Can we learn anything from these AI protesters? Any positive ideas?

https://www.semafor.com/article/07/04/2024/kenya-protesters-us-ai-in-anti-government-battle

Kenyan protesters are using AI in their anti-government fight

Kenya’s government has raised concerns about risks associated with use of artificial intelligence (AI) as youth-led, anti-government protests continue across the nation. Protesters have deployed creative uses of AI and digital tools to take on the political establishment over the past few weeks as part of the nationwide demonstrations, which were triggered by the now-scrapped Finance Bill 2024 containing a raft of unpopular tax hikes.

Among widely shared AI tools created in support of the protests include the Corrupt Politicians GPT, a chatbot which reveals corruption cases involving Kenyan politicians. Another is the Finance Bill GPT, which helps break down the controversial bill and its potential impact on prices. The chatbot also shares lawmakers’ phone numbers for their constituents to raise their concerns.

Protesters also contributed to and shared databases of businesses owned by politicians, which have faced boycotts and attacks, and created another chatbot featuring their contributions to parliamentary debates.

Simple. Even my students would understand. (Probably)

https://towardsdatascience.com/ai-training-simplified-the-essential-mathematics-explained-3a94ebeb4a3e

AI Training Simplified: The Essential Mathematics Explained

It’s always beneficial to understand how things work. In this article, I will provide a very simple overview of the basic mathematical logic used in training AI models. I promise that if you have a basic education, the following examples will be understandable, and you’ll gain a slightly better understanding of the field of artificial intelligence.

This has been obvious from the get-go. I guess a paper makes it official.

https://futurism.com/the-byte/google-researchers-paper-ai-internet

GOOGLE RESEARCHERS PUBLISH PAPER ABOUT HOW AI IS RUINING THE INTERNET

Google researchers have come out with a new paper that warns that generative AI is ruining vast swaths of the internet with fake content — which is painfully ironic because Google has been hard at work pushing the same technology to its enormous user base.

(Related) A real solution or simply kicking the can down the road?

https://www.makeuseof.com/ai-running-out-training-data-solutions/

AI Tools Are Running Out of Training Data, but There Are 6 Solutions

It’s like all that data is pinned to a public bulletin board. How is that ‘private?’

https://teachprivacy.com/the-great-scrape-the-clash-between-scraping-and-privacy/

The Great Scrape: The Clash Between Scraping and Privacy

I’m posting a new article draft with Professor Woodrow Hartzog (BU Law), The Great Scrape: The Clash Between Scraping and Privacy. We argue that “scraping” – the automated extraction of large amounts of data from the internet – is in fundamental tension with privacy. Scraping is generally anathema to the core principles of privacy that form the backbone of most privacy laws, frameworks, and codes.

You can download the article for free on SSRN.

Why would any government mandate the continued use of obsolete technology? It’s like insisting on horse drawn tanks.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-declares-victory-effort-end-government-use-floppy-disks-2024-07-03/

Japan declares victory in effort to end government use of floppy disks

Japan's government has finally eliminated the use of floppy disks in all its systems, two decades since their heyday, reaching a long-awaited milestone in a campaign to modernise the bureaucracy.

By the middle of last month, the Digital Agency had scrapped all 1,034 regulations governing their use, except for one environmental stricture related to vehicle recycling.

"We have won the war on floppy disks on June 28!" Digital Minister Taro Kono, who has been vocal about wiping out fax machines [A technology that predates the Civil War! Bob] and other analogue technology in government, told Reuters in a statement on Wednesday.

AI vs young lawyers? Is “ordinary” changing?

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/insurance/law-clerk-vs-ai-courthouse-test-highlights-judicial-curiosity

Law Clerk vs. AI? Courthouse Test Highlights Judicial Curiosity

Law clerks and interns for federal Judge Xavier Rodriguez recently spent weeks poring over evidence from a high-profile trial on challenges to Texas’ voting and election laws, and then summarized key testimony for the court’s official findings of fact and conclusions of law.

This summer, an AI tool is doing the same thing.

While only the human-powered work will become part of the court record, Rodriguez plans to publish results on how well and how quickly an artificial intelligence tool performed the summarization and analysis compared to trained young lawyers and law students, he told Bloomberg Law.

“I am not aware of other judges doing similar experiments,” Rodriguez said in an email, “but I would be surprised if they’re not.”

A member of the Texas AI legal task force, Rodriguez is among the federal and state judges dipping their toes into how the technology can be used in and around the courtroom. The questions they’re posing were highlighted on May 28 when Judge Kevin Newsom of the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit wrote a concurring opinion in an otherwise mainstream insurance case floating the idea that generative AI large language models could be used to help determine the “ordinary meaning” of legal text.

Perspective. But gathering and using that knowledge will still require effort.

https://www.axios.com/2024/07/03/ai-power-knowledge-cost-future

New AI hype alert: Cost-free knowledge

The latest pitch for AI's revolutionary power predicts that the technology will make knowledge production cost-free.

Driving the news: Mustafa Suleyman — DeepMind cofounder and now Microsoft AI's CEO — made this case at the Aspen Ideas Festival last week.

"The economics of information are about to radically change because we're going to reduce the cost of production of knowledge to zero marginal cost," Suleyman said at the festival.

"In 15 or 20 years' time, we will be producing new scientific, cultural knowledge at almost zero marginal cost. It will be widely open sourced and available to everybody.

Perspective. (48 min)

https://www.aljazeera.com/program/al-jazeera-documentaries/2024/7/2/ihuman-ai-and-humanity

iHuman: AI and Humanity

Artificial Intelligence, power and social control – an exploration of what AI could mean for humanity.

AI and us – iHuman explores what artificial intelligence and machine learning might mean for our lives, societies and futures. Featuring some of the pioneers of AI, this film looks at the most powerful and far-reaching technological development, both positively and with some concern. Computer scientists, data analysts, human rights lawyers, philosophers and psychologists deliver an overview of the last few years of AI but also a glimpse of the future.

Surveillance across society, autonomous weapons, bias in algorithms, big data mining, AI-influenced online echo chambers – AI is already everywhere. It has already influenced politics – but will intelligent robots ever turn on us humans? Given the power dynamics behind AI technology and Big Tech companies, is AI only for “killing, spying and brainwashing” – or can it also solve many of the world’s most challenging problems? There’s no simple answer but this film provides much food for thought.

Is the assumption than unrealistic images hold no persuasive power? Smokey the Bear saying, “Only you can prevent Forest Trump!” Or Beavis and Butt-head for Biden…

https://www.reuters.com/technology/google-require-disclosures-digitally-altered-content-election-ads-2024-07-01/

Google to require disclosures for digitally altered content in election ads

Google said on Monday it would make it mandatory for advertisers to disclose election ads that use digitally altered content to depict real or realistic-looking people or events, its latest step to battle election misinformation.

Perspective.

https://theconversation.com/russia-has-become-so-economically-isolated-that-china-could-order-the-end-of-war-in-ukraine-232951

Russia has become so economically isolated that China could order the end of war in Ukraine

Western leaders are becoming increasingly frustrated by China’s role in enabling the war in Ukraine. Some have even openly threatened to sanction the country if it continues to provide Russia with the materials it needs to build more weapons.

And they are right to focus on China’s position of power. Russia is now so dependent on the only major economy still taking the risk to support its regime, that China could effectively force Vladimir Putin to end the conflict.

Perspective.

https://www.bespacific.com/the-supreme-court-puts-trump-above-the-law/

The Supreme Court Puts Trump Above the Law

The Atlantic via MSN: “Near the top of their sweeping, lawless opinion in Trump v. United States, Donald Trump’s defenders on the Supreme Court repeat one of the most basic principles of American constitutional government: “The president is not above the law.” They then proceed to obliterate it. Although the pro-Trump justices attempt to nest the breadth of their opinion in legalese, their finding that the president cannot be prosecuted for “official acts,” and that much of Trump’s efforts to seize power fall under that rubric, means that the justices have essentially legalized a losing president refusing to step down, as Trump tried to do after the 2020 election. The Court’s opinion presents an absurd paradox that defeats the purpose of a constitutional democracy governed by the rule of law. It has little basis in the Constitution or in the words of the Founders. It is the outcome that most benefits the Court’s preferred presidential candidate, while allowing the justices to live with themselves for defacing beyond recognition the Constitution and the concept of democratic self-determination…”

• See also Slate – Don’t Believe John Roberts. The Supreme Court Just Made the President a King.

• See also Empty Wheel – Justice Roberts’ Drone Strike on George Washington’s Legacy

• See also Liberal justices Sotomayor and Jackson issue scathing dissents of Trump immunity ruling

• See also The New York Times, Ruling Slows Trump Election Case but Opens Door to Airing of Evidence. The Supreme Court’s immunity ruling may allow prosecutors to detail much of their evidence against Donald Trump in front of a federal judge and the public; Donald Trump is entitled to substantial immunity on charges of trying to overturn the 2020 election, the Supreme Court ruled.

• See also Law Dork – Roberts’s majority backs Trump in finding an expansive presidential immunity. Sotomayor’s dissent for the liberals warned of her “fear for our democracy.”… The Supreme Court, on a 6-3 partisan vote, ruled on Monday that former president Donald Trump has absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his “core constitutional powers” and at least a presumption of immunity for any official actions within the “outer perimeter” of his duties. It is a shocking expansion of presidential power to benefit Trump that transforms the presidency — and, with it, the nation…”

• See also New York Magazine, The Intelligencer: “…But the decision in Trump v. United States has implications that go far beyond its impact on the 2024 presidential election. As Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent for the Court’s liberal bloc argues, it could give a reelected Trump or any other future president breathtaking freedom from accountability for criminal misconduct: Today’s decision to grant former Presidents criminal immunity reshapes the institution of the Presidency. It makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of Government, that no man is above the law. Relying on little more than its own misguided wisdom about the need for “bold and unhesitating action” by the President … the Court gives former President Trump all the immunity he asked for and more … The main takeaway of today’s decision is that all of a President’s official acts, defined without regard to motive or intent, are entitled to immunity that is “at “at least … presumptive,” and quite possibly “absolute.”

• See also PBS.org, ‘No one is above the law,’ Biden says after Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity and Trump.

• See also Raw Story – ‘Disaster’: Legal analyst cites ‘big deal’ buried on page 18 of Roberts’ pro-Trump ruling

• See also Trump Amplifies Calls to Jail Top Elected Officials, Invokes Military Tribunals. A post that Mr. Trump circulated on Sunday called for Liz Cheney to be prosecuted by a military court reserved for enemy combatants and war criminals.

Is this everything they need?

https://www.bespacific.com/vox-populai-lessons-from-a-global-law-firms-exploration-of-generative-ai/

Vox PopulAI: Lessons from a global law firm’s exploration of generative AI

Ashurst: “The speed at which organisations are adopting generative AI technology (GenAI) shows no sign of slowing. Business leaders in every industry are seeking to identify the best use cases for GenAI and where it can add the most value to their organisations. This is as true in law firms as it is in other industries. At Ashurst, our focus has been on taking this a step beyond use case identification and value prediction to truly understanding and also measuring how GenAI might impact the way we work and serve our clients. From November 2023 to March 2024, Ashurst’s Office of the Chief Digital Officer (the CDO team) led three global GenAI trials involving 411 partners, lawyers and staff representing all of our practice areas and business services functions across 23 offices in 14 countries in our global network. Through the trials, we sought to prove or disprove a series of working hypotheses concerning whether, how and how much our people would engage with and find value in GenAI. The trials were designed to capture a mix of qualitative and quantitative assessment data through a blind study, controlled experiments with small groups of participants, and feedback surveys, giving our people a voice in how GenAI could benefit them. Outcomes were achieved using only publicly available data, not client data, and by adopting rigorous guardrails throughout. Our findings uncovered five key insights:

1. Value: The initial value of GenAI for legal is in helping lawyers create first drafts quicker and more efficiently.

2. Accuracy: GenAI-generated output can be difficult to distinguish from human output when legally correct.

3. Quality: Quality in a legal context is multidimensional, with subjective and objective elements.

4. Scope: Beyond legal and client work, GenAI can make day-to-day life easier and help people feel more prepared for the future.

5. Adoption: The ‘jagged frontier‘ of AI in the legal industry needs clarification to derive value..”

A free PDF/AI tool to play with.

https://www.makeuseof.com/lightpdf-ai-chat-features/

LightPDF Now Comes With Integrated AI Capabilities

… The LightPDF team has been working for over seven years now in order to advance the field of PDF conversion, editing, and more. The intent behind this has been to make PDFs easier to use and share than ever before, and has resulted in the creation of the LightPDF of today, capable of handling file conversion, editing, compression, and more.

… The ChatPDF feature allows you to upload your documents directly to LightPDF for a GPT-4 powered AI to analyze. All you have to do to get started with the bot is upload the file you want analyzed. You can even use a URL if you prefer.

Tools & Techniques.

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/best-private-search-engines/

The 7 Best Private Search Engines That Respect Your Data

Finding a search engine that's both effective and not hell-bent on selling your information is hard. Fortunately, they do exist, and there are plenty of them for you to choose from.

Useful information?

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jul/01/seven-signs-deepfake-artificial-intelligence-videos-photographs

Smudgy chins, weird hands, dodgy numbers: seven signs you’re watching a deepfake

Look out for surplus fingers, compare mannerisms with real recordings and apply good old-fashioned common sense and scepticism, experts advise

If we continue to allow AI systems to use human generated content...

https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/crsj/vol30/iss2/4/

Slavery.AI

The artificial intelligence market is swarming. Supercharged start-ups, global tech giants, and increasingly algorithmic governments target diverse use cases with new and stunningly innovative AI applications coming online every day. Where people are the computational subjects of those algorithmic machinations, however, there is no law, present or effective, to protect them against great and propagating harms. Consequently, people become data production units, the commoditized of the Data Industrial Complex and unfree, unpaid inputs to AI production.

This Article shares a new and provocative vision. It theorizes that unregulated AI systems and uses are giving rise to an emergent form of modern slavery: Slavery.AI. The Article examines the three structural systems of power that were responsible for historical chattel slavery and are at work today in Slavery.AI. Against these interdigitating power structures, the evolution of two legal concepts have brought forth, respectively, people-as-data-as-property and, ultimately, as inputs to AI production, and modern slavery in all its hideous permutations. At the confluence of these power systems and trends, Slavery.AI is emerging, as defined, theorized, and exemplified here. The Article crafts a crucible in which to test its theory of Slavery.AI against the universal characteristics of systems of slavery and demonstrates how those characteristics sounding in property and in the abuse of power through cooptations of the rule of law are firmly entrenched or on their way to being so. This illustrated proof of concept holds. It also reveals that there may be yet be opportunities for responsible leaders to save freedom and to emancipate people from Slavery.AI.

From sketch to AI “photo.”

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kalyani-Kute-3/publication/381584580_Forensic_Sketch_to_Real_Image/links/66755c981dec0c3c6f986f68/Forensic-Sketch-to-Real-Image.pdf

Forensic Sketch to Real Image

In the realm of forensic investigations, the reliance on hand-drawn sketches or verbal descriptions to identify suspects or victims is well-established. However, these traditional methods often present challenges due to their inherent subjectivity and potential inaccuracies. Recognizing the critical importance of enhancing the accuracy and efficacy of forensic identification processes, our project delves into cutting-edge techniques, particularly leveraging Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Networks (DCGANs). Situated at the nexus of image processing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, these advanced algorithms offer promising avenues for transforming forensic sketches into remarkably realistic images.

Our project's primary objective is to develop a robust Forensic Sketch to Real Image Conversion System capable of generating highly authentic images from both hand-drawn and computer-generated forensic sketches. By harnessing the power of DCGANs, we aim to bridge the gap between the abstract representations provided by traditional forensic sketches and the detailed, lifelike images necessary for effective identification and investigation. This innovative system holds immense potential to revolutionize forensic practices, offering law enforcement agencies invaluable tools to aid in criminal investigations, locate missing persons, and address a myriad of forensic challenges.

Beyond its immediate applications in law enforcement and forensic science, the Forensic Sketch to Real Image Conversion System represents a significant stride towards advancing the intersection of technology and justice. By providing law enforcement agencies with the means to generate highly accurate depictions of suspects or victims from rudimentary sketches, our project seeks to bolster investigative capabilities while ensuring fairness and accuracy in criminal proceedings. Moreover, the potential societal impact extends beyond law enforcement, offering hope and closure to families of missing persons and victims of crime through improved identification methods