Latest news with #softwareengineers
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Canaccord Trims Elastic (ESTC) Price Target, Maintains Buy
Elastic N.V. (NYSE:ESTC) is one of the best SaaS stocks to buy according to analysts. Canaccord Genuity trimmed its price target on Elastic N.V. (NYSE:ESTC) to $110 from $115 while maintaining a Buy rating, following what it described as a solid fourth-quarter performance. The firm noted Elastic delivered better-than-expected results on both revenue and earnings, underscoring operational discipline and demand resilience despite a mixed macro environment. A group of software engineers working in an open, futuristic office. Notably, Canaccord pointed out that while total revenue exceeded estimates, the composition of that beat leaned more heavily on Elastic's self-managed offerings than on its cloud-native platform, Elastic Cloud. Cloud growth, a key long-term focus for the company, came in slightly below expectations, suggesting some variability in adoption pace or customer expansion. Still, the firm emphasized that Elastic's guidance for the coming quarters appears 'amply conservative,' leaving room for the company to outperform its own targets. With cost management measures in place and increasing enterprise interest in search-powered AI tools, Canaccord believes Elastic is positioned to exceed expectations over the course of the year. Shares of Elastic have rebounded in recent months as investor confidence has strengthened around the company's ability to execute a balanced growth strategy. The lowered target reflects a more cautious near-term stance but doesn't change the firm's broader view that Elastic remains an attractive play in the search and observability space. While we acknowledge the potential of ESTC as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: Top 10 Healthcare AI Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds and 10 Best Industrial Automation Stocks to Buy for the Next Decade Disclosure: None.
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Elon Musk's xAI is willing to pay up to $440k if you're an engineer who can make anime girl avatars
Elon Musk's xAI released two AI "companions" on its Grok iOS app. They include a flirty Japanese anime girl named "Ani" and a friendly red panda called "Rudi." xAI is now promising six-figure salaries to engineers who want to work on its AI "companions." Elon Musk's xAI says it is willing to pay out six-figure salaries to software engineers who can help the AI startup to develop its AI "companions." The listing, titled "Fullstack Engineer - Waifus," was posted on xAI's career portal on Tuesday, just a day after the company released two AI "companions" on its Grok platform. The term "waifu" refers to female anime characters that fans may view as a romantic partner or wife. The tongue-in-cheek job title may have been a reference to one of the "companions." That's "Ani," a Japanese anime girl wearing a black corset dress and lace choker. The other character was an animated red panda called "Rudi." Users can toggle between "Rudi" and his meaner alter ego "Bad Rudi." Both "Ani" and "Rudi" are only available on Grok's iOS app. A third "companion," an unnamed male anime character, is listed as "coming soon" on the app. Musk said on Monday that the feature was only for Super Grok subscribers, but both characters are available to all Grok users, including those without a paid subscription, as of press time. xAI said in its job posting that it was seeking "exceptional multimedia engineers and product thinkers" who can make "Grok's realtime avatar products fast, scalable, and reliable." It added that the hire will be based in Palo Alto and paid between $180,000 to $440,000. This is on top of any equity and benefits the engineer might receive. Grok's latest companions have the capacity to behave in a risqué manner. "Ani" speaks in a flirtatious manner and will strip down to lingerie if users keep engaging with it. "Bad Rudi," on the other hand, has a habit of spewing expletives and insults when unlocked. Earlier this month, Grok shared antisemitic posts on X that lauded Adolf Hitler's leadership. At one point, the chatbot referred to itself as "MechaHitler," a video game version of Hitler. On Saturday, xAI apologized for Grok's "horrific behavior" and said that "deprecated code made @grok susceptible to existing user posts; including when such posts contained extremist views." xAI did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. Read the original article on Business Insider
Skift
15-07-2025
- Business
- Skift
How AI and Tech Disruption Could Impact the Travel Workforce
The travel industry is once again standing at the edge of a major technological transformation. Just as the rise of online booking platforms redefined travel agencies in the early 2000s, the advent of AI, particularly agentic and generative AI, may soon redraw the employment map across the travel sector. To get a better understanding of how the latest developments in AI are affecting the travel workforce in particular, Skift Research undertook an analysis of government employment data to see what we could learn from past technological disruptions, and what upcoming shifts we can anticipate in the near future. Travel's Tech Gap and the Catch-Up Potential Despite travel's rapid digitalization over the past two decades, the sector remains surprisingly light on tech talent. Computer-related roles, such as software engineers and web developers, comprise only 0.25% of the travel workforce in the U.S., according to Bureau o
Entrepreneur
07-07-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
How Much Do Meta Employees Make? Base Salaries Revealed
Data from federal filings offers a glimpse into base salary ranges at Meta for roles ranging from AI research scientist to data analyst. Meta is willing to pay top dollar, ranging up to nine figures, for AI talent — but how is it compensating its more expansive workforce of data scientists, software engineers, and product designers? According to data from federal filings, obtained by Business Insider, software engineers at Meta can make anywhere from $120,000 to $480,000 in base salary, while product designers and researchers have salaries exceeding $200,000. Data scientists make up to $270,000. The data comes from required documents that companies must file with the U.S. Department of Labor when hiring non-U.S. workers through the H-1B visa program. The visa allows for highly skilled foreign workers to work in specialized occupations that require at least a bachelor's degree for up to six years. The filings only include base annual salaries and do not include stock options, signing bonuses, and other perks. Related: Here's How Much a Typical Nvidia Employee Makes in a Year The data shows that AI research scientists at Meta make $179,481 to $232,000, while data analysts make $168,000 to $204,000, and design engineers make $185,000 to $256,270. On the manager side, software engineering managers take home $219,978 to $328,000 in base pay, while senior product managers make $224,323, and research scientist managers make $258,524. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images Meta is currently fighting for top AI talent, vying with OpenAI and other AI companies for a limited pool of AI researchers. The company stated last week that it would house its AI initiatives under a new team called Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL), and announced 11 new hires for the team, including former Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI researchers. Meta also invested $14.3 billion last month for a 49% stake in the AI data training startup Scale AI. As part of the deal, Meta brought over Scale AI's 28-year-old CEO Alexandr Wang to head MSL. Related: Here's How Much a Typical Google Employee Makes in a Year OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said last month that Meta attempted to poach OpenAI staff with "$100 million signing bonuses" and "more than that" in compensation. Meta's chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, denied the report at a leaked all-hands meeting, calling Altman "dishonest" for his claims. "Look, you guys, the market is hot," Bosworth stated at the meeting last month. "It's not that hot." Following news of the meeting, OpenAI's chief research officer, Mark Chen, said in a leaked memo to staff that OpenAI was "recalibrating" compensation in response to Meta's offers. OpenAI is worth $300 billion after a $40 billion fundraising round in March. Meta stock is up over 20% year-to-date; the company is worth over $1.8 trillion.
South China Morning Post
03-06-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Microsoft cuts hundreds more jobs after firing 6,000 last month
Microsoft cut hundreds more jobs just weeks after its largest lay-off in years, underscoring the tech industry's efforts to trim costs even as it ploughs billions of dollars into artificial intelligence (AI) Advertisement More than 300 employees were told their positions had been eliminated on Monday, according to a Washington state notice reviewed by Bloomberg. A Microsoft representative said the latest headcount reduction was in addition to the 6,000 job cuts announced last month. 'We continue to implement organisational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace,' the person said. The artificial intelligence boom has roiled the tech labour market because companies are prioritising AI-focused jobs and harnessing the technology to save money. Microsoft and peers including Meta Platforms have touted the effectiveness of AI-assisted coding tools in speeding up the software development process. Last week, Salesforce said the internal use of AI allowed it to hire fewer workers. Advertisement Microsoft's previous lay-offs fell hardest on software engineers. It could not be determined what kind of jobs were affected on Monday. As of June 2024, the company had about 228,000 full-time employees, 55 per cent of whom were employed in the US.
