Hard to believe this didnât happen until now, but âBaywatchâ star Pamela Anderson launched her first swimwear line yesterday. The partnership with Frankies Bikinis includes a high-cut red one-piece, because of course it does.
In todayâs email:
Black tech talent: AfroTechâs new platform aims to diversify tech.
Chegg: Will AI claim edtech companies as an early victim?
Weekend Reads: From Ponzi schemes to gambling dreams.
Around the Web: Zoom calls between parrots, an AI for PDFs, and more internet finds.
The big idea
A new tool aims to connect Black talent, tech firms
AfroTechâs new tool connects tech companies with diverse talent pools.
2023-05-05T00:00:00Z
Juliet Bennett Ryla
Numerous studies have found that companies benefit from diverse workforces in myriad ways:
Diverse companies enjoy 2.5x higher cash flow per employee.
They have higher employee retention and 22% less turnover.
Inclusive teams make better decisions up to 87% of the time.
Yet thereâs often a gap between companiesâ DEI goals and execution. Blavity Inc. â the tech and media company founded for Black millennials in 2014 â and its professional network, AfroTech, seek to close that gap with its first SaaS platform, Talent Infusion.
âAfroTech has been fighting againstâŚ
⌠the narrative that thereâs not enough talented Black folks in technology,â Simone White, SVP of AfroTech at Blavity, told The Hustle. âI think the biggest thing is providing spaces for [companies] to have direct connection with the talent pools that they want.â
AfroTech has done this through its annual conference, which drew 25k attendees in 2022, and executive series.
But many of AfroTechâs 200+ corporate partners wanted to connect with talent year-round. Talent Infusion now offers just that.
How it works
AfroTech solicits its community for resumes, vets potential candidates, and adds them to Talent Infusion.
Enterprise organizations pay a monthly or annual fee to access the resumes. They can also build talent pools filtered by experience, location, and other parameters.
For now, the tool is focused on tech employees, but AfroTechâs goal is to expand into other industries.
How can companies retain diverse talent?
White, of course, recommends directing employees to AfroTech, where Black talent can find community and feel empowered to learn, develop, and upskill.
Second, she said, is to continuously hire and fill pipelines with diverse talent.
âSometimes the feeling of, âIâm gonna always be the only one,â is really daunting, so [make] sure that youâre also sharing⌠the efforts that youâre putting forward,â she said.
Interested in Talent Infusion? Organizations can go to TalentInfusion.io to learn more, while job seekers can submit resumes to AfroTech here.
Itâs a Cinco de Mayo miracle: USDA numbers show avocado prices down 18% YoY, currently at an average of $1.32 per guac-giver. Thatâs especially miraculous news for Chipotle, which expects to use 100m pounds of avocado this year.
SNIPPETS
TodAI in AI: The Biden administration announced measures to ensure âresponsible AI innovation,â including $140m for National Science Foundation-led R&D and the drafting of formal policies on government usage of AI.
Khanmigo is the AI chatbot being piloted by nonprofit learning center Khan Academy. It is a total teacherâs pet, designed to guide students toward answers rather than providing them straight away.
In the balance: Two more banks, Western Alliance and PacWest, are on failure watch. Western Alliance rejects the notion itâs in trouble, while PacWest confirmed it will âevaluate all options.â
Michelle Obamaco-founded Plezi Nutrition, which offers healthier snacks for kids, starting with a nutrient-filled fruit drink with 75% less sugar than the average juice.
Yikes: Three McDonaldâs franchisees face $200k+ in fines after the Department of Labor found 305 minors working illegally across 62 locations, including two 10-year-olds working the drive-thru and deep fryer â unpaid â at one Kentucky restaurant.
Shopify reported better-than-expected Q1 revenue of $1.51B, then announced a 20% workforce reduction to double down on its core business while offloading logistics operations. Shares rose ~24% on the news.
Hot or not: Art collective MSCHFâs latest gag is Hot Chat 3000, which uses AI to rate your âhotness,â then lets you chat with equally hot people. Why? AI models can be biased, particularly toward certain ethnicities, which MSCHF seeks to expose.
Microsoftâs AI-powered Bing is in open preview for everyone, no waitlist. Updates include more visual answers, including charts and graphs, and its Image Creator now supports 100+ languages.
King-sized fortune: If the pageantry from this weekendâs coronation of King Charles III causes you to roll your eyes and call it âmeaningless,â thatâs cool. But remember it ainât worthless: the King will oversee ~$42B in assets.
Update: Ed Sheeran is legally off the hook, acquitted on copyright infringement charges â a sigh of relief for the broader songwriting community. Itâs still unclear if Sheeran should face jail time for his controversial âGame of Thronesâ cameo a few years ago.
CHART
Olivia Heller
Investors worry Chegg could be schooled by ChatGPTâs A+ homework help
Simply acknowledging the impact of AI gave edtech firms a harsh haircut.
2023-05-05T00:00:00Z
Jacob Cohen
Ah, historyâs great innovators: Edison, Jobs, students in need of answers for homework due tomorrow, da Vinci, Gates, EinsteinâŚ
Since the dawn of school, students have found ways to get âhelpâ on their homework. In recent decades, one of the most reliable has been Chegg.
The homework-helping site estimates a huge market for its services â 100m students globally, 8.1m of whom subscribed in 2022.
So, if the need for Chegg is that great, why was its stock down ~50% this week?
Do explainâŚ
The cliff dive came after CEO Dan Rosensweig told investors he sees ChatGPT âhaving an impact on our new customer growth.â
It was a PR-mageddon. Analysts chopped price targets. âChegg shares drop more than 40% after company says ChatGPT is killing its business,â read a CNBC headline. Other edtech stocks dipped on the news, too.
For Rosensweig, though, Cheggâs drop was âextraordinarily overblown.â
If you can beat âem, join âem
Tech firms are increasingly working to embrace AI tools like ChatGPT, while leveraging proprietary data. That way they can still, you know, make money.
Rosensweig, who said heâs met with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on the subject, is focused on a tool called CheggMate, which combines ChatGPTâs technology with Cheggâs library â a super comp-tutor, if you will.
The unknown for Chegg â and the rest of a wary edtech industry â is whether vetted academic data will be enough to go up against free, improving chatbots.
BTW: One thing you wonât see from Chegg anytime soon: NFTs. âWe didnât see those as real or important or as threats,â Rosensweig said.
Free Resource
The next billion-dollar ChatGPT startup idea?
Even Taylor Swift, the angelic voice of a generation, is having trouble trouncing ChatGPTâs ungodly search volume these days.
Ainât no shame, Taylor. This may very well be the most powerful tech since the machine that sliced bread. Sam and Shaan dissect AIâs tremendous potential in lucky episode No. 444 of My First Million.
Fresh from the pod:
Recent AI innovations (AutoGPT and babyAGI)
Asking ChatGPT âhow to turn $100 into tons of moneyâ
Facing off with Kara Swisher for a Webby
AI is already a functional cheat code â imagine when it gets good.
In case you missed âem, hereâs this weekâs bestâŚ
Story: If reputed mobsters or ââthe secretary who helped uncover one of Americaâs strangest Ponzi schemes interest you, you really should read our latest feature.
Video: Like finding a needle in a stack of 2x4s, carpenters are hard to find. Watch this clip nailing down why America has so few.
Blog: Are you spending this lovely Friday doing all the work you should have done throughout the week? (Same.) You might need these time management tips.
Tweet: If job descriptions at your company include these three words, youâre not surviving a recession. Of course, this is a joke. Itâs a joke, right?
Chart: The kick is up and it is⌠still going up, and up, and up. As sports gambling continues to rapidly rise in the US, hereâs to hoping we donât all punt our savings away on a Houston Roughnecks game.
AROUND THE WEB
âž On this day: In 1904, Cy Young pitched the first perfect game in modern MLB history, retiring all 27 batters he faced. There were two earlier perfect games, both in 1880, but the rules were different then â the mound was closer, walks required eight balls, and pitchers had to throw side-armed.
đŚ Thatâs interesting: We may be tired of video meetings, but parrots apparently love virtually chatting with one another.
đ° Blog: Need extra credit? Hereâs everything you need to know about a business line of credit and how to get one.
đ¤ Useful:ChatPDF is an AI chatbot for parsing PDFs. Upload the file, then ask it questions.