Corporate America

Maryland has joined a $2.3 million settlement with Laboratory Corporation of America (Labcorp) stemming from a large data breach affecting the medical testing company. The multistate settlement resolves claims that Labcorp failed to adequately protect customers' personal information. Residents affected by the breach may be eligible for compensation under the agreement, and officials say it underscores the cost of weak data security.

The Financial Times reports that US companies are increasingly adopting cheaper 'open' AI models rather than relying solely on costly proprietary systems from major vendors. Businesses are drawn to open models for their lower cost and greater flexibility, a shift that could reshape how enterprises buy artificial intelligence and put pressure on providers of expensive closed systems.

US companies are reportedly redirecting AI spending toward cheaper open-weight models instead of frontier systems from leading labs, putting pricing pressure on the biggest AI developers. The shift suggests enterprises see open alternatives as good enough for many workloads, threatening the premium pricing that frontier labs have relied on and intensifying competition across the AI industry.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has announced a multistate settlement with Laboratory Corporation of America (Labcorp) over the 2019 data breach at American Medical Collection Agency, a billing vendor that exposed patients' personal and financial information. The settlement resolves claims that Labcorp failed to adequately oversee and protect data held by its collection agency partner.

Laboratory Corporation of America has reached a settlement over a data breach that includes a $100,000 payment to North Carolina, according to a local report. The agreement is part of resolution efforts following the breach, though details on total settlement amounts and affected consumers were not provided in the report.