This week on Techish, Michael and Abadesi unpack how the changing political landscape is shaping career goals for top university grads. They also dive into Big Tech’s ties to the military-industrial complex, reflect on the ‘good old days’ of internet journalism, and the debate about tackling wealth inequality. Chapters 00:25 Stanford Grads Are Ditching Big Tech for Defense07:57 Nostalgia for BuzzFeed-Era Journalism10:20 The Pressure to Perform Success13:31 Gary Stevenson and Taxing the Super Rich Listen to the episode You can find the Techish podcast on Spotify, Apple, and all good podcast
Major US tech companies are warning employees on temporary visas not to travel outside the country, fearing they may be denied re-entry amid shifting immigration policies. Tech giants employ thousands of workers on H-1B visas, which allow highly-skilled foreign workers to temporarily live and work in the US. Warnings to H-1B Visa Holders Documents reviewed by The Washington Post show companies like Google and Amazon have advised foreign workers to avoid international travel, fearing sudden policy changes or heightened border scrutiny could leave them stranded overseas. H-1B visa denial rates
Google has agreed to pay $28 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging that it favored white and Asian employees over other racial and ethnic groups by offering them higher salaries and placing them on faster career tracks. Reuters reports that the settlement was reached after lawyers agreed to exclude Black workers from the class. A lawyer for the plaintiff told POCIT that a Black employee pursuing a separate pay equity case against Google requested the exclusion so she could pursue those claims independently. The Case Against Google The lawsuit was
Michael Seibel, one of Silicon Valley’s most influential Black entrepreneurs and investors, announced on Wednesday that he is transitioning to a “partner emeritus” role at Y Combinator (YC) after more than 12 years with the startup accelerator. “This role allows me to continue to do office hours with the 1000+ companies I’ve worked with in the past decade while giving me the free time to explore new adventures,” he shared on X. “It also means that the W25 batch was my last batch funding new YC companies.” Garry Tan, CEO
Megan Garcia is seeking to hold Google and AI firm Character.AI responsible for the death of her 14-year-old son, Sewell Setzer III. Character.AI, an interactive chatbot platform, lets users design or select lifelike personas with which to communicate. Sewell developed a deep attachment to a chatbot he named “Dany,” inspired by Game of Thrones character Daenerys Targaryen. His mother alleges that his obsessive use of the chatbot, along with the platform’s addictive design, worsened his mental health and led to his suicide in February 2024. “The inventors and the companies, the corporations that
Apple says it is fixing its speech-to-text tool after some users found that their iPhones transcribed the word “racist” as “Trump.” The issue first gained attention through a viral TikTok video and has since been widely shared across social media. “We are aware of an issue with the speech recognition model that powers Dictation, and we are rolling out a fix today,” a spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday. Was it just a glitch? Apple suggested that the problem stemmed from the Dictation system’s difficulty distinguishing words with an
Techish is back! This week, Abadesi and Michael kick off the episode with the backlash over Stormzy’s McDonald’s collaboration. They also break down Meta’s latest layoffs and how performance reviews play into the mix. Then, they take a look at the rising cost of concert tickets—why are prices for artists like Beyoncé skyrocketing? Finally, they discuss the future of DEI in corporate America and what these shifts mean for the people driving the work forward. Chapters 00:25 Stormzy’s McDonald’s Collaboration Sparks Backlash09:49 Meta Lays Off “Low Performers”16:03 Cowboy Carter Tour:
DEI Under Fire is our monthly series that keeps you up-to-date on the latest DEI announcements and changes from the nation’s leading companies. The landscape of DEI has changed significantly over the past couple of months in the US. Some companies have succumbed to political pressure to roll back their DEI initiatives, while others stand firm in their diversity and inclusion stances. With so many changes to DEI in a short matter of time, it isn’t easy to keep up with where companies stand with DEI. This is why POCIT
Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has hired Daniel Penny, the former Marine who made national headlines following the killing of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old homeless Black man, on a New York subway. The news was first reported by The Free Press. Penny was acquitted of criminally negligent homicide in December 2024. Although he has no prior investment experience, Andreessen Horowitz plans to train him for his new role. Jordan Neely’s Death Jordan Neely was known for being a Michael Jackson impersonator who performed in Times Square. During
In this Techish episode, hosts Abadesi and Michael chat about tech’s latest spite-fueled innovation, the buzz around the inauguration and crypto ball, and what Trump’s second presidency could mean for the intersection of tech and politics. And, of course, they tackle the big question on everyone’s mind: why is dating such a mess these days? Chapters 00:40 Gas Founder Creates App To Spite Snapchat04:00 Tech Giants at the Inauguration08:52 Rappers Perform at the Trump Crypto Party12:50 Meme Coins Are a Scam14:25 TikTok’s Future: Sale or Ban?19:33 Doomed To Reschedule Hinge
