TheMarkUp – “The online giant gives a leg up to hundreds of house brand and exclusive products that most people don’t know are connected to Amazon… An investigation by The Markup found that Amazon places products from its house brands and products exclusive to the site ahead of those from competitors—even competitors with higher customer ratings and more sales, judging from the volume of reviews. We found that knowing only whether a product was an Amazon brand or exclusive could predict in seven out of every 10 cases whether Amazon would place it first in search results. These listings are not visibly marked as “sponsored” and they are part of a grid that Amazon identifies as “search results” in the site’s source code. (We only analyzed products in that grid, ignoring modules that are strictly for advertising…” [It is important to exercise discretion and to take more time to locate brands and products you actually want rather than what Amazon tries to force you to buy algorithmically. Also take the time to dig down into the so called reviews, many of which are sponsored. Due diligence will reveal actual comments that may assist you in determining whether to buy a product or not.]
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Category Archives: AI
The First Amendment Does Not Protect Replicants
Lessig, Lawrence, The First Amendment Does Not Protect Replicants (September 10, 2021). Social Media and Democracy (Lee Bollinger & Geoffrey Stone, eds., Oxford 2022), Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3922565 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3922565 “As the semantic capability of computer systems increases, the law should resolve clearly whether the First Amendment protects machine speech. This essay argues it… Continue Reading
Face Recognition Technology: Commonly Used Terms
EFF: “As face recognition technology evolves at a dizzying speed, new uses and terminologies seem to develop daily. On this page, we attempt to define and disambiguate some of the most commonly used terms. For more information on government use of face recognition and how to end it in your community, visit EFF’s About Face… Continue Reading
New on LLRX September 2021
2021 Guide to Internet Privacy Resources and Tools – by Marcus Zillman How Can We Help To Free Legal Research From Algorithmic Bias? – by Stephanie Farne The legal regulation revolution – by Jason Furlong 4 strategies for energy and climate change breakthroughs at the UN summits – by Morgan Bazilian and Dolf Gielen Evidence… Continue Reading
Whistleblower: Facebook is misleading the public on progress against hate speech, violence, misinformation
60 Minutes – “Her name is Frances Haugen. That is a fact that Facebook has been anxious to know since last month when an anonymous former employee filed complaints with federal law enforcement. The complaints say Facebook’s own research shows that it amplifies hate, misinformation and political unrest—but the company hides what it knows. One… Continue Reading
Clearview AI Has New Tools to Identify You in Photos
Wired – “In an interview with WIRED, CEO Hoan Ton-That said the company has scraped 10 billion photos from the web—and developed new ways to aid police surveillance. Clearview AI has stoked controversy by scraping the web for photos and applying facial recognition to give police and others an unprecedented ability to peer into our… Continue Reading
Discriminatory AI and the Law Legal Standards for Algorithmic Profiling
von Ungern-Sternberg, Antje, Discriminatory AI and the Law – Legal Standards for Algorithmic Profiling. (June 29, 2021). Draft Chapter, in: Silja Vöneky, Philipp Kellmeyer, Oliver Müller and Wolfram Burgard (ed.) Responsible AI, Cambridge University Press (Forthcoming), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3876657 “Artificial Intelligence is increasingly used to assess people (profiling) and helps employers to find qualified… Continue Reading
‘Speaking Portraits’ Make It Unsettlingly Easy to Turn Still Photos Into Animated Deepfakes
Gizmodo: “Earlier this year, social media was briefly taken over by seemingly everyone using MyHeritage’s Deep Nostalgia feature to bring old photos to life. The company whose AI technology powers Deep Nostalgia, D-ID, is taking that technology one step further, turning still headshot photos into videos that move and say whatever a user wants. As… Continue Reading
How Can We Help To Free Legal Research From Algorithmic Bias?
RIPS Law Librarian, Stephanie Farne: “…While the bias in an AI powered search in any context is deeply troubling, looking at algorithmic bias in the context of legal research is even more disturbing. In ALR class, students work with hypothetical research problems. I paused to think – What about potential AI bias in real world legal… Continue Reading
UK publishes 10-year plan to become ‘A.I. superpower’ seeking to rival U.S. and China
CNBC: “The U.K. government on Wednesday released its 10-year plan to make the country a global “artificial intelligence superpower”, seeking to rival the likes of the U.S. and China. The so-called “National Artificial Intelligence Strategy” is designed to boost the use of AI among the nation’s businesses, attract international investment into British AI companies and… Continue Reading
Harms of AI
NBER – Harms of AI, Daron Acemoglu, Working Paper 29247 DOI 10.3386/w29247 Issue Date September 2021. “This essay discusses several potential economic, political and social costs of the current path of AI technologies. I argue that if AI continues to be deployed along its current trajectory and remains unregulated, it may produce various social, economic… Continue Reading
Climate Trace
“Climate TRACE is a global coalition created to make meaningful climate action faster and easier by independently tracking greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with unprecedented detail and speed. We harness satellite imagery and other forms of remote sensing, artificial intelligence, and collective data science expertise to track human-caused GHG emissions as they happen. Climate TRACE’s emissions… Continue Reading
