https://arab.news/5u7xz
SYDNEY: A regional Australian mayor said he may sue OpenAI if it does not correct ChatGPT’s false claims that he had served time in prison for bribery, in what would be the first defamation lawsuit against the automated text service.
Brian Hood, who was elected mayor of Hepburn Shire, 120km (75 miles) northwest of Melbourne, last November, became concerned about his reputation when members of the public told him ChatGPT had falsely named him as a guilty party in a foreign bribery scandal involving a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Australia in the early 2000s.
Hood did work for the subsidiary, Note Printing Australia, but was the person who notified authorities about payment of bribes to foreign officials to win currency printing contracts, and was never charged with a crime, lawyers representing him said.
The lawyers said they sent a letter of concern to ChatGPT owner OpenAI on March 21, which gave OpenAI 28 days to fix the errors about their client or face a possible defamation lawsuit.
OpenAI, which is based in San Francisco, had not yet responded to Hood’s legal letter, the lawyers said. OpenAI did not respond to a Reuters email out of business hours.
If Hood sues, it would likely be the first time a person has sued the owner of ChatGPT for claims made by the automated language product which has become wildly popular since its launch last year. Microsoft Corp. integrated ChatGPT into its search engine Bing in February.
A Microsoft spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.
“It would potentially be a landmark moment in the sense that it’s applying this defamation law to a new area of artificial intelligence and publication in the IT space,” James Naughton, a partner at Hood’s lawfirm Gordon Legal, told Reuters.
“He’s an elected official, his reputation is central to his role,” Naughton said. Hood relied on a public record of shining a light on corporate misconduct, “so it makes a difference to him if people in his community are accessing this material.”
Australian defamation damages payouts are generally capped around A$400,000 ($269,360). Hood did not know the exact number of people who had accessed the false information about him — a determinant of the payout size — but the nature of the defamatory statements was serious enough that he may claim more than A$200,000, Naughton said.
If Hood files a lawsuit, it would accuse ChatGPT of giving users a false sense of accuracy by failing to include footnotes, Naughton said.
“It’s very difficult for somebody to look behind that to say ‘how does the algorithm come up with that answer?’” said Naughton. “It’s very opaque.”
LONDON: Google plans to include conversational artificial intelligence features in its search engine as it seeks to respond to changes brought about by the rapidly changing industry, says Sundar Pichai.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the Alphabet and Google CEO said AI will enhance user experience to give people more power and flexibility when searching online.
Pichai said: “Will people be able to ask questions to Google and engage with LLMs in the context of search? Absolutely.”
Google is a pioneer in the field of large language models, the term used to refer to AI models that can generate natural language texts from large amounts of data.
The technology is at the heart of services like ChatGPT, the AI chatbot sensation released to the public in the autumn of last year by OpenAI.
Microsoft recently launched an upgraded version of its Bing search engine, which is now powered by ChatGPT. The company said that the new search engine helped it exceed 100 million daily active users last month.
Along with adding it to Bing, the firm spearheaded by Satya Nadella is also integrating the chatbot technology into its Edge browser as well as other Microsoft 365 applications and services.
Google has long been the dominant player in the field of search engine technology, offering a fast and simple way to access information online.
The algorithm that powers its search engine has been the driving force of the business, accounting for more than half of the revenue at parent Alphabet.
Pichai dismissed the potential threat posed by chatbots and added that “the opportunity space, if anything, is bigger than before.”
Google released Bard to the public in February, its own AI chatbot that is similar to ChatGPT, hinting at possible plans to integrate the technology into its search engine.
Pichai added: “It has been incredible to see user excitement around adoption of these technologies, and some of that is a pleasant surprise as well.”
Although Google insists on saying that Bard is an “experiment” and a “powerful technology” that should be used in a “responsible way,” Pichai confirmed that the tech giant is “thoughtfully integrating LLMs into search in a deeper way.”
However, Google has not yet released any specific information about when or how it plans to integrate the technology.
Pichai said that Google is testing several new AI-powered search products, including ones that would allow people to ask follow-up questions to their original query.
Google announced in March that it was working on testing AI features for its Workspace tools, including Gmail and Docs.
Although the AI race has injected fresh energy and optimism into the tech industry, the sector is in the midst of a transition that includes cost-cutting and layoffs due to economic uncertainty.
Google earlier this week announced cuts of some employee perks, ranging from dining facilities to the company’s computing infrastructure.
MOSCOW: Moscow has formally charged US journalist Evan Gershkovich with espionage, Russian news agencies reported Friday, adding that he had denied the accusations.
The arrest of Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich prompted an outcry from media outlets and rights groups, as well as government officials in Washington.
“FSB investigators charged Gershkovich with espionage in the interests of his country,” Russian state-run agency TASS said, citing a law enforcement source.
“He categorically denied all accusations and stated that he was engaged in journalistic activities in Russia,” TASS said.
Gershkovich’s arrest is seen as a serious escalation of Moscow’s crackdown on the media.
His publication, one of the most prestigious in the United States, “vehemently denies the allegations” against its “trusted and dedicated reporter.”
The case has been classified as secret, limiting the amount of information available.
His arrest also comes as Moscow’s relationship with Washington has been severely downgraded because of the Ukraine offensive.
Washington has long accused Moscow of arbitrarily arresting Americans in order to secure the release of detained Russians.
US President Joe Biden called for Gershkovich’s release on Friday, the White House calling the accusations against him “ridiculous.”
Russia said on Thursday it was “pointless” to try to pressure Moscow over the case.
ISLAMABAD: A women-run radio station in northeastern Afghanistan has resumed its broadcasts, after officials shut it down for a week for playing music during the holy month of Ramadan, a Taliban official and the head of the station said Friday.
Sadai Banowan, which means “women’s voice” in Dari, was launched 10 years ago in Badakhshan province and is Afghanistan’s only women-run radio station. Six of its eight staff members are women.
Moezuddin Ahmadi, the director for Information and Culture in Badakhshan, said the station was allowed to resume activities on Thursday after it had obeyed the “laws and regulations of the Islamic Emirate” and agreed to stop broadcasting any kind of music.
Station head Najia Sorosh said after the station “gave a commitment to officials at the information and culture department, they unlocked the door of the station,” and they started broadcasting again.
The Afghan Journalist Safety Committee, an Afghan watchdog organization that promotes the safety of journalists and press freedom and which was involved in mediation for the station’s reopening, welcomed the resumption of broadcasts.
“Following AJSC’s advocacy efforts, Sadai Banowan radio resumed its broadcasts,” it said in a tweet.
Representatives from the Ministry of Information and Culture and the Vice and Virtue Directorate had shut down the station a week earlier.
Many journalists lost their jobs after the Taliban takeover in August 2021. Media outlets closed over a lack of funds or because staff left the country, according to the Afghan Independent Journalists Association.
The Taliban have barred women from most forms of employment and education beyond the sixth grade, including university. There is no official ban on music. During their previous rule in the late 1990s, the Taliban barred most television, radio and newspapers in the country.
DUBAI: Vice Media Group has launched the first edition of its “The State of Arab Youth” report.
The regional edition builds on the global document published by Vice Media in 2022 and is based on interviews conducted by the company’s employees, as well as an online survey.
The report’s insights can be put into four key areas: identity, expression, connectivity, and ambition.
Some 52 percent of youth in the Middle East and North Africa region said that personality was the main driver of their identity, while 49 percent attributed it to family, 47 percent to education, and 37 percent to friends.
These markers of identity were found to be stronger in the region than traditional ones globally, such as age and gender.
Julie Arbit, global senior vice president of Insights at Vice Media Group, told Arab News: “Young people in the Middle East are defining themselves by who they are, which is their personality, versus more traditional identity markers of age and gender.”
A total of 57 percent said they expressed their identity through their thoughts and opinions, followed by their appearance (44 percent) and language (40 percent).
Arbit added: “As that concept of identity is becoming more important to young people in the region, they are creating new avenues of expression and remaking culture in the process.”
Their identity is driven by personality (52 percent), family (49 percent), education (47 percent), and friends (37 percent).
Some 57 percent express their identity through their thoughts and opinions, followed by their appearance (44 percent) and their language (40 percent).
More than 52 percent use fashion to celebrate their cultural heritage.
Some 55 percent use beauty and grooming products to showcase their creativity.
One in three gamers turn to gaming as a place for self-expression.
Some 57 percent are excited to explore the metaverse.
A total of 69 percent are always looking for ways to use technology to enhance their lives.
Some 54 percent agree that sometimes they need to take a break from technology.
A total of 50 percent say their financial health is good or excellent.
More than 52 percent of Arab youth use fashion to celebrate their cultural heritage, which is 19 percentage points higher than the global average, while 55 percent use beauty and grooming products to showcase their creativity.
Arbit said: “This expression is not limited to the real world; we’re seeing expression flourish in virtual worlds too, with gaming really becoming a place for Arab youth to express themselves.”
One in three gamers in the MENA region, for example, turn to gaming as a place for self-expression, and 57 percent are excited to explore the metaverse.
Technology also plays a huge role in the lives of Arab youth for both connection and expression, with 69 percent saying they are always looking for ways to use technology to enhance their lives.
Some 30 percent in the MENA region — 14 percentage points higher than the global average — said they “need a lot more” technology to live a happy and healthy life.
The prevalence of technology and social media in the lives of people, especially children and young adults, has led to global concerns around online safety and mental health.
The US called on TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew to appear recently before a bipartisan committee where he was asked about the platform’s adverse impact on children and teenagers, among other things.
Arbit said: “I’d be remiss to say that we don’t recognize the downsides of technology and media. However, what we’ve seen in other studies that we’ve done is that technology can actually improve young people’s mental health.”
She added that another Vice Media study had revealed that gaming in particular works to improve the mental health of young people, who feel it provides a place to escape and relax, as well as connect with other people.
Dima Alsharfi, senior strategist at Vice Media’s agency Virtue, said that today’s youth are mindful of the potential dangers of technology and social media, and know how to deal with the issue.
In fact, 54 percent of the MENA youth agree that sometimes they need to take a break from technology, she added.
The youngsters have also acknowledged that in order to lead a happy and healthy life they need resources other than technology, such as money (53 percent), knowledge and education (47 percent), exercise and physical activity (42 percent), and creativity (41 percent), among others.
Some 54 percent of youth said their style is “heavily influenced by what they see on social media,” and 53 percent said they look for new beauty and grooming ideas from their peers on social media.
However, Alsharfi said, the influence of social media is not necessarily a bad thing, adding: “We are being influenced by what we see, but at the same time we’re setting the stage.”
For young people in the Arab world, social media is a tool that inspires, influences and connects.
In Saudi Arabia, 70 percent of the population are under 30. As the Kingdom undergoes a massive transformation, Saudi youth are making a very “unapologetic point” about who they are, Alsharfi said.
“They see that the change that they want is actually coming to life,” she added.
This is evident in the report, which says that 40 percent of Saudi youth are optimistic about the future of their country, compared to 21 percent globally.
Youth in the region are also more confident about their personal finances than anywhere else in the world, with 50 percent saying their financial health is good or excellent — 14 percentage points higher than the global average.
Alsharfi said: “The Saudi youth are really excited about their financial futures and feel like it’s either good or excellent.”
She found the “most exciting” finding to be the level of optimism among Arab youth.
Some 35 percent of Gen Z audiences in MENA are more likely to be very optimistic about the world — 11 percentage points higher than the global average — and 45 percent are more likely to be very optimistic about their country, 15 percentage points higher than the global average.
Alsharfi added: “The optimism shows that there’s so much more growth and positive change that’s going to happen. There’s a lot of opportunity and that’s the most exciting part.”
BEIJING: Zhang Yiming, the founder of TikTok parent company ByteDance, saw his personal fortune fall by $17 billion last year, according to a new Chinese ranking published Thursday.
The reasons for the losses are unknown, but Zhang is still the second-richest entrepreneur in the world under the age of 40, with wealth valued at $37 billion, according to statistics published by the Chinese firm Hurun.
Ahead of him is Mark Zuckerberg, boss of US tech giant Meta — the owner of Facebook and Instagram — whose fortune was estimated by Hurun at $68 billion.
According to the ranking, Zuckerberg also lost money last year to the tune of $8 billion.
Zhang co-founded ByteDance in Beijing in 2012, but resigned from the group in 2021 in the midst of regulatory tightening on China’s tech industry.
A Chinese citizen, Zhang is now based in Singapore.
ByteDance’s success in China’s highly competitive Internet sector has been largely thanks to its popular short video app Douyin.
The app is the most valuable start-up globally, with a market capitalization of $200 billion, according to Hurun.
Its international version, TikTok, is wildly popular with teenagers around the world, but concerns over national security have left its future uncertain in many countries.
Critics say TikTok allows Chinese authorities access to global user data — allegations the firm has vehemently denied.
Still, the US, Canadian, British and Australian governments, as well as the European Commission, have recently banned their officials from installing TikTok on work phones.
And Washington has threatened the app with a total ban, with TikTok boss Shou Zi Chew hauled before a US congressional hearing recently to defend it.
On Tuesday, TikTok was fined 12.7 million pounds ($15.8 billion) by the British digital regulator over its use of the personal data of children.