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Monthly Archives: August 2023

How to Use Large Language Models for Empirical Legal Research

Choi, Jonathan H., How to Use Large Language Models for Empirical Legal Research (August 9, 2023). Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (Forthcoming), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4536852 – “Legal scholars have long annotated cases by hand to summarize and learn about developments in jurisprudence. Dramatic recent improvements in the performance of large language models (LLMs)… Continue Reading

Your forgetting to cancel one of many subscriptions is big business

Fortune – Study finds up to 200% sales boost from pure absentmindedness. “Subscription models for goods have become so widespread, it’s possible to live an entire life without permanently owning anything. Thank the subscription economy, kick-started over a decade ago by the likes of Netflix, Spotify, Blue Apron, and Uber, and today encompassing nearly every… Continue Reading

Google says AI systems should be able to mine publishers’ work unless companies opt out

The Guardian – “The tech company’s latest proposal about generative AI turns copyright law on its head, and could especially hurt smaller content creators, say experts. Google says AI systems should be able to mine publishers’ work unless companies opt out. The tech company’s latest proposal about generative AI turns copyright law on its head,… Continue Reading

Drought Center

“We’re the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The National Drought Mitigation Center’s mission is to reduce the effects of drought on people, the environment and the economy by researching the science of drought monitoring and the practice of drought planning. We collaborate with and learn from decision-makers at all levels –… Continue Reading

Trump and allies face 41 charges in Georgia

19 defendants – Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Mark Meadows, Kenneth Chesebro, Jeff Clark, Jenna Ellis, Ray Smith, Robert Cheeley, Michael Roman, David Shafer, Shawn Still, Stephen Lee, Harrison Floyd, Trevian Kutti, Sidney Powell, Cathleen Latham, Scott Hall, and Misty Hampton. 41 counts [Trump faces 13 counts] – 22 Related to forgery or false… Continue Reading

Internet Archive Responds to Recording Industry Lawsuit Targeting Obsolete Media

Internet Archives Blogs: “Late Friday, some of the world’s largest record labels, including Sony and Universal Music Group, filed a lawsuit against the Internet Archive and others for the Great 78 Project, a community effort for the preservation, research and discovery of 78 rpm records that are 70 to 120 years old. As a non-profit… Continue Reading

Without accurate data, the physical workplace won’t survive

CNBC: “After three years of haphazard plans for getting workers back at their desks, the return-to-office movement has entered a phase of remorse. A whopping 80% of bosses regret their initial return-to-office decisions and say they would have approached their plans differently if they had a better understanding of employees’ office attendance, their usage of… Continue Reading

City maps show how much hotter it is from neighborhood to neighborhood

The Verge: “A new analysis ranks 44 major cities that altogether are home to a quarter of the country’s population. More than half of the population in these cities live in census tracks that can feel at least 8 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than surrounding areas, according to the analysis published yesterday by the nonprofit Climate… Continue Reading

An Iowa school district is using AI to ban books

“It certainly didn’t take long for AI’s other shoe to drop, what with the emergent technology already being perverted to commit confidence scams and generate spam content. We can now add censorship to that list as the Globe Gazette reports the school board of Mason City, Iowa has begun leveraging AI technology to cultivate lists… Continue Reading

Now you can find and follow friends on Substack

Substack Blog: “Today, we’re making it much easier to find and follow your friends on Substack, helping you explore the network and be discovered by new readers. Since we launched Notes in April, following has been one of the most requested features from writers and readers. Following helps writers grow their audience via the Substack… Continue Reading

Copyright Fair Use Regulatory Approaches in AI Content Generation

Tech Policy News – Ariel Soiffer is a partner and Aric Jain is an associate at the law firm WilmerHale. “Midjourney, a platform to generate images from natural language descriptions, is an example of generative AI tools that are raising new questions around copyright and fair use, The impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has… Continue Reading

Climate & Conflict

Climate & Conflict: The interplay between climate and conflict has received increasing attention from researchers and policymakers over the last two decades. There is significant overlap between countries most affected by climate change and those most at risk of violent conflict. Evidence for adverse effects of climate factors on conflict exists predominantly for internal conflict.… Continue Reading