Latest news with #May2023
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says AI can rival someone with a PhD—just weeks after saying it's ready for entry-level jobs. So what's left for grads?
Billionaire OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warns that AI is rivaling the capabilities of entry-level talent, from interns to PhDs. As Gen Z faces rising unemployment and shrinking job opportunities, experts reveal the jobs that will survive—and how to land one. AI is on a collision course with young people. Earlier this month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed that the technology can already perform the tasks equal to that of an entry-level employee. Now, in a podcast posted just last week, the ChatGPT mastermind went even further—saying AI can even perform tasks typically expected of the smartest grads with a doctorate. 'In some sense AIs are like a top competitive programmer in the world now or AIs can get a top score on the world's hardest math competitions or AIs can do problems that I'd expect an expert PhD in my field to do,' he told the Uncapped podcast (hosted by Sam's brother, Jack Altman). As companies like Amazon have admitted they will soon cut their corporate ranks thanks to AI and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warning that the technology could wipe out half of all entry-level, white collar jobs—it begs the question: What jobs will be left for those tossing their graduation caps into the air in the coming years? Already, this graduation season has brought one of the toughest job markets for new graduates. The unemployment rate among bachelor's degree graduates rose to 6.1% in May, up from just 4.4% the month prior, according to most recent data published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED). Additional federal data analyzing outcomes by college majors shows that fields linked to AI exposure, including commercial art & graphic design, fine arts, and computer engineering, all have higher unemployment rates—each above 7%. However, in the tech industry in particular, volatility in the jobs market is nothing new, said Art Zeile, CEO of tech career platform Dice. After all, nearly 600,000 tech employees lost their jobs between 2022 and 2024, according to 'There is no question that it is a challenging time to be a new graduate entering the job market. We've seen some reductions in hiring, especially for entry-level roles, as companies reassess their headcount and look for more specialized skills,' Zeile told Fortune. 'But I wouldn't hit the panic button quite yet.' Rather, today's competitive environment is an opportunity for young people to further sharpen their skills and enter the workforce with a larger focus, Zeile added. It's a message further echoed by Tiffany Hsieh, director of the Center for Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work at Jobs for the Future. 'Young people looking for technology or graphic design roles should be thinking about how they upskill, reskill, or pivot, but others in less impacted ones like elementary school teachers and civil engineers need to worry less,' she told Fortune. Even Altman remains optimistic that AI won't completely terrorize the future of work because, he says, it'll also open up new opportunities. 'A lot of jobs will go away. A lot of jobs will just change dramatically, but we have always been really good at figuring out new things to do and status games or ways to be useful to each other,' Altman told his brother. 'I'm not a believer that that ever runs out.' The 40-year-old billionaire cited the podcast industry as a space that has grown exponentially in the last decade, and the jobs of the future will simply be ones that sound 'sillier and sillier' from our current perspective. Ziele predicts that in the coming years, more jobs will be centered around AI experience designing; data storytelling, and AI governance, security, and ethical implementation. Those skilled in the development of agentic AI will also be at an advantage. 'Professionals who master agentic AI, which is still in its nascent stages, may become invaluable to companies that want to automate significant chunks of their workflows,' he said. Some jobs of the future may look like 'Frankenstein roles'—like a story designer or human resources designer—that lean on durable skills and pull together various human-centered tasks, according to Hsieh. While the future remains uncertain, there are still many roles in fields like the skilled trades or healthcare that are growing and are relatively stable from AI, Hsieh added. 'It's okay to explore different roles in industries you may not have planned on—you will still learn and build skills in any role,' she encouraged Gen Z. 'We are all going to need to be more comfortable with career switching and adopt a lifelong learning mindset.' Landing a job today may feel like an uphill battle, but entry-level roles haven't disappeared entirely—there are just new strategies required to secure them. But because AI has made it easier than ever to curate resumes and cover letters, that's not enough to stand out from the crowd. Hsieh encouraged graduates to focus on their network and portfolio. 'Demonstrated experience is a valuable currency in a world where entry-level roles are scarcer and therefore more competitive,' she said. 'Building MVP tools and solutions with AI for a target industry or to solve a challenge in your community could be a creative way to demonstrate initiative, domain expertise, and durable skills like critical thinking.' In a sense, the job search should be treated like a personal marketing campaign, Zeile suggested. 'Hiring managers are often looking for potential over experience, so it's essential to articulate your passion and willingness to learn new skills during the interview process,' he added. 'Continuous learning and upskilling, particularly in areas like AI, data analysis, or cloud technologies, can also help to set early-career professionals apart from their competition.' This story was originally featured on
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
'A bundle of microscopic tornadoes' may have given the universe its structure
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The universe's invisible dark matter might swirl into spinning clumps laced with countless tiny vortices, new theoretical work suggests. The findings, published May 30 in the journal Physical Review D, offer a fresh perspective on the strange behavior of "ultralight" dark matter — a hypothetical substance made of extremely light elementary particles. In the new study, physicists explored what happens when a dark matter halo rotates — a natural expectation for real galaxies, which typically spin as they evolve. Based on their theoretical modeling and detailed simulations, the authors found that this exotic material could behave like a superfluid, forming stable, rotating cores threaded with vortex lattices much like those seen in laboratory experiments. Unlike the standard view of dark matter as a cloud of heavy, sluggish particles with no internal structure, the new research focuses on dark matter made of particles lighter than a millionth of an electron's mass. These particles may not float passively in space; if they interact slightly with one another through a repulsive force, they can behave more like a quantum fluid. That fluid-like behavior allows the formation of "solitons" — compact, coherent structures where gravity's pull inward is balanced by an outward pressure from self-interactions. "Solitons are classical solutions of the equations of motion," Philippe Brax, a theoretical physicist at Université Paris-Saclay and co-author of the study, told Live Science. "They correspond to hydrostatic equilibria where the attractive gravitational force is balanced by the repulsive particle self-interaction, somewhat like the Sun, which is also in hydrostatic equilibrium." These solitons could range from the size of stars to entire galaxies, depending on the unknown mass of the dark matter particle. In larger cases, they could help explain why the centers of galaxies appear less densely packed with dark matter than predicted — a long-standing issue in cosmology. The researchers simulated what happens when clouds of this unusual dark matter rotate. The result was surprising: Instead of spinning smoothly like a hurricane or a solid sphere, the solitons developed an internal lattice of microscopic vortices. "When the initial conditions are such that the dark matter cloud rotates, the end result is a rotating soliton at the center of the collapsed halo," said study co-author Patrick Valageas, also of the Université Paris-Saclay. "This soliton shows an oblate shape aligned with the initial rotation axis, and displays a solid-body rotation supported by quantized vortices." These vortices aren't like swirling winds or whirlpools in water. Rather, they resemble the quantized vortex lines that appear in superfluids like liquid helium, where the fluid rotates not as a whole but through an array of discrete spinning threads. At the center of each vortex, the dark matter density drops to zero, and together, the vortices align into a regular, lattice-like pattern. "Our simulations show that these vortex lines are aligned with the total angular momentum and follow circular orbits inside the soliton," Valageas said. "The rotation is not like a smooth wind but more like a bundle of microscopic tornadoes arranged in a crystal pattern." One intriguing idea the researchers raised is whether these tiny vortex structures have implications on much larger scales. In particular, they speculated that some vortex lines might extend beyond a single halo, connecting galaxies through the vast filaments of the cosmic web — the gigantic tendrils of dark matter that shape the universe's large-scale structure. "At this stage, the idea that some of these vortex lines could join different halos through the filaments of the cosmic web is a hypothesis," Brax noted. If true, it could mean that quantum effects in dark matter subtly influence how galaxies align and move within these colossal threads. Detecting such vortex structures would be challenging. Because dark matter doesn't emit or absorb light, scientists can only infer its presence from its gravitational influence on visible matter like stars and gas. Still, there may be ways to glimpse their effects. "These vortices are associated with troughs in the dark matter density," Brax said. "As such, they imprint characteristic features in the gravitational potential, which may influence the orbits of stars or gas clouds in galaxies like the Milky Way." related stories —Dark matter may have its own 'invisible' periodic table of elements —Scientists may have finally found where the 'missing half' of the universe's matter is hiding —Scientists are one step closer to knowing the mass of ghostly neutrinos — possibly paving the way to new physics In more speculative scenarios, if dark matter interacts even weakly with ordinary matter or light, the vortices might leave more direct fingerprints — but for now, that remains an open question. The team plans to investigate whether the predicted vortex lattices can be detected through astronomical observations and whether they truly connect to the cosmic filaments that stretch across space. For now, these ghostly whirlpools remain invisible — but as theory and technology advance, scientists may find that the cosmos is not just filled with unseen matter but woven with patterns of spinning quantum threads.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Streaming viewership exceeded cable and broadcast combined for the first time last month, report says
Streaming services surpassed both cable and network television in total viewership among people in the U.S. for the first time in May, according to a new report from Nielsen. Last month, streaming services accounted for 44.8% of all television viewership, their largest share to date. Nielsen found that total viewership for cable and network television accounted for 44.2% of all television viewership. When compared to May 2021, streaming usage has increased 71%, while broadcast is down 21% and cable is down 39%. The report also shows that YouTube took the crown for highest viewership with 12.5%. Netflix followed with 7.5% of total viewership for the month. Nielsen notes that free streaming services has been a major driver of streaming's overall success: PlutoTV, Roku Channel, and Tubi accounted for a combined 5.7% of total TV viewing in May.
TechCrunch
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- TechCrunch
Streaming viewership exceeded cable and broadcast combined for the first time last month, report says
In Brief Streaming services surpassed both cable and network television in total viewership among people in the U.S. for the first time in May, according to a new report from Nielsen. Last month, streaming services accounted for 44.8% of all television viewership, their largest share to date. Nielsen found that total viewership for cable and network television accounted for 44.2% of all television viewership. When compared to May 2021, streaming usage has increased 71%, while broadcast is down 21% and cable is down 39%. The report also shows that YouTube took the crown for highest viewership with 12.5%. Netflix followed with 7.5% of total viewership for the month. Nielsen notes that free streaming services has been a major driver of streaming's overall success: PlutoTV, Roku Channel, and Tubi accounted for a combined 5.7% of total TV viewing in May.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Young grads face a tough job market. Here's how to make your way in
A slowing job market and economic uncertainty have made it harder for new graduates to get their foot in the door. "It's a hard economy; it's a hard space to graduate into," said Sarah Stockdale, founder and CEO of digital marketing certification platform Growclass. "Even mid-career workers are struggling right now." Canada's jobless rate rose a 10th of a point to seven per cent in May, the latest Statistics Canada labour force survey showed — the highest unemployment rate since 2016, outside of the pandemic years. The agency said young workers in particular are bearing the brunt of the tougher job market. However, experts say there are things new graduates can do to set themselves apart. Networking tops the list of recommendations for Sandra Lavoy, regional director at employment agency Robert Half. Lavoy recalled going to an event that could have been a great opportunity for new graduates to meet people higher up in the management chain. But the new graduates were nowhere to be found. Face-to-face interactions aren't happening as much with new grads, she said, as many continue to rely only on online forums and social media. The pandemic introduced online networking and Zoom interviews to a wider audience, changing the in-person interview norms for many young workers who previously may have had to meet in person. "Networking is key to get to know the market and get to key hiring people," Lavoy said. She suggested young grads go a little further and ask for one-on-ones with professionals from their fields or go for coffees, armed with questions about the job and what the companies could be looking for. Lavoy said job seekers can't rely on one method or the other — they need both in-person and online interactions to network effectively. Even with in-person meetings, Lavoy said, it's not as simple as being at an event, introducing yourself and shaking a few hands. "Yes, that's important," she said, "but you need to follow up on your leads." Lavoy said new grads need to take an extra step and ask for help from their connections to move forward. During followups, she suggested using statements such as: "It was great meeting you ... Here's my resumé, if you know of somebody that could benefit from my skill set. I'm open to different environments." Lavoy said cold emails with no followup don't do any good for job prospects either. "Sending a resumé to somebody without a followup plan is not a plan." Things like dressing right for in-person networking or alumni events count and show that you want a job, Lavoy said. "You have 30 seconds to really impress somebody when you meet them," she said. "You don't go in with your Saturday comfortable outfits." Stockdale said networking in professional settings shouldn't come across as transactional, such as showing up and passing people your business card. She suggested job seekers be more curious about other people's career journeys and seek mentorship. Having mentors from the industry you're hoping to break into can help you navigate the job market better, Stockdale said. For instance, she said, mentors could help decode what the job description means and what the company could be looking for better than someone new to the field. That insight can help you write a compelling cover letter instead of relying on artificial intelligence to write cover letters — which has been a growing trend lately, she said. Stockdale recalled reading two identical cover letters that came through for her marketing program. "That will happen if you're just generically using AI tools to generate cover letters based on job descriptions," she said. Applicants using AI-generated resumés and cover letters and even using a chatbot for help answering interview questions were some of the things both experts have noticed over the past few months. Lavoy said most employers are looking for an authentic person who would fit well into the company's culture. "What's your passion? Explain to them that instead of just talking about you (having) this tool, that tool," she said. "Everybody has that." Despite the efforts and making all the right moves, many new graduates are still finding it's not a guarantee to landing a job in their desired industry. Lavoy suggests getting any job while looking for a field-related gig. "You need to be working," she said. "It's a lot easier to find a job when you're working and that is key." Lavoy said she often recommends what she calls the "grow" approach to her clients: gaining real-world experience through projects or something you did in school; short-term roles or even competing in debate teams. That would help build interpersonal skills when interacting and become a team player, she said. And will give confidence when pivoting careers. While the depressed job market continues to put young workers at a disadvantage, Lavoy said: "Uncertainty when somebody graduates from university is normal." She suggests younger workers stay focused on people skills, communication skills and technical skills — the core of what any company is looking for. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2025. Ritika Dubey, The Canadian Press
