Why ‘buyouts’ + AI slop summaries + the risks to Anthropic’s business : Planet Money : NPR

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A TILE GAME is giving a boost to Chinese factories. Our very own Jennifer Pak reported that Chinese manufacturers have not had the easiest few years with U.S. tariffs and the war in Iran pushing up costs. Well, the aged game of Mahjong is giving them a surprising boost. That’s because it’s having a moment in the U.S. and some entrepreneurial citizens in China are enjoying the benefits. Mahjong sets can sell for like $300-$400 in the States … and want to know how much they cost to make? ~$30. One businessman said he used to make the game primarily for Chinese consumers. Now, every set is exported to the U.S.

Coming up:

• The risks to Anthropic’s (and AI’s) business
• Why we’re saying ‘buyout’ and not ‘layoff’
• How young people are doing with AI summaries

New’s We’re Watching

The two most interesting risks to Anthropic – U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission

What to Know: Anthropic gave the world 94 pages of risks to its business (slash the entire AI economy) in its IPO prospectus aka the S-1. It wouldn’t be Anthropic if they didn’t discuss the “existential risks” to humanity and society several times. And isn’t that an important risk to disclose? Another that stood out: the AI boom has a glaring point of failure. The majority of advanced semiconductor manufacturing is concentrated in one place, Taiwan, and if anything were to happen there, it could disrupt the entire AI economy. Think earthquake, Chinese military action, blockades. But I want to focus on a different risk, because it is FASCINATING!

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has persistently raised the safety concerns of AI.

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images North America

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Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images North America

Committing to the past at a premium: Anthropic is worried about aging out of the tech that’s powering its AI, while paying the same prices. What does that mean?! AI companies have to lock into pricey contracts for all sorts of softwares, hardware, data center, and squadrons of GPUs. But technology is advancing quickly right now. New GPUs, for example, could come along that can do the same amount of work for way less money. Then Anthropic is stuck like CHUMPS in a contract paying a premium for old hardware, while some competitors may be doing more for less.

Why buyouts and not layoffs? – The Wall Street Journal

What To Know: Microsoft offered buyouts to 60,000 employees, roughly a quarter of its staff this week. And doesn’t that sound better than “Microsoft laid off 60,000 employees this week”?? Skydance ALSO offered a buyout to employees on Monday, though it’s not clear how many would be eligible. And here at NPR, we’ve been a fan of the term buyout too. So what’s the real difference in offering a buyout versus just laying off staffers?

The difference: Morale? Morale. There’s something about a “mega-layoff” that doesn’t inspire worker confidence. A “buyout” not so much. Really? Ok, I guess. The WSJ reported the focus in C-suite land is on the ratio of employees to AI agents inside companies. Companies have to find ways to pay for the ever-increasing costs of AI … and you know … actual human workers expect to be paid.

Andy Challenger, Chief Revenue Officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a consulting firm, told the Journal that it can help staffers emotionally by making it a little easier to let go. It also tends to motivate older staffers to retire a little bit early, which may be the company’s goal.

Today’s Indicator

There are more bots than humans online. Here’s what that means

If you HAVEN’T listened: I never thought I’d yearn for the days when the internet felt wholesome. Where you could go to blogs and random sites and make friends across the world. Well, more than half of internet traffic now comes from non-humans, aka bots. They’re pouring into the digital veins of the World Wide Web, ignoring a lot of ads, generating all kinds of comments, nonsense and what have you. One interesting takeaway: this shift from human-to-bot traffic changes the business model of the internet. If humans let bots do their shopping for them, then ads suddenly become less useful. And if ads don’t pay out for websites, then who pays for them?

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