ChatGPT is taking over the internet
Hi, I’m Matt Turner, Insider’s Business Editor-in-Chief. Welcome back to Insider Weekly, a roundup of some of our top stories.
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On today’s agenda:
But first: Diamond Naga Siu, the new voice behind our excellent 10 Things in Tech Newsletter, gives us a look at a phenomenon that is taking the Internet by storm: ChatGPT. Without any more preambles…
ChatGPT takes over
ChatGPT, an AI chat bot, has gone viral in the last two weeks.
NurPhoto/Getty Images
ChatGPT brings all the technicians to the yard, senior reporter Diamond Naga Siu writes.
If you’ve somehow missed the ChatGPT buzz so far, it’s a chatbot equipped with the most advanced example of generative artificial intelligence: powerful technology that can create original responses to questions and commands.
It’s hauntingly human and it’s seen as a threat to Google. When an Insider reporter used ChatGPT for their searches, I found it terrifyingly impressive.
My colleague Beatrice Nolan even asked the chatbot to write cover letters for real jobs. Hiring managers told him they would likely reach out to “candidates” for the next round.
You can see how this could end up in the academy. New York City schools have already Banned the use of ChatGPT. And a Princeton student built a tool which can detect if someone used AI to write an essay. No promises, this newsletter was written by a human being.
There is a lot of money behind the buzz. There are reports that the latest valuation of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, could be close to $30 billion. Microsoft seems crafty for investing $1 billion in the company in 2019.
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A blow to the Salesforce staff
Marc Benioff, founder, president and co-CEO of Salesforce, speaks at an Economic Club of Washington luncheon in Washington, DC on October 18, 2019
NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images
It was a tough week to be a Salesforce employee. On Wednesday the company announced plans to cut about 10% of their jobs. That means approximately 7,000 employees face the axe, with 1000 already out starting this week. It is also going to close some of its offices.
To make matters worse, things turned sour on Thursday when the co-CEO of Salesforce Marc Benioff dodged questions during a labyrinthine two-hour meeting. It was so bad, and the employees were so upset, that one executive later apologized, telling people who hadn’t seen the meeting not to bother watching.
Read more about all-hand timing in Salesforce.
Read more:
‘Zoomtowns’: Anything good?
Getty; Marianne Ayala/Insider
White-collar workers who moved into cheap locales during the pandemic, turning them into “zoomtownsit became a popular discussion point. Many of these towns became emblems of inequality and rural displacement. But a new analysis shows that Zoomtowns could actually turn into a good thing.
A bipartisan public policy organization said the shift to remote work may eventually make rent and housing cheaper for everyone. That’s because many of these cities are better equipped to build cheap housing to help absorb the influx of new people.
This is how Zoomtowns can transform the real estate market.
Read more:
Buying cars has changed forever
Maskot/fake images
You can’t put the genie back in the bottle, and that’s particularly true for the post-2020 car buying process. Since the pandemic began, car dealers have kept fewer vehicles on their lots, even though the production has recovered.
Ford and GM executives say car buyers have adapted, and that change in behavior could be permanent. Now, customers can order a car online and have it delivered directly.
If an automaker doesn’t have its money tied up in inventory, it can afford to charge a penny for that new Prius. And you don’t have to offer incentives either.
Here’s a closer look at our new car buying reality.
Read more:
The ‘nepo babies’ of business
Big business ‘nepo babies’ include (clockwise from top left): Delphine Arnault, David Lauren, Lachlan Murdoch, Gus Wenner, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
FAKE IMAGES
The term “baby nepo” has exploded ever since. New York Magazine put a bunch of famous kids of Hollywood stars on its December cover. But the idea of baby nepo — “nepo” is short for nepotism, in case it wasn’t clear, it extends to the business world as well.
We rounded up a list of notable baby nepos in business, like Lachlan Murdoch and John Tyson, who were given the title of executive.
Read more:
This week’s quote:
“If you want to look for a new market, look at where the big companies are moving. Then you buy in all those areas and where they’re building an airport.”
More of this week’s best reads:
Curated by Matt Turner. Edited by Dave Smith and Lisa Ryan. Sign up for more Insider newsletters here.