Things to Do in L.A. Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article. Two likely finalists spotted at mayor's mansion From left: Former LAPD Deputy Chief Robert Arcos, LAPD Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides and former Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell. Published Sept. 18, 2024 Updated Sept. 19, 2024 10:46 AM PT Mayor Karen Bass said she would conduct a nationwide search for the next chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, but in the end it seems she found three finalists close to home. Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides and Robert "Bobby" Arcos, a former LAPD assistant chief who works in the L.A. County district attorney's office, were seen arriving at Getty House, the mayor's residence, for their candidate interviews over the span of a few hours Tuesday. The third candidate is said to be former Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell, who also served in the LAPD, leaving as first assistant chief.

When collecting item ratings from human judges, it can be difficult to measure and enforce data quality due to task subjectivity and lack of transparency into how judges make each rating decision. To address this, we investigate asking judges to provide a specific form of rationale supporting each rating decision. We evaluate this approach on an information retrieval task in which human judges rate the relevance of Web pages for different search topics. Cost-benefit analysis over 10,000 judgments collected on Amazon's Mechanical Turk suggests a win-win. Firstly, rationales yield a multitude of benefits: more reliable judgments, greater transparency for evaluating both human raters and their judgments, reduced need for expert gold, the opportunity for dual-supervision from ratings and rationales, and added value from the rationales themselves. Secondly, once experienced in the task, crowd workers provide rationales with almost no increase in task completion time. Consequently, we can realize the above benefits with minimal additional cost.

Robots could bring about a four-day working week in Britain as automation and artificial intelligence increase workplace efficiency, a new study has revealed. If new technologies were passed on to staff, they would be able to generate their current weekly economic output in just four days. Even relatively modest gains from using robots and AI had the potential to give British workers Scandinavian levels of leisure time, according to research done by the cross-party Social Market Foundation (SMF) thinktank. The research will boost John McDonnell's plans to reduce hours in the working week The conclusions of the study will come as a boost to John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, who wants to look at reducing hours in the working week. TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady used her speech to the organisation's annual gathering last month to call for a four-day working week, saying that it should be achievable by the end of the century.

Artificial intelligence is a healthcare and technology buzzword right now, but IDx Founder and President Michael Abràmoff is not a Johnny-come-lately to this phenomenon. His journey and that of the company's lead product began over two decades ago in the Netherlands. The product, IDx-DR, is an AI-based diagnostic system meant to be used as a standalone screening tool for diabetic retinopathy. Last week, the company announced that it submitted an application with the FDA, which the agency accepted with a "breakthrough device" designation. In other words, based on its ability to address an unmet medical need, FDA will provide a faster review.

Labour's Tom Watson will call on society to "embrace an android" as he argues that the rise of automation in the workplace need not cause mass unemployment and should instead be welcomed. The party's deputy leader will make the comments at the launch of the final report of the Future of Work Commission, which has concluded that people should not fear the "march of the robots". Instead, it claims that if government investment is sensibly targeted, the technological revolution has the potential to reverse the UK's economic decline and create as many jobs as it destroys. Watson, who convened and co-chaired the commission, is expected to say: "Much has been written about the impact of technological change and the dystopian future we could all face as a result of the rise of the robots. "It can sometimes feel like we are preparing for a world in which artificial intelligence, algorithms and automation, rather than human endeavour and hard work, will shape every aspect of our society and our economy.

Jeremy Corbyn will today hint at fresh taxes on firms that replace people with robots as he calls for a'new settlement between work and leisure'. The Labour leader will use his set piece party conference speech to say that, with automation due to destroy millions of jobs in the coming decades, the state needs to intervene to ensure the benefits are shared across society. 'We need urgently to face the challenge of automation; robotics that could make so much of contemporary work redundant,' he will say. 'That is a threat in the hands of the greedy but what an opportunity if it's managed in the interests of society as a whole. 'If planned and managed properly, accelerated technological change can be the gateway for a new settlement between work and leisure, a springboard for creativity and culture, making technology our servant and not our master at long last.' Labour has previously toyed with the idea of a'universal basic income', which would effectively see everyone put on benefits.

The Los Angeles Police Department's slow and careful process for developing a policy on how it will deploy drones is imperfect, but Chief Charlie Beck and his department are approaching the question in the proper spirit, taking public input and considering the many very serious concerns about drones being used for unwarranted police snooping. If only L.A. County Sheriff Jim McDonnell would take heed. Both the LAPD and the Sheriff's Department have already acquired the small, remote-controlled and camera-equipped devices that could prove valuable in providing an aerial view of tense standoffs -- or could just as easily be misused to ramp up intrusive public surveillance, ostensibly in the name of crime prevention. McDonnell unveiled his program in January as a done deal and has deployed one drone despite criticism from members of the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission, who want publicly vetted standards for using the equipment. Beck, by contrast, has sworn off drone flights pending the drafting of guidelines and a series of public meetings, and amid demonstrations by activists who oppose any use of the devices in their belief -- not altogether unreasonable, given how some departments have used red-light cameras and license-plate readers -- that once police have them they will be prone to misuse them.

Before the meeting, roughly three dozen activists from various groups -- including the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, Black Lives Matter and Los Angeles Community Action Network -- stood outside the LAPD's downtown headquarters, denouncing the use of drones by police. The Police Commission should "completely reject LAPD's latest attempt to revive its drone program," said Hamid Khan, founder of the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, an anti-surveillance group that frequently criticizes the LAPD. Earlier this year, L.A. County Sheriff Jim McDonnell announced his agency's plans to use a $10,000 drone to help deputies responding to arson scenes, suspected bombs and hostage situations. On July 27, the majority of the Civilian Oversight Commission also expressed their desire for McDonnell to stop flying the drone, citing concerns over surveillance and safety.

Citing concerns over surveillance, safety and potential trauma to the public, a majority of Los Angeles County Sheriff Civilian Oversight commissioners Thursday expressed that they want Sheriff Jim McDonnell to stop flying a drone used in law enforcement operations. The aircraft was unveiled by the Sheriff's Department in January and has been deployed four times, mostly in search-and-rescue missions. The department has said the 20-inch-long unmanned aircraft system, which cost $10,000, would strictly be used in high-risk tactical operations -- such as fires, bomb detection and hostage situations -- and not for surveillance. But activists have warned of possible "mission creep," saying they're worried the drone could be used for random spying on residents and could one day be armed or be deployed as a weapon itself. In 2012, the Sheriff's Department used a plane to secretly shoot video footage of the streets of Compton in order to catch criminals.

In some respects, Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell's announcement that his department had purchased and was planning to use drones (or as he prefers to call them, "unmanned aircraft systems") was refreshing. It's certainly better than the 2012 Compton fiasco, in which the department secretly deployed a spy plane over that city and recorded surveillance video without notifying Compton's elected leaders -- or its residents. That kind of arrogant and unrestrained law enforcement intrusion, without vetting or oversight, is simply not tolerable. This time, at least, the sheriff went public first, displaying one of his new drones for the media and vowing to use them in limited situations only, such as hostage rescues and other emergencies in which it is difficult or dangerous for first-responders to go in person. The remote-controlled flying devices would be deployed incident by incident, he said, and would not be used for surveillance.