One Sentence News / August 23, 2023
Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.
Judge rejects AI copyright claim
Summary: A US federal judge has denied an inventor’s request to copyright artwork generated by an AI system he developed, marking a new milestone in the AI industry’s standoff with creators.
Context: This ruling is set to be appealed, but it’s already sending reverberations through the generative AI world, as this means work created using these sorts of tools is not protected in the same way work created using, for instance, physical tools like paint brushes, or non-AI digital tools like Photoshop, would be protected, which would seem to be a minor, if possibly temporary victory for the folks whose work is being used to train these AI systems; that said, the line between generative AI tools and non-AI tools is blurring, and even Photoshop has introduced AI into its traditionally non-generative-AI-centric software suite, so the appeal in this case is meaningful in that it will likely allow the case to be re-litigated, but also because this industry is moving fast and there’s a chance that by the time it returns to court, the state of play will have changed in even more fundamental ways.
—The New York Times
Ecuador votes to ban oil drilling in part of Amazon and mining outside Quito
Summary: Referendums that ban the drilling of new oil wells in the Amazon rainforest, and the digging of mines in another forest outside Quito were passed by the Ecuadorian government on Monday, despite concerns—mostly voiced by oil and mining groups—that the economic consequences of these decisions may be dire.
Context: The main arguments in favor of these new wells and mines are economic in nature, these companies positing that billions of dollars in revenue, which could be used for schools and other socially important, but currently underfunded purposes, will be sacrificed for unknown benefits; the counter-argument is that this sends a message to energy companies and the big US banks that fund them that the era of unchecked, imbalanced exploitation of Ecuadorian resources is over, and that the country is willing to make longer-term investments in its well-being, including its environmental well-being, even if those investments require short-term sacrifice.
—Reuters
Saudi border guards killed 100s of Ethiopian migrants, new report says
Summary: A new report from Human Rights Watch alleges that Saudi border guards have fired guns and mortars at Ethiopian migrants attempting to enter Saudi Arabia via Yemen, killing hundreds of them since March of last year.
Context: Investigations by the nonprofit human rights group suggest that these sorts of border killings are still taking place, and that the killings appear to be part of a systemic approach to violence meant to dissuade new arrivals, guards reportedly killing some people but then asking others which limb they want to lose, before shooting them in that limb, leaving them in the mountains along the border severely injured or dismembered; Houthi rebels in Yemen are reportedly behind a surge in migrants from Ethiopia attempting to make it into Saudi Arabia, smuggling them over the border as they try to escape the civil war in their own country; about 750,000 Ethiopians live in Saudi Arabia, today, and as many as 450,000 of those are thought to have come into the country illegally; a Saudi government official has said that these allegations of border violence are untrue and unfounded.
—Deutsche Welle
About 143 million people in the US were under extreme heat alerts yesterday, and a heat dome encompassing most of the midwestern states is expected to break a great many records across the 22 states impacted through the end of the week (the temperature here in Milwaukee is expected to be brutal today—light a candle to the weather gods for me, please).
—Axios
40%
Percentage of e-bike and e-scooter lithium-ion battery fires caused by badly built bike conversion kits, according to the London Fire Brigade.
A wave of explosive battery fires attributed to this product category has been scaring potential customers, but it would seem that a huge chunk of those fires (in London, at least) are originating with shoddily made kits that allow customers to convert their non-e-bikes into e-bikes.
Factory-built e-bikes are regulated and thus less likely to use dangerous batteries and chargers. These kits, though, are not regulated, and thus often contain cheaply manufactured materials and sub-standard build-quality.
—BBC News
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