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Google has purchased Edlyft’s AI tutor – a generative AI co-pilot for college students studying computer science. Erika Hairston and Arnelle Ansong, two long-time friends, founded Edlyft in 2020 to support Black college students and adults enrolled in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses. Their digital platform connects learners to inclusive mentorship, online group tutoring, live and recorded sessions, and personalized study tools, enabling them to succeed in their classes and secure high-paying jobs. Over the past two years, Edlyft collaborated with Google through their Google Tech Exchange, teaching applied data structures to Historically

OpenAI has responded to Congresswoman Barbara Lee and the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) after they flagged the lack of diversity on its board. The CBC’s Letter In mid-December, CBC Chairs Rep. Emanuel Cleaver and Lee sent a letter to OpenAI to diversify its board after the ouster and return of CEO Sam Altman. Altman’s return led to the departure of the board’s only two women, Helen Toner and Tasha McCauley. Thus, the tech company had only white male members on its board. In the letter, the pair outlined A’s increasing advancement, which creates

UK-based Black-owned platform Sojo has become the first fashion repairs and alterations platform to achieve B Corp certification. Certified B Corps are companies verified by B Lab to meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. The B Corp Community is a global movement of businesses that provide leadership by demonstrating their commitment to people and the planet. There are over 7,800 B Corps worldwide, across 161 industries in 92 countries, with over 708,300 workers. Sojo achieved 86.8 points, above the B Corp pass mark of 80 and

Alinea Invest has received $3.4 million in seed funding just in time for the launch of their virtual AI assistant to help users with their investing needs. Alinea Invest After interning at Goldman Sachs, Eve Halimi and Anam Lakhani, co-founders of Alinea, realized the need for a female-focused investing app to guide women in making investments and managing their wealth. “The pain point we saw is that people like us who are young women, Gen Zs, children of immigrants, they have no idea where to start,” Lakhani told TechCrunch. “Financial literacy is a massive pain

Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times laid off more than 115 journalists, more than 20% of its newsroom. Several journalists of color have been affected by the cuts, which the Los Angeles Times Guild says the company could have prevented. LA Times Layoffs “The company has reneged on its promises to diversify its ranks since young journalists of color have been disproportionately affected,” said the Los Angeles Times Guild in a statement. “The Black, AAPI, and Latino Caucuses have suffered devastating losses. Voluntary buyouts could have helped prevent this, but that’s not

Uber has hired Snaps Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Oona King as their new Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. Meet Oona King Oona King is a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) executive with over twenty years of experience. King has made her mark in several companies, including the Chief Diversity Officer at Channel 4 for over seven years, Global Director of Diverse Marketing at YouTube, and Director of Diversity Strategy at Google. She also became the second Black woman elected to the British Parliament in 1997 and was an advisor

A group of 18 senators sent the Department of Justice (DOJ) a letter raising concerns about the agency’s funding and oversight of what they called “frequently inaccurate” facial recognition software. The group highlighted that law enforcement has widely used facial recognition and other biometric technologies. However, they stated that these technologies can be unreliable and inaccurate, especially concerning race and ethnicity. The senators, led by Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin and Sen. Raphael Warnock, suggested that the DOJ funding for the deployment of the technology is potentially a problem. They also

Spelman College has made history on its 100th birthday as the recipient of a $100 million donation: the largest-ever single gift to a historically Black college. The college is based in Atlanta and is a historically Black liberal arts college for women. The donation came from businesswoman and philanthropist Ronda Stryker and her husband, William Johnston – the chairman of the wealth management company Greenleaf Trust. Stryker has been a Spelman College Trustee since 1997 and a member of Harvard Medical School’s board of fellows member. She is also the granddaughter

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a major player in the accounting industry, has recently revised its diversity and inclusion initiatives in response to legal and social pressures in the United States. With a workforce of 46,000 in the U.S., PwC’s adaptations signal a significant shift in corporate diversity strategies. The firm has altered its approach following a Supreme Court ruling against race-conscious university admissions, which has wider implications for employment practices. This change has led PwC to eliminate race-based criteria in its student internship program and professional accounting exam preparation scholarships. These initiatives

Venture capital (VC) funding for Black entrepreneurs in the US has been decreasing since a peak following George Floyd’s murder in 2020. In 2023, Black founders in the US got only 0.48% of all venture dollars, about $661 million out of $136 billion, TechCrunch reports. This is the lowest in recent years. Peak funding in 2021 In 2020, Black founders received 0.6% of venture funding. By the first half of 2021, funding to Black entrepreneurs in the US reached nearly $1.8 billion, a fourfold increase compared to the same time

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