Reddit’s users are rebelling. Thousands of forums on the popular social media platform have gone private or read-only in order to protest how the company is treating its users.

The protest started today and will last 48 hours, during which time a large chunk of the platform’s community will be cut off from the public.

Among the participating forums, which are called subreddits, are r/funny, with more than 40 million users, as well as r/aww, r/gaming, r/Pics, and r/science, each of which boasts more than 30 million users. It’s a protest on a scale that’s unusual for a major social platform.

What Are Reddit Users Protesting?

Reddit recently announced a widely unpopular decision to hike the prices it demands from third-party app developers who want to access the website’s APIs. The new fees will kick in next month, at which point many developers will have to retire the tools they’ve developed to make Reddit easier to use and access.

By forcing third-party Reddit browsing apps to retire, protesters say, Reddit will likely see an increase in users on its own app, boosting ad revenue in the process of diminishing user experience.

The subreddits that are participating in the protest may not even return after 48 hours, according to some posts that say the unpaid moderators in charge of subreddits won’t be able to keep up with their workload when restricted to the “poor” tools offered by the official app.

There’s no denying that the protest is affecting the website: Not only are thousands of subreddits currently unavailable, but the website itself was down earlier today. The company says that the protest is responsible for the website’s unreliability.

“A significant number of subreddits shifting to private caused some expected stability issues, and we’ve been working on resolving the anticipated issue.” -Reddit statement to NBC News.

What’s the Scope of the Protest?

According to Reddark, a website created by the protesters to document the movement, 7266 subreddits are currently participating, with the exact number potentially fluctuating over the course of the 48-hour protest.

These subreddits are either private to those with Reddit accounts who had previously subscribed, or are “read-only,” which means that they can be viewed, but no one is allowed to post new links or comments. In either case, it’s a dramatic reduction of the utility of the website.

The protest may even have ripple impacts on other platforms that frequently draw on Reddit for free content, from YouTubers to Buzzfeed writers.

One thing’s for sure: Any impact that the protest movement ultimately makes will come because of the size and dedication of the protesting group and is a testament to the communities that have formed on the nearly two-decades-old social platform. We never saw a coordinated movement like this on Twitter, for instance, despite that platform’s incredibly similar user-unfriendly API price increases earlier this year.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has given employees a preview of the company’s first batch of generative AI tools, which will be coming to platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram in the future.

At an all-hands meeting on Thursday, Zuckerberg told staff to expect generative AI to feature in “every single one of our products” going forward, as well as being leveraged as a productivity assistant internally.

With the ways businesses are using ChatGPT and other AI tech increasing by the day, the showcase by Meta is perhaps somewhat overdue, with rival tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and even Snapchat showing off their AI future some time ago.

First AI Features for Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook

Reports of the internal employee showcase came via the New York Times and have since been confirmed by Meta.

At the event, top Meta execs — including Zuckerberg, chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth, and chief product officer Chris Cox — showed off some of the ways Meta would incorporate its own generative AI models into its products.

Most obviously, this will include ChatGPT-style bot conversations taking place in Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. Beyond that, AI tools for Instagram were highlighted that would allow users to modify their photos using text prompts, while another will create custom emojis for use on social media and in messaging services.

The AI Metaverse You Never Knew You Needed

Zuckerberg even suggested the company was building AI tech that would be capable of creating rich 3D content and, therefore, entire worlds in the metaverse.

Back in this world, a productivity helper for Meta staff called Metamate was also revealed. Metamate will be capable of answering various questions and performing certain internal tasks, based on the information outlined in company documentation and stored on its systems.

We can only sit back and wonder how many of those queries and routine jobs used to be done by actual people, given the 21,000 or so layoffs reported at Meta since last November.

Meta Set to Bounce Back?

Cynicism aside, it’s clear Meta is trying to move forward after a difficult few years that saw $80 billion wiped off its value in 2022. This came after the company tried and arguably failed to reinvent itself with a new name to focus on the metaverse.

Since then, it has repeatedly made headlines for being behind some of the biggest tech company layoffs we’ve seen. It will no doubt hope this June represents a turning point.

In addition to showing off its first AI tools and talking overall strategy to employees, Meta also found time this week to launch a major new WhatsApp feature, dubbed WhatsApp Channels, which has the potential to bring serious B2C reach to the world’s most popular messaging app as a B2C.

The latest WhatsApp update has been announced and it comes with a new feature called Channels, which will enable one-way broadcasting on the Meta owned app for the first time.

WhatsApp Channels will appear in a new section of the app called Updates and allow organizations and creators to set up followable groups where only the owners are permitted to send messages, essentially creating a part of the app that functions as a Twitter-esq news feed.

It represents major move for WhatsApp as it looks to explore its B2C potential, with digital marketers in particular likely to be foaming at the mouth at the possibility of leveraging this social media tool to attract more customers.

What Are WhatsApp Channels?

Take a closer look and WhatsApp Channels seem remarkably familiar, at least if you’ve used social media in the last 10 years.

They most closely resemble a Twitter feed, whereby individuals will be able to follow (and be invited to follow) content and updates from organizations like public bodies and sports teams.

Meta announced that the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Premier League winners Manchester City would be among the first users of Channels, which is being launched initially in Singapore and Columbia.

Global rollout will follow, and eventually people will be able to follow creators and other individual accounts. The similarities to Instagram are also there in terms of raw functionality, though it seems unlikely that WhatsApp will ever become quite as visual as its fellow Meta owned app.

Once opened, Channels will look just like a normal chat in WhatsApp, though you won’t be able to message back in the main feed. Channel owners will be able to share different types of assets, including text, photos, videos and polls.

As well as organizations like Man City, early official screenshots suggest interest groups will feature in Channels, which borrows from one of Facebook’s more popular features at the height of its powers.

Image Credit: WhatsApp / Meta

What’s the Big Picture?

Yes, WhatsApp is owned by Meta and Meta also owns Facebook. This might seem like a boring corporate family tree, except that Facebook has been steadily losing appeal amongst the younger users that make up such a valuable demographic for advertisers.

The social network may still be the largest in the world by some distance, but data from the Pew Research Center is damning: as of 2022, just 32% of teens reported using Facebook, which is down 39% from 2014/15 when 71% were active on the platform.

WhatsApp Channels seems like a play on Meta’s part to reclaim some of the influence it used to exert over the coveted youth demographic, now by and large enjoyed by TikTok.

No one is suggesting Channels will achieve anything like that level of popularity, but given the bulk of the technology behind the new feature will already exist within the Meta stable, it seems like a low-risk experiment for Mark Zuckerberg and co.

 WhatsApp Privacy Debate Gets New Twist

This is where things get a bit murky. One of the main reasons WhatsApp has become so popular over the years is its promise that messages use end-to-end encryption, which basically means that they claim to be completely secure and unable to be tracked by the police and other government agencies.

Despite advertising Channels as a “private way” to follow things that matter to you, the apparent guarantee of privacy when using WhatsApp will actually come to an end with the introduction of Channels.

The WhatsApp blog post introducing the feature says that: “Channels are not end-to-end encrypted by default.” It adds that there might be “some cases” where end-to-end encrypted channels make sense, citing non-profits and health bodies as examples, but doesn’t elaborate further.

On the one hand, this is probably a good thing, as it will stop criminals from harnessing WhatsApp Channels for illegal purposes and WhatsApp scams from spreading even more widely than they already do.

Conversely, it does mean that WhatsApp won’t be able to claim that it’s 100% secure any more. Dropping end-to-end encryption, even on a limited scope, heralds a major shift away from the app’s original purpose and Meta’s detractors will no doubt jump on the revelation as proof that the WhatsApp overlords don’t really care about your privacy.

Watch this space, as more is sure to be revealed once WhatsApp Channels launch more widely in the coming months.

• Related: What is Social Media Management?

OpenAI has released the first major update to its ChatGPT iOS app, with the new version adding native iPad support, as well as compatibility with Siri and Shortcuts.

New drag and drop functionality has also been added to the immensely popular generative AI chatbot, which is now available as an iOS download in over 40 countries. At the time of writing, it was still No.1 in the App Store in 31 of them.

Here’s a closer look at the new ChatGPT features for its iOS app and why we think they’re worth getting excited about.

ChatGPT App Lands on iPad

Arguably the biggest deal of ChatGPT’s new iOS update  is the arrival of native iPad support for OpenAI’s ChatGPT app.

Previously, the ChatGPT app had been available on iPad, but only in the sense that the iOS app technically worked on Apple’s tablet devices. It didn’t look great, as the display window was sized for an iPhone. Plus some of the best ways for businesses to use ChatGPT weren’t on offer.

Now, you’ll find that ChatGPT not only looks slick on the iPad, but is fully optimized for iPadOS, meaning you can use its full screen powers as they were intended. This includes the iPad’s split-screen mode, which has emerged as such a valuable productivity and collaboration tool.

Coupled with the arrival of drag and drop, it’s easy to see how useful ChatGPT could be on the iPad, with the potential to ask the AI bot for information in one window, then drag the answer to share with your co-workers in a Slack or Teams channel.

Read our full iPad buyers’ guide here: Which iPad Should I Buy?

Siri and Shortcuts Integration

The other headline additions to the ChatGPT app are support for Siri and Shortcuts. At its most basic level, this means you can now ask Siri to open the AI tool for you, just like you can with all your other favorite apps.

However, the real power here lies in the new possibilities for automating processes between ChatGPT and other apps.

While you can’t tell Siri to draw on ChatGPT’s AI expertise when answering questions – yet – you can program custom prompts that automate what the bot does with the info you ask it for. By using Shortcuts, you can now tell ChatGPT to automatically share or save the responses it generates to other apps – Notes or Docs, for example.

This means power users of ChatGPT won’t have to manually trawl through their request history to find that one key fact they need to bring to the meeting, it’ll be neatly filed away somewhere instead.

ChatGPT Release for Android Promised Soon

If there’s one thing still missing from ChatGPT’s push on to mobile devices, it’s that the AI chatbot is currently only ready to party with Apple devices.

OpenAI has given Android users the slightly inevitable “coming soon” promise, but for now those running Google’s mobile operating must use ChatGPT as a web app. It’s still plenty powerful, just potentially not as convenient or slick.

OpenAI released the first version of its ChatGPT for iOS app in early May, following close on the heels of the ChatGPT Premium release in February. Here’s to hoping the releases keep on coming and Android users get their wish later this summer.

ChatGPT is a free AI assistant that can revolutionize how you work.

Whatever you want, ChatGPT will be quick to tell you, and all in the same calm, verbose, slightly dull tone of an encyclopedia. But the tool is a people pleaser. It’s happy to make up a false reality, if it thinks that’s what you want.

How can you drill down into the benefits of ChatGPT, all without tripping over the pitfalls of the service? Here, we’ll cover how the free tool is designed to work, what you can do with it, and all the best ways to phrase your prompts so that ChatGPT actually helps you.

In this guide:

• What Is ChatGPT?
• How to Use ChatGPT 3.5 for Free
• ChatGPT Free vs Paid ChatGPT Plus: Is It Worth Upgrading?
• What Does ChatGPT Actually Do?
• Best ChatGPT Prompt Tips
• ChatGPT Alternatives That Are Free

What Is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a natural language processing tool that users can interact with just like they would chat with a friend over a text-based platform like Slack or Facebook Messenger. The tool was first launched in November 2022.

The “chat” part of the name is because the program is a chatbot, capable of interacting with a user through a back-and-forth text-based discussion. The rest of the name stands for “Generative Pre-trained Transformer.” This mouthful of a phrase refers to the large language model that powers the program.

The tool uses a predictive model to guess what response would make the most sense based on the commands that you give it. Users can use it to help plan out a vacation, create a shopping list, or code a website.

“While we have safeguards in place, the system may occasionally generate incorrect or misleading information and produce offensive or biased content. It is not intended to give advice.” ~OpenAI

The service is free to use, although it does come with a premium tier for $20 per month. According to some estimates, the chatbot’s owner OpenAI might be paying as much as $700,000 per day to keep the tool operating. By keeping it free, OpenAI is able to continue collecting data that lets the company make even more money down the road.

How to Use ChatGPT 3.5 for Free

ChatGPT 3.5 is the latest version of the chatbot that is easily available on the ChatGPT website.

1. To get started, you’ll need a free ChatGPT account. Click the “Sign Up” button on the upper righthand corner of the screen, and enter an email address and password.
2. Head over to your inbox to verify your email by clicking a link.
3. Then, you’ll need to add more information: First name, last name, your organization (that’s optional), and your birthday.
4. Finally, you’ll need to enter a phone number, which OpenAI will verify.

That’s it! You’ll be directed to the ChatGPT tool whenever you’re signed in, and you can start using it.

An even more recent version of the chatbot, GPT-4, came out in March 2023 — you can sign up to try it as well, but you’ll kept be on a waiting list. The only reliable way to gain access to GPT-4 is by paying for it.

ChatGPT Free vs Paid ChatGPT Plus: Is It Worth Upgrading?

ChatGPT has one paid tier, in addition to the free version. It’s called ChatGPT Plus and costs $20 per month.

OpenAI cites three benefits to paying for ChatGPT Plus:

• It will be available constantly (the free version may be throttled when demand is high)
• It has a faster response time than the free version
• New features will debut first on Plus before eventually trickling down to the free version

These benefits aren’t likely to be a huge deal for most users, so we’d recommend sticking with the free version. But if you’re really into the tool and you want to stay on the cutting edge of the technology, it’s there for you.

What Does ChatGPT Actually Do?

You need to understand what ChatGPT does before you can use it. A lot of people don’t.

The creator of popular Netflix anthology series Black Mirror, Charlie Booker, recently gave an interview discussing why ChatGPT can’t write an episode. His statement is one of the most concise explanations of what ChatGPT is designed to do:

“I’ve toyed around with ChatGPT a bit. The first thing I did was type ‘generate Black Mirror episode’ and it comes up with something that, at first glance, reads plausibly, but on second glance, is shit. Because all it’s done is look up all the synopses of Black Mirror episodes, and sort of mush them together.” ~Charlie Booker, Empire magazine

In other words, ChatGPT can synthesize existing content. Like all large language models, it can’t create something truly original or groundbreaking, because by definition it is only looking at what already exists.

It also has a limited context window, so it can’t take into account all the factors that a human might when considering the same prompt. It may even contradict itself over the course of several responses.

ChatGPT is good for:

• Creative fiction – If you’ve ever wanted life advice from Uncle Iroh from the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender, or you want to hear Dracula’s review of Legally Blonde, you just have to ask.
• Small text-based tasks – If you need to create a first draft of a speech, blog post, or grocery list, ChatGPT can help. But you’ll need to give it thoughtful prompts, and you’ll need to fact-check what it says.
• (Some) Coding – ChatGPT is great at creating brand new code from scratch (although you should still check your work). It’s great for debugging error messages or helping with code reviews. However, there are limits. If you’re contributing to a preexisting code repository, ChatGPT won’t understand this larger context, making it a less useful tool.
• Simplifying confusing text – If you copy and paste stilted academic paragraphs into ChatGPT, you can ask it to translate it into an easier read.

ChatGPT is bad for:

• Math – ChatGPT uses a large language model, not a calcuator. It creates thoughtful insights in realms like philosophy, but it’s just not designed for hard science. It might answer a math problem correctly, but at no point will it complete the calculations needed to get a trustworthy solution.
• Fully factual information – ChatGPT is a predictive technology, but its predictions aren’t fact-checked. It doesn’t tell the truth; it tells truth-like statements. It will make up entirely new sources for an essay, and will attribute made-up quotes to anyone you ask it to. It will claim that the word “mayonnaise” has four Ns.
• Verifying if something was written with ChatGPT – One college professor flunked the majority of his class after ChatGPT falsely claimed that it had written their essays. The program is not designed to verify if it has or hasn’t written anything.

The bottom line is that everything ChatGPT does should be taken with a grain of salt.

ChatGPT is like a really smart toddler. If you’ve ever heard a toddler try to tell you a joke before they’ve settled on a punchline, you’ve likely experienced the context-light word-assocation you can expect from generative AI like ChatGPT.

Best ChatGPT Prompt Tips

ChatGPT is a tool for predicting what a good response might be to a prompt. The more specific your prompt, the better the ChatGPT response.

Here a few guidelines to help you understand what the process of creating anything with ChatGPT should look like.

Start your prompt with a command

ChatGPT will respond conversationally to prompts like “How are you today?,” but what it really wants is to help you solve a problem. To guide ChatGPT towards realizing exactly what you want it to do, you should start your prompts with terms like “Write,” “Create,” “Generate,” or “Suggest.”

Specify the tone and writing style

Do you want a technical tone? A poetic one? Say so. Adjectives are your friend here. You can even specify the exact writer whose style you’d like to emulate, from Phoebe Waller-Bridge to Aristotle.

Specify the intended audience

ChatGPT can phrase its response as if it’s explaining the world to a five-year-old or a 1920s gold panner. If you need marketing copy for a specific product, you should mention the demographic information for the customer that you want to reach.

Use quotes

One odd quirk of ChatGPT is that it will laser-focus on a particular phrase if you put quotes around it. Asking its opinion on ‘honey bees’ will give you a more complex, honey bee-specific response than simply asking its opinion on honey bees.

Set limits

ChatGPT needs to know the boundaries of what you want. You can tell it the number of words or the number of paragraphs you want in a response. Just saying “give me a concise overview” of a topic is an improvement over just saying “tell me about” a specific topic.

Iterate your prompt

Once you get a response, you can finetune your original prompt to try for a better one. For instance, I find that adding “avoid using filler words” to the end of a prompt tends to improve the quality of a response.

ChatGPT Alternatives That Are Free

ChatGPT isn’t the only generative AI available for all, even if it is the most well-known. We’ve covered the top alternatives to ChatGPT in the past. Here’s a quick look at the best.

GitHub Copilot: Best Alternative for Coding

GitHub Copilot is a text-based generative AI for coding. It’s free for students, teachers, and anyone maintaining an open-source project. Everyone else can try a free trial for 30 days, but will need to pay a subscription fee afterwards. Like ChatGPT, Copilot is a useful tool for creating new code or other simple coding tasks.

Google’s Bard: Best Alternative for Human-like Interactivity

Google’s ChatGPT competitor Bard launched hot on the heels of its rival. It operates with a completely different language model, and comes with an extra benefit: While ChatGPT uses data entirely from 2021 and earlier, Bard can access up-to-the-minute data straight off the internet.

ChatSonic: Best Alternative for Accuracy

ChatSonic creates AI-generated images as well as text. Like Bard, it is connected to the internet, and it will even generate reference links to help users verify if it is telling the truth or not.

Otter.ai: Best Alternative for Transcriptions

The Otter.ai bot can parse audio clips, using AI to write down what it thinks is being discussed. It’s a fast, pain-free way to turn an audio interview or conversation into a more useful format.

The free plan is capped at 30 minutes of audio at a time and a total of 300 minutes per month, but two paid plans expand on the amount of transcribing as well as adding extra features.

Jasper Chat: Best Alternative for Businesses

Jasper Chat is a tool aimed at the advertising and marketing wings of a business: It allows for business-oriented tasks like writing ads, social media posts, video scripts, and more. Sadly, this service is the only one listed here that isn’t entirely free: You’ll get just a 5-day free trial, with plans starting at $29 per month after that.

In March of last year, Google called its staff back to the office, a move since followed by other big tech companies like Meta and Amazon. However, it seems not everyone was onboard, with the company now demanding stricter adherence to its return-to-office policy.

According to internal memos, Google will be tying office attendance to performance reviews, and using badge data to track who is in, and who isn’t.

The move by Google is the latest instance of big tech cracking the whip and wanting office staff to return to pre-pandemic levels.

Google Ties Attendance to Performance

In internal memos released on Wednesday, and seen by CNBC, Google announced that it was updating its hybrid working policy, including insisting that staff are in the office three days a week.

The three day week policy is nothing new – Google actually introduced this over a year ago – however, it would appear that employees are showing resistance, hence Google’s harder line.

As an ‘incentive’ to show up at the office, the memos suggest that attendance will be directly linked to performance, and that employees will be tracked by their badges, which will show if they are signing into the office. In a statement to CNBC, a spokesperson said that the badge data would be aggerate, and not tracked to individuals.

Google’s chief people officer Fiona Cicconi is also reported to have sent an email to staff yesterday, claiming that there is no substitute for being in the office.

The Reluctant Return to Office

While Google hasn’t shared information about how many of its employees are sticking to the three day office schedule, the fact the company is putting its foot down is a sign it’s not enough.

According to the email sent by Cicconi, even those that are already fully remote are being encouraged to drop into the office.

Those employees that are expected to return to the office can also look forward to a catch up with HR, should they not commit, according to the internal memo.

With company perks at Google being reduced considerably recently, and some staff having to double up on desks, you could be forgiven for not blaming Google employees for wanting to stay at home. Then there’s the potential affect on morale after the company let go of 11,000 workers earlier in the year.

However, with Google’s huge $10 billion dollar investment in physical office space, it’s fair to say the company will be looking to get its money’s worth.

Big Tech’s Love of the Office

Return to office mandates are nothing new. If you’ve been following the news you’ll know that many heavy hitters in the tech space have already told employees to get back to their desks.

However, what we haven’t seen too much of yet, is the iron fist being removed from the velvet glove, and harsher penalties being imposed on those that don’t yield. The most notable example of this has been Elon Musk’s Tesla, which threatened similar tactics to those that we’re seeing from Google now – namely tracking staff attendance with badges, and the threat of calls with HR.

Musk is notoriously vocal about his position on remote work, even going so far as to call it ‘immoral’ in recent weeks. If this move from Google is anything to go by, he may not be alone, and we could see even tighter penalties from companies going forward, when staff don’t show up.

For now, there are plenty of companies that do offer remote working opportunities.

Elon Musk scams are nothing new – the tech CEO has been a popular hook for scammers for over a decade now. However, the way these schemes are being carried out is ever evolving.

From YouTube videos which steal real footage of Musk, to faked articles made to look like legitimate sources, the attempts to defraud victims are becoming more and more sophisticated.

While the new hotness may be ChatGPT scams, Musk-based scams are still surprisingly popular. We take a look at some typical examples, and show how to spot them, as well as how to avoid them.

Elon Musk YouTube Crypto Scam

Musk crypto scams have been rampant on the internet for years, and yet they show no sign of abating. The ‘get rich quick’ appeal of crypto, combined with the ‘backing’ of the world’s richest man is a combo that some find hard to resist.

The Musk YouTube scams have two victims – those who are duped into giving their money away, but also high profile YouTube accounts which are compromised by scammers to host these fake Musk videos.

Cyber criminals identify and infiltrate established YouTube accounts with large numbers of subscribers, and change the name and logo to appear to be an official Musk-related account, often using Tesla or similar to fool viewers into believing the account is the real deal.

The scammers will then show video footage of Musk being interviewed about cryptocurrency, with instructions to follow about a giveaway. The usual pattern is to imply that Musk is willing to pay the victims double whatever cryptocurrency they pledge. There’s usually a time or number limit to instil a sense of urgency (a typical trick of all scammers).

Earlier in the year, the popular tech review channel, Linus Tech Tips, was victim to the scam, becoming locked out of its own account and spending hours trying to wrestle control of the channel back from the scammers. It’s a sign that even the most tech-savvy YouTubers can be hit.

Check out 21 ways Twitter, or X, has become worse under Musk.

Elon Musk Twitter Crypto Scam

Musk may own Twitter now, but his name has been attached to scams on the platform going back years.

One popular method used to ensnare victims it to reply to the real Musk’s Tweets, impersonating the man himself, and directing users to a crypto ‘giveaway’. With 140 million subscribers to his account, chances are high that scammers will grab a few vulnerable people this way.

When Musk took over Twitter, one of his first moves was to crack down on impersonation accounts, including those that pretended to be Musk himself. In an interview with the BBC earlier in the year, Musk suggested that there were fewer scams on his Twitter platform these days, yet evidence shows scammers are still operating, even purchasing ads and using his image to push crypto fraud offers.

Elon Musk TruthGPT Coin

WIth AI chatbots, such as ChatGPT and Bard, taking the world by storm, it stands to reason that scammers would attempt to use the buzz around them to attract new victims.

One such example, according to Texas state, which has ordered a cease and desist, is the TruthGPT crypto coin. While Musk has talked about TruthGPT in the past as his vision for a ChatGPT alternative, this particular example doesn’t not appear to be officially endorsed by Musk, despite being emblazoned with with his image. Those behind the coin claim that its value will increase ‘up to 10,000 times’.

There is no official sign of any Musk partnership with the TruthGPT coin, and the actions of Texas state against the currency sounds alarm bells.

As well as Musk scams, WhatsApp scams can be devastating to victims.

Elon Musk Spoof News Sites

It makes sense that Twitter would be home to Elon Musk scams, but one place you might not expect to find them is on legitimate news sites. Well, almost legitimate news sites.

There have been cases of scammers spoofing reputable websites, including Medium, to post articles intended to legitimize whichever scam they’re pushing.

It’s a clever, if dastardly move. It’s easy to disregard a suspicious email or Twitter link, but victims may be convinced to sign up for ‘free crypto’ of they believe it’s being reported by a genuine site.

Image sourced from malwarebytes

How to Avoid Elon Musk Scams

The Musk scams can be sophisticated, but they are just as simple to avoid as any other online scam. Follow these tips are you can be confident in dodging them:

• Elon Musk doesn’t want to give you his money. There is no reason for him to announce huge crypto giveaways, and he never has.
• Double check that Tweets purporting to be from Musk are actually from his account.
• Similarly, check the URLs that claim to be official sources.
• Antivirus software can help identify and isolate phishing emails.
• Be very wary of any giveaways that request you send money first.
• Don’t be sucked in by the promise of an ‘easy return’ on any investment.
• Don’t be tempted by ‘limited time’ opportunities or a fear of missing out.

Elon Musk scams will likely continue for as long as they have already been around, but if you stay vigilant, you can make sure you don’t fall victim to them.

The tech industry loves a good trend, and in 2023, AI is all the rage. WordPress parent company Automattic isn’t being left behind: It just debuted a new AI-powered writing assistant for WordPress.

To use the assistent, a user can simply add the “AI Assistant” block to the content on their page. Then, they’ll be able to type in a text-based prompt in order to start a conversation with the tool.

A writing assistent is a great fit for WordPress. The Tech.co research has cited blogging as one of the best use cases for WordPress when compared to every other website builder out there — even if Wix remains the best overall.

How the WordPress AI Assistant Works

Once it is set up, users can talk to the WordPress chatbot with a text-based interface, much like other generative AIs like ChatGPT or Google’s Bard.

The list of tasks that the AI can help out with varies. Here’s a look at a few uses that Automattic says it can be deployed for:

• Creating blog posts, lists, or tables
• Checking for spelling and grammar errors
• Changing the “tone” of an existing post — formal, humorous, or confident are just a few options
• Creating a post title
• Language translation

Here’s what the tool looks like for those who are changing the tone of an article:

Like any AI, it’s not a replacement for a human hand at the wheel, but it can be a great time-saver if you need to write a quick draft or tweak an existing article.

Plus, being able to automatically translate into other languages could be a particularly useful ability for ecommerce websites that hope to sell a product across international markets.

How Big an Impact Will AI Have in Tech?

The sky’s the limit for AI in 2023: According to a recent survey of business leaders conducted here at Tech.co, a whopping 47% say they are considering using AI tools as a way to avoid hiring new employees.

Granted, that may easily never become reality, given the amount of hands-on attention AIs still need to ensure everything goes smoothly, from cybersecurity protocols to completing a simple math problem.

The true believers say that AI will continue to improve in leaps and bounds, while the cynical believe it has already hit a ceiling. We’ll have to wait to find out which camp is closest to the truth.

Is WordPress Worth Building Your Website With?

WordPress is our top pick for affordability when it comes to starting a blog. And given the amount of writing that a blog demands, having an AI assistant to help out now and then could be a huge boon.

Granted, the WordPress platform is not without its security issues — we’ve covered a rash of malicious JavaScript injections in 2022, as well as a surge in false ransomware scams in 2023. But there’s a reason it’s a popular website software and hosting service: It’ll get the job done, with plenty of plugins available for any bells and whistles you might need.

You can also check out our full list of the best website builders if you’re in the market for a website.

Around three-quarters of millennials and Gen Zs say that both their workload and poor work-life balance are contributing significantly to their stress levels, with many stuck in “always-on” workplaces, according to a recently published Deloitte survey.

The study also found that nearly half of all Gen Zs and over a third of millennials report being stressed and anxious “all or most of the time,” with many finding it difficult to disconnect from the trials and tribulations of their job.

Although more companies are offering remote or flexible working arrangements than ever before thanks to the availability of video conferencing and project management platforms, the ability to work from anywhere seems to be taking its toll on the mental health of a lot of young workers.

Young Workers Can’t Escape “Always-on” Workplaces

Deloitte’s Gen Z and Millennial survey — which features responses from 22,000 individuals working in 44 countries — found both millennials and Gen Zs are struggling to step away from the pressures and problems of their working lives and switch off for the day.

69% of Millennials and 70% of Gen Zs respond to emails outside of work hours at least once a week, while almost a fifth of Gen Zs (23%) and almost a third of millennials (30%) are sending emails after work hours at least five days a week.

Deloitte also found that “Gen Zs and millennials are reporting increasingly high levels of burnout due to work-related pressures,” compounded by the cost-of-living fears and caregiving responsibilities for older relatives.

Internal and External Pressure to Be “Always On”

Deloitte’s survey found that both internal and external pressures play a key role in stoking the “always-on” mentality — as does a simple inability to just disconnect.

Emails coming from supervisors were cited by 30% of “always-on” Gen Zs and Millennials as the “main reason” for answering emails after work, while 22% of Gen Zs and 19% of millennials respectively admitted it was an effort to enhance their career opportunities.

Over a fifth (21%) of both demographics put it down to general work anxiety, and a debilitating inability to detach from the stresses of the work day.

Burnt-Out Employees Aren’t Happy or Productive

It goes without saying that “always-on” workplaces aren’t healthy for employees, and they don’t tend to be particularly productive or innovative places, either.

Along with the insights discussed above, Deloitte’s survey found that 36% of Gen Zs and 30% of millennials report being exhausted or low energy while at work, and 35% of the former demographic and 28% of the latter say they’re “mentally distanced” from their jobs.

Evidently, young employees are finding it difficult to disconnect and struggling to truly switch off — so they may need some prompting to do so.

With companies laying off staff left, right, and center, it’s no wonder many are feeling like they have to go above and beyond to prove their worth — even if it’s at the expense of their own mental and physical health.

On the contrary, staff should be both regularly and enthusiastically encouraged to take breaks when they need to, including paid time off and mental health sick days. All staff must be provided with health & well-being resources too, coupled with a concerted effort to reduce stigma around seeking help internally — which often leaves them under-utilized.

Putting staff health first is vital. When businesses end up doing so, they tend to see better results.

Microsoft has entered into a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over methods the company used to collect children’s information, how long that information was stored, and how it went about seeking parental oversight.

Both the FTC and Microsoft published blogs detailing the alleged child data storage infractions, including why the charges were brought, the settlement amount and proposed mitigation plans.

Filed by the Department of Justice on the FTC’s behalf, the settlement, accepted by Xbox’s creator and owner, includes requirements for Microsoft to improve its safeguards for children – from initial registration through the end of the data lifespan.

Microsoft Child Protection Violations

In its $20 million settlement, the FTC claimed that Microsoft failed to fulfil its data protection duties under the US’s Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998.

The FTC’s blog on the settlement describes three key areas where it believes Microsoft violated the Act:

1) by collecting personal information from kids under 13 before seeking parental consent
2) by not tell parents what information the company collects, why it’s collecting it, and that Microsoft discloses some of the data to third parties
3) by retaining children’s personal information for longer than is reasonably necessary

All of these add up to some serious legal and ethical murky waters for the tech giant, and by entering into the $20M settlement agreement, Microsoft is accepting responsibility and agreeing to make proposed changes.

In a statement published by Dave McCarthy, CVP of Xbox Player Services, the company held its hands up to where it could do better, saying: “Regrettably, we did not meet customer expectations and are committed to complying with the order to continue improving upon our safety measures. We believe that we can and should do more, and we’ll remain steadfast in our commitment to safety, privacy, and security for our community.”

In the same statement, the company said it had identified a glitch during its own internal investigation that meant accounts created, but not completed, were left on the system past its standard 14 day policy.

Microsoft’s Proposed Safeguarding Strategies

McCarthy details some of the ways Microsoft will be delivering an improved age-appropriate user experience.

“We are innovating on next-generation identity and age validation – a convenient, secure, one-time process for all players that will allow us to better deliver customized, safe, age-appropriate experiences,” he explains in yesterday’s blog.

McCarthy continues: “Over the coming months, we will test new methods to validate age and take feedback from our customers’ experience. The learnings from these trials will directly inform advancements in our player identity systems. We are incorporating Microsoft’s insights from across industries to develop a principled approach to secure digital identities that minimizes data collection, prioritizes security, and makes it easier for players to understand how their data is used.”

Tightening up security measures in its gaming arm is ever-more important as Microsoft’s acquisition of Activation Blizzard faces objections at government and private level in the US and UK. The proposed takeover is the largest ever in the gaming industry, and while Microsoft faces backlash against the deal’s market fairness and anti-monopoly laws, it has plenty of time – and impetus – to get its child data protection standards up to par.

Eagerly anticipated since it was first teased back in March, Zoom IQ – the platform’s brand new AI tool – is now generally available to users on “select plans”, the company has revealed.

The video conferencing provider says users will now be able to leverage AI to summarize meetings and claw back valuable time during the work day, which can now be spent on more important tasks.

Zoom is the latest tech giant to release its own AI tools, following Microsoft and Google’s continuous integration of artificial intelligence into their respective search engines.

What Are The Zoom IQ Features Available Now?

With Zoom IQ, Zoom hosts can now automatically generate summaries of meetings using AI, and then send them to any attendee of their choosing once a given meeting is finished.

“Team Chat compose”, on the other hand, can “draft messages based on the context of a Team Chat thread in addition to changing message tone and length”, creating appropriate responses to what’s being discussed. It can also rephrase things you’ve written if you want to make sure your messages convey your desired tone.

Aside from these two flagship features, there’s also an “email compose” tool, which will draft emails off the back of discussions that take place during Zoom meetings and calls.

AI-generated thread summaries, as well as a catch-up function for meeting attendees joining late, have also been launched as part of Zoom IQ.

“With the introduction of these new capabilities in Zoom IQ, an incredible generative AI assistant, teams can further enhance their productivity for everyday tasks, freeing up more time for creative work and expanding collaboration,” Smita Hashim, Zoom’s chief product officer, explained in a blog post announcing the features.

“There is no one-size-fits-all approach to large language models, and with Zoom’s federated approach to AI, we are able to bring powerful capabilities to our customers and users through Zoom’s own models as well as our partners’ models.”

Who Can Use Zoom IQ?

Zoom’s Meeting summary and Team Chat compose features will be made available in English to Zoom One customers.

Those who’ve previously purchased Zoom legacy bundles – including Enterprise Named Host, Enterprise Active Host, Zoom Meetings Enterprise, Zoom Meetings Business, and Zoom Meetings Pro – can access the new feature for free.

However, Zoom qualifies this by saying it’ll only be available for a “limited time”. How much they will cost after this trial period is yet to be specified.

Want to use Zoom? Read our guide to Zoom pricing, including what features you can get for free.

Zoom Joins Fellow Tech Giants

Microsoft has been at the forefront of the AI revolution and has already incorporated the technology underpinning ChatGPT into Bing, Microsoft 365, and Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft Copilot is now part of Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365, and does exactly what it says on the tin – it’s a constantly-available sidekick to help you out with the more mundane or time-consuming aspects of your day and performs many of the same jobs as Zoom IQ can.

Google is making similar inroads with its own chatbot Bard, which looks due to become a core component of the Google search experience.

Business communications platforms are getting in on the action too – back in May 2023, Slack announced “Slack GPT”, a ChatGPT integration for the platform that will compose replies for you.

In the project management space, on the other hand, ClickUp and monday.com have spread the word that they’re working on AI assistants for their respective platforms.

Now, Zoom has joined the party – and its 300 million-strong userbase is going to reap the benefits.

The regulations are finally starting to gain a little steam for platforms like ChatGPT, with the EU Commissioner calling for content generated by AI to be labeled clearly in hopes of curtailing the spread of disinformation.

It’s not an understatement to note that generative AI platforms are slowly but surely changing the way business gets done. The AI tools are being used by companies around the world for everything from emails to coding, leading to a general reconsideration of what it means to work.

However, because of the break-neck speed of roll-out, meaningful regulations have been slow to materialize. The EU Commissioner is making a big push to change that soon.

EU Commissioner: AI Content Should Be “Clearly Labeled”

During a press conference on Monday, the deputy head of European Commission suggested that companies developing generative AI platforms should “clearly label” content that is produced by these services.

“Signatories who integrate generative AI into their services like Bingchat for Microsoft, Bard for Google should build in necessary safeguards that these services cannot be used by malicious actors to generate disinformation. Signatories who have services with a potential to disseminate AI generated disinformation should in turn put in place technology to recognize such content and clearly label this to users.” – Vera Jourova, deputy head of European Commission

Considering companies involved with this kind of technology, like Microsoft and Google, have already the signed up to the EU Code of Practice, they’re expected to outline plans for this kind of safety measure sometime next month.

Can Generative AI Be Used to Spread Disinformation?

The primary reasoning behind the labeling of content from generative AI platform is that, given the rise and effectiveness of disinformation campaigns over the past few years, these services provide bad actors with an unprecedented level of power to spread this kind of vitriol.

So can generative AI actually be used to spread disinformation? One study found that Bard, the generative AI platform from Google, is absolutely capable of this kind of action. In fact, when asked to write content about 100 different topics commonly considered to be misinformation just two months ago, the platform happily did so 76 times.

Now, whether labeling the content as “generated by AI” would help is another story, especially when bad actors will likely come up with ways to get around these kinds of regulations in the long run. Still, we have to do something.

The Content of Theseus

The ship of Theseus is a thought experiment that asks, “if, over time, you replace every piece of wood in a ship, is it still the original ship?”

When it comes to content generated by AI, and whether or not it should be labeled, this thought experiment takes on even more significance, as generative AI platforms have admitted that their content is often convincingly incorrect and requires human editing to ensure accuracy.

In terms of this potential regulation, when does content edited by a human cease to be generated by AI? How can you draw the line between these two distinctions, particularly when disinformation is at stake?

All that to say, we’ve clearly only scratched the surface of how generative AI platforms like ChatGPT and Google Bard will impact the world on a global scale.

Despite Elon Musk claiming that almost “all advertisers” have returned to Twitter, new documents obtained by the New York Times reveal this couldn’t be further from the truth, with ad sales actually found to be down 59% year on year.

Since Musk took over Twitter, his controversial leadership style and laissez-faire approach to content moderation have turned major advertisers on their heels, drying up the company’s main source of revenue as a result.

As the company’s valuation continues to tank, it seems clear that a major change of strategy is needed. But will the company’s newly appointed CEO Linda Yaccarino be able to save the sinking ship?

Twitter’s Ad Revenue Drops 59% YoY

2023 hasn’t been a great year for Twitter, and its trajectory isn’t picking up any time yet.

According to a company presentation obtained by the New York Times, the company only made $88 million in advertising revenue from the beginning of April to the first week of May, down 59% from the following year. These findings are at odds with CEO Elon Musk’s claim two months ago that most advertisers have returned to the site.

The document also revealed that Twitter regularly misses weekly sales projections, often by as much as 30%. But why have so many advertisers turned their back on the bluebird?

Why Is Twitter Struggling to Retain Advertisers?

Since Elon Musk first took the helm at Twitter HQ, he’s made a series of controversial actions. From reinstating banned accounts like Donald Trump and Kayne West to pulling back on content moderation, the chief executive has removed many checks and balances designed to keep the platform safe.

To avoid being associated with this digital Wild, Wild West, over half of Twitter’s advertisers cut ties with the platform in 2022, and big names like General Motors and Volkswagen have dropped in recent months. While advertisements aren’t Twitter’s sole source of revenue, they make up around 90% of the company’s yield, making this continued drop-off a pretty big deal.

But ad spending isn’t the only thing dwindling. Twitter’s ad issues have also seriously damaged the platform’s valuation. According to Fidelity, the investment firm that owns Twitter, the company’s worth has dropped from $44 billion at the time of Musk’s purchase, to just $15 billion last week.

Twitter Users Are Turning Away From The Platform Too

As Twitter’s downward spiral continues, Pew Research reveals advertisers aren’t the only demographic fleeing from the site.

According to a recent survey, six in ten US users have taken extended breaks from the platform within the last 12 months, and over a quarter said they don’t expect to be using the app within a year, with this percentage climbing higher for females and racial minorities.

“Some groups are more likely than others to say they have taken a break from the platform, with especially pronounced differences by gender, race and ethnicity.” – Pew Research report

As concerns over technical issues, misinformation, offensive content, and inadequate verification mount, it’s hardly surprising that users are hitting the bricks.

And as its user base shrinks and notable Twitter competitors like Bluesky and Mastodon give jaded users alternate ways to connect with people online, there’s even less of a reason for users to stay loyal to the site.

All things considered, rebranding the company away from hotheaded Elon Musk is probably the wisest thing Twitter can do to recover its losses. However, despite Linda Yaccarino’s impressive advertising experience, it’s likely she will face an uphill battle when she takes over the company next week.

Streaming giant Spotify is letting go of 200 workers in its podcast division — equating to around 2% of its in-person workforce — as the company pivots its relationships with “leading podcasters from across the globe.”

This follows similar actions made in January of this year, when the music and podcast platform decided to axe around 600 staffers, including its former head of content, Dawn Ostroff.

As the economic forecast for big tech grows increasingly hostile, Spotify follows in the footsteps of other tech companies like Meta and Google that have been forced to make major cuts to personnel after expanding too fast throughout the pandemic.

Spotify Is Letting Go of 200 Workers in Second Round of Layoffs

Spotify has announced it will be letting go of 200 of its employees from its podcast division as the company plan to merge networks Parcast and Gimlet Studios.

Both podcast platforms will continue to produce popular original shows like ‘Stolen’, ‘The Journal’, and ‘Serial Killers’, and will also retain the power to greenlight new shows.

According to an internal memo released by Head of Podcasts, Sahar Elhabashi, these changes are part of the company’s “next phase” of its podcast strategy, which is focused on expanding partnership efforts with podcasters from around the globe and tailoring approaches to each show and creator.

“We have made the difficult but necessary decision to make a strategic realignment of our group and reduce our global podcast vertical and other functions by approximately 200 people, or 2% of Spotify’s workforce.” – Statement from Sahar Elhabashi, Head of Spotify’s Podcast Business.

With Spotify welcoming over 100 regular million global podcast listeners and becoming the most-used audio platform since they began investing in their podcast space in 2019, news of its “strategic realignment” may come as a surprise.

However, despite Spotify’s successes, the platform axed 10 shows from its networks last year, as the company encounters the same problems faced by the rest of the tech sector.

Elhabashi notes that each impacted employee will receive a generous severance package, including extended healthcare coverage and access to outplacement support.

The Layoff Saga Continues

Spotify’s layoffs mirror even bigger cuts made earlier this year. In January, the streaming platform laid off 6% of its total workforce, including its former head of content, Dawn Ostroff, who was instrumental to the company’s post-pandemic rise.

They also echo similar decisions made by influential tech companies this year, with Meta handing out 6,000 pink slips this May in its third round of layoffs, and Vodafone cutting 11,000 workers in the same month.

A new report from Challenger reveals that almost half a million US workers have been dismissed this year alone, as uncertain economic conditions and rapid developments in AI prompt the highest levels of job insecurity seen in years.

As more companies brace for impact, it’s likely that more big names will need to make similar decisions to Spotify. To stay in the loop, check out our regularly updated guide to layoffs happening within the tech sector.

New research has revealed that 3,900 US jobs were lost to artificial intelligence (AI) in May, making it the seventh biggest factor behind job losses, behind economic challenges and large-scale cost-cutting efforts.

According to the report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, these losses contributed to the total of 136,831 jobs that have been lost in the tech sector this year — the largest wave of layoffs to strike the industry since 2001.

But job security isn’t the only concern surrounding AI. Last week a number of tech professionals including the CEO of OpenAI signed an open letter citing the “risk of extinction” AI poses, and comparing its potential damages to a pandemic or nuclear war.

AI Replaces Almost 4,000 Workers in May

AI-driven tools like ChatGPT and Google Bard are providing businesses with countless ways to save time and improve operational efficiency.

However, according to a recent report released by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a consequence of this is that 3,900 jobs were replaced by the technology in May of this year. This represents around 5% of the total 80,089 redundancies that took place throughout the month.

According to a spokesperson from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, while AI’s impact is notable, its rapid adoption was only responsible for layoffs within the tech sector, and this was the first month on record that the smart technology has been included as a factor.

As major companies like telecoms company BT cut back on salary payments to fund AI investments, AI is undoubtedly going to disrupt the job market more in future months. But as the US teeters on a potential recession, the leading reason behind cuts across sectors is market volatility, cost-cutting, business closures, and restructuring efforts.

Nearly Half a Million Workers Lost Their Jobs in 2023

The tech industry isn’t the only sector that’s making large-scale cuts to personnel this year, though. The report revealed that aside from the 136,831 jobs lost in tech, the retail and financial sectors axed 45,168 and 36,937 jobs respectively.

Across all industries, almost half a million (417,500) workers have been shown the door in 2023 already, compared to 363,824 redundancies that took place throughout the whole of 2022.

“So far this year, companies have announced plans to cut 417,500 jobs, a 315% increase from the
100,694 cuts announced in the same period last year.” – Challenger Report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas

While job losses aren’t on track to exceed the 1.4 million layoffs throughout Covid-19, as consumer confidence remains week and business leaders brace for an uncertain future, sweeping layoffs aren’t expected to adjourn anytime soon.

AI Threatens More Than The Job Market

As AI replaces more and more workplace processes, workers are scared about their job security. New research by background checking company Checkr revealed that 78% of workers are concerned the technology may impact their pay, while 74% fear it will replace their jobs altogether.

But are these concerns valid? They might be. A study from the University of Pennsylvania found that 80% of US jobs are likely to be affected by AI at some point, with high earners in the tech and finance sectors at greater risk.

AI’s impact is skewed along gender lines too, as female members are more likely to work in secretarial and administrative roles that are more vulnerable to AI.

But anxieties around AI aren’t just limited to job security. As AI continues to develop without adequate checks and balances, a number of technology experts and policymakers signed an open letter last week, citing potential dangers.

The letter, which was signed by notable figures including Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, Bill Gates, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, calls for AI to be seen as a global priority, alongside other “societal-scale risks” like pandemics and nuclear wars.

It’s a good day to be a Microsoft Teams free user. The communication platform has just released a boatload of features to its complimentary tier, including enhanced design features and better camera functionality.

Microsoft Teams’ Communities platform is now available on Windows 11 devices too, while Windows 10 and macOS users will have to wait a little longer to gain access.

This major update comes shortly after the web conferencing solution rolled out virtual avatars for all users, and released Microsoft Teams Premium, an advanced tier packed with a raft of AI-powered features.

Microsoft Teams Free Ramps Up Its Offering

Microsoft Teams is back with another update, and it’s claiming to be its biggest one yet.

Teams users are now able to collaborate with communities on Windows 11 devices, a privilege that was previously reserved for iOS and Android devices. The community feature, which was first launched on its free tier in December, lets users create communities from scratch, invite new members, and create and host events.

“Today we’re announcing the most significant set of updates to the free version of Microsoft Teams since December 2022, which will begin rolling out to customers now.” – Microsoft’s blog post

The web conferencing kingpin announced that the platform will also be available on Windows  10 and macOS devices soon.

But Teams isn’t stopping there. In a recent blog post, the company revealed Windows 11 users will also be gaining access to Microsoft Designer — an AI-powered tool that allows you to create personalized graphics, illustrations, and other designs simply by entering a prompt.

Microsoft Teams Designer tool. Source: microsoft.com

The smart feature utilizes DALL-E 2 technology, an OpenAI deep learning model that generates digital images from natural language descriptions.

Microsoft is also improving its camera functionality for Teams users. Members of the community will now be able to use Microsoft’s new capture experience to record videos from their mobile devices.

Is Microsoft Teams the Best Free Video Calling App?

Microsoft Teams is already one of the leading names in video conferencing, and it works hard to retain its top position.

Earlier this week the video app launched customizable avatars, a feature that software rival Zoom has offered since March. Designed to give users that “much-needed camera break,” the avatars let you interact with meetings through a 3D “cartoonified” version of yourself.

Benefiting from its partnership with AI powerhouse OpenAI, Microsoft Teams also released a Premium Tier in February which boasts a plethora of smart features including the summarization tool “intelligent recap” and watermarking options.

All things considered, Microsoft Teams is definitely a standout collaboration tool. But with Zoho Meeting offering a competitive array of features at a lower price point and Zoom providing one of the slickest user experiences on the market, it’s worth shopping around before committing to the tool.

Check out our guide to the best Microsoft Teams alternatives to learn more about other quality options.

As rental prices rise alongside the broader cost of living, 37% of US small to medium-sized business (SMB) owners weren’t able to pay rent in full and on time this May.

Rent delinquency rates were highest in Illinois and New York, and 12% more minority business owners reported feeling the crunch compared to other demographics.

The longstanding impact of the pandemic on consumer demand and surging inflation rates are placing climate pressure on all businesses, but as this research highlights, smaller firms are feeling the weight more than most.

As Rent Increases, Business Owners Are Struggling to Keep Up

Paying rent consistently ranks as a top concern for SMB owners, and new research from Alignable suggests these worries may well be valid.

After surveying 4,424 randomly selected US business owners, the small business referral network found that over a third (37%) of SMBs weren’t able to cover their full amount of rent this May.

Alignable’s report also found that rent prices are climbing, with 54% of respondents paying more now than they did six months ago (up 7% from Jan 2023) and 14% saying their rent is one-fifth higher than it was last December.

But with circumstances varying wildly throughout the US, businesses from certain states have been struggling financially much more than others.

% of SMBs facing rent spikes in May, Alignable research

For example, Illinois reported the highest number of rent delinquencies, with 52% of SMB owners in the state failing to pay dues on time last month, closely followed by 48% in New York, and 47% in Minnesota.

Despite being the largest economy in the country, the sunshine state also reported falling on tough times, with 41% of Californian entrepreneurs missing rent deadlines, a 9% rise from April.

On the other hand, only 7% of Arizonan small business owners struggled to pay rent in May — making it the most financially viable state to run a business in the US.

Minorities Have Been Disproportionately Affected

Unfortunately, discrepancies in rent delinquency rates aren’t just geographical. Alignable’s research also highlighted stark differences between the reality of minority business owners compared to other demographics.

Over half (57%) of minority SMB owners weren’t able to make payments on time in May, compared to the average rate of 37%. When quizzed about their challenges, the demographic cites greater issues with rising interest rates and a shortage of cash reserves.

These findings shine a light on the disproportionate financial barriers faced by minority business owners. In 2021, more Asian, Black, and Hispanic-owned businesses described their financial situation as “poor,” compared to their white contemporaries.

While the reasons behind this imbalance are nuanced, unequal access to funding and poor credit availability continue to be a more salient issue for minority business owners, with Fed research revealing that 30% of Black SMB owners struggle to access credit, compared to 12% of white-owned businesses.

Small Business Brace Themselves for a Bumpy 2023

Exorbitant interest rates spare no one. Some of the biggest names in tech have been bucking under the pressure recently, with Meta stripping back its workforce by 12,000 and Google axing its famous employee perks to scale back costs.

“The revenues small business owners are bringing in are dropping, as rents are rising, creating intensifying financial pressure, exacerbated by other economic challenges.” – Alignable report

However, as inflation rates jump higher month after month, and consumers are yet to return to pre-pandemic levels of spending, small and minority-owned businesses with smaller cash reserves will always feel the heat the most.

As the business world braces for a looming recession, anxieties around paying rent in time aren’t likely to dissipate in the coming months. However, by trimming costs where possible, and replacing pricey software with free or cost-effective tools, business owners are able to lighten their load ever so slightly moving forwards.

After embracing remote working since Covid-19, and previously claiming to be the “most forward-leading company on remote work”, Meta has decided to ask workers back into its US locations for 3 days a week.

The writing may have already been on the wall though, as Meta stopped offering remote work to new workers in March after finding that engineers performed better when they were hired on-site.

As Facebook’s and Instagram’s parent company soldiers on with its ‘year of efficiency’, its flip flop on remote work reflects actions made by other major companies like Amazon, Disney, and Dell.

Productivity Over Flexibility? Meta Asks Workers Back to Office 3-Days a Week

Meta workers that are currently assigned to a US office will be required to work from an office location as of September this year, according to a memo that was sent out to the workforce this Thursday.

According to a company spokesperson, the change is meant to foster the “collaboration, relationships and culture necessary” for employees to do their best work. But the policy change won’t affect the whole workforce. For the 25% of Meta workers that work remotely, life will continue as normal.

“We’re committed to distributed work, and we’re confident people can make a meaningful impact both from the office and at home,” – Meta spokesperson

With the average Meta worker currently averaging around 2.2 days in the office each week, the new hybrid model isn’t asking too much. However, it does replace a more relaxed approach practiced by the company since workers were first allowed to work from home in 2020.

It joins other big tech names that have called workers back to the office.

Meta’s History With Remote Work

When Meta first let employees work remotely throughout Covid-19, it branded itself as being a trailblazer for remote work.

In a live stream with employees in 2020, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Meta will be the “most forward-leaning company on remote work at our scale” and even predicted that 50% of the company will still be remote within the next five to 10 years.

As Covid variants circulated throughout the US in 2021 and 2022, the social media giant doubled down on its flexible work policies, delaying its return to the office until March 28 of last year, when it expected workers to show up on site 50% of the time.

“Good work can get done anywhere, and I’m even more optimistic that remote work at scale is possible, particularly as remote video presence and virtual reality continue to improve” Mark Zuckerberg

The company then stopped listing “remote” or “out of the office” working as options on job listings in March of this year, and encouraged workers to return to the office when they could.

As the company continues to focus on becoming a “stronger and more nimble organization” in the face of economic challenges, Meta’s official switch to a hybrid policy represents another stab at expanding the company’s bottom line, alongside seismic cuts to personnel and the scaling back of employee perks.

But as the economic climate for the tech sector remains foreboding, Meta isn’t the only company rethinking its approach to remote work.

Is The Home Working Experiment Over?

As maximizing productivity becomes a top priority for businesses in 2023, a number of major names in tech and entertainment have begun replacing flexible working models for partial or full returns to the office.

So far this year, companies like Dell and Amazon have asked workers back for at least three days a week, while Disney has required employees to make the commute from Monday to Thursday. This follows similar actions made by Apple, Uber, and Salesforce in 2022.

But this gravitation towards the hybrid model is hardly surprising. While the remote working experiment was largely considered to be a success, with studies finding that it upped productivity by 13%, business leaders are facing a whole different set of issues in 2023.

Surging inflation rates and a dismal economic outlook are placing even more pressure on company performance. And with an increasing number of CEOs believing that in-person collaboration is vital for workers to carry out their best work, many no longer think the capacity for flexible policies remains.

This belief is largely at odds with the general sentiments of employees. Yet, if scrapping fully remote policies can prevent more large-scale layoffs from happening, then commuting in for an extra day might not seem that bad.

The good news is that there are plenty of roles out there that are still fully remote.

As investment and use of AI-powered platforms like ChatGPT continue to skyrocket, another open letter has been released begging the tech industry to consider the risks before further unleashing this technology on the world.

A few short months ago, tech professionals like Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak penned an open letter asking for a six-month pause on the development of generative AI platforms like ChatGPT.

Now, even more tech professionals have gotten on board to pen another letter than has a more serious tone about the threat of AI to life itself.

Statement on AI Risk

The open letter, titled Statement on AI Risk, is as short as it is powerful, aiming to overcome the difficult nature of the discussion. Here is the entirety of the statement:

“Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.”

Considering the world has just gone through a devastating pandemic and continues to deal with the threat of nuclear war, this statement is nothing if not a ringing endorsement for more regulations regarding AI technology. It’s even more concerning when you see who signed it.

Who Signed the Open Letter?

While the statement in the open letter has a gravitas all its own, the real story is who signed it. It’s a veritable who’s-who of the tech industry, more specifically, those involved with the development of the AI technology in question. Here’s a list of some of the major signees of this open letter.

• Demis Hassabis (CEO of Google DeepMind)
• Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI, makers of ChatGPT)
• Bill Gates (Former CEO of Microsoft)
• Ilya Sutskever (Co-Founder and Chief Scientist at OpenAI)
• Shane Legg (Co-Founder of Google DeepMind)

Suffice to say, the industry is taking this threat seriously, but clearly more needs to be done.

The Risks of Generative AI

There’s a lot of talk out there about the risks of generative AI platforms like ChatGPT, but is it actually that bad? The problem with this technology is that it’s so powerful and so new that the potential is virtually unlimited. As a result, a wrong turn could in the development could cause some serious problems. After all, it’s not like we knew in 2008 that Facebook was going to become a source of misinformation on a massive scale.

As for the specifics, AI has a lot of potential risks that need to be considered before further development. For one, AI could potentially destabilize the global economy by threatening more than 80% of current jobs, many of which are disproportionately held by women. On top of that, generative AI has led to a wide range of new AI scams that seek to steal money and information from users.

All that to say, the risks of AI are very real, and if we have any hope of making it work for us rather than against us, it’s important to take the threats and recommendations seriously before it’s too late.

The gap between employees and employers is widening by the day, with Amazon workers walking out today to protest the company’s policies on everything from layoffs to climate change.

It’s no secret that the tech industry is going through a bit of a rough patch right now. Between mass layoffs across the board and inflexible return-to-work policies, employees at companies like Apple have been fighting back against unfair conditions.

Now, Amazon workers are fighting back in a similar way, staging a walkout across the globe that aims to send a message to management.

Amazon Employess Walk Out to Protest Policies

On May 31st, Amazon workers across the world walked out to protest the company’s return-to-office policy. Nearly 2,000 employees participated in the walkout, which was organized by the Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ) and Amazon’s Remote Advocacy communities.

In February, Amazon revoked its flexible work-from-home policy that was established in the pandemic, demanding that employees return to the office for at least three days per week. The move immediately received backlash from employees, who even filed a class action lawsuit in an attempt to have the decision reversed.

In addition to protesting the return-to-office policy, the walkout was also aimed at Amazon’s climate change approach. The company has made a commitment to being carbon neutral by 2040, which the employees don’t believe is good enough, considering the seriousness of climate change.

What Do Amazon Workers Want?

On the Amazon walkout website, the Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ) and Amazon’s Remote Advocacy outlined two primary demands that employees are asking for.

For starters, the employees want Amazon to “return autonomy to its teams” when it comes to return-to-office decisions, rather than mandating every single employee follow the same rule, regardless of the particular situation.

“The world is changing, and Amazon needs to embrace the new reality of remote and flexible work if it wants to remain an innovative company that attracts and retains world-class talent. Many of us, including women, people of color, and workers with disabilities report that having autonomy in where we work improves not only our relationship with it, but also our ability to be seen and treated as equals.” – Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ)

On top of that, employees demand that Amazon adjust its approach to climate change and address the issues with the company’s Climate Pledge, which is “broken, in so many ways.”

Return to Office Backlash

Amazon certainly isn’t the only company trying to get employees back in the office, and it’s similarly not the only company that’s getting backlash for trying to do so.

Apple, for example, has been battling its workers in a similar way, with a group of employees dubbed Apple Together going so far as to refuse to return to the office, under threat of discipline.

The problem with the push to get employees back in the office is that the statistics don’t really back up its effectiveness at improving productivity. Work from home and telecommuting statistics have shown that flexible working schedules improve productivity and mental health for employees and improve revenue and retention for employers.

All that to say, if you’re a business considering following in the footsteps of Amazon, Apple, and the rest of big tech, we’d recommend keeping employees as happy as possible instead.

Launching and growing a startup is one of the biggest missions an entrepreneur can undertake. But while competition remains fierce, the advancement and accessibility of smart solutions are making it easy than ever for startups to find their feet.

Business tools — from customer relationship management (CRM) platforms to accounting software — help to save startups time and money by automating key processes and maximizing efficiency. Yet, with so many tools vying for the attention of business owners, navigating the over-saturated market can be overwhelming.

Every solution we include is affordable, and we even list some free options for startups committed to keeping costs to a minimum. Read on to discover our top picks, or jump to specific sections using the links below.

In this guide:

• Free Business Tools
• Best Communication Tools
• Best Cybersecurity Tools
• Best Project Management Tools
• Best Marketing Tools
• Best Financial Tools
• Best HR tools
• Best Sales Tools
• Next Steps: Moving Forward With a Solution

Best Free Business Tools for Startups

Not every startup will have a budget for smart software. If you’re keeping a hawkish eye on your outgoings, here are some great startup tools that you won’t need to spend a cent on.

Lenido

• Startup tool: Accounting software
• Price: Free

Accounting software doesn’t need to come at a premium. Lenido is a quality accounting tool that offers a number of accounting functions at no cost to the user.

The free accounting platform can be used to create invoices and quotes, produce financial reports, view unpaid invoices, apply discounts and refunds, and encrypt your data. Lenido can even integrate with your accountant for tax support, which is quite a boon for a complimentary tool.

Hide.me VPN

• Startup tool: VPN
• Price: Free

Hide.me VPN is the best complimentary VPN we’ve tested. The security and privacy tool offers an impressive amount of features for a free tool, including a killswitch, obfuscated server options, and AES-256-bit encryption. Its network speed is decent too, but its use is restricted to the US, Germany, Canada, and the Netherlands.

While Hide.me is a decent security solution, startups should be aware that ‘freemium’ VPN services tend to profit by displaying ads and tracking your data. For many internet users, this trade-off may not be worth it.

And Hide.me isn’t the only free business tool that should be approached with caution. While complimentary software can provide a lifeline to businesses in a squeeze, their user experience, feature offering and commitment to data protection will always fall short of paid-for alternatives.

With this in mind, next we cover which business solutions are worth splashing a dime on.

Zoom

• Startup tool: Video conferencing 
• Price: Free

You’ve probably already heard of Zoom. The video conferencing platform welcomes over 300 million daily users, and enjoys some of the best name recognition in the industry — and for good reason.

If you’re looking for a no-frills video calling app, you really can’t go wrong with Zoom. The platform lets users create meetings, facilitate breakout rooms, livestream calls across platforms, and even support the meeting with live translation and captioning.

Zoom’s free plan has a meeting cap of 40 minutes, however. So if your startup has a habit of scheduling longer meetings it may be worth forking out for a paid plan or checking out some alternatives.

Best Communication Tools for Startups

Communication tools refer to any type of technology that helps businesses stay connected. Here are a couple of our favorites.

RingCentral

• Startup tool: Web conferencing app
• Price from: $11.99

If you manage remote or hybrid teams, RingCentral provides the best web conferencing software we’ve reviewed. Its platform, RingCentralVideo Pro offers high-quality video and audio, a heap of unique features that give bigger names Zoom and Google Meet a run for their money, and no limits on call length.

RingCentralVideo Pro has a rock-solid free plan too, so there’s no reason not to try the software out for size.

Polycom VVX 601

• Startup tool: VoIP phone
• Price from: $249

If it’s a voice communication tool you’re after, Polycom VVX 601 performed the best in our Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) research. Not only does it boast a sleek ergonomic design, but it also X every single feature you’d expect from a top-tier internet phone system.

From its 4.3-inch color touchscreen and 16-key setup to its HD voice quality and video capabilities, Polycom VVX 601 is a lot more versatile than similar models. However, at $249 per model, its price point is a little steeper than other VoIP systems we reviewed.

Read our guide to the best VoIP desk phones to check out its competition.

Nextiva X-885

• Startup tool: Multi-Line Phone System
• Price from: $189.99

Multi-line phone systems are great options for those who can do without the bells and whistles of VoIP systems. When it comes to multi-line systems, Nextiva X-885 is about as reliable as they come — letting businesses handle 12 lines, connect to existing softphone technology, and even manage customer relations.

Thanks to its impressive versatility, Nextiva X-885 outperformed every other model in our research, making it the best multi-line phone system for startups.

Best Cybersecurity Tools for Startups

With online attacks costing businesses more and more each year, investing in cybersecurity is no longer optional. Here are some affordable tools designed to keep startups safe.

BitDefender GravityZone Antivirus software

• Startup tool: Antivirus software
• Price from: $77.99 per year

Antivirus software is a simple yet effective way to keep threats at bay. After researching and testing the top solutions, BitDefender GravityZone came out on top due to its impressive feature stack and high levels of customizability.

BitDefender’s central console offers a variety of functions including app blocking, anti-phishing filers, and ransomware protection. Its price point may be steeper than rivals like Surfshark, but if you’re after antivirus software that can do it all, BitDefender GravityZone will be the choice for you.

NordPass

• Startup tool: Password manager
• Price from: $2.99 per month

As password requirements grow increasingly strict, password managers provide workers with a centralized way to keep track of codes. NordPass is a reliable and versatile password manager that offers a range of useful functions from autosave autofill to password strength tests.

NordPass doesn’t overload users with unnecessary features, making it simple and straightforward to use. It offers a free version too, which is a huge win for startups with small or non-existent cybersecurity budgets.

NordLayer VPN

• Startup tool: VPN
• Price from: $7 per month

Virtual private networks (VPNs) help you browse the web securely by disguising your IP address when you use the internet. NordLayer was the best VPN we tested due to its slick usability and stand-out features like its dedicated account manager and central control panel.

Providing users with DNS leak protection and a dark web monitor, NordLayer is actually much more than a VPN, and at just $7 per month, it doesn’t break the bank either.

Read our guide to the best VPNs to see how it compares against its rivals.

Best Project Management Tools for Startups

Project management tools are essential for streamlining your workflow and keeping all your ducks in a row. We list our top picks below.

ClickUp

• Startup tool: Project management 
• Price from: $5 per month

ClickUp is the best project management software we tested, largely because of its generous free plan. ClickUp Free Forever isn’t restricted by a user limit, is packed with useful task management features, and even offers 24/7 live support. It does have a five-project limit, however.

But this can easily be bypassed by creating multiple accounts or upgrading to its paid plans which start at $5 per user, per month.

monday.com

• Startup tool: Project management 
• Price from: $8 per month

If you’re still working solo or managing a tiny team, we would recommend using monday.com instead. monday.com is extremely usable and it’s easy to adapt to the needs of your startup – offering a number of customizable functions like drag-and-drop functionality, and editable columns.

The platform makes it simple to automate a number of processes too, from status updates and email notifications to progress updates and time tracking. But while monday.com is a great option, especially for small teams, it doesn’t offer time tracking and real-time chat features on all tiers like ClickUp.

Best Marketing Tools for Startups

Getting the word out about your business is essential, especially if you’re early on in your journey. Here are some tools that can help expand your startup’s reach.

Zoho Social

• Startup tool: Social media management 
• Price from: $10 per month

Zoho Social is a one-stop-shop for email marketing, letting startups schedule posts, collect social feedback, collaborate, and analyze post performance all for as little as $10 per month. Zoho supports a wide variety of social platforms too, from Instagram and TikTok to more niche sites like Pinterest.

Zoho Social is the best social media management tool we’ve reviewed, largely because of its affordability. However, if you run ads on YouTube, or are in the market for more advanced features like content targeting and custom reporting, you’ll need to fork out a little more for Zoho Social’s Professional or Premium plans.

Omnisend

• Startup tool: Email marketing
• Price from: $16 per month

If you already manage email campaigns — or are considering launching one in the future — Omnisend can help supercharge your strategy. The email marketing platform lets you create tailored email content with templates and a drag-and-drop builder. Its automation options, like automation splits, conditional content blocks, and custom workflows, help to save startups valuable time, too.

Most of these features are available for free. But if you’d like to send out more than 500 emails a month or reach over 250 contacts, you’d need to bump up to Omnisend’s Standard plan which retails at $16 per month.

HubSpot Marketing Hub

• Startup tool: CRM marketing 
• Price from: $18 per month

CRM is a core part of any successful marketing strategy. HubSpot’s Marketing Hub excelled over its competition in our research, thanks in part to its impressive free plan, its abundance of robust marketing features, and credible help and support options.

Startups can use the platform for email marketing, content marketing, and paid marketing at no cost. However, unlocking social marketing and omnichannel features comes at a considerable premium, so we’d recommend using separate tools for these functions, instead. Check out how it compared to its competition in our guide to the best CRM marketing platforms.

Best Financial Tools for Startups

Looking to streamline your finances without hiring a professional? There are tools for that, and here are some of our top picks.

QuickBooks Online

• Startup tool: Accounting software 
• Price from: $30 per month

When it comes to getting your books balanced, no software is better than QuickBooks Online. Not only does it offer a top-tier feature stack, including great bookkeeping and accounts payable and receivable tools, but the accounting software also integrates with some of the biggest platforms, from Square to PayPal.

While QuickBooks Online is solid across the board, it really excels in expense tracking. The platform allows users to create custom categories and run reports for improved visibility, and its app even lets users track miles driven on business trips.

Zoho Invoice

• Startup tool: Invoicing software
• Price from: $11 per month

Zoho Invoice is our best-rated invoicing platform for small businesses and freelancers because of its generous user limits and its reasonable starting price of $11 per month.

The tool offers 16 invoice templates which can all be customized to your business’s branding, and it has advanced capabilities lots of its competitors lack like multi-currency support and hour tracking.

With multi-customer billing and automatic payment reminders, Zoho Invoice’s free plan is pretty comprehensive too, as long as you only need to fire off a few invoices each month.

Best HR Tools for Startups

Whether you have a dedicated human resources (HR) team or you’re juggling 101 tasks yourself, HR software is a vital way to streamline employment-related processes.

Workday

• Startup tool: Performance management system
• Price from: From $8.33 per month

Maintaining high levels of performance isn’t always easy when you manage hybrid and remote teams. Workday helps startups to overcome this struggle by giving employees a user-friendly and useful way to ramp up their productivity.

Workday offers goal-setting, talent review, and analytics capabilities that make it easier for workers to stay encouraged and managers to keep tabs on progress. The performance management tool is affordable too but does require startups to sign up for a three-year minimum contract which requires a certain level of commitment.

Rippling

• Startup tool: Payroll software
• Price from: $35 per month

After we put the leading payroll providers through their paces Rippling came out on top, thanks to its unbeaten industry expertise, its wealth of payroll features — like auto-payment runs, advanced reporting, and employee app — and great scalability.

Rippling even has automated alerts for when startups breach US labor laws, which is a fairly unique feature that similar platforms like Paychex and Zenefits, lack.

Best Sales Tools for Startups

Whether you’re trying to attract new customers or retain current ones, here are our top sales tools for startups.

Zoho CRM

• Startup tool: CRM software
• Price from: $23 per month

Zoho CRM was the best CRM software we reviewed because of its reasonable price tag and versatile capabilities.

Zoho CRM lets you automate workflows and core processes, nourish excellent customer relationships, and use data to reflect on your performance. CRM aside, the platform can also be used to market your business and to support your customer’s queries — making Zoho CRM a powerful all-in-one sales, marketing, and customer service tool.

Shopify

• Startup tool: Ecommerce website builder
• Price from: $29 per month

If your business is selling online or is considering doing so in the near future, you should know about Shopify. Shopify is an ecommerce website builder that helps startups build and manage a website that sells.

From abandoned cart recovery to SEO optimization, Shopify offers every feature you’d expect from a premium website builder. However, it really comes into its own when it comes to sales features — offering a wealth of perks like online storefronts, creator tools, and an in-house customer checkout app, Shop App.

Learn more about the provider and its pricing structure in our Shopify pricing guide.