Thoughts

Short thoughts, notes, links, and musings by . RSS

forgot to hit the second “yes i really mean it” button to confirm my audiobook library loan renewal so it just returned a book i’m halfway through and now there’s a nine-week wait 😫

[Ars Technica] asked Cruz's office to explain why a senator pressuring Wikipedia is appropriate while an FCC chair pressuring ABC is not and will update this article if we get a response.
“Ted Cruz picks a fight with Wikipedia, accusing platform of left-wing bias”.
Jon Brodkin in Ars Technica.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) sent a letter to the nonprofit operator of Wikipedia alleging a pattern of liberal bias in articles on the collaborative encyclopedia.

New research from AWU/CWU/Techquity on AI data workers in North America. “[L]ow paid people who are not even treated as humans [are] out there making the 1 billion dollar, trillion dollar AI systems that are supposed to lead our entire society and civilization into the future,” says one.

We identify four broad themes that should concern policymakers: Workers struggle to make ends meet. 86% of surveyed workers worry about meeting their financial responsibilities, and 25% of respondents rely on public assistance, primarily food assistance and Medicaid. Nearly two-thirds of respondents (66%) report spending at least three hours weekly sitting at their computers waiting for tasks to be available, and 26% report spending more than eight hours waiting for tasks. Only 30% of respondents reported that they are paid for the time when no tasks are available. Workers reported a median hourly wage of $15 and a median workweek of 29 hours of paid time, which equates to annual earnings of $22,620. Workers perform critical, skilled work but are increasingly hamstrung by lack of control over the work process, which results in lower work output and, in turn, higher-risk AI systems. More than half of the workers who are assigned an average estimated time (AET) to complete a task felt that AETs are often not long enough to complete the task accurately. 87% of respondents report they are regularly assigned tasks for which they are not adequately trained. With limited or no access to mental health benefits, workers are unable to safeguard themselves even as they act as a first line of defense, protecting millions of people from harmful content and imperfect AI systems. Only 23% of surveyed workers are covered by health insurance from their employer. Deeply involved in every aspect of building AI systems, workers recognize the wide range of risks that these systems pose to themselves and to society at large. Fifty-two percent of surveyed workers believe they are training AI to replace other workers’ jobs, and 36% believe they are training AI to replace their own jobs. 74% were concerned about AI’s contribution to the spread of disinformation, 54% concerned about surveillance, and 47% concerned about the use of AI to suppress free speech, among other issues.
“Ghost Workers in the AI Machine: U.S. Data Workers Speak Out About Big Tech's Exploitation”.
in Communications Workers of America.
We identify four broad themes that should concern policymakers: Workers struggle to make ends meet. Workers perform critical, skilled work but are increasingly hamstrung by lack of control over the work process, which results in lower work output and, in turn, higher-risk AI systems. With limited or no access to mental health benefits, workers are unable to safeguard themselves even as they act as a first line of defense, protecting millions of people from harmful content and imperfect AI systems. Deeply involved in every aspect of building AI systems, workers recognize the wide range of risks that these systems pose to themselves and to society at large.

Someone should probably inform the White House's "AI & Crypto Czar" that no one is forcing AI companies to train their models on Wikipedia

Tweet by David Sacks: "Wikipedia is hopelessly biased. An army of left-wing activists maintain the bios and fight reasonable corrections. Magnifying the problem, Wikipedia often appears first in Google search results, and now it’s a trusted source for AI model training. This is a huge problem."

You would think the obvious solution to "the volunteer-powered project we all train our AI models on for free isn't adequately twisting reality to our political views" would be "... and so we stopped training on it" and not "... and so we will force the volunteers to bend to our will"

Bloomberg has filed their opposition to Justin Sun’s renewed motion for emergency relief, arguing they never promised not to publish the information he and his team provided to them. They also argue that his demands they remove the article about him and prevent them from publishing a second one would violate the First Amendment.

Sun cannot satisfy the requirements for emergency relief: (1) He has no likelihood of success on the merits because Bloomberg never made any promise to him inconsistent with what it published (promissory estoppel) and he has no claim for publication of truthful newsworthy information (public disclosure of private facts). (2) The pre-lawsuit publication of the information moots his irreparable harm allegations, which are in any event misleading and disproved by his own actions. (3) Any prohibition on publication, including a takedown of a report that already has been published, would irreparably harm Bloomberg’s First Amendment right to publish. (4) A prior restraint would thus disserve the public interest.

(Answering brief)

After publication, Sun asked Bloomberg to reduce his supposed ownership of TRX from 60 billion (~63% of circulating supply) to only 8 billion. Bloomberg refused. “[W]e believe Mr. Sun may not want the public to know that he controls a majority of the TRX in circulation”

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(Maloney declaration)

Also: I seem to have become an exhibit

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(Answering brief, exhibit 5 to Hentoff declaration)