Latest news with #TITV
New York Post
5 days ago
- Business
- New York Post
Top tech editor taking heat for Zuckerberg interview — which didn't mention their close friendship, family vacations: report
The editor of a top tech publication is taking heat after she interviewed Mark Zuckerberg – and didn't mention their close friendship, including joint family vacations to Lake Tahoe and a stay at the Facebook CEO's Hawaii haunt during the pandemic, according to a report. Jessica Lessin, founder and editor-in-chief of The Information, sat with Zuckerberg on Monday for an interview to promote the launch of the site's new weekday show TITV. While the pair's friendship is well-known in most media circles, Lessin made no mention of their relationship during the interview and there was no disclosure on the website, according to the published transcript. Advertisement 3 The Information's Jessica Lessin interviewed Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday. The Information/Youtube That's causing a stir among media insiders, some of whom are questioning whether Lessin should have recused herself and handed the interview off to another reporter, according to journalist Oliver Darcy's Status newsletter. 'If you decide to interview someone who you regularly go on vacation with, you should disclose that friendship at the start of the conversation,' a prominent tech reporter told Darcy. 'Readers deserve that context as they consider all the questions you ask – and the ones that you don't.' Advertisement Another tech reporter called the snafu 'an insult to her newsroom,' according to Status. Lessin and The Information did not immediately respond to The Post's requests for comment. The tech editor's relationship with Zuckerberg goes back years, as her husband Sam Lessin won big on Facebook stock he received in 2010 when the Facebook founder – and fellow Harvard pal – bought his startup, according to Vanity Fair. Advertisement Sam later worked as an executive in product management at Facebook for about four years, according to his LinkedIn profile. 3 Sam Lessin and Jessica Lessin at the 11th Breakthrough Prize Ceremony in April. Getty Images for Breakthrough Prize The Lessins and Zuckerbergs have vacationed together in Lake Tahoe to celebrate the Fourth of July, according to Status and The New York Times. Jessica reportedly spent considerable time at Zuckerberg's compound in Hawaii during the COVID-19 pandemic, and her husband was seen alongside the Facebook CEO on a hunt in Kauai decked out in camouflage in a series of photos published by The Daily Mail. Advertisement The tech site editor previously said she does not view her relationship with Zuckerberg as a conflict of interest, and that she would step aside when 'there is something that could stand in the way of me doing my job objectively,' according to a 2021 New York Times report. 3 Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at LlamaCon 2025 in April. AP But other journalists have been left scratching their heads as to why Lessin did not recuse herself, especially as The Information pushes its new TITV launch and tries to position itself as a premium publication, according to Status. Annual subscriptions to The Information cost $399, with a professional version offering access to databases and surveys at nearly $1,000 a year. The interview itself contained few tough questions for Zuckerberg, Darcy noted in his newsletter, and had a rocky start – with no audio for the first few moments. Eventually a journalist popped in to announce the glitch and end TITV's inaugural show, and the company published a transcript and video the following day.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Mark Zuckerberg says AI researchers want 2 things apart from money
Meta is in the midst of a massive AI hiring spree to build its Superintelligence Labs. It spent $15 billion to hire Scale founder Alexandr Wang and announced plans for a data center nearly the size of Manhattan. Mark Zuckerberg says two factors besides pay help attract top AI researchers when recruiting. What's on an AI researcher's wish list when being courted by a Big Tech firm? Sure, money plays a part. But Mark Zuckerberg says the AI talent he's talked to is also interested in two other things. "Historically, when I was recruiting people to different parts of the company, people are like, 'Okay, what's my scope going to be?'" he said on an episode of The Information's TITV on Monday. "Here, people say, 'I want the fewest number of people reporting to me and the most GPUs.'" AI GPUs, or graphical processing units, are the chips that researchers use to build, train, and run foundational AI models and the products they power. Nvidia, whose H100 GPU became a hot commodity as the AI race kicked off, is viewed as the leader in the space and has since launched more powerful chips. "Having basically the most compute per researcher is definitely a strategic advantage, not just for doing the work but for attracting the best people," the Meta CEO said. Others hiring in AI have attested to the same phenomenon. Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas last year recalled trying to poach an AI researcher from Meta who shot him down, saying, "Come back to me when you have 10,000 H100 GPUs." "You have to offer such amazing incentives and immediate availability of compute," Srinivas said. "And we're not talking of small compute clusters here." Big Tech companies and artificial intelligence startups alike are clamoring for the best talent in AI right now, with some like Meta offering multimillion-dollar pay packages. Meta has turbocharged its plans to build out its AI infrastructure. The company recently announced plans for new data centers, including one almost as big as Manhattan. Meta also shelled out $15 billion to buy a 49% stake in Scale AI, founded by Alexandr Wang, who joined as Meta's chief AI officer as part of the deal. Zuckerberg has also been personally involved in recruiting top AI talent. And if a limited managerial scope and access to vast computing power aren't enough to lure top talent, there's always money — and Meta has plenty to offer its AI recruits. The company has poached talent from rivals like Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman saying Meta is offering recruits $100 million signing bonuses. Read the original article on Business Insider Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Axios
7 days ago
- Business
- Axios
The Information launches new video product called TITV
The Information on Monday will launch its first live video product, TITV, hosted by reporter Akash Pasricha. Why it matters: The video format allows The Information to give its readers, who are mostly tech and business professionals, a peek behind the curtain into how the outlet's editorial decisions are made. Co-founder and CEO Jessica Lessin will host a regular segment talking about coverage themes coming out of the outlet's editor's meetings. Lessin told Axios in an interview that video and newsroom inside access are things The Information's subscribers have long asked for. Zoom in: The show, which debuts Monday at 1 p.m. ET, will include guests from within The Information's newsroom and its source rolodex to talk about the biggest stories of the day across tech, business and AI. Each show will start with multiple segments on top news stories anchored by Pasricha, and then will include guests to discuss news of the day. Each show will vary in length, depending on the news cycle. Some shows could last up to an hour, per Lessin. The show will live be streamed live on YouTube, X and The Information's website. It will be available on-demand across those channels and podcast platforms, such as Apple and Spotify. The company will leverage the feeds from its former podcasts to reach a built-in audience, Lessin said. Over time, it may launch new show feeds. The outlet will cut vertical video clips from the show to distribute on social media channels such as TikTok, Instagram, X and others after the show airs. The newsroom will set up studios in San Francisco and New York so that reporters from both coasts can make regular appearances from the office. Reporters in places like Hong Kong will also make regular appearances remotely. Between the lines: The name TITV is meant to underscore how ubiquitous the TV-watching experience has become in the digital era. "It's not meant to be literal," Lessin said. Zoom out: Lessin hopes the video series will drive a meaningful new revenue stream for the brand. "I think this could become a very significant part of our business," she said. The outlet has five people working on the new product as of now. Lessin said she hopes to build on that momentum as the show grows. Amazon Web Services will serve as the product's presenting launch sponsor. The big picture: TITV is one of the most significant product launches from The Information since its inception over a decade ago. The company, which relies mostly on high-end subscriptions, has focused on creating more products that allow its heavily engaged subscribers to interact with its reporters and get deeper insights. Last week, it launched a new AI chatbot called The Information Deep Research chatbot, to help its readers mine through the outlet's trove of business data. The outlet created a long-form lifestyle and trends reporting section called the "The Information Weekend" in 2021. It launched a series of social networking tools in 2022.
