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Business & Enterprise

Curated AI news · 24 stories

Business & Enterprise

CoreWeave looks to Wall Street to hedge memory chips, an asset with no market

CoreWeave, an AI cloud company, is considering financial derivatives to hedge against potential future declines in memory and storage chip prices, which have recently surged significantly. The company faces exposure due to long-term supply agreements with chip manufacturers that include price floors, protecting suppliers but potentially leading to overpayment if prices drop. This situation arises amid a volatile memory chip market where prices have nearly doubled this year, impacting data center

AI Research

Delaware wants to give AI agents their own legal identity

Delaware is proposing the creation of a new legal entity called the Artificial Intelligence Company (AIC), which would allow AI agents to operate companies, enter contracts, and be subject to lawsuits independently within a regulated sandbox. This entity would have a human or corporate member responsible for funding, while the AI manages daily operations, with oversight to ensure accountability and consumer protection. The initiative aims to provide a legal framework to better regulate and trust

Energy & Climate

China’s electric taxis are blunting the Hormuz oil shock, but only at the margins

China's crude oil imports have dropped significantly, reaching the lowest levels since 2016 amid the Strait of Hormuz crisis. This decline is partly offset by the growing adoption of electric taxis and ride-hailing vehicles, which now make up a substantial portion of urban fleets, reducing petrol and diesel consumption. However, the impact of electric vehicles on China's overall oil import reduction is relatively small, accounting for about 3% of the risk posed by disrupted oil transit through a

Finance

Stripe and Advent offer $60.50 a share for PayPal, valuing it above $53bn

Stripe and Advent International have jointly offered to acquire PayPal at $60.50 per share, valuing the company at over $53 billion, with financing commitments of about $50 billion from banks. The bid, which would see the buyers hold equal stakes and maintain PayPal as a whole, comes amid PayPal's recent leadership changes and strategic restructuring to improve performance. PayPal's market value has declined significantly from its 2021 peak, and the new offer represents a premium over its recent

AI Research

Meta Sued For Allegedly Using Discriminatory AI In Layoff Decisions

Meta is being sued by 26 anonymous employees who allege that the company used AI-driven systems with discriminatory biases to determine layoffs affecting 8,000 workers. The lawsuit claims that the AI tools penalized employees on protected medical or family leave by relying on metrics like keystroke activity and AI token consumption, leading to disproportionate layoffs of those individuals. The plaintiffs seek a court injunction to halt further layoffs and allow arbitration of their claims.

AI Research

OpenAI researcher Miles Wang in talks to launch AI drug discovery startup valued at $2B

Miles Wang, an OpenAI researcher known for his work in AI-driven scientific discovery, is leaving OpenAI to start a new company focused on AI models for drug discovery. He is reportedly in talks to raise $200 million at a $2 billion valuation, with Lightspeed potentially leading the funding round, although details remain unconfirmed. The startup aims to leverage AI to find new uses for existing drugs, potentially accelerating drug development timelines.

AI Research

OpenAI pushes back on Apple trade secret lawsuit

OpenAI has denied Apple's allegations in a trade secret lawsuit accusing OpenAI employees of misappropriating confidential information. Apple alleges that OpenAI used this information to develop competing hardware products, while OpenAI maintains it has no interest in other companies' trade secrets and focuses on innovation. The dispute arises amid reports that OpenAI is developing a new smart speaker device potentially competing with Apple.

AI Research

Meta Used Its Own Flawed AI to Pick Which Employees to Lay Off, Lawsuit Claims

A lawsuit filed by 26 Meta employees alleges that the company used an internal AI system called Checkpoint to select workers for layoffs based on opaque productivity metrics, disproportionately affecting those on maternity, medical, or family leave. Plaintiffs claim the AI failed to account for protected leaves and that some were discouraged from taking such leave due to fears it would harm their job security. Meta disputes these claims, stating that human managers, not AI, made workforce and re

Machine Learning

Kalshi Wants to Predict the Future of Compute Availability

Kalshi has developed a tool that predicts the future price of computing power, addressing the growing demand and limited supply in the AI industry. This prediction model analyzes contracts to forecast compute costs up to a year ahead, potentially helping companies manage price volatility amid rising GPU rental prices. The initiative may lead to markets or futures contracts based on compute pricing, reflecting broader interest in trading compute availability.

AI Research

The founder of Hinge raised $18M to build a new AI dating service, Overtone

Justin McLeod, founder of Hinge, has raised $18 million to launch Overtone, a new AI-driven dating service focusing on voice and audio introductions rather than traditional profile-based matching. Supported by Match Group and other investors, Overtone aims to provide curated connections grounded in relationship science, addressing user dissatisfaction with conventional dating apps. The service plans to launch later this year in select locations, with notable figures like Esther Perel joining its

Business & Enterprise

Paramount says it will take the Warner Bros merger to the Supreme Court if states block the deal

Paramount plans to proceed with its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery despite a lawsuit from 12 states aiming to block the deal on antitrust grounds. Paramount's legal team is prepared to escalate the case to the Supreme Court if necessary, while the states argue the merger would reduce competition and harm consumers. The deal has already been cleared by the federal Justice Department, highlighting a conflict between state and federal regulators.

Agents

Multi-agent social intelligence with Strands Agents and Amazon Bedrock

The article discusses how Thrad.ai utilizes multi-agent systems built with Strands Agents and Amazon Bedrock AgentCore to automate social intelligence gathering from diverse online sources for targeted advertising. It explains the orchestration of specialized agents to analyze signals across platforms and generate personalized outreach emails, comparing different orchestration patterns and detailing scoring and governance methods. The approach is applicable to various fields like competitive and

AI Research

Google faces another AI training lawsuit from major publishers

A coalition of major publishers and authors has filed a class action lawsuit against Google, alleging unauthorized use of their copyrighted works to train Google's AI platform, Gemini. The plaintiffs claim Google concealed this use by altering copyright information and emphasize their prior agreements with Google were limited to book search functions, not AI training. This lawsuit adds to ongoing legal disputes over AI training data and copyright law interpretations in the U.S.

AI Research

Hatchette and Elsevier Sue Google for Using Their Work to Train AI

Major publishers Hachette Book Group, Cengage Learning, and Elsevier, along with author Scott Turow, have filed a lawsuit against Google alleging unauthorized use of their copyrighted works to train Google's AI chatbot Gemini. The lawsuit claims Google reproduced millions of works without permission or compensation, creating AI outputs that compete directly with original content, and accuses Google of willful copyright infringement. Similar lawsuits have been filed against other tech companies,,

AI Research

Book publishers sue Google for copyright infringement over Gemini AI training

Major publishers Hachette, Cengage, and Elsevier, along with author Scott Turow, have sued Google for allegedly using millions of copyrighted books without permission to train its Gemini AI models. The lawsuit claims Google copied books beyond the scope of authorized services, potentially causing harm to authors and the publishing industry by enabling AI-generated content that could replace original works. This legal action is part of a broader conflict over the use of copyrighted materials inAI

Hardware & Chips

Nintendo is pulling a console from Europe over battery rules. Meta’s glasses just got exempted from them.

The European Commission has exempted wearable devices like smart glasses from a regulation requiring user-removable batteries, facilitating Meta's smart glasses entry into the EU market. This exemption contrasts with other products, such as Nintendo's Switch console, which must comply with the battery rules or be withdrawn. The decision followed a formal process involving expert assessments and consultations, and the batteries must still be replaceable by professionals.

AI Research

Meta sued by 26 employees who say its AI systems targeted workers on medical leave for layoffs

Twenty-six current and former Meta employees have filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the company's AI-driven systems unfairly targeted workers on medical leave or with disabilities during mass layoffs in May. The complaint claims that Meta used various AI tools and productivity metrics that disadvantaged employees who had taken protected leave, violating several labor laws. Additionally, the lawsuit highlights concerns about Meta's employee monitoring program that collected extensive personal

Business & Enterprise

IBM shares plunge after preliminary Q2 revenue falls short of estimates despite surging AI bookings

IBM reported preliminary second-quarter revenue of about $17 billion, which was below analyst expectations despite AI-related bookings exceeding $12 billion. The company's shares dropped significantly due to broad revenue shortfalls across software, consulting, and infrastructure segments, along with narrower profit margins. While AI remains a growth focus, challenges in traditional business areas raise concerns about IBM's near-term financial performance.

AI Research

Meta accused of using biased AI targeting for mass layoffs

A group of 26 former Meta employees has filed a lawsuit alleging that the company used AI tools to rank employee performance for layoffs without excluding those on protected medical or parental leave, resulting in disproportionate layoffs among those employees. The lawsuit claims this practice violated laws protecting workers on leave, while Meta denies the allegations, stating that human decisions guided workforce management, not AI alone.

Business & Enterprise

IBM loses quarter of its value as tech giant’s shares plunge and profits falter

IBM's shares dropped over 25% following a profit warning and preliminary second-quarter results that showed only a 1% revenue increase year-over-year, missing analyst expectations. The company attributed the underperformance to shifts in corporate spending towards datacentre infrastructure and cybersecurity, which impacted its higher-margin mainframe and software sales. This shift also affected the broader software sector, leading to declines in shares of other tech companies.

Business & Enterprise

Dimon says AI already eliminated 30 to 40 percent of jobs in some JPMorgan divisions

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon revealed that artificial intelligence has led to job reductions of 30 to 40 percent in certain bank divisions, though the technology's impact on profit margins is limited due to competitive pressures. While AI drives efficiency and some workforce shifts, most displaced employees have been reassigned within the company. The bank continues to invest heavily in AI, with widespread adoption across various functions and plans to increase AI specialist hiring.

AI Research

Meta’s Adam Mosseri says AI token budgets could soon be capped per engineer

Meta's Instagram head Adam Mosseri indicated that within a year or two, the company might impose limits on AI token usage per engineer due to rising costs that could match employee salaries. This move reflects a broader trend among tech firms managing escalating AI expenses by treating token budgets as a finite resource, similar to payroll or operational costs. Currently, Meta has no such caps but anticipates that pricing competition among AI model providers may reduce token costs in the future.

Business & Enterprise

India’s Udaan secures $160 million in new funding as it races to fix its balance sheet before an IPO

Indian B2B ecommerce company Udaan has raised $160 million through a mix of new equity, debt, and bond conversions to improve its financial position ahead of a planned IPO within two years. The funding round involves new and existing investors and addresses a recent default on convertible notes. Founded in 2016, Udaan connects manufacturers and wholesalers with small retailers across India and holds a significant share of the country's B2B ecommerce market.

AI Research

Reflection inks $1B compute deal with Nebius

Reflection AI, a U.S.-based startup focused on open AI models, has secured a $1 billion computing agreement with European AI infrastructure provider Nebius to access Nvidia's latest chips. This deal follows a similar arrangement with SpaceX and reflects a broader industry trend of AI companies partnering to obtain computing resources amid growing interest in open-source AI models and regulatory pressures on closed-source models. Reflection, valued at $8 billion and founded by former Google DeepM