Hi, I’m Matt Turner, editor-in-chief of Insider. Welcome to Insider Weekly, a collection of our best stories.
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Today on the agenda:
But first: Diamond Naga Siu, the new voice behind our excellent 10 Things in Tech newsletter, gives us a look at a phenomenon sweeping the web: ChatGPT. Without further ado…
ChatGPT takes over
ChatGPT brings all the techniques to the backyard, Senior Correspondent Diamond Naga Siu writes.
In case you’ve somehow missed the ChatGPT buzz, it’s a chatbot powered by the most advanced example of generative artificial intelligence – powerful technology that can generate authentic responses to questions and commands.
It looks like a human and looks like a threat to Google. When an Insider reporter used ChatGPT for their search, they found it to be frighteningly effective.
My colleague Beatrice Nolan even asked a chatbot to write cover letters for real jobs. Hiring managers told him they would contact “candidates” for the next round.
You can see how this would play out in academia. NYC schools have already banned the use of ChatGPT. A Princeton student has developed a tool that can detect if someone is using artificial intelligence to write an essay. This newsletter was not written by a human.
Big money is behind the noise. There are reports that the latest valuation for OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, could be close to $30 billion. Microsoft looks smart as it invested $1 billion in the company in 2019.
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A blow to the Salesforce workforce
It’s been a tough week being a Salesforce employee. On Wednesday, the company announced plans to cut about 10% of its jobs. That means around 7,000 workers face the ax, with 1,000 workers out of a job this week. It will also close some of its offices.
Things took a turn for the worse on Thursday when Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff dodged questions during a two-hour plenary. It was so bad and employees were so upset that an executive later apologized and told people who didn’t see the meeting not to bother watching it.
Read more about comprehensive tension in Salesforce.
Read more:
‘Zoomtowns’: A good thing?
White-collar workers have become a popular point of contention during the pandemic, moving to cheap places and turning them into “Zoomtowns”. Many of these cities have become emblems of inequality and rural displacement. But a new analysis suggests that Zoomtowns may actually be a good thing.
The bipartisan public policy organization said the shift to telecommuting could eventually lower rents and home prices for everyone. Because many of these cities are best equipped to build affordable housing to absorb the influx of new people.
How Zoomtowns Can Change the Housing Market.
Read more:
Buying a car has changed forever
You can’t put the genie back in the bottle, and this is especially true for the post-2020 car buying process. Since the start of the pandemic, even though production has resumed, car dealerships have fewer cars on their lots.
Ford and GM executives say car buyers have adapted and this behavioral shift may be permanent. Customers can now order a car online and have it shipped directly to them.
If the automaker doesn’t have the cash in the inventory, it might charge a pretty penny for a new Prius. And it doesn’t have to be encouraging.
Let’s take a closer look at our new car buying and selling reality.
Read more:
‘nepo babies’ of business
The term “nepo baby” took off after New York Magazine featured a bunch of famous children of Hollywood stars in December. But the nepo baby idea — “nepo” is short for nepotism, in case that wasn’t clear — is spreading to the business world, too.
We’ve put together a list of prominent nepo babies in the business, including Lachlan Murdoch and John Tyson, all of whom have been given executive titles.
Check out our list here.
Read more:
This week’s quote:
“If you want to look for a new market, you look at where the big box companies are moving. Then you buy all these areas and places where they’re building an airport.”
This week’s most read articles:
Curator: Matt Turner. Edited by Dave Smith and Lisa Ryan. Sign up for more Insider newsletters here.
Read the original article on Business Insider