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Like many Indian American fiction writers working in the shadow of Jhumpa Lahiri, I had to learn that my stories could be different -- in part because America was different, [...]

The Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation announced the finalists for its annual awards and named Sandra Cisneros as the winner of its annual Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award. [...]

Byline: by Vauhini Vara Photographs by Holly Andres much buy ado about nothing How an idealistic community for exchanging free stuff tried to break away from Facebook, and ended up [...]

The National Book Critics Circle has announced the finalists for its literary awards, given each year to outstanding books published in the United States. Percival Everett's Dr. No made the [...]

The Center for Fiction announced the shortlist for its annual First Novel Prize, with seven debut books in the running for the annual $15,000 award. Jessamine Chan was named a [...]

Motherhood taught me how to appreciate tiny gestures toward nonconformism. In kindergarten last school year, my son received an assignment to draw a portrait of his family. He sketched an [...]

Smith wrote this 16 years ago, well before AI text generators existed, but the term she repeats again and again in the essay - "consciousness" - reminded me of the debate among scientists and philosophers about whether AI is, or will ever be, conscious. Some research even suggests that if later AI models are trained using AI-produced text - which would be hard to avoid - the sameness of the material could trigger a scenario called model collapse, in which AI loses its grasp on how real human language functions and is no longer able to form coherent sentences. SIX OR SEVEN years ago, I realized I should learn about artificial intelligence. And while people sometimes romantically describe AI as containing the entirety of human consciousness because of the quantity of text it inhales, even that isn't true; the text used to train AI represents only a narrow slice of the internet, one that reflects the perspective of white, male, anglophone authors more than anyone else. [Extracted from the article]

Absentee ballots, including those printed at Runbeck Election Services in Phoenix, were eventually used to cast votes by about 60 million Americans, more than have ever voted by mail in [...]

Vara's debut novel is set in an alternate reality in which a Board of Corporation rules by algorithm, and the former tech CEO (and the titular King Rao) behind it [...]

As states and cities across the country have closed schools, businesses and public spaces and as governors have ordered residents to stay home as much as possible, millions of Americans [...]

Rockefeller and Clark imagined Buy Nothing sprouting into groups covering ever-smaller geographies until, eventually, so many people were on Buy Nothing that it would be rendered obsolete. Optics-wise, it didn't help that Rockefeller and Clark had started plugging their forthcoming book, The Buy Nothing, GetEverythingPlan, on Buy Nothing's Facebook page. Months earlier, Buy Nothing Inc. had secured trademarks on the phrases "Buy Nothing" and "Buy Nothing Project" and reported the OG group to Facebook for trademark infringement. On Black Friday of 2019 - celebrated in their community as Buy Nothing Day - Rockefeller and Clark posted an announcement on Buy Nothing's main Facebook page: They were building an app called SOOP, for Share on Our Platform. [Extracted from the article]

Hot long ago, Yasin Gunay overheard colleagues at the steel company where he works, Huttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann, in Duisburg, Germany, complaining bitterly about immigration. Chancellor Angela Merkel had accepted hundreds [...]

IN THE SUMMER of 2014, The New York Times published its first-ever marijuana ad. The occasion was the enactment of New York's Compassionate Care Act, which legalized pot for some [...]

The article focuses on the artificial intelligence (AI) startup Element AI, owned by Yoshua Bengio, which is offering competition to Big Tech, an AI company. Topics include Big Tech is stated to have access to so much consumer-oriented data that it's all but impossible for anyone else to compete at building large-scale consumer products, and Element is stated to have signed up some prominent Canadian firms, including the Port of Montreal and Radio Canada.

A cover story is presented that explores opposition to president Donald Trump in Orange County, California. Particular focus is given to how this might impact the fall 2018 midterm elections. Additional topics discussed include the generation of people who came to California from the Midwest for the agriculture and defense industries, grassroots groups in Orange County, skepticism of the Democratic Party after the leak of Democratic National Committee emails during the 2016 Democratic primary, and congressional districts currently held by Republicans including Darrell Issa, Dana Rohrabacher, Mimi Walters, and Ed Royce.

Byline: by Vauhini Vara Illustration by La Tigre Silicon Valley, USA. Can Middle America remake itself in the image of the Bay Area tech scene? One Denver startup finds out. [...]

IN NOVEMBER 2014, OPEC ministers gathered in Vienna for a tense meeting. Oil prices had fallen to their lowest point in four years. For decades, the cartel had responded to [...]

The article offers information on Absentee ballots, including those printed at Runbeck Election Services in Phoenix, were used to cast votes by about 60 million Americans, more then have ever voted by mail in any U.S. election. Topic discusses include the services given by the postal workers involve delivered to the post office in the appropriate district and then sent on the local election office.

ONE COLD EVENING in February 2008, the gusty wind in West Texas dropped to a breeze. At the time, Texas generated more electricity from wind than almost any other state [...]

The article reports on the plan by Microsoft Corp., American technology company, to bring people with autism in the labor force. Topics mentioned include the communication problem by autistic Blake Adickman, his participation at a program by Microsoft Corp. to identify autistic job candidates that is better suited for the styles of their communication, and the insights of Jenny Lay-Flurrie of Microsoft Corp. on the autism unemployment rate. Also mentioned are the several companies that supports employment for people with autism including software company SAP SE, automaker Ford Motor. Co., and Walgreens Co., drug retailing chain. It also adds the importance of autism employment opportunities.

The article offers information on how Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, the founder of the online marketplace where chief executive officers (CEOs) search for board candidates the Boardist, prevent gender disparity in the boardrooms and have more women in the board of directors of startup companies in the U.S. The topics discussed include the views of Cassidy on how the lack of female board of directors can affect the company's performance, the services offered by the Boardist, and the advice of Lynn Vojvodich, the marketing officer of cloud computing company Salesforce, on how women can get the right seat in the company's board rooms.

The article discusses the initiative of Pinterest towards varied, diverse and more creative teams for better products and greater success. Realizing that the company hasn't made any changes on the diversity pattern of its employees, it took ambitious measures to improve the statistics of its employees' gender and race. The cofounder Evan Sharp used creativity angle to sell employees on diversity measures including females and underrepresented ethnic minorities. It has also partnered with consulting firm Paradigm towards company's diversity measures of human resources.

Personal narratives are presented in which working-class individuals reflect on their working conditions and experiences with social change.

An interview of computer scientist and entrepreneur Andrew Ng is presented. He discusses his role in the artificial intelligence (AI) businesses Landing AI. His previous roles working for the internet firms Baidu Inc. and Google Inc. are addressed. His venture capital fund AI Fund is described. He shares his views on a universal basic income and education.

The article covers research on U.S. cities and the impact of the high technologies industry on their population and employment rates. It found that cities in California such as San Jose and San Francisco have benefited from hosting highly digital employment with higher wages while other cities have closed the gap as technology is incorporated into more occupations.

A personal narrative is presented which explores the author's experience of being a contestant in the Scripp National Spelling Bee held in Washington D.C. in May 2017 dealing on topics including Nihar Janga, Jairam Hathwar and Indian American teenagers.

The article discusses reinvention in the local journalism and an event that featured a pop singer, an experimental dancer that ripped the sheet of music notation, and an opera singer. Topics discussed include organizer of the event Chris Sopher, who is chief executive officer (CEO) at the New Tropic, advertisement of the event on the website of the New Tropic, and a newsletter that included a smiley wearing sunglasses.