Greetings tech enthusiasts!
Happy Friday, and I hope ye are keeping well.
I am very, oh so incredibly, tired. And so this week’s newsletter shall be brief. Mercifully so you might cheekily say. Unfortunately not a lot of stories this week, a quiet week in AI i guess. Or, perhaps, the world has been distracted by other things?
If anything must feature in an abbreviated newsletter, however, its the naughty facial recognition corner. The Washington Post (and others, in fairness) are reporting that Hungary is set to ban Pride, and to use facial recognition to identify attendees. [Insert descriptor of choice]. Not nice, and also in direct conflict with the guidance set out in the UN Model Protocol for Law Enforcement Officials to Promote and Protect Human Rights in the Context of Peaceful Protests. (Quite the title isn’t it). And Iran is using facial recognition to enforce women’s dress codes. [Insert descriptor of choice] And the FT has a piece on the expansion of facial recognition use across London (for low level crime). As my good friend, the Professor Pete Fussey, said ‘From both a human rights and public safety perspective, a properly evidenced standard of effectiveness should be established’ and I would add, should be accompanied by a properly evidenced assessment of potential harm, so that the competing interests at play can be evaluated.
I’ll leave ye this week with ‘CODE’ by The Comet Is Coming. Because, well, title.
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Computer Weekly, Apple IPT appeal against backdoor encryption order is test case for bigger targets
The Hill, AI industry sends wishlist to Trump: 4 takeaways
The Hill, EU orders Apple to open operating systems to competitors
Electronic Frontier Foundation, Tracking and Documenting Surveillance at the U.S.-Mexico Border
The New York Times, Apple’s Siri-ous Problem + How Starlink Took Over the World + Is A.I. Making Us Dumb? (shout out to the headline writer)
Financial Times, Rise of the AI apps
The Guardian, Release of technology secretary’s use of ChatGPT will have Whitehall sweating
The Register, OpenAI wants all the data and for US law to apply everywhere • The Register
WIRED, An AI Coding Assistant Refused to Write Code – and Suggested the User Learn to Do it Himself (the AI fight back begins)
The Washington Post, As AI nurses reshape hospital care, human nurses are pushing back
Financial Times, London expands CCTV network in ‘tech race against crime’
Financial Times, Why China is suddenly flooding the market with powerful AI models
Iran International, Iran unveils national AI platform prototype
myNews, Open-source AI models may be safer for military use, experts say