From The Guardian: Staff at technology company Meta discussed buying publishing house Simon & Schuster last year in order to procure books to train the company’s artificial intelligence tools, it has been reported. According to recordings of internal meetings shared with the New York Times, managers, lawyers and engineers at Meta met on a near-daily basis between March … Read more
From Chuck Wendig: I have seen the sentiment around that generative AI for writers and artists is “inevitable,” which is a message that I think falls right in line with the myth of the starving artist — meaning, they’re two bits of pervasive folklore put forth by the Powers That Be, because it rewards and … Read more
From The Economist: Generative artificial intelligence (ai) is rewriting the disinformation playbook. There is no better place to study this than Taiwan, which, the Swedish Varieties of Democracy Project finds, is subject to more disinformation from abroad than any other democracy. China has greatly increased the scope and sophistication of its influence operations on the … Read more
From TechCrunch: Robots made their stage debut the day after New Year’s 1921. More than half-a-century before the world caught its first glimpse of George Lucas’ droids, a small army of silvery humanoids took to the stages of the First Czechoslovak Republic. They were, for all intents and purposes, humanoids: two arms, two legs, a … Read more
From Fox News: Dr. AI will see you now. It might not be that far from the truth, as more and more physicians are turning to artificial intelligence to ease their busy workloads. Studies have shown that up to 10% of doctors are now using ChatGPT, a large language model (LLM) made by OpenAI — … Read more
From National Public Radio “It’s been six years, and you’ve done nothing,” Joaquin Oliver’s voice echoed across the U.S. Capitol grounds Wednesday. “Not a thing to stop all the shootings that have continued to happen since.” On Feb. 14, 2018, Oliver started another day as a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, … Read more
From The Guardian: Palestine, artificial intelligence and romantasy were high on the agenda at this week’s London book fair. More than 30,000 agents, authors, translators, publishers and other book industry professionals flocked to Olympia London to secure deals and discuss publishing trends, challenges and rising genres. Here is our round-up of the main takeaways, and … Read more
From The Wall Street Journal: It is a cinematic scene familiar to millions: A man named Morpheus sits across from another man named Neo and informs him that his entire notion of reality is a lie. If Neo wishes to know the truth of human existence, Morpheus says, all he has to do is choose … Read more
From ZD Net: Several text-to-music generators are now on the market, including offerings from Meta and Google. However, the Suno AI music generator is becoming increasingly popular — likely because it creates original lyrics and vocals, and because it leverages the power of ChatGPT. So, what is Suno and how does it work? Suno is … Read more
From The Economist: Frank Herbert, the author of the science-fiction novel “Dune” on which a new blockbuster film is based, would have been amused to learn that ecologists along the Oregon shore are ripping invasive European beachgrass out of the ground. As a young journalist in the late 1950s, Herbert derived his inspiration for a … Read more
From LawNext: Just a few weeks ago, I wrote about two more cases of AI-hallucinated citations in court filings leading to sanctions, and now comes the case of a Florida lawyer suspended from practice after filing cases that were “completely fabricated.” On March 8, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida suspended … Read more
From CNet: One of my biggest takeaways from MWC was that while all tech companies now have a raft of AI tools at their disposal, most are choosing to deploy them in different ways. Take smartphones. Samsung has developed Gauss, its own large language model (the tech that underlies AI chatbots), to focus on translation … Read more
From Science News: Apart from the northward advance of killer bees in the 1980s, nothing has struck as much fear into the hearts of headline writers as the ascent of artificial intelligence. Ever since the computer Deep Blue defeated world chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997, humans have faced the prospect that their supremacy over … Read more
From The Washington Post: Something creepy this way comes — and its name is digital narration. Having invaded practically every other sphere of our lives, artificial intelligence (AI) has come for literary listeners. You can now listen to audiobooks voiced by computer-generated versions of professional narrators’ voices. You’re right to feel repulsed. “Mary,” for instance, … Read more
From The Wall Street Journal: A new crop of nefarious chatbots with names like “BadGPT” and “FraudGPT” are springing up on the darkest corners of the web, as cybercriminals look to tap the same artificial intelligence behind OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Just as some office workers use ChatGPT to write better emails, hackers are using manipulated versions … Read more
From Intuit Mailchimp: What are AI writing tools? AI writing software includes various tools that can create content for you. AI writing tools make content based on user input. You can use these tools to create articles, product descriptions, landing pages, blog posts, and more. However, AI software is not meant to take over the … Read more
From Windows Central: Your next smartphone or PC with a Qualcomm chip may be able to run AI locally, no cloud required. AI is the biggest buzz word in tech these days, and you shouldn’t expect it to go away any time soon. In fact, the latest announcement from Qualcomm shows tech that will bring … Read more
From Yahoo News: A University of North Georgia (UNG) student is on academic probation after she says she used Grammarly to proofread a paper. The school says the action was taken because they detected the use of artificial intelligence in violation of their plagiarism clause in the student code of conduct handbook. “It’s just been … Read more
From Fox Business: Google will pause the image generation feature of its artificial intelligence (AI) tool, Gemini, after the model refused to create images of White people, Reuters reported. The Alphabet-owned company apologized Wednesday after users on social media flagged that Gemini’s image generator was creating inaccurate historical images that sometimes replaced White people with … Read more
From Market Insider: All eyes are on Nvidia as it is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter earnings results on Wednesday after the market close. Nvidia has spearheaded the excitement seen in artificial intelligence technologies, and investors will look to the company’s results to see if the hype can continue. Wall Street analysts are laser focused … Read more
From The Wall Street Journal The web is in crisis, and artificial intelligence is to blame. For decades, seeking knowledge online has meant googling it and clicking on the links the search engine offered up. Search has so dominated our information-seeking behaviors that few of us ever think to question it anymore. But AI is … Read more
From Art News: Artists have secured a small but meaningful win in their lawsuit against generative artificial intelligence art generators in what’s considered the leading case over the uncompensated and unauthorized use of billions of images downloaded from the internet to train AI systems. A federal judge refused to acknowledge that the companies can avail … Read more
From The Wall Street Journal: Decades after automation began taking and transforming manufacturing jobs, artificial intelligence is coming for the higher-ups in the corporate office. The list of white-collar layoffs is growing almost daily and includes jobs cuts at Google, Duolingo and UPS in recent weeks. While the total number of jobs directly lost to … Read more
From Esquire: Some art forms welcome, even require, collaboration. After all, it is the exceptionally rare film or television show that gets made by a single person. Music, too, often literally demands the assistance of others. Even in these cases, though, there is a tendency to flatten the many into if not the one, then … Read more
From Publishing Perspectives: Czech book industry representatives say they hope that after a challenging 2022, the introduction of a zero-percent value-added tax rate (VAT) on books could provide much-needed support to the country’s publishers and booksellers. During 2022, the country’s book sales dropped to about 8.4 billion koruna (US$359.5 million), down around 3 percent year-over-year. … Read more
From The Economist: “I’m a little intoxicated, not gonna lie. So what if it’s not even 10pm and it’s a Tuesday night?…Let the hacking begin.” So typed a 19-year-old Mark Zuckerberg, liveblogging from his Harvard dormitory as he began work on a website called Facemash. The site displayed randomly selected pairs of students’ mugshots, harvested … Read more
From Medium: The creation of content is a noteworthy use of AI in book writing. Advanced algorithms for natural language processing enable AI systems to generate text that is both logical and appropriate for the given context. AI is being investigated by publishers and authors more frequently to help with book drafting, editing, and even … Read more
From CNBC: Amazon on Thursday announced a new artificial intelligence assistant for shopping called Rufus. The tool is designed to help users search and shop for products. Shoppers type or speak a question into the search bar in Amazon’s mobile app and a chat window will appear at the bottom of their screen. Users can … Read more
From The Economist: Facebook may be turning 20 on February 4th, but it is just as much of a magnet for controversy and cash today as when it was a brash, break-everything teenager. On January 31st Mark Zuckerberg, the social network’s founder, was harangued by American senators over the spread of harmful material. The next … Read more
From The Economist: In Greek mythology Prometheus, a Titan, stole fire from Mount Olympus to give to humans, whom he created. That did not go down well with Zeus, king of the gods. He sentenced Prometheus to the daily torture of having his regenerating liver eaten by an eagle. For mankind, Zeus devised a different … Read more
From Medium: Artificial intelligence (AI) is making significant strides in a variety of fields, including book writing. Artificial intelligence (AI) is showing promise as a useful tool in literature. It presents novel opportunities and raises interesting questions regarding the relationship between creativity and technology. The creation of content is a noteworthy use of AI in … Read more
From Business Law Today: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is disrupting almost every industry and profession, some faster and more profoundly than others. Unlike the industrial revolution that automated physical labor and replaced muscles with hydraulic pistons and diesel engines, the AI-powered revolution is automating mental tasks. While it may be merely optimizing some blue-collar jobs, AI … Read more
From The Economist: As pupils and students return to classrooms and lecture halls for the new year, it is striking to reflect on how little education has changed in recent decades. Laptops and interactive whiteboards hardly constitute disruption. Many parents bewildered by how their children shop or socialise would be unruffled by how they are … Read more
From Jim Wilbourne: Have you ever wondered: what’s the real DNA of contemporary Fantasy and Science Fiction? What do they share, and where do they diverge? And what about their future? Hey guys, it’s Jim Wilbourne, author of The Continua Chronicles, and today we’re discussing the beginnings and current state of The Contemporary Era of … Read more
From The Wall Street Journal: Popular science often feels like a kind of voyeurism. Those who can’t manage the real thing are given a thrilling glimpse of its intrigue and excitement but kept at a distance. So a book that tackles the mind-boggling triad of physics, consciousness and artificial intelligence might be expected to provide … Read more
From Forbes: For better or worse, artificial intelligence is poised to shake up the publishing industry. As a technologist who has authored over 50 books, I’ve been keen on its evolution in that space. From assisting in research to streamlining content creation and distribution, AI offers promising avenues for increased productivity and efficiency. However, it … Read more
From Fox Business: An upcoming news station will be broadcasting the first ever AI-generated news anchors to viewers across America next year. New Los Angeles-based station Channel 1, which will launch in 2024, aims to be the first nationally syndicated news station to use AI avatars instead of human anchors. DailyMail.com reported that the new … Read more
From Lifehacker: The question of whether AI will eventually take jobs away from us meatbags is nothing new. However, following ChatGPT’s launch late last year, the speed at which AI has caught on has surprised almost everybody, even those working in the space. And far from a question to consider in the far-off (or even near-term) … Read more
From The Wall Street Journal: European lawmakers reached a political deal on regulating artificial intelligence, marking a step toward establishing a comprehensive AI law in Western countries. The European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act would be the latest in a series of regulations the bloc has pushed forward that is expected to reverberate through the global … Read more
From Publishing Perspectives: A potentially pivotal moment occurs this week in the closely watched development of the European Union’s “AI Act.” Markets in many parts of the world, not just in Europe, are following along for clues and cues in terms of how artificial intelligence can be developed and applied “safely”—and even that term safely … Read more
From Electric Lit: Public fascination with con artists, scams, and heists has been on the rise, with stories of Anna Delvey, Rachel Dolezal, Caroline Calloway, and Elizabeth Holmes splashing across magazine covers in the last decade. Alongside it, my thirsty interest in literary scandals has grown, watered by “Bad Art Friend,” a mysterious manuscript thief, … Read more
From The Wall Street Journal: Over the past few years, the social movement known as effective altruism has divided employees and executives at artificial-intelligence companies across Silicon Valley, pitting believers against nonbelievers. The blowup at OpenAI showed its influence—and the triumphant return of chief executive Sam Altman revealed hard limits, capping a bruising year for … Read more
From The Hollywood Reporter: A federal judge has dismissed most of Sarah Silverman‘s lawsuit against Meta over the unauthorized use of authors’ copyrighted books to train its generative artificial intelligence model, marking the second ruling from a court siding with AI firms on novel intellectual property questions presented in the legal battle. U.S. District Judge … Read more
From Yahoo Finance – UK: A top exec at a British artificial intelligence (AI) startup has resigned because he is opposed to the company’s method of using copyrighted work to train its model without payment or permission from the owner. Stability AI head of audio, Ed Newton-Rex said in a lengthy post on X he is stepping … Read more
From JD Supra: The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) staked out its role in policing the potential competition and consumer protection implications of generative AI technologies’ use of copyrighted materials in comments submitted in the U.S. Copyright Office’s proceeding on AI and copyright. The proceeding seeks information on the use of copyrighted works to train … Read more
From Today Online: From low-quality computer-written books flooding the market to potential copyright violations, publishing is the latest industry to feel the threat from rapid developments in artificial intelligence (AI). Since the launch last year of ChatGPT, an easy-to-use AI chatbot that can deliver an essay upon request within seconds, there have been growing worries … Read more
PG Note: This was published in 2013. PG chose to post this because he suspects that Artificial Intelligence is going to raise some First Sale issues at some time in the future. From Brookings: On March 19, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, a landmark copyright case examining the … Read more
From School Library Journal: There’s a good argument that Shakespeare is the world’s most popular author. About 90 percent of American schools assign Shakespeare to students. His work has been translated into more than 100 languages. Declare “To be or not to be,” and most will answer, “That is the question.” The Bard’s work is … Read more
From Mondaq: As we previously blogged, multiple generative AI platforms are facing lawsuits alleging that the unauthorized use of copyright-protected material to train artificial intelligence constitutes copyright infringement. A key defense in those cases is fair use. Specifically, AI platforms contend that they don’t need a license to use copyright-protected content—whether scraped from the Internet or … Read more
From Bloomberg via Yahoo Finance: A fierce debate over how much to focus on the supposed existential risks of artificial intelligence defined the kickoff of the UK’s AI Safety Summit on Wednesday, highlighting broader tensions in the tech community as lawmakers propose regulations and safeguards. Tech leaders and academics attending the Summit at Bletchley Park, … Read more