DINT is now ... The Pushback - 163
Taking control of automation, algorithm, and AI risks and trends with The Pushback
DINT is now … The Pushback, a publication for people who build and ship tech products.
Why does tech need another voice, you may be wondering. I’ve noticed there’s no one piecing critical issues in tech together. Even those so-called curated newsletters leave key insights on the table.
The Pushback is about managing risk in your career and in the company you’re at currently:
Career risks:
Working on projects that become PR disasters (facial recognition scandals)
Being on teams that get shut down due to bias issues
Missing regulatory changes that torpedo product roadmaps
Company risks:
Discrimination lawsuits from biased algorithms
Regulatory fines for non-compliance
Talent flight when ethics practices are bad
The Pushback equips you with the information you need to be the smartest person in the room who synthesizes key information into one, coherent course of action.
We’re living quarter by quarter in hopes we won’t be in the next raft of layoffs to impress The Street or potential investors with how ‘lean’ our company is.
You want to survive in this climate? You’d better get ahead of your peers and spot ways to leverage trends to your advantage. The Pushback is your partner in doing just that. Let’s go.
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This Week’s Intelligence
Meta Makes Billion-Dollar Employment Offer to AI Researcher
There’s a war going on in tech and it’s for AI resources. Recently, Meta admits its launching an all-out raid on its competitors’ AI talent. This initiative culminated in a billion-dollar employment package filled with incentives to be distributed over five years for a highly sought-after AI researcher.
What matters for tech workers
Layoffs continue to loom yet tech companies throw hundreds of millions, and in this case billions, of dollars at AI researchers. If the layoff frenzy that started in 2022 didn’t signal a harbinger of things to come then this billion-dollar offer certainly will. Tie accomplishments to AI and you may live to fight another day in the tech industry.
Business impact
Large tech firms entered the AI talent wars and smaller enterprises may just follow, if they see AI as a key factor in company valuation.
More insights
xAI has hired 14 Meta employees this year as the AI talent war rages on
Meta Reportedly Acquires AI Audio Startup WaveForms Amid Ongoing Talent War | Technology News
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AI Copyright Litigation: From Ethics to Existential Business Risk
This week Anthropic pushed back against the certification of a class action lawsuit that could potentially cost them - and the AI industry as a whole - billions of dollars in copyright fines.
Garrison Lovely of Obsolete summarizes the case in this way:
William Alsup, a federal judge in San Francisco, certified a class action lawsuit against Anthropic on behalf of nearly every US book author whose works were copied to build the company’s AI models. This is the first time a US court has allowed a class action of this kind to proceed in the context of generative AI training, putting Anthropic on a path toward paying damages that could ruin the company.
(Source: Anthropic Faces Potentially “Business-Ending” Copyright Lawsuit)
The math ain’t mathin’: By law, the damages require copyright infringers to pay $150,000 per pirated work, which could amount to $100 billion in penalties. Anthropic, and others in AI such as OpenAI, have trained their large language models on millions of books from shadow online libraries.
Think of the early days of online music and digital music rights. Remember Napster? That’s where we are now. Those fines were real, companies and individuals who downloaded pirated works had to pay.
Meta, on the other hand, escaped having to pay Sarah Silverman and others in her class action lawsuit, because the claimants didn’t expressly show how pirating their works hurt them financially, according to presiding judge Vince Chhabria’s ruling.
The Bottom Line
Algorithmic bias isn't a "nice to have" ethics concern anymore—it's business risk. Companies that proactively address bias gain competitive advantage. Those that don't face litigation, regulation, and talent flight.
The Pushback tracks who's winning and losing this transition.
The Pushback synthesizes algorithmic bias intelligence for tech professionals. Forward this to colleagues who need to stay informed.
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