TNB Tech Minute: OpenAI Settles Employee Discrimination Claims for $3.2 Million

**Imani Moise** (0:01)
Here's your afternoon TNB Tech Minute for Tuesday, August 4th. I'm Imani Moise for the Wall Street Journal. OpenAI will pay $3.2 million to settle claims by the Justice Department that it discriminated against US workers when advertising jobs through its immigration sponsorship program. The DOJ's Civil Rights Division alleged that OpenAI and its subsidiary, StatSig, discriminated by choosing workers with temporary employment visas over others. When advertising positions it sought to fill through its permanent labor certification program, OpenAI allegedly didn't post on its external job website and required mailed paper applications. A company spokesman said OpenAI disagreed with the DOJ's findings, but reached a settlement to resolve the matter. News Corp, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, has a content licensing partnership with OpenAI.
The World Bank says the use of relatively simple AI tools can help developing economies overcome a shortage of expert knowledge to boost economic growth, although they risk becoming dependent on the US or China if they don't tread carefully. In what it called the first comprehensive assessment of the potential impact of AI on the lives of 6.8 billion people who live in developing economies, the bank concluded that many fewer jobs are vulnerable to AI-enabled automation than in rich countries, while many more can be made more productive. The World Bank calculates that while 14.2% of jobs in rich countries can be automated using generative AI, just 4.5% of jobs in developing economies can be automated.
And New Jersey sued Amazon today, alleging the e-commerce giant illegally used its dominance over its package delivery network to suppress wages and working conditions for thousands of delivery drivers while preventing them from organizing. The lawsuit filed in federal court in New Jersey, alleges Amazon violated federal and state antitrust laws through its delivery service partner or DSP program. The complaint alleges Amazon dictates routes, hiring, compensation, performance standards and other aspects of the businesses, leaving them with little ability to negotiate or work for other customers. The lawsuit adds to mounting legal scrutiny of Amazon's labor and logistics practices. Amazon has long maintained that DSPs are independent businesses that operate their own companies.
And that's it for your TNB Tech Minutes. We'll have another Quick Tech Update in the morning.