tv Bloomberg Technology Bloomberg January 30, 2024 11:00am-12:00pm EST
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we will you know ahead of their earnings. ed: nero link puts its technology on a patient. we have more on the big step that aims to let humans control computers with their mind. caroline: how -- sees the current investing environment for the current era of the internet. let's check in on the market. the jewel reading shows that december was relatively hot. does that mean the fed cannot be pulling back on rates? some of the key companies that will be reporting earnings on the downside. 10-year gilts up as we see the market repricing. gdp in europe coming in better than expected, they managed to avoid recession and only just. the euro completely flat off of the lows. let's look at what is happening in the world of crypto.
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a lot of key conversations come up .5%. no great shakes, still slowly crawling back up from the $40,000 level. what you have on the micro? ed: it is gametime when it comes to earnings and big tech. you are right to say that ai is all good, how does it show up in the earnings of these companies? and has come to the market with its -- it is in production. growth when the report after the bell today, high double digits. that has been the story of the magnificent seven. that is the expectation. these names that are lower this morning, when they do report their numbers, do we see something material that says ai describing sales and it is making you super profitable? this is a day one of a massive week. caroline: from alphabet and
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microsoft, tech giants under pressure to live under the ai hype. here with the breakdown is jackie in washington. how likely are we to see any revenue in profit being driven thus far? jackie: it is a show me the money moment and we are a year into this ai boom. they have to have evidence. there is a reason it is harder to quantify because ai is embedded in so many different parts of the business. there are different places we can look to see proof that ai vets are paying off. -- vets are paying off. for microsoft, is the copilot product. they made this more widely available in january. even before that, they launched it in september and have been anything of the hype around how much it can. impact productivity those of scripture figures will be key. for google, it is more complex
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because they have been slower to push this out into their search tools and productivity suite. here we can look at the google cloud profit numbers. we saw that hit a new profitability level last year on the back of the ai startup business. again, they don't have a clean figure like nvidia has their a blockbuster chip to point to. ed: you have set us up really well. i was looking at the forecast and it is a pretty big range. microsoft, 51% eps growth. then you compare -- 51% for google. off a bed, the parent of google. let's shift to the alphabet story. we are super excited, caroline is excited, you are excited, google isn't advertising business. jackie: that is right. it is their juggernaut, they
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have to be very strategic when it comes to xavier becerra deploying some of these features. unlike microsoft who is more than happy to boost its search engine only has 30% of the market share, they don't have much to lose. google has been looking to take a more experimental approach and now that you have gemini coming out in september, investors are going to want to see a plan for how the snake to different. you're also going to want to look at youtube figures. are ai features yielding fruit when it comes to the search advertising and youtube engagement levels. is that making a difference? it is hard -- it is a little early to tell from the google front. ed: a few hours the remain before the company's post those numbers come check out the review that jackie wrote. let's keep it going, the conversation next is for adam benjamin. let's think about it more holistically. if you go to the index level,
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s&p 500, across the magnificent seven bucket, let's strip out tesla, we see 46% eps growth. the only comparable sector is utilities. it is the ai story on paper driving the gains. do you expect to seal will turns contribution from ai products this week? adam: thanks for having me. i think ai is a big overarching trend that is going to play out over many years. we are early days in this evolution. what i would say for your guests and your audience, everybody is paying attention to what this raining season is going to bring -- this burning season is going to bring but this is a journey. multiple phases of this and how we think about this trend, we have been tracking it many years. we are at the picks and
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troubles in terms of the infrastructure -- and shovels in terms of the structure that needs to get put in place and train these models. you mentioned microsoft copilot. i think this is happening but it is taking time. ed: earlier today we spoke with the chief of norway's saw the well -- norway's sovereign wealth fund and his book on what has been and what is to come. with the do this. >> we had a huge rally last year and a large proportion of the returns were from the top seven companies. if you adjust s&p for that, the return most of them like 12% instead of 26. you have to ask how long that is good to go on for. i am a diehard believer in ai and the effect it is going to have on our operations. in terms of ration, that is a different question. ed: that is his thesis.
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he sees the impact on ai in the real world but he is questioning the evaluation of those companies driving the story. are you questioning it? adam: the way i am thinking about it is last year was pretty much an ai basket. everything that had exposure to ai was a winner. a lot of stocks up some odd 40%. 2024 is about differentiation and the fundamentals are going to have to come through for companies that are true ai winners. some will be determined that they are not true ai beneficiaries. last week we saw intel report numbers and guidance and it was disappointing relative to what the street was expecting. that stock was up in q4 of last year. we are going to see that
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differentiation but it won't just be this earnings period, it will be multiple earnings period. caroline: i want to ask about concentration risk. you are somebody who has won out on allocations. managing overall funds that are named things like fidelity advisor technology fund or the portfolio, these are things that have -- at jp morgan, they are getting worried about concentration risk. do you think these names are vulnerable because they have become so important to overall benchmarks? adam: i know a lot of people focus on the magnificent seven and focus on the concentration of technology. i have the benefit of being a technology focused investor. tech funds and just tech and semiconductors, don't focus much on the concentration, how it is concentrating the market. what i would say is as you look at the magnificent seven, there are companies that have a broad
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exposure. tesla is focused on the electrical vehicle market. microsoft and aws and google are overlapping in the cloud computing market. they are all different in terms of core markets. you have to look at them as independent companies that have amazing business models. the overarching theme is they are benefiting and getting exposed to ai. in terms of how they're using that and how they change their businesses, it is super important. it is not just those companies that are going to adopt ai. is everything in tech and every company outside of tech. if you are not adopting ai and making good business more productive, you are probably going to be a loser in your end market. this is the theme that is going to touch all companies across all subsectors. caroline: ups today, 12,000 -- 1200 jobs going.
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when you are anticipating the calls with ceos, what is it you want to hear? is it more about subscriber growth? is it more about numbers and market penetration? for is it overall impact? adam: it depends on the company. we are looking for every 90 days these report cards for these companies. how are they doing on revenue growth? how are they doing profitability was? last year was a huge year for efficiency in terms of the pull forward on objects. we need to see revenues here and at performance was a multiple expansion in 2023. you are going to see the fundamentals drive these stocks in 2024, as your guest indicated. that is what i'm looking for. a report card every 90 days and
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then we are long-term investors, trying to find companies that are going to be the winners over the long term and those are the companies we have been investing in over the years. we have been there for a while and we will see where things progress. this ai is not going to be snap your fingers, it will take time. people need to be patient and see where things are progressing, as long as they're are moving in right direction. people will be encouraged. caroline: really great to have some time with you. we thank you. let's talk about underlying technology. near a link has its first ever patient, a step toward controlling computers with their minds. ed: here is a new name, super micro computer up 4%, had been up as much as 11%. it is an ai server maker.
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they have updated their sales forecast this year. the reason i bring it up is this is a stock up more than 80% in the last 80 days. more than 600% year to date in the last 12 months. outperforming nvidia, but we don't talk about it. $29 billion market cap, one of the winners in terms of the infrastructure play for ai. this is bloomberg. ♪
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control computers with their minds. lynn has the details. this is the first step, but it is a step. what we know about the procedure, the patient, and what the point of this was? lynn: it is the first step and at this point, i am impressed by any brain interface implant. i will call this a win. it involves a robot that funnels a way into a person's head. it uses a robot to implant a little chip that is about the size of a quarter. that chip is connected by thousands of wires and electrodes to the human brain. in that way it allows the human brain to be able to control electronic devices with just a
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mere thought. caroline: that is why those whose from als -- imagine stephen hawking being able to communicate faster than any speed typewriter. neuralink isn't alone and there are other companies doing this. lynn: i was talking this morning about a company who over a year ago announced that they had done the first brain interface implant in the u.s.. neuralink is not the first company to enter into this error of implants -- irrelevant plants -- era of implants. the devices themselves are more complex. involves thousands of wires, imagine what that looks like. a spider with thousands of legs
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versus other ones that may not make use of as many wires. caroline: we will see how to let that be -- telepathy continues to evolve. coming up, we are going to talk cars. mazda has come in hot record sales period. we will be back from president and ceo tom donnelly. other autos struggle with the tv landscape. staying with ev's, mary barra spoke with jonathan ferro moments ago to discuss the plans to sell 250 thousand electric vehicles and we introduce hybrids to gm's line-up. >> we are going to be building more ev's. we had a can trade with modules, we had to address that. we are on track for the first month and by the middle of the year, that should be behind us. that is going to allow us to build many more of the existing vehicles, like the catlike lyric
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caroline: volkswagen and vw feeling the slowing of the market and the dim landscape continues into 2024. they could to hold off on plans to seek outside investors for the better unit. the carmaker worries it want be able to make it on batteries at scale and is no longer privatizing -- this is fresh off of a decision to ice its evr listing amid market file listing -- volatility. ed: there is a bigger conversation to have. mastec posted -- mazda posted its best sales year and best your overall today.
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they announced the sale of a new vehicle. tom donnelly tortoise to walk through their results and the latest launch. cx70 brings you the midsize suv. you have the full spectrum of hybrid options. that is where it is at, a hybrid option. he watched, there with your ev. in the context of the cx 70, what is energy? tom: we are very excited about what it reveals about our breaded portfolio. we look at the electrification market as that of any intentional follower. if i look through 2030, we will have a full suite of the 25 vehicles and we have a three phased approach to how we are going to introduce plug-in hybrids and hybrid vehicles. we talked about cx 70 today.
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last year we introduced cx 90 with a plug-in hybrid. later this year we will introduced cx 50 with a hybrid version. we feel like we have the right technology for the marketplace today. by 2030 we will have a full lineup of electrified vehicles. ed: one of the questions from our audience was what happens if long-term the consumer does not go for ev? they do have a bias towards hybrid, how would that impact your strategy? i think about the comments from toyota where they see this 30% cap on bed -- on bev and into the future multiple drivetrain performance. tom: i use the term multi-solution approach and that is what we have been working for for years. by having hybrids and plug-in hybrids and a full suite of battery vehicles, we think we will be able to pivot to the market and what consumer demands will gravitate toward.
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ed: -- we are excited about our overall strategy. is a merging segment, so we are optimistic about the impact it will have on our brand. caroline: i can see why you are optimistic given your sales. i am interested into what you are seeing from a consumer. we heard from reno, vw, what are you seeing from a consumer adoption and desire to be spending a big purchase like big cars right now? tom: the market is strong overall, the industry is strong. there has been a shift toward more affordability. we noticed from earlier in the calendar year. we ended 2023 on a high note. i would say it is not just the
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quantity but the business quality. more specifically, we had our best customer experience results ever, our best owner loyalty results. while we are going the brand at an impressive rate, this is on the heels of really strong performance across our business. caroline: where is that brand really penetrating at the moment? is it about a u.s. user, european user? globally, i think about china and the competition coming from there. tom: my focus is primarily in the u.s. market and north america. we have achieved some oppressive results. each of the last four years we gained market share and a very challenging timeframe from covid to supply chain issues. we have been able to be very nimble and improve our performance year-over-year.
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we are optimistic about what 2024 represents. we think if we execute our plan we will have our best year in the u.s. market ever. we are really optimistic about the outlook. caroline: thank you, tom donnelly, finishing on an optimistic note. releasing traction right here in the u.s.. coming up, we will talk about traction we are seeing in crypto. bitcoin managing to call its way back after some volatility. we will be speaking with one of those particular companies that launched one, between washers. let's go gush 21shares -- 21shares. i think what happened with byd, we know they are managing purdue -- managing to produce an enormous amount of ev's. shares slumping. that is to meet the sales goals, hurting earnings overall and that has been having any impact on tesla.
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wearable -- we are up 2.7% on byd. this is bloomberg technology. ♪ j.p. morgan wealth management knows it's easy to get lost in investment research. get help with j.p morgan personal advisors. hey, david! ready to get started? work with advisors who create a plan with you, and help you find the right investments. so great getting to know you, let's take a look at your new investment plan. ok, great! this should have you moving in the right direction. thanks jen. get ongoing advice;
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caroline: welcome back to "bloomberg technology." i am caroline hyde in new york. ed: i'm ed ludlow in san francisco. caroline: treading water ahead of important earnings, microsoft and alphabet. we also have had some strong drugs data. the jobs data coming in from jolts and baby that cools the appetite from the market to be buying into stocks. maybe defied what had to cut as quickly as anticipated. crossing the terminal, nelson
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felt wanting to walk through his strategy. he is going to give us a white paper after disney's earnings. he is going to be recommending to bubble things like espn+ with a larger player interested in sports such as netflix. we are seeing both companies underwater. they want two people on the board come himself and someone else. is look at what is happening in bitcoin because it has been five straight months of gains. we haven't seen that since the heady days of covid when everyone was plowing in their money. we are up 50%. a letter that has to do with spot bitcoin etf's. let's talk to ophelia snyder. president of 21shares offering -- we have overall seen excitement,
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exuberance, perhaps a run-up and if all as people digest what happens. what have you seen in terms of flows and are they making you confident? ophelia: yes is the short answer to that question. is flows have been promising, one of the best etf lunches of all time. we have seen north of $600 million in assets come into our product in last couple of weeks. that is exciting because it is coming from a diversified base. while you are seeing some churn through legacy products, you are seeing a turn toward a new product in the market that has a lot of critical features toward welcoming advisors into the community which is ultimately how we are going to start a cd crypto ecosystem. ophelia: 21shares is crypto native and you have been doing futures offerings, bringing the first ever etp is related to this. now the spot bitcoin.
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ophelia: we have been doing this more than five years. we brought the first physically backed products to market in europe five years ago. we cover a wide range of assets to that platform and we run 40 products outside the u.s.. it is a big cohort and there is a lot of technical infrastructure that goes into supporting data that we are excited to bring to the u.s. in the u.s., i think it is good to make more time. we have some ethereum applications. caroline: you think the ftc will go with that? >> it is hard -- ophelia: it is hard to say at this stage. it is going to come down how the arguments in favor play into that. we are optimistic about it and looking forward to engaging with regulators. it is ushering in a new age of clarity which we have seen in
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other markets about what these regulations look like and what that means for the development of crypto markets. there is typically a process where once things start moving it becomes easier to have the ongoing dialogue. ed: there is a lot of data at our disposal to judge how this is going. across the 10 etf that are out in the market, they attracted $1 billion. to me, that does not seem that much after all the hype of recent months and all the investors around the world that said we are looking at it. is $1 billion a lot? what does it tell you about current demand or appetite? ophelia: what it tells me is it is very early. one of the pieces that is often missing around these etf's is there is any adoption cycle. just because a product exists does not mean everyone has access to it. it takes time for advisors to get through compliance and do
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diligence. that is when they are going to be looking under the hood and making sure these products behave popularly. -- behave properly. we have the discussions as we bring these products onto advisor platforms. where we are standing today, the majority of intermediated assets in the u.s. don't have access yet. what you are saying in that bed -- that net of $1 billion is primary being driven by either independent platforms were quite a bit of retail, a bit of self-directed. we have not gotten to the place where you are sing advisors or models begin to include these assets. had to get to that diligence process. denny to battle test them and make sure you -- they need to battle test them and make sure you are bringing best in class. that process takes three months. ed: you wrote about a bitcoin dominated new cycle. what happened next?
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-- what happens next? another bitcoin dominated new cycle? ophelia: historically you see waves. we are midway through a bitcoin dominated new cycle. the having hasn't happened yet. that is when rewards to miners our reduced by half. you will see a lot of focus on blue chips, usually focus on ethereum and solana. both from the crypto native community advisors and investors outside the u.s. who have access to these investment vehicles. that has been very interesting. we will see that, you see more interest, initially the largest ones. eventually done that longer chain as you get further into a more positive cycle for crypto assets. i think we will stay in bitcoin for a while longer but that will likely expand. ed: over the a snyder morning as
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author of a new book exploring the impact of blockchain's on the future of the internet called "read, write, own." it is a georgia have you on. congratulations. i'm sure a labor of love. that is trying to talk about some of the cultures within crypto. bitcoin and crypto has felt like a culture, a casino, more about investing and speculation. when does it become about usability, utility? chris: that is what my book is about, the productive side of blockchain's, not be expected if side. the blockchain's can be the foundation of a new era of the internet. the internet has become increasingly consolidated. the top five tech companies account for 50% of the nasdaq market cap, double from eight
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ago. and so forth. i think blockchain if you're agreeable technology for countering that consolidation and returning the internet to its original ideals. that is what my book is about. not the speculative side but the productive side and that is why entrepreneurs work with are excited. i wanted to tell that side of the story because i had not felt like it had been heard. caroline: you made your name with great bets on kickstarter, pinterest, that he started to double down in the areas of coinbase. this goes on your portfolio has exposure to. where is the energy going and how much is that study to dovetail with the new explosion of ai? chris: i view blockchain's as expensive technology where you can build games, social networks, interesting stuff around new ways for creative people to make new income
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streams. for example, by selling digital collectibles. caroline: music. chris: which is important in the age of ai because genitive ai lets you create content cheaply and will put downward pressure on creative people's business models. another example with ai are things like deepfakes. we are seeing more and more deepfakes. you will see more sophisticated things like phishing attacks. one thing ai is good at that blockchain is that is saying this videocam from bloomberg and you can cryptographic reprove that. that is important in a world where what was much ground proof has become unreliable. i am pro-ai, but it is important to have counterbalancing technologies. blockchain is a counterbalancing technology to ai. ed: i want to go back to the origin of the rationale of blockchain.
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if i apply the term d5 to everything, what is the conclusion you reach in the book with your own attitude toward the promise of d5 -- of defi. chris: that refers to decentralized finance, we have been working hard on policy matters and try to put forward proposals. there is innovating stuff happening and people underestimate how successfully -- how successful it was. with the market volatility, these defi protocols performed perfectly. . not have issues. -- they did not have issues. we have to figure out ways for defi to expand beyond the internet culture into the broader world. it is a port to work with regulators, work with existing intrusions, work with exchanges
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and all of the other participants in the broader financial ecosystem. ed: what happened to the startups last year? caroline and i look at the backward looking data, if you look at it from an -- pretty 23 was in were difficult year. how did your funds perform and what were the lessons you learn through that? chris: i am not allowed to speak about our own returns, but my view if you look back at the history of technology is an omission and financial markets are independent. facebook and youtube or started in a post .com bubble and crash. microsoft and apple were started in the 1970's in a high interest rate environment. we do mostly early-stage investing at re-think -- we look for technology trends and how they're moving and less of the day-to-day movements. we have been very active, we continue very consistently to
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deploy capital. we find great entrepreneurs. i am excited about the entrepreneurs i see in the space. that is what i talk about in the book, all of the new and exciting ideas. some of that story has not been fully told so i wanted to represent that and show the new things that can be built. caroline: when you're thinking -- when you are thinking of how much you deployed, are you able to give any update if that cadence is growing at the moment , whether you have deployed most? chris: i don't know exactly what i can disclose, but we are well-capitalized. the way i look at it is a great option winners walk in the door, we have capital and we will give them capital. we don't have a base and try to put money how to work if we don't find great people and great ideas. lately, there was ftx and negative things that happened.
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i see a renaissance beginning at the early-stage with innovation and new ideas. i expect we continue to remain very active in the early-stage venture. ed: it is an election year. policy, future legislation has been a discussion for your industry. how do you approach your lobbying efforts or communication with both sides of this election race to build it long-term? chris: i started going to d.c. to talk to policymakers and one of my realizations is that big tech, big banks, other parts of the economy are well represented in d.c.. we felt small tech, startups, did not have representation. we are -- we decided we are a firm that can help with that. we decided to get more involved in politics.
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our senses protect, pro start up. a lot of stuff with blockchain is playing out in courts. ports take many years and that creates uncertainty and uncertainty deters good actors and attract bad actors. a way to approach tech policy is to look at it holistically. every technology has good things in bad things about it. the right policy is crafted to maximize the good and minimize the bad. that is what we advocate for. caroline: i am interested in what you are ultimately seeing -- where you are seeing this renaissance coming from? those in crypto are decentralized. i think of skye mavis and how xm infinity grew up in -- blew up in asia. where is the excitement and where you invest? is it always in equity? chris: we do equity and token
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investments. new york in the u.s. is the hub for this blockchain activity. it is really a bobo movement. china is doing -- a global movement. china is doing a lot. korea is active. japan. we opened a u.k. office. it is a very global movement more than most technologies. that skews some perspective in the u.s. stablecoins which are basically digital dollars are very popular. $600 billion in transactions last month. a lot of that happens around the world and we don't see that as much here. caroline: we have a fed. chris: the payment systems work well here and we have access to the dollar. it really is a global movement. ed: do you hold bitcoin or any other digital tokens personally? chris: i am very bullish.
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i do. i am not supposed to talk about my physical links but i do have a lot of crypto. caroline: chris dixon, managing partner at a16z. great you have your the program. chris: thank you. ed: tiktok testing out a future that will push deeper into e-commerce. details next. this is "bloomberg technology." ♪ what about zocdoc? so many options. yeah, and dr. xichun even takes your sketchy insurance. xi-chun, xi-chun, xi-chun! you've got more options than you know. book now.
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ed: time for talking tech. ibm is giving its u.s. managers who are working remotely and ultimatum, either move to a location near the office or leave the company according to an internal memo. managers must live within 50 miles of any office by august. x is reactivating searches related to taylor swift. searches for her name were temporarily disabled after explicit ai generated images of swift made the rounds on x. other figures have become targets of deepfakes including president joe biden. tiktok is testing a feature that would make video posts probable
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-- shoppable. it would encourage the rest to find similar items on tiktok shop. a spokesperson confirmed the future is in early test. caroline: let's get more on that with alex. before we delve into the focus of washington and social media, focus on where they are trying to evolve. any post i put on tiktok, they can hunt the makeup behind me or whatever i might be wearing? alex: in three, that is what it would do. tiktok looks at the post and says you are trying on lipstick or walking her dog with a leash and link you to a shopping page with items tagged as similar to the video. this is a departure from how shopping works on tiktok now. currently, brands and creators and influencers who are proved -- you are approved tag products on their videos.
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while that has gotten people to purchase on the app, it has got users complaining. these influencers are incentivized, they were to drive revenue or make commission. there are some complaints. layering. this technology will make sure these videos are not just people trying to sell you something. you can shop from something not making a sales pitch purchased just an interesting video of rocks a geologist is sharing. ed: the user response is interesting because there are the items themselves, some are not legit. in some cases, the tech isn't working 100%. alex: exactly. there have been issues with counterfeits and copycats. people reporting to sell when it is not in fact a brand, or examples like the one i saw before i wrote this story were
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amateurs -- where i mentioned a geologist short of rocks and the technology tagged a bunch of nail products and rings to that video. you like precious gems, i don't know if polish is right for you. this is going to be an evolving process. what this would do is supercharge their e-commerce push. i have been told that internally the company, commerce is top priority. it seems like they are trying to pull up the stops to get people purchasing off of thosek caroline: we wait to see what the leaders of these businesses, not just tiktok but instagramming and meta have to say. that is it for this edition of "bloomberg technology." ed: thank you to everyone who told us that you listen to the show as a podcast.
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i find that interesting. keep telling us how you listen. the podcast is on spotify, apple, and abe platforms. we are a live tv show and we love when you tune in. from new york city and san francisco, this is "bloomberg technology." ♪ thanks to avalara, we can calculate sales tax automatically. avalarahhhhhh what if tax rates change? ahhhhhh filing sales tax returns? ahhhhhh business license guidance? ahhhhhh -cross-border sales? -ahhhhhh -item classification? -ahhhhhh does it connect with acc...? ahhhhhh ahhhhhh ahhhhhh it's easy to get lost in investment research. introducing j.p. morgan personal advisors. hey david. connect with an advisor to create your personalized plan. let's find the right investments for your goals okay, great. j.p. morgan wealth management.
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