|
Listen To This Story
 |
PICKS are stories from many sources, selected by our editors or recommended by our readers because they are important, surprising, troubling, enlightening, inspiring, or amusing. They appear on our site and in our daily newsletter. Please send suggested articles, videos, podcasts, etc. to picks@whowhatwhy.org.
Regulators Take Aim at AI to Protect Consumers and Workers (Maria)
The author writes, “As concerns grow over increasingly powerful artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT, the nation’s financial watchdog says it’s working to ensure that companies follow the law when they’re using AI. … Ben Winters, senior counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said a joint statement on enforcement released by federal agencies last month was a positive first step. ‘There’s this narrative that AI is entirely unregulated, which is not really true,’ he said.”
Meet the New Mayor: How a Refugee Won Over a Conservative German Town (Russ)
From The New York Times: “The election of Ryyan Alshebl, a young man who fled Syria, offers surprising lessons for a Germany wrestling with its multicultural identity after an influx of refugees in 2015.”
How Solar Farms Took over the California Desert: ‘An Oasis Has Become a Dead Sea’ (Reader Jim)
From The Guardian: “The Riverside East Solar Energy Zone — the ground zero of California’s solar energy boom — stretches for 150,000 acres, making it 10 times the size of Manhattan. Residents feel trapped and choked by dust, while experts warn environmental damage is ‘solving one problem by creating others.’”
What Erdoğan’s Victory Means for Turkey — and the World (Roshni)
From Time: “That Erdoğan managed to survive the single biggest test to his leadership is remarkable given the state of Turkey’s economy and lingering public anger over the government’s response to powerful earthquakes in February that left at least 50,000 people dead. It will have major international consequences — not least for NATO.”
The Internet Archive’s Troubles are Bad News for Book Lovers (Al)
The author writes, “The Internet Archive (archive.org), a San Francisco-based virtual lending library, is one of the quiet wonders of the modern world. In July 2020, immediately after the Covid lockdown, four publishers — Hachette, HarperCollins, Wiley, and Penguin Random House — decided to bring a major lawsuit against [it], claiming it had ‘infringed their copyright,’ potentially cost their companies millions of dollars and was a threat to their businesses. Last month the New York court found — predictably — in the publishers’ favor.”
Amid Realities of Sacramento Homeless Crisis, 3 County Leaders Criticize News Coverage (Reader Steve)
From The Sacramento Bee: “Factors including poverty, high housing costs, and limited eviction protections are pushing people onto the streets faster than social service agencies move the already-unhoused into permanent homes.“
