(The Financial Times) OpenAI is in discussions to ditch a provision that shuts Microsoft out of its most advanced models when the start-up achieves “artificial general intelligence”, as it seeks to unlock billions of dollars of future investment. Under current terms, when OpenAI creates AGI — defined as a “highly autonomous system that outperforms humans…

(Wall Street Journal) Palantir Technologies is partnering with defense-technology company Anduril Industries to launch a consortium the companies said will ensure that the U.S. government leads the world in artificial intelligence. The companies on Friday said the partnership will focus on solving two main problems: data readiness and processing data at scale. Most useful national…

(ProMarket) As financial markets take on societal challenges like climate change, new research from Robin Döttling, Doron Levit, Nadya Malenko and Magdalena Rola-Janicka explores how shareholder democracy interacts with the political process to impact public goods provisions. The authors investigate the potential of investor-driven governance to supplement the shortfalls of the regulatory system, highlighting both…

(404 Media) The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced sweeping action against some of the most important companies in the location data industry on Tuesday, including those that power surveillance tools used by a wide spread of U.S. law enforcement agencies and demanding they delete data related to certain sensitive areas like health clinics and places…

(The Information) The growth of Temu and Shein has spurred the rise of little-known delivery startups that help them keep prices ultralow for shoppers. Now those budget delivery services are facing a growing number of legal complaints about their pay practices. With a click of a button, shoppers on these and other sites like AliExpress…

(TechCrunch) Attorneys for tech billionaire Elon Musk have filed for a preliminary injunction against OpenAI, several of its co-founders, and its investor and close collaborator, Microsoft, to prevent OpenAI and other named defendants from engaging in what Musk’s counsel claims is anticompetitive behavior. The motion for an injunction, which was filed late on Friday in…

(Financial Times) In 2024, artificial intelligence is consistently front-page news. From Nvidia hitting a $3tn market cap to the growing energy usage of data centres, it is the most discussed technology of our time. And it is a technology that the US dominates, with three of the most valuable AI start-ups, Anthropic, OpenAI and xAI,…

(TechCrunch) Illumen Capital is doubling down on its support for fund managers and founders from underrepresented communities.  The firm is an impact fund of funds that has previously supported ways to address racial bias in investing. Yesterday, the firm, founded by Daryn Dodson, announced the raise of a $32.75 million “Catalyst Fund “to once again…

(WSJ) Silicon Valley’s venture-capital firms are having an easy time finding promising startups to back. The hard part is cashing out. Last year, U.S. venture firms returned $26 billion worth of shares back to their investors, the lowest amount since 2011, according to the data provider PitchBook. Startup investors say 2024 has continued the trend,…

(The Information) OpenAI’s loss of Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati and safety systems chief Lilian Weng has galvanized concern among some of the remaining women at the firm that the management isn’t doing enough to promote and retain women, two people who have worked at the ChatGPT maker said. One female staffer circulated a memo…