(Washington Post) A panel of federal appellate judges on Saturday temporarily blocked an Atlanta-based venture fund from awarding $20,000 grants to Black female entrepreneurs, writing that the program was “racially exclusionary” and “substantially likely” to violate a federal law prohibiting racial discrimination in contracting. The temporary injunction issued by a panel on the U.S. Court…

(Axios) A group of venture capital firms is working with the U.S. Commerce Department to develop “responsible AI” guidelines for themselves and their portfolio companies, Axios has learned. Why it matters: This effort is designed to cover thousands of current and future startups, whereas most other AI self-regulation talks have been limited to Big Tech companies and major AI…

(NPR) Ford Motor Co. said Monday that it’s pausing construction of a $3.5 billion electric vehicle battery plant in Michigan until it is confident it can run the factory competitively. The move comes as the company is in the midst of national contract talks with the United Auto Workers union, which wants to represent workers…

(Reuters) Deutsche Bank-controlled (DBKGn.DE) investment firm DWS will pay $25 million to settle charges over misstatements regarding its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing and failures in policies designed to prevent money laundering, U.S. regulators said on Monday. DWS Investment Management Americas made “concerning” misstatements regarding its ESG investment process, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)…

(Reuters) Wall Street’s top regulator on Wednesday adopted a new rule cracking down on so-called “greenwashing” and other deceptive or misleading marketing practices by U.S. investment funds. The changes to the two decades-old Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) “Name Rule” requires that 80% of a fund’s portfolio matches the asset advertised by its name. It…

(WSJ) When Instacart lists in the coming week, it will leave many of its later investors with significant paper losses—a sign of the pain venture capitalists are facing after years of fast-and-loose spending.  The grocery-delivery firm is targeting a valuation of as much as $10 billion—sharply lower than the $39 billion valuation it reached at the…

(NYT) TikTok was fined roughly $370 million on Friday by European Union regulators for having weak safeguards to protect the personal information of children using the platform, a sign of increased scrutiny facing the social media service. TikTok’s default setting did not adequately protect children’s privacy, nor was the company transparent in explaining what it…

(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…

(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…

(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…