Posts by lucidcapitalism
California passed a first-of-its-kind bill mandating pollution disclosures, including supply chain emissions
(Verge) California legislators passed a bill Monday night that would force big companies doing business in the state to disclose how much planet-heating carbon dioxide pollution they create. It will be the first mandate of its kind in the nation if it’s signed into law and comes as the SEC drags its heels on a similar federal…
Read MoreCalifornia’s Gavin Newsom Signs New Executive Order on AI Risks
(Bloomberg) The state of California has entered the frenzied and at times confusing race among governments around the world to both regulate and harness the technology known as generative artificial intelligence. On Wednesday morning, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Executive Order N-12-23, a 2,500-word directive that instructs state agencies to examine how AI might threaten the…
Read MoreAI Startup Buzz Is Facing a Reality Check
(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…
Read MoreBehind the AI boom, an army of overseas workers in ‘digital sweatshops’
(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…
Read MoreHow the EU Digital Services Act affects Facebook, Google and others
(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…
Read MoreNew SEC Rules Could Hurt VC’s Newcomers
(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.…
Read MoreThe Internet’s Next Great Power Suck
(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,…
Read MoreConservative activist sues 2 major law firms over diversity fellowships
(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…
Read MorePrivate fund industry prepares for battle over sweeping US rules
(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…
Read MoreAll For One: Over 70 Venture Funds Band Together, Sign Open Letter Denouncing Lawsuit Against Fearless Fund
(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…
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