Big Tech, Big Money, Big Consequences, Big Dreams

This week it is all about big tech, big money, and big consequences, as Meta agreed to a nearly $18 billion dollar settlement with Attorneys General from dozens of States and four US territories, who sued over claims that their social media platforms were hooking and harming children and teens. $318 million dollars of that settlement, which will be paid in installments over the next ten years, is coming to the State of Ohio, where Attorney General Andy Wilson says it “marks a significant step toward fundamentally transforming how the entire social media industry designs products for kids and teens.” Also this week, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) settled a lawsuit with Tik-Tok and Byte Dance for $400 million dollars, to resolve children’s privacy issues, and the streaming platform Twitch and its parent company, Amazon, got hit with a class-action lawsuit related to non-consensual use of user data to train AI. Elon Musk is making headlines again as well, with plans to build a build a massive $100 billion commercial spaceport called Starbase, in Louisiana. But what really hit home for me this week, is Bill Gates coming out against allowing big tech companies to continue to “self regulate” AI. He’s calling instead for national coordinating bodies, and new international organization to manage what he describes as the “turbulent” transition to the AI era. But all is not doom and gloom. We’ve also got news about what sounds like a very cool and interesting event coming up next month in Northeast Ohio. “IngenuityFest: America Dreams” promises to transform Cleveland with art, music, technology and innovation, September 25-27. Listen now.