Mark Zuckerberg ushered in a new era of ‘efficiency’

What a week this was, reader. Meta, Apple, Amazon, and Alphabet all reported earnings over the last few days, and, well, the outlook is bleak. This is Matt Weinberger, deputy editor of Insider’s tech analysis team and your host for today.

And I’m here to tell you that things in tech are going to get worse before they get better. 

Mark Zuckerberg set the tone on Wednesday when he said this would be the “year of efficiency” at Meta, followed on Thursday by Alphabet and Amazon both indicating that they see tough times ahead. The one port in this particular storm is Apple, which is still the only major tech company not to do layoffs in recent weeks. 

There’s much to discuss, so let’s recap what happened this week in tech.

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1. Mark Zuckerberg just ushered in a new era of tech.

Once upon a time, there was a small search startup named Google. It was up against powerhouses like Yahoo and Microsoft. To recruit the talent it needed, Google offered first-class employee perks. Success wasn’t quite overnight, but it was close.

And as Google grew into the juggernaut that it is today, other companies took notice. Pampering employees and empowering them to chase wild ideas became the norm across Silicon Valley.

This model worked splendidly for many companies, right up until it didn’t. In recent months, layoffs have swept just about every major tech company (except, notably, Apple).

Enter Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook’s parent company Meta, who officially rang in the new era on Wednesday when he declared that 2023 would be the “year of efficiency” at the social network. In fact, you might call him 2023’s “Chopper-in-Chief.”

Read my analysis on what this means for Big Tech.

Top tech stories of the week:

2. Big Tech’s big lie. Dehumanizing. Gut-wrenching. Betrayed. Tech workers were made to feel like part of something bigger, but the recent wave of layoffs forced workers to confront a harsh truth: The workplace isn’t the same thing as a family. Read more. 

3. Open AI’s CEO is a doomsday prepper with a stash of gold, guns, and gas masks. You’ve likely heard of ChatGPT (if you haven’t, here’s why you should have), but not everyone knows the CEO behind the product. Meet Sam Altman.

4. Amazon is going after a younger, and potentially more affordable, talent pool. Leaked emails show the tech giant is limiting entry-level software engineering positions to current students or new grads. What we know.

5. Ex-Twitter staff still have their company laptops — and they’re very confused. Former workers told Wired that while their laptops have been digitally locked, they still have yet to be collected by the company. Some fear it could even lead to legal trouble. Here’s the full story.  

6. The world’s wealthiest people are trying to live forever. They’re taking supplements, abiding by wild fitness routines, and investing in longevity research — and some methods may actually be working. From Jeff Bezos to Jack Dorsey, here are 14 entrepreneurs trying to fight aging.

7. An ex-Googler discovered he’d been laid off while feeding his newborn daughter at 2 a.m. Nicholas Dufau said he felt “acutely expendable” upon discovering he’d been laid off via email days after his wife gave birth to their first child. Read about his experience. 

From our tech analysis team:

8. The stakes for the TikTok CEO’s first Washington appearance next month just got higher. When Shou Zi Chew turns up on Capitol Hill, he risks exacerbating tensions over not only safety on the much-loved video app, but broader geopolitics as well. Our analysis here.

9. Snap was once the hottest app. Now it’s getting crushed. Snap’s ads business is cratering, partly because of privacy changes by Apple — and its hot reputation has receded as TikTok and Instagram became more popular and buzzier. What to know.

10. Microsoft’s landmark deal with OpenAI shows that ChatGPT is going to be the defining technology of 2023. Everyone wants to get in on the ChatGPT hype. Microsoft is setting the pace, and the rest will have to catch up. Find out why.

Today’s team: Matt Weinberger in San Francisco, Lisa Ryan in New York, Hallam Bullock in London, and Dave Smith in Toronto.