Latest news with #Meta
Indian Express
25 minutes ago
- Business
- Indian Express
Is AI leading to reduced jobs? What it means for software engineers
The debate over whether the use of artificial intelligence tools is leading to fewer roles for software engineers and coders has been ongoing for over a year. While some initially argued that AI would augment the average worker's efficiency rather than replace them, it seems the latter is becoming a reality—at least in big tech. The latest company to join this trend is Salesforce, which now says its internal use of AI tools has enabled it to hire fewer employees, particularly engineers and customer service workers. This appears to be becoming the norm among large tech firms, offering a clearer indication of the impact AI could have on jobs for software developers, coders, and engineers. Chief Financial and Operations Officer Robin Washington told Bloomberg in an interview that the company is hiring fewer software engineers due to productivity gains from artificial intelligence. 'We view these as assistants, but they are going to allow us to hire fewer people and, hopefully, make our existing team more productive,' she said. As millions of students around the world, particularly in India, prepare to become software engineers—and many even consider studying abroad for their master's degrees—their chances of landing a job at the world's biggest tech companies are beginning to look slimmer, all thanks to AI. Initially, AI tools from companies like OpenAI, Google, and Salesforce, which have been rolled out over the past few months, were seen as a way to boost productivity and improve efficiency. But now, it seems that those in the tech industry may be among the most vulnerable to displacement by AI. 'Now it is our office workers who are staring down the same kind of technological and economic disruption,' LinkedIn's chief economic opportunity officer, Aneesh Raman, wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed. 'Breaking first is the bottom rung of the career ladder.' Hiring hasn't come to a complete halt, but there's growing chatter that getting a first job in tech—especially fresh out of college—is becoming increasingly difficult. Leaders at tech companies all indicated in recent months that AI is indeed taking over jobs. With Salesforce now openly admitting that its hiring has been reduced due to AI, it's becoming clear that more tech companies are beginning to rely on artificial intelligence over human labor for certain tasks. At Microsoft, engineers are using AI to write 20% to 30% of code for company projects, CEO Satya Nadella said last month at Meta's LlamaCon conference. In a conversation with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Nadella noted that the exact percentage of AI-generated code varies by programming language. He said AI writes 'fantastic' Python code, though its C++ capabilities are 'not that great.' Nadella also shared that Microsoft is increasingly relying on more advanced AI agents—software programs that perform complex tasks without human assistance—to review code. As for Meta, Zuckerberg said he isn't sure exactly how much code AI is currently writing, but the company plans to use AI for half of its software development within the next year. 'That will just kind of increase from there,' he said. On a podcast with Joe Rogan in January, Zuckerberg stated that Meta is developing AI that can write code at the level of a mid-level engineer. He added that the company plans to have 'a lot' of its code 'built by AI engineers instead of people engineers' this year. At Google, CEO Sundar Pichai said on an earnings call last month that the company was using AI to write 'well over 30%' of new code—up from 25% in October. He also noted that employees are increasingly accepting AI-suggested code. 'I still see it as early days, and there's going to be a lot more to do,' Pichai said. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei also acknowledged that AI is already writing code. In just 12 months, 'we may be in a world where AI is writing essentially all of the code,' he said during a talk at the Council on Foreign Relations earlier this year. In fact, Amodei predicted that in just three to six months, AI could be writing 90% of all new code. Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn is another executive embracing the shift, noting that the company will replace many of its human contract workers with AI. AI chatbots like ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot were initially seen as tools for basic tasks such as rephrasing sentences or fixing grammar. But as these LLMs grow more powerful, they are increasingly being used to write full code. OpenAI recently released Codex, an AI coding engine within ChatGPT, powered by its codex-1 model—an optimized version of its o3 AI reasoning model designed specifically for software engineering tasks. Similarly, Google has introduced Gemini Code Assist, a code-review agent that automatically identifies bugs and offers suggestions within GitHub. Code Assist allows developers to interact with a Google AI model in natural language to access and edit their codebase—much like GitHub's popular Copilot tool. The impact of AI is real—particularly on entry-level tech jobs. SignalFire, a venture capital firm that analyses job movements across over 650 million employees and 80 million companies on LinkedIn, reported last week that major tech companies—including Meta, Microsoft, and Google—recruited fewer recent graduates in 2024 compared to previous years. New graduates accounted for just 7% of new hires in 2024, down 25% from 2023 and over 50% from pre-pandemic levels in 2019. At startups, the rate of new graduate hiring dropped from 30% in 2019 to under 6% in 2024. While big tech companies are spending billions of dollars to build AI infrastructure, layoffs continue. So far this year, more than 62,114 tech workers have been laid off from both large and small tech firms, according to the independent tracker Anuj Bhatia is a personal technology writer at who has been covering smartphones, personal computers, gaming, apps, and lifestyle tech actively since 2011. He specialises in writing longer-form feature articles and explainers on trending tech topics. His unique interests encompass delving into vintage tech, retro gaming and composing in-depth narratives on the intersection of history, technology, and popular culture. He covers major international tech conferences and product launches from the world's biggest and most valuable tech brands including Apple, Google and others. At the same time, he also extensively covers indie, home-grown tech startups. Prior to joining The Indian Express in late 2016, he served as a senior tech writer at My Mobile magazine and previously held roles as a reviewer and tech writer at Gizbot. Anuj holds a postgraduate degree from Banaras Hindu University. You can find Anuj on Linkedin. Email: ... Read More
Indian Express
40 minutes ago
- Business
- Indian Express
Salesforce joins other large tech companies in citing AI as reason for fewer engineering hires.
The debate over whether the use of artificial intelligence tools is leading to fewer roles for software engineers and coders has been ongoing for over a year. While some initially argued that AI would augment the average worker's efficiency rather than replace them, it seems the latter is becoming a reality—at least in big tech. The latest company to join this trend is Salesforce, which now says its internal use of AI tools has enabled it to hire fewer employees, particularly engineers and customer service workers. This appears to be becoming the norm among large tech firms, offering a clearer indication of the impact AI could have on jobs for software developers, coders, and engineers. Chief Financial and Operations Officer Robin Washington told Bloomberg in an interview that the company is hiring fewer software engineers due to productivity gains from artificial intelligence. 'We view these as assistants, but they are going to allow us to hire fewer people and, hopefully, make our existing team more productive,' she said. As millions of students around the world, particularly in India, prepare to become software engineers—and many even consider studying abroad for their master's degrees—their chances of landing a job at the world's biggest tech companies are beginning to look slimmer, all thanks to AI. Initially, AI tools from companies like OpenAI, Google, and Salesforce, which have been rolled out over the past few months, were seen as a way to boost productivity and improve efficiency. But now, it seems that those in the tech industry may be among the most vulnerable to displacement by AI. 'Now it is our office workers who are staring down the same kind of technological and economic disruption,' LinkedIn's chief economic opportunity officer, Aneesh Raman, wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed. 'Breaking first is the bottom rung of the career ladder.' Hiring hasn't come to a complete halt, but there's growing chatter that getting a first job in tech—especially fresh out of college—is becoming increasingly difficult. Leaders at tech companies all indicated in recent months that AI is indeed taking over jobs. With Salesforce now openly admitting that its hiring has been reduced due to AI, it's becoming clear that more tech companies are beginning to rely on artificial intelligence over human labor for certain tasks. At Microsoft, engineers are using AI to write 20% to 30% of code for company projects, CEO Satya Nadella said last month at Meta's LlamaCon conference. In a conversation with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Nadella noted that the exact percentage of AI-generated code varies by programming language. He said AI writes 'fantastic' Python code, though its C++ capabilities are 'not that great.' Nadella also shared that Microsoft is increasingly relying on more advanced AI agents—software programs that perform complex tasks without human assistance—to review code. As for Meta, Zuckerberg said he isn't sure exactly how much code AI is currently writing, but the company plans to use AI for half of its software development within the next year. 'That will just kind of increase from there,' he said. On a podcast with Joe Rogan in January, Zuckerberg stated that Meta is developing AI that can write code at the level of a mid-level engineer. He added that the company plans to have 'a lot' of its code 'built by AI engineers instead of people engineers' this year. At Google, CEO Sundar Pichai said on an earnings call last month that the company was using AI to write 'well over 30%' of new code—up from 25% in October. He also noted that employees are increasingly accepting AI-suggested code. 'I still see it as early days, and there's going to be a lot more to do,' Pichai said. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei also acknowledged that AI is already writing code. In just 12 months, 'we may be in a world where AI is writing essentially all of the code,' he said during a talk at the Council on Foreign Relations earlier this year. In fact, Amodei predicted that in just three to six months, AI could be writing 90% of all new code. Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn is another executive embracing the shift, noting that the company will replace many of its human contract workers with AI. AI chatbots like ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot were initially seen as tools for basic tasks such as rephrasing sentences or fixing grammar. But as these LLMs grow more powerful, they are increasingly being used to write full code. OpenAI recently released Codex, an AI coding engine within ChatGPT, powered by its codex-1 model—an optimized version of its o3 AI reasoning model designed specifically for software engineering tasks. Similarly, Google has introduced Gemini Code Assist, a code-review agent that automatically identifies bugs and offers suggestions within GitHub. Code Assist allows developers to interact with a Google AI model in natural language to access and edit their codebase—much like GitHub's popular Copilot tool. The impact of AI is real—particularly on entry-level tech jobs. SignalFire, a venture capital firm that analyses job movements across over 650 million employees and 80 million companies on LinkedIn, reported last week that major tech companies—including Meta, Microsoft, and Google—recruited fewer recent graduates in 2024 compared to previous years. New graduates accounted for just 7% of new hires in 2024, down 25% from 2023 and over 50% from pre-pandemic levels in 2019. At startups, the rate of new graduate hiring dropped from 30% in 2019 to under 6% in 2024. While big tech companies are spending billions of dollars to build AI infrastructure, layoffs continue. So far this year, more than 62,114 tech workers have been laid off from both large and small tech firms, according to the independent tracker Anuj Bhatia is a personal technology writer at who has been covering smartphones, personal computers, gaming, apps, and lifestyle tech actively since 2011. He specialises in writing longer-form feature articles and explainers on trending tech topics. His unique interests encompass delving into vintage tech, retro gaming and composing in-depth narratives on the intersection of history, technology, and popular culture. He covers major international tech conferences and product launches from the world's biggest and most valuable tech brands including Apple, Google and others. At the same time, he also extensively covers indie, home-grown tech startups. Prior to joining The Indian Express in late 2016, he served as a senior tech writer at My Mobile magazine and previously held roles as a reviewer and tech writer at Gizbot. Anuj holds a postgraduate degree from Banaras Hindu University. You can find Anuj on Linkedin. Email: ... Read More
News.com.au
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
‘Creepy as hell': Aussies are freaked out over the new Meta glasses
The future is here and Australians are officially creeped out by it and want it to stop immediately. Technology is changing faster than the panel on The Project, and Meta Ray-Bans have now been introduced to consumers. The smart glasses retail for around $450. They allow you to listen to music, film, make calls, and even interact with Meta AI — basically, like wearing a Google Home on your face. The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses launched overseas in 2023 and were first made available in Australia in late 2024. To use the glasses, all the wearer has to do is say 'Hey Meta' and voice what they want it to do. So, if you don't mind walking around and looking like you're talking to yourself, this is definitely the piece of technology for you. Hollywood heavyweights Chris Hemsworth and Chris Pratt are even doing ads to promote the techy glasses, with Kris Jenner in tow. Usually, a celebrity endorsement is enough to win people over, but not this time because when hit the streets of Sydney, Aussies weren't fussed. In fact, they were straight-up creeped out and didn't want a bar of the tech-savvy glasses. Yes, even after Chris Hemsworth gave them his stamp of approval. Aussies really weren't shy about sharing their horror. When asked what he thought of the product, one man in a gorgeous red jumper stopped and went straight for the jugular. 'I think it is creepy as hell!' he said. 'I wouldn't buy them for myself and I'd prefer other people didn't buy them,' he added, before sauntering off down the road. A Gen Zer was a little less rigid in her opinion, she conceded that the glasses were 'cool' and 'had their place' in 2025 …. but …. 'They freak me out,' she admitted. Similarly, a young man stopped and said he found them a 'pretty weird piece of technology', which isn't exactly a gushing endorsement. In fact, he said he'd had the displeasure of seeing how young people use these glasses in the wild and, like a Boomer complaining about E-bikes, he didn't look impressed. 'I've seen people around in nightclubs recording people when they're dancing and stuff,' he told gravely. Another trendy young person stopped – you know she's trendy because she was wearing oversized headphones, airpods are out now, in case any old person was wondering – and also admitted she wasn't sold on the technology. 'I think it is creepy. You could have been filming me this whole time and I just wouldn't have known,' she said. 'I think that is kind of scary.' A man in a vest broke up the negativity by putting his detective skills to the test and arguing the glasses aren't that creepy because you can tell when they're filming you. 'I know you're filming because it is flashing. As long as that flash is there and I'm aware you're recording me, I don't really mind,' he said. Easy to say when you're young and still have 20/20 vision. Another Gen Zer didn't share this more relaxed opinion and said she wasn't a 'big fan' of the Meta glasses for one reason. 'I think it breaks a lot of consent about what you can and can't film. Something about having sunglasses on and not always knowing if someone is filming is quite freaky' she argued. When one woman was asked if she thinks it is a 'different vibe' depending on whether a man or a woman is wearing the glasses, she admitted it does. 'That is loaded! Yes,' she said. A Gen Zer said she didn't think gender mattered too much when it came to who wore the sunglasses. 'Maybe some guys look at places you aren't really supposed to look at, but still both ways, people can look in the wrong direction,' she pointed out. Another young woman admitted she'd need to think about the question more, but her initial reaction was …. yes. 'Initially, I'm sort of say like 'yes', but I'd need to think about that a lot more deeply,' she said.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta testifies at Ohio Statehouse in favor of age verification in app store
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Ohio lawmakers want to give parents more say in what their kids do on their smartphones and tablets. And Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, is on board with the proposal. Ohio lawmakers did pass a bill to require age verification in social media apps, but a federal judge struck that law down after social media companies challenged it, calling it a 'breathtakingly blunt tool' to reduce harm. Gov. Mike DeWine called for lawmakers to take a new approach to age verification for minors, and that is where House Bill 226 comes into play. Victoria's Secret responds after website, app shutdown leaving customers in the dark House Bill 226 would require app developers to determine whether their app is likely to be used by children under 16 years. If so, the developer needs to let the app store know that it will need age verification before being downloaded. This bill would largely impact social media like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and X. 'Teens use more than 40 different apps a week, so that's a lot for parents and it's a lot of personal information that would need to be shared with each individual app to verify who the parent is and the child's age,' Head of Safety Policy for North America at Meta Jennifer Hanley said. Hanley said she thinks this bill will be more effective, because it does not specifically call out social media apps. 'We've seen courts across the country say if you're looking at things selectively, examining the types of content or who the speaker is, then you're running into First Amendment issues,' she said. 'We think here this kind of addresses that and resolved some of the First Amendment concerns by making it speaker and content neutral instead.' First responders line roads as body of killed deputy returned to Morrow County Hanley said age verification in this form is what parents want, and points to Utah and Texas that have recently enacted similar laws. But some leaders at the statehouse think that companies like Meta are simply punting the responsibility to keep children safe. 'There is certainly no excuse for these big social media, data companies, to not have some sort of guidelines,' Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) said. 'They certainly know how to develop the algorithms to target minors and there's no excuse for them not also being able to use that as safeguards.' Russo said she does think that this is a step in the right direction but does not go far enough. 'Do I think [HB 226] is going to be as effective as some of the other things we know [social media companies] have the capacity to do using their own algorithms? Certainly not,' Russo said. City of Columbus asks court to dismiss cyber lawsuits 'We at Meta and other companies will still have a role to play in providing a safer, more age-appropriate experiences for teens and looking for those who are lying about their age,' Hanley said. The bill still awaits both a House committee vote and House floor vote before being sent to the Ohio Senate for consideration. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Business Times
2 hours ago
- Business
- Business Times
US to ban foreign officials over ‘flagrant censorship' on social media
[WASHINGTON] The US will impose visa bans on foreign nationals it deems to be censoring Americans, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday, and he suggested the new policy could target officials regulating US tech companies. Rubio did not name any specific instances of censorship. But US tech companies and the Trump administration have challenged US allies in Europe, alleging censorship of social media platforms. Restricting officials from visiting the US appeared to be an escalation by Washington. Rubio said in a statement that a new visa restriction policy would apply to foreign nationals responsible for censorship of protected expression in the US. He said it was unacceptable for foreign officials to issue or threaten arrest warrants for social media posts made on US soil. 'It is similarly unacceptable for foreign officials to demand that American tech platforms adopt global content moderation policies or engage in censorship activity that reaches beyond their authority and into the United States,' Rubio said. Some foreign officials have taken 'flagrant censorship actions against US tech companies and US citizens and residents when they have no authority to do so,' Rubio said. US social media companies like Facebook and Instagram parent Meta have said an EU content moderation law, the Digital Services Act, amounts to censorship of their platforms. The Trump-appointed chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission in March warned the EU Digital Services Act excessively restricts freedom of expression. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up In January, Meta said it would end its US fact-checking programme in favour of community notes on controversial posts, but the company continues fact checking elsewhere, including in Europe and Latin America. EU regulators have issued preliminary findings that X, the platform owned by Trump-ally Elon Musk that also relies on community notes, saying it breached the bloc's content moderation rules. EU officials have defended the Digital Services Act, which is meant to make the online environment safer and fairer by compelling tech giants to do more to tackle illegal content, including hate speech and child sexual abuse material. A European Commission spokesperson said commissioners were aware of Rubio's announcement, which 'seems to be of a general nature.' The spokesperson declined to comment further. The EU has been seeking a trade deal with Washington to avoid President Donald Trump's threatened 50 per cent tariffs on European imports. Rubio's announcement came just before he met with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul in Washington. Europe 'a hotbed of digital censorship' Trump officials have repeatedly weighed in on European politics to denounce what they see as suppression of right-wing politicians, including in Romania, Germany and France, accusing European authorities of censoring views like criticism of immigration in the name of countering disinformation. In April, Rubio shut down a State Department office that had sought to counter foreign disinformation, accusing it of censorship and wasting US taxpayer money. In a social media post on Wednesday, Rubio added, 'Whether in Latin America, Europe, or elsewhere, the days of passive treatment for those who work to undermine the rights of Americans are over.' Rubio did not name specific countries or individuals that would be targeted. Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has clashed with X over compliance with orders to take down accounts accused of spreading misinformation. Trump's media company, along with video sharing platform Rumble, has also sued the judge over an order to remove the accounts of Allan dos Santos, a US-based supporter of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Chris Pavlovski, CEO of Rumble, welcomed the visa ban policy on Wednesday. 'As Rumble has experienced, these enemies of free speech from around the world try to reach into America and supersede the First Amendment,' he said in a statement. The Brazilian government is waiting to fully understand who could be targeted by the ban and what its scope would be, a government source told Reuters on condition of anonymity. The Trump administration has repeatedly called out European nations for supposed censorship of online content. Vice-President JD Vance denounced content moderation while in Paris in February, calling it 'authoritarian censorship.' Rubio has said threats to free speech are an attack on shared values that are important to US-European relationship and said the issue was being raised in diplomacy with both the EU and Britain. Officials from the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor are separately visiting EU members France and Ireland this week to press those governments on freedom of expression, a State Department official told Reuters, requesting anonymity. An op-ed by Samuel Samson, senior advisor for that bureau, accused Britain and Germany of censoring online speech and said the EU Digital Services Act was 'used to silence dissident voices through Orwellian content moderation.' He also cited Britain's jailing of two anti-abortion activists. 'Far from strengthening democratic principles, Europe has devolved into a hotbed of digital censorship, mass migration, restrictions on religious freedom, and numerous other assaults on democratic self-governance,' Samson wrote. REUTERS
