Slack – a popular business communications platform used by a slew of Fortune 500 companies, as well as a range of other businesses – has been refusing to let users send messages this morning.

Although the company has now acknowledged an issue occurred, there’s little information about why the outage happened. Some users are now reporting that Slack is working again, and messages are sending. Slack’s system status page suggests the issue has been solved.

Customers Report Issues on Slack

Slack users have been reporting issues with the platform since around 10:00 am today when DownDetector became flooded with thousands of reports:

72% of reporters say they’re having issues with messages, 15% say simply that it is App, while 13% referenced a server connection as the problem.

The Slack system status page – which provides real-time updates on the health of the service – initially showed no issues at this point, but was subsequently updated at 10:35 am, when this message appeared:

“Users may be experiencing trouble with sending messages in Slack. We’re investigating and will let you know as soon as we know more. We appreciate your patience in the meantime.”

Then, at 10:57 am, Slack updated the report with this message:

“Slack experiencing an outage across the app. Users may be experiencing trouble with sending messages, using workflows, and various other actions in Slack. We’re investigating and will let you know as soon as we know more. We appreciate your patience in the meantime.”

Slack initially classified the issue as an “incident” rather than an “outage”, but that has now been changed. It seems that user issues largely center around communication and messaging, with many unable to post in channels or send direct messages to one another.

However, it seems that some users are now able to send messages once more, and Slack’s system status page now suggests the issue has been resolved.

What Can I Do If Slack Is Down?

Over 600,000 companies use Slack worldwide, but it’s unclear if all of them have been affected by the recent issue. The number of issue reports suggests that the incident has impacted a large proportion of Slack’s user base, however.

In this situation, there’s very little businesses can do, other than revert back to messaging on email, or use platforms like WhatsApp. As we’ve said alreadty, some users are now reporting that Slack is working again – so hopefully, everything will be back to normal soon.

Reddit has this week announced its testing a new verification mark as proof of profile authenticity. The tag will appear as a flair next to a username and is currently being tested by a small pool of users.

This “official” badge experiment comes following Meta, LinkedIn and Tumblr’s move into profile verification, as well as Twitter’s change to paid-only blue checks earlier this year.

Reddit has had a turbulent time of late, with users of the platform, ‘Redditors’, protesting its API changes.

Verification is App-Only Feature For Now

Right now the verification mark is only available to a very small number of profiles that belong to organizations already collaborating with Reddit and the communities on its platform. 

There’s no word on whether there’s an application process to get a tag, or if it’ll cost a monthly fee when the feature opens up more widely. It’s also understood that the tag will only be visible on iOS and Android apps to begin with. 

The company is also sharing a change to how notifications are received, with moderator bots checking to see if comments and replies follow Reddit’s rules. They will then only send a notification if the post is not removed. This change will hopefully prevent “ghost notifications” which is where users tap on a post to find it no longer exists.

New Accessibility Features Are On The Horizon

In addition to verifications, Reddit also shared its plan for accessibility features on its own apps. 

Things like the left navigation menu, profile drawer, bottom tab bar, Community page, post detail page and Home & Popular feeds will be compatible with screen readers from next month.

This development is likely to be heavily influenced by the protests against Reddit’s API changes last month, which saw the shut down of apps that featured good accessibility.

In response to this announcement, r/Blind moderators shared posts that stated the company’s updates had made it worse for screen readers. They also accused Reddit of not talking with those who took part in an accessibility feedback group, and are “sending mixed signals” when it comes to these issues.

Reddit’s response has been that it will start reaching out to people next week.

These Updates Come Following API Protests

Early last month thousands of forums on the platform went dark to protest the proposed API changes that would see access costs increasing, resulting in lots of third-party tools being priced out.

This unpopular decision has seen many developers downing tools on the apps they’ve created to make Reddit more accessible and easier to use.

Reddit’s change was said to be cynical and in an attempt to force users to download its own app, thereby boosting ad revenue despite a poor user experience.

Whether or not these latest updates will help mitigate the upset over the API row remains to be seen. But by focusing time and cost into its own app, it’s clear Reddit won’t be bowing down to protest pressure and lifting the API restrictions. 

From all your emojis and GIFs in one handy place to live translated captions and more immersive meetings, Microsoft is spoiling us with its latest round of Teams updates.

Fresh from reports of its hugely successful Q4, take a look at everything that’s coming to the platform in August, and a few things expected later on in the year.

New Microsoft Teams Features for August

Admin Policy for Collaborative Annotations to control them for an individual user, a group or entire organization.

AI-based file suggestions in chat giving users the ability to surface files through AI, when it detects the intent to share a file. 

Call delegation feature enhancements to allow users to share and switch delegator lines.

An improved search experience in chat and channels helping users to search in a specific chat or channel, with new features like “highlighted keywords” making it easier to scan results.

Channel meeting invitations that give meeting organizers the ability to share invites with the personal calendars of channel members. 

Cloud IntelliFrame for Teams Meeting Rooms on Windows creating an immersive and engaging experience for all participants, with enhanced visual and audio features that make remote attendees appear the same as in-room attendees.

Deploy Teams at Scale for frontline workers using Dynamic Teams, ensuring they’re always up to date.

Extended real-time telemetry retention for Premium users, allowing admins to identify and fix quality issues using granular telemetry for up to seven days after a meeting is finished.

Face enrollment on Teams Desktop to support facial recognition and video labels in Teams Rooms on Windows.

Front Row AI enhancements for Teams Rooms on Windows that have Teams-certified stereo speakers with right and left capabilities, aiming to provide a more natural experience, making it feel like remote and in-person participants are together in one room.

Graph API for Teams Meeting Recordings allowing developers access to Teams meeting recordings in an MP4 format once the meeting is finished.

Graph API for Teams Meetings Transcripts allowing access to Teams Meetings transcripts once the meeting is finished. 

Intelligent camera support for Teams Rooms on Windows allowing multi-stream video, facial recognition of in-room participants, active speaker recognition, voice-based transcription, and panoramic video.

Third-party meeting access from Teams allowing participants to join a Zoom, Google Meet or other third-party meeting application from inside the Teams calendar.

Microsoft Teams Premium for GCC-H and DoD helping to make meetings more personalized, intelligent, and secure with branded meetings, intelligent recap and search, and live-translated captions.

Live-Translated Captions in Meetings for Android and iOS, bolstering accessibility features but only as part of Teams Premium.

On-demand recordings in Webinars that allow organizers to publish webinar recordings and send automatic emails to attendees so they can watch them.

Proactive monitoring of meeting quality using real-time telemetry for Premium users, allowing admins to define the desired monitoring parameters in TAC, which they can then use to investigate poor meeting quality for users.

QR code to reserve a room on Teams Panels allowing users to book meeting rooms by scanning a QR code on the scheduling panel, using an Android or iOS app.

Teams Rooms Pro Management Insights Report that summarizes issues, remediation steps taken, time savings, and proactively alerts IT to issues before they become a problem. 

Unified Fun Picker letting users find emojis, GIFs, and stickers in a single hub.

Coming Later In 2023

There are plenty of features in the works, but these are our top five to watch out for:

Ability for all participants to start collaborative annotations, to be available only in the new Microsoft Teams experience. Expected October 2023.

Collaborative notes on Teams mobile allowing attendees to co-create and collaborate on their meeting agenda, notes, and action items. Expected October 2023.

Mixed grid view in Meetings that places all participants in a 16:9 ratio and gives users the ability to change their grid size to one of the predefined options. Expected October 2023.

The new Microsoft Teams app which will deliver a performance bump up to two times faster while using 50% less memory. Expected October 2023.

Two-way lobby chat in Virtual appointments with an interactive lobby that allows participants to send messages ahead of the meeting. Expected September 2023.

Microsoft has reported an incredibly successful quarter for Q4 2023, surprising absolutely no one given its rapid and effective rollout of generative AI technology to its many platforms.

It’s no secret that Microsoft has been a powerhouse for business software over the last few years. From Office and Outlook to Dynamics and Azure, the Seattle-based tech giant just has its finger on the pulse when it comes to getting work done.

But now, with the improvements from ChatGPT, the company is soaring and its latest quarterly report points to that success in a big way.

Microsoft Posts Banner Q4 2023

Microsoft has released its Q4 2023 report, and let’s just say it might even make founder and former CEO Bill Gates blush at all those zeroes.

Microsoft posted a net income of $20.1 billion, which represents a 20% increase year-over-year. On top of that, overall revenue came in at $56.2 billion, an 8% increase in the same period.

Friendly reminder that this is just for Q4 2023 and doesn’t even account for the whole year. On the year, Microsoft’s numbers are also quite impressive, with net income at $72.4 billion and revenues at $211.9 billion, representing 11% and 7% increases, respectively.

All that to say, Microsoft is seriously on the rise right now, and we all know why.

Why Is Microsoft Doing So Well?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for a few months, you’ve likely heard of ChatGPT, the generative AI platform that is popping up workplaces around the world for its impressive productivity-improving functionality.

Well, while that platform was created by OpenAI, the company is partnered with Microsoft, who has rolled out the groundbreaking technology to a wide range of platforms to make work easier for employees and business owners alike. And there’s no denying that the demand for this kind of tech has been high so far.

“Organizations are asking not only how—but how fast—they can apply this next generation of AI to address the biggest opportunities and challenges they face—safely and responsibly. We remain focused on leading the new AI platform shift, helping customers use the Microsoft Cloud to get the most value out of their digital spend, and driving operating leverage.” – Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft in the press release.

All in all, it’s safe to assume that Microsoft’s banner year is largely due to it taking the lead in the AI race that has the tech industry in its firm grip.

How to Use AI at Your Business

Reporting a quarter as good as Microsoft’s is an obviously unachievable goal for the majority of businesses. After all, there are only so many billions of dollars to go around. Still, there are ways that your business can utilize AI and its growing number of platforms to improve productivity.

For starters, check out our in-depth guide to Bard vs ChatGPT, so you can see if either is a good fit for your business. Once you’ve picked a platform, you can use it for any number of purposes, from writing emails and creating campaigns to developing content and responding to customer requests.

The rise of AI technology is projected to substantially impact the way we do business, which is why you’ll want to be sure you don’t get left behind. And with Microsoft offering the tech in virtually every platform in owns, it’s now easier to get on board than ever.

Don’t bank on AI to correct pay inequality in the workplace, as a new study found that low wage workers are far more likely to be replaced by the technology in the workforce.

AI platforms like ChatGPT have made quite a stir in the business world. The productivity-improving tech has turned tech on its head, leading to layoffs and pivots across the industry.

While AI is poised to bolster revenue for business owners, employees are understandably worried about job security, and low wage workers are apparently at risk more than others.

McKinsey: AI More Likely to Replace Women/Minorities

A new study from McKinsey & Co, titled Generative AI and the future of work in America, reports that low wage workers are 14 times more likely to be forced to change occupations due to the development of AI platforms like ChatGPT.

Even worse, these won’t be lateral moves. Given that lower-wage jobs will likely be automated out of existence, these employees will need to be reskilled in a major way, requiring substantial investment from organizations and businesses to address the labor needs of the new world.

“Employers will need to hire for skills and competencies rather than credentials, recruit from overlooked populations, and deliver training that keeps pace with their evolving needs.”

Considering the data shows that 12 million job transfers will be necessary by 2030, it’s safe to say this could have a drastic impact on the economy.

The Bias of AI

The report also found that this dramatic shift in the economy isn’t going to be kind to women and minority employees. In fact, the study found that women are 1.5 times more likely to be replaced by AI, as they are “heavily represented in office support and customer service.”

With these industries projected to hemorrhage around 3.7 million and 2 million jobs respectively, it’s obvious that women will take a serious hit in the workforce.

On top of that, Black and Hispanic laborers will be disproportionately impacted by AI development and rollout over time as well, largely due to its effect on “customer service, food service, and production work.”

Subsequently, generative AI platforms appear poised to substantially increase the general inequality across the business world.

How to Prepare for the Future

If you’re a business owner that wants to be a part of the solution rather than part of the problem, the study did outline a few strategies you can employ to keep lower-wage workers, women, and minorities from being left behind.

“With the pace of change unlikely to let up, the challenge will be helping workers match up with the jobs of the future. While some of this may require large-scale collaboration, individual companies can fill many of the gaps by adapting their own approaches to hiring and training.”

The best piece of advice in the report is to hire with a broader lens for your open roles. Your best employee won’t have necessarily gone to the best college, or even attended university at all. The key will be finding potential candidates based on their “capacity to learn, intrinsic capabilities, and transferable skills” to set your team up for success in the long run.

Threads is becoming more and more like X/Twitter every day, with the brand-new social media platform finally adding a Following feed for users.

At launch, Threads seemed poised to dethrone the newly named X as the go-to text-based social media platform. However, the lack of features and Meta connection soured many users quickly, with Threads popularity falling off a cliff in the first week.

However, the addition of the Following feed could help Threads further entice users, particularly with X going through all that rebranding controversy.

Threads Announces Following Feed Feature

Just a few weeks after launch, Threads is already rolling out big feature updates. More specifically, an update on Monday brought the Following feed — a page that exclusively shows posts from users you actually follow — to the new social media platform.

“Ask and you shall receive.” – Mark Zuckerberg in a Threads post this week

The Following feed was arguably one of the most requested in the early days of Threads, with many users sick and tired of the brands and influencers flooding the app for average users.

This wasn’t the only feature added to the platform this week either. Zuckerberg reportedly told followers in a broadcast channel that a translation button is now available to users, although this writer had trouble finding it after downloading the update.

How to Get Following Feed on Threads

If you want to stop being inundated with brands you don’t follow and influencers you don’t like when scrolling through Threads, we don’t blame you. Here’s how to get the Following feed on your Threads account.

For starters, you’re going to have to make sure you have the latest version of the app. Whether you have an iPhone or an Android, you’ll want to head to the Google Play Store or the App Store and update the Threads app. You want to make sure you have version 239 of the app, which comes with the new update.

Once you’ve done that, you still won’t necessarily see the Following tab at the top of your main page. You’ll have to tap the Home button on the bottom left or the Threads logo at the top of the page to reveal the new tab. You’ll see the Following and For You tabs appear at the top of the page, allowing you to toggle between the two feeds.

Threads vs X: A Long Way to Go

This update was the first sign that the Threads vs X debate is getting closer by the day. However, while Threads still has that new social media platform smell, it’s still got a long way to go before it can completely match the feature catalog of X in the long run.

That’s right, despite the addition of the Following feed, Threads is still missing a lot of functionality that social media users are clamoring for. Direct messaging is one of the most noticeable absences on Threads, as well as the lack of a Discovery or Trending page. That, combined with the inability to use hashtags, is enough to keep some users away from Threads for the time being.

Still, with all the turmoil surrounding X and its controversial CEO, it feels like only a matter of time before Threads becomes the go-to social media platform for text-based interactions.

Momentum behind the four-day work week is snowballing (at last!), with the first Canadian pilot program with Boston College releasing positive results today: Revenue increased by 15% in companies who adopted the four-day work week.

The findings might peak the interest of CEOs, business leaders and HR managers, as it showed a staggering 100% success rate with all 41 participating companies  planning to or leaning towards maintaining their work time reduction policy beyond the trial.

The report compares employee experiences of a group of small-to-medium sized American and Canadian companies from baseline (pre-trial) to 12 months after their four-day week launched. This is the longest study currently available on the topic. During the trial, the average weekly number of hours worked was reduced to the target of 32 hours.

As well as a 15% increase in revenue among the participant companies during the trial, businesses scored both productivity and performance a 7.7/10 in separate scales. The results show a reduction in weekly working hours was a win-win proposition for both the employer and employees, with respondents citing numerous health and lifestyle benefits including 40% saying they felt less stressed on a four-day work week.

Opportunity to Attract and Retain Top Talent, Creator Says

Businesses which struggle with talent recruitment and retention need to listen up, cycle-to-work schemes and a free lunch once a quarter just isn’t going to cut it in today’s competitive employment market.

Employees are increasingly looking for companies that fit in with their lifestyle, and it’s not all about salary.

It was Irishman Joe O’Connor who pioneered the four-day work week pilot program in 2021. He began global trials in 2022 and is now the head of Canadian-based Work Time Reduction Center of Excellence (WTR-CoE). O’Connor designed this latest trial in partnership with Boston College, non-profit advocacy group 4 Day Week Global.

Joe O’Connor shares how it’s not simply a reduction in working hours that lead to the positive result from the four-day work week trials, but a commitment to operational excellence and a culture of continuous improvement.

It takes a lot of hard work to create more productive and efficient businesses that can afford to offer their employees such an important and attractive benefit. He said “the evidence is in – shorter working weeks lead to happier and healthier employees, and the organizations that they work for are better positioned to attract and retain talent.”

O’Connor continues, “There’s a real and significant opportunity for ambitious, imaginative leaders to be at the forefront of this change and differentiate themselves from the competition.”

Reduction of Working Hours Better for Mind, Body & Soul

The results showed that 95% of employees wanted to continue the four-day work week. And there’s no wonder why, as the benefits for employees are obvious and abundant, from increased time with family and friends, more time to indulge in self-care and physical activity, and catch up on much needed Z’s.

The study found that burnout was reduced by 17%, while mental and physical health improved by 17% and 12% respectively. Interestingly, fewer people commuted by car during the trial. In fact 42% of employees did more environmentally friendly activities during the trial, such as recycling, buying eco friendly items and walking and cycling, rather than driving.

Study participants also reported a 16% increase in life satisfaction in general and work-life balance naturally improved by 35% with work-to-family and work-to-life conflicts both significantly reduced, meaning participant employees got to enjoy spending more time with loved ones.

The Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee has revealed plans to hold Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in contempt of Congress in a vote to take place on Thursday.

The panel will hear the contempt report detailing how Zuckerberg failed to supply documents related to an investigation into supposed censorship by tech companies of conservatives.

According to reports, Zuckerberg “willfully refused” to comply with a subpoena issued in February, allegations Meta denies. If the vote passes, it will be up to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to hold a full house vote, likely in the fall.

Meta’s Response to Accusations

Meta spokesperson, Andy Stone, claims the tech firm had delivered more than 50,000 pages of both internal and external documents to the committee since February. He added that they also have made current and former employees available for interviews with lawmakers.

“For many months, Meta has operated in good faith with this committee’s sweeping requests for information,” Stone said in a statement.

If the House were to hold Zuckerberg in contempt, it would then be up to the Justice Department to decide whether or not to prosecute him.

Rep. Jim Jordan appears to be mounting pressure on Meta in particular. In addition to the Subpoena and threat of Contempt of Congress, Jordan also sent a letter to the tech company last week asking them to produce documents relating to content moderation on Threads, its new text-based app which rivals Twitter.

What Was the Subpoena for?

A number of tech firms were asked to hand over documentation relating to what the Republican party believe is widespread corporate censorship of conservative voices.

These orders came shortly after the Republicans took over the House in January, in a bid to make good on their promise to investigate Big Tech’s content moderation, particularly over COVID-19.

Four other global tech leaders, Sundar Pichai of Alphabet; Satya Nadella of Microsoft; Tim Cook of Apple; and Andy Jassy of Amazon.com, were all required to do the same but only Zuckerberg is under fire for supposedly withholding information.

Notice someone is missing from the list? Whilst Twitter – or X– owner, Elon Musk has always maintained that he’s a centrist, it appears that Republicans in Congress decided to show him leniency by not including him or Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino in the Subpoena.

Generative AI chatbot, ChatGPT, burst into public life in November 2022 and has since come under much praise and arguably much more scrutiny. Issues surrounding dissemination of fake news, copyright infringement, ethics and so on have rocked the boat for one of the global leaders of this technology.

In an earnest interview with The Atlantic, OpenAI’s CEO and mastermind behind ChatGPT gave a chilling account of how he thinks the technology will change the world.

Altman doesn’t hold back, as he says with certainty some jobs will become redundant when AI is able to take over certain tasks to the same standard as humans, but still claims he has no regrets about creating the AI tool.

Altman Adds Pinch of Salt to AI Optimism

In The Atlantic interview, Altman calls fake news on the idea experts are sharing that AI chatbots will be a sort of assistant to discerning professionals who choose to embrace AI and gain efficiencies on their co-workers who do not.

Altman suggests that those who are intent on seeing AI as a supplement rather than a replacement for jobs, are likely to be in for a nasty surprise. In the interview, Altman confirms that in his opinion. jobs will definitely ‘go away’ as a direct result of AI.

However, Altman was not short of praise for his organization’s creation, in fact he describes the development of AI as having potential to provide the “most tremendous leap forward” for people’s quality of life. He adds that he expects better — perhaps higher-paying jobs — will be created in place of the ones that are disrupted.

Which Jobs are Likely to be Affected?

For now, it seems that the experts were right in saying that AI will only automate certain tasks but workers should consider how they might want to adapt their skillset for when their job becomes fully automated by AI in the future.

A June 2023 a McKinsey report stated that generative AI would automate 60% to 70% of employee workloads. The same report estimates that generative AI’s impact on productivity could add trillions of dollars in value to the global economy.

About 75 percent of the value that generative AI use cases could deliver falls across four areas: Customer operations, marketing and sales, software engineering, and R&D.

We have already seen examples of AI replacing job roles such as copywriters, coding, exam marking, database management in banking, web development, and customer service. There is strong evidence to suggest that AI could take over the work of paralegals and legal assistants, teachers, engineers, doctors, graphic designers, HR’s and many more.

ChatGPT themselves estimated that 80% of the U.S. workforce would have at least 10% of their jobs affected by large language models (LLMs).

TikTok has turned the X (Twitter) vs Threads microblogging war into a three-way dance overnight, after the video focused social network introduced text-only posts to its platform for the first time.

It’s an intriguing move by TikTok, to say the least. The new text post functionality largely mirrors what’s already available on the rival apps, offering users a 1,000 character limit with which to create text-based content.

Beyond that, you can add background colors to your text post, edit the style and appearance of the text, and add music and stickers to further jazz things up. Other TikTokers can then interact with the post similar to how they would on a multimedia post, commenting as well as Stitching and Dueting, if these features have been enabled by the original poster.

How To Create a Text Post on TikTok

Getting started with TikTok’s new text post feature couldn’t be easier. You just open up the Camera part of the app, just  like you would if creating any kind of content for the platform, and you’ll now see text posts offered as a third option alongside video and photo.

In a blog post introducing the new feature, TikTok says it hopes the addition of text-only content will give “creators another way to express themselves” and that integration with trademark TikTok features like Duet and Stitch will mean text content is as “dynamic and interactive as any video or photo post” on the app.

This, presumably, is what it hopes will give it an advantage over Meta’s Threads and erstwhile social  media giant X, until yesterday known as Twitter, which are locked in a fierce battle for microblogging supremacy.

TikTok Here To Dance on X’s Grave?

While microblogging used to be big in the social media game, current industry trendsetters Instagram and TikTok have made their name focusing almost exclusively on visual media. However, text is clearly still regarded as a battleground worth contesting, at least judging by the number of platforms vying for the “X killer” crown.

Of the many X/Twitter alternatives, Meta’s new app Threads has made the biggest dent so far, yet despite unprecedented early interest, the buzz around the platform quickly waned. Now TikTok has joined the party, too, it’s difficult to see X ever reclaiming its former prestige and the crucial revenue streams that came with it.

Advertisers have by and large deserted the app since it was bought by renegade tech billionaire Elon Musk back in October 2022, something which Twitter’s new name and logo are unlikely to fix. This is especially true if TikTok manages to get any kind of traction with its new text initiative, as it already enjoys unrivalled access to the coveted Gen Z demographic by way of its existing userbase. If Threads dug X’s grave, now TikTok is here to do an endearingly silly dance all over it.

X’s Biggest Problem Is the One It Can’t Fix

The truth of the matter is that X has many problems, but its biggest one resides in the boardroom. Even though Elon Musk has officially stepped aside as CEO and handed the reins to former NBCUniversal ads supremo Linda Yaccarino, it’s had little impact on how the platform is viewed by the outside world due to Musk’s relentlessly outspoken and brash nature.

Unfortunately for Yaccarino and everyone else trying to save X, the South African magnate’s divisive personality all-too-closely aligns with the popular view of X as a haven for extremists, trolls, and other general nincompoops these days. Or to put it another way: why would any advertiser want to send their spend X’s way when wholesome, floppy haired TikTok teens are shimmying for it in competition?

If there’s one thing we’ve learned so far this year, it’s that even the best social media tools stop short of being able to help you manage the biggest online “X factor”: public perception.

As a result of a class action lawsuit, residents of Illinois are eligible for a $68.5 million settlement from Meta-owned social media platform, Instagram. The window to make a claim is starting to close, however, with a September 27th deadline for filings.

The class action accused Meta of illegally collecting biometric data, something which the company has vehemently denied but is still voluntarily agreeing to provide financial compensation for.

The settlement is open to anyone who used Instagram in Illinois between August 10th 2015, and August 16th, 2023. We explain how to sign up and submit your claim, where to find the claim form, and the potential Instagram settlement payout date.

What are the Details of the Instagram Settlement?

The settlement is the result of a class action lawsuit, Parris v. Meta Platforms Inc, case no 2023LA000672.

The claimant argues that Meta-owned social media platform, Instagram, violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), by storing and collecting biometric data about its users. In doing this, it is alleged, Meta did not comply with BIPA requirements.

Meta has denied any wrongdoing, but has voluntarily agreed to the payout.

The case follows settlements from other big tech companies, such as Google, Zoom and Facebook.

How to Claim the Instagram Settlement

In order to claim your entitlement of the Instagram settlement, you need to satisfy the following criteria:

• Have used Instagram, in Illinois, between August 10th 2016 and August 16th 2023
• Have submitted a claim by September 27th 2023

Some users may have already received an email about the settlement. If you have, rest assured that the email is legitimate. If you haven’t, you can still apply for the settlement if you believe you meet the criteria.

To make your claim, visit the claim form. If you have received an email about the claim, you’ll be asked to submit the Notice ID and Confirmation Code that you were provided with.

If you didn’t receive the email, you can fill out a form with your details, where you will also be asked what payment method you would prefer – Mastercard, Venmo or Zelle. It is also possible to request a paper check.

The settlement is also open to those who have previously resided in Illinois, but have since relocated.

When is the Potential Instagram Settlement Payout Date?

The settlement has been allocated $68.5 million, though the actual amount individuals will receive is dependent on how many people apply for the settlement, as well as funds left over after other expenses, such as administration costs and taxes.

The Instagram settlement payout date is also still to be determined and depends on the courts.

The final hearing in this case is set for October 11th, and as such no payments will be expected until after this date. If the settlement is approved then, claimants can expect their share of the payout within 90 days, so potentially by January 9th, 2024.

OpenAI, the company who owns ChatGPT, has quietly confirmed it is shuttering the AI detection tool it launched back in January.

In a brief note, OpenAI has said that its AI Classifier software was being pulled due to the “low rate of accuracy” it exhibits when trying to distinguish between human and AI created content.

The firm added that it will continue to research “effective provenance techniques” for text, as well as working to develop tools that can tell if audio and visual content has been made using generative AI.

Should AI Classifier Ever Have Launched?

News that AI Classifier was being effectively recalled wasn’t shared widely by OpenAI, but rather added as an update to the blog post that first announced the tool at the start of the year.

This was first spotted by Decrypt (to the best of our knowledge) and what’s interesting to note re-reading the original post is that the tool was launched despite OpenAI’s admission that it was “not fully reliable.” In practice, this means an approximate accuracy rate of just 26% at time of launch and particularly poor performance when judging text of fewer than 1,000 characters.

That number clearly hasn’t climbed high enough for OpenAI to be comfortable continuing to promote AI Classifier, as the link to the tool is now dead. This can’t help but beg the question of if it should have publicly launched at all, though fortunately there are a number of other good ways to detect AI plagiarism.

Plagiarism and the Wider AI Ethics Debate

Plagiarism is one of the many issues that features in the increasingly heated debate around AI and ethics. 

While many people agree that artificial intelligence has reached a point where it can do some pretty cool stuff, at present there are few checks and balances on the industry, beyond some non-binding guidelines from the likes of the White House and United Nations.

A global AI summit being convened in the UK this Fall might change that, but right now AI plagiarism seems like just the tip of the iceberg, with some people fearing the unchecked development of superintelligence could one day threaten humanity as a whole. At the very least, it’s currently making the lives of educators and other folks charged with verifying the originality of written work more difficult than ever.

AI’s Double-Edged Sword in the Spotlight

Right now, the threat from AI appears to be largely existential. This double-edged AI sword couldn’t be better illustrated than by Apple recently: one of the first big companies to ban AI and also now the proud developer of its own AppleGPT chatbot.

It’s an almost comic tension. On the one hand, who wouldn’t want to start taking advantage of the many ways businesses can use ChatGPT and similar tools? At the same time, AI has yet to prove itself in terms of accuracy and reliability, not to mention seeming to threaten jobs at a time when tech industry layoffs are increasingly another sad “new normal.”

In other words: can you trust AI when, as today’s news highlights, AI doesn’t even fully trust itself? As with any burgeoning technology, our experience tells us these are the finest of fine lines, set to be drawn and redrawn many times before any kind of consensus is reached.

Apple is facing a $1 billion class action lawsuit that claims the tech giant levies “abusive” and “excessive” charges on app developers by way of its effective monopoly on iPhone and iPad app distribution.

The lawsuit is being filed in the UK on behalf of over 1,500 app makers by Professor Sean Ennis, who specializes in competition policy and antitrust economics at the University of East Anglia.

Professor Ennis is being advised by the law firm Geradin Partners, which has offices in London and Belgium, as he looks to recall a small part of the estimated $80 billion annual revenue enjoyed by Apple’s services arm – made up of the App Store, Apple Pay and Apple Arcade.

Developers Charged Up To 30% for iPhone and iPad Apps

At the heart of the lawsuit is the fact that Apple charges some developers a commission rate of between 15% to 30% if their products use the Cupertino-based tech giant’s in-app payment system.

According to Professor Ennis, this is both unfair and constitutes a breach of competition regulations.

“Apple’s charges to app developers are excessive, and only possible due to its monopoly on the distribution of apps onto iPhones and iPads,” he said in a statement.

Professor Ennis added: “The charges are unfair in their own right, and constitute abusive pricing. They harm app developers and also app buyers.”

Related: iPad vs iPad Pro

Apple: 85% of Devs Pay No Commission

Apple has yet to issue a statement on the UK-based lawsuit, which will be heard by the Competition Appeal Tribunal and amounts to £785 million in local British currency.

Previously, the company has been criticized by antitrust regulators in a number of countries, but has defended itself by saying that approximately 85% of its developers pay no commission whatsoever. Apple has also added that the global reach of its App Store distribution platform means app makers are able to access more than 175 markets around the world.

However, there’s no doubting that a commission of up to 30% is on the steep side and that Apple’s iOS sandbox means it operates unopposed on its native platform.

Can Anything Stop Apple in 2023?

It has been a busy summer so far for Apple, with the firm going from strength to strength on the stock market following the blockbuster launch of its long-awaited Apple Vision Pro VR headset earlier in 2023. The iconic company is currently up nearly 40% year-on-year and trading at an all-time high as it looks to top the $200 per share milestone for the first time.

Such a feat seems entirely possible, based on both its recent performance and upcoming product roadmap, which includes major new launches like the iPhone 15 range. Businesses and their employees can also now use Apple’s password manager on any web browser, while the company  recently announced its AppleGPT chatbot. Perhaps most impressively, it has largely resisted the wave of tech layoffs that have otherwise blighted the industry this year.

The new UK lawsuit is one of the few worries it has at the moment, though elsewhere a small handful of top Apple execs are fighting efforts to subpoena them in the major class action lawsuit underway against global chip maker Qualcomm in California.

Threat actors are using sponsored social media posts and ads offering enhanced versions of ChatGPT, Bard, and other AI tools to lure victims into downloading dangerous malware, a security firm has discovered.

Once downloaded from Facebook, the malware reportedly steals information saved in victims’ browsers, including passwords and crypto wallets.

A combination of sophisticated tactics employed by the threat actors to make their pages look legitimate – as well as unsuspecting users engaging with the sponsored posts – have helped the AI scam content spread rapidly across Facebook.

Dangerous Fake Chatbots Lurking

Cybersecurity research firm Checkpoint has uncovered a group of cybercriminals impersonating AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Jasper AI, Google’s Bard, and AI image generator MidJourney on Facebook.

Image Credit: CheckPoint

The threat actors are creating pages on the Meta-owned social media platform, which then reach the news feeds of victims organically through user engagement, or through sponsored advertisements.

Many of the posts made to these Facebook pages reference fake enhancements and upgrades, such as GPT-5, Smart Bard, and Bard Version 2 – none of which exist.

The majority of the Facebook pages, Checkpoint says, “lead to similar type landing pages which encourage users to download password-protected archive files that are allegedly related to generative AI engines”.

Fake Facebook Pages Are Worryingly Convincing

Checkpoint also revealed how the malicious actors have gone to great lengths to ensure that their victims don’t suspect they’re about to be preyed on.

The security firm uses the example of one of the pages – for AI image generator MidJourney – which has a huge 1.2 million likes. For many, this operates as a big trust signal.

The cybercriminals have also cleverly interspersed legitimate links to MidJourney’s actual websites with links to their own malicious landing pages.

Other tactics deployed to convey legitimacy include using bot accounts to leave positive comments on posts published by the fake pages.

Read our guide to the latest AI scams and how to avoid them

Protecting Yourself: Recognizing The Scams

If you ended up clicking through on one of these scams – as Checkpoint did during their investigation – you would have had infostealers such as Doenerium or libb1.py forcibly downloaded onto your device and your personal data immediately sent to a Discord server.

Even though this is quite a sophisticated scam and the perpetrators have taken a lot of steps to ensure that victims do not suspect a thing, there are still some elements of it that indicate it might not be what it seems – and being able to spot these things can save your skin.

The promise of “enhanced” versions of chatbots, for example, should ring alarm bells, regardless of how legitimate a page looks. A quick Google Search will tell you that these tools don’t actually exist.

It’s also good to remember what doesn’t confirm something online is legitimate. Links to legitimate companies can be added to any website, for instance. Bot accounts are pretty easy to acquire too, so a flood of positive comments doesn’t really mean anything.

If you want to use an AI chatbot like Bard or ChatGPT, your safest bet is to go to Google and find the real version of the website, rather than attempting to visit it through a link on social media or through a messaging app like Whatsapp, which is also a hotbed for scams.

When something as big as AI comes along, scammers are going to jump on it – so treat opportunities and offers that look like they’re jumping on the bandwagon with caution.

A group of researchers in Australia have been awarded just over $400,000 (USD) in government funding to study the possibilities of merging AI with human brain cells, a research project likely to bring a number of AI-related ethical and existential questions to the fore.

The team, working in collaboration with Monash University and Melbourne-based Startup Cortical Labs – is the same group behind the DishBrain project, which involved teaching a group of human brain cells how to play the retro video game “Pong”.

While ChatGPT, Bard and other AI tools powered by large language models continue to be used in increasingly inventive ways by businesses, research like this may open up the door to artificial intelligence systems that learn in entirely different – and more human-like – ways.

Research Team Behind DishBrain Win Funding

Monash University released a statement last week confirming that it had been awarded a grant worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to continue its research into “growing human brain cells onto silicon chips, with new continual learning capabilities to transform machine learning”.

The funding has come from the National Intelligence and Security Discovery Research Grants Program, which is part of the Australian Department of Defense.

Associate Professor Adeel Razi, who is leading the group, says that the project “merges the fields of artificial intelligence and synthetic biology to create programmable biological computing platforms”.

He predicts that the capabilities of this new technology “may eventually surpass the performance of existing, purely silicon-based hardware.”

The sort of AI-powered technology many of us envisage being widely used in the near future – from autonomous vehicles to “intelligent handheld and wearable devices”, “will require a new type of machine intelligence that is able to learn throughout its lifetime,” Associate Professor Razi explained.

Many AI systems are currently prone to “catastrophic forgetting” – something the learning capabilities of biological neural networks can perhaps alleviate.

Ethical Implications and Existential Fears Around AI R&D

ChatGPT’s November 2022 launch, and other AI chatbots that have sprung up since then – has seen governments across the world scrambling to implement legislation and kickstart initiatives that promote the responsible development of AI systems.

It’s not just governments that are spooked, though – a letter signed in March by over a thousand tech leaders and company representatives called for a pause to the development of any AI technology stronger than GPT-4.

In the context of AI research, the most high-risk areas – such as healthcare – also often hold the biggest rewards. So, many state governments are trying to strike a delicate balance between promoting safety and transparency without stifling innovation.

There are also wider, more fundamental ethical considerations surrounding hyper-intelligence systems – such as whether it be ethical or responsible to create a machine that we may not one day be able to control – that, eerily, feel more pressing by the day.

When it comes to merging human biological matter with silicon chips, at this stage, we’re unlikely to see ethical quandaries jumping out of the petri dish tomorrow.

But it does allude to a specific frontier in the development of AI – the merging of human bodies with machines – that will be fraught with ethical dilemmas. And – like many areas of AI research – although it could turn out to be very high-risk, it may also be very high reward.

Twitter is officially entering a new era. Elon Musk has revealed the social media platform’s new logo, changing his own Twitter display picture in the process.

In a series of tweets relating to the logo change, Musk said the X represented “imperfections” that make humans unique, while CEO Linda Yaccarino called the change “a second chance to make another big impression”.

The news comes just weeks after Elon Musk announced a new AI startup under the name xAI, with the billionaire SpaceX owner gradually consolidating his various business assets around a more unified brand.

Twitter Logo Officially Changed

Twitter’s new logo has been officially revealed, with Elon Musk taking the first step to “bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds”, as he put it in a Tweet over the weekend.

The change was officially announced with an eerie video that Musk has now pinned to the top of his Twitter feed on Sunday. So far, it’s been viewed by over 62 million people, according to Twitter’s analytics.

Recently appointed-CEO Linda Yaccarino also tweeted out a picture of the new logo, although it’s already been confirmed that it is highly likely to be altered at a later date, and will almost certainly be refined.

X is here! Let’s do this. pic.twitter.com/1VqEPlLchj

— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayacc) July 24, 2023

The logo now appears instead of the recognizable blue bird when users load up Twitter on their desktops, although it is yet to change on the App and Android Play stores at the time of writing, as well as the Twitter app itself.

The other big news is that X.com – a domain owned by Musk – now redirects to Twitter.com.

What Does X Stand For, and What Does It Mean for Twitter?

On Sunday, Elon Musk said in a tweet that if a good enough “X” logo was posted tonight by a user, he’d make it go live tomorrow – after which Twitter was flooded with different takes on what the new logo should look like.

Musk then posted a modified picture of Twitter’s former logo with a black background with the caption “like this but X”. Replying to himself, Musk said that the logo was designed “to embody all of the imperfections in us that make us unique”.

Shortly after the call for designs, Musk changed the logo to one of the submissions sent in by a user.

CEO Linda Yaccarino expanded further on the change, saying in her own series of tweets that X will “transform the global town square.”

“The future state of unlimited interactivity,” she said, “centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities.”

Will Twitter Become the Western WeChat?

Musk has made no secret of his admiration of WeChat, a social media app used by over one billion people in China – nor his desire to create an “everything app” that does something similar.

WeChat is a lot more all-encompassing than any of the social media platforms available in the US, Europe, and the rest of the Western world. Aside from core social media functions (messaging, posting, etc.) you can also read novels, call cabs, order take-out meals, and pay your bills.

Although Twitter is a long way off from being able to cater to these sorts of activities, creating a platform like this was the whole reason why Musk acquired it in the first place.

With Musk evidently unafraid to take risks – and prepared to change the site’s logo despite the fact it may change later on – who knows how quickly Twitter might be transformed.

Competition between the two leading AI chatbots is heating up. Microsoft’s ChatGPT-powered Bing AI — which has previously only been available to users of its proprietary browser — is starting to roll out to more widely-used browsers, Google Chrome and Safari.

As first reported by Windows Latest, you can now access the chatbot from Bing.com in both browsers. With this update, Microsoft also added dark mode, giving users the option to go for a pure black background, as opposed to the dark gray which is often used by Google platforms.

There are some key differences between using Bing Chat on Edge compared to the other two browsers. Users will be limited to 2,000-word prompts as well as a reduced number of turns before the chatbot resets. You’ll also have to put up with pop-ups asking you to download Edge. Is that really a price worth paying?

Bing Chat Still Best on Microsoft Edge

Until now, you could only use Bing Chat on Microsoft Edge, which was obviously inconvenient for the majority of people who prefer Google Chrome. The decision was made by Microsoft to enable Bing Chat to operate on other browsers for that very obvious reason.

In fact, Edge is one of the least used browsers, according to browser market share statistics, Edge takes just 5.13% of users in 2023, compared to that of Chrome which dominated the market (61.80%) and Safari (24.36%), which cleans up when it comes to mobile browsing thanks to being Apple’s default browser.

It’s thought that this move will give a boost to Bing Chat user numbers but there’s a catch. For starters, you’re limited to 2,000-word prompts instead of 4,000-word prompts on Bing Chat on Edge, still a large amount of words by most people’s standards.

How to Enable Dark Mode on Bing Chat

As well as rolling out to different browsers you can now switch to dark mode. If you want to do this, you simply navigate to the hamburger menu in the top-right corner of Bing Chat and then select Appearance > Dark or System Default.

There’s no real benefit to enabling dark mode in relation to Bing Chat, but it’s thought to reduce blue light exposure and help with the eye strain that comes with prolonged screen time. Helpful for those who might use Bing Chat regularly for work.

Two months after launching the iOS application for iPhone users, OpenAI, owner of ChatGPT will launch its Android App sometime this week.

The app is free and will sync your preferences and chat history across your devices. So, it doesn’t matter whether you’re at home or at work, all your information will be there. Even if you use an iPhone for work and an Android for personal use, your data will still be available.

Anyone could previously access ChatGPT via their phone’s internet browser. However, the app is a much slicker and easier-to-use solution for use on the go. The app has all the same functionality as the desktop version, just like the iOS app.

How to Get the ChatGPT App

The organization announced the app on Twitter last Friday, saying the app “will be rolling out to users next week,” presumably in the US first.

To get the app, head to the Google Play Store on your Android device. Hit the “pre-register” button in the Google Play Store to get notified when the app is available for download.

The iOS ChatGPT app made a splash when it was released on May 18th, garnering an impressive half a million downloads in its debut week. The Android version is expected to reach similar download levels.

The Apple app has a respectable 4.4 star rating out of 5 on the Apple App Store with mostly positive reviews.

However, one disgruntled frequent user pointed out on May 31st that the inconvenience that the app doesn’t run in the background. They said:

“Why does the app not work in the background? If I send a request, I have to stay in the app to wait for it. That’s just horrible, and it’s completely unnecessary because you’re doing everything in the cloud anyway. Just finish processing and send a notification when you’re done.”

The apps won’t be exactly the same due to the core differences in the two operating systems, but they will have largely the same functionality. One obvious difference will be the lack of Siri and Shortcuts, which are native to iOS, but it’s thought that Android users will get something similar in its place.

Is the ChatGPT App Safe?

OpenAI has been hit with a torrent of privacy concerns and copyright infringement accusations in recent months. Therefore, against this backdrop, users might be right to question whether the app is safe to use.

According to the Google Play Store Data Safety description provided by ChatGPT, the app will not share your data with third parties, data is encrypted in transit, and you can request your data be deleted. More information on exactly how this looks will surface once the app is released.

However, as LLMs require data to keep feeding the AI, it will collect approximate location, personal info, messages, App activity and App performance.

In a recent interview, Dr Karen DeSalvo, Google’s Chief Health Officer, stated that the company’s AI platform, Bard, is a “tool in a toolbox”, and not a replacement for doctors.

The use cases for Artificial Intelligence in our daily lives are ever growing and there’s no area in greater need for increased resources than medicine. Google wants to put a doctor in everyone’s pocket in the not too distant future with technology underpinned by Bard, Google’s own Large Language Model chatbot.

However, there are concerns that AI could be used to make inaccurate or biased decisions, which could have serious or life-threatening consequences for patients.

Could Doctors be Replaced by AI?

In short, no. A heated topic of discussion that never fails to come up when talking about AI, is whether it will make X or Y professions obsolete. For the foreseeable future at least, the consensus is clear that doctors, GPs, radiographers and other medical professions are still very much required.

Dr Karen DeSalvo, Google’s Chief Health Officer and health policy leader having worked in the Obama administration, spoke to the Guardian Australia on a visit to the country recently.

DeSalvo broached the topic, stating “I have to say as a doc sometimes: ‘Oh my, there’s this new stethoscope in my toolbox called a large language model, and it’s going to do a lot of amazing things.’ But it’s not going to replace doctors – I believe it’s a tool in the toolbox.”
One big question medical professionals have is, can it say “I don’t know” when faced with a question it does not have the knowledge to answer. She continues: “I’m in the camp of, there’s potential here and we should be bold as we’re thinking about what the potential uses could be to help people around the world.”

But it should never replace humans in the diagnosis and treatment of patients, she said, indicating there would be concerns about the potential for misdiagnosis, with early LLMs prone to what has been called “AI hallucinations”, making up source material to fit the response required.

Over 90% Accuracy Score According to One Study

The second iteration of Google’s Med-PaLM sought to fix some of its predecessor’s shortcomings by exposing it to data from non-English speaking countries, and helping it to overcome biases relating to ethical and social issues.

In a recent Google research study published in Nature, the study found that 92.9% of the time the Med-PaLM system generated answers on par with answers from clinicians.

Answers rated as potentially leading to harmful outcomes were produced by the Med-PaLM 5.8% of the time with further evaluation ongoing. This small but substantial enough portion of harmful responses is enough to indicate that the tool is very much in its early stages with DeSalvo labeling it as in the “test and learn phase”.

DeSalvo’s overall outlook was positive though, she explained how the tool could begin to readdress the balance of power and information between the medical industry and the public. People should be aware of the risks with this new technology but see it as an opportunity to take their health into their own hands.

A variety of big tech companies have officially agreed to AI safeguards put forward by the White House, marking a significant step towards effectively regulating the world-changing technology.

Despite the waning users, AI platforms like ChatGPT remain as groundbreaking as they are controversial. Between their potential for disrupting industries to their proficiency with spreading misinformation, regulations have been slow to take hold for AI.

However, the White House has now established some basic rules around the tech, and many of the major players have agreed to follow them.

Tech Giants Agree to AI Rules from Biden

In a statement from President Joe Biden, several tech giants have agreed to follow guidelines for AI development in hopes of curbing the negative impacts of the technology.

“We must be clear eyed and vigilant about the threats emerging technologies can pose.” – President Joe Biden

Considering the vast and expedited evolution of AI in the last few months, it’s safe to say that these kinds of rules are welcomed by the majority of Americans, even if the dreaded fear of stifled innovation rears its ugly head.

In fact, many tech pioneers have penned open letters in hopes of persuading officials like President Biden to take action in favor of stricter regulations for AI.

What Are the AI Safeguards from the White House?

So, what exactly are these rules put in place by the White House to keep AI development from spiraling out of control? Here’s a quick breakdown of some of the rules put forth by President Biden:

• Independent security testing – Third-party oversight will be key in ensuring that these companies are keeping AI development as secure and safe as possible.
• Report vulnerabilities publicly – Transparency will go a long way when it comes to reining in AI development when things go wrong.
• Watermark AI-generated content – Differentiating between AI and human-generated content is already hard enough, which is why making it obvious is vital for these businesses.

The rules are an excellent starting point, particularly considering they’re the first real piece of evidence that AI platforms like ChatGPT and Google Bard aren’t going to be allowed to run wild in our society.

Which Companies Agreed to AI Rules?

As you might’ve guessed, this agreement between the White House and big tech included many of the regular players in the industry. Companies that agreed to these rules include Google, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft, as well as AI firms OpenAI, Anthropic, and Inflection.

While the move is a good sign, many critics have noted that the voluntary nature of the agreement doesn’t exactly instill confidence in an industry that has shirked its global responsibilities many times in the past.

“History would indicate that many tech companies do not actually walk the walk on a voluntary pledge to act responsibly and support strong regulations.” –  James Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media.

Given the seriousness of AI development in the scope of world affairs, this writer hopes that the heads of these big tech firms are true to their word when it comes to sticking to these AI rules. Still, I’m not going to hold my breath in hopes that these CEOs will forego billions of dollars developing AI technology in favor of transparency and security.

The world’s most controversial social media site continues to add features that no one asked for, with Twitter reportedly testing out job listings on business pages.

Twitter has gotten pretty wild over the last few months. Since Elon Musk took over in October 2022, the platform has seen some interesting additions, including a pay-for-verification system and view counts on tweets.

Now, it looks like the social media platform is getting even more updates, with job listings popping up across Twitter in recent days.

Twitter Testing Job Listings for Businesses

If you’ve been on Twitter this week, you may have noticed a change to some of your favorite profiles. Well, that is, if your favorite profiles are owned by brands with open jobs that they’re trying to hire for.

That’s right, Twitter is officially testing out a job listing feature for businesses that are verified with a yellow checkmark. As you can see in the screenshot below, the listings appear directly below your profile bio and can be clicked to direct users to your job listing.

The new feature has been in the works for a few months now, with Musk hinting at the launch in May with nothing more than a reply tweet mentioning the feature. Twitter hasn’t even announced the feature officially, but clearly, some businesses already have access.

How to Post Job Listings on Twitter

If you aren’t one of the millions of users that have abandoned Twitter in the last few months, you might be interested in utilizing this new feature to post job listings for your business. After all, the talent pool on Twitter can’t be that bad, can it?

Well, unfortunately, as is now the case for many of Twitter’s features, you aren’t going to be able to post job listings on the social media platform without coughing up a hefty sum.

That’s right, posting job listings is only available for those that subscribe to the Verified Organizations plan, which comes with additional features and a fancy yellow checkmark. It’s not cheap, though; a Verified Organizations account costs $1,000 per month.

Should Your Business Post Jobs on Twitter?

If you’re already paying for a yellow checkmark on Twitter, testing out the job listing feature isn’t a terrible idea. It’s just another way to get your message out there, and it could result in a good, long-term hire, as long as you’re willing to scroll through the trolls.

However, if you’re thinking about spending $1,000 per month just so you can post jobs on Twitter, we’d recommend investing elsewhere. That’s a hefty price to pay for the new feature, particularly when sites like LinkedIn and Indeed are happy to post job listings for a lower price.

On top of that, Twitter isn’t going to get less controversial any time soon, which means that your likely pool of applicants may have some strong opinions about conspiracy theories.