Richard Blumenthal

Welcome to AI This Week, Gizmodo’s weekly deep dive on what’s been happening in artificial intelligence.What Could the Future of Medical AI Look Like?Last year, after Buzzfeed laid off its entire newsroom and made a pronounced pivot to AI-generated content, I made the argument that journalists should treat the technology as an existential threat. It seemed clear that companies like OpenAI were creating content-generating algorithms that could be used to compete with traditional (read: human) reporters. I added the…

This week, there’ve been rumblings that a bipartisan bill that would ban AI platforms from protection under Section 230 is getting fast-tracked. The landmark internet law protects websites from legal liability for the content they host and its implications for the fate of AI are unclear. The legislation, authored by Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), would strip “immunity from AI companies” when it comes to civil claims or criminal prosecutions, a press release from Hawley’s office claims. It’s…

Photo: Samuel Corum (AP)Republican lawmakers have yelped about banning TikTok nationally over supposed national security threats for years now but the increasingly prescient policy issue finally gained bipartisan political support this year with the introduction of the RESTRICT Act by Sens. Mark Warner, a Democrat, and John Thune. The proposed legislation would give the Secretary of Commerce the ability to ban digital products or services from China, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela that involved…

At least three US senators think TikTok’s CEO may have violated federal law. In recent letters, the lawmakers say Shou Zi Chew lied about the company’s data storage practices during a combative Congressional hearing earlier this year. The renewed focus on Chew’s wishy-washy answers follows a series of news reports which suggest Chinese TikTok and ByteDance employees, and even Chinese Community Party officials, hadgreater access to US user data than previously known.On Wednesday, Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of…

Image Source : INDIA TV Sam Altman Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, a company supported by Microsoft, has acknowledged the potential risks associated with generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Altman conceded that if such technology malfunctions or behaves improperly, the consequences can be significant. This admission came as concerns were raised by US…

Photo: Bill Clark (AP)OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sat before a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Tuesday and responded to lawmakers grilling him over the potential unintended consequences of generative artificial intelligence. Altman surprised some lawmakers Tuesday by encouraging them to quickly enact new AI laws and regulations that could set the standards for how OpenAI, Google, and other tech firms train and release new AI systems.“We think that regulatory intervention by governments will be critical to mitigating the risks of…

A powerful and bizarre coalition of Senators have teamed up on a bill that could strike down the digital ad dominance of Google and Meta, though the proposed legislation never mentions those companies by name. The AMERICA Act could radically transform advertising technology, the financial backbone of the internet.Google’s Antitrust Case Is the Best Thing That Ever Happened to AITry to say the bill’s title in one breath: The Advertising Middlemen Endangering Rigorous Internet Competition Accountability Act, aka the AMERICA…

The lawsuit claims that Instagram, for example, can create a “downward spiral” in teen users due to its ability to create a high level of social comparison.Image: Rohane Hamilton (Shutterstock)An unsealed lawsuit involving the titans of social media, including Meta, Snap, ByteDance, Google, and their respective companies and employees, alleges they were all privy to the addictive nature of social media—surprising no one.According to a Bloomberg report, the lawsuit was originally filed with certain portions hidden from the…

Photo: Drew Angerer (Getty Images)During a combative Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, Senate lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle doubled down on calls to gut major provisions of the internet’s most important legal liability shield. The senators slammed tech companies for allegedly putting profits over user safety and criticized members of the Supreme Court who appeared hesitant to upend Section 230 protections during oral arguments last month. Supporters of Section 230 say its provisions are…

Two Senate Democrats sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday calling on him to halt the Facebook parent company’s plans to offer a metaverse app to teenagers.  Sens. Ed Markey (Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) said in the letter that they sent it in response to media reports that Meta wants to “draw in more teen and young-adult users” for its metaverse offerings and open its metaverse platform, Horizon Worlds, for users ages 13 to 17.  “In light of your company’s record of failure to…