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Courtesy of Midjourney

California wants to prevent an AI “catastrophe”

The Golden State may be close to passing AI safety regulation — and Silicon Valley isn’t pleased.

The proposed AI safety bill, SB 1047, also known as the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act, aims to establish “common sense safety standards” for powerful AI models.

The bill would require companies developing high-powered AI models to implement safety measures, conduct rigorous testing, and provide assurances against "critical harms," such as the use of models to execute mass-casualty events and cyberattacks that lead to $500 million in damages. It warns that the California attorney general can take civil action against violators, though rules would only apply to models that cost $100 million to train and pass a certain computing threshold.

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An AI-generated image of a techno brain crashing against the waves.

Created via Midjourney

You say you want AI revolution?

A year after the launch of ChatGPT, who are the winners and losers, and what's next? Our new columnist Azeem Azhar, founder of Exponential View, and an author and analyst, weighs in.

It’s hard to believe it’s been less than a year since ChatGPT was unveiled by Sam Altman, the boss of OpenAI. Far from the razzmatazz that normally accompanies Silicon Valley launches, Altman posted an innocuous tweet. And the initial responses could be characterized as bemused delight at seeing a new trinket.

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Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge

REUTERS

Meta faces Canadian watchdog probe

Canada’s antitrust watchdog is investigating Meta’s move to block Canadian news on its platforms. The Competition Bureau confirmed it is doing a “preliminary review” on the same day that a consortium of Canadian news outlets asked it “to use its investigative and prosecutorial tools to protect competition and prohibit Meta from continuing to block Canadians’ access to news content.”
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Tech talent wars & the role of ethics in Big Tech success (long-term)
Tech Talent Wars & the Role of Ethics in Big Tech Success (Long-Term) | Frances Haugen | GZERO World

Tech talent wars & the role of ethics in Big Tech success (long-term)

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen still has hope that the corporate culture inside tech companies can change for the better.
"Huge things that seemed impossible [...] all came to be," she says, comparing the idea to historical tectonic shifts like the end of the Cold War or apartheid in South Africa.

Speaking to Ian Bremmer on GZERO World, Haugen says that she doesn't want to tear down social media companies. In fact, she wants them to be successful in the long run "because culture change will come along with that."

Google recently had to ditch a lucrative Pentagon contract in order to retain the best talent.

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Biden’s executive order cracks down on Big Tech and protects consumers
Biden’s Executive Order Cracks Down on Big Tech & Protects Consumers | Cyber In :60 | GZERO Media

Biden’s executive order cracks down on Big Tech and protects consumers

Marietje Schaake, International Policy Director at Stanford's Cyber Policy Center, Eurasia Group senior advisor and former MEP, discusses tech policy in the United States and the new White House executive order with no less than 72 competition enhancing measures.

How will Biden's executive order crack down on big tech?

The answer is in almost every way. The order clearly seeks stronger antitrust enforcement with specific provisions on data and the impact of its assembling on privacy. The order asks for new rules on surveillance from the FTC but will also allow for assessments of not only future but also past mergers. And that is important because the very wealthy, very powerful tech companies are known to buy up competitors that they may fear, and through those mergers grow their data piles. So, the executive order must cause concern in Silicon Valley. The order goes on to restore net neutrality, which is crucial for smaller companies and noncommercial websites. And the position of consumers improves with the possibility to have products repaired or to see others doing that, which is a practice that is often banned today. So once these various measures are in place, the public interest, innovation, consumer rights, and privacy protection should be better safeguarded from abuse of power by big tech.

Will tech giants be taxed for worldwide profits with a global tax rate?
Will Tech Giants Be Taxed For Worldwide Profits With A Global Tax Rate? | Cyber In :60 | GZERO Media

Will tech giants be taxed for worldwide profits with a global tax rate?

Get insights on the latest news about emerging trends in cyberspace from Marietje Schaake, International Policy Director at Stanford University's Cyber Policy Center and former European Parliamentarian:

Today, we talk about the "T word", as I often refer to: taxation. But that taboo is finally broken in the United States.

How would a global minimum corporate tax rate, like the one Janet Yellen has called for, affect Big Tech?

Now, ideally, it would ensure a level playing field for all companies, and European leaders embrace the US change of course, but they did add that there should be ways to tax tech giants for their global profits. It's a demand that is widely shared in Europe. So the hope is that that can be arranged between all OECD members.

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Podcast: Kara Swisher on Big Tech's Big Problem

Transcript

Listen: Renowned tech journalist Kara Swisher has no qualms about saying that social media companies bear responsibility for the January 6th pro-Trump riots at the Capitol and will likely be complicit in the civil unrest that may continue well into Biden's presidency. It's no surprise, she argues, that the online rage that platforms like Facebook and Twitter intentionally foment translated into real-life violence. But if Silicon Valley's current role in our national discourse is untenable, how can the US government rein it in? That, it turns out, is a bit more complicated. Swisher joins Ian Bremmer on our podcast.

Subscribe to the GZERO World Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your preferred podcast platform to receive new episodes as soon as they're published.
Uber, Lyft, Epic & Apple: what's at stake in Big Tech lawsuits
Uber, Lyft, Epic & Apple: What's at Stake in Big Tech Lawsuits | Tech In :60 | GZERO Media

Uber, Lyft, Epic & Apple: what's at stake in Big Tech lawsuits

Watch as Nicholas Thompson, editor-in-chief of WIRED, explains what's at stake in Big Tech lawsuits in 2020:

What's going on between Uber & Lyft and the state of California?

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