I read a particularly unflattering LinkedIn comment on my piece where I noted that I do not invest in undergraduate students building startups, since running a startup (not a small business) cannot be a part-time job! The argument was this: a smart student could maintain good grades while running a company! Good People, there is a clear difference between running a company and working in one.  Grades are not everything!

Understand that companies do not hire you just because you made good grades in school. You are hired because you’ve demonstrated attributes which resulted in a good outcome (good grades). To get good grades, you managed your time, showed discipline to accomplish a purpose, etc. The assumption is this: if you can apply those attributes in a job, the outcome would be good. 

Please understand that the processes to get a good grade are more important than the grade. Most attributes to success are universal while grades are not.  Staying on course with those attributes makes the future predictable even when the grades become irrelevant!

Success in life is not defined by academic grades even though good grades will not hurt. The fact is this: a person can make As in a university-life-phase and still fail drastically in a professional-life-phase. While the phase-exams are different, behind them are clear relationships: process. It is safer to hire an A student than a C student as the A student has demonstrated the ability to set goals (every student desires to make good grades) and accomplished them. The key thing is not the A but the process that leads to the A. Simply, if you hire that A-student graduate, and he/she continues to apply those principles, there is a high chance he can deliver A performance in the company. That also explains the quality and the difficulty of getting that A in a school. One school’s A is another’s C. So, it comes down to processes which are needed for those grades.

To be a founder of  a startup, some attributes which will make you a great staff may not favour you! So, combining school with work, and building your company (a startup, not a small business)  while in school are different things! But even that requires a process. So, the key is mastering the process of what you need to thrive.

If someone asks you the “course” you must make A+ in school, tell him/her: PROCESS.

The 23rd of April was the world copyright day. World Book and Copyright Day, which is known as the International Day of the Book, are celebrated with the purpose of promoting the publishing, reading, and protection of intellectual property rights in books. 

So in the spirit of the celebration, here are the ten most important things you (as an author or as a book lover) should know about copyright protection and their corresponding laws around the world. 

1. Copyright is a right bestowed on the creator of a book so as to enjoy the exclusive rights to control the publication/re-publication, distribution and adaptation or exploitation of the book.  Therefore, if you who is not an author of a book is interested in the distribution or republication, the adaption of the book into a play or movie or the general exploitation of the book, you will have to seek express consent and authorization of the writer who as a way of granting you his authorization will transfer his copyright to you through contract. 
2. Copyright protection was introduced as a way of ensuring that book authors enjoy just reward and recognition for their hard work and creativity, hence, authors of books are granted a legal right known as copyright on a book they created. 
3. The general rule as to copyright protection is to the effect that the author owns the copyright of his book once it is created but the exception to this general rule is that another person who is not an author of a book can acquire the copyright of the book through contract or by the transference of the rights from the author to the interested party.
4. Copyright protection for a book begins immediately after the book has been written and fixed in a tangible form, ie once a book has been written; it does not matter if it is a manuscript, highlights or the unedited version of the book, once a writer has scribbled his original thoughts and ideas into a paper he there and then begins to enjoy the copyright protection over that work. 
5. You do not have to apply for copyright over your book for you enjoy copyright protection over your book, although it is advisable that as an author you should take the extra-legal step of protecting your creativity by applying for the copyright over your work. This copyright certificate that will be issued to you will serve as a notice to the government, to the public and to intending infringers. 
6. Copyright of an author over his/her book lasts throughout the lifetime of the author and expires 70 years after the death of the author. 
7. Copyright is an alienable right; this means that it can be transferred from its original owner to another party and even to a third party. 
8. Copyright on a book can be jointly owned or shared. This is to say that if a book is written by more than one person, the different people who contributed to the writing of the book enjoy equal copyright unless it is otherwise agreed through a contract. 
9. Copyright protection does not cover only books written or published in hard copy format, e-books or books/articles published in digital format or electronically are also protected by copyright laws. 

Once again from all of us at Law Capitol Hill/ Tekedia Institute, happy belated world book and copyright day. 

Artificial intelligence company OpenAI has rolled out new privacy controls for its chatbot ChatGPT and has also previewed its business plans.

The company on Tuesday announced that ChatGPT users can now turn off chat history, allowing them to choose which conversations can be used to train OpenAI’s models or appear in the history sidebar. It further added that it will keep the new conversations for up to 30 days, but will only review them if it is necessary to monitor for abuse.

The company wrote via a blog post,

“We’ve introduced the ability to turn off chat history in ChatGPT. Conversations that are started when chat history is disabled won’t be used to train and improve our models, and won’t appear in the history sidebar. These controls, which are rolling out to all users starting today, can be found in ChatGPT’s settings and can be changed at any time.

“We hope this provides an easier way to manage your data than our existing opt-out process. When chat history is disabled, we will retain new conversations for 30 days and review them only when needed to monitor for abuse, before permanently deleting them.”

OpenAI also revealed that ChatGPT data can be exported as of today. Users can request their data to be sent in a file to the email address associated with their OpenAI account. The new capabilities come as regulatory scrutiny grows over OpenAI’s data practices.

Aside from the rollout of new privacy controls for ChatGPT, OpenAI also disclosed its plans to introduce a new subscription tier for ChatGPT, tailored to the needs of enterprise customers.

The company had previously telegraphed that it was exploring additional paid plans for ChatGPT as the service rapidly grows. Recall that the chatbot’s first subscription tier, ChatGPT Plus, was launched in February and is priced at $20 per month.

Exploring potential new lines of revenue, OpenAI launched plug-ins for ChatGPT in March, which extended the bot’s functionality by granting it access to third-party knowledge sources and databases, including the web.The company said on Tuesday that it plans to make a new ChatGPT Business subscription available in the coming months.

It is worth noting that ChatGPT plans to launch in Japan, after the company’s CEO Sam Altman earlier this month revealed plans of starting operations in the Asian country. The serial entrepreneur met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, during a visit to Japan where he disclosed that his company is looking at setting up an office in the country as OpenAI seeks to build something great for the Japanese people.