Login
Treat Big Tech Like Big Tobacco to Protect Our Kids
Just like Big Tobacco targeted young kids knowing their products were harmful, Big Tech is doing the same thing with another product line. When are we going to wake up? The time to act is NOW!
When the surgeon general warned that smoking could cause physical health problems, it ushered in momentous change across America. That change resulted in the tobacco industry being required to fund a massive education campaign.
Now, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is warning that social media can cause mental health problems and other risks for children. Feelings of isolation and depression fueled by social media platforms further exacerbated the isolation and depression stemming from COVID-19. The extent to which children are trafficked and preyed upon, depicted in sexually abusive ways, and exposed to depravity on these platforms is sickening.
Given this deteriorating digital environment, will the surgeon general’s warning again usher in momentous change? It’s time to urge Big Tech to fund a national education campaign like Big Tobacco.
University of Delaware Agrees to Settle Class-Action Suit Over COVID Campus Shutdown
The University of Delaware has agreed to pay $6.3 million to settle a lawsuit over its campus shutdown in 2020 and the halting of in-person classes because of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to court papers that were filed this month and signed by the plaintiffs and university president Dennis Assanis, some 21,000 current and former students could receive cash reimbursements. While agreeing to settle the case, the university continues to deny all allegations of wrongdoing.
Court records indicate that the university reached an agreement in principle in late April, less than a month after a federal judge ruled that the case could proceed as a class action on behalf of thousands of students who were enrolled and paid tuition in the spring semester of 2020, when the campus was shut down.
Under the settlement, which is awaiting final court approval, the university will pay $6.3 million into an escrow account overseen by a settlement administrator. Of that amount, plaintiffs’ attorneys will receive $2.1 million in fees and up to $250,000 in reimbursement for expenses. The five students who were named plaintiffs in the lawsuit are entitled to payments of $5,000 each as class representatives.
Google, One of AI’s Biggest Backers, Warns Own Staff About Chatbots
Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) is cautioning employees about how they use chatbots, including its own Bard, at the same time as it markets the program around the world, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The Google parent has advised employees not to enter its confidential materials into AI chatbots, the people said and the company confirmed, citing long-standing policy on safeguarding information.
The chatbots, Bard and ChatGPT, are human-sounding programs that use so-called generative artificial intelligence to hold conversations with users and answer myriad prompts. Human reviewers may read the chats, and researchers found that similar AI could reproduce the data it absorbed during training, creating a leak risk.
The concerns show how Google wishes to avoid business harm from the software it launched in competition with ChatGPT. At stake, in Google’s race against ChatGPT’s backers, OpenAI and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) are billions of dollars of investment and still untold advertising and cloud revenue from new AI programs.
A growing number of businesses around the world have set up guardrails on AI chatbots, among them Samsung (005930.KS), Amazon.com (AMZN.O) and Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), the companies told Reuters. Apple (AAPL.O), which did not return requests for comment, reportedly has as well.
Ted Cruz: Congress ‘Doesn’t Know What the Hell It’s Doing’ With AI Regulation
Congress “doesn’t know what the hell it’s doing” when it comes to regulating artificial intelligence, Sen. Ted Cruz said on Thursday.
When asked about AI regulation in an interview with POLITICO Editor-in-Chief Matt Kaminski during POLITICO’s Global Tech Day, Cruz said lawmakers should proceed cautiously and listen to experts — since most lawmakers don’t understand the technology.
The debate over how or whether to regulate artificial intelligence technology, like ChatGPT, has taken Washington by storm as of late with its potential to lead to dramatic innovations in research but also eventually replace workers.
However, lawmakers are struggling to balance between setting rules for the road for the nascent tech while also ensuring they don’t over-regulate it and stifle U.S. leadership and innovation in the space.
If Beijing succeeds in its goal to lead the world on AI, “that would be profoundly dangerous to the United States from a national defense perspective, but also certainly from an economic perspective,” Cruz said.
TikTok May Have a Path Forward in the U.S. Without a Sale or Ban
U.S. lawmakers just put forth a bipartisan bill that would regulate how companies including TikTok share U.S. data, and it could address some of the major security concerns surrounding the app.
The legislation, led by Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, and Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming, would restrict foreign-owned companies from accessing U.S. data from abroad or sending data to “unfriendly foreign nations,” CNN first reported. It’s an updated version of a bill that was previously introduced.
The bill would also regulate all exports of personal data — not just those deemed “sensitive” based on national security concerns — by data brokers and other companies like TikTok to “restricted foreign” governments and parent companies in those regions, among other entities.
Europe Is Leading the Race to Regulate AI. Here’s What You Need to Know
The European Union took a major step Wednesday toward setting rules — the first in the world — on how companies can use artificial intelligence. It’s a bold move that Brussels hopes will pave the way for global standards for a technology used in everything from chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT to surgical procedures and fraud detection at banks.
“We have made history today,” Brando Benifei, a member of the European Parliament working on the EU AI Act, told journalists. Lawmakers have agreed a draft version of the Act, which will now be negotiated with the Council of the European Union and EU member states before becoming law.
At the Yale CEO Summit this week, more than 40% of business leaders — including Walmart chief Doug McMillion and Coca-Cola (KO) CEO James Quincy — said AI had the potential to destroy humanity five to 10 years from now.
Against that backdrop, the EU AI Act seeks to “promote the uptake of human-centric and trustworthy artificial intelligence and to ensure a high level of protection of health, safety, fundamental rights, democracy and rule of law and the environment from harmful effects.”
Campaigners Urge London Food Banks to End Use of Face Scans
Privacy advocates are urging food banks to stop using facial recognition software, claiming it poses a serious risk to users’ “privacy, dignity and security.”
Several food banks in London are asking users to submit face scans to allow them to choose food from shops. The Face Donate app-based system also has the potential to track purchases.
Silkie Carlo, the director of the Big Brother Watch campaign group, is urging the charity to halt the system, arguing it is wrong to ask people to “trade-sensitive biometric data for food.”
