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OpenAI: ChatGPT back in Italy after meeting watchdog demands

The Associated Press ChatGPT’s maker said Friday that the artificial intelligence chatbot is available again in Italy after the company met the demands of regulators who temporarily blocked it over privacy concerns. OpenAI said it fulfilled a raft of conditions that the Italian data protection authority wanted satisfied by an April 30 deadline to have the ban on the AI software lifted. “ChatGPT is available again to our users in Italy,” San Francisco-based OpenAI said by email. “We are excited to welcome them back, and we remain dedicated to protecting their ...

US agency raises ‘serious concerns’ about visa lottery

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — The number of applications for visas used in the technology industry soared for a second straight year, raising “serious concerns” that some are manipulating the system to gain an unfair advantage, authorities said Friday. There were 780,884 applications for H-1B visas in this year’s computer-generated lottery, up 61% from 483,927 last year, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a message to “stakeholders.” Last year’s haul was up 57% from 308,613 applications the year before. Each year, up to 85,000 people are selected for H-1B ...

Foreign companies in China face growing scrutiny, pressure

BEIJING (AP) — Foreign companies are under growing pressure in China from anti-corruption, national security and other investigations as President Xi Jinping’s government tightens control over business, clashing with efforts to lure back investors after the pandemic. This week, Bain & Co. said police questioned staff in its Shanghai office. The consulting company gave no details of what investigators were looking for. Last month, the corporate due diligence firm Mintz Group said its Beijing office was raided by police who detained five employees. Also last month, an employee of ...

Amazon stocks surge after Q1 revenue, profit wins

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon on Thursday reported a continuing slowdown in its cloud computing unit AWS but stronger than expected revenue and profits for the first quarter sent its stocks higher in after-hours trading. The Seattle-based company said it pulled in $127.4 billion in revenue for the January-March quarter, a 9% growth compared to the $116.4 billion it reported during the same period last year. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected $124.6 billion. Profits came out to $3.2 billion, or 31 cents per share, higher than the $2.24 billion industry analysts had expected. It’s ...

Weak start to year, airlines to expect profitable summer

DALLAS (AP) — Most U.S. airlines lost money in the first quarter, traditionally the weakest time of year for travel, but they are all eagerly looking ahead to a summer of full planes and high fares. American Airlines and Southwest Airlines said Thursday that they expect to be solidly profitable in the second quarter. They joined Delta Air Lines and United Airlines in giving an upbeat outlook for the April-through-June period, which includes the start of the peak travel season. Southwest CEO Robert Jordan said that despite losing $159 million in the first quarter — the airline ...

Thinking of starting a business? Consider buying one instead

The Associated Press Starting a business can be an enticing dream. It’s also notoriously difficult to come up with an original idea, find the right team and fund its growth. If you want to work for yourself, there may be an easier way — buying an existing business. Think of it like renovating a house instead of building one from the ground up, says Mark Zweig, professor and entrepreneur-in-residence at the University of Arkansas Walton College of Business . “I like the constraints of an existing business versus a clean sheet of paper,” Zweig says. Here are four reasons to ...