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☆ BlackRock org chart: The 150 most powerful people under CEO Larry Fink as succession planning looms
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Rebecca Ungarino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Insider built an org chart showing the most senior executives under BlackRock CEO Larry Fink. To provide a window into the current power structure, Insider has mapped out the roughly 150 most senior BlackRock executives. This week, the firm overhauled its alternative-investments business and made changes to the makeup of its Aladdin business, two core BlackRock offerings. "We are spending a great deal of time at BlackRock getting the firm ready for when the founders are retiring. Investment stewardship head Joud Abdel Majeid and Willie Alford, Fink's new chief of staff, are among the executives who report to Fink.

☆ Google just showed how Big Tech will win again in AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

OpenAI and other AI startups will struggle to match this reach, unless they team up with other tech giants, like Microsoft. After Google I/O this week, it's looking like AI will be another 80/20 situation where a few Big Tech companies benefit the most. Some examples:In Google Docs, ask Google's AI model to help you write a job description. For a Google Slides presentation with photos, you can ask the company's AI model to create speaker notes based on the images. Insider ran into a high-level Google product manager at the conference who'd just watched a developer presentation.

☆ BlackRock is wrestling with who could succeed Larry Fink. Here's who's now in the running.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Rebecca Ungarino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Investment giant BlackRock has been planning for CEO Larry Fink's succession for years. Leadership has discussed BlackRock cofounder Susan Wagner as someone who could succeed Fink if the board does not have a clear candidate. For years, BlackRock has been planning for Chief Executive Larry Fink's succession, a torch-passing the industry has long speculated over. BlackRock has become shorthand for the intense backlash from primarily Republican lawmakers over sustainable investment strategies that Fink has championed as CEO. Goldstein, 49, is a BlackRock lifer and has been chief operating officer for nearly a decade.

☆ Jane Roberts, who is married to Chief Justice John Roberts, made $10.3 million in commissions from elite law firms, whistleblower documents show
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +20 min

Jane Roberts was paid more than $10 million by a host of elite law firms, a whistleblower alleges. At least one of those firms argued a case before Chief Justice Roberts after paying his wife hundreds of thousands of dollars. And I realized that even the law firms who were Jane's clients had nowhere to go. Mark Jungers, another one of Jane Roberts' former colleagues, said that Jane was smart, talented, and good at her job. But whether that committee has the authority to discipline Thomas or any other Supreme Court Justice remains a matter of murky constitutional interpretation, to be ultimately decided by the Supreme Court itself.

☆ Leaked document shows Shopify's plan to use 'stealth spear-fishing' recruiting tactics as it flattens its org
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A leaked internal document detailed Shopify's plan to overhaul its recruiting strategy. It said that recruiters needed to raise the bar for the quality of candidates they were bringing on to the company. "To do this, we will exhaustively seek out world class talent, scorching the earth with thoroughness and precision," it continued. The leaked internal document from Shopify cited a January conversation with CEO Tobi Lütke where he emphasized the need to hire fewer people managers and more people who had deep technical knowledge. It also said that Lütke instructed org leaders to "avoid high drama negative talent."

☆ Google asks staff to test new chatbot features that write and fix code as it races against ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Google is rolling out new coding features to an internal version of its Bard AI chatbot. Google is asking staff to test new coding features for its chatbot Bard as it prepares to make the features publicly available, according to an internal email sent Friday. The company told staff on Friday they could test out new features that let Bard generate and fix code, turning the chatbot into a programming assistant. ChatGPT, OpenAI's Bard competitor, is already able to generate code and write documentation for it. On the public release of Bard, Google said these features would come to its chatbot too.

☆ Apple tells some corporate retail employees to reapply for their jobs or they will be laid off
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Apple has told teams that maintain its corporate retail group that they must apply for new roles. It signals another cost-cutting measure by Apple, which has so far stopped short of broad layoffs. Apple is cutting roles within its corporate retail division, telling staff they must reapply for jobs within the company or else they will be let go. Employees in Apple's Development and Preservation teams, which handle construction and maintenance of the company's retail stores, were told they must reapply for roles, according to a person familiar with the matter. Apple has so far stopped short of the layoffs, unlike Meta, Alphabet, and Amazon where tens of thousands of staff have so far been cut.

☆ Leaked org chart shows the 15 most important leaders in Google's AI division as it races to catch Microsoft
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Central to those efforts is its Research and AI group, led by senior vice president Jeff Dean. An internal org chart seen by Insider shows the 14 other leaders under Dean who drive Google's efforts to catch the sudden success of OpenAI. Jeff Dean, senior vice president, Google AI Thomas Samson/Getty ImagesReporting directly to Dean is Eli Collins, a VP leading work on Google's ChatGPT competitor, Bard. Collins also works on AI Test Kitchen, an app that gives select users access to some of Google's latest AI demos. Jay Yagnik, VP of research, oversees the biggest number of employees within Dean's organization.

☆ BlackRock Communications Specialists Exit As Fink Scrutiny Mounts
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Rebecca Ungarino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

At least nine people have left or are transitioning out of BlackRock's communications group. The corporate communications team has some 90 employees globally, up from 48 in 2019, a BlackRock spokesperson said. "We're fortunate the BlackRock communications team includes some of the most talented professionals in the industry and that we have continued to attract top talent as the team has grown in recent years," Badenhausen said in a statement to Insider. Jonathan Posen, a veteran speechwriter who worked as former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's chief writer on the financial crisis and other economic matters, joined BlackRock's communications group in 2013. The criticism reached new heights in 2022 as Republican state officials coordinated attacks on Fink and BlackRock and some pulled their investments.

☆ Google's AI teams are experiencing a brain drain. Here's where its top researchers are now.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Top AI researchers have been leaving for startups where their work can have more impact. That frustration over Google's slow movement has been corroborated by other former Google researchers who spoke to Insider. Niki Parmar left Google Brain after five years to serve as a co-founder and CTO of Adept, though like Vaswani she recently left for a stealth startup. Lukasz Kaiser left Google Brain after over seven years to join OpenAI in 2021. Sharan Narang, another contributor to the T5 paper, left Google Brain in 2022 after four years.

☆ Crypto is banned in China, but Binance employees and support volunteers tell people how to bypass the ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +18 min

The messages CNBC reviewed come from accounts identified as Binance employees or Binance-trained volunteers known as "Angels." Whatever the method, Binance's Chinese users take on a significant risk: In China, crypto exchanges have been outlawed since 2017, while crypto itself was outlawed in 2021. But Chinese customers have continued to seek ways to trade on Binance, which include using instructions provided by employees and volunteers. "'Binance does not offer a 'Binance Chinese Android app," a spokesperson said. In addition, hours after Binance responded to CNBC, messages apeared on Twitter suggesting that some customers' Binance debit cards had been frozen.

☆ Microsoft should throw billions at Apple to make Bing the default iPhone search engine, says a former Google exec
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A former Google exec thinks Microsoft should outbid Google to land the default iPhone search spot. Landing the default search spot on the iPhone could disrupt Google's search dominance. If Microsoft wants to really throw Google's business into turmoil, it should offer Apple billions of dollars to become the iPhone's default search engine. Google currently pays an estimated $15 billion a year to be the default search engine on the more than 1 billion Apple devices globally, including the iPhone. While Google has launched its competitor to ChatGPT, known as Bard, it is not currently integrated into Google Search.

☆ George W. Bush misrepresented our work at CIA to sell the Iraq invasion. It's time to call him what he is: 'A liar.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

Two former CIA officials spoke to Insider before the 20th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. They gave a firsthand account of the George W. Bush administration's attempts to misrepresent intelligence and assert a connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. The closest they came was this alleged, and apparently nonexistent, help that Iraq gave al-Qaeda [via Atta] in bringing about the attacks. Alice: Today, people say that Bush was looking to justify the invasion of Iraq. Pretty soon it became clear that the administration was focused on this alleged meeting between Atta and Iraqi intelligence in Prague.

☆ Google's Bard AI chatbot is now open to users in the US and UK. Here's how it works
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Google is making its AI chatbot, Bard, available to the public. Bard works much like OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT, although there are some differences. The company said that it will grant access to its artificial intelligence chatbot, known as Bard, in the US and UK starting Tuesday. Users will be met with a warning that "Bard will not always get it right" when they open it. Google will improve Bard over time, and users will be able to submit written feedback about their experiences.

☆ Google got a pandemic boost for its Workspace software but blew it, insiders say. Now it plans to attack Microsoft with a new push in AI.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Rosalie Chan | Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian spent much of his time at a partner meeting talking about Workspace, tweeted Tony Safoian, CEO of Google Cloud partner SADA Systems. "Around the globe, more than nine million paying organizations, and more than three billion users rely on Google Workspace for communication and collaboration. Other major customers like Deutsche Bank use Google Cloud for cloud infrastructure, but Microsoft Office for collaboration software. Forty-four percent of software procurers whose organization plans to or currently uses Microsoft's collaboration software also use Google Workspace, according to the 2022 Forrester study. While Google Cloud is still unprofitable, it has decreased losses to $480 million, down from $890 million last year.

☆ Google employees are already internally testing a smarter version of its chatbot called 'Big Bard'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Googlers are testing the company's Bard chatbot ahead of release. Staff also have access to a superior version, named "Big Bard." Big Bard produces much richer and more humanlike responses. Insider viewed examples of users asking both versions similar questions, and Big Bard produced richer and more humanlike responses. Big Bard appears to be a preview of what a more advanced version of the chatbot might look like.

☆ Ex-Trump aide Peter Navarro ordered to turn over hundreds of emails to the National Archives
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Rebecca Shabad | Daniel Barnes | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Thursday ordered former Donald Trump aide Peter Navarro to hand the National Archives 200 to 250 emails that he sent during his time in the Trump administration using a private email account instead of his White House email. Lawyers for Navarro alleged the Justice Department was using the Presidential Records Act, which requires that official White House records be preserved, as a way to gather evidence against him in his ongoing criminal contempt of Congress case. They argued that forcing Navarro to produce the emails could violate his 5th amendment right against self-incrimination. Navarro did not copy his official White House account on the email exchanges, nor did he forward the email chains to his White House account, a violation of the Presidential Records Act, the department said. The National Archives had reached out to Navarro to ask that he turn over the records, but he did not respond, the Justice Department's complaint said.

☆ Nord Stream mystery: the tanker Minerva Julie spent 7 days idling near the attack site
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Days before the explosions, a tanker called the Minerva Julie was drifting nearby in the Baltic Sea. He discovered that the Minerva Julie, a 600-foot Greek-flagged tanker, was headed east from Rotterdam when, on September 6, it came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the Baltic Sea. From September 6 through September 13, the Minerva Julie drifted near the site of the September 26 explosions, AIS data show. The Minerva Julie stayed there, alternately idling and crossing a roughly 200-square-nautical-mile area above the two natural-gas pipelines, for seven days, from September 6 until September 12. The Minerva Julie, a 600-foot oil and chemical tanker, near the port of Rotterdam in 2020.

☆ Google is spinning off the exoskeleton robotics project Skip, formerly known as Smarty Pants, amid a pullback on moonshots
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Alphabet is saying goodbye to another robotics project. Formerly known as Smarty Pants, the project has been renamed Skip. That project, formerly known as "Smarty Pants" and now named "Skip," is in the process of being spun out of Alphabet. Google X previously spun out the industrial robotics company Intrinsic as an Alphabet company in 2021. An X spokesperson would not comment on whether Alphabet would retain any sort of stake in Skip once it's independent.

☆ Google says it won't promote as many employees to senior roles this year, citing a slowdown in growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Google is reducing the number of senior promotions in gives in 2023. In an email to staff, Google cited a slowdown in growth. The company has slowed hiring, and it recently slashed 12,000 jobs. Google has told employees it will reduce the number of promotions to senior and leadership roles this year, citing a slowdown in growth. The company slowed hiring last year, and in January it started laying off around 12,000 staff — approximately 6% of its workforce.

☆ Leaked audio shows Google Cloud CEO giving a fiery rallying cry and calling out demeaning competitors in AI: 'The game is never done in the first minute'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Eugene Kim | Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian last month reiterated the company's commitment to AI. Google is in a tough spot as competition in AI chatbots heats up with ChatGPT and Microsoft. I would tell you this is the very first minute of a new game, and the game is never done in the first minute. Google CEO Sundar Pichai has asked employees to commit two to four hours to training Bard, which further indicates the urgency with which it's moving. Some Google employees have internally mocked the Bard announcement and expressed frustration over the added work in testing the AI chatbot, Insider previously reported.

☆ Leaked messages show Googlers are taking out their frustrations over layoffs on its new Bard AI chatbot
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently asked employees to help test and improve its Bard chatbot. Internal message boards show Googlers asking Bard to explain the company's recent moves. In one such conversation reviewed by Insider, an employee asked Bard to imagine an IT company that has laid off 12,000 employees. In another conversation shared by an employee, Bard was asked, "Should Google fire people via email with no thank you or goodbye?" That requires training the bot to steer it away from such subjects, which is why Google asked employees to lend a hand.

☆ How Putin's Russian goon squad used Mexican gig workers to troll an American election
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +25 min

Posting to social media sounded like an easy work-from-home gig, so he applied. This post from the Prigozhin-backed Social CMS network in Mexico referred to America as "we." He verified his account by providing chat transcripts, screenshots, contracts, and internal company documents. But just because Social CMS didn't yield an immediate, large-scale impact doesn't mean it should be ignored. "I didn't know who are you," wrote the person who is listed in the corporate directory as Prigozhin's media liaison.

☆ Exclusive: British authorities surveilled FBI spy chief Charles McGonigal's secret 2018 meeting with a Russian contact
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

An FBI spy chief's secret meeting with a Russian contact was detected by UK officials. McGonigal should have realized that the London meeting would be noticed, one source said. During his years in New York, McGonigal oversaw 150 FBI agents tasked with shadowing foreign operatives and turning them into spies for the US. He would have had intimate knowledge of surveillance penetration in world capitals, which makes the London meeting all the more mystifying. McGonigal had investigated Russian operatives earlier in his career, but it is unclear whether he was involved with the FBI's Deripaska recruitment effort.

☆ Google CEO Sundar Pichai asks employees to put two to four hours into helping to improve and 'dogfood' its Bard chatbot
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Google this week began companywide internal testing of Bard, its AI chatbot for search. In a memo, CEO Sundar Pichai has asked all employees to spend 2-4 hours helping test the product. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai sent an internal memo to Googlers on Wednesday asking them to contribute 2-4 hours of their time to helping improve Bard, the company's AI chatbot that it intends to integrate into search. Google kicked off "dogfooding," or internally testing, Bard on Tuesday, according to another memo seen by Insider. Read the full memo below:Hi Googlers,Excited to see us opening up Bard for an internal dogfood to help us get it ready for launch.

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