Eightfold AI is at the center of a new lawsuit filed by job seekers who want greater transparency into how artificial intelligence evaluates job applicants. Two women with STEM backgrounds have filed the lawsuit alleging that Eightfold’s AI unfairly screened them out of roles for which they were qualified at companies such as Microsoft and PayPal , according to a news release from law firm Outten & Golden. The plaintiffs argue that AI-powered hiring systems should be regulated under the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970, the same law that governs credit bureaus, because these AI tools collect personal data and significantly influence employment decisions. Erin Kistler, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, has decades of experience in the technology industry, The New York Times reports . Yet after applying to thousands of jobs in the past year, with several applications processed through Eightfold’s software system, only 0.3% resulted in a follow-up or interview, she shared. “I...

The founders of whiskey brand Uncle Nearest have filed an emergency motion challenging the ongoing receivership of the company. The motion, filed Tuesday, Jan. 20, by Grant Sidney Inc. and married couple Fawn and Keith Weaver with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, requests an expedited evidentiary hearing over several days to determine if the receivership is still needed, according to the Moore County Observer. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Uncle Nearest was placed under receivership in August 2025 after reportedly defaulting on more than $108 million in loans from Farm Credit Mid-America. The Weavers have attributed the default to former Chief Financial Officer Mike Senzaki, who allegedly inflated barrel inventory, leading to a $24 million credit increase, per the outlet. U.S. District Judge Charles E. Atchley Jr. appointed Tennessee attorney Phillip G. Young Jr. as receiver of the company. Young currently manages the Shelbyville, TN, distillery, as...

A new bill has been passed that considers AI’s presence in small businesses. AI for Main Street Act Explained In October 2025, the AI for Main Street Act was introduced by Rep. Mark Alford (Republican for Missouri’s 4th District) and Rep. Hillary Scholten (Democrat for Michigan’s 3rd District). The bipartisan bill ensures that the Small Business Administration’s Small Business Development Centers will assist small businesses in adopting and evaluating AI by providing information, guidance, and training, per a press release shared by Rep. Alford’s office. The desired outcomes, outlined in the legislation, are to ensure small businesses understand best practices for using AI; can integrate it into business operations; and can plan for unexpected circumstances, protect data and intellectual property, improve cybersecurity, and increase customer trust, among others. In the press release, Rep. Scholten noted the legislation would ensure small businesses “aren’t being left behind” as new...

The Gates Foundation and OpenAI are committing $50 million to African health clinics. Horizon1000 Fortune reports that the companies have launched a collaborative initiative called “ Horizon1000 ,” which aims to leverage AI to improve healthcare across sub-Saharan Africa, beginning in Rwanda. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Gates described the initiative as a “ game-changer for expanding access to quality care,” according to the Financial Times. The $50 million commitment will provide funding and AI tools to improve workflows at 1,000 primary healthcare clinics by 2028, reports the outlet. The effort comes as sub-Saharan Africa faces a shortage of around six million healthcare workers, leaving many patients without adequate administrative support or care. The gap has contributed to increased mortality rates and could undermine 25 years of progress in global health, Fortune reports. In Rwanda, there is one healthcare worker for every 1,000 people, far...

Bristol Myers Squibb and Microsoft will partner for medical advancements in lung cancer. An agreement was signed that will allow biopharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb to benefit from Microsoft’s AI-enabled radiology platform that can detect lung cancer in its early stages, Reuters reports. The drugmaker markets itself as a global leader in addressing complex diseases such as cancer and HIV, per its website . This agreement between the two will open doors for the deployment of radiology AI algorithms via Microsoft’s Precision Imaging Network — tools that have been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration , according to a press release. The network can analyze X-ray and CT images, which is helpful in detecting lung nodules sometimes difficult to recognize, the release added. The technology would also contribute to the improvement of radiologists’ workflows and be used by the majority of U.S. hospitals, per the release. “By combining Microsoft’s highly scalable...

The Trump administration has unveiled a new healthcare plan. Great Healthcare Plan Explained According to a press release from the White House, it is introducing the Great Healthcare Plan to reduce insurance premiums, cut prescription drug prices, ensure big insurance companies are held accountable, and increase price transparency for millions of Americans by requiring hospitals or insurers that accept Medicare or Medicaid to post their pricing. The plan will reportedly provide Americans with money directly through their healthcare savings accounts, so that they can purchase their own healthcare plans as opposed to the funds being sent to insurance companies, Big Pharma, and special interest groups, the press release states. President Donald Trump addressed Obamacare as well, claiming it led to people paying more for health care each year and seeing higher premiums. The Great Healthcare Plan will reportedly fund a Cost Sharing Reduction program and slash premiums on several of “the...

Caine Ardayfio is betting on superintelligence. The founder began coding in eighth grade after his father introduced him to it. This led him down a rabbit hole of creating various websites and apps, and even learning about ethical hacking. When he was a high school senior, he launched his first startup focused on mental health , inspired by his sister. He even raised $100,000 and hired a small team, he told AFROTECH™ in an interview . Mira Today, Ardayfio is focusing on his next move in technology. He has paused his education at Harvard University for Mira, a startup disrupting the wearable technology space with AI glasses that “just sit in on your conversations to help make you smarter throughout the day,” according to Ardayfio. The company was co-founded with AnhPhu Nguyen, whom Ardayfio met at Harvard’s makerspace. Together, they built projects including flamethrowers, robotic tentacles, and smart glasses, which garnered 80 million views and helped build the foundation for Mira,...

The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia, celebrated the platform’s 25th anniversary by announcing new partnerships with several leading technology and AI companies. In a news release issued Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, the foundation shared that Ecosia, Microsoft, Mistral AI, Perplexity , Pleias, and ProRata have joined existing tech partners — including Amazon, Google, and Meta — to support Wikipedia’s sustainability. Wikipedia And The AI Age Under the agreements, partner companies will be able to access content from Wikimedia projects at customized volumes and speeds, notes the release. The partnerships are part of Wikimedia Enterprise, a program that allows companies to pay for structured access to Wikipedia’s data to develop and train AI models. “Wikipedia shows that knowledge is human, and knowledge needs humans. Especially now, in the age of AI, we need the human-powered knowledge of Wikipedia more than ever,” Selena Deckelmann, Wikimedia...

Google Gemini is becoming more personalized with a new feature that tailors chatbot responses using data from users’ connected apps. Josh Woodward, Google’s vice president of Google Labs, Gemini, and AI Studio, announced the opt-in feature — called Personal Intelligence — in a blog post on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. The update allows Gemini to draw on information from apps such as Gmail, YouTube , Google Search, and Google Photos to deliver more relevant and contextual responses. “Personal Intelligence has two core strengths: reasoning across complex sources and retrieving specific details from, say, an email or photo to answer your question,” per the blog post. “It often combines these, working across text, photos, and video to provide uniquely tailored answers.” How Personal Intelligence Works In the blog post, Woodward shared several examples of how his “daily life has gotten easier” since using Personal Intelligence. In one instance, he asked Gemini for help buying new tires for...

Here’s the latest on the Verizon outage. Is Verizon Still Down? WSFA 12 News reports that many U.S. customers were unable to call, text, or access cellular data since their phones went into SOS mode as a result of a disruption in Verizon’s wireless network on Wednesday. According to Downdetector, more than 175,000 customers reported outages by 12:51 p.m. ET. The outage lasted nearly 10 hours and impacted more than 1.5 million customers, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. Areas affected include New York City, southern New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Francisco, Boston, and Houston, per USA Today. “It’s frustrating, especially when I pay a three-hundred-dollar Verizon phone bill,” Ernesto Lake, a truck driver passing through Alabama, expressed to WSFA 12 News. “I rely on my devices — my tablet for GPS and my phone for communication.” Wednesday evening, Verizon notified customers, “the outage has been resolved,” per the Tallahassee Democrat. Verizon...

There are mixed reactions to former New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ cryptocurrency token. Adams has been in favor of cryptocurrency, even opting to receive his first three paychecks as New York City mayor in cryptocurrency, according to information on the token’s website. This action was intended to signal that New York was poised to lead the “blockchain revolution.” Now, Adams has announced plans for the “NYC Token.” Fortune reports that he had intended to use cryptocurrency with the overarching goal of combating violence, educating children, and to address antisemitism. He unveiled the NYC Token, a cryptocurrency designed to support funding for the aforementioned areas, on Monday, Jan. 12, during a press conference. “We want to make sure everyday New Yorkers can invest and create an atmosphere they want to see in their city,” Adams said at the time, according to the outlet. However, it was unclear how the cryptocurrency would carry out those goals. Adams did not provide details on...

Meta has announced it is reducing its workforce. In January 2025, Meta said it would lay off 3,600 employees, nearly 5% of its workforce, who were classified as “low performers,” as AFROTECH™ previously reported. This announcement came as the company was preparing for its most “ intense year, ” according to the internal memo that CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted, sharing news of the workforce reduction. “Meta is working on building some of the most important technologies of the world,” Zuckerberg said at the time, according to CNBC. “AI, glasses as the next computing platform and the future of social media.” Layoffs In Reality Labs Division In 2026, Meta announced another round of layoffs, according to The New York Times. Its Reality Labs division — which develops augmented and virtual reality products, including Meta’s metaverse virtual-reality world and Meta’s Ray-Ban sunglasses — will primarily be affected. The tech company plans to lay off up 10% of employees, per the outlet . Reality...

Paramount Skydance is still pursuing the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, Netflix agreed to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) in a deal valued at approximately $82.7 billion (equity value of $72.0 billion). The deal was described as one that would define the “ next century of storytelling ” and was approved unanimously by both companies’ boards of directors. Paramount Skydance also shared that it had expressed intent to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery with an “ all-cash tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc , ” amounting to $30.00 per share, equating to an enterprise value of $108.4 billion, as AFROTECH™ reported separately. Paramount said it had submitted six proposals to Warner Bros. Discovery over a 12-week period, which had not gained the company’s attention, prompting outreach to its shareholders and board of directors. Paramount Skydance also stated it believes its offer would be more...

Uncle Nearest receiver Phillip G. Young Jr. wants to seal a report on the company’s quarterly performance, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, the award-winning whiskey brand owned by married couple Fawn and Keith Weaver went under receivership in August 2025 as a result of claims from lender Farm Credit Mid-America that the venture had defaulted on more than $108 million in loans. The Weavers have pointed to Uncle Nearest’s former chief financial officer, Mike Senzaki, claiming he inflated the company’s whiskey barrel inventory, among other claims of mishandling funds, according to a another article from AFROTECH™. Young now oversees Uncle Nearest’s assets as its receiver, including a distillery in Shelbyville, TN, as well as real estate holdings, intellectual property, affiliated ventures, and related entities. In November 2025, Uncle Nearest was “moving toward a potential permanent disposition of the defendant’s assets,” per a separate...

Instagram is addressing confusion after some users reported receiving unexpected password reset emails in recent days. In a statement posted on X on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, the social media platform owned by Meta Platforms said there was no security breach and that users can safely ignore the emails. “We fixed an issue that let an external party request password reset emails for some people,” Instagram wrote. “There was no breach of our systems and your Instagram accounts are secure. You can ignore those emails — sorry for any confusion.” The clarification follows reports from users who received the password reset messages on Friday, Jan. 9. AFROTECH™ reviewed one of the emails sent to affected users. “Hi [username], We got a request to reset your Instagram password,” the email reads, followed by a prompt encouraging users to take action. “If you ignore this message, your password will not be changed. If you didn’t request a password reset, let us know.” Screenshots taken via...