Here are the top trending news from the world of technology. News that we feel every tech enthusiast should keep in touch with.
1)
Microsoft launches all new Bing with built-in ChatGPT
OpenAI’s ChatGPT has provided a fresh ammunition to Microsoft Bing as it makes yet another attempt to challenge Google’s ruthless domination in the search engine market. On Tuesday, at a press event in Washington, Microsoft announced all new version of its Bing search engine that will come integrated with OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4. Following this announcement, Bing’s users will now get a ChatGPT like experience within the search engine. Microsoft said that it will also integrate ChatGPT capabilities into its web browser Edge. However, the new version of Bing and Edge will be initially available to only limited set of users while Microsoft has still not given a exact timeline for a global roll out.
2)
Zoom to Layoff 15% of its Global Workforce
Popular video conferencing platform Zoom has said it will trim 15% of its global workforce, signaling that the company is now registering slower growth and the pandemic induced boom is over. The 15% accounts for nearly 1,300 employees of Zoom. Zoom’s Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Eric Yuan said in a company’s blogpost that he will cut his salary and forgo his bonus as part of the cost-cutting measure. Zoom witnessed a meteoric rise in its popularity in the aftermath of global pandemic, following which the video conferencing company hired aggressively.
3)
Alibaba working on ChatGPT like Chatbot
The excitement caused by ChatGPT is propelling flurry of tech companies to work on a similar chatbot model. On Wednesday Alibaba become the latest company to join this bandwagon. The Chinese e-commerce giant said that the work on its AI powered chatbot is still in progress and it is being currently tested internally. However, Alibaba did not give the exact timeline about the launch of its chatbot. Meanwhile, the market reacted favorably to this news as Alibaba’s shares jumped 3% in the pre-market trade in the U.S. on Wednesday.
4)
Disney lays off 7,000 Employees as Streaming Subscribers fail to rise
Entertainment giant Disney has now joined the slew of high-profile companies that have opted for mass layoff as the global economy continues to sour. Disney announced on Wednesday that it is eliminating as many as 7,000 jobs as part of its cost-cutting measure. The news of mass lay off was announced in a blog post by the CEO Bob Iger, who made a comeback as a CEO late last year in order to help the company to navigate through tough times. Disney’s streaming service Disney+’s apparent struggle in increasing its subscriber numbers has been cited as one of the major reasons for pushing the cost-cutting measure.
5)
TikTok’s parent company ByteDance may enter food delivery market
ByteDance has said that it is currently beta testing food delivery service in China via TikTok’s Chinese version app Douyin. Turns out that Douyin has been testing this service since December in selected Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu. However, Douyin food delivery service will be different from the incumbent players like Meituan and Alibaba’s Ele.me, which operate as on-demand food delivery platforms. On Douyin app, restaurant owners often livestream to offer discounts and coupons, lured by these offers customers can then order the food from the app.