Panic over the rise of AI is hitting a fever pitch
In Insider Today: How a hacker almost destroyed one person's life, and why everyone's worried about the rise of AI.
Hi, I'm Matt Turner, the editor in chief of business at Insider. Welcome back to Insider Today's Sunday edition, a roundup of some of our top stories.
On the agenda today:
- "First, they hacked my phone — then they took over my life."
- JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon is riding to the rescue again.
- Don't worry — offices aren't doomed. Except the mediocre ones.
- Inside the shake-up at the world's "most feared law firm."
But first: The panic over the AI boom hit a new peak this week. I break down the latest below.
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This week's dispatch
iStock; Alyssa Powell/Insider
Elon Musk was among hundreds of people who this week called for a six-month pause on advanced AI development, warning of an "out-of-control race to develop and deploy" new systems. A prominent AI researcher went further, saying six months wasn't long enough, and "we need to shut it all down."
It's not just the experts. Polls repeatedly show a striking level of negativity surrounding AI. Examples of ChatGPT saying scary things surely don't help. But those fears also make sense against the backdrop of a shaky economy and a distrust of Big Tech.
Goldman Sachs has forecast that AI systems could impact 300 million full-time jobs. Whereas previous technological advancements like automation have disproportionately impacted manual workers, AI promises to impact white-collar workers most — and that's amid fears of a credit crunch on Main Street and layoffs rolling through the likes of Disney, Salesforce, Meta, and more.
Then there's Big Tech's part in this. AI has been described as the next transformational technology, on a par with the creation of the internet or the television. But there are parallels, too, with social media. And we've all seen how that's playing out.
AI's make-it-or-break-it moment.
My phone, my hacker, and me
Frank Stockton for Insider
Avery Hartmans was at her bridal shower when she noticed something was off. She got two push alerts from Verizon containing account-access codes and a message thanking her for activating a new device. She thought it was a glitch.
In reality, she had been the victim of SIM swapping, a nefarious new form of technological identity theft. In just a few hours, the hacker wreaked havoc on Hartmans' life — activating new credit cards and racking up roughly $10,000 in purchases. Her bank, her phone company, and the police were useless, leaving her thousands of dollars in debt weeks before her wedding.
Read the hacking horror story.
Jamie Dimon to the rescue
Marianne Ayala/Insider
JPMorgan's CEO had become the de facto face of the banking industry as markets erupted into chaos during the Great Recession. His bank acquired not one but two troubled financial firms at the behest of the government back in 2008.
Dimon's hero status was short-lived — and he emerged bruised and battered. But now, he has found himself once again working with regulators to help contain a banking crisis — and this time, he appears poised to come out on top.
Here's how this time might be different.
Read more:
Boring offices are doomed
Getty; Marianne Ayala/Insider
Remote and hybrid work has transformed office attendance and allowed companies to cut back on their physical footprints, which has also made tenants more choosy about the spaces they do take.
Staid properties risk being left behind. And now, landlords of these older buildings face a reckoning.
What to know about the office doom loop.
Read more:
- Commercial real-estate loans are the next major risk for banks, a top analyst said. Here are the top 20 institutions exposed to property debt.
- Swipe your badge or get fired? Employers and workers face a reckoning over returning to the office.
The world's 'most feared law firm'
Ted Soqui for Insider
In just the past year, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has represented Elon Musk in his takeover of Twitter and FTX in the crypto exchange's bankruptcy proceedings. But behind the scenes, there's an internal shake-up happening that's been the talk of elite law-firm circles.
Insider spoke to founder John Quinn, as well as 60 current and former Quinn Emanuel attorneys. Together, they revealed previously unreported internal firm rivalries, tensions stemming from the generational changing of the guard, and insights into a revamping of the firm's partnership.
Inside the shake-up at Quinn Emanuel.
This week's quote:
"This essentially makes Disney the government."
— Ron Peri, a member of Walt Disney World's oversight district board, who admitted that Gov. Ron DeSantis' attempt to assume control of Disney's land has backfired.
More of this week's top reads:
- Wall Street's sharks are circling "dumb and greedy" banks on the verge of failing.
- It's becoming increasingly clear that fintech has a fraud problem.
- The under-the-radar reason so many people are sick of their jobs.
- A Rivian buyer waited three years for his dream car. It died within days.
- Twelve of the cheapest places in the world to live your best life abroad.
- Inside the schedule of a remote worker who takes afternoons off and works evenings.
- Why VCs are obsessed with vector-database startups like $700 million Pinecone.
- A 28-year-old investor explains the "most inexpensive way to buy real estate."
- Why pharmacy startups are losing their battle with giants like CVS and Walgreens.
Curated by Matt Turner. Edited by Dave Smith and Lisa Ryan. Sign up for more Insider newsletters here.