Reporting revisits comments made by leading AI company founders, including figures behind OpenAI and Anthropic, who warned of existential risks from artificial intelligence even as they built their firms. These statements, made years before recent viral discussions, framed advanced AI as a potential threat to humanity while the same executives pursued its development. The resurfacing of these quotes has fueled renewed scrutiny of the tension between AI leaders' public warnings and their commercial ambitions.
Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke, who last year told employees that using AI was a 'baseline expectation,' now says the push has flooded the company with low-quality AI output he calls 'slop grenades.' He described workers generating unreviewed AI content that colleagues then have to catch and fix, undermining the productivity gains he originally sought.
New Apple CEO John Ternus greeted customers in person at Apple's Fifth Avenue store in New York as the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max went on sale, taking selfies and signing boxes for fans who had preordered the devices. It marked his first public product launch appearance since succeeding Tim Cook, continuing Apple's tradition of CEO-attended store openings.
Senator Josh Hawley is calling on Flock Safety's chief executive to testify before the Senate next week over the company's automated license plate reading network. Hawley argues that the surveillance technology, deployed widely across the country, threatens Americans' basic privacy expectations during everyday activities like commuting or attending church.
Speaking at the Fast Company Innovation Festival in New York, Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden explained that removing executives and managers who habitually blocked new ideas was central to reviving the company after a difficult stretch. He framed this cultural shift in leadership as the main driver behind Adidas's recent recovery.
Disney has hired Karandeep Anand, who recently led Character.AI, to serve as the company's first chief technology officer, reporting directly to CEO Josh D'Amaro. Anand will oversee enterprise technology and Disney's data and AI platforms, and is bringing several former Character.AI engineers with him. Disney is also promoting Adam Smith to a new Chairman of Direct-to-Consumer role for Disney Entertainment.
Disney has hired Karandeep Anand, who spent just over a year as CEO of chatbot startup Character.AI, to become the company's first chief technology officer. Anand will report to new CEO Josh D'Amaro and oversee Disney's infrastructure, product, engineering, and data/AI platforms teams.
Warren Buffett, 96, has resigned as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway effective immediately, ending his decades-long leadership of the company's board. The move comes less than eight months after Greg Abel assumed the CEO role, and Buffett will continue serving as a board member.
Safeguard Global, an Austin-based workforce management firm, tested a four-day workweek in 2023 aiming to boost recruitment and retention. The company ended the pilot after discovering that many employees were secretly continuing to work on their supposed day off, undermining the program's intent.
New Vistage research shows most small and midsize U.S. businesses have adopted generative AI, with 76% of CEOs personally using the technology, yet fewer than a quarter have formal oversight structures in place. The findings come alongside a broader call for CEOs to make overdue leadership and program decisions before the year ends rather than deferring them into the next fiscal cycle.
Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, released a 37-page 'Humanist AI Code of Conduct' outlining Microsoft's principles for AI development, including its stance on issues like AI consciousness. In an interview and a companion essay, he criticized Anthropic's approach to 'model welfare,' arguing it dangerously misconstrues what AI systems actually are and complicates the broader safety debate.
At a Fast Company event moderated by Stephanie Mehta, Supergoop CEO Melis Del Rey, Bel North America CEO Peter McGuinness, and BBC Studios direct-to-consumer chief Robert Schildhouse discussed the challenges of stepping into top leadership roles. The three executives compared notes on managing employee expectations and public skepticism toward corporate leaders in the early stages of their tenures.
GoKawiil