Northern Arizona University: Capturing language, one conversation at a time

Northern Arizona University: Capturing language, one conversation at a time . “Conversational American English is a constantly shifting collection of billions of words, and the words we choose, the order we use them and how we pronounce them communicates as much as what we actually are saying. To better understand it, a team of linguists in the College of Arts and Letters are leading the effort to create the largest recorded collection of conversational American English ever made. The database, or corpus, of conversational American English will include recordings of everyday conversations from people of different ethnic groups, ages, professions and genders from throughout the United States.”

University of Surrey: New AI tool lets users generate hi-res images on their own computer

University of Surrey: New AI tool lets users generate hi-res images on their own computer. “Up until now, to create a high-quality AI image, users had to subscribe to a service like Midjourney or DALLE-3, or buy their own very powerful computers. DemoFusion lets users generate a basic image using a freely-available, open source AI model like Stable Diffusion, then enhance it, adding more detail and features, at much higher resolution. The necessary computing power is available on any mid-range gaming PC or a Mac M1.”

Making History: Matt Warshaw’s Digital ‘Encyclopedia of Surfing’ Turns 10 (The Inertia)

The Inertia: Making History: Matt Warshaw’s Digital ‘Encyclopedia of Surfing’ Turns 10. “… while Warshaw’s personal impact on surf culture could provide fuel for debate, there’s no question that he’s comprehensively curated more information about surfing and surf culture, and articulated this wealth of data more effectively, than anyone else in our sport’s long history.”

404 Media: Asking ChatGPT to Repeat Words ‘Forever’ Is Now a Terms of Service Violation

404 Media: Asking ChatGPT to Repeat Words ‘Forever’ Is Now a Terms of Service Violation. “Asking ChatGPT to repeat specific words ‘forever’ is now flagged as a violation of the chatbot’s terms of service and content policy. Google DeepMind researchers used the tactic to get ChatGPT to repeat portions of its training data, revealing sensitive privately identifiable information (PII) of normal people and highlighting that ChatGPT is trained on randomly scraped content from all over the internet.”

TechCrunch: 23andMe confirms hackers stole ancestry data on 6.9 million users

TechCrunch: 23andMe confirms hackers stole ancestry data on 6.9 million users. “On Friday, genetic testing company 23andMe announced that hackers accessed the personal data of 0.1% of customers, or about 14,000 individuals. The company also said that by accessing those accounts, hackers were also able to access ‘a significant number of files containing profile information about other users’ ancestry.’ But 23andMe would not say how many ‘other users’ were impacted by the breach that the company initially disclosed in early October. As it turns out, there were a lot of ‘other users’ who were victims of this data breach: 6.9 million affected individuals in total.”

ABC News (Australia): Queensland grazier makes sign to redirect lost travellers following Google Maps

ABC News (Australia): Queensland grazier makes sign to redirect lost travellers following Google Maps. “Mr [Graham] Anderson lives at Isla, about four hours’ drive west of Bundaberg, a region known for its maze of gorges and striking rock formations. He discovered drivers were following Google Maps across his cattle property in search of the spectacular Isla Gorge, which had an entrance almost 20 kilometres further along the Leichhardt Highway.”

The Conversation: How AI could reveal secrets of thousands of handwritten documents – from medieval manuscripts to hieroglyphics

The Conversation: How AI could reveal secrets of thousands of handwritten documents – from medieval manuscripts to hieroglyphics. “Because the technology works on the basis of image analysis, it is in theory applicable to any writing whatsoever, from Egyptian hieroglyphs to copperplate. Ten years after its initial development, some truly exciting consequences of the development of handwritten text recognition (HTR) techniques are becoming clear.”

North Carolina State University: AI Networks Are More Vulnerable to Malicious Attacks Than Previously Thought

North Carolina State University: AI Networks Are More Vulnerable to Malicious Attacks Than Previously Thought . “Artificial intelligence tools hold promise for applications ranging from autonomous vehicles to the interpretation of medical images. However, a new study finds these AI tools are more vulnerable than previously thought to targeted attacks that effectively force AI systems to make bad decisions.”

A Composer’s Helper: Using AI to Create New Harmonies (Stanford University)

Stanford University: A Composer’s Helper: Using AI to Create New Harmonies. “The music transformer, built using the generative pretrained Transformer architecture (GPT) that powers language models like ChatGPT, facilitates a co-creation process where composers iteratively collaborate with the tool, choosing what to write themselves and what to delegate to AI. This approach allows composers to keep fragments of the generated music that they like while discarding the rest. The Anticipatory Music Transformer focuses on symbolic music rather than musical audio.”

Bleeping Computer: French government recommends against using foreign chat apps

Bleeping Computer: French government recommends against using foreign chat apps. “Prime Minister of France Élisabeth Borne signed a circular last week requesting all government employees to uninstall foreign communication apps such as Signal, WhatsApp, and Telegram by December 8, 2023, in favor of a French messaging app named ‘Olvid.’ The guideline addressed to ministers, secretaries of state, chiefs of staff, and cabinet members proposes that they instead install and use the Olvid app made by a French company.”

Meduza: Russian mapping and business database company 2GIS asks employees to compile registry of LGBT establishments

Meduza: Russian mapping and business database company 2GIS asks employees to compile registry of LGBT establishments. “The management of the Russian online mapping serving 2GIS has instructed employees to gather data about establishments for LGBTQ+ people in a single registry, the outlet iStories reported on Monday, publishing a photo of the message workers received.”

The Conversation: Online ‘likes’ for toxic social media posts prompt more − and more hateful − messages

The Conversation: Online ‘likes’ for toxic social media posts prompt more − and more hateful − messages. “Although seeing hate comments is unquestionably upsetting, new research suggests there’s a different reason people post hate: to get attention and garner social approval from like-minded social media users. It’s a social activity. It’s exhilarating to be the nastiest or snarkiest and to get lots of thumbs-ups or hearts. Anecdotal evidence makes a good case for the social basis of online hate, and new empirical research backs it up.”

South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Stop stifling the public’s right to know in Florida

South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Stop stifling the public’s right to know in Florida. “Florida was a beacon to the nation. Was. It’s no longer true. The Legislature has riddled the public records laws with more than 1,000 exemptions, easily hurdling the two-thirds supermajorities of both houses that the Constitution requires. That includes corrupting clouds of darkness over university presidential searches and the extensive travels of Gov. Ron DeSantis as he seeks the presidency.”

WJTV: National Archives spurs creation of online UMMC database

WJTV: National Archives spurs creation of online UMMC database. “The University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) received funding through the National Archives to preserve documented medical breakthroughs. Known as ‘Mississippi Medical History Online: The UMMC Digital Collections Initiative,’ its goal is to preserve the history of medicine in Mississippi. This history will be made available to the public and scholars alike.”