Bing's wild week

Hello, readers. Hallam Bullock here, dialing in from across the pond.

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a Chinese spy balloon! It's … just a regular balloon. At least, here in London it is.

In the US, however, that might not be the case. Three suspicious flying objects have been shot down in as many days — and at least one is believed to be part of a global network spying on military bases. We've broken down everything we know about them here.

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Now, let's take a look at the week's top tech stories.

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1. Bing's first week with AI superpowers was a Wild West of excitement, misinformation, and dystopia.

The launch of "new Bing" was met with buzzy excitement. But Microsoft may well have overestimated just how impactful a technology "new Bing" will be, reporter Hasan Chowdhury writes.

For one, its launch hasn't gone completely to plan — and even Microsoft admitted Bing has gone rogue in certain circumstances. Also, Bing faces a mighty foe in Google.

Go inside Bing's launch week here.

Top tech stories of the week:

2. A Googler was laid off while on vacation — and only found out when her colleague texted her. She said it made her feel like she was "just a number." Other ex-Googlers found out about their layoffs while on parental leave, after a call with a candidate suddenly disconnected, and even via social media.

3. In other layoff news, Salesforce's CEO took a trip to French Polynesia to wind down after his company's cuts. Marc Benioff said he went on a 10-day digital detox — and the trip was "freeing." Read the full report.

4. You've heard about ChatGPT, but do you really know how to use it? It can write songs, pass MBA exams, plan trips, and more. We've broken down the steps to get the most out of the buzzy AI. View them here.

5. Big Tech's massive layoffs will come back to haunt it. The class of 2023 can't find work in Silicon Valley — and that could cost the industry in the long run. Here's what to know.

6. A couple took an electric car on a 1,500-mile road trip and had to stop 12 times and forgo heat. That's because they had "range anxiety" and were constantly thinking about where to charge next. Read their story here.

7. Jack Dorsey mocked Elon Musk over a major Twitter outage. The Twitter founder said the platform used to be where people talked "when anything went down" — and he isn't the only tech titan throwing shade at Musk.

8. Billionaire Marc Andreessen warned remote work is "not a good life" for young workers. Andreessen said the pandemic has robbed staff of work relationships and opportunities — from water-cooler chats with coworkers to in-office dating. Read more.

From our tech analysis team:

9. Microsoft is giving off big 1990s energy. The company was once king of computing, but it's since lost its consumer edge after failing to compete with Google and Apple. Its new AI-powered Bing, however, is a chance to reclaim dominance. Read more.

10. Tech giants like Meta and Google have still grown like crazy — even after layoffs. Big tech companies have laid off thousands of employees over the last few months. Despite that, many firms have returned to a larger headcount than they had pre-pandemic. These six charts show their growth.

Today's team: Hallam Bullock in London, Lisa Ryan in New York, and Dave Smith in Toronto.