Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's Facebook page has been frozen by the tech giant for claiming without evidence that a herbal remedy was a "miracle" cure for COVID-19, Reuters first reported.
Driving the news: Facebook said it removed a video, posted in January, in which Maduro makes the claims about Carvativir, an oral solution derived from thyme. The tech company said the video violated its policy against false claims "that something can guarantee prevention from getting COVID-19 or can guarantee recovery from COVID-19."
Epic, a subscription reading platform that has doubled its reach to 50 million kids during the pandemic, tracks searches and uses the data to create new books, The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription).
Why it matters: "When a kid’s sticky fingers search for something to read, Epic captures that activity and feeds the information into its book recommendation engine—a tool that also informs the creation of new titles in-house," the journal explains. Epic's algorithm knows...
A startup is employing AI to streamline and perfect manufacturing.
Why it matters: As valuable as machine learning has been in software, the next phase could be even more disruptive: bringing AI to the often messy process of making things.
A campaign to recall California Gov. Gavin Newson (D) is splitting some of Silicon Valley's biggest venture capitalists.
Driving the news: Famed investor and San Francisco political player Ron Conway, along with 74 other tech and business leaders, have signed an open letter urging Californians to oppose the recall of the governor.
Escalating the GOP's push against Big Tech, Trump allies are targeting Biden nominees who worked for — or even advised — Apple, Amazon, Google or Facebook.
Driving the news: The Center for American Restoration, a think tank formed by Trump-era Office of Management and Budget director Russ Vought, wrote a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Republican senators Friday urging them to reject nominees with Big Tech ties.
Chris Bell, the owner of Call to Arms Brewing in Denver, had an idea. A bartender would slide a full pint of beer down the bar to him and he would catch it at the other end and chug. Both would look only at the camera — all set to George Michael's "Careless Whisper."
Why, you ask? "For us levity is everything, especially when this last year happened," Bell told Axios.
The ACLU will be seeking information about how the government is using artificial intelligence in national security, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The development of AI has major implications for security, surveillance, and justice. The ACLU's request may help shed some light on the government's often opaque applications of AI.
Lawmakers at Thursday's hearing on misinformation were less interested in getting answers from the CEOs of Facebook, Twitter and Google than in warning the social media giants that a legislative hammer is about to land on them.
Driving the news: In a gruelingly long session conducted entirely by videoconference, members of the House Energy & Commerce Committee told the CEOs their businesses prioritize ad revenue and engagement over rooting out misinformation and content that harms users, especially children.
