NSF and philanthropic partners invest more than $18M to prioritize ethical and societal considerations in the creation of emerging technologies; U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), September 23, 2024

 U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF); NSF and philanthropic partners invest more than $18M to prioritize ethical and societal considerations in the creation of emerging technologies

"The U.S. National Science Foundation announced an inaugural investment of more than $18 million to 44 multidisciplinary, multi-sector teams across the U.S. through the NSF Responsible Design, Development and Deployment of Technologies (NSF ReDDDoT) program. NSF ReDDDoT invests in the creation of technologies that promote the public's well-being and mitigate potential harms by seeking to ensure that ethical, legal, community and societal considerations are embedded in the lifecycle of technology's creation and use. NSF launched this program in collaboration with leading philanthropic partners including the Ford Foundation, the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation and Siegel Family Endowment.

"NSF is committed to creating mutually beneficial research collaborations among diverse partners who contribute their expertise and resources to accelerating technology innovation that positively addresses pressing national, societal and geostrategic challenges," said Erwin Gianchandani, assistant director for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships. "Through a robust public-private partnership with philanthropies, NSF's investment in ReDDDoT aims to ensure that TIP advances the design, development and deployment of new technologies responsibly. This investment is consistent with the 'CHIPS and Science Act of 2022,' in which Congress called upon TIP to invest in exactly this approach when pursuing the key technology areas listed in that law."

NSF awarded 30 teams Phase 1 funding: 21 teams will receive planning grants of up to $300,000 each for up to two years to facilitate collaborative transdisciplinary and multi-sector activities to plan for submission of larger proposals, while an additional nine teams will receive Phase 1 funding of up to $75,000 each to plan and host workshops designed to raise awareness and identify relevant approaches and needs in the key technology areas identified in the "CHIPS and Science Act of 2022."

Additionally, NSF awarded Phase 2 funding to 14 teams that demonstrated maturity in artificial intelligence, biotechnology, or natural and anthropogenic disaster prevention or mitigation, key technology areas in the statute that TIP emphasized for ReDDDoT funding. Each Phase 2 team will receive up to $1.5 million over three years to expand upon their identified experience in use-inspired and translational activities in responsible design, development and deployment of innovative technology.

The ReDDDoT program invited proposals from teams that examined and demonstrated the principles, methodologies and impacts associated with ethical, legal, community and societal considerations of technology's creation and use, especially those specified in the "CHIPS and Science Act of 2022."NSF anticipates issuing a second ReDDDoT funding opportunity in the future that will build on this round of funding to ensure ethical, legal, community, and societal considerations are embedded in the lifecycle of technology’s creation.

NSF ReDDDot Awardees

Awardees are grouped by award type and then listed in alphabetical order by organization. The full award list can be found on NSF Award Search webpage."

Mark Zuckerberg Is Done With Politics; The New York Times, September 24, 2024

 Theodore Schleifer and Mike Isaac, The New York Times; Mark Zuckerberg Is Done With Politics

"Instead of publicly engaging with Washington, Mr. Zuckerberg is repairing relationships with politicians behind the scenes. After the “Zuckerbucks” criticism, Mr. Zuckerberg hired Brian Baker, a prominent Republican strategist, to improve his positioning with right-wing media and Republican officials. In the lead-up to November’s election, Mr. Baker has emphasized to Mr. Trump and his top aides that Mr. Zuckerberg has no plans to make similar donations, a person familiar with the discussions said.

Mr. Zuckerberg has yet to forge a relationship with Vice President Kamala Harris. But over the summer, Mr. Zuckerberg had his first conversations with Mr. Trump since he left office, according to people familiar with the conversations."

Mark Zuckerberg Isn’t Done With Politics. His Politics Have Just Changed.; Mother Jones, September 24, 2024

  Tim Murphy, Mother Jones; Mark Zuckerberg Isn’t Done With Politics. His Politics Have Just Changed.

"On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that one of the world’s richest men had recently experienced a major epiphany. After bankrolling a political organization that supported immigration reform, espousing his support for social justice, and donating hundreds of millions of dollars to support local election workers during the 2020 election, “Mark Zuckerberg is done with politics.”

The Facebook founder and part-time Hawaiian feudal lord, according to the piece, “believed that both parties loathed technology and that trying to continue engaging with political causes would only draw further scrutiny to their company,” and felt burned by the criticism he has faced in recent years, on everything from the proliferation of disinformation on Facebook to his investment in election administration (which conservatives dismissively referred to as “Zuckerbucks”). He is mad, in other words, that people are mad at him, and it has made him rethink his entire theory of how the world works.

It’s an interesting piece, which identifies a real switch in how Zuckerberg—who along with his wife, Priscilla Chan, has made a non-binding pledge to give away a majority of his wealth by the end of his lifetime—thinks about his influence and his own ideology. But there’s a fallacy underpinning that headline: Zuckerberg isn’t done with politics. His politics have simply changed."

Meta Fails to Block Zuckerberg Deposition in AI Copyright Suit; Bloomberg Law, September 25, 2024

 Aruni Soni, Bloomberg Law; Meta Fails to Block Zuckerberg Deposition in AI Copyright Suit

"A federal magistrate judge opened the door to a deposition of Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a copyright lawsuit over the tech company’s large language model, denying the social media giant’s bid for a protective order.

Magistrate Judge Thomas S. Hixson denied the request to block the deposition because the plaintiffs supplied enough evidence that Zuckerberg is the “chief decision maker and policy setter for Meta’s Generative AI branch and the development of the large language models at issue in this action,” he said in the order filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the Northern District."

OpenAI Training Data to Be Inspected in Authors’ Copyright Cases; Hollywood Reporter, September 24, 2024

 Winston Cho, Hollywood Reporter; OpenAI Training Data to Be Inspected in Authors’ Copyright Cases

"For the first time, OpenAI will provide access to its training data for review of whether copyrighted works were used to power its technology.

In a Tuesday filing, authors suing the Sam Altman-led firm and OpenAI indicated that they came to terms on protocols for inspection of the information. They’ll seek details related to the incorporation of their works in training datasets, which could be a battleground in the case that may help establish guardrails for the creation of automated chatbots...

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria at a hearing on Friday questioned whether the attorneys can adequately represent the writers.

“It’s very clear to me from the papers, from the docket and from talking to the magistrate judge that you have brought this case and you have not done your job to advance it,” Chhabria said, according to Politico. “You and your team have barely been litigating the case. That’s obvious… This is not your typical proposed class action. This is an important case. It’s an important societal issue. It’s important for your clients.”

New State Laws Are Fueling a Surge in Book Bans; The New York Times, September 23, 2024

 Elizabeth Harris , The New York Times; New State Laws Are Fueling a Surge in Book Bans

"Books have been challenged and removed from schools and libraries for decades, but around 2021, these instances began to skyrocket, fanned by a network of conservative groups and the spread on social media of lists of titles some considered objectionable...

PEN considers any book that has been removed from access to have been banned, even if the book is eventually put back...

The American Library Association also released a report on Monday based on preliminary data. The group gathers its own information, and relies on a different definition of what constitutes a book ban. For the library association, a book must be removed — not just temporarily, while it is reviewed — to count as being banned...

The library association and PEN America both emphasized that these numbers were almost certainly an undercount. Both groups rely on information from local news reports, but in many districts across the country, there is no education reporter keeping tabs."

PEN America: Books bans doubled in 2023-2024 school year, most from Florida, Iowa; Florida Times-Union, September 24, 2024

  C. A. Bridges, Florida Times-Union; PEN America: Books bans doubled in 2023-2024 school year, most from Florida, Iowa

"In the 2022-2023 school year, Florida led the nation in the surge of book challenges and bans, according to free expression advocacy group PEN America. This year, the number of bans has more than doubled.

Research by the nonprofit organization found more than 10,000 instances of book bans across the country, with 8,000 of them from Florida and Iowa, according to preliminary findings released Monday at the start of Banned Books Week. This was largely due to new state laws, PEN America's Kasey Meehan and Sabrina Baêta said.

Florida's HB 1069, which went into effect July 2023, required that any book challenged for "sexual conduct" must be removed during the review process and empowered parents and guardians to challenge books without providing ways for parents or guardians to defend them. That led to a "significant rise in book bans" during the 2023-2024 school year, PEN America said."

AI Art Copyright Stays Doubtful After Appeals Court Argument ; Bloomberg Law, September 19, 2024

 Kyle Jahner, Aruni Soni , Bloomberg Law; AI Art Copyright Stays Doubtful After Appeals Court Argument 

"The first federal appeals court battle over the boundaries of copyright law’s application to AI-generated works carries huge implications for creative industries given the rapid proliferation of the technology. The circumstances upon which copyright vests in work wholly or partly created by AI and who gets to control and enforce that right will hinge on interpretations of cases like Thaler’s."

American Library Association reveals preliminary data on 2024 book challenges; American Library Association (ALA), September 23, 2024

  American Library Association (ALA); American Library Association reveals preliminary data on 2024 book challenges

"New data shows a slowdown in challenge reports

The American Library Association has released preliminary data documenting attempts to censor books and materials in public, school, and academic libraries during the first eight months of 2024 in preparation for Banned Books Week (September 22-28, 2024).

Between January 1 and August 31, 2024, ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 414 attempts to censor library materials and services. In those cases, 1,128 unique titles were challenged. In the same reporting period last year, ALA tracked 695 attempts with 1,915 unique titles challenged. Though the number of reports to date has declined in 2024, the number of documented attempts to censor books continues to far exceed the numbers prior to 2020. Additionally, instances of soft censorship, where books are purchased but placed in restricted areas, not used in library displays, or otherwise hidden or kept off limits due to fear of challenges illustrate the impact of organized censorship campaigns on students’ and readers’ freedom to read. In some circumstances, books have been preemptively excluded from library collections, taken off the shelves before they are banned, or not purchased for library collections in the first place.

“As these preliminary numbers show, we must continue to stand up for libraries and challenge censorship wherever it occurs,” said American Library Association President Cindy Hohl. “We know library professionals throughout the country are committed to preserving our freedom to choose what we read and what our children read, even though many librarians face criticism and threats to their livelihood and safety. We urge everyone to join librarians in defending the freedom to read. We know people don’t like being told what they are allowed to read, and we’ve seen communities come together to fight back and protect their libraries and schools from the censors.”

The Office for Intellectual Freedom compiles data on book challenges from reports by library professionals in the field and from news stories published throughout the United States. Because many book challenges are not reported to the ALA or covered by the press, the 2024 data compiled by ALA represents only a snapshot of book censorship throughout the first eight months of the year. 

As ALA continues to document the harms of censorship, we celebrate those whose advocacy and support are helping to end censorship in our libraries."

Generative AI and Legal Ethics; JD Supra, September 20, 2024

 Craig Brodsky, Goodell, DeVries, Leech & Dann, LLP, JD Supra; Generative AI and Legal Ethics

 "In his scathing opinion, Cullen joined judges from New York Massachusetts and North Carolina, among others, by concluding that improper use of AI generated authorities may give rise to sanctions and disciplinary charges...

As a result, on July 29, 2024, the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional issued Formal Opinion 512 on Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools. The ABA Standing Committee issued the opinion primarily because GAI tools are a “rapidly moving target” that can create significant ethical issues. The committee believed it necessary to offer “general guidance for lawyers attempting to navigate this emerging landscape.”

The committee’s general guidance is helpful, but the general nature of Opinion 512 it underscores part of my main concern — GAI has a wide-ranging impact on how lawyers practice that will increase over time. Unsurprisingly, at present, GAI implicates at least eight ethical rules ranging from competence (Md. Rule 19-301.1) to communication (Md. Rule 19-301.4), to fees (Md. Rule 19-301.5), to confidentiality, (Md. Rule 19-301.6), to supervisory obligations (Md. Rule 19-305.1 and Md. Rule 305.3) to the duties of a lawyer before tribunal to be candid and pursue meritorious claims and defenses. (Md. Rules 19-303.1 and 19-303.3).

As a technological feature of practice, lawyers cannot simply ignore GAI. The duty of competence under Rule 19-301.1 includes technical competence, and GAI is just another step forward. It is here to stay. We must embrace it but use it smartly.

Let it be an adjunct to your practice rather than having Chat GPT write your brief. Ensure that your staff understands that GAI can be helpful, but that the work product must be checked for accuracy.

After considering the ethical implications and putting the right processes in place, implement GAI and use it to your clients’ advantage."

Digital Image Creation Using AI Risks Copyright Infringement; Bloomberg Law, September 16, 2024

Brian Moriarty , HBSR, Timothy Meagher . HBSR , Daniel Fleisher , HBSR, Bloomberg Law; Digital Image Creation Using AI Risks Copyright Infringement

"Generative artificial intelligence has radically transformed the world of digital images. Anyone seeking to make a website, a video, or any other visual media can quickly use an AI program to convert their ideas into a new image with help from a few text prompts. 

The image maker can do so at low cost and without the need to hire a digital artist to create the image. Copyright protection may not be available for the new creation (because a computer and not a human created the image). But the image maker may mistakenly believe that the final AI creation doesn’t infringe others’ copyrights because it’s a new image. This isn’t the case."

Indigenous Colombian coca company challenges Coca-Cola’s trademark; The Washington Post, September 15, 2024

 

María Luisa Paúl

 and 

Bryan Pietsch, The Washington Post; Indigenous Colombian coca company challenges Coca-Cola’s trademark

"An Indigenous business in Colombia, acting, it says, “in defense of the coca leaf,” is asking the government to revoke the beverage giant’s century-old trademark on the word “coca.”"

Paraguay Loves Mickey, Its Cartoon Mouse. Disney Doesn’t.; The New York Times, September 14, 2024

Laurence Blair,

Photographs by María Magdalena Arréllaga

, The New York Times; Paraguay Loves Mickey, Its Cartoon Mouse. Disney Doesn’t.

"Paraguayans are notoriously creative — some would say light-fingered — when it comes to intellectual property.

Factories churn out knockoff Nike, Lacoste, and Adidas clothing.Paraguay’s educational authorities warned last year that Harvard University Paraguay — in Ciudad del Este, the country’s second-largest city and a counterfeiting hot spot — was awarding bogus medical degrees. (The school has no connection to the more famous Harvard.)

Paraguay ranks 86th out of 125 countries in an index compiled by the Property Rights Alliance, a research institute based in Washington, scoring 1.7 out of 10 for copyright protection."

G20 nations agree to join efforts to fight disinformation and set AI guidelines; AP, September, 13, 2024

 GABRIELA SÁ PESSOA , AP; G20 nations agree to join efforts to fight disinformation and set AI guidelines

"Group of 20 leaders agreed Friday to join efforts to fight disinformation and set up an agenda on artificial intelligence as their governments struggle against the speed, scale and reach of misinformation and hate speech.

The ministers, who gathered this week in Maceio, the capital of the northeastern state of Alagoas, emphasized in a statement the need for digital platforms to be transparent and “in line with relevant policies and applicable legal frameworks.”

It is the first time in the G20’s history that the group recognizes the problem of disinformation and calls for transparency and accountability from digital platforms, João Brant, secretary for digital policy at the Brazilian presidency, told The Associated Press by phone.

G20 representatives also agreed to establish guidelines for developing artificial intelligence, calling for “ethical, transparent, and accountable use of AI,” with human oversight and compliance with privacy and human rights laws."

Even Free Libraries Come With a Cost; The National Law Review, September 13, 2024

 Anisa Noorassa of McDermott Will & Emery , The National Law Review; Even Free Libraries Come With a Cost

"The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a district court’s judgment of copyright infringement against an internet book archive, holding that its free-to-access library did not constitute fair use of the copyrighted books. Hachette Book Group Inc. v. Internet Archive, Case No. 23-1260 (2d Cir. Sept. 4, 2024) (Menashi, Robinson, Kahn, JJ.).

Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, John Wiley & Sons, and Penguin Random House (collectively, the publishers) brought suit against Internet Archive alleging that its “Free Digital Library,” which loans copies of the publishers’ books without charge, violated the publishers’ copyrights. Internet Archive argued that its use of the publishers’ copyrighted material fell under the fair use exception to the Copyright Act because Internet Archive acquired physical books and digitized them for borrowing (much like a traditional library) and maintained a 1:1 ratio of borrowed material to physical copies except for a brief period during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The district court reviewed the four statutory fair use factors set forth in § 107 of the Copyright Act:

• The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.
• The nature of the copyrighted work.
• The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.
• The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The district court found that Internet Archive’s use of the works was not covered by the fair use exception because its use was non-transformative, was commercial in nature due to its solicitation of donations, and was disruptive of the market for e-book licenses. Internet Archive appealed.

The Second Circuit affirmed, addressing each factor in turn."

The Geography of Copyright Registrations; U.S. Copyright Office (USCO), September 11, 2024

 U.S. Copyright Office (USCO); The Geography of Copyright Registrations

"The U.S. Copyright Office has released a report, The Geography of Copyright Registrations. The study examines the geographic distribution of copyright claims registered by individuals and organizations within the United States. The purpose of the report is to better understand where the copyright system is used and how patterns of registrations differ across areas within the country.

The report reveals: 

• The majority of copyright registrations originate from a handful of large metropolitan areas. Approximately 40 percent of all copyright registrations originate from just five: New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, and Chicago.
• Within the United States, certain geographic areas specialize in different types of creative works. For example, registrants in the South register many copyrights for musical works, registrants in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states register many literary works, and registrants in California specialize in film and dramatic works. 
• Some areas have a high volume of registrations simply because of their large populations. When controlling for population, numerous locations at the city level emerge where individuals, companies, or universities are registering high concentrations of creative works. 

This report uses data from copyright claims registered between 2009 and 2022. A forthcoming report will focus on the demographics of copyright registrations in the United States."

Internet Archive Court Loss Leaves Higher Ed in Gray Area; Inside Higher Ed, September 9, 2024

 Lauren Coffey, Inside Higher Ed; Internet Archive Court Loss Leaves Higher Ed in Gray Area

"Pandemic-era library programs that helped students access books online could be potentially threatened by an appeals court ruling last week. 

Libraries across the country, from Carnegie Mellon University to the University of California system, turned to what’s known as a digital or controlled lending program in 2020, which gave students a way to borrow books that weren’t otherwise available. Those programs are small in scale and largely experimental but part of a broader shift in modernizing the university library.

But the appeals court ruling could upend those programs...

Still, librarians at colleges and elsewhere, along with other experts, feared that the long-running legal fight between the Internet Archive and leading publishers could imperil the ability of libraries to own and preserve books, among other ramifications."

R.O. Kwon on writing in the age of A.I.; The Ink, September 8, 2024

The Ink; R.O. Kwon on writing in the age of A.I.

"What exactly are A.I.s doing when they churn out words? When they ghostwrite our notes and letters, summarize our news, and maybe take over the jobs of those writing the news in the first place — are they writing?

The novelist R.O. Kwon — author of two novels, The Incendiaries and Exhibit, both deeply concerned not just with language but with the way language is rooted in the very human experiences of faith and love and sex and being in a body — doesn’t think so. For Kwon, a writer is a person who writes — that is, a human in a body, who struggles with language. And, in her typically crystal-clear fashion, she made this point the other day in a series of posts."

Trump’s other legal problem: Copyright infringement claims; The Washington Post, September 7, 2024

Herb Scribner

 and 

Janay Kingsberry

, The Washington Post; Trump’s other legal problem: Copyright infringement claims

"Music industry experts and copyright law attorneys say the cases, as well as Trump’s decision to continue playing certain songs despite artists’ requests that he desist, underscore the complex legalities of copyright infringement in today’s digital, streaming and licensing era — and could set an important precedent on the of use of popular music in political campaigns."

Council of Europe opens first ever global treaty on AI for signature; Council of Europe, September 5, 2024

 Council of Europe; Council of Europe opens first ever global treaty on AI for signature

"The Council of Europe Framework Convention on artificial intelligence and human rights, democracy, and the rule of law (CETS No. 225) was opened for signature during a conference of Council of Europe Ministers of Justice in Vilnius. It is the first-ever international legally binding treaty aimed at ensuring that the use of AI systems is fully consistent with human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

The Framework Convention was signed by Andorra, Georgia, Iceland, Norway, the Republic of Moldova, San Marino, the United Kingdom as well as Israel, the United States of America and the European Union...

The treaty provides a legal framework covering the entire lifecycle of AI systems. It promotes AI progress and innovation, while managing the risks it may pose to human rights, democracy and the rule of law. To stand the test of time, it is technology-neutral."

A Shocking Amount of the Web is Machine Translated: Insights from Multi-Way Parallelism; Arxiv, 2024

 Brian Thompson,∗ 1 Mehak Preet Dhaliwal,† 2 Peter Frisch,1 Tobias Domhan,3 Marcello Federico1 1AWS AI Labs 2UC Santa Barbara 3Amazon

brianjt@amazon.com, Arxiv ; A Shocking Amount of the Web is Machine Translated: Insights from Multi-Way Parallelism

"Abstract

We show that content on the web is often translated into many languages, and the low quality of these multi-way translations indicates they were likely created using Machine Translation (MT). Multi-way parallel, machine generated content not only dominates the translations in lower resource languages; it also constitutes a large fraction of the total web content in those languages. We also find evidence of a selection bias in the type of content which is translated into many languages, consistent with low qual- ity English content being translated en masse into many lower resource languages, via MT. Our work raises serious concerns about training models such as multilingual large language models on both monolingual and bilingual data scraped from the web."

Intellectual property and data privacy: the hidden risks of AI; Nature, September 4, 2024

Amanda Heidt , Nature; Intellectual property and data privacy: the hidden risks of AI

"Timothée Poisot, a computational ecologist at the University of Montreal in Canada, has made a successful career out of studying the world’s biodiversity. A guiding principle for his research is that it must be useful, Poisot says, as he hopes it will be later this year, when it joins other work being considered at the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in Cali, Colombia. “Every piece of science we produce that is looked at by policymakers and stakeholders is both exciting and a little terrifying, since there are real stakes to it,” he says.

But Poisot worries that artificial intelligence (AI) will interfere with the relationship between science and policy in the future. Chatbots such as Microsoft’s Bing, Google’s Gemini and ChatGPT, made by tech firm OpenAI in San Francisco, California, were trained using a corpus of data scraped from the Internet — which probably includes Poisot’s work. But because chatbots don’t often cite the original content in their outputs, authors are stripped of the ability to understand how their work is used and to check the credibility of the AI’s statements. It seems, Poisot says, that unvetted claims produced by chatbots are likely to make their way into consequential meetings such as COP16, where they risk drowning out solid science.

“There’s an expectation that the research and synthesis is being done transparently, but if we start outsourcing those processes to an AI, there’s no way to know who did what and where the information is coming from and who should be credited,” he says...

The technology underlying genAI, which was first developed at public institutions in the 1960s, has now been taken over by private companies, which usually have no incentive to prioritize transparency or open access. As a result, the inner mechanics of genAI chatbots are almost always a black box — a series of algorithms that aren’t fully understood, even by their creators — and attribution of sources is often scrubbed from the output. This makes it nearly impossible to know exactly what has gone into a model’s answer to a prompt. Organizations such as OpenAI have so far asked users to ensure that outputs used in other work do not violate laws, including intellectual-property and copyright regulations, or divulge sensitive information, such as a person’s location, gender, age, ethnicity or contact information. Studies have shown that genAI tools might do both1,2."

The Internet Archive Loses Its Appeal of a Major Copyright Case; Wired, September 4, 2024

Kate Knibbs, Wired; The Internet Archive Loses Its Appeal of a Major Copyright Case

"THE INTERNET ARCHIVE has lost a major legal battle—in a decision that could have a significant impact on the future of internet history. Today, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled against the long-running digital archive, upholding an earlier ruling in Hachette v. Internet Archive that found that one of the Internet Archive’s book digitization projects violated copyright law.

Notably, the appeals court’s ruling rejects the Internet Archive’s argument that its lending practices were shielded by the fair use doctrine, which permits for copyright infringement in certain circumstances, calling it “unpersuasive.”"

Trump campaign ordered to stop using classic R&B song; Associated Press via Politico, September 3, 2024

 Associated Press via Politico; Trump campaign ordered to stop using classic R&B song; Associated Press via Politico

"A federal judge in Atlanta ruled Tuesday that Donald Trump and his campaign must stop using the song “Hold On, I’m Comin’” while the family of one of the song’s co-writers pursues a lawsuit against the former president over its use.

The estate of Isaac Hayes Jr. filed a lawsuit last month alleging that Trump, his campaign and several of his allies had infringed its copyright and should pay damages. After a hearing on the estate’s request for an emergency preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash ruled that Trump must stop using the song, but he denied a request to force the campaign to take down any existing videos that include the song."

NEH Awards $2.72 Million to Create Research Centers Examining the Cultural Implications of Artificial Intelligence; National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), August 27, 2024

 Press Release, National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH); NEH Awards $2.72 Million to Create Research Centers Examining the Cultural Implications of Artificial Intelligence

"The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) today announced grant awards totaling $2.72 million for five colleges and universities to create new humanities-led research centers that will serve as hubs for interdisciplinary collaborative research on the human and social impact of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

As part of NEH’s third and final round of grant awards for FY2024, the Endowment made its inaugural awards under the new Humanities Research Centers on Artificial Intelligence program, which aims to foster a more holistic understanding of AI in the modern world by creating scholarship and learning centers across the country that spearhead research exploring the societal, ethical, and legal implications of AI. 

Institutions in California, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Virginia were awarded NEH grants to establish the first AI research centers and pilot two or more collaborative research projects that examine AI through a multidisciplinary humanities lens. 

The new Humanities Research Centers on Artificial Intelligence grant program is part of NEH’s agencywide Humanities Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence initiative, which supports humanities projects that explore the impacts of AI-related technologies on truth, trust, and democracy; safety and security; and privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties. The initiative responds to President Biden’s Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence, which establishes new standards for AI safety and security, protects Americans’ privacy, and advances equity and civil rights."

QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION ON AI & THE COMMONS; Creative Commons, July 24, 2024

 Anna Tumadóttir , Creative Commons; QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION ON AI & THE COMMONS

"The intersection of AI, copyright, creativity, and the commons has been a focal point of conversations within our community for the past couple of years. We’ve hosted intimate roundtables, organized workshops at conferences, and run public events, digging into the challenging topics of credit, consent, compensation, transparency, and beyond. All the while, we’ve been asking ourselves:  what can we do to foster a vibrant and healthy commons in the face of rapid technological development? And how can we ensure that creators and knowledge-producing communities still have agency?...

We recognize that there is a perceived tension between openness and creator choice. Namely, if we  give creators choice over how to manage their works in the face of generative AI, we may run the risk of shrinking the commons. To potentially overcome, or at least better understand the effect of generative AI on the commons, we believe  that finding a way for creators to indicate “no, unless…” would be positive for the commons. Our consultations over the course of the last two years have confirmed that:

• Folks want more choice over how their work is used.
• If they have no choice, they might not share their work at all (under a CC license or strict copyright).

If these views are as wide ranging as we perceive, we feel it is imperative that we explore an intervention, and bring far more nuance into how this ecosystem works.

Generative AI is here to stay, and we’d like to do what we can to ensure it benefits the public interest. We are well-positioned with the experience, expertise, and tools to investigate the potential of preference signals.

Our starting point is to identify what types of preference signals might be useful. How do these vary or overlap in the cultural heritage, journalism, research, and education sectors? How do needs vary by region? We’ll also explore exactly how we might structure a preference signal framework so it’s useful and respected, asking, too: does it have to be legally enforceable, or is the power of social norms enough?

Research matters. It takes time, effort, and most importantly, people. We’ll need help as we do this. We’re seeking support from funders to move this work forward. We also look forward to continuing to engage our community in this process. More to come soon."

A bill to protect performers from unauthorized AI heads to California governor; NPR, August 30, 2024

Mandalit del Barco, NPR; A bill to protect performers from unauthorized AI heads to California governor

"Other proposed guardrails

In addition to AB2602, the performer’s union is backing California bill AB 1836 to protect deceased performers’ intellectual property from digital replicas.

On a national level, entertainment industry stakeholders, from SAG-AFTRA to The Recording Academy and the MPA, and others are supporting The “NO FAKES Act” (the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act) introduced in the Senate. That law would make creating a digital replica of any American illegal.

Around the country, legislators have proposed hundreds of laws to regulate AI more generally. For example, California lawmakers recently passed the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act (SB 1047), which regulates AI models such as ChatGPT.

“It's vital and it's incredibly urgent because legislation, as we know, takes time, but technology matures exponentially. So we're going to be constantly fighting the battle to stay ahead of this,” said voice performer Zeke Alton, a member of SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee. “If we don't get to know what's real and what's fake, that is starting to pick away at the foundations of democracy.”

Alton says in the fight for AI protections of digital doubles, Hollywood performers have been the canary in the coal mine. “We are having this open conversation in the public about generative AI and it and using it to replace the worker instead of having the worker use it as a tool for their own efficiency,” he said. “But it's coming for every other industry, every other worker. That's how big this sea change in technology is. So what happens here is going to reverberate.”"