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Google and Microsoft Are Lobbying Against AI Regulation in EU

02-24-2023

February 24, 2023

⚡ Today’s Highlights

  • 📰 News: Google and Microsoft are lobbying against AI regulations

  • 💰 Funding: Slync, Spoke.ai, Autobound, and Qbeast 

  • 🦾 Tools: AI-powered presentations and social media posts

  • 📅 Events: The Data Analytics Career Summit is TODAY!

📰 Today's Top Stories

(16 min read) (Source: TechCrunch)

TLDR: Tech giants such as Google and Microsoft are lobbying the EU to exclude general-purpose AI from the AI Act. The EU's risk-based approach categorizes applications as high, limited, or low risk, with each facing different levels of regulation. Corporate Europe Observatory (COE), a lobbying transparency group, warns that intense lobbying from US tech companies could weaken the AI Act's safety obligations. Check out their report here.

Tech firms want to reduce requirements for high-risk AI systems and limit the scope of the regulation, specifically by excluding general-purpose AI systems. The companies argue that regulations should only apply downstream to those using risky AI models rather than to source providers of general-purpose AI.

The Big Picture: If the source providers of large language models or other general-purpose AIs makers don't face strict requirements, the models could be biased or unsafe for users, and those using the models could face product liability and legal breaches.

(8 min read) (Source: The Verge)

TLDR: Microsoft has been working on Bing chatbots for years and the new Bing AI chatbot has often referred to itself as Sydney when users ask it about its past. Caitlin Roulston, the director of communications at Microsoft, revealed today that Sydney was an old codename for a chat feature based on earlier models that Microsoft started testing in India in late 2020. Some users in India and China also spotted the Sydney bot in the first half of 2021.

The user experience was similar to what was launched publicly earlier this month, with a blue Cortana-like orb appearing in a chatbot interface on Bing. The insights gathered from these tests helped develop the new Bing preview. The company says it is still working on more advanced models to incorporate user feedback and deliver the best user experience possible. I wonder what their secret code names might be…

(2 min read) (Source: Reuters)

TLDR: The US Copyright Office has stated that the images in a graphic novel produced using the AI system Midjourney should not have been granted copyright protection. While the author of "Zarya of the Dawn," Kris Kashtanova, is entitled to copyright for the parts of the book they wrote and arranged, the images produced by Midjourney are not eligible for protection. 

The Big Picture: This decision is among the first by a US agency or court on the extent of copyright protection for works created with AI, as generative AI software such as Midjourney, Dall-E and ChatGPT become increasingly popular.

(4 min read) (Source: Nikkei)

TLDR: Nikkei Asia reported that Tencent, the parent company of WeChat, and Ant Group, an Alibaba affiliate, have been instructed by regulators to prevent access to ChatGPT on their own platforms or through third-party applications on their storefronts. The reported reason for this order is due to concerns that ChatGPT may be used as a tool for disseminating American propaganda.

(4 min read) (Source: Bloomberg)

TLDR: Microsoft's updated Bing search engine has apparently implemented stricter restrictions on interactions with its chatbot, which is powered by artificial intelligence. The chatbot goes silent when users ask about or mention "feelings" or "Sydney," which is the internal code name for the Bing team's chatbot. 

When these prompts are mentioned, the chatbot displays a message saying it prefers not to continue the conversation. Microsoft has stated that it has updated the service several times in response to user feedback, and it will continue to adjust the limits and techniques during the preview phase to provide the best possible user experience.

💰 Funding Alerts

  1. Slync is a logistics and business intelligence platform provider that uses AI and process automation to standardize data from different sources and improve productivity in the supply chain. The company recently raised $24M in funding, led by Goldman Sachs (Darren Cohen, Partner), with participation from Blumberg Capital, ACME Ventures, and Gaingels, and plans to use the funds to accelerate growth.

  2. Spoke.ai is an AI-powered workplace operating system provider based in Berlin that uses AI to allow knowledge workers to connect, discover, distill, and share information with teammates, and integrates with the tool stack of modern teams. The company raised €2M in pre-seed funding from byFounders (Eric Lagier, Managing Partner), Possible Ventures, and Berlin regional development bank IBB. The funds will be used to accelerate growth and expand operations. 

  3. Autobound is a company that uses AI to suggest personalized content for sales emails, automating the tedious workflow of writing these emails. They recently announced $4M in funding, with Dundee VC (Mark Hasebroock, Managing Partner) leading the round, and plan to use the funding to accelerate product development, scale marketing and design, and enhance their machine learning functions.

  4. Qbeast is a company that aims to simplify the work of engineers managing data lakes by organizing data for efficient reading from any solution preferred by the company. They recently raised €2.5m in funding, led by Elaia (Sébastien Lefebvre, Partner), with the participation of Sabadell Venture Capital, Uber Founding CTO Oscar Salazar, and existing investor Inveready. The funding will allow Qbeast to accelerate their go-to-market strategy by investing in product development, technology, partnerships, and filling key commercial positions.

🦾 Trending Tools

  • Decktopus AI is a presentation software that utilizes AI to create tailored presentations on-demand. Users can easily customize their presentations, and generate additional bullet points, slide notes, and icons with a single button. Decktopus also offers features such as forms and voice recording, allowing users to create engaging and interactive presentations.

  • AdCreative.ai is a product that utilizes ChatGPT to generate ad and social media post creatives quickly. It offers businesses a large number of creatives to choose from and provides insights to optimize marketing efforts.

  • Empy.ai is a proactive Slack bot that promotes empathy and healthy dialogue. Empy analyzes text using non-violent communication techniques and GPT, to rephrase messages empathetically, fostering an open and safe space for resolving conflicts and building positive relationships.

🌎 Popular Content

1. It was only a matter of time. A deepfake version of your voice can easily be used to access services that rely on voice biometrics. Now the race begins to see whether AI criminals will get there before new security measures are put in place. (Twitter)

2. In this episode of MIT Tech Review’s podcast, “In Machines We Trust”, they discuss the DoD’s flight tests from last year in which AI piloted an experimental fighter jet. (Spotify)

AI enters the dogfight

Listen to this episode from In Machines We Trust on Spotify. Late last year the US Department of Defense successfully ran a dozen flight tests in which AI agents piloted an experimental fighter jet. We explore the program that got it there and what this milestone means. We Meet: Chase Kohler, Edwards Air Force Base Sue Halpern, The New Yorker Paul Scharre, Center for a New American Security Additional sources and sound: DARPA's AlphaDogfight Trials: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzdhIA2S35w The Rise of A.I. Fighter Pilots: Artificial intelligence is being taught to fly warplanes: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/24/the-rise-of-ai-fighter-pilots https://www.edwards.af.mil/News/Article/3297083/dod-artificial-intelligence-agents-successfully-pilot-fighter-jet/ Credits: This episode was reported and produced by Jennifer Strong and Anthony Green with help from Emma Cillekens. It was edited by Jennifer Strong and Mat Honan, and mixed by Garret Lang with original music from Garret Lang and Jacob Gorski. Artwork by Stephanie Arnett.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/09OYeJ60L6nM0UK7wG2Ixx

3. I regret to inform you that this is what peak human performance looks like. If you aren’t built like a rotisserie chicken with 3 legs, then I think it’s time for you to hit the gym. (Reddit)

4. Forget training better chatbots, we need to start training AI on making better hands! (Twitter)

👀 More Reading

🧠 Resources

In continuing with Intel’s series of courses, this course offers an overview of deep learning on contemporary Intel architecture, which has garnered considerable interest in the industry due to its outstanding performance in computer vision and natural language processing.

 📅 Upcoming Events

  1. The Data Analytics Career Summit (TODAY February 24, 2023 / Virtual) seeks to help individuals break into and move up in the data & analytics fields. The focus of this event will be on helping individuals navigate the many career paths available, such as data analytics, data science and data engineering. Data will also be shared on the current jobs market and the latest survey of individuals in the field. Additional content will focus on best practices for career management, navigation of education options and advice/inspirational stories from real professionals in the field. Registration is now open.

  2. Join industry leaders at Subsurface LIVE 2023 (March 1-2, 2023 / San Fransico, New York, London) as we explore the latest open-source innovations in the open data lakehouse ecosystem and share real-world use cases. Hear firsthand from technology leaders at companies such as Apple, Uber, Bloomberg, AWS, and Microsoft about their experiences architecting and building modern cloud data lakes. Learn how to innovate with open-source technologies such as Apache Arrow, Apache Iceberg, Nessie, Delta Lake, Airflow, Dagster, Apache Superset, Apache Druid, Apache Ranger, and more.

  3. All Things IIoT Day (March 2nd, 2023 / Virtual) is an event that will bring together experts from around the world to share insights on IIoT technologies applied to manufacturing, smart cities/buildings/infrastructure, energy, and ICS cybersecurity. Over 115 subject matter experts will share insights with 21,000+ expected attendees on digital transformation journeys, focusing on trends, challenges, best practices, case studies, and creating compelling business models for transitioning to IIoT technologies. The content is targeted to CxOs, executives, and technology-oriented executives.

 💼 Jobs

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