• House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) threatened to hold Google in contempt of Congress for failing to produce documents related to communications between the company and the Biden administration that have been subpoenaed by the committee as part of an ongoing effort to determine if the White House “colluded” with tech companies to censor certain content. Jordan has called Google’s compliance with the requests “insufficient,” according to a letter to a lawyer for Google shared exclusively with CNBC, and has demanded the company fully comply by the May 22 deadline or face enforcement actions, though a Google spokesperson said the company has been “producing relevant documents in response to the committee’s requests” since December and will continue to do so. (CNBC)
• Meta Platforms Inc. President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg said the company will have to “end the availability of news content on Facebook and Instagram in Canada” if lawmakers in the country pass legislation that will require social network platforms to pay publishers for their work. The proposed legislation, known as the Online News Act, would establish a revenue sharing system between platforms and news outlets and would allow media organizations to engage in collective bargaining to negotiate fees with companies like Meta. (Bloomberg)
• South Korean officials expect the U.S. government will extend a waiver that will allow companies like SK Hynix Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. to continue operations in China for the time being in order to avoid any disruptions to the global supply chain. After passing restrictions on the use of Chinese technology last year, the United States granted a one-year waiver to companies to determine how to operate without doing business in China, but that waiver is now expected to be extended “for a considerable period of time,” according to Korean trade minister Lee Chang-yang. (Bloomberg)
• Google will host its annual developer event Google I/O on Wednesday, where the company is expected to unveil PaLM 2, its newest large language model that is capable of performing a range of coding and math skills, creative writing and analysis in more than 100 languages, according to internal documents about Google I/O viewed by CNBC. Google also plans to show off generative artificial intelligence updates, including new features that the company is expected to integrate into its search engine and Bard chatbot. (CNBC)

Happening today: 

• International Business Machines Corp. will kick off IBM Think, which will have its eye on artificial intelligence.
• Nextgov will host its AI and Automation Workshop, which will feature appearances from Damian Kostiuk, deputy chief data officer at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; Scott Beliveau, branch chief of advanced data analytics at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; and Nicole Willis, chief technology officer at the Department of Health and Human Services.
• ThoughtSpot Inc. will host Beyond 2023, a future-focused conference that will look at how data will help grow businesses, today and Wednesday. It will feature data and analytics professional Dean Furness, futurist Amy Webb and Verizon Communications Inc. director of data management and analytics Keerti Purohit.

Peloton shares nosedive after wider loss, dour membership forecast

Reuters

Something Awful is racing to save the best and worst of web history

Adi Robertson, The Verge

A long-running web community enlisted its goons to stop an Imgur extinction event.

The $1 Million Amazon Conflict: Washington’s Ethics Czars Struggle to Enforce Stock-Trading Laws

Brody Mullins et al., The Wall Street Journal

The U.S. has rules limiting federal officials’ stock-market investing. They can be waived.

PayPal Drops After Lowering Operating Margin Expansion Forecast

Jennifer Surane, Bloomberg

PayPal Holdings Inc. shares slumped after the payments giant warned that its adjusted operating margin won’t grow as quickly as the company previously anticipated, even after spending on its platforms jumped more than expected in the first quarter. 

Chinese Company Now Owns Tutoring Firm Contracted by Military and Schools in U.S.

Melissa Korn, The Wall Street Journal

Princeton Review and Tutor.com say a Chinese private-equity firm has received regulatory approval to buy the test-prep company and online tutoring platform, more than 15 months after the acquisition closed.

Apple loses bid to revive US copyright claims over iOS simulation

Blake Brittain, Reuters

Apple Inc on Monday failed to convince a U.S. appeals court that security startup Corellium Inc infringed its copyrights by simulating its iOS operating system to help researchers find security flaws in Apple devices.

EU draft Data Act puts trade secrets at risk, Siemens, SAP say

Foo Yun Chee, Reuters

German business software maker SAP and German engineering company Siemens have joined U.S. tech giants in criticising draft EU laws on the use of data generated by smart gadgets and other consumer goods.

Huawei Accused in Suit of Seeking Excessive Fees for Patents

Robert Burnson, Bloomberg

Huawei Technologies Co. is conspiring with the Chinese government to “wrongfully dominate” the market for telecom equipment by setting onerous terms for the use of its intellectual property, a US-based company claims in a lawsuit.

Google and Microsoft’s Other AI Race: Server Chips

Anissa Gardizy, The Information

Amazon, Microsoft and Google are known for their software, but now they are collectively spending billions of dollars to develop and produce microchips to power servers and artificial intelligence. As the companies’ AI and cloud rivalries grow, the chip projects are becoming a critical part of their strategy to reduce costs and win over business customers.

Sam Altman: OpenAI plans a pro-copyright model for ChatGPT

Ryan Heath, Axios

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that last week’s White House AI summit discussed laws mandating AIs reveal themselves, and added that his firm is working on new ChatGPT models that respect copyright.

Wendy’s, Google Train Next-Generation Order Taker: an AI Chatbot

Angus Loten, The Wall Street Journal

The fast-food chain has customized a language model with terms like ‘JBC’ for junior bacon cheeseburger and ‘biggie bags’ for meal combos.

Bringing A.I. Tools to the Workplace Requires a Delicate Balance

Kevin J. Delaney, The New York Times

Move too slowly, and risk getting left behind. Move too quickly, and neither the staff nor the technology may be ready.

ChatGPT Fever Has Investors Pouring Billions Into AI Startups, No Business Plan Required

Deepa Seetharaman and Berber Jin, The Wall Street Journal

Amid broader venture-capital doldrums, it is boom times for startups touting generative artificial intelligence tech.

China Arrests ChatGPT User Who Faked Deadly Train Crash Story

Low De Wei, Bloomberg

Chinese authorities have detained a man for using ChatGPT to write fake news articles, in what appears to be one of the first instances of an arrest related to misuse of artificial intelligence in the nation.

Spotify ejects thousands of AI-made songs in purge of fake streams

Anna Nicolaou, Financial Times

Platform cracks down on bots posing as listeners as flood of content rattles music industry.

IBM takes another shot at Watson as A.I. boom picks up steam

Hayden Field, CNBC

It’s been a long time since IBM has actively touted Watson. Originally created to beat humans at the “Jeopardy!” game show, Watson marked IBM’s early splash in artificial intelligence, but it never amounted to a profitable offering.

Dish loses 81,000 wireless customers in Q1

Monica Alleven, Fierce Wireless

Dish Network lost about 81,000 wireless net subscribers in the first quarter of 2023 compared to a net loss of 343,000 in the year-ago quarter.

Truecaller aims to help WhatsApp users combat spam

Munsif Vengattil, Reuters

Truecaller will soon start making its caller identification service available over WhatsApp and other messaging apps to help users spot potential spam calls over the internet, the company told Reuters on Monday.

Tech groups call for changes to EU data-sharing proposals

Andy Bounds and Javier Espinoza, Financial Times

Draft law could do ‘lasting damage’ to competitiveness, say five chief executives.

Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack’s unexpected legacy

Sam Sabin, Axios

Looking back at the legacy of the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack, experts are still unclear on why this was the incident that sparked such a massive sea change across policymaking and boardrooms.

Musk Says Twitter to Purge Inactive Accounts and Followers May Drop

Diana Li, Bloomberg

Twitter Inc. will purge accounts that haven’t been active for several years, and this could lead to a drop in follower counts, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk tweeted Monday. 

Vietnam to require social media users to verify identity

Phuong Nguyen, Reuters

Vietnam is preparing to make it mandatory for social media users of both local and foreign platforms to verify their identity in a bid to rein in online scams, state media reported on Monday.

Singapore Eyes Sweeping Powers to Police Online Content, Apps

Vlad Savov, Bloomberg

Singapore’s government is taking the first steps toward codifying a new internet safety law that would grant it wide-ranging powers over content, access and communication online.

American extremists linked to Russian sites

Sara Fischer, Axios

American extremists are consistently turning up on loosely-governed Russian social media platforms. While there’s no evidence to suggest that the Russian government is explicitly trying to lure American extremists to its social sites, experts note that Moscow doesn’t seem interested in doing anything to discourage them, either.

Twitter beats two lawsuits stemming from mass layoffs, for now

Daniel Wiessner, Reuters

A California federal judge on Monday dismissed a proposed class action accusing Twitter Inc of targeting female employees for layoffs after Elon Musk acquired the company last year, but said plaintiffs would be allowed to amend the lawsuit to add more details.

LinkedIn cuts over 700 jobs, phases out China app as demand wavers

Stephen Nellis, Reuters

LinkedIn, the social media network owned by Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) that focuses on business professionals, said on Monday it would cut 716 jobs as demand wavers, while also shutting down its China-focused job application.

As Hollywood Writers Strike, Momentum Grows for Creator Labor Movement

Kaya Yurieff, The Information

Creator economy workers are taking a fresh stab at labor organizing. A group of digital influencers and professionals who work with them has started an effort to push tech companies to increase creators’ compensation and take action on other issues, including unexplained removals of creators’ accounts from apps, according to documents reviewed by The Information and people involved with the effort.