Connect with us

Published

on

Vehicles sit parked outside the Tesla Inc. solar panel factory in Buffalo, New York, U.S., on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2018.

Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Tesla is laying off 285 employees in the state of New York as part of a broader restructuring according to a WARN notice filed in the state. Most of these employees worked at the company’s Buffalo factory and a handful at a store and service center in the area per the filing.

Earlier this week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent a company-wide memo saying that the automaker would be reducing more than 10% of its global workforce. Few details have been shared by Tesla about the layoffs beyond that leaked memo which said the reduction in workforce would help, “prepare the company” for a “next phase of growth.”

The layoffs disclosed in Buffalo comprise a 14% reduction in headcount there.

Tesla took over the Buffalo factory after they completed a $2.6 billion acquisition of solar installer SolarCity in 2017.

The acquisition of SolarCity by Tesla was widely criticized as a bailout for an ailing solar business with deep ties to the Tesla CEO and board. Musk funded and co-founded SolarCity with his cousins, Lyndon and Peter Rive, and served as chairman there. Another Musk company, SpaceX, had purchased SolarCity bonds and if the company had gone bankrupt, they would have lost their investment as well.

Empire state taxpayers doled out around $1 billion to build the Buffalo factory, including equipment purchases, hoping to support the creation of thousands of high-tech jobs in the region. While Tesla said it would manufacture solar panels at the Buffalo factory, its efforts to grow its solar business have faltered through the years.

In 2023, solar deployments by Tesla declined to a total of 223 megawatts, down 36% from 348 megawatts in the previous year. That represented the lowest level of solar deployments for Tesla since 2020 when they reported 205 megawatts.

Tesla’s energy division still generates most of its revenue through sales of backup batteries, also known as battery energy storage systems, which are used in residential, business and utility-scale projects.

Instead of manufacturing solar panels as their primary business in Buffalo, Tesla assembles Supercharger equipment there and moved part of its Autopilot data labeling team there previously. The company has also told shareholders it would build supercomputer hardware in Buffalo.

Early this month, Reuters reported that Tesla would be focusing efforts on robotaxi technology and scrapping plans to produce a more affordable EV.

On Tuesday afternoon, Musk wrote in a post on his social network X that he is “not quite betting the company, but going balls to the wall for autonomy.”

Tesla has not yet said whether the company will stick with its 2023 “master plan,” which laid out “a proposed path to reach a sustainable global energy economy through end-use electrification and sustainable electricity generation and storage.”

Tesla plans to discuss first-quarter results with shareholders on April 23, and executives are expected to reveal more about the restructuring and strategy going forward then.

Continue Reading

Technology

OpenAI to launch ChatGPT for teens with parental controls as company faces scrutiny over safety

Published

on

By

OpenAI to launch ChatGPT for teens with parental controls as company faces scrutiny over safety

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman walks on the day of a meeting of the White House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence (AI) Education in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 4, 2025.

Brian Snyder | Reuters

OpenAI on Tuesday announced it will launch a dedicated ChatGPT experience with parental controls for users under 18 years old as the artificial intelligence company works to enhance safety protections for teenagers.

When OpenAI identifies that a user is a minor, they will automatically be directed to an age-appropriate ChatGPT experience that blocks graphic and sexual content and can involve law enforcement in rare cases of acute distress, the company said.

OpenAI is also developing a technology to better predict a user’s age, but ChatGPT will default to the under-18 experience if there is uncertainty or incomplete information.

The startup’s safety updates come after the Federal Trade Commission recently launched an inquiry into several tech companies, including OpenAI, over how AI chatbots like ChatGPT potentially negatively affect children and teenagers.

The agency said it wants to understand what steps these companies have taken to “evaluate the safety of these chatbots when acting as companions,” according to a release.

OpenAI also shared how ChatGPT will handle “sensitive situations” last month after a lawsuit from a family blamed the chatbot for their teenage son’s death by suicide.

Read more CNBC tech news

“We prioritize safety ahead of privacy and freedom for teens; this is a new and powerful technology, and we believe minors need significant protection,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote in a blog post on Tuesday.

In August, OpenAI said it would release parental controls to help them understand and shape how their teens are using ChatGPT. OpenAI shared more details about those parental controls on Tuesday, and it said they will be available at the end of the month.

The company’s upcoming controls will allow parents to link their ChatGPT account with their teen’s via email, set blackout hours for when their teen can’t use the chatbot, manage which features to disable, guide how the chatbot responds and receive notifications if the teen is in acute distress.

ChatGPT is intended for users who are ages 13 and up, OpenAI said.

“These are difficult decisions, but after talking with experts, this is what we think is best and want to be transparent in our intentions,” Altman wrote.

If you are having suicidal thoughts or are in distress, contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for support and assistance from a trained counselor

WATCH: FTC launches inquiry into AI chatbots acting as companions

FTC launches inquiry into AI chatbots acting as companions

Continue Reading

Technology

YouTube says it has paid creators more than $100 billion over last 4 years

Published

on

By

YouTube says it has paid creators more than 0 billion over last 4 years

A Youtube podcast microphone is seen at the Variety Podcasting Brunch Presented By YouTube at Austin Proper Hotel in Austin, Texas, on March 8, 2025.

Mat Hayward | Variety | Getty Images

YouTube said on Tuesday it has paid out over $100 billion to creators, artists and media companies since 2021.

The surge has been fueled in part by growing viewership on connected TVs. The number of channels making more than $100,000 from TV screens jumped 45% year over year, the company said.

YouTube Chief Product Officer Johanna Voolich praised the power of creators to “shape culture and entertainment in ways we never thought possible” in a release announcing the benchmark and a series of other new features.

The milestone comes as the Google-owned platform marks its 20th year and pushes to cement itself as one of the world’s most lucrative media businesses.

YouTube unveiled the updated payout figure and a slate of new creator tools at its annual Made on YouTube event in New York City.

Read more CNBC tech news

The company announced new artificial intelligence tools for YouTube Shorts, its short-form vertical video product. Creators will be able to turn raw footage into edited clips with AI and can add music, transitions and voiceover.

New features also include the ability to turn dialogue from eligible videos into a song to be used in the Short.

Google’s latest AI video generator, Veo 3, will also be integrated into Shorts, YouTube said.

Google uses a subset of YouTube videos to train Veo 3, to the surprise of many YouTube creators, CNBC reported in June.

YouTube turned 20 years old in April and announced it hosted over 20 billion videos on the platform, including music, Shorts, podcasts and more.

Last year, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said the company had paid $70 billion to creators between 2021 and 2024.

Continue Reading

Technology

TikTok deal to include new investors with ByteDance; Oracle to keep cloud agreement, sources say

Published

on

By

TikTok deal to include new investors with ByteDance; Oracle to keep cloud agreement, sources say

Cheng Xin | Getty Images

The framework agreement for the social media platform TikTok will include new investors as well as existing investors in the platform’s Chinese parent company ByteDance, sources told CNBC’s David Faber.

The deal is expected to close in the next 30 to 45 days, according to the sources, who asked not to be named because the details of the negotiations are confidential. As part of the agreement, Oracle will keep its cloud deal with the platform, the people said.

“Where this thing is capitalized and how large it is remains to be seen,” Faber said during CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on Tuesday. “‘I’m hearing it’s actually going to be relatively small in terms of the actual size of the checks that are written for the entity itself, and it will not be something that is going to go public at some point.”

The White House, TikTok and Oracle did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Read more CNBC tech news

TikTok’s future in the U.S. has been uncertain since 2024, when Congress passed a bill that would ban the platform unless its Chinese owner, ByteDance, divested from it. Lawmakers had grown concerned that the Chinese government could access sensitive data from American users or manipulate content on the platform.

Deal talks have dragged, with President Donald Trump extending the deadline three times since taking office in January. 

The new details about the deal come after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday that the U.S. and China have reached a “framework” deal for TikTok.

Bessent said Tuesday that commercial terms had been in place since March or April, but the Chinese put it on hold after Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff blitz.

Oracle has been floated as a potential investor or buyer of TikTok for months.

Reuters reported in January that the White House picked Oracle to handle TikTok’s data collection and software updates as part of a deal.

Trump has previously said he’d be open to Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison buying TikTok in the U.S.

WATCH: Faber Report: TikTok deal is close, sources say

Faber Report: TikTok deal is close, sources say

Continue Reading

Trending