10 Things in Tech: Joe Biden has tried ChatGPT, Silicon Valley goes sober, and leaked Shopify audio
We made it to Friday, friends. I'm Diamond Naga Siu, and I don't drink alcohol. I know sobriety is a pretty personal conversation for a lot of people. And it used to be something I hid by pretending to take shots or by making up an excuse about medicine.
But after becoming more comfortable with this decision, I openly share it (as Insider's Allana Akhtar writes, cool girls don't drink alcohol anymore, by the way). And Silicon Valley is catching on, too. My colleague Samantha Stokes did a deep dive into the growing trend of techies avoiding alcohol.
We have that and more below. So let's get into today's tech.
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1. Silicon Valley goes sober. More people are cutting out booze. This millennial-led trend has grown in the past four years — and now it's catching on in tech.
- It's a pretty remarkable shift in the historically alcohol-soaked industry. But some techies highlighted how the side effects of drinking — grogginess, low energy, and more — contradict the industry's fast-paced expectations.
- "There is a community of highly successful CEOs, founders, and investors making this decision," one entrepreneur told Insider. This growing contingent includes famed investor Marc Andreessen. Plus, there's been a boom in non-alcoholic beverage startups.
- My colleague Samantha Stokes examined this growing trend in Silicon Valley and gives some insight into the drying industry.
In other news:
2. Chat with people in your "hotness" bracket. This new website uses AI to rate how hot you are. Then, you're matched to chat with someone of a similar hotness. My colleague Lakshmi Varanasi tried it out and said "it's really messed up." More on the hot (or not) site here.
3. Googlers make fun of Sundar Pichai's salary. Some upset employees made memes about his $226 million pay packet amid cost-cutting and layoffs at the company. They reportedly compared him to the "Shrek" villain Lord Farquaad. See his meme treatment here.
4. This dating app wants to eradicate ghosting with AI. The tagline is "less talk, more action." It works by prospective matches chatting with an AI version of you — and you chatting with theirs. Get a preview of the unreleased app here.
5. Leaked audio: Shopify president's comments after laying off 20% of staff. In a two-minute video shared with employees, Harley Finkelstein said he has never "felt more sure about the future of this company." Read his full remarks here.
6. Elon Musk for months has said "excellent" Tweeps will be rewarded for their efforts. No rewards have come. Instead, Twitter employees had their bonuses scrapped, benefits cut, and stock grants never materialize. More on the thankless work here.
7. Where is Google cofounder Larry Page? The US Virgin Islands is hunting for the elusive billionaire to serve him a subpoena. It's part of a lawsuit against JP Morgan's alleged role in Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking enterprise. Track down the story details here.
8. Even US President Joe Biden has tried ChatGPT. He was reportedly "fascinated" by generative AI. But his administration also wants to "mitigate the harm" the technology could cause. Check out the commander in chief's AI opinions here.
Odds and ends:
9. Photos capture military aircrafts landing on Wyoming highways. The event helps train special operators to land on roads in case runways aren't an option. Multiple attack planes, like the A-10 Thunderbolt II were used. Fly over for the photos here.
10. This EV could charge in the same time it takes to fill a gas tank. The Fisker Ocean will use battery-swapping to decrease refueling time. It's a pretty novel concept in the US but is more developed in other countries. Get plugged in for the full story here.
The latest people moves in tech:
- TikTok is shuffling around its leadership team in North America. This move comes as the company grows its ambitions in the music industry. (These are 25 key execs helping with that push, by the way)
- Meta (formerly Facebook) veteran Kelly MacLean jumped to Amazon to become the vice president of its ad buying platform. She previously spent more than 11 years at Meta and was most recently its VP of business products engineering.
- Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told Insider that he has a sequence of successors. After Bret Taylor (his co-CEO and most likely heir) bounced last year, the lacking plan left investors worried. This leaked org chart reveals who the candidates are.
Curated by Diamond Naga Siu in San Diego. (Feedback or tips? Email dsiu@insider.com or tweet @diamondnagasiu) Edited by Shona Ghosh (tweet @shonaghosh) and Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.