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FTC Chair Lina Khan on Startups, Scaling and ‘Innovation on the Potential of Breaking the Law’

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FTC Chair Lina Khan was the youngest person appointed to the position when she took up the position in 2021. But when her term ends in September – after which she is going to remain in office until a successor is chosen – her age could also be the final thing people remember about her reign.

More likely, Khan’s legacy will confront Big Tech – and accomplish that very publicly. Unlike his decidedly low-flying predecessors, Khan recurrently speaks to the media about how the FTC is carrying out its mandate to each implement antitrust laws and protect consumers, with a continuing highlight on today’s tech giants.

This strategy is much more noteworthy considering how small the FTC is – with just 1,300 employees working on about 150 cases at a time and an annual budget of just $400 million. This is a drop in the ocean for some of the outfits examined by the agency.

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We talked to Khan about her approach—and where she thinks Silicon Valley gets it unsuitable—during a gathering earlier this week at one of StrictlyVC’s more intimate TechCrunch events, this time happening in Washington, DC. Portions of this conversation have been edited for length below. You can take heed to the entire conversation Here.

Over the past twenty years, Washington has been dominated by huge players like Google and Microsoft. I used to be hoping we would start with the Wall Street Journal. report that federal regulators are moving forward with their investigation of some of these big players – Microsoft, OpenAI and Nvidia – should you can say something about their plans.

You are right that interest in DC is high and we want to be certain that we’re capable of capitalize on the opportunities and potential that these tools present, while ensuring that these markets remain open, fair and competitive, quite than allowing certain types of narrow necks or bottlenecks in a way that might undermine that competition, that chance and that innovation. . . I used to be in Silicon Valley a number of months ago and it was really interesting to listen to from these founders, especially about how there’s so much of confusion immediately about who gets access to certain key inputs, whether it’s computations or models, regardless , whether there’s any guarantee that you simply aren’t effectively transmitting proprietary information. So I feel there’s so much of excitement, but we also hear some fatigue that may set in once we realize that so much of power has already been concentrated, and then that concentration of power can prevent innovation and competition.

It also appears that some of the people you are attempting to manage are getting more creative with the deals they enter into, resembling Microsoft’s take care of Inflection AI, a man-made intelligence company whose co-founder and employees were hired by Microsoft in March and now Microsoft pays him a $650 million licensing fee so he can resell the technology (InflectionAI). This is just not a merger. Have they talked to your agency or other regulators about what they’re doing?

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I’m limited in what I can say about some of these specific transactions or specific potential issues. I’ll say that we’re fascinated with remaining vigilant to avoid evasion of applicable regulations. We have made it clear that each one existing laws still apply: laws prohibiting mergers that will significantly reduce competition, laws prohibiting price fixing and collusion. Whether you set the price via an algorithm or a handshake, each are still illegal. Overall, we attempt to fastidiously analyze and make sure that that some of these innovations don’t result in potential violations of the law. We need to make sure that everyone plays by the same rules.

I’ll say that earlier this 12 months we also launched an investigation into some of the strategic partnerships and investments to make sure that we understand what’s really going on here. We have heard some concerns about, for instance, whether some of these partnerships and investments may lead to privileged access for some or exclusion of access for others. . and this work remains to be ongoing.

Apple has also made a number of announcements (this week at WWDC). It announced that it’s integrating OpenAI into some of its offerings; said additionally it is open to working with other third parties, including potentially Google Gemini. It appears that many of the partnerships involve the same players, which might be a bit concerning to you immediately. What do you concentrate on what got here out of this event?

We’ve seen that in the past, some of the most important breakthrough innovations have come from startups, entrepreneurs, and small players who can simply have a look at things otherwise, see a gap in the market, and really disrupt the way in a way that distracts the big boys. . .

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It is true that at the moment let’s imagine that some of the current incumbents may control access to the inputs and raw materials needed for some of these innovations. That’s why we must remain vigilant to be certain that this moment of competition, innovation and disruption is just not hijacked by incumbents in a way that closes off the market and prevents us from truly having fun with the innovation and competition that has historically kept our country ahead. . .

I do know you do not buy this argument that these firms should be protected (from antitrust actions) because any slowdown in them will weaken the United States as a rustic. On the one hand, many individuals agree with this; they need the whole lot to crumble in order that startups can breathe. Others may say, “This technology is developing much faster than anything we’ve ever seen. Autonomous weapons can use this technology. How do you justify breaking off relations without exposing the country to any risk?

Even 40 or 50 years ago, when the Department of Justice was investigating AT&T, it was the Department of Defense that stepped in and said, “Hey, we really need to be careful because taking antitrust action against AT&T could pose a national security risk.” Even then, we heard many analogous arguments.

There are several natural experiments. At various times we’ve been faced with the selection of whether we should always protect and pamper our monopolies or protect the laws of fair competition. And time and time again we selected the path of competition. And that’s what has driven and catalyzed many of these breakthrough innovations and much of the extraordinary growth that our country has enjoyed and that has allowed us to stay at the forefront of the world. If you have a look at other countries which have as a substitute chosen this model of national champions, they’re the ones who’ve been left behind. I feel we want to recollect these lessons from history as we decide our path again.

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There are founders and VCs on this audience who’ve mixed feelings about you because they need their firms to thrive, and they’re concerned that you simply’re so vocal about having your eye on Big Tech that firms aren’t making any (acquisitions) ). Exits are an enormous path for VCs and founders; How can we assure them that they’re doing what’s best for them, each in the short and long run?

We definitely understand that for some startups and founders, acquisition is a key exit path that interests them. In fact, the law prohibits an exit or takeover that strengthens a monopoly or allows a dominant company to purchase out a nascent and competitive threat. . . For comparison: every year we receive as many as 3,000 merger applications. About 2% of them actually get reconsidered by the government, so we’ve 98% of all transactions that mostly undergo.

I can even say that should you’re a startup or founder who’s acquisition as an exit, I feel a world where you have got six, seven, or eight potential suitors is a greater world than one where you simply have one or two.

There are 1,500 people at the FTC?

About 1,300, or actually 400 fewer people than in the Nineteen Eighties, although the economy has grown greater than 15 times. . we’re a small agency, but we definitely punch above our weight.

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I do not know should you’re taking more motion than your predecessors or should you’re just more visible. Did you already know that you simply are moving at a faster pace than your predecessors on this position?

You can have a look at the numbers and you possibly can see that there are some increases. However, in my view, counting the number of lawsuits or investigations is just one technique to capture impact. The type of cases you bring can also be necessary. For me, it was necessary to make sure that that we were actually : where can we see the most harm? Where can we see players who we consider are more systematically causing some of these problems through illegal behavior? So in the same way that having the ability to go after a mob boss will probably be more practical than going after some henchmen at the bottom, you desire to be effective in your law enforcement strategy. That’s why we’re the next level and taking on lawsuits that might really go against some of the big players; we expect that if we’re successful, it can have a extremely positive impact on the market.

In terms of deterrence, I feel we’re already seeing something there. We recurrently hear from senior transaction advisors and senior antitrust lawyers who say quite openly that five, six or seven years ago, when a possible transaction was being considered, antitrust risk and even antitrust evaluation was not at the top of the conversation, and now she is in the foreground. For law enforcement agencies, if firms take into consideration this legal issue early on, that is a extremely good thing because then we cannot must spend so many public resources on transactions that we consider violate the law.

Are you using AI to scale your relatively small office that has a reasonably limited budget?

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What we’re wondering about is: Are there ways, especially for some of our economic evaluation, to make the most of some of these tools? Of course, making this possible requires some pretty significant computational improvements, and we’re asking Congress for more funding to make it possible (protected).

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com

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Black Memphis Community claims that she is besieged from the pollution emitted by the new supercomputer Elon Muska

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The new Elon Musk project in the amount of $ 6 billion in artificial intelligence in Memphis, Tennessee raises the fears of some residents and environmental supporters who claim that it reflects wider tensions between the rapid expansion of the technology industry and its impact on local communities.

According to residents and conservators in the south -western Memphis, where the object – Nicknamed “Colossus” – is positioned, positioned, Expressed worries The website emissions can affect each public health and the surrounding environment.

Although Musk, through his company, XAI, promised to cut back dangerous emissions, the approach to power supply doesn’t leave room for such limits that ought to be used, local experts say.

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Gas turbines, which largely supply the object, emit various nitrogen and formaldehyde oxides as by -products, together with other substances that help weaken the exhausting ozone layer, and the inhabitants largely black, mainly the staff’ Boxtown community in Boxtown, say, they are saying

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8RU4DV2W8Q

Similar to reporting from the data center of 4 million square feet planned for construction Virtually in the Alabamian courtyards, who had nothing to say of their construction, the Musk project was carried out no matter the inhabitants of Memphis and is based on Luce for temporary turbines, whose environmental groups will not be really applicable to the Musk company, and the inhabitants are increasingly nervous that lack of take care of their health and well -being.

As Sarah Gladney, a resident living three miles from the extensive object and has a state of lungs, said: “Our health has never been taken into account, the safety of our communities has never been, never, was never considered.”

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Memphis, like many other communities throughout the country – including rural counties in Alabama – is challenges related to environmental protection after regulatory changes during Trump’s administration, which alleviated the control of pollution and moved specializing in the issue of environmental justice. At the same time, support for emerging technologies was increased, akin to artificial intelligence, an area particularly interesting by Elon Musk.

Mayor of Memphis Paul Young He expressed support In the case of a Muska project, emphasizing the potential economic advantages and tax revenues. However, some residents are concerned about the environmental risk that development may be for the community.

“We look, it’s an opportunity to completely transform our economy,” said Young. This “the game is changing.”

This characteristics attracted the anger of the open representative of Tennessee Justin Pearson, a democrat who lives near the object. Rep. Pearson criticized each the lack of necessities for permission to the object and the proposed economic advantages for the inhabitants of Memphis in his comments to CNN.

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“It’s a real gas plant in the middle of the neighborhood and you don’t need any permission?” Rep. Pearson said. “Something drastically and significantly disappointed in our control system and balances.”

He continued: “If you look at where these data centers support, it is always in poor communities”, in keeping with the legislator, there is no “hope” that the federal government will help them protect them.

(Tagstranslate) memphis

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This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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Why the new Porn Law Anti-Revenge disturbs experts on freedom

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Proponents of privacy and digital rights increase the alarms over the law, which many would expect to support: federal repression of pornography of revenge and deep cabinets generated by AI.

The newly signed Act on Take IT Down implies that the publishing of unjustified clear photos-vigorous or generated AI-I gives platforms only 48 hours to follow the request to remove the victim or face responsibility. Although widely praised as an extended win for victims, experts also warned their unclear language, loose standards for verification of claims, and a decent compatibility window can pave the way for excessive implementation, censorship of justified content and even supervision.

“Large -scale model moderation is very problematic and always ends with an important and necessary assessment speech,” said India McKinney, Federal Director at Electronic Frontier Foundation, a corporation of digital rights.

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Internet platforms have one 12 months to determine a means of removing senseless intimate images (NCII). Although the law requires that the request to be removed comes from victims or their representatives, he only asks for a physical or electronic signature – no photo identifier or other type of verification is required. This might be geared toward reducing barriers for victims, but it could possibly create the possibility of abuse.

“I really want to be wrong in this, but I think there will be more requests to take photos of Queer and trance people in relationships, and even more, I think it will be consensual porn,” said McKinney.

Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), a co-person of the Take IT Down Act, also sponsored the Safety Act for youngsters, which puts a burden on platforms to guard children from harmful online content. Blackburn said he believed Content related to transgender individuals It is harmful to children. Similarly, the Heritage Foundation – conservative Think Tank behind the 2025 project – also has he said that “keeping the content away from children protects children.”

Due to the responsibility with which they encounter platforms, in the event that they don’t take off the image inside 48 hours of receiving the request: “By default it will be that they simply take it off without conducting an investigation to see if it is NCII or whether it is another type of protected speech, or whether it is even important for the person who submits the application,” said McKinney.

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Snapchat and Meta said that they support the law, but none of them answered TechCrunch’s request for more information on how they’d check if the person asking for removal is a victim.

Mastodon, a decentralized platform, which hosts his own flagship server, to which others can join, told Techcrunch that he could be inclined to remove if he was too difficult to confirm the victim.

Mastodon and other decentralized platforms, comparable to blues or pixfed, could be particularly exposed to the cold of the 48-hour removal rule. These networks are based on independently supported servers, often run by non -profit organizations or natural individuals. Under the law, FTC may treat any platform that is just not “reasonably consistent” with demands of removal as “unfair or deceptive action or practice” – even when the host is just not a business subject.

“It’s disturbing on his face, but especially when he took the FTC chair unprecedented Steps to politicize The agency and clearly promised to make use of the agency’s power to punish platforms and services on ideologicalIn contrast to the rules, the basics, “cyberspace initiative, a non -profit organization dedicated to the end of pornography of revenge, she said in statement.

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Proactive monitoring

McKinney predicts that the platforms will start moderating content before distribution, so in the future they’ve fewer problematic posts.

Platforms already use artificial intelligence to observe harmful content.

Kevin Guo, general director and co -founder of the content detection startup, said that his company cooperates with web platforms to detect deep materials and sexual materials of kids (CSAM). Some of the Hive clients are Reddit, Giphy, Vevo, BlueSky and Bereal.

“In fact, we were one of the technology companies that supported this bill,” said Guo Techcrunch. “This will help solve some quite important problems and force these platforms to take more proactive solutions.”

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The HIVE model is software as a service, so starting doesn’t control how the platforms use their product to flag or delete content. But Guo said that many shoppers insert the API Hive interface when sent to monitoring before anything is distributed to the community.

Reddit spokesman told Techcrunch that the platform uses “sophisticated internal tools, processes and teams for solving and removal”. Reddit also cooperates with the NON -SWGFL organization in an effort to implement the Stopncia tool, which scans live traffic seeking matches with a database of known NCII and removes accurate fittings. The company didn’t share how it is going to be sure that the person asking for removal is a victim.

McKinney warns that this kind of monitoring can expand to encrypted messages in the future. Although the law focuses on public or semi -public dissemination, it also requires the platforms “removing and making reasonable efforts to prevent” senseless intimate images from re -translating. He claims that this will likely encourage proactive scanning of all content, even in encrypted spaces. The law doesn’t contain any sculptors for encrypted services of encrypted messages, comparable to WhatsApp, Signal or IMessage.

Meta, Signal and Apple didn’t answer TechCrunch for more details about their plans for encrypted messages.

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Wider implications of freedom of speech

On March 4, Trump provided a joint address to the congress, wherein he praised the Take It Down act and said he couldn’t wait to sign it.

“And I also intend to use this bill for myself if you don’t mind,” he added. “There is nobody who is treated worse than I do online.”

While the audience laughed at the comment, not everyone considered it a joke. Trump was not ashamed of suppressing or retarding against unfavorable speech, no matter whether it’s the mainstream marking “enemies of individualsExcept for Associated Press from the oval office despite the court order or Financing from NPR and PBS.

Trump administration on Thursday Barred Harvard University From the reception of foreign students, the escalation of the conflict, which began after Harvard refused to follow Trump’s demands to make changes to his curriculum and eliminate, amongst others, content related to Dei. In retaliation, Trump froze federal funds at Harvard and threatened to repeal the status of the tax exemption from the university.

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“At a time when we see that school councils are trying to prohibit books and see that some politicians very clearly deal with the types of content that people do not want to ever see, regardless of whether it is a critical theory of breed, or information about abortion or information about climate change …” McKinney said.

(Tagstotransate) Censorship

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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PO clarous Director General Zoom also uses AI avatar during a quarterly connection

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Zoom CEO Eric Yuan

General directors at the moment are so immersed in artificial intelligence that they send their avatars to cope with quarterly connections from earnings as a substitute, a minimum of partly.

After AI Avatar CEO CEO appeared on the investor’s conversation firstly of this week, the final director of Zoom Eric Yuan also followed them, also Using his avatar for preliminary comments. Yuan implemented his non -standard avatar via Zoom Clips, an asynchronous company video tool.

“I am proud that I am one of the first general directors who used the avatar in a call for earnings,” he said – or fairly his avatar. “This is just one example of how Zoom shifts the limits of communication and cooperation. At the same time, we know that trust and security are necessary. We take seriously the content generated AI and build strong security to prevent improper use, protect the user’s identity and ensure that avatars are used responsibly.”

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Yuan has long been in favor of using avatars at meetings and previously said that the corporate goals to create Digital user twins. He just isn’t alone on this vision; The CEO of transcript -powered AI, apparently, trains its own avatar Share the load.

Meanwhile, Zoom said he was doing it Avatar non -standard function available To all users this week.

(Tagstranslat) meetings AI

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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