By DEE-ANN DURBIN

The federal government said Friday that it is suing Uber for allegedly discriminating against passengers with disabilities.

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The Department of Justice said Uber drivers routinely refuse to serve individuals with disabilities, including those with service dogs. Uber is the largest ride-hailing company in the U.S.

The lawsuit alleges that Uber drivers have charged illegal cleaning fees for service animal shedding and imposed cancellation fees after denying service. The lawsuit also alleges that drivers have refused to allow disabled individuals to sit in the front seat so they can use the back seat for mobility devices.

Disabled individuals have missed appointments, experienced significant delays and have been stranded in inclement weather, the lawsuit said.

“For too long, blind riders have suffered repeated ride denials by Uber because they are traveling with a service dog,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This lawsuit seeks to end this persistent discrimination and allow riders with disabilities to use Uber.”

In a statement Friday, Uber said all of its drivers must acknowledge and agree to comply with its service animal and accessibility policies.

Uber said it prohibits drivers from denying service to someone with a service animal and it requires drivers to provide transportation to a person with a disability as long as they get into the vehicle on their own. It also prohibits drivers from refusing to assist with the stowing of devices like walkers, crutches and folding wheelchairs.

“Riders who use guide dogs or other assistive devices deserve a safe, respectful and welcoming experience on Uber — full stop,” the company said. Uber said it disagrees with the allegations in the lawsuit.

Uber said it established a hotline in 2023 for customers who were denied a ride because of a service animal. Uber said when it confirms that a violation has occurred, it takes action, including deactivating a driver’s account.

The Department of Justice is seeking $125 million for disabled individuals who have previously submitted complaints to Uber or the Department of Justice.

The case was filed in federal court in Northern California. Uber Technologies is based in San Francisco.

By THALIA BEATY and MATT O’BRIEN

OpenAI has reached a new tentative agreement with Microsoft and said its nonprofit, which technically controls its business, will now be given a $100 billion equity stake in its for-profit corporation.

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The maker of ChatGPT said it had reached a new nonbinding agreement with Microsoft, its longtime partner, “for the next phase of our partnership.”

The announcements on Thursday include a few details about these new arrangements. OpenAI’s proposed changes to its corporate structure have drawn the scrutiny of regulators, competitors and advocates concerned about the impacts of artificial intelligence.

OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit in 2015 and its nonprofit board has continued to control the for-profit subsidiary that now develops and sells its AI products. It’s not clear whether the $100 billion equity stake the nonprofit will get as part of this announcement represents a controlling stake in the business.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said last week that his office was investigating OpenAI’s proposed restructuring of its finances and governance. His office said they could not comment on the new announcements but said they are “committed to protecting charitable assets for their intended purpose.”

Bonta and Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings also sent the company a letter expressing concerns about the safety of ChatGPT after meeting with OpenAI’s legal team earlier last week in Delaware, where OpenAI is incorporated.

“Together, we are particularly concerned with ensuring that the stated safety mission of OpenAI as a non-profit remains front and center,” Bonta said in a statement last week.

Microsoft invested its first $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019 and the two companies later formed an agreement that made Microsoft the exclusive provider of the computing power needed to build OpenAI’s technology. In turn, Microsoft heavily used the technology behind ChatGPT to enhance its own AI products.

The two companies announced on Jan. 21 that they were altering that agreement, enabling the smaller company to build its own computing capacity, “primarily for research and training of models.” That coincided with OpenAI’s announcements of a partnership with Oracle to build a massive new data center in Abilene, Texas.

But other parts of its agreements with Microsoft remained up in the air as the two companies appeared to veer further apart. Their Thursday joint statement said they were still “actively working to finalize contractual terms in a definitive agreement.” Both companies declined further comment.

OpenAI had given its nonprofit board of directors — whose members now include a former U.S. Treasury secretary — the responsibility of deciding when its AI systems have reached the point at which they “outperform humans at most economically valuable work,” a concept known as artificial general intelligence, or AGI.

Such an achievement, per its earlier agreements, would cut off Microsoft from the rights to commercialize such a system, since the terms “only apply to pre-AGI technology.”

OpenAI’s corporate structure and nonprofit mission are also the subject of a lawsuit brought by Elon Musk, who helped found the nonprofit research lab and provided initial funding. Musk’s suit seeks to stop OpenAI from taking control of the company away from its nonprofit and alleges it has betrayed its promise to develop AI for the benefit of humanity.

The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of AP’s text archives.

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

NEW YORK — Federal health officials intend to award a contract to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to investigate whether there is a link between vaccinations and autism, according to a government procurement notice.

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The Troy, New York, engineering school is getting the no-bid contract because of its “unique ability” to link data on children and mothers, according to the notice posted this week.

Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to questions about the notice, including how much the contract is for or what exactly the researchers intend to do.

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a leading voice in the antivaccine movement before President Donald Trump selected him to oversee federal health agencies, announced in April a “massive testing and research effort” to determine the cause of autism by this month. He has repeatedly tried to link vaccines to the condition.

An RPI biotech engineering professor, Juergen Hahn, has used artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques to look for patterns in blood samples of children with autism. Hahn “is renowned for the quality and rigor of his research,” RPI officials said in a statement acknowledging the intended grant.

“If this project is awarded, he intends to publish the results of his work at the conclusion of the project,” the statement added.

The Associated Press left messages seeking comment from Hahn.

The notice raises many questions, said Alycia Halladay, who oversees research activities and grants for the Autism Science Foundation.

RPI is not known in the field as having any special access to data on this kind of question and “wouldn’t be the obvious choice,” Halladay said.

It’s also not clear how the contract fits into other autism research that the government may be planning, she said.

But perhaps the biggest question is why money is being spent on such a study at all, she added.

Scientists have ruled out a link between vaccines and autism, finding no evidence of increased rates of autism among those who are vaccinated compared with those who are not.

“The question has been studied for 20 years, multiple times by researchers around the world using millions of people, and there has never been a credible association found between vaccines and autism,” Halladay said.

Those who have spent decades researching autism have found no single cause. Genetics play a role, and other factors include the age of a child’s father, the mother’s weight, and whether she had diabetes or was exposed to certain chemicals.

Whatever amount is being spent on the project could instead be going to “other important research questions,” including studies of genetics and environmental factors, Halladay said.

“I think that’s the most frustrating part,” she said.

For months, HHS officials have been trying to use vaccine safety data compiled by the CDC to look for harms that might be tied to shots. Kennedy has accused CDC leaders of stonewalling those efforts, but the actual obstacle has been something else, said one former federal health official familiar with the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

About a dozen medical research organizations collect the vaccine safety data and report it to the CDC. Contracts that stretch back nearly two decades give those entities — not the CDC — control over the data, and HHS has not yet been able to get it, the official said.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Minnesota United at San Diego FC

When: 9:30 p.m. (CDT) Saturday
Where: Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego
Stream: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
Radio: KSTP-AM, 1500
Weather: 68 degrees, cloudy, 4 mph east wind
Betting line: San Diego minus-115; draw plus-280; MNUFC plus-280

Form: First-place San Diego (17-7-5, 56 points) extended its lead in the Western Conference with a 2-1 road win over Los Angeles FC on Aug. 31. Second-place MNUFC (14-6-9, 51 points) fell off the pace with a 1-1 home draw with Portland on Aug. 30.

Quote: “This is now undeniably the decisive game of the year, certainly in terms of the Western Conference, Supporters Shield standings,” Loons head coach Eric Ramsay said.

Recent matchup: San Diego beat Minnesota 4-2 in St. Paul on June 14, but poor goalkeeping from Loons rookie Wessel Speel and a late fourth goal from San Diego made it more lop-sided than it actually was on the field.

Stats: San Diego is No. 2 in MLS with 59.7% possession; Minnesota is dead last at 39.6. In their June match, S.D. had the ball for 66%.

RELATED: Rising soccer leader returns home to St. Paul for MLS match against Loons

Quote: “As a natural who is interested in strategy, tactics, playing styles, it’s a really interesting game from that perspective,” Ramsay said. “I’ve certainly enjoyed watching snippets of that game back because I feel like it’s a real chess match in that sense.”

Update: New MNUFC players Dominik Fitz and Nectarios Triantis have made the West Coast trip with the Loons. Fitz is more likely to make MLS debut than Triantis because Fitz was able to train with United for one week, while Triantis just obtained his work visa in Canada midweek.

Scouting report: Anders Dreyer is an MVP candidate for a reason (14 goals, 16 primary assists). The Dane had two goals and an assist in the win at Allianz Field and will need to be circled in pen for the Loons’ defense.

Context: After San Diego, the Loons host a U.S. Open Cup semifinal against Austin FC on Wednesday. It’s full throttle for Minnesota, but the different nature of the games (Austin is a more defensive team like the Loons) will call for slightly different mix of players, Ramsay said.

Prediction: United has been better on the road than at home this season and the same goes for San Diego, but Minnesota has yet to figure out life without Tani Oluwaseyi. Loons lose 2-1.

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