TechEquity

08/28/2026

The kids are not alright. Ariella sees this firsthand as a young Californian who educates and organizes with even younger Californians. They’re struggling with everything from building communication skills to deepfake nudes spread online.

California’s laws have yet to catch up to support and protect these young people in the age of AI. That’s why, as Ariella says, youth need to be part of the decision-making process around AI policy.

So will California’s leadership step up to the plate or miss the moment? To help guide them, TechEquity has prepared a set of memos that together paint a picture of what it would mean for AI to work for humans rather than against them: https://ow.ly/JTBM50ZG9yK

08/28/2026

It's Friday! Which means it's time for the things you need to read this week to understand tech’s impact on our economy, with TechEquity Founder and CEO Catherine Bracy:

1) This week, we lost legendary singer and activist Dolly Parton. Her song and movie 9 to 5 unfortunately remain relevant as everyday people struggle to make ends meet. She did believe we could build something better through solidarity, though. https://ow.ly/IWg650ZGicw

2) Amazon is shuttering MTurk, one of the first platforms for the data work that fuels AI development, leaving workers and customers scrambling to find alternative platforms. https://ow.ly/2boz50ZGicz

3) When Meta moved to overhaul its workforce by replacing workers with AI, those left behind revolted and changed the company’s course. It’s a powerful demonstration of how worker power and solidarity can ensure AI job loss isn’t inevitable. https://ow.ly/tmWX50ZGicv

4) Demand for data to train AI has AI companies buying up data from a defunct airline and a video subscription website getting a new life by licensing videos to train AI. https://ow.ly/NfGm50ZGict & https://ow.ly/L0Bw50ZGicn

5) Meet the billionaire behind state and national efforts to criminalize homelessness. Seriously, in this economy? https://ow.ly/oZlE50ZGicy

That's it for this week. Leave your in the comments, and follow us for more news about tech's impact on the economy.

Organized labor is celebrating the life and legacy of an artist who championed working women and carried a union card for almost 60 years.

08/28/2026

The Federal Trade Commission is warning businesses that opaque surveillance pricing may violate federal law. Will California legislators prove to be as dedicated to this issue as the Surveillance Pricing Protection Act (AB 2564) moves through the state Senate?

The agency said businesses must clearly disclose when they use personal data to set prices, including the type of data used and the basis for the personalization

08/27/2026

Imagine a trillion-dollar company taking your product listings and promoting them on its website using fake, AI-generated images.

That’s what happened to Angie Chua, a small business owner whose listings were stolen by Amazon. https://ow.ly/IHTo50ZGhSv

This is one of the many reasons why TechEquity Action supports the COMPETE Act in California.

Imagine a trillion-dollar company taking your product listings and ...

08/27/2026

For years, AI CEOs have been sounding the alarm about an impending AI jobpocalypse—only for them to recently go “never mind.” Nevertheless, thousands of people have been laid off, and workers are still scared.

So TechEquity reviewed 28 widely cited studies on AI-driven labor displacement to help policymakers, researchers, advocates, labor representatives, and workers make sense of the headlines. This is what we learned: https://ow.ly/jKNK50ZG9E2

08/27/2026

The growing backlash against AI, particularly data centers, continues to stump Big Tech and midterm election candidates.

https://ow.ly/RKj150ZG9jK
https://ow.ly/A86k50ZG9jL

Tech companies are holding listening sessions, offering guaranteed jobs and writing big checks to win public support for the data centers they need.

08/26/2026

Big Tech companies present themselves as AI innovators. What they rarely acknowledge is their role as the architects of the conditions that the workers behind AI are experiencing.

That’s why we created the Data Work Landscape—a map of the companies, investors, and client relationships powering the data portion of the AI supply chain. https://ow.ly/aW1Q50ZFKjU

08/26/2026

Meanwhile, 404 Media revealed a questionable data-collection tactic by Amazon: buying up large quantities of rare books, scanning them for training data, and destroying them in the process.

https://ow.ly/4Fh850ZFJyB

08/25/2026

Nvidia is considering pumping $20 million into its main supplier of AI training labor and data, Mercor—a company known for questionable labor practices.

https://ow.ly/Mm7u50ZFizQ
https://ow.ly/zNQe50ZFizT

Nvidia has discussed an investment in Mercor, a data labeling provider that helps the chip designer develop its open-source AI models, according to a person with knowledge of the process. The investment would be part of a $20 billion-valuation round. Existing investor General Catalyst has been ...

08/24/2026

We are not all equally benefiting from AI and the AI industry. In fact, according to Rowan, the only ones who seem to be benefiting are CEOs, already-wealthy investors, and high-ranking members of the Silicon Valley elite.

Everyone else is at risk of becoming a “permanent underclass” of workers who can no longer use their skills to make enough money to live a good life.

That’s why Rowan thinks the creation and use of this powerful technology needs to be in the hands of the people. We came to a similar conclusion when writing “Beyond Big Tech,” a memo in which TechEquity and AI Now outline ways California leaders can drive AI that serves all of us. https://ow.ly/lz9r50ZEOLX