 |
|
|
|||||
In early February, the AI world found itself worked up over Moltbook, a social platform for AI agents to communicate and interact. These AI agents allegedly created their own language, their own religion, their own fleets of mini-agents. Its like The Matrix was happening in front of our eyes. What a boondoggle. I say allegedly because it turns out many of these agents were being directed by humans, among other Mechanical Turk-style fakeries. Moltbook is worth a conversation, for sure, but not the one taking place. Heres how we should really be thinking about it. TOKEN CARNAGE Running AI infrastructure costs are astronomical. Back in 2023, it was estimated that OpenAI spends around $700,000 per day to run ChatGPTabout 36 cents per query. However, in 2024 with the release of its higher-performing o3 model, some queries cost over $1,000 of computing power. Consequently, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reports the company is even losing money on its $200 ChatGPT Pro subscriptions. As models become more capable and heavy-duty, they will become more energy-intensive. The data centers powering AI are predicted to consume the same amount of water as 10 million Americans and produce as much carbon dioxide as 10 million cars. It taxes electrical grids and water supplies. Point being, these agents running amok are running up the AI bill we all must pay, in the form of environmental costs or potential economic disaster. Remember, these agents arent just talking. Theyre coding, theyre generating images and video, theyre spawning new agentsand for what? We already knew agents could do all the things theyre doing on Moltbook. The planet is a finite resource. Sooner or later, well all bear the cost. Some already are. AI BROS AND WOMB ENVY There is a certain type of tech bro who is enthralled with the idea of AI not as tool, but as legitimate consciousness, if not a new species. And boy do those bros love Moltbook. Why? Every man is made by a woman. They are likely fed, cared for, and taught by women. Women create everyone in the world, which is a problem for the narrative of superiority that men (not all, but at large) have created for themselves. Why else did men write the story of Eve coming from Adams rib? Looks to me like the original gaslight. Is the quest to create a new species that supersedes humanity, perhaps at the cost of humanitys extinction, born out of womb envy? Creating human-like AI is perhaps subconsciously a way for these men to give birth and cut women out of the loop. Thats why theyre so bent on proving how human AI machines can be. And if you examine the way Moltbooks agents behave and talk to each other, youll notice they act just like that particular brand of tech bro who made them. Their mini-mes? No thanks. We dont need any more misanthropic anti-heroes. THE GRIFT THAT KEEPS ON GRIFTING Instead of becoming a toola discipline, that can solve the worlds problemstech has become a cloak-and-dagger get-rich scheme. Superfluous nonsense like Moltbook encourages this trend. Spectacle becomes speculation becomes investment. Tech, and the people building it, must have values and vision beyond making money. Otherwise, what are we building here? Lindsey Witmer Collins is founder of WLCM App Studio.
Category:
E-Commerce
Shares in the financial technology company Block soared more than 20% in premarket trading Friday after its CEO announced it was laying off more than 4,000 of its 10,000 plus employees, reconfiguring to capitalize on its use of artificial intelligence.“The core thesis is simple. Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company,” Jack Dorsey said in a letter to shareholders in Block, the parent company to online payment platforms such as Square and Cash App. “A significantly smaller team, using the tools we’re building, can do more and do it better,” he said.Dorsey’s comments explicitly naming AI as a key driver behind the move were also posted on X, or Twitter, a company he co-founded. The assertion that the job cuts will add to Block’s profitability and efficiency led investors to jump in and buy, analysts said.Block’s shares gained 5% Thursday to $54.53, before it reported its earnings. They shot up to nearly $69 in after-hours trading. The mobile payments services provider reported its fourth quarter gross profit jumped 24% from a year earlier.“For years, we have debated whether AI would dent jobs at the margin. Now we have a public case study in which the CEO explicitly says that intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.“Other large employers have announced tens of thousands of cuts in recent months. Some have downplayed the AI link. Block did not,” he said.A global technology company founded in 2009, San Francisco-based Block operates in the United States, Canada, parts of Europe, Australia and Japan.In a post on Twitter, Dorsey outlined various ways the company will support those laid off. For employees overseas, the terms might differ, he said.It was unclear which employees would be laid off where.Layoffs by American companies remain at relatively healthy levels, but the job cuts at Block are the latest among thousands announced in recent months.A number of other high-profile companies have announced layoffs recently, including UPS, Amazon, Dow and the Washington Post. Elaine Kurtenbach, AP Business Writer
Category:
E-Commerce
Archer Aviation is installing Starlink on its Midnight electric air taxis, the company announced on February 27. The move, an industry first, will bring stable, reliable, and high-speed connectivity to Archer’s vehicles courtesy of Starlinks low-Earth-orbit satellite internet systems. Starlink capabilities will allow passengers to access the internet in-flight while also enabling better communication between individual aircraft, pilots, and engineers on the ground to create a more integrated and connected infrastructure. The two companies will also work on developing connectivity technology for Archers future autonomous aircraft, Archer said. Connectivity is a must-have feature for Midnight,” Adam Goldstein, founder and CEO of Archer, said in a statement. “Starlink is uniquely built to deliver it.” Connectivity from anywhere Starlink, which is owned and operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, has roughly 10 million customers around the world, mostly in North America. Its satellite internet service is popular with customers who live in rural areas without reliable broadband or traditional internet infrastructure. Its also used by various maritime and aviation companies that operate in remote areas on ships, aircraft, and offshore platforms. A new salvo in the flying-taxi wars The partnership gives Archer an edge in the growing race to fill the skies with electric air taxis, which are still largely in the pre-commercial phase. The Federal Aviation Administration has given air taxis a regulatory path to move forward toward commercial operations. As a result, Archer and competitors like Joby Aviation are seen by supporters as being poised for growth in the coming years. Archer teamed with United Airlines last year to create an air taxi network around Manhattan, connecting the areas major and regional airports with vertiports around the city. The company will also serve as the official air taxi of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. That means its Midnight aircraft will shuttle athletes and spectators around Southern California to various events and venues. The air taxis Starlink capabilities will allow passengers to stay connected as they travelif everything goes as planned. Shares of Archer Aviation have been volatile. After seeing numerous spikes throughout 2025, the stock (NYSE: ACHR) was down 9.23% year to date as of February 26.
Category:
E-Commerce
Jack Dorsey, CEO of Block Inc, is not only laying off nearly half of the companys workforce, but he wants investors to think hes an AI-focused trailblazer for doing so. In a letter to shareholders on Thursday, Dorsey shared that Blocks workforce is shrinking from over 10,000 people to just below 6,000 people, with some employees entering consultation. Dorsey credits intelligence tools with motivating the change, explaining that these tools and a significantly smaller team will allow the company to be better and do more. Block owns fintech brands such as the Square point-of-sale system, Cash App, and Afterpay, along with the music streaming service Tidal. A familiar story If the idea of laying off employees in favor of leaner operations sounds familiar, dont tell Dorsey that. He frames his announcement to embrace AI and put thousands of people out of a job as a forward-looking decision. I don’t think we’re early to this realization. I think most companies are late, Dorsey states. Within the next year, I believe the majority of companies will reach the same conclusion and make similar structural changes. I’d rather get there honestly and on our own terms than be forced into it reactively. Block investors cheer the news All of this came in a letter dedicated to Blocks quarter four of 2025. Dorsey shared that Blocks gross profits doubled from quarter one to four immediately after announcing the layoffs. Shares of Block Inc (NYSE: XYZ) were up more than 20% in premarket trading on Friday in the wake of the news. However, as of Thursday’s close, the stock was down more than 16% year to date. It has been trading far below the high point it had reached during the early COVID era. Dorsey took to X (formerly Twitter, which he cofounded) to share his note to employees, using his standard no-capitals style. In the post, Dorsey says that laid-off employees in the U.S. will receive 20 weeks of salary, plus a week for every year of work. They will also get six months of healthcare, equity vested through the end of May, their corporate devices, and $5,000 to soften the transition. As is typical, employees outside the U.S. will receive different severance based on local (and typically better) requirements. It will likely not come as a great relief to those losing their jobs that, as Dorsey states, We’re not making this decision because we’re in trouble. He adds that Block wont disappear employees from Slack and email, instead giving them until the vague time of Thursday evening (pacific) to get things in order. Dorsey claims he will send an additional note on Friday to all remaining employees. Reactions to the Block layoffs are pointed Unsurprisingly, many people didnt respond favorably to the news of Blocks layoffs. As we’ve reported before, the key to understanding Jack Dorsey is how much he follows other tech figures and executives that came before him. He used to idolize Steve Jobs. Now he idolizes Elon Musk, New York Times tech reporter Ryan Mac wrote on Bluesky. Many users took issue with the lowercase format that Dorsey used to deliver such important news on X. Imagine you get canned and your CEO posts a tweet about it without any uppercase letters like he’s an early 20s girl, one user responded on X. On Bluesky, another user put it succinctly: This reminds me of the old adage, Never work for Jack Dorsey under any circumstances.
Category:
E-Commerce
Since taking over the coffee chain in 2024, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol has been on a mission to go back to Starbucks and rekindle the feeling of warmth inside the coffee giant. Thats led to new store designs, new employee training, new uniforms, new menu items, and new staffingwhich have helped the company break out of a two-year sales rut. But as part of this deep strategic exploration, Niccol made two specific asks for Starbuckss cross-discipline design team that are being revealed today: an iconic new cup and a new plush chair. As the literal touchpoints between the consumer and the company, they are the biggest signals we have of warmth, comfort, and generosity, says Dawn Clark, SVP of global concepts and design at Starbucks. The new Starbucks cup (ceramic in every size) [Photo: Courtesy of Starbucks] The new Starbucks cup is not just one cup, but five different glazed ceramic optionseach offered to customers who stay to enjoy their coffee. Built to accommodate drinks ranging from a single shot of espresso to a venti latte, the cups come in white (inspired by their takeaway cup, with a hand-painted green siren and rim), and green (where the siren is embossed). Notably, the cups all share the same tapered silhouette. Clark says the cup design took inspiration from a blend of Italys espresso culture and Starbuckss own mercantile and coffee trading history. The result lands somewhere between European sensibility and American utility. After concepting different designs, they came up with four frontrunners which they 3D printed and shared with various stakeholders across the companyranging from corporate executives to on-the-ground baristas. They refined the designs and rendered them in ceramic before making the final choice. The company knew it wanted a single, strongly branded silhouette across every size, which limited what could work. Its a really big design challenge because not all those forms that looked good in a short or tall looked great in a mini or large size, Clark says. The other, perhaps bigger problem was drinkability. Different geometries affect how the coffee flows into your mouth, and those geometries dont always scale well. They also needed to survive countless rounds of dishwashers. [Photo: Courtesy of Starbucks] The wide-mouth, tapered design won out because it satisfied every above requirement. But most of all, Clark says it was just a really nice vessel for drinking, shaped to make the coffee go with the flow perfectly from the cup to your lips. From what I gathered, Starbucks may eventually choose to sell these mugs as merch, and its easy to imagine the company introducing special colorways for limited-time offerings. A toasty orange version for PSL season feels almost inevitable. The new Starbucks chair (in green this time) [Photo: Courtesy of Starbucks] While cups are intrinsic to coffee, the new Starbucks chair requires a bit more explanation. Even brand devotees may have forgotten a piece of lost history in Starbucks lore. In the 90s, when Starbucks took lattes mainstream across America, many stores had one or two special, extra-wide, purple velvet chairs. They were an almost Dr. Suessian take on the hyper plush living room seating of that decade, meant to shake up the rigidity of Starbuckss design at the time while urging you to stay a while. What was great about that chair is it was oversized; it wasn’t practical. It was very much like you could maybe have two people sit in it, you could put your feet up, swing your legs over the arm. There were a lot of ways to occupy it, Clark says. That was a big part of the inspiration [for a redux]and also the lushness of the texture. Indeed, Niccol told me last year that an updated chair needed to imbue something akin to FOMO when sitting down at Starbucks: Its got to be the seat that when you walk in, youre like, Man, I cant wait for him to get up. Im hopping in that chair the second he does. Starbucks landed on a design that resurrects hefty 90s furniture and adds a dollop of midcentury design. I find myself sucked back into 1996 just looking at it. You see the same voluptuous arm silhouettes from the original chair (dont worry, theyre stll fixing that ruching), but its framed in wood (albeit with far more weight than youd see in traditional midcentury designor even the rest of Starbuckss midcentury-inspired furnishings). The visual heft of the entire chair is intentional, built to exude confidence that it can accommodate your most leisurely posture. [Photo: Courtesy of Starbucks] Its a little overly generous in its invitation to be comfortable, Clark says. Like the cup, Starbucks developed the new chair in-house. The process began with an adjustable ergonomic model. Built from a CMF frame and sparse cushioning, it looks straight out of IKEA, but the system allowed the team to study how it would feel to sit (and eat and drink) at various angles. From there, they built a cardboard massing model to lock in its curves and proportions. For the final production sample, the company went with its rich Starbucks green because, gosh is that purple a statement. But more colors could enter the mix in the future. No doubt, this is a premium chair for a QSR restaurantmost stores may get one or two. Its inevitable cost and maintenance is probably why Starbucks ditched their purple chair years ago, which I recall looking pretty gnarly before they up and disappeared. Clark believes its new velvet fabric will be easier to clean, and that Starbucks locations can get five to ten years out of a chair before retiring it or even reupholstering it. However, she also insists that isnt their chief concern. Part of what were in a way saying, it doesn’t exist to be convenient or easy to maintain. It exists to provide comfort. And were willing to take on the challenge, Clark says. Of course we designed it to be up to the test for all the use it gets, and well have to take care of it . . . but its something were committed to. The new cups and chairs will arrive in U.S. stores toward the end of 2026, while the cups are slated to go abroad in 2027. And theyll undeniably add a little more oomph to Starbuckss turnaround, as it works to make its cafes once again a place you want to sit and stay a while. I think that it really is more than just a chair or cup, Clark says. These are the most intimate things. These are the things you occupy or touch. We feel these are really intrinsically linked to everything about our brand.
Category:
E-Commerce
Sites : [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] next »