Reeves Wiederman reports on how the baby-formula shortage in the U.S. created an opportunity for new companies to enter an industry historically dominated by a few corporations. Laura Modi, a Google and Airbnb alum who founded the baby-formula startup Bobbie, is one such CEO hoping to transform an industry “that has grown complacent.” As Modi […]
tech
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Very Online
CJR fellow Karen Maniraho talks with five very online journalists — Ryan Broderick, Jason Parham, Taylor Lorenz, Rebecca Jennings, and Rusty Foster — about what it’s like to cover tech and internet culture today, how they navigate through viral moments and algorithms, and how they look for meaning in a constantly noise-polluted, chaotic space. Because […]
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How the AI Industry Profits from Catastrophe
The demand for data labeling in the artificial intelligence industry — tagging videos, sorting photos, and transcribing audio in order to train AI — has created a massive need for cheap labor, leading data-labeling platforms such as Appen to hire low-pay workers in countries like Venezuela, the Philippines, and Kenya to do these tasks. In […]
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Taking Stock
Rob Horning explores the term “creator” in this essay on labor, exploitation, and content production and consumption on the internet. “Creator,” like “creativity,” is essentially a null term that signifies nothing about one’s activity but instead marks one’s limitless availability — a willingness to make anything at all in one’s life into content for sale.
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Weighing Big Tech’s Promise to Black America
“Floyd’s killing sparked widespread protests in the streets and calls for racial justice in Fortune 500 boardrooms. But while corporate America’s official responses often felt like crisis PR disguised as philanthropy, Netflix’s approach stood out.”
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Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away
“When things go horribly wrong during a stay, the company’s secretive safety team jumps in to soothe guests and hosts, help families—and prevent PR disasters.”
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Facebook Is a Doomsday Machine
” No single machine should be able to control so many people.”
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Female Founders Under Fire
“Are women in the startup world being unfairly targeted?”
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The Inside Story of MacKenzie Scott, the Mysterious 60-Billion-Dollar Woman
Stephanie Clifford explores the life of MacKenzie Scott: Amazon’s first employee, Jeff Bezos’s ex-wife, and one of the richest women in the world who is reimagining tech philanthropy.
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Slate Star Codex and Silicon Valley’s War Against the Media
The story of a controversial blogger, the weaponization of online engagement, and the growing fault lines between tech and traditional journalism.