This Thoughtworks report gives more insight into business and responsibility. Sadly, the results are not particularly obvious: 73% of senior executives think that responsible technology will eventually be as important as business and financial considerations. Almost as many (67%) have some type of responsible tech guidelines already in place. Who knew?
The folks at Edelman Trust Barometer get a special Obvious Perseverance Award for asking the same questions and getting the same answers year after year. Their latest report shows that trust continues its long-term decline, polarization continues to increase, and business remains the most trusted institution. If you prefer non-obvious information, download for details about attitudes in different countries, economic concerns, and how business should address social issues.
It’s an odd news day, Dear Reader, with the general items more interesting than the transactions. To make room, I’ll combine the transactions here. Social media management vendor Sprout Social has purchased. AI-based sentimental analysis firm Repustate. Oro has raised $13 million for its open-source B2B ecommerce platform. Copilot announced a $10 million Series A to build client portals for service businesses. Beaconstac has raised $25 million for QR codes, proving everything old is new.
Nearly one-third of major news publishers have blocked generative AI tools from reading their content. But that’s a drastic measure which could also exclude their results from conventional search engines. Microsoft has just given publishers the option to block access by Bing Chat without also removing their content from search results. We’ll see if competitors do the same.