Large homebuilders have used mergers and acquisitions to grow their positions in several key housing markets since the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis. The industry's consolidation coincides with a slowdown in construction productivity and contributes to escalating prices for buyers and renters, experts say. As an economic tightening cycle initiated by the Federal Reserve freezes real estate development, politicians are promoting policy tools that could alter how homes are built in the U.S.
Ghost jobs are on the rise, even as the U.S. labor market appears healthy. While data suggests a tight job market, many workers still struggle to find employment, revealing a gap between statistics and reality. Interestingly, the rise of ghost job listings may play a significant role in this disconnect.
Google was the first cloud provider to make its own custom AI chips, called TPUs, when they first came out in 2015 - a trend both Amazon and Microsoft followed years later. Now, Apple has revealed it uses TPUs to train its AI models, positioning Google chips as an alternative to Nvidia's market-leading GPUs. CNBC got an exclusive look inside the lab where Google makes its chips, and its top executive showcased TPU Version 6, Trillium, and its new Arm-based CPU, Axion, both coming out later in 2024.
In 2022, the U.S. dollar reached its highest level since the early 2000s, but the dollar index has been trending downward as of August 2024. A weaker dollar is not necessarily a bad thing for consumers. A strong dollar may lead to higher prices for American consumers and reduced demand for U.S. exports, which can result in layoffs in key industries. Managing the value of the dollar is a balancing act, which can present challenges for the U.S. president, the Federal Reserve and other policymakers.
Low-cost, high-tech Chinese EVs have stirred fears of a government subsidized existential threat to automakers around the world. So what do these vehicles have to offer? How do they compare to the Tesla Model Y, which in 2024 was the best-selling car in the world? CNBC’s Beijing bureau chief Eunice Yoon tested four of them from large and high-profile Chinese brands to see how they stack up, and how their rivals might compete.
The company behind the popular artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit in 2015 by a number of researchers, academics and entrepreneurs including Sam Altman, Greg Brochman and Elon Musk. Musk left OpenAI in 2018 and now has his own artificial intelligence company called xAI.
In its early years, OpenAI flew somewhat under the radar, at least from the point of view of the general public. The company released its first project in 2016, a toolkit called “OpenAI Gym” used for developing and comparing reinforcement learning algorithms. That same year, OpenAI also released Universe, a tool to train intelligent agents on websites and gaming platforms. But the release of ChatGPT in 2022 is what propelled the company to stardom. Today, OpenAI is valued at over $80 billion and counts Microsoft, which has invested around $13 billion into OpenAI since 2019, as a major supporter and partner. But OpenAI’s wild success has also raised concerns from regulators and experts who question the outsized power that artificial intelligence companies and Big Tech could have on our society as well as the toll that the technology could take on our power grid.
Anna-Marie Ortiz, 30, started a side hustle with her last $2,000 in savings in July 2023. A year later, Cool Aunt Cleaners brings in an average of $10,000 a month, and Anna's since quit her day job to run the business full-time. Here's how she did it.
