Insider Cuts 10% of Staff, Says ChatGPT Experiments Aren't to Blame

[highplainsdem]

Last edited Thu Apr 20, 2023, 07:29 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: Gizmodo

The news outlet Insider announced to staff via email Thursday morning that the company lay off 10% of its workforce, including staff writers.

Insider Incorporated president Barbara Peng announced that layoffs in an email to staff this morning that was obtained by Gizmodo and first reported by The Daily Beast. Peng wrote that staff members affected by the layoffs would be receiving a notification 15 minutes after her email to the company was sent. Affected staff will receive 13 weeks of base pay with two additional weeks for each year they worked up to four years, medical coverage through August 2023, and career support services including resume reviews and one-one-ones with coaches.

-snip-

Peng explained in her email that the layoffs would impact the unionized workforce at the outlet, meaning writers would be included in the cuts. Insider's presidet claimed in her email that management was unable to communicate the layoffs to the union, citing unspecified "union rules." An Insider employee in the union told Gizmodo that the union was not informed of the layoffs ahead of time and received no opportunity to bargain with management. The Insider Union did not immediately return Gizmodo's request for comment.

-snip-

Insider Editor-in-Chief Nicholas Carlson announced last week that the outlet's writers would be experimenting with artificial intelligence. Carlson said in a letter to staff, posted to Insider itself, that the outlet was looking to set up a working group of staff writers to test how to responsibly add artificial intelligence into the company's workflow with internal applications.

-snip-

Read more: https://gizmodo.com/business-insider-layoffs-ai-chatgpt-tests-1850356792

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UPDATED HEADLINE: Insider Cuts 10% of Staff, Says ChatGPT Experiments Aren't to Blame

ORIGINAL HEADLINE: Insider Lays Off 10% of Staff After Starting ChatGPT Experiments

Gizmodo added a brief paragraph saying they asked if the layoffs were related to the use of ChatGPT, and an Insider spokesperson told them, "Of course not."

I call bullshit on the denial. And Gizmodo using the word "says" in the revised headline shows their skepticism.

My original comments on the article below. Layoffs were predicted, by me and others, as soon as the experiment was announced:


I posted about Carlson's statements at the time and said it was obvious layoffs were coming.

Didn't expect quite so many, so soon.

EDITING to link to my post in General Discussion, one week ago today, about that statement and what was coming:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217824726

[IronLionZion]

1. Build a wall to keep out AI

since AI keeps stealing jobs

[FredGarvin]

18. AI is cheaper to employ

Sad but true.

AI generated content can be just as informative as what humans produce.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

2. Wonder what all those alt-right a-holes who tell reporters "Learn to code!" will say

Once ChatGPT starts taking their jobs...

[highplainsdem]

3. We could see very high unemployment by election time next year. And RWers

will blame Biden. Especially since Silicon Valley is viewed as liberal.

[xocetaceans]

6. They might also have to alter that expression to "Learn to code better that ChatGPT!" at some point,

but that might be a ways off. How far off, though, I don't know.

[Lancero]

17. Joe Biden has given similar advice, abit to other professions.

Would you consider him a alt-right a-hole too?

https://thehill.com/changing-america/enrichment/education/476391-biden-tells-coal-miners-to-learn-to-code/

[AZSkiffyGeek]

22. Does he go on Twitter and mock journalists with that phrase?

I'm not sure I've seen him trolling journalists about their impending layoffs. Can you show me where he's done that?
Funny how you are defending alt-right a-holes mocking journalists.

[Lancero]

23. So, do you feel that Joe Bidens statement was, in any way, shape, or form, wrong?

Personally, I think our President is entirely correct in his statements.

But hey, TIL that supporting Joe Biden makes one a alt-right a-hole. Interesting lesson to learn on what is supposed to be a pro-Democrat forum.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

24. I still don't understand how Biden figures into alt-right a-holes mocking journalists

But you seem to like conflating alt-right mocking with the president giving speeches, which seems strange on a Democratic board.
I'll put you down as okay with the alt-right.
Maybe when you lose your job you'll appreciate dozens of pepe the frog icons tweeting "LOL learn to code!" at you.

[highplainsdem]

27. There was nothing wrong with anything you said.

[highplainsdem]

26. That advice was given 3 years and 4 months ago. Nearly 3 years before

ChatGPT was released. Before employers realized a free or very cheap chatbot could both write and code. So his statement was fine then.

Now...

https://www.zdnet.com/article/i-used-chatgpt-to-write-the-same-routine-in-12-top-programming-languages-heres-how-it-did/

https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-use-chatgpt-to-write-code/

Just google

Chatgpt coding

[SWBTATTReg]

4. I know that some are tech-savvy here, and thus, as w/ so many other IT-related technologies,

a huge boom in jobs, and economic development/growth will occur as a result of AI...why do I say this? Mainly as the developing AI software gets more fine-tuned, more adapted into various existing or new IT platforms, software, hardware, more and more resources will be needed (demand). As to how this company decided on a 10% layoff rate, who knows? Personally, I think that they pulled this number out of the air.

And how does one measure productivity gains due solely w/ the addition of AI amongst its platforms? The entire AI industry is so new, so raw, that I suspect anyone claiming otherwise, their statements should be viewed very carefully.

[highplainsdem]

5. The only new job being created that I've seen mentioned so far is that of

prompt engineer, and that's likely to be a very short-lived specialty. People get used to prompts quickly, and AI can offer prompt ideas if asked.

[SWBTATTReg]

8. Thanks for the info. I haven't really looked into the AI architecture, but it looks like another

gee whiz computer language where software engineers make 100s of thousands of dollars annually etc., such as COBOL, Pascal, Fortran, PLI1, Basic, ASM, etc. etc. etc. I guess like the other languages, if one has enough pizazz in one language, in theory they can pick up 'Prompt' pretty quickly and code. I'll have to ask a friend of a friend of mine who would be familiar w/ this (maybe).

[highplainsdem]

10. The prompts are in English, and AI can code.

They expect a lot of IT jobs to disappear.

A lot of jobs, period.

Image-generating AI are hurting artists and photographers.

[RegulatedCapitalistD]

13. Its why I will be forced into early retirement...

I hope I can make it for 5 more years until I can get full Social Security.

[SWBTATTReg]

14. Well, perhaps (disappearing). We always added a 20% overhead estimate to software/hardware

estimates, complexity of projects, etc., being that there is always, always code that (that is, when I was starting out) had never been coded before, and no one really knew immediately what it would take to code the task(s) needed (more specifically, a lot of programmers do store their old code or code that they wrote for other stuff, saved it for a rainy day (and stuffed it too w/ other software that their other buddies traded back and forth (a usual thing that programmers do back and forth)).

In short, I am sorry I am rambling on, but there are some portions of coding that are complex in nature, and can't be just 'genned' up quickly. I suspect that this will be true here too, for Prompt.

Take care!

[highplainsdem]

11. Wikipedia on LLMs:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_language_model

[SWBTATTReg]

16. Very interesting. Thanks for providing. I have heard of a few, BLOOM, etc., but

like I said, I don't know enough about the ins and outs of compiling, linking, source code setup (the whole thing). Amazing. A whole wide world sitting out there...perhaps scary too. I've always put forth in these AI discussions (a very few), that if there's an AI entity out there (if you want to call it that), that we'll never know. It'll embed itself into software/hardware and no one will be the wiser for it. I'll bet that the KGB/CIA/others would pay a fortune for such if they could control it.

Take care.

[Lancero]

25. A lot of companies have been having layoffs due to overhiring during covid.

And not to mention, some sites are getting out of news entirely.

Realistically, this was planned in advance. AI is just a convenient boogieman, espeically considering the alternations OP made to this topics title.

[highplainsdem]

30. I did not alter the title. I just checked and saw Gizmodo altered its headline,

and added a short paragraph to its story, after an Insider spokesperson denied the layoffs were related to the ChatGPT experiment. I consider that denial bullshit, and I'd bet Gizmodo does, too, based on the word "says" in the revised headline.

I know from responses I saw from writers on Twitter that I wasn't the only person expecting layoffs of writers to follow that "experiment" - especially after some other sites had done the same thing.

I've also read that it's overhiring that's being used as the boogieman, to excuse layoffs due to AI.

These companies think it's better for their image to blame factors other than wanting to save money with AI.

I will edit the OP but will keep the original headline in the notes under the excerpt.

[Freethinker65]

7. When everything starts sounding and looking the same and the value just doesn't hold up,

Many will return to searching out craftsmen with superior products/media or just tune out altogether. Producing content in the style of some actual person will become repetitive and tiring. Expressing thoughts even if they lead to mistakes to downright failures are often quite useful. Will AI ever make human "errors"?

Sure, some throw away stuff can be done more efficiently by AI. A return to content sans bias/editorializing by AI (if possible to do?) could even be very helpful.

I look at it a bit like fast food. AI content will be cheap, convenient, and readily available. It will not always be satisfying and often will be unhealthy if you consume too much. Use it in moderation at times to make your life easier.

[highplainsdem]

15. AI hallucinates and makes lots of errors. News sites have been

caught publishing stories with AI-created mistakes they supposedly had human editors catching.

They keep using it anyway to avoid paying writers.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217695196

[FredGarvin]

20. Everything does sound and look the same.

America is one huge strip mall.
Value is about making money, not producing a genuine product.
Popular music? Mostly computer processed garbage. AI is generating more and more ideas for popular music corporations who produce most of what we hear.

[Freethinker65]

21. Agree. But there are so many ways to get music now

My kid listens to so many genres it's insane. When I ask where he finds them he mentions internet sites and apps I haven't heard of, plus recommendations from friends.

Sure the top pop stuff now is lots of auto-tuned vocals with manufactured beats (which I choose not to listen to), but as I reminisce about the new wave/80s stuff I grew up with and loved, lots of that was pretty formulaic.

AI is certainly going to make it harder for real musicians, but it has always been tough, with many of the most talented being unheard and overlooked by the masses. There isn't much one can do about it but support the artists you love.

[Journeyman]

9. "Peng wrote..."? How do we know she penned this email? Maybe ChatGPT canned its competition? . . .

[Renew Deal]

12. Corporations like Insider are probably not using the same ChatGPT we are using.

Microsoft is marketing dedicated unshared corporate accounts. I'm guessing that's what they signed up for.

[Backseat Driver]

19. Now being reported that parent company is shutting down?

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/20/media/buzzfeed-news-shuts-down/index.html

BuzzFeed News, the Pulitzer Prize-winning digital news website that that took the internet by storm roughly a decade ago and inspired jealousy from legacy media organizations, will shutter, BuzzFeed chief executive Jonah Peretti announced Thursday.

[highplainsdem]

28. Nope. Different company.

[Lancero]

29. Separate company, but it's indicative of trends in the industry.

News sites have been shuttering left and right due to profitability issues.

Hilariously, reduced costs thanks to AI might be the only thing that can keep some of them profitable enough to stay in operation.