Richard Lawler
Sad day for the Ape fam.
According to our survey results, as much as people are sure AI technology is going to have a significant impact on society, most of them don’t feel that way about non-fungible tokens.
Ai Artificial Intelligence Archive
Archives for June 2023
Makena Kelly
Jacob Kastrenakes and James Vincent
Wes Davis
Google AI raters that were laid off for complaining about working conditions have gotten their jobs back.
On May 31st, a group of six AI chatbot trainers employed by Google subcontractor Appen were fired after they spoke out about how their poor working conditions could make Google’s Bard chatbot dangerous.
The Alphabet Workers Union now says the workers’ jobs have been reinstated with backpay. AWU provided The Verge with a copy of the email from Appen’s RaterLabs explaining the decision:
Based on our continuing consideration and review of our business needs, we have determined that some recent reductions of our workforce were not necessary and can be reversed. Consequently, we are pleased to offer you the option to return to work with RaterLabs.
Internal complaints about Bard previously called it “a pathological liar” and begged the company not to launch it.
Jay Peters
AWS is putting $100 million into a center to help companies use generative AI.
AWS CEO Adam Selipsky discussed the center in an interview with CNBC. It’s a big step as Amazon looks to compete with Microsoft and Google’s AI efforts.
However, there’s one catch you might want to be aware of: “The company told CNBC that it’s a ‘program’ rather than a physical center.”
Nilay Patel
The “AI Hub” Discord server comes under fire from the RIAA.
The server, which has more than 142,000 members, includes voice models for popular artists — and those voice models may or may not contain the underlying training data used to make them. (You know: songs.) That’s a pretty straightforward copyright claim to make, but we’re headed directly towards the RIAA saying voice models are infringement no matter what. It’s a laser bong, baby.
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Umar Shakir
Google’s spreadsheet-generating AI feature is rolling out now.
Google is rolling out an AI feature for Sheets that auto-builds custom templates based on a text prompt, but it’s only coming to Workspace Labs users to start (via 9to5Google).
Last month, the company showed off Duet AI, its answer to Microsoft’s Copilot (and perhaps Clippy), which contains a set of generative AI tools to help users write email responses in Gmail, create images from text in Google Slides, proofread documents in Google Docs, and more.
Adi Robertson
Remember the lawyer who submitted fake case law from ChatGPT?
The sanctions for both lawyers involved are in, and they’re pretty embarrassing: a $5,000 fine, plus they have to send a letter to every real judge named in the made-up cases. For what it’s worth, Steven Schwartz says he thought ChatGPT was just a “super search engine.”
Chris Welch
Paul McCartney reassures fans that AI isn’t ‘artificially’ recreating The Beatles.
Earlier this month we learned that AI played a key role in the production of one final upcoming song by The Beatles. The technology helped isolate and extract John Lennon’s vocals and piano from a lo-fi tape recording.
Former Fireman frontman Paul McCartney has now clarified that AI was only used to clean up existing material and didn’t create anything that wasn’t originally there. As a fan of how “Real Love” turned out, I’m looking forward to this one — though I’m conflicted about its release since George Harrison never wanted to finish it while he was still alive.
