Here are the top trending stories from the world of technology. Stories that we feel every tech enthusiast should know.
1)
In a major AI push, Microsoft to invest $10 Bn in OpenAI
Microsoft on Monday announced that it is all set to make multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI, the company behind the much talked about online chatbot ChatGPT. However, both companies refused to discuss about the financial terms of the deal but sources privy to the matter claimed that the tech giant has made $10 Bn investment in OpenAI. Notably, Microsoft had already invested $3 Bn in OpenAI few years back and the latest and increased investment clearly indicates that the company is sharpening its focus on the AI technology. Microsoft is hopeful that its strategic investment in OpenAI will help it competing better with other big tech rivals, notably Google.
2)
Layoff Continues: Google all set wipe out 12,000 jobs
The turmoil of layoffs refuses to abate as Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc announced on Monday that it is soon all set to lay off 12,000 employees, which is almost 6% of the company’s global workforce. Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai made the announcement about the job cuts to company’s employees through an email. Alphabet’s layoff decision comes almost two months after one of its largest stake holders, TCI Fund Management, wrote a mail to Pichai expressing concern about the company’s high headcounts. According to people privy to the matter, the total layoff numbers may go as high as 20,000 in the coming months. Except for Apple, now almost all big tech companies have announced mass layoff in order to cope with the recession.
3)
Elon Musk rues about having too many ads on Twitter (this how he plans to fix it)
Elon Musk is gearing up to bring yet another sweeping change to Twitter in an attempt to make the microblogging platform more appealing. His latest fix is to bring down the number of ads on Twitter. Musk said that ads takes too much space on Twitter and is impendent to the user experience. As part of the solution, the tech billionaire said that Twitter will soon release higher priced subscription plan that will be completely ad free. This finally fulfils the long-awaited demand of Twitter’s paid customers who have frequently demanded to remove ads from their subscription plan.
4)
Spotify joins the Layoff Bandwagon, cuts 6% of global jobs
Stockholm based streaming giant Spotify said that it is laying off 6% of its global workforce, joining the list of tech companies that have opted for mass layoffs in order to endure the economic recession. Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek announced the news through a message that was put on company’s social media pages. Ek said in the message that the company had hired too aggressively during the pandemic and hence job cuts had become unavoidable. However, it is still not clear which countries or markets will be most affected by Spotify’s layoff decision.
5)
Microsoft is closing down virtual reality platform AltspaceVR
Our last trending news again comes from Microsoft. The tech giant Microsoft has said that it is shutting down the social virtual reality platform AltspaceVR, five years after it acquired the platform. The platform will be officially closing on March 10, 2023. The company further said that it will now divert the focus on Microsoft Mesh, which is a mixed realty platform.