…restaurant owners and independent repair professionals will be able to bypass the software locks that keep kitchen machinery offline until the "right" repair services get involved. This should lower prices and speed up repairs in such situations.
Your move, McDonald’s. If downtime on ice cream machines doesn’t drop drastically as a result of this exemption, it will likely melt away in three years when the Library of Congress considers its renewal.
posted by matt in Saturday, October 26, 2024
Perplexity, in its response today, argues that news organizations like News Corp that have filed lawsuits against AI companies “prefer to live in a world where publicly reported facts are owned by corporations, and no one can do anything with those publicly reported facts without paying a toll.”
The difference between facts and facts, as reported by…is the key here. Media companies don’t own facts. They do, however, own the intellectual property rights that protect their reporting of the facts. The question the law needs to answer is whether AI training on their reporting of the facts violates those rights or not. It’s not clear cut, and courts will wrestle with this question for years.
And, yes, it’s a lawsuit…which is adversarial by nature.
posted by matt in Thursday, October 24, 2024
This is great to see, but I’m not sure it does much to prevent AI companies from training on newly published books. I can’t imagine they’re scanning printed books for or buying ebooks to plug into model training. Maybe they’re scraping copies available on rogue sites, which would already be a copyright infringement.
It certainly feels good, though.
The new wording states: “No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems”, and will be included in all new titles and any backlist titles that are reprinted.
posted by matt in Saturday, October 19, 2024
Police said Hazel was driving a Dodge Charger with Jackson in the passenger seat when their car was struck by an Infiniti Q50 attempting to change lanes at a high speed. The Charger left the road and struck multiple tree stumps....Neither the driver of the Infiniti Q50 nor her two passengers...was injured. Investigators believe alcohol may have played a role in the crash, police said, adding that charges are pending.
It's hard to tell what happened here, and I suspect two points from that story – the 3:14 AM time of accident and the statement that "alcohol is believed to have been a factor" – leave the impression that the athletes were drinking and caused the accident. After our drive yesterday, I wonder if they were innocent victims of racing on the highway. After all, their car "was struck by an Infiniti Q50 attempting to change lanes at a high speed."
Twice yesterday, in separate incidents with different cars, a pair of cars rushed past us, weaving in and out of lanes without signals and, seemingly, without care or concern. Both pairs were clearly racing and, by my estimation, were traveling at 90+ miles per hour while the fastest of the normal traffic was doing 75 (five miles over the limit). In the moment, this was more maddening than frightening – where are the cops when you need them? – but, after reading this story and that detail about the Infiniti "attempting to change lanes at a high rate of speed," I now appreciate the danger those racers created.
Turning back to the Jackson story, everyone in the Inifiniti was unscathed, of course. "[C]harges are pending," though, so there's that.
If this was caused by racing, I hope it brings some much-needed attention to this problem.
posted by matt in Sunday, July 7, 2024
“We don’t have a problem with anyone taking inspiration from Ansel’s photography,” said the Adams estate. “But we strenuously object to the unauthorized use of his name to sell products of any kind, including digital products, and this includes AI-generated output — regardless of whether his name has been used on the input side, or whether a given model has been trained on his work.”
Don't forget, there's a trademark side to the sale of AI-generated images. The estate of Ansel Adams hasn't forgotten this, and they recently reminded Adobe about it, too. Adobe's "we have systems..." response sounds just like every other tech company on such issues. I'm sure they'll tout the "challenges of scale" at some point.
tags: ai law trademark photography
posted by matt in Monday, June 3, 2024
There are some exclusions, like game consoles (due to lobbying from game console manufacturers over piracy concerns), medical devices, ATVs, and motor vehicles, which are also typical for repair rules introduced in other states like California and New York.
OK, I get the medical device exemption, but ATVs? Game consoles? Come on....
posted by matt in Wednesday, May 29, 2024
Finally, we're getting the NFL v. NHL matchup we've always wanted, thanks to trademark law.
posted by matt in Wednesday, September 6, 2023
Basically what we're trying to do is amplify what's considered good behavior and then de-amplify what's considered bad behavior.
Sounds good. But, um, 'considered' by whom?
posted by matt in Sunday, April 30, 2023
Thaler told the Supreme Court that AI is being used to innovate in fields ranging from medicine to energy, and that rejecting AI-generated patents "curtails our patent system's ability - and thwarts Congress's intent - to optimally stimulate innovation and technological progress."
Congress can change this at any time. I bet we'll have Congressional hearings on AI inventorship over the next few years, which will be fascinating. For me, at least.
tags: law patents ai supremecourt congress
posted by matt in Monday, April 24, 2023
Ms Sleginam...was reported to police by three other visitors at the cafe.
To me, that quote is the scariest aspect of this story. Sure, the censorship laws are horrible and the willingness of the system to apply them to an elderly woman commenting on Zelensky's attractiveness, a completely subjective topic, is ridiculous. But, the fact that people were willing to "report" the situation to police in the first place is scary as hell. It shows that the law and enforcement system have a foothold, regardless of how horrible and ridiculous it is.
That is scary.
tags: law russia freespeach
posted by matt in Thursday, April 20, 2023
A strapline added: "it sounded deceptively real”. Inside, it emerged the quotes had been produced by AI."
This is interesting. Sounds like the magazine didn't hide the fact that the interview was AI generated (although they likely deemphasized it). The magazine essentially used Schumacher's name and his likeness without his permission. I suspect they'll regret the "deceptively real" descriptor.
posted by matt in Thursday, April 20, 2023
"AI labs and independent experts should use this pause to jointly develop and implement a set of shared safety protocols for advanced AI design and development that are rigorously audited and overseen by independent outside experts," it continues. "These protocols should ensure that systems adhering to them are safe beyond a reasonable doubt."
We need Asimov's Laws of Robotics for AI. Frankly, I'd feel better if that came in the form an actual law, not an agreement among companies. An international treaty would be best.
posted by matt in Wednesday, March 29, 2023
The legal reality is that Roe v. Wade never rested on the soundest of constitutional grounds. The Court didn't have the votes for an equal protection footing, so the majority opinion relied on a newfound fundamental right to privacy. That is, and always was, the Achilles heel of the decision. The late Justice Ginsburg criticized the decision, and questioned its long term viability, for this very reason.
At some point, you expect stare decisis to strengthen all but the shakiest of legal grounds for a Supreme Court decision, but it just wasn't there this time.
So the optimistic view following yesterday's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which I'm choosing to take, is that we've been given an opportunity to present the issue in a way that lets a future Supreme Court base a rights-affirming decision on a more stable legal footing.
postposted by matt in Saturday, June 25, 2022
U.S. history is staked with milestones relating to the attainment of rights–freedom, suffrage, privacy, equality. I've always viewed our system as a process that moves toward more rights for its people. Progress is achieved in fits and starts, of course, but our history has always moved in the same direction–more rights for the people.
That all changed today when the Supreme Court actually eliminated an existing, federally protected right of all women of the United States by overturning its decision in Roe v. Wade.
The country I know and love is suddenly a country that takes rights away from its people.
That's backwards. And disgusting. And horrific.
posted by matt in Friday, June 24, 2022
Oh, and applications of the mRNA technology in the Kariko paper were patented in 2012. The patents describe the process for practicing the technology in painstaking detail, as the law requires. And they expire in five years - in 2026, opening up incredible opportunities for new applications of the technology.
tags: patents science law covid19 vaccine
posted by matt in Wednesday, March 3, 2021
Meanwhile, in other Facebook face recognition news....
posted by matt in Saturday, February 27, 2021