Recently, I visited a life-sciences company known for its clinical and commercial successes. Impressed by the facilities and the lively energy around me, I asked my host about the company’s work location policies. Employees were asked to show up in the office three days a week—days selected by the team, …
Read More »Gen Z and the Art of Incentivized Self-Actualization
When the pandemic hit, Gen Z-ers—born between 1997 and 2012—were just entering adulthood. After enduring a particularly difficult time during lockdowns, today they face an acute mental health crisis. As a result, in 2024, many will be asking more from their work life. When my research team at Harvard University …
Read More »AI May Not Steal Your Job, but It Could Stop You Getting Hired
If you’ve worried that candidate-screening algorithms could be standing between you and your dream job, reading Hilke Schellmann’s The Algorithm won’t ease your mind. The investigative reporter and NYU journalism professor’s new book demystifies how HR departments use automation software that not only propagate bias, but fail at the thing …
Read More »Google’s NotebookLM Aims to Be the Ultimate Writing Assistant
Steven Johnson has written 13 books, on topics ranging from a London cholera outbreak to the value of video games. He’s been a television presenter and a podcast host. He’s a keynote speaker who doesn’t have to call himself that in his LinkedIn profile. And for over a year now, …
Read More »Innovation-Killing Noncompete Agreements Are Finally Dying
One of the most stunning twists in the recent five-day crisis at ChatGPT creator OpenAI came when some 95 percent of the company’s hundreds of employees threatened to quit. The staff planned to follow CEO Sam Altman to develop successors to ChatGPT at Microsoft instead. The threat appeared to mark …
Read More »Sweden’s Tesla Blockade Is Spreading
Swedish workers are uniting against Tesla. From tomorrow, cleaners will stop cleaning Tesla showrooms, electricians won’t fix the company’s charging points, and dockworkers will refuse to unload Tesla cargo at all Swedish ports. What started as a strike by Tesla mechanics is spreading, in something Swedish unions describe as an …
Read More »This New Breed of AI Assistant Wants to Do Your Boring Office Chores
This week, OpenAI announced a service that makes it possible for just about anyone to build a custom version of ChatGPT, no coding skills required. The company suggests that users may want to build a bot that knows the rules of all board games, teaches kids about math, or can …
Read More »This AI Bot Fills Out Job Applications for You While You Sleep
In July, software engineer Julian Joseph became the latest victim of the tech industry’s sweeping job cuts. Facing his second layoff in two years, he dreaded spending another couple months hunched over his laptop filling out repetitive job applications and blasting them into the void. Joseph specializes in user interface …
Read More »Everyone Is a Luddite Now
The Luddites arrived on the streets of San Francisco much as they did in the English factories two centuries ago: under cover of darkness and with iconic weapons in hand. In this case, traffic cones. An enterprising activist had observed (or perhaps gotten an insider tip) that placing an object …
Read More »Job Hunting Sucks. This Programmer Filled Out 250 Applications to Find Out Why
Five months ago, software engineer Shikhar Sachdev adopted a peculiar hobby. While his friends met for drinks or played FIFA 23 to unwind after work, he would come home, boot up his laptop, and spend hours filling out job applications, for sport. Sachdev is content with his job at a …
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