Good morning! Amazon is reportedly planning to lay off 9,000 employees, the US is exploring options to insure all bank deposits, and Google is now making its Bard AI chatbot available to more people.

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BUSINESS

Amazon Slashes 9,000 Jobs

Amazon CEO, Andy Jassy, announced that the company will lay off 9,000 corporate and tech workers by the end of April, adding to the 18,000 roles cut late last year and this January.

Here's the breakdown:

• CEO Andy Jassy has been focused on cost-cutting measures for over a year, as the company rapidly added employees during the pandemic, including some projects that lacked profitability.

• The tech industry is currently experiencing its largest contraction since the early 2000s, with many major tech companies also announcing layoffs.

• Amazon reported near zero profits in its latest quarter, driven in part by unexpected weakness in its cloud computing business.

• Amazon-owned Twitch, a popular livestreaming site for gamers, announced that it will lay off over 400 employees, which is roughly 22% of its staff, citing weak growth in user and revenue as the reason.

• Amazon's share price was down by slightly over 1% after the announcement, and management is expected to determine the affected workers by mid to late April while also pursuing limited hiring in strategic areas.

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FINANCE

FDIC Considers Raising Insurance Cap

US officials are considering expanding FDIC coverage to all deposits to avoid a potential financial crisis but don't view the move as necessary yet. The Treasury Department is reviewing whether regulators have enough emergency authority to temporarily insure deposits greater than the current $250,000 cap.

Here's the breakdown:

• US officials are studying the temporary expansion of FDIC coverage to all deposits to prevent a financial crisis.

• Treasury Department is reviewing whether federal regulators have enough emergency authority to insure deposits beyond the $250,000 cap without consent from Congress.

• A coalition of banks is seeking the move, but it's not seen as necessary yet.

• Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the US is prepared to repeat its recent actions to protect bank depositors if smaller lenders are threatened.

• One legal framework under discussion for expanding FDIC insurance would use the Treasury Department's authority to take emergency action and lean on the Exchange Stabilization Fund.

TECH

Google Opens Bard AI Access

Google has begun rolling out access to its Bard chatbot in the US and UK after working to improve its responses and adding generative AI features to its suite of services.

Here's the breakdown:

• Google has been working to improve its Bard conversational AI after it shared misinformation during its Twitter debut.

• Google has been adding generative AI features to its services and recently started testing Bard with select Pixel users.

• The company is now opening access to Bard to a wider audience, starting with users in the US and UK.

• Users can talk to Bard like a friend, using natural language, and ask for tips, explanations, or creative inspiration.

• Bard is a direct interface large language model (LLM) and a complementary experience to Google Search, with a similar interface to Bing AI but some key differences, such as the presence of buttons for feedback and drafts.

• Bard uses a streamlined and optimized variant of Google's LaMDA for power, which will receive upgrades to newer and more sophisticated models in the future.

• To prevent potentially offensive or inaccurate information, Google has implemented safety measures within large language models such as LaMDA.

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• Researchers have highlighted the dangers of space debris, with the possibility of catastrophic events like cascading collisions and the resulting space junk posing a major threat to satellites.

• Leaked images suggest that the new Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max will have a larger and more immersive display, with ultra-thin bezels and a front-facing camera under the screen.

• In February, there was a 14.5% increase in home sales, and the median price dropped for the first time in more than ten years.

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