Congressional

OpenAI has responded to a letter sent by the Congressional Black Caucus that flagged the lack of diversity on its board. OpenAI’s response letter, which TechCrunch saw, was dated January 5 and signed by CEO Sam Altman and Chairman of the Board Bret Taylor. It said building a complete and diverse board was one of the company’s top priorities and that it was working with an executive search firm to assist it in finding talent. The OpenAI board has received criticism for its lack of gender and racial diversity since its…

After a year of record-breaking wildfires across Canada and the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth, it likely comes as no surprise that 2023 was the hottest year on record.According to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), 2023 was 1.48 C warmer than the pre-industrial average from 1850-1900, beating out 2016's record of 1.25 C. Do you have a question about climate change and what is being done about it? Send an email to [email protected] As we continue to burn fossil fuels and pump greenhouse…

Are ring lights allowed in jail? Step aside campaign funds, George Santos has a new cash cow to fund his OnlyFans habit: Cameo.  According to Semafor, the former congressman, who was expelled from government on Friday, is already on track to dwarf his old congressional salary of $174,000 simply by making videos on Cameo.  For a mere $400 (a marked increase from the original price of $75) Cameo users can purchase a short, personalized video from the “Former congressional ‘Icon’!💅🏼.” While…

It has been alleged that tech giants fund Congressional AI fellows and this has raised concerns of undue industry influence; AstraZeneca Inks $247 million deal with AI firm Absci for cancer drug discovery; MediaTek's on-device AI promises to personalised phone experience; EY's AI detects fraud in UK audits- this and more in our daily roundup. Let us take a look.1. Tech giants fund congressional AI fellowsTech giants like Google, Microsoft, IBM, and Nvidia are funnelling funds through the American Association for the…

A Congressional subcommittee is set to hold a hearing into UFOs, which are also referred to as unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). The panel will hear "firsthand accounts" of UAP and "assess the federal government’s transparency and accountability" regarding possible threats to national security. You'll be able to watch the hearing below on July 26th at 10AM ET. The hearing — conducted by the Subcommittee on National Security, the Border and Foreign Affairs — will also focus on drives for legislation to "bring…

Thursday Morning, fresh off controversy after claiming that Covid-19  was “ethnically targeted” towards certain races, presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. testified before The House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.  Earlier this week, more than 100 Democrats filed a letter to the Judiciary Committee calling for Kennedy to be excluded from the hearing. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy himself said he disagreed “with everything said,” but to exclude him would undermine the topic…

A Congressional investigation concluded that several tax prep providers shared sensitive filing data with Meta and Google. It follows a 2022 report from The Markup highlighting the practice in which TaxSlayer, H&R Block and TaxAct used Meta’s Pixel tracking tool to harvest info like filing status, approximate adjusted gross income, refund amount, names of dependents and which text-entry fields users clicked on. Meta is already facing a lawsuit connected with the initial reporting. The panel sent the conclusions to the…

WASHINGTON  —  With a broken elevator and a spotty HVAC system, the Gower Street Apartments badly needed some updates when the building’s owner received a surprising call earlier this year. A city housing official suggested that perhaps Congress could fund repairs to the supportive housing development for formerly homeless people. After years of being scorned in Washington, the rebirth of congressional earmarks could help address a common conundrum confronting that building and other affordable housing developments:…

Published By: Paras YadavLast Updated: April 29, 2023, 09:59 ISTImage used for Representation. (Photo: IANS)Airlines have clashed with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg over blame for high rates of canceled and delayed flights in the past two yearsCongressional investigators said in a report Friday that an increase in flight cancellations as travel recovered from the pandemic was due mostly to factors that airlines controlled, including cancellations for maintenance issues or lack of a crew.The Government…

We love what you’re doing, but don’t count on getting the additional billions of dollars you’ve been promised. That was the message this week from Congress to the director of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) after two key spending panels took up the agency’s request for a 19% budget hike, or an additional $1.4 billion, in 2024. Republicans in the House of Representatives, which they control, lectured NSF’s Sethuraman Panchanathan on the importance of…