CNN: Melinda French Gates says more women must join the AI race to help prevent bias. “As Silicon Valley and beyond is gripped by the fervor of artificial intelligence, Melinda French Gates is raising the alarm that more women must be involved in developing these tech tools.”
Washington State University: COVID-19 conspiracy theories that spread fastest focused on evil, secrecy. “In the early pandemic, conspiracy theories that were shared the most on Twitter highlighted malicious purposes and secretive actions of supposed bad actors behind the crisis, according to an analysis of nearly 400,000 posts.”
Financial Times: Elon Musk’s Twitter is ‘stirring up’ digital polarisation, says Bill Gates. “A ‘seat-of-the-pants’ decision-making style at Twitter since Elon Musk’s takeover is worsening digital polarisation, according to Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft and co-chair of the world’s largest private philanthropic organisation.”
Poynter: Bill Gates didn’t say he wanted to use vaccines to reduce the population. “Over the years, many claims have misrepresented Bill Gates’ views on how expanding access to health care — including vaccines — will lead people to have smaller families. An Oct. 6 article published on the website Tech Startups added a new claim to the list by alleging that 11 years ago, Bill Gates talked about reducing the global population by 10% to 15% ‘using new vaccines for population control.’”
Poynter: No, Bill Gates is not calling for ‘mandatory’ vaccinations. “A YouTube video from Rebel News claims that Bill Gates is calling for the mandatory vaccination of all people, and states that the billionaire Microsoft co-founder wants pregnant people and children to be forced to take it. The video also claims that those who receive the vaccine will face a 1-in-10,000 chance of death. Both of these claims are Not Legit. Here’s how we fact-checked it.”
BBC: Coronavirus: Bill Gates ‘microchip’ conspiracy theory and other vaccine claims fact-checked. “Speculation about a future coronavirus vaccine is ramping up and social-media posts from anti-vaccination campaigners are gaining more traction online. We’ve been debunking a few recent claims.”
CNET: Over 40% of Republicans think Bill Gates will use COVID-19 vaccine to implant tracking microchips, survey says. “Fighting misinformation and conspiracy theories about the novel coronavirus has almost been as hard as battling the pandemic itself. And a new survey has found that one conspiracy theory about Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is taking hold. A conspiracy theory that Gates is planning to use a future COVID-19 vaccine to implant microchips in billions of people in order to monitor their movements has gained supporters particularly among Fox News viewers and Republicans, the survey found.”
CNET: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledges $125 million for COVID-19 vaccine, therapy. “The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Monday said it’s committing $125 million toward the international effort to develop and distribute COVID-19 diagnostics, therapies and vaccines. The pledge includes $50 million in new funding for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and $75 million of earlier announced funding for diagnostics and therapeutics.”
The Next Web: Bill Gates becomes Instagram’s newest member. “Move over Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, you’re number two on Instagram. Well, only if we’re measuring bank accounts. Bill Gates joined Instagram today, making Jeff Bezos not only the second richest person in the world but also on the popular photo sharing platform.”
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