Read full article about: Authors Guild threatens leading AI companies with just another copyright lawsuit
8,000 authors have signed an Authors Guild letter urging the CEOs of major AI companies, including OpenAI, Alphabet, Meta, Stability AI, IBM, and Microsoft, to fairly compensate and recognize authors for the use of their copyrighted works in the training of generative AI technologies. Signatories include Dan Brown, Margaret Atwood, James Patterson, Jennifer Egan, David Baldacci, and other notable authors.
The potential flood of AI-generated content poses a threat to the writing profession, and the Guild calls for collaboration with AI industry leaders to ensure that authors' rights are protected and the profession remains sustainable. The letter emphasizes the need for consent, credit, and compensation for authors whose works form the basis of AI systems such as ChatGPT and Bard. The Guild is threatening a lawsuit, but at this point, Big AI is probably used to that.
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Source: Authors Guild
Read full article about: British stores turn to AI facial recognition against rising shoplifting rates
Surveillance company Facewatch is experiencing "exponential" demand for its AI-powered facial recognition system to identify repeat shoplifters, founder Simon Gordon said. The system works by having a store manager review security camera footage after an item is stolen, logging the thief's image into Facewatch's system for future alerts.
Critics say this technology infringes on privacy rights and often makes mistakes. But according to Gordon, the system currently has a 99.85% accuracy rate and data is only stored for two weeks, half the time of traditional security camera footage, reports CNN.
Read full article about: World powers come together in a bid to mitigate AI's potential dangers
UN Security Council is set to hold its first formal discussion on artificial intelligence (AI) in New York, with the UK calling for international dialogue on the technology's impact on global peace and security. British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly will chair the meeting, as the UK seeks a leadership role in AI regulation. In June, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres supported the idea of creating an international AI watchdog, similar to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Read full article about: Startup claims to have replaced 90 percent of its support staff with a chatbot
Suumit Shah, CEO of Indian enterprise e-commerce platform Dukaan, claims to have laid off 90% of his support team after implementing a presumably GPT-4-based AI chatbot that has reduced customer support costs by about 85%. The chatbot, dubbed Lina, reduced first-response time to instant, cutting resolution times from more than two hours to just over three minutes, Shah said. The AI assistant answered both general and account-specific questions.
Given the state of economy, startups are prioritizing "profitability" over striving to become "unicorns," and so are we.
It's less magical, sure, but at least it pays the bills!
Customer Support had been a struggle for us since long & fixing it felt like an opportunity to me. pic.twitter.com/iLeSKuA6iQ
— Suumit Shah (@suumitshah) July 10, 2023
