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Meta Says Its AI Trains on Your Instagram Posts
Meta admitted late last week that it has used mountains of public Facebook posts to train its AI models, per Reuters. Why it matters: As the AI boom continues, content creators are challenging tech companies’ use of their material in the development of advanced AI tools — and in Facebook’s case, “content creators” means a few billion people.
Details: After Meta unveiled its new AI assistants last week, its president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, told Reuters that the “vast majority” of the training data used to develop them came from publicly available posts, including on Facebook and Instagram.
The big picture: A massive legal battle is brewing between owners of copyrighted content, like books and professional media products, and AI companies that may have intentionally or inadvertently used their works to train their programs.
Meta has always claimed a variety of rights in the content its users post, so legally it’s in a different situation than companies that are using copyrighted texts. The company tells users “You own all of the content and information” you post. But if you make a post public, as many do by default, it becomes available for all sorts of purposes that you can’t control.
The Supreme Court Will Decide if State Laws Limiting Social Media Platforms Violate the Constitution
The Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether state laws that seek to regulate Facebook, TikTok, X and other social media platforms violate the Constitution.
The justices will review laws enacted by Republican-dominated legislatures and signed by Republican governors in Florida and Texas. While the details vary, both laws aim to prevent social media companies from censoring users based on their viewpoints.
The court’s announcement, three days before the start of its new term, comes as the justices continue to grapple with how laws written at the dawn of the digital age, or earlier, apply to the online world.
The new social media cases follow conflicting rulings by two appeals courts, one of which upheld the Texas law, while the other struck down Florida’s statute. By a 5-4 vote, the justices kept the Texas law on hold while litigation over it continues.
Google Faced With an AI Privacy Challenge: Do I Have the Right to Be Forgotten?
The Federal Court of Appeal in the USA has just ruled that Google is not covered by exemption for journalistic or artistic work. In a 2-1 court ruling, Google which drives more than 75% of internet searches in Canada, which opens the door for people to demand that their names in any articles are made unsearchable known as the right to be forgotten.
Valerie Lawton, a spokeswoman for the Office of the Canadian Privacy Commissioner, said it is pleased the court agreed with its position that Google’s search engine service is subject to federal privacy law. “This brings welcome clarification to this area of the law.”
More importantly, it signals the imperative for International Human Rights Laws to align to protect our privacy as we enter a world that is increasingly like the Minority Report, where everything one does is known and never forgotten.
Sounds Orwellian like and as Dr. Zuboff, in her seminal book, Surveillance Capitalism wrote, the technology giants like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, now OpenAI valued at close to $90B, have far too much control on shaping our society and our world.
Canada to Create Registry of Podcasters in Potential Censorship Initiative
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is taking Canada down a dangerous path of censorship to regulate streaming services and social media platforms. The next regulation phase comes as some podcasters will soon have to register with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
The Online Streaming Act, formerly Bill C-11, goes into effect on Nov. 28, meaning any online streaming service that operates in Canada and generates revenue of more than $10 million in a given year will have to register with CRTC.
So what’s with the government creating a database of prominent podcasters?
One potential reason could be for the Liberal government to censor unapproved government narratives quickly. Having a registry of podcasters and the type of content they create makes it much easier for those in the government’s censorship department.
Parents in Pakistan Could Face Prison Time for Not Vaccinating Their Kids Against Polio
Authorities in one Pakistan province are turning to a controversial new tactic in the decades-long initiative to wipe out polio: prison.
Last month, the government in Sindh introduced a bill that would imprison parents for up to one month if they fail to get their children immunized against polio or eight other common diseases.
Experts at the World Health Organization and elsewhere worry the unusual strategy could further undermine trust in the polio vaccines, particularly in a country where many believe false conspiracies about them and where dozens of vaccinators have been shot and killed.
WHO’s polio director in the Eastern Mediterranean warned the new law could backfire. “Coercion is counterproductive,” said Dr. Hamid Jafari.
