We need a better way to find AI’s dangerous flaws

As concerns mount about AI’s risk to society, a human-first approach has emerged as an important way to keep AIs in check. That approach, called red-teaming, relies on teams of people to poke and prod these systems to make them misbehave in order to reveal vulnerabilities the developers can try to address. Red-teaming comes in lots of flavors, ranging from organically formed communities on social media to officially sanctioned government events to internal corporate efforts. Just recently, OpenAI announced a call to hire contract red-teamers the company can summon as needed. READ MORE

10 Beliefs That Get in the Way of Organizational Change

Let’s acknowledge a hard truth: A colleague you love or respect may be playing a role in unproductively lowering your organization’s metabolic rate. Maybe it’s even you. People often ask us about the right timing for big change, and our answer is almost always the same: How about now? Now is typically the right time to accelerate excellence. But first you need to address some of the common assumptions that may be holding your team back. READ MORE

10 questions to determine if your employees trust you

There are numerous academic definitions of trust, each of which can be boiled down to one thing—predictability. We trust people when their behavior is consistent, and we can accurately predict how they will behave. We trust our workplaces and the people we work with when we know how they will likely behave, and we believe they act with our best interests in mind. When you decide to join a company, uncertainty and risk are involved in making the upfront commitment. You need to trust your hard work will be met with financial rewards and opportunities for promotion. READ MORE

A store let customers steal shoes — if they could outrun a pro sprinter

While shopping recently at a Paris running store, a customer stopped in front of a security guard and asked to take a selfie with him. While the security guard was distracted, the customer’s friend grabbed a hat from a nearby table and sprinted out of the store.

Realizing he had been duped, the security guard chased after the thief and caught them a few seconds later. But the guard wasn’t upset; instead, he smiled. READ MORE

‘Let that sink in!’ The 13 tweets that tell the story of Elon Musk’s turbulent first year at Twitter (or X)

A year ago this week, when he completed the purchase of Twitter for $44bn, Elon Musk tweeted “the bird is freed”. Billionaires like nothing more than casting themselves as popular liberators, but the acquisition fitted the pattern of his ever-expanding empire.

Musk has colonised areas of the economy from which public funding and regulation have been in retreat. His carmaker, Tesla, is shaping the future of transport; SpaceX, meanwhile, has in many ways replaced Nasa on the final frontier (so far this year it has launched 75 spacecraft). READ MORE

US workplaces implement unconventional recruitment methods as they try to find the best hires

Recruiters and business owners are turning to innovative ways to determine whether potential job candidates are not only the best fit for an open position — but also if the candidate will mesh well with the company’s corporate culture.  

These methods include trying unconventional communication tactics, giving personality assessments and aiming to assess job talents before an offer is extended.  READ MORE

MBA job offers in short supply as tech, finance, consulting dial back recruiting

Companies are dialing back or delaying hiring of M.B.A.s this fall, a sharp turn from the supercharged recruiting seasons of years past.

Career officers and students at Yale University, Columbia University and Northwestern University say businesses are spending less time on campus than in recent years to hire second-year M.B.A. candidates, or holding off on job offers. That has students thinking about their Plan B if top-tier companies aren’t making offers. EY, Amazon and Boston Consulting Group are rethinking hiring strategy, or saying they will make moves when next year’s business picture becomes clearer, the companies and campus officials say. READ MORE

Employees consider wellness programs at work critical for job choice

Wellness-enhancing offerings in the workplace aren't just good for employees' health.

They can also boost workers' motivation and sustain productivity, according to a recent report. 

The report, released by Mindspace, a global provider of boutique flexible spaces with locations in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, Poland, Romania, The Netherlands and Israel, indicated that 9 out of 10 employees consider well-being facilities and offerings to be critical when choosing a workplace. READ MORE

Psychological trauma in the workplace is real—and it could be holding you back

When we face a horrific situation and we are at a loss as to what to do, our response relies entirely on the most primitive part of the brain, the basal ganglia, which controls the innate and automatic self-preserving behaviors needed to survive. This part of the brain is also responsible for primitive activities such as feeding, escaping danger, and reproducing.

The brain is a predictive organ and it learns from the consequences of what we do. It learns typical day-to-day behaviors from situations during our early developmental years. When we take a potentially unsafe action such as touching an electrical socket or crossing the road when a car is approaching and a guardian intercepts, informs us of the risk, and offers an alternative action, the brain will learn and apply this categorically across a diverse set of situations involving danger and safety. READ MORE

Work ethic or work mode? Here’s what a new poll reveals about remote employment productivity

When it comes to working from home, Utahns are mostly giving themselves high marks for maintaining productivity versus how much they accomplish when toiling in an office setting. But, they’re less charitable about their co-workers’ at-home work ethics and new academic research suggests no one is getting nearly as much done as they think they are.

A new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll found 50% of respondents who are currently working said they were somewhat or much more productive during time spent working from home than at their respective offices. In the minority were 18% of workers who said they were somewhat less productive while working at their abodes and 11% copped to being much less productive when working from home. READ MORE

US ad revenue at Musk's X declined each month since takeover

Monthly U.S. ad revenue at social media platform X has declined at least 55% year-over-year each month since billionaire Elon Musk bought the company formerly known as Twitter in October 2022, according to third-party data provided to Reuters.

The company has struggled to retain some advertisers since the takeover, as brands have been wary of rapid changes under Musk's ownership. X's chief executive, Linda Yaccarino, is expected to meet on Thursday with bank lenders who helped finance Musk's acquisition to outline the company's business plans, according to a person familiar with the plans. READ MORE

Searches for AI skills on gig platform surge as businesses embrace new tech

Interest in artificial intelligence exploded in the past year after the rollout of ChatGPT caught the public's attention, and fresh data indicates the frenzy for AI-related skills is far from over as more businesses embrace the technology.

Freelance digital services platform Fiverr's latest Business Trends Index released Thursday found global searches for AI content editing soared by 10,490% over the past six months, while inquiries for prompt engineering surged 7,345% and those related to AI video rose 3,746%. READ MORE

America's CEOs weigh in on the top three issues facing businesses nationwide

Despite sky-high borrowing costs and economic uncertainty, America's CEOs are more confident than they were a year ago, a lot more in fact, 77% this year vs.   64% in 2022, according to a new survey released by KPMG on Thursday.

"American and global businesses, and particularly in the U.S., have been very, very resilient. The recession that was forecast some time ago hasn't really arisen yet. You could argue there have been some rolling sector recessions, but not the macro recession that everyone expected," KPMG CEO Paul Knopp told FOX Business. READ MORE

Choose the Right Employee Evaluation Phrases in Your Performance Reviews

For anyone in a managerial role, writing employee evaluations becomes a repetitive task and there are only so many times they can write “good performer” and “team player” without running out of useful employee evaluation phrases. According to an SHRM article, managers spend an average of 210 hours a year on performance management activities. 

With this much time invested into an activity, it is imperative that the results are worthwhile, otherwise skipping the reviews entirely might be ideal. This is why it is ideal to write a good evaluation with useful employee evaluation comments that can actually benefit the receiver. So what do you write in an employee evaluation and how do you decide on appropriate phrases? READMORE

Effective performance management can help reduce quiet quitting

Quiet quitting isn’t a fly-by-night viral trend on social media. It’s a lifestyle response being adopted by millions who are struggling for a better life. Due to wage stagnation and year-over-year inflation, many feel life is harder now and more expensive, and they simply don't want to be in survival mode any longer. In other words, quiet quitters are rejecting the demands of hustle culture.

The term ‘quiet quitting’ refers to employees who don’t go ‘above and beyond’ at work to put in more effort than absolutely necessary. The increase in this phenomenon was highlighted in a report published earlier this summer by the London School of Economics and is more prevalent than some think. A job satisfaction survey of 2,080 UK professionals published this year found that up to two-thirds of UK professionals have ‘quiet quit’ their jobs. The survey also found 25% of those polled admitted they would be keen to change jobs in the next 12 months. Additionally, a 2022 Gallup survey estimated that half of the U.S. workforce consists of quiet quitters. If Gallup’s estimate is accurate, that equates to 80 million workers. READ MORE

What was Elon Musk’s strategy for Twitter?

On the day that public records revealed that Elon Musk had become Twitter’s biggest shareholder, an unknown sender texted the billionaire and recommended an article imploring him to acquire the social network outright.

Musk’s purchase of Twitter, the 3,000-word anonymous article said, would amount to a “declaration of war against the Globalist American Empire.” The sender of the texts was offering Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, a playbook for the takeover and transformation of Twitter. As the anniversary of Musk's purchase approaches, the identity of the sender remains unknown. READ MORE

Microsoft CEO warns of ‘nightmare’ future for AI if Google’s search dominance continues

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella warned on Monday of a “nightmare” scenario for the internet if Google’s dominance in online search is allowed to continue, a situation, he said, that starts with searches on desktop and mobile but extends to the emerging battleground of artificial intelligence.

Nadella testified on Monday as part of the US government’s sweeping antitrust trial against Google, now into its 14th day. He is the most senior tech executive yet to testify during the trial that focuses on the power of Google as the default search engine on mobile devices and browsers around the globe. READ MORE