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February 20, 2021, 1:50 PM
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| Ina Fried / Axios: |
Margaret Mitchell, co-lead of Google's Ethical AI team, says she has been fired; Google says an employee conduct review confirmed multiple policy violations — Margaret Mitchell, the co-lead of Google's Ethical AI team, says that the company has fired her following an investigation into her use of corporate email.
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Wired, Bloomberg, Android Central, Sky News, The Guardian, The Verge, New York Times, Tech Xplore, TechCrunch, TechSpot, Voice of America, Input, BBC, Fortune, Forbes, CNET, VentureBeat, CNN, and The Next Web
Tweets: @mmitchell_ai, @dinabass, @zoeschiffer, @kentbye, @aweiss, @inafried, @azeem, @gadgetlab, @bloombergquint, @wired, @devindra, @kimcrayton1, @timnitgebru, @rabble, @scottthurm, @androidcentral, @wired, @timnitgebru, @jamesrbuk, @jsnell, @timnitgebru, @lizthegrey, @shannoncoulter, @daiwaka, @nitashatiku, and @dinabass
| Ina Fried / Axios: |
Report: Google's AI Chief Jeff Dean apologizes in an email after Timnit Gebru's exit, saying his team should have managed the situation “with more sensitivity” — Google told employees Friday it has wrapped up its investigation into the ouster of prominent AI researcher Timnit Gebru.
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Bloomberg, Engadget, Protocol, The Hill, Insider, CNET, Financial Times, Slashdot, and The Verge
Tweets: @timnitgebru, @inafried, @dinabass, @timnitgebru, @timnitgebru, @alexhanna, @timnitgebru, @kimcrayton1, @jmesole, @timnitgebru, @timnitgebru, @azeem, @lilahsturges, @histoftech, @timnitgebru, @kimcrayton1, @mmitchell_ai, @timnitgebru, @timnitgebru, @ohthatflo, @timnitgebru, @anna_c_kramer, @timnitgebru, @timnitgebru, @aaschapiro, @stephentyrone, @dlowd, @shanavwhite, @axios, @inafried, @shannonvallor, @inafried, @inafried, @tsimonite, @pmddomingos, @timnitgebru, @timnitgebru, @timnitgebru, @tsimonite, @timnitgebru, and @timnitgebru
| Shen Lu / Protocol: |
An ex-ByteDance employee recounts the inner workings of the company's complex content moderation system and the role of China's internet censorship policies — This is the story of Li An, a pseudonymous former employee at ByteDance, as told to Protocol's Shen Lu.
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Insider. Tweets: @shenlulushen, @dwertime, @birnbaum_e, @martinsfp, @shenlulushen, @carnage4life, @protocol, @joepwilliams31, @julespolonetsky, @zeyiyang, @vboykis, @waxy, @shenlulushen, @shenlulushen, @shenlulushen, @shenlulushen, @evacide, @anirvan, @benpimentel, @audpants, @lindsaypgorman, @adamkovac, @shenlulushen, @yaqiu, @davidpaulk, @pernillet, @protocol, @scottnover, @tealtan, @shenlulushen, @byron_wan, @hatr, @jchengwsj, and @williamyang120
| Ian Carlos Campbell / The Verge: |
App Annie: Australian Broadcasting Corporation's news app was briefly the most downloaded app on the AU App Store after Facebook's news ban and is now second — Readers may be going directly to the source — The Australian Broadcast Company's ABC News app shot to the top of Apple's App Store charts …
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Associated Press, Micky, Nieman Lab, Insider, Social Media Today, Mashable, and Washington Post
| Mike Masnick / Techdirt: |
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Vox, The Next Web, MIT Technology Review, OneZero , Scroll.in, Politico, Reuters, Axios, CNET, ABC, South China Morning Post, Sydney Morning Herald, The Independent, Michael Geist, TidBITS, and The Economic Times
Tweets: @josje23, @ketanj0, @marietjeschaake, @alecmuffett, @mattyglesias, @mattyglesias, @jamessurowiecki, @yanisvaroufakis, @jeffjarvis, @mmasnick, @mattyglesias, @digiphile, @reckless, @jason_kint, @tostevinm, @sunriseon7, @slpng_giants_oz, @andrewbartlett, @clairlemon, @grogsgamut, @djinni43142058, @brantcooper, @mmasnick, @benthompson, @ohmdee, @hkanji, @djamesarmstrong, @channel4news, @bobbyallyn, @lachlan, @daphnehk, @jayrosen_nyu, @markscott82, @bradchacos, @chriskeall, @evan_greer, @randyebarnett, @wexler, @mathewi, and @mmasnick
| Corey Dickinson / Bloomberg: |
As Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Uber, Amazon, and others play larger roles in OpenStreetMap, hobbyists fear private sector will overshadow their work — What do Lyft, Facebook, the International Red Cross, the U.N., the government of Nepal and Pokémon Go have in common?| Nilesh Christopher / Rest of World: |
Interview with founder of Koo, a microblogging service for regional language speakers in India that recently passed 3M users, fueled in large part by Modi's BJP — Aprameya Radhakrishna made Koo for local-language speakers. Overnight, Hindu nationalists drove its success. — • BANGALORE, INDIA| Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios: |
Sequoia Capital told its LPs their personal and financial information may have been accessed after a Sequoia employee's email was successfully phished — Sequoia Capital told its investors on Friday that some of their personal and financial information may have been accessed by a third party … | Eric Benjamin Seufert / Mobile Dev Memo: |
Apple's app tracking transparency pushes publishers like Zynga to build their own ad tech creating closed, first party walled gardens that Apple can't touch — , Apple is diminishing the ability for advertising to be personalized by limiting the use of third-party data for that purpose.| Financial Times: |
US video streaming giants are finding it more challenging to cash in on India, amid outcries over edgy content and difficulties in convincing consumers to pay — Netflix, Amazon and Disney tackle greater scrutiny from censors as they engage in a fierce pricing war
Tweets: @rmantri, @ftopinion, @financialtimes, @amykazmin, @rajit_h, and @b_parkyn
| Dave Gershgorn / OneZero : |
AI researchers doubt the efficacy and ethics of emotion recognition tech, as studies show facial expressions match a person's emotions only 20%-30% of the time — People's facial expressions line up with their emotions less than half the time — OneZero's General Intelligence is a roundup …
Tweets: @robmccargow, @hypervisible, @autsciperson, @autsciperson, @martinwaxman, @ozm, @tante, and @dancharvey
| Alexander Osipovich / Wall Street Journal: |
Kalshi, an online trading startup letting users bet on “yes/no” questions about future events, raises $30M from Sequoia and others ahead of planned March launch — Sequoia, Chuck Schwab are among those backing Kalshi, which plans to launch in March
More:
Kalshi, The Week, Banking Dive, Finextra, FinSMEs, Crowdfund Insider, and PYMNTS.com
Tweets: @wsj, @cemgarih, @cfcamerer, @_rainerds, @carterkev, @enriqueabeyta, @wsj, @ycombinator, @rexsalisbury, @modeledbehavior, @apartovi, @tomi, @jeremylneufeld, and @robinhanson
| FinSMEs: |
1Kosmos, which provides biometrics-based digital identity proofing and passwordless authentication through a blockchain, exits stealth and raises $15M Series A — 1Kosmos, a Somerset, N.J.-based cybersecurity solution to provide digital identity proofing and passwordless authentication, raised $15m in Series A funding.
More:
The Economic Times, Business Wire, Biometric Update, SecurityWeek, and SecurityWeek
| Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch: |
Promise, which allows US consumers to manage and budget their bill payments online to utilities and government agencies, raises $20M Series A — The last year has been one of financial hardship for billions, and among the specific hardships is the elementary one of paying for utilities …
More:
San Francisco Business Journal. Tweets: @arlanwashere, @beingbrina, @therealfreada, and @carohuaranca
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