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☆ Surprised how little tech came up during the Musk-Trump conversation, says Niki Christoff
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-13 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailSurprised how little tech came up during the Musk-Trump conversation, says Niki ChristoffCNBC’s Steve Kovach and Niki Christoff, Christoff and Company CEO, join 'Squawk Box' to discuss Elon Musk's conversation with former President Donald Trump, takeaways from the X interview, what's behind the Musk-Trump alliance, and more.

Persons: Niki Christoff, Steve Kovach, Elon, Donald Trump, what's Organizations: takeaways, Trump Locations: Christoff

☆ Kamala Harris gets support of more than 100 VCs and tech execs in online pledge
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-31 | by ( Lora Kolodny | In Lorakolodny | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally at the Georgia State Convocation Center in Atlanta on July 30, 2024. More than 100 VCs on Wednesday pledged their support to Vice President Kamala Harris, the de facto Democratic nominee, as she ramps up her campaign to take on Trump in the November election. The group, calling itself VCs for Kamala, is made up of investors and entrepreneurs from a range of established and rising funds, and different demographic groups. "We spend our days looking for, investing in and supporting entrepreneurs who are building the future," the group said in its pledge. The VCs for Kamala list highlights a deepening political divide in Silicon Valley and the broader tech industry.

Persons: Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, Kamala, Vinod Khosla, Reid Hoffman, Mark Cuban, Aileen Lee, Rebecca Kaden, Elon Musk, VCs Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, Trump, Musk, Shaun Maguire, 8VC's Joe Lonsdale, Musk's, David Sacks, Hoffman, Greylock, Harris, Erika Lucas Organizations: Republican, Democratic, Trump, Khosla Ventures, LinkedIn, Dallas Mavericks, Cowboy Ventures, Union Square Ventures, America PAC, Sequoia, Craft Ventures, Republican National Convention, Musk, Convention Locations: Georgia, Atlanta, Silicon Valley, Chicago

☆ States target AI and deepfakes as election interference threat looms
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-31 | by ( Piper Hudspethblackburn | Piper Hudspeth Blackburn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

While Michigan, Washington, Minnesota, Texas and California already had laws regulating deepfakes, Minnesota updated their law this year to require a candidate to forfeit their office or nomination if they violate the state’s deepfake laws, among other provisions. In states such as New York, New Mexico and Alabama, victims can seek a court order to stop the content. Katie Hobbs signed his proposal into law in May, along with another AI bill that requires disclosures in campaign ads. Big Tech has already taken some steps to moderate deepfake content. TikTok and Meta (the parent company of Instagram, Threads and Facebook) announced plans in recent months to label AI content, while YouTube requires creators to disclose when videos are AI-created.

Persons: deepfakes, Amy Beth Cyphert, Cyphert, Alexander Kolodin, Kolodin, it’s, ”, Katie Hobbs, Robert Weissman, Chuck Schumer, Sen, Mitch McConnell, Weissman, Sean Cooksey, It’s, Jessica Rosenworcel, ” Jonathan Uriarte, there’s, Dar’shun Kendrick, “ there’s, ” Kendrick, Alex Curtas, CNN’s Oliver Darcy, Sean Lyngaas, Donie O’Sullivan, Yahya Abou, Ghazala Organizations: CNN, Republican, Democrat, Department of Homeland Security, West Virginia University’s College of Law, ” Arizona Democratic Gov, Big Tech, Meta, YouTube, Swift, Public Citizen, House, Federal, Commission, Federal Communication Commission, FCC, . State Locations: Florida, Hawaii , New York , Idaho , Indiana, New Mexico , Oregon , Utah , Wisconsin , Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Washington , Minnesota , Texas, California, deepfakes, Minnesota, New York, New Mexico, Alabama, Florida , Mississippi, Utah, Wisconsin, Oregon and Mississippi, statehouses, robocalls, Georgia, . Arizona

☆ This scientist who worked for Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates is now a VC funding other 'mad scientists'
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-23 | by ( Hayley Cuccinello | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

And while he wants to tackle the world's biggest problems such as waste, impact isn't Deep Future's sole priority. Related storiesIn some ways, Deep Future's mission harkens back to Silicon Valley's roots, he said. As for Deep Future's investments, the challenge is whether the technology can be built and made cost-effective, ideally within its investment horizon of 10 years. One of Deep Future's portfolio companies, Descycle, is developing non-toxic chemicals to separate gold in electronics in landfills. Getting investors on board with mad scientistsWith Deep Future's niche, getting investors' attention has been easy, Holman said.

Persons: —, Pablos Holman, Jeff Bezos's, Bill Gates, Michael Reid, Holman didn't, Holman, Matt Mullenweg, that's, Alfred Steiner, I'm Organizations: Service, Origin, Ventures Laboratory, Business, Investors, WordPress

☆ Big Tech's phony Trumpism
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-22 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Before Andreessen and Horowitz formed their venture-capital firm in 2009, Andreessen was an incisive observer of Silicon Valley. Big Andreesen (meaning the current bloated billionaire model) also contradicts Little Andreessen (the earlier, leaner blogger) on the issue of regulation. The reason, he now claims, is that government used to leave Silicon Valley alone. He and his fellow Silicon Valley investor-class billionaires have been sliding rightward for years. It's that I didn't see that this is where Silicon Valley was always headed.

Persons: Marc Andreessen, Donald Trump, That's, Andreessen, Bill Clinton, Hillary, Ben Horowitz, Elon Musk, Larry Ellison —, Trump, —, I've, Horowitz, It's, America's, Biden, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, they're, Dave Karpf, Hillary Clinton, we've Organizations: Democratic, Little Tech, Tech, Government, America, Justice Department, Microsoft, Trump, Little, Bloomberg Technology Conference, Netscape Locations: Silicon Valley, Silicon

☆ President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid. What's next?
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-22 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

In today's big story, President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid . The president ended his reelection campaign on Sunday, the culmination of mounting pressure from his party after a disastrous debate last month. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social that "Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President." Biden's reelection campaign has quickly pivoted to serve Harris, making it an uphill battle for any Democrat looking to challenge her , writes Business Insider's Brent D. Griffiths. Many have made comparisons to the 1968 Democratic convention , which was a contested convention after President Lyndon B. Johnson ended his reelection campaign earlier that year.

Persons: —, Joe Biden, Biden, Alyssa Powell, BI Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Reid Hoffman, Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, Harris, Jared Siskin, Biden's, Insider's Brent D, Griffiths, Hillary Clinton, BI's Bryan Metzger, Lyndon B, Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Humphrey, Richard Nixon, Brent, Here's, Sieg, Merrill Lynch, Abanti Chowdhury, Andy Sieg, Warren Buffett's, Buffett, Paul Chinn, Andrew Caballero Reynolds, Marc Andreessen, he'd, Andreessen, Trump, BI's Adam Rogers, OpenAI, Sam Altman's, slowdowns, Dan DeFrancesco, Jordan Parker Erb, Hallam Bullock, Annie Smith, Amanda Yen Organizations: Service, Business, BI, Democratic, Madison, Park Conservancy, Citi Wealth, BI Citi Wealth, Bank of Montreal, Buffett Locations: Park, Plenty, Washington, Chicago, Southern, New York, London

Andreessen and Horowitz are the latest and most prominent members of the startup investing community to publicly support Trump. Up until now, there have been pockets of vocal Trump support within Silicon Valley, including conservative provocateur Peter Thiel, the pugnacious hosts of the All-In podcast, and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale. WE HAVE A FORMER TECH VC IN THE WHITE HOUSE. Most of the VCs Business Insider spoke to were unanimously against Kahn. "If it is Biden vs. Trump officially, I think many '"never Trumpers" will go with Trump," said a Bay Area VC.

Persons: —, Andreessen Horowitz, Ben Horowitz, Marc Andreessen, Donald Trump, Sen, JD Vance, Peter Thiel's, Steve Case, Andreessen, Horowitz, provocateur Peter Thiel, Palantir, Joe Lonsdale, Elon Musk, who's, Joe Biden, Vance, Trump, IT'S JD VANCE, WE, MAGA, he's, Bradley Tusk, Chuck Schumer, Tusk, Lina Khan, That's, what's, Kahn, Lina Kahn, Khan, Biden, they're, David Hornik Organizations: Service, The Little, Business, Trump, Wall Street, Founder's Fund, TECH, Democratic, Biden, FTC, SEC, Bay, Republican, Sequoia Capital, Lobby Locations: America, Silicon Valley, New York, Delian, San Francisco, Silicon, There's

☆ America must love Little Tech too if it wants to stay on top, say Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-08 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz would like to think startups can play a key role in that process. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementMarc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz have been fretting about 21st-century America. Simply, the agenda is about "Little Tech" startups, as opposed to Big Tech companies such as Apple, Google, and Meta. The opportunities that Little Tech presents — and the threats it faces — must be fully understood if America wants to stay on top, the investors argue.

Persons: Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, —, A16z Organizations: Service, Tech, Big Tech, Apple, Google, Meta, Little Tech, Business

☆ Worried about a frothy market? Here's how to start building a long-term stake anyways
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-23 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Here's our Club Mailbag email investingclubmailbag@cnbc.com — so you send your questions directly to Jim Cramer and his team of analysts. I realize since joining the Club I need to buy the S & P 500 to provide proper diversification. Kelly (Toronto) Several factors need to be considered to chart an appropriate course of action to get money to work. In this kind of situation, the old investment adage by Ken Fisher is applicable: "Time in the market beats timing the market." As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

Persons: Jim Cramer, Jim, Jeff, Kelly, Ken Fisher, It's, Vanguard's, it's, Cash, Jim Cramer's, Brendan McDermid Organizations: CNBC, Club, Vanguard's, Jim Cramer's Charitable, Traders, New York Stock Exchange Locations: Toronto, New York City, U.S

☆ Deepfake porn is a huge problem — here are some of the tools that could help stop it
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-18 | by ( Polly Thompson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

"The overall percentage is now lower, but the overall volume of deepfake content which is pornographic has exploded," Ajder said. Deepfake porn of pop superstar Taylor Swift has raised awareness of the issue. Criminal deterrentsThis has had an effect on legislation in the UK, where the Online Safety Act has made it illegal to distribute deepfake porn — but not to create it. AdvertisementThough hard to prosecute, criminalizing deepfake porn is still an important deterrent, in his view. In India, a deepfake porn scandal involving Bollywood actresses spurred the government to fasttrack legislation and pressure the big tech companies to prevent AI-generated content from being spread online.

Persons: —, Trace, Henry Ajder, Midjourney, Ajder, Taylor Swift, Bauer, Griffin, Elon Musk, Biden, ChatGPT, they're, it's, Ben Zhao, Joe Biden, Joe Morelle, deepfakes, criminalizing Organizations: Service, BBC News, Google, Meta, Coalition, telltale, University of Chicago, NPR, Anadolu, Getty, Associated Press, Federal Communications Commission Locations: Deepfakes, British, New York, New Hampshire, India

An advanced geothermal project has begun pumping carbon-free electricity onto the Nevada grid to power Google data centers there, Google announced Tuesday. Getting electrons onto the grid for the first time is a milestone many new energy companies never reach, said Tim Latimer, CEO and co-founder of Google's geothermal partner in the project, Houston-based Fervo Energy. Political Cartoons View All 1267 ImagesFervo is using this first pilot to launch other projects that will deliver far more carbon-free electricity to the grid. Google and Fervo Energy started working together in 2021 to develop next-generation geothermal power. Google announced back in 2020 that it would use carbon-free energy every hour of every day, wherever it operates, by 2030.

Persons: Tim Latimer, ” Latimer, Michael Terrell, We’re, ”, Terrell, “, ” Terrell, Jennifer Granholm, Granholm, Sarah Jewett, Latimer, DCVC, Rachel Slaybaugh, Fervo, Slaybaugh, it’s, Jewett Organizations: Google, Energy, International Energy Agency, Fervo Energy, U.S . Energy Information Administration, Energy Department, DOE, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, AP Locations: Nevada, Houston, Utah, Winnemucca , Nevada, Las Vegas, Reno, United States, California , Nevada , Utah, Hawaii , Oregon , Idaho, New Mexico, Latimer, Fervo, Beaver County , Utah

☆ Grimes was 'outraged' after learning that Elon Musk fathered twins with Shivon Zilis at the same time as the public, new biography reveals
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Grimes was reportedly upset to learn about Elon Musk's twins with Shivon Zilis at the same time as the public. The twins were born just weeks before he had his second child with Grimes. Musk's twins with Zilis were born weeks before Musk and Grimes welcomed their second child via surrogate in December of 2021. The news of Musk's twins was first reported by Insider in July of 2022. Musk and Grimes also share a son, X Æ A-Xii Musk , or X , and a daughter, Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, who goes by Y .

Persons: Grimes, Elon Musk's, Shivon Zilis, Claire Boucher, Walter Isaacson's, Zilis, Walter, … — Grimes, Elon Musk, Musk Organizations: Service, Wall Street, Musk Locations: Wall, Silicon, @Grimezsz, Ukraine

So what's hot in fintech right now? One area fintech companies are getting excited by is an improvement to online checkout tools. Callan Carvey, global head of operations at Cleo, said the firm's AI connects to a customer's bank account to get a better understanding of their financial behavior. "A job that typically would take around one or two weeks can now be completed in 30 minutes, right. Several fintech executives CNBC interviewed spoke of how they're not interested in launching products tailored to crypto as the demand from their customers isn't there.

Persons: MacKenzie Sigalos, hasn't, they've, Starling, Richard Davies, Davies, Niklas Guske, —, B2C fintechs, David Singleton, Guske, dazzled, Cleo, Callan Carvey, Carvey, Teo Blidarus, Taktile's, Hiroki Takeuchi, Takeuchi, Changpeng Zhao, they're, Jack Zhang, Zhang, Prajit Nanu, cryptocurrencies, Banks, Nanu Organizations: Bank, fintechs, CNBC, Business, Allica Bank, B2B, Tiger, Schroders Capital, Atom Bank, Schroders, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, U.S, cryptocurrencies Locations: Amsterdam, MacKenzie Sigalos AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, British, Atomico, U.S

☆ Europol sounds alarm about criminal use of ChatGPT, sees grim outlook
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A smartphone with a displayed ChatGPT logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken February 23, 2023. It singled out the harmful use of ChatGPT in three areas of crime. "ChatGPT's ability to draft highly realistic text makes it a useful tool for phishing purposes," Europol said. It said ChatGPT's ability to churn out authentic sounding text at speed and scale also also makes it an ideal tool for propaganda and disinformation. Criminals with little technical knowledge could turn to ChatGPT to produce malicious code, Europol said.

Robert Allbritton launched Protocol in early 2020 with a lofty goal of replicating his success with Politico for the tech industry. But that was a nonstarter, in part because Axel Springer, through a joint venture, already owned half of Politico Europe. Axel Springer acquired Protocol in October 2021 as part of its $1 billion-plus acquisition of Politico. Goli Sheikholeslami became CEO of Politico Media Group in February and was focused on the task of integrating Politico's US and Europe operations. The person familiar with the business said that Axel Springer gave Protocol a real shot.

According to a person familiar with the business, some inside Politico originally hoped to create what became Protocol as a direct offshoot — using a name like "Politico Tech." But that was a nonstarter, in part because Axel Springer already owned the rights to half of the Politico brand in Europe. Axel Springer acquired Protocol in October 2021 as part of its $1 billion-plus acquisition of Politico. Goli Sheikholeslami became CEO of Politico Media Group in February and was focused on the task of integrating Politico's US and Europe operations. A few former employees, in retrospect, wondered how committed Axel Springer was to the little tech-news site that came bundled with its Politico purchase.

☆ The rise of the 'bait-and-switch' job interview
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-14 | by ( Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

According to recruiters, employers, and job applicants interviewed by Insider, an increasing number of candidates are employing stand-ins to do their job interviews for them. At its simplest, it entails a job candidate hiring a person to pretend to be them, sit through the job interviews, and land them the position. The coworker had landed a job interview with Amazon and wanted to know whether the engineer would do the telephone interview on his behalf. Finally, for unscrupulous job candidates who are prepared to pay top dollar, there are "professional" proxies who will serve as stand-ins on job interviews — for a steep fee. Or paid someone to do a job interview for you?

☆ America's Overachievers Are Finally Leaning Back
▼ + stars: | 2022-03-02 | by ( Aki Ito | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Today, Justin is working the least he ever has: 40 hours a week. But what these executives are missing is that some employees don't want to pal around with their coworkers. In peak hustle culture, work was where we expected to find everything we needed to live the good life: joy, purpose, community. Then he started billing for 40 hours a week of labor that often took him only a few hours to complete. But after nine months of leaning back, a solid 40 hours is starting to look pretty attractive.

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