Month: March 2023

Enlarge (credit: Google)

Don't get too distracted by today's big "AI for Google Workspace" announcement, because this is also the day for a Google Workspace price increase. Last month, Google announced that prices for the most common "business" editions of Google Workspace would increase by 20 percent, and the company would launch an "annual" billing option on March 14. Today's the big day, and with that new billing plan, the higher prices have hit the Google Workspace sign-up page for new users. Existing users will see that 20 percent price increase at some point in the future, too, with the earliest rollout happening in April. If you don't want to pay a bunch more for Workspace, the new Annual plan will let you commit to a year of Workspace at the old rate.

Google's new-ish Workspace branding is kind of confusing. Google used to have a brand name only for the paid, business edition of the Google apps, which come with a custom domain option for your Gmail account. Previously the name was "G Suite," and before that it was "Google Apps for your domain." The new brand, "Workspace," applies to both the paid business accounts and the free consumer accounts, though. So to be clear, the free consumer Google accounts for Gmail and Docs and whatnot are still free, but the three most common business editions—Business "Starter," "Standard," and "Plus"—are all going up in price. Businesses pay for these accounts per user per month, so the pricing can add up quickly.

Annual plans have been available before for businesses via the old-school route of calling a corporate sales rep, but now any business admin will be able to sign up for an annual plan online. Unlike the "Flexible" month-to-month plans, Google's terms for the deal say you'll be locked into the number of users you pick at the beginning of your year, and while you can add new users and pay more, you can't drop them. While you're locked into a year of service, billing is still month to month, and added users will increase your bill going forward, so they're prorated. You're not allowed to cancel the deal early.

Enlarge / In this photo illustration, insulin pens manufactured by Novo Nordisk are displayed on March 14, 2023, in Miami, Florida. (credit: Getty | Joe Raedle)

Heavyweight insulin maker Novo Nordisk said Tuesday that it will lower list prices for some of its insulin products by up to 75 percent by the end of the year, following in the footsteps of Eli Lilly, which made a similar announcement at the start of the month. Experts expect the third top insulin maker in the US, Sanofi, will follow suit.

The price cuts come after years of escalating public backlash to the companies' steep price hikes on insulin, which many advocates have described as price gouging. An analysis from 2018 found that insulin list prices were set five- to ten-times higher in the US than in other high-income countries, with average standardized units of insulin going for nearly $100. The cost of producing the products, even the newer insulins, generally falls under $10.

In its announcement Tuesday, Novo Nordisk said that it will cut the prices of several products, including Levemir, Novolin, NovoLog, and NovoLog Mix 70/30. With the 75 percent cut, a 10mL vial of NovoLog will drop from $289.36 to $72.34. A NovoLog Mix 70/30 FlexPen will drop from $558.83 to $139.71.

Enlarge (credit: NurPhoto / Contributor | NurPhoto)

An entire team responsible for making sure that Microsoft’s AI products are shipped with safeguards to mitigate social harms was cut during the company’s most recently layoff of 10,000 employees, Platformer reported.

Former employees said that the ethics and society team was a critical part of Microsoft's strategy to reduce risks associated with using OpenAI technology in Microsoft products. Before it was killed off, the team developed an entire “responsible innovation toolkit” to help Microsoft engineers forecast what harms could be caused by AI—and then to diminish those harms.

Platformer’s report came just before OpenAI released possibly its most powerful AI model yet, GPT-4, which is already helping to power Bing search, Reuters reported.