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(The Verge) A few months after graduating from college in Nairobi, a 30-year-old I’ll call Joe got a job as an annotator — the tedious work of processing the raw information used to train artificial intelligence. AI learns by finding patterns in enormous quantities of data, but first that data has to be sorted and tagged…

(TechCrunch) Smaller venture funds are finding a way to manage in the midst of a conservative market. As with all bear markets, the appetite for risk drops, and although emerging fund managers are often noted to outperform their more established counterparts, some limited partners are weary of bringing on new venture partners. Instead, they retreat to…

(NYT) The European Union took an important step on Wednesday toward passing what would be one of the first major laws to regulate artificial intelligence, a potential model for policymakers around the world as they grapple with how to put guardrails on the rapidly developing technology. The European Parliament, a main legislative branch of the…

(Bloomberg) As tranquil instrumental music plays over gauzy images of nature, a woman’s voice-over begins. “Isn’t it a paradox,” she wonders aloud, “that the love for this world that gets us out in it, sometimes leaves behind the things that can harm it? Flight by flight, we broaden our views. We gain new perspectives. And…

(The Guardian) Meredith Whittaker is the president of Signal – the not-for-profit secure messaging app. The service, along with WhatsApp and similar messaging platforms, is opposing the UK government’s online safety bill which, among other things, seeks to scan users’ messages for harmful content. Prior to Signal, Whittaker worked at Google, co-founded NYU’s AI Now Institute and was an adviser to…

(WSJ) The pace of startup shutdowns, fire sales and sharp business-strategy changes is picking up.  Fresh capital from venture investors and bank loans is scarce and expensive. Going public is nearly impossible. Some business models that worked when cash was cheap are unsustainable now. That means venture-backed startups are running out of money and facing hard…

(New York Times) Over the last year, state legislators concerned about a mental health crisis among the nation’s young people have passed a raft of children’s online safety measures. A new Utah law would require social networks to obtain a parent’s consent before giving an account to a child younger than 18 while a new California law would require…

(The Information) Seat belts protect children in cars. Safety standards protect children from faulty or dangerous toys. All these are the result of regulatory mandates. And yet for far too long, social media companies have been allowed to develop addictive design features such as endless scroll, autoplay and push alerts that keep kids and teens…

(Inside Climate News) Over the past dozen years, hundreds of alleged human rights abuses have been committed by over 90 corporations mining minerals critical to the production of clean energy, a U.K.-based human rights organization said in a report released on Wednesday.  The Business and Human Rights Resource Center said the alleged abuses involve global…

(Axios) Over the past three years, a group of investors has quietly donated $10 million to enable nine historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to invest in their venture capital firms. Why it matters: The Historic Fund is a unique effort to provide access to — and potential financial returns from — venture capital to HBCUs…