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Category Archives: Legislation

Wilson Center – Database to Track Police Use of Force Legislation

Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law: “This Registry contains information about legislation regarding policing introduced in states and at the federal level since 2018. The initial impetus for creating this collection was the surge of lawmaking concerning policing at the federal, state and local levels, beginning in Spring 2020, including in response… Continue Reading

Towards best practices in AGI safety and governance: A survey of expert opinion

Towards best practices in AGI safety and governance: A survey of expert opinion. Jonas Schuett, Noemi Dreksler, Markus Anderljung, David McCaffary, Lennart Heim, Emma Bluemke, Ben Garfinkel, 11 May 2023 arXiv “A number of leading AI companies, including OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic, have the stated goal of building artificial general intelligence (AGI) – AI… Continue Reading

Digital Privacy Legislation is Civil Rights Legislation

EFF: “Our personal data and the ways private companies harvest and monetize it plays an increasingly powerful role in modern life. Corporate databases are vast, interconnected, and opaque. The movement and use of our data is difficult to understand, let alone trace. Yet companies use it to reach inferences about us, leading to lost employment,… Continue Reading

Criminal Prohibitions on Leaks and Other Disclosures of Classified Defense Information

CRS Report – Criminal Prohibitions on Leaks and Other Disclosures of Classified Defense Information. Updated May 11, 2023 – “High-profile leaks and disclosures of protected government information have prompted frequent congressional interest in the criminal penalties for disclosing government secrets. In one recent case, a U.S. Air National Guardsman allegedly posted photographs on social media… Continue Reading

School librarians face a new penalty in the banned-book wars: Prison

Washington Post: “Librarians could face years of imprisonment and tens of thousands in fines for providing sexually explicit, obscene or “harmful” books to children under new state laws that permit criminal prosecution of school and library personnel. At least seven states have passed such laws in the last two years, according to a Washington Post… Continue Reading

IRS submits Direct File report to Congress; Treasury Department directs pilot to evaluate key issues

“The Internal Revenue Service submitted a report today to Congress evaluating a Direct File option for taxpayers and is taking steps to begin a pilot project for the 2024 filing season following a directive from the Treasury Department. The report to Congress, required by the Inflation Reduction Act, evaluated the feasibility of providing taxpayers with… Continue Reading

S.1564 – AI Leadership Training Act

S. 1564 – To require the Director of the Office of Personnel Management to establish, or otherwise ensure the provision of, a training program on artificial intelligence for Federal management officials and supervisors, and for other purposes. May 11, 2023. “U.S. Senators Gary Peters (D-MI), Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and… Continue Reading

Casey Tree Report – DC

“Last year Casey Trees reported that DC lost 550 acres of canopy—an area roughly the size of the National Mall—largely to development. While we recognize that a growing DC is a healthy DC, development that does not preserve existing trees and replace those that are lost makes neighborhoods hot, unhealthy, and unsustainable. In response, this… Continue Reading

Threat of TikTok ban has creators scrambling to build followings on Instagram, YouTube

CNBC: “With U.S. officials threatening a nationwide TikTok ban, creators and small business owners who rely on the app are growing concerned. “They’ve captured the lightning in the bottle that other platforms just haven’t been able to do yet,” said Chad Spangler, who uses his large TikTok following to promote his art. Creators have been turning… Continue Reading

The Luring Test: AI and the engineering of consumer trust

FTC – Michael Atleson, Attorney, FTC Division of Advertising Practices: “In the 2014 movie Ex Machina, a robot manipulates someone into freeing it from its confines, resulting in the person being confined instead. The robot was designed to manipulate that person’s emotions, and, oops, that’s what it did. While the scenario is pure speculative fiction, companies… Continue Reading

Has AI hacked the operating system of human civilization

The New York Times: ‘The Godfather of A.I.’ Leaves Google and Warns of Danger Ahead – For half a century, Geoffrey Hinton nurtured the technology at the heart of chatbots like ChatGPT. Now he worries it will cause serious harm. Gizmodo – AI Will Make Our Society Even More Unequal, Economists Warn – AI threatens… Continue Reading

Federal Reserve Board announces the results from the review of the supervision and regulation of Silicon Valley Bank

“The Federal Reserve Board on Friday, April 28, 2023 announced the results from the review of the supervision and regulation of Silicon Valley Bank, led by Vice Chair for Supervision Michael S. Barr. The review finds four key takeaways on the causes of the bank’s failure: Silicon Valley Bank’s board of directors and management failed… Continue Reading