Kurt Wagner
@kurtwagner.bsky.social
6K followers 77 following 220 posts
Journalist at Bloomberg. Go Mariners. Go Seahawks. Signal: kurtwagner.08
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kurtwagner.bsky.social
New: Meta will start using chatbot conversations to target people with advertising. This will start in Dec and there is no way to opt-out

People use chatbots for all kinds of very personal things. Soon you may see ads on FB/IG related to those personal things.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Meta to Start Using Chatbot Conversations to Target Advertising
Meta Platforms Inc. will soon start using interactions with its AI chatbot to more effectively tailor the content and advertising that people see on Facebook and Instagram.
www.bloomberg.com
kurtwagner.bsky.social
The live demo did not work, which was not great at the conference. But I used a neural wristband with glasses last year and found the hands-free technology to be very cool.
kurtwagner.bsky.social
New: Meta's Mark Zuckerberg just debuted a new pair of AI display glasses that work with a neural wristband to enable hands-free messaging. You can see your messages in the periphery of the frame. Story from @markgurman.bsky.social

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
kurtwagner.bsky.social
New: Meta is restructuring its AI teams again after a big hiring spree. The org now has four distinct teams, all rolling up to Alexandr Wang (formerly Scale AI). This is according to an internal memo sent by Wang this morning... via @rileyraygriffin.bsky.social

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
kurtwagner.bsky.social
I don't understand how this can *ever* make it into a policy document as acceptable chatbot behavior. Pretty inexcusable.

www.reuters.com/investigates...
kurtwagner.bsky.social
Agrawal is still fighting Musk in court for his $50m (!) in severance, but he's also clearly trying to turn a page here and move on to something new
kurtwagner.bsky.social
You may recall that Musk fired Agrawal immediately upon closing the Twitter deal, and withheld his severance. (Agrawal now suing.)

I would have thought Agrawal would have taken off and hunkered down on a beach somewhere. Instead he immediately started brainstorming new company ideas in Palo Alto.
kurtwagner.bsky.social
New: Former Twitter CEO @para.ga is moving past the Elon Musk drama & started an AI company.

“I don’t think Twitter defines me,” he told us in an interview. “If I do a good job, I’m hoping this company will define me.”

www.bloomberg.com/news/article... (gift link w/ @shiringhaffary.bsky.social)
Twitter’s Ex-CEO Is Moving Past His Elon Musk Drama and Starting an AI Company
Parag Agrawal says AI agents are the target customers for his new startup, Parallel.
www.bloomberg.com
kurtwagner.bsky.social
What happens when Mark Zuckerberg moves into the neighborhood? Great read about the Facebook founder's years-long effort to build a private compound in Palo Alto

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/10/u...
kurtwagner.bsky.social
New: Meta found some business partners for its major Louisiana data center project
kurtwagner.bsky.social
Not the pivot I was expecting....

Linda Yaccarino has a new job: Running eMed, "a telehealth company that offers access to weight-loss drugs"

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
kurtwagner.bsky.social
What's it like to cover Elon Musk?

I spoke to my good friend and tremendous reporter @teddyschleifer.bsky.social for our Elon Inc. podcast about how he's covering the world's richest man

Teddy's covers Musk as closely as anyone - great perspective!

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/f...
Forget DOGE. Musk Is Suddenly All In on AI
Podcast Episode · Elon, Inc. · 07/15/2025 · 35m
podcasts.apple.com
kurtwagner.bsky.social
No one will ever accuse Zuck of being cheap!
kurtwagner.bsky.social
New: Meta has nabbed two more top AI researchers from Apple for its Superintelligence Labs group. The hiring spree continues... w/ @markgurman.bsky.social

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
kurtwagner.bsky.social
New: Meta's board went to trial Wednesday over shareholder claims that they overpaid the FTC several years ago to personally protect Mark Zuckerberg from being held responsible for Cambridge Analytica

This morning the two sides reached a settlement. Zuck was set to testify next week
kurtwagner.bsky.social
Update: Meta has closed its PlayAI deal, and the "entire" PlayAI team is planning to join the company next week, according to an internal memo.

The group will report up to Johan Schalkwyk, who just joined Meta from Sesame a few weeks ago.
kurtwagner.bsky.social
I've been wondering for a while now whether X might just slowly fade away from advertising. Its main value seems to be in providing training data to xAI anyways? Linda Yaccarino's departure seems to signal that X is becoming a very different kind of business...

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
kurtwagner.bsky.social
"Thank you for your contributions"
kurtwagner.bsky.social
New: Linda Yaccarino is out as the CEO of X.