Latest news with #techculture
New York Times
04-08-2025
- Business
- New York Times
System Upgrade
Silicon Valley has transformed. No surprise there — change is its business, after all. But just as artificial intelligence will upend the economy, it has already upended the culture of the place that makes it. America's tech corridor holds immense influence over our future. So it's worth understanding life there — and the people who power it. Today's newsletter is about the new vibe in Silicon Valley. That's the focus of several stories our tech journalists have recently reported from the world's tech capital. 'Shut up and grind' Silicon Valley behemoths like Google, Apple and Facebook became famous a generation ago for pitching great lifestyle jobs: Forget the cubicles and neckties of the old economy. Come enjoy free sushi and workout classes; take breaks for Ping-Pong. Let's change the world! Then, around 2022, they decided they had become bloated. Meta eliminated a third of its work force. Elon Musk bought Twitter and fired three-quarters of its staff. New focus. The job cuts weren't just about economics. They were also about priorities. Over the years, leaders felt progressive politics had overtaken the workplace. Now companies began to nix 'moderators, marketers, media handlers and all things associated with diversity and inclusion,' writes my colleague Mike Isaac, who chronicles this seismic realignment. 'Heaven help those with a humanities degree.' Masters of war. The new priorities include something that tech's early do-gooders had forsworn: digital armaments. As Sheera Frenkel reports, Meta, Google and OpenAI once banned the use of artificial intelligence in weapons. Today, OpenAI makes anti-drone tech, and Meta makes virtual reality glasses to train soldiers. One start-up sells drones fitted with A.I.-guided cruise missiles. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Bloomberg
20-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
HBO's ‘Mountainhead' Depicts Hollywood's Sinister View of Tech Titans
Welcome to Tech In Depth, our daily newsletter with reporting and analysis about the business of tech from Bloomberg's journalists around the world. Today, Ellen Huet looks at how HBO's movie Mountainhead shows the changing cultural view of tech's rich and powerful. Microsoft job cuts: The software maker is planning to eliminate thousands of jobs, particularly in sales, beginning next month. The reductions follow an earlier round of cuts announced in May that hit 6,000 employees.
CBC
11-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
The Sunday Magazine for May 11, 2025
Host Piya Chattopadhyay speaks with Vatican journalist Charles Collins about the path ahead for Pope Leo XIV, Financial Times journalist Patrick McGee gets to the core of Apple and China's symbiotic relationship, journalists Shannon Proudfoot, Rob Benzie and Jason Markusoff explore how Prime Minister Mark Carney might approach competing provincial priorities, and New York Times culture critic Amanda Hess delves into how tech culture is shaping modern parenting.
Forbes
10-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Become More Like A Technology Company, But Eject The ‘Bro' Culture
Diversity: It's a good thing Technology companies are often held up as open, forward-looking enterprises capable of quickly adapting and moving on innovations. Indeed, many do function as autonomous sets of creative teams, with little formal management to hinder their progress. Still, there's a crisis that has been bubbling within tech culture that often derails such innovative spirit. That is, they tend toward 'bro cultures,' closing off more diverse points of view and possibilities for innovation. In her latest book, Rebooting Tech Culture, Telle Whitney provides a cautionary tale of how technology companies often derail themselves with such closed cultures or even hubris. It's important that mainstream businesses – of whom many are becoming or seek to become technology businesses in their own right – understand the 'gotchas' of pursuing a tech culture that closely mirrors Silicon Valley. Whitney, a Silicon Valley startup veteran herself, and co-founder of the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, says tech has long had a culture problem – it is still dominated by white males, which tends to shape the data and insights delivered through machines and software. "As tech firms grow, their processes and hierarchies become hardened, limiting the freedom to experiment or bring new ideas to the table.' Whitney observes. They are also subject to the 'lone genius archetype.' 'Most business leaders do not doubt the value of an inclusive culture.' However, 'the hard truth is that most leaders don't want to fundamentally change their workplaces.' To overcome this, Whitney urges leaders to take positive steps to promote respect, manage conflict, and develop employee skills early and often, to promote greater diversity of thought and innovation. Importantly, this is not an HR challenge – every executive, a manager, and team leader can take relatively simple steps to open up their organizations:
