Gm. Poll time.

BIG TECH

Google Googles What to Do Next

This week, 12,000 people were laid off at Google.

Also in Google news, founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are back to work after leaving 3 years ago. What brought them back? It wasn't the food. It was the A.I. fight.

The AI Fight

With Microsoft's Bing x ChatGPT collab potentially disrupting Google search, Google seems to be slightly scared. And they should be.

Ads via Search are Google's main revenue driver — and ChatGPT x Bing is poised to disrupt it. Within a few days, they had millions of people asking questions.Angel investor Jason Calcanis called OpenAI's ChatGPT a "Google search killer."

With this in mind, Google reportedly declared a "Code Red"

While Google has a rival technology called PaLM, it hasn't been made available for public use. What's crazy is Google is an AI pioneer, inventing some of tech that is at the heart of the Large Language Models like OpenAI's GPT-3.

Loup Ventures analyst Gene Munster said that "one possible future is that these LLMs [from OpenAI] could be built into the backend of many of the tech services we use." Imagine if Photoshop had an LLM answering questions instead of needing to Google questions and watch YouTube tutorials... This is the thread of OpenAI.

Layoffs and Looking Forward

Laying off 12,000 people last week, Google is sure acting like it's Code Red.

Among those hit the hardest within the organization was the team at Area 120, the Google in-house incubator responsible for products like:

• Checks: an AI-powered privacy compliance solution for mobile apps

• Tables: a rival to Airtables, now a Google Cloud product

• Stack: app to digitalize personal documents and extract key info

• ThreadBite: bite-sized video for team collabs

While I've never heard of the products above and Google's history of failed products from Google Plus to the countless chat apps is well-documented, Google isn't giving up on in-company innovation just yet.

Google's 20% policy is quite famous. They allowing employees to spend 20% of their time on personal ideas that could benefit Google — which led to the creation of Gmail and Adsense. From what it seems, it doesn't look like this policy is going away anytime soon.

QUICK HITS

Seed Round

Stat: 20%: Apple's workforce growth from 2019 to 2022, a lean amount compared to its peers. Apple is also the only Big Tech company that has avoided layoffs.

Story we're watching: Microsoft has made huge cuts to its Metaverse division, shutting down its social VR platform Altspace VR. It's the latest hit to the Metaverse, which has lost considerable steam after a banner 2021, with companies and VCs turning their attention to AI. Is our Ready Player One dreams dying?

Rabbit hole: Is AI the new crypto? (Luttig's Learnings)

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON

• Scientists believe gravity batteries in abandoned mines could power the whole planet.

• Avatar's motion capture tech is now being used in disease research.

• The iPhone 15 has been leaked, and it looks a biiiit different.

• The former president of FTX US has raised $5 million for a new crypto software firm.

MONDAY MUSIC

NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES

LAYOFFS TRACKER

Notable layoffs this week

Zilingo: 280 people (100%)

Wayfair: 1,750 people (10%)

Google: 12,000 people (6%)

FRESH POWDER

Looking at three startups that recently topped up their coffers. Congrats!

FOUNDERS CORNER

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