Despite what hundreds of Twitter threads and LinkedIn posts might tell you, nobody knows for sure how the new wave of language-generating AI could change the economy or the job market.

A recent report from McKinsey made some educated guesses based on the firm’s own data. The consultancy analyzed 63 use cases for the technology and ultimately estimated it could add $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion to the global economy.

These types of figures should of course be taken with a grain of salt; research reports predicted a multitrillion-dollar metaverse market before tech and media giants began divesting from the space more recently.

Nevertheless, here are some of the ways that McKinsey’s report predicts generative AI might transform the economy and workplace.

Keep reading here.—PK

Want high test coverage fast?

QA Wolf can get web apps to 80% automated end-to-end test coverage in weeks—not years. They write everything in open-source Playwright + provide the infrastructure to run your entire test suite in parallel on every deploy.

Want more? How does 24-hour test maintenance and investigation sound? Or how about human-verified bug reports with zero flakes, guaranteed? Unlimited test runs? Yep, QA Wolf provides all that and more.

Feeling skeptical? Schedule a 90-day pilot. QA Wolf will even give you a free pair of AirPods Max headphones if they can’t automate your web app’s user flows. Reduced QA cycles and top-of-the-line wireless earbuds? That’s music to our ears!

Get complete coverage with QA Wolf.

The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit this week seeking to block Microsoft’s nearly $69 billion proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

If completed, Microsoft has claimed that the deal would make it the third-largest gaming company in the world, behind Tencent and Sony.

In December, the agency filed its first (and still pending) legal challenge to the deal. This time, it’s seeking a temporary restraining order and injunction ahead of the merger’s July 18 closing deadline.

Keep reading here.—JM

If recent news is anything to go by, the EV-charging revolution will be led by Tesla.

General Motors and Tesla announced this month that GM will integrate Tesla’s proprietary North American Charging Standard into its EVs starting in 2025, while owners of existing GM EVs will be able to buy an adapter to connect to Tesla’s chargers next year.

Ford, which accounted for nearly 8% of the EV market in 2022, struck a similar deal with Tesla in May, making Tesla’s chargers the de facto standard for electric vehicles in the United States. Tesla’s Supercharger network is North America’s largest EV-charging network and will grant Ford and GM customers access to more than 12,000 Superchargers in the US and Canada.

This could be the beginning of the end for the Combined Charging System standard that GM, Ford, and other EV players have been using.

Keep reading here.—JM

Stat: No. 1. Apple’s position in Kantar’s BrandZ Most Valuable Global Brands report. “In aggregate, tech brands represented the largest share of value in the top 100,” Marketing Brew reported.

Quote: “We’re very confident that this technology will lower returns. We’re pretty confident that that should help lower the cost for merchants in the end.”—Maria Renz, VP and GM of commerce at Google, to Retail Brew regarding AI-powered virtual try-ons

Read: How Microsoft got its employees excited about compliance training (HR Brew)

Links we love: It’s that time of the year again. Quarterly planning. But don’t panic, The Brew’s brand-new Quarterly Planning sprint can help you build an actionable plan that will carry you through 2023. Sign up now.

Content compass: Why do 71% of tech companies think investing in content can help safeguard their finances during uncertain times? Bynder’s State of Content Report 2023 has all the insights. Peep it.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

Usually, we write about the business of tech. Here, we highlight the *tech* of tech.

Under pressure: Is the Instant Pot a tech product? We’d say it is: It’s programmable. It emits cute little beeps. It kinda looks like R2-D2? It’s as intuitive to use as an Apple product. Even though it’s become a kitchen mainstay, the parent company of the pandemic-era must-have, Instant Brands, has filed for bankruptcy. The next has-been kitchen appliance? Morning Brew’s Matty Merritt suggested it could be the air fryer. (We concur.)

Reddit blackouts reverberate: As big proponents of information literacy and just-the-facts-ma’am journalism, we once cast a wary eye toward Reddit (and with good reason). But if you’re looking for something specific, well…tacking “reddit” on to your Google search can make for more worthwhile findings, as The Verge noted. With top subreddits shuttering to protest Reddit’s plans to jack up the cost of using its API, many have lost not just their go-to online communities, but a decent way to search the internet.