DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Voting rule changes: Republicans push ballot measures in key battleground states
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Fredreka Schouten | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

CNN —Republican lawmakers and activists in several presidential battlegrounds are pushing ballot measures to change how elections are run in their states. And in Arizona, a so-called ballot referral moving through the Republican-controlled Legislature would upend the state’s widely used, no-excuse vote-by-mail system. Constitutional amendments in Wisconsin and ballot referenda in Arizona are not subject to the approval of governors in those states. “Wisconsin’s status as a swing state makes election integrity measures important locally, nationally and internationally.”If approved, the Wisconsin measures would be in effect for this year’s elections. Katie Hobbs has vetoed a raft of legislation – ranging from efforts to get rid of red-light cameras to prohibiting ranked-choice voting in the state’s elections.

Persons: ”, Jay Heck, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Sen, Eric Wimberger, Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan, Zuckerberg, Tony Evers, Will Flanders, –, who’s, Debra Cronmiller, Katie Hobbs, Hobbs ’, Alex Gulotta, “, Wendy Rogers, Rogers, Wisconsin’s, noncitizens Organizations: CNN, Republican, GOP, Silver State, Tuesday ., White House, Center for Tech, Republicans, Democratic, National Conference of State Legislatures, Wisconsin Institute of Law and Liberty, Badger State, League of Women Voters of, Phoenix New Times, Phoenix, Clark County Republican Party, Wisconsin, New, New York City Locations: Wisconsin, Nevada, Silver, Arizona, Tuesday . Arizona, League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, Maricopa County, ” Arizona, Clark, New York City, York, New York

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin voters are set to decide next month whether to make it unconstitutional to accept private grant money to help administer state elections, one of two Republican-backed ballot measures that Democrats say are meant to make it harder to conduct elections in the presidential battleground state. The Wisconsin measures are supported by Republicans and conservative groups and opposed by an array of government watchdog and liberal groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, Common Cause Wisconsin, Wisconsin Conservation Voters and the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin. Three courts and the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission rejected complaints challenging the legality of the grant money. It’s unclear how adoption of the amendment would change current practice, other than place requirements currently in state law into the constitution. Federal law already requires U.S. citizenship to vote in national elections and no state constitutions explicitly allow noncitizens to vote in state or local elections.

Persons: Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Sen, Eric Wimberger, ”, Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan, Biden, Zuckerbucks ”, ” Kyle Koenen, Zuckerberg, Chan, Tony Evers, Evers, noncitizens Organizations: —, Republicans, American Civil Liberties Union, Wisconsin Conservation Voters, League of Women Voters of, Democratic, Center for Tech, Facebook, “, Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, Democratic Gov, Wisconsin, Bureau Locations: MADISON, Wis, — Wisconsin, Wisconsin, League of Women Voters of Wisconsin

☆ SCOTUS is hearing 2 cases about political censorship on social media that could change how the internet works forever
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-10 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

It also created mechanisms for average users to sue social media companies if they believed the companies were unfairly applying their content moderation rules based on political leanings. Picture an empty timeline or your social media feed filled only with posts from companies paying to advertise on the platform. If these laws are permitted to stand, that's what the social media landscape could look like, at least until the sites update their business practices. And it might not stop at social media companies, Hurtwitz noted, due to the broad language in the laws. Advertisement"And what is social media?

Persons: SCOTUS, —, Donald Trump, Paxton, Ron DeSantis, Justin, Gus, Hurwitz, Hurtwitz, Uber, there's, Jared Carter, Carter, it's, John Roberts, — you've, Samuel Alito, Hurwiz Organizations: Service, Moody, Republican, GOP Gov, University of Pennsylvania's Center for Technology, Innovation, Competition, Lawyers, Ars Technica, Vermont Law, Graduate School, Cornell Law, CNN Locations: United States, South Carolina, Texas, Florida

The steps will apply specifically to OpenAI, only one player in an expanding universe of companies developing advanced generative AI tools. Starting “early this year,” OpenAI said, it will digitally watermark AI images created using its DALL-E image generator. “Will there be items that slip through the cracks?”OpenAI's ChatGPT and DALL-E are some of the most powerful generative AI tools to date. But there are many companies with similarly sophisticated technology that don't have as many election misinformation safeguards in place. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that even with all of his company’s safeguards in place, his mind is not at ease.

Persons: —, OpenAI, ” OpenAI, Mekela Panditharatne, “, ChatGPT, ”, Darrell West, Sam Altman, “ We’re Organizations: San, National Association of, State, Brennan Center for Justice, YouTube, Meta, Center for Technology Innovation, Bloomberg, Economic, Associated Press, AP Locations: San Francisco, U.S, Davos, Switzerland

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Communications Commission has enacted new rules intended to eliminate discrimination in access to internet services, a move which regulators are calling the first major U.S. digital civil rights policy. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said that Congress required the agency to adopt rules addressing digital discrimination, through bipartisan infrastructure legislation passed at the start of the Biden administration. Poorer, less white neighborhoods were found to have received lower investment in broadband infrastructure and offered worse deals for internet service than comparatively whiter and higher-income areas. It is simply not plausible that we could prevent and eliminate digital discrimination by solely, solely addressing intentional discrimination,” said fellow commissioner Geoffrey Starks. President Joe Biden has said the investments in the bipartisan infrastructure law are meant to connect every U.S. household to quality internet service by 2030 regardless of income or identity.

Persons: Jessica Rosenworcel, Biden, ” Rosenworcel, ”, Nicol Turner Lee, Brendan Carr, “ It’s, Carr, Geoffrey Starks, “, Trump, Joe Biden, Christopher Ali, “ That’s, Ali, ” Ali, ” ___ Matt Brown Organizations: WASHINGTON, Federal Communications Commission, FCC, Associated Press, Center for Technology Innovation, Brookings Institution, National Cable and Telecommunications Association, Free Press, Pennsylvania State University Locations: U.S, “

☆ Elon Musk blames ADL for lost revenue, says he opposes antisemitism 'of any kind'
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Doha Madani | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Elon Musk on Monday posted that he was against antisemitism and blamed the Anti-Defamation League for lost advertising revenue since his acquisition of X, formerly known as Twitter. "If this continues, we will have no choice but to file a defamation suit against, ironically, the 'Anti-Defamation' League," Musk wrote. An email to attorneys representing Musk and X asking whether a complaint has been drafted was not immediately returned. X filed a lawsuit last month against the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit organization that monitors hate speech and disinformation. The ADL also posted a report in March accusing the platform of failing to take action against hate speech.

Persons: Elon Musk, Porte, Musk, CCDH, Imran Ahmed, Ahmed Organizations: SpaceX, Tesla, Twitter, Viva Technology, Porte de, Defamation League, ADL, Defamation, League, NBC, Center, Northern, Northern District of, ADL Center for Technology, Society, Montclair State University, GLAAD, Social Media Locations: Paris, France, U.S, America, Northern District, Northern District of California

☆ Watch CNBC's full interview with Neil Chilson, Jessica Melugin and Americus Reed
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWatch CNBC's full interview with Neil Chilson, Jessica Melugin and Americus ReedNeil Chilson, former FTC chief technologist, Jessica Melugin, CEI Center for Technology and Innovation director, and Americus Reed, Wharton School of Business professor, join 'Last Call' to discuss the FTC's lawsuit against Amazon and its Prime enrollment practices.

Persons: Neil Chilson, Jessica Melugin, Americus Reed Neil Chilson Organizations: Americus, CEI Center for Technology, Innovation, Americus Reed, Wharton School of Business, Amazon

☆ The FTC's case against Amazon is on 'somewhat shaky legal ground': Fmr. FTC Official Neil Chilson
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailThe FTC's case against Amazon is on 'somewhat shaky legal ground': Fmr. FTC Official Neil ChilsonNeil Chilson, former FTC chief technologist, Jessica Melugin, CEI Center for Technology and Innovation director, and Americus Reed, Wharton School of Business professor, join 'Last Call' to discuss the FTC's lawsuit against Amazon and its Prime enrollment practices.

Persons: Neil Chilson Neil Chilson, Jessica Melugin Organizations: Amazon, CEI Center for Technology, Innovation, Americus Reed, Wharton School of Business

☆ OpenAI is pursuing a new way to fight A.I. 'hallucinations'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

OpenAI is taking up the mantle against AI "hallucinations," the company announced Wednesday, with a newer method for training artificial intelligence models. To date, Microsoft has invested more than $13 billion in OpenAI, and the startup's value has reached roughly $29 billion. AI hallucinations occur when models like OpenAI's ChatGPT or Google 's Bard fabricate information entirely, behaving as if they are spouting facts. OpenAI's potential new strategy for fighting the fabrications: Train AI models to reward themselves for each individual, correct step of reasoning when they're arriving at an answer, instead of just rewarding a correct final conclusion. OpenAI has released an accompanying dataset of 800,000 human labels it used to train the model mentioned in the research paper, Cobbe said.

Persons: OpenAI, Bard, James Webb, ChatGPT, they're, Karl Cobbe, Cobbe, Ben Winters, it's, Winters, Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Venkatasubramanian, … It's, Sarah Myers West, hasn't Organizations: Microsoft, James Webb Space, New, CNBC, Privacy, Center, Brown University Locations: OpenAI, New York

loadingWhile major social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have made efforts to prohibit and remove deepfakes, their effectiveness at policing such content varies. In total, about 500,000 video and voice deepfakes will be shared on social media sites globally in 2023, DeepMedia estimates. Jon Smith, Republican chair for Michigan's 5th Congressional district, is holding several educational meetings so his allies can learn to use AI for social media and ad generation. Political consultancies are also seeking to harness AI, further muddying the line between real and unreal. Democratic polling and strategy group Honan Strategy Group is meanwhile trying to develop an AI survey bot.

☆ TikTok commands the attention of 150 million American users. That's its best defense yet against Biden's threat of a ban.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

TikTok officially has 150 million monthly active users in the US, the company says. The user figures come as TikTok CEO Shou Chew is set to testify in front of Congress on Thursday. It's still not to the threshold of Facebook, which logs 266 million monthly active users in the US, but it's not far behind. (Facebook parent Meta doesn't break out Instagram's monthly active users in the US.) That number also includes about 5 million businesses that use TikTok as a way to reach customers, he said in a TikTok video on Tuesday.

Most carmakers said their battery packs are repairable, though few seem willing to share access to battery data. Lauterwasser said access to EV battery data is part of that fight. EV battery problems also expose a hole in the green "circular economy" touted by carmakers. Hill estimated at least 95% of the cells in the hundreds of EV battery packs - and thousands of hybrid battery packs - Synetiq has stored at Doncaster are undamaged and should be reused. 'PAIN POINTS'The British government is funding research into EV insurance "pain points" led by Thatcham, Synetiq and insurer LV=.

Trumzz | Istock | Getty ImagesOver the past two years, millions of low-income U.S. households have received broadband internet at a discount through two consecutive government programs. "Millions could be left in the dark without broadband service for the very same reasons they didn't have it in the first place." The Emergency Broadband Benefit, or EBB, which was approved by then-President Donald Trump in late 2020 and launched in February 2021, provided a $50 subsidy. That's considered an accomplishment, said Ken Garnett, chief strategy officer at Cal.net, a small internet service provider that serves rural inland areas of California. As of January, about $6.1 billion of the funds had been claimed by broadband service providers as reimbursement for discounting their services and products.

☆ In EU car data tussle, insurers and others brace for delays, disappointment
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Nick Carey | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Companies in Europe and beyond are vying for control of the crown jewels of the connected car era, namely car manufacturers' data covering everything from driving habits, to fuel consumption and tyre wear which can be used to target cash-generating services. Although the EU is currently haggling over the Data Act, a draft law governing the use of consumer and corporate data, insurers and others are pushing for auto sector-specific regulation. A proposal is expected soon after the European Commission launched a consultation last year. Ten industry groups also wrote to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in January urging an end to "repeated delays". A spokesperson for the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said the Data Act would guarantee fair access to car data, so "additional legislation on access to in-vehicle data is unlikely to achieve more".

☆ 'Stalin' said he disagreed with Putin's invasion of Ukraine. We 'spoke' to dead historical figures using a new AI chatbot that experts are sounding the alarm over.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Bethany Dawson | Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Insider "spoke" to bots acting as Princess Diana, Heinrich Himmler, Joseph Stalin, and Fred Trump. AI 'Fred Trump,' Donald Trump's father, isn't impressed with his son's politics. But AI Fred Trump "said" that he's "very proud" of his son, describing him as a "successful businessperson" and an "amazing father." An AI chatbot acting as Fred Trump, Donald Trump's father. AI Stalin called for the two countries to "find a peaceful solution."

☆ AI bot that lets you chat with Jesus, Hitler is latest GPT-3 controversy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( David Ingram | David Ingram Covers Tech For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +9 min

But this week, it sparked viral controversy online over its inclusion of Hitler, his Nazi lieutenants and other dictators from the past. Historical Figures, which also uses GPT-3, launched the first week of January, and as of Wednesday, it had about 9,000 signups, app creator Sidhant Chadda said in a phone interview. “People expect these historical figures to be truthful, but in reality, people are not always 100% honest,” he said. Asking a question costs one coin, and the app charges extra to get access to high-profile historical figures. The possibility of digitally re-animating historical figures has been gaining ground ever since, from the “The Simpsons” to holograms of dead idols such as Buddy Holly and Whitney Houston.

Jewish and anti-hate organizations are urging social media influencers and tech platforms to stop hosting interviews with Ye, the rapper and artist formerly known as Kanye West, as he’s continued to make antisemitic statements and criticize Jewish people in his recent public appearances. Ross, a popular Twitch streamer with 7 million followers, is Jewish and said that he was going to “stand up for the Jews” in the interview. On Dec. 5, political streamer Hasan Piker said in a Twitch stream that he may participate in the interview. Rez said that even if Ross planned to challenge Ye, she would be concerned that the interview would stoke antisemitic violence. Ross has been silent on the topic of the Ye interview since the call with Fuentes was published.

At an election office in Flagstaff, Arizona, voters will encounter bulletproof glass and need to press a buzzer to enter. Election officials around the country said they were coordinating more closely with local law enforcement to respond quickly to disturbances. The Justice Department says it has investigated more than 1,000 messages to election workers since the 2020 election, including more than 100 that could warrant prosecution. PROTECTIVE MEASURESMany election officials blame disinformation, such as Trump's baseless claims about election fraud in the 2020 election, for the surge in threats. In Michigan, Republican candidates for governor, attorney general and other positions have questioned the outcome of the 2020 election.

Search resuls for: "Center for Tech"

18 mentions found