🤖 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Harvard professor taps A.I. to help teach world’s most popular online computer class (short read)

• Harvard's CS50, the world's most popular online computer science course, is planning to use AI for grading assignments, teaching coding, and personalizing learning tips, under the direction of Professor David J. Malan.

• The AI system being developed will also serve as a virtual teaching assistant, asking students rhetorical questions and offering suggestions to enhance learning.

• The adoption of AI technologies in education has raised concerns over increased opportunities for student cheating and plagiarism. Several schools and universities globally have banned such tech.

• Despite these concerns, Malan believes that AI has immense potential to improve the quality and accessibility of online education, an industry expected to nearly triple in value by 2030.

• However, experts advise caution in deploying AI in education due to potential errors and ethical concerns, particularly around data collection for personalized learning.

• CS50, initially an introductory course, has evolved into multiple courses, attracting over 4.7 million enrollees and gaining 1.4 million YouTube subscribers.

AI: The Undiscovered Country
A (very!) brief overview of AI law &
how to integrate ChatGPT in your workflow
By Marc Hoag

Presented by the Beverly Hills Bar Association

June 13, 2023, 12:30pm - 1:30pm PDT

1.0 hour CLE credit

 ✨REGISTER NOW

The AI revolution is about to take over your web browser (medium read)

• AI assistants are poised to revolutionize web browsers, with companies exploring ways to bring chatbots into user experiences, reformat webpage looks, and even rewrite page content according to user preferences.

• SigmaOS, known for its productivity-oriented browser, is launching an AI assistant named Airis that enables users to ask questions about a webpage's content. The assistant contextualizes the information in line with the user's query and can also answer follow-up questions.

• Airis can extract and summarize important content from a page, present it in a simplified form, and even rewrite an entire webpage to make it simpler. It also offers features similar to Google Duet and Microsoft Copilot, editing and rewriting any text box on the internet.

• Other tech companies, like Microsoft and Opera, are also integrating AI into their browsing experiences. Microsoft is adding a Bing sidebar to its Edge browser for easy access to search and chatbots, while Opera has launched its own rewriting and summarizing tools, including a dedicated sidebar for accessing ChatGPT and other bots.

• However, there are challenges such as privacy concerns about sending browsing history to AI models, cost implications, and speed limitations. Furthermore, balancing browser reinvention with user acceptance is a difficult task. Despite these challenges, the integration of AI could bring significant changes to browser designs and functionality.

Should Artificial Intelligence Content Be Labeled? European Commission Vice President Calls for Enhanced AI Media Regulations (medium read)

• European Commission VP for values and transparency, Věra Jourová, has called for AI-generated content to be clearly labelled and recognized.

• Jourová made these remarks during a meeting with the signatories of the EU’s Code of Practice on Disinformation, a controversial initiative aimed at combating internet disinformation through "44 commitments and 128 specific measures."

• Adobe, Clubhouse, Twitch, TikTok, Google, Meta, and Kinzen are among the signatory entities. The Code of Practice currently includes one commitment related to AI but does not directly address the technology's misuse for disinformation.

• Jourová highlighted that signatories should start addressing the risks of generative AI like ChatGPT, stating these services should not be used to generate disinformation and that AI-created content should be recognizable and clearly labelled to users.

• While the new rule could affect all types of media, including music created entirely or partially by AI, it is unclear whether it will be incorporated into the upcoming AI Act, which will undergo another preliminary vote later this month.

🤖🔥🤯 COOL AI TOOLS, APPS, VIDEOS, PODCASTS, LINKS, AND MORE!

• Coefficient AI: AI-powered spreadsheet tools.

• MakePose: Make a 2D or 3D drawing or object using text.

• Murf: Hyperrealistic AI text-to-voice.

🌡️ CLIMATE CHANGE & CLEAN ENERGY

Dutch Report Warns About Negative Impact Of Climate Change On Health Of Citizens Worldwide (long read)

• The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) warns of severe health risks due to climate change, potentially affecting billions worldwide.

• Climate-induced crises like wildfires, heatwaves, floods, and droughts could render regions unlivable and displace huge populations.

• Declining biodiversity, driven by deforestation and unsustainable land use, threatens a third of plant species and 40% of animal species.

• Planetary Health, a new scientific field, focuses on the health impacts of global environmental change and stresses protecting all species.

• Effective adaptation strategies and policy changes, including altering energy consumption and reducing carbon footprint, are needed to mitigate climate change's health impacts.

• Despite skepticism, the report urges transformative changes in various sectors and societal cooperation to achieve sustainability.

Carbon dioxide soars to a new record in Earth's atmosphere as climate change continues unabated (quick read)

• Levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in Earth's atmosphere hit a record high last month, continuing to rise into territory unseen for millions of years, according to NOAA and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

• The average CO2 level measured in May in Hawaii was 424 parts per million, 3 parts per million more than last year's May average and 51% higher than pre-industrial levels. It's the fourth-largest annual increase on record.

• Despite efforts to reduce emissions, CO2 levels continue to rise, indicating that further mitigation actions are needed.

• Human activities, particularly the burning of fossil fuels, are directly responsible for this increase, releasing CO2 and other greenhouse gases into Earth's atmosphere and oceans.

• The increase in CO2 levels traps heat radiating from Earth's surface, amplifying extreme weather events and causing disruptions in marine ecosystems, rising sea levels, and ocean acidification.

• Current CO2 levels are higher than at any time in the last 4 to 4.5 million years, a time when the atmosphere was about 7 degrees warmer and sea levels were 16 to 82 feet higher.

Demography and climate change: new study explores links between the two mega-trends of our century (quick read)

• A Joint Research Centre (JRC) study explores the complex relationship between population dynamics and climate change, focusing on the effects on EU climate policy.

• Despite global population growth projected to reach almost 10 billion by 2060, the major carbon emitters (US, China, EU) have slow or stagnant population growth, indicating that emission reduction must come from changes in consumption and greening the world economy.

• The bulk of population growth is occurring in regions with the lowest emissions, but these regions are also likely to be slowest in decarbonizing and improving energy efficiency.

• The report highlights that older generations, particularly in the EU, are more likely to have carbon-intensive lifestyles, and by 2060, 39% of total emissions are projected to come from people above 65.

• With demographic changes having a significant influence on adaptive capacity to climate change, the study underlines the importance of understanding long-term trends and demographic characteristics on emissions in promoting environmental action and sustainability.

• The study emphasizes the need for policy measures targeting energy efficiency and green transitions for older generations, as well as strategies to mitigate the impact of climate change on vulnerable demographic groups.

🚗 AUTONOMOUS & ELECTRIC VEHICLES

MAN Goes All In On Electric Buses, Daimler Introduces Fuel Cell ECitaro

• MAN, the heavy vehicle arm of Volkswagen Group, will stop manufacturing diesel buses and focus on battery-electric buses to comply with upcoming Euro 7 exhaust emissions rules.

• MAN introduced its Lion’s City 10 electric bus, which caters to on-demand services and can carry more passengers than same-sized diesel buses due to the lack of a diesel stack.

• Daimler Truck also plans to transition to electric buses by 2030, some featuring a hydrogen fuel cell range extender.

• Daimler showcased its eCitaro Fuel Cell bus at the UITP Global Public Transport Summit, capable of driving up to 400 km without recharging.

• Both MAN and Daimler Truck's decisions suggest a broader industry move away from diesel engines due to their harmful exhaust emissions.

GM CEO says Tesla has the lead in electric cars, doesn’t see profitable $30-40K EVs until end of decade (quick read)

• GM CEO Mary Barra admits that Tesla leads the electric vehicle (EV) market in terms of technology, profitability, and scale.

• Barra believes GM can catch up but predicts that EVs in the $30,000-$40,000 range won't be profitable until the end of the decade due to high battery costs.

• Despite this, GM currently sells the Chevy Bolt EV for $26,500 and has promised an Equinox EV for around $30,000.

• Barra's profitability comment conflicts with the expected release of the Equinox EV before the decade's end.

• The article argues that profitability for EVs below $40,000 isn't necessary at present, as the average new car sale price in the US is around $48,000, making EVs competitive with overall ownership costs.

IONIQ 5 set for fully driverless public taxi service (quick read)

• Hyundai Motor and Motional plan to launch their first fully driverless, Level 4 autonomous robotaxi service based on the IONIQ 5 electric crossover in Las Vegas later this year.

• Level 4 self-driving capability allows a vehicle to drive itself under certain conditions and does not require safety operators in the front seat.

• The joint venture between Hyundai and US mobility startup Aptiv, Motional, has been running a pilot robotaxi service with the IONIQ 5 in Las Vegas since 2018 but with safety operators onboard.

• Motional's fully driverless service will initially operate in a limited area with a small number of vehicles before expanding over the coming months.

• Despite having access to the Uber and Lyft apps, which cover 99% of the US ride-hail market, Motional faces hurdles such as safety concerns, high manufacturing costs, and lagging technology for wider adoption.

🎉 THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY!

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-Marc 👋

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