Latest news with #MountainView-based
Miami Herald
3 days ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
Netflix chairman Reed Hastings joins board of AI giant Anthropic
Netflix Chairman Reed Hastings is joining the board of San Francisco-based artificial intelligence company Anthropic. Anthropic, valued at $61.5 billion after its most recent funding round in March, is known for its AI chatbot model Claude. "Anthropic is very optimistic about the AI benefits for humanity, but is also very aware of the economic, social, and safety challenges," Hastings said. "I'm joining Anthropic's board because I believe in their approach to AI development, and to help humanity progress." Netflix is one of the world's most prolific producers of movies and TV shows, known for its content recommendation algorithm. Hollywood is grappling with the implications of generative artificial intelligence, which studios believe could save money and time, but also comes with downsides. Labor groups fear job displacement, and there are also concerns about the use of copyrighted material when training AI models. Hastings was selected by Anthropic's Long Term Benefit Trust, which the company describes as "five financially disinterested members" that can select and remove a portion of the board. The group selected Hastings because of his leadership experience, philanthropic work and "commitment to addressing AI's societal challenges makes him uniquely qualified to guide Anthropic at this critical juncture in AI development," said Buddy Shah, chair of Anthropic's Long Term Benefit Trust, in a statement. Hastings will join the company's five-member board, which includes Anthropic Chief Executive Dario Amodei, President Daniela Amodei, investor Yasmin Razavi and Jay Kreps, CEO of Mountain View-based data streaming firm Confluent. Hastings served as CEO or co-CEO of Netflix for 25 years until 2023. He currently serves on the boards of other organizations including Bloomberg, the financial data and media company. He has donated money to charter school networks serving low-income U.S. communities and recently gave $50 million to Bowdoin College to establish the Hastings Initiative for AI and Humanity that aims to help the school provide ethical frameworks for AI and examine AI's impact on work and education. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Netflix chairman Reed Hastings joins board of AI giant Anthropic
Netflix Chairman Reed Hastings is joining the board of San Francisco-based artificial intelligence company Anthropic. Anthropic, valued at $61.5 billion after its most recent funding round in March, is known for its AI chatbot model Claude. 'Anthropic is very optimistic about the AI benefits for humanity, but is also very aware of the economic, social, and safety challenges,' Hastings said. 'I'm joining Anthropic's board because I believe in their approach to AI development, and to help humanity progress.' Netflix is one of the world's most prolific producers of movies and TV shows, known for its content recommendation algorithm. Hollywood is grappling with the implications of generative artificial intelligence, which studios believe could save money and time, but also comes with downsides. Labor groups fear job displacement, and there are also concerns about the use of copyrighted material when training AI models. Hastings was selected by Anthropic's Long Term Benefit Trust, which the company describes as 'five financially disinterested members' that can select and remove a portion of the board. The group selected Hastings because of his leadership experience, philanthropic work and 'commitment to addressing AI's societal challenges makes him uniquely qualified to guide Anthropic at this critical juncture in AI development,' said Buddy Shah, chair of Anthropic's Long Term Benefit Trust, in a statement. Hastings will join the company's five-member board, which includes Anthropic Chief Executive Dario Amodei, President Daniela Amodei, investor Yasmin Razavi and Jay Kreps, CEO of Mountain View-based data streaming firm Confluent. Hastings served as CEO or co-CEO of Netflix for 25 years until 2023. He currently serves on the boards of other organizations including Bloomberg, the financial data and media company. He has donated money to charter school networks serving low-income U.S. communities and recently gave $50 million to Bowdoin College to establish the Hastings Initiative for AI and Humanity that aims to help the school provide ethical frameworks for AI and examine AI's impact on work and education.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Google settles lawsuit alleging bias against Black employees
Google agreed to pay $50 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the search engine giant was racially biased against Black employees. The settlement, which was reached after mediation and certified by a U.S. District Court judge in Oakland on Friday, covers some 4,000 Google employees in California and New York. The original lawsuit came after a state agency, now known as the California Civil Rights Department, in 2021 began investigating Google's treatment of Black female workers. In 2022, former Google worker April Curley filed a lawsuit in federal court in San Jose alleging that she and other Black workers experienced systemic discrimination. Curley, who worked at Google for six years, had been hired to conduct outreach and design recruiting programs with historically Black colleges. However, her experience at the company quickly soured, she said, alleging that she was stereotyped as an "angry" Black woman, that she and other Black women had not been allowed to present during important meetings and that she was wrongfully terminated in 2020 after challenging internal practices. Black workers were hired to lower-level jobs, paid lower wages, subjected to hostile comments and denied promotions, Curley and other Black workers who joined the proposed class-action alleged in their lawsuit. The complaint said managers disparaged Black employees for not being "Googley" enough, comments the plaintiffs said served as racist dog whistles. Throughout the litigation, the Mountain View-based company has maintained that it did not violate any laws. "We've reached an agreement that involves no admission of wrongdoing. We strongly disagree with the allegations that we treated anyone improperly and we remain committed to paying, hiring, and leveling all employees consistently," Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini said in a statement Tuesday. In addition to the monetary payout, Google has agreed in the settlement to analyze pay and correct differences based on race for the next three years. The company has also committed to maintaining transparent salary ranges and methods for employees to report concerns about pay or other practices. And through August 2026, the company will not require employees to enter into mandatory arbitration for employment-related disputes, according to the settlement agreement filed last week in federal court. Sign up for our Wide Shot newsletter to get the latest entertainment business news, analysis and insights. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
13-05-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Google settles lawsuit alleging bias against Black employees
Google agreed to pay $50 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the search engine giant was racially biased against Black employees. The settlement, which was reached after mediation and certified by a U.S. District Court judge in Oakland on Friday, covers some 4,000 Google employees in California and New York. The original lawsuit came after a state agency, now known as the California Civil Rights Department, in 2021 began investigating Google's treatment of Black female workers. In 2022, former Google worker April Curley filed a lawsuit in federal court in San Jose alleging that she and other Black workers experienced systemic discrimination. Curley, who worked at Google for six years, had been hired to conduct outreach and design recruiting programs with historically Black colleges. However, her experience at the company quickly soured, she said, alleging that she was stereotyped as an 'angry' Black woman, that she and other Black women had not been allowed to present during important meetings and that she was wrongfully terminated in 2020 after challenging internal practices. Black workers were hired to lower-level jobs, paid lower wages, subjected to hostile comments and denied promotions, Curley and other Black workers who joined the proposed class-action alleged in their lawsuit. The complaint said managers disparaged Black employees for not being 'Googley' enough, comments the plaintiffs said served as racist dog whistles. Throughout the litigation, the Mountain View-based company has maintained that it did not violate any laws. 'We've reached an agreement that involves no admission of wrongdoing. We strongly disagree with the allegations that we treated anyone improperly and we remain committed to paying, hiring, and leveling all employees consistently,' Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini said in a statement Tuesday. In addition to the monetary payout, Google has agreed in the settlement to analyze pay and correct differences based on race for the next three years. The company has also committed to maintaining transparent salary ranges and methods for employees to report concerns about pay or other practices. And through August 2026, the company will not require employees to enter into mandatory arbitration for employment-related disputes, according to the settlement agreement filed last week in federal court.
India Today
08-05-2025
- Business
- India Today
Google fires around 200 employees from Global Business Unit, says report
Google has reportedly fired around 200 more employees, this time from its global business unit. The division is responsible for handling sales and partnerships at the Alphabet-owned global search engine major. The layoffs are said to be part of 'small changes' that Google is reportedly making to improve collaboration and customer service. Put together, this is now the third instance of layoffs at Google in quick succession this last month, the Mountain View-based company fired hundreds of employees from the division responsible for more marquee consumer-facing products, including Android, Pixel, and the Chrome browser. At the time, the layoffs were attributed to the company trying to move to become more nimble per a new strategy that would seemingly aid in making its platforms and devices unit operationally more effective. Some engineering roles at Google's Hyderabad and Bengaluru offices were also reassigned as part of the shakeup, reports have indicated. In February 2025, some employees [number is unspecified] from its cloud and HR divisions were also let fresh round of layoffs (first reported by The Information) is meant 'to drive greater collaboration and expand our ability to quickly and effectively serve our customers,' Google was quoted by news agency Reuters as saying in a All this might seem like new – and brutal – but Google has been going through some of these internal changes and restructuring for a while now. Big job cuts started in January 2023, when Google-parent Alphabet announced that it would slash 12,000 jobs, which meant six percent of its global tech layoffs are a growing trend in the industry, with companies now increasing focus – and investment – in areas like artificial intelligence (AI) and data centres that would fuel it. Resources meant for other departments are being redirected in some or the way to streamline operations and is not alone. Facebook-parent Meta fired around five percent of its 'lowest performers' in January to make way for more engineering roles, particularly those who specialised in machine learning. Microsoft cut 650 jobs in its Xbox division in September while Amazon laid off several employees in communication and other business units. Apple, too, is said to have cut 100 jobs in its digital services group last year.
