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☆ Applied Materials to Build $4 Billion Chip Research Facility in Silicon Valley
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Ryan Tracy | Asa Fitch | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/applied-materials-to-build-4-billion-chip-research-facility-in-silicon-valley-efe8069

☆ ChatGPT’s Sam Altman Faces Senate Panel Examining Artificial Intelligence
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Ryan Tracy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

New AI voice and video tools can look and sound like you. But can they fool your family—or bank? WSJ’s Joanna Stern replaced herself with her AI twin for the day to find out. Photo illustration: Elena ScottiWASHINGTON—The chief executive of ChatGPT creator OpenAI is set to testify before a Senate panel Tuesday as lawmakers begin a bipartisan push toward regulating the powerful new artificial-intelligence tools available to consumers. Sam Altman, who is making his first appearance before Congress, is expected to support calls for regulatory guardrails on the technology so that potential harms such as misinformation or fraud don’t outweigh benefits.

☆ ChatGPT’s Sam Altman Calls on Congress to Adopt Safety Standards for AI Systems
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Ryan Tracy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

New AI voice and video tools can look and sound like you. WSJ’s Joanna Stern replaced herself with her AI twin for the day to find out. Photo illustration: Elena ScottiWASHINGTON—The chief executive of ChatGPT creator OpenAI called on Congress to create licensing and safety standards for advanced artificial intelligence systems, as lawmakers begin a bipartisan push toward regulating the powerful new artificial-intelligence tools available to consumers. “We understand that people are anxious about how it can change the way we live,” Sam Altman said of AI technology at a Senate subcommittee hearing Tuesday, his first appearance before Congress. “But we believe that we can and must work together to identify and manage the potential downsides so that we can all enjoy the tremendous upsides.”

☆ ChatGPT’s Sam Altman Warns Congress That AI ‘Can Go Quite Wrong’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Ryan Tracy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT creator OpenAI, touted the benefits of AI and acknowledged potential downsides of the technology during a Senate subcommittee hearing on Tuesday. Photo: Patrick Semansky/Associated PressWASHINGTON—The chief executive of ChatGPT creator OpenAI called on Congress to create licensing and safety standards for advanced artificial-intelligence systems, as lawmakers begin a bipartisan push toward regulating the powerful new tools available to consumers. “We understand that people are anxious about how it can change the way we live. We are, too,” Sam Altman said of AI technology at a Senate subcommittee hearing Tuesday, his first appearance before Congress. “If this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong.”

☆ House GOP Subpoenas FTC for Twitter Investigation Documents
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Ryan Tracy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/house-gop-subpoenas-ftc-for-twitter-investigation-documents-47e597f7

☆ Biden Administration Weighs Possible Rules for AI Tools Like ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Ryan Tracy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-administration-weighs-possible-rules-for-ai-tools-like-chatgpt-46f8257b

☆ Mothers Power New Drive to Make Social-Media Firms Accountable for Harms
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Ryan Tracy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Kristin Bride, wearing gray, Tracy Kemp, in white jacket, and other mothers during a meeting with senators in November last year. WASHINGTON—Silicon Valley has for years brushed back attempts to make internet platforms more accountable for harm to young people. Online safety advocates are hoping to turn the tide with a new force: Moms. Mothers who say social media devastated their sons and daughters are stepping up efforts to pass legislative remedies, including by making personal appeals to lawmakers and working with congressional aides to fine-tune legislation.

☆ Biden’s $42.5 Billion Broadband-Expansion Plan Is Challenged by Lawmakers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Ryan Tracy | Patience Haggin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The $42.5 billion program is the federal government’s largest-ever one-time allocation to build out broadband service across the country. WASHINGTON–The Biden administration’s $42.5 billion program to expand broadband could hit a speed bump, as some U.S. lawmakers push legislation to ensure rural states aren’t shortchanged. A bipartisan pair of senators Friday announced a bill that would require the Biden administration to perform an additional review before deciding how much funding each state will receive under the program, which is the federal government’s largest-ever one-time allocation to build out broadband to Americans who don’t have it.

☆ TikTok CEO Seeks to Convince Congress Chinese-Owned App Isn’t Security Threat
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( John D. Mckinnon | Ryan Tracy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies Thursday morning at a high-stakes congressional hearing, as safety and security concerns over the Chinese-controlled platform deepen even as its popularity in the U.S. grows. Mr. Chew, a Harvard-educated Singaporean army reservist and former Goldman Sachs banker, will testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, whose members have already signaled concerns that Beijing could influence TikTok content and harvest user data.

U.S.-China relations were dealt another blow as lawmakers at a House hearing pummeled TikTok’s chief executive over the popular app’s ties to China, and as Beijing said it would fight any U.S. attempt to force the company’s sale by its Chinese owners. The hearing Thursday, peppered with withering attacks on TikTok from both Democrats and Republicans, ran more than five hours and underscored growing concern about Beijing’s potential influence over the app. U.S.-China relations are already frayed over trade, Taiwan, technology and geopolitical rivalries.

☆ TikTok Stars Rally in Washington Against App’s Potential U.S. Ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Ryan Tracy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—TikTok launched a battalion of influencers in the nation’s capital Wednesday to send a message to Congress: Banning the app would be met with widespread popular opposition. “TikTok is not a children’s dancing app,” said Aidan Kohn-Murphy, a college freshman with close to 300,000 TikTok followers and founder of the advocacy group Gen-Z for Change. “It is one of the most powerful tools that young people have to engage each other and to get civically involved.”

☆ Fights Over Rural America’s Phone Poles Slow Internet Rollout
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Ryan Tracy | Photographs Ramsay De Give For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—The U.S. plans to spend at least $60 billion in the next decade to ensure every American household has high-speed internet. An old-fashioned obstacle stands in the way: utility poles. Getting everyone the same service city dwellers enjoy generally means stretching fiber-optic cable to homes, farms and ranches in rural areas. Many of these places already have utility poles carrying electric or telephone wires.

☆ Twitter and Elon Musk Face Legal Risks in FTC Probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Ryan Tracy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—New details about the Federal Trade Commission’s probe into Twitter Inc. point to the significant and potentially costly legal risks the company faces as Elon Musk tries to get the company on the road to long-term profitability. The FTC’s hundreds of written demands to the company in recent months, reported by The Wall Street Journal earlier this week, show it is investigating Mr. Musk’s personal role in high-profile decisions including massive layoffs, rapid changes to Twitter’s features and the sharing of internal company records with journalists.

☆ FTC Twitter Investigation Sought Elon Musk’s Internal Communications, Journalist Names
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Ryan Tracy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission has demanded Twitter Inc. turn over internal communications related to owner Elon Musk and detailed information about layoffs and other business decisions as part of a wide-ranging investigation into the company, documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal show. In 12 letters sent to Twitter and its lawyers since Mr. Musk’s Oct. 27 takeover, the FTC also asked the company to “identify all journalists” granted access to company records and to provide information about the launch of the revamped Twitter Blue subscription service, the documents show.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer didn’t describe the origin of the two latest crafts shot down over the U.S. and Canada. U.S. officials believe the two latest flying objects shot down over the U.S. and Canada in recent days were also balloons, although smaller than the suspected Chinese spy balloon that was shot down Feb. 4, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Sunday. Officials have publicly described the crafts shot down over Alaska Friday and over Canada Saturday as objects. Mr. Schumer was asked in a television interview Sunday if these were also balloons.

‘Until a few months ago we didn’t know of these balloons,’ Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. U.S. and Canadian officials were seeking Sunday to determine the origin and purpose of two objects shot down by military jet fighters over Alaska and Canada in the wake of increased aerial surveillance following the discovery of a suspected Chinese spy balloon. U.S. officials said they had stepped up monitoring of high-altitude airspace following the discovery of the Chinese balloon. In two separate incidents this weekend, the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily closed off airspace to civilian operations—first over Montana, and later over Lake Michigan—to support Department of Defense operations.

☆ Former Twitter Executives to Face GOP Scrutiny on Hunter Biden Laptop Decisions
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Ryan Tracy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—House Republicans are set Wednesday to launch hearings into what they describe as collusion between social-media companies and Democrats—starting with their scrutiny of the 2020 episode involving Hunter Biden ‘s laptop. Members of the House Oversight Committee plan to question former Twitter Inc. executives over their decision to limit the reach of two 2020 New York Post articles that contained disclosures from the president’s son’s laptop that was dropped off at a Delaware repair shop. The Post and The Wall Street Journal are both owned by News Corp.

☆ TikTok’s Secret Sauce Poses Challenge for U.S. Oversight, Researchers Say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Ryan Tracy | Georgia Wells | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—Potential Chinese influence over what Americans view on TikTok is an increasing concern among U.S. policy makers—and one that could defy a simple solution. TikTok says it has devised a plan that would allow U.S. officials to check whether its proprietary algorithm—the secret sauce of computer code that recommends videos to users—was being influenced by Beijing.

☆ Former Twitter Executives Say They Erred in Blocking Links to Hunter Biden Laptop Articles
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Ryan Tracy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Former Twitter chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde and other onetime executives at the social-media company spoke Wednesday before a House panel. Former Twitter Inc. executives Wednesday said they erred in limiting the reach of news articles about Hunter Biden ahead of the 2020 presidential election, but denied Republican assertions that there were political motivations involved. Twitter blocked the sharing of links to two New York Post articles containing disclosures from emails found on the laptop of President Biden’s son out of concern that they might have been obtained by hacking, the executives said at hearing convened by the House Oversight Committee.

☆ Congress on the Sidelines as U.S. Takes on Google
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Ryan Tracy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A Justice Department lawsuit against Alphabet unit Google, announced by Attorney General Merrick Garland, could have broad implications for the digital-advertising industry. WASHINGTON—The Justice Department lawsuit against Alphabet Inc. unit Google seeks to achieve in court what some in Congress have tried and failed to do: curb the power of America’s largest technology companies. Tech companies spent heavily last year to successfully block major technology legislation, and that winning streak is expected to continue as Washington transitions to two years of divided government.

☆ GOP Bill Would Bar Government From Pushing Internet Platforms to Block Lawful Speech
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Ryan Tracy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—Senior House Republicans plan to introduce legislation Thursday to ban federal employees from pressuring internet platforms to suppress lawful speech, in one of their first steps to advance a central initiative of the newly empowered GOP leadership. The bill addresses what its supporters claim to be efforts by the Biden administration to influence content on social-media platforms, including attempts to block speech on Covid-19 vaccines that runs counter to White House policy. It would bar federal employees from ordering or advocating for “the removal or suppression of lawful speech” from internet platforms.

☆ GOP-Led House to Probe Alleged White House Collusion With Tech Giants
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( John D. Mckinnon | Ryan Tracy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—Republicans in the House plan to scrutinize communications between the Biden administration and big technology and social-media companies to probe whether they amounted to the censorship of legitimate viewpoints on issues such as Covid-19 that ran counter to White House policy. House Republicans are expected as soon as Tuesday to launch the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. The panel is expected to seek to illuminate what some Republicans say have been efforts by the Biden administration to influence content hosted by companies such as Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc., owner of YouTube and Google.

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