Greetings all, and happy Friday, and happy long weekend if, like me, you are in the UK. Is August quite a sleepy month everywhere? Apart from the adrenaline infusion you get when you realise that it’s 22 August… 2024! Where has summer, the year, and life, gone?
I’ll kick things of this week with Surveillance Watch. This is a pretty cool map (its interactive!) that maps out the links between different surveillance companies, suppliers, etc.
In the autonomous systems space, EurAsian Times reports on Ukraine’s use of British ‘robodogs’ for reconnaissance purposes. Definitely worth a read i think, there is quite a bit of detail there, including that they can use thermal imaging tech to map the layout of buildings and trench systems. Mad.
In the (albeit not usually extensive) tech for good section, the Smithsonian have a pretty interesting article on how AI could be used to match footprints to the individual animal that made them. At the moment they can identify 17 different types of animal, but not who’s who. Also Mad. The Guardian also has a piece on how AI is helping firefighters (you guessed it!) fight fires.
The Conversation has an interesting piece explaining the use of real time crime centers, focused on the US, but pretty relevant to the UK too, especially post race riots.
And last, but by no means least, we have the ‘very naughty use of AI’ section. The Guardian report that a Wyoming reporter was caught using AI to create fake quotes and stories. Very naughty!
I hope you’re all keeping well, and that you have a lovely week. I’ll leave you with ‘Jaguar’. I like it.
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Financial Times, The case for appointing AI as your next COO
The Washington Post, Opinion The world-changing ‘killer app’ for AI could be nuclear fusion
WBUR, Will “surveillance pricing” help or harm consumers? | On Point
The EurAsian Times, Ukraine unleashes British robot dogs on Russian soldiers
Smithsonian, Artificial Intelligence Could Soon Match Footprints to the Animals That Made Them
ASPI, Artificial intelligence at war | The Strategist
Business & Human Rights, China: Baidu’s robotaxi rollout in Wuhan raises concerns about AI impact on job security
Algorithm Watch, Researching Systemic Risks under the Digital Services Act
WIRED, Stadiums Are Embracing Face Recognition. Privacy Advocates Say They Should Stick to Sports (stick to sports!)
The Conversation, Australia’s privacy regulator just dropped its case against ‘troubling’ facial recognition company Clearview AI. Now what?
The Conversation, Real-time crime centers are transforming policing – a criminologist explains how these advanced surveillance systems work
The New York Times, The Global Race to Control A.I.
WIRED, ChatGPT Advanced Voice Mode First Impressions: Fun, and Just a Bit Creepy
The Guardian, Wyoming reporter caught using AI to create fake quotes and stories
WIRED, Nascar Pit Crews Are Using AI for the Perfect Pit Stop (in the good for them, couldn’t care less, section)
WIRED, This Code Breaker Is Using AI to Decode the Heart’s Secret Rhythms
The Guardian, How AI is revolutionising how firefighters tackle blazes and saving lives
The New York Times, San Francisco Moves to Lead Fight Against Deepfake Nudes
The Guardian, Iranian group used ChatGPT to try to influence US election, OpenAI says
The Guardian, AI may help experts identify toddlers at risk of autism, researchers say (researchers may also have issues with the phrasing of that headline)
The Conversation, Neurotechnology is becoming widespread in workplaces – and our brain data needs to be protected
The Register, Slack AI can be tricked into leaking data from private channels via prompt injection
MIT Technology Review, The US wants to use facial recognition to identify migrant children as they age
Towards Data Science, How to Use Explainable AI Tools
MIT Technology Review, What’s next for drones
MIT Technology Review, How to break free of Spotify’s algorithm (only included so i could make a ‘I want to break free’ joke. sorry)
Blog Posts
Inside Tech Law, Artificial intelligence: English Court of Appeal decides artificial neural network is not patentable
Inside Tech Law, Germany: AI cannot be named as inventor – insights from the Bundesgerichtshof’s DABUS decisionJust Security, The Double Black Box: AI Inside the National Security Ecosystem