This seems to be dominating the news, but I’m not going to spend much time with it.

https://www.bespacific.com/at-the-top-of-the-ticket-a-criminal-defendant/

At the Top of the Ticket, a Criminal Defendant

Greg Olear. Trump may well be a convicted felon by Election Day. He’s still the GOP nominee. “Yesterday, open statements were heard in the case of The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump. The defendant—a fixture in the New York tabloids for decades, a former reality TV star, and, improbably, the 45th President of the United States—is accused of “the crime of FALSIFYING BUSINESS RECORDS IN THE FIRST DEGREE, in violation of Penal Law §175.10,” a Class E felony. There are 34 counts in the indictment, each one specifying a unique instance of Trump running afoul of the law… A Class E felony is as low-rung as it sounds. This isn’t instigating a coup against our democracy, or making off with top secret documents, or bullying Georgia election officials to ensure that an election went his way. In the grand scheme of things, these counts are minor crimes. All it takes is one intractable MAGA on the jury who thinks this is a Deep State conspiracy, or that Stormy Daniels is some vindictive gold-digger, and Trump will skate. Even so, a former POTUS is a criminal defendant. Let’s pause for a moment and—to use a phrase I abhor that was ubiquitous on Twitter seven years ago—let that sink in. None of the other 43 previous presidents (Grover Cleveland was 22 and 24) were indicted for even a single crime, Ulysses Grant’s need for speed notwithstanding. Nixon likely would have been but was pre-emptively pardoned, so we’ll never know. A FPOTUS indictment, therefore, is unprecedented. And this is just the first of Trump’s criminal trials. There are three more pending. Not one, not two, but three: four, altogether. Four! That doesn’t even take into account the civil fraud case, where the State of New York is poised to seize almost half a billion dollars in assets from Trump pending appeal—and that assumes that the bond he secured winds up being legit…”

See also Axios: New York Courts to release daily transcripts from Trump hush money trial

Yes and no. Some things change, some remain the same.

https://www.axios.com/2024/04/16/ai-top-secret-intelligence

"Top secret" is no longer the key to good intel in an AI world: report

… Today's intelligence systems cannot keep pace with the explosion of data now available, requiring "rapid" adoption of generative AI to keep an intelligence advantage over rival powers.

• The U.S. intelligence community "risks surprise, intelligence failure, and even an attrition of its importance" unless it embraces AI's capacity to process floods of data, according to the report from the Special Competitive Studies Project.

• The federal government needs to think more in terms of "national competitiveness" than "national security," given the wider range of technologies now used to attack U.S. interests.

Something I have been meaning to try. Could this turn Shakespeare into a graphic novel?

https://www.makeuseof.com/best-open-source-ai-image-generators/

The 5 Best Open-Source AI Image Generators

AI-based text-to-image generation models are everywhere and becoming easier to access daily. While it's easy just to visit a website and generate the image you're looking for, open-source text-to-image generators are your best bet if you want more control over the generation process.

 

Long term implications? Pollution of the LLM corpus.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4771884

Do large language models have a legal duty to tell the truth?

Careless speech is a new type of harm created by large language models (LLM) that poses cumulative, long-term risks to science, education, and the development of shared social truths in democratic societies. LLMs produce responses that are plausible, helpful, and confident but that contain factual inaccuracies, inaccurate summaries, misleading references, and biased information. These subtle mistruths are poised to cause a severe cumulative degradation and homogenisation of knowledge over time. This article examines the existence and feasibility of a legal duty for LLM providers to create models that “tell the truth.” We argue that LLM providers should be required to mitigate careless speech and better align their models with truth through open, democratic processes. Careless speech is defined and contrasted with the simplified concept of “ground truth” in LLMs and prior discussion of related truth-related risks in LLMs including hallucinations, misinformation, and disinformation. The existence of truth-related obligations in EU law is then assessed, focusing on human rights law and liability frameworks for products and platforms. Current frameworks generally contain relatively limited, sector-specific truth duties. The article concludes by proposing a pathway to create a legal truth duty applicable to providers of both narrow- and general-purpose LLMs.

Law firms will use AI. How will they prepare?

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4794225

Leveraging The Use of Artificial Intelligence In Legal Practice

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into legal practice has revolutionized the legal landscape, offering unprecedented opportunities for efficiency and accuracy. By embracing AI technologies and adapting to the evolving legal landscape, legal professionals can enhance efficiency, accuracy, and client satisfaction, ultimately shaping the future of the legal profession. However, the adoption of AI in legal practice also presents challenges, including ethical considerations, data privacy concerns, and the need for specialized training. As legal professionals embrace AI technologies, it becomes imperative to address these challenges proactively and ensure responsible and ethical use. This presentation explores the diverse applications of AI in legal practice and its implications for the legal profession.

Do we need a chapter here?

https://www.geekwire.com/2024/seattle-tech-vet-calls-rapidly-growing-ai-tinkerers-meetups-the-new-homebrew-computer-club-for-ai/

Seattle tech vet calls rapidly growing ‘AI Tinkerers’ meetups the new ‘Homebrew Computer Club’ for AI

… A first meetup in Seattle in November 2022 attracted 12 people. A second in Austin was led by GitHub Copilot creator Alex Graveley, who came up with the name “AI Tinkerers.”

Nearly a year-and-a-half later, Heitzeberg said the idea has taken off and is going global. In a LinkedIn post last week, he said eight cities — from Seattle to Chicago to Boston to Medellin, Colombia, and elsewhere — have AI Tinkerers meetups planned over the next month.

“We are kind of the Homebrew Computer Club of AI,” Heitzeberg said, referencing the famed hobbyist group that gathered in Silicon Valley in the mid-1970s to mid-1980s and attracted the likes of Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. “It was people trying stuff. It’s that for AI, and it’s really needed and really good for innovation.”

I worry that “force” might eventually include beating a password out of me.

https://www.bespacific.com/cops-can-force-suspect-to-unlock-phone-with-thumbprint-us-court-rules/

Cops can force suspect to unlock phone with thumbprint, US court rules

Ars Technica: “The US Constitution’s Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination does not prohibit police officers from forcing a suspect to unlock a phone with a thumbprint scan, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday. The ruling does not apply to all cases in which biometrics are used to unlock an electronic device but is a significant decision in an unsettled area of the law. The US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit had to grapple with the question of “whether the compelled use of Payne’s thumb to unlock his phone was testimonial,” the ruling in United States v. Jeremy Travis Payne said. “To date, neither the Supreme Court nor any of our sister circuits have addressed whether the compelled use of a biometric to unlock an electronic device is testimonial.” A three-judge panel at the 9th Circuit ruled unanimously against Payne, affirming a US District Court’s denial of Payne’s motion to suppress evidence. Payne was a California parolee who was arrested by California Highway Patrol (CHP) after a 2021 traffic stop and charged with possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, fluorofentanyl, and cocaine. There was a dispute in District Court over whether a CHP officer “forcibly used Payne’s thumb to unlock the phone.” But for the purposes of Payne’s appeal, the government “accepted the defendant’s version of the facts, i.e., ‘that defendant’s thumbprint was compelled.'” Payne’s Fifth Amendment claim “rests entirely on whether the use of his thumb implicitly related certain facts to officers such that he can avail himself of the privilege against self-incrimination,” the ruling said. Judges rejected his claim, holding “that the compelled use of Payne’s thumb to unlock his phone (which he had already identified for the officers) required no cognitive exertion, placing it firmly in the same category as a blood draw or fingerprint taken at booking.” “When Officer Coddington used Payne’s thumb to unlock his phone—which he could have accomplished even if Payne had been unconscious—he did not intrude on the contents of Payne’s mind,” the court also said…”

Perspective. Worth an hour of your time.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-rise-of-the-machines-john-etchemendy-and-fei-fei-li-on-our-ai-future/

The Rise of The Machines: John Etchemendy and Fei-Fei Li on Our AI Future

John Etchemendy and Fei-Fei Li are the co-directors of Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), founded in 2019 to “advance AI research, education, policy and practice to improve the human condition.” In this interview, they delve into the origins of the technology, its promise, and its potential threats. They also discuss what AI should be used for, where it should not be deployed, and why we as a society should — cautiously — embrace it.

Interesting story of an unlevel playing field.

https://lawrencekstimes.com/2024/04/18/lhs-journalists-dispute-gaggle/

Lawrence journalism students convince district to reverse course on AI surveillance they say violates freedom of press

Journalism students at Lawrence High School have convinced the school district to remove their files from the purview of a controversial artificial intelligence surveillance system after months of debate with administrators.

The AI software, called Gaggle, sifts through anything connected to the district’s Google Workspace — which includes Gmail, Drive and other products — and flags content it deems a safety risk, such as allusions to self-harm, depression, drug use and violence.

Sorry for the short notice but I just found out myself. Privacy Foundation Seminar:

Artificial Intelligence and the Practice of Law

Friday April 19^th 11:30 – 1:00

1 ethics CLE credit. Contact Kristen Dermyer 303-871-6487 <Kristen.Dermyer@du.edu> to register.

...and not just for lawyers.

https://www.bespacific.com/the-smartest-way-to-use-ai-at-work/

The Smartest Way to Use AI at Work

WSJ via MSN: “By by day, there’s growing pressure at the office. Do you respond to all those clients—or let AI do it? Do you attend that meeting—or do you send a bot? About 20% of employed adults said they have used OpenAI’s ChatGPT for work as of February 2024, up from 8% a year ago, according to Pew Research Center. The most popular uses for AI at work are research and brainstorming, writing first-draft emails and creating visuals and presentations, according to an Adobe survey. Productivity boosts from AI are estimated to be worth trillions of dollars over the next decade, say consultants. Many companies are encouraging their workers to embrace and learn the new tools. The industries that will benefit most are sales and marketing, customer care, software engineering and product development. For most workers, it can make your day-to-day a bit less annoying. “If you’re going to use it as a work tool,” said Lareina Yee, a senior partner at the consulting firm McKinsey and chair of its Technology Council, “you need to think of all the ways it can change your own productivity equation.” Using AI at work could get you fired—or at least in hot water. A judge last year sanctioned a lawyer who relied on fake cases generated by ChatGPT, and some companies have restricted AI’s usage. Other companies and bosses are pushing staff to do more with AI, but you’ll need to follow guidelines. Rule No. 1: Don’t put any company data into a tool without permission. And Rule No. 2: Only use AI to do work you can easily verify, and be sure to check its work…” Uses include: Email; Presentations; Summaries; Meetings.

Too many tools, too little time.

https://www.makeuseof.com/custom-gpts-that-make-chat-gpt-better/

10 Custom GPTs That Actually Make ChatGPT Better

ChatGPT on its own is great, but did you know that you can use custom GPTs to streamline its functionality? Custom GPTs can teach you how to code, plan trips, transcribe videos, and much, much more, and there are heaps for you to choose from.

So, here are the best custom GPTs that actually make ChatGPT a better tool for any situation.

Not sure I believe these numbers…

https://www.edweek.org/technology/see-which-types-of-teachers-are-the-early-adopters-of-ai/2024/04

See Which Types of Teachers Are the Early Adopters of AI

… Among social studies and English/language arts teachers, the number of AI users was higher than the general teaching population. Twenty-seven percent of English teachers and social studies teachers use AI tools in their work. By comparison, 19 percent of teachers in STEM disciplines said they use AI, and 11 percent of elementary education teachers reported doing so.

I thought this sounded familiar…

https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/ai-and-statistics-perfect-together/

AI and Statistics: Perfect Together

People are often unsure why artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms work. More importantly, people can’t always anticipate when they won’t work. Ali Rahimi, an AI researcher at Google, received a standing ovation at a 2017 conference when he referred to much of what is done in AI as “alchemy,” meaning that developers don’t have solid grounds for predicting which algorithms will work and which won’t, or for choosing one AI architecture over another. To put it succinctly, AI lacks a basis for inference: a solid foundation on which to base predictions and decisions.

This makes AI decisions tough (or impossible) to explain and hurts trust in AI models and technologies — trust that is necessary for AI to reach its potential. As noted by Rahimi, this is an unsolved problem in AI and machine learning that keeps tech and business leaders up at night because it dooms many AI models to fail in deployment.

Fortunately, help for AI teams and projects is available from an unlikely source: classical statistics. This article will explore how business leaders can apply statistical methods and statistics experts to address the problem.

Clogging congress. (Or any organization that would take this seriously.)

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2024/04/using-ai-generated-legislative-amendments-as-a-delaying-technique.html

Using AI-Generated Legislative Amendments as a Delaying Technique

Canadian legislators proposed 19,600 amendments —almost certainly AI-generated—to a bill in an attempt to delay its adoption.

Resource.

https://www.bespacific.com/free-guide-learn-how-to-use-chatgpt/

Free guide – Learn how to use ChatGPT

Ben’s Bites – Learn how to use ChatGPT. An introductory overview of ChatGPT, the AI assistant by OpenAI – Designed for absolute beginners, this short course explores in simple terms how AI assistant ChatGPT works and how to get started using it.

Tools & Techniques. Could this be trained for other topics?

https://news.yale.edu/2024/04/16/student-developed-ai-chatbot-opens-yale-philosophers-works-all

Student-developed AI chatbot opens Yale philosopher’s works to all

LuFlot Bot, a generative AI chatbot trained on the works of Yale philosopher Luciano Floridi, answers questions on the ethics of digital technology.

Visit this link to converse with LuFlot about the ethics of digital technologies.

Is this the first step on the slippery slope to home defense drones armed with napalm and machine guns? (I can see where it would be very satisfying to paint ball a porch pirate!)

https://boingboing.net/2024/04/15/this-armed-security-camera-uses-ai-to-fire-paintballs-or-tear-gas-at-trespassers.html

This armed security camera uses AI to fire paintballs or tear gas at trespassers

PaintCam is an armed home/office security camera that uses AI to spot trespassers and fires paintballs or tear gas projectiles at them. The company's promotional video looks like a parody but apparently this "vigilant guardian that doesn't sleep, blink, or miss a beat" is a real product.

According to New Atlas, the system "uses automatic target marking, face recognition and AI-based decision making to identify unfamiliar visitors to your property, day or night.

When the demand for information is huge, providing anything must be profitable.

https://www.wired.com/story/iran-israel-attack-viral-fake-content/

Fake Footage of Iran’s Attack on Israel Is Going Viral

IN THE HOURS after Iran announced its drone and missile attack on Israel on April 13, fake and misleading posts went viral almost immediately on X. The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), a nonprofit think tank, found a number of posts that claimed to reveal the strikes and their impact, but that instead used AI-generated videos, photos, and repurposed footage from other conflicts which showed rockets launching into the night, explosions, and even President Joe Biden in military fatigues.

Just 34 of these misleading posts received more than 37 million views, according to ISD. Many of the accounts posting the misinformation were also verified, meaning they have paid X $8 per month for the “blue tick” and that their content is amplified by the platform’s algorithm. ISD also found that several of the accounts claimed to be open source intelligence (OSINT) experts, which has, in recent years, become another way of lending legitimacy to their posts.

I’m trying to get and stay current…

https://aiindex.stanford.edu/report/

Measuring trends in AI

Welcome to the seventh edition of the AI Index report. The 2024 Index is our most comprehensive to date and arrives at an important moment when AI’s influence on society has never been more pronounced. This year, we have broadened our scope to more extensively cover essential trends such as technical advancements in AI, public perceptions of the technology, and the geopolitical dynamics surrounding its development. Featuring more original data than ever before, this edition introduces new estimates on AI training costs, detailed analyses of the responsible AI landscape, and an entirely new chapter dedicated to AI’s impact on science and medicine.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT

DOWNLOAD INDIVIDUAL CHAPTERS

Tools & Techniques.

https://www.nsa.gov/Press-Room/Press-Releases-Statements/Press-Release-View/Article/3741371/nsa-publishes-guidance-for-strengthening-ai-system-security/

NSA Publishes Guidance for Strengthening AI System Security

The National Security Agency (NSA) is releasing a Cybersecurity Information Sheet (CSI) today, “Deploying AI Systems Securely: Best Practices for Deploying Secure and Resilient AI Systems.” The CSI is intended to support National Security System owners and Defense Industrial Base companies that will be deploying and operating AI systems designed and developed by an external entity.

The evolution of computer crime.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4788909

Hacking Generative AI

Generative AI platforms, like ChatGPT, hold great promise in enhancing human creativity, productivity, and efficiency. However, generative AI platforms are prone to manipulation. Specifically, they are susceptible to a new type of attack called “prompt injection.” In prompt injection, attackers carefully craft their input prompt to manipulate AI into generating harmful, dangerous, or illegal content as output Examples of such outputs include instructions on how to build an improvised bomb, how to make meth, how to hotwire a car, and more. Researchers have also been able to make ChatGPT generate malicious code.

This article asks a basic question: do prompt injection attacks violate computer crime law, mainly the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act? This article argues that they do. Prompt injection attacks lead AI to disregard its own hard-coded content generation restrictions, which allows the attacker to access portions of the AI that are beyond what the system’s developers authorized. Therefore, this constitutes the criminal offense of accessing a computer in excess of authorization. Although prompt injection attacks could run afoul of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, this article offers ways to distinguish serious acts of AI manipulation from less serious ones, so that prosecution would only focus on a limited set of harmful and dangerous prompt injections.

Perspective.

https://www.ft.com/content/cde75f58-20b9-460c-89fb-e64fe06e24b9

ChatGPT essay cheats are a menace to us all

The other day I met a British academic who said something about artificial intelligence that made my jaw drop.

The number of students using AI tools like ChatGPT to write their papers was a much bigger problem than the public was being told, this person said.

AI cheating at their institution was now so rife that large numbers of students had been expelled for academic misconduct — to the point that some courses had lost most of a year’s intake. “I’ve heard similar figures from a few universities,” the academic told me.

Spotting suspicious essays could be easy, because when students were asked why they had included certain terms or data sources not mentioned on the course, they were baffled. “They have clearly never even heard of some of the terms that turn up in their essays.”

Perspective.

https://abovethelaw.com/2024/04/artificial-intelligence-may-not-disrupt-the-legal-profession-for-a-while/

Artificial Intelligence May Not Disrupt The Legal Profession For A While

The work of artificial intelligence definitely still needs to be reviewed by a lawyer.

Ever since ChatGPT roared onto the scene over a year ago, everyone has been talking about how the world will change due to advances in artificial intelligence. Many commentators have singled out the legal industry as a sector that will be particularly impacted by artificial intelligence, since much of the rote work performed by associates can presumably be handled by artificial intelligence in the coming years. Initially, I also believed that artificial intelligence would have a huge impact on the legal profession in the short term, but it now seems that the legal profession will not be materially affected for at least several years, if not longer.

I might find this useful.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-and-mit-launch-a-free-generative-ai-course-for-teachers/

Google and MIT launch a free generative AI course for teachers

When considering generative AI in the classroom, many people think of its potential for students; however, teachers can benefit just as much from the technology, if not more. On Thursday, Google and MIT Responsible AI for Social Empowerment and Education (RAISE) unveiled a free Google Generative AI Educators course to help middle and high school teachers use generative AI tools to enhance their workflow and students' classroom experience.

The self-paced, two-hour course instructs teachers how to use generative AI to save time in everyday tasks such as writing emails, modifying content for different reading levels, building creative assessments, structuring activities to students' interests, and more, according to the press release. Teachers can even learn how to use generative AI to help with one of the most time-consuming tasks – lesson planning – by inputting their existing lesson plan into the generative AI models to get ideas on what to do next in the classroom.

https://skillshop.exceedlms.com/student/path/1176018

Instagram will be looking at every image you send or receive, then modify (blur) the image and finally provide legal advice where it seems appropriate?

https://www.wsj.com/tech/personal-tech/instagram-to-start-blurring-nude-images-in-messages-to-protect-teens-38f8d9c6?st=przebf72a9696mg&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Instagram to Start Blurring Nude Images in Messages to Protect Teens

… Instagram is now taking a meaningful step to contain the problem, by automatically detecting and blurring nudes in its direct-messaging service.

… Instagram users who receive nude images via direct messages will see a pop-up explaining how to block the sender or report the chat, and a note encouraging the recipient not to feel pressure to respond. People who attempt to send a nude via direct messages will be advised to be cautious and receive a reminder that they can unsend a pic.

If teens receive a nude image on Instagram, the picture will be blurred and they will see a message steering them to safety tips.

… The new feature—to be tested in the coming weeks and expected to roll out globally over the next few months—will be on by default for accounts with birth dates corresponding to teenagers, said Instagram’s parent, Meta Platforms. Teens can disable it if they want. Adult accounts will be encouraged to enable the feature.

Narrowing the definition?

https://www.bespacific.com/uspto-ai-guidance-highlights-risks-for-practitioners-and-public/

USPTO AI Guidance Highlights Risks for Practitioners and Public

IP Watchdog: “The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today announced guidance for practitioners and the public regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the preparation of filings for submission to the Office. The guidance comes two months after the Office issued a guidance memorandum for the Trademark and Patent Trial and Appeal Boards (TTAB and PTAB) on the misuse of AI tools before the Boards that clarified the application of existing rules to AI submissions. That guidance was in part prompted by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts’ 2023 year-end report, which acknowledged both the benefits and dangers of AI in the context of the legal profession. It also noted President Biden’s Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy AI, which directed the USPTO Director to issue recommendations to the President, in consultation with the Director of the Copyright Office, on potential executive actions to be taken relating to copyright and AI. Today’s draft Federal Register Notice builds upon the February guidance and is aimed at reminding professionals, innovators, and entrepreneurs of the existing USPTO rules that protect against the potential “perils” of AI. These include the Duty of Candor and Good Faith; the Signature Requirement; Confidentiality of Information; Foreign Filing Licenses and Export Regulations; existing electronic systems’ policies; and duties owed to clients…”

This could get a bit complicated if I’m scanning the web. What percentage of websites clearly label the copyright owner of each article?

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4583318-schiff-unveils-ai-training-transparency-measure/

Schiff unveils AI training transparency measure

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) unveiled legislation on Tuesday that would require companies using copyrighted material to train their generative artificial intelligence models to publicly disclose all of the work that they used to do so.

The bill, called the “Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act,” would require people creating training datasets – or making any significant changes to a dataset – to submit a notice to the Register of Copyrights with a “detailed summary of any copyrighted works used” and the URL for any publicly available material.

… The Register of Copyrights would then publish an online database available to the public with all the notices.

I wonder who persuaded the author to write this article?

https://www.ft.com/content/69caf324-2ac0-4b53-a0b4-1f2ecae6e29e

The US is right to target TikTok

The US House of Representatives in March overwhelmingly passed a bill to force divestiture of TikTok from its Chinese parent. Many in Silicon Valley are against this bill but I staunchly support it. Neither I nor my firm stands to gain or lose anything on the back of this bill’s outcome, but I can see how TikTok can be weaponised by a foreign adversary.

This TikTok divestiture is about preventing a foreign adversary from controlling a platform to deploy what I call “persuasive AI”, to surreptitiously manipulate US citizens, compromise elections, push divisive content, and otherwise promote the objectives of the Chinese Communist Party. Some think we can prevent these problems with narrow legislation restricting the transfer of data. But none of these harms require data to be transferred. Privacy safeguards will not solve this problem.

Should it be?

https://www.bespacific.com/law-is-not-code-on-algorithms-and-the-concept-of-law/

Law is not Code: On Algorithms and the Concept of Law

Bezemek, Christoph, Law is not Code: On Algorithms and the Concept of Law (February 20, 2022). Studiengesellschaft für Wirtschaft und Recht (ed), Algorithmen im Wirtschaftsrecht (2023), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4696725 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4696725

“This piece addresses the (profound) differences and the (superficial) similarities between law and algorithms on a conceptual basis and invites the reader to reengage in the debate as to what law is and how it embodies and transmits the shared values of a political community.”

Tools & Techniques.

https://lifehacker.com/how-to-bypass-a-paywall-to-read-an-article-for-free

How to Get Past a Paywall to Read an Article for Free

… But whether you lost your password, haven’t saved it on your phone, are in a rush, or are just strapped for cash and promise yourself that you’ll subscribe later, there are several ways to bypass paywalls on the internet.

I agree (not that anyone cares)

https://teachprivacy.com/ai-algorithms-and-awful-humans-final-published-version/

AI, Algorithms, and Awful Humans

This Essay critiques arguments that algorithmic decision-making is better than human decision-making. Two arguments are often advanced to justify the increasing use of algorithms in decisions. The “Awful Human Argument” asserts that human decision-making is often awful and that machines can decide better than humans. Another argument, the “Better Together Argument,” posits that machines can augment and improve human decision-making. We argue that such contentions are far too optimistic and fail to appreciate the shortcomings of machine decisions and the difficulties in combining human and machine decision-making. Automated decisions often rely too much on quantifiable data to the exclusion of qualitative data, resulting in a change to the nature of the decision itself. Whereas certain matters might be readily reducible to quantifiable data, such as the weather, human lives are far more complex. Human and machine decision-making often do not mix well. Humans often perform badly when reviewing algorithmic output.

Download the piece for free here:

Keep current.

https://www.bespacific.com/us-state-by-state-ai-legislation-snapshot/

US state-by-state AI legislation snapshot

“BCLP actively tracks the proposed, failed and enacted AI regulatory bills from across the United States to help our clients stay informed in this rapidly-changing regulatory landscape. The interactive map is current as of February 12, 2024, and will be updated quarterly to include legislation that if passed would directly impact a businesses’ development or deployment of AI solutions. Artificial Intelligence (AI), once limited to the pages of science fiction novels, has now been adopted by more than 1/3 of businesses in the United States, and even more organizations are working to embed AI into current applications and processes. As companies increasingly integrate AI in their products, services, processes, and decision-making, they need to do so in ways that comply with the different state laws that have been passed and proposed to regulate the use of AI. Select a state for more information.”

Should I hold my breath?

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/4581269-5-things-to-know-about-the-bipartisan-data-privacy-bill/

5 things to know about the bipartisan data privacy bill

The chairs of the House and Senate Commerce committees unveiled a discussion draft of a long-awaited bipartisan data privacy bill Sunday evening.

Another warning of an AI apocalypse.

https://www.bespacific.com/the-ai-deepfake-apocalypse-is-here/

The AI deepfake apocalypse is here

Washington Post [unpaywalled ]: “AI-generated images are everywhere. They’re being used to make nonconsensual pornography, muddy the truth during elections and promote products on social media using celebrity impersonations. When Princess Catherine released a video last month disclosing that she had cancer, social media went abuzz with the latest baseless claim that artificial intelligence was used to manipulate the video. Both BBC Studios, which shot the video, and Kensington Palace denied AI was involved. But it didn’t stop the speculation. Experts say the problem is only going to get worse. Today, the quality of some fake images is so good that they’re nearly impossible to distinguish from real ones. In one prominent case, a finance manager at a Hong Kong bank wired about $25.6 million to fraudsters who used AI to pose as the worker’s bosses on a video call. And the tools to make these fakes are free and widely available. A growing group of researchers, academics and start-up founders are working on ways to track and label AI content. Using a variety of methods and forming alliances with news organizations, Big Tech companies and even camera manufacturers, they hope to keep AI images from further eroding the public’s ability to understand what’s true and what isn’t. “A year ago, we were still seeing AI images and they were goofy,” said Rijul Gupta, founder and CEO of DeepMedia AI, a deepfake detection start-up. “Now they’re perfect.” Here’s a rundown of the major methods being developed to hold back the AI image apocalypse…”

Curious. If students rewrite based on their ChatGPT feedback why would the teacher’s ChatGPT find anything to critique.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/06/tech/teachers-grading-ai/

Teachers are using AI to grade essays. But some experts are raising ethical concerns

When Diane Gayeski, a professor of strategic communications at Ithaca College, receives an essay from one of her students, she runs part of it through ChatGPT, asking the AI tool to critique and suggest how to improve the work.

“The best way to look at AI for grading is as a teaching assistant or research assistant who might do a first pass … and it does a pretty good job at that,” she told CNN.

She shows her students the feedback from ChatGPT and how the tool rewrote their essay. “I’ll share what I think about their intro, too, and we’ll talk about it,” she said.

Gayeski requires her class of 15 students to do the same: run their draft through ChatGPT to see where they can make improvements.

… She suggested teachers use AI to look at certain metrics — such as structure, language use and grammar — and give a numerical score on those figures. But teachers should then grade students’ work themselves when looking for novelty, creativity and depth of insight.

Perspective.

https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3656033.3656036

Is Copyright Law the New Turing Test?

In December 2023, the New York Times Company filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft for the "defendants' unlawful use of The Time's work to create artificial intelligence products..." [8]. While this lawsuit alone should interest the Computers and Society community, it struck me that its eventual judgment might serve as an interesting exhibit as to whether computers are creative in their intelligent thinking?1 This Parting Opinion focuses on this question. As usual, I'll present some background context to set the stage, before diving into the primary question at hand. As a bit of nostalgia, let's begin with the early days of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and quickly move to the present.