‘Where Are the Women?’: Is Hybrid Work Widening Tech’s Gender Gap?

October 7, 2022

(The Information) Earlier this year, identity software company Okta gave its employees a presentation on burnout. An invited speaker explained the warning signs and distributed a 43-question inventory to determine an employee’s individual risk for a “stress-induced breakdown.” Amanda Giannelli, an engineer at the company, already knew she was wiped—she was balancing her workload with…

The climate economy is about to explode

October 5, 2022

(The Atlantic) Late last month, analysts at the investment bank Credit Suisse published a research note about America’s new climate law that went nearly unnoticed. The Inflation Reduction Act, the bank argued, is even more important than has been recognized so far: The IRA will “will have a profound effect across industries in the next…

Biden’s AI Bill of Rights Is Toothless Against Big Tech

October 4, 2022

(Wired) Last year, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) announced that the US needed a bill of rights for the age of algorithms. Harms from artificial intelligence disproportionately impact marginalized communities, the office’s director and deputy director wrote in a WIRED op-ed, and so government guidance was needed to protect people…

2022 Pitchbook Sustainable Investment Survey shows politicization of ESG

October 4, 2022

(Pitchbook) This summer, we surveyed more than 500 LPs, GPs and service providers about their sustainable investment practices, gathering information on the motivations, metrics and challenges of a field that is receiving more and more attention. Our 2022 Sustainable Investment Survey illuminates the drivers behind investment decisions, breaking down data by region and respondent type.…

‘Always check the label’: ESG funds not as green as they seem – study

October 3, 2022

(Reuters) One in seven funds branded as sustainable has a carbon emissions intensity higher than the average across all investment funds, and no climate-labelled fund has a portfolio fully aligned with the Paris Agreement’s goal, a study showed on Tuesday. The analysis, conducted by sustainability data and technology platform ESG Book, is the latest to…

AI Data Laundering: How Academic and Nonprofit Researchers Shield Tech Companies from Accountability

September 30, 2022

(Waxy) The academic researchers who compiled the Shutterstock dataset acknowledged the copyright implications in their paper, writing, “The use of data collected for this study is authorised via the Intellectual Property Office’s Exceptions to Copyright for Non-Commercial Research and Private Study.” But then Meta is using those academic non-commercial datasets to train a model, presumably…

This Climate Tech Boom Is Recession-Proof

September 27, 2022

(Bloomberg) Is a global economic recession imminent? That question has been giving many people watching markets sleepless nights. One group, however, seems less worried: climate tech investors. Typically recessions see investors fleeing to safer assets like government bonds and mature companies. And they start investing less in or even divesting from riskier assets, such as venture…

Silicon Valley Slides Back Into ‘Bro’ Culture

September 24, 2022

(NYT) Last month, Mark Zuckerberg spent hours touting his love of jiujitsu, wrestling and UFC on Joe Rogan’s podcast, which is known for its hypermasculinity. Watching TV was not active enough, Mr. Zuckerberg said. Compared with social media, TV was “beta.” Elon Musk, who signed a deal to buy Twitter seemingly on a whim and is now…

U.S. lets tech firms boost internet access in Iran following a crackdown on protesters

September 23, 2022

(NPR) The Treasury Department said Friday it was allowing American tech firms to expand their business in Iran, one of the most sanctioned countries in the world, to boost internet access for the Iranian people. The Iranian government cut most internet access for its 80 million citizens during a crackdown on demonstrators protesting the death of…

Jan. 6 Twitter witness: Failure to curb Trump spurred ‘terrifying’ choice

September 22, 2022

(The Washington Post) In an explosive hearing in July, an unidentified former Twitter employee testified to the House Jan. 6 committee that the company had tolerated false and rule-breaking tweets from Donald Trump for years because executives knew their service was his “favorite and most-used … and enjoyed having that sort of power.” Now, in…