Check out the bonus Killing IT content on MSP Radio's Business of Tech podcast! Today's a great day to subscribe to that: https://www.businessof.tech/subscribe/ -- -- --  Topic 1: The Current State of Mergers, Acquisition, and MSP Consolidation Mergers and Acquisitions are alive and well in the MSP channel. Jay McBain from Canalys predicts a growth of M&A of 50% in 2024. In addition to MSPs themselves, he says that we’ll see some major vendors acquired as well. The promise of these larger organizations is always that they’ll bring efficiency and profit. So far, that hasn’t happened. B ..read more

Topic 1: Chat GPT 1 year later. AI Article Summary: Elon Musk creates his own AI company called X.AI, while Satya Nadella of Microsoft invests in OpenAI and accelerates plans to incorporate AI into Microsoft's products. OpenAI releases ChatGPT as a "low key research preview," which becomes a hit. Meta, led by Mark Zuckerberg, faces challenges with its own chatbot and struggles with the decision to go open-source. Microsoft introduces its own chatbot in Bing, surpassing Google's efforts. Geoffrey Hinton, a prominent AI scientist at Google, decides to quit and reflects on the rapid advancements ..read more

We're Baaaaaack! The Killing IT team returns . . . with a fun and educational Q4 show.  Topic 1: Overworking  Have you heard the term Over Employment or Overworking? These are folks who manage to hold down two or three full time jobs using apps and BS. Are these just eager, hardworking "gig" folks, or are they thieves who are simply more interested in making money than earning an honest living? A few links: https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7begx/overemployed-hustlers-exploit-chatgpt-to-take-on-even-more-full-time-jobs https://www.wired.com/story/remote-tech-workers-secret-multiple-jo ..read more

Topic 1: How much will AI change our business in the next twelve months? ChatGPT now has over 100 million users. Government wants to regulate it. We’re past the hockey stick moment.  https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/14/u-s-tech-policy-must-keep-pace-with-ai-innovation/  --- Topic 2: Oh Dear God - Minority Report crack for Ryan: Movie clip reconstructed by an AI reading mice's brains as they watch Researchers have put together a 30-second movie clip based on a group of mice's brain activity data that was recorded while they watched the footage https://www.newscientist.com/article/237194 ..read more

Topic 1: The Arms Race is Here...AI is Definitely Moving Fast, but Will It Break Things? ChatGPT is now integrated in Bing as “Prometheus.” That sounds ominous. But Bard is also coming. And now Ernie. And Claude. Soon there will be AI bots generating “conversations” and disrupting the search industry on all sides of the globe. Is that a good thing? https://www.reuters.com/technology/chinas-baidu-finish-testing-chatgpt-style-project-ernie-bot-march-2023-02-07/ https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/08/chinese-tech-giant-alibaba-working-on-a-chatgpt-rival-shares-jump.html Sample alternative tools -  ..read more

Topic 1: Score 1 for the Good Guys in the Cyber Wars https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-login-0f2b3e6a-1272-4510-8fd2-c1aa9128b8db.html In a significant development in the fight against ransomware, the FBI announces that they have shut down a notorious cyber gang after infiltrating their system months ago and secretly giving decryption keys to ransomware victims. Topic 2: Ummmm … This is Some Seriously Scary Big Brother Stuff https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3p7xj/scientists-are-getting-eerily-good-at-using-wifi-to-see-people-through-walls-in-detail Scientists have announced that they are ..read more

Topic 1: Sorry: Let’s talk jobs. December: Total new jobs UP 235,000. That is despite the fact the enterprise companies (500 employees+) reduced jobs by 151,000 https://adpemploymentreport.com/ ← Great summary stats Spotify  600 (6% of workforce) Twitter  3,700 (50% of those who lasted this long) Salesforce 7,000 (10% of workforce) Microsoft 10,000 (5% of workforce) Tesla  10,000 (10% of workforce) Google  12,000 (6% of workforce) Amazon 18,000 (1% of workforce) Oh, and . . . Apple  0 (0% of workforce) - Minor adjustments at retail locations See also the big Layoff-Tra ..read more

Topic 1: Small companies are “labor hoarding” while large companies are laying off. https://www.utahbusiness.com/labor-hoarding-tech/  https://www.teambonding.com/labor-hoarding/  Keeping employees at any cost! Topic 2: Understanding the Dynamics of the Tech Workforce in 2023 Data Point 1: Tech Layoffs are Happening … But Not Because Tech is Suddenly Less Valuable https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-login-e28dd906-601f-480d-8c1a-656851613556.html?chunk=0&utm_term=emshare#story0 Data Point 2: Tech Jobs are Less Attractive to Young Professionals https://www.axios.com/local/seat ..read more

Topic 1: Algorithms Need Management Training, Too! From Wired Magazine. Human beings excel at avoiding responsibility for difficult decisions. Management and personnel decisions are often difficult. Therefore, they are great candidates for turning decision-making over to the bots. What could possibly go wrong? https://www.wired.com/story/platform-work-labor-economy-ai/  Topic 2: Microsoft drops $1 Billion on ChatGPT I should have bought more Microsoft stock yesterday. :-)  Looking to the true “next level” of product development. Microsoft was an early investor in ChatGPT  https ..read more

Topic 1: Generative AI is Fun … Until the “Other” Guys Start Doing It Too https://techcrunch.com/2022/12/31/how-china-is-building-a-parallel-generative-ai-universe/ China is aggressively building their own versions of generative AI platforms (with some obvious / inevitable filters) that do essentially the same thing as ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion. The question is whether they will be able to out-race us to the auto-content future … and whether that is a problem. Topic 2: LastPass - Lessons for the Channel Should we be worried? What do we expect from vendors? What’s reasonable and realistic? h ..read more