Posts by Cecilia Young

(Politico) In one of the zanier twists of this campaign season, two Virginia congressional candidates will face off tonight, in a virtual debate, against an AI bot. The candidates are Bentley Hensel and David Kennedy, both running for Virginia’s 8th district — both independents, and both expected to lose. The bot is based on Rep.…

(NYT) Amazon’s delivery system depends on third-party companies. But labor regulators have challenged that model, possibly opening the way for unionization. Hundreds of thousands of drivers who deliver Amazon packages don’t work directly for the e-commerce giant; instead, they’re employed by third-party logistics companies, called delivery service partners. Last year, Amazon ended a contract with…

(Bloomberg) Daron Acemoglu wants to make clear right away that he has nothing against artificial intelligence. He gets the potential. “I’m not an AI pessimist,” he declares seconds into an interview. What makes Acemoglu, a renowned professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, come off as a doomsayer locked in on the mounting economic and financial…

(The Verge) California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act (SB 1047) today. In his veto message, Governor Newsom cited multiple factors in his decision, including the burden the bill would have placed on AI companies, California’s lead in the space, and a critique that the bill…

(NYT) On Saturday, Governor Gavin Newsom of California signed a new law that aims to protect people’s brain data from being potentially misused by neurotechnology companies. A growing number of consumer technology products promise to help address cognitive issues: apps to meditate, to improve focus and to treat mental health conditions like depression. These products…

(Pitchbook) Are ESG and DEI dead? In this case, perception may be different from reality. While the ESG and Impact investing spaces are fraught with controversy, our fifth annual Sustainable Investment Survey shows that practitioners are leaning into their investment approaches in new and innovative ways.  With over 1,000 global respondents—including asset owners, VC and PE…

(WSJ) OpenAI is planning to convert from a nonprofit organization to a for-profit company at the same time it is undergoing major personnel shifts including the abrupt resignation Wednesday of its chief technology officer, Mira Murati. Becoming a for-profit would be a seismic shift for OpenAI, which was founded in 2015 to develop AI technology…

(WSJ) An appellate court holds companies liable for the actions of their algorithms. Read more here.

(Verge) You’ll need to opt out twice to stop LinkedIn from using your account data for training in the future — but anything already done is done. Read more here.

(FT) Nvidia and Abu Dhabi-backed MGX will join effort as energy-intensive tech strains power and data grids Read more here.