The Obtain: blocking AI porn, and mind information privateness

That is immediately’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a day by day dose of what’s occurring on the earth of know-how.

AI picture generator Midjourney blocks porn by banning phrases concerning the human reproductive system

The information: The favored AI picture generator Midjourney bans a variety of phrases concerning the human reproductive system from getting used as prompts, MIT Know-how Evaluation has found. 

What’s included? The listing of banned phrases appear to skew predominantly feminine, together with phrases resembling “placenta,” “fallopian tubes,” and “mammary glands.” The corporate says it’s banning these phrases as a stopgap measure to forestall folks from producing stunning or gory  content material whereas it “improves issues on the AI aspect.” 

Why it issues: Midjourney’s crude banning of prompts regarding reproductive biology highlights how difficult it’s to average content material round generative AI methods. It additionally demonstrates how the tendency for AI methods to sexualize girls extends all the way in which to their inside organs. Learn the total story.

—Melissa Heikkilä

How your mind information might be used towards you

Our senior biotech reporter Jessica Hamzelou has been in Lisbon, Portugal this week to attend  a scientific convention on mind stimulation. Neuroscientists, mind surgeons, psychiatrists, and ethicists gathered to debate methods to greatest use the applied sciences that use magnetic or electrical pulses to vary the way in which our brains work.

We’re nonetheless attending to grips with how these applied sciences work, however within the meantime, some are producing big quantities of knowledge about people’ brains. There’s an opportunity this information might be used towards folks in a court docket of legislation, making it very important that we begin excited about these makes use of, and methods to defend mind information, now. Learn the total story.

Jessica’s story is from The Checkup, her weekly biotech and well being e-newsletter. Enroll to obtain it in your inbox each Thursday.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the web to search out you immediately’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.

1 China has cracked down on ChatGPT entry 
It was by no means formally obtainable, however now the workarounds customers have been exploiting have been reduce off too. (The Guardian)
+ China is unsurprisingly upbeat about its personal native chatbots, although. (Reuters)
+ Baidu’s reply to ChatGPT is coming subsequent month. (CNBC)
+ ChatGPT is in all places. Right here’s the place it got here from. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)

2 The US has filed extra fees towards Sam Bankman-Fried
Together with conspiracy to commit financial institution fraud.(WP $)
+ Prosecutors supplied extra particulars on how his money-spreading political schemes labored. (Vox)
+ What’s subsequent for crypto. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)

three AI-generated voices can trick banking methods 
This highlights how weak voice-activated safety measures now are to hacking. (Motherboard)+ GPT-powered deepfakes have gotten huge enterprise. (Quick Firm $)

four Chip makers are combating it out for federal funding
Corporations within the US are jostling to make their case for grants. (NYT $) 
+ What’s subsequent for the chip business. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)

5 The European Fee has banned workers from utilizing TikTok
It’s nervous the app is a risk to the safety of its employees’ gadgets. (FT $)

6 Migrants are utilizing ticket scalpers’ instruments to enter the US
Auto clickers fill in border management’s on-line types within the blink of an eye fixed. (Remainder of World)

7 How the Purchase Nothing motion fell aside
The frugal group thrived on Fb. Then it tried to depart. (Wired $)
+ Former evangelists are denouncing the group and are going it alone. (NY Magazine $)

eight Jet skis are going electrical
They’re much more environment friendly—and quieter.(IEEE Spectrum)

9 The place does digital actuality go from right here?
The person who coined the phrase “metaverse” has ideas. (FT $)
+ The metaverse is a brand new phrase for an outdated concept. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)

10 What espresso with out beans tastes like ☕
It’s being touted as a extra sustainable different. (Neo.Life)

Quote of the day

“You being the middle left face of our spending will imply you giving to quite a lot of woke shit for transactional functions.”

—How a political advisor working for Sam Bankman-Fried described the sorts of causes he ought to fund, Motherboard stories.

The massive story

The world is transferring nearer to a brand new chilly warfare fought with authoritarian tech

September 2022

Regardless of President Biden’s assurances that the US will not be searching for a brand new chilly warfare, one is brewing between the world’s autocracies and democracies—and know-how is fueling it.

Authoritarian states are following China’s lead and are trending towards extra digital rights abuses by growing the mass digital surveillance of residents, censorship, and controls on particular person expression.

And whereas democracies additionally use huge quantities of surveillance know-how, it’s the tech commerce relationships between authoritarian nations that’s enabling the rise of digitally enabled social management. Learn the total story.

—Tate Ryan-Mosley

We will nonetheless have good issues

A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre occasions. (Acquired any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)

+ I can’t get sufficient of this vigorous Tom Jones and Janis Joplin duet (thanks Mike!)
+ For shipwreck treasure hunters, finders aren’t at all times keepers, sadly.  
+ These photos affirm what we already knew: Lana Del Rey is absolutely the coolest.
+ The secrets and techniques behind Rihanna’s spectacular floating Tremendous Bowl stage.
+ This rubber hand phantasm experiment is completely fascinating.

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