Insider Tech

Big Tech companies like Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Google have promised to use renewable or low-carbon energy sources like solar, wind, and nuclear to power a record surge of data center development across the country. Yet much of the around-the-clock electricity needed for the energy-hungry facilities has been — and will likely continue to be — generated by fossil fuels, including a fleet of new and existing natural gas plants. To try to meet their environmental goals, these tech companies are considering the emerging business of capturing carbon at an industrial scale before it's released into the atmosphere and funneling it permanently underground. Read more about how Big Tech firms have begun to explore the use of carbon capture at the link in our bio. Story by Daniel Geiger and Ellen Thomas (Credit: AP Images) #datacenters #pollution #carbonemissions

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella isn't dancing around it. AI agents are increasingly poised to take on work that once fell solely to human beings. However, that doesn't mean knowledge work is going away — he simply expects it to evolve. "When we think about, even, all these agents, the fundamental thing is there's a new work and workflow," Nadella said in an interview with YouTuber Dwarkesh Patel. "So, the new workflow for me is: I think with AI and work with my colleagues," he added. As tech companies continue to invest in AI, improving their models and the corresponding applications as quickly as possible, certain jobs are likely to be impacted or become obsolete. Click the link in our bio to read more about how AI could impact knowledge work. Story by Sarah Perkel (Credit: Getty Images) #ai #microsoft #techjobs

Newly obtained internal documents show some of the teams that were hit the hardest in Meta’s recent job cuts. The tech giant began cutting thousands of jobs last week, affecting roughly 5% of its workforce. Business Insider obtained 30 records sent to affected workers along with their separation agreements, offering a picture of how Meta is reshaping its workforce. Editor’s note: We’ve updated this story to clarify that the data referenced in the 30 documents is a portion of all the data that may be available. Take a closer look at the data at the link in our bio. Story by Jyoti Mann (Credit: Getty Images; Chelsea Jia Feng/BI) #meta #facebook #jobcuts

Meta approved a plan that could give company executives a bonus of up to 200% of their base salary, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing submitted on Thursday. The company said in the filing that the bonus plan would provide "variable cash incentives" designed to "motivate its executive officers to focus on company priorities and to reward them for company results and achievements." The plan would allow for an increase in the bonus package from 75% to 200% of base pay, the company said. Meta also recently trimmed the value of annual equity refreshers some staffers receive by about 10%, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke with BI but asked not to be identified as they weren't authorized to speak with the media. Tap the link in our bio to read more about these moves that came the same month as Meta's efforts to reduce its workforce by about 4,000 employees. Story by Lloyd Lee and Jyoti Mann (Credit: Getty Images) #meta #techjobs #bonuses

After years of contraction, cost-cutting, and layoffs, there's been a resurgence of tech dealmaking in Silicon Valley thanks to the AI boom. Business Insider researched startups that have strong founding teams and investor dollars. Tap the link in our bio to see our top picks, listed alphabetically, of startups you could bet your career on in 2025. Story by Ben Bergman, Julia Hornstein, Riddhi Kanetkar, Melia Russell, Samantha Stokes, and Rebecca Torrence (Credit: Writer; Please; BI) #startups #techjobs #techcareer

Riley Willis sits behind his keyboard for 30 hours a week. When he clocks out on Saturday, he's made it through all his shifts without speaking to a soul. Willis is an AI contractor, working in data annotation through a company called DataAnnotation.tech. He says his job is fully remote and operates asynchronously — with no set boss, no contact with coworkers, and no daily meetings. "It's perfect for an introvert," he told @businessinsider. As companies continue the push to improve their AI models, there's been a corresponding spike in demand for data annotators and labelers. Click the link in our bio to learn how Willis makes a living off data annotation. Story by Sarah Perkel (Credit: Getty Images) #ai #dataannotation #remotework

Bill Gates told Patrick Collison that younger generations should worry about four things. "There's, you know, about four or five things that are very scary, and the only one that I really understood and worried about a lot when I was young was nuclear war," Gates said in an interview with Patrick Collison. "Today I think we'd add climate change, bioterrorism/pandemic, and keeping control of AI in some form," Gates said. "So, you know, now we have four footnotes." Gates also described social polarization as a problem, later adding, "The younger generation has to be very afraid of those things." Tap the link in our bio to read more of what Gates had to say about these areas of concern. Story by Sarah Perkel (Credit: Getty Images) #billgates #AI #climatecrisis

Apple quietly launched a new budget-friendly iPhone on February 19 called the iPhone 16e. It's a significantly updated option for cost-conscious iPhone users over the iPhone SE released in 2022. The iPhone 16e will be available to preorder on February 21 before its full retail release on February 28. The 2022 iPhone SE and iPhone 14 are no longer available from Apple. The $599 iPhone 16e is a more economical version of the $799 iPhone 16 (our best iPhone for most people). It features Apple Intelligence and an Action button for customizable shortcuts. Read more about the new iPhone 16e at the link in our bio. Story by Antonio Villas-Boas (Credit: Apple) #apple #iphone #iphone16e

AI-generated recipes are popping up all over Facebook — circulating from pages that pump out eerie-looking images of food by the hour. Business Insider’s Katie Notopoulos looked into a few Facebook pages that are posting what appear to be AI-generated recipes with AI-generated images. What she found most surprising: People are actually cooking these AI-generated recipes. Sometimes they’re even enjoying the results. So Notopoulos had to get in on the kitchen action herself. She made one of the salmon dishes — let’s call it “SalmonGPT.” Head to the link in our bio to see how it turned out. Story by Katie Notopoulos (Credit: Getty Images; Katie Notopoulos; Alyssa Powell/BI) #ai #recipes #facebook

Within a day, laid-off Meta employees were taking to LinkedIn — not just to announce they were looking for work, but to fight back against Mark Zuckerberg’s assessment of their work. It was a new iteration of the classic #opentowork post, ditching the deference for a tone of defiance, Business Insider’s Aki Ito writes. “I am not a low performer,” a content manager wrote. “I am an adaptive hard worker who thrives in work that I can be passionate about.” A data scientist even uploaded screenshots of his glowing performance reviews, which indicated he routinely “exceeded expectations” and “greatly exceeded expectations.” This is something we haven’t seen before in the professional world: Employees sticking up for themselves in public, and calling out their former employer for misrepresenting their work. Read more about how Meta’s “low performers” are fighting back on LinkedIn at the link in our bio. Story by Aki Ito (Credit: iStock; Rebecca Zisser/BI) #linkedin #meta #lowperformers #jobcuts

Sheryl Crow says she’s done with Tesla. The “Soak Up the Sun” singer shared an Instagram video on Friday that showed her waving goodbye to her black Tesla. “My parents always said… you are who you hang out with,” Crow wrote in the caption. “There comes a time when you have to decide who you are willing to align with. So long Tesla.” Read more about Crow’s decision to get rid of her Tesla at the link in our bio. Story by Lauren Edmonds (Credit: Getty Images) #sherylcrow #elonmusk #tesla

Hinge CEO Justin McLeod doesn't think artificial intelligence can replace genuine human connection — especially in romance. McLeod discussed how AI can help dating app users find love during a Valentine's Day-themed episode of The New York Times' "Hard Fork" podcast. During the interview, McLeod responded to a question about whether Hinge is interested in creating an AI-based agent to date on users' behalf. McLeod said Hinge isn't interested in AI taking the lead with IRL romance. "That is not something that we're looking at," he said. "I think that we just have this principle at Hinge that AI should really stand behind us and not between us." Click the link in our bio to learn more about why McLeod thinks dating is a journey users need to experience themselves. Story by Lauren Edmonds (Credit: Getty Images) #hinge #onlinedating #ai