Ad targeting is how Facebook, Google and other online giants won the internet. It's also key to understanding whythese companies are being held responsible for warping elections and undermining democracy.
The big picture: Critics and tech companies are increasingly considering whether limiting targeting of political ads might be one way out of the misinformation maze.
Lyft is removing its electric scooters out of San Antonio, Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix, Columbus and Nashville, as the company explained it will shift resources to markets where it "can have the biggest impact," CNET reports.
The big picture: The dockless, rentable, electric scooter trend started with just a couple companies operating in a handful of cities. "Now it's a competitive land grab, with more than a dozen operators that've dropped scooters in hundreds of cities around the world," CNET writes.
Zealous marketing departments, capital-hungry startup founders and overeager reporters are casting the futuristic sheen of artificial intelligence over many products that are actually driven by simple statistics — or hidden people.
Why it matters: This "AI washing" threatens to overinflate expectations for the technology, undermining public trust and potentially setting up the booming field for a backlash.
Big Tech, already under a withering spotlight from Congress for mishandling some user data, is elbowing further into health care — a world defined by its privacy pitfalls.
Why it matters: Giant companies have earned regulatory wrist-slaps for fumbling sensitive personal information, but the stakes are much higher for poorly protected health data.
Microsoft's Bill Gates topped Amazon's Jeff Bezos as the richest person in the world for the first time in two years on Friday, Bloomberg reports.
Driving the news: The Pentagon's recently announced decision to grant a $10 billion cloud-computing contract to Microsoft ahead of Amazon may have played a part in the news, according to Bloomberg.
Some highly anticipated battery-powered vehicles are expected to debut next week from Tesla, Ford and other automakers.
The big picture: "After spending billions on eco-friendly, all-electric cars that resulted in lackluster sales, automakers are shifting their target market from earthy environmentalists to gearheads and thrill seekers looking for speed," per CNBC.
Microsoft hired former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to audit AnyVision, a facial recognition company it has invested in, to determine whether the Israeli tech company adheres to Microsoft's ethical principles, NBC News reports.
Why it matters: AnyVision's "advanced tactical surveillance" software powered a project that covertly monitored Palestinians in the West Bank, for which the company won an Israeli defense prize in 2018, per NBC. Human rights activists have rallied against the company for that project.
