Business
AI will shrink Amazon’s workforce in the coming years, CEO Jassy says. I do think there is some truth to what Jassy is saying. Amazon is big enough of a company that there is likely some fat to be trimmed and AI likely provides some value. To some extent, we can generalize it to other big companies. But I am less sure about whether AI will take away white-collar jobs. The reduction in workforce, I think, has more to do with undisciplined hiring than AI reaching the level of AGI that many are touting about.
Samsung is desperate to compete on chips. Workers say it comes at a cost. The good news for Samsung is that they know what the problem is and are willing to admit it. The bad news is that fixing a culture takes time and time is not something they can afford in the semiconductor industry.
Meta approached Perplexity before massive Scale AI deal. I really want to understand the maths behind these deals. Yes, AI can boost efficiency, but can it justify the enormous investments, including billions into Scale AI and more in infrastructure? Meta and Zuck have mixed results when it comes to M&A and big-money investments. They struck gold with Instagram and WhatsApp, but got a black eye for hyping the Metaverse and had to lay off a lot of people that they hired carelessly during Covid. I am curious to see if this is a striker in the win or loss column.
Walmart Tries to Shed a Stodgy Vibe to Battle Digital-Native Rivals. We should soon have a case study on Doug McMillon as a CEO. I think he has done a brilliant job in taking Walmart to new heights and a new era.
Other Stuff I Find Interesting
Joanna Stern, the famed technology journalist from Wall Street Journal, had a few great lessons for new graduates in her recent commencement speech. In the world inundated with news on AI and perhaps hype to some extent, be a creative person, be a collaborator, be humans, be a lifelong learner and be curious. There is nothing in her speech that I don’t agree with.
How Amy Coney Barrett Is Confounding the Right and the Left. Credit to her for not kowtowing to the people that practically put her in her position now.
ChatGPT May Be Eroding Critical Thinking Skills, According to a New MIT Study. It is important to call out that the study is not yet peer-reviewed and the sample is quite small. However, the thesis really makes sense to me. The more work you put in something, the more expertise you gain. The brain is like a muscle. The less you use, the weaker it is.
Want to try lab-grown salmon? The US just approved it. Exhausting natural resources and damaging our environment in the process is a real issue. Lab-grown meat can fix it. However, I find it hard to believe that it can replace real protein and nutrients 100%.
How Apple Created a Custom iPhone Camera for F1. Fascinating and ingenuous.
Stats
US banks committed one-thirds of the global fuel financing in 2024
Almost 60% of online grocery shoppers buy from Walmart.com
Minh Quang Duong 
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