Discounts, Guarantees and the Search for ‘Good’ Genes: The Booming Fertility Business

Alyssa, 3, walks by her mother, Julie Schlomer, as she comforts her twin brother, Logan, after he became upset about going down a slide at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore during a special families event hosted by Shady Grove Fertility, the Rockville clinic that helped Schlomer have the children via a shared egg donor and in vitro fertilization. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post)
Alyssa, 3, walks by her mother, Julie Schlomer, as she comforts her twin brother, Logan, after he became upset about going down a slide at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore during a special families event hosted by Shady Grove Fertility, the Rockville clinic that helped Schlomer have the children via a shared egg donor and in vitro fertilization. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post)
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Discounts, Guarantees and the Search for ‘Good’ Genes: The Booming Fertility Business

Alyssa, 3, walks by her mother, Julie Schlomer, as she comforts her twin brother, Logan, after he became upset about going down a slide at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore during a special families event hosted by Shady Grove Fertility, the Rockville clinic that helped Schlomer have the children via a shared egg donor and in vitro fertilization. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post)
Alyssa, 3, walks by her mother, Julie Schlomer, as she comforts her twin brother, Logan, after he became upset about going down a slide at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore during a special families event hosted by Shady Grove Fertility, the Rockville clinic that helped Schlomer have the children via a shared egg donor and in vitro fertilization. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post)

When Julie Schlomer got the news that she was finally pregnant at the age of 43, her thoughts turned to the other mothers. There were three of them in all, complete strangers, but they shared an extraordinary bond made possible by 21st-century medicine and marketing.

They were all carrying half-siblings.

Under a cost-saving program offered by Rockville-based Shady Grove Fertility, the women split 21 eggs harvested from a single donor — blue-eyed, dark-haired, with a master’s degree in teaching. Each had the eggs fertilized with her partner’s sperm and transferred to her womb.

Schlomer gave birth to twins, a son and daughter, now 3. She hopes her children will one day connect with their genetic half-siblings.

“I would love to see pictures of the other kids, to talk to them,” Schlomer said.

The multibillion-dollar fertility industry is booming, and experimenting with business models that are changing the American family in new and unpredictable ways. Would-be parents seeking donor eggs and sperm can pick and choose from long checklists of physical and intellectual characteristics. Clinics now offer volume discounts, package deals and 100 percent guarantees for babymaking that are raising complicated ethical and legal questions.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 12 percent of American women 15 to 55 — 7.3 million — have used some sort of fertility service; the use of assisted reproductive technologies has doubled in the past decade. In 2015, these procedures resulted in nearly 73,000 babies — 1.6 percent of all US births. The rate is even higher in some countries, including Japan (5 percent) and Denmark (10 percent).

Most couples use their own eggs and sperm, turning to doctors to facilitate pregnancy through techniques such as in vitro fertilization (IVF). But the use of donor gametes is on the rise. The donor-egg industry, in particular, has taken off in the past decade with the development of a safe and reliable egg-freezing process. The number of attempted pregnancies with donor eggs has soared from 1,800 in 1992 to almost 21,200 in 2015.

Yet in the United States, the industry remains largely self-regulated. Questions abound about the recruitment of donors; the ethics of screening and selecting embryos for physical characteristics; the ownership of the estimated millions of unused eggs, sperm samples and embryos in long-term storage; and the emerging ability to tinker with embryos via the gene-editing tool CRISPR.

Earlier this year, a group of donor-conceived adults documented numerous ethical lapses in the industry, including donors who lied to prospective parents about their health histories and other qualifications, and clinics that claimed to have limited donations from some individuals — while permitting those individuals to submit hundreds of samples. They called on the Food and Drug Administration to provide more oversight of the “cryobanks” that gather, store and sell the most precious commodities in the industry — sperm and eggs.

The agency said it is reviewing the matter, but cannot predict when it will have a response “due to the existence of other FDA priorities.”

In the meantime, the business of assisted reproduction remains a mostly unregulated frontier. Shady Grove Fertility, the nation’s largest clinic, offers refunds if couples don’t go home with a baby. New Hope Fertility in New York City held a lottery earlier this year that awarded 30 couples a $30,000 round of IVF. And the California IVF Fertility Center is pioneering what some refer to as the “Costco model” of babymaking, creating batches of embryos using donor eggs and sperm that can be shared among several different families.

That model has served to highlight a preference among many would-be parents for tall, thin, highly-educated donors.

“It’s a little unsettling to be marketing characteristics as potentially positive in a future child,” said Rebecca Dresser, a bioethicist at Washington University in St. Louis and a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics under George W. Bush. “But it’s hard to think on what basis to prohibit that.”

And so, Dresser said, “what we have now is prospective parents making judgments about what they think ‘good’ genes are” — decisions that are literally changing the face of the next generation.

Choosing baby’s traits
When little Louise Joy Brown, the world’s first test-tube baby, came screaming into the world at 5 pounds 12 ounces in 1978, her birth was greeted with as much fear as hope. IVF success rates were low, and some doctors expressed concern about possible harm to the baby and mother. The Roman Catholic Church worried that IVF would lead to the creation of “baby factories.”

Nearly 40 years and 6.5 million assisted births later, the procedures are considered mainstream medicine. And the basic building blocks of human life — sperm and egg — can be found for sale online with a simple Google search.

Prospective parents can filter and sort potential donors by race and ethnic background, hair and eye color, and education level. They also can get much more personal information: audio of the donor’s voice, photos of the donor as a child and as an adult, and written responses to questions that read like college-application essays.

Want your sperm donor to have a B.A. in political science? Want your egg donor to love animals? Want the genes of a Division I athlete? All of these are possible. Prospective parents overwhelmed by all the choices can leave it to the heavens and pick a donor by astrological sign.

A prescreened vial of sperm sells for as little as $400 and can be shipped via FedEx. A set of donor eggs — as many as 30, depending on the donor — can cost $10,000 or more to compensate for the risky and invasive medical procedure required to harvest eggs from the donor’s ovaries.

Fertility companies freely admit that specimens from attractive donors go fast, but it’s intelligence that drives the pricing: Many companies charge more for donors with a graduate degree.

Talent sells, too. One cryobank, Family Creations, which has offices in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Austin and other large cities, notes that a 23-year-old egg donor “excels in calligraphy, singing, modeling, metal art sculpting, painting, drawing, shading and clay sculpting.” A 29-year-old donor “excels in softball, tennis, writing and dancing.”

The Seattle Sperm Bank categorizes its donors into three popular categories: “top athletes,” “physicians, dentists and medical residents,” and “musicians.”

And the Fairfax Cryobank in Northern Virginia, one of the nation’s largest, typically stocks sperm from about 500 carefully vetted donors whose profiles read like overeager suitors on a dating site: Donor No. 4499 “enjoys swimming, fencing and reading and writing poetry.” Donor No. 4963 “is an easygoing man with a quick wit.” Donor No. 4345 has “well-developed pectorals and arm muscles.”

Some companies offer a face-matching service that finds donors who look most like the prospective mom or dad. Or, if they prefer, like Jennifer Lawrence. Or Taye Diggs. Or any other famous person they want their offspring to resemble.

A money-back guarantee
Before they decided to use donor eggs, Schlomer and her husband, Ryan, had been trying to have a baby for two agonizing years. Their insurance paid for those early infertility treatments, but nothing worked. Not intrauterine insemination (which involves having a doctor place sperm inside the uterus during ovulation), not hormone injections, not acupuncture, not herbs.

The couple, from Lexington Park, Md., about 60 miles east of the District on the Chesapeake Bay, was psychologically ready to take the next step. But a set of eggs and up to six attempts at embryo transfers cost $55,000 — none of it covered by insurance.

“I thought it was crazy high. There is no way I could pay for that,” Schlomer recalled. While they both had steady incomes — she as a government contractor in information technology and he as an aerospace engineer for the Navy — they were far from wealthy.

But as they studied the material from Shady Grove Fertility, they discovered that the clinic offered a huge range of payment options, neatly outlined in a nine-by-six grid, 54 possibilities in all. If Schlomer split the eggs with one other mother, the cost would go down to $39,000. If she split the eggs with two other mothers, the cost would be $30,500.

Schlomer’s husband noticed that they could cut the cost even more, to $24,500, if they agreed to use only one set of eggs and forgo the right to ask for more.

Schlomer initially was put off by the idea of sharing; she feared that her offspring could unknowingly meet a half-sibling and fall in love. But more research reassured her that such a meeting was mathematically unlikely, even for half-siblings living in the same geographic area.

What sealed the deal was the money-back guarantee. If Schlomer didn’t get pregnant or they opted to stop, they would get a refund.

This guarantee is the hallmark of Shady Grove. Clinic co-founder Michael Levy, who now serves as the company’s president, drew criticism when he pioneered the model decades ago. “People were calling it ‘contingency medicine’ and saying it is unethical,” he recalled.

Today, he said, about three-fourths of programs nationally offer some kind of guarantee, adding, “I think it’s probably been our most important contribution to the field.”

The Schlomers drained their savings account, borrowed $10,000 from their 401(k) retirement fund and sold a Toyota Prius. Then they set aside a quiet weekend to look for a donor.
Schlomer had two main criteria: One, the donor had to have blue eyes. While her eyes are green, she was charmed by the idea of a child with blue eyes.

Second, the donor had to have a graduate degree. While neither she nor her husband studied beyond the undergraduate level, she explained, “Who doesn’t want smart children?”

She found 12 matches and looked at their profiles. A few of them, she noticed, used horrible grammar in their written responses to some standard profile questions. Those were the first to go. She also crossed off donors with hereditary health issues.

That left two. In the end, they went with the one whose personality spoke most to Julie.

The donor said she was a “homebody” who loves taking pictures and being with family on the beach. Her personal goals, she wrote, include being “the best possible mom I can be for my children. I want to be ‘present’ when I am with them and invest into their lives. . . . I want my life to matter.”

Schlomer put in the order, and it wasn’t long before the clinic found two more women to join her group. Within a few weeks, the eggs were harvested from the donor, fertilized and implanted.

Alyssa and Logan were born in 2013. Both have very blue eyes — “beautiful, big, giant blue eyes,” Schlomer said — and have been very healthy. “They don’t even get colds,” she said. She is grateful that there’s no chance they inherited lupus, a serious autoimmune disorder in which the body attacks its own organs and tissue, that she inherited from her mom.

In the years since, Schlomer has thought about how to tell them the story of their birth.

“I believe babies choose their mothers,” she said. “So I have the same children that I would have had if they had come from my own eggs. They just have a few different physical characteristics.”

“I’m thrilled with the results, as it turns out,” she added.

The Schlomers purchased two books for the twins: “Before You Were Born: Our Wish for a Baby” and “A Tiny Itsy Bitsy Gift of Life, An Egg Donor Story,” which their father occasionally reads at bedtime.

When the time is right, Schlomer thinks she will explain that they are “high-tech babies” and impress on them the importance of memorizing their donor number, in case they happen to “run into another donor-egg kid.”

“I know it’s a really slim chance,” she said. “But I want them to be aware, just in case.”

(The Washington Post)



Nvidia Set to Become First US Chipmaker Valued at Over $1 Trillion 

Nvidia's Grace Hopper superchips are displayed at Gigabyte during COMPUTEX Taipei, one of the world's largest computer and technology trade shows, in Taipei, Taiwan May 30, 2023. (Reuters)
Nvidia's Grace Hopper superchips are displayed at Gigabyte during COMPUTEX Taipei, one of the world's largest computer and technology trade shows, in Taipei, Taiwan May 30, 2023. (Reuters)
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Nvidia Set to Become First US Chipmaker Valued at Over $1 Trillion 

Nvidia's Grace Hopper superchips are displayed at Gigabyte during COMPUTEX Taipei, one of the world's largest computer and technology trade shows, in Taipei, Taiwan May 30, 2023. (Reuters)
Nvidia's Grace Hopper superchips are displayed at Gigabyte during COMPUTEX Taipei, one of the world's largest computer and technology trade shows, in Taipei, Taiwan May 30, 2023. (Reuters)

Nvidia Corp was on track on Tuesday to breach $1 trillion in market capitalization for the first time, making it the first US chipmaker to join the trillion-dollar club.

The company's shares were last up 3.8% at $404.17 in premarket trading.

Meta, valued at about $670 billion as of last close, clinched the trillion-dollar market capitalization milestone in 2021, while Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc, Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc are the other US companies that are part of the club.

AI took center stage after Nvidia stunned investors with a revenue forecast that surpassed analysts' expectations by more than 50%.

The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index closed at its highest in over a year last week after Nvidia's stellar results powered other chipmakers higher.


EV Charging Stations Increased 60% Across UAE in 3 Years

UAE Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Suhail al-Mazrouei speaks at the second edition of the Electric Vehicles Innovation Summit (EVIS2023). (WAM)
UAE Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Suhail al-Mazrouei speaks at the second edition of the Electric Vehicles Innovation Summit (EVIS2023). (WAM)
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EV Charging Stations Increased 60% Across UAE in 3 Years

UAE Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Suhail al-Mazrouei speaks at the second edition of the Electric Vehicles Innovation Summit (EVIS2023). (WAM)
UAE Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Suhail al-Mazrouei speaks at the second edition of the Electric Vehicles Innovation Summit (EVIS2023). (WAM)

UAE Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Suhail al-Mazrouei revealed that the country's electric vehicle (EV) charging stations had risen nearly 60 percent over the past three years.

Mazrouei pointed to a noticeable increase in EV sales, which aligns with the ambitious plans, qualitative initiatives, and incentives provided by the government to encourage the conversion to electric vehicles.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Electric Vehicles Innovation Summit (EVIS2023), the minister said that the increase in the shift towards electric vehicles will contribute to reducing the carbon footprint, in line with the UAE's efforts to achieve climate neutral by 2050.

The government aims to increase the number of EVs on the roads by 2050, which would support the UAE's goals for climate neutrality, said the minister, noting that transportation is one of the sectors most concerned with reducing the carbon footprint.

He indicated that this requires everyone to take practical steps to reduce transportation emissions and help build appropriate infrastructure, frameworks, and policies to design a sustainable sector.

According to Statista, transportation accounts for 17 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions - behind only the power sector.

Public charging stations

Mazrouei announced that to fully realize the potential of electric mobility, the UAE is deploying a nationwide network of public and private charging stations equipped with the latest innovative technologies to reduce charging time.

"The stations follow a national guide that unifies their specifications across the emirates and aligns them with world-class standards," he added.

The minister stated that EVs "are set to be at the core of our shift to green mobility. The EV market looks promising and offers unique investment opportunities. We invite future-thinking businesses to capitalize on these opportunities."

EVIS2023 aims to promote the transition from dependence on fossil fuels to electric mobility, which saves the planet from the environmental consequences of CO2 and other emissions.

The summit's two-day conference will bring together delegates, experts, and representatives of the mobility industry from dozens of countries to discuss the current landscape and future challenges and opportunities.

It will feature more than 75 sessions, with keynote speakers, presentations, and panel discussions covering the EV industry's complete value chain.

It will be a valuable opportunity for attendants to network, share ideas and insights, and strike business deals.


AI Means Everyone Can Now Be a Programmer, Nvidia Chief Says 

Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang speaks at the COMPUTEX forum in Taipei, Taiwan May 29, 2023. (Reuters) 
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang speaks at the COMPUTEX forum in Taipei, Taiwan May 29, 2023. (Reuters) 
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AI Means Everyone Can Now Be a Programmer, Nvidia Chief Says 

Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang speaks at the COMPUTEX forum in Taipei, Taiwan May 29, 2023. (Reuters) 
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang speaks at the COMPUTEX forum in Taipei, Taiwan May 29, 2023. (Reuters) 

Artificial intelligence means everyone can now be a computer programmer as all they need to do is speak to the computer, Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang said on Monday, hailing the end of the "digital divide".

Nvidia has surged to become the world's most valuable listed semiconductor company as a major supplier of chips and computing systems for artificial intelligence.

The company last week forecast second-quarter revenue more than 50% above Wall Street estimates and said it was boosting supply to meet surging demand for its artificial-intelligence chips, which are used to power ChatGPT and many similar services.

Speaking to thousands of people at the Computex forum in Taipei, Huang, who was born in southern Taiwan before his family emigrated to the United States when he was a child, said AI was leading a computing revolution.

"There's no question we're in a new computing era," he said in a speech, occasionally dropping in words of Mandarin or Taiwanese to the delight of the crowd.

"Every single computing era you could do different things that weren't possible before, and artificial intelligence certainly qualifies," Huang added.

"The programming barrier is incredibly low. We have closed the digital divide. Everyone is a programmer now - you just have to say something to the computer," he said.

"The rate of progress, because it's so easy to use, is the reason why it's growing so fast. This is going to touch literally every single industry."

Nvidia's chips have helped companies such as Microsoft Corp add human-like chat features to search engines such as Bing.

Huang demonstrated what AI could do, including getting a program to write a short pop song praising Nvidia with only a few words of instruction.

He unveiled several new applications, including a partnership with the world's largest advertising group WPP for generative AI-enabled content for digital advertising.

Nvidia has strained to meet demand for its AI chips, with Tesla Inc TSLA.O CEO Elon Musk, who is reportedly building out an artificial-intelligence startup, last week telling an interviewer that the graphics processing units (GPUs) are "considerably harder to get than drugs".


Tourism Development Fund Acquires ISO Certification in IT Service Management

Tourism Development Fund Acquires ISO Certification in IT Service Management
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Tourism Development Fund Acquires ISO Certification in IT Service Management

Tourism Development Fund Acquires ISO Certification in IT Service Management

The Tourism Development Fund (TDF) has acquired the ISO/IEC 20000 Certification in Information Technology Service Management, issued by the International Organization for Standardization.

"This certificate comes in light of the successes achieved by TDF in raising the efficiency of its services, due to its adherence to international standards and specifications, and its keenness to develop the tourism sector and enable its digitization," CEO of TDF Qusai Al-Fakhri said.

He also stressed that this comes in line with the digital transformation, "which is one of the main objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030."


Saudi Astronauts Conduct Space Kite Experiment with School Students in Saudi Arabia

Saudi astronauts Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali Al-Qarni at the ISS. (SPA)
Saudi astronauts Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali Al-Qarni at the ISS. (SPA)
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Saudi Astronauts Conduct Space Kite Experiment with School Students in Saudi Arabia

Saudi astronauts Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali Al-Qarni at the ISS. (SPA)
Saudi astronauts Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali Al-Qarni at the ISS. (SPA)

Saudi astronauts Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali Al-Qarni conducted a second educational experiment, the “space kite”, from the International Space Station (ISS) with middle school students in Saudi Arabia.

The interaction, via satellite, is aimed at building and incentivizing a new generation of Saudi leaders, explorers and scientists whilst achieving the objectives of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 in terms of building cadres and enhancing a culture of research, development and innovation in students.

The Saudi Space Commission is organizing the educational experiments in partnership with the Communication, Space and Technology Commission, the Ministry of Education, King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba), and Al-Riyadh and Misk schools.

The experiment allowed students to communicate with the two astronauts, ask questions and compare research results from the astronaut's experience in a microgravity environment to students who are on the ground.

The experiment with middle school students tackled aerodynamics. It focused on comparing the aerodynamics of the space kite inside the microgravity environment of the ISS, versus what happens on Earth, showing them how the behavior is different on the ground as opposed to in space.

The experiments seek to increase the students' interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. They also aim to build human capital by attracting talents and developing the necessary skills in this field, contributing to enhancing the Kingdom's role in developing the space sector and its position in the global community in space science research and investing in research in the service of humanity.


Twitter Cannot Hide from EU Rules after Exit from Code, Breton Says

FILED - 26 April 2022, Bavaria, Kempten: The logo of Twitter is seen on the display of a laptop. Photo: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH/dpa
FILED - 26 April 2022, Bavaria, Kempten: The logo of Twitter is seen on the display of a laptop. Photo: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH/dpa
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Twitter Cannot Hide from EU Rules after Exit from Code, Breton Says

FILED - 26 April 2022, Bavaria, Kempten: The logo of Twitter is seen on the display of a laptop. Photo: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH/dpa
FILED - 26 April 2022, Bavaria, Kempten: The logo of Twitter is seen on the display of a laptop. Photo: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH/dpa

Twitter cannot run away from its obligations even after quitting a voluntary EU code of practice to tackle disinformation, EU industry chief Thierry Breton warned the company late on Friday.

Companies which signed up to the code are required to provide regular progress reports with data on how much advertising revenue they had averted from disinformation actors.

They also have to provide information on the number or value of political advertisements accepted or rejected and instances of manipulative behaviors detected.

"Twitter leaves EU voluntary code of practice against disinformation. But obligations remain. You can run but you can't hide," Breton said in a tweet.

"Beyond voluntary commitments, fighting disinformation will be legal obligation under DSA as of August 25. Our teams will be ready for enforcement,” Reuters quoted him as saying.

Since Twitter was acquired by billionaire Elon Musk for $44 billion last October, the company has cut thousands of jobs and made numerous changes.

The Digital Services Act (DSA) obliges Twitter, Google, Meta Platforms Inc, Microsoft Corp, Alibaba's AliExpress and five other large online platforms to do more to tackle illegal online content.

Companies face fines of as much as 6% of their global turnover for violations.

Twitter, which no longer has a public relations department, responded to an emailed request for comment with a poop emoji.


Washington and Tokyo Vow Closer Chip Cooperation

FILE - Japan's Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura speaks during a joint news conference by host country Japan, Germany and Italy in the G7 ministers' meeting on climate, energy and environment in Sapporo, northern Japan, on April 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae, File)
FILE - Japan's Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura speaks during a joint news conference by host country Japan, Germany and Italy in the G7 ministers' meeting on climate, energy and environment in Sapporo, northern Japan, on April 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae, File)
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Washington and Tokyo Vow Closer Chip Cooperation

FILE - Japan's Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura speaks during a joint news conference by host country Japan, Germany and Italy in the G7 ministers' meeting on climate, energy and environment in Sapporo, northern Japan, on April 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae, File)
FILE - Japan's Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura speaks during a joint news conference by host country Japan, Germany and Italy in the G7 ministers' meeting on climate, energy and environment in Sapporo, northern Japan, on April 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae, File)

The United States and Japan will deepen cooperation in the research and development of advanced chips and other technologies, they said on Friday, the latest sign of the two allies strengthening ties in semiconductors.

The move, which also includes collaboration on quantum computing and discussions on artificial intelligence, comes as both Washington and Tokyo reduce exposure to China and work together to expand chip manufacturing and secure advanced components essential for economic growth.

The United States, Japan and other members of the Group of Seven (G7) advanced nations last week agreed to "de-risk" but not decouple from China, underscoring the deep concern among advanced democracies about China's rising technological might and its lockhold on technology supply chains.

In a joint statement, the two countries agreed to increase cooperation between their research and development hubs, as they map out future technology collaboration.

The statement came after Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura met in Detroit with US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Reuters reported.

The two countries agreed to work together "to identify and resolve geographic concentrations of production undermining semiconductor supply chain resilience". They also committed to strengthening supply chains by collaborating with emerging and developing countries.

Japan has established a new chip maker, Rapidus, that is working with International Business Machines Corp (IBM) to develop advanced logic semiconductors, and is offering subsidies to US memory maker Micron Technology Inc so it can expand production there.

Japan, along with the Netherlands, has also agreed to match US export controls that will limit the sale of some chipmaking tools to China.

Raimondo on Thursday met China's Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao in Washington where the pair exchanged views on trade, investment and export policies.


Portugal Moves Closer to Banning Chinese Suppliers from 5G

People waiting at the bust stand near the 'MY 5G' advert on a LED screen in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 03 May 2023.  EPA/FAZRY ISMAIL
People waiting at the bust stand near the 'MY 5G' advert on a LED screen in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 03 May 2023. EPA/FAZRY ISMAIL
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Portugal Moves Closer to Banning Chinese Suppliers from 5G

People waiting at the bust stand near the 'MY 5G' advert on a LED screen in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 03 May 2023.  EPA/FAZRY ISMAIL
People waiting at the bust stand near the 'MY 5G' advert on a LED screen in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 03 May 2023. EPA/FAZRY ISMAIL

Portugal's cybersecurity council CSSC has issued a resolution that could formally bar telecom operators from using Chinese equipment in their high-speed 5G mobile networks as well 4G platforms on which the new technology is based.

The CSSC is the prime minister's consultative body and its document, dated May 23, is another blow to efforts by Chinese technology giant Huawei to enter the 5G market in Portugal and possibly extend existing contracts, Reuters reported.

Under a law approved last August, the government can determine "the exclusion, restrictions on use, or the cessation of use of equipment or services" of telecom companies, setting conditions and deadlines for operators to comply.

The government had no immediate comment.

The country's main operators, Altice, NOS and Vodafone have already said they will not use Huawei's equipment in 5G core networks, amid European and US concerns that Chinese involvement in critical infrastructure could compromise security. Beijing and Huawei reject such suggestions.

Portugal's existing 5G networks are not standalone and still largely based on 4G technology and equipment.

Without mentioning China or any Chinese suppliers by name, the CSSC warned of a "high risk" to security from suppliers or providers that "are headquartered in a country where the government exercises control, interference or pressure on its activities in third countries".

Its opinion is based on an undisclosed report that evaluated the safety of equipment in public electronic communications networks involving 5G technology.

It also cited security risks when the country where a supplier is based has no agreements on data protection, cybersecurity or protection of intellectual property with Portugal or the European Union, or when it is not an EU, NATO or OECD member.

Huawei said in a statement it had "no prior knowledge of, and hasn't been consulted about this matter" and it was still gathering information "on the nature of the assessment" and hoped to continue serving Portuguese clients.

Europe has emerged as a battleground in the technology rivalry between Beijing and Washington and Huawei's European competitors, Ericsson and Nokia, could become a supplier duopoly if the Chinese company were shut out.


OpenAI CEO Reverses Earlier Threat to Leave Europe

FILE PHOTO: The logo of OpenAI is displayed near a response by its AI chatbot ChatGPT on its website, in this illustration picture taken February 9, 2023. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The logo of OpenAI is displayed near a response by its AI chatbot ChatGPT on its website, in this illustration picture taken February 9, 2023. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo
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OpenAI CEO Reverses Earlier Threat to Leave Europe

FILE PHOTO: The logo of OpenAI is displayed near a response by its AI chatbot ChatGPT on its website, in this illustration picture taken February 9, 2023. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The logo of OpenAI is displayed near a response by its AI chatbot ChatGPT on its website, in this illustration picture taken February 9, 2023. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo

OpenAI has no plans to leave Europe, CEO Sam Altman said on Friday, reversing a threat made earlier this week to leave the region if it becomes too hard to comply with upcoming laws on artificial intelligence.

The EU is working on what could be the first set of rules globally to govern AI and Altman on Wednesday said the current draft of the EU AI Act was "over-regulating".

"We are excited to continue to operate here and of course have no plans to leave," Altman said in a tweet on Friday.

His threat of quitting Europe had drawn criticism from EU industry chief Thierry Breton and a host of other lawmakers.

Altman has spent the past week crisscrossing Europe, meeting top politicians in France, Spain, Poland, Germany and the Britain to discuss the future of AI, and progress of ChatGPT.

According to Reuters, he called his tour a "very productive week of conversations in Europe about how to best regulate AI!"

OpenAI had faced criticism for not disclosing training data for its latest AI model GPT-4. The company had cited a "competitive landscape and safety implications" for not disclosing the details.

While debating the AI Act draft, EU lawmakers added new proposals that would force any company using generative tools, like ChatGPT, to disclose copyrighted material used to train its systems.

"These provisions relate mainly to transparency, which ensures the AI and the company building it are trustworthy," Dragos Tudorache, a Romanian member of the European Parliament who is leading the drafting of EU proposals, told Reuters on Thursday.

"I don't see a reason why any company would shy away from transparency."


CEO: Baidu Will 'Very Soon' Officially Launch Generative AI Model

FILE PHOTO: Men interact with a Baidu AI robot near the company logo at its headquarters in Beijing, China April 23, 2021. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Men interact with a Baidu AI robot near the company logo at its headquarters in Beijing, China April 23, 2021. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo
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CEO: Baidu Will 'Very Soon' Officially Launch Generative AI Model

FILE PHOTO: Men interact with a Baidu AI robot near the company logo at its headquarters in Beijing, China April 23, 2021. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Men interact with a Baidu AI robot near the company logo at its headquarters in Beijing, China April 23, 2021. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo

Chinese search engine giant Baidu's CEO Robin Li said on Friday that the company will "very soon" officially launch Ernie 3.5, a generative AI large-language model that will power Baidu's ChatGPT-like app Ernie Bot and upgrade its search engine.

Li made the announcement at the Zhongguancun Forum, one of China's most well-known technology forums, around two months after Ernie Bot was first shown to the public to mixed reviews.



Since then, Ernie Bot and other products powered by the company's generative AI large-language model have remained in trial mode, with a select number of companies and users invited to test the products and provide feedback.