Bidding for Bezos: Raleigh, NC Mayor Weighs in on Amazon HQ2
Amazon plans to invest over $5 billion and create 50,000 jobs for its new headquarters. Amazon HQ2 could ultimately change the economic trajectory of the winning city for years to come. Nancy McFarlane, Mayor of Raleigh, North Carolina, was with us to discuss the city's chances.
Amazon culled its list down from 238 to 20, Raleigh among them. Mayor McFarlane shared what she believes landed her city on the short list. The Mayor stressed that Raleigh is a great environment for a tech company to grow. Tech jobs in Raleigh have grown 38.5% from 2010-2015, second only to San Francisco and ahead of Austin, Boston, and other innovation hubs.
Amazon's presence transformed the real estate market in Seattle. In July, home prices in the city increased 13.5% compared to last year, according to reports. Mayor McFarlane said it would be part of the discussion if Amazon were to move in because maintaining affordable housing is a priority, but careful planning would help avoid the displacement of residents.
GoFundMe launches Back in Business Fund with Paris Hilton to provide targeted grants helping women entrepreneurs recover and rebuild after natural disasters.
Samsung launches its “AI in Action Lab” in NYC, giving public high school students hands-on AI experience and tools to prepare for real world innovations.
Gen Z workers are increasingly worried AI could replace their jobs. However, experts say companies are using AI more to assist workers than replace them.
Matt Schultz of CleanSpark discusses Bitcoin mining and AI infrastructure converge, energy demand dynamics, and the company’s position in the evolving market.
Bhavin Shah of ServiceNow discusses how the new Autonomous Workforce AI automates tasks, integrates with Teams and Slack, and boosts workplace efficiency.
Angi is partnering with OpenAI to bring its home services marketplace directly into ChatGPT, allowing users to go from questions to booking local pros.
