OpenAI website displayed on a laptop screen is seen in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on February 14, 2023. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
NurPhoto via Getty ImagesHere is the published version of this week’s Forbes Careers newsletter, which brings the latest news, commentary and ideas about the workplace, leadership and the future of work straight to your inbox every Wednesday. Click here to get on the newsletter list!
It may be too early to know if the bots are coming for your job, but it’s clear they’re going to impact how you work.
Some companies are already restricting the use of ChatGPT, the generative artificial intelligence tool, on employees’ devices. Media reports this week said JPMorgan Chase has restricted the use of ChatGPT by its staff, becoming the latest organization to ban OpenAI’s chatbot in the workplace. Other banks, including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Bank of America are also reportedly limiting its use.
Meanwhile, others are embracing it. Bain & Company has forged an alliance with OpenAI to bring its tools to corporate clients, and has been embedding OpenAI into its own systems over the past year, contributor Martine Paris reports. It’s working with Coca-Cola to enhance marketing and operations with the use of OpenAI. The implications of embedding AI into work for other industries—from media to customer service to medicine—are endless.
As my colleague Alex Konrad reported recently, the race to embed tools in actual work processes is already on. “Calls to AI-based code snippets, or APIs, soared tenfold in 2022, with more acceleration in December, according to provider Rapid,” Konrad wrote. “A recent Cowen study of 100-plus enterprise software buyers found that AI has emerged as the top spending priority among emerging technologies.”
The speed of growth—and investment—in such startups is telling. Konrad also had the story last week of Tome, the storytelling AI tool developed by two former Meta managers. It publicly launched in September, and by early February, the San Francisco-based company passed a million users, making Tome the fastest productivity tool to reach that milestone.
The tool, which raised another $43 million in a Series B funding round made up of a who’s-who of investors following a $32 million Series A round, is seen as a potential PowerPoint and Slides killer. There’s also Typeface, another generative AI startup that’s a platform for marketing and communication content such as blog posts, Instagram posts and job postings on LinkedIn. It just raised $65 million, reports Forbes’ Rashi Shrivastava.
All this change will be fascinating to watch—and for some, concerning. As Forbes continues to cover all the changes AI will bring, what do you want to know? What are you watching—or worrying about? Drop me a line and let me know. For now, hope it’s a great week.
FEATURED STORY
Why Non-Linear Career Paths Are The Future
A non-linear career path is different from job hopping. They are intentional. Your career may not follow a straight line, but there's still a bit of planning involved. As employers and employees face an ever-changing job market, non-linear career paths are becoming the new normal. Forbes contributor Caroline Castrillon explores some reasons why.
ON OUR AGENDA
No more TikTok for government workers: The White House set a 30-day deadline for federal agencies to remove TikTok from all government-issued devices after Congress voted to ban the use of the Chinese-owned social media app on government devices. Last week, the European Union’s executive branch told staff to delete the app from work devices.
More resume scandals: Another Republican freshman, Representative Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) admitted Feb. 27 that he made incorrect statements about his college degree, making him the second freshman GOP House member to face allegations of lying, reports Forbes’ Sara Dorn, after an extensive scandal involving George Santos (R-N.Y.).
Dilbert gets pink-slipped: The Plain Dealer was one of hundreds of newspapers that will no longer carry the office-based “Dilbert” comic strip, according to an announcement by the Cleveland newspaper, citing a recent “racist rant” by the comic strip’s creator, Scott Adams. An upcoming book by Adams was also scrapped by its publisher, a Penguin Random House imprint, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Layoffs keep climbing: Our job cut tracker finds Cerebral, Palantir and Twitter are all reported to be cutting staff—in the latter case, coming after Musk said he wants to ‘stabilize’ the company. Such job cuts are emboldening bosses to call for a return to the office, writes contributor Jack Kelly.
But it’s not all bad news: Home Depot said last week it will spend $1 billion to raise hourly employee wages, making it the most recent major company raising worker pay to compete in a tight job market that, despite white-collar job cuts, continues to see opportunities for front-line workers. Earlier this month, Delta Air Lines said it would begin raising wages by 5%, and in March, Walmart, the nation's largest private employer, is set to raise starting wages for store employees to $14 to $19 in a bid “to ensure we have attractive pay in the markets we operate," the company's U.S. operations chief, John Furner, told employees last month.
WORK SMARTER
An international consultant shares new ideas for having high-impact negotiations.
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A sabbatical isn’t just time off. It can also help your career.
Here’s how to cope with identity loss in a career pivot.
Get laid off? Subscribe to our new newsletter to help you bounce back.
READING LIST
Burned out and overwhelmed, more Americans are turning to part-time jobs, reports the Wall Street Journal.
The worst job posting ever was found by a freelance art writer—which of course went viral—that involved making restaurant reservations, picking up clothes from “high end” stores, serving as a liaison to an army of household help and managing “dog systems” (ahem) for one very high-profile “Art World Family.” (The pay? $65,000 to $95,000 a year.) The New York Times had a synopsis.
Wharton professor Jonah Berger’s new book, Magic Words: What To Say To Get Your Way, launches March 7, is a deep dive into the research behind persuasive language from the author of the bestseller Contagious.
An earlier version of this newsletter post incorrectly stated the amount of Tome’s Series A funding round and the nature of its September launch. It has been updated.