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☆ Amazon's Prime Air reportedly has only made a handful of drone deliveries, as FAA restrictions have thwarted widespread use
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | Katherine Long | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The FAA is blocking Amazon's drones from flying over people or roads without case by case permission, according to The Information. In 2020, Insider reported that Amazon's Prime Air was issued an approval certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, to use "unmanned aircraft systems" in a commercial operation. That's curtailed the number of deliveries Amazon's Prime Air can make. One reason might be because Amazon's drones are pretty heavy, coming in at 80 lbs when empty, even though the packages it can carry have a weight limit of 5 lbs. Added to that, Amazon's drones have crashed several times during testing, with one igniting an "acres-wide brush fire" in 2021 Insider reported.

☆ Microsoft warns employees not to share 'sensitive data' with ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Microsoft's CTO office told staff they can use ChatGPT at work as long as they don't share "sensitive data." In response, a senior engineer from Microsoft's CTO office wrote that they were allowed, as long as employees don't share confidential information with the AI tool. "Human beings sign NDAs and consequently have incentives to be careful in how they share information. While employees are on the hook for protecting confidential data, it's not clear what exactly Microsoft or OpenAI are doing to address the issue. Is the responsibility on employees to not share sensitive information, or is the responsibility on OpenAI to use information carefully, or some combination?"

☆ Amazon layoffs hit workers in robotics, grocery, health and AWS divisions
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Annie Palmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The database, which was circulated widely on LinkedIn, provides a window into the businesses hit with layoffs. Subsequent filings with state agencies offered a glimpse into the geographical dispersal of the layoffs. In Amazon's home state of Washington, at least 2,300 employees lost their jobs, according to Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filings. Here's a breakdown of where job cuts took place. CNBC verified that the staffers listed as Amazon employees worked for the company.

☆ Tech layoffs strip the facade of TikTok's 'day in the life' videos
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Morgan Sung | Morgan Sung Is A Trends Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Meta, Salesforce, Twitter, Snap and other tech companies have also announced layoffs in recent months. Others are using their platforms to raise awareness of labor rights in wake of recent layoffs. So yeah, I’m unemployed, but I have a hell of a lot of confidence in myself.”Educating viewers about their rights has also gained popularity after recent layoffs. TikTok user alberta.nyc, a Google software engineer and self-described “tech cynic," has made videos about the importance of unions in the tech industry. In a video, creator alejandra_n_h expressed solidarity with former Amazon employees who had been affected by recent layoffs.

☆ Trump's return to Instagram and Facebook could doom Truth Social
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Truth Social only just became available on Androids in October. Trump's return to social media spells doom for Truth Social. After the Capitol insurrection, former president Donald Trump was banned from a slew of social media platforms. Trump is contractually required to post on Truth Social before making the same post on another site for six hours. My colleague Beatrice Nolan breaks down the future of Truth Social and what it means for Trump's supporters.

☆ ChatGPT creator OpenAI might be training its AI technology to replace some software engineers, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Samantha Delouya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

OpenAI has quietly hired hundreds of international contractors to help train its AI tech, according to Semafor. Some are teaching software engineering to AI, potentially paving the way to replace some human coders. The engineer told Semafor he thinks the company wants to feed the training data into its AI technology. OpenAI is also the owner of the buzzy AI chatbot, ChatGPT. Software engineering might be added to the list next.

☆ Amazon employees are already using ChatGPT for software coding. They also found the AI chatbot can answer tricky AWS customer questions and write cloud training materials.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Amazon employees are using ChatGPT in a number of different ways, internal Slack messages show. ChatGPT was able to answer AWS customer questions and write training documents. Additionally, ChatGPT was "great" at writing a troubleshooting guide for AWS Aurora database engineers, and answering "difficult" support questions, this employee wrote on Slack. A corporate attorney at Amazon told employees not to share confidential company information with ChatGPT, as Insider previously reported. The employee wrote it's likely because it's an "extremely advanced human cognitive task."

☆ An Amazon engineer asked ChatGPT interview questions for a software coding job at the company. The chatbot got them right.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

ChatGPT got technical interview questions right, Amazon employee said in an internal Slack channel. Amazon is worried about employees sharing confidential company information with ChatGPT. The artificial intelligence-powered chatbot correctly answered some ofAmazon's interview questions for a software coding position, according to screenshots of a recent internal Slack channel discussion seen by Insider. This was one of many work-related ChatGPT topics discussed in the internal Slack channel last month, according to screenshots seen by Insider. An Amazon lawyer chimed in on Slack, warning employees not to share confidential information with ChatGPT.

☆ Amazon warehouse workers walk out in first UK strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —Amazon workers at a warehouse in central England went on strike Wednesday, the first time employees of the US tech giant have walked out in the country. Workers are asking for £15 ($18.49) an hour, which the GMB union said would be in line with pay at Amazon in the United States. Starting pay for warehouse workers in the United States averages over $19 an hour after the company’s latest raise in September. The strike comes as employees in the United States continue to organize and push for collective bargaining rights. Amazon has refused to formally recognize or bargain with the Amazon Labor Union, which was recently certified by regulators.

☆ Salesforce employees demand answers from execs about layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Salesforce employees demand answers. More than 500 employees wrote a letter to execs, demanding answers about the layoffs. Amazon employees told not to share confidential info with ChatGPT. Current and former employees told Insider that the social media company is shedding employees. This is what employees told us.

☆ Amazon warns employees not to share confidential information with ChatGPT after seeing cases where its answer 'closely matches existing material' from inside the company
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

An Amazon lawyer warned employees about sharing confidential company information with ChatGPT. Others wondered if they were even allowed to use the AI tool for work. She warned employees not to provide ChatGPT with "any Amazon confidential information (including Amazon code you are working on)," according to a screenshot of the message seen by Insider. Overall, Amazon employees in the Slack channel were excited about the potential of ChatGPT, and wondered if Amazon was working on a competing product. For Amazon employees, data privacy seems to be the least of their concerns.

☆ Amazon, Facing Questions Over Workplace Safety, Also Probed on Bank Dealings
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Richard Vanderford | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

The office has deployed the 1989 law at the same time the Labor Department presses a workplace safety investigation of Amazon that has already led to several citations. The office also wants video surveillance footage of Amazon facilities and has served subpoenas to take testimony from Amazon employees, including high-level executives, according to Ms. Ahmad. Amazon in court papers in the case in Seattle said the information demands are “unrealistic” and the U.S. Attorney’s Office stretched to assert jurisdiction under Firrea. Any fraud case against Amazon would turn on whether the company had made misrepresentations to lenders and whether those misrepresentations impacted their decision-making, he said. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan didn’t respond to a request for information on the identities of the financial institutions whose dealings with Amazon are under scrutiny.

Amazon, Microsoft, and Google announced layoffs of a total of 40,000 employees this week. Tech companies embarked on a massive hiring spree as the Covid-era made their products the backbone of the world's remote-working offices. The era of tech companies spending like rock stars is overOver the last decade Big Tech companies spent money "like 1980's rock stars," wrote Dan Ives, managing director at the investment firm Wedbush . On the other end, tech companies may look much different this decade as they did in the last. As companies like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft cut costs, they'll find ways to operate leaner, and their stock prices will stabilize.

☆ Here are the layoff severance packages Google, Microsoft, Amazon and other tech giants have promised
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Laid-off employees would also have "at least" 16 weeks of share vesting accelerated, Pichai said in a memo to employees. Benefit-eligible U.S. employees are to receive severance, six months of healthcare and stock vesting, and 60 days of notice, Nadella wrote. Human resources head Beth Galetti said the company will offer a separation payment, health benefits as applicable by country and job placement. This matters to Amazon employees, as the company's compensation has historically been weighted heavily to stock. Benioff's letter to employees also said that laid-off employees would receive health insurance benefits and career resources for an unclear duration.

☆ Google isn't just afraid of competition from ChatGPT — the giant is scared ChatGPT will kill AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A perfect example of this is the viral technology ChatGPT. ChatGPT makes a lot of people nervous (here's everything you need to know about it, BTW). Or maybe one day ChatGPT will just teach the class — that's probably part of Google's AI nightmare. If ChatGPT runs rampant, the search giant fears it could ruin AI adoption for everyone. My colleague Hasan Chowdhury breaks down how so-called generative AI — not just ChatGPT — could derail an entire sector of emerging technology.

☆ Microsoft layoffs show that no tech company is safe to work at right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

On Wednesday, Amazon started its largest round of layoffs in company history after giving employees the heads up that they were coming two weeks earlier. I'm Diamond Naga Siu, and today, we dive into why all Big Tech employees are at risk of losing their jobs. Microsoft's layoffs proves that there is no such thing as a safe tech company to work at right now. The list of tech layoffs is long: Facebook, Amazon, Meta, Twitter, Salesforce, Microsoft, and more. The SVP of People Experience and Technology sent two missives on the first official days of Amazon layoffs.

☆ Leaked documents show Amazon paused activities like social marketing and recruiting 'out of respect' for laid off employees
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Eugene Kim | Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Amazon has suspended a number of work activities or services on Wednesday amid layoffs. Amazon suspended several work activities and services on Wednesday to be more mindful of the employees let go as part of the company's largest layoff in history. Additionally, Amazon suspended some AWS content streams on Twitch, another person said. Amazon will also pause some recruiting activities on Wednesday and Thursday, according to a person familiar with the matter. Still, many Amazon employees were upset about the ambiguity and lack of communication in the overall layoff process.

☆ Leaked Amazon screenshots show employees scrambling to identify teams affected by layoffs. Here's a list of more than 35 groups getting cuts.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In an internal Slack channel, Amazon staff shared team names and job levels to add clarity to the process. As Amazon began the largest layoffs in company history on Wednesday, an internal Slack channel blew up with employees sharing details about the job cuts. The layoffs-related Slack channel has over 37,000 members. "It's been moving so fast, I can't keep up with scrolling," another person told Insider about the Slack channel. Many employees in the Slack channel expressed shock and surprise.

☆ Amazon employees learned they were laid off by email, not a face-to-face with managers or HR. Read the email they were sent.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Eugene Kim | Katherine Long | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Amazon notified laid-off employees by email only, not face-to-face meetings, multiple sources said. Amazon started reaching out to laid-off employees on Wednesday by email as the company embarked on the largest job cuts in company history. Employees were individually notified just by email, not by face-to-face meetings with their respective managers or with human resources personnel, according to five people who spoke to Insider. Amazon's HR boss Beth Galetti told employees on Wednesday that those affected will soon have meetings with their leaders, as Insider previously reported. Access to internal email, Chime, and AtoZ will be available on your non-Amazon device throughout the remainder of your tenure.

☆ Amazon cited by Labor Department for exposing warehouse workers to safety hazards
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Annie Palmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued citations against Amazon at three of its warehouses for exposing workers to safety hazards, the department announced Wednesday. Amazon also faces a separate investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office's civil division that centers around worker safety hazards at the e-retailer's facilities nationwide. Amazon warehouse workers have previously complained that the company's pace of work prevents them from taking adequate bathroom and rest breaks, and leads to unfair disciplinary actions. In April, workers at an Amazon warehouse on New York's Staten Island voted to form the company's first U.S. union. Workers at another Staten Island facility rejected a union, while a second election at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama is being contested.

☆ Amazon employees think the company is lowering the bar with a streamlined interview process
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Matt Weinberger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

This is Matt Weinberger, deputy editor of Insider's tech analysis team, filling in once again for your regular captain Diamond Naga Siu. Stop me if you've heard this one: Amazon walks into a bar... But seriously folks, my colleague Eugene Kim reports on a big, meaningful change in the online retail giant's hiring process. Some employees think so, Insider's Eugene Kim reports. He says that "current and former bar raisers I talked to were not too happy about this decision and were concerned about its potential to drag down Amazon's hiring bar."

☆ Amazon workers press company on climate change response after Pakistan floods
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Eli M. Rosenberg | Eli Rosenberg Is An Investigative Tech Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

The employees say the aid is a way for Amazon to take greater responsibility for its role in producing the greenhouse emissions that cause climate change. Scientists have said the flooding that killed more than 1,700 people and displaced millions in Pakistan was much more likely to occur because of climate change. And it is attracting some Amazon workers not previously involved in workplace activism. One letter received 8,700 signatures from Amazon employees. “It definitely had an effect on people,” said Eliza Pan, a former program manager at the company who left in 2019 to go work on climate change issues, but is still involved with Amazon Employees for Climate Justice.

☆ Welcome to Salesforce's week from hell.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

While I learn how to math, my editors Matt Weinberger and Jake Swearingen will update you on tech this week via this newsletter. Before I bounce, let's catch up on the big pains of Big Tech. This type of messiness will likely permeate throughout Big Tech this year. Welcome to Salesforce's week from hell. The day after announcing big layoffs last week, CEO Marc Benioff didn't seem to notice that he was a full 18 minutes late to an all-hands meeting to discuss the cuts.

☆ Inside Amazon, there's chatter, and jokes, about Jeff Bezos coming back as CEO in the midst of massive layoffs and a plummeting stock price
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Eugene Kim | Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Some Amazon employees are calling for Jeff Bezos to return as CEO. Some Amazon employees are calling for the return of founder Jeff Bezos as CEO in the midst of massive layoffs and a plunging stock price. "Apparently not even Andy is safe," one employee wrote, referring to Jassy who took over from Bezos as CEO in July 2021. "He should come…he is the best," another employee wrote, referring to Bezos. In the turkey-themed email, viewed by Insider, the CEO acknowledged challenges, thanked Amazon employees, and called for resilience and optimism.

☆ Flexport Names Former Amazon Executive as President
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Paul Berger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

com Inc. executive, is joining Flexport Inc. as the digital-focused freight forwarder boosts its growth ambitions under the leadership of former Amazon consumer chief executive Dave Clark. The San Francisco-based company named Ms. Carlson president and chief commercial officer, overseeing sales, marketing and communications, Flexport said Thursday. Ms. Carlson specializes in cloud computing. Mr. Clark in September took on the role of Flexport co-CEO alongside the company’s founder and CEO Ryan Petersen. Mr. Clark has hired former Amazon employees including public-relations executive Kelly Cheeseman, logistics executive Parisa Sadrzadeh and human-resources executive Darcie Henry.

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