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☆ Facebook and Instagram will require political advertisers to disclose AI deepfakes
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Washington CNN —Meta, parent company of Instagram and Facebook, will require political advertisers around the world to disclose any use of artificial intelligence in their ads, starting next year, the company said Wednesday, as part of a broader move to limit so-called “deepfakes” and other digitally altered misleading content. The rule is set to take effect next year, the company added, ahead of the 2024 US election and other future elections worldwide. The announcement comes a day after Meta said it would restrict political advertisers from using the company’s own AI advertising tools that can generate backgrounds, suggest marketing text or supply music to accompany videos. The platform has long received blowback for allowing politicians to lie in their campaign ads, and for exempting politicians’ speech from third-party fact-checking. But the decisions to force Meta’s political advertisers to disclose their use of AI, and to restrict Meta’s own AI tools from being used in political ads, suggests there may be limits to how far Zuckerberg is willing to let politicians roam with new technology.

Persons: Meta, ”, Brad Smith, Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, ” Meta, “ Organizations: Washington CNN, Facebook, Microsoft, Meta

☆ Microsoft Criticized for Embedding ‘Crass’ A.I. Poll Beside News Article
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Jenny Gross | More About Jenny Gross | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

An auto-generated poll that Microsoft embedded on its news aggregating platform alongside a Guardian article was “crass” and caused The Guardian significant reputation damage, the newspaper said on Thursday. The poll, which was posted last week next to an article about a woman who was found dead in a school bathroom in Australia, asked readers to speculate on the cause of the woman’s death. It gave three choices: murder, accident or suicide. The Guardian said the poll was created using generative artificial intelligence, which can generate text, images and other media from prompts. Ms. Bateson said that The Guardian had already asked Microsoft not to apply its experimental technologies to Guardian news articles because of the risks it posed.

Persons: Anna Bateson, ”, ” Ms, Bateson, Brad Smith, Ms Organizations: Microsoft, Guardian, Guardian Media Group Locations: Australia

☆ How Microsoft’s AI is making a mess of the news
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Donie O'Sullivan | Allison Gordon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

But the apparent role of AI in Microsoft’s recent amplification of bogus stories raises questions about the company’s public adoption of the nascent technology and for the journalism industry as a whole. The poll prompted criticism from Microsoft’s readers, “This has to be the most pathetic, disgusting poll I’ve ever seen,” one person wrote. “We had a really tight knit, super talented editorial team and we had all worked together for a long time,” Pfeuffer told CNN. “I don’t think people realize how many people use [MSN],” she told CNN. “It felt like I was standing in line at the grocery store reading a National Enquirer front page,” Kawar told CNN.

Persons: Joe Biden, Britain’s, Lilie James, James ’, Anna Bateson, “, ” Bateson, Brad Smith, Bateson, ”, Brandon Hunter, “ Brandon Hunter, Dean Preston, Elon Musk, Pfeuffer, ” Pfeuffer, Biden, Joe Biden ”, Ferris, ” Kawar, he’s Organizations: CNN, Democratic Party, NBA, Microsoft, Guardian, MSN, Guardian Media Group, San Francisco, Microsoft Edge, Enquirer, Microsoft Microsoft, Google Locations: OpenAI, Sydney, Australia, Santa Monica , California

☆ Elon Musk is coming to the UK's big AI safety party. Some people actually building AI say they got frozen out.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Tom Carter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The UK's AI summit is underway. Some AI experts and startups say they've been frozen out in favor of bigger tech companies. They warn that the "closed door" event risks ensuring that AI is dominated by select companies. The UK's AI summit aims to bring together AI experts, tech bosses, and world leaders to discuss the risks of AI and find ways to regulate the new technology. "It is far from certain whether the AI summit will have any lasting impact," Ekaterina Almasque, a general partner at European venture capital firm OpenOcean, which invests in AI, told Insider.

Persons: Elon Musk, Sam Altman, —, OpenAI's Sam Altman, Brad Smith, Kamala Harris, Iris Ai, Victor Botev, Yann LeCun, Rishi Sunak, Ekaterina Almasque, Almasque, Goldman Sachs Organizations: Service, OpenAI's, Microsoft, Twitter, UK, Big Tech, UK government's Department for Science, Innovation, Technology, UK's Trades Union Congress, American Federation of Labor, Industrial Organizations, Summit Locations: OpenOcean

☆ Microsoft under fire over AI-generated poll about death of 21-year-old woman on its news platform
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Polly Thompson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Guardian accused Microsoft of causing "significant reputational damage" with an AI-generated poll. A poll speculating how a woman died appeared next to a Guardian news story on Microsoft Start. AdvertisementAdvertisementA newspaper publisher accused Microsoft of damaging its reputation after an AI-generated poll appeared next to one of its articles on an aggregation platform. An AI-generated poll asking readers to vote on whether they thought the woman had died by murder, suicide or accident appeared next to the article on Microsoft Start. She also called for the software company to stop using experimental AI alongside Guardian news stories.

Persons: —, Lilie James, Anna Bateson, Bateson, Brad Smith, Smith Organizations: Guardian, Microsoft, Service, Guardian Media Group Locations: Sydney, Australia

☆ Elon Musk is in the UK for a pivotal summit on AI — here's who's going
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Here's who's goingMajor names in the technology and political world will be there. They range from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose private jet landed in the U.K. late Tuesday, to U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. What the summit seeks to addressThe main objective of the U.K. AI summit is to find some level of international coordination when it comes to agreeing some principles on the ethical and responsible development of AI models. The summit is squarely focused on so-called "frontier AI" models — in other words, the advanced large language models, or LLMs, like those developed by companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. Loss of control risks refer to a situation in which the AI that humans create could be turned against them.

Persons: Elon Musk, Mandel Ngan, Rishi Sunak's, ChatGPT, Here's who's, Kamala Harris, Musk, Elon, Brad Smith, Demis, Yann LeCun, Global Affairs Nick Clegg, Adam Selipsky, Sam Altman, Dario, Jensen Huang, Rene Haas, Dario Gil Darktrace, Poppy Gustaffson Databricks, Ali Ghodsi, Marc Benioff, Cheun Kyung, Alex Karp, Emmanuel Macron, Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau, Olaf Scholz, Sunak, Will Organizations: Senate, Intelligence, U.S, Capitol, Washington , D.C, Afp, Getty, Bletchley, Microsoft, Tesla, CNBC, Global Affairs, Web, Rene Haas IBM, Marc Benioff Samsung, Technology, South, Sony, Joe Biden Canadian Locations: U.S, Washington ,, China, U.K, South Korean, Chesnot

☆ The UK is gearing up for a pivotal summit on AI. Here's what you need to know
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

Where it's being heldThe AI summit will be held in Bletchley Park, the historic landmark around 55 miles north of London. What it seeks to addressThe main objective of the U.K. AI summit is to find some level of international coordination when it comes to agreeing some principles on the ethical and responsible development of AI models. The British government wants the AI Summit to serve as a platform to shape the technology's future. They say that, by keeping the summit restricted to only frontier AI models, it is a missed opportunity to encourage contributions from members of the tech community beyond frontier AI. "By focusing only on companies that are currently building frontier models and are leading that development right now, we're also saying no one else can come and build the next generation of frontier models."

Persons: Rishi Sunak, Peter Nicholls, Rishi Sunak's, ChatGPT, Getty, codebreakers, Alan Turing, It's, Kamala Harris, Saul Loeb, Brad Smith, Sam Altman, Global Affairs Nick Clegg, Ursula von der, Emmanuel Macron, Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau, Olaf Scholz, Sunak, —, Xi Jinping, Biden, James Manyika, Manyika, Mostaque, we're, Sachin Dev Duggal, Carl Court Organizations: Royal Society, Carlton, Getty, U.S, Microsoft, Coppin State University, AFP, Meta, Global Affairs, Global Affairs Nick Clegg U.S, Ministry of Science, Technology European, Joe Biden Canadian, Britain, Afp, Getty Images Washington, U.S ., Google, CNBC, Big Tech Locations: London, China, Bletchley Park, British, America, Baltimore , Maryland, Chesnot, U.S, Nusa Dua, Indonesian, Bali, EU

☆ Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai defends Google's search deals in antitrust trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The lack of competition in general search tools, the government argues, deprives consumers of improved quality and choice. In that version, Microsoft planned to build search into its toolbar so that users did not need to download separate extensions to search from that part of the browser. The search engine for that module would be determined by whatever users picked in the previous version of IE. Pichai testified that to his knowledge, "not a single user" used the IE setting in the earlier version of the browser to change the search engine from Microsoft's. Google had "proposed instead that users be prompted to select the default search provider the first time they use the inline search feature," Drummond wrote in the 2005 letter.

Persons: Sundar Pichai, Pichai, Google's, David Drummond, Microsoft's, Brad Smith, Drummond, Meagan Bellshaw, Bellshaw Organizations: Apple, of Justice, Google, Microsoft

☆ Microsoft to spend $3.2b in Australia as AI regulation looms
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( Byron Kaye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SYDNEY, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Microsoft (MSFT.O) said it will spend A$5 billion ($3.2 billion) expanding its artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing abilities in Australia over two years as part of a wide-ranging effort that includes skills training and cyber security. The U.S. tech giant said it would raise its computing capacity in Australia by 250%, enabling the world's No. "This is a major investment in the skills and workers of the future," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement issued by Microsoft. A view shows a Microsoft logo at Microsoft offices in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France, January 25, 2023. It said it would expand its data centre footprint in Australia from 20 sites to 29.

Persons: OpenAI, Anthony Albanese, Gonzalo Fuentes, Brad Smith, Steven Worrall, Byron Kaye, Gerry Doyle Organizations: SYDNEY, Microsoft, Australian Signals Directorate, REUTERS, Australia, Thomson Locations: Australia, U.S, Issy, Paris, France

The deal was the biggest test of the CMA's global power to take on the tech giants since Britain left the European Union. "The new deal will stop Microsoft from locking up competition in cloud gaming as this market takes off, preserving competitive prices and services for UK cloud gaming customers," it said in a statement. Microsoft logo is seen on a smartphone placed on displayed Activision Blizzard's games characters in this illustration taken January 18, 2022. Activision Blizzard said: "The CMA's official approval is great news for our future with Microsoft, and we look forward to becoming part of the Xbox Team." The European Commission said the new commitments given by Microsoft to the CMA did not interfere with its EU commitments.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Jeremy Hunt, Sarah Cardell, Ben Barringer, Brad Smith, Activision Blizzard, Paul Sandle, Yadarisa Shabong, Aditya Soni, Foo Yun Chee, Varun H, Kate Holton, Sonali Paul, Jane Merriman, Sherry Jacob, Phillips Organizations: CMA, Microsoft, LONDON, Activision Blizzard, Sony, Activision, Competition, Markets Authority, Ubisoft Entertainment, Britain, European Union, PlayStation, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, FTC, REUTERS, British, Finance, Xbox, European Commission, Thomson Locations: Britain, Cheviot, London, Bengaluru, Foo

Microsoft logo is seen on a smartphone placed on displayed Activision Blizzard's games characters in this illustration taken January 18, 2022. The deal was blocked in April by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) which said it could give the U.S. computing giant a stranglehold over the nascent cloud gaming market. The deal was the biggest test of the CMA's global power to take on the tech giants since Britain left the European Union. "The new deal will stop Microsoft from locking up competition in cloud gaming as this market takes off, preserving competitive prices and services for UK cloud gaming customers," it said in a statement. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission opposed the deal but after failing to stop it, the CMA was left standing alone.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Jeremy Hunt, Sarah Cardell, Ben Barringer, Brad Smith, Activision Blizzard, Paul Sandle, Yadarisa, Foo Yun Chee, Varun H, Kate Holton, Sonali Paul, Jane Merriman Organizations: Microsoft, Activision, REUTERS, CMA, LONDON, Activision Blizzard, Competition, Markets Authority, Ubisoft Entertainment, Britain, European Union, PlayStation, Sony, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, FTC, British, Finance, Xbox, European Commission, Thomson Locations: Britain, Cheviot, London, Bengaluru, Foo

☆ Microsoft-Activision: Ubisoft deal helps win Britain's nod
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 13 (Reuters) - Britain's antitrust regulator on Friday cleared Microsoft's (MSFT.O) acquisition of "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard (ATVI.O) after the restructured deal substantially addressed its earlier concerns. In August, Activision agreed to sell its non-European streaming rights to Ubisoft Entertainment (UBIP.PA) to get the biggest deal yet in video-gaming past Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). "We have now crossed the final regulatory hurdle to close this acquisition, which we believe will benefit players and the gaming industry worldwide," Microsoft President Brad Smith said. The company had in July extended the deadline to close the deal by Oct. 18. Here is a snapshot of key events in the Microsoft-Activision saga:Reporting by Tiyashi Datta, Jaspreet Singh and Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva, Shinjini Ganguli and Varun H KOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Brad Smith, Tiyashi Datta, Jaspreet Singh, Yadarisa, Anil D'Silva, Shinjini Organizations: Activision, Ubisoft Entertainment, Markets Authority, Microsoft, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Microsoft-Activision Blizzard takeover approved as UK removes final hurdle
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-13 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Hong Kong CNN —UK antitrust officials have approved Microsoft’s planned takeover of Activision Blizzard, the maker of “Call of Duty” and other hit games, greenlighting one of the biggest tech deals of all time. The Competition and Markets Authority announced Friday that the merger had been cleared after the companies agreed to give up certain cloud gaming rights, removing the final regulatory hurdle to the deal closing. Microsoft (MSFT) unveiled the deal in early 2022, but it was blocked in April by the UK competition regulator. “The new deal will stop Microsoft from locking up competition in cloud gaming,” the agency said Friday. Alongside “Call of Duty,” it also produces “World of Warcraft” and “Overwatch.”Microsoft, which sells the Xbox gaming console, offers a popular video game subscription service called Xbox Game Pass, as well as a cloud-based video game streaming service.

Persons: “, Tencent, Brad Smith, “ we’re, ” Organizations: Hong Kong CNN —, Activision Blizzard, Markets Authority, CMA, Microsoft, Activision, European Union, Ubisoft Entertainment, Sony, Twitter Locations: Hong Kong

Plus, it will be “productive for the gaming industry as a whole and healthy for competition in the gaming market,” he said. In the meantime, the U.K. regulator was the last major obstacle to the transaction going through. British regulators had initially blocked the transaction over concerns Microsoft could withhold Activision titles from the cloud gaming market. One factor was the EU’s approval, granted after Microsoft promised to automatically license Activision titles royalty-free to cloud gaming platforms. But the CMA's flip-flopping makes the U.K. regulator look “weak and indecisive,” he said.

Persons: Activision Blizzard, Candy, Overwatch —, Brad Smith, Bobby Kotick, Joshua Chapman, ”, Sarah Cardell, Max von Thun, ” von Thun, Matt O’Brien Organizations: —, Activision, Markets, Microsoft, Xbox, Union, Sony, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Ubisoft Entertainment, U.K, PlayStation, European Commission, Open Markets, CMA, AP Locations: Konvoy, U.K, Europe, Providence , Rhode Island

☆ Britain says may clear restructured Microsoft-Activision deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Microsoft logo is seen on a smartphone placed on displayed Activision Blizzard's games characters in this illustration taken January 18, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Sept 22 - Microsoft's (MSFT.O) restructured acquisition of Activision Blizzard (ATVI.O) "opens the door" to the deal being cleared, Britain's antitrust regulator said on Friday. The Ubisoft divestment "substantially addresses previous concerns," the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said in a statement. "While the CMA has identified limited residual concerns with the new deal, Microsoft has put forward remedies which the CMA has provisionally concluded should address these issues," the regulator said. The CMA said there were "residual concerns" that certain provisions in the Ubisoft deal could be circumvented, terminated or not enforced.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Brad Smith, Yadarisa, Paul Sandle, Varun, Jason Neely Organizations: Microsoft, Activision, REUTERS, Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft Entertainment, Ubisoft, Markets Authority, CMA, Thomson Locations: U.S, Bengaluru, London

Microsoft logo is seen on a smartphone placed on displayed Activision Blizzard's games characters in this illustration taken January 18, 2022. "While the CMA has identified limited residual concerns with the new deal, Microsoft has put forward remedies which the CMA has provisionally concluded should address these issues," the regulator said. The European Union waved the deal through in May after accepting Microsoft's commitments to license Activision's games to other platforms, the same remedies that Britain had rejected. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission also opposes the deal, but it has failed in its attempts to stop it. The CMA said there were "residual concerns" around the Ubisoft deal, but Microsoft has offered remedies to ensure the terms of the sale were enforceable by the regulator.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Brad Smith, Sarah Cardell, Sophie Lund, Yates, Hargreaves Lansdown, Yadarisa, Paul Sandle, Varun H, Jason Neely, Sharon Singleton Organizations: Microsoft, Activision, REUTERS, Ubisoft UK's CMA, CMA, Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft Entertainment, Competition, Markets Authority, Ubisoft, Union, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, Thomson Locations: U.S, Britain, Bengaluru, London

☆ UK regulator says it may clear Microsoft's new Activision Blizzard takeover offer
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Ruxandra Iordache | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft submitted a new proposal to U.K. regulators for the takeover of American game publisher Activision Blizzard after its initial proposal was rejected. LONDON — The U.K.'s competition regulator on Friday said Microsoft 's restructured takeover proposal of Activision Blizzard , submitted in August, "opens the door to the deal being cleared." The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority had blocked the Redmond tech giant's initial $69 billion transaction, first put forward in January 2022, on concerns that it would restrict competition in the nascent cloud gaming sector. Critically, cloud gaming could eliminate the need for costly specialized consoles, allowing players to access the games on PCs, mobile phones and TVs. EU officials were first to clear the deal in May, after Microsoft offered concessions to the tune of royalty-free licenses to cloud gaming platforms to stream Activision games that a buyer has purchased.

Persons: —, Brad Smith, We're, Bobby Kotick Organizations: Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, LONDON, Competition, Markets Authority, Redmond, Activision PC, Activision, Ubisoft Entertainment, CMA, Ubisoft, Netflix, European Union, U.S . Federal Trade Commission Locations: San Francisco

☆ Microsoft's $68.7 billion Activision acquisition clears key hurdle after UK regulator provisionally approves deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The CMA provisionally greenlit Microsoft's acquisition of the "Call of Duty" developer. It comes after a lengthy period in which the deal was threatened because of competition concerns. Get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in business, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley — delivered daily. The CMA will conduct a consultation until October 6, before the acquisition agreement expires on October 18. Activision said in a statement issued to Insider, "The CMA's preliminary approval is great news for our future with Microsoft."

Persons: Activision Blizzard, Sarah Cardell, Brad Smith, We're Organizations: Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, CMA, Service, Activision, Markets, Ubisoft, Cloud Gaming Locations: Wall, Silicon

LONDON (AP) — British competition regulators gave preliminary approval Friday to Microsoft’s restructured $69 billion deal to buy video game maker Activision Blizzard, easing a final global hurdle that paves the way for one of the largest tech transactions in history to go through. The updated offer “opens the door to the deal being cleared,” the watchdog said, though there are lingering concerns. “The CMA’s position has been consistent throughout — this merger could only go ahead if competition, innovation and choice in cloud gaming was preserved," CEO Sarah Cardell said. Crucially, it got a thumbs-up from the 27-nation European Union after agreeing to allow users and cloud gaming platforms to stream its titles without paying royalties for 10 years. The CMA then put its original decision on hold and opened a new investigation into the revamped proposal.

Persons: Sarah Cardell, “, Brad Smith, ”, Bobby Kotick Organizations: Microsoft’s, Activision, The, Markets Authority, Microsoft, Union, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, CMA, Ubisoft Entertainment Locations: British, U.S, Britain

☆ UK minister rejects Microsoft criticism of decision to block Activision deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Microsoft logo is seen on a smartphone placed on displayed Activision Blizzard's games characters in this illustration taken January 18, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Sept 19 (Reuters) - British business minister Kemi Badenoch said on Tuesday she did not agree with Microsoft (MSFT.O) President Brad Smith that the Competition and Market Authority's initial decision to block its purchase of videogame maker Activision was bad for Britain. "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard (ATVI.O) has since said it will sell its streaming rights in a fresh attempt to win approval from Britain's anti-trust regulator, the CMA, for its $69 billion sale to Microsoft. "If the CMA is doing something wrong, I think that will become evident through a pattern which is not yet the case." Reporting by Alistair Smout and Muvija M; Editing by Sachin RavikumarOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Kemi Badenoch, Brad Smith, Badenoch, Alistair Smout, Sachin Ravikumar Organizations: Microsoft, Activision, REUTERS, Britain, CMA, Thomson Locations: United States

☆ Musk, Zuckerberg, Gates to join US senators for AI forum
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft President Brad Smith, Nvidia's chief scientist William Dally, and Professor Woodrow Hartzog wait to testify before a Senate Judiciary Privacy, Technology, and the Law Subcommittee hearing on "Oversight of A.I. : Legislating on Artificial Intelligence" on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 12, 2023. Other expected attendees include feature OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Nvidia (NVDA.O) CEO Jensen Huang, Microsoft (MSFT.O) CEO Satya Nadella, IBM (IBM.N) CEO Arvind Krishna, former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and Senators Mike Rounds, Martin Heinrich, and Todd Young. Microsoft President Brad Smith told a Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Tuesday Congress should "require safety brakes for AI that controls or manages critical infrastructure." Smith compared AI safeguards to requiring circuit breakers in buildings, school buses having emergency brakes and airplanes having collision avoidance systems.

Persons: Brad Smith, William Dally, Woodrow Hartzog, Leah Millis, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, Chuck Schumer, ChatGPT, Sam Altman, Jensen Huang, Satya Nadella, Arvind Krishna, Bill Gates, Liz Shuler, Mike Rounds, Martin Heinrich, Todd Young, Schumer, Smith, Joe Biden's, David Shepardson, Lincoln Organizations: Privacy, Technology, REUTERS, Capitol Hill, Nvidia, Microsoft, IBM, AFL, Regulators, Google, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S, WASHINGTON, Senate's

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The cost of building an artificial intelligence product like ChatGPT can be hard to measure. To keep it cool on hot days, data centers need to pump in water — often to a cooling tower outside its warehouse-sized buildings. The estimate includes indirect water usage that the companies don’t measure — such as to cool power plants that supply the data centers with electricity. It was also thirsty in Iowa, drawing more potable water to its Council Bluffs data centers than anywhere else. Its fourth and fifth data centers are due to open there later this year.

Persons: “, OpenAI, ”, Shaolei Ren, ChatGPT, ” Ren, you’re, Ren, Steve Gaer, Gaer, Brad Smith, ” Smith, —, O'Brien Organizations: DES, Microsoft, Google, University of California, Las, Associated Press, workloads, supercomputing, West, West Des Moines Water Works Locations: DES MOINES, Iowa, Des Moines, Riverside, Oregon, Las Vegas, San Francisco, West Des Moines , Iowa, California, West Des Moines, Arizona, West Des, Providence , Rhode Island

☆ Congress to hold new AI hearings as it works to craft safeguards
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Congress next week will hold three hearings on artificial intelligence, including one with Microsoft (MSFT.O) President Brad Smith and Nvidia (NVDA.O) chief scientist William Daly as Congress works on legislation to mitigate the dangers of the emerging technology. A Senate Judiciary subcommittee is holding a hearing on Tuesday titled “Oversight of AI: Legislating on Artificial Intelligence." A House Oversight subcommittee will hold a hearing on Thursday that will look at potential risks in federal agency adoption of AI along with the adequacy of safeguards to protect individual privacy and ensure fair treatment. Witnesses include White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Arati Prabhaker along with the Pentagon's chief digital and artificial intelligence officer Craig Martell and Homeland Security Department's Chief Information Officer Eric Hysen. "However, it is critical that before we let the genie out of the bottle we understand the unique risks of inappropriate use of AI by the federal government."

Persons: Brad Smith, William Daly, Richard Blumenthal, Blumenthal, Josh Hawley, Chuck Schumer, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Arati Prabhaker, Craig Martell, Eric Hysen, Nancy Mace, Victoria Espinel, Rob Strayer, David Shepardson, Bill Berkrot Organizations: Microsoft, Nvidia, Artificial Intelligence, Republican, U.S, Meta, White, Office of Science, Technology, Homeland Security, BSA, The Software Alliance, Information Technology Industry, Thomson

☆ 2 Senators Propose Bipartisan Framework for A.I. Laws
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Cecilia Kang | More About Cecilia Kang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, and Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, plan to announce a sweeping framework to regulate artificial intelligence, in the latest effort by Congress to catch up with the technology. The lawmakers plan to highlight their proposals in an A.I. hearing on Tuesday, which will feature Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, and William Dally, the chief scientist for the A.I. Mr. Blumenthal and Mr. Hawley plan to introduce bills from the framework. On Wednesday, top tech executives including Elon Musk, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and OpenAI’s Sam Altman will meet with the Senate leader, Chuck Schumer, and other lawmakers in a separate closed-door meeting on A.I.

Persons: Richard Blumenthal, Josh Hawley, Brad Smith, William Dally, Blumenthal, Hawley, Elon Musk, Satya Nadella, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Chuck Schumer Organizations: Nvidia, Mr, Elon Locations: Connecticut, Republican, Missouri

☆ CNBC Daily Open: Despite Monday’s bounce, stocks are still wobbly
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Yeo Boon Ping | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during opening bell in New York City on August 21, 2023. This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Artificial intelligence, human controlArtificial intelligence must be "subject to human control," Microsoft's president and vice-chairman Brad Smith told CNBC in an exclusive interview. Monetizing Google Maps dataGoogle is planning to license solar and environment data to companies, CNBC has learned.

Persons: Hong, Goldman offloads, Goldman Sachs, Goldman, David Solomon, Brad Smith, Smith Organizations: New York Stock Exchange, CNBC, Nikkei, Creative Planning, United Capital Financial Partners, Google, Tesla Energy, Aurora, Nvidia, Sanlam Investments Locations: New York City, Asia, Pacific

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