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COVID Masking Hysteria Was Never About Following the Science
By the spring of 2020, when I returned from my COVID sabbatical, all previous knowledge of immunity seemed to have been discarded. This contagion of “know-nothingism” could not be missed. On my return to the Capitol after recovering from COVID, I was met by a gaggle of young journalists, the ones who occupy a spot between the Capitol subway and the escalator to the Capitol. They barreled up to me with multiple masks on their twenty-something-year-old faces and demanded to know why I wasn’t wearing a mask.
I calmly explained to them that the benefit of having survived COVID-19 was that I now had immunity. They challenged me, saying that I didn’t know how long my immunity would last. I responded in kind, replying that they didn’t know my immunity wouldn’t last.
The week before I returned from quarantine, I had donated my blood to researchers at the University of Louisville for analysis. They found that I had a robust antibody response to three different sites on the COVID-19 surface.
The reporters, none of whom had a science degree (nor had any of them likely even passed an advanced science course), angrily and self-righteously excoriated me for my “ignorance” and my “dangerous non-compliance.” What they did not do was challenge my position in any meaningful way by citing scientific studies based on randomized controlled trials showing any efficacy of masking for viral infection. No. The ignorance of today’s “journalists” is staggering. They only know how to repeat the dogma fed to them.
Missouri Health Officials Defend Posts Telling Vaccine Skeptics to ‘Just Keep Scrolling’
St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported:
Missouri health officials recently defended social media posts instructing COVID-19 vaccine skeptics to “just keep scrolling” after the posts generated heavy criticism.
The Sept. 13 posts on X and Facebook promoted the updated COVID-19 vaccine, which authorities began rolling out last month. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending the vaccine for everyone 6 months and older.
Missouri health officials said, “COVID vaccines will be available in Missouri soon if you’re into that sort of thing. If not, just keep scrolling!”
Social media users tore into the health department, and the post on X had been viewed more than 633,000 times as of Friday. But officials stood by their post in an email sent the next day to local public health agency administrators, which acknowledged people had “mixed feelings” about the messaging.
More Than 200,000 College Students May Get Tuition Refunds
Over 200,000 college students in Michigan could have part of their tuition refunded following several lawsuits brought by students after they were forced to attend school online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last week, the Michigan Supreme Court heard arguments from students who attended Central Michigan University, Eastern Michigan University and Lake Superior State University who claim that they should receive a refund for payments they made for living expenses and other aspects of their tuition after attending school virtually, instead of in-person, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Fink Bressack law firm in Michigan, which is representing the students from the universities, said in a press release that Central Michigan University “has unfairly refused to issue satisfactory refunds for housing, meals, tuition and other fees which students prepaid for services the University is not currently providing.”
The Detroit News reported that Fink said during recent Michigan Supreme Court arguments that a decision in these cases could impact around 220,000 college students.
23andMe Resets User Passwords After Genetic Data Posted Online
Days after user personal surfaced online, the genetic testing company 23andMe said it’s requiring all users to reset their passwords “out of caution.”
On Friday, 23andMe confirmed that hackers had obtained some users’ data, but stopped short of calling the incident a data breach. The company said that the hackers had accessed “certain accounts” of 23andMe users who used passwords that were not unique to the service — a common technique where hackers try to break into victim’s accounts using passwords that have already been made public in previous data breaches.
According to 23andMe, the data was “compiled” from users who had opted into the DNA Relatives feature, which allows users who choose to switch on the feature to automatically share their data with others. In theory, this would allow a hacker to get more than one victim’s data just by breaking into the account of someone who opted into the feature.
AI, Social Media Drive Democracies to a Tipping Point
Experts are blaming AI and misinformation on social media for pushing embattled democracies around the world toward a tipping point of distrust.
Why it matters: The rise of cheap and easy-to-use generative AI tools, the lack of legal guardrails for their deployment and relaxed content moderation policies and layoffs at tech companies are creating the conditions for a perfect misinformation storm.
Snapchat’s AI Chatbot May Pose Privacy Risk to Children, Says U.K. Watchdog
Snapchat may have failed to properly assess privacy risks to children from its artificial intelligence chatbot, Britain’s data watchdog said on Friday, adding it would consider the company’s response before making any final enforcement decision.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said if the U.S. company fails to adequately address the regulator’s concerns, “My AI”, launched in April, could be banned in the UK.
“The provisional findings of our investigation suggest a worrying failure by Snap to adequately identify and assess the privacy risks to children and other users before launching ‘My AI,'” Information Commissioner John Edwards said.
The ICO is investigating how “My AI” processes the personal data of Snapchat’s roughly 21 million U.K. users, including children aged 13-17.
AI Firms Working on ‘Constitutions’ to Keep AI From Spewing Toxic Content
Two of the world’s biggest artificial intelligence companies announced major advances in consumer AI products last week.
Microsoft-backed OpenAI said that its ChatGPT software could now “see, hear, and speak,” conversing using voice alone and responding to user queries in both pictures and words. Meanwhile, Facebook owner Meta announced that an AI assistant and multiple celebrity chatbot personalities would be available for billions of WhatsApp and Instagram users to talk with.
But as these groups race to commercialize AI, the so-called “guardrails” that prevent these systems from going awry — such as generating toxic speech and misinformation, or helping commit crimes — are struggling to evolve in tandem, according to AI leaders and researchers.
In response, leading companies including Anthropic and Google DeepMind are creating “AI constitutions” — a set of values and principles that their models can adhere to, in an effort to prevent abuses. The goal is for AI to learn from these fundamental principles and keep itself in check, without extensive human intervention.
Report: Feds Need Rules for Using Facial Recognition Tech
Several federal law enforcement agencies haven’t properly trained their staffs on how to use facial recognition technology or imposed policies to protect the public’s civil rights when it’s used, a report by a government watchdog says.
Why it matters: Facial recognition technology is being used increasingly by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and has led to several false arrests nationwide — largely of Black men and women, according to advocates, research and news reports.
Even so, police, retail stores, airports and sports arenas are rapidly turning to the technology. Some local governments that initially restricted its use are weighing whether to ease those limits because of jumps in crime.
Zoom in: The recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that from October 2019 to March 2022, the FBI, DEA, Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations and three other agencies used facial recognition systems for criminal probes without requiring staff training.
Remember That Letter Calling for a Pause on AI? It Didn’t Work
On March 29, 2023, more than 500 top technologists and business leaders signed onto an eye-catching open letter begging artificial intelligence labs to immediately pause all training on any AI systems more powerful than Open AI’s GPT-4 for at least six months.
The consequences for plowing ahead without taking a breather, they warned, would cause “profound risks to society and humanity.” Luckily, the world listened and the word “AI” has vanished into our collective memory holes.
Just kidding. Advances in AI most certainly have not stopped, paused, hiccuped, or done anything other than abruptly accelerate forward in the preceding six months. In October 2023, just about any startup or business even remotely connected to technology has tried to figure out ways to add ChatGPT-style chatbots or AI image generators into their pitch to consumers.
AI companies like OpenAI have plowed ahead with newer models and greater capabilities while others, like Meta and Amazon, have shifted their priorities to pour resources into the brewing AI tech race. The so-called pause was more like a firing gun.
