Stop talking about AI ethics. It’s time to talk about power.; MIT Technology Review, April 23, 2021

 Karen Hao, MIT Technology Review;

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Stop talking about AI ethics. It’s time to talk about power.

"If there’s been a real trap in the tech sector for the last decade, it’s that the theory of change has always centered engineering. It’s always been, “If there’s a problem, there’s a tech fix for it.” And only recently are we starting to see that broaden out to “Oh, well, if there’s a problem, then regulation can fix it. Policymakers have a role.”

But I think we need to broaden that out even further. We have to say also: Where are the civil society groups, where are the activists, where are the advocates who are addressing issues of climate justice, labor rights, data protection? How do we include them in these discussions? How do we include affected communities?

In other words, how do we make this a far deeper democratic conversation around how these systems are already influencing the lives of billions of people in primarily unaccountable ways that live outside of regulation and democratic oversight?

In that sense, this book is trying to de-center tech and starting to ask bigger questions around: What sort of world do we want to live in?""

AI unlocks ancient Dead Sea Scrolls mystery; BBC News, April 22, 2021

 BBC News; AI unlocks ancient Dead Sea Scrolls mystery

"Researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands examined the Isaiah scroll using "cutting edge" pattern recognition and AI. They analysed a single Hebrew letter, aleph, which appears more than 5,000 times in the scroll."

Fitness drones are coming, if inventors can get all the kinks out of them; The Washington Post, April 18, 2021

Bernd Debusmann Jr., The Washington Post; Fitness drones are coming, if inventors can get all the kinks out of them

"Researchers have said that using drone technology for exercise could be particularly helpful to runners and other exercisers who are visually impaired or blind."

Big Tech’s guide to talking about AI ethics; Wired, April 13, 2021

Karen Hao , Wired; Big Tech’s guide to talking about AI ethics

"AI researchers often say good machine learning is really more art than science. The same could be said for effective public relations. Selecting the right words to strike a positive tone or reframe the conversation about AI is a delicate task: done well, it can strengthen one’s brand image, but done poorly, it can trigger an even greater backlash.

The tech giants would know. Over the last few years, they’ve had to learn this art quickly as they’ve faced increasing public distrust of their actions and intensifying criticism about their AI research and technologies.

Now they’ve developed a new vocabulary to use when they want to assure the public that they care deeply about developing AI responsibly—but want to make sure they don’t invite too much scrutiny. Here’s an insider’s guide to decoding their language and challenging the assumptions and values baked in...

diversity, equity, and inclusion (ph) - The act of hiring engineers and researchers from marginalized groups so you can parade them around to the public. If they challenge the status quo, fire them...

ethics board (ph) - A group of advisors without real power, convened to create the appearance that your company is actively listening. Examples: Google’s AI ethics board (canceled), Facebook’s Oversight Board (still standing).

ethics principles (ph) - A set of truisms used to signal your good intentions. Keep it high-level. The vaguer the language, the better. See responsible AI."

Online vaccine sign-ups make Internet access a matter of life and death; The Washington Post, March 4, 2021

Claire Park, The Washington Post ; Online vaccine sign-ups make Internet access a matter of life and death

"Getting a vaccine shouldn’t depend on having high-speed Internet service, a computer and familiarity with being online, but it often does. By reviewing digital resources such as The Washington Post’s tracker of vaccinations across the country, residents can stay informed about the coronavirus and sign up for vaccinations online. Yet more than 77 million people in the United States lack Internet at home — and worse, many of them do not have access to a smartphone, making it that much more difficult for them to learn what’s available when and to whom. According to a study from the Pew Research Center, more than 4 in 10 adults with incomes below $30,000 a year don’t have home broadband services or a computer, and 3 in 10 adults in the same income bracket don’t own a smartphone. And even when they are in the loop, these people must also resort to calling state hotlines and waiting for hours on hold to reserve what vaccination appointments remain after many have already been booked online. While some states and communities reserve a number of appointments daily for those calling in, most groups still assume that everyone has the time, Internet service and device to make their appointment on the Web.

Further, Black, Indigenous and Latino people, as well as older adults — the very populations hardest hit by the coronavirus — constitute a disproportionate share of those without Internet access. This means that despite efforts to prioritize vaccinations for those most at risk, people in these communities who lack the Internet service, devices or digital literacy they need to sign up for vaccines online are still left at higher risk of contracting and dying from the virus."

Dysfunctional websites are making it harder for Americans to get vaccinated. Here’s how to fix that.; The Washington Post, March 31, 2021

Drew Altman , The Washington Post; Dysfunctional websites are making it harder for Americans to get vaccinated. Here’s how to fix that.

"Another useful supplement to more consumer-friendly websites would be an 800 number, staffed in multiple languages, with real people answering to help those who aren’t web savvy make appointments. In addition to friends and family helping each other, Facebook groups and apps are springing up to guide people through the website mazes. But a lot of Americans are not tech savvy. Many have sluggish Internet, have only a handheld device or are not online at all. People shouldn’t be penalized for not being plugged in. Many Americans need a human being to help them. A person answering an 800-number would be better than no real-time help, as is often the case today. The media could hold state officials’ feet to the fire if the number works poorly."

 

My family sacrificed to fight covid. Many Americans didn’t. Now my mom is dead.; The Washington Post, April 2, 2021

Jackie Munn, The Washington Post; My family sacrificed to fight covid. Many Americans didn’t. Now my mom is dead.

"And while part of me wants to wallow in my anger and grief, I know my mother wouldn’t want that for me. Instead, she would want me to take action. So now I volunteer as a vaccinator, helping to keep willing Americans and their families from suffering her fate — and ours.

When I give members of my community in Arlington, Va., their coronavirus vaccines, almost all of them thank me for my service. I want to cry, upset that it’s too late for my mother. Instead, I try to smile and thank each person getting vaccinated for doing their part. It’s what my mother would have wanted."

Want to borrow that e-book from the library? Sorry, Amazon won’t let you.; The Washington Post, March 10, 2021

Geoffrey A. Fowler, The Washington Post ; Want to borrow that e-book from the library? Sorry, Amazon won’t let you.

 

"Many Americans now recognize that a few tech companies increasingly dominate our lives. But it’s sometimes hard to put your finger on exactly why that’s a problem. The case of the vanishing e-books shows how tech monopolies hurt us not just as consumers, but as citizens...

 

Librarians have been no match for the beast. When authors sign up with a publisher, it decides how to distribute their work... 

 

In testimony to Congress, the American Library Association called digital sales bans like Amazon’s “the worst obstacle for libraries” moving into the 21st century. Lawmakers in New York and Rhode Island have proposed bills that would require Amazon (and everybody else) to sell e-books to libraries with reasonable terms. This week, the Maryland House of Delegates unanimously approved its own library e-book bill, which now heads back to the state Senate... 

 

Libraries losing e-books matters because they serve us as citizens. It’s easy to take for granted, but libraries are among America’s great equalizers."

Dominion: will one Canadian company bring down Trump's empire of disinformation?; The Guardian, April 4, 2021

David Smith, The Guardian; Dominion: will one Canadian company bring down Trump's empire of disinformation?

"“Libel laws may prove to be a very old mechanism to deal with a very new phenomenon of massive disinformation,” said Bob Shrum, a Democratic strategist. “We have all these fact checkers but lots of people don’t care. Nothing else seems to work, so maybe this will.”...

Eisen, a former White House “ethics czar”, suggests that the Dominion case could provide at least one model for dealing with the war on truth.

“The United States and the world need to deal with disinformation,” he said.

“There can be no doubt that every method is going to be required but certainly libel law provides one very important vehicle for establishing consequences and while there’s no such thing as a guarantee when you go to court, this is an exceptionally high risk for Fox with a large price tag attached as well.”...

 RonNell Andersen Jones, a law professor at the University of Utah, told the Washington Post: “We are seeing the way that libel has become a real battleground in the fight against disinformation."

The Most Popular J&J Vaccine Story On Facebook? A Conspiracy Theorist Posted It; NPR, April 15, 2021

Miles Parks, NPR ; The Most Popular J&J Vaccine Story On Facebook? A Conspiracy Theorist Posted It

""This is what I would call the perfect storm for misinformation," said Jennifer Granston at Zignal Labs, a media intelligence platform...

In most cases, the social media companies say they can't do much to respond in cases such as this, since people largely are sharing articles based on factual information, even if the commentary and subtext around the posting is meant to further false ideas.

"It's a really insidious problem," said Deen Freelon, a communications professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in an interview with NPR last month. "The social media companies have taken a hard line against disinformation; they have not taken a similarly hard line against fallacies."

Many anti-vaccine activists have adopted this tactic as a way of getting around social media networks' policies designed to halt the spread of false information....

Often, misinformation peddlers with a specific agenda will fill in knowledge gaps with false information, knowing people are desperate for any information at all."

 

Our greatest libraries are melting away; The Washington Post, April 7, 2021

David Farrier , The Washington Post; Our greatest libraries are melting away

 

"Spending time in the library of ice reminds us that our history is bound up with that of the planet. As that library comes under ever increasing risk, we should remember the fate of another great library. Legend tells that the Library of Alexandria burned to the ground, but the truth is less spectacular. As the Roman Empire fell into decline, people simply neglected to protect and preserve the fragile papyrus manuscripts that were stored in the Library of Alexandria. Gone with it were the greatest treasures of the ancient world: hundreds of years of civilizations’ stories, memories, knowledge and wisdom.

The greatest library in history was lost to neglect. Unless we act now, the library of ice will meet the same fate."

Scientists Create Early Embryos That Are Part Human, Part Monkey; NPR, April 15, 2021

Rob Stein, NPR ; Scientists Create Early Embryos That Are Part Human, Part Monkey

""This work is an important step that provides very compelling evidence that someday when we understand fully what the process is we could make them develop into a heart or a kidney or lungs," said Dr. Jeffrey Platt, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Michigan, who is doing related experiments but was not involved in the new research.

But this type of scientific work and the possibilities it opens up raises serious questions for some ethicists."

He built a website showing open Covid-19 vaccine appointments across the US. Some call it a lifesaver; CNN, April 11, 2021

Christina Maxouris, CNN; He built a website showing open Covid-19 vaccine appointments across the US. Some call it a lifesaver

"For weeks, Nick Muerdter had been hearing about his coworkers' concerns and frustrations as they tried to navigate complicated and evolving Covid-19 vaccination systems to land an appointment for their parents...

In mid-February, Muerdter began creating a tool in his free time that scanned local pharmacies' vaccine appointment availability and gathered all that information in one place -- allowing users to view nearby available appointments just by plugging in their zip code and how far they were willing to drive.

Coworkers that had been searching for weeks found appointments for eligible family members in just days, he said, with the help of the new website. 

"This just really sort of tried to automate what you would have to do if you were to go the websites and enter every single zip code or ... check every single store in your area," he said. 

And soon, what started off as a small side project became an "all consuming" job, outside his full-time job. Muerdter's website now covers all 50 US states, plus Washington, DC, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

He calls it: Covid-19 Vaccine Spotter."...

"The feedback has really been sort of amazing and positive and so many people seem to have found this useful," he said. "That's just sort of what makes me happy."

And knowing he's helping is reward enough, Muerdter says. 

But flooded with offers of donations, Muerdter created an option to contribute to his efforts, money he says goes toward covering website costs. Whatever is leftover, he gives to charities like UNICEF and Direct Relief.

"I'm not trying to make money off of this," he says. "I'm just happy to help people.""