Tuesday, May 16, 2023

Six In The Morning Tuesday 16 May 2023

 

ChatGPT creator faces questions in US Congress

The controversy over AI art, explained

Ben Derico

Reporting from San Francisco

Following the questions from Senator Marsha Blackburn, who represents creative hub Nashville, Tennessee - it should be clear that the effects of AI are reaching into the creative community.

Text, image, even audio and video, are being generated as we speak with simple web tools through simple text prompts.

Want to see a purple elephant playing a trombone in the style of Van Gogh? Image generators like DALL-E and Stable Diffusion can do it in seconds.

But to build that image, the algorithms first need to be "trained" on millions, sometimes billions, of illustrations "scraped" from the web.

This often means the images were taken without consent, credit, or compensation to the artists who made them.

The creative community is already raising the flag, saying this violates their copyright and poses a threat to their way of life.


Turkey’s economic crisis expected to deepen after Erdoğan tops poll

Analysts fear Erdoğan victory could lead to further instability with high inflation and lira already close to historic low

Analysts expect Turkey’s economic crisis to worsen after President Tayyip Erdoğan came top in the first round of the country’s presidential election and his party gained a parliamentary majority in a legislative vote.

The Turkish lira, which has devalued steadily in recent years including halving in value in one year alone, dropped close to a historic low as markets opened the morning after Sunday’s vote.


Pakistan: Tribal clash over coal mine kills at least 15


The two tribes fought over the ownership rights of a coal mine and were equipped with "powerful firearms." Mining coal is a vital source of income in northwest Pakistan where the clash occurred.


At least 15 people were killed and several others were injured in a long bloody clash between two tribes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwestern Pakistan, police officials said on Tuesday.

The decadeslong dispute between the two tribes concerns the ownership rights of a coal mine in Dara Adam Khel district near the border region of Afghanistan.

Tribes equipped with 'powerful firearms'

Armed men from the tribes attacked each other on Monday with assault rifles over the boundary fixing decision of the mine.

While one tribe marked the boundaries of their territory in the mountainous area, the other tribe opened fire on them from an elevated position, said local police.

The tribes were equipped with "powerful firearms" said Farhan Khan, a senior police official.


Turning away from the West, Russia seeks to strengthen economic ties with the Muslim world

The Russia-Islamic World Forum will begin in Kazan, southwest Russia, on Thursday. The two-day event was first held in 2009 and aims to strengthen economic ties between Russia and Muslim countries. In the wake of a rupture between Russia and the West, these ties are now part of a shifting world order.

The decision to hold the 2023 edition of the Russia-Islamic World forum in Kazan is symbolic: the capital of Tatarstan, located some 800km east of Moscow, is seen by the Russian state as a successful example of multiculturalism and peaceful religious coexistence.

Russia is home to some 15 million Muslim citizens “in the sense that they belong to ethnic groups with cultural foundations linked to Islam. Not all are believers or practising Muslims,” according to a report from the French Institute for International Relations.


Women speak out online about reports of sexual violence in Sudan

Women have taken to social media to call out, and warn others about reported rapes being perpetrated by soldiers.


Multiple reports of rape perpetrated by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have emerged across Sudan as activists and medical professionals take to social media to warn others and provide a critical support network for survivors and women at risk of sexual violence.

Graphic details have been shared online as organisations and individuals grapple with internet connectivity issues to paint a disturbing picture of increasingly indiscriminate attacks on women as the war enters its fifth week.

The reports have been difficult to independently verify, but they suggested a broad pattern of behaviour in which women are being routinely targeted, in some cases in front of family members, and subjected to brutal acts of sexual violence.


The world can cut plastic pollution by 80% by 2040, the UN says. Here’s how

Published 9:50 AM EDT, Tue May 16, 2023



Countries could slash plastic pollution by 80% in less than two decades, according to a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme.

Plastic pollution is a scourge that affects every part of the world, from the Arctic, to the oceans and the air we breathe.

It’s even changing ecosystems. Scientists recently found rocks made from plastic on a remote Brazilian island, and there is now so much plastic swirling in parts of the Pacific Ocean that communities of coastal creatures are thriving on it, thousands of miles from their home.

The last few decades have seen plastic production levels soar, especially single-use plastic, and waste management systems have not kept pace. The world generated 139 million metric tons of single use plastic waste in 2021.







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