'A cheap magic trick': Amazon, Google, Meta accused of dodging Senate questions
Source: Australia's The Age
Artificial intelligence chatbots ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Meta’s Llama should be deemed “high-risk” and subjected to mandatory transparency, testing and accountability requirements, a Senate inquiry has found, with US tech giant executives facing heavy criticism for dodging its questions.
-snip-
“Watching Amazon, Meta, and Google dodge questions during the hearings was like sitting through a cheap magic trick ... Plenty of hand-waving, a puff of smoke, and nothing to show for it in the end,” said the committee’s chair, Labor Senator Tony Sheldon.
“These tech giants aren’t pioneers; they’re pirates – pillaging our culture, data, and creativity for their gain while leaving Australians empty-handed.
“They want to set their own rules, but Australians need laws that protect rights, not Silicon Valley’s bottom line. We need new standalone AI laws to rein in big tech and put strong protections in place for high-risk AI uses, while existing laws should be amended as necessary.”
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theage.com.au/technology/a-cheap-magic-trick-amazon-google-meta-accused-of-dodging-senate-questions-20241126-p5ktlc.html
We need our US politicians to be at least as skeptical of the AI peddlers as the Australians have been.
But that's even less likely now, with Elon Musk's influence on Trump - plus the influence of other rightwing tech bros.
This is what Musk's AI is doing to Memphis:
https://harvardpublichealth.org/environmental-health/xai-memphis-project-owes-city-more-than-promises-on-environment/
So far, the Memphis project is not a model of how to do much more than move fast and break things. As NPR recently detailed, critics are concerned the tool “has fewer rules than other AI chatbots and has been known for creating controversial deepfake images, such as Mickey Mouse as a Nazi and Kamala Harris in lingerie,” as well as more indifference to curbing misinformation.
And that’s just the technology; the physical impact of the facility has also caused concern. It’s being built in South Memphis, known for both historically Black neighborhoods and poor air quality. It will place significant demands on the city’s electricity and water systems, and the impacts on both could harm residents.
To address these problems, xAI has made only promises—to coordinate with the city’s electric and water utility on a greywater facility and to install at least 50 megawatts (MW) of large battery storage facilities. So far, the promises aren’t plans; they’re talking points on a one-page factsheet, which lacks any mention of a timetable or detailed construction plan. And there are few avenues for accountability: The company has held no public meetings, nor communicated directly with the media. City officials signed nondisclosure agreements in order to engage xAI in negotiations to bring the plant to Memphis.
-snip-
In fact, xAI has already begun polluting—without the necessary permits, according to local environmental groups—in a neighborhood already burdened by legacy pollution from a coal power plant. And the supercomputer in question, Colossus, is already online, according to Musk’s social media account. If, as environmentalists fear, the plant affects the water supply, then the whole city will be harmed.
-snip-
= new reply since forum marked as read
Never open them, never interact. Delete them!
