An algorithmic recruiter meant to help Amazon find top talent was systematically biased against women, a Reuters investigation found.
Why it matters: This is a textbook example of algorithmic bias. By learning from and emulating human behavior, a machine ended up as prejudiced as the people it replaced.
Amazon said Wednesday that it will provide additional raises for workers whose lost stock or bonuses following the company's announcement that it is increasing its minimum wage to $15-per-hour, the Seattle Times reports. The
Why it matters: The move to increase the minimum wage came after several politicians, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), criticized the e-commerce giant for paying its workers too little. But, following the increase, many employees publicly complained about how Amazon failed to communicate that workers would simultaneously be losing stock options and bonuses as a result.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) sent a letter Wednesday to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin formally requesting a national security review of Broadcom's proposed $18 billion takeover of software maker CA Technologies, Axios has learned.
The backdrop: Paul first expressed his interest in a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) during a Senate hearing this morning on homeland security. Broadcom then disclosed the existence of an allegedly forged memo circulating through Congress, which also called for a CFIUS review. However, Paul's chief strategist tweeted that he hadn't seen that memo, and that it didn't affect Paul's decision.
Kaspersky Lab uncovered a new zero-day, or cyber vulnerability, in August in the Microsoft Windows operating system which Microsoft patched this Tuesday after Kaspersky notified the company.
Why it matters: The cyber espionage group "FruityArmor," which is likely responsible for this zero-day, has slowly been ramping up activity over the past two years, Kaspersky assesses.
Broadcom on Wednesday said it "learned of a fraudulent memo purported to be signed by the U.S. Department of Defense," calling for a review of its planned $18 billion takeover of software maker CA Technologies.
This comes just hours after Sen. Rand Paul called for a CFIUS review of the $18 billion merger. It is unknown if he saw or reviewed the four-page memo, although he did cite two statistics from it. [Update: Paul's chief strategist tweets that he didn't see it.]
Bottom line: Broadcom learned of the memo from Axios, which had received it on Monday. We had not yet been able to authenticate it, thus had not reported on it.
IBM filed a protest on Wednesday with the Government Accountability Office to challenge the Defense Department’s solicitation for bids to provide cloud computing for the Pentagon. Oracle has also filed a challenge of the plan.
The trend: IBM still intends to bid on the $10 billion, 10-year-long contract, but its reasoning tracks with much of why Oracle protested and why Google dropped out of the bidding process earlier this week. The companies all say requesting a single cloud provider will prevent the Pentagon from optimizing its network for different missions.
Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Wednesday called for a federal national security review of Broadcom's proposed $19 billion acquisition of Computer Associates Technologies (CA) during a Senate hearing on homeland security.
The bottom line: Sources tell Axios that neither Broadcom nor CA asked for a review of their transaction by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., but that some within the defense and energy communities have been agitating for a CFIUS review anyway. Paul's public call might move the needle.
Why it matters: In the past, Facebook has been criticized for not being more mindful of publishers' needs when building and changing its platform and algorithms. But now it's trying to show the publishing community that it cares about its success, even if it can't be a direct driver of it.
Having reached 10 million miles, Waymo has a new goal for its self-driving cars — be a little more daring.
What's new: While safety continues to be its priority, the company says it also recognizes that being overly cautious can lead autonomous cars to take longer routes and slow things down for everyone on the road.
