In a watershed moment for the global tech industry, more than 150 African content moderators—who have provided moderation services for AI tools used by Facebook, TikTok, and ChatGPT—have voted to unionize, TIME reports. At an event in Nairobi this week, content moderators employed by third-party outsourcing companies voted to establish the first African Content Moderators Union. A long time coming The union’s establishment is the culmination of a process that began in 2019 when former Facebook content moderator Daniel Motaung was fired after attempting to unionize workers at the outsourcing
The errors and cultural blind spots introduced by machine translation can lead to confusion and rejected asylum claims, Rest of the World has found. Rise in demand for translators In 2021, the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, displacing million of Afghans. As Afghan refugees seek asylum around the world, there is a growing demand for translators. Some translation providers have turned to machine learning models to cut costs and save time, but refugee advocates say this risks introducing error into asylum claims. AI translation models are more accurate for
Stemuli, a Black woman-owned edtech company providing AI-driven game-based learning through its educational metaverse, has announced the merger of infinity.careers and Oppti into Stemuli. Immersive education A lack of engagement in K-12 classrooms today is resulting in math and science scores being at an all-time low. This creates long-lasting negative impacts not only for the students themselves but also for their communities and the national economy. Stemuli reports that we facing a loss of $8.5 trillion in potential earnings because students are not prepared for the workforce that awaits them.
“This is the final straw AI,” Drake wrote on Instagram Stories after an AI-generated version of him rapping to Ice Spice’s “Munch” went viral. The Canadian artist is the latest prominent industry figure to express concern over AI-generated music. Streamers urged to take charge The Financial Times reports that Universal Music Group (UMG) wrote a letter to major streamers, including Spotify and Apple Music, to clamp down on AI-generated music. UMG, which controls about a third of the global music market, said they were concerned about AI bots training on their catalog and
The Bean Path is a nonprofit organization founded by Dr. Nashlie Sephus, which is using tech to sow expertise, grow networks, and fertilize communities in Mississippi. The Makerspace, a 6,400-square-foot collaborative community workshop building, is the first step in solidifying Sephus’ vision of creating a science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) hub on 21 acres of previously neglected land. Identifying Blind Spots The Jackson, Mississippi native was introduced to engineering by her eighth-grade science teacher. After pursuing a degree in computer engineering, Sephus earned a PhD in electrical and
GPT detectors are biased against non-native English writers, a new study by researchers from Stanford University has found. From the Balenciaga Pope to fake Trump arrest photos, the spread of AI-generated content is driving the demand for effective ways to detect AI-made content. However, a recent study has found that GPT detectors often mistake non-native English writing for AI-generated text, while correctly identifying native English writing. In tests, the detectors were near-perfect at analyzing US college admission essays but incorrectly classified over half of the Test of English as a
Did you get duped by the ‘Balenciaga Pope’? Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll have seen the viral image of Pope Francis wearing a stylish white puffer coat. It has been viewed a whopping 27.5 million times on this tweet alone. For many, this won’t have been their first encounter with misinformation, but it might have been their first with AI-generated imagery. Although it looks realistic, the ‘Balenciaga Pope’ was created using a tool called Midjourney. It is one of the most popular generative AI tools available, alongside
Last week, notable tech figures, including Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, and politician Andrew Yang, signed an open letter by Future of Life calling for researchers to “pause the development of any AI systems more powerful than GPT-4 for 6 months.” Commotion ensued. Some people withdrew their signatures, others were exposed as fake, and AI experts worldwide criticized the letter’s ethos, claims, and demands. Here’s what you need to know. What’s so special about GPT-4? In an interview on March 15, OpenAI’s chief scientist said “”we are now reaching
Wisdom is an audio-first social discovery app fostering deeper connections and lasting friendships between like-minded users. Founded by British computer science graduate Dayo Akinrinade, Wisdom leverages advanced AI with the power of social audio to make the world a little wiser. “Wisdom offers women a safe space to converse about topics that matter to them, such as women’s rights, domestic violence, leadership, and wellness,” Akinrinade told Apple. “Our users who don’t identify as women consider themselves allies, and provide support by participating in the conversations or simply listening.” On Wisdom, users
AI is becoming an integral part of our society. This is good news in many ways. AI will bring efficiency to many sectors, for example, in healthcare where it is being used to assign patients to care programs based on their needs. However, in 2019, a study revealed that an algorithm used for this purpose in US hospitals was less likely to recommend Black patients than white patients who were equally sick. When AI can’t recognize Black women Algorithmic bias is not only an issue for AI in healthcare, it
