Axios

For all the hand-wringing over whether robots will replace human workers, ChatGPT and its ilk — tools known as generative AI — are shaping up to be a big employment threat too.

Why it matters: Robots tend to replace manual laborers, while artificial intelligence threatens knowledge workers — ensuring that people of all education levels can look nervously over their shoulder at the tech gunning for their paycheck.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is planning a three-day trip to Hollywood and Silicon Valley this week to meet with CEOs and top executives at Disney, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft and more, sources told Axios.

Why it matters: Big Tech companies and Hollywood giants are increasingly caught up in escalating tensions between the U.S. and China over intellectual property and trade issues.

It takes a variety of overlapping sensors working together for self-driving cars to accurately perceive the world around them.

Why it matters: Cars that drive themselves — whether in limited highway settings or in geofenced urban areas, like robotaxis — require superhuman vision, along with sophisticated prediction and decision-making capabilities.

Some former NASA engineers who built robots for space are now developing ocean-faring robots for deepwater maintenance and construction jobs that are too dangerous for human divers.

Why it matters: The global ocean economy — everything from food and transportation to energy and telecommunications — is predicted to amount to $3 trillion by 2030, more than most countries' GDP.

Social media is getting pricier for users who want to unlock special features and privileges.

Why it matters: Users who once believed they were contributing their time and creativity are now being asked to pay up by cash-hungry platforms.

A growing number of TikTok users are touting a decades-old labor law that they say could give workers a heads-up about impending layoffs, but experts say the videos are breeding misconceptions.

Why it matters: The social media trend follows warnings from the Federal Reserve that economic pain and job losses are likely this year as the U.S. central bank fights inflation — and the tech sector has already been hit hard by layoffs.