Government
Malicious use of AI could cause 'unimaginable' damage, says UN boss
Malicious use of artificial intelligence systems could cause a "horrific" amount of death and destruction, the UN secretary general has said, calling for a new UN body to tackle the threats posed by the technology. António Guterres said harmful use of AI for terrorist, criminal or state purposes could also cause "deep psychological damage", and he said AI-enabled cyber-attacks were already targeting UN peacekeeping and humanitarian operations. "The malicious use of AI systems for terrorist, criminal or state purposes could cause horrific levels of death and destruction, widespread trauma and deep psychological damage on an unimaginable scale," Guterres said. Speaking at the first UN security council session on AI, he said the advent of generative AI – the term for AI tools such as ChatGPT that produce convincing text, image and voice from human prompts – could be a defining moment for disinformation and hate speech and add a "new dimension" to the manipulation of human behaviour. Guterres called for the creation of a new UN entity along the lines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to tackle the risks.
Russian fighter jet buzzes manned US warplane over Syria, threatening crew
U.S. Air Forces Central said Thursday that a Russian military fighter jet engaged with U.S. aircraft over Syria for 2nd consecutive day. The incident followed a previous clash on Wednesday. A Russian fighter jet flew dangerously close to a manned U.S. surveillance craft in the air over Syria, endangering the lives of all four American crew members, the U.S. military announced Monday. The Sunday flyby was the latest in a series of incidents in which Russian aircraft harassed American warplanes and drones in the air over Syria. A Russian SU-35v approached a U.S. MC-12 in a manner that could have resulted in a fatal accident, officials said.
Police departments across America using AI to analyze officers' bodycam video
A company known as Truleo uses A.I. to process bodycam footage so law enforcement agencies can review their officers' behavior and actions on a daily basis. Law enforcement agencies are using artificial intelligence to analyze body camera video in an effort to improve trust and transparency in communities nationwide. Truleo automatically detects critical situations from body camera footage that involves use-of-force, pursuits and frisking. The A.I. platform also screens for both professional and unprofessional language. This automated analysis is readily available to supervisors within minutes so they can evaluate officers' conduct.
Want agency in the AI age? Get ready to fight
Writers are protesting against studios' use of AI language models to write scripts. Actors are on strike after rejecting a proposal from companies seeking to use AI technology to scan people's faces and bodies, and own the right to use these deepfake-style digital copies without consent or compensation in perpetuity. What connects these cases is a fear that humans will be replaced by computer programs, and a feeling that there's very little we can do about it. Our lax approach to regulating the excesses of the previous tech boom means AI companies have felt safe building and launching products that are exploitative and harmful. But that is about to change.
Putin's pre-election budget set to become more costly after mutiny
An aborted armed mutiny by Wagner mercenaries exposed Russia's porous home front, shook Russian President Vladimir Putin's authority and resulted in the removal of thousands of seasoned fighters from the battlefields of Ukraine. Remedying the fallout will be costly, especially with elections looming next March in an economy worn down by almost 17 months of war and sanctions. And in a reminder of the threats Russia now faces, authorities on Monday said two Ukrainian drones caused explosions that killed two people and damaged the symbolic bridge to Crimea, the peninsula Putin annexed from Ukraine in 2014. This could be due to a conflict with your ad-blocking or security software. Please add japantimes.co.jp and piano.io to your list of allowed sites.
Pentagon's AI plan must include offense and defense under House-passed bill: 'DOD has to catch up'
AGI, while powerful, could have negative consequences, warned Diveplane CEO Mike Capps and Liberty Blockchain CCO Christopher Alexander. The House last week passed a defense policy bill that strongly encourages the Pentagon to use artificial intelligence to its advantage, but also requires defense officials to examine how America's national security infrastructure may be vulnerable to AI systems deployed by China, Russia and other adversaries. Rep. Marc Molinaro, R-N.Y., pushed to include language in the bill requiring an assessment of AI vulnerabilities, and watched it pass easily on the House floor. That's a strong sign the language will remain in the final bill even after a negotiation with the Senate, and Molinaro told Fox News Digital that this assessment is needed in the face of ever-evolving AI capabilities. "The average person knows at least the rudimentary use of AI. China, terrorists, Russia are using AI in a much more sophisticated way, certainly as aggressors," he told Fox news Digital.
Weather researchers unleash fleet of drones that sail directly into eye of hurricane
Pawleys Island, South Carolina, Mayor Brian Henry tells "Your World" that Hurricane Ian was different and brought a significant storm surge to the island. A high-tech sailing drone was deployed onto the Atlantic Ocean near Charleston, South Carolina, this past weekend to collect weather data directly from wicked hurricanes. The autonomous ocean drone, known as a saildrone, was redeployed by California-based company Saildrone Inc., which designs and operates autonomous ocean drones, in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to assist the agency in data collection on hurricanes. The same saildrone made international headlines in 2021 when it captured the "first-ever video from inside a major hurricane at sea" when Hurricane Sam barreled across the Atlantic. NOAA has previously incorporated drones into its research of hurricanes and 2023 will see an even larger and more high-tech fleet.
United States and China are taking opposite approaches to AI
Fox News senior strategic analyst Gen. Jack Keane reacts to a Chinese fighter jet intercepting a U.S. aircraft and discusses the ongoing war in Ukraine. China and the United States are taking opposite approaches to governing artificial intelligence, and the contrast has big implications for both their global competition and the safety of their citizens. China has built a robust AI domestic regulatory system in public/commercial spaces but does not regulate AI use in the military, which is the opposite of the American approach. The U.S. has published robust rules for AI-driven military systems but done nothing to regulate the tech industry's hasty release of generative AI models like ChatGPT-4 to the public. China's approach to generative AI elevates political stability over innovation, with strict regulation of the private/commercial sector.
EU's AI lobbying blitz gets lukewarm response in Asia, officials say
The EU and its member states have dispatched officials for talks on governing the use of AI with at least 10 Asian countries including India, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and the Philippines, they said. The bloc aims for its proposed AI Act to become a global benchmark on the booming technology the way its data protection laws have helped shape global privacy standards. This could be due to a conflict with your ad-blocking or security software. Please add japantimes.co.jp and piano.io to your list of allowed sites. If this does not resolve the issue or you are unable to add the domains to your allowlist, please see this FAQ.
Russia launches wave of air attacks on south and eastern Ukraine
Russia has launched air attacks on targets in southern and eastern Ukraine using drones and possibly ballistic missiles, Ukraine's air force said. The southern port of Odesa and the Mykolaiv, Donetsk, Kherson, Zaporizhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions were all under threat of Russian drone attacks, the air force said on the Telegram messaging app in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Russia may also be using ballistic weaponry to attack the regions of Poltava, Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and Kirovohrad, the air force added. Oleh Kiper, the head of the Odesa region's military administration, said air defence systems there were engaged in repelling a Russian drone attack. "Several waves of attacks are likely," Kiper said on Telegram.