š Tech titans are pulling back on more experimental projects and "moonshot" ideas ā or assigning them to the graveyard entirely ā amid a gloomy economic climate. ā¬ļø
54
101
299
Replies
š
@Microsoft
has scaled back the ambitions of its moonshots division,
@facebook
has shrunk its experimental products group, and
@Google
has slashed projects that don't align with its CEO's broader mission to pursue artificial intelligence.
8
28
116
š Leaders blame market uncertainties ā but insiders also point to a new era of Big Tech that marks a shift away from risk-taking founders and toward Wall Street-appeasing pragmatism.
4
19
96
š When Google's cofounders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, spun up Google X in 2010, there was little structure, few rules, and a clear mandate: Work on radical ideas that will change the world.
The idea caught on.
3
4
77
š Now, the constellation of these skunkworks divisions has changed. Employees working on these bigger bets are finding they are the first to be cut in times of market uncertainty.
Companies are reallocating those resources to surefire growth prospects.
4
7
41
š For smaller companies, market turmoil can mean even more dramatic moonshot cutbacks.
At
@Snap
, the era of outlandish or simply fun projects that make little to no money has ended. The company recently conducted mass layoffs and is cutting costs.
1
5
26
š A tough market is pushing these companies to become more efficient, but these moonshots also haven't paid off after years of work.
3
9
21
š» At Microsoft, the future of the HoloLens, one of its biggest moonshot ideas, is uncertain.
@thisisinsider
reported in February that Microsoft had killed plans for the next HoloLens headset, known internally as "Project Calypso."
3
8
49
š° To be sure, Big Tech companies are still investing in interesting bets.
Amazon has secret projects spread across the company, including cancer vaccines, drone delivery services, quantum computing, and warehouse automation.
2
11
30
šŖ But those projects have made more advancements than Grand Challenge's pie-in-the-sky-type ideas, one employee said.
3
2
11
š¤ The Google Labs division is working on more futuristic projects in virtual and augmented reality.
But, some employees are skeptical that Google and Alphabet CEO
@sundarpichai
is interested in the Waymo-level bets that drove the founders.
3
3
14
Subscribe to
@thisisinsider
to read the full story from
@HughLangley
,
@eugenekim222
,
@HaysKali
,
@ashannstew
. ā¬ļø
4
2
7
@BITech
Iām somewhat disappointed with the slow progress with voice assistant technologies on personal devices. It seems Siri, Alexa etc. still cannot do much.
4
0
1
@BITech
But the one worth doing rn is POWs
#EarthshotBoston2022
#EarthshotBoston2022
#EarthshotBoston2022
0
0
0
AGI is the ultimate moonshot and there's only increased investment there
0
0
4
0
0
0
@BITech
How it works is the government takes the risk of doing dangerous, highly experimental things, and then when it's more or less stable, the private sector chimes in and makes it cheaper and more efficient. NASA did its job in this department, I just wish it had more funding.
1
0
5