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It’s been a big month for artificial intelligence (AI).
Last week, President Biden issued a landmark Executive Order to ensure the U.S. leads the way in advancing AI while managing its risks. The Executive Order aims to set new standards for AI safety and security, protect consumer privacy, uphold equity and civil rights, and advocate for workers — all while promoting innovation and competition. That’s a tall order!
While regulators snap into gear, the private sector is innovating away like usual. This month, Latimer — a new diversity-and-inclusion-focused language model known as the "Black GPT” — was featured in People Of Color In Tech. After a Bloomberg News investigation found that the text-to-image generator Stable Diffusion amplified racial bias, Latimer was developed to help address racial bias and erasure in AI by incorporating better, more diverse data sources.
Latimer’s purpose is to serve as an educational tool and promote equity in AI. Notable African-American scholars and tech professionals have already stepped up to support this initiative, while Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are eager to integrate Latimer into educational programs.
It makes one think. Last week, during an interactive networking event in New York City, futurist and tech educator Sinead Bovell interviewed Project Liberty CEO Martina Larkin on the future of ethical artificial intelligence (AI). Bovell asked: Why do we so commonly refer to AI as “just a tool,” when AI models are designed to act and execute instructions? Unlike a hammer or a pencil, an AI doesn’t simply aid an action — but rather performs it.
Despite their lack of sentience, Bovell argued, every AI model is an actor of some kind. Models enact instructions that were built by people, and each person brings to the design table a specific set of cultural values, beliefs, expectations and blindspots.
On what basis do AI developers decide what actions are good or ethical? And who is in the room when such decisions are being made? Are we doing a satisfactory job of making sure the decisions occurring around AI represent the values of the collective?
While these questions will continue to evolve, President Biden has taken a critical step to address the growing challenges posed by AI technology by requiring companies to report on the potential risks associated with their AI systems, and by emphasizing the need for safeguards against deep fakes and other threats.
Tell us — do you think we should govern AI in a way that protects the public? Can AI be a force for public good?
New data poisoning tool, 'Nightshade,' lets artists hijack AI. Artists are taking a stand against the dangers of generative AI through a new tool that lets them make secret changes to their art’s pixels before uploading it online so that if it’s scraped into an AI training set it can disrupt the model from within.
A Solana-powered coffee brand is now available on Amazon Prime. Raposa Coffee was built from the “grounds” up, thanks to its 10,000-item Kups NFT collection and the tight-knit community it birthed. The brand has now taken NFT-powered coffee mainstream.
LastPass hack victims lose over $4 million in a single day. The hack affected at least 25 individuals, as cryptocurrency wallets became the target of theft.
Brazil witnesses stablecoin transactions surge. Tether (USDT) now constitutes 80% of all cryptocurrency transactions in the country, surpassing Bitcoin's transaction volume.
SBF’s trial continues. Bankman-Fried's trial could potentially last up to six more weeks.
MetaMask upgrades user security. MetaMask has teamed up with security firm Blockaid to launch a security alerts feature aimed at protecting users from scams, phishing attempts, and hacking events. The feature will be gradually rolled out to desktop users soon.
🗓️ Mark your calendars! Today we’re hosting our first She Innovates X Space featuring BFF Co-Founder and Founder of Schmidt’s Naturals, Jaime Schmidt.
RSVP LINK: https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1RDGllVzEnrGL
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🚨 This newsletter and all the information in it does not constitute financial advice. If you don’t want to invest money or time in Web3, you don’t have to. As always: Do your own research.
