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☆ The Judge Deciding Google’s Fate
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( Steve Lohr | More About Steve Lohr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

One of Amit P. Mehta’s first cases after becoming a federal judge in late 2014 proved to be a crash course in antitrust. Sysco, the nation’s largest distributor of food to restaurants and cafeterias, was trying to buy the rival US Foods, and the Federal Trade Commission had sued to block the $3.5 billion deal, arguing that it would stifle competition. Judge Mehta told lawyers on both sides that he would need help educating himself. After the trial in 2015, Judge Mehta wrote a comprehensive, closely reasoned 128-page opinion and ordered a temporary halt to the deal. Within days, Sysco abandoned its acquisition plan.

Persons: Amit P, Mehta’s, Judge Mehta, Sysco Organizations: US Foods, Federal Trade Commission

☆ How a Diversity Initiative Changed Course With the Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Steve Lohr | More About Steve Lohr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

OneTen has helped its members rewrite job descriptions for hundreds of roles to remove unnecessary degree requirements and clearly state the skills sought and needed. The organization has helped to design apprenticeship programs for enterprises like Delta and the Cleveland Clinic, tailored for different fields. Lawsuits have been filed threatening businesses like a fund in Atlanta focused on backing Black female entrepreneurs. And the resignation of Claudine Gay, a Black woman, as president of Harvard has been celebrated by opponents of D.E.I. initiatives in academia and business who claimed she was a diversity hire.

Persons: “, OneTen, ”, Kenneth Frazier, Claudine Gay Organizations: Cleveland Clinic, Merck, “, Harvard Locations: Delta, Florida, Texas, Atlanta

☆ Big Companies Find a Way to Identify A.I. Data They Can Trust
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Steve Lohr | More About Steve Lohr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Greater clarity and more information about the data used in A.I. “This is a step toward managing data as an asset, which is what everyone in industry is trying to do today,” said Ken Finnerty, president for information technology and data analytics at UPS. In one poll of corporate chief executives, a majority cited “concerns about data lineage or provenance” as a key barrier to A.I. And a survey of data scientists found that they spent nearly 40 percent of their time on data preparation tasks. The data initiative is mainly intended for business data that companies use to make their own A.I.

Persons: ”, Ken Finnerty Organizations: UPS, “, Google, Microsoft

☆ How Microsoft’s Legal Legacy Shapes the Antitrust Case Against Google
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Steve Lohr | More About Steve Lohr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Antitrust trials are full of long stretches of detailed, often tedious testimony punctuated by telling moments. In the two-month Google antitrust trial that is nearing its conclusion, one of those moments came in a brief exchange in October. The barriers to competition in search today, Mr. Schmidtlein said, are less daunting than Microsoft’s stranglehold on personal computer software. “Let’s move on,” said Judge Amit P. Mehta, who wrote in an opinion earlier in the year that he would use the Microsoft case as a guiding framework. “I think I can figure out what the Microsoft case was about.”The antitrust fight against Microsoft in the 1990s has loomed over the government’s showdown with Google.

Persons: John Schmidtlein, Google’s, Schmidtlein, “, ”, Amit P, Mehta Organizations: Justice Department, Microsoft, Google

Since Sept. 12., the Department of Justice and a group of state attorneys general have questioned more than 30 witnesses as they try to prove that Google broke antitrust laws, in a landmark monopoly trial that may affect the power of the technology industry. The government is now wrapping up its side in the case — U.S. et al. v. Google — setting the stage for the internet giant to mount its defense starting this week. Two prime threads have emerged from the government’s case: what it said Google did to illegally maintain its search and search ads monopolies and how those practices harmed consumers and advertisers. How Google kept its online search dominance goingGoogle paid Apple billions of dollars to crush competitionOn the first day of the trial, the Justice Department said Google had paid Apple and other tech platforms more than $10 billion a year to make itself the default search engine on the iPhone and other devices.

Organizations: Department of Justice, Google, Justice Department, Apple

☆ An Industry Insider Drives an Open Alternative to Big Tech’s A.I.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( Steve Lohr | More About Steve Lohr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ali Farhadi is no tech rebel. The Allen Institute has begun an ambitious initiative to build a freely available A.I. In an industry process called open source, other researchers will be allowed to scrutinize and use this new system and the data fed into it. The stance adopted by the Allen Institute, an influential nonprofit research center in Seattle, puts it squarely on one side of a fierce debate over how open or closed new A.I. Would opening up so-called generative A.I., which powers chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, lead to more innovation and opportunity?

Persons: Ali Farhadi, Farhadi, Google’s Bard Organizations: University of Washington, Apple, Allen Institute, AI, Google Locations: Seattle

☆ In Antitrust Trial, Google Argues That Smart Employees Explain Its Success
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-18 | by ( Steve Lohr | More About Steve Lohr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

In its antitrust confrontation with the government, the pillar of Google’s defense has been that innovation — not restrictive contracts, backed by billions in payments to industry partners — explains its success as the giant of internet search. Its competitive advantage, it says, is brilliant people, working tirelessly to improve its products. Pandu Nayak, Google’s first witness in the antitrust trial that began last month, is the face of that defense. Mr. Nayak, a vice president of search, was raised in India and graduated at the top of his class at one of that nation’s elite technical schools. He came to America, earned his Ph.D. in computer science at Stanford University and then spent seven years as a research scientist on artificial intelligence projects at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley.

Persons: —, Pandu Nayak, Google’s, Nayak Organizations: Stanford University, NASA’s Ames Research Locations: India, America, Silicon Valley

☆ IBM Tries to Ease Customers’ Qualms About Using Generative A.I.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( Steve Lohr | More About Steve Lohr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Plenty of companies are experimenting with the technology, called generative A.I., but they are worried about how confidential data will be handled, the accuracy of A.I.-generated answers and potential legal liability. IBM on Thursday announced its campaign to ease customers’ qualms. The company said it would indemnify companies against copyright or other intellectual property claims for using its generative A.I. IBM will also publish its data sets — the underlying data that is used to build or “train” the A.I. system — which is not standard practice among commercial providers of generative A.I.

Organizations: IBM Locations: America

☆ Biden Administration Plans to Bring Back ‘Net Neutrality’ Rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( Steve Lohr | More About Steve Lohr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Biden administration plans to bring back open internet rules that were enacted during the Obama administration and then repealed by the Trump administration. In a speech on Tuesday, Jessica Rosenworcel, chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission, declared that the repeal in 2017 put the F.C.C. “on the wrong side of history, the wrong side of the law, and the wrong side of the public.”The earlier open internet rules, known as net neutrality, prohibited broadband internet suppliers — telecommunications and cable companies — from blocking or slowing online services. It also banned the broadband companies from charging some content providers higher prices for priority treatment, or “fast lanes” on the internet. “This afternoon,” Ms. Rosenworcel said in her speech at the National Press Club in Washington, “I am sharing with my colleagues a rule making that proposes to restore net neutrality.”

Persons: Obama, Trump, Jessica Rosenworcel, “, ” Ms, Rosenworcel, ” Organizations: Biden, Federal Communications Commission, National Press Club Locations: Washington

☆ A Key Question in Google’s Trial: How Formidable Is Its Data Advantage?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Steve Lohr | More About Steve Lohr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The government’s case is not that Google violated the law in becoming a search giant. Instead, the government claims that after Google became dominant, the company broke the law with its tactics to defend its monopoly. Google replies that the government’s case is an artifice of misleading theory unsupported by the facts. Those truths, according to Google, are that the company holds its leading position in search because of its technical innovation. Those contracts, Google argues, help reduce prices for smartphones and benefit consumers.

Persons: ” John Schmidtlein, Google’s, Brian Higgins, Amit P, Mehta Organizations: Google, Justice Department, Verizon

☆ Microsoft, Google and Antitrust: Similar Legal Theories in a Different Era
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Steve Lohr | More About Steve Lohr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Justice Department argues in a federal antitrust suit that Google is a dominant tech company that has abused its market power to bully industry partners, protect its monopoly and thwart competition. v. Google goes to trial this week, the echoes of the landmark federal suit against Microsoft, a quarter-century ago, are unmistakable. In the Google case, as with Microsoft then, a tech giant is accused of using its overwhelming market power to unfairly cut competitors off from potential customers. But on the eve of the Google trial, it seems unimaginable that the case could command the widespread attention that the Microsoft proceedings did. The Microsoft trial, which began in October 1998, spanned 76 days of testimony over more than eight months.

Persons: Bill Gates Organizations: Google, Microsoft, New York Times

☆ Occupational Segregation Drives Persistent Inequality, Study Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-04 | by ( Steve Lohr | More About Steve Lohr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To have an equitable distribution across the work force, 22 percent of Black workers with a college degree would have to switch occupations with white college graduates. For workers who graduated with a high school degree but lack a college degree, nearly 28 percent of either Black or white workers would have to switch jobs. The researchers called this a “dissimilarity index,” and since 2000 it has ticked up slightly for both groups. The new report notes that Black college students often major in fields that have lower wages. But the dearth of Black students in majors that lead to higher pay in careers like technology or finance, the researchers say, is a legacy of racism.

Persons: ”, Peter Q, Blair, Dr, “ Organizations: Harvard Graduate School of Education

☆ The A.I. Revolution Is Coming. But Not as Fast as Some People Think.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Steve Lohr | More About Steve Lohr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Generative A.I., according to forecasts, could sharply boost productivity and add trillions of dollars to the global economy. In the 1990s, there were confident predictions that the internet and the web would disrupt the retailing, advertising and media industries. Those predictions proved to be true, but that was more than a decade later, well after the dot-com bubble had burst. Audio and video streaming technology became far better. “We’re going to see a similar gold rush this time,” said Vijay Sankaran, chief technology officer of Johnson Controls, a large supplier of building equipment, software and services.

Persons: “ We’re, ”, Vijay Sankaran, Johnson, “

☆ Best Place for A.I. Jobs (New Report Says) Won’t Surprise You
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Steve Lohr | More About Steve Lohr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The San Francisco Bay Area has ruled the technology industry for decades, from the early days of personal computers to the social media boom. The report, which the Washington think tank released on Thursday, said generative A.I. And the winners, so far, are San Francisco and San Jose, Calif. While that may not be surprising, the Brookings report may help to dispel the notion that smaller tech hubs like Austin, Texas, or Miami will be home to the next generation of big tech companies. If anything, it suggests the Bay Area’s hold on the tech industry could grow stronger.

Organizations: Brookings Institution Locations: San Francisco Bay, Washington, Francisco, San Jose, Calif, Brookings, Austin , Texas, Miami

A federal appeals court on Friday paused a judge’s order that had blocked much of the Biden administration from talking to social media sites about content. The case could have significant First Amendment implications and affect the conduct of social media companies and their cooperation with government agencies. In its three-sentence order, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said the preliminary injunction issued this month by a federal judge in Louisiana would be put aside “until further orders of the court.” The appeals court also called for expedited oral arguments in the case. In the lawsuit, Missouri, Louisiana and five individuals said that President Biden’s campaign, his administration and outside groups pressured social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube to take down content that it objected to. That content included conservative claims about the coronavirus pandemic and the 2020 presidential election, and a story about Hunter Biden, the president’s son.

Persons: Biden, ”, Biden’s, Hunter Biden Organizations: U.S ., Appeals, Fifth Circuit, Facebook, YouTube Locations: Louisiana, Missouri

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