DIGITAL LIFE

Tech moguls enter the media to control the narrative

Heads of the world's largest technology companies have become frequent figures in podcasts and programs favorable to them. Some companies have even started their own blogs and channels as a way to project a positive image.

This trend was noted by the British newspaper The Guardian in an article published on Saturday (November 29). "Heads of the largest technology companies, including Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Satya Nadella and others, have participated in long and comfortable interviews in recent months," notes reporter Nick Robins-Early.

These appearances usually yield headlines that highlight the disruptive nature of the current wave of artificial intelligence. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, predicted that AI agents will replace SaaS in an interview for the BG2 Pod.

The BG2 Pod is presented by two venture capital investors. Brad Gerstner is CEO and founder of Alttimer Capital, one of OpenAI's investors and a shareholder in Meta and Nvidia, while Bill Gurley is a partner at Benchmark, which funds startups founded by former OpenAI executives.

Speaking of OpenAI, CEO Sam Altman also gave his opinion that Generation Z is privileged to live in the AI ​​age on the Huge If True podcast, which defines itself as "an optimistic show about science and technology" and "an antidote to sadness and pessimism."

Big tech companies are betting on their own blogs and magazines...In some cases, big tech companies and investors are cutting out the middlemen. Andreessen Horowitz, one of the largest venture capital firms in Silicon Valley, launched its blog on Substack, where it presents itself as an "independent voice" building a direct relationship with the public.

Palantir, a technology company that develops security solutions, founded a magazine called Republic. According to The Guardian, it mimics the style of academic publications like Foreign Affairs.

“Many people who shouldn’t have a platform do. And many who should, don’t,” says an editorial signed by company executives. Examples of Republic's content include articles against copyright laws and in favor of cooperation with the military.

As the Guardian notes, these initiatives echo a sentiment among technology companies: specialized magazines and websites have become increasingly harsh and critical in their coverage of the sector.

And, of course, we can't ignore Elon Musk, who bought Twitter, which became known as X. It remains open to any user, but there are some symptomatic episodes: the AI ​​Grok, which works in an integrated way with the social network, considers its owner to have the intelligence of Leonardo da Vinci and the physical conditioning of LeBron James.

Americans disapprove of big tech, CEOs and AI...Meanwhile, research shows that the United States public has predominantly negative views of technology companies, social networks and artificial intelligence.

According to data from the Pew Research Center, 78% of Americans believe that social media companies have more power and influence in politics than they should, and 64% believe that the platforms have had a negative impact on the country.

Pessimism reappears when the subject is AI. Among Americans, 53% believe that this technology will harm creativity. The view is also unfavorable regarding relationships, difficult decisions, and problem-solving—in this last aspect, there is some optimism, with 29% indicating that AI will improve this skill.

The Tech Oversight Project, in turn, reveals that the CEOs of big tech companies are personally disapproved of by the population. The worst case is Mark Zuckerberg: 74% of those interviewed have a negative opinion of him, 59 percentage points more than his approval rating.

Even in times of political polarization, the difference between the opinions of Democratic and Republican voters isn't that great—although Donald Trump's supporters are less reticent about technology, there's also significant rejection within this group.

Strategy doesn't always work...These numbers provide some context for initiatives to create communication channels and talk to interviewers who don't ask tough questions.

Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir, recently gave a podcast interview where he talked about his childhood pet dog and answered questions like "If you were a cupcake, which cupcake would you be?". Meanwhile, there were no questions about privacy and human rights controversies in which the startup has been involved.

But even these situations can have the opposite result to what was expected. In some cases, the content attracts comments that show the public's dissatisfaction.

In Altman's interview with Huge If True, users joked about the lack of content in the conversation. "Now I understand why ChatGPT is like that. This guy can talk for hours without answering a single question," says one viewer.

Another is more critical and states that it's "crazy" to say that a 22-year-old recent graduate is lucky to live in the AI ​​age, considering that technology is destroying junior-level jobs.

Recently, Adam Mosseri, CEO of Instagram, participated in a video on the Track Star channel. The page does a quiz to guess songs with celebrities and ordinary people, mixing game show and interview.

The reaction on Instagram was negative: users took the opportunity to criticize changes to the platform, scam advertisements, accounts banned without reason, and choices to supposedly addict users.

Not even Track Star itself was spared. "Honestly, this account was more fun when it was random people on the street trying to guess the songs," says the most liked comment on the video.

Reporter: Giovanni Santa Rosa https://www.linkedin.com/in/giosantarosa//