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Insider today: Big Tech Battle Royale
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Insider today: Big Tech Battle Royale

Welcome to our Sunday edition, a roundup of some of our biggest news stories. We are in the final hours before Election Day. Tens of millions of Americans have already voted.

Business Insider will be covering this final stretch and the days beyond with a focus on what the next president will mean for you. From the the prices you pay how investwe will take care of you.

And if you want to take a break from politics, we’ll also continue to bring you all the most important stories from business. You can find everything on our home page or on our application.


On the program today:

But first: Takeaways from a big week in Big Tech.


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Everything about AI, all the time


Photo illustration of big tech logos amidst stacks of dollar signs

Getty Images; Jenny Chang-Rodriguez/BI



Trillion-dollar Big Tech giants reported earnings this week, beating estimates and committing billions of dollars to AI. The big winners: those who are able to report a strong return on this investment.

Alphabet

Google’s cloud business has benefited from AI adoption, posting a 35% year-over-year increase in revenue, while CEO Sundar Pichai said more than a quarter of company turnover the new code is now created by the AI. The core advertising business has remained strong despite increasing competition from companies like OpenAI, Redditand more.

Amazon

The retail and cloud giant exceeded expectations by sending the stock surge Friday. He also benefited from AI Adoptionwith the AWS cloud unit seeing a 19% increase in revenue. A strong performance in retail, where executives said shoppers were buy cheaper items at higher volumesand a focus on cost controls applauded investors.

Apple

Apple beat revenue and profit estimates overall, but one year-over-year revenue decline in China left investors disappointed. All eyes now on demand for iPhone 16 and whether it’s new Apple Intelligence features help juice sales.

Meta

Meta-beat estimatesalthough user growth was lower than expected. Mark Zuckerberg promised to continue spending on AI and flexed the huge meta Nvidia H100 chip cluster.

Microsoft

Microsoft too beat estimatesbut concerns about AI capacity constraints and ROI investments in space caused shares of the tech giant to decline throughout the week.


Inside “Project Rodeo”


Tesla on a striped crosswalk with a walk sign on it

Getty Images; iStock; Natalie Ammari/BI



To prepare for its future in autonomous vehicles, Tesla has relied on a specialized group of test pilots, part of what is internally called “Project Rodeo”.

BI spoke with nine test pilots, who described sometimes perilous scenarios and near misses when testing new software.

Here’s what they said.


Rethinking careerism in business


A man holding a ladder and moving away from others while climbing the ladders

James Yates for BI



Climbing the corporate ladder was once the cornerstone of the American dream. Today, 42 percent of Americans say they don’t even want a promotion, according to a survey by global human resources consulting firm Randstad.

This is more than in countries known for being calmer when it comes to work, such as Italy, Spain and New Zealand. The anti-promotion shift has left bosses perplexed. If promotions don’t motivate workers, what will?

Moving up the corporate ladder.


Disappearing tech gifts


A vice grip holding a wrapped gift

Mint Images – David Arky/Getty, masterzphotois/Getty, Tyler Le/BI



After years of upping the ante with everything from exercise classes to laundry services, tech companies are cracking down on freebies. This is part of a wider initiative to reduce costs across the sector.

The culture of lavish benefits, which once aimed to subsidize almost everything, has led to entitlement and rule-bending among some employees. In a new era of efficiency and layoffs, tech workers must get used to a non-extravagant new normal.

Use it, don’t abuse it.


A Pacific Theater Training Round


A person in military fatigues with a painted face

BI



As tension rises in the Indo-Pacific region, the U.S. military is training fighters to fight if a conflict with China breaks out.

BI’s Graham Flanagan spent two weeks in Hawaii documenting the army’s sprawling $16 million war exercises across the island chain.

Watch the documentary here.


This week’s quote:

“We were dismayed to hear the data-uninformed explanation you gave for Amazon imposing a five-day mandate on the government.”

— Amazon employees in a signed letter to AWS CEO Matt Garman, protesting his comments on returning to power.


More top reads this week: