Mission Everywhere

OpenAI is facing several lawsuits over copyrighted material used to train ChatGPT. CFOTO/Getty Images Publishers want compensation from OpenAI for using their works to train AI models. The Center for Investigative Reporting filed a lawsuit against the company this week. The New York Times and other outlets also have similar lawsuits against OpenAI. OpenAI uses any and all publicly available data to train ChatGPT, including books and articles from the internet. Now, those who own them want to be paid for their work. Training data is an essential part of creating the AI models that are taking over the tech world. Leading tech companies like Google, Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Microsoft are all scrambling to find new sources of data. Meta at one point even considered buying Simon & Schuster, one of the world's biggest publishing houses. Part of the problem is that publishers are increasingly accusing these companies of hoovering up copyrighted data. They'd like t...

Marine Le Pen at Le Dôme de Paris. Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images The far-right scored a major win in the first round of parliamentary elections in France. Marine Le Pen's National Rally won roughly 34% of the vote, per projections. President Emmanuel Macron called for a snap election in early June in what was a huge gamble. The far-right National Rally has opened up a lead in the first round of critical parliamentary elections in France, with results that could soon spell the end of the centrist government alliance backed by French President Emmanuel Macron. Projections in Sunday's first round showed that Marine Le Pen's National Rally had secured 34% of the national vote, followed by a roughly 29% share for the leftist alliance New Popular Front and 20% for Macron's Together alliance. The second round of voting will be held on July 7. The parties are competing for 577 seats in the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament. After ...

Skeleton Key can get many AI models to divulge their darkest secrets. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo A jailbreaking method called Skeleton Key can prompt AI models to reveal harmful information. The technique bypasses safety guardrails in models like Meta's Llama3 and OpenAI GPT 3.5. Microsoft advises adding extra guardrails and monitoring AI systems to counteract Skeleton Key. It doesn't take much for a large language model to give you the recipe for all kinds of dangerous things. With a jailbreaking technique called "Skeleton Key," users can persuade models like Meta's Llama3, Google's Gemini Pro, and OpenAI's GPT 3.5 to give them the recipe for a rudimentary fire bomb, or worse, according to a blog post from Microsoft Azure's chief technology officer, Mark Russinovich. The technique works through a multi-step strategy that forces a model to ignore its guardrails, Russinovich wrote. Guardrails are safety mechanisms that h...

CTech : Alphabet's Verily closes its R&D centers in Israel after launching them in August 2021, as part of Alphabet's decision to concentrate all R&D activity in the US   —  Verily was launched in Israel in August 2021, but its approximately 30 remaining employees, based in Tel Aviv and Haifa … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/nAVzXPm

Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden at the White House. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Biden's less-than-stellar debate performance against Trump set off alarms among many Democrats. It also shined a light on the party's past struggles in building a farm team of future leaders. The debate will likely push Democrats to rethink how power is transferred to younger generations. After President Joe Biden's middling debate performance Thursday night, many Democrats began to panic . With voters already on the fence about Biden's readiness for a second term due to concerns over his advanced age, party leaders wanted the president to use the debate to not only reassure the electorate but also make an impression that could turn the race in his favor. But that didn't happen. And now many Democrats are wondering if Biden should exit the race. Being faced with that decision just five months before the election is in part due to one of the Democratic...

Steven Levy / Wired : An interview with Illia Polosukhin, a co-author of Google's Attention Is All You Need paper, on open-source AI, his Web3 company Near, “user-owned AI”, and more   —  Illia Polosukhin doesn't want big companies to determine the future of artificial intelligence. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/pcG3okL

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and a Patriot system. Jens Buttner/ Reuters Israel could transfer up to eight Patriot missile batteries to Ukraine. Israel is upgrading its air defense and looking to retire older Patriot batteries. Ukraine has long coveted more of the $1 billion US-manufactured Patriot systems. The US is involved in discussions about the possibility of transferring up to eight Patriot air defense batteries from Israel to Ukraine , in what would be a major boost for the latter in its fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin's invading forces. While no agreement has been reached yet, a deal would likely involve transferring the batteries from Israel to the US and then on to Ukraine, the Financial Times reported. It would be a welcome moment for Ukraine, which has long coveted more of the $1 billion US-manufactured Patriot systems. "Israel's Patriots would greatly expand Ukraine's air defense capacity at a time when it is sorely...

The first debate between Biden and Trump since 2020 was filled with awkward stumbles, insults, and lies. Here are the highlights. Read the original article on Business Insider from Business Insider https://ift.tt/bLU3RsK

Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch : The White House will host the first-ever White House Creator Economy Conference in August to “emphasize the Administration's commitment to creators”   —  President Joe Biden's administration is doubling down on its interest in the creator economy. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/K4wmNuL

Japanese volleyball players, seen here competing at an Olympic qualification tournament in September 2023, will have new uniforms to thwart creeps. David Mareuil, Anadolu/Getty Images Japan's Olympic teams will wear infrared-proof uniforms at the Paris Olympics. Mizuno designed the uniforms to combat illicit photography of athletes. Complaints about revealing photos led to the development of this specialized fabric. A brand-new innovation is coming to the Paris Olympics this summer: uniforms that creeps can't see through with infrared cameras. Japan's volleyball, track and field, table tennis, and other teams will wear uniforms made of a cutting-edge new fabric that absorbs infrared light, preventing infrared cameras from seeing through to athletes' underwear or bodies underneath, Le Monde first reported . Japanese sports equipment company Mizuno designed the outfits specifically to combat the rising trend of voyeurs producing and circulating compromising pho...

Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch : Amazon folds its Amazon Clinic telehealth service into One Medical, with more affordable per-visit pricing: $49 for a video call or $29 to text a doctor   —  Amazon is folding its Amazon Clinic telehealth service into its primary care business One Medical, the company announced on Thursday. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/97SMVav

Morrie Markoff was America's oldest man at age 110, and was a writer, photographer and sculptor. Courtesy of the Markoff family Morrie Markoff was the oldest man in America when he died in early June. His daughter said habits like walking daily and pursuing artistic hobbies kept him healthy.  Markoff donated his brain to research to help scientists better understand aging and cognitive health.  Before becoming the oldest man in America, Morrie Markoff technically died — but not for long. Just before he turned 99, Markoff, an avid traveler, photographer, and sculptor with a keen interest in discussing world events, suffered a heart attack. While in the hospital, a machine malfunctioned, and Markoff's heart stopped beating for several minutes, his daughter Judith Hansen told Business Insider. But not only was he revived, Markoff went on to live more than a decade more, authoring a book and passionately pursuing his lifelong love of learning. Last year, at 109, he went...

The Information : Slides shown to Chinese sellers: Amazon plans to launch a Temu-like section featuring cheap items that ship directly from China to overseas consumers   —  Amazon plans to launch a section on its shopping site featuring cheap items that ship directly to overseas consumers from warehouses in China … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/ul8xfVh

Hannah Dodd as Francesca Bridgerton in the season three finale of "Bridgerton." Netflix The "Bridgerton" season three finale introduces a queer plot twist for Francesca Bridgerton. Masali Baduza plays a gender-swapped version of John Stirling's cousin from the book series.  Showrunner Jess Brownell got "Bridgerton" author Julia Quinn's blessing to make the change. Warning: Major spoilers ahead for season three, part two of "Bridgerton," and "When He Was Wicked," the sixth Bridgerton book. The season three finale of " Bridgerton " sets up a major change in Francesca Bridgerton 's ( Hannah Dodd ) love story by introducing a gender-swapped character, and book series author Julia Quinn gave her seal of approval. "The fact of the matter is, the fan base is not a monolith, and you're never going to please every single side of the fan base," showrunner Jess Brownell told Teen Vogue in a recent ...

Carl Franzen / VentureBeat : ElevenLabs debuts its first iOS app, which turns any English-language text, including from PDFs and ePubs, into narrations by one of its “human-like voices”   —  If you've ever started reading an article on your iPhone only to have to drive somewhere, walk, bike, do chores … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/j7JRQU9

Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift. Patrick Smith/Getty Images Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have been dating since the summer of 2023. The pop star and the athlete, both 34, have been open about their affection for each other. Kelce recently joined Swift onstage in London during her performance on The Eras Tour. We'll take a wild guess and say that Travis Kelce's favorite track from Taylor Swift's "Midnights"  might be "Mastermind." Shortly after he turned up to The Eras Tour with a friendship bracelet and a dream, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end began dating the multi-Grammy-winning superstar . Kelce, 34, laid the groundwork last July. He made his feelings known for Swift, 34, after he failed to get some one-on-one time when she performed on his home turf in Missouri. Soon, all the dominoes cascaded in a line: Swift began attending NFL games, openly cheering for the Chiefs, and stepping out with Kelce for date nights in New York City.  Keep rea...