Techmeme
March 14, 2023, 11:35 AM

Top News

TechCrunch:
Mark Zuckerberg says Meta plans to cut another 10,000 jobs and withdraw around 5,000 open roles, just four months after cutting 11,000 jobs  —  Meta plans to cut its workforce by another 10,000 people and withdraw around 5,000 open roles that it had yet to fill, company co-founder …
Adam Morgan McCarthy / The Block:
Meta plans to wind down its work on NFTs “for now” to focus on other ways of supporting creators and will continue working on Meta Pay  —  - Meta is ditching its NFT efforts, for now, according to executive Stephane Kasriel.  —  Meta is ditching its pursuit of NFTs as the company looks …
James Vincent / The Verge:
Google announces AI-powered features for Docs, Gmail, Sheets, Slides, and other Workspace apps, helping users generate text, summarize topics, and create images  —  Google has announced a suite of upcoming generative AI features for its various Workspace apps, including Google Docs, Gmail, Sheets, and Slides.
James Vincent / The Verge:
David Enrich / New York Times:
Signature's and SVB's collapse was aided by GOP-led Dodd-Frank reforms that raised the “stress test” threshold from $50B to $250B, pushed for by SVB executives  —  Officials with Signature and Silicon Valley banks, which regulators seized in recent days, called for looser financial requirements for midsize banks.
Andrew Ackerman / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: the FDIC is planning another SVB auction, after failing to find a suitor on March 12; at least one offer had been made, which was rejected by the FDIC  —  Auction comes after failed attempt to find suitor on Sunday  —  The Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank: What You Need to Know
Iain Withers / Reuters:
Platformer:
Sources: Microsoft laid off one of its responsible AI teams that was tasked with assessing the risks associated with integrating OpenAI's tech into its products  —  As the company accelerates its push into AI products, the ethics and society team is gone  —  I.
Kim Mackrael / Wall Street Journal:
Microsoft signs a 10-year deal with Boosteroid to distribute Call of Duty if the Activision deal is approved, the third such deal; Boosteroid has ~4M users  —  Agreement is part of push to convince regulators that the planned $75 billion acquisition won't harm the videogame industry
Reuters:
Sources and documents: India plans to force smartphone makers to let users remove pre-loaded apps and will mandate screening OS updates via new security rules  —  India plans to force smartphone makers to allow removal of pre-installed apps and mandate screening of major operating system …
Bloomberg:
Source: US prosecutors are looking at Telegram group chats between employees at Jump, Jane Street, and Alameda in May 2022 over the collapse of TerraUSD  —  US prosecutors are scrutinizing chat-group conversations among prominent trading firms including Jump Trading Group and Jane Street Group …
Alexander Osipovich / Wall Street Journal:
Will Oremus / Washington Post:
Experts say that, in the short term, the promise and perils of generative AI may be more modest than the fervor surrounding tools like ChatGPT makes them seem  —  Hype and fear collide in the tech industry's latest boom  —  If you listen to its boosters, artificial intelligence is poised …
Rest of World:
An in-depth look at tech's terrible 2022 in numbers: VC investment and IPOs falling globally, an 85% drop in new unicorns, layoffs impacting 280,000+, and more  —  Reduced investment and large-scale layoffs have created dark times for tech globally.  —  In March 2022, the future of Muni, a Colombian e-commerce startup, looked bright.
Cristina Criddle / Financial Times:
Sources: multiple women accuse London-based TikTok executive Steve Ware of sexual harassment and say TikTok mishandled the allegations, a pattern at the company  —  Woman's employment contract terminated after internal probe into complaint about advances made by senior manager
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft plans to make 3D avatars available to all Teams users in May 2023, after announcing the feature in 2021 and testing them privately in recent months  —  Microsoft originally announced the avatars feature in 2021 and has been testing it privately in recent months.
Kate Clark / The Information:
Sources: Y Combinator will not raise another Continuity Fund, which backs late-stage startups, and the two partners who led the fund plan to leave the company  —  Silicon Valley startup accelerator Y Combinator won't raise another continuity fund, which backs mature private tech companies, two people familiar with the matter said.

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