Banks ‘aren’t out of the woods’ after the collapse of SVB and Signature

A month ago, code blue sirens went off at banks across the globe after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. As banks work to put that painful episode in the rear view mirror, it’s unclear if the situation has stabilized or if it’s the calm before another storm.

More details will come on Friday, when the Federal Reserve is set to release the findings of its investigation into what led to SVB’s collapse. READ MORE

The $11.8 billion mistake that led to Bed, Bath & Beyond’s demise

Bed, Bath & Beyond made plenty of mistakes that led to this week’s bankruptcy filing. Among the most consequential was the $11.8 billion it has spent since 2004 to buy back its own shares.

The company’s repurchase program wasn’t unique. But for a cash-starved business that announced it would likely be forced to close all of its stores if it couldn’t find an 11th-hour savior to buy it, the money could have been better spent. Instead, it fueled a desperate and ultimately failed effort to support its stock price. READ MORE

How to rein in the AI threat? Let the lawyers loose

Fifty-five percent of Americans are worried by the threat of AI to the future of humanity, according to a recent Monmouth University poll. More than 1,000 AI experts and funders, including Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak, signed a letter calling for a six-month pause in training new AI models. In turn, Time published an article calling for a permanent global ban.

However, the problem with these proposals is that they require coordination of numerous stakeholders from a wide variety of companies and government figures. Let me share a more modest proposal that’s much more in line with our existing methods of reining in potentially threatening developments: legal liability. READ MORE

Americans think AI is someone else’s problem

AI is probably going to affect your job. We just don’t yet know when or how much — or how to feel about it exactly.

Most Americans agree that AI will have a major impact on workers in the next 20 years, and they’re more likely to say it will hurt more than help, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center. But at the same time, most Americans think AI will have little or no impact on them personally. READ MORE

CEO says many of his remote workers didn't open their laptops for a month

Clearlink CEO James Clarke told employees that many remote workers have "quietly quit" and become so brazen that dozens at his company "didn't even open" their laptops for a month, according to a video posted by Vice.

Clarke, who founded the marketing and tech company based in Utah, made the remarks this month while addressing the company's return-to-office mandate, Vice first reported. The company has asked most of its employees in Utah to work from the office four days a week, a Clearlink representative confirmed to Insider. READ MORE

These jobs are safe from the AI revolution — for now

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have the potential to revolutionize workflows and automate aspects of many jobs, but not all professions will be impacted in the near term, according to a recent report.

Generative AI and large language models (LLMs) are technologies that have received a lot of attention lately. Both use algorithms to take existing, human-created content, like text, images, audio and video, to create new content and analyze vast quantities of data.  READ MORE

How happy are you at work? The answer may have to do more with your age

Whether we're being told to return to the office or just trying to find some balance with pre-pandemic routines, the post-pandemic work experience seems to show a clear age gap.

Older workers are more likely to have favorable opinions of many important aspects of their jobs, such as their connections with co-workers, their job duties and their potential for advancement within the organization. READ MORE

Two-thirds of US jobs could be exposed to AI-driven automation

Breakthroughs in generative artificial intelligence technologies could expose about two-thirds of U.S. jobs to some level of automation, according to a report by Goldman Sachs economists.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is a technology that can synthesize data and produce audio, imagery and text. It uses tools like deep learning algorithms and neural networks to identify patterns and structures in existing data that it then uses to generate new, original content. READ MORE

Mike Rowe rips ‘exponentially expensive’ college costs: 'It’s bananas’

As the costs for community, public and private universities have shot up over time, "How America Works" host Mike Rowe agreed that college isn’t worth attending anymore when there are more affordable – and sometimes more profitable – learning and career opportunities.

"It's more expensive than it's ever been, but it's also more expensive than health care. It's more expensive than real estate. It's more expensive than energy," Rowe said on "Varney & Co." Friday. "Never in the history of Western civilization has a thing become more exponentially expensive faster than the cost of a four-year degree. That's fact. If that doesn't make you angry, then I don't know what [will]. It's bananas." READ MORE

Google CEO admits he, experts 'don't fully understand' how AI works

Google CEO Sundar Pichai warned society may not be ready for the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), and that neither he nor other experts fully understand how generative AI models like ChatGPT actually work. 

AI models like ChatGPT and Google's Bard are capable of near-human like conversation, writing text, code, even poems and song lyrics in response to user queries. But the chatbots are also known to get things wrong, often referred to as "hallucinations."  READ MORE

CEO shares the No. 1 question to ‘never ever’ ask at a job interview

If you’re a job seeker, here’s a piece of advice you likely won’t hear from anyone else: Never ever ask an employer what their remote work policy is during the job interview.

Before you say, “OK, boomer. Times have changed!”, know that I’m actually a firm believer in hybrid and remote work. It removes much of the pointless face time and unnecessary friction of office life. Plus, people who have more agency in their lives are generally happier. READ MORE

'ChatGPT does 80% of my job'

Employees have admitted that they are using ChatGPT - the revolutionary chatbot powered by artificial intelligence (AI) - to work multiple full-time jobs.

They refer to themselves as 'overemployed', because the tool allows them to complete the workload of each role in at least half the time.

Most of the jobs they do involve a fair amount of writing, like creating marketing  materials, which the chatbot has proven to be remarkably adept at. READ MORE

Should You Let Employees Break the Rules to Make Customers Happy?

Organizations are increasingly relying on technology to deliver simple transactions in a standardized way. Things like self-order kiosks at McDonald’s, bank mobile apps for check deposits, and FAQ chatbots that enable consistent and efficient service delivery to customers. Most day-to-day service encounters, from mobile ordering for a cup of coffee to returning products online, are relatively simple and straightforward. READ MORE

Old-fashioned management is failing to reverse the productivity slump. It’s time to ‘grownupify’ work

Recent headlines have the world of work wondering what’s next: Productivity is slumping, the labor force participation rate continues to shrink, and workers are “quiet quitting” in droves. Yet clients, customers, and shareholders still expect extraordinary service, lightning-fast response times, and financial returns.

If we follow the conventional approach used to move the needle on productivity, these contradicting objectives will be impossible to achieve. Work has undergone a dramatic transformation that conventional approaches simply can’t address. READ MORE