excuse

AI is just an excuse to fire

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For months, layoffs at big tech have been justified under the umbrella of AI as if it were the great devourer of jobs. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, assures that these companies have used AI as a scapegoat to carry out unpopular cuts which have nothing to do with, in fact, anything to do with the actual use or implementation of this technology. This trick, known as “AI washing“ or AI laundering, has allowed companies to make up workforce adjustments to readjust to a new market situation after overhiring during the pandemic and save costs, while at the same time imbuing themselves with a technological innovation patina. The perfect excuse. In an interview for the American network CNBC On the occasion of the India IA Impact Summit, Sam Altman attacked those who were using AI as a pretext to fire their staff. However, the founder of OpenAI described a two-pronged scenario: on the one hand, there are companies that rely on the AI ​​narrative to justify unpopular cuts. “I don’t know what the exact percentage is, but there’s a bit of ‘AI washing’ where people blame AI for layoffs they would do anyway.” However, the manager also recognized that the arrival of AI was indeed displacing some profiles due to the automation of certain administrative tasks, although he justified this displacement as part of the natural technological evolution.​ “We will find new types of jobs, as we do with each technological revolution.” Altman acknowledges that “the real impact of AI on employment in the coming years will begin to be palpable,” but he does not believe that the current impact of AI on the labor market is so severe as to be the direct cause of the hundreds of thousands of layoffs which were executed in 2025. The data does not fit the narrative. A study of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) revealed that almost 90% of the 6,000 managers of companies from the US, United Kingdom, Germany and Australia who participated stated that AI has not affected employment in the three years after the launch of ChatGPT. Other report Prepared by The Budget Lab at Yale University, it analyzed data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics until November 2025 and found no significant variations in unemployment in the occupations most exposed to the impact of AI. Martha Gimbel, co-director of the laboratory that prepared the report, assured to Fortune that “No matter what perspective you look at the data, at this very moment it doesn’t look like there are any major macroeconomic effects here.” According to the report data of the Challenger, Gray & Christmas labor platform, in 2025 were attributed directly to the AI ​​some 54,836 layoffs, out of a total of 1,206,374 layoffs in the US during 2025. This implies that the AI ​​was really behind 0.045% of the total of all layoffs for the year. The threat is real. Although AI is not the real reason behind the current layoffs, its impact on the labor market in the coming years is undeniable. Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, stated a few days ago to Business Insider that “half of office jobs could disappear in the next five years.” Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of the Klarna payment platform, which has already dispensed with part of its staff to implement AI customer service agents, spoke along the same lines. in an interview. The manager assured that by 2030 his company will be able to do without 30% of the 3,000 employees who currently make up the payment platform’s workforce. On the other hand, as how he published he Financial Timesthe data are already beginning to show the first effects of the increase in productivity derived from technological investment with a relative drop of 13% in the employment of junior workers in positions highly exposed to AI. Don’t call it AI, call it dropping ballast. However, the incipient arrival of AI in the coming years does not justify that the layoffs that have been carried out throughout 2025 are as a direct effect of AI or because an AI has replaced the worker. In a statementAmazon linked the dismissal of 16,000 employees to AI, saying it would need “fewer people for some jobs done today.” Days later, at a conference with investors, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy disassociated the layoffs from AI, stating that “The announcement we made a few days ago didn’t have a real financial boost, it’s not even driven by AI, at least not right now. It’s a cultural issue.” Microsoft and other companies have followed the same pattern of justification for dismissals making excuses for AI, when in reality AI is not implemented enough in companies to be a reason for dismissal in rounds of tens of thousands of employees. Call it business strategy, but don’t blame AI. In Xataka | “The world is in danger”: Anthropic’s security manager leaves the company to write poetry Image | Wikipedia

I just needed an excuse to definitely switch to Gemini: advertising on ChatGPT

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The day arrived. Not in Spain, but the day came. ChatGPT is already starting to show advertising in the United States. At the moment they are in the testing phase, but if OpenAI wants to clean up his accountsyou will have to start showing ads in the rest of the world. It was the last thing I needed to completely switch to Gemini. From ugly duckling to goose that lays golden eggs. If two years ago someone had suggested that I change ChatGPT for Gemini, I would have responded with a categorical refusal. In recent months my opinion has completely changed. I’m not saying it, the benchmark race says it in which Gemini has managed to surpass GPT5 without giving up its reasoning capabilities. This is also said by the work that Google is doing in terms of image and video creation, with a Nano Banana Pro that managed to completely sweep away the OpenAI model and force the rival company to improve and incorporate Images to ChatGPT. The pasta. AI has already become a fixed cost for millions of people. A few euros a month in exchange for an assistant who saves hundreds of hours seems like a fair deal. The most economical plan ChatGPT is Gofor 8 euros per month (96 euros per year). With Go we have access to GPT-5and expanded limits on memory and file uploads. With Google’s cheapest plan, AI Pluswe pay 7.99 euros per month. In addition to having access to Gemini 3 Pro, Nano Banana Pro and limited access to I see 3.1 Fast (GPT Go does not allow access to Sora, even in a limited way), we have: Access to Flow, Google’s cinematic creation tool powered by Veo 3. Whisk Access Gemini integration in Gmail, Vids and more Google apps. 200 GB of storage for your Google account (Photos, Drive and Gmail). If we jump to the intermediate plan, OpenAI offers its best reasoning models, faster image creation, access to Codex, agent mode and access to Sora for 23 euros per month. For 21.99 euros Google allows access to Antigravity, includes Google Home Premium (with integrated Gemini) and 2 TB of storage. Google can afford it. Google has an advantage when it comes to pricing its AI services. The company does not make a living by selling AI and can even afford to give it away in the search engine, in Gemini as an assistant on all Android phones and by integrating it natively into its apps. Google doesn’t need to introduce ads: its AI is the ad. Now what. OpenAI will have to go the extra mile to retain its users. Gemini is already managing to grow its customer base, and with the introduction of ads in GPT, OpenAI will have one of the few large ad-loaded AI models. The company will need to prove not only that ChatGPT is worth paying for, but that it is worth: Pay for the most expensive plans that do not contain ads Pay for plans that contain ads Image | Xataka In Xataka | Elon Musk’s Grokipedia is not exactly the best place to get objective information. ChatGPT doesn’t care

Dreame wants to end the last excuse not to use an aspiring robot: the stairs

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What is better than a vacuum robot? An aspiring robot with legs and climbs stairs. The surprising proposal seems almost a product of a science fiction film, but it is just what is proposed DREAME WITH CYBER Xa conceptual design that raises a unique revolution In this segment. What happened. DREAME IS TODAY The third most important vacuum robot manufacturer in the worldand has not achieved something like that by chance. At the IFA Fair that is celebrated these days in Berlin, it has presented an avalanche of new models to renew its catalog of robots vacuum cleaners and robots, but has also raised a next potential that has baptized as Cyber ​​X. The stairs will no longer be an obstacle. This vacuum robot stands out especially for having a technology called Quadtrack that allows to overcome an obstacle that never – well, With some crazy ideas, yes– I had overcome these robots: the stairs. There was already previous approaches in This sensebut this is especially promising. Is it a tank? Is it a robot? This system causes the robot to have some legs that fold and deploy, but also each of them has a kind of caterpillar, Like combat carsand thanks to that combination it is able to move on both flat surfaces and climb stairs. How it works. When Cyber ​​X needs to move from one floor to another, the robot displays its legs and places them so that the caterpillar chains act as an elevator tape. The “transport” system to the next level of the house or office, and then automatically releases it to start the cleaning task. Slow but sure. In Dreame they promise that the Quadtrack system is able to climb stairs with steps up to 25 cm high and the speed at which it reaches 0.2 m/s. Not only that: he is able to dynamically adapt to different widths and steps of steps, making the ascent soft and safe. Cyber ​​X with folded legs can move without problems such as a conventional vacuum robot. And brakes in case something fails. Another of the elements that have devised the engineers of Dreame consists of a system with three independent braking layers that add up to the resistant rubber wheels with which the maximum is guaranteed adhesion and stability in wooden soils, tiles and carpets. A robot that sees everything. To recognize the terrain, Cyber ​​X makes use of an intelligent vision system called 3dadapt. Combine a laser beam with a camera that maps the stairs in real time by calculating depth, angle and height to be able to overcome each step without problems. And autonomy, what? In order to guarantee prolonged operation, Dreame Cyberx with Quadtrack technology is designed to integrate a 6,400 mAh battery with which according to the manufacturer could be covered no less than five floors for each session. No price or estimated date. Dreame’s idea is really promising, but for now it is only a conceptual design. In fact, the manufacturer has not confirmed that it will take it to the market and neither a potential date of availability nor the price in which this device could be placed has been spoken. Aspiring robots are coming out arms and legs. This proposal for Dreame adds to other ideas that we have seen lately in a market that does not stop innovating. He Roborock Saros Z70 It boasts a robotic arm that collects objects scattered on the ground, for example, and Dreame itself already raised with its X50 ultra a system called proleap consisting of “legs” that allow you to overcome obstacles up to 6 cm high. In Xataka | The other silent conquest of China is that of vacuum robots: more than half come from four Chinese manufacturers

Apple believes that its rivals are not doing well in ia. It is the perfect excuse to delay Siri one more year

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We already have news about the arrival of the expected and Nueva Siri. They are not good. Apple points to the spring of 2026 as a launch objective for its new assistant, with the aim of bringing it as part of the update to iOS 26.4, According to Bloomberg sources. The delay is completely in line with The recent interview of Wall Street Journal Craig Federight and Greg Joswiak: Apple knows that he is losing the AI ​​career, and he only has trust that your proposal ends up working in the long term. They painted you little birds in the air. It has been just one year since that presentation of Apple Centered in Apple Intelligence. One in which they told us about an integration of Siri in the system as we had not seen: an assistant with the ability to understand each corner of iOS, with an advanced contextual understanding and integration with each native app of the system. In principle, the final deployment was planned for autumn of 2024, but the delays accumulated and accumulate until they reached a practically unsustainable point. iOS 26 as first real step. Apple took advantage of the WWDC 25 To present iOS 26, one of the Greater changes at the visual identity level Never seen in Apple’s operating systems, now much more unified. Next to him, they finally arrived Artificial Intelligence Functions Applied to everyday use: although for practical purposes they do not go far beyond the translation of texts, filters for calls and some improvements in the generation of genumjis in image playground. After almost a year of delays, Apple finally implied what is its philosophy with AI: work to make it local, but with a functioning similar to that of its rivals. More delays. After the presentation of iOS 26with novelties in AI but not a single word about the new Siri, the question was forced. What is happening with her? The responses of a Craig Federighi, nothing height but not entirely comfortable, perfectly revealed the moment in which Apple is. (Joanna Stern) “Siri is not better than his competition”, (Craig Federight) “already, but it will be, it is our mission.” (Greg Joswiak) “It would be disappointing to launch something that does not meet our quality standards.” (Craig Federight) “This is a new technology, nobody is doing very well right now.” Joswiak, software leader in Apple, justified its road map around the key point: the company wants its AI to be discreet and that the user can perform tasks with the phone without even realizing that he is using Apple Intelligence. In fact, they do not want a dedicated app, as there is for Gemini either Chatgpt. The problem? Google has achieved this goal for a long time. Apple’s rivals are doing well. Although Apple points to the immaturity of the AI ​​for mobiles, the truth is that one of its best moments lives. And phones like Google Pixel or the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra They are the best proof of this. Here you have to make a distinction between Gemini as an app integrated in the system, and with Gemini Nano as a language model. On a telephone like the Ultra S25 can: Translate real -time calls without knowing that AI is doing. Remove the background noise from a video automatically, without Gemini telling you what you are doing. You can transcribe a voice recording with a single click, without opening additional applications. If they call you, the phone will automatically detect whether or not spam, without notices about ia. Yes, Google (although its approach is not so local), is able to integrate Gemini silently into the system. So much so that their functions are still native to the system, and the user does not have to know what is done with Ia and what not. Apple needs to overcome Gemini at AI. It will not be easy. Apple, for now, has not shown to live. During the presentation of Apple, Its action fell 1.5%. The expectations were high, but the presentation was a clear Apple message showing not being above any of its direct rivals, and relegating third parties (OpenAi) the most advanced functions of AI. With the looks put in 2026, the pressure to which Apple is subjected is even greater. The maturity point of its main rival, Google Gemini, is very highabove proposals in Benchmarks regarding Grok 3, O3-mini, Deepseek R1, Claude 3 and calls 4. To recover Apple confidence needs results, not promises. Image | Xataka In Xataka | We have discovered something worrying in the AI ​​models: if the problem is too difficult, they give away immediately

Half of Catalonia has its contaminated aquifers. And the rains are the perfect excuse to do nothing

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In January of this year, the Catalan Agència de l’Aigua He updated his data on areas vulnerable to excess nitrates of agroganadera origin. The figures are a jug of cold water (and very polluted): 49.2% of Catalan municipalities They have contamination levels by nitrogen compounds above the legal. That is, 39.9% of the surface of Catalonia. It is a huge problem that does not stop growing, but that the rains of these weeks can end up making invisible. And, at a time when the Government began to be forced to take action, postponing them would be a difficult mistake. Doesn’t it stop growing? As Antonio Cerrillo explainedin 1998 “the percentage of municipalities cataloged with vulnerable area was 21.5%of the total; in 2004, the figure rose to 33.7%; in 2009 it reached 44.2%; in 2015 it was 44.5%.” It is true that some municipalities (three: Blanes, Cubells and Tavertet) have left the list because they have allowed the indicators; But, on the other hand, eight (Corbera d’Ebre, Gavet de la Conca, Jorba, Marçà, Pla de Santa Maria, Perelló, Ponts and Sant Sadurní d’Alcoia have entered). According to the Generalitat, the trend was stable, but “with a slight increase in nitrate pollution in certain areas.” Now the indicators will improve. There is no doubt about that. Above all, because a part of the problem was related to drought. The mechanism is simple: agribusiness contamination filters to the subsoil and there meets the huge aquifer system of the country. If there is a lot of water, those nitrates are diluted and the legal limits are not overcome. If there is not, the alarms jump. Right now, the Catalonia reserves They are at 76.46%, those in Barcelona are at 78.83%and those of Girona (the lowest) to 47.28%. Right now, while I write this, aquifers throughout the country are filling with water and, by pure logic, the situation will improve. However, the rest of the problems persist (or increase). Above all, because you have to keep in mind that those nitrates, Those purines They do not appear alone: ​​they are the result of hyperintensive models of agroganade exploitation. Models that base part of their profitability on Not having to put their negative externalities In the results account. And it is not a strictly Catalan problem (although it is true that it affects especially): according to the citizen network of nitrate measurement, almost 60% of Spanish underground waters is contaminated by nitrates and growing. The matter is such a caliber that also reaches reservoirs and evidences the country’s disastrous water management. In summer 2013, 161 municipalities in Castilla y León They discovered that had been drinking contaminated water for years without knowing it. It’s alone An example of the rosary of problems We have been seeing. All reflect and, above all, take action. Antonio Cerrillo saidthat the Generalitat “prepares an order to review the areas of the territory with groundwater contaminated by nitrates from livestock purines.” But the truth is that we always go with the foot changed. A good example was that of “Royal Decree that establishes rules for sustainable nutrition in agrarian soils“which was approved with more than three years of delay. The same three years that it took to transpose the”European Directive related to the quality of the waters for human consumption“It is our way of doing things. As we said days ago, March rains have given us a historical opportunity to save the country’s aquifers. But it will also give a victory (pyrrhic, but victory after all) to those who manage the problem they can use to leave us in worse situation we have. It’s not The first time what’s happening. Image | Copernicus | Scott Goodwill In Xataka | Spain has been overexpling its aquifers. March rains have given us the historical opportunity to save them

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