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| Here's a preview of today's Tech briefing: - Uber and Lyft will pay $328M for withholding New York driver earnings.
- FTC accuses Amazon of earning $1B through secret pricing algorithm.
- Disney will buy the remaining Hulu stake from Comcast for at least $8.6B.
Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | Uber and Lyft will pay a $328M settlement to New York drivers following a wage theft investigation led by the state's attorney general. Uber will pay $290M and Lyft will pay $38M for "systematically cheating" drivers out of pay and benefits, according to New York AG Letitia James. More: - The probe found that, from 2014 to 2017, Uber subtracted sales taxes and Black Car Fund fees from drivers' earnings instead of billing the passengers.
- Lyft also underpaid drivers from 2015 to 2017 by deducting an 11.4% "administrative charge" from their earnings, equivalent to the sales tax and Black Car Fund fees meant to be covered by passengers.
- The companies will now pay out the settlement funds to over 100,000 current and former New York drivers.
Zoom out: - Drivers will also be given guaranteed minimum hourly rates and paid sick leave.
- Uber and Lyft have pledged to update their apps for drivers to request sick leave and receive hiring notices and earnings statements.
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| 2 | | U.S. antitrust regulators have accused Amazon of earning over $1B in extra profit through a hidden algorithm that controlled pricing. The algorithm, called "Project Nessie," was detailed in a new less-redacted version of the FTC's antitrust case against Amazon. More: - The FTC's complaint, filed in September, accuses Amazon of anti-competitive practices, including concealing lower-priced listings and forcing high fees upon sellers.
- According to the less-redacted complaint, Amazon deployed an internal algorithm that raised prices for products on Amazon and monitored if other retailers, like Walmart, would do the same.
- When competitors matched or raised prices, Amazon kept selling at higher prices. If they didn't, the algorithm would return the Amazon listing to its initial price.
- The FTC accused Amazon of extracting over $1B from consumers. While Amazon stopped using Nessie in 2019, the FTC said Amazon could restore it at any time.
Zoom out: - In another claim from the complaint, the FTC accused Amazon founder Jeff Bezos of telling executives to accept low-quality "junk" ads to boost profits, even if it made it harder for shoppers to find products.
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| 3 | | On Wednesday, Disney announced it's buying Comcast's remaining 33% stake in Hulu for at least $8.61B, though the final amount will be determined by an appraisal. The move will give Disney full ownership of the streaming service, allowing it to combine its streaming offerings into a single app and creating new advertising possibilities. This could help boost Hulu's prospects as it continues to trail rivals like Netflix and HBO in global subscribers. 
By the numbers: In 2019, Comcast and Disney agreed that Hulu's total value would be at least $27.5B. The $8.61B represents the "floor" of what Comcast is owed for the streaming service. Disney could pay more based on Hulu's equity value as of Sept. 30, with the appraisal expected to finish next year. Zoom out: Initially, the companies planned to resolve Hulu's ownership by January 2024, but they agreed to accelerate the process in September. Comcast said it anticipates that Hulu's fair market value "will reflect the extraordinary value of the business." Disney only stated that the deal will "further Disney's streaming objectives." The company is expected to unveil more about its Hulu strategy in its earnings call next week. | | | |
| 4 | | Nearly 30 world governments, including the U.S., EU, and China, have jointly signed a declaration recognizing the potentially catastrophic risks of AI. The roughly 1,300-word document outlines some of the potential risks of advanced AI models and ways to mitigate them. More: - The Bletchley Declaration, unveiled on Wednesday during the U.K.'s AI Safety Summit, calls for international policies to tackle AI's risks, though it doesn't propose any specific regulations.
- The declaration, named after the historic park where the AI Summit is taking place, is meant to encourage global cooperation in areas like AI safety, accountability, and scientific research.
- It highlights the intentional or unintended problems that could stem from frontier AI, with a focus on cybersecurity, biotechnology, and disinformation.
Zoom out: - The countries have also agreed to hold additional global meetings on AI.
- South Korea is co-hosting a virtual AI summit within the next six months, and France will hold an in-person summit in 2024.
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| 5 | | Intuit is shutting down its personal-finance app Mint and encouraging users to shift to Credit Karma, which the company acquired in 2020. Mint will no longer be available starting in early 2024. More: - Intuit acquired Mint for $170M in 2009. The app offers free budget tracking along with expense management, bill negotiation, and subscription tracking.
- While the app claimed 3.6 million monthly active users as of 2021, it failed to generate the revenue that Intuit had hoped for.
- The Mint team and some of its features will now merge with Credit Karma, though it's unclear if that will include Mint's popular budget tracking tool.
Zoom out: - Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi said combining the services could draw higher-credit-score users to Credit Karma, which has typically catered to lower-credit-score users.
- In September, Credit Karma unveiled an AI-powered financial assistant that delivers "highly personalized answers" to user's money questions.
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| 6 | | Microsoft is now selling its AI assistant add-on for 365 business subscriptions. Microsoft is charging $30 per user per month for business accounts to access new "AI Copilot" capabilities across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and other Office programs. More: - Workers can use Copilot, a productivity tool, to do tasks like summarize emails, convert Word documents into PowerPoint presentations, and analyze spreadsheets in Excel.
- Copilot can also assist with Teams meetings by summarizing topics, logging attendees, and flagging action items, among other tasks.
- To gain access to the Microsoft 365 Copilot, companies must have a minimum of 300 licenses for their employees.
- According to Piper Sandler analysts, Microsoft's charge of $30 per user per month could potentially result in over $10B in annualized revenue by 2026.
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 | AI and technology writer | | Beth is an editor and writer of Inside's AI and Tech newsletters, with a career spanning journalism since 2007. She has written for publications including The Arizona Republic and USA Today and authored a book on the solar industry in 2016. Reach her at Beth.Duckett@yahoo.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
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