States gear up to work on AI
Startup policy outlook under second Trump term
Executive coaching should be accessible to anyone who is interested, but oftentimes scaling the education is not practical. With her company Zella Life, co-founder Remy Meraz is democratizing professional development using AI. We sat down with her to discuss AI, independent contractors, and more.
After working in the financial sector for over 20 years, Mical Jeanlys-White founded her own company, WealthMore, a wealth tech with a focus on tackling a key financial barrier—wealth building and management. Her company leverages technology to connect everyday Americans with accessible wealth management services, aiming to provide wealth creation for all. We sat down with her to discuss her journey in raising capital, navigating tax policy, the evolving role of AI, and more.
Vance Reavie is no stranger to entrepreneurship. Using his knowledge from previous ventures, he created an AI platform that intelligently automates manual marketing and merchandising workflows and content generation processes for brands and retailers. We sat down with Vance to discuss the startup ecosystem in Arkansas, AI policy and regulation, grant opportunities, and more.
On both the domestic and global scale, startups need balanced, certain IP frameworks and policies which allow the free flow of data in order to grow and succeed. While efforts currently underway in China signal some potential progress on those fronts, there are indications that China’s evolving policy landscape may continue to present impediments to startups hoping to grow across the world.
In recent comments filed with the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Engine emphasized the importance of copyright fair use and urged that it continue to be protected and permitted online. Fair use is an essential component of copyright law that allows creators and users to engage in certain authorized uses of copyright content, which is important because overly-rigid application of copyright law could otherwise stifle innovation and creativity. And as we explain in the letter, startup platforms in particular benefit from balanced copyright law because they are able to serve users and creators who rely on fair use without having to worry about potentially ruinous copyright infringement litigation.
This afternoon, Engine released a letter signed by 118 startups, entrepreneurial organizations, and other companies—including GitHub, Postmates, Reddit, and Twitter—asking the Trump administration to reconsider its recent suspension of work visas for high-skilled foreign workers, including those issued under the H-1B visa program.
The administration’s decision to halt the issuance of work visas—including those under the H-1B program—for highly-skilled foreign workers will needlessly harm the tech industry and U.S. startup ecosystem that rely upon talented employees to drive global innovation. Instead of helping startups and small businesses recover from the coronavirus pandemic’s economic downturn, this proclamation hampers the tech sector’s ability to respond to the ongoing outbreak by limiting the effectiveness and reach of its workforce.
The White House’s executive order on “preventing online censorship” is a dangerous move that will encourage bad faith lawsuits, and dismantle the fundamental and commonsense legal framework that startups depend on to compete in today’s Internet ecosystem and keep their platforms free of objectionable content.
Although the U.S. Small Business Administration officially postponed last week’s 57th annual National Small Business Week (NSBW), that didn’t stop policymakers, entrepreneurs, and founders from recognizing the importance of the nation’s 30.7 million startups and small businesses all across the country. With many businesses struggling right now as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, congressional leaders from across the political spectrum took the opportunity to voice their support for small business growth, innovation, and success.
Engine, Unified Patents, CableLabs, The Niskanen Center, and The R Street Institute filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court this week in support of General Electric’s request that the Court consider whether competitors may bring patent validity disputes to the patent office and patent appeals court.
The Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies (or EARN IT) Act from Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) addresses a critical issue—stopping online child exploitation, which is a goal that startups share. But, as currently drafted, the bill threatens to unnecessarily disrupt the regulatory framework that has helped the Internet flourish and potentially ban the use of strong encryption technologies that protect user safety.
The United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) signed by President Donald Trump this morning is a welcome step for startups looking to innovate and grow on a global scale. USMCA has been hailed as a template for future trade agreements between the U.S. and other countries, and we’re pleased that the deal includes startup-friendly provisions that defend IP rights and promote intermediary liability protections.
Engine submitted comments to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last week in response to the agency’s request for public comment on “the impact of artificial intelligence (“AI”) technologies on intellectual property law and policy.”
Last week, Engine and the Electronic Frontier Foundation submitted comments to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in response to the agency’s call for comments on patenting artificial intelligence inventions. The USPTO is collecting information to determine “whether further guidance is needed to promote the predictability and reliability of patenting [AI] inventions and to ensure that appropriate patent protection incentives are in place to encourage further innovation in and around this critical area.”
Engine submitted comments to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law following the panel’s October 29th hearing on competition in labor markets.
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