Documents show OpenAI’s long journey from nonprofit to $157B valued company

THE ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE IS TO MAKE AI SELF-AWARE & AUTONOMOUS


 The OpenAI logo appears on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen with random binary data, March 9, 2023, in Boston.

 (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

BY THALIA BEATY
 October 12, 2024

Back in 2016, a scientific research organization incorporated in Delaware and based in Mountain View, California, applied to be recognized as a tax-exempt charitable organization by the Internal Revenue Service.

Called OpenAI, the nonprofit told the IRS its goal was to “advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return.”

Its assets included a $10 million loan from one of its four founding directors and now CEO, Sam Altman.

The application, which nonprofits are required to disclose and which OpenAI provided to The Associated Press, offers a view back in time to the origins of the artificial intelligence giant that has since grown to include a for-profit subsidiary recently valued at $157 billion by investors.

It’s one measure of the vast distance OpenAI — and the technology that it researches and develops — has traveled in under a decade.

In the application, OpenAI indicated it did not plan to enter into any joint ventures with for-profit organizations, which it has since done. It also said it did “not plan to play any role in developing commercial products or equipment,” and promised to make its research freely available to the public.


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A spokesperson for OpenAI, Liz Bourgeois, said in an email that the organization’s missions and goals have remained constant, though the way it’s carried out its mission has evolved alongside advances in technology. She also said the nonprofit does not carry out any commercial activities.

Attorneys who specialize in advising nonprofits have been watching OpenAI’s meteoric rise and its changing structure closely. Some wonder if its size and the scale of its current ambitions have reached or exceeded the limits of how nonprofits and for-profits may interact. They also wonder the extent to which its primary activities advance its charitable mission, which it must, and whether some may privately benefit from its work, which is prohibited.

In general, nonprofit experts agree that OpenAI has gone to great lengths to arrange its corporate structure to comply with the rules that govern nonprofit organizations. OpenAI’s application to the IRS appears typical, said Andrew Steinberg, counsel at Venable LLP and a member of the American Bar Association’s nonprofit organizations committee.

If the organization’s plans and structure changed, it would need to report that information on its annual tax returns, Steinberg said, which it has.

“At the time that the IRS reviewed the application, there wasn’t information that that corporate structure that exists today and the investment structure that they pursued was what they had in mind,” he said. “And that’s okay because that may have developed later.”

Here are some highlights from the application:

Early research goals

At inception, OpenAI’s research plans look quaint in light of the race to develop AI that was in part set off by its release of ChatGPT in 2022.

OpenAI told the IRS it planned to train an AI agent to solve a wide variety of games. It aimed to build a robot to perform housework and to develop a technology that could “follow complex instructions in natural language.”

Today, its products, which include text-to-image generators and chatbots that can detect emotion and write code, far exceed those technical thresholds.
No commercial ambitions

The nonprofit OpenAI indicated on the application form that it had no plans to enter into joint ventures with for-profit entities.

It also wrote, “OpenAI does not plan to play any role in developing commercial products or equipment. It intends to make its research freely available to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis.”

OpenAI spokesperson Bourgeois said the organization believes the best way to accomplish its mission is to develop products that help people use AI to solve problems, including many products it offers for free. But they also believe developing commercial partnerships has helped further their mission, she said.
Intellectual property

OpenAI reported to the IRS in 2016 that regularly sharing its research “with the general public is central to the mission of OpenAI. OpenAI will regularly release its research results on its website and share software it has developed with the world under open source software licenses.”

It also wrote it “intends to retain the ownership of any intellectual property it develops.”

The value of that intellectual property and whether it belongs to the nonprofit or for-profit subsidiary could become important questions if OpenAI decides to alter its corporate structure, as Altman confirmed in September it was considering.

Changing OpenAI’s nonprofit structure could have big consequences


OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attends an Apple event announcing new products in Cupertino, Calif., June 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

BY THALIA BEATY
October 12, 2024

NEW YORK (AP) — The artificial intelligence maker OpenAI may face a costly and inconvenient reckoning with its nonprofit origins even as its valuation recently exploded to $157 billion.

Nonprofit tax experts have been closely watching OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, since last November when its board ousted and rehired CEO Sam Altman. Now, some believe the company may have reached — or exceeded — the limits of its corporate structure, under which it is organized as a nonprofit whose mission is to develop artificial intelligence to benefit “all of humanity” but with for-profit subsidiaries under its control.

Jill Horwitz, a professor in law and medicine at UCLA School of Law who has studied OpenAI, said that when two sides of a joint venture between a nonprofit and a for-profit come into conflict, the charitable purpose must always win out.

“It’s the job of the board first, and then the regulators and the court, to ensure that the promise that was made to the public to pursue the charitable interest is kept,” she said.

Altman recently confirmed that OpenAI is considering a corporate restructure but did not offer any specifics. A source told The Associated Press, however, that the company is looking at the possibility of turning OpenAI into a public benefit corporation. No final decision has been made by the board and the timing of the shift hasn’t been determined, the source said.

In the event the nonprofit loses control of its subsidiaries, some experts think OpenAI may have to pay for the interests and assets that had belonged to the nonprofit. So far, most observers agree OpenAI has carefully orchestrated its relationships between its nonprofit and its various other corporate entities to try to avoid that.

However, they also see OpenAI as ripe for scrutiny from regulators, including the Internal Revenue Service and state attorneys general in Delaware, where its incorporated, and in California, where it operates.

Bret Taylor, chair of the OpenAI nonprofit’s board, said in a statement that the board was focused on fulfilling its fiduciary obligation.

“Any potential restructuring would ensure the nonprofit continues to exist and thrive, and receives full value for its current stake in the OpenAI for-profit with an enhanced ability to pursue its mission,” he said.

Here are the main questions nonprofit experts have:
How could OpenAI convert from nonprofit to for-profit?


Tax-exempt nonprofits sometimes decide to change their status. That requires what the IRS calls a conversion.

Tax law requires money or assets donated to a tax-exempt organization to remain within the charitable sector. If the initial organization becomes a for-profit, generally, a conversion is needed where the for-profit pays the fair market value of the assets to another charitable organization.

Even if the nonprofit OpenAI continues to exist in some way, some experts argue it would have to be paid fair market value for any assets that get transferred to its for-profit subsidiaries.

In OpenAI’s case, there are many questions: What assets belong to its nonprofit? What is the value of those assets? Do they include intellectual property, patents, commercial products and licenses? Also, what is the value of giving up control of the for-profit subsidiaries?

If OpenAI were to diminish the control that its nonprofit has over its other business entities, a regulator may require answers to those questions. Any change to OpenAI’s structure will require it to navigate the laws governing tax-exempt organizations.

Andrew Steinberg, counsel at Venable LLP and a member of the American Bar Association’s nonprofit organizations committee, said it would be an “extraordinary” transaction to change the structure of corporate subsidiaries of a tax-exempt nonprofit.

“It would be a complex, involved process with numerous different legal and regulatory considerations to work through,” he said. “But it’s not impossible.”
Is OpenAI carrying out its charitable mission?

To be granted tax-exempt status, OpenAI had to apply to the IRS and explain its charitable purpose. OpenAI provided The Associated Press a copy of that September 2016 application, which shows how significantly the organization’s plans for its technology and structure have changed.


OpenAI spokesperson Liz Bourgeois said in an email that the organization’s missions and goals remained constant, though the way it’s carried out its mission has evolved alongside advances in technology.

When OpenAI incorporated as a nonprofit in Delaware, it wrote that its purpose was, “to provide funding for research, development and distribution of technology related to artificial intelligence.” In tax filings, it’s also described its mission as building, “general-purpose artificial intelligence (AI) that safely benefits humanity, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return.”

Steinberg said there is no problem with the organization’s plans changing as long as it reported that information on its annual tax returns, which it has.

But some observers, including Elon Musk, who was a board member and early supporter of OpenAI and has sued the organization, are skeptical that it has been faithful to its mission.

The “godfather of AI” Geoffrey Hinton, who was co-awarded the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday, has also expressed concern about OpenAI’s evolution, openly boasting that one of his former students, Ilya Sutskever, who went on to co-found the organization, helped oust Altman as CEO before bringing him back.

“OpenAI was set up with a big emphasis on safety. Its primary objective was to develop artificial general intelligence and ensure that it was safe,” Hinton said, adding that “over time, it turned out that Sam Altman was much less concerned with safety than with profits. And I think that’s unfortunate.”

Sutskever, who led a team focused on AI safety at OpenAI, left the organization in May and has started his own AI company. OpenAI for its part says it is proud of its safety record.

Will OpenAI board members avoid conflicts of interest?

Ultimately, this question returns to the board of OpenAI’s nonprofit, and the extent to which it is acting to further the organization’s charitable mission.

Steinberg said that any regulators looking at a nonprofit board’s decision will be most interested in the process through which it arrived at that decision, not necessarily whether it reached the best decision.

He said regulators, “will often defer to the business judgment of members of the board as long as the transactions don’t involve conflict of interests for any of the board members. They don’t stand to gain financially from the transaction.”

Whether any board members were to benefit financially from any change in OpenAI’s structure could also be of interest to nonprofit regulators.

In response to questions about if Altman might be given equity in the for-profit subsidiary in any potential restructuring, OpenAI board chair Taylor said in a statement, “The board has had discussions about whether it would be beneficial to the company and our mission to have Sam be compensated with equity, but no specific figures have been discussed nor have any decisions been made.”
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The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of AP’s text archives.
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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

TikTok was aware of risks kids and teens face on its platform, legal document alleges


The icon for the video sharing TikTok app is seen on a smartphone, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Marple Township, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

BY HALELUYA HADERO
 October 11, 2024

TikTok was aware that its design features are detrimental to its young users and that publicly touted tools aimed at limiting kids’ time on the site were largely ineffective, according to internal documents and communications exposed in lawsuit filed by the state of Kentucky.

The details are among redacted portions of Kentucky’s lawsuit that contains the internal communications and documents unearthed during a more than two year investigation into the company by various states across the country.

Kentucky’s lawsuit was filed this week, alongside separate complaints brought forth by attorneys general in a dozen states as well as the District of Columbia. TikTok is also facing another lawsuit from the Department of Justice and is itself suing the Justice Department over a federal law that could ban it in the U.S. by mid-January.

The redacted information — which was inadvertently revealed by Kentucky’s attorney general’s office and first reported by Kentucky Public Radio — touches on a range of topics, most importantly the extent to which TikTok knew how much time young users were spending on the platform and how sincere it was when rolling out tools aimed at curbing excessive use.

Beyond TikTok use among minors, the complaint alleges the short-form video sharing app has prioritized “beautiful people” on its platform and has noted internally that some of the content-moderation metrics it has publicized are “largely misleading.”


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The unredacted complaint, which was seen by The Associated Press, was sealed by a Kentucky state judge on Wednesday after state officials filed an emergency motion to seal it.

When reached for comment, TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said: “It is highly irresponsible of the Associated Press to publish information that is under a court seal. Unfortunately, this complaint cherry-picks misleading quotes and takes outdated documents out of context to misrepresent our commitment to community safety.”

“We have robust safeguards, which include proactively removing suspected underage users, and we have voluntarily launched safety features such as default screentime limits, family pairing, and privacy by default for minors under 16,” Haurek said in a prepared statement. “We stand by these efforts.”

TikTok use among young users

The complaint alleges that TikTok has quantified how long it takes for young users to get hooked on the platform, and shared the findings internally in presentations aimed at increasing user-retention rates. The “habit moment,” as TikTok calls it, occurs when users have watched 260 videos or more during the first week of having a TikTok account. This can happen in under 35 minutes since some TikTok videos run as short as 8 seconds, the complaint says.

Kentucky’s lawsuit also cites a spring 2020 presentation from TikTok that concluded that the platform had already “hit a ceiling” among young users. At that point, the company’s estimates showed at least 95% of smartphone users under 17 used TikTok at least monthly, the complaint notes.

TikTok tracks metrics for young users, including how long young users spend watching videos and how many of them use the platform every day. The company uses the information it gleans from these reviews to feed its algorithm, which tailors content to people’s interests, and drives user engagement, the complaint says.
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TikTok does its own internal studies to find out how the platform is impacting users. The lawsuit cites one group within the company, called “TikTank,” which noted in an internal report that compulsive usage was “rampant” on the platform. It also quotes an unnamed executive who said kids watch TikTok because the algorithm is “really good.”

“But I think we need to be cognizant of what it might mean for other opportunities. And when I say other opportunities, I literally mean sleep, and eating, and moving around the room, and looking at somebody in the eyes,” the unnamed executive said, according to the complaint.

Time management tools

TikTok has a 60-minute daily screen time limit for minors, a feature it rolled out in March 2023 with the stated aim of helping teens manage their time on the platform. But Kentucky’s complaint argues that the time limit — which users can easily bypass or disable — was intended more as a public relations tool than anything else.

The lawsuit says TikTok measured the success of the time limit feature not by whether it reduced the time teens spent on the platform, but by three other metrics — the first of which was “improving public trust in the TikTok platform via media coverage.”

Reducing screen time among teens was not included as a success metric, the lawsuit said. In fact, it alleged the company had planned to “revisit the design” of the feature if the time-limit feature had caused teens to reduce their TikTok usage by more than 10%.

TikTok ran an experiment and found the time-limit prompts shaved off just a minute and a half from the average time teens spent on the app — from 108.5 to 107 minutes per day, according to the complaint. But despite the lack of movement, TikTok did not try to make the feature more effective, Kentucky officials say. They allege the ineffectiveness of the feature was, in many ways, by design.

The complaint says a TikTok executive named Zhu Wenjia gave approval to the feature only if its impact on TikTok’s “core metrics” were minimal.

TikTok — including its CEO Shou Chew — have talked about the app’s various time management tools, including videos TikTok sends users to encourage them to get off the platform. But a TikTok executive said in an internal meeting those videos are “useful” talking points, but are “not altogether effective.”

TikTok has ‘prioritized beautiful people’ on its platform

In a section that details the negative impacts TikTok’s facial filters can have on users, Kentucky alleges that TikTok’s algorithm has “prioritized beautiful people” despite knowing internally that content on the platform could “perpetuate a narrow beauty norm.”

The complaint alleges TikTok changed its algorithm after an internal report noted the app was showing a high “volume of ... not attractive subjects” in the app’s main “For You” feed.

“By changing the TikTok algorithm to show fewer ‘not attractive subjects’ in the For You feed, Defendants took active steps to promote a narrow beauty norm even though it could negatively impact their young users,” the complaint says.

TikTok’s ‘leakage’ rates

The lawsuit also takes aim at TikTok’s content-moderation practices.

It cites internal communication where the company notes its moderation metrics are “largely misleading” because “we are good at moderating the content we capture, but these metrics do not account for the content that we miss.”

The complaint notes that TikTok knows it has — but does not disclose — significant “leakage” rates, or content that violates the site’s community guidelines but is not removed or moderated. Other social media companies also face similar issues on their platforms.

For TikTok, the complaint notes the “leakage” rates include roughly 36% of content that normalizes pedophilia and 50% of content that glorifies minor sexual assault.

The lawsuit also accuses the company of misleading the public about its moderation and allowing some popular creators who were deemed to be “high value” to post content that violates the site’s guidelines.

AP FACT CHECK

FACT FOCUS: A look at the false information around Hurricanes Helene and Milton


A tattered American flag flies above flooded homes, from Hurricane Milton along the Alafia river Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Lithia, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)

Connecticut Army National Guard members, accompanied by civilian volunteers, deliver supplies to residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in Burnsville, N.C. (AP Photo/Makiya Seminera)

President Joe Biden, from left, joined by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi, and on screen from left, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell and Vice President Kamala Harris, speaks about the federal government’s response to Hurricanes Milton and Helene, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Washington. Listening from right are White House chief of staff Jeff Zients and White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall.

 (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)


BY MELISSA GOLDIN
October 11, 2024

Back-to-back hurricanes that brought death and devastation to parts of the South were made worse by a wide range of false and misleading information, some of which still circulates even though they have been conclusively proven false.

Coming in the closing weeks of a hard-fought presidential election, the false information became political fodder, particularly in swing states hit hard by Hurricane Helene and then Hurricane Milton. Former President Donald Trump has pushed a litany of false claims at campaign events and on social media with his supporters helping give voice to the information.

Federal, state and local officials, including several Republicans, have condemned the false information, noting that it has made it more difficult to address the needs of those hurt by the hurricanes.

Here’s a look at the facts around some of the most pervasive misinformation.

The government cannot create or manage hurricanes

CLAIM: The government used weather technology to create Hurricanes Helene and Milton, deliberately targeting Republican voters.

THE FACTS: Both hurricanes were natural phenomena. Humans do not have the technology to control such vast weather systems. Hurricanes are hitting many of the same areas they have for centuries.

Fully developed hurricanes release massive amounts of heat energy — the equivalent of a 10-megaton nuclear bomb every 20 minutes, according to National Hurricane Center tropical analysis chief Chris Landsea.

“If meteorologists could stop hurricanes, we would stop hurricanes,” said Kristen Corbosiero, a professor of atmospheric and environmental sciences at the University at Albany. “If we could control the weather, we would not want the kind of death and destruction that’s happened.”

Historical efforts to control hurricanes have failed. For example, between the 1960s and ‘80s, the federal government toyed with the idea of making storms bigger in size but weaker in intensity. But tests were inconclusive and researchers realized if they made storms larger they would put more people at risk. A 1947 attempt by General Electric and the U.S. military in which dry ice was dropped by Air Force planes into the path of a hurricane in an attempt to weaken it also didn’t work.

The federal government was falsely accused of a lack of response following Helene

CLAIM: The federal government did not respond to Hurricane Helene and intentionally withheld aid to victims in Republican areas.

THE FACTS: Both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, have actively supported recovery efforts.

Biden approved major disaster declarations for Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia, allowing survivors to access funds and resources to jumpstart their recovery immediately. The White House announced that the president spoke by phone on Sept. 29 with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp; North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper; Scott Matheson, mayor of Valdosta, Georgia, and Florida Emergency Management Director John Louk. Kemp confirmed on Sept. 30 that he spoke to Biden the night before and that the state was getting everything it needed.

Harris visited FEMA headquarters in Washington on Sept. 30. She called Helene’s devastation “heartbreaking” and vowed that she and Biden would make sure the impacted communities “get what they need to recover.”

The president and vice president have both been to areas impacted by Helene.
Federal officials do not have plans to seize some hard-hit communities

CLAIM: The federal government plans to seize and bulldoze some especially hard-hit communities like Chimney Rock, North Carolina, and prevent residents from rebuilding on their own property.

THE FACTS: That’s not true, according to local officials. Shortly after Chimney Rock was devastated by Helene’s floods, posts began circulating on social media claiming the federal government planned to seize all of the community’s property through eminent domain and not let residents return or rebuild. Some versions of the claim suggested authorities weren’t even going to allow residents to reclaim the bodies of storm victims, or that communities were being seized as part of a federal scheme to gain control of valuable lithium mines nearby.


Far-right extremists and white-supremacist groups picked up the claim on platforms like Telegram and sought to link false claims about the lithium mines to efforts to fight climate change by boosting electric vehicles, which use lithium in their batteries. Officials from both parties who represent the area and are overseeing recovery efforts said none of that is true.

FEMA cannot arbitrarily seize private property or condemn whole communities, and the federal government has no plans to seize mines or force entire towns to relocate.

“I encourage you to remember that everything you see on Facebook, X, or any other social media platform is not always fact. Please make sure you are fact checking what you read online with a reputable source,” U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, a North Carolina Republican, wrote to his constituents in a message debunking several viral claims about the storm.

FEMA assistance of $750 is a starting point for those in need. It does not have to be repaid

CLAIM: Hurricane survivors will only get a $750 loan from FEMA, which will seize their land if they don’t pay it back.

THE FACTS: That’s not true. Keith Turi, acting director of FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery, said that this figure refers to help the agency can give someone in an affected area for immediate needs, like clothing or food.

FEMA wrote on its “Hurricane Rumor Response” page that such payments are called Serious Needs Assistances and can be used while the agency assesses an applicant’s eligibility for additional funds.

The maximum amount for initial Serious Needs Assistance was raised to $770 on Oct. 1. Serious Needs Assistance is a grant that does not need to be repaid. Jaclyn Rothenberg, a FEMA spokesperson, confirmed in an X post that the agency does not “ask for this money back.”

Certain FEMA grants may need to be paid back, although this is less common. For example, if a survivor receives duplicate benefits from insurance or another source.
FEMA is not short of hurricane assistance because it went to other causes

CLAIM: FEMA doesn’t have enough money for hurricane victims because it is being used to help immigrants in the country illegally or going to foreign funding for Israel and Ukraine.

THE FACTS: That’s incorrect. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said Wednesday on MSNBC, “There is the money in my budget — the Disaster Relief Fund — to continue the response efforts for Hurricane Helene and Milton.” She added that the agency will need to assess how much money will be left to continue recovery projects and respond to future storms this season.

FEMA’s disaster relief fund gets replenished every year by Congress and is used to pay for recovery from hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and other disasters. Congress recently replenished the fund with $20 billion — the same amount FEMA got last year. About $8 billion of that is set aside for recovery from previous storms and mitigation projects. It funds foreign military aid separately.

No money from FEMA’s fund has been diverted to support border issues or international concerns and is only being used for disaster-related efforts, according to the agency.
The helicopter that blew supplies around a North Carolina distribution center was attempting to make a delivery

CLAIM: The federal government is flying unmarked helicopters into Hurricane Helene staging zones and purposely destroying aid meant for victims in western North Carolina.

THE FACTS: These claims are based on a video that showed a helicopter flying above a parking lot where hurricane aid was being collected. As it hovered above the area, it kicked up debris and supplies at the site and toppled canopies.

The North Carolina National Guard said in a statement issued on Tuesday that the video shows one of its helicopters attempting to make a generator delivery requested by a local civilian organization to power their supply distribution site. As the helicopter descended into a Burnsville parking lot being used for assistance efforts, it kicked up debris and supplies at the site and toppled canopies. The landing was aborted for safety reasons.


Megan George, a dog trainer and former Coast Guard veteran who first posted the video, told The Associated Press that she did not intend for it to be used as proof of government maleficence, but rather as documentation of a dangerous situation about which she wanted answers.

According to the National Guard statement, the helicopter’s crew has been grounded until an investigation into the incident is complete.
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Associated Press writer David Klepper in Washington contributed to this article.
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Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

MELISSA GOLDIN
Goldin debunks, analyzes and tracks misinformation for The Associated Press. She is based in New York.
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Marriott agrees to pay $52 million, beef up data security to resolve probes over data breaches

A person walks past the San Francisco Marriott Union Square hotel on July 11, 2019, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

BY ALEX VEIGA
 October 9, 2024

Marriott International has agreed to pay $52 million and make changes to bolster its data security to resolve state and federal claims related to major data breaches that affected more than 300 million of its customers worldwide.

The Federal Trade Commission and a group of attorneys general from 49 states and the District of Columbia announced the terms of separate settlements with Marriott on Wednesday. The FTC and the states ran parallel investigations into three data breaches, which took place between 2014 and 2020.

As a result of the data breaches, “malicious actors” obtained the passport information, payment card numbers, loyalty numbers, dates of birth, email addresses and/or personal information from hundreds of millions of consumers, according to the FTC’s proposed complaint.

The FTC claimed that Marriott and subsidiary Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide’s poor data security practices led to the breaches.

Specifically, the agency alleged that the hotel operator failed to secure its computer system with appropriate password controls, network monitoring or other practices to safeguard data.

As part of its proposed settlement with the FTC, Marriott agreed to “implement a robust information security program” and provide all of its U.S. customers with a way to request that any personal information associated with their email address or loyalty rewards account number be deleted.

Marriott also settled similar claims brought by the group of attorneys general. In addition to agreeing to strengthen its data security practices, the hotel operator also will pay $52 million penalty to be split by the states.

In a statement on its website Wednesday, Bethesda, Maryland-based Marriott noted that it made no admission of liability as part of its agreements with the FTC and states. It also said it has already put in place data privacy and information security enhancements.

In early 2020, Marriott noticed that an unexpected amount of guest information was accessed using login credentials of two employees at a franchised property. At the time, the company estimated that the personal data of about 5.2. million guests worldwide might have been affected.

In November 2018, Marriott announced a massive data breach in which hackers accessed information on as many as 383 million guests. In that case, Marriott said unencrypted passport numbers for at least 5.25 million guests were accessed, as well as credit card information for 8.6 million guests. The affected hotel brands were operated by Starwood before it was acquired by Marriott in 2016.

The FBI led the investigation of that data theft, and investigators suspected the hackers were working on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of State Security, the rough equivalent of the CIA.

SPACE/COSMOS

NASA says comet expected to put on show in Earth fly-by


The Comet Neowise is visible in the sky over Shenandoah National Park near Front Royal, Virginia on July 18, 2020. A new comet discovered last year is expected to pass 44 million miles from Earth on Saturday. File Photo by Pat Benic/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 11 (UPI) -- A comet just discovered last year by observers will whizz past Earth from 44 million miles away but leave a trail of dust and gases visible to the naked eye, NASA said.

Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas will make its closest approach to Earth on Saturday and won't be back for about 80,000 years, the space agency said. It is about two miles in diameter and its tail extends millions of miles.

Bill Cooke, of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., said the comet will appear in the sky like a fireball.

"It's not going to zing across the sky like a meteor," Cooke said, according to CNN. "It will just appear to hang there, and it will slowly change position from night to night. If you can see [the comet] with your unaided eye, [using] the binoculars will knock your socks off."

It was discovered by the Purple Mountain Observatory in China and the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, ATLAS, telescope in South Africa. Scientists believe the comet was formed from the Oort Cloud, a spherical shell that surrounds the solar system.

"Bright comets are very rare and are usually newcomers to the inner solar system," Cooke said.

Powerful solar flare to begin producing auroras and possible electrical disruptions


The European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti captured this image showing a golden aurora with a splash of red through the stars during the night of December 13, 2014. A new aurora is expected to be seen through much of the United States Thursday night. File Photo by NASA/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Space weather watchers are expecting a powerful solar flare from the sun to reach Earth Thursday evening giving off a light show of colorful auroras as far south as Alabama and northern California.

According to the National Weather Service's Space Weather Prediction Center, the geomagnetic storm, expected to be seen much farther south than usual, could last through Friday. The flare could also hamper digital communications, the power grid, and satellites.

The solar storm has been classified as a Level 4 on a 1 to 5 scale, by the center, indicating how unusual it is for a solar flare so powerful to reach Earth. NASA said the flare has been classified as an X-1.4,with the X-class noting the most intense flares with the number giving its strength.

"This coronal mass ejection has been analyzed and speed estimates are 1,200 to 1,300 kilometers (746 to 809 miles) per second," said the Space Weather Prediction Center. "We won't know the characteristics of the CME until it arrives 1 million miles from Earth and its speed and magnetic intensity are measured."

Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy occasionally released by the sun into the solar system. While Earth's atmosphere protects the planet from the worst parts of such flares like radiation, it can still play havoc with radio waves and satellite communications but often leaves beautiful auroras.

NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft will scour Jupiter moon for the ingredients for life

A massive NASA spacecraft is ready to set sail for Jupiter and its moon Europa. The craft named Europa Clipper will peer beneath the moon’s icy crust and determine whether conditions there could support life.

This illustration provided by NASA depicts the Europa Clipper spacecraft over the moon, Europa, with Jupiter at background left. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)

This illustration provided by NASA depicts the Europa Clipper spacecraft above the surface of the moon Europa, foreground, and Jupiter behind.

 (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)

BY MARCIA DUNN

 October 12, 2024


CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A NASA spacecraft is ready to set sail for Jupiter and its moon Europa, one of the best bets for finding life beyond Earth.

Europa Clipper will peer beneath the moon’s icy crust where an ocean is thought to be sloshing fairly close to the surface. It won’t search for life, but rather determine whether conditions there could support it. Another mission would be needed to flush out any microorganisms lurking there.

“It’s a chance for us to explore not a world that might have been habitable billions of years ago, but a world that might be habitable today — right now,” said program scientist Curt Niebur.

Its massive solar panels make Clipper the biggest craft built by NASA to investigate another planet. It will take 5 1/2 years to reach Jupiter and will sneak within 16 miles (25 kilometers) of Europa’s surface — considerably closer than any other spacecraft.

Liftoff is targeted for this month aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Mission cost: $5.2 billion.
Europa, the superstar among Jupiter’s many moons

One of Jupiter’s 95 known moons, Europa is almost the size of our own moon. It’s encased in an ice sheet estimated to be 10 miles to 15 miles or more (15 kilometers to 24 kilometers) thick. Scientists believe this frozen crust hides an ocean that could be 80 miles (120 kilometers) or more deep. The Hubble Space Telescope has spotted what appear to be geysers erupting from the surface. Discovered by Galileo in 1610, Europa is one of the four so-called Galilean moons of Jupiter, along with Ganymede, Io and Callisto.


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Seeking conditions that support life

What type of life might Europa harbor? Besides water, organic compounds are needed for life as we know it, plus an energy source. In Europa’s case that could be thermal vents on the ocean floor. Deputy project scientist Bonnie Buratti imagines any life would be primitive like the bacterial life that originated in Earth’s deep ocean vents. “We will not know from this mission because we can’t see that deep,” she said. Unlike missions to Mars where habitability is one of many questions, Clipper’s sole job is to establish whether the moon could support life in its ocean or possibly in any pockets of water in the ice.

Supersized spacecraft

When its solar wings and antennas are unfurled, Clipper is about the size of a basketball court — more than 100 feet (30 meters) end to end — and weighs nearly 13,000 pounds (6,000 kilograms). The supersized solar panels are needed because of Jupiter’s distance from the sun. The main body — about the size of a camper — is packed with nine science instruments, including radar that will penetrate the ice, cameras that will map virtually the entire moon and tools to tease out the contents of Europa’s surface and tenuous atmosphere. The name hearkens to the swift sailing ships of centuries past.

Circling Jupiter to fly by Europa

The roundabout trip to Jupiter will span 1.8 billion miles (3 billion kilometers). For extra oomph, the spacecraft will swing past Mars early next year and then Earth in late 2026. It arrives at Jupiter in 2030 and begins science work the next year. While orbiting Jupiter, it will cross paths with Europa 49 times. The mission ends in 2034 with a planned crash into Ganymede — Jupiter’s biggest moon and the solar system’s too.

Europa flybys pose huge radiation risk

There’s more radiation around Jupiter than anywhere else in our solar system, besides the sun. Europa passes through Jupiter’s bands of radiation as it orbits the gas giant, making it especially menacing for spacecraft. That’s why Clipper’s electronics are inside a vault with dense aluminum and zinc walls. All this radiation would nix any life on Europa’s surface. But it could break down water molecules and, perhaps, release oxygen all the way down into the ocean that could possibly fuel sea life.

Earlier this year, NASA was in a panic that the spacecraft’s many transistors might not withstand the intense radiation. But after months of analysis, engineers concluded the mission could proceed as planned.

Other visitors to Jupiter and Europa

NASA’s twin Pioneer spacecraft and then two Voyagers swept past Jupiter in the 1970s. The Voyagers provided the first detailed photos of Europa but from quite a distance. NASA’s Galileo spacecraft had repeated flybys of the moon during the 1990s, passing as close as 124 miles (200 kilometers). Still in action around Jupiter, NASA’s Juno spacecraft has added to Europa’s photo album. Arriving at Jupiter a year after Clipper will be the European Space Agency’s Juice spacecraft, launched last year.

Ganymede and other possible ocean worlds

Like Europa, Jupiter’s jumbo moon Ganymede is thought to host an underground ocean. But its frozen shell is much thicker — possibly 100 miles (160 kilometers) thick — making it tougher to probe the environment below. Callisto’s ice sheet may be even thicker, possibly hiding an ocean. Saturn’s moon Enceladus has geysers shooting up, but it’s much farther than Jupiter. Ditto for Saturn’s moon Titan, also suspected of having a subterranean sea. While no ocean worlds have been confirmed beyond our solar system, scientists believe they’re out there — and may even be relatively common.

Messages in a cosmic bottle

Like many robotic explorers before it, Clipper bears messages from Earth. Attached to the electronics vault is a triangular metal plate. On one side is a design labeled “water words” with representations of the word for water in 104 languages. On the opposite side: a poem about the moon by U.S. poet laureate Ada Limon and a silicon chip containing the names of 2.6 million people who signed up to vicariously ride along.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Poland’s leader plans to suspend the right to asylum as country faces pressure on Belarus border


 Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk pauses as he speaks, during a news conference following his meeting with Lithuania’s Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte at the government’s headquarters in Vilnius, Lithuania, on March 4, 2024.

 (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis, File)

 October 12, 2024


WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s leader said Saturday that he plans to temporarily suspend the right to asylum as part of a new migration policy, pointing to its alleged abuse by eastern neighbor Belarus and Russia.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that “the state must regain 100% of the control over who enters and leaves Poland,” and that a territorial suspension of the right to asylum will be part of a strategy that will be presented to a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Polish news agency PAP reported.

He didn’t give details, but said at a convention of his Civic Coalition that “we will reduce illegal migration in Poland to a minimum.”

Poland has struggled with migration pressures on its border with Belarus since 2021. Successive Polish governments have accused Belarus and Russia of luring migrants from the Middle East and Africa there to destabilize the West.

Tusk pointed to alleged misuse of the right to asylum “by (Belarusian President Alexander) Lukashenko, by (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, by smugglers, human smugglers, human traffickers. How this right to asylum is used is in exact contradiction to the idea of the right to asylum.”

He said that he would demand recognition of the decision on the right to asylum from the European Union, PAP reported.

Tusk’s comments came after Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said on Thursday that Poland will tighten its visa regulations, stepping up the vetting of applicants. That decision follows an investigation into a cash-for-visas scandal under the country’s previous government.
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Follow AP’s coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

All of Broadway’s theater lights will dim for actor Gavin Creel after an outcry

not dimming all the lights was a “travesty to this brilliant actor who put money in pockets and joy in audiences.”

Gavin Creel, who plays Claude in the musical “Hair”, poses for a picture in New York on April 23, 2009. Creel died Monday of a rare and aggressive form of cancer. He was 48. 

(AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

BY MARK KENNEDY
, October 9, 2024


NEW YORK (AP) — All of Broadway’s marquees will dim to honor the life of Gavin Creel following an outcry by theater fans when only a partial dimming was proposed after the 48-year-old Tony Award-winner’s death last month.

The Committee of Theatre Owners on Wednesday said all 41 Broadway theaters would dim their lights on separate nights for Creel, Adrian Bailey and Maggie Smith. The committee also said it was “reviewing their current dimming policy and procedures.”

The death of Creel on Sept. 30 put the spotlight on the practice of dimming marquee lights after a notable theater figure has died. While giants in the field get all of Broadway theaters dark for a minute, lesser figures may only have partial dimming.

Creel’s death prompted the Committee of Theatre Owners to decide that one theater from every theater owner would dim their lights. An online petition demanding all theaters participate was signed by over 23,000 people.

Actors’ Equity, which represents thousands of performers and stage managers, expressed their concern, saying “everyone who receives the tribute deserves the full tribute.” Playwright Paula Vogel said not dimming all the lights was a “travesty to this brilliant actor who put money in pockets and joy in audiences.”


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Creel was a Broadway musical theater veteran who won a Tony for “Hello, Dolly!” opposite Bette Midler and earned nominations for “Hair” and “Thoroughly Modern Millie.”

Partial dimming in the past has been enacted for theater producer Elizabeth Ireland McCann and Marin Mazzie. The decision on Mazzie was overturned to a full dimming after a similar outcry.

The date for the dimming tribute for Creel and Smith has yet to be announced. The tribute for Bailey, who appeared in 15 Broadway productions, is set for Oct. 17.

WAIT, WHAT?!

Woman pleads guilty to trying to smuggle 29 turtles across a Vermont lake into Canada by kayak


 A male Eastern Box Turtle moves across a path at Wildwood Lake Sanctuary in Harrisburg, Pa., May, 2, 2009. 

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

 October 11, 2024


BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A woman from China pleaded guilty on Friday to attempting to smuggle 29 eastern box turtles, a protected species, across a Vermont lake into Canada by kayak.

Wan Yee Ng, 41, was arrested on the morning of June 28 at an Airbnb in Canaan as she was about to get into an inflatable kayak with a duffle bag on Lake Wallace, according to a Border Patrol agent’s affidavit filed in federal court.

Agents had been notified by Royal Canadian Mounted Police that two other people, including a man who was believed to be her husband, had started to paddle an inflatable watercraft from the Canadian side of the lake toward the United States, according to court documents.

The agents searched her heavy duffle bag and found 29 live eastern box turtles individually wrapped in socks, the affidavit states. Eastern box turtles are known to be sold on the Chinese black market for $1,000 each, the affidavit stated.

Her cellphone was seized, and a search by law enforcement found communications showing that she tried to smuggle the turtles into Canada so that they could eventually be sold for a profit in Hong Kong, according to the plea agreement. Ng, from Hong Kong, was living in Canada.

She pleaded guilty on Friday to one count of unlawfully attempting to export and send 29 eastern box turtles out of the United States, contrary to law. VTDigger first reported on the plea deal.

She is scheduled to be sentenced in December and faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

After 6 decades, Guitar Player magazine to release final print edition

Oct. 10, 2024 


The publication Guitar Player still will exist online at GuitarPlayer.com, where it will continue to publish digital content about guitars, the people who play them and the stories about both. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Guitar Player, the world's most iconic magazine devoted to all aspects of the guitar and published consecutively for close to six decades, is shuttering its print edition.

The publication still will exist online at GuitarPlayer.com, where it will continue to publish digital content about guitars, the people who play them and the stories about both.

"You have witnessed a revolution," Christopher Scapelliti, editor of Guitar Player for the last half dozen years, said of the glossy print magazine, which has become slimmer in recent years, driven by a drop in ad revenue. Other classic publications have faced a similar demise, largely for the same reasons.

"When Guitar Player made its debut 58 years ago in 1967, it marked a new era for guitar," Scapelliti continued. "For the first time, the instrument was celebrated in a regularly published magazine devoted to furthering guitarists, guitar gear and its makers, and guitar virtuosity. What founder Bud Eastman began laid the first stone of an empire that would go on to launch many other magazines -- including Bass Player, Frets and Keyboard -- publish books, release records and videos, and much more."

Guitar Player magazine ran in print for 57 years.

Its maiden edition in 1968 featured an article about a tall, lanky guy with untamed hair from Seattle, a rogue newcomer to the rock scene who had an uncanny ability to pull sounds out of this electric guitar that few had previously achieved. His name: Jimi Hendrix.

For the final edition, on sale October 15th, Guitar Player will close its storied history with a cover story on former Led Zeppelin guitar master and rock and roll legend Jimmy Page, who recently worked with Gibson to release a $50,000 replica of the double-neck guitar he used on Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven." In the piece, Page will discuss re-creating the guitar and the amplifiers he used on the song.

The December issue of Guitar Player, its last, will go on sale next week.

1 Dead, 12 trapped 1,000 feet down rescued following elevator mishap at Colo. mine

Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Twelve people trapped 1,000 feet below ground following an equipment malfunction at a mining tourism site near Colorado Springs, Colo., were rescued Thursday night, authorities said. One person was killed during the incident.

A "mechanical issue" disabled an elevator transporting tourists into the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine Tour in Cripple Creek resulting in the death of one passenger, Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell told reporters.

Eleven others aboard the car were rescued, four suffering minor injuries, when mine operators succeeded in bringing it back up to the surface from the 500-foot level where the mishap occurred.

Twelve adult out-of-state tourists already at the bottom of the mine, 1,000 feet below the surface, were stranded. Mikesell had earlier stated: "They are safe at that level."

They have food, water and blankets available, he said.

Mikesell told reporters during a second press conference Thursday night that all 12 had been rescued from the mine, located in the Rocky Mountains about 35 miles west of Colorado Springs.

He said they were rescued via the elevator system, none were injured and that they were surprised to find out that there were the focus of national media.

"They're all in good spirits. We fed them pizza -- that's what they wanted," he said. "So, there's a good news story at the end of this, and that's really what we were hoping for today.

The dozen people had been trapped for about six hours below ground. Mikesell said those trapped were informed that there was an "elevator issue." Speaking with the victims after being rescued, those who had been trapped told authorities they were "very thankful" to have not been informed of the full extent of the situation, Mikesell explained.

"I think that would have caused a little more of an angst of about how do we get out of here," he said.

Concerning the deceased victim, he said they had died of a "a tragic accident" related to the "malfunction of the elevator."

An investigation will uncover exactly what happened, he said, adding that additional information concerning the deceased victim will be released at a later date, as they are still communicating with the family.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement he was "relieved" the dozen people have been rescued.

"Thanks to this collaborative effort, each of these individuals will return home safely," the governor said.