To Whom Does the World Belong? The battle over copyright in the age of ChatGPT.; Boston Review, December 10, 2024

 Alexander Hartley, Boston Review; To Whom Does the World Belong? The battle over copyright in the age of ChatGPT

"Who, if anyone, owns the copyright to a paragraph produced by a chatbot? As I write, nobody knows."

ALA Receives Major Gift to Fund Scholarships; American Libraries, December 9, 2024

American Libraries; ALA Receives Major Gift to Fund Scholarships

"James W. Lewis, of Washington, D.C., fondly remembers trips to the public library in his hometown of New Bern, North Carolina. As a preschooler, Lewis’s parents would take him to the library, housed in the historic John Wright Stanly House.

From those early memories to his more recent involvement serving on the Board of Trustees of the District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL), Lewis has maintained a special connection to libraries.

Lewis has made the largest individual bequest to the American Library Association in the Association’s history. The approximately $25 million bequest is truly transformational and will fund scholarships for aspiring librarians, ensuring future generations of highly educated and committed librarians prepared to meet the informational needs of their communities, according to Leslie Burger, ALA interim executive director.

Lewis’s gift will fund library school scholarships for students with demonstrated financial needs. These scholarships will benefit legions of young people who would otherwise be unable to pursue professional librarianship."

Tears of joy and sadness as ‘disappeared’ Syrians emerge from Assad’s prisons; The Guardian, December 8, 2024

 Bethan McKernan, The Guardian; Tears of joy and sadness as ‘disappeared’ Syrians emerge from Assad’s prisons

"s Syrian rebels led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) captured city after city on the road to Damascus, forcing Bashar al-Assad to flee the country, they also opened the doors of the regime’s notorious prisons, into which upwards of 100,000 people disappeared during nearly 14 years of civil war...

Verified videos from Damascus showed dozens of women and small children being held in cells, the rebels opening the doors telling them not to be afraid...

The photos and videos of reunited families are bittersweet. The stories of the prisoners are astonishing; they will take years to be told in full, further grim evidence of the crimes the Assad family committed against so many of their own people...

Raghad al-Tatary, a pilot who refused to bomb the city of Hama during the uprising against Hafez al-Assad in the 1980s, was freed after 43 years; Tal al-Mallouhi, 19 when she was arrested in 2009 for a blogpost criticising state corruption, was found alive."

How to Keep Your Own Soul Safe in the Dark; The New York Times, December 9, 2024

Margaret Renkl, The New York Times ; How to Keep Your Own Soul Safe in the Dark

"At my lowest, I have never entirely given up my faith that good people working together can change the world for the better. When I have been downhearted in the past, I have always explained to myself that I am not alone in my efforts to cultivate change — by writing, by planting, by loving the living world in every way I can find to love it. Individual efforts gather momentum through the individual efforts of others.

Men in power did not wake up one morning and decide to give women the vote. White Southerners did not wake up one morning and decide to dismantle Jim Crow. Those things happened, if imperfectly and still incompletely, because hundreds of thousands of people worked together for years to make them happen...

So I am taking comfort from Wendell Berry, who has lived a life of ceaseless protest against the desecration of the earth and its creatures (most recently in an essay for The Christian Century called “Against Killing Children”). Even at 90, he is not asking himself what the point is...

In saving the leaves for the moths and the fireflies and the dark-eyed juncos, I am still trying. And in the trying perhaps I can save my own soul."

OpenAI makes AI video generator Sora publicly available in US; The Guardian, December 9, 2024

Dara Kerr , The Guardian; OpenAI makes AI video generator Sora publicly available in US

"Anyone in the US can now use OpenAI’s artificial intelligence video generator, Sora, which the company announced on Monday would become publicly available. OpenAI first presented Sora in February, but it was only accessible to select artists, film-makers and safety testers. At multiple points on Monday, though, OpenAI’s website did not allow for new sign-ups for Sora, citing heavy traffic...

While generative AI has improved considerably over the past year, it is still prone to hallucinations, or incorrect responses, and plagiarism. AI image generators also often produce unrealistic images, such as people with several arms or misplaced facial features.

Critics warn that this type of AI video technology could be misused by bad actors for disinformation, scams and deepfakes. There have already been deepfake videos of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, supposedly calling for a ceasefire and of Kamala Harris supposedly describing herself as “the ultimate diversity hire”.

OpenAI said in its blogpost that it would initially limit uploads of specific people and that it will block content with nudity. The company said that it was additionally “blocking particularly damaging forms of abuse, such as child sexual abuse materials and sexual deepfakes”.

Sora will be available to users who already subscribe and pay for OpenAI’s tools. People in the US and “most countries internationally” will have access to the tool, but it will not be available in the UK or Europe."

Why an equity lens is critical in the design and deployment of AI; Brookings, December 9, 2024

Brookings; Why an equity lens is critical in the design and deployment of AI

"In 2023, the Center for Technology Innovation (CTI) at Brookings launched the AI Equity Lab, an interdisciplinary, cross-sector research and policy project aimed at finding solutions that lead to more inclusive artificial intelligence. Since its inception, the AI Equity Lab has engaged more than 60 distinguished experts who understand the intersection between AI and society to collaboratively assess and determine the opportunities and risks AI presents in critical areas, including education, health care, journalism, and criminal justice.   

On December 9, join the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings for an event with CTI Director and AI Equity Lab co-chair Nicol Turner Lee, who will provide an update on the work of the Lab and moderate a panel of experts who will share more about their findings and discuss why the framing of equity in human-centered AI is critical to advancing more democratized and ethical models." 

KATHLEEN HANNA, TEGAN AND SARA, MORE BACK INTERNET ARCHIVE IN $621 MILLION COPYRIGHT FIGHT; Rolling Stone, December 9, 2024

  JON BLISTEIN, Rolling Stone; KATHLEEN HANNA, TEGAN AND SARA, MORE BACK INTERNET ARCHIVE IN $621 MILLION COPYRIGHT FIGHT

"Kathleen Hanna, Tegan and Sara, and Amanda Palmer are among the 300-plus musicians who have signed an open letter supporting the Internet Archive as it faces a $621 million copyright infringement lawsuit over its efforts to preserve 78 rpm records...

The lawsuit was brought last year by several major music rights holders, led by Universal Music Group and Sony Music. They claimed the Internet Archive’s Great 78 Project — an unprecedented effort to digitize hundreds of thousands of obsolete shellac discs produced between the 1890s and early 1950s — constituted the “wholesale theft of generations of music,” with “preservation and research” used as a “smokescreen.” (The Archive has denied the claims.)

While more than 400,000 recordings have been digitized and made available to listen to on the Great 78 Project, the lawsuit focuses on about 4,000, most by recognizable legacy acts like Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and Ella Fitzgerald. With the maximum penalty for statutory damages at $150,000 per infringing incident, the lawsuit has a potential price tag of over $621 million. A broad enough judgement could end the Internet Archive.

Supporters of the suit — including the estates of many of the legacy artists whose recordings are involved — claim the Archive is doing nothing more than reproducing and distributing copyrighted works, making it a clear-cut case of infringement. The Archive, meanwhile, has always billed itself as a research library (albeit a digital one), and its supporters see the suit (as well as a similar one brought by book publishers) as an attack on preservation efforts, as well as public access to the cultural record."

Stop using generative AI as a search engine; The Verge, December 5, 2024

Elizabeth Lopatto, The Verge; Stop using generative AI as a search engine

"Maybe there is a way to make generative AI useful, but in its current state, I feel tremendously sorry for anyone gullible enough to use it as a research tool.

I know people are sick of talking about glue on pizza, but I find the large-scale degradation of our information environment that has already taken place shocking. (Just search Amazon if you want to see what I mean.) This happens in small ways, like Google’s AI wrongly saying that male foxes mate for life, and big ones, like spreading false information around a major news event. What good is an answer machine that nobody can trust."

Google CEO: AI development is finally slowing down—‘the low-hanging fruit is gone’; CNBC, December 8, 2024

 Megan Sauer , CNBC; Google CEO: AI development is finally slowing down—‘the low-hanging fruit is gone’;

"Now, with the industry’s competitive landscape somewhat established — multiple big tech companies, including Google, have competing models — it’ll take time for another technological breakthrough to shock the AI industry into hyper-speed development again, Pichai said at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit last week.

“I think the progress is going to get harder. When I look at [2025], the low-hanging fruit is gone,” said Pichai, adding: “The hill is steeper ... You’re definitely going to need deeper breakthroughs as we get to the next stage.”...

Some tech CEOs, like Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, agree with Pichai. “Seventy years of the Industrial Revolution, there wasn’t much industry growth, and then it took off ... it’s never going to be linear,” Nadella saidat the Fast Company Innovation Festival 2024 in October.

Others disagree, at least publicly. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, for example, posted “there is no wall” on social media platform X in November — a response to reports that the recently released ChatGPT-4 was only moderately better than previous models."

Los Angeles Times owner says articles will use AI meter to show sources’ ‘bias’; The Guardian, December 6, 2024

Anna Betts, The Guardian; Los Angeles Times owner says articles will use AI meter to show sources’ ‘bias’

"Patrick Soon-Shiong, the owner of the Los Angeles Times, has announced plans to incorporate an artificial intelligence-powered “bias meter” into the newspaper’s coverage.

Soon-Shiong, the biotech billionaire who bought the Los Angeles Times in 2018, made the comments on a podcast hosted by conservative commentator Scott Jennings, who is soon joining the LA Times editorial board.

The proposed move is the latest controversy to rock the newspaper which has suffered a wave of resignations and layoffs under Soon-Shiong’s ownership. Most recently, Soon-Shiong blocked the paper from endorsing Democrat Kamala Harris in last month’s presidential election, sparking outrage from many staff.

The “bias meter”, Soon-Shiong said, will be integrated into articles so that “somebody could understand, as they read it, that the source of the article has some level of bias”.

“And what we need to do is not have what we call confirmation bias, and then that story automatically, the reader can press a button and get both sides of that exact same story based on that story and then give comments,” he added.

Soon-Shiong told Jennings that he had been “quietly building” the AI tool “behind the scenes” and expressed his hope to launch it by this coming January."

In Wisconsin, Professors Worry AI Could Replace Them; Inside Higher Ed, December 6, 2024

Kathryn Palmer, Inside Higher Ed; In Wisconsin, Professors Worry AI Could Replace Them

"Faculty at the cash-strapped Universities of Wisconsin System are pushing back against a proposed copyright policy they believe would cheapen the relationship between students and their professors and potentially allow artificial intelligence bots to replace faculty members...

The policy proposal is not yet final and is open for public comment through Dec. 13. ..

Natalia Taft, an associate professor of biological sciences at the University of Wisconsin–Parkside who signed the open letter, told Inside Higher Ed that she believes the policy proposal “is part of the trend of the corporatization of academia.”...

Jane Ginsburg, a professor of literary and artistic property law at Columbia University School of Law, said the university has the law on its side. 

Under the 1976 Copyright Act, “course material prepared by employees, including professors, as part of their jobs comes within the definition of a ‘work made for hire,’ whose copyright vests initially in the employer (the University), not the employee (the professor).”"

Can You Copyright a Vibe?; The New York Times, December 5, 2024

 Sandra E. Garcia , The New York Times; Can You Copyright a Vibe?

"Ms. Gifford claims that Ms. Sheil, 21, not only started to mimic her online persona but also appropriated her entire look. And now she is suing.

Ms. Gifford had copyrighted several of her social media posts in January, after noticing the similarity between Ms. Sheil’s posts and her own. Several photos were submitted as evidence in the lawsuit Ms. Gifford filed this year in a federal court in Texas accusing Ms. Sheil of copyright infringement. But in the carefully curated world of social media, Ms. Gifford has leveled a perhaps more severe charge against her: stealing her vibe...

In several interviews beginning in August, experts said influencers have to navigate a blurry landscape in which assigning credit to who created what can be daunting and, in some cases, impossible.

“There really is a sense that you’re both a creator and a borrower,” said Jeanne Fromer, a professor of intellectual property law at New York University. “Fashion is built on that. All the creative industries — painting, music, movies — they’re all built on borrowing in certain ways from the past and also ideally trying to bring your own spin to something. I don’t know that anyone wants to go too far as a result.""

There’s No Longer Any Doubt That Hollywood Writing Is Powering AI; The Atlantic, November 18, 2024

 Alex Reisner , The Atlantic; There’s No Longer Any Doubt That Hollywood Writing Is Powering AI

"Editor’s note: This analysis is part of The Atlantic’s investigation into the OpenSubtitles data set. You can access the search tool directly here. Find The Atlantic's search tool for books used to train AI here.

For as long as generative-AI chatbots have been on the internet, Hollywood writers have wondered if their work has been used to train them. The chatbots are remarkably fluent with movie references, and companies seem to be training them on all available sources. One screenwriter recently told me he’s seen generative AI reproduce close imitations of The Godfather and the 1980s TV show Alf, but he had no way to prove that a program had been trained on such material.

I can now say with absolute confidence that many AI systems have been trained on TV and film writers’ work. Not just on The Godfather and Alf, but on more than 53,000 other movies and 85,000 other TV episodes: Dialogue from all of it is included in an AI-training data set that has been used by Apple, Anthropic, Meta, Nvidia, Salesforce, Bloomberg, and other companies. I recently downloaded this data set, which I saw referenced in papers about the development of various large language models (or LLMs). It includes writing from every film nominated for Best Picture from 1950 to 2016, at least 616 episodes of The Simpsons, 170 episodes of Seinfeld, 45 episodes of Twin Peaks, and every episode of The Wire, The Sopranos, and Breaking Bad. It even includes prewritten “live” dialogue from Golden Globes and Academy Awards broadcasts."

The Copyrighted Material Being Used to Train AI; The Bulwark, December 7, 2024

SONNY BUNCH, The Bulwark; The Copyrighted Material Being Used to Train AI

"On this week’s episode, I talked to Alex Reisner about his pieces in the Atlantic highlighting the copyrighted material being hoovered into large language models to help AI chatbots simulate human speech. If you’re a screenwriter and would like to see which of your work has been appropriated to aid in the effort, click here; he has assembled a searchable database of nearly 140,000 movie and TV scripts that have been used without permission. (And you should read his other stories about copyright law reaching its breaking point and “the memorization problem.”) In this episode, we also got into the metaphysics of art and asked what sort of questions need to be asked as we hurtle toward the future. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend!"

Smashed Ebenezer Scrooge gravestone swiftly repaired free of charge; The Guardian, December 7, 2024

 Jem Bartholomew, The Guardian; Smashed Ebenezer Scrooge gravestone swiftly repaired free of charge

"“The message in the book is all about generosity, isn’t it,’” Mann said. “Actually, in a strange way, this whole episode ties into what Christmas is all about … It’s just really heartwarming that it’s been repaired so quickly and for free.”"

Rekindling Indigenous Knowledge; U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, November 29, 2024

 Jalyn Williams, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service; Rekindling Indigenous Knowledge

"Following a painful period of westward removals, the Delaware Tribe and Delaware Nation resettled in Oklahoma, and the Stockbridge-Munsee Community resettled in Wisconsin. They are the three federally recognized Lenape Tribal Nations in the United States. 

Partnering to find solutions

Together, the three Tribes resolved to create a fellowship program to provide opportunities for Tribal citizens, particularly young adults, to discover new facets of their heritage by visiting the places their ancestors lived and taking part in immersive educational programming focusing on the ecology and cultural resource management of the Lënapehòkink."

At a routine meeting with agency staff in 2022, Lenape representatives remarked on the difficulty of providing Traditional Ecological Knowledge about land they were removed from generations ago. While a grant from the National Park Service had funded trips for Lenape to visit their ancestral homeland in the Delaware Watershed, that program had been discontinued. 

The Tribes would have to seek a different route to Lënapehòkink...

Fortunately, Ryder directed the Tribes to a new funding source that could help – the America the Beautiful Challenge grant. Administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in conjunction with the U.S. Department of the Interior and other agency partners, the program encourages applicants to develop diverse, landscape-level projects that showcase cumulative benefits to fish and wildlife, engage with and benefit underserved communities, and connect people with nature.

Ryder and her team provided technical assistance to help the Tribes apply for the grant and in November 2022, they received $723,200 in funding. The grant’s match requirement was covered by a contribution from Native Americans in Philanthropy, a network of Native and non-Native nonprofits, Tribal communities, foundations and community leaders committed to sharing resources in the Native tradition of reciprocity.

Together, the three Tribes resolved to create a fellowship program to provide opportunities for Tribal citizens, particularly young adults, to discover new facets of their heritage by visiting the places their ancestors lived and taking part in immersive educational programming focusing on the ecology and cultural resource management of the Lënapehòkink."

BREAKING THE GLASS; Science, December 5, 2024

 SOFIA MOUTINHO , Science; BREAKING THE GLASS

In the end he got the waiver, but the experience turned him away from commercial journals published in the Global North and toward a model that has flourished in Latin America: nonprofit open-access journals. These publications, usually run by academic institutions or scientific societies, charge relatively low APCs, in what’s known as the gold model, or nothing at all, known as the diamond model. Science analyzed nearly 20,000 journals listed in a repository of open-access journals between 2019 and 2023, and found that one in four diamond model journals is published in Latin America. Most—83%—are noncommercial, based at universities.

Latin America is also a global pioneer in trying to overcome a long-standing challenge for noncommercial journals in the Global South: invisibility. Most are published in languages other than English, the lingua franca of science, and only a small fraction of them are indexed in international citation and index systems. “I know that my papers will probably not be read on the same scale as if I published in a high-impact journal,” says Oliveira, whose first published paper appeared in Nature. That lack of visibility adds to the inequities facing scientists in the Global South who seek alternatives to commercial publishers, with their high fees or subscription paywalls.

So Latin American academics have developed platforms that gather in one place papers that would otherwise be scattered across individual journal websites and university libraries, boosting their visibility. The upstart platforms are a model for the rest of the world, says Johan Rooryck, executive director of Coalition S. The United Nations, for instance, highlighted the Latin American model during a summit last year aimed at expanding the diamond model of publishing. By continually promoting affordable open access, Latin American platforms “show us the way on how to achieve an equitable publishing model at a larger scale than just a local scale,” Rooryck says."

What's in a Name Anyway? Trademark Basics for Community Associations; The National Law Review, December 6, 2024

 Erica B. E. Rogers of Ward and Smith, P.A. , The National Law Review; What's in a Name Anyway? Trademark Basics for Community Associations

"This article explores the essentials of trademark rights, their relevance for community associations, and the balance between protecting these trademarks versus respecting the free speech of homeowners...

IV. VALUE PROPOSITION FOR COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION

Trademark rights are crucial for protecting the identity and reputation of a community association. They help prevent confusion among property owners and prospective residents by ensuring that the association's name and symbols remain distinct. However, while trademarks are valuable tools for community associations to deter unauthorized use, they cannot be used to silence opinions or criticisms. Understanding this balance is essential for effectively managing and enforcing trademark rights in a manner that respects both legal protections and fundamental freedoms of the property owners."

Rochester library faces ethics complaint after allegedly advocating for failed tax rate referendum; WCIA.com, December 6, 2024

Danny Connolly, Theodora Koulouvaris, WCIA.com; 

Rochester library faces ethics complaint after allegedly advocating for failed tax rate referendum

"A public library district in Sangamon and Christian Counties faces dozens of ethics complaints accusing officials of using their government office to promote a referendum."

Malawi is First to Ratify WIPO Treaty on IP, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge; WIPO, December 5, 2024

WIPO; Malawi is First to Ratify WIPO Treaty on IP, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge

"Malawi has become the first nation to ratify the WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge, the first WIPO Treaty to address the interface between intellectual property, genetic resources and traditional knowledge.

So far, 38 WIPO member states have signed the Treaty , which was adopted on May 24, 2024 at a diplomatic conference organized by WIPO in Geneva. Signing a treaty shows the intent to pursue ratification. Signing alone does not make the treaty legally binding. Ratification is the process by which a country formally consents to be bound by the Treaty. Upon ratification, the treaty becomes legally binding for the country that ratifies it, provided that it has entered into force.

The Treaty will take effect after 15 instruments of ratification or accession are presented to WIPO. Following a decision to become bound by a treaty, a State deposits an instrument of ratification or accession with the depositary (in this case the Director General of WIPO) and, if necessary, takes steps to enact legislation to implement the Treaty. Malawi was first to ratify the WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge through the deposit of an instrument of ratification."

Internet Archive Copyright Case Ends Without Supreme Court Review; Publishers Weekly, December 5, 2024

Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly; Internet Archive Copyright Case Ends Without Supreme Court Review

"After more than four years of litigation, a closely watched copyright case over the Internet Archive’s scanning and lending of library books is finally over after Internet Archive officials decided against exercising their last option, an appeal to the Supreme Court. The deadline to file an appeal was December 3.

With a consent judgment already entered to settle claims in the case, the official end of the litigation now triggers an undisclosed monetary payment to the plaintiff publishers, which, according to the Association of American Publishers, will “substantially” cover the publishers’ attorney fees and costs in the litigation."

Trump's controversial Cabinet picks raise questions about lower ethical standards; ABC News, December 4, 2024

 Ivan Pereira, ABC News; Trump's controversial Cabinet picks raise questions about lower ethical standards

"Queen said there is a possibility that some Republican senators may put ethics before partisanship when all is said and done.

"It's not unreasonable to assume that there are a number of senators who realize there will be consequences of their choices and their decisions that it will be bad for the country as a whole," he said.

In the long term, Hanson said it is unclear if Trump's selections will usher in a new norm of presidential picks who buck ethics and experience standards.

He noted that American history has shown several cycles of reform brought on by demand of a public frustrated with dysfunction and improper behavior, such as in the aftermath of the Nixon administration in the 1970s.

"Now that they see what is happening, they may be reminded what the Trump presidency was like the first time around," he said of Americans who supported him. "There may be a bunch of people who say this is not what I voted for, and that could affect things tremendously."

Spinner-Halev said the future will depend on how informed the public is over the next four years.

"There is a lot that happens in Washington that's not in the public eye, and I think it's important that the public keeps an eye on the bureaucratic ongoings," he said."

David Frum Accuses MSNBC Of Giving Into Fear Of Trump After Mika Brzezinski Apologizes On-Air For His Comment; Mediate, December 4, 2024

Alex Griffing , Mediate; David Frum Accuses MSNBC Of Giving Into Fear Of Trump After Mika Brzezinski Apologizes On-Air For His Comment

[Kip Currier: Mika Brzezinski's on-air apology yesterday is what self-censorship looks and sounds like.

Since last month's election of Donald Trump, MSNBC's Morning Joe program has been periodically engaging in what Yale University authoritarianism expert Dr. Timothy Snyder calls "anticipatory obedience", due to fear of potential retribution from an incoming Trump administration.

When media personalities like Brzezinski kowtow to perceived risks of reporting and engaging in constitutionally-protected free speech, we the public are well-advised to be skeptical of their integrity and commitment to showing and telling the truth. Brzezinski's servile appeasement is more about saving her own skin than having skin in the game of speaking truth to power.

Look for free and independent presses and journalists who don't surrender to fear to curry favor.]

[Excerpt]

"Mika Brzezinski, the co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, apologized on-air Wednesday for David Frum making a comment that “was a little too flippant” about Fox News earlier in the show. Frum then took to The Atlantic and accused MSNBC of capitulating to the fear felt in the media of President-elect Donald Trump’s promised retribution.

Frum’s article later elicited a response from MSNBC...

Frum’s article on the incident was titled, “The Sound of Fear on Air,” and ran with the subhead, “It is an ominous sign that Morning Joe felt it had to apologize for something I said.”

MSNBC comms exec Richard Hudock responded to Frum in a statement, saying, “Joe and Mika have consistently expressed their strong reservations and perspectives regarding Pete Hegseth’s nomination from the very beginning, and that stance remains unchanged. We would have responded in the same manner regardless of when these comments were made or what news organization was referenced.” Hudock also invited Frum back to discuss the topic on-air tomorrow.

In the piece, he recapped what had happened and commented on the current environment MSNBC finds itself in as viewers continue to tune out following Trump’s win...

“I do not write to scold anyone; I write because fear is infectious. Let it spread, and it will paralyze us all. The only antidote is courage. And that’s infectious, too,” he concluded.
Watch the clips above via MSNBC."

The Sound of Fear on Air: It is an ominous sign that Morning Joe felt it had to apologize for something I said.; The Atlantic, December 4, 2024

David Frum, The Atlantic; The Sound of Fear on Air: It is an ominous sign that Morning Joe felt it had to apologize for something I said.

"This morning, I had an unsettling experience."

The imaginary justifications for Biden’s pardon of his son; The Washington Post, December 4, 2024

 Philip Bump, The Washington Post; The imaginary justifications for Biden’s pardon of his son

"There is robust documentation of known grants of clemency, a database created by a former college professor who built his career on being the foremost expert on presidential pardons. (He later killed his children and himself.) But that database is not accessible to the general public. You can’t just search “what presidents had relatives that they pardoned” and get a clear, detailed answer that draws from the public record.

What you can do, though, is ask an artificial intelligence trained to generate clear, detailed answers to questions — but not necessarily ones that include accurate information. That’s what Navarro-Cárdenas did, according to a follow-up post: she asked ChatGPT which presidents had pardoned relatives. And it reached into its database of phrases and snippets and pulled out the words “Roger Clinton” and “Charles Kushner” and “Hunter deButts.”