Via LLRX – Rejecting Dogmas Around AI, User Privacy, and Tech Policy – The Markup’s Ross Teixeira had a virtual discussion with Jonathan Frankle, Chief Scientist at DataBricks, about the the ethics of companies using customer data to train models, the growing trend of integrating AI models into our personal devices and lives, and how people can… Continue Reading
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Author Archives: Sabrina I. Pacifici
Power-hungry AI is driving a surge in tech giant carbon emissions. Nobody knows what to do about it
Via LLRX – Power-hungry AI is driving a surge in tech giant carbon emissions. Nobody knows what to do about it – Since the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, the world has seen an incredible surge in investment, development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) applications. According to one estimate, the amount of computational power… Continue Reading
New Washington Post AI tool sifts massive data sets
Axios: “The Washington Post on Sunday published its first-ever story built on the work of a new AI tool called Haystacker that allows journalists to sift through large data sets — video, photo or text — to find newsworthy trends or patterns. Why it matters: In an interview, the Post’s chief technology officer, Vineet Khosla,… Continue Reading
Your TV set has become a digital billboard
Ars Technica – TV software is getting loaded with ads, changing what it means to own a TV set: “The TV business isn’t just about selling TVs anymore. Companies are increasingly seeing viewers, not TV sets, as their most lucrative asset. Over the past few years, TV makers have seen rising financial success from TV… Continue Reading
ChatGPT is bullshit
Hicks, M.T., Humphries, J. & Slater, J. ChatGPT is bullshit. Ethics Inf Technol 26, 38 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-024-09775-5. Full text available free. “Recently, there has been considerable interest in large language models: machine learning systems which produce human-like text and dialogue. Applications of these systems have been plagued by persistent inaccuracies in their output; these are… Continue Reading
National Public Data Published Its Own Passwords
Krebs on Security: “New details are emerging about a breach at National Public Data (NPD), a consumer data broker that recently spilled hundreds of millions of Americans’ Social Security Numbers, addresses, and phone numbers online. KrebsOnSecurity has learned that another NPD data broker which shares access to the same consumer records inadvertently published the passwords… Continue Reading
NO FAKES – A Dream for Lawyers, a Nightmare for Everyone Else
EFF: “Performers and ordinary humans are increasingly concerned that they may be replaced or defamed by AI-generated imitations. We’re seeing a host of bills designed to address that concern – but every one just generates new problems. Case in point: the NO FAKES Act. We flagged numerous flaws in a “discussion draft” back in April,… Continue Reading
The 12 Best Ways to Share Files With Anyone Over the Web
Make Use Of: “There are many ways to share files between people and devices, but a lot of those methods can be cumbersome by requiring app downloads, account registrations, cloud storage setups, and so on. That’s why we prefer these no-hassle file sharing websites that let you drag-and-drop files and share links to those files… Continue Reading
Collecting federal .gov databases
“Please help us by submitting the agency name and url of your favorite agency’s queryable database. We will attempt to harvest that information for the 2024 crawl. We appreciate your time in assisting us in collecting those .gov databases. Please feel free to forward this email to other interested people/communities/lists. For questions, please email me… Continue Reading
OpenTheBooks.com – Every Dime. Online. In Real Time.
“At OpenTheBooks.com, we work hard to capture and post all disclosed spending at every level of government – federal, state, and local. In 2022, we filed 50,000 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and captured 25 million public employee pension and salary records. We also broke open the California state checkbook for the first time… Continue Reading
South Korea’s plan for AI textbooks hit by backlash from parents
FT.com / no paywall: “South Korea’s plan to introduce artificial intelligence-powered digital textbooks in schools has provoked a backlash from parents and academics concerned about children’s overexposure to digital devices and potential misinformation. Education minister Lee Ju-ho said this week that tablets loaded with AI features were “pivotal” to a planned overhaul of the Korean… Continue Reading
AI and Plagiarism Detection Tools
Journalist’s Toolbox – Mike Reilley: “I post this here as a warning. There are tools such as AI Undetect and Humanize AI Text, rewrite tools that offer an AI detection remover service. They can fool GPTZero, ZeroGPT, Copyleak, etc. There also have been isolated reports that the detection tools may have a bias against international… Continue Reading
