It’s finally Friday, friends! I’m Diamond Naga Siu, and I’m excited for a three-day weekend — don’t worry, you’ll still hear from me on Monday.
But you know what you don’t hear much? Other people’s salaries.
Gen Z (along with millennials) are way less squeamish about sharing their salaries. Even after a bunch of recent pay transparency laws got passed, multiple studies show that people seem to like pay secrecy.
We have a deep dive into “the last taboo” and more below. So without further ado, let’s dive into today’s tech.
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1. Amazon is gearing up to compete against ChatGPT. Insider obtained a leaked, internal document titled “Generative AI Sales Playbook.” The 12-page plan includes email templates, sample conversation starters, and other guides.
- Unlike Google or Microsoft, Amazon doesn’t have a ChatGPT offering. Instead, the playbook outlines how to “inspire customers to leverage Generative AI technology within their products, content and customer experiences.”
- This includes attracting customers to build generative AI technology with products from AWS. The document also shared how to position Amazon against competitors like OpenAI.
- My colleague Eugene Kim obtained the lengthy document and breaks down each part (including entire email templates).
Get Amazon’s internal playbook here.
In other news:
2. Salary secrecy is a hard taboo to break. Dozens of states have passed laws that protect employees from being punished for sharing their salaries. But that hasn’t shaken the taboo around sharing the number. Dive into the salary stigma here.
3. A look inside Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s family. Now that the duo is reportedly engaged, this is what their combined families will look like. Sanchez had previously compared their blended family to the “Brady Bunch.” Check out their family here.
4. ChatGPT might leave Europe. CEO Sam Altman is concerned about the EU’s AI regulations. He said OpenAI will try complying with the new rules. But if it can’t, the company — and ChatGPT — could “cease operating” there. More on the potential separation here.
5. Montana’s TikTok ban is “comically difficult to enforce.” Plus, it shows just how hard a countrywide ban would be. Here’s why banning TikTok doesn’t solve anything.
6. Finland’s electricity prices dropped below zero. The country has so much clean energy that prices are negative. This presents a new problem: the electricity is worth less than the cost of producing it. More on the electrifying problem here.
7. A Starbucks barista shares her thoughts on tipping. She feels awkward asking people for money and said the tipping question seems to add stress for customers. But a new tipping screen doubled her tips, so maybe it’s worth the discomfort. Get her thoughts on tipping here.
8. The brand new electric-truck race. It’s essentially an entirely new segment of vehicles and customers. Some existing marketing strategies for pickup trucks might work. But the playbook is mostly being rewritten from scratch. More here.
Odds and ends:
9. A video shows three uncrewed speedboats attacking a Russian warship. The Ukrainian speedboats targeted the Ivan Khurs — one of Russia’s most modern ships. It was floating in the Black Sea near the Bosphorus Strait. Watch the attack here.
10. This chef left Michelin-starred restaurants for cruises. Gary Thomas, who oversees the meals across Royal Caribbean’s 26 ships, said he will “one million percent” be a cruise chef until he retires. All aboard for his experience here.
The latest people moves in tech:
- Creator startup Jellysmack laid off employees in the US and France. Read the president’s email explaining the cuts here.
- Employees at Facebook’s parent Meta are reportedly making up their own tasks amid the latest round of layoffs. Its partnerships group was expected to be hit particularly hard.
- Elon Musk said that prior to the Twitter layoffs the company had a “lot of people doing things that didn’t seem to have a lot of value.” Get his full comments here.
- Disney reportedly kicked off a third round of layoffs this week. It’s the final round to reach Bob Iger’s goal to cut 7,000 roles.
Curated by Diamond Naga Siu in San Diego. (Feedback or tips? Email dsiu@insider.com or tweet @diamondnagasiu). Edited by Alistair Barr (tweet @alistairmbarr) in San Francisco and Nathan Rennolds (tweet @ncrennolds) in London.