AI disruption deepens with Chegg plunge, IBM hiring halt, Samsung chatbot ban

Generative AI – software that can create text, images or videos based on prompts from a user – is already showing the potential to dramatically reshape the world’s economy. — Image by rawpixel.com on Freepik

The speed of disruption caused by ChatGPT and similar artificial intelligence was on full display this week, knocking shares of education-technology company Chegg Inc., causing IBM to scale back hiring plans and prompting a ban at Samsung Electronics Co., which said it has fears about the technology’s security.

Chegg shares plunged more than 40% in early trading on Tuesday after the company said that OpenAI’s ChatGPT tool is threatening the growth of its homework-help services. The San Diego-based company makes most of its money from subscriptions and offers online guidance for test taking and essay-writing, tasks some students are already outsourcing to freely available ChatGPT tools.