Welcome back to our Sunday edition, where we round up some of our top stories and introduce you to our newsroom. What would you do to get your dream job? One man was so eager to start his career in technology that he lived in his car for three months to get a job at Google. He soon found out he wasn't the only Googler to do this.
On the agenda today:
But first: Make AI work for you.
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Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI
At the Davos conference in January, Marc Benioff asked the crowd of luminaries whether AI is a fundamental human right.
Here's another question: can this bring him money?
Last year he talked about artificial intelligence agents, and that enthusiasm helped push the company's shares to a record high in early December. However, Salesforce is not joining the AI club this year. Its shares fell about 28%.
“Inside the company, some current and former employees say teams constantly struggle to deliver on Benioff’s public promises about what their AI products can do,” she wrote.
Her insightful article showed how difficult this evolution can be, even for the companies involved in it.
“It’s very, very difficult—even for people working on products—to understand the difference between what we say in the demo, what’s on the roadmap, and what’s actually in production,” one senior employee told Ashley. “Just figuring it out is a full-time job.”
At Business Insider, we actively report on how AI is and isn't helping people in business. And we're not just looking at large companies.
New series, Small teamsshows entrepreneurs trying to use AI to beat incumbents. Our Tim DeSoto profilemost recently, Walmart is an example.
DeSoto is launching an artificial intelligence-powered shopping app that he hopes will help shoppers this holiday season. Contact BI Agnes Applegate if you have a similar story to share.
Then there's Vercel, a decade-old tech company serving developers. It followed the top seller for six weeks and then created an agent imitate that person's process. The result helped reduce the team size from 10 to one, while the remaining nine were reassigned, Lakshmi Varanasi said.
Is AI a human right? Philosophers can argue about this.
Business Insider is committed to helping you figure out how to use it. As always, contact me at [email protected].
Getty Images; Tyler Le/BI
After the 2018 ruling opened the floodgates to sports betting, gambling quickly became popular everywhere. The focus now is on prediction markets.
These platforms have long been restricted in the US, but are now taking advantage of weak federal regulators and what they say are legal loopholes to offer their services in more and more states.
Top military influencers are taking over corners of the internet, opening a can of ethical worms for the Pentagon. Regardless of the number of followers, these authors operate in the murky space between personal branding and military ethics.
The Pentagon's social media policies are vague and unevenly enforced across the ranks, leaving troops eager to expand their following but wary of the consequences, according to six influential military officials and five public affairs officials.
Read more from BI's series on military influencers:
Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI
Ten years ago, Americans typically bought their first home in their mid-30s. The average age of first-time home buyers is now approaching 40.
With young people isolated, the real estate market has become an old people's game. Grizzled “loyal shoppers,” armed with decades of equity and facing less competition, are snapping up the supply instead.
Goldman Sachs announced its new class of managing directors, the bank's second-highest appointment after senior management.
There are 638 people in this management company class, up about 5% from the last cohort in 2023. Those who made money were also rewarded the most: 70% of new managers came from the bank's revenue-generating divisions.
“It's all about control. People in leadership positions feel like they finally have the upper hand again.”
— Jeff LeBlanc, management professor at Bentley University, on the growth trend of companies. get slimmer and get rid of DEI.
BI
Why Nepal is increasing Japan's cash
Japan uses argel, a low-cost crop native to the Himalayas, to produce physical yen, eventually turning it into a cash crop. What's happening to big business in Nepal? what if Japan goes cashless like the rest of Asia?
