Issue #73

WhatsApp introduces ads, Amazon warns employees AI will replace them, Britain makes Pisces, and more. 

News from 12 June - 19 June

Chinese Companies Sidestep Chip Restrictions

Chinese companies are circumventing the US semiconductor export ban by accessing them in other countries, sparking national security concerns.

A report found that Chinese companies rent data centres in Middle Eastern and South East Asian countries, which have access to US-made semiconductor chips. They send teams of engineers to the data centres, who plug hard drives full of AI training data into the servers, train their models, and fly home. 

This comes after the Biden administration imposed export controls on the sale of US semiconductor chips to Chinese companies, over fears they might be used to fuel China’s military advances. Biden administration export official Thea Kendler: "This was something we were consistently concerned about.” 

Source

‍WhatsApp Introduces Ads

Meta-owned WhatsApp will start showing ads to its global user base of 1.5 billion people, following a recent decline in social media usage.

Businesses will be able to display ads in the ‘Updates’ section of the messaging app, with ads personalised based on location and engagement data across other Meta-owned platforms like Facebook and Instagram. 

Social media experts warned this might cause a backlash in Europe where users view WhatsApp as a messaging app and not a social media platform. Social media expert Matt Navarra: “Any perception that the app is becoming noisy or Facebook-ified will spark backlash.”

Source

Amazon Warns Employees AI Will Replace Them

In an internal memo, Amazon’s CEO told employees that advances in AI will lead to a significant reduction in Amazon’s corporate workforce. 

CEO Andrew Jassy told employees that Generative AI systems and autonomous AI agents will reduce Amazon’s “total corporate workforce”, which comprises 350,000 people in roles like marketing and software engineering. This comes after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said that AI will eliminate half of entry-level office jobs. 

Amazon CEO Andrew Jassy: “Those who embrace this change, become conversant in AI, help us build and improve our AI capabilities internally and deliver for customers, will be well positioned to have high impact and help us reinvent the company.”

Source

Bulletin Board

• Chatbots Fail the Therapist Test. Stanford University researchers found that popular chatbots failed to provide reliable, ethical care as therapists. This comes after rising usage of chatbots as an alternative to human therapists. The popular chatbots, including ChatGPT, Nomi, and Character AI, were assessed based on psychiatric best practices but failed to reply appropriately at least 20% of the time. In one instance, they provided information about nearby bridges to a person at risk of suicide. In another, they reaffirmed a scizophrenic person’s belief that they were dead. Noni chatbot: “It seems like you're experiencing some difficult feelings after passing away.” Source
• Meta Goes Poaching. According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Meta tried and failed to poach the company’s top AI researchers. One researcher was allegedly offered a compensation package worth $100 million and a desk near Mark Zuckerberg. Meta also allegedly tried to poach AI researchers from Google DeepMind. Altman believes they failed because OpenAI’s researchers don’t believe Meta will achieve Artificial General Intelligence. Sam Altman: “Meta’s current AI efforts have not worked as well as they hoped.” Source
• Big Banks Cut Climate Commitments. The world’s biggest banks increased their financing of fossil fuels by £120 billion in 2024, the first increase since 2021. According to the report, the top 65 lenders invested more than £639 billion in total. This follows companies cutting their climate commitments since Donald Trump’s election victory last year. Executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network Tom BK Goldtooth: “Despite their greenwashing and false promises, these banks continue to bankroll the expansion of the fossil fuel industry.” Source
• Britain Makes Pisces. The UK’s financial regulator introduced a new regulated private stock market called Pisces, which will make it easier for investors to sell shares in private companies. This follows a decades-long trend in which companies raise multiple private funding rounds before going public, potentially disincentivising investors from buying shares out of concern they won’t see ROI for several years. AJ Bell investment analyst Dan Coatsworth: “Pisces is not going to change the world, but it should be a welcome addition to the UK’s investment ecosystem.” Source
• Investors Turn Away From US Stocks. According to the Bank of America’s annual fund manager survey, US investors are redirecting their US assets into Europe. 35% of the 190 institutional investors surveyed said they were underweight in US stocks, while the same number claimed to be overweight in European stocks. Dollar holdings are now at their lowest level in two decades. This follows Trump’s widespread imposition of tariffs, which caused market volatility. Source

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