AI Weekly Digest - December 18 2023

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Microsoft historic alliance with unions to mitigate AI's impact on workers

Microsoft said it has established an "historic" alliance with unions in the US to mitigate the impact of artificial intelligence on workers. President Brad Smith said: “I can’t sit here and say that AI will?never displace a job. I don’t think that would be honest.?AI is well-designed to accelerate and eliminate some of the parts of people’s jobs that you might consider to be drudgery. By working directly with labour leaders, we can help ensure that AI serves the country’s workers.”

Claim: Meta used thousands of pirated books to train its AI models

Meta allegedly used thousands of pirated books to train its AI models, despite warnings from its lawyers, a new filing in an ongoing copyright lawsuit claims. The updated legal action consolidates two lawsuits brought against the Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram owner by comedian Sarah Silverman, Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Chabon and other prominent authors. They allege that Meta used their works without permission to train its Llama artificial intelligence language model.

Axel Springer in landmark licensing deal with OpenAI

Global news publisher?Axel Springer?has struck a landmark?licensing deal with?OpenAI, securing tens of millions of euros a year in exchange for allowing the group to train?ChatGPT?on stories from titles including?Politico?and?Business Insider. The group will also grant the AI platform near real-time access to its news content, enabling it to give users up-to-data answers, although it will also serve links back to the original material.?Axel Springer said the deal was important “strategically for us as this creates a revenue stream from an AI provider to us as a publisher - taking a more considered approach than back in the day when?Google,?Facebook?and the likes came into the fold and publishers were deers in the headlights".

Editor fired over bylines for non-existent writers

Arena Group?said it has fired?Sports Illustrated?editor Ross Levinsohn after the US title published articles bylined by non-existent writers with AI-generated profile pictures. Three other executives departed a week ago.

Pope calls for binding global treaty to regulate artificial intelligence

The Pope has warned that artificial intelligence could result in a "technological dictatorship" which threatens human existence. Pope Francis called for a legally binding international treaty to regulate AI, and said algorithms must not be allowed to replace human values. He said: "The global scale of artificial intelligence makes it clear that, alongside the responsibility of sovereign states to regulate its use internally, international organisations can play a decisive role in reaching multilateral agreements and coordinating their application and enforcement." He added: "I urge the global community of nations to work together in order to adopt a binding international treaty that regulates the development and use of artificial intelligence in its many forms."

CMA questions whether Microsoft investment is merger by stealth

The Competition and Markets Authority has begun canvassing views on Microsoft's close ties with OpenAI, asking whether the 49% stake it has acquired amounts to a merger by stealth. The regulator’s “invitation to comment” could be followed by a formal phase one investigation.

Investor: Chatbots represent existential threat to Google core business

Tech investor Jeremiah Owyang said his switch from?Google?to?Perplexity AI?to unearth information online represents "20 years of behaviour unlearnt in just a few months". Arguing that chatbots represent an existential threat to the search giant's core business, he said: “Google search is actually disrespectful to users. It has the answers that we seek; it just chooses not to show us in order to monetise with ads.”

Macron warns Act could place EU groups at disadvantage

French president Emmanuel Macron warned the?EU's landmark AI Act could place artificial intelligence groups within the bloc at a disadvantage relative to their US and UK peers. He said: "We can decide to regulate much faster and much stronger than our major competitors. But we will regulate things that we will no longer produce or invent. This is never a good idea."