A week's worth of tech news that takes you 5 minutes to read

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Welcome to this week's download! All the news you need to keep you relevant for the week of 1/22/2023. Highlights include:

• Tech layoffs: How bad is it?

• Britain's PM should've worn his seatbelt.

• "Dr." ChatGPT

 Total read time: 4 minutes 43 seconds Let's gooooo!

Buckle Up, Prime Minister Buttercup

In what could only be classified as the strangest way to get a ticket, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been issued a fine for not wearing his seatbelt while filming a video he posted on Instagram. Yup, you read that correctly. He was in a moving vehicle, posted a video on Instagram promoting his economic policies, and wasn't wearing his seat belt. The Lancashire Police Department saw it and issued him a citation for $100.

Interestingly, there were earlier reports that the PM didn't know how to use Instagram. So I guess it just clicked... 🙈

LifeLock gets hacked

This past week Lifelock, owned by Norton, announced that thousands of users had their personal information and potentially private passwords leaked in a breach that dated back to December 1st. This follows an announcement from LastPass in December, which confirmed a data breach of its system.

Password managers like LifeLock, LastPass, Dashlane, and Keeper have grown in popularity these last few years as password requirements have become more stringent. The alternative is someone like myself that basically uses the same password for everything (plus or minus an exclamation point).

Even with the breaches, security experts continue to recommend using a password manager but recommend using two-factor authentication and changing your passwords at regular intervals.

ChatGPT becomes a "Doctor"🩺

A group of Ivy League researchers wanted to see how advanced Artificial Intelligence has become and asked, "Could ChatGPT pass a medical licensing exam?" It turns out it can. ChatGPT passed all three parts of the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination even though the AI has never had the information added to it's database.

For those catching up, ChatGPT is one of the most advanced chatbots on the market and is owned and trained by OpenAI using a large language model. Check out more here. 

Granted, it didn't exactly pass with the highest scores (in fact, it barely squeaked by), and there were several "determining factors" as exceptions. Still, the fact that the system could get a passing score without being fed any information tells us a lot about how far AI systems have come in a short time. Soon, people could turn to "Dr. ChatGPT" instead of "Dr. Google."

The AI in your Linkedin Inbox

The AI revolution doesn't stop with ChatGPT. Artificial Intelligence is being used by 45% of the reported companies to help find qualified hires. AI software can analyze Linkedin pages and job board profiles to find talent that fit specific criteria while instantly cross-referencing related databases to ensure people are honest in how they present themselves. In addition, the AI software can reach out via email, Linkedin messages, text, and even auto-generate outbound phone calls to prospective candidates.

One person's trash is another person's chicken food?

Matt Rogers was Nest's founder, who sold his home thermostat software to Google for over $3 billion. His next adventure is to figure out how to reduce landfill capacity and emissions by creating a new smart trashcan.

The Mill Kitchen Bin dries, shrinks, and de-stinks the trash and then automatically sends you a box to put the residue in, mails it back to Mill, who sorts, sifts, pasteurizes, and sells it to farmers to feed various animals (like chickens). All for just $33 a month.

Totally worth it to never have to worry about leaving the trash cans out by the curb. 🙌

Food Industry to go AI 🤖

It's no secret that the tightened job market has severely impacted the food industry. To combat this, many restaurants turn their eyes to tech to find ways to automate the seemingly menial but necessary jobs. We've seen everything from burgers and fry-flipping robots to giant iPads to take your order. 2023 could see the rise of the dishwashing robot.

Nala Robotics is introducing a dishwashing robot that uses a camera to identify what the item is and what kind of soil is on it. The Nala Robot then launches whichever arm is best calibrated for that item and begins cleaning using the right amount of pressure, so it doesn't break the wine glass.

To answer your question, no, there are no plans for a home version any time soon. However, this brings us closer to realizing the Jetson's vision of Rosie the Robot.

Spotlight story

Tech Layoffs: What's the damage?

Tech companies have not had an outstanding start to 2023, and the likelihood is that it will get worse 📉. The "why's" have to do with a combination of inflated pandemic hiring and high interest rates inhibiting the ability to borrow money.

The total number of layoffs three weeks into 2023 comes in just north of 55,000 people, with most, if not all, coming from the most prominent tech players.

Twitter: 7,500

Meta: 11,000

Amazon: 18,000

Microsoft: 10,000

Google: 12,000

Salesforce: 8,000

Wayfair: 1,750

Cisco: 4,100

For full details, check out this handy tool. Interested in what their severance was? Check it out here.

However, a potential bright spot is that many of these employees may not be on the market for long. Even with the cuts, plenty of companies are begging for qualified tech employees as many laid off don't even have time to file unemployment before being scooped up. The overall job market is still very tight, and skilled talent in the tech space is hard to come by.

Rapid Fire

• Netflix no longer allowing shared passwords 👎🏼

• T-Mobile breach exposes 37 million users 

• Shell acquiring EV charging network Volta for $169 million 🔋

• Carhart's smart vest will automatically keep you warm 

• Galaxy S23's 200MP Camera and more features

• Instagram releases "quiet mode" 🤫

• KFC/Pizza Hut in the UK shut down due to a hack

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