MONDAY KETCHUP: ChatbotGPT got a Wharton degree, Elliot takes on Salesforce, Pink Floyd's 50-year-old album is now woke, and NERD ALERT: CSR makes employees cheat more

DAMION1

1. Justice Department Investigating Abbott Infant Formula Plant

1. The Justice Department is investigating conduct at the Abbott Laboratories infant-formula plant in Sturgis, Mich., that led to its shutdown last year and worsened a nationwide formula shortage, people familiar with the matter said.

2. Attorneys with the Justice Department’s consumer-protection branch are conducting the criminal investigation, the people said. 

3. Last January, FDA inspectors found bacteria at the plant after receiving reports of babies who drank the company’s formula and became sick. The inspectors also found standing water, damage to drying equipment and defects in the seams of formula cans, among other problems at the Sturgis plant.

2. AI chatbot’s MBA exam pass poses test for business schools

1. Christian Terwiesch, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton, one of the oldest and most prestigious US business schools, decided to put to the test growing concerns about ChatGPT’s power, and found to his surprise that it could outperform some of the students on his operations management course, a core MBA subject.

2. In a Wharton professor’s white paper, “Would Chat GPT3 Get a Wharton MBA?” published this week, the conclusion: “Chat GPT3 would have received a B to B- grade on the exam. This has important implications for business school education,” citing the need to overhaul exam policies, curriculum design and teaching.

3. Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella spoke on the future of AI in the workplace in Davos this week. 

1. Microsoft is betting big on artificial intelligence by integrating the technology into workplace emails, slideshows, and spreadsheets — part of its ongoing partnership with OpenAI, the company behind the popular chatbot ChatGPT. 

2. His remarks come as the company began its first wave of layoffs, expected to total 10,000 employees. 

3. Hacktivist Finds US 'No-Fly' List, Reveals Systemic Bias, Surveillance

1. A bored hacktivist browsing an unsecured airline server stumbled upon national security secrets including the FBI's 'no fly' list. She says what she found reveals a 'perverse outgrowth of the surveillance state.'

2. Maia arson crimew told Insider it took just minutes for her to access the server and find credentials that allowed her to see the database.

3. In the years since the original "no fly" list was formed after 9/11, it has gained official federal recognition and grown from just 16 names, according to the ACLU, to the 1,807,230 entries in the documents found by crimew.

4. "The most obvious pattern in the data is the overwhelming preponderance of Arabic or Muslim-seeming names"

1. Any future southeast asian CEOs???

5. Among the hundreds of thousands of names on the list are the children of suspected terrorists including a child whose birthdate indicates they would have been four years old or five years at the time they were included.

4. Activist investor Elliott Management has reportedly snapped up a multibillion-dollar stake in Salesforce

1. It's the second time an activist investor has taken a stake in the software giant in the last three months.

2. Salesforce is reeling from the announcement of layoffs and the impending departure of its co-CEO.

3. One of the obvious moves for Elliott would be to counteract the alarming board influence of founder/co-CEO and chair Marc Benioff. My initial thoughts:

1. No more chair for Marc

2. Board refreshment

1. there are 4 long-tenure old white dudes on the board:

1. Craig Conway (67:17)

2. Alan Hassenfeld (73:19)

3. Maynard Webb (66:16)

4. Sanford Robertson (90:19)

2. Two of these outperform when it comes to worker productivity (we rate Hassenfeld/Webb as “Strong”) so we can at least tell Elliott to start with Conway and Robertson.

1. Sanford Robertson has served as the Lead Independent Director since June 2007 AND chairs the nomination committee

1. Give me an actual break, please

5. Southwest Airlines to pay pilots millions in bonuses as 'gratitude' for working during meltdown: CNN

1. Southwest will pay 9,400  pilots an estimated $45 million in bonuses for working during the service meltdown last year

1. Roughly $5k

2. Other employees, including flight attendants, will also be compensated.

3. Previously we reported that Southwest is giving workers bonus points worth about $400 to say sorry for the 'physical and emotional toll' of the holiday meltdown

6. Chris Hipkins set to replace Ardern as New Zealand prime minister

1. Self-own: got that prediction WRONG

2. But… Chris certainly reads female (in all the greatest ways, of course):

1. Education minister was the sole candidate to become new Labour Party leader

2. played a significant role in New Zealand's response to the COVID-19 pandemic

7. CEOs Say HR Is Central To Business Success

1. The good news is that 89% of CEOs say HR should have a central role in the business

2. The bad news is only 45% of CEOs say they are creating the conditions for HR to lead business growth successfully

8. Finally, in Stupid:

1. First, an apology: Church Of England Apologizes For 'Hostile And Homophobic' LGBTQ Treatment — But Still Bans Marriages

1. The Church of England issued an apology for its treatment of LGBTQ people Friday, days after bishops said it would not allow same-sex marriages inside its churches following a six-year period of considering the issue and public disagreements among church bishops, with the result condemned by some activists 

2. “For the times we have rejected or excluded you, and those you love, we are deeply sorry,” bishops wrote Friday, adding “the occasions on which you received a hostile and homophobic response in our churches are shameful and for this, we repent.”

2. And a Woke Data War: Pink Floyd fans slam band's cover art as 'woke' despite 50-year history

1. They mad at the rainbow, which has always been there

MATT1

Nerd alert time!  This one is a bit of a shitshow, but it’s fun.  Here’s the upshot: when you pay your workers shit and give the difference to charity, THEY DO SHIT WORK!

Think of this as a greenwashing parable: for every company talking about how their employees are their greatest asset and how they love diversity and stuff, and they also donate to charity and love trees and butterflies, but they pay minimum wage with no benefits, your employees will fuck you eventually.

Here’s the paper, from 2017: 

WHEN CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY BACKFIRES: THEORY AND EVIDENCE FROM A NATURAL FIELD EXPERIMENT

John A. List, Fatemeh Momeni

National Bureau of Economic Research

• Used Amazon Mechanical Turks to perform tasks, some with CSR framing some without

• Results suggested “usage of CSR increased cheating”

• As in, employees shirked their job responsibilities more often because they feel like the job is doing good, so they don’t have to

• “Moral-licensing” effect - when CSR activity is framed as a prosocial act the workers are doing, they cheated at the highest rate

• This effect is exacerbated when you decrease wages - lower wages because you’re “doing good” incentivizes cheating

• The job:

• 3,000 workers

• 10% wage upfront, 90% after with promise to complete

• 2 hours time limit on maybe 5 min of work

• Low/Med/High wages

• In addition, the workers also got a “social incentive in the form of CSR”

• Cash donation to a specified non profit organization

• Our firm is committed to give back in meaningful ways. We are passionate about encouraging education for the next generation. We do our part by donating money to influential non-profit organizations that support education for children from low socioeconomic backgrounds. In keeping with our philanthropic mission, we donate the equivalent of x% of our wage bill in cash (on behalf of all workers who help us with this project) to UNICEF Education Programs. UNICEF works tirelessly to ensure that every child regardless of gender, ethnicity or circumstances has access to a quality education. You may find out more about UNICEF Education Programs at: UNICEF.

• Task was to transcribe images from German books

• Workers allowed to report the image “unreadable” and still get paid

• The cheat

• Reporting an image unreadable when it was readable

• Taking the 10% cash upfront and not completing the job