6 Top Takeaways From Code Conference 2022

pcmag.com:

As usual, the annual Code conference(Opens in a new window) featured an array of well-known speakers touching on technology and media (plus a surprising focus on climate). This year's event was a bit more personal, as it marked conference host Kara Swisher's last year as host; co-founder Walt Mossberg stepped away a few years ago. There were big-name speakers such as Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and Alphabet/Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and a big focus on competition and antitrust, but plenty of others.

Here are some of the more interesting thoughts I heard on stage:

Lots of speakers said negative things about the video-focused social media platform, which has grown tremendously in the past year, with speakers focusing on its Chinese owner Bytedance and the addictive quality of the videos.

NYU Professor Scott Galloway set the tone, saying "TikTok is an existential threat and should be banned." He said it was very addictive, especially for those under 18, and called it the ultimate propaganda machine, with the Chinese government pushing Anti-American content.

TikTok was a major part of the conversation with Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, whose company recently went through a round of layoffs. Spiegel said the Chinese app spent billions of dollars buying users and content, and that gave it more input, which in turn helped its AI. Nobody anticipated that level of investment, he said, "no startup could have afforded it." He said this gave Tik Tok a lead early on, as people can train the algorithm to get a more personalized feel.

Spiegel was very bullish on augmented reality, talking about the company's AR Lens Studio, and the role it could play in the shopping experience, such as trying on clothing.

Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner was