The banking and finance industries, heavily regulated though they may be, are clambering onto the generative AI bandwagon.

Morgan Stanley said it is working with OpenAI to develop a tool that offers insights to its financial advisors; JPMorgan Chase recently submitted a trademark application for an AI-based program called IndexGPT focused on analyzing and recommending investments to customers; and Goldman Sachs is currently testing large language models (LLMs) for internal use.

They aren’t the only ones. A recent Gartner report found that while nearly half of banking execs surveyed in February said they had no plans to incorporate generative AI into their business, that portion had plummeted to 7% by April. Around 17% said in April that they were already implementing the tech, up from 7% in February.

Banking execs and experts we spoke to said the appeal is clear: Finance is a data-intensive industry where any tech that can summarize and synthesize massive amounts of information has the potential to be a game-changer. But it’s also a space where mistakes and inaccuracies can be especially high-stakes; that plethora of data is heavily regulated, presenting challenges to implementation.

Moutusi Sau, a VP analyst at Gartner who focuses on banking and AI, said that in her seven years covering AI for the research firm, this tech hype wave stands out.

“The interest level is not dropping down. Like, every single inquiry I have is on this topic,” Sau said. “This time, it’s real. It’s happening.”

Keep reading here.—PK

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The Atlantic Council’s Democracy + Tech Initiative, which develops policy practices regarding human rights and democracy in tech, released a report this month outlining recommendations for the future of online spaces.

The report is a product of the Task Force for a Trustworthy Future Web, a group of experts tasked with developing an action-oriented agenda to “build a digital future designed to scale human dignity and societal progress.”

In the report, titled Scaling Trust on the Web, the task force delivered findings and recommendations regarding safety in online spaces from dating apps and gaming worlds to Wikipedia.

“Choices made when building or maintaining online spaces play a critical role in accelerating or mitigating risks, harms, and beneficial impacts,” the report said. “Existing and future online spaces must be better at protecting users’ rights, supporting innovation, and incorporating trust and safety principles—and do so quickly.”

But, according to the report, technology alone will not solve complex human problems.

Keep reading here.—MA

Tesla has added another EV automaker to the growing ranks of those adopting its EV charging standard.

Reuters reported that EV maker Rivian will adopt Tesla’s proprietary North American Charging Standard (NACS) in 2024. Next year, Rivian vehicles will be able to use NACS chargers with an adapter, and new vehicles in 2025 will have NACS-compatible charging ports built in.

Ford and General Motors struck deals with Tesla earlier this year to adopt the NACS standard in their cars and gain access to Tesla’s network of more than 12,000 Superchargers in North America. Tesla garnered over 50% market share for EV sales in the United States last year, according to Counterpoint Research, while Ford made up nearly 8% of the EV market in 2022.

And they’re not the only ones: Reuters reported on Tuesday that Hyundai is considering making its cars more compatible with the NACS standard.

Keep reading here.—JM

Stat: Zero. How much Twitter employees allege they were paid in bonuses in 2022. A group of workers sued the social media outlet, claiming they expected to “be paid out at 50% of their targeted amounts,” Bloomberg reported.

Quote: “AI doesn’t replace work…But it does change how work is organized.”—Centaur Labs CEO Erik Duhaime, in an investigation conducted by New York magazine and The Verge on the human cost of making AI a reality. (We really cannot overemphasize how good this story is. Read it!)

Read: Humans aren’t mentally ready for an AI-saturated ‘post-truth world’ (Wired)

Links we love: Tech is here to make our lives easier—so why not apply it to data? Learn how to build dashboards that track real-time data and solve real-time problems in our Business Dashboards course. Sign up now.

A year from now: That’s where finance pros need to focus their attention. See why a return to growth is the new priority in our latest CFO Brew article, sponsored by Brex.*

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Usually, we write about the business of tech. Here, we highlight the *tech* of tech.

Hit the road: EV adoption is rising, but if you’re planning to travel from Washington, DC, to Washington State in a fully battery-powered vehicle, it’s gonna take more advance planning than if you were hitting the open road in a vehicle that contains an internal combustion engine. The Information has a servicey guide for ensuring you get from Point A to Point B on your all-electric road trip.

Unsubscribe! Seriously! The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Amazon on Wednesday, alleging the ecommerce and streaming giant makes it purposely arduous to cancel its Prime membership, the New York Times reported.