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New AI Standards Group Wants To Make Data Scraping Opt-In (Maria)
The author writes, “The first wave of major generative AI tools largely were trained on ‘publicly available’ data — basically, anything and everything that could be scraped from the Internet. Now, sources of training data are increasingly restricting access and pushing for licensing agreements. With the hunt for additional data sources intensifying, new licensing startups have emerged to keep the source material flowing. The Dataset Providers Alliance, a trade group formed this summer, wants to make the AI industry more standardized and fair. … The DPA advocates for an opt-in system, meaning that data can be used only after consent is explicitly given by creators and rights holders.”
The Soft Bigotry of No Expectations on Trump (DonkeyHotey)
From Emptywheel: “WaPo has an editorial out, purporting to compare the policy platforms of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Its punchline is that Kamala can lift up politics by going deep on policy, something it admits Trump has not done. … The press has gone 21 months without throwing this kind of tantrum with Donald Trump. Given that, this column says more about the failures of journalists to hold Trump accountable than it does any shortcoming on Kamala’s part. At some point, the traditional media needs to explain why it is so much more rabid about getting policy from Kamala than Trump.”
Ballot Measures in 41 States Give Voters a Say on Abortion and Other Tough Questions (Sean)
The author writes, “Life, death, crime and taxes will be on ballots for voters to decide this fall. More than 140 measures are going before voters in 41 states during the general election alongside choices for president and other top offices. The ballot questions will give voters a chance to directly decide some consequential issues, instead of deferring to their elected representatives. Some ballot measures also could draw more people to the polls, potentially impacting results for the presidency in swing states, control of Congress and the outcomes for closely contested state offices.”
Russia’s Youngest Conscripts Unexpectedly See Combat Against Ukraine’s Invasion (Russ)
The authors write, “For more than two decades it has been standard practice in Russia: New conscripts doing mandatory military service have not been deployed on the front lines. It is codified in law and embraced by all parents hoping to keep their sons from the carnage of war. But Ukraine’s lightning incursion into the southwestern Russia region of Kursk has upended that compact. When Ukrainian troops poured into Russia on Aug. 6, Moscow was caught unawares. Suddenly, the war had come to the conscripts, who were manning lightly guarded positions near the border. Hundreds of conscripts were captured, while scores are missing and potentially dead.”
Patient Underwent One Surgery but Was Billed for Two. Even After Being Sued, She Refused To Pay. (Reader Steve)
From KFF Health News: “Jamie Holmes says a surgery center tried to make her pay for two operations after she underwent only one. She refused to buckle, even after a collection agency sued her last winter. Holmes, who lives in northwestern Washington state, had surgery in 2019 to have her fallopian tubes tied, a permanent birth-control procedure that her insurance company agreed ahead of time to cover. During the operation, while Holmes was under anesthesia, the surgeon noticed early signs of endometriosis, a common condition in which fibrous scar tissue grows around the uterus, Holmes said. She said the surgeon later told her he spent about 15 minutes cauterizing the troublesome tissue as a precaution. She recalls him saying he finished the whole operation within the 60 minutes that had been allotted for the tubal ligation procedure alone. She said the doctor assured her the extra treatment for endometriosis would cost her little, if anything. Then the bill came.”
Troubled Waters (Laura)
From Science: “The land surrounding the Grand Canyon contains some of the highest grade uranium in the United States — an element that’s in demand for nuclear energy production. President Joe Biden’s administration enacted the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument last year to protect 3700 square kilometers flanking the canyon and ban new mining claims. But the announcement didn’t affect the Pinyon Plain Mine — the focus of a long-running dispute that has mobilized scientists and pitted the tribe and environmental groups against the mining company and the state — because it had existing mining rights that were protected under federal law.”
Fossils Shed New Light on Small ‘Hobbit-Like’ Humans That Lived on a Remote Island (Dana)
The author writes, “Until some 60,000 years ago, petite early humans standing just over three feet tall lived on Flores Island in what is now Indonesia. These individuals — called Homo floresiensis and nicknamed the “hobbits” after J.R.R. Tolkien’s small Middle-earth inhabitants — were shorter than today’s average human 4-year-old. Many questions about the diminutive species remain unanswered, but now, newly examined fossils — including the smallest adult human arm bone in the fossil record — are helping scientists unravel the mysterious origins of H. floresiensis. Some of the hobbits’ ancestors may have been even shorter than thought.”
