WEBVTT - The 12 Days of Tech Christmas 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:12.440 Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey thereon 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:16.120 Welcome to Tech Stuff, I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm 0:00:16.160 --> 0:00:19.239 an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and how the tech 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:22.000 are you? So for those of you who celebrate, I 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:24.080 hope you had a merry Christmas. And for all those 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:26.639 who do not, I hope you had a wonderful December 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:29.840 of the twenty fifth. And I thought it'd be fun 0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:33.839 to do a sort of retrospective episode that cheekily I 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:38.920 call the Twelve Days of Tech Christmas. But really it's 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:43.360 about twelve days in twenty twenty three where important tech 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:48.199 stuff happened, stuff that is in the tech field, not 0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:51.360 tech stuff as in the name of this show. Also, 0:00:51.800 --> 0:00:55.800 I'm very sad to say these are not necessarily jolly 0:00:56.040 --> 0:00:58.600 days as a whole. The dates in this episode reference 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:02.400 important events in tech, and many of those important events 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:05.600 are also sad or troubling ones. But hey, I guess 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:08.800 we all celebrate the holidays in our own way. Let's 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:13.679 start off with Thursday, January fifth, twenty twenty three. That 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:16.320 was the day that Amazon confirmed it would be laying 0:01:16.360 --> 0:01:20.600 off more than eighteen thousand staff, primarily from the Amazon 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:25.640 Stores department, and the People, Experience and Technology divisions. The 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:29.560 company cited economic uncertainty as the reason for the layoffs, 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:33.240 a phrase that we would see repeated over the last 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:35.280 couple of years as folks debate whether or not the 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:40.679 word recession is applicable. Since recession has some specific qualifications 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:45.160 to it, we typically settle on economic uncertainty. The reason 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:47.480 I included here is not just because my heart goes 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:50.080 out to all the folks who were affected directly or 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:53.000 indirectly by those layoffs, but also because it was one 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:56.160 of the earliest examples this year of companies making some 0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:59.360 pretty significant cutbacks. A big part of the problem was 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:02.400 that tech c companies went on a hiring spree during 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:05.480 the pandemic days, but once things began to calm down, 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:08.680 suddenly these companies found themselves with a workforce that arguably 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:11.760 was larger than what it needed to be. And while 0:02:11.800 --> 0:02:15.360 a lot of companies had already held significant layoff rounds 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:20.520 in twenty twenty two, this year things amped up considerably, 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:23.400 so in addition to Amazon, a lot of other companies 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:29.240 like Meta, IBM, Google, Microsoft, Qualcom, and many more held 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:32.640 rounds of layoffs this year. Here's hoping next year is 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:38.440 much more stable. Moving on Tuesday, February seventh, twenty twenty three, 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:41.639 this was the day Microsoft announced new versions of its 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:45.720 web browser Edge and its search engine BING and these 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:49.600 new versions would benefit from the power of artificial intelligence, 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:54.799 specifically chat GPT. Microsoft had previously committed to a ten 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:59.280 billion dollar investment deal into open AI. That's the company 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:02.440 that makes check GPT, so you can look at this 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:06.800 as the first of many AI implementations in Microsoft products. 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:10.440 The integration into search met that being could provide answers 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:14.040 to questions and thus remove the necessity to click through 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:16.800 to search results. That's something that has a lot of 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:19.320 companies upset. It's a lot of work to put together 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:21.799 an informative website, at least it's a lot of work 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:24.640 to make a good one, and to have a tool 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:27.840 essentially crimp the relevant information from your site and then 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:30.880 serve it up to someone who might have actually visited 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:34.440 your page directly. Otherwise that's not a comforting thought for 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:39.320 content dependent sites. It's a very scary thought actually, And 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:43.880 on top of giving content sites the willies, this move 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:46.520 has poured gas on the fire that was already lit. 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:49.240 Among other companies that were looking into getting into AI. 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:53.200 Suddenly there was a very real world example of how 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:58.160 everyone else was falling behind Microsoft. Next up. Friday, March tenth, 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:03.520 twenty twenty three, the day federal regulators shut down Silicon 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:09.440 Valley Bank AKASVB. This marked the second largest bank failure 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:12.839 in US history. The largest happened in two thousand and eight. 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:16.320 And the reason that it's important to tech anyway is 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:20.359 that Silicon Valley Bank was a critical component to the 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:25.760 tech sector. It serviced countless tech startups, and the circumstances 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:27.960 of twenty twenty three played a big part in why 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:32.520 the bank ultimately failed. Startups usually aren't profitable, sometimes they 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:35.320 don't even have a way of generating revenue, and tech 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:38.440 companies can actually remain unprofitable for a really long time 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:42.400 see also the history of Twitter. But it still costs 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:46.080 money to operate, and that money has to come from somewhere. 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:49.120 So in the tech world, that money typically comes from 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:52.000 investors who are hoping to make out like bandits. Once 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:56.679 the startup they're investing in either goes profitable, goes public 0:04:56.720 --> 0:05:00.279 with an IPO, or perhaps if you're really lucky, it 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:03.320 gets swallowed up by some larger company for a hefty 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:08.160 acquisition fee. But this means that during times when economic 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:11.840 factors are less conducive, such as when interest rates are high, 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:14.920 investors are less generous with their money, and that means 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:18.040 startups might have to dip into their accounts to cover costs, 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:21.440 and that means making withdrawals, and if the bank they're 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:24.400 withdrawing from doesn't have the cash to cover all the 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:28.440 withdrawals of all its clients, you've got a problem. Next thing, 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:30.599 you know, there's around on the bank, and then you 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:33.359 get George Bailey standing on a desk and say, no, Tom, 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:37.159 your money's not here. It's in Billy's app developer company, 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:41.600 and Charles, your money is in Timmy's ride hailing startup 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:44.240 and so forth. That was a really bad reference to 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:46.080 It's a wonderful life, In case you didn't pick up 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:50.360 on that anyway, SVB collapsed. I remember I was on 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:52.560 my way to south By Southwest when this was happening, 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:54.960 and I saw folks all around me in the airport 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:58.400 who are also traveling to Austin, Texas try to remain 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:02.000 calm while simultaneous wondering if they had just lost access 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:06.560 to all their money. It was a wild experience. Now, 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:09.200 in the end, the US Treasury Department reassured all the 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:11.800 depositors that their money would be covered, and that was 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:16.280 a pretty darn significant accomplishment in its own right. We 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:20.240 move on to Tuesday, April eighteenth, twenty twenty two. That's 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:23.840 when Reddit changed its API policy. So in tech and 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:27.599 API is an application programming interface. So essentially, it's a 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:31.080 tool that developers use to create new apps that tap 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:35.599 into some other platform or applications capabilities. It's like using 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:38.160 someone else's work to act as the foundation for your 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:42.120 own work, and in an ideal situation, all parties benefit 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:45.600 from this arrangement, but things were changing it. Reddit and 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:49.039 AI is largely the reason why companies that are building 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:52.360 out large language models need to train those models on 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:55.960 massive data sets. One way that you can build a 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:59.000 data set is to scrape data off a platform that 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:02.440 has a ton of communication stored on it. Reddit is 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:05.560 such a platform, and the training can give lms a 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:08.479 chance to build models that structure messages in a way 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:12.000 that's more human, or at least more human in Reddit terms, 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:15.080 which depending on which subredit you're on, can get pretty spicy. 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:18.360 So Reddit wanted to make changes in order to charge 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:22.440 these AI companies more money to scrape data off their site. 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:24.560 They're like, we're providing the data, we should be making 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:27.240 money off this. It could be a huge revenue generator, 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:30.920 but it had a lot of other consequences. While Reddit 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:33.320 was still working on the changes in April, the announcement 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:35.920 raised some alarms that got louder over the course of 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:39.400 the spring. Reddit would charge developers money depending on the 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:44.200 frequency at which their apps connected with Reddit. For popular apps, 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:46.360 this would mean the developer could owe as much as 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:49.760 a million dollars or more per month, a cost that 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:52.080 no one could really afford, and so a lot of 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:56.440 popular Reddit based apps had to shut down. This infuriated 0:07:56.480 --> 0:07:59.640 the Reddit community, and many subreddits went dark in response. 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:02.560 T Some went further and conducted a form of online 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:07.440 guerrilla warfare against Reddit, which prompted Reddit to backtrack on 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:11.440 some of its changes. But it all got very ugly 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:16.160 and the fallout isn't over yet. Next up, Monday, June fifth, 0:08:16.200 --> 0:08:19.840 twenty twenty three, Apple shows off the Vision Pro mixed 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:23.840 reality headset. For years, rumors were buzzing about Apple and 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:27.320 the company's efforts to develop augmented reality glasses. They were 0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:30.920 right up there with other legendary rumored projects like an 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:34.240 Apple branded television set or maybe even an Apple car. 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:37.280 While we might still be waiting on those, Apple finally 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:41.679 revealed an AR headset at the twenty twenty three WWDC 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:45.840 or Worldwide Developer Conference. Now, this headset is not the 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:49.000 stylish pair of eyeglasses that folks were hoping for. It's 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:52.880 a form factor that Apple reportedly chased, but they found 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:55.160 it difficult to actually make it work. And let's be 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:57.920 fair to Apple, it's really hard to cram all the 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:01.840 components you need for a really compelling, good working pair 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:06.000 of AR glasses into a form factor that's just an 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:09.080 eyeglasses frame. Even if you want to go chunky with 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:11.000 the frame, it's it would be really hard to do 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:14.480 all of that. So Apple's device doesn't look like glasses. 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:17.520 It looks more like a high tech pair of ski goggles. 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:21.280 The technology reportedly will be controlled through various means, including 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:26.080 hand gestures, voice commands, and using your eyes to command 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:28.920 the goggles to do stuff. It also sets you back 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:32.040 a small fortune. Apple said these sets will start at 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:35.120 three thy four hundred and ninety nine dollars a set. 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:37.760 They're not available just yet. We'll have to wait till 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:40.560 next year to actually get our hands on them. I've 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:43.160 read various reviews of people who got a chance to 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:47.240 experience at firsthand, the people who are at WWDC. They 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:50.880 sound really nifty. I don't know if they sound nifty 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:54.079 enough for people to PLoP down thirty five hundred dollars 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:57.560 on them. But I also am not the kind of 0:09:57.559 --> 0:10:00.240 person who has an extra three five hundred bucks just 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:02.320 laying around to try it out. So what do I know? 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:05.240 All Right, we're gonna take a quick break. When we 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:08.520 come back, we will wrap up our twelve days of 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:19.520 Tech Christmas. We're back, and we're up to Sunday, July 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:23.440 twenty third, twenty twenty three, and on that night Elon 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:26.320 Musk declared the era of Twitter had come to an end, 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:30.080 and from that point forward, Twitter would be known as X. 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:33.000 Twitter had launched way back in two thousand and six. 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:37.199 It had adopted its bird logo, which was nicknamed Larry 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:40.839 the Bird, back in twenty ten, but on this night 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:44.640 in July, the letter X took over. Musk has long 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:48.040 had an obsession with that letter. Back in nineteen ninety seven, 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:51.200 he co founded x dot Com, one of the components 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:55.280 that would eventually become PayPal, a company that ultimately forced 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:57.559 Musk out of it when the other leaders in the 0:10:57.600 --> 0:11:00.679 group figured he was too troublesome to keep around, and 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:03.040 Musk had wanted to build his own version of an 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:07.600 everything app similar to we Chat in China. The rebranding 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:11.320 extends to what we call stuff posted to X. Before, 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:13.840 if you posted something to Twitter, you called it a tweet. 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:18.160 Now we typically call them posts, although Musk himself initially 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:21.520 suggested we call them x's, maybe we just still call 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:23.800 them tweets because a lot of folks continue to reference 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:27.400 ex as Twitter anyway despite the official change. As I 0:11:27.480 --> 0:11:30.880 say in another episode, this rebranding shook things up in 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:33.080 the tech world. A lot of people question the wisdom 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:35.840 of the decision. They argued that Twitter had stored a 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:38.480 lot of value in its brand and logo, and that 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:41.120 by tossing those things aside, Musk was really making things 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:46.439 harder on himself. But here we are anyway. Next up. Tuesday, 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:50.360 September twelfth, twenty twenty three. This marked the opening day 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:54.320 for the massive antitrust lawsuit that the US government has 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:57.199 brought against Google. So at the heart of the matter 0:11:57.280 --> 0:12:00.760 our accusations that Google, through various means, has worked to 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:03.720 ensure that Google Search is the default search engine for 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:08.880 various devices and platforms, that Google actively worked to discourage 0:12:08.920 --> 0:12:12.680 competition in the space, often by offering large payouts to companies, 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:15.200 in an effort to secure Google Search as the default. 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:19.680 It is the largest antitrust action brought against a tech 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:22.960 company since the US government went after Microsoft a few 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:26.079 decades ago. Now, back then, it was all due to 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:29.400 how Microsoft positioned its web browser. At that time, the 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:32.720 web browser was Internet Explorer and made it the default 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:36.240 browser on Windows devices, and further, how Microsoft worked to 0:12:36.360 --> 0:12:41.040 integrate its operating system and its browser together, which critics 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:44.320 argued was an attempt to make it impractical or even impossible, 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:47.280 for someone to use some other form of browser. That 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:50.520 case at one point led to a decision, a legal 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:54.559 decision that would force Microsoft to break up into smaller companies, 0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:58.400 but later on a different judge overturned that initial ruling 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:03.000 and Microsoft was allowed to remain. Microsoft. Could Google face 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:06.560 similar pressure to break up into smaller companies, It's hard 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:09.000 to say. For more than two decades, the US government 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:12.040 has been largely hands off as companies like Google have 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:16.200 gained greater influence in power. Maybe we're seeing a genuine 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:19.240 swing in the other direction, but it's an ongoing story 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:21.240 that will stretch into next year at the very least. 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:23.160 And the fact that the US is entering into an 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:26.240 election year and a change in administration could mean a 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:29.480 drastic change in how we handle these sorts of cases. 0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:33.280 I wouldn't bet anything one way or the other at 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:38.120 this point. Next up, Friday, October thirteenth, twenty twenty three. 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:42.600 Friday the thirteenth, that's also the day that Microsoft closed 0:13:42.600 --> 0:13:46.600 the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. It took nearly two years 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:49.520 to do it. I think twenty months total. Microsoft first 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:53.800 announced the intent to acquire Activision Blizzard in January of 0:13:53.840 --> 0:13:57.559 twenty twenty two. The deal reached the value of nearly 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:01.960 sixty nine billion with a B dollars. Initially, the plan 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:04.600 was to close the deal by July of twenty twenty three. 0:14:05.000 --> 0:14:06.800 But these massive deals, you know, they take a really 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:09.800 long time to work out all the details. This one 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:14.239 took longer than was planned, largely due to regulatory resistance 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:17.920 all around the world. A lot of regulators raise concerned 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:20.800 that Microsoft would be consolidating the video game space to 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:26.239 a point that hurt competition. Sony representatives actively consulted with regulators, 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:29.960 worried that Microsoft would lock popular video game titles like 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:33.720 the Call of Duty series under an exclusivity agreement and 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:36.720 thus deny other platforms the chance to carry those games. 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:41.600 Microsoft and Activision repeatedly made promises to multiple parties that 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:44.360 they wouldn't do that, at least not for another ten 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:46.800 years or so, but the deal seemed like it was 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:49.680 up in the air for most of twenty twenty three. 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:52.760 Even today, the US Federal Trade Commission is a bit 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:55.960 dodgy on the whole thing. But I'll talk about this 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:59.760 more in another episode, so let's just keep it moving along. Thursday, 0:14:59.840 --> 0:15:02.720 no November twenty twenty three, the first of a lot 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:07.680 of November stories. Sam Bangman Freed aka SBF was found 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:11.640 guilty of seven charges ranging from fraud to conspiracy. Now, 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:14.560 if you're not familiar with SBF, he was co founder 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:19.400 of two important cryptocurrency companies. The first, Alimeda Research, was 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:22.360 a trading firm. Essentially, it allowed customers to invest in 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:26.080 various crypto related things. The second and more infamous of 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:30.680 the two companies was FTX and Actual Cryptocurrency Exchange. In 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:33.360 late twenty twenty two, FTX began to fall apart as 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:36.720 folks discovered that the leaders of the company had secretly 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:40.880 been funneling customer funds stored in FTX to cover costs 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:44.640 over at Alameda Research, without telling anyone or asking permission 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:47.440 to do so. The revelations led to the collapse of 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:50.520 both companies, the arrest of much of the leadership of 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:53.880 those companies, and various investigations into what was going on 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:56.800 in crypto in general. We're still failing the consequences of 0:15:56.800 --> 0:16:00.640 this disaster today, and SBF is now facing sent after 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:03.720 being convicted. In fact, as I write this, the latest 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:06.760 news is that SPF's lawyers had requested a delay in 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:09.320 the sentencing and the judge has denied the request. He 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:13.560 is due to be sentenced on March twenty eighth next year. Monday, 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:17.320 November sixth, twenty twenty three. We work files for bankruptcy 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:20.160 talk about a fall from grace, all right. First off, 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:23.520 we work I don't think technically belongs in the tech sector, 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:26.200 except everyone treated it like it was a tech startup, 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:29.440 largely because it did mimic a lot of tech startups, 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:32.560 But really we Work is just about securing office space 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:36.680 and then subleasing that space out to other entities. That's it. 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:39.240 It's not a new business idea, and traditionally it's got 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:42.160 a pretty low profit margin that really feels the squeeze 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:46.520 during uncertain times, whether it's economic uncertainty or a pandemic 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:49.200 where no one leaves the house. But once upon a time, 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:52.000 the we Work business had hit a valuation of fifty 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:57.000 billion with a B dollars. This year, the company declared bankruptcy. 0:16:57.440 --> 0:16:59.480 I imagine someone standing up on one of those white 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:02.640 tables shared office environment and pulling a Michael Scott and 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:07.679 just yelling out, I declare bankruptcy. This doesn't mean the 0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:10.199 company's going away, by the way, it is going to 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:14.440 restructure and in theory come back as a viable business. 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:17.520 We Work has already been the subject of numerous podcasts 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:20.720 and even an Apple TV series called We Crashed. I'm 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:23.520 sure there will be even more media treatments on the 0:17:23.520 --> 0:17:28.640 whole story in the future. Friday, November seventeenth, twenty twenty three, 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:33.400 Open AI's board of directors fires CEO Sam Altman now 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:35.760 sometimes companies will make a big move on a Friday, 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:38.840 like holding massive layoffs that kind of thing. And there 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:41.040 are a lot of different reasons for this, but one 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:43.560 big one is that it can marke an effort for 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:46.080 the company to try and avoid a big old stink 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:49.280 in the media because folks are switching to weekend mode. 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:52.320 Perhaps that was why the board of directors for open ai, 0:17:52.440 --> 0:17:57.880 the company behind chat gpt to fire Sam Altman, the CEO, 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:01.600 on a Friday over a zoom call of all things. Now, 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:04.119 I've already talked about this on a recent episode, but 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:07.120 generally speaking, the board of directors was concerned that Altman's 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:10.600 leadership was contrary to the mission of open ai, which 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:14.680 started off as a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing artificial 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:18.320 intelligence in a safe, measured way meant to benefit all 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:22.560 of humanity. Altman, by contrast, was seen as an aggressive 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:25.800 entrepreneur who was pushing products out into the market, perhaps 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:28.760 a little too quickly, and launching a for profit version 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:31.240 of open ai in order to secure funding for research 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:34.359 and development. The decision was a bombshell, but it didn't 0:18:34.359 --> 0:18:37.600 exactly last long. Over the weekend, mounting pressure on the 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:40.280 board of directors forced them to reconsider their decision, and 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:43.000 by the following week things would look very different at 0:18:43.000 --> 0:18:46.120 open Ai. All but one of the border directors stepped 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:49.560 down to be replaced by new board members. Altman returned 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:52.120 to the head of the company, and mega investor Microsoft 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:55.119 wagged a finger at open Ai and said, you better 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:59.000 not pull that kind of stuff again. And twelfth and 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:02.480 final two day November twenty first, twenty twenty three, the 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:06.600 day that Chong Peng xau Akacz in his cryptocurrency exchange 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:10.520 Binance entered guilty please with regard to massive anti money 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:14.240 laundering cases brought against it by the United States Justice Department, 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:18.520 essentially a year after the collapse of FTX, which CZ 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:22.560 arguably contributed to. CZ had to face the music. The 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:25.879 US Department of Justice alleged that Binance had served as 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:29.240 a money laundering haven for criminals, that it also allowed 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:33.280 parties to bypass official sanctions around the world, and that 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:36.520 it served as an unlicensed means to transfer money, something 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:38.560 that can come in awful handy if you're engaged in 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:41.760 less than legal enterprises. As part of the plea, the 0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:44.720 organization agreed to pay more than four billion with a 0:19:44.800 --> 0:19:48.040 b dollars in fines. CZ himself will have to pay 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:51.560 a personal fine of fifty million dollars. He's also agreed 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:55.080 to step down as CEO. He could face jailed time 0:19:55.280 --> 0:19:59.119 up to eighteen months or longer if the prosecutors decided 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:02.040 to go harder on him. The agreement also called for 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:05.639 a government monitor to step in and oversee finance, and 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:08.200 that CZ has not allowed any involvement in the company 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:11.760 until three years after that monitor takes the gig. It 0:20:11.840 --> 0:20:14.000 was a tough blow to CZ, but compared to his 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:18.560 rival SBF, you could say he got off easy. And 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:23.800 that's it. Those were our twelve days of Tech Christmas, 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:28.760 twelve important dates this past year where something in tech 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:33.800 happened that really was notable. I hope you enjoyed this 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:35.960 look back. We're going to have a couple more look 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:40.160 backs before we close out the year, and then, Heaven 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:42.560 help us, we're going to look forward and try another 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:46.720 kind of a predictions episode. I think we'll see. I'm 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:48.800 nervous to do it because it's been so long and 0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:51.680 they are so hard to do, and it also means 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:54.280 that ultimately I have to hold myself accountable and take 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:56.600 a look back at the end of next year to 0:20:56.640 --> 0:21:00.880 see whether or not I was even remotely accurate. Really, 0:21:00.920 --> 0:21:03.560 I think what the tech Stuff predictions episodes show is 0:21:03.560 --> 0:21:06.560 that it really is impossible to predict the future. In 0:21:06.600 --> 0:21:09.320 the meantime, I hope you are all well and I'll 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:19.400 talk to you again really soon. Tech Stuff is an 0:21:19.400 --> 0:21:24.920 iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:31.720 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.