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Google testing journalism AI – NYT
The tech giant’s AI chatbot Bard is already notorious for serving up false information as factual
Google is testing an AI-powered journalism product and pitching it to major news organizations, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing three sources close to the matter. The Times was allegedly one of the outlets approached by Google.
Known internally as Genesis, the tool is capable of generating news stories based on user inputs – details of current events like who, what, where, or when, the sources said. The company allegedly sees it as “responsible technology” – a middle-ground for news organizations not interested in replacing their human staff with generative AI.
In addition to the creep factor – two executives who saw Google’s pitch reportedly called it “unsettling” – Genesis’ mechanized approach to storytelling rubbed some journalists the wrong way. Two insiders told the Times it appears to take for granted the talent required to produce news stories that are not only accurate but well-written.
A spokeswoman for Google insisted that Genesis was “not intended to… replace the essential role journalists have in reporting, creating, and fact-checking their articles” but could instead offer up options for headlines and other writing styles.
One source said Google actually viewed Genesis as more of a “personal assistant for journalists,” capable of automating rote tasks so that the writer could focus on more demanding tasks, like interviewing subjects and reporting in the field.
The discovery that Google was working on a “ChatGPT for journalism” sparked widespread concern that Genesis could open a Pandora’s Box of fake news. Google’s AI chatbot Bard quickly became infamous for spinning up complex falsehoods and offering them as truth following its introduction earlier this year, and CEO Sundar Pichai has admitted that while these “hallucinations” appear to be endemic among AI large language models, no one knows what causes them or how to keep an AI honest.
Worse, Genesis could marginalize real news if Google encourages its adoption by tweaking its search algorithms to prioritize AI-generated content, radio editor Gabe Rosenberg tweeted in response to the New York Times article.
Several well-known news outlets have dabbled with using AI in the newsroom, with less than inspiring results. BuzzFeed went from using AI to generate customized quizzes to churning out dozens of formulaic travel pieces to announcing all content would be AI-generated in under six months, despite promising its writers in January that their jobs were safe.
CNET was caught earlier this year passing off AI-written articles as human content and using AI to rewrite old articles in order to artificially increase their search engine rankings.
Despite these disasters, OpenAI, the company responsible for ChatGPT, recently began signing deals with major news organizations like the Associated Press to encourage the technology’s adoption in the newsroom.
https://www.rt.com/news/580131-google-journalism-ai-chatbot-genesis/
Robert Kiyosaki predicts US stock market crash
The finance guru earlier warned that hiking interest rates to battle inflation may have a negative effect on stocks
Renowned writer and economist Robert Kiyosaki warned investors of a stock market downturn in a tweet this week.
According to Kiyosaki, there are “too many signs” that spell a crash in the market in the near future.
“Yet too many signs point to a severe stock market crash… If your future depends on stocks and bonds please be careful, possibly ask for professional advice. Afraid depression coming,” he tweeted.
Kiyosaki, who predicted the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, said he does not play the stock or bond markets himself, as he prefers “hands on control too much.”
He did not detail why he expects stocks to plummet in his latest tweet. Earlier, however, he predicted that the US Federal Reserve would raise interest rates to rein in runaway prices, and warned that this in turn would cause stocks, bonds, real estate, and gold to crash.
He has so far been proven correct, as the country has faced its worst inflation in decades over the past several months, which prompted the Fed to implement a series of interest rate hikes. The rate is currently 5% to 5.25%, up from 0% in early 2022.
So far, US asset prices and economic growth have seemed resilient to higher borrowing costs. The benchmark S&P 500 index is up 17% so far this year, and the Nasdaq Composite has grown 35%, partly due to the surge in betting on artificial intelligence.
However, in a tweet last week, Kiyosaki claimed that the current growth in the stock market is not a sign of health, but the product of the suspension of the debt ceiling Washington passed last month to avoid a default.
“WHY is stock market taking off? Because ‘Debt Ceiling’ removed. Means national debt to rise with stock market. Rich get richer as America gets poorer. Sad. Sticking with real money & real assets: Gold, Silver, Bitcoin,” he tweeted on July 14.
Total US debt now stands at over $32 trillion, and according to a recent warning from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), it will nearly double over the next three decades, jumping from this year’s estimate of 98% of GDP to 181% by 2053, unless the legislation is changed.
https://www.rt.com/business/579849-robert-kiyosaki-stock-market-crash/
EXCLUSIVE: Texas Says State’s Border Security Op Effectively Moving Migrant Crossings to Other States
The Texas governor’s office says Operation Lone Star successfully moves migrant border crossings to other states, including the northern U.S. border with Canada. A recent U.S. Customs and Border Protection report indicates a decrease in migrant apprehensions in Texas-based border sectors and a simultaneous increase in the Tucson, Miami, and Canadian border sectors.
“Governor Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in March 2021 to fill in the dangerous gaps created by President Biden’s reckless open border policies,” Andrew Mahaleris, press secretary to Governor Greg Abbot told Breitbart Texas. “States like Arizona are following President Biden’s lead, allowing even more migrants to surge into our country while Texas is holding the line.”
The June Nationwide Encounters Report from U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows that Fiscal Year 2023 year-to-date apprehensions of migrants crossing the border between ports of entry in the five Texas-based border sectors fell by nearly 11.33 percent compared to the same period last year. In contrast, apprehensions in the Tucson Sector rose by more than 20 percent.
“Increased apprehensions in border states west of Texas show our deterrence strategies are effective, as migrants choose to illegally cross in states that have left the door wide open for them,” Mahaleris stated.
The Tucson Sector is the only non-Texas-based southwest border sector showing increased migrant apprehensions this year over last. The apprehension of 234,667 migrants in FY23 in this sector compares to the 195,115 migrants apprehended over the same period in FY22.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick with the American Immigration Council tweeted that migrants entering in the Tucson Sector “mostly try to avoid arrest.” This contrasts with other sectors on the southwest border, where migrants tend to surrender to make asylum claims.
In the five Texas-based border sectors, agents apprehended just over one million migrants during the first nine months of FY22. This year’s apprehension of nearly 908,000 migrants represents a more than 11 percent drop.
Migrants also appear to have shifted from the Texas-based sectors to the U.S.-Canada border, where CBP reports an increase of 417 percent over the same period last year. The Swanton Sector alone shows an increase of 777 percent. In the Swanton Sector, nationals.
Swanton Sector Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia tweeted that his agents arrested more migrants in less than ten months than in the previous eight years combined. The CBP report shows nearly half of the migrants apprehended crossing from Canada into this sector which covers Vermont, New Hampshire, and the eastern New York border are reported to be Mexican nationals.
A large percentage of migrants in this sector also attempt to avoid apprehension.
Agents in the Miami Sector also reported an increase in migrant apprehensions. So far this fiscal year, agents apprehended 5,523 migrants. This represents a 153 percent increase over the 2,183 apprehended during the same period last year.
Breitbart Texas reached out to CBP officials for an explanation of why they believe migrants are making the shift from Texas to Arizona and the Northern border. While not responding directly to the question, CBP offered the following:
The United States Border Patrol analyzes and tracks illicit migration and drug trafficking trends and will adjust our enforcement posture, resources, and personnel accordingly to address those threat streams.
“Under Operation Lone Star, Texas National Guard soldiers and DPS troopers have apprehended over 393,000 illegal immigrants, repelled more than 49,000 illegal immigrants, seized over 422 million lethal doses of fentanyl and over 8,000 weapons, and arrested over 31,000 criminals – all of which would have otherwise made their way into communities across Texas and our country thanks to President Biden’s open border policies,” Abbott’s press secretary concluded. “Until President Biden steps up and does his job, Texas will continue utilizing every tool and strategy to respond to this border crisis.”
https://www.breitbart.com/border/2023/07/22/exclusive-texas-says-states-border-security-op-effectively-moving-migrant-crossings-to-other-states/
Nicaraguan president rejects ‘Nazi’ Zelensky
Daniel Ortega also praised Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and lamented NATO’s destruction of Libya
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has accused the EU of “hurting” the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) by forcing it to adopt a statement in support of “fascist Nazi” Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky at the EU-CELAC summit on Wednesday.
Speaking at an event celebrating the 44th anniversary of the Sandinista victory in Nicaragua, Ortega lamented that the Brussels summit – the first in many years attended by Managua – had released a statement expressing “concern” about “the war against Ukraine” despite his country’s objections.
Accusing the EU of trying to “run Nicaragua in agreement with the United States,” he emphasized that his government “did not sign, approve or accompany what was announced, pompously and falsely, as the Declaration of Consensus of the III CELAC-European Union Summit.”
Resolutions “have to be taken by consensus,” Ortega insisted. By not following procedure, the EU was “hurting CELAC.”
“At the European Community meeting with CELAC, where they wanted to put the fascist, the Nazi president of Ukraine at the meeting. The Europeans pressed hard, but most of the CELAC countries did not accept and could not stand for the fascist president of Ukraine,” Ortega said, adding that the EU’s efforts to introduce a line in the summit statement explicitly blaming Russia for the turmoil in Ukraine had been rebuffed.
“Logically, we could not accept this,” he explained, pointing out that “it didn’t make sense to put these issues on the agenda of the EU and CELAC.”
However, efforts to include a line in the statement calling for an end to the Western policy of aggression and sanctions against Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua were gutted, with Venezuela and Nicaragua removed. A call not to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions, which are banned in the EU, was also shot down, Ortega said.
Addressing thousands of young people who had assembled in Managua’s Plaza de la Dignidad Nacional to celebrate the anniversary of Nicaragua’s liberation, Ortega also praised slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed by NATO assets during the war that “destroyed” Libya in 2012. He said Gaddafi had “showed solidarity with Nicaragua” and “pushed for the unity of the Arab peoples.”
https://www.rt.com/news/580127-nicaragua-zelensky-fascist-celac-gaddafi/
Commerce Sec’y: China Targets Our Companies, Steals IP, But We Have to Try to Trade with Them, ‘Which Creates Jobs’
On Friday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo stated that during her planned trip to China, we have to lay out “our really serious concerns” about China’s targeting of American tech companies and concerns “about the way they don’t respect intellectual property,” but also have to “try to find lanes of commerce where we can do commerce, which creates jobs in America.”
After Raimondo stated that she is still planning to travel to China despite a reported hack of the Commerce Department by Chinese hackers that included a breach of her email and reported hacking of U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns’ email by Chinese hackers, co-host Sara Eisen asked, “What are you hoping to accomplish on a trip?”
Raimondo responded, “Well, it’ll be the first time a commerce secretary has gone to the region in years. We need to put before them our really serious concerns about the way they’re targeting U.S. tech companies, about the way they don’t respect intellectual property, but also try to find lanes of commerce where we can do commerce, which creates jobs in America.”
Raimondo also stated that the hack of the Commerce Department is under investigation and she can’t confirm who is responsible or if her email was breached.
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2023/07/21/commerce-secy-china-targets-our-companies-steals-ip-but-we-have-to-try-to-trade-with-them-which-creates-jobs/
WATCH: Air Force Academy Superintendent Says He Supports Fellowship for ‘Demigender’ People, But Doesn’t Even Know What the Term Means
Air Force Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Richard Clark admitted that he does not know what the term “demigender” means after saying that he supports a fellowship for them while testifying before Congress.
Rep. Matt Gaetz was questioning Clark about the Brooke Owens Fellowship, which is promoted by the academy and excludes normal straight biological men who do not identify as some form of queer.
“So you just said…it’s all about the fighting force that we draw from, but you’re literally pushing a program in the academies that says, if you’re a cisgender woman, a transgender woman, a non-binary, a-gender, bi-gender, two-spirit, demigender — what’s demigender?” Gaetz asked.
Clearly unsure of the answer, Clark attempted to dance around the question.
“Sir, that’s a — that’s a term of the people that are eligible for that particular scholarship that it’s available in person to — it’s a person who looks at their gender in a, in a different, a different way than I do, sir,” Clark replied.
Rep. Gaetz asked again, what “demigender” means, prompting Clark to finally admit, “I’m not really sure, sir.”
According to Wikipedia, “Demigender describes non-binary identities of someone experiencing partial connection to certain gender.”
The Florida congressman continued this line of questioning, asking Clark if he knows what “agender” means.
“Sir, I don’t,” Clark replied.
Agender, according to Wikipedia, means “not having a gender or a ‘lack of’ a gender.”
Rep. Gaetz replied, “Here we are pushing a fellowship, calling for people that you don’t even know what the words mean. And the number one group of people, the cisgender men are excluded…in the name of diversity, equity and inclusion. Should we be pushing programs that we can’t define, that exclude the largest group of service members?”
Clark claimed the fellowship is an “opportunity to develop [cadets] as warfighters and we look for every opportunity that we can.”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/07/air-force-academy-superintendent-says-he-supports-fellowship/
Dem Rep. Krishnamoorthi: U.S. Investment Funded Nearly 40% of China’s AI Sector and That Gets Shared with Military
On Friday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” Select Committee on the CCP Ranking Member Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) said that there needs to be greater regulation on American outbound investment in China and noted that American venture capital investment has funded 40% of China’s artificial intelligence sector and that many of the investments go to companies that end up sharing technology with China’s military or with its internal police.
Krishnamoorthi stated, [relevant remarks begin around 12:20] “It turns out that American VCs have funded upwards of 40% of the VC investments that have gone into the AI sector in the People’s Republic of China. And a lot of those investments, unfortunately, go to companies that then turn around and share that technology that they developed with the military or they share it with their internal police who use it for facial recognition software and the like. So, we are very concerned about these types of investments.”
Krishnamoorthi also said that he wants the Biden administration to issue the rules on outbound investment that it is working on and then see how Congress should act once they see the rules and that the committee wants information from American companies on their investments in China.
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2023/07/22/dem-rep-krishnamoorthi-u-s-investment-funded-nearly-half-of-chinas-ai-sector/
‘I am the AI’ – Biden
The US president joked as he warned of the dangers of artificial intelligence following a meeting with Big Tech leaders
US President Joe Biden declared “I am the AI” on Friday as he called for safeguards to govern the development of artificial intelligence following a meeting with tech leaders.
In apparently unscripted remarks as he approached the podium to deliver an address, 80-year-old Biden added that “if any of you think I’m Abe Lincoln, blame it on the AI” before warning that unregulated development of technologies – such as ChatGPT – could threaten “our democracy.”
“We must be clear-eyed and vigilant about the threats emerging technologies can pose – don’t have to – but can pose to our democracy and our values,” Biden said. His comments followed a meeting with representatives from tech companies including Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft.
The White House announced afterwards that a deal had been agreed with developers of the technology to manage potential risks posed by artificial intelligence, including independent security testing and the introduction of watermarks to clearly signal when online content has been artificially created.
Biden’s comments come amid concerns about the unfettered growth of AI and its potential impact on employment sectors and the spread of misinformation and disinformation online, particularly in the lead-in to the 2024 US presidential election.
“Companies have agreed to find ways for AI to help meet society’s greatest challenges,” Biden explained, touting the “enormous opportunities” that the technology can present. He added that the US would “work with our allies and partners on a common international framework to govern the development of AI.”
Some critics of the US government’s attempts to manage the development of AI have pointed to backlash against similar measures imposed to control ‘disinformation’ on social media, particularly throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. This led to accusations of a partisan slant in moderation policies on social networks.
Since its public release in November 2022, OpenAI’s ChatGPT – as well as other language models like Google Bard, which followed four months later – have signaled a new frontier in online content creation. They have also yielded existential concerns, including from Big Tech leader Elon Musk, about the long-term implications that artificial intelligence may have on society.
However, other industry leaders – including Meta president of global affairs Nick Clegg – have said that some of the more apocalyptic scenarios posed by skeptics are unfounded. “Hype has somewhat run ahead of the technology,” Clegg said this week following the launch of Meta’s open-source language model ‘Llama 2’. “In many ways, they’re quite stupid.”
https://www.rt.com/news/580111-us-biden-ai-tech-leaders/
US creates permanent pandemic agency
The office will take over the duties of the White House Covid-19 response team
The US government has launched a new agency to prepare for pandemics and other “biological threats,” with President Joe Biden tapping a retired Air Force general to spearhead the project.
The White House announced the creation of the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy (OPPR) on Friday. The agency will be tasked with devising a response to public health crises, coordinating scientific research and medical efforts against pandemics, and providing regular reports to Congress.
“This will be a permanent office in the Executive Office of the President charged with leading, coordinating, and implementing actions related to preparedness for, and response to, known and unknown biological threats or pathogens,” the White House said in a press release.
The new office will be headed up by Retired Air Force Major General Paul Friedrichs, who currently serves as a special assistant to President Joe Biden and the Senior Director for Global Health Security and Biodefense at the White House National Security Council. Friedrichs previously worked as a joint staff surgeon at the Pentagon, where he also advised the military’s Covid-19 task force.
The OPPR will formally come into existence on August 7, after which Friedrichs will begin assembling a team. His responsibilities will include ensuring the Strategic National Stockpile is well-equipped with medical supplies, and working with Congress to procure funding for US preparedness efforts, according to the New York Times.
In addition to crafting a government response to future pandemics, the agency will confer with industry, the scientific community and the Department of Health and Human Services to develop the “next generation of medical countermeasures,” including vaccines. Its work will focus on Covid-19, monkeypox, polio, avian and human influenza, and RSV, among other pathogens.
Taking over the role of the White House’s Covid-19 response team, which was shuttered in May, the office was created under a sweeping government spending package enacted in late 2022. It will be required to submit a “preparedness review” to lawmakers every two years, and a separate “outlook report” every five years.
https://www.rt.com/news/580099-us-permanent-pandemic-office/
Pro-Life Activists Attacked While Protesting Outside DC Planned Parenthood — Police Refuse to Charge Attackers, Despite Video
Two pro-life activists were assaulted while protesting outside the DC Planned Parenthood on Saturday.
Terrisa Bukovanic, the Founder and Executive Director of Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU), and Michael Gribbin, frequently offer sidewalk counsel outside the clinic to let women know there is help and other options for women who change their minds.
PAAU said in a press release that, according to Bukovanic, “the incident began when a woman approached her and threw coffee in her face and hair. When Gribbin went to grab the coffee cup her male partner assaulted him.”
The incident, most of which was captured on video, shows Gribbon being thrown to the ground and punched repeatedly. It also shows Bukovanic being slapped in the face by the woman who had thrown the coffee.
Despite the attack being on video, DC police declined to charge the attackers.
“Even as a progressive anti-abortion atheist I understand that the abortion industrial complex is responsible for a mass genocide which will require immense bravery to dismantle,” Bukovanic said. “Pro-lifers must be committed to total non-violence to effectively challenge the institution of legal child killing around the globe.”
Michael New, a Catholic University of America professor who helps coordinate pro-life sidewalk counseling efforts outside the DC Planned Parenthood, said in a statement, “It is sad, but unsurprising that the DC police have refused to press charges on two individuals who assaulted 2 pro-life sidewalk counselors outside the DC Planned Parenthood.”
“Pro-lifers have first amendment rights and no one should have to fear for their safety while sidewalk counseling,” New continued. “As someone who coordinates sidewalk counseling efforts outside the DC Planned Parenthood it is of paramount importance that our volunteers are safe. If Terrisa and Michael wish to file civil charges against their assailants, they would have my enthusiastic support.”
PAAU noted that this is not the first time that DC police have refused to charge people who attack pro-life demonstrators.
“On August 31, 2019, Gribbin was chalking pro-life messages on the sidewalk outside the DC Planned Parenthood,” PAAU’s press release noted. “Quinn Chasan who worked for Google stole Gribbin’s chalk and threw it down the street. When confronted Chasan proceeded to assault Gribbin. Despite video evidence of the incident, the DC police refused to press charges.”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/07/pro-life-activists-attacked-while-protesting-outside-dc/