Deeper Learning
How US police use counterterrorism money to buy spy tech
Grant money meant to help cities prepare for terror attacks is being spent on “massive purchases of surveillance technology” for US police departments, a new report by the advocacy organizations Action Center on Race and Economy (ACRE), LittleSis, MediaJustice, and the Immigrant Defense Project shows.
Shopping for AI-powered spytech: For example, the Los Angeles Police Department used funding intended for counterterrorism to buy automated license plate readers worth at least $1.27 million, radio equipment worth upwards of $24 million, Palantir data fusion platforms (often used for AI-powered predictive policing), and social media surveillance software.
Why this matters: For various reasons, a lot of problematic tech ends up in high-stake sectors such as policing with little to no oversight. For example, the facial recognition company Clearview AI offers “free trials” of its tech to police departments, which allows them to use it without a purchasing agreement or budget approval. Federal grants for counterterrorism don’t require as much public transparency and oversight. The report’s findings are yet another example of a growing pattern in which citizens are increasingly kept in the dark about police tech procurement. Read more from Tate Ryan-Mosley here.
Bits and Bytes
hatGPT, Galactica, and the progress trap
AI researchers Abeba Birhane and Deborah Raji write that the “lackadaisical approaches to model release” (as seen with Meta’s Galactica) and the extremely defensive response to critical feedback constitute a “deeply concerning” trend in AI right now. They argue that when models don’t “meet the expectations of those most likely to be harmed by them,” then “their products are not ready to serve these communities and do not deserve widespread release.” (Wired)
The new chatbots could change the world. Can you trust them?
People have been blown away by how coherent ChatGPT is. The trouble is, a significant amount of what it spews is nonsense. Large language models are no more than confident bullshitters, and we’d be wise to approach them with that in mind.
(The New York Times)
Stumbling with their words, some people let AI do the talking
Despite the tech’s flaws, some people—such as those with learning difficulties—are still finding large language models useful as a way to help express themselves.
(The Washington Post)
EU countries’ stance on AI rules draws criticism from lawmakers and activists
The EU’s AI law, the AI Act, is edging closer to being finalized. EU countries have approved their position on what the regulation should look like, but critics say many important issues, such as the use of facial recognition by companies in public places, were not addressed, and many safeguards were watered down. (Reuters)
Investors seek to profit from generative-AI startups
It’s not just you. Venture capitalists also think generative-AI startups such as Stability.AI, which created the popular text-to-image model Stable Diffusion, are the hottest things in tech right now. And they’re throwing stacks of money at them. (The Financial Times)
