(The Information) Last month, OpenAI fired and then rehired CEO Sam Altman. When the dust settled, Open AI emerged looking even more like a for-profit corporation than a nonprofit, with a board that is indistinguishable from those of other tech startups—right down to the lack of diversity. This is a clear departure from the company’s 2015 origins…

(Bloomberg) Rite Aid Corp. must stop using facial recognition for the next five years as part of a privacy settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission, which said the pharmacy chain misused the technology to mistakenly tag consumers as shoplifters. In a complaint filed in federal court Tuesday, the FTC said Rite Aid used a facial recognition…

(WSJ) Elon Musk’s social-media platform X will face a formal probe in Europe over its handling of illegal content and disinformation in a first test of the European Union’s new online-content law. The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, said Monday it opened a formal infringement proceeding against X, the platform formerly known as Twitter,…

(Axios) The divide among venture capitalists over the development of artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly crystalized. Why it matters: “It’s the new internet,” VCs say, regardless of which camp they fall into. Driving the news: On Thursday, venture firm Andreessen Horowitz announced it plans to start donating to members of Congress who are aligned with its pro-technology aims. Read more here.

(TechCrunch) A growing number of venture firms may be uncorking champagne ahead of the New Year. Today, a handful of investment firms announced new funds: Artis Ventures, BoxGroup, Playground Global and Singular all closed on funds, while Partech said it was launching a €360 million venture fund. Against a backdrop of layoffs and continuing economic uncertainty, the announcements — particularly in such quick…

(Amnesty International) Leading venture capital (VC) firms are failing in their responsibility to respect human rights, especially in relation to new Generative AI technologies, warned Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) and the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre in research released today. Leading VC firms have refused to implement basic human rights due diligence processes to ensure the companies and technologies they…

(Bloomberg) European Union negotiators backed a deal to potentially reclassify millions of people working for ride-hailing and food-delivery apps as employees in a set of rules that could cost the industry billions of euros each year. The provisional deal could require platforms to give full status to the estimated 5.5 million workers who meet at least two…

(Washington Post) After white supremacists used Discord to plan the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017, company executives promised to clean up the service. The chat platform built for gamers banned prominent far-right groups, built a trust and safety team and started marketing to a more diverse set of users. The changes garnered attention…

(Reuters) Microsoft (MSFT.O) and the AFL-CIO union federation said Monday they had struck a deal whereby the U.S. software giant will remain neutral in efforts by unions to encourage workers to become members. The two sides will also work together on the future of artificial intelligence, in a first-of-its-kind partnership on AI and the future of the…

(New York Times) European Union policymakers agreed on Friday to a sweeping new law to regulate artificial intelligence, one of the world’s first comprehensive attempts to limit the use of a rapidly evolving technology that has wide-ranging societal and economic implications. The law, called the A.I. Act, sets a new global benchmark for countries seeking to…