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Google Simplifies AI Disclosures in Political Ads Amid 2024 Election Concerns
Google is simplifying the process for political advertisers to disclose AI-generated content in their ads, as concerns mount over the use of AI in the lead-up to the 2024 US presidential election. Automated disclosures for AI-generated political ads: Google will now automatically generate disclosures for political ads that contain AI-generated content, making it easier for advertisers to comply with disclosure requirements: Advertisers can now select an "altered or synthetic content" checkbox in their campaign settings, which will trigger Google to automatically include an in-ad disclosure. The automated disclosures will appear in feeds, YouTube Shorts on mobile devices, and in-stream ads...
read Jul 3, 2024Time Partners with OpenAI, Joining Growing Trend of Media Companies Embracing AI
Time, the well-known media company, has joined a growing list of publishers in partnering with OpenAI to license its content for training AI models like ChatGPT. Key details of the partnership: The specific financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but the collaboration aligns with Time's mission to expand access to trusted information: Time COO Mark Howard stated, "This partnership with OpenAI advances our mission to expand access to trusted information globally as we continue to embrace innovative new ways of bringing Time's journalism to audiences globally." The partnership allows OpenAI to use Time's content to train its...
read Jul 3, 2024AI Uncovers EV Adoption Barriers, Sparking New Climate Research Opportunities
Electric vehicle transition facing challenges: The growth in electric vehicle sales has slowed this year, particularly for market leader Tesla, raising concerns about achieving emissions reduction goals in Massachusetts where transportation accounts for the largest share of carbon emissions. Potential factors contributing to the slowdown include high vehicle prices, concerns about limited driving range, insufficient charging infrastructure, and waning consumer confidence in Tesla CEO Elon Musk. A recent survey found that many EV drivers are considering switching back to gas-powered vehicles, further highlighting the challenges in the transition to electric mobility. Leveraging AI to understand consumer sentiments: Researcher Omar Asensio...
read Jul 3, 2024AI Accelerates Disease Diagnosis: Earlier Detection, Novel Biomarkers, and Personalized Insights
Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing disease diagnosis by enabling earlier detection and uncovering novel disease markers, but challenges remain in ensuring accuracy, reducing bias, and establishing appropriate guardrails. AI's diagnostic potential: AI algorithms are sifting through vast amounts of data to identify disease patterns and biomarkers that traditional tests might miss, enabling earlier and more personalized diagnoses: Researchers found that facial temperature patterns detected by thermal cameras and AI are associated with various chronic illnesses like diabetes and high blood pressure. An AI-assisted study identified a high-risk subtype of endometrial cancer that would have gone unrecognized by traditional diagnostic methods. A...
read Jul 3, 2024OpenAI Joins Tech Lobbying Group, Seeks to Influence AI Regulation in Washington
OpenAI joining major tech lobbying group as it seeks to expand Washington influence: OpenAI, the company behind the widely popular ChatGPT, is set to become a global member of BSA | The Software Alliance, a prominent lobbying group representing the tech industry in Washington, DC. The move comes as OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman look to increase their influence in the nation's capital, with Altman making multiple trips to meet with lawmakers and government officials since ChatGPT's launch in November 2022. BSA has been a leading industry voice in the ongoing global debate around AI regulation, advocating for what...
read Jul 3, 2024Perplexity’s AI Upgrade Marred by Plagiarism Accusations Amid Enhanced Search Capabilities
Perplexity, an AI search startup facing ethical questions, has launched a significant upgrade to its Pro Search tool, claiming it can now handle more complex queries and provide in-depth answers by breaking down problems step-by-step. Enhanced capabilities: Pro Search's new features aim to improve its ability to tackle advanced research and mathematical tasks: The tool can now understand when a question requires planning and work through goals in a step-by-step manner, synthesizing detailed answers more efficiently. Examples showcased by Perplexity demonstrate Pro Search's ability to break down complex queries, such as determining the best time and locations to view the...
read Jul 3, 2024UN and China Lead Global Push for Equitable AI Access and Benefits
The UN General Assembly has adopted a Chinese-sponsored resolution, with US support, aimed at closing the gap between wealthy and poorer nations in access to and benefits from artificial intelligence (AI). Key details of the resolution: The non-binding resolution calls on the international community to ensure a fair, open, and inclusive business environment for AI development and use, and to bridge the digital divide between developed and developing countries: It follows a US-led resolution adopted in March that gave global support to ensuring AI is "safe, secure and trustworthy" and accessible to all nations. The adoption of both resolutions by...
read Jul 3, 2024Crypto Miners Pivot to AI, Fueling Surge in Energy Demand
The soaring demand for AI computing is driving an energy gold rush, with crypto miners well-positioned to capitalize on their advanced equipment and access to low-cost power. Key Takeaways: The AI boom is causing a surge in demand for heavy-duty computing capacity and cheap energy: AI applications like ChatGPT require 10 times the electricity of traditional Google searches, making access to sufficient power vital for companies looking to meet the growing demand. Crypto miners, with their advanced equipment and access to low-cost energy in states like Texas and North Dakota, are becoming attractive partners for AI companies seeking to expand...
read Jul 3, 2024AI-Generated Spam Plagues Google News, Outranking Original Reporting
A recent Google search for "adobe train ai content" revealed that an AI-generated spam article plagiarizing WIRED's original reporting was outranking the legitimate story in Google News results. Despite Google's recent algorithm changes and spam policies aimed at improving search quality, the prevalence of AI-generated spam in news results remains a significant issue. Key details of the AI spam article: The spammy website, Syrus #Blog, had copied WIRED's article with only slight changes to the phrasing and a single hyperlink at the bottom serving as attribution: The plagiarized content appeared in 10 other languages, including many that WIRED produces content...
read Jul 3, 2024AI Infrastructure Startups Face Uphill Battle Against Incumbents
The AI infrastructure startup landscape faces significant challenges to achieve venture-scale success, as competitive dynamics favor incumbents with more resources and established relationships. Key factors creating a difficult environment for AI infrastructure startups: Several forces are working against these startups, making it challenging for them to differentiate and succeed in the long run: Incumbents and the open-source community are driving most cutting-edge innovation, leaving startups struggling to maintain a sustainable lead. Good ideas originating from startups are quickly benchmarked and copied by competitors, diminishing their value proposition. Developers demand composability, making it easy to switch between different solutions and reducing...
read Jul 3, 2024Google’s AI Emissions Surge Threatens Net-Zero Goal, Raises Sustainability Concerns
Google's AI-driven emissions increase raises concerns amid net-zero goals: Google's greenhouse gas emissions rose 13% last year, largely due to the increasing energy demands of artificial intelligence (AI), despite the company's aim to become carbon neutral by 2030. AI adoption poses challenges for emissions reduction efforts: The rapid growth and integration of AI into Google's products is driving up the company's energy consumption and associated emissions, making it more difficult to meet its sustainability targets: Google's data center electricity consumption grew by 17% last year, accounting for 7-10% of global data center electricity usage. Since 2019, Google's total emissions have...
read Jul 3, 2024Iconic Actors Voice AI Audiobooks, Bringing Classics to Life in ElevenLabs Reader App
ElevenLabs enhances its AI storytelling app with the voices of iconic actors, creating immersive audio experiences that bring classic tales to life in a whole new way. Introducing ElevenLabs Reader: The company's iPhone app allows users to listen to any content using a vast library of AI-generated voices, including original, synthetic, cloned, and now iconic voices: The app, currently available in the U.S. and UK, lets users input text, links, or files and have them read aloud in the voice of their choice, even when the phone is locked. ElevenLabs Reader offers a wide range of storyteller voices suitable for...
read Jul 3, 2024AI Memes: Time-Traveling Trend Reshapes Internet History, Sparks Reactions
Meme culture meets AI-generated videos in a trend that's reshaping internet history. Time-traveler videos alter iconic memes: A new trend on social media platforms like TikTok and X (formerly Twitter) involves using AI to generate videos that add new context to well-known memes: These "time traveler" videos often depict figures interrupting the original meme or adding haunting specters to the scene. One popular example alters the "distracted boyfriend" meme, showing the boyfriend turning to follow the other woman while his girlfriend stands nearby. Luma Dream Machine enables realistic AI meme edits: The videos are made using Luma Dream Machine, an...
read Jul 3, 2024Chinese Underground Network Smuggles Banned Nvidia AI Chips Despite US Restrictions
Underground network smuggling Nvidia AI GPUs into China despite US export ban: An investigation has uncovered over 70 sellers who claim to receive dozens of advanced Nvidia chips each month and resell them in China, circumventing US efforts to restrict exports of these chips. The chips, including Nvidia A100 and H100 GPUs, are brought into China by couriers from countries like Singapore that can legally obtain them, with one Chinese student reportedly paid about $100 per GPU to transport six A100s in November. Some resellers openly operate out of brick-and-mortar electronics shops in China, such as the Huaquiangbei market in...
read Jul 3, 2024Google AI for Pixel: Uniting AI Into Promising and Questionable Features
Google is reportedly uniting existing and new machine learning features into a collection called Google AI for Pixel, which may include both promising and questionable innovations in the anticipated Pixel 9 smartphone, according to an anonymous insider. Key features under the Google AI umbrella: The tech giant plans to bring together current and upcoming AI capabilities, with a focus on enhancing user experience while maintaining privacy: Circle to Search and the Gemini AI assistant will be moved under the Google AI collection. "Add Me" is a new feature that may enable users to add themselves to group photos they were...
read Jul 3, 2024AI Trains on Kids’ Photos Without Consent, Enabling Realistic Deepfakes and Tracking
A Human Rights Watch investigation has revealed that photos of real children posted online are being used to train AI image generators without consent, posing significant privacy and safety risks. Key findings from Australia: HRW researcher Hye Jung Han discovered 190 photos of Australian children, including indigenous kids, linked in the LAION-5B AI dataset: The photos span entire childhoods, enabling AI to generate realistic deepfakes of these children. Dataset URLs sometimes reveal identifying information like names and locations, making it easy to track down the children. Even photos posted with strict privacy settings, such as unlisted YouTube videos, were scraped...
read Jul 3, 2024AI Chatbot Controversy Ignites Leadership Turmoil at European Geosciences Union
A controversy over an AI chatbot developed in China has caused a rift at the European Geosciences Union (EGU), resulting in the firing of its president: AI chatbot sparks concerns: GeoGPT, an AI-powered chatbot being developed by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba as part of the Deep-time Digital Earth (DDE) initiative, has raised concerns about transparency, potential state censorship, and copyright infringement: Paul Cleverly, a visiting professor, highlighted "serious issues" with GeoGPT regarding lack of transparency, potential state censorship, and copyright infringement in an editorial. A group of publishers argued that GeoGPT was built off unlicensed literature and lacked transparency by...
read Jul 3, 2024Alexandr Wang: The Meteoric Rise and Controversies of a Young AI Billionaire
Alexandr Wang, the billionaire founder of AI startup Scale AI, has experienced a meteoric rise in Silicon Valley, but his relentless pursuit of success has also led to conflicts and controversies along the way. A prodigy's journey: Wang's early life and academic achievements set the stage for his future success in the tech industry: Born to Chinese immigrants, Wang showed signs of exceptional intelligence from a young age, teaching himself to code at 9 and excelling in math and science competitions. He attended MIT at just 15, where he continued to stand out academically and became involved in AI research,...
read Jul 3, 2024AI-Powered Russian Fake News Network Increasingly Targeting 2024 US Election
A Russia-based network of fake news websites, powered by AI, is increasingly targeting the US election with viral disinformation stories aimed at sowing distrust among American voters. Key figures and tactics: The network is run out of Moscow by John Mark Dougan, a former US police officer, and uses sophisticated AI to generate fake articles and videos masquerading as legitimate local US news: Dozens of websites with American-sounding names like "Houston Post" and "DC Weekly" post a mix of rewritten real news and completely fabricated stories, often blending US political issues with pro-Russia narratives. AI-generated "reporter" profiles and fake whistleblower...
read Jul 3, 2024AI Models Used to Analyze Medical Images May Be Biased, Study Finds
A new study has revealed that AI models used to analyze medical images can exhibit biases in their diagnostic performance across different demographic groups, with the most accurate models showing the largest fairness gaps. The key findings and implications are: AI models' surprising capabilities linked to fairness gaps: The AI models that were most accurate at predicting patient demographics like race and gender from chest X-rays also had the biggest discrepancies in diagnostic accuracy between groups, suggesting the models may be relying on "demographic shortcuts" that lead to incorrect results for women, Black patients, and other groups. MIT researchers previously...
read Jul 3, 2024AI Revolutionizing Wealth Management: Balancing Benefits, Risks, and the Human Touch
The role of artificial intelligence (AI) in wealth management and investment decision-making has been growing, highlighting both potential benefits and risks. AI's potential to enhance investment research and decision-making: Platforms like ChatGPT can conduct comprehensive investment research at low cost, helping investors make more informed decisions without expensive professional advice: Entrepreneur Edward Morris used ChatGPT to conduct due diligence for his profitable investment in chip designer Arm's IPO, claiming the AI can summarize key information and rate stock performance potential. Morris believes ChatGPT can save wealth managers significant time on research and risk profiling, urging them to upskill in AI...
read Jul 3, 2024AI Boom Propels Microsoft, Nvidia Past Apple; Sustainability Concerns Loom
Microsoft and Nvidia's early bets on AI have propelled them to the top of the tech industry, surpassing Apple in market value. However, questions remain about the sustainability and long-term viability of the AI boom. Key Takeaways: Microsoft's investment in OpenAI and Nvidia's focus on AI chip development have positioned them as leaders in the AI industry, with their combined market values briefly surpassing $3 trillion each. The AI revolution is reshaping the tech sector, leading to excitement and speculation about potential winners and losers in the industry. Investor Enthusiasm and Skepticism: The AI boom has generated significant investor interest,...
read Jul 3, 2024Figma’s AI Design Controversy: Apple Similarity Sparks Questions, Prompts Changes
Figma's new generative AI feature, Make Designs, has been pulled after producing designs strikingly similar to Apple's iOS weather app, raising questions about the tool's training data and the company's AI development process. Figma's response and the issue's root cause: Figma CEO Dylan Field and CTO Kris Rasmussen addressed the controversy, revealing key details about the AI tool's development: Figma did not train the AI models used in Make Designs, relying instead on "off-the-shelf models and a bespoke design system." The company attributes the issue to insufficient variation in the commissioned design system, rather than the training data. Rasmussen stated...
read Jul 3, 2024Meta’s AI Breakthrough: Text-to-3D in Under a Minute
Meta introduces groundbreaking AI system for rapid 3D asset creation from text prompts, hinting at the transformation to come in industries from gaming to architecture. Key Takeaways: Meta's new 3D Gen AI system can generate high-quality 3D assets with detailed textures and material maps in under a minute, marking a significant advance in generative AI for 3D graphics: The system combines Meta 3D AssetGen for creating 3D meshes and Meta 3D TextureGen for generating textures, producing assets with high-resolution textures and physically based rendering (PBR) materials 3-10 times faster than existing solutions. Support for PBR materials allows for realistic relighting...
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