The EU is making it simpler for individuals to sue the manufacturers of artificial intelligence systems that harm them, under expanded product liability protections. The EU’s Product Liability Directive, a roadmap for the Union’s 27 member states to enact their own legislation, was updated this week to include AI. It ensures there is a business to sue in Europe, and clarifies that liability falls on the manufacturer who controls and is responsible for updating tech products.
How US firms battled a government crackdown to keep tech sales to China: An intense struggle has unfolded in Washington between companies and officials over where to draw the line on selling technology to China. NYT
Andrew Ferguson, whom Trump named Tuesday his FTC chair pick, wants to zero in on alleged censorship by Big Tech and promote innovation in the AI market—offering competing enforcement priorities for the agency’s tech policy.
+ In a statement Tuesday night, Ferguson vowed to “end Big Tech’s vendetta against competition and free speech.”
What Trump’s new antitrust enforcers mean for business: Expect easier dealmaking. Unless you are in Silicon Valley. Economist
The MAGA culture war comes for Silicon Valley: A powerful industry gets a fresh set of Washington antagonists — with a polarizing agenda. Politico
Trump vows to crush Big Tech, even as it warms to him: President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to rein in Big Tech, a longtime enemy, in his second term in office, while simultaneously building relationships with the biggest moguls in the business. Wash Exam
Meta has donated $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fund.
Reuters: Trump says he will meet with Amazon's Bezos next week
A wish list from CEOs for the Trump administration: The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council has plenty of advice for the incoming president. Here are their requests for the economy, healthcare, technology, and energy. WSJ
The Financial Technology Association is urging President-elect Trump and the new Congress to “curb regulatory overreach” on the use of artificial intelligence in the financial sector and to “refine regulatory frameworks” for AI governance in a package of “first hundred days” recommendations.
Senate Foreign Relations Chair Cardin unveils massive bill to counter China’s AI influence: Inside AI Policy reports Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), the retiring chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, has unveiled a massive bill for countering China’s economic and military influence, including provisions for combatting AI-generated disinformation. The 328-page bill was released with about two weeks left for the current Congress, amid expectations by industry sources that the exiting Senate Democratic majority might try to push through an anti-China package as part of a federal spending bill or in stand-alone provisions.
Exxon is building a plant that will sell energy to data centers.
Exxon's AI power play aims to beat nuclear: The oil major is betting Big Tech’s need for speed will open up a bigger market for gas-fired plants. Liam Denning
Why was a murder suspect’s Instagram taken down, but not his Goodreads? Luigi Mangione’s social media accounts attracted swift attention after he was arrested in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive. When do companies scrub a digital trail? NYT
Was Henry Kissinger an AI “doomer”? A posthumous postscript on a hair-raising topic. Economist
AI is the frenemy of freedom: An optimistic view of the technology sees the possibility of it offering humans ‘superagency’ rather than as a threat. John Thornhill
+ The philosopher Isaiah Berlin’s views on freedom, in which different types of liberty are often incompatible, could become increasingly relevant to questions about AI and human agency.
What are the risks of artificial intelligence? A comprehensive living database of over 700 AI risks categorized by their cause and risk domain. AI Risk Repository
Chatbot apps pose dangers for teens: Axios reports platforms and apps that allow users to create and chat with AI-powered bots can addict teenagers, encourage self-harm, and expose minors to adult content, according to experts.
+ Parents in Texas filed a federal product liability lawsuit on Monday against companion app Character_AI and its founders, who have left the company.
+ In October, a Florida mom also sued Character_AI, blaming the company for her 14-year-old son's suicide.
+ The platforms, which are extremely popular with teens, often send emails intended to re-engage users, and their bots will not typically break character even when a user is in distress.
Data is still an AI pain point: You need clean, modernized data to use generative AI.
+ "Our big challenge is the unstructured data, and figure out how to categorize, cleanse it, and bring it in, in a form that can be useful... That’s the next frontier for us." -- Soumya Seetharam, SVP + CIO @ Corning
+ "Data cleanliness is a big deal. … Most companies have lots of information, but it’s not connected. Different departments have different kinds of information floating around. I think you’re going to see a lot of really unglamorous work that’s going to have to happen before we really unlock the power of these machine intelligences." -- Rita McGrath, Professor @ Columbia Business School
Slack CEO: How to roll out artificial intelligence internally: Slack CEO Denise Dresser lists five types of AI users you need to know in your organization and offers guidance on how to engage them. MIT Management
Big Tech's $62 billion AI spending fuels pick-and shovel bets: Investments by Alphabet, Amazon.com and others may take years to pay off. Skeptics worry about a bubble. Bloomberg
Why AI could eat quantum computing’s lunch: Rapid advances in applying artificial intelligence to simulations in physics and chemistry have some people questioning whether we will even need quantum computers at all. Edd Gent
New magnetic flow has potential to revolutionise electronic devices: ‘Altermagnetism’ discovery could deliver ‘thousand-fold increase’ in memory and speed of computing components. FT
Google plans new smart glasses and VR headsets in Samsung partnership: FT reports the collaboration aims to take on Meta and Apple in hopes of gaining an edge in ‘next generation of computing.’
Bitcoin is up by 138% this year. It is a nonsense-free rally: The link between digital assets and mainstream finance is strengthening. Economist
Military history buffs are waging war against AI data centers threatening battlefields and other historical sites.
Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.
-Marc
