The Rise of ‘De-Influencing;’ the Influx of AI Executives

The era of social media influencers has sparked a backlash called “de-influencing.”

As NPR reports, for years companies have paid “influencers,” or people with lots of followers on social media, to promote their products through videos they create. 

Influencers wear “the guise of being your friend or being relatable,” said Diana Wiebe, who realized during the pandemic that she was spending too much money on products that she saw influencers push on social media. She began to post her own videos on TikTok that seek to de-influence, rather than influence. 

De-influencing encourages people to make fewer purchases and instead use what they already have, reducing their consumption and benefiting the environment.

Wiebe is part of a movement that, over the last few years, has seen the #deinfluencing hashtag amass more than 1.5 billion views on TikTok. As NPR reports, many people say they’re fed up with constant advertising on social media and have felt buyer’s remorse after following an influencer’s recommendation.

More Companies Hiring AI Executives

As artificial intelligence permeates corporate America, more companies are asking whether they need AI expertise in their C-suite. Not every company will require an AI executive, but such roles are becoming more common, HR Dive reports. 

Some companies are hiring chief AI officers (CAIOs), even as the emerging position remains vaguely defined. Anne Yarovoy Khan, an attorney at the law firm Fisher Phillips, said a CAIO’s responsibilities might include aligning an organization’s AI strategy with its business goals; overseeing AI governance, training and education; mitigating risks involved with deploying AI; ensuring transparency in how AI is used; and managing AI’s privacy-related concerns.

Some companies might prefer to hire a senior vice president or vice president of AI rather than a chief AI officer, said Sal DiFranco, managing partner of the technology practice for executive-search firm DHR Global. Most of his clients looking for AI executives need candidates who are experts in AI and its algorithmic subsets of machine learning and deep learning, he said.  

Percentage of Women in C-suite Dips

For the first time in nearly two decades, the percentage of women in C-suite roles at publicly traded U.S. companies has dropped slightly, a new study finds.

As CNN reports, in 2023, women held 11.8% of the roughly 15,000 C-suite roles assessed, down from 12.2% the year before, according to the study by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The firm studied data about gender parity in regulatory documents and press releases for companies listed on its S&P Global Total Market Index. It was the first time women lost seats since 2005, the year S&P started measuring the data.

The gender gap has narrowed since 2005, however. Across all senior roles, “women held less than 8% of seats as recently as 2005; versus 22.3% in 2023,” the study notes. Over the same period, C-suite positions held by women jumped from 6.5% to 11.8%.

The decline in women holding C-suite roles in 2023 should be monitored and considered so goals can be met, the study says.

People Are Using ChatGPT, But Few Trust Its Election Information

More Americans are using ChatGPT for workplace tasks, but the public remains wary of what the AI software might tell them about the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Pew Research Center finds. 

While 23% of U.S. adults say they have ever used ChatGPT, about four-in-ten adults have “not too much” or no trust in the election information the chatbot generates. Just 2% have a “great deal” or “quite a bit” of trust in that information.

Adults under 30 and highly educated adults are more likely to have used ChatGPT, Pew finds. Still, distrust of the chatbot’s election information appears consistent across political parties. About four-in-ten Republicans and Democrats alike have “not too much” or “no trust at all” in ChatGPT’s election information.

Recent reports suggest chatbots may provide misleading answers to election-related questions. However, just 2% of American adults have actually used the chatbot to find information about the presidential election.

More U.S. Hispanics Get News in English, on Digital Devices, Survey Finds

Just over half of Hispanic adults in the United States (54%) get their news mostly in English, compared to only 21% who receive their news mostly in Spanish, a new Pew Research Center survey finds. About a quarter (23%) say they consume news in both languages. Among those born outside the United States, 41% get their news mostly in Spanish.

Some 65% of respondents say they prefer to receive news on digital devices rather than through TV, radio or print publications. Hispanic Americans are more likely than other groups to get news from social media, Pew finds. Nearly three-quarters of Hispanic adults under 50 surveyed (73%) prefer to receive their news on digital devices, including 27% who specifically prefer to get their news through social media.

About one-in-five Hispanic adults surveyed (22%) say they follow the news all or most of the time. An additional 36% of respondents say they follow the news some of the time.

Google to Block Tracking Cookies on Its Chrome Browser

In a move that Google says will enhance user privacy, the company plans to block the use of third-party tracking cookies on its Chrome internet browser later this year. 

As Yahoo! Finance reports, without the technology that follows users across websites to target them with personalized ads, websites that rely on advertising may struggle to survive.

Chrome, which commands 60% of internet traffic, is the last major browser to allow third-party cookies. Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox have blocked the technology for years. Without third-party cookies, users may see more ads that are unrelated to their interests, as sites try to compensate for the loss of tailored ads by increasing ad volume.

“In a general sense, all sorts of websites will shut down or will be diminished in what they can provide,” said Karsten Weide, chief analyst at W Media Research. “Ironically, although this is designed to protect users, at the end of the day this will be worse for users.”

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