Judge blocks California’s new AI law in case over Kamala Harris deepfake; TechCrunch, October 2, 2024

Maxwell Zeff, Tech Crunch ; Judge blocks California’s new AI law in case over Kamala Harris deepfake

"A federal judge blocked one of California’s new AI laws on Wednesday, less than two weeks after it was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom. Shortly after signing AB 2839, Newsom suggested it could be used to force Elon Musk to take down an AI deepfake of Vice President Kamala Harris he had reposted (sparking a petty online battle between the two). However, a California judge just ruled the state can’t force people to take down election deepfakes – not yet, at least.

AB 2839 targets the distributors of AI deepfakes on social media, specifically if their post resembles a political candidate and the poster knows it’s a fake that may confuse voters. The law is unique because it does not go after the platforms on which AI deepfakes appear, but rather those who spread them. AB 2839 empowers California judges to order the posters of AI deepfakes to take them down or potentially face monetary penalties.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the original poster of that AI deepfake – an X user named Christopher Kohls – filed a lawsuit to block California’s new law as unconstitutional just a day after it was signed. Kohls’ lawyer wrote in a complaint that the deepfake of Kamala Harris is satire that should be protected by the First Amendment.

On Wednesday, United States district judge John Mendez sided with Kohls. Mendez ordered a preliminary injunction to temporarily block California’s attorney general from enforcing the new law against Kohls or anyone else, with the exception of audio messages that fall under AB 2839.

Read for yourself what Judge Mendez said in his decision:..

It’s nevertheless a big win for Elon Musk’s camp of free speech posters on X. In the days following Newsom signing AB 2839 into law, Musk and his usual allies posted a series of AI deepfakes that tested California’s new law."

Elon Musk’s X Is Now Worth Around A Fifth Of The $44 Billion He Paid For It, Fidelity Says; Forbes, September 30, 2024

Ty Roush , Forbes; Elon Musk’s X Is Now Worth Around A Fifth Of The $44 Billion He Paid For It, Fidelity Says

"Elon Musk’s X is worth a little more than one-fifth of the $44 billion he paid to acquire the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, according to Fidelity, the latest in a series of valuation cuts by Fidelity since Musk’s takeover in 2022...

Musk is the wealthiest person in the world with a fortune valued at $269.8 billion, according to our latest estimates...

$24 billion. That’s how much the eight largest investors in X have lost in combined value since Musk purchased the firm as of Sept. 1, according to the Washington Post."

New book ‘Character Limit’ explores Musk’s impact on social media after buying Twitter; PBS News Hour, October 2, 2024

Ali Rogin , PBS News Hour; New book ‘Character Limit’ explores Musk’s impact on social media after buying Twitter

"He’s the richest person in the world, but also one of the most controversial and increasingly engaged in polarizing political debates. A new book details the tumultuous leadership of Elon Musk and his approach to owning X. Ali Rogin spoke with Kate Conger and Ryan Mac, authors of "Character Limit.""

How Elon Musk and X Became the Biggest Purveyors of Online Misinformation; Rolling Stone, August 9, 2024

Miles Klee , Rolling Stone; How Elon Musk and X Became the Biggest Purveyors of Online Misinformation

"Elon Musk has trouble telling the truth. Whether he’s overpromising on what his companies can accomplish or twisting the facts about his own children, it’s clear he doesn’t feel constrained by reality, which is no doubt what made him into the mogul of misinformation he is today. 

Almost two years after Musk completed his $44 billion takeover of Twitter (now X), he and the platform — where he reigns not just as owner but the most-followed user — have become essential to the life cycle of incendiary falsehoods and conspiracy theories. While mainstream social media companies have long tried to prevent such content from gaining traction, leaving extremists to ply their lies on smaller, obscure, unmoderated networks, Musk fired the Twitter teams tasked with battling deceptive material. He also reinstated thousands of accounts that had received permanent bans, including neo-Nazis and conspiracy kingpin Alex Jones, often engaging with these people himself. On top of that, he changed the verification system into a pay-to-play scheme in which subscribers enjoy boosted visibility; at the same time, it became harder to tell which accounts belonged to genuine public figures.

The removal of Twitter’s (imperfect) guardrails meant that suddenly, for the first time, a major online resource many relied on for news and information was overrun by the manipulative trolls formerly relegated to the fringes of the social web. Misinformation about wars, health, climate change, elections and more flourished alongside violent rhetoric and hate speech, in a digital forum that has actual influence on the course of human events.         

At the center of it all is Musk, whose turn to hard-right ideology has led him to spout and amplify untruths with abandon, algorithmically forcing them onto an audience of millions. But he wasn’t always so deep into the reservoir of easily debunked rumors and bogus claims. In this timeline, we trace how he turned X into a misinformation machine."

British government had ‘constructive’ talks with Musk’s X over disinformation, minister says; CNBC, September 13, 2024

 Ryan Browne, CNBC; British government had ‘constructive’ talks with Musk’s X over disinformation, minister says

"The U.K. government has had “constructive” talks with Elon Musk’s social media site X over the spread of misinformation and other harmful content, technology minister Peter Kyle told CNBC Friday...

Kyle’s comments to CNBC come after misinformation spread online after a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in northwest England sparked far-right, anti-immigration riots — with shops and mosques being attacked in towns across the country.

Multiple social media users at the time spread false information about the alleged perpetrator, who has since been charged with murder and attempted murder, claiming he was an asylum seeker.

During the riots, Musk, who owns X, made comments about the situation in the U.K., calling Prime Minister Keir Starmer “two-tier Keir” in reference to the conspiracy theory that police were treating white far-right protesters and rioters more harshly than minority groups.

He also suggested the unrest could end up resulting in a civil war, saying in an X post: “Civil war is inevitable.” Musk’s comments were condemned by the U.K. government."

It’s Elon Musk’s X and governments are having to live with it; Politico, August 7, 2024

 JOHN SAKELLARIADIS, CHRISTINE MUI and BRITTANY GIBSON, Politico; It’s Elon Musk’s X and governments are having to live with it

"The biggest spreader of political divisiveness and incendiary posts on Elon Musk’s revamped Twitter is turning out to be Musk himself."

What You Need to Know About Grok AI and Your Privacy; Wired, September 10, 2024

Kate O'Flaherty , Wired; What You Need to Know About Grok AI and Your Privacy

"Described as “an AI search assistant with a twist of humor and a dash of rebellion,” Grok is designed to have fewer guardrails than its major competitors. Unsurprisingly, Grok is prone to hallucinations and bias, with the AI assistant blamed for spreading misinformation about the 2024 election."

Mark Cuban Fact-Checks Unhinged Elon Musk Conspiracy Theory Using Musk's Own Tech; HuffPost, September 30, 2024

Ryan Grenoble , HuffPost; Mark Cuban Fact-Checks Unhinged Elon Musk Conspiracy Theory Using Musk's Own Tech

"Elon Musk on Sunday embraced a racist and wildly conspiratorial election theory ― only to get fact-checked by fellow billionaire Mark Cuban, who used Musk’s own AI chatbot to do the job.

Musk, who’s endorsed Donald Trump and was once rumored to be donating $45 million a month to a pro-Trump super PAC, claimed Sunday that the former president “is the only way to save” democracy from immigrants.

“Very few Americans realize that, if Trump is NOT elected, this will be the last election,” Musk wrote on X, the social media platform that’s lost nearly 80% of its value since he took over.

He then asserted, without any evidence, that Democrats are flying immigrants “directly into swing states” who are then “fast-tracked to citizenship” for the purpose of altering the outcome of the election.

The claim is false.

Noncitizens must first spend at least five years as a lawful permanent resident before they’re typically eligible for naturalization, meaning Musk’s conspiracy would have had to begin during the Trump administration to bear any meaningful fruit. (The median number of years in the U.S. for citizens naturalized in 2023 was actually longer: seven years.)

And according to the Department of Homeland Security, the top 10 states where people who were naturalized last year reside are: California (not a swing state), Texas (not a swing state), Florida (not really), New York (absolutely not), New Jersey (also solidly blue), Illinois (nuh-uh), Washington (try again), Pennsylvania (the only one), Massachusetts (blue) and Virginia (debatable).

Nine-tenths of those are not swing states. Pennsylvania, the lone exception, only accounted for 2.8% of those naturalized in 2023. More than 50% live in California, Texas, Florida and New York.

Undeterred by facts, Musk predicted that, if Trump loses, “there will be no more swing states” and “Democracy is over.” (Relatedly, Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden both separately deported more people than Donald Trump.)

Musk’s rant also caught the eye of Mark Cuban, who fact-checked Musk using Twitter’s own “anti-woke” AI chatbot Grok, which Musk concocted after finding competitors were too politically liberal.

“Hey [Elon Musk], truly appreciate the work you have done with [Grok].” Cuban wrote to Musk in a public message. “It’s a great way to factcheck you.”

Cuban then shared a link to Grok’s lengthy analysis of Musk’s claim.

The chatbot concluded that Musk’s xenophobic theory “contains exaggerated claims and speculative fears rather than factual analysis,” and was “presented in an alarmist and overly deterministic manner.”

X’s AI chatbot spread voter misinformation – and election officials fought back; The Guardian, September 12, 2024

Rachel Leingang, The Guardian; X’s AI chatbot spread voter misinformation – and election officials fought back

"Finding the source – and working to correct it – served as a test case of how election officials and artificial intelligence companies will interact during the 2024 presidential election in the US amid fears that AI could mislead or distract voters. And it showed the role Grok, specifically, could play in the election, as a chatbot with fewer guardrails to prevent the generating of more inflammatory content.

A group of secretaries of state and the organization that represents them, the National Association of Secretaries of State, contacted Grok and X to flag the misinformation. But the company didn’t work to correct it immediately, instead giving the equivalent of a shoulder shrug, said Steve Simon, the Minnesota secretary of state. “And that struck, I think it’s fair to say all of us, as really the wrong response,” he said.

Thankfully, this wrong answer was relatively low-stakes: it would not have prevented people from casting a ballot. But the secretaries took a strong position quickly because of what could come next.

“In our minds, we thought, well, what if the next time Grok makes a mistake, it is higher stakes?” Simon said. “What if the next time the answer it gets wrong is, can I vote, where do I vote … what are the hours, or can I vote absentee? So this was alarming to us.”

Especially troubling was the fact that the social media platform itself was spreading false information, rather than users spreading misinformation using the platform.

The secretaries took their effort public. Five of the nine secretaries in the group signed on to a public letter to the platform and its owner, Elon Musk. The letter called on X to have its chatbot take a similar position as other chatbot tools, like ChatGPT, and direct users who ask Grok election-related questions to a trusted nonpartisan voting information site, CanIVote.org.

The effort worked. Grok now directs users to a different website, vote.gov, when asked about elections."

Musk's AI chatbot spread election misinformation, secretaries of state say; Axios, August 5, 2024

• Ivana Saric, Axios; Musk's AI chatbot spread election misinformation, secretaries of state say

Five secretaries of state sent a letter to Elon Musk Monday imploring him to fix X's AI chatbot after it shared misinformation about the 2024 presidential election.

Why it matters: Experts have long warned about the threat of AI-driven misinformation, which is more salient than ever as the election heats up and voters are susceptible to lies about the candidates or voting process.

Driving the news: Secretaries of state from Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Washington, Michigan and New Mexico told Musk that X's AI chatbot, Grok, had produced and circulated "false information on ballot deadlines" shortly after President Biden withdrew from the 2024 race, according to the letter, obtained by Axios.

• The chatbot wrongly told social media users that Vice President Kamala Harris had missed the ballot deadline in nine states: Alabama, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, New Mexico, Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania and Washington.
• It said Harris wasn't eligible to appear on the ballot in those states in place of Biden. "This is false. In all nine states the opposite is true," the letter stated.
• The secretaries of state urged Musk to "immediately implement changes" to Grok "to ensure voters have accurate information in this critical election year," per the letter, which was first reported by the Washington Post."

Musk's X seeks Brazil comeback, retreats on 'censorship' feud; Reuters, September 27, 2024

 Ricardo Brito and Luciana Novaes Magalhaes, Reuters; Musk's X seeks Brazil comeback, retreats on 'censorship' feud

"In a major climbdown, Elon Musk's X told Brazil's Supreme Court it had complied with orders to stop the spread of misinformation and asked a judge to lift a ban on the platform, according to a document seen by Reuters.

The billionaire had held out for more than five months against what he called "censorship" in a feud with a judge in one of X's largest and most coveted markets. The court shut Brazilians' access to the platform in late August."

Elon Musk’s misleading election claims reach millions and alarm election officials; The Washington Post, September 10, 2024

 

Sarah Ellison

, 

Amy Gardner

 and 

Clara Ence Morse

, The Washington Post; Elon Musk’s misleading election claims reach millions and alarm election officials

"The chairman of the board of elections in Montgomery County, Pa., was well acquainted with the regular attendees at his monthly meetings who peddled old, debunked voting conspiracy theories.

But something changed after April 4, the chairman, Neil Makhija, explained in an interview. That was the day Elon Musk retweeted a false claim that as many as 2 million noncitizens had been registered to vote in Texas, Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Suddenly, the same people were coming to the meetings with a new, unsubstantiated theory of voter fraud that appeared to align with Musk’s latest post: They were convinced that droves of noncitizens were voting illegally in their suburban Philadelphia county of nearly a million people."

Elon Musk’s attacks on Kamala Harris become more unhinged, with help from AI, CNN, September 3, 2024

Donie O'Sullivan , CNN; Elon Musk’s attacks on Kamala Harris become more unhinged, with help from AI

"Elon Musk’s disdain for the Democratic Party was never subtle, but in recent weeks his commentary on the upcoming US presidential election and his attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris have intensified, aided by a crude use of burgeoning artificial intelligence technology.

On Monday, Musk posted an AI-generated image on his social media platform that depicted Harris as a communist, wearing a red uniform complete with hammer and sickle emblazoned hat.

Musk, who has endorsed former President Donald Trump for president and poured millions into a super PAC supporting the Republican, captioned the image with the false assertion, “Kamala vows to be a communist dictator on day one. Can you believe she wears that outfit!?”"

Elon Musk calls Australian government ‘fascists’ over move to regulate online misinformation; The Guardian, September 12, 2024

Australian Associated Press and Josh Taylor; Elon Musk calls Australian government ‘fascists’ over move to regulate online misinformation

"Elon Musk has called the Australian government “fascists” over new legislation aimed at tackling deliberate lies spread on social media.

Social media companies could be fined up to 5% of their annual turnover under the commonwealth’s proposed laws.

Musk, the US billionaire who owns the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, responded to a post about Australia’s measures with one word.

“Fascists,” he wrote.

But the federal minister Bill Shorten said Musk was inconsistent on free speech.

“When it’s in his commercial interests, he is the champion of free speech; when he doesn’t like it, he’s going to shut it all down,” he said on Channel Nine’s breakfast show on Friday."

Elon Musk’s financial support for Republican causes has been much more extensive and started earlier than previously known; Wall Street Journal, October 2, 2024

Dana Mattioli, Joe Palazzolo, Khadeeja Sardar, Wall Street Journal;  Elon Musk’s financial support for Republican causes has been much more extensive and started earlier than previously known

"Elon Musk’s financial support for Republican causes has been much more extensive and started earlier than previously known."

Gilead Agrees to Allow Generic Version of Groundbreaking H.I.V. Shot in Poor Countries; The New York Times, October 2, 2024

 Stephanie Nolen , The New York Times; Gilead Agrees to Allow Generic Version of Groundbreaking H.I.V. Shot in Poor Countries

"The drugmaker Gilead Sciences on Wednesday announced a plan to allow six generic pharmaceutical companies in Asia and North Africa to make and sell at a lower price its groundbreaking drug lenacapavir, a twice-yearly injection that provides near-total protection from infection with H.I.V.

Those companies will be permitted to sell the drug in 120 countries, including all the countries with the highest rates of H.I.V., which are in sub-Saharan Africa. Gilead will not charge the generic drugmakers for the licenses.

Gilead says the deal, made just weeks after clinical trial results showed how well the drug works, will provide rapid and broad access to a medication that has the potential to end the decades-long H.I.V. pandemic.

But the deal leaves out most middle- and high-income countries — including Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, China and Russia — that together account for about 20 percent of new H.I.V. infections. Gilead will sell its version of the drug in those countries at higher prices. The omission reflects a widening gulf in health care access that is increasingly isolating the people in the middle."

USA: Republican VP candidate J.D. Vance’s fake stories create real risks for journalists; Reporters Without Borders, October 1, 2024

Reporters Without Borders (RSF); USA: Republican VP candidate J.D. Vance’s fake stories create real risks for journalists

"A viral hoax spread by Republican Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance has led to an outburst of violent threats against Haitian immigrants, including journalists from The Haitian Times. After covering the story, the media outlet itself became a target, highlighting the real-world dangers that political disinformation can create for journalists and journalism.

An online news outlet serving the Haitian American community, The Haitian Times, has received anonymous threats and editor Macollvie Neel’s home was “swatted” when police showed up to her residence in response to a false report of a crime. These incidents took place a few days after Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance circulated a widely debunked claim from Facebook alleging that Haitian migrants resettled in the town of Springfield, Ohio were stealing and eating local residents’ pets. 

In the weeks since Vance elevated this fake story, Springfield has been subjected to dozens of bomb threats and city leaders have been flooded with threatening hate mail. Racist and xenophobic displays have left Haitian residents feeling unsafe, including journalists from The Haitian Times, who were forced to cancel a scheduled town hall event.

Instead of retracting this claim, Vance has defended it and asserted that he is willing to “create stories so that the American media actually pays attention.” ...

Combating misinformation: a key issue in the election campaign

RSF recently published its 10-Point Plan for U.S. Press Freedom in which it urges the presidential campaigns to treat the members of the press with respect and “publicly reaffirm the right and necessity of journalists to do their jobs safely.” RSF has previously highlighted the global problem of increased political attacks on the media. Of the five indicators that RSF measures on its World Press Freedom Index, where this year the U.S. dropped to a ranking of 55th out 180 countries, the political indicator saw the sharpest decline in 2024."

Scottish university to host AI ethics conference; Holyrood, October 2, 2024

 Holyrood; Scottish university to host AI ethics conference

"The University of Glasgow will gather leading figures from the artificial intelligence (AI) community for a three-day conference this week in a bid to address the ethical challenges posed by the technology.

Starting tomorrow, the Lovelace-Hodgkin Symposium, will see academics, researchers, and policymakers discuss how to make AI a tool for “positive change” across higher education.

The event will inform the development of a new online course on AI ethics, which will boost ethical literacy "across higher education and beyond”, the university said...

During the symposium, speakers from the university’s research and student communities will present and participate in workshops alongside representatives to build the new course.

The first day of the event will examine the current state of AI, focusing on higher education and the use of AI in research and teaching.

On Thursday, the conference will discuss how to tackle inequality and bias in AI, featuring discussions on AI and race, gender, the environment, children’s rights, and how AI is communicated and consumed.

The final day will involve participants creating an ethical framework for inclusive AI, where they will outline a series of actionable steps and priorities for academic institutions, which will be used to underpin the online course."

Oxford University launches new institute to tackle contemporary ethical issues; University of Oxford, October 1, 2024

University of Oxford; Oxford University launches new institute to tackle contemporary ethical issues

"A new institute with a philosophical focus on contemporary ethical issues has launched today at the University of Oxford. The institute has been made possible by a transformative gift from the Uehiro Foundation on Ethics and Education, which has generously supported the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics since 2003.

The new Uehiro Oxford Institute will replace the Oxford Uehiro Centre, bringing together researchers from across the disciplines to answer ethical questions concerning some of the biggest challenges of our time, including around pandemics, climate change, poverty, migration, and rapid developments in bio-, neuro- and information technology. The institute will be based in the Humanities Division and have strong links with the Faculty of Philosophy, while also developing collaborations with research units and scholars working in areas such as psychology, psychiatry, politics and the law.

As well as fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, the Uehiro Oxford Institute will focus closely on public engagement and policy. The institute will also offer various forms of ‘ethics consultancy’, providing assistance on the basis of need to groups facing ethical challenges. The foundation’s gift will also support a range of postdoctoral research fellowships, senior appointments and graduate scholarships."

Tim Walz Said He Was in Hong Kong in 1989 During Tiananmen. Not True.; The New York Times; October 1, 2024

Danny Hakim and Amy Qin , The New York Times; Tim Walz Said He Was in Hong Kong in 1989 During Tiananmen. Not True.

"Repeatedly over the years, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota has said that the year he spent teaching in China began with a trip to Hong Kong during the pro-democracy protests in the spring of 1989 that culminated in the deadly crackdown that June in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

As recently as February, Mr. Walz said on a podcast that he had been in Hong Kong, then a British colony, “on June 4 when Tiananmen happened,” and decided to cross into mainland China to take up his teaching duties even though many people were urging him not to.

Mr. Walz had told the same story a decade earlier, at a congressional hearing, when he testified that he “was in Hong Kong in May 1989,” adding, “As the events were unfolding, several of us went in. I still remember the train station in Hong Kong.”

But it was not true. Mr. Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, indeed taught at a high school in China as part of a program sending American teachers abroad, but he did not actually travel to the country until August 1989."

Fake Cases, Real Consequences [No digital link as of 10/1/24]; ABA Journal, Oct./Nov. 2024 Issue

John Roemer, ABA Journal; Fake Cases, Real Consequences [No digital link as of 10/1/24]

"Legal commentator Eugene Volokh, a professor at UCLA School of Law who tracks AI in litigation, in February reported on the 14th court case he's found in which AI-hallucinated false citations appeared. It was a Missouri Court of Appeals opinion that assessed the offending appellant $10,000 in damages for a frivolous filing.

Hallucinations aren't the only snag, Volokh says. "It's also with the output mischaracterizing the precedents or omitting key context. So one still has to check that output to make sure it's sound, rather than just including it in one's papers.

Echoing Volokh and other experts, ChatGPT itself seems clear-eyed about its limits. When asked about hallucinations in legal research, it replied in part: "Hallucinations in chatbot answers could potentially pose a problem for lawyers if they relied solely on the information provided by the chatbot without verifying its accuracy."

When Between the World and Me Faced a School Book Ban, Ta-Nehisi Coates Decided to Report It Out; Vanity Fair, September 24, 2024

TA-NEHISI COATES , Vanity Fair; When Between the World and Me Faced a School Book Ban, Ta-Nehisi Coates Decided to Report It Out

"The truth is that even as I know and teach the power of writing, I still find myself in disbelief when I see that power at work in the real world. Maybe it is the nature of books. Film, music, the theater—all can be experienced amidst the whooping, clapping, and cheering of the crowd. But books work when no one else is looking, mind-melding author and audience, forging an imagined world that only the reader can see. Their power is so intimate, so insidious, that even its authors don’t always comprehend it. I see politicians in Colorado, in Tennessee, in South Carolina moving against my own work, tossing books I’ve authored out of libraries, banning them from classes, and I feel snatched out of the present and brought into another age, one of pitchforks and book-burning bonfires. My first instinct is to laugh, but then I remember that American history is filled with men and women as lethal as they were ridiculous. And when I force myself to take a serious look, I see something familiar: an attempt by adults to break the young minds entrusted to them and remake them in a more orderly and pliable form."

Use the f-word; The Ink, October 1, 2024

 The Ink; Use the f-word

"Philosopher Jason Stanley talks about why fascists have mounted an attack on education, why universities haven't fought back, and how to resist."

OpenAI Faces Early Appeal in First AI Copyright Suit From Coders; Bloomberg Law, September 30, 2024

Isaiah Poritz , Bloomberg Law; OpenAI Faces Early Appeal in First AI Copyright Suit From Coders

"OpenAI Inc. and Microsoft Corp.‘s GitHub will head to the country’s largest federal appeals court to resolve their first copyright lawsuit from open-source programmers who claim the companies’ AI coding tool Copilot violates a decades-old digital copyright law.

Judge Jon S. Tigar granted the programmers’ request for a mid-case turn to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which must determine whether OpenAI’s copying of open-source code to train its AI model without proper attribution to the programmers could be a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act...

The programmers argued that Copilot fails to include authorship and licensing terms when it outputs code. Unlike other lawsuits against AI companies, the programmers didn’t allege that OpenAI and GitHub engaged in copyright infringement, which is different from a DMCA violation."

USU's College of Humanities & Social Sciences Hosts Conference on Ethics of AI; Utah State University (USU), September 23, 2024

Utah State University (USU); USU's College of Humanities & Social Sciences Hosts Conference on Ethics of AI

"AI’s emergence from the obscure to the unavoidable has come with many questions and concerns — some of which deal with how we can and should use it ethically.

To help answer some of these questions the USU Communication Studies and Philosophy Department and the Center for Anticipatory Intelligence hosted a conference.

They brought in scholars from a variety of disciplines to discuss these issues — with these experts coming from the University of Cambridge, New York University and Northeastern University, among others."

Gavin Newsom vetoes sweeping AI safety bill, siding with Silicon Valley; Politico, September 29, 2024

 LARA KORTE and JEREMY B. WHITE, Politico; Gavin Newsom vetoes sweeping AI safety bill, siding with Silicon Valley

"Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a sweeping California bill meant to impose safety vetting requirements for powerful AI models, siding with much of Silicon Valley and leading congressional Democrats in the most high-profile fight in the Legislature this year."