Lyft's new CEO recoils at surge pricing — but he tells Axios that he's learning to live with it.
Why it matters: Temporarily higher pricing is a staple of the rideshare business, fueling a revenue boost for Uber and Lyft when demand rises and nearby drivers are in short supply.
Companies need to rethink their cyber defense strategies as cybercriminals fine-tune their social-engineering tactics to target vulnerable employees, experts told Axios.
Why it matters: Recent cyberattacks targeting casino giants MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment have highlighted the challenges companies still have in defending against social-engineering attacks.
After a backlash, Unity will no longer require game creators to pay retroactive fees tied to game installations.
Why it matters: The Unity drama had rocked the video game industry, sending smaller creators into a panic about whether their games becoming popular would result in ruinous fees.
Snap Inc. has promoted former Meta executive Patrick Harris to the position of President of Americas, overseeing sales and key business operations, according to an internal note sent Friday to staff and obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: Harris replaces Rob Wilk, who was hired for the role in March.
GGV Capital, a 23-year-old VC firm whose investments have included Airbnb and TikTok owner ByteDance, is spinning off its China operations because of rising geopolitical tensions.
Why it matters: Other than Sequoia Capital, which recently made a similar move, no Silicon Valley venture firm has been more associated with China than has been GGV.
U.K. regulators at the Competition and Markets Authority say that Microsoft's revised plan to purchase Activision Blizzard largely satisfies objections that earlier this year had compelled it to globally block what would have been the largest deal in Microsoft's history.
Why it matters: U.K. regulators' objections were the last significant obstacle ahead of a recently extended Oct. 18 deadline to close the deal.
Major product announcements this week from Microsoft and Google show how determined both tech giants are to build generative AI into the heart of their computing worlds.
Why it matters: Tech's giants see AI both a new competitive race and a chance to breathe new life into the central franchises that drive their businesses — like Microsoft Windows and Google Search.
The Microsoft leaksalso show, however awkwardly, some of the inner workings of the software giant's gaming business and how its leaders interact with Microsoft management as a whole.
Why it matters: It may be as close as we get to seeing how Microsoft really thinks about gaming.
The organizers of a high-profile open letter last March calling for a "pause" in work on advanced artificial intelligence lost that battle, but they could be winning a longer-term fight to persuade the world to slow AI down.
The big picture: Almost exactly six months after the Future of Life Institute's letter — signed by Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak and more than 1,000 others — called for a six-month moratorium on advanced AI, the work is still charging ahead. But the ensuing massive debate deepened public unease with the technology.
Two former ByteDance employees are accusing TikTok's parent company of retaliating against them after filing complaints.
Driving the news: Nnete Matima and Joël Carter filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Thursday, alleging they were fired last month for making complaints of racial discrimination at ByteDance.
A new report card from the AI Policy Institute grades the legislative AI proposals that are currently gaining the most traction according to how they line up with U.S. public sentiment.
Driving the news: A survey of 1,118 voters conducted by YouGov Sept. 2 to 6., is the report card yardstick.
If you think the U.S. Congress is moving slowly on AI regulation, you'll be waiting much longer for a global AI regulator or treaty.
The big picture: That's the message out of the UN General Assembly in New York this week, as political leaders, tech companies and civil society gather to debate global challenges.
Vivek Ramaswamy, a presidential candidate seeking the Republican nomination, appeared at the Messari Mainnet conference in New York Wednesday to woo the blockchain faithful.
Why it matters: He used his time on stage to reiterate what he called his main campaign priority, to reduce the Federal regulatory workforce using the authority of the chief executive.
Writers including John Grisham and "A Game of Thrones" author George R.R. Martin are suing OpenAI over its ChatGPT technology.
Driving the news: The lawsuit filed late Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York alleges that under the Copyright Act of 1976, OpenAI infringed on the registered copyrights of fictional works.
