Google sacks 48 employees over sexual harassment

The week in tech: Information Age's latest weekly digest of some of the main stories in tech this week

According to the New York Times, the "father of Android" Andy Rubin received a $ 90m exit package.

Google sacks dozens of employees over sexual harassment

It seems that there is no way to do this. "Do not be evil" as a slew of sexual harassment allegations make the headlines this morning.

Instead of being able to boast about their year-on-year income growth in September, the Google's parent company is listed in the New York Times. .

According to the New York Times, the "father of Android" Andy Rubin received a $ 90m exit package based on sexual misconduct allegations. A spokesman for Rubin has denied the allegations, the newspaper said.

According to the report, two unnamed Google executives said then-chief executive Larry Page asked Rubin to resign after the company confirmed a complaint by a female employee about a sexual encounter in a hotel in 2013. Google then gave Rubin a hero's farewell when he left the company in 2014. Rubin also received a $ 90 million exit package, paid in installments of about $ 2 million a month for four years. The last payment is scheduled for next month.

This does not appear to be an isolated incident. After the publication of the article, Sundar Pichai, Google's chief executive, wrote in an email to employees that the company had fired 48 people in positions of authority for misconduct.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai just feels an angry about the NYT story on Andy Rubin.https: //t.co/1m1bJDq5K3 pic.twitter.com/azxs7rneCw

– Ryan Mac (@ RMac18) October 25, 2018

This article was previously published under Q22015 and is currently not available in the "safe and inclusive" form.

"We want to ensure that we review every single complaint about sexual harassment or inappropriate conduct, we investigate and take action," he continued.

None of the employees dismissed in the past two years, Mr Pichai added.

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Tech stocks fall and then rise again, did Tesla set the trend?

Is Tesla becoming a bellwether stock? The shares crashed in the summer – falling by 30%, and then, it was a wider tech stock sell-off. Shares in Amazon fell by around 10% during the first three weeks of October, Facebook fell by a similar amount, Alphabet lost around 9%.

And then Tesla came along with their results. It was not the first ever profit by Tesla, but it was the first ever profit that was not distorted by government subsidies or tax breaks. Investors suddenly asked the question that they thought they already knew the answer to anyway; is Elon Musk actually doing it? If the results from its latest guide, the answer is yes.

Tesla shares not so much so scream out in ecstasy, rising 24% in just a few days.

As this article goes to the press, the typesetters prepare to do their magic, and the printing press is warmed up, tech stocks are rising – Amazon up 7% in 24 hours, for example, Twitter up 15%, Microsoft up 5% – after Microsoft and Twitter beat market expectations. Although, Alphabet's 21% increase in revenue growth, the standards of normal companies, has been disappointing in an environment where investors have been used to expecting exceptional.

Even so, the impression is that Tesla has not been proven to be so bad.

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"Cambrian Explosion" of AI in the UK

The UK could be in third place in the global ranking for the AI ​​industry, behind China and the US, according to a major report by the Big Innovation Center and Deep Knowledge Analytics.

The 2200-page report released on Wednesday, which is the largest analysis conducted, 1000 companies, 600 investors, 80 influencers, 35 tech hubs and research institutes, and more the development of the UK AI-industry. Notably, the report also features input from the All Party Parliamentary Group on AI.

Lord Clement-Jones CBE, Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on AI and Chair of the House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence, said: "As shown in the report of the UK AI landscape, we have reached inflection point which can be described as Cambrian Explosion of AI in the UK. Our previous reports by the Lords Select Committee on AI in the United Kingdom highlighted the role of a global leader in the field of national strategic importance from investment in industry to trust in data and algorithms. "

He added: "There has been a substantial surge of activities on the part of the UK throughout the past several months, ranging from the excellent work of the All-Party Parliamentary Group to the establishment of the Government Office for AI. There are also well-funded Government and private sector partnerships and initiatives such as the Center for Data Ethics and Innovation. It is clear that the UK has strongly confirmed its commitment to the further development of AI as a core part of its national agenda. "

However, according to the report, Britain faces a brain-drain as other international hubs such as Silicon Valley successfully poach its top tech talent from universities.

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The UK slaps Facebook with maximum fine over Cambridge Analytica scandal

Facebook has been fined £ 500,000 by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for its role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The penalty is the maximum allowed under the old data protection regulations that applied before GDPR took effect in May.

The ICO's investigation found that between 2007 and 2014, the users of the software were not allowed to download the application, but were simply 'friends' with people who had.

Elizabeth Denham, Information Commissioner, said: "The problem is one of privacy. A company of its size and expertise should be better and better. "

"We consider these contraventions to be so serious we imposed the maximum penalty under the previous legislation. The fine would inevitably have been significantly higher under the GDPR. One of our main motivations for taking action is to drive meaningful change in how to handle people's personal data.

"Our work is continuing. There are still more questions to be asked and more broadly based on the question of whether or not they are in the process of becoming more ethical.

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