Today I drove through the suburbs, reader. After weeks of unpleasant hot girl walks on highways and under freeways in my new hometown of San Diego, I finally got a car. Although it wasn't the purple Jeep Wrangler of my 15-year-old dreams, I'm pretty excited. It's a sunroofed VW ID.4 that's smooth like butter.
I kind of chose the car off its vibes, but recent EV developments made me pretty excited to join the e-club. Nissan announced that it'll repurpose Leaf batteries to power buildings. Software is continually improving. And they're starting to get much more affordable (especially with the Ford and Tesla price cuts).
Its first test is helping me move into my new apartment. And then I'm ready to drive up to LA to visit my mom. But before we trek inter-city, let's dive into today's tech.
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Welcome to the new "Cerebral Valley." Techies fled from San Francisco during the pandemic, and its resurgence stalled for a while. But ChatGPT and generative AI have spurred a "gold rush" back to Northern California.
- Entrepreneurs are all keen to cash in on the emerging industry. And many are converging in one neighborhood: Hayes Valley. It's just south of Japantown, mere blocks from San Francisco City Hall, and north of the Mission District.
- The neighborhood has attracted "crazy hackers." Someone even said it would be "irresponsible" to not work on generative AI in San Francisco. And the pitch is working — people are moving back.
- It's kind of the perfect storm, my colleague Thomas Maxwell reports. There aren't any skeptics in the space yet, and the majority of generative AI investments land in the Bay Area.
More on the race back to Northern California — and innovation — here.
In other news:
2. Oracle's leaked org chart. The database giant has been through it recently. A prominent co-CEO contender recently bounced and the advertising division just went through layoffs. This leaked org chart shows what the company's leadership looks like now.
3. These are the schools and unis that have banned ChatGPT. Public school districts in New York and Los Angeles — the two largest in the country — have both already restricted access to the chatbot. Many universities also took steps to stop ChatGPT usage. Check the list out here.
4. Here's how this USC student org lands lucrative brand deals. USC Reach helps students manage being a content creator and student at the same time. It's helped students strike partnerships with the likes of Coca-Cola, Nintendo, and Bumble. Check out its email template and pitch deck here.
5. Laid off Twitter employees still have their laptops. Multiple Tweeps still have their company laptops, well after getting laid off. They're digitally locked but some are afraid of legal repercussions, according to a Wired report. Dive into their digital dilemma here.
6. Insurance companies refuse to back some Kia and Hyundai models. Thanks to a TikTok trend, State Farm and Progressive are no longer writing new policies for older Hyundai and Kia models in certain cities. More on the insecure situation here.
7. Digital health companies are in for a rough year. Analysts and CEOs predict that more than half of them will shutter this year. Follow their rise and fall here. Bonus: A digital health company asked employees to write positive Glassdoor reviews to counter the negative ones.
8. Big Tech's big lie. Dehumanizing. Gut-wrenching. Slap in the face. Betrayed. Getting laid off has a lot of complex emotions. And it feels even muddier when these people told you for years that you were a family. This is how tech's illusion of family has fallen apart.
Odds and ends:
9. 'Twas the season to cry in airports. This baggage handler at Dallas Fort Worth Airport said she had to face daily lines of crying passengers during the holiday season. She also dealt with around 70 lost items per day. This is what her distraught holiday season was like.
10. Ukrainian troops are calling the US military in the middle of shootouts with Russia for help fixing their artillery. The on-call team is located in Poland and consists of troops, civilians, and contractors. More on this communication operation here.
What we're watching today:
Curated by Diamond Naga Siu in San Diego. (Feedback or tips? Email dsiu@insider.com or tweet @diamondnagasiu) Edited by Matt Weinberger (tweet @gamoid) in San Francisco and Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.
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