Forbes Daily: Meet Bard, Google’s Plan To Beat ChatGPT

Good morning,

The 65th Grammy Awards were one for the ages earlier this week as the world witnessed Beyoncé break the record for the most Grammy wins of all time (she now has a whopping 32 of the awards) and Viola Davis won the award that rounded out her EGOT collection of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and a Tony.

There were also plenty of other memorable—and memeable—moments of the show, as my Forbes colleague Robert Hart puts it. Perhaps most of all? Ben Affleck, who became a breakout meme for his bored and disinterested expressions throughout the evening.

May you be more enthusiastic about your Tuesday than Affleck was about the awards show.

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BREAKING NEWS

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is now the most-watched Marvel film to premiere on Disney+ worldwide, the platform announced Monday, though it declined to provide specific numbers. (Photo: Marvel Studios Via AP).

The death toll from the powerful earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria on Monday could rise above 20,000, a World Health Organization official warned, as freezing temperatures and aftershocks impede efforts to rescue people trapped under collapsed buildings.

BUSINESS + FINANCE

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she sees “a path in which inflation is declining significantly,” and took a confident stance that the nation could avoid a recession after adding more than 500,000 jobs in January that brought unemployment to a 54-year low.

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WEALTH + ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Billionaire Gautam Adani and his family announced the prepayment of $1.11 billion worth of loans backed by shares of Adani Ports, Adani Green Energy and Adani Transmission as the group’s units continue to take a hit on the stock market after fraud allegations.

South Korean biotechnology company Caregen, which develops cosmetics and healthcare products like its popular wrinkle-treating, injectable dermal filler, has minted its founder and CEO Chung Yong-ji a billionaire—the first entrepreneur in seven months to join the country’s three-comma club.

TECH + INNOVATION

Despite 2022’s crypto market collapse, dozens of enterprises around the world are still investing in blockchain, the distributed-database technology that underpins the entire sector because it helps their businesses operate better, faster or cheaper. The Forbes Blockchain 50 2023 list details the firms getting in on the action, from Alphabet to PayPal.

Google inserted itself in the generative AI race on Monday, when it unveiled Bard, a rival to the popular ChatGPT bot. The service, which uses artificial intelligence to generate answers in text when people type in queries, will first roll out to a limited group of testers ahead of a larger release in the “coming weeks.”

SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT

Despite big-name defections from the likes of Barclays, Pizza Hut and others, the NFL saw a 4% increase in 2022 sponsorship revenue to an estimated $1.88 billion, according to sports valuation firm IEG. That stems from a record amount of sponsorships this past season, while the league notably avoided relationships with cryptocurrency partners.

Tom Brady delayed his start as an NFL analyst with Fox Sports until fall 2024, as the 45-year-old former quarterback backtracks on a promise to immediately join the broadcast booth after his retirement as part of a reported 10-year, $375 million contract.

Daily Cover Story

How Mastercard, Goldman Sachs And Other “TradFi” Titans Are Using Blockchain To Rewire Global Finance

TOPLINE Crypto is in crisis, but many of the world’s biggest financial institutions are still banking on the underlying tech as the best way to build confidence with customers—and with one another.

Take a look at Mastercard, the world’s second-largest credit card company. Late last month, CEO Michael Miebach told shareholders and analysts that the company had surpassed 2 billion “tokenized” transactions per month, up 38% in a year, and that Mastercard was enabling digital payments in 110 countries.

Tokenization at Mastercard refers to replacing the 16-digit number on your plastic credit card with a super secure unique digital record for every transaction, so you’re never leaving behind your identity in the form of a credit card number. It’s not yet on a blockchain, but Mastercard is currently working with banks and merchants to tokenize a variety of assets, including deposits, which will be tracked on multiple public and private blockchains.

The big benefit of it all? The goal is less fraud. Big banks also see the opportunity; Goldman Sachs, for one, has largely avoided directly investing in cryptocurrencies but is still working with the tech behind them.

WHY IT MATTERS Trusted and revered financial institutions getting in on crypto and Web3, or the mechanisms that power them, could help restore some trust in the crypto industry, in which confidence has recently been rattled due to scandals such as the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s exchange FTX.

“And while they are shrewdly stepping forward to supplant crypto startups, there are worries among crypto industry purists over the future of blockchain tech,” says Forbes Senior Reporter Nina Bambysheva. “Big enterprises have traditionally preferred private blockchains to public distributed ledgers because they offer more control.”

MORE Inside Tether, Crypto’s (So Far) Unbreakable Buck

FACTS AND COMMENTS

Super Bowl LVII is this coming Sunday, with the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles facing off to determine who will be the NFL’s title winner. The sporting event is one of the most anticipated of the year, as evidenced by the top ten most streamed Super Bowls of all-time:

114.4 million: The number of viewers who tuned into Super Bowl XLIX (2015) between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks, landing it No. 1 on the list.

111.5 viewers: How many people watched Super Bowl XLVIII (2014), when the Seattle Seahawks defeated the Denver Broncos, making it the No. 2 most watched.

49.1%: The percentage of American households that tuned into Super Bowl XVI (1982), when the San Francisco 49ers’ bested the Cincinnati Bengals.

STRATEGY AND SUCCESS

For almost 70% of people, their manager has more of an effect on their mental health than their therapist or even their doctor, new data shows. That makes the impact on par with that of their partner. Here’s how managers can shoulder that responsibility and lead in a way that bolsters their team’s wellbeing.

Video

Why Fertility Benefits Could Backfire On Employers, As More Companies Offer IVF and Egg Freezing Perks

QUIZ

What is AMC Theatres’ newest strategy for off-setting the business toll from Covid-19 and the surging popularity of streaming services?

A. Hiring local chefs to revamp food menus in different markets

B. Offering tiered seat prices

C. Expanding its $5 movie ticket deal to a second day

D. Screening until 5 a.m. at select locations to attract the nightlife consumer

Check if you got it right here.

ACROSS THE NEWSROOM

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BEYOND THE NEWSROOM

• Coming up: The Forbes Under 30 Summit Africa is coming back for a second time to the world’s greatest growth market. From April 23-26, join some of the greatest minds from around the world in Gaborone, Botswana for this can’t-miss event. Register now.
• Down to the wire: Forbes’ fifth annual AI 50 list is seeking nominations from now through February 10.
• The Midas List, Forbes’ data-driven ranking of the top 100 private tech investors in the world, is back for a 22nd year. Submissions are open through February 14.

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