prodromos

(aka pRo): Open Data lawyer and activist - open source fan - open hardware and fabrication enthusiast - open government advocate - digital culture addict

[Elfilter @elfilter_a]

eternal transmission

[Psychofuturist 👁️ @psychofuturist]

Americana Exotica

[Διομήδης Σπινέλλης @DSpinellis]

Όταν εμείς την δεκαετία του 1970 κατασκευάζαμε το γωνιώδες Pony αυτοί που τώρα φτιάχνουν το αντίστοιχης αισθητικής Tesla Cybertruck έτρωγαν βελανίδια… 😃

[Sarah Myers West @sarahbmyers]

The notion that bigger = better in AI is being instrumented in recent industrial policy moves to invest in massive data and compute. But the science doesn't bear this out, as this paper by @mer__edith @SashaMTL and @GaelVaroquaux carefully documents: https://t.co/d7kjrEZ1sK

[Carissa Véliz @CarissaVeliz]

"OpenAI and Anthropic, two of the most richly valued artificial intelligence startups, have agreed to let the U.S. AI Safety Institute test their new models before releasing them to the public" #AIEthics

https://t.co/MrHmo5XhTV

[Daphne Keller @daphnehk]

I can't express how unutterably tired I feel after reading this absurd 3rd Cir ruling. It denies TikTok 230 immunity for a claim that is (very thinly) framed as liability based on algorithmic promotion, instead of liability based on user content. 1/

https://t.co/5olRFUkVum

[Luiza Jarovsky, PhD @LuizaJarovsky]

🚨[LAWYERS & GENERATIVE AI]: The American Bar Association issued a formal opinion on the ethical use of generative AI by lawyers, and it's a MUST-READ for lawyers and everyone in AI governance. Quotes & comments:

"To competently use a GAI tool in a client representation, lawyers need not become GAI experts. Rather, lawyers must have a reasonable understanding of the capabilities and limitations of the specific GAI technology that the lawyer might use. This means that lawyers should either acquire a reasonable understanding of the benefits and risks of the GAI tools that they employ in their practices or draw on the expertise of others who can provide guidance about the relevant GAI tool’s capabilities and limitations. This is not a static undertaking. Given the fast-paced evolution of GAI tools, technological competence presupposes that lawyers remain vigilant about the tools’ benefits and risks. Although there is no single right way to keep up with GAI developments, lawyers should consider reading about GAI tools targeted at the legal profession, attending relevant continuing legal education programs, and, as noted above, consulting others who are proficient in GAI technology" (page 2-3)

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"Before lawyers input information relating to the representation of a client into a GAI tool, they must evaluate the risks that the information will be disclosed to or accessed by others outside the firm. Lawyers must also evaluate the risk that the information will be disclosed to or accessed by others inside the firm who will not adequately protect the information from improper disclosure or use because, for example, they are unaware of the source of the information and that it originated with a client of the firm. Because GAI tools now available differ in their ability to ensure that information relating to the representation is protected from impermissible disclosure and access, this risk analysis will be fact-driven and depend on the client, the matter, the task, and the GAI tool used to perform it." (page 6)

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"Of course, lawyers must disclose their GAI practices if asked by a client how they conducted their work, or whether GAI technologies were employed in doing so, or if the client expressly requires disclosure under the terms of the engagement agreement or the client’s outside counsel guidelines. There are also situations where Model Rule 1.4 requires lawyers to discuss their use of GAI tools unprompted by the client. For example, as discussed in the previous section, clients would need to be informed in advance, and to give informed consent, if the lawyer proposes to input information relating to the representation into the GAI tool.41 Lawyers must also consult clients when the use of a GAI tool is relevant to the basis or reasonableness of a lawyer’s fee" (page 8)

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"Lawyers using GAI tools have a duty of competence, including maintaining relevant technological competence, which requires an understanding of the evolving nature of GAI. In using GAI tools, lawyers also have other relevant ethical duties, such as those relating to confidentiality, communication with a client, meritorious claims and contentions, candor toward the tribunal, supervisory responsibilities regarding others in the law office using the technology and those outside the law office providing GAI services, and charging reasonable fees. With the ever-evolving use of technology by lawyers and courts, lawyers must be vigilant in complying with the Rules of Professional Conduct to ensure that lawyers are adhering to their ethical responsibilities and that clients are protected." (pages 14-15)

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➡️As the opinion makes clear, AI literacy is essential, especially for lawyers. In the EU AI Act, for example, AI literacy is a legal obligation (Article 4).

➡️In my opinion, most lawyers are unprepared at this point, and lack basic knowledge of how Generative AI works in practice, how AI is trained, limitations, risks, and so on, and using these tools in a professional capacity could be detrimental to clients.

➡️It's not a coincidence that some of the first Generative AI scandals involved lawyers using ChatGPT to write legal briefs (they used ChatGPT-generated fake cases and were fined).

➡️The use of general-purpose AI systems or any AI system not built with specific guardrails for lawyers should not be incentivized. The use of AI tools built for lawyers should be done with extreme care and under supervision.

➡️Read the full opinion by the @ABAesq below.

➡️If you are looking for AI training programs, make sure to check out our 4-week AI Bootcamps. They focus on AI risk, harms, compliance, and regulation and were attended by 850+ participants, many of them lawyers and compliance professionals (link below).

➡️To stay up to date with the latest developments in AI policy & regulation, join 30,500+ people who subscribe to my weekly newsletter (link below).

[Luis Montezuma | @[email protected] @montezumachavez]

OECD launches pilot to monitor application of G7 code of conduct on advanced AI development | OECD https://t.co/BjtQ8c3BO1

[Luiza Jarovsky, PhD @LuizaJarovsky]

🚨[BREAKING] The Italian Competition Authority launched an investigation against Google. Here's what you must know:

"The Italian Competition Authority has opened investigation proceedings against Google and its parent group Alphabet with respect to the submission to users of a request for consent to the 'linking' of the services offered. This request would in fact appear to provide no relevant information - or would provide it inadequately and imprecisely - as to the real effect that consent has on Google's use of personal data of users. The same critical issues would arise with respect to the variety and number of Google’s services for which 'combination' and 'cross-use' of personal data may occur, and with respect to the possibility of modulating (and thus limiting) consent to only some services."

➡ From a legal perspective, this is an interesting investigation combining competition law, data protection issues (consent, personal data), and dark patterns (deceptive design).

➡ Read @antitrust_it's press release below.

➡ To stay up to date with the latest developments in AI & tech policy & regulation, join 29,500+ people who subscribe to my weekly newsletter (link below).

[Luiza Jarovsky, PhD @LuizaJarovsky]

🚨 BREAKING: The World Intellectual Property Organization – @WIPO publishes the "Patent Landscape Report on Generative AI," and it's a MUST-READ for everyone in AI. Below are the [impressive] key findings:

"➵ 54,000 GenAI-related inventions (patent families) were filed and more than 75,000 scientific publications published between 2014 and 2023.

➵ The growth is rapid, with the number of GenAI patents increasing eightfold since the 2017 introduction of the deep neural network architecture behind the Large Language Models that have become synonymous with GenAI.

➵ In 2023 alone over 25% of all GenAI patents globally were published, and over 45% of all GenAI scientific papers were published.

➵ GenAI patents still currently only represent 6% of all AI patents globally.

➵ The top 10 GenAI patent applicants are: Tencent (2,074 inventions), Ping An Insurance (1,564 inventions), Baidu (1,234 inventions), Chinese Academy of Sciences (607), IBM (601), Alibaba Group (571), Samsung Electronics (468), Alphabet (443), ByteDance (418), Microsoft (377).

➵ The top five inventor locations are China (38,210 inventions), US (6,276 inventions), Republic of Korea (4,155 inventions), Japan (3,409) and India (1,350).

➵ Image and video data dominate GenAI patents (17,996 inventions), followed by text (13,494 inventions) and speech/music (13,480 inventions). GenAI patents using molecule, gene and protein-based data are growing rapidly (1,494 inventions since 2014) with 78% average annual growth over the past five years.

➵ GenAI patents span across a diverse range of sectors, including in life sciences (5,346 inventions), document management and publishing (4,976 inventions) and over 2,000 inventions in each of business solutions, industry and manufacturing, transportation, security, and telecommunications.

➵ In the future, GenAI can help design new molecules, expediting drug development. It can automate tasks in document management and publishing, be increasingly used in retail assistance systems and customer service chatbots and enable new product design and optimization, including in public transportation systems and autonomous driving."

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➡ A very interesting report - don't miss it (link below).

➡ To stay up to date with the latest developments in AI policy & regulation, join 27,500 who subscribe to my weekly newsletter (link below).

[Times Higher Education @timeshighered]

The ability to use generative AI is akin to other learning skills that students need practice to master. On #THECampus Vincent Spezzo and Ilya Gokhman @GeorgiaTech offer tips to make sure instructions land equally no matter students’ level of AI experience
https://t.co/fPAT9R3GyV

[Artnome @artnome]

An excellent review of both the RCS and Taschen books in @TheArtNewspaper today. More than a review really, a thoughtful look by @michaels_chris into the current state of NFTs and the place they hold (and don't hold) in the art world at large.

https://t.co/sf4CnJXeN8

[Invested Memes @investedmemes]

twitter has removed support for NFТ profile pictures

[EFF @EFF]

Thanks, @americandialect, for choosing "enshittification" as the 2023 Word of the Year. @doctorow's apt term describes how online platforms decay by showing users less and less of what they came for, while keeping them trapped and unable to exit for better alternatives.

[Russ Salakhutdinov @rsalakhu]

I disagree with @ylecun on various issues, but when it comes down to open source and existential risks of AI, my views are very much the same as Yann's.

In fact, the number of times I keep seeing AI and nuclear in the same sentence is mind-boggling. Really?

[Hossein Derakhshan @h0d3r]

Algorithms have been treated as the de facto media text of platforms. I explained why this isn't helpful and proposed to discuss what every platform does: datafication and personalization. @MediaLSE @LSEsociology https://t.co/dx2S1OwOU8

[World Wide Web Foundation @webfoundation]

Dr. Carolina Are is a content moderation expert and creator working on social media platforms’ governance of nudity, sex, and LGBTQIA+ expression, and ran a Technology Policy Design Lab to counter malicious flagging: https://t.co/V5gJNpneE2 @bloggeronpole @sprblm_

[Lessig 🇺🇦 @lessig]

Really happy to conspire with @arfung to write this piece about political AI-

https://t.co/9UKpPydQno

[Matt Wolfe @mreflow]

Last night, Jensen Huang of NVIDIA gave his very first live keynote in 4-years.

The most show-stopping moment from the event was when he showed off the real-time AI in video games. A human speaks, the NPC responds, in real time and the dialogue was generated with AI on the fly.