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

By lucidcapitalism | 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

By lucidcapitalism | 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

By lucidcapitalism | 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

By lucidcapitalism | 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

By lucidcapitalism | 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…

Cutting health care’s carbon footprint

By lucidcapitalism | September 17, 2022

(Axios) Health systems are increasingly responding to the threat of climate change with commitments to cut back their own carbon footprint. Why it matters: Health care is a massive global industry, and shrinking its carbon footprint could go a long way toward reducing carbon emissions. Read more here

EU’s green rulebook loses a bit more credibility as NGOs quit

By lucidcapitalism | September 15, 2022

(Business Times) A group of non-governmental organisations that had been involved in writing the EU’s green taxonomy has walked out in protest. They accuse the EU bodies steering the taxonomy of politicising the process instead of basing decisions on science, according to a statement on Wednesday (Sep 14). As a result, 5 nonprofits have announced…

The one ESG issue that Americans agree isn’t politically polarizing

By lucidcapitalism | September 15, 2022

(CNBC) A potential rail strike that was on the verge of upending the U.S. economy may have caught your attention in the headlines this week. It was averted on Thursday, but underlying the battle between rail carriers and labor unions over wages and quality of life policies for workers is an issue over which the American…

Facebook Parent Meta Platforms Cuts Responsible Innovation Team

By lucidcapitalism | September 8, 2022

(Wall Street Journal) Meta Platforms Inc. has disbanded its Responsible Innovation team, which was once a prominent piece of its effort to address concerns about the potential downsides of its products. The team had included roughly two dozen engineers, ethicists and others who collaborated with internal product teams and outside privacy specialists, academics and users…

How Companies Can Be Proactive — Not Reactive — on Social Issues

By lucidcapitalism | September 2, 2022

(Harvard Business Review) Companies are increasingly feeling pressure to respond to social movements on inequality, but far too many tend to respond reactively — making a donation or social media statement — instead of taking proactive measures to build equity and inclusion in their own organizations. The author offers four proactive actions to take: 1)…