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“Become Contagious”: Tech Layoffs In the midst of AI investments

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Become Contagious Tech Layoffs In the midst of AI investments

As of Sunday, February 11, 141 businesses had made staff reductions this year, according to Layoffs.fyi, a website that tracks joblessness in the IT industry. These businesses include Snap, Microsoft, eBay, and PayPal.

The tech companies are making layoffs because they’ve determined that they have a lot of dead wood after reviewing their staffing levels. And we could accomplish more if we were a lighter organization, Brent Thill, an analyst at Jefferies, told the Financial Times (FT) on Sunday.

“The layoffs are going to continue and it may get worse. It’s become contagious,” Thill added.

As per Daniel Keum, an associate professor of management at Columbia Business School, IT businesses have been assessing which divisions they want to prioritize investments in and making staff cuts in areas that are expensive but not essential, as reported by the Financial Times.

One illustration of this is the hundreds of positions that Amazon’s Twitch video streaming business terminated this year. Keum continued, saying that businesses had been “actively hiring” in addition to the job losses this year.

After laying off more than 20,000 workers at the end of 2022, Meta announced that it will be employing “minimally” this year but will be making “significant investments” in generative AI, which would involve onboarding new employees.

Not just the tech industry has seen job losses this year. AI has been involved in recent large layoffs at businesses like UPS and BlackRock, as PYMNTS reported last week.

“However, many companies are hesitant to directly link technology with job cuts, instead focusing on the positive aspects of AI implementation,” that report said.

For example, UPS has stated that AI is not replacing labor, even though the business acknowledged that technology like AI contributed to their job reductions, which were the largest in its history. Instead, salespeople can build proposals with the assistance of machine learning, which eliminates the need for price expertise.

“Estimating the true impact of AI on job cuts is challenging,” PYMNTS wrote. “According to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, U.S. companies have announced over 4,600 job cuts since May, either to free up resources for hiring individuals with AI expertise or because AI technology replaced certain tasks. “

However, it is believed that this estimate understates the true number of job losses. According to Senior Vice President Andrew Challenger, many businesses would rather not make these layoffs public because doing so frequently attracts unfavorable media attention.

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Microsoft Expands Copilot Voice and Think Deeper

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Microsoft Expands Copilot Voice and Think Deeper

Microsoft is taking a major step forward by offering unlimited access to Copilot Voice and Think Deeper, marking two years since the AI-powered Copilot was first integrated into Bing search. This update comes shortly after the tech giant revamped its Copilot Pro subscription and bundled advanced AI features into Microsoft 365.

What’s Changing?

Microsoft remains committed to its $20 per month Copilot Pro plan, ensuring that subscribers continue to enjoy premium benefits. According to the company, Copilot Pro users will receive:

  • Preferred access to the latest AI models during peak hours.
  • Early access to experimental AI features, with more updates expected soon.
  • Extended use of Copilot within popular Microsoft 365 apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

The Impact on Users

This move signals Microsoft’s dedication to enhancing AI-driven productivity tools. By expanding access to Copilot’s powerful features, users can expect improved efficiency, smarter assistance, and seamless integration across Microsoft’s ecosystem.

As AI technology continues to evolve, Microsoft is positioning itself at the forefront of innovation, ensuring both casual users and professionals can leverage the best AI tools available.

Stay tuned for further updates as Microsoft rolls out more enhancements to its AI offerings.

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Google Launches Free AI Coding Tool for Individual Developers

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Google Launches Free AI Coding Tool for Individual Developers

Google has introduced a free version of Gemini Code Assistant, its AI-powered coding assistant, for solo developers worldwide. The tool, previously available only to enterprise users, is now in public preview, making advanced AI-assisted coding accessible to students, freelancers, hobbyists, and startups.

More Features, Fewer Limits

Unlike competing tools such as GitHub Copilot, which limits free users to 2,000 code completions per month, Google is offering up to 180,000 code completions—a significantly higher cap designed to accommodate even the most active developers.

“Now anyone can easily learn, generate code snippets, debug, and modify applications without switching between multiple windows,” said Ryan J. Salva, Google’s senior director of product management.

AI-Powered Coding Assistance

Gemini Code Assist for individuals is powered by Google’s Gemini 2.0 AI model and offers:
Auto-completion of code while typing
Generation of entire code blocks based on prompts
Debugging assistance via an interactive chatbot

The tool integrates with popular developer environments like Visual Studio Code, GitHub, and JetBrains, supporting a wide range of programming languages. Developers can use natural language prompts, such as:
Create an HTML form with fields for name, email, and message, plus a submit button.”

With support for 38 programming languages and a 128,000-token memory for processing complex prompts, Gemini Code Assist provides a robust AI-driven coding experience.

Enterprise Features Still Require a Subscription

While the free tier is generous, advanced features like productivity analytics, Google Cloud integrations, and custom AI tuning remain exclusive to paid Standard and Enterprise plans.

With this move, Google aims to compete more aggressively in the AI coding assistant market, offering developers a powerful and unrestricted alternative to existing tools.

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Elon Musk Unveils Grok-3: A Game-Changing AI Chatbot to Rival ChatGPT

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Elon Musk Unveils Grok-3: A Game-Changing AI Chatbot to Rival ChatGPT

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has unveiled its latest chatbot, Grok-3, which aims to compete with leading AI models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and China’s DeepSeek. Grok-3 is now available to Premium+ subscribers on Musk’s social media platform x (formerly Twitter) and is also available through xAI’s mobile app and the new SuperGrok subscription tier on Grok.com.

Advanced capabilities and performance

Grok-3 has ten times the computing power of its predecessor, Grok-2. Initial tests show that Grok-3 outperforms models from OpenAI, Google, and DeepSeek, particularly in areas such as math, science, and coding. The chatbot features advanced reasoning features capable of decomposing complex questions into manageable tasks. Users can interact with Grok-3 in two different ways: “Think,” which performs step-by-step reasoning, and “Big Brain,” which is designed for more difficult tasks.

Strategic Investments and Infrastructure

To support the development of Grok-3, xAI has made major investments in its supercomputer cluster, Colossus, which is currently the largest globally. This infrastructure underscores the company’s commitment to advancing AI technology and maintaining a competitive edge in the industry.

New Offerings and Future Plans

Along with Grok-3, xAI has also introduced a logic-based chatbot called DeepSearch, designed to enhance research, brainstorming, and data analysis tasks. This tool aims to provide users with more insightful and relevant information. Looking to the future, xAI plans to release Grok-2 as an open-source model, encouraging community participation and further development. Additionally, upcoming improvements for Grok-3 include a synthesized voice feature, which aims to improve user interaction and accessibility.

Market position and competition

The launch of Grok-3 positions xAI as a major competitor in the AI ​​chatbot market, directly challenging established models from OpenAI and emerging competitors such as DeepSeek. While Grok-3’s performance claims are yet to be independently verified, early indications suggest it could have a significant impact on the AI ​​landscape. xAI is actively seeking $10 billion in investment from major companies, demonstrating its strong belief in their technological advancements and market potential.

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