Here’s what we have for you today:
• Closing in
• Pharma farming
• AI agreement
Private companies following in
First: Banks face requirements to hold more capital as a cushion against risky activities from both US and international regulators.
Hindsight: After the 2008 financial crisis, heightened rules forced banks to pull back from activities including mortgages and student loans.
The gobble: For corporations and institutions, acquisitions and other huge loans are now increasingly funded by large private equity organizations like Apollo and Blackstone.
Big pharma battling US administration
Legal battle: Johnson & Johnson sued the US Biden administration over Medicare’s new powers to slash drug prices, making it the third pharmaceutical company to challenge the Inflation Reduction Act.
Apparently: The controversial provision of the Inflation Reduction Act aims to make drugs more affordable for older Americans but will likely reduce pharmaceutical industry profits.
For profit: The company claims this violates Fifth Amendment protections against the government seizing private property without just compensation.
Artificial intelligence agreement for now
2023 looks like: Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., Microsoft Corp., and OpenAI agreed to put new artificial intelligence systems through internal and external testing before their release and ask outside teams to probe their systems for flaws.
The agreement: US White House aides say the pledge helps balance the promise of artificial technology against the risks, and is the result of months of intensive behind-the-scenes lobbying.
At the moment: In Europe, where the EU’s AI Act is far ahead of anything passed by the US Congress, leaders have recognized the need for voluntary commitments from companies before binding law is in place.