Business

By Blake Brittain (Reuters) – Meta Platforms used pirated versions of copyrighted books to train its artificial intelligence systems with approval from its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, a group of authors alleged in newly disclosed court papers. Ta-Nehisi Coates, comedian Sarah Silverman and other authors suing Meta for copyright infringement made the accusations in filings made public on Wednesday in California federal court. They said internal documents produced by Meta during the discovery process showed the … Read more…

By Milana Vinn and Anirban Sen NEW YORK (Reuters) – Private equity firm Warburg Pincus is weighing options, including a sale, for Modernizing Medicine (ModMed) that could value the medical software provider at more than $5 billion, including debt, according to people familiar with the matter. Boca Raton, Florida-based ModMed is working with a financial adviser to solicit interest in the coming weeks from potential buyers, which include other private equity firms, the sources said, … Read more…

By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) – Google failed to persuade a federal judge to dismiss a privacy class action claiming it collected personal data from people’s cellphones after they switched off a button to stop the tracking, paving the way for a possible August trial. Chief Judge Richard Seeborg of the federal court in San Francisco rejected arguments that the search engine company adequately disclosed how its Web & App Activity settings worked, and that users … Read more…

SAO PAULO/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – E-commerce giants Amazon.com and MercadoLibre stand to benefit from new tariffs on low-cost imports into Mexico over Asian retailers like Shein and Temu, according to analysts at Itau BBA. Mexico this month imposed a 19% tax on imports via courier services from countries with which it does not have a free-trade agreement, which includes China. Imports from the U.S. and Canada, part of a regional trade agreement with Mexico, will … Read more…

(This Dec. 27 story has been corrected to say Opdivo Qvantig has been approved to treat most previously approved tumor indications, not all previously approved tumor indications, in paragraph 5) By Sneha S K and Sriparna Roy (Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that it has approved an injectable version of Bristol Myers Squibb’s blockbuster cancer drug, Opdivo. Opdivo is part of a class of drugs called PD-1 inhibitors, which … Read more…

(Reuters) -AI startup Anthropic is in advanced talks to raise $2 billion in a deal valuing the OpenAI rival at $60 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners is leading the funding round, the report said. Anthropic was valued at around $18 billion in a fundraise led by Menlo Ventures in 2024. Anthropic, known for its generative AI chatbot Claude, said it … Read more…

By Karen Freifeld (Reuters) – A technology industry group on Tuesday urged President Joe Biden’s administration to refrain from issuing a last-minute rule that would control global access to AI chips, warning the restrictions would jeopardize U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence. The Information Technology Industry Council, representing companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Meta, said the rule, which could come out as soon as Friday, would place arbitrary constraints on U.S. companies’ ability to sell computing … Read more…

By Krystal Hu (Reuters) – Artificial intelligence startups have contributed significantly to the recovery of U.S. venture capital funding from market lows, with the total capital raised in 2024 nearly 30% higher year-on-year, according to PitchBook data released on Tuesday. AI startups also captured a record 46.4% of the total $209 billion raised last year, compared to less than 10% a decade earlier. The enthusiasm for AI technology, largely sparked by the breakout success of … Read more…

By Medha Singh and Purvi Agarwal (Reuters) -Shares of chipmakers jumped on Monday as Microsoft’s plan to invest $80 billion in AI-enabled data centers in fiscal 2025 spurred bets that semiconductor demand would remain strong. Micron was the biggest gainer among semiconductor stocks with a 10.6% rise, while chip-making equipment companies like Applied Materials, Lam Research and KLA Corp rose between 5.1% and 5.5%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index hit its highest since mid-October and was … Read more…

(Reuters) – Deere & Co strengthened its bet on autonomous machinery by unveiling new tractors and industrial equipment, capable of operating without the need for a human being in the cab, at the CES trade show in Las Vegas on Monday. The world’s largest farm equipment maker is making strides towards automating manual work amid a shortage of skilled workers and high labor costs. In the agricultural sector, the challenge of finding workers to operate … Read more…