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The New York Times First Generative AI Deal Is With Amazon

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The New York Times has struck a multi-year AI licensing deal with Amazon that will bring its “editorial content to a variety of Amazon customer experiences,” the outlet announced on Thursday. Under the agreement, Amazon will include summaries and short excerpts of The Times’ content in products like Alexa, and will also use the Times articles to help train its AI models, The Verge reported.

The deal comes over a year after the The Times sued Microsoft and OpenAI for copyright infringement, accusing the companies of “copying and using millions” of its articles to train their AI models, while depriving the publication of subscription, licensing, advertising, and affiliate revenue. 

Several other outlets have sued OpenAI on similar grounds, including The Intercept, Raw Story, CBC/Radio-Canada, and the owner of IGN and CNET. Other publishers, like The Atlantic News Corp, and The Verge parent company Vox Media have struck AI licensing deals.

Engadget reported: The New York Times and Amazon have entered into a multi-year licensing agreement that will allow Amazon access to much of the publication’s editorial content for AI-related users.

In a press release announcing the deal, The New York Times shared that this agreement will bring new features for customers like accessing summaries or excerpts of Times content using Alexa. It will also allow Amazon to train its AI models on The New York Times content.

In announcing the deal, The New York Times shared, “The collaboration will make The New York Times’ original content more accessible to customers across Amazon products and services including direct links to Times products and underscores the companies’ shared commitment to serving customers with global news and perspectives within Amazon’s AI products.”

AI models require training on vast amounts of data, and many of the companies building them are likely running afoul of copyright laws by training on protected materials. OpenAI and Google went so far as to ask for their models to train freely. The New York Times sued OpenAI  and Microsoft for training on their models on the company’s content without permission back in 2023, though the case is still ongoing.

Fortune reported: The daily drumbeat of AI hype cycles and tech breakthroughs often feel like riding big waves. But questions about the copyrighted data used to train generative AI models without owner consent have simmered for years — since before ChatGPT burst onto the scene in 2022.

Much of the legal wrangling have focused on the legal doctrine of “fair use”- that is you can use someone else’s copyrighted work without permission — as long as the use is limited, transformative, and doesn’t hurt the creator’s market. 

One example is the ongoing case against Meta and OpenAI by comedian Sarah Silverman and two other authors, who filed copyright infringement lawsuits in 2023 alleging that pirated versions of the works were used without permission to train AI language models. 

The defendants recently argued that the use falls under fair use doctrine because the AI systems “study” works to “learn”, and create new, transformative content.

 

Amazon Sued By For Excluding Neighborhoods From Prime Delivery

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Washington, D.C.’s attorney general sued Amazon on Wednesday, accusing the company of covertly depriving residents in certain ZIP codes in the nation’s capitol from access to Prime’s high-speed delivery, CNBC reported.

The lawsuit from AG Brian Schwalb alleges that, since 2022, Amazon has “secretly excluded” two “historically underserved” D.C. ZIP codes from its expedited delivery service while charging Prime members living there the full subscription price. Amazon’s Prime membership program costs $139 a year and includes perks like two-day shipping and access to streaming content.

“Amazon is charging tens of thousands of hard-working Ward 7 and 8 residents for an expedited delivery service it promises but does not provide,” Schwalb said in a statement. “While Amazon has every right to make operational changes, it cannot covertly decide that a dollar in one zip code is worth less than a dollar in another.”

Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb today sued Amazon.com. Inc. (Amazon) for deceiving District resident into paying for Prime delivery benefits they are not receiving, in violation of District consumer protection law. The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) alleges that since 2022, Amazon has secretly excluded two ZIP codes east of the Anacostia River from its advertised fastest delivery service while continuing to charge approximately 48,000 Prime members living there the full Prime subscription price.

“Amazon is charging tens of thousands of hard-working Ward 7 and 8 residents for an expedited delivery service it promises but does not provide.  While Amazon has every right to make operational changes, it cannot covertly decide that a dollar in one ZIP code is worth less than a dollar in another,” said Attorney General Schwalb. “We are suing to stop this deceptive conduct and make sure District residents get what they’re paying for.”

Gizmodo reported Amazon tricked customers in two predominantly Black zip codes in Washington, D.C. into paying for its faster Prime delivery service while actually outsourcing deliveries to slower providers, according to a new lawsuit filed by the district’s attorney general.

The suit accuses Amazon of making a secret internal decision in June 2022 to stop delivering to the zip codes 20019 and 20020, both east of the Anacostia River, using its Amazon branded trucks. Instead, the company began using slower services like UPS and the U.S. Postal Service to bring back packages to those neighborhoods, which are 89 and 90 percent Black, respectively, according to census data.

Meanwhile, the company continued to advertise and promote its faster delivery times to the roughly 48,000 Prime members in those zip codes, according to the complaint.

In my opinion, it sounds like Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb is going to target Amazon because the company was forcing people to pay for Prime delivery benefits that they did not receive.

Amazon Ends Drone Program In California

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Amazon is shuttering its drone delivery operations in Lockeford, California, one of the earliest U.S. test sites for the decade-long project, CNBC reported.

The program, called Prime Air, has struggled to get off the ground since Amazon founder Jeff Bezos first detailed his vision in 2013 of autonomous drones delivering packages weighing less than 5 pounds in 30 minutes or less.

Amazon says it’s now conducting test flights to demonstrate the reliability of its new delivery drone, the MK30, which the company unveiled at an event last year. The drone is intended to be smaller and quieter than prior models, and can fly through light and rain.

Amazon posted “Amazon drone delivery is coming to Arizona” From the post:

Later this year, Amazon customers in the West Valley Phoenix Metro Area can receive Prime Air drone deliveries from our Tolleson, AZ Same-Day Delivery site.

Since starting drone delivery in College Station, Texas, and Lockeford, California in 2022, we’ve delivered thousands of items to customers in less than an hour. Last year we also began delivering prescription medications in partnership with Amazon Pharmacy to customers in College Station. We’ve received great feedback from customers and communities as we’ve rolled out the service.

We’re now adding a new location and entering the next stage of the program’s evolution. Later this year, drone deliveries are coming to the West Valley of the Phoenix Metro Area in Arizona.

With this new location, we’ll be fully integrated into Amazon’s delivery network, meaning, for the first time, drones will deploy from facilities next to our Same-Day Delivery site in Tolleson. These smaller sites are hybrid — part fulfillment center, pat delivery station. They allow us to fulfill, sort, and deliver products all from one site so we can get packages out to our customers even quicker.

Our Same-Day Delivery sites are situated close to the large metro areas they serve, which means customers get their orders faster. And with connections to the larger Amazon fulfillment centers nearby, we are able to offer Same-Day Delivery on millions of items…

TechCrunch reported Amazon it is ending Prime Air drone delivery operations in Lockeford, California. The Central California town of 3,500 was the company’s second U.S. drone delivery site, after College Station, Texas. Operations were announced in June 2022.

The retail giant is not offering details around the setback, only noting, “We’ll offer all current employees opportunities at other sites, and continue serve customers in Lockeford with other delivery methods. We want to thank the community for all their support and feedback over the past few years.”

College Station deliveries will continue, along with a forthcoming site in Tolleson, Arizona, set to kick off deliveries later this year. Tolleson, a city of just over 7,000, is located in Maricopa County, in the western portion of the Phoenix metropolitan area.

In my opinion, it appears that Amazon intends to move its newest drone to different parts of the United States. It is also really good that current workers will be offered work at some of Amazon’s other sites.

Amazon Gives Up On No-Checkout Shopping In Its Grocery Stores

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Amazon has decided to give up on its Just Walk Out program that lets customers leave its brick-and-mortar grocery stores without a formal checkout process, The Verge reported.

Instead, it’s switching fully to “Dash Carts,” where customers can scan products as they toss them in their cart.

That’s according to The Information, which reports that the company is pulling Just Walk Out from all larger stores where the system is in place and “sprucing up the stores across the board” as it prepares to expand Amazon Fresh locations this year. Amazon will keep using its smaller corner stores, though.

Amazon hasn’t managed to get a handle on in-person retail despite buying the upscale, popular Whole Foods chain back in 2017. Over the years, the online shopping giant has closed all of its Books, 4-Star, and Pop-up stores and halted the expansion of its Fresh stores.

According to The Verge, with the company falling back to further its Dash Carts, it’s essentially shrinking self-checkout into a contraption with scanners and a touchscreen, bolted onto special shopping carts — something that other retailers have tried in the US and in Europe — followed by checking out with a palm scanner. That has benefits like customers being able to keep a running total while they shop, but Amazon would still face hurdles.

Gizmodo reported Amazon is phasing out its checkout-less grocery stores with “Just Walk Out” technology. The company’s senior vice president of grocery stores says they’re moving away from Just Walk Out, which relied on cameras and sensors to track what people were leaving the store with.

Just over half of Amazon Fresh stores are equipped with Just Walk Out. The technology allows customers to skip checkout altogether by scanning a QR code when they enter the store. Though it seemed completely automated, Just Walk Out relied on more than 1,000 people in India watching and labeling videos to ensure accurate checkouts. The cashiers were simply moved off-site, and they watched you as you shopped.

Instead, Amazon is moving towards Dash Carts, a scanner and a screen that’s embedded in your shopping cart, allowing you to checkout as you shop. These offer a more reliable solution than Just Walk Out. Amazon Fresh stores will also feature self check out counters from now on, for people who aren’t Amazon members.

Engadget also reported Amazon is removing Just Walk Out tech from all of its Fresh grocery stores in the U.S. The self-checkout system relies on a host of cameras, sensors and good old-fashioned human eyeballs to track what people leave the store with, charging the customers accordingly.

The technology has been plagued by issues from the onset. Most notably, Just Walk Out presents the illusion of automation, with Amazon crowing about generative AI and the like. Here’s where the smoke and mirrors come in. While the stores have no actual cashiers, there are reportedly over 1,000 real people in India scanning the camera feeds to ensure accurate checkouts.

According to Engadget, its also incredibly expensive to install and maintain the necessary equipment, which is likely why Just Walk Out technology was only adopted at around half of Fresh stores in the U.S.

In my opinion, it would be easier to just get your groceries from your local grocery store, or request a door-dash driver to bring the groceries you requested to your door.

Amazon and SpaceX Are Quietly Trying To Demolish National Labor Law

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Amazon alleged in a legal filing published Friday morning that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is unconstitutional. SpaceX and Trader Joe’s — companies that, like Amazon, have repeatedly faced labor law violations from the federal agency — have recently made similar attacks that threaten national worker protections, TechCrunch reported.

This is just Amazon’s latest attempt to block union organizing in its fulfillment centers. But this time, these companies aren’t just limiting the rights of their own workers. If these threats against the NLRB keep moving forward, American workers could lose workplace protections that they’ve had for almost a century.

Amazon claims that the NLRB’s structure is unconstitutional because administrative law judges are “insulated from presidential oversight,” thus violating separation of powers. The company also argues against the structure of NLRB itself, as well as its ability to fine a company for unfair labor practices after a hearing, rather than a full jury trial.

According to TechCrunch, like other federal agencies, the NLRB is largely shaped by the current president. Under President Joe Biden, who refers to himself as pro-worker, the NLRB has been friendly to workers’ causes. But as the 2024 election looms, a Republican administration could significantly change that, making it more likely for corporations to be successful in attempts to strike down long-standing labor law.

Reuters reported that Amazon.com has joined rocket maker SpaceX and grocery chain Trader Joe’s in claiming that a U.S. labor agency’s in-house enforcement proceedings violate the U.S. Constitution, as the retail giant faces scores of cases claiming it interfered with workers’ rights to organize.

The company also said that limits on the removal of administrative judges and the board’s five members, who are appointed by the president, are unconstitutional.

According to Reuters, the filing came in a pending case accusing Amazon of illegally retaliating against workers in the New York City of Staten Island, where employees voted to unionize in 2022. Amazon, which has faced more than 250 NLRB complaints alleging unlawful labor practices across the country in recent years, has denied wrongdoing.

Reuters also wrote that SpaceX is making similar claims against the board in a lawsuit filed last month, one day after the labor board accused the company of firing eight engineers for criticizing CEO Elon Musk in a letter to company executives.

Trader Joe’s raised the arguments later in January at a hearing in an NLRB case, and two Starbucks baristas seeking to dissolve their unions have challenged the board’s structure in separate lawsuits.

In my opinion, it is wrong for gigantic corporations, that have tons of money, to actively try to separate their workers from the union the workers voted for. If these big companies win, it will likely cause an even worse workplace environment for their labor force. I’m hoping that Amazon, SpaceX, and Trader Joe’s are told “no, you can’t do that.”

Amazon Abandons $1.4 Billion Deal To Buy Roomba Maker iRobot

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Amazon’s deal to buy Roomba maker iRobot is off, the companies announced today, after iRobot said the deal has “no path to regulatory approval in the European Union.” iRobot is also announcing that it is laying off around 330 employees, or around 31 percent of its workforce as part of a restructuring. It expects to notify the majority of affected employees by the end of March, The Verge reported.

As part of the announcement, iRobot chair and CEO Colin Angle, who co-founded the company in 1990, is stepping down from both roles. iRobot’s current executive vice president and chief legal officer, Glen Weinstein, will serve as interim CEO, and Andrew Miller, formerly lead independent director of the board, will become chair.

As part of the restructuring, iRobot is pausing its work on devices outside of its core floor-cleaning product lineup like air purifies and lawn mowers, and closing offices and facilities in “smaller, underperforming geographies.”

The announcement comes after the $1.4 billion acquisition ran into difficulties with EU regulators. Last November, the European Commission said it believed the deal had the potential to restrict competition in the robot cleaner market. Many of iRobot’s competitors also sell their devices on Amazon’s online store, and regulators were concerned that Amazon would delist or reduce the visibility of rival robot vacuum cleaners, restricting competition and “leading to higher prices, lower quality, and less innovation for consumers.”

TechCrunch reported a year and a half after announcing its intention to acquire iRobot, Amazon’s deal is officially dead. All parties involved anticipated some level of regulatory scrutiny, but after a few decades of the company consolidation, few expected this much friction.

The deal had already passed through select international regulatory bodies, including the U.K. Ultimately, however the European Union’s recent clamping down on perceived anti-competitive M&As proved to be the final nail in the coffin.

“iRobot is an innovative pioneer with a clear vision to make consumer robots a reality,” Angle said in a release. “The termination of the agreement with Amazon is disappointing, but iRobot now turns toward the future with a focus and commitment to continue building thoughtful robots and intelligent home innovations that make life better, and that our customers around the world love.”

Mashable reported that Amazon will be fine after the termination of this deal. However, the same cannot be said for iRobot. When Amazon first announced its intention to acquire the Roomba-maker in August 2022, it was seen as somewhat of a bailout for iRobot.

Personally, I love our little Roomba cleaner, and am hoping it will continue working for a long time. That said, it is always sad when workers lose their jobs due to things beyond their control.

Tech Layoffs Balloon in January As Wall Street Rally Lifts Tech Companies

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The S&P 500 is trading at a record and the Nasdaq is at its highest in two years, CNBC reported. Alphabet shares reached a new pinnacle on Thursday, as did Meta and Microsoft, which ran past $3 trillion in market cap. 

While Wall Street cheers on Silicon Valley, tech companies are downsizing at an accelerating clip So far in January, some 23,670 workers have been laid off from 85 tech companies, according to the website Layoffs.fyi.  That’s the most since March, when almost 38,000 people in the industry were shown the exits.

According to CNBC, activity picked up this week with SAP announcing job changes or layoffs for 8,000 employees and Microsoft cutting 1,900 positions in its gaming division. Additionally, high-valued fintech startup Bret laid off 20% of its staff and eBay slashed 1,000 jobs, or 9% of its full-time workforce. 

Earlier in the month, Google confirmed that it cut several hundred jobs across the company, and Amazon has eliminated hundreds of positions spanning its Prime Video and MGM Studios, Twitch and Audible divisions. Unity, said it’s cutting about 25% of its staff, and Discord, which offers a popular messaging service used by gamers, is shedding 17% of its workforce.

CNBC also reported that the swarm of activity comes ahead of barrage of tech earnings next week, when Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft are all scheduled to report quarterly results. Investors lauded the cost-cutting measures that companies put in place last year in response to rising inflation, interest rates hikes, recession concerns and a brutal market downturn in 2022. Even with an improving economic outlook, the thriftiness continues.

International Business Times reported that the industry’s pursuit for efficiency and cost-cutting measures is thoroughly connected to tech industry riding into artificial intelligence (AI) wave. 

Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, said 2023 was the “year of efficiency,” with a stock surge alongside 20,000 job cuts. The increasing demand for AI technologies has led some companies to strategically scale down headcount in non-profitable areas and relocate resources toward AI development.

According to International Business Times, tech execs are strategically crafting their downsizing messages emphasizing the need for focus and efficiency. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer described the layoffs part of a larger “execution plan,” while Alphabet’s CEO Sundar Pichai focused on the importance of making tough decisions for meeting the ambitious goals. Amazon’s Audible CEO, Bob Carrigan, emphasized the necessity of becoming “leaner and more efficient”.

In my opinion, it is never a good idea to suddenly lay off employees with absolutely no warning.  Choosing to do layoffs of real humans, in favor of adding more artificial intelligence to take over their jobs, is a terrible decision. The “robots” should not be allowed to replace the livelihood of humans.