26 March 2023

Starbucks’ new CEO, Laxman Narasimhan, plans to work at one of the coffee chain’s stores for half a day every month. The CEO, who took the reins of the company earlier this week, stated in a letter to employees that he intends to remain connected to the culture and customers of the company, as well as its challenges and opportunities. He also expects his leadership team to ensure that the support centers are involved in discussions and improvements with the stores. Narasimhan joined Starbucks last October and spent several months learning about the business, including undergoing 40 hours of barista training and wearing the green apron of the company’s baristas. Despite his new role as CEO, Narasimhan plans to continue working as a barista to stay connected to the company’s culture and customers. The announcement comes at a difficult time for Starbucks, with over 190 of the company-owned locations voting to unionize as of Friday, citing concerns about working conditions, understaffing, and unreliable scheduling. The National Labor Relations Board has recorded the votes. Starbucks CEO’s Past Experiences Narasimhan was previously CEO of Reckitt, which owns brands like Lysol and Durex. Before that, he worked at PepsiCo and McKinsey.

According to Bloomberg, Warren Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and a billionaire investor, held multiple conversations with members of President Biden’s team over the past week, discussing the possibility of him potentially investing in the regional US banking system to stabilize it. During the calls, Buffett also provided “advice and guidance” to the White House officials on how to respond to the US banking crisis. Buffett has a history of helping to bolster US banks during periods of economic stress, particularly during the 2008 financial crisis when he invested $5 billion in Goldman Sachs. Currently, regional banks are facing a run from concerned depositors after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank of New York. This has fueled worries about global economic contagion, particularly after trouble at First Republic and Credit Suisse. Despite the largest US banks’ efforts to rescue First Republic with a $30 billion bailout, its stock has remained under intense pressure, and shares were down as much as 37% in premarket trading on Monday. Meanwhile, S&P slashed First Republic’s credit rating to B+ from BB+ on Sunday, and investors have expressed skepticism about UBS’s $3.2 billion deal to take over Credit Suisse. The latter has been in danger of collapse for days after disclosing “material weaknesses” in its financial reporting, leading to a crisis of confidence. The bank’s shares, along with UBS’s, were down in Monday trading. Despite a move by federal regulators, backed by President Biden, to guarantee all deposits at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank following their collapse, bank stocks have struggled, and critics argue that this move was a bailout that will eventually lead to higher costs for bank customers. Biden and other administration officials have repeatedly stated that US taxpayers won’t be on the hook for the federal intervention. Connect with us for more US Banking details in future

Bill Gates has recently published a seven-page letter called “The Age of AI has Begun,” in which he discusses his thoughts on the future of AI. Gates believes that developing AI is just as important as the creation of microprocessors, personal computers, the internet, and mobile phones. Gates released the letter on the same day that Google introduced its AI chatbot, Bard, and a week after the announcement of OpenAI’s GPT-4. The billionaire has previously expressed his excitement for the potential of AI, particularly in its use as a tutor in education or for providing medical advice in areas where doctors are scarce. However, Gates also acknowledges the concerns surrounding artificial intelligence, such as the possibility of humans misusing it or the creation of “strong” AI that can establish their own goals as technology improves over time. In his letter, Gates discusses how AI can be used as a tool to improve productivity and to address global inequities in areas such as healthcare, education, and the workplace. Productivity Enhancement using AI Gates has written about the potential use of AI in the workplace as a “digital personal assistant” to improve employee productivity. This idea is not new, as he previously discussed it in February. Gates suggested that integrating AI into digital work tools such as Microsoft Office could assist with managing and writing emails. According to Gates, these AI-generated “personal agents” could serve as valuable resources for employees to communicate with, armed with vast knowledge and data on their company and industry. Gates wrote that as computing power becomes cheaper, the ability of AI models like GPT to generate ideas will be increasingly comparable to having a white-collar worker on hand to assist with various tasks. AI for Healthcare: A digital helper According to Gates, in the healthcare industry, AI could be utilized to alleviate healthcare workers of certain tasks such as filing insurance claims, completing paperwork, and drafting notes for doctor visits. The implementation of AI could enable healthcare workers to be more efficient and effective with patients, particularly in impoverished countries where many people don’t have access to medical professionals. AI could also assist in treating patients who don’t have access to health facilities, Gates added. Gates mentioned that AI is already being used in healthcare to analyze medical data and design drugs, but the next wave of AI tools could also aid in predicting medication side effects and calculating dosage levels. For crops and livestock in low-income countries, Gates wrote that AI could help design seeds that are adapted to local climates and develop vaccines for livestock. These innovations could be crucial as extreme weather and climate change continue to affect subsistence farmers in these regions. Education: Teachers aren’t going away — but they’ll need to adapt According to Gates, AI has the potential to revolutionize education by personalizing the learning experience for students in the next 5-10 years. He said that AI could determine a student’s learning style and what motivates them, as well as identify the reasons why they lose interest in certain subjects. AI can also assist teachers in developing course instruction and evaluating students’ understanding of classroom topics. However, Gates emphasized that even with the development of AI, great relationships between students and teachers will continue to be the foundation of learning. The use of AI in the classroom will enhance but never replace the work that teachers and students do together. In addition, Gates believes that AI should be equally accessible to low-income schools in the US and worldwide to prevent students in low-income households from being left behind. He also noted that teachers need to adapt to the changing landscape of education technology, including AI. He suggested that teachers could allow students to use AI like GPT to write a first draft of an essay that they would then personalize in later drafts. Ultimately, Gates sees AI as a valuable tool in education but stresses the need to mitigate risks and ensure that the benefits are widely spread.

When will it happen, and who will it be? Over the past years, the net worth of billionaires has continued to increase, and it appears inevitable that a trillionaire will emerge in the near future. Here’s everything you need to know:  When will someone be worth $1 trillion? Although the net worths of the world’s richest people are constantly fluctuating, several financial calculators have tried to predict when the first trillionaire will emerge, but it is difficult to give a precise answer. Approve, a finance and procurement platform, examined the financial status of the world’s richest elites by analyzing data from the 30 wealthiest people globally. Their findings indicate that someone’s net worth will probably surpass $1 trillion earlier than anticipated, most likely before the end of this decade. Based on the net worths of these individuals in January 2022, the website calculated that the first trillionaire could emerge as soon as 2024, although this timeline may change depending on the world economy, and it is possible that it could be pushed back a few years. Who will it be, and will there be others Trillionaire? At one time, Elon Musk, CEO of Twitter and founder of Tesla, seemed like the obvious choice to become the world’s first trillionaire. However, his net worth has been plummeting recently, and he is no longer the clear frontrunner for this title. There are still several potential candidates who could become the world’s first trillionaire. One of them is Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, who held the title of the world’s richest man for many years before being overtaken by Musk. He is currently the third-richest person on Earth, with a net worth of $154 billion, according to Forbes. Another potential candidate is genome researcher Craig Venter, who could become extremely wealthy if his research leads to a cure for cancer. However, he is less likely to reach the trillion-dollar mark as things currently stand. Chinese tech company ByteDance Technology’s founder, Zhang Yiming, who is valued at $55 billion, and Indian mogul and chairman of Reliance Industries Limited, Mukesh Ambani, who is valued at $83 billion, are also cited by Approve as potential trillionaire candidates. According to Mark Cuban, a billionaire entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, the world’s first trillionaires will likely come from the tech space. Cuban believes that “somebody who masters AI and all its derivatives and applies it in ways we never thought of” will become the first trillionaire. He added that we will “see more technological advances over the next ten years than we have over the last thirty. It’s just going to blow everything away.”