Links to stories about Generative Artificial Intelligence and its impact on our world and education in the news. Frequently updated. 

• NY Times - Artificial Intelligence
  • The NY Times coverage and feature spotlight on Artificial Intelligence. 
• Vox - Artificial Intelligence 

  • Vox's coverage of how AI is shaping everything from text and image generation to how we live.

• The Verge - Artificial Intelligence
  • Artificial intelligence is more a part of our lives than ever before. While some might call it hype and compare it to NFTs or 3D TVs, AI is causing a sea change in nearly every facet of life that technology touches. Bing wants to know you intimately, Bard wants to reduce websites to easy-to-read cards, and ChatGPT has infiltrated nearly every part of our lives. At The Verge, we’re exploring all the good AI is enabling and all the bad it’s bringing along.
• AP News - Artificial Intelligence
  • The AP News hub of stories on the impact of Artificial Intelligence. 
• Gizmodo - Artificial Intelligence 
  • The hottest topic in tech in 2023: Here's everything you need to know about ChatGPT, Bard, Midjourney, Dall-E and more.

• USPTO says AI models can’t hold patents : Inventors must be human, but there's still a condition where AI can officially help. | Ars Technica
  • February 14, 2024
  • "On Tuesday, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published guidance on inventorship for AI-assisted inventions, clarifying that while AI systems can play a role in the creative process, only natural persons (human beings) who make significant contributions to the conception of an invention can be named as inventors. It also rules out using AI models to churn out patent ideas without significant human input.
    The USPTO says this position is supported by "the statutes, court decisions, and numerous policy considerations," including the Executive Order on AI issued by President Biden. We've previously covered attempts, which have been repeatedly rejected by US courts, by Dr. Stephen Thaler to have an AI program called "DABUS" named as the inventor on a US patent (a process begun in 2019).
    This guidance follows themes previously set by the US Copyright Office (and agreed upon by a judge) that an AI model cannot own a copyright for a piece of media and that substantial human contributions are required for copyright protection."

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• The FCC says AI voices in robocalls are Illegal | NPR
  • February 8, 2024
  • "The Federal Communications Commission ruled on Thursday that robocalls using voices generated by artificial intelligence are illegal, amid concerns over how the cutting-edge technology is being used to scam people and deceive voters."Bad actors are using AI-generated voices in unsolicited robocalls to extort vulnerable family members, imitate celebrities, and misinform voters," FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. "We're putting the fraudsters behind these robocalls on notice. Last month in New Hampshire, a robocall using an apparently AI-generated voice depicting President Biden discouraging Democrats from voting reached thousands of voters just days before the state's primary."
• First passages of rolled-up Herculaneum scroll revealed : Researchers used artificial intelligence to decipher the text of 2,000-year-old charred papyrus scripts, unveiling musings on music and capers. | Nature
  • February 5, 2024
  • "A team of student researchers has made a giant contribution to solving one of the biggest mysteries in archaeology by revealing the content of Greek writing inside a charred scroll buried 2,000 years ago by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The winners of a contest called the Vesuvius Challenge trained their machine-learning algorithms on scans of the rolled-up papyrus, unveiling a previously unknown philosophical work that discusses the senses and pleasure. The feat paves the way for artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to decipher the rest of the scrolls in their entirety, something that researchers say could have revolutionary implications for our understanding of the ancient world."
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• FCC moves to criminalize most AI-generated robocalls | NBC News
  • January 31, 2024
  • "The announcement comes on the heels of a fake message, created with AI to mimic the voice of President Joe Biden, that told New Hampshire residents not to vote in the state’s primary election.The proposal would outlaw such robocalls under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, or TCPA, a 1991 law that regulates automated political and marketing calls made without the receivers’ consent."
• Following lawsuit, rep admits “AI” George Carlin was human-written | Ars Technica
  • January 27, 2024
  • "In the lawsuit, filed by Carlin manager Jerold Hamza in a California district court, the Carlin estate points out that the special, "George Carlin: I'm Glad I'm Dead," (which was set to "private" on YouTube shortly after the lawsuit was filed) presents itself as being created by an AI trained on decades worth of Carlin's material. That training would, by definition, involve making "unauthorized copies" of "Carlin's original, copyrighted routines" without permission in order "to fabricate a semblance of Carlin’s voice and generate a Carlin stand-up comedy routine," according to the lawsuit."
• Explicit Deepfake Images of Taylor Swift Elude Safeguards and Swamp Social Media | NY Times
  • January 26, 2024
  • "X has seen an increase in problematic content including harassment, disinformation and hate speech since Elon Musk bought the service in 2022. He has loosened the website’s content rules and fired, laid off or accepted the resignations of staff members who worked to remove such content. The platform also reinstated accounts that had been previously banned for violating rules."
• We Asked A.I. to Create the Joker. It Generated a Copyrighted Image. | NY Times
  • January 25, 2024
  • "The tests — which were replicated by other artists, reporters at The New York Times, and published in Mr. Marcus’s newsletter — raise questions about the training data used to create every A.I. system and whether the companies are violating copyright laws. Several lawsuits, from actors like Sarah Silverman and authors like John Grisham, have put that question before the courts. (The Times has sued OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, and Microsoft, a major backer of the company, for infringing its copyright on news content.)"