Market Headlines – December 8, 2023
Alphabet (GOOGL)
Google’s latest multi-modal GenAI model, called Gemini, was demo-ed this week. It was pretty darn cool to be blunt. They showed off some use cases such as drawing a duck step-by-step and the model knowing exactly what the drawing was as it was created. The demo showed Gemini a world map and it created a game on the spot using the image. It compared objects with each other in real time as they were swapped out for each other. All of this shows continued rapid advancement by these still nascent models, but it may have been staged. TechCrunch released an article showing how Google fed Gemini data and instructions to make it look more advanced. Not a great look for what should still be a leader in the GenAI arms race. Not a great look… but also probably a blip on the radar.
Amazon (AMZN)
A Bank of America survey uncovered some promising and unsurprising Amazon news. 64% of respondents (1000 total) search Amazon first when shopping for a product. Google is the next closest at 14%. All in all, 42% of respondents plan to raise e-commerce spending Y/Y vs. 32% for last year’s survey.
Uber Technologies (UBER) and DoorDash (DASH)
In response to laws in New York City, both Uber Eats and DoorDash added new ordering fees and cut the option to tip before an order has arrived. As previously stated, New York City drivers for Uber earn about $50 per hour on average. This new law requires them to be paid $18 on average. So? While the firms say this is necessary in the new regulatory climate, it’s likely just an excuse to bolster margins. Works for me.
Meta Platforms (META)
Meta debuted end-to-end encryption as the new “default service” across its messaging products with added privacy controls too. It also revealed a new GenAI image generator.
