17 Articles about AI & Legal Issues

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Will Human-generated Content Maintain its Value?

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Multiple times daily, I find myself silently asking, Did you really write this or did AI? Just like handwritten notes have decreased over time, human-generated content will also decrease over time, but it will maintain its value—because we hunger to be heard and cared for by another human. However, unlike handwritten notes, it will be harder to distinguish between AI-generated content and human-generated content. - Tara Chklovski writing in Fast Company

AI Definitions: Hallucinations

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*Hallucinations – When an AI provides responses that are inaccurate or not based on facts. Generative AI models are designed to generate data that is realistic or distributionally equivalent to the training data and yet different from the actual data used for training. This is why they are better at brainstorming than reflecting the real world and why they should not be treated as sources of truth or factual knowledge. Generative AI models can answer some questions correctly, but this is not what they are designed and trained to do. However, hallucinating AIs can be very useful to researchers by giving scientists innovative insights, which speeds up the scientific process.

More AI definitions here

The price of avoiding uncertainty

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In order to manage the avalanche of information that our senses are absorbing at all times, our brains work to find patterns, simplify information, and look for clarity. That allows us to be able to make decisions and act. But sometimes in the rush to make order of the world, our brains jump to unwarranted conclusions — taking in the myriad of information around us and deducing something that just isn't quite right.

A high need for closure isn't necessarily a bad thing. You may just be the type of person who likes to make plans and avoid surprises. However, the need for closure can lead to two major pitfalls in decision making.

The first is what psychologists call the "urgency effect," which is basically the tendency to jump to conclusions. The second is the "permanence effect" — a stubborn tendency to stick with your beliefs and not change your mind, even in the face of contradictory evidence. Both of these effects result from your brain trying to avoid feelings of uncertainty.

If you have a high need for closure, research suggests you should be careful making decisions, especially in times of fatigue or stress.

Ana Swanson writing in the Washington Post

Jesus’ Doings

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It happened in those days that a proclamation went out from President Augustus that every citizen must register. This was the first registration while Quirinus was Secretary of War. So everybody went to register, each going to his own hometown. Joseph too went up from south Georgia from the city of Valdosta, to his home in north Georgia, a place named Gainesville, to register with his bride Mary, who by now was heavily pregnant.

While the were there, her time came, and she gave birth to her first boy. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in an apple box. (There was no room for them at the hospital.)

Now there were some farmers in that section who were up late at night tending their baby chicks. And a messenger from the Lord appeared to them, and evidence of the Lord was shining all about them. It nearly scared the life out of them. And the messenger said to them, “Don’t be afraid; for listen, I’m bringing you good news of a great joy in which all people will share. Today your deliverer was born in the city of David’s family. He is the Leader. He is the Lord, And here’s a clue for you: you will find the baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in an apple box.” 

And all of a sudden there was with the messenger a crowd of angels singing God’s praises and saying. “Glory in the highest to God, And on Earth, peace to mankind, The object of his favor.” 

When the messengers went away from them into the sky, the farmers said to one another, “Let’s go to Gainesville and see how all this the Lord has showed us has turned out.”

So they went just as fast as they could, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in an apple box. Seeing this, they related the story of what had been told them about this little fellow. The people were simply amazed as they listened to what the farmers told them. And Mary clung to all these words, turning them over and over in her memories. The farmers went back home, giving God the credit and singing his praises for all they had seen and heard, exactly as it had been described to them.

Clarence Jordan, Cotton Patch Gospel

He Came … to Give

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For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. -Mark 10:45

When Jesus took the time to explain his reason for coming among us, he was simple and direct: to serve and to give. Not to be served. Not to grab the spotlight in the center ring. Not to make a name or attract attention or become successful or famous or powerful or idolized. 

Charles Swindoll, Improving Your Serve

AI Definitions: Model Collapse

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AI Model Collapse - The idea that AI can eat itself by running out of fresh data, so that it begins to train on it’s on product or the product of another AI. This would magnify errors and bias and make rare data more likely to be lost, leading to an erosion of diversity—not only ethnic diversity but linguistic diversity as the AI model’s vocabulary shrinks and its grammatical structure becomes less varied. In effect, the model becomes poisoned with its own projection of reality. A.I.-generated data is often a poor substitute for the real thing. Example

More AI definitions here

Jesus Chose the Gritty

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The Scriptures are filled with the ruggedness and struggles of actual life. But in our teaching of the gospel we have sweetened or repressed the universal human qualities of our Lord’s stories almost beyond recognition. Jesus evidently talked about the things like people’s sexual escapades and crooked business deals to illustrate his message about the reign of God. And he furnished additional wine for at least one celebration. Read the parables. With the whole of human behavior from which to select, Jesus chose the gritty, earthy areas of life to illustrate the way God loves people. He was real! He expressed his own uncertainly and doubt in the midst of his faith. And he got very angry. Jesus talked about the same deep separation, dishonest and inner restlessness we experience in modern life. I had always heard the church saying the God prefers the poor, the despised, and the weak… Religious people have difficulty admitting that (Jesus) prefers sinners to the righteous. Those who call themselves righteous are not free from it but have repressed it. Those called sinners are aware of their guilt and are, for that reason, ready to receive pardon and grace.

Keith Miller, The Becomers

Love and Boundaries

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Falling in love is not an extension of one's limits or boundaries; it is a partial and temporary collapse of them. Once the precious moment of falling in love has passed and the boundaries have snapped back in place, the individual is disillusioned. Real love (the will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth) is a permanently self enlarging experience. Falling in love is not.

M Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled

The journey is the destination

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One of life’s great paradoxes: Happiness requires purpose; purpose requires a sense of direction; a sense of direction requires goal-setting—but happiness cannot be had by realizing those goals. People believe that achieving big objectives will give them a lot of happiness and then are bitterly disappointed to find that doing so is a letdown. After a big achievement, many people experience depression. True satisfaction comes from progress in the struggle toward the goal. 

Arthur C. Brooks writing in The Atlantic

21 Articles about Politics & AI

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Biden ratchets up AI chip war with China - Axios

AI enters Congress: Sexually explicit deepfakes target women lawmakers – 19th News  

The case for a Hippocratic Oath for artificial intelligence – Global Government Forum

U.S. Prepares New AI Chip Restrictions to Close China’s Backdoor Access – Wall Street Journal 

Trump names Musk ally David Sacks "AI & crypto czar" to coordinate policy – Axios  

AI without limits threatens public trust — here are some guidelines for preserving communications integrity – The Conversation

How US AI policy might change under Trump – MIT Tech Review  

What the departing White House chief tech advisor has to say on AI – MIT Tech Review

How do you tame AI? Scientist sees a need for regulating bots like drugs or airplanes - Geekwire

A plan to democratize access to powerful AI tools gets a last-ditch push in Congress – Semafor

Western Europe lags behind the United States in Al and IT spending  - McKinsey

Canada launches Canadian Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute – Canada  

AI didn’t sway the election, but it’s eroding voters’ grip on reality - The Washington Post

Biden Administration Outlines Government ‘Guardrails’ for A.I. Tools – New York Times

Studies Show AI Triggers Delirium in Leading Experts – Information Technology & Innovation Foundation

Biden’s Farewell to China’s Tech Sector: A New Type of Forbidden Chip - Wall Street Journal

What the US can learn from the role of AI in other elections – MIT Tech Review

Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoes AI safety bill opposed by Silicon Valley – LA Times

Who Will Win the 2024 US Election? We Asked ChatGPT - Newsweek 

White House orders Pentagon and intel agencies to increase use of AI – Washington Post

Cognitive Scientist Gary Marcus Says AI Must Be Regulated. He Has a Plan. - Wall Street Journal

As I’ve become older

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My first book was about a lot of pain and a lot of knee-jerk, reactionary responses to being mistreated and abused [emotionally and physically]. When I look back on it now, I see it wasn’t about craft. It was my release. 

As I’ve become older, I’m learning more about what grace really means, and what it means to be able to bring a slice of joy to somebody. At the end of the day, I’d like to think, “What did I do today that was beneficial for somebody?” I know I can’t change the world, save the world, but I believe if all of us scratch hard enough in the same little spots where we occupy time, where we live, play and die, that we can effect change.

Jaki Shelton Green speaking to the Washington Post

AI Definitions: Prompt Injection

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Prompt Injection - Like prompt engineering (where a user is good at writing AI prompts), but, in this case, with the goal of working around AI to produce harmful content. Hackers use carefully crafted prompts or text-based instructions to manipulate generative AI systems into sharing sensitive information or perform unintended actions by making the model ignore previous instructions. 

More AI definitions here

Loyalty to the Company above all else

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Many companies have an unspoken command floating through the halls: "Bow to the organization above the rest!" There is a constant re-evaluation as to whether someone is playing their loyal role for the tribe. Talk of employees taking time for family and self-care is just that—talk. In practice, the expectation is that everyone will constantly genuflect toward the hierarchical (and often paternalistic) structure.

Someone who drinks to excess, yells at coworkers, holds racist views, drives away competent employees, has materialistic goals, and so forth will be tolerated, even rewarded, as long as their allegiance is true, helped by bringing in dollars or playing some other role that helps to perpetuate the organization.

On the other hand, someone with none of those vices might be cast aside if they are deemed not adequately sacrificing themselves on the altar of the organizational machinery.

In the children's book "Hope for the Flowers," Trina Paulus tells the story of caterpillars who form a tower with their bodies. They climb over each other in an attempt to reach the top. What reward waits for them? Nothing. Nothing at all. The struggle to rise only serves to stop them from cocooning and becoming the butterflies they were meant to me.

Stephen Goforth

16 Articles about AI & Academic Scholarship

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