Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt says story alleging his foundation indirectly paid White House science staffers is 'largely false'
A Politico report claimed that ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt's foundation indirectly paid two White House Office of Science and Technology Policy staffers. Here's Schmidt's response.
cnbc.comFormer Google CEO Eric Schmidt reportedly paid $65 million for 'Enchanted Hill,' a vacant lot in Beverly Hills that belonged to Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen and almost sold to Jeff Bezos
The empty development site, which sits on a hilltop overlooking downtown Los Angeles, was originally on the market for $150 million.
news.yahoo.comFoundations, new donors build $51M fund to support workers
A fund created by a group of social-justice-minded foundations including Ford and Rockefeller and donors like Jack Dorsey and MacKenzie Scott shortly after COVID hit has more than quadrupled in size to $51 million and is now pouring money into activities and advocacy to strengthen the social safety net and increase worker pay.
Full Lineup Announced for The Atlantic Festivalโs Ideas StageHappening Live September 27โ30 from 2 to 4 p.m.
Festival to include interviews with Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Eric Schmidt, Dallas Mavericks CEO Cynthia โCyntโ Marshall, EPA Administrator Michael Regan, and Senators Marco Rubio and Ben Sasse.
Events begin this week on building a racial-equity ecosystem, youth mental health, climate change, and โHow to Build a Happy Lifeโ
Former Google CEO gives $150M for research in biology, AI
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife, Wendy, have given $150 million to a research institute to establish a โnew era of biologyโ aimed at battling diseases with a mix of data and life science studies. โUntil now, these fields have largely developed in parallel,โ the Broad Institute said in a statement on Thursday. The institute said Thursday that it also received an additional $150 million contribution from the Broad Foundation, the charity founded by philanthropists Eli and Edythe L. Broad. The couple helped create the institute in 2003, and their foundation has pledged more than $1 billion to the research facility. Schmidt served as Googleโs CEO from 2001 to 2011, a time of rapid growth for the California-based technology company.
U.S. is โnot prepared to defend or compete in the A.I. era,โ says expert group chaired by Eric Schmidt
"America is not prepared to defend or compete in the AI era," wrote Schmidt and vice chair Bob Work, who was previously deputy U.S. secretary of Defense. The U.S. is drastically underprepared for the age of artificial intelligence, according to a group of experts chaired by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. "We will not be able to defend against AI-enabled threats without ubiquitous AI capabilities and new warfighting paradigms," Schmidt and Work wrote. Samim Wagner, an AI researcher in Berlin, sees things differently, telling CNBC that AI weapons and killer robots will make today's weapons even more deadly. "[Adopting AI weapons] is brutal inanity and everyone knows it, yet think tank staffers from DC to Beijing keep assuring us it's 'progress and necessary.'"
cnbc.comAI panel urges US to boost tech skills amid China's rise
โTo win in AI we need more money, more talent, stronger leadership,โ Schmidt said Monday. It also calls for โwise restraintsโ on the use of AI tools such as facial recognition that can be used for mass surveillance. Itโs still awaiting confirmation of a new director for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, which Biden has elevated to a Cabinet-level position. AdIt's been led by Schmidt, who was Google's CEO and later the executive chairman of its parent company Alphabet. AdThe commission asked Congress to make new laws requiring federal agencies to conduct human rights assessments of new AI systems used on Americans.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos may step down without stepping away
Amazon announced Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021, that Jeff Bezos would step down as CEO later in the year, leaving a role he's had since founding the company nearly 30 years ago. Amazon says Bezos will be replaced in the summer by Jassy, who runs Amazon's cloud business. (Isaac Brekken/AP Images for NFL, File)Even after stepping aside as CEO, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will likely keep identifying new frontiers for the world's dominant e-commerce company. Tuesday's announcement that Bezos will hand off the CEO job this summer came as a surprise. โBeing the CEO of Amazon is a deep responsibility, and itโs consuming," Bezos wrote.
Google's antitrust case won't go to trial until Sept. 2023
FILE - This Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013, file photo shows Google's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta on Friday, Dec. 18, 2020, set a tentative trial date of Sept. 12, 2023. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta on Friday set a tentative trial date of Sept. 12, 2023 for the landmark case that the Justice Department filed two months ago. He estimated that once the trial begins it will last about 5 1/2 weeks in his Washington, D.C., courtroom. Another antitrust case filed Thursday is seeking to preempt Google's dominance in other still-emerging fields of technology such as voice-activated devices in the home and internet-connected cars.
Here's the final tally of where tech billionaires donated for the 2020 election
Tech executives, rich from an 11-year bull market that's disproportionately benefited their industry, were among the top political donors in the 2020 cycle. The vast majority of that money went to getting President Donald Trump out of office and helping Democrats take control of the Senate. The biggest chunk went to the Senate Majority PAC, a group backing Democratic candidates in the closest races, like in Maine, Texas and Iowa. Vinod Khosla donated $1 million each to the Senate Majority PAC and American Bridge 21st Century. Jessica Livingston, co-founder of start-up incubator Y Combinator, donated $5 million to Tech for Campaigns, which provides digital and technical assistance to Democratic groups.
cnbc.comHow Google evolved from 'cuddly' startup to antitrust target
That pledge is now a distant memory as Google confronts an existential threat similar to what Microsoft once faced. They focused on creating a database of everything on the internet through a search engine that almost instantaneously listed a pecking order of websites most likely to have what anyone wanted. Google's promotion of Chrome on its search engine helped the browser supplant Explorer as the market leader. Google began reining in its spending and even created a new holding company, Alphabet, to oversee some of its unprofitable projects, such as internet=beaming balloons and self-driving cars. โ-Liedtke first interviewed Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 2000 when he began covering Google for the AP.
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is reportedly no longer an advisor to the company
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is no longer serving as an advisor to the company, according to a Saturday report. Schmidt stopped serving as technical advisor in February, according to CNET, which cited an unnamed source. It established umbrella company Alphabet alongside Other Bets like Waymo in 2015. Schmidt is also part of Google's history, having joined as CEO from Novell in 2001 and led the company through its Nasdaq debut in 2004. In 2011, Page replaced him as Google CEO, but he stayed on the board and took on the title of executive chairman of the board.
cnbc.comFormer Google CEO Eric Schmidt believes biology is the next frontier in computing
Brain inserts and carbon-absorbing bacteria aren't just the fantasies of Silicon Valley's richest executives, they're also a part of a larger hope to advance artificial intelligence and computing efforts. "Biology will undoubtedly fuel computing" in coming years, former Google CEO and current technical advisor Eric Schmidt said at a conference called SynBioBeta in San Francisco Monday. "Taking biology, which I'd always viewed as squishy and analog, and turning it into something that can be digitally manipulated, is an enormous accelerator." Schmidt's comments come as Silicon Valley's seeming obsession with biology attempts to move beyond fascinating projects and into more serious investments that could help modernize tech processes. He gave examples of vision data aiding computing advances and smart assistants bolstering biological research and medical cure advances.
cnbc.comBob Iger steps down from Apple's board as Disney becomes a competitor
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(CNN) - Disney CEO Bob Iger resigned from Apple's board of directors Friday, just as the two companies are becoming streaming media competitors. It will cost $4.99 a month, $2 less than Disney's soon-to-be-released Disney+ streaming product. Apple's board was previously eyed by the Federal Trade Commission for its ties to competitors. Iger had served on Apple's board since November 2011, a month after former Apple CEO Steve Jobs died. Iger was paid $125,000 in salary and $250,000 in stock to serve on Apple's board.
Silicon Valley execs are making early bets on the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates here's who they're backing
Jim Watson | AFP | Getty ImagesIt's still more than five months until the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucus and the heat of the Democratic primary season. Broader issues like immigration, climate change and trade have pitted the Trump administration against Silicon Valley. Notably missing among recipients of tech exec money are Sens. Schmidt donated another $2,600 to Joe Biden, the former vice president, who is currently the front-runner in the polls. The Democrat's presidential campaign has received advice from Civis Analytics, a data science software and consulting firm backed by Schmidt.
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