Before policymakers regulate AI, they need to understand a fundamental technology: neural networks.
Congress needs to act on child care challenges
The video game industry is concentrated in a handful of locations, leaving incredible talent in underserved areas frequently overlooked. Ben Kvalo started Midwest Games to change that narrative, supporting underrepresented game developers because increasing diversity in game development leads to better products and bigger markets. Ben recently joined us to talk about Midwest Games, the challenges of raising capital in the Midwest, the importance of small developers in maintaining a healthy video game ecosystem, and the potential benefits of AI for the industry.
Engine statement on SCOTUS Decision in Moody v. NetChoice and NetChoice v. Paxton
Consumer weather models are too coarse for farms and conservancies that are large enough to occupy their own microclimates. Dr. Carlos Gaitan started Benchmark Labs to solve this problem, leveraging artificial intelligence to create custom weather models for farmers and conservators—helping them increase their crop yield and better manage their land. Carlos recently sat down with us to discuss Benchmark Labs, his experience as an immigrant founder, the value of government funding for startups, and how policymakers should approach AI policy.
The Big Story: Websites working to combat COVID-19 misinformation. Large social media platforms warned this week that more user-generated content could be removed for policy violations as Internet companies increase their reliance on automated software to flag and remove harmful content in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. But despite the necessary move towards automated detection tools, online companies of all sizes are working to carefully balance concerns about their employees’ health with heightened efforts to combat the spread of false information, especially about the virus.
Wichita—the birthplace of Pizza Hut and White Castle—has long been a hub of entrepreneurial activity in central Kansas. One of the exciting tech startups that calls the Emerald City home is Quicc, a video transcription tool that lets video creators easily caption their content. We recently spoke with Jason Toevs—Quicc’s founder and CTO—to learn more about the platform’s video captioning tool, Wichita’s startup community, and how the company is working to protect user data across the world.
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 Big Story: UK to start charging digital services tax. The United Kingdom is moving forward with a two percent digital services tax on Internet companies that have a global revenue of more than $648 million, at least $32.4 million of which comes from UK users. The new levy—which is set to go into effect in three weeks—comes after other countries proposed similar taxes, but delayed implementation of their measures in order to allow the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) time to reach an agreement on a global tech tax.
Based in Connecticut, AnytownUSA is the country’s first online market devoted exclusively to the sale of American-made goods. We recently spoke with Geralyn Breig, the founder and CEO of AnytownUSA.com, to learn a little more about the online marketplace, digital tax concerns, and the future of the platform.
TLDR: A Senate panel this week is planning to discuss new legislation that calls for Internet companies to agree to yet-to-be-determined best practices around detecting and removing child sexual abuse materials or risk losing their critical intermediary liability protections. While startups and other online platforms share lawmakers’ desire to remove problematic and illegal user-generated content from their sites, the legislation—as currently drafted—threatens to disrupt the protections that have allowed the Internet ecosystem as we know it to thrive for more than two decades.
The Big Story: Proposed SEC plan raises crowdfunding cap to $5 million. The Securities and Exchange Commission voted to propose a set of amendments to “promote capital formation and expand investment opportunities” for small businesses, including a rule change that would allow startups and other small firms to raise as much as $5 million from crowdfunding.
Located in the greater Chicago area, MoreWithUs – Everyday Jobs is an online platform working to empower job seekers to market themselves to employers. The startup’s goal is to create a wide-reaching social media job candidates’ platform that includes profiles from millions of active and engaged job seekers.
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.
TLDR: Senate legislation introduced late last week would tax certain employee stock options upon vesting, rather than upon exercise. Although the bill is ostensibly designed to curtail the tax benefits that CEOs and other high-level executives receive, the legislation would harm the startup community by targeting the stock-based incentives that new companies use to attract top-tier talent.
The Big Story: Concerns mount over digital tax negotiations. World economic leaders at the G20 summit in Saudi Arabia over the weekend warned that a dispute between the U.S. and European countries over the implementation of digital service taxes could pose a threat to the global economy if an agreement is not reached. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has set an end-of-year deadline to negotiate a global tax overhaul that would allow countries to tax large digital service providers who do not necessarily have a physical presence within their borders.
Charlotte-based startup Vishion is a new mobile tool that lets users search for products from a variety of popular brands by color and hue. The app went live earlier this week, and is already positioning itself as a critical tool for interior designers and homeowners alike. We recently spoke with Samantha Smith, Vishion’s Founder and CEO, to learn more about the mobile tool, Charlotte’s startup ecosystem, and local diversity and inclusion initiatives to increase the voices of overlooked entrepreneurs.
The Big Story: EU releases blueprint for "tech sovereignty." The European Commission outlined a digital policy proposal this week to restore “technological sovereignty” to the bloc by imposing stricter regulations on large tech platforms and creating new rules for artificial intelligence and data use.
Blerp, a Salt Lake City-based search platform, was started by three college friends as a side project while attending the University of Utah. Today, the audio sharing service is integrated with a number of large-scale social media and streaming platforms—including iOS, Android, Twitch, and Discord—and provides users with the opportunity to create and share audio clips with their friends and other online users. We recently had the chance to speak with Derek Omori, Blerp’s co-founder and Director of Operations, to learn more about the app, the Salt Lake City startup ecosystem, and how the company is working to moderate and share audio content in a fun and family-friendly manner.
The Big Story: UK moves forward with plan to regulate online harms. The United Kingdom announced this week that it plans to give British regulators the authority to fine social media companies and online platforms for any harmful content that might be found on their sites—the next step in the country’s plan to combat harmful Internet speech. The regulations would apply to any Internet platform that allows for the sharing of user-generated content in the country.
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