Posts by lucidcapitalism

(WSJ) Founders and venture capitalists who flocked to artificial-intelligence startups are learning that turning the chatbot buzz into successful businesses is harder than it seems. Almost a year into the boom ignited by the November launch of ChatGPT, some startups that epitomized the zeal for so-called generative AI are now navigating layoffs and reduced user interest. Investors are…

(Washington Post) In a coastal city in the southern Philippines, thousands of young workers log online every day to support the booming business of artificial intelligence. In dingy internet cafes, jampacked office spaces or at home, they annotate the masses of data that American companies need to train their artificial intelligence models. The workers differentiate…

(The Guardian) Unprecedented regulation forcing more than 40 online giants including Facebook, X, Google and TikTok to better police the content they deliver within the EU is due to come into force on 25 August. So what is the legislation and how will regulators enforce it? Digital Services Act (DSA) The DSA is a groundbreaking law…

(The Information) The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved new rules for private funds Wednesday meant to give limited partners—the individuals and institutions that invest in these funds—more transparency. The ramifications for the much larger private equity industry have drawn most of the attention, but venture capital funds will also need to bend to the new rules.…

(The Atlantic) In Facebook’s youth, most of the website was powered out of a single building in Prineville, Oregon. That data center, holding row upon row of refrigerator-size racks of servers filled with rows of silicon chips, consumed huge amounts of electricity, outstripping the yearly power usage of more than 6,000 American homes. One day in the summer of 2011,…

(Washington Post) The conservative activist behind the Supreme Court’s upending of affirmative action in college admissions is suing two corporate law firms for their fellowships aimed at bolsteringdiversity, an escalation of a broader campaign to dismantle diversity initiatives in the private sector. The American Alliance for Equal Rights filed lawsuitsTuesdayagainst Perkins Coie in U.S. District…

(Financial Times) The global private funds industry is bracing for one of the most sweeping regulatoryreforms in its history as the US Securities and Exchange Commission prepares toimpose tough rules on private equity, real estate and hedge funds. The far-reaching rules, first proposed in February 2022, are aimed at protectinginvestors by requiring detailed quarterly reporting…

(Forbes) The affirmative action debate has entered the venture capital building, with a bang. On August 2, 2023, the American Alliance for Equal Rights founded by the notorious conservative crusader Edward Blum, sued the Atlanta-based Fearless Fund, claiming the fund is operating a “racially discriminatory program” in violation of Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866. According…

(Forbes) Investment firms of all shapes and sizes have been busy creating investment vehicles known as ESG-focused funds that in the last several years have attracted billions upon billions of dollars from investors looking to profit from companies that are seeking to address environmental, social, and governance matters in a constructive manner. No doubt some…

(Bloomberg) Four years into a plan to eliminate its carbon emissions, Amazon.com Inc. has lost a key endorsement from the world’s leading watchdog of corporate climate goals. The Science Based Targets initiative, a United Nations-backed entity that validates net zero plans, has removed Amazon from its list of companies taking action on climate goals after…