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Many AI companies struggle with customers understanding how the product won’t take away their ability to think for themselves. A few took the opportunity of the Super Bowl to change the narrative. There’s no greater opportunity to reach 123 million live viewers at once and get massive press buzz, even if it cost $7 million for a 30-second spot.

While many tech evangelists proclaim that artificial intelligence is the future, the majority of the public remains skeptical. According to a recent Pew Research Study, 52 percent of Americans are “more concerned than excited about the growth of AI.” Only 10 percent are more excited than concerned about the possibilities.

When Chat GPT came out, people were amazed at how it could write essays or create scripts based on the dialogue from their favorite shows. That’s changing, as more stories about AI replacing jobs and the need for regulation arise. 

“There was a feeling of wonder and awe,” said advertising agency Walrus co-founder and chief creative officer Deacon Webster. “And then there was a negative feeling like, ‘Oh my God, none of us knowledge workers are going to have jobs.'”

There many winners and losers among the messages attempted by brands in the big Super Bowl advertising bets. AI was chasing an image revamp. Sunday was the first step in accomplishing that.

“Super Bowl is the last big sort of mass gathering,” Webster said. “It allows you to kind of get out there and put some brand messaging in front of tons and tons of people. I think no matter how much one-to-one advertising is out there, there’s something about sort of a shared experience.”

In Microsoft’s Super Bowl ad, a group of people overcome challenges ranging from opening their own business to getting a college degree. It’s not just thanks to their grit and ingenuity. It’s also thanks to the assistance of Copilot, Microsoft’s “everyday AI companion.”

“There’s a little bit of skepticism, hesitation in terms of how someone can go about using something so new, but not knowing that it’s actually a really accessible, relevant and simple tool to use,” said Divya Kumar, Microsoft‘s GM of search and AI marketing. “AI search has been around in the market for 20-something years. So we want to bridge that gap between the early adopters and mainstream consumers.”

Etsy showed how its AI-powered Gift Mode could help find the perfect present for France. Google Pixel’s commercial focused on how its tools help those who are visually impaired take photographs. And, Crowdstrike showed how AI tools could help fight cyberattacks in a Western cyberpunk-themed commercial. 

“It’s really giving companies a chance , especially with the advertising, to pitch their angle of how is this going to be a positive thing for people for humanity and to be able to see it in the light that it creates a positive impact,” said Gaurav Misra, CEO of AI-powered video creation software Captions.

Creations makes videos in real-time, which brings up concerns over how the technology could be abused to manipulate content and create misinformation. It can also help people connect, as a recent New York Times article about how people fell in love using Captions AI translation software pointed out. That story helped the company explain the benefits of its product.

“You can speak in English, and it’ll make it look like you’re speaking French or German or something else, right?” Misra said. “It’s the type of thing that just wouldn’t have been possible before, and opens up new sort of possibilities of what people can do with it, and how people can communicate across different languages and cultures.”

There’s no bigger stage to get your humanizing message across than the Super Bowl, Microsoft’s Kumar said. The company also timed the ad campaign to a full user interface redesign of Copilot, which made it easier to see the prompts and gave more visual examples. It used real-life examples from customers to create the ad.

“It’s also a good learning experience because this is a great way for us to reach out to an audience that otherwise might not be fully in the know what Copilot can do, and then also learn from that experience in the upcoming marketing beats that we want to do,” she said.

Microsoft recently expanded access of Copilot to the small business community and launched a new premium subscription for individuals.

David Jones, The Brandtech Group founder and CEO, what America watched Sunday was the first attempt to have people understand that AI will change every aspect of our lives by doing everything better, faster and cheaper.

“What we saw in the Super Bowl are the embryonic early steps in this, but pretty soon it will be as pervasive as mobile or the internet or electricity,” said Jones, whose firm focuses on digital and generative AI marketing companies. “Nobody asks today ‘how will the internet be sold to us’ or ‘how will mobile be sold to us.’ They are at the heart of everything we do. (Generative) AI will be the same, but on steroids.”

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Trump aims to cut $6 billion from NASA budget, shifting $1 billion to Mars-focused missions

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Trump aims to cut  billion from NASA budget, shifting  billion to Mars-focused missions

The Trump administration has floated a plan to trim about $6 billion from the budget of NASA, while allocating $1 billion of remaining funds to Mars-focused initiatives, aligning with an ambition long held by Elon Musk and his rocket maker SpaceX.

A copy of the discretionary budget posted to the NASA website on Friday said that the change focuses NASA’s funding on “beating China back to the Moon and on putting the first human on Mars.”

NASA also said it will need to “streamline” its workforce, information technology services, NASA Center operations, facility maintenance, and construction and environmental compliance activities, and terminate multiple “unaffordable” missions, while reducing scientific missions for the sake of “fiscal responsibility.”

Janet Petro, NASA’s acting administrator, said in an agency-wide email on Friday that the proposed lean budget, which would cut about 25% of the space agency’s funding, “reflects the administration’s support for our mission and sets the stage for our next great achievements.”

Petro urged NASA employees to “persevere, stay resilient, and lean into the discipline it takes to do things that have never been done before — especially in a constrained environment,” according to the memo, which was obtained by CNBC. She acknowledged the budget would “require tough choices,” and that some of NASA’s “activities will wind down.”

The document on NASA’s website said it’s allocating more than $7 billion for moon exploration and “introducing $1 billion in new investments for Mars-focused programs.”

SpaceX, which is already among the largest NASA and Department of Defense contractors, has long sought to launch a manned mission to Mars. The company says on its website that its massive Starship rocket is designed to “carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.”

Musk, who is the founder and CEO of SpaceX, has a central role in President Donald Trump’s administration, leading an effort to slash the size, spending and capacity of the federal government, and influencing regulatory changes through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Musk, who frequently makes aggressive and incorrect projections for his companies, said in 2020 that he was “highly confident” that SpaceX would land humans on Mars by 2026.

Petro highlighted in her memo that under the discretionary budget, NASA would retire the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, the Orion spacecraft and Gateway programs.

It would also put an end to its green aviation spending and to its Mars Sample Return (MSR) Program, which sought to use rockets and robotic systems to “collect and send samples of Martian rocks, soils and atmosphere back to Earth for detailed chemical and physical analysis,” according to a website for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Some of the biggest reductions at NASA, should the budget get approved, would hit the space agency’s space science, Earth science and mission support divisions.

Petro didn’t name any specific aerospace and defense contractors in her agency-wide email. However SpaceX, ULA and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are positioned to continue to conduct launches in the absence of the SLS. Boeing is currently the prime contractor leading the SLS program.

“This is far from the first time NASA has been asked to adapt, and your ability to deliver, even under pressure, is what sets NASA apart,” she wrote.

President Trump’s nominee to lead NASA, tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, still has to be approved by the U.S. Senate. His nomination was advanced out of the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday.

WATCH: CNBC’s interview with NASA’s astronauts on their nine months in space

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Temu halts shipping direct from China as de minimis tariff loophole is cut off

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Temu halts shipping direct from China as de minimis tariff loophole is cut off

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Chinese bargain retailer Temu changed its business model in the U.S. as the Trump administration’s new rules on low-value shipments took effect Friday.

In recent days, Temu has abruptly shifted its website and app to only display listings for products shipped from U.S.-based warehouses. Items shipped directly from China, which previously blanketed the site, are now labeled as out of stock.

Temu made a name for itself in the U.S. as a destination for ultra-discounted items shipped direct from China, such as $5 sneakers and $1.50 garlic presses. It’s been able to keep prices low because of the so-called de minimis rule, which has allowed items worth $800 or less to enter the country duty-free since 2016.

The loophole expired Friday at 12:01 a.m. EDT as a result of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in April. Trump briefly suspended the de minimis rule in February before reinstating the provision days later as customs officials struggled to process and collect tariffs on a mountain of low-value packages.

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The end of de minimis, as well as Trump’s new 145% tariffs on China, has forced Temu to raise prices, suspend its aggressive online advertising push and now alter the selection of goods available to American shoppers to circumvent higher levies.

A Temu spokesperson confirmed to CNBC that all sales in the U.S. are now handled by local sellers and said they are fulfilled “from within the country.” Temu said pricing for U.S. shoppers “remains unchanged.”

“Temu has been actively recruiting U.S. sellers to join the platform,” the spokesperson said. “The move is designed to help local merchants reach more customers and grow their businesses.”

Before the change, shoppers who attempted to purchase Temu products shipped from China were confronted with “import charges” of between 130% and 150%. The fees often cost more than the individual item and more than doubled the price of many orders.

Temu advertises that local products have “no import charges” and “no extra charges upon delivery.”

The company, which is owned by Chinese e-commerce giant PDD Holdings, has gradually built up its inventory in the U.S. over the past year in anticipation of escalating trade tensions and the removal of de minimis.

Shein, which has also benefited from the loophole, moved to raise prices last week. The fast-fashion retailer added a banner at checkout that says, “Tariffs are included in the price you pay. You’ll never have to pay extra at delivery.”

Many third-party sellers on Amazon rely on Chinese manufacturers to source or assemble their products. The company’s Temu competitor, called Amazon Haul, has relied on de minimis to ship products priced at $20 or less directly from China to the U.S.

Amazon said Tuesday following a dustup with the White House that had it considered showing tariff-related costs on Haul products ahead of the de minimis cutoff but that it has since scrapped those plans.

Prior to Trump’s second term in office, the Biden administration had also looked to curtail the provision. Critics of the de minimis provision argue that it harms American businesses and that it facilitates shipments of fentanyl and other illicit substances because, they say, the packages are less likely to be inspected by customs agents.

— CNBC’s Gabrielle Fonrouge contributed to this report.

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Jeff Bezos discloses plan to sell up to $4.8 billion in Amazon stock

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Jeff Bezos discloses plan to sell up to .8 billion in Amazon stock

Jeff Bezos, founder and executive chairman of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post, takes the stage during The New York Times’ annual DealBook Summit, at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, Dec. 4, 2024.

Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos plans to sell up to 25 million shares in the company over the next year, according to a financial filing on Friday.

Bezos, who stepped down as CEO in 2021 but remains Amazon’s top shareholder, is selling the shares as part of a trading plan adopted on March 4, the filing states. The stake would be worth about $4.8 billion at the current price.

The disclosure follows Amazon’s first-quarter earnings report late Thursday. While profit and revenue topped estimates, the company’s forecast for operating income in the current quarter came in below Wall Street’s expectations.

The results show that Amazon is bracing for uncertainty related to President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs. The company landed in the crosshairs of the White House this week over a report that Amazon planned to show shoppers the cost of the tariffs. Trump personally called Bezos to complain, and Amazon clarified that no such change was coming.

Bezos previously offloaded about $13.5 billion worth of Amazon shares last year, marking his first sale of company stock since 2021.

Since handing over the Amazon CEO role to Andy Jassy, Bezos has spent more of his time on his space exploration company, Blue Origin, and his $10 billion climate and biodiversity fund. He’s used Amazon share sales to help fund Blue Origin, as well as the Day One Fund, which he launched in September 2018 to provide education in low-income communities and combat homelessness.

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