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- #76. 🚫Grammys push back at AI | 🔋 50% of Spain's electricity renewable | 😮Florida blocks direct-to-consumer auto sales (except for EVs)
#76. 🚫Grammys push back at AI | 🔋 50% of Spain's electricity renewable | 😮Florida blocks direct-to-consumer auto sales (except for EVs)
PLUS: Who owns ChatGPT-generated code? | Google Research on how to store AI images | sudden sea temperature increase around UK | India self-sufficient in solar by 2026 | only 3 EU truck brands to decarbonize | 575 km EV bus
🤖 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
The Recording Academy, responsible for the Grammy Awards, has implemented new rules to limit the use of AI in music creation.
Only human creators are eligible for Grammy Awards, and works that lack human authorship are not eligible in any categories.
Music creators must contribute at least 20% to an album to qualify for a nomination, compared to the previous rule where a small input sufficed for nomination.
Concerns about AI displacing humans are rising in various professions, including screenwriting and acting, leading to discussions and potential strikes by organizations like the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA).
Ownership of code generated by AI is a complex and uncertain legal issue.
OpenAI does not claim ownership of generated content and assigns the rights to the user.
Different countries have varying approaches to ownership of AI-generated works, with unsettled areas of the law.
Contract law and copyright law are treated differently, and companies may claim ownership of AI-generated code based on their provided materials.
The issue of code ownership and copyright for AI-generated code lacks clear legal precedents and requires careful investigation and documentation.
Determining copyrightability of AI-generated code is challenging, as copyright law generally requires human authorship and an exercise of skill and judgment.
Google researchers propose a method for image compression using score-based generative models.
Score-based generative models have not yet outperformed GAN-based methods in image compression, despite their success in image generation.
The proposed method combines an autoencoder optimized for mean squared error (MSE) with a diffusion process to recover fine details in compressed images.
The diffusion model and rectified flow model are explored, with the latter performing better with fewer sampling steps.
Adjustments to the noise schedule and injection levels impact the compression results, with reduced noise benefiting compression by focusing on fine details.
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🌡️ CLIMATE CHANGE & CLEAN ENERGY
Spain is predicted to generate over 50% of its electricity from renewable sources in 2023.
This makes Spain the first among Europe's largest energy consumers (including Germany, France, Italy, UK) to reach this milestone.
Spain is the world leader in percentage of electricity from solar energy, nearing 20%.
Investments in solar, wind, and hydropower over the last decade have driven Spain's renewable energy capacity.
Spain's transition to renewables has led to lower average spot prices and increased energy stability.
Power exports to France due to France's struggling nuclear power generation could potentially limit further growth in Spain's renewable energy share.
The European Space Agency reports that intense marine heat increases are occurring in seas around the UK and Ireland.
Water temperatures are up to 4C above the seasonal average in areas like east coast UK and northwest Ireland.
This increase is partially attributed to human-caused climate change, along with other lesser-understood factors.
These marine heatwaves could harm sea life and intensify weather patterns.
Despite the current high temperatures, experts expect them to be temporary, but foresee more temperature records to be broken due to an anticipated El Niño event.
Various factors such as weaker winds, reduced dust, and decreased pollution from shipping may be contributing to the warming seas.
India is projected to achieve self-sufficiency in solar module production, reaching a capacity of 110 GW by 2026, possibly entering the PV export market thereafter.
Favorable government policies and the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme have helped India double its capacity for both solar cells and solar modules in recent years.
Despite quality comparable to global standards, Indian solar modules face local consumer reluctance and a lack of skilled workers for installation and operation.
IEEFA predicts India will have a significant presence in all aspects of PV manufacturing, including cells, ingots/wafers, and polysilicon, by 2026.
Despite these advances, India must address challenges including the manufacturing of upstream components, reducing import costs, and competing with China on price.
Policy stability from the Indian government will be crucial to support domestic PV manufacturers and meet the rising demand for solar PV in the country.
🚗 AUTONOMOUS & ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Florida passes a law to protect car dealers from direct-to-consumer online sales models.
The law targets legacy automakers, but doesn't apply to companies like Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid, which have not traditionally sold through dealers.
Legacy manufacturers like Ford and GM face challenges to their new strategies to transition towards EV sales, especially the 'no haggle' pricing model.
Dealerships in Florida retain the right to add any increased fees they can get away with, contradicting Ford's 'no haggle' policy.
Questions arise regarding the legality of the law creating two classes of automobile manufacturers: traditional and upstart.
Dealerships remain resistant to EVs, despite manufacturer efforts; the Sierra Club reports that many refuse or are unprepared to sell EVs.
Mercedes-Benz Trucks, Scania, and MAN are the only EU truck brands on track to transition to zero-emission sales, according to a study by Transport & Environment (T&E).
Scania, leading the ranking, aims for 50% of sales to be zero-emission vehicles by 2030. Mercedes-Benz targets 60%, but lacks a strong battery strategy.
Volvo Trucks, currently leading in zero-emission sales, doesn't have a 100% zero-emission target, investing in gas and biofuels which emit CO2.
European truck manufacturers face competition from Tesla and BYD, which have already scaled up zero-emission manufacturing and built strong battery supply chains.
The T&E report warns EU truck CO2 standards need tightening to ensure competitiveness and avoid investments moving to America due to more stringent regulations.
T&E's Your Heavy Duty campaign calls for higher CO2 reduction targets for European truckmakers to encourage more investment in zero-emission technologies.
Dutch company Ebusco has begun serial production of its 3.0 electric bus model, boasting a range of up to 575 km (357 miles).
The 3.0 model uses a lightweight composite body, extending the operational lifespan to 25 years and reducing energy consumption.
The first 12M length model was delivered to international public transport firm Transdev for use in the Netherlands.
The 18M variant of the bus has a maximum range of up to 700 km (435 miles).
Both models use lithium iron phosphate batteries integrated into the floor for excellent road handling.
Ebusco aims for a production capacity of 3,000 buses annually in the medium term.
🎉 THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY!
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-Marc 👋
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