The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have opened separate investigations into last week's failure of Silicon Valley Bank, sources told the WSJ and AP. The probes, which are now in the early stages, will include examinations of actions taken by the bank's top executives, including whether stock sales made days before the bank's collapse violated trading rules. More: - The agencies will investigate stock sales undertaken by executives, including CEO Greg Becker and CFO Daniel Beck, at the bank's parent company, SVB Financial.
- According to a securities filing, Becker on Feb. 27 exercised options on 12,451 shares and sold them the same day, netting about $3M.
- Beck sold $575,000 worth of shares, about a third of his holdings, also on Feb. 27.
- Reports noted that the bank and its executives have not been accused of wrongdoing and the probes may not result in formal charges.
- A source said DOJ's fraud section is working on the probe alongside federal prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.
Zoom Out: - Earlier this week, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Treasury Department, and the Federal Reserve guaranteed all deposits at the California bank, which collapsed last Friday.
- The bank's clients, including tech startups and their investors, attempted to withdraw nearly $42B from the bank last week, driving it to insolvency.
THE NEW YORK TIMES 
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Fortnite maker Epic Games will be required to pay $245M in fines as part of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) order accusing the game maker of using so-called "dark patterns," or design tricks that duped players into buying items. The FTC said Fortnite employed confusing and counterintuitive button configurations to trick players into making unwanted purchases with a single click. More: - Additionally, the game's younger players, who make up the majority of its demographic, were able to incur charges without parental approval as the game lacked a purchase authorization process, the FTC said.
- The agency has now finalized an order requiring Epic Games to pay the $245M fine and distribute refunds to players affected by the monetization scheme.
- The order bans Epic from blocking consumers from accessing their accounts when they dispute unauthorized charges.
Second order: - Separately, the FTC has accused Epic of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) when it gathered personal information on players under the age of 13 without parental consent, among other allegations.
- Epic will have to pay an additional $275M as a separate fine for violating COPPA.
- Both fines were tentatively agreed to in December.
- To address the FTC's allegations, Epic said it has introduced a protected account type for users under 13 and launched a "hold-to-purchase mechanic" to verify purchase intent, among other changes.
CNET
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T-Mobile announced an agreement to purchase Mint Mobile's parent company, Ka’ena, for up to $1.35B. Mint Mobile, a budget-friendly mobile provider, is partly owned by actor Ryan Reynolds, who is also a spokesperson for the brand. More: - In addition to Mint, Ka’ena owns the prepaid wireless brand Ultra Mobile amd wireless wholesaler Plum.
- T-Moile said it plans to acquire Ka’ena Corporation for 39% cash and 61% stock. The final price depends on Ka’ena’s performance during a specific time period.
- T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert confirmed that Mint will maintain its $15 per month pricing.
- He said Mint has built a successful digital and direct-to-consumer business and T-Mobile is "excited" to use its scale and the owners' economics to help supercharge the businesses.
- Reynolds, who has appeared in advertisements for Mint, is believed to own 20% to 25% of the mobile carrier, which would mean a payout in the low nine-figures.
- The actor will "continue on in his creative role on behalf of Mint," according to T-Mobile.
TECHCRUNCH
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Samsung Electronics plans to invest roughly $230B in a chip-making complex in South Korea. The semiconductor "cluster" is said to involve five memory and foundry plants that will be built by Samsung in the greater Seoul area by 2042. More: - South Korea's government announced the project today, saying it will become the biggest "high-tech system semiconductor cluster" in the world.
- The plants will be built near Samsung's existing factories and will produce logic chips and data storage memory chips.
- Samsung will offer a private investment of $230B into the complex over the next 20 years.
Zoom Out: - The cluster is part of broader plans announced by South Korea's government to promote the six technologies of semiconductors, rechargeable batteries, electric vehicles, robotics, displays, and biotechnology.
- It's planning to draw from an estimated $422M in corporate investment to fund the technologies through 2026.
- Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol alluded to a global "economic battlefield" in chipmaking as countries around the world offer tax support and large-scale subsidies to bolster domestic semiconductor manufacturing.
BBC
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Meta Platforms is ending support for NFTs on Facebook and Instagram. The latter platform began allowing select users to test NFT “digital collectible” posts in May 2022. More: - In August, Meta began allowing some U.S.-based users to post NFTs from their digital wallets to Facebook and Instagram.
- Users could connect a digital wallet, such as Rainbow and MetaMask, to either app and access NFTs from both platforms.
- It later unveiled plans that allowed creators to create and sell NFTs directly on Instagram.
- The company will now wind down the practice, according to Meta’s commerce and fintech lead, Stephane Kasriel.
- The shutdown will allow Meta "to focus on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses," he wrote on Twitter.
Zoom Out: - The update comes a day after CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company plans to cut 10,000 employees, cancel lower priority projects, and flatten its organizations in what he has referred to as "the year of efficiency."
THE VERGE
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Google will be adding generative AI capabilities to Gmail, Google Docs, and other Workspace apps. The AI features will begin rolling out to a limited number of U.S. testers this month. More: - For example, testers will be able to ask Gmail's AI to automatically draft an email or use AI in Docs to polish meeting summaries.
- Google says it will roll out generative AI tools to most or all of its Workspace products, which include Gmail, Chat, Meet, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, and Sites.
- In Sheets, for example, AI will automatically create formulas. Slide's AI will be able to auto-generate images and more for presentations.
- Additionally, Google Cloud announced a new Generative AI App Builder for developers and business users to create AI apps such as chatbots "in minutes or hours."
- Google Workspace, its productivity suite, claims nearly 3 billion users, including individuals and companies.
ENGADGET
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- Potential renders of the upcoming Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro smartphones have leaked online. Google is expected to tease the phones during its Google I/O developer conference on May 10.
- Microsoft signed a deal to bring Call of Duty to Taiwan-based cloud gaming provider Ubitus. It's the fourth such deal for Microsoft, which is seeking to appease regulators to secure approval for its $69B acquisition of Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard.
- NASA and Axiom Space revealed a prototype spacesuit for astronauts to wear during the Artemis III mission, which is slated to send astronauts to the lunar surface in 2025.
- OpenAI has incorporated its latest and most advanced language model, GPT-4, into Microsoft's Bing search engine AI. GPT-4 is also available to the public through OpenAI's ChatGPT Plus paid subscription
- Microsoft has reportedly laid off the ethics and society team within its AI unit as part of companywide layoffs. The team helped to ensure that Microsoft products and services comply with its responsible AI principles.
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 |  | Beth is a writer and editor at Inside.com covering artificial intelligence and daily technology news. She has written the Inside AI newsletter since 2019. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@inside.com. |   | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is the author of "Things You Can Do," an illustrated book about climate action. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
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