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Paris Olympics broadcasters diverge on AI approach

By Sheila Dang (Reuters) – The Paris Olympics will be a showcase of generative AI for American viewers but European audiences won’t see a similar approach, a contrast that reflects how global media companies are deliberating over the use of the technology. Comcast’s NBCUniversal is diving into AI for its U.S. broadcast of the Games, including re-creating the voice of a legendary sportscaster, while Warner Bros. Discovery’s sports division in Europe said the tech is … Read more…

Microsoft’s LinkedIn settles lawsuit claiming it overcharged advertisers

By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) – LinkedIn agreed to pay $6.625 million to settle a proposed class action accusing the Microsoft unit of overcharging advertisers by inflating how many people watched video ads on its platform. A preliminary settlement was filed late Thursday in San Jose, California federal court, and requires approval by U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen in San Jose, California. LinkedIn denied wrongdoing. It also agreed to use reasonable efforts for two years … Read more…

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Netflix’s ex-film head Stuber ties with Amazon MGM to revive United Artists

(Reuters) – Amazon MGM Studios has entered a multi-year film partnership with Scott Stuber, the former longtime head of films at Netflix, to finance and release movies from his new production company, it said on Friday. Stuber, who left Netflix in March to start his media company, will produce several films annually under United Artists (UA), a relaunched label that once operated under MGM. The films will be released both theatrically and on Prime Video. … Read more…

Two billionaire Harris donors hope she will fire FTC Chair Lina Khan

By Jody Godoy (Reuters) – Billionaire Democratic donors Barry Diller and Reid Hoffman said in interviews this week they hope Kamala Harris will replace Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan if she becomes U.S. president, openly rejecting a pillar of President Joe Biden’s antitrust policy. Khan has been at the forefront of the Biden administration’s push to use U.S. antitrust law to boost competition and address high prices and low wages. Khan, who oversaw the … Read more…

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Indexes Trade Winners – by Justin Vaughn

(Justin Vaughn, Editor, Options Trading Report) A Troubled Week… the market stuttered from a “global technology outage” crippling companies’ worldwide. Add in a major selloff of techs, chip stocks and market favorites, and you have indexes that shed major capital. The Nasdaq Composite, laden with heavy techs, fell 0.8% Friday, losing a concerning 3.6% for the week. The S&P 500 lost 0.7% with nearly all sectors negative. The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average lost … Read more…

US judge should reject Boeing plea deal, crash victim families say

By David Shepardson (Reuters) – U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor should reject a “sweetheart” plea deal the Justice Department struck with Boeing, relatives of 15 of the 346 people killed in two fatal 737 MAX crashes said on Thursday. Late Wednesday, the planemaker finalized an agreement to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge and pay at least $243.6 million after breaching a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement. Family members said in a court filing … Read more…

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Biden in talks with Netanyahu presses for Gaza ceasefire

By Steve Holland and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden pressed for a ceasefire to the 9-month-old war in Gaza in talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, with Vice President Kamala Harris due to meet the Israeli leader later in the day. They were the first face-to-face talks for the two men since Biden traveled to Israel days after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, hugged Netanyahu and pledged American … Read more…

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Google AI systems make headway with math in progress toward reasoning

By Kenrick Cai Alphabet’s Google unveiled a pair of artificial intelligence systems on Thursday that demonstrated advances in solving complex mathematical problems, a key frontier of generative AI development. The current class of AI models, which work by statistically predicting the next word, have struggled with abstract math, which requires greater reasoning capabilities resembling human intelligence. DeepMind, the company’s AI unit, published results showing that its new AI models in development, called AlphaProof and AlphaGeometry … Read more…

U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase adds three board members, including OpenAI executive

By Stephanie Kelly NASHVILLE (Reuters) – U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has added three new members to its board of directors, including an executive from ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, as the company steps up its efforts to sway U.S. crypto policy, Coinbase told Reuters on Thursday. The new members are Chris Lehane, a member of the executive team at OpenAI; Paul Clement, former U.S. Solicitor General under President George W. Bush; and Christa Davies, chief financial officer for … Read more…

Renault sticks to 2024 outlook as first-half profit beats estimates

By Nick Carey and Gilles Guillaume LONDON (Reuters) – Renault posted a better-than-expected operating profit for the first half of the year on Wednesday due to strong pricing and new vehicle launches, and stuck to its full-year profit-margin forecast. The French automaker last week reported that its first-half sales volume rose 1.9% versus the same period in 2023 due to the strong performance of hybrid models in Europe, its key region. Renault posted a higher … Read more…