Bedugul Coffee: Meta's AI plan implodes

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Daily Briefing

By Kate Turton

Hello. Today we have a special report on the implosion of Meta's plan to replace staff with AI.

Elsewhere, a Ukrainian commander sped through the 'kill zone' to save wounded troops, and Trump administration issues a pause on visa appointments for applicants worldwide.

Plus, the world mourns Dolly Parton.

Today's Top News

Birds on the beach, with vessels in the Strait of Hormuz visible near the beach of Bandar Abbas, Iran. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Iran has held new talks with neighboring Oman on management of the Strait of Hormuz, blockaded over nearly six ‌months of conflict, with Oman's foreign minister saying he was hopeful a temporary corridor through the waterway could be announced soon.
US Senate Democrats urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to rein in a "surge" of violence by West Bank settlers and mass arrests of Palestinians by Israeli security forces in the occupied territory.
Seeing two wounded fighters stranded on the battlefield, one of them still strapped to a land drone immobilized by a Russian strike, Ukrainian commander Vladyslav Polskyi knew he had to do something. Here's how he sped through the 'kill zone' to save wounded troops.
US authorities are investigating a data breach at a small maker of water utility technology, highlighting infrastructure cybersecurity threats even though the Kansas firm was apparently not part of a suspected Iranian-affiliated campaign against water plants in Minnesota ‌and other states starting in July.
President Donald Trump's administration has issued a pause on visa appointments for applicants around the world during ‌an ongoing immigration crackdown. Earlier this week, the administration moved to impose more than $100,000 fee for H-1B worker visas.
South Carolina Republicans nominated Darline Graham to run in November's general election for her late brother's US Senate seat, as she defeated Representative Ralph ‌Norman in a primary runoff. Here are some takeaways from the result.
Country music singer, songwriter, and philanthropist Dolly Parton died in Nashville. Reporter Lisa Richwine talks Dolly Parton's life and legacy on the Reuters World News podcast — listen now.
A massive flash flood in the Himalayan nation of Nepal washed away villages while damaging roads, bridges and power projects in a region bordering Tibet, authorities said, as they braced for news of casualties.

Business & Markets

Stacks of produce crates at the Taylor Farms processing facility in Salinas, California. REUTERS/Fred Greaves

Taylor Farms, the produce company at the center of a US cyclospora outbreak, frequently failed to submit federally required workplace injury logs in recent years, including for at least four facilities where workers suffered fatal or otherwise serious injuries, a Reuters review of federal records found.
France's BNP Paribas and South Korea's KB Kookmin Bank are in separate talks to acquire at least a 15% ‌stake in Vietnam's Techcombank as strategic investors, in a deal that could be worth $2 billion, two sources said. Read our exclusive.
Investors this week will watch the annual Jackson Hole symposium for clues on how policymakers plan to navigate a landscape in which higher Treasury yields could do some of the tightening work for them.
Trump's efforts to oust Federal Reserve officials to clear room for his own appointees have been stalled so far by the courts and political pushback in the Senate, but he may still have as many as four opportunities to try to beef up his influence over the central bank's policy committee.
A huge recall in China last week aims to address a long-standing fear of EV owners: potentially being trapped in their cars when the power fails. It also highlights how Beijing is now spearheading new auto safety standards for some of the world's most advanced cars.
Germany's top financial regulator has questioned a regional bank over its financing of one of Europe's largest brothels, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Mark Zuckerberg had a bold plan to replace Meta staff with AI. Here’s how it imploded.

REUTERS/Illustration/Catherine Tai. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

In January, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his top lieutenants gathered for their annual leadership retreat at his Hawaii compound. There they hatched a radical plan to reimagine work at the social-media giant in the age of artificial intelligence.

The restructuring would be carried out in two “waves,” beginning with a first purge in May and followed by another shake-up in November, internal planning documents seen by Reuters showed. Layoffs would be supplemented with the closing of open positions and pushing people out who Meta believed are poor performers.

But on the night of May 19, just hours before the first layoff wave, Zuckerberg blinked. Meta laid off 10% of its employees the next day, but it called off planning for the November cuts, according to one internal document reviewed by Reuters.

Read our special report

And Finally...

Madonna arrives at the Paris Fashion Week. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo

AI-generated music will be excluded from Australia's music charts starting this week, the country's peak ‌music trade group said, following controversy over an Australian DJ's cover of Madonna's "Like a Prayer" topping local music charts.

The Australian Recording Industry Association, or ARIA, said on Tuesday that wholly AI-generated tracks would no longer be eligible for its popular ARIA Charts, although recordings that use generative AI in a supporting role would remain eligible.

Read more

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