Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Apple’s diversity policies and partnership with OpenAI will come under fire from conservative organisations at its annual shareholder meeting, as the iPhone-maker holds out against corporate activism following Donald Trump’s election as US president.Investors in the $3.7tn company will on Tuesday vote on a motion from the National Center for Public Policy Research attempting to force Apple to scrap its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies. The conservative non-profit group argues that recent US Supreme Court rulings around DEI policies leave the company exposed to potential lawsuits. A separate shareholder resolution calls for a report on how Apple ensures an “ethical” artificial intelligence strategy. The proposal warns that Apple’s partnership with OpenAI could create data privacy and security risks. The vote on the two shareholder proposals comes as deals in the AI space come under bipartisan scrutiny, and as corporate peers such as Meta and Google drop progressive policies as they make overtures to the new US administration.Apple is opposing both motions. They are unlikely to pass, largely because its biggest shareholders — BlackRock and Vanguard — have distanced themselves from political shareholder activism. Such motions can have a knock-on effect. In January, Costco shareholders overwhelmingly rejected a similar DEI proposal from the NCPPR. Nineteen Republican state attorneys-general then wrote to the company urging it to end the policies.Apple chief executive Tim Cook has courted Trump over many years and featured prominently at his inauguration. The company is exposed to political tensions between Washington and Beijing, and Big Tech companies are also hoping that the president could force the EU to back down on regulatory enforcement. The NCPPR’s motion on Tuesday targets Apple’s “Supplier Diversity Program”, its general promotion and hiring practices, employment of a vice-president of inclusion and diversity, and donations to organisations supporting DEI.The iPhone-maker’s board said the proposal “inappropriately attempts to restrict Apple’s ability to manage its own ordinary business operations, people and teams, and business strategies”.Meta, Google, Amazon, Walmart, McDonald’s and Target are among the US companies that have rolled back DEI policies in the face of hostility from the Trump administration and an emboldened conservative movement. While shareholder proposals are non-binding, they can force companies to respond to political issues. In 2022, a proposal at Apple calling for a racial equity audit passed with majority shareholder support, prompting the company to publish new diversity disclosures.Meanwhile, the shareholder motion targeting Apple’s relationship with OpenAI echoes criticism levelled by Trump’s cost-cutting tsar Elon Musk, who is also an antagonist of the start-up’s chief executive Sam Altman. If data collected by OpenAI infringes on personal privacy or copyrighted material, then it could be a risk to Apple shareholders, the National Legal and Policy Center said in its petition.“The proposal does not focus on any issues with Apple Intelligence,” Apple’s board said referring to its new AI features for mobile devices, in a filing last month in response to the motion. “Instead, it focuses its criticism on OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, an independent service that Apple users may choose to access.”In December, Microsoft faced three AI-related shareholder proposals at its annual meeting. None passed, but one filed by the NLPC that is similar to the Apple proposal received 36 per cent support from Microsoft shareholders. The Seattle-based tech giant was sued in January for allegedly disclosing customer information from LinkedIn, one of its subsidiaries, to train AI programs. The NLPC said the lawsuit shows “we have been proven right”.The NLPC’s Apple proposal is likely to face scepticism from investors, said Jamie Bonham, head of stewardship at asset manager NEI Investments, which has about $12.5bn under management. Apple, he said, does not have a history of privacy problems like some of its rivals. “I don’t know that Apple specifically is the appropriate target for it,” Bonham said of the AI proposal, but added he has not decided how the firm will vote at the AGM.Additional reporting by Cristina Criddle in San Francisco
