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☆ AI has racist tendencies. Scientists and founders are trying to fix it.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-20 | by ( Monica Melton | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

The police had used a facial-recognition AI program that identified her as the suspect based on an old mugshot. AdvertisementThe Detroit Police Department said that it restricts the use of the facial-recognition AI program to violent crimes and that matches it makes are just investigation leads. AdvertisementThe study also found that in a hypothetical murder trial, the AI models were more likely to propose the death penalty for an AAE speaker. A novel proposalOne reason for these failings is that the people and companies building AI aren't representative of the world that AI models are supposed to encapsulate. Bardlavens leads a team that aims to ensure equity is considered and baked into Adobe AI tools.

Persons: —, Woodruff, who's, Ivan Land, Joy Buolamwini, Timnit Gebru, Valentin Hofmann, OpenAI's, AAE, Geoffrey Hinton, Christopher Lafayette, Udezue, OpenAI, Google's, John Pasmore, Latimer, Buolamwini, Timothy Bardlavens, Microsoft Bing, Microsoft Bardlavens, Bardlavens, Esther Dyson, Dyson, Arturo Villanueva, I'd, Villanueva, Alza, We're, Andrew Mahon, Alza's Organizations: Service, Detroit, Business, Court of Michigan, Detroit Police Department, Microsoft, IBM, Allen Institute, AI, Dartmouth College, Center for Education Statistics, Big Tech, Udezue, Meta, Google, Tech, Companies, Adobe Locations: That's, American, Africa, Southeast Asia, North America, Europe, Spanish

☆ Judge holds veteran journalist Catherine Herridge in contempt for refusing to reveal her sources
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A federal judge on Thursday held veteran journalist Catherine Herridge in contempt of court, fining her $800 a day for refusing to divulge her sources for a series of stories published in 2017 while she was a correspondent at Fox News. Citing documents reviewed by Fox News, Herridge reported that Chen was the subject of an investigation by the FBI. In an effort to prove her case, Chen subpoenaed Herridge and Fox News, with the hope of unmasking the reporting’s sources. Fox News and Herridge aggressively fought the move, arguing that Cooper should quash the subpoenas because of First Amendment protections afforded to the press. The legislation would offer important safeguards to journalists, including preventing the government from compelling reporters to disclose their sources.

Persons: Catherine Herridge, Christopher Cooper, Yanping Chen, Herridge, Chen, Cooper, Herridge’s, ” Cooper, ”, “, ” Herridge, ” Caitlin Vogus Organizations: CNN, Fox News, CBS News, US, Court, District of Columbia, Federal Bureau of, FBI, ” Fox News, FOX, Media, Press Foundation, Exploitive

☆ AI researcher Joy Buolamwini cautions that if AI systems fail people of color, they fail humanity
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Monica Melton | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +17 min

We’re growing some teeth as to what can be done with AI, but we also see where there’s progress, there’s attack. One of the things I like to point out with AI systems is that if your AI systems fail on people of color, you don’t have a robust system. If your AI doesn’t work on the global majority, if your AI doesn’t work for women, if your AI doesn’t work for people with disabilities, once you start expanding all of the areas we’re talking about, it comes to your AI doesn’t work for humanity. To me, that’s a proactive approach of saying, how do we build consumer AI technology in a way that’s more ethical? I was talking to Sam Altman about the climate impact of AI, especially these large language models and generative AI systems.

Persons: Joe Biden, Joy Buolamwini, Buolamwini, It’s, ”, we’ve, it’s, I’ve, there’s, We’ve, you’re, aren’t, Simone Biles, Biden, Sam Altman, Olay, we’re, There’s, We’re, that’s Organizations: Service, League, Business, Federal Trade Commission, Procter, Gamble, Big Tech Locations: Davos

☆ Joy Buolamwini's 'Unmasking AI' unearths the bias in AI technologies and aims to hold Big Tech to account
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Monica Melton | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Business Insider reviewed "Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines." Readers come away understanding AI, how it can perpetuate bias, and what we can do about it. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Buolamwini especially documents the coded gaze applied to facial recognition AI technologies, which serve as the subject for much of Buolamwini's research. There, 90% of tenants were people of color, mostly women and older adults — all groups that facial recognition has been scientifically proven to be less accurate on.

Persons: Joy Buolamwini, —, Buolamwini, flexes, Joe Biden, it's, Buolamwini's, Simone Biles, Let's Organizations: Service, MIT, Business, Georgia Tech, Economic, National Institute of Standards, Technology Locations: Mississippi, Ghanaian, Brooklyn, Davos

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration wants to make residential real estate transactions more transparent by unmasking the owners of certain all-cash purchases. It's part of an ongoing effort to combat money laundering and the movement of dirty money through the American financial system. The Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network proposed a regulation on Wednesday that would require real estate professionals to report information to the agency about non-financed sales of residential real estate to legal entities, trusts and shell companies. All-cash purchases of residential real estate are considered at high risk for money laundering. One study on the impact of money laundering on home values in Canada, conducted by a group of Canadian academics, found that money laundering investment in real estate pushed up housing prices in the range of 3.7% to 7.5%.

Persons: —, Biden, ”, Andrea Gacki, Ian Gary, Janet Yellen Organizations: WASHINGTON, Treasury, Network, House, FACT Coalition, Small Business Association Locations: Canada, U.S

☆ A former Fox News correspondent is refusing to reveal a source. Her fate is now in a judge’s hands
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Citing documents reviewed by Fox News, Herridge reported that Chen was the subject of a federal probe. In an effort to prove her case, Chen subpoenaed Herridge and Fox News, with the hope of unmasking the source(s) for the stories. Fox News and Herridge aggressively fought the move, arguing that Cooper should quash the subpoenas because of First Amendment protections afforded to the press. Journalists should not be forced to disclose confidential sources,” a Fox News spokesperson said in a statement to me. “It will make other reporters who can’t afford a legal fight let alone harsh sanctions think twice about promising sources confidentiality.

Persons: Catherine Herridge, Cooper, Yanping Chen, Herridge, Chen, Herridge’s, “, ”, ” Herridge, Chen’s, —, Catherine Herridge’s, Floyd Abrams, ” Abrams, Abrams, ” Caitlin Vogus, Vogus Organizations: CNN, CBS News, Fox News, U.S, District of Columbia, Federal Bureau of, “ Fox News, CBS, Pentagon, Department, Justice, Press Foundation

Nov 2 (Reuters) - Air pollution, a global scourge that kills millions of people a year, is shielding us from the full force of the sun. "It's this Catch-22," said Patricia Quinn, an atmospheric chemist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), speaking about cleaning up sulphur pollution globally. "If you implement technologies to reduce air pollution, this will accelerate – very significantly – global warming in the short term." The Chinese and Indian environment ministries didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the effects of pollution unmasking. As the implications of the pollution unmasking become more apparent, experts are casting around for methods to counter the associated warming.

Persons: poring, Patricia Quinn, Paulo Artaxo, Xi Jinping, Xi, El, Yangyang Xu, Xu, unmasking, Laura Wilcox, COVID, Sergey Osipov, Michael Diamond, Jake Spring, David Stanway, Sakshi Dayal, Katy Daigle Organizations: U.S . National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, Reuters, World Health Organization, U.S . Clean, National People's, China Meteorological Administration, El Nino, M University, Britain's University of Reading, India Meteorological Department, India, Clean, Programme, King Abdullah University of Science, Technology, Florida State University, Thomson Locations: India, China, Beijing, 10.34C, Texas, Chongqing, Wuhan, SO2, heatwaves, Xinjiang, INDIA, Europe, Northern China, U.S, Saudi Arabia, Sao Paulo, Singapore, New Delhi

☆ I looked at the plans for the new city proposed by Silicon Valley elites. They're really terrible.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +17 min

Right now, California Forever is just a website with some ideology and a handful of hopeful sketches with a faintly socialist-utopian flair. AdvertisementAdvertisementCities of the future of the pastThe California Forever art illustrations show at a place that'll look startlingly familiar. Point is, the garden city remains a dream honored more in the breach — in pitches like the one for California Forever. Just about 60 miles southeast of the California Forever site is a residential development called Mountain House. It's what plans like California Forever look like when brick starts getting laid.

Persons: Daniel Burnham, Burnham, Marc Andreessen, Chris Dixon, Michael Moritz, Laurene Powell Jobs, Collison, Flannery, Peter Thiel, Goldman, Jan Sramek, Sramek, Ebenezer Howard, Howard, What's, Foreverville, That's, it's, Banks, John Nash's London, what's, It's, Walt Disney, Gabriel Metcalf, BH Bronson Johnson, Dan Parolek, Adam Rogers Organizations: Travis Air Force Base, New York Times, Flannery Associates, Industry, Truman, California, Western Railway, California Forever, St, BH Locations: Chicago, California, Solano County, Sacramento, Solano, Silicon, Los Angeles, England, Japan, New York, Philadelphia, Seaside , Florida, Pontevedra, Spain, Paris, Tempe, doesn't, Foreverville, Pirates, Caribbean, Toronto, Culdesac

☆ Unmasking Lucha Libre Fashion in ‘Cassandro’
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Frank Rojas | More About Frank Rojas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The actor has to be very comfortable and be able to do all the tricks and all the lucha. But then again, with Cassandro in mind, it had to be a whole statement with fashion. I had to do a lot of research because I wanted to sort of grab what Cassandro used to wear and make it really cinematic, so it was a little bit stylized. And that’s the way Cassandro is born. And Cassandro is not from Mexico City — he’s from the border of Juárez and El Paso.

Persons: El Hijo del, it’s Organizations: El, Mexico City — Locations: El Hijo del Santo, Mexican, Mexico City, Mexico, Juárez, El Paso

☆ Ukraine says it busted an all-female spy ring who fed crucial military intelligence to Russia and the Wagner Group
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ukraine says it's uncovered an all-female spy ring that passed military information to Russia. Ukraine's intelligence service said they were feeding Russia info on troop and vehicle movements. The group, based in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, passed information on to both the FSB — Russia's main spy agency — and the pro-Russian mercenary Wagner Group, according to the announcement. The purported plan was foiled due to the SBU gaining advanced knowledge and putting on extra security measures, the agency said. It is unclear if the woman arrested was part of this alleged spy ring.

Persons: it's, —, Wagner, unmasking, Volodymyr Zelenskyy Organizations: Service, Counterintelligence, Ukraine's Security Service, Wagner Group Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Wall, Silicon, Ukraine's Donetsk, Ukrainian, Pokrovsk, Donetsk, Russian, Mykolaiv

☆ After watching Ukraine track down and kill Russian military commanders, the US and its allies are training to avoid the same fate
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( Christopher Woody | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Ukrainian attacks on Russian commanders have undermined Russian command-and-control capabilities. They have forced Russia's military and others around the world reconsider how they set up command posts. An Australian army HX77 truck moves command-post components into place during Talisman Sabre on July 21. An Australian army engineer digs a headquarters battle hide during Talisman Sabre on July 20. Ukrainian attacks on command posts across the country have led to stunning attrition among senior Russian military leaders," the authors added.

Persons: unmasking, Benjamin McLennan, Sabre, Cpl, Nicole Dorrett, Col, Ivan Pavlenko, Greg McKenzie, McLennan, we've, Doug Organizations: Service, Russian, BBC, Combat Training, US Army, Milford Beagle, US Army Combined Arms, Royal United Services Institute, CPs, 28th Infantry Division, US Army National Guard, Staff, 1st Combat Signals Locations: Russian, Wall, Silicon, Moscow, Australia, Ukraine, Australian, Nicole Dorrett Ukraine, Kherson, Russians, Gen, British, Pennsylvania

☆ Journalist Catherine Herridge reported a scientist was under FBI investigation. Now a judge is ordering her to reveal her source
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The order came as a result of a lawsuit filed by Chinese American scientist Yanping Chen against the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Citing documents reviewed by Fox News, Herridge reported that Chen was the subject of a federal counterintelligence probe. Representatives for Herridge, Fox News, and CBS News did not comment when I sent them inquiries. “The bipartisan PRESS Act, which is currently pending in Congress, would ban compelled disclosure of journalists’ sources and protect reporters from other surveillance. Putting a reporter’s shield into federal law is essential to protect journalists, sources, and the public’s right to know.”

Persons: Judge Christopher Cooper, Catherine Herridge, Yanping Chen, Herridge, Chen, Cooper, ” Cooper, Herridge’s, Barack Obama, Patrick Philbin, Donald Trump, ” Gabe Rottman, ” Ted Boutrous, ” Boutrous, ” Caitlin Vogus, ”, can’t, ” Vogus Organizations: CNN, Court, District of Columbia, CBS News, Fox News, Federal Bureau of, White, Herridge, “, Freedom, Press, Exploitive, Press Foundation, Act Locations: America

☆ They took blockbuster drugs for weight loss and diabetes. Now their stomachs are paralyzed
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Brenda Goodman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +19 min

Emily Wright, 38, a teacher in Toronto, started taking Ozempic in 2018. The diabetes drug Ozempic, and its sister drug for weight loss, Wegovy, utilize the same medication, semaglutide. Gastroparesis can have many causes, including diabetes, which is a reason many people are on these drugs in the first place. In more than half of cases of gastroparesis, doctors are unable to find a cause. Until more is known, George said, people need to be open with all their doctors about taking any drugs.

Persons: Joanie Knight, “, I’d, ”, Knight, ” Brenda Allen, I’m, ” Allen, Emily Wright, she’s, Wright, “ I’ve, ” Wright, Ozempic, Emily Wright Allen doesn’t, they’ve, Gastroparesis, Michael Camilleri, Camilleri, liraglutide, ” Camilleri, ’ Joanie Knight, it’s, —, I’ve, let’s, ’ ” Wright, gastroparesis, ” Knight, we’re, there’s, gastroparesis weren’t, “ Gastroparesis, Linda Nguyen, Nguyen, Renuka George, George, ” George, Dr, Michael Champeau, ” Champeau, Sanjay Gupta Organizations: CNN, US Food and Drug Administration, American Society of Anesthesiologists, Novo Nordisk, Mayo Clinic, National Institutes of Health, Diabetes, ”, FDA, Stanford University, American Gastroenterological Association, Medical University of South, CNN Health, Stanford Locations: Angie , Louisiana, Dallas, Toronto, Medical University of South Carolina, Louisiana

☆ The BBC Aired Saturation Coverage of Anchor’s Behavior. Was It Too Much?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Mark Landler | More About Mark Landler | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

There were urgent NATO meetings about the war in Ukraine, raging floods from India to Vermont, and a record heat wave across America. But this week the BBC wound up airing wall-to-wall coverage of a different story: itself. The confirmation that Huw Edwards, a prominent BBC anchor, was the unnamed person at the heart of allegations of sexual misconduct ended days of breathless speculation that consumed Britain’s public broadcaster. Yet it left a lingering sense of unease about the role of the British news media — and its even more intrusive cousin, social media — in the unmasking of a public figure. The allegations were salacious, to be sure — catnip for the British press — and the BBC was trying to show journalistic integrity by not shying away from embarrassing news about a member of its own staff.

Persons: Huw Edwards, Edwards Organizations: BBC Locations: Ukraine, India, Vermont, America

☆ After Walking Offstage, a Concert Pianist Changes Her Tune
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-04 | by ( Corinna Da Fonseca-Wollheim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

AUGUST BLUE, by Deborah LevyIn the work of Deborah Levy, certain elements recur in ever new arrangements: swimming, seafood, bees and silence; brokenness and recovery; the patriarchy. In Levy’s latest novel, “August Blue,” it is musical recomposition that becomes the overt, and sometimes overly self-conscious, metaphor for female revolt and reinvention. For a little over two minutes, she went off script, playing music that came to her unbidden, before walking offstage. At a flea market in Athens, this other woman snapped up two mechanical dancing horses that the pianist also wanted. While she chases what may be hallucinatory glimpses of the doppelgänger across Europe, she takes to wearing the trilby hat the mystery woman dropped at the market.

Persons: Deborah Levy, Booker, “, Levy’s, unemployable Locations: British, Vienna, Athens, London, Paris, Sardinia, Greece, Europe

☆ Japan Is Unmasking, and Its Smile Coach Is Busy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Hisako Ueno | Mike Ives | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

About six years ago, Keiko Kawano, a radio host, found that when she stopped doing voice-articulation exercises, her smile began to fade. At a certain point, she struggled to lift the corners of her mouth. So Ms. Kawano, then 43, decided to learn how facial muscles work. After using the knowledge to reanimate her smile, she started helping others do the same under the motto, “More smile, more happiness.”And as many people in Japan unmask after three years and find their facial expressions a bit rusty, she is adapting her work to the post-Covid era. “People have not been raising their cheeks under a mask or trying to smile much,” Ms. Kawano said last week, a few days after Japan downgraded Covid-19 to the same status as common illnesses.

☆ Hackers post email addresses linked to 200 million Twitter accounts, security researchers say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Email addresses linked to more than 200 million Twitter profiles are currently circulating on underground hacker forums, security experts say. The apparent data leak could expose the real-life identities of anonymous Twitter users and make it easier for criminals to hijack Twitter accounts, the experts warned, or even victims’ accounts on other websites. The trove of leaked records also includes Twitter users’ names, account handles, follower numbers and the dates the accounts were created, according to forum listings reviewed by security researchers and shared with CNN. Troy Hunt, a security researcher, said Thursday that his analysis of the data “found 211,524,284 unique email addresses” that had been leaked. The account data could also be valuable to hackers who can use the information as part of password-reset attempts and account takeovers.

This year brought a fascinating and eclectic number of books by Latino authors to store shelves and online selections, spanning different genres and earning high praise from readers and reviewers alike. Below is our list of 10 very distinctive works by U.S. Latino authors. The compelling novel has been recognized as one of the top 10 books of 2022 by The New York Times and The Washington Post and as one of the best books of 2022 by Time, NPR, Vogue, Oprah Daily and others. Although Villanueva's life took a different turn, many of his followers and their children, known as "Inca Jews," are still in Israel. She writes about how an abortion saved her life and candidly details her experiences dealing with suicidal thoughts and depression.

☆ New York and L.A. meet CDC criteria for masking in public. How much will masks help this winter?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Aria-Bendix-Byline-Jm.Jpg | Aria Bendix | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

The Philadelphia school district announced Wednesday that students and staff will be required to wear masks indoors for two weeks in January in an effort to slow transmission after the holidays. The New York City Department of Education issued a letter this week strongly encouraging students and staff to wear a well-fitting mask indoors. After three years of Covid, however, experts recognized that few people are inclined to wear masks as often as they had previously while in public spaces. But Luby said he still wears a mask in public, even when others around him do not. “I find myself in that situation a lot — I’m the only person in the room wearing a mask," he said.

UNMASKINGGlobal oil and energy consumption have been falling since the third quarter under the impact of exceptionally high prices and a slowing economy. But the impact was initially masked by concerns about the planned introduction of the price cap on Russia's crude and refined products exports. Traders anticipated the price cap and Russia's response would cut production by more than the economic slowdown cut consumption. LESSONS FROM 2014The recent slump in oil prices shares some, though not all, characteristics with the slump occurring in the third quarter of 2014 ("A brief history of the oil crash", Reuters, January 2015). It is also probable recent hedge fund liquidation has exaggerated the recent fall in oil prices creating some headroom for a short-term rebound; positions are now unusually low.

Some may want to see the explosive, racist diatribes of a handful of prominent Los Angeles City Council members as an unfortunate incident that will eventually fade away. But the reality is that such prejudice from Latino to Latino and Latino to other racial groups is not so uncommon. That was on stark display in the conversation among former Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez, council members Kevin De León and Gil Cedillo and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera, who resigned Monday. "If you’re going to talk about Latino districts, what kind of districts are you trying to create?” she asks her colleagues in frustration. Zapotecs, or Indigenous people of Oaxacan descent, number about 200,000 in Los Angeles County, one of the largest Oaxacan communities outside Mexico.

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