The Weekly Scan February 27, 2023

Welcome to the Weekly Scan. Here’s what we’re following for the week of February 27, 2023.

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ChatGPT snapped. Snapchat is launching a new tool called My AI, a chatbot using OpenAI ChatGPT technology, to its Snapchat+ subscribers. Those with access to the feature will reportedly be able to chat with AI to get recipes, gift ideas, or weekend plan suggestions. Subscribers will also be able to personalize the bot by giving it a name and changing the chat background. Snapchat announced its $3.99 monthly Snapchat+ subscription in June 2022. Snapchat is the latest tech company to embrace the potential of AI. Microsoft and Google both recently announced their own AI tools. 

CNBC

Twitter layoffs continue. Elon Musk oversaw another layoff at Twitter, reducing the workforce at the 2,000-person tech company by 10%. The layoff began Saturday night, when some employees lost access to their corporate emails and laptops. Those affected include data scientists, engineers, product managers, and members of the monetization infrastructure operations team. Earlier last week, Twitter took its employee messaging platform, Slack, offline, making it hard for workers to communicate with each other. When Musk took over Twitter, there were 7,500 people employed by the company. Musk has slashed that number over the last few months in an effort to reduce Twitter’s costs. 

New York Times

Weekend (extended version). Most companies in the United Kingdom that tested out a four-day work week are planning on sticking to it. Sixty-one British companies, including fast food chains, banks, and marketing agencies, participated in the study. Of those that joined the study, 91% said that they plan on continuing to test out the new work week structure. Those who conducted the study in the U.K. also organized a smaller one in the U.S. and Canada, and additional trials are kicking off in Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil. On a scale of zero to 10, employees in the U.K. study rated their performance and productivity a 7.5 out of 10. 

Wall Street Journal

Shipping up and shipping out. Target is investing an extra $100 million in next-day delivery in order to expand that offering to more markets over the next three years. Historically, Target has handled these fast-turnaround orders in-store, with employees packing up the order and handing it off to its mail carrier. But this process has put a great deal of pressure on stores. Target will use its $100 million investment to expand its solution, “sortation centers”, separate from stores where packages will be created and given to carriers for shipment. 

Business Insider