

Persons: Brex, Henrique Dubugras, Pedro Francheschi, Francheschi, Ben Gammell, PitchBook Organizations: Ribbit, DST, San, Airbase, Center, Tech Locations: Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Navan

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, attends the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 18, 2024. On Friday, advanced nuclear fission company Oklo, for which Sam Altman serves as chairman, started trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Oklo's business model is based on commercializing nuclear fission, the reaction that fuels all nuclear power plants. "I don't see a way for us to get there without nuclear," Altman told CNBC in 2023. It's not Altman's only foray into nuclear energy or other infrastructure that could power large-scale AI growth.

Persons: Sam Altman, Altman, Oklo, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Jacob DeWitte, hasn't, we've, DeWitte, It's, Helion, OpenAI Organizations: Economic, New York Stock Exchange, AltC, U.S . Air Force, Microsoft, Amazon, CNBC, U.S . Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NRC, DeWitte, Nvidia Locations: Davos, Switzerland, Idaho, OpenAI's San Francisco, U.S, Saudi Aramco, Rain

☆ The Apple 'crush' ad for the new iPad wasn't bad, actually
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-10 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

But seriously folks ... it's just an iPad ad. AdvertisementThere's been a huge backlash to the ad Apple put out this week to promote its updated iPads. In the ad, a hydraulic press squishes a piano, trumpet, books, paint cans — and then reveals the new iPad Pro. A YouTube channel dedicated to hydraulic press crush videos has more than 9 million followers. Let's say OpenAI made an ad crushing up books, newspapers, and magazines and then revealed the ChatGPT logo.

Persons: Apple, it's, —, There's, Steve wouldn't, Paul Graham, Steve Jobs, Let's, It's, OpenAI, they've Organizations: Service, Apple, YouTube

☆ A new crop of startups wants to help solve loneliness among millennials and Gen Z. Here's how they're connecting strangers and making money.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-10 | by ( Lauren Johnson | Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Plus, the pandemic and the shift to working from home have made millennials and Gen Z lonelier than ever, thanks in part to doomscrolling. "I believe the conventional 'make friends' apps too closely mimic the dating model, which can feel awkward and high-pressure for making friends," he said. The group hosts "reading parties" at bars and event spaces with the goal of helping people connect through reading. Dinner With Friends, a group that throws dinner parties, has worked on sponsored events with brands like Bumble and Geneva. Dinner With Friends founder Anita Michaud said brands typically either sponsor entire dinners or provide products — like canned cocktails — for the dinner parties.

Persons: —, they've, Danial Hashemi, Sydney, Z, millennials, Cliff Lerner, Lisa Oreshkina, Saneblidze, Tom Worchester, Andreessen Horowitz, Victor Pontis, Luma, Liz Chick, Gen, Mira Hobbs, ReCreate's Chick, Anita Michaud, Peter Boyce II, Boyce, Maitree Mervana Parekh, Marlon Nichols, they're, it's, Ben Bradbury Organizations: Service, Business, Sydney Bradley, Big Tech, Tech, Timeleft, Reading, Facebook, VC, Wine, Bumble, New, Acrew, MaC Venture, Reading Rhythms Locations: New York City, Los Angeles, New York, Brooklyn, Squarespace, Lisbon, Amsterdam, London, San Francisco, Geneva

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