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
Meet Victor Glover, the NASA astronaut who is set to make history as the first Black man to venture to the Moon. NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) have announced the four astronauts selected to fly on Artemis II, the first crewed mission in NASA’s ambitious plan to establish a long-term presence on the Moon. Pilot Victor Glover will board the Orion spacecraft and embark on a flyby of the Moon with Commander Reid Wiseman, Mission Specialist 1 Christina Hammock Koch, and Mission Specialist 2 Jeremy Hansen on a 10-day mission
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
This article was first published by Zaria Gunn on Medium. As a black female futurist and artist, I spent time working in VR at Google’s HQ in Mountain View. My team, Spotlight Stories was a part of Google’s R&D lab for hardware called A.T.A.P. (Advanced Technologies and Projects) though the workplace had international diversity, the African American woman population was just me. And though I’ve always wanted to be the first at something, I had never imagined that I would’ve been the first black woman in ATAP eight years after
Tech giant Meta is being sued by content moderators in Kenya, again. On Monday, 43 content moderators filed a lawsuit accusing Facebook’s parent company and two subcontractors, Sama and Majorel of ‘unlawful redundancy’ and discriminatory hiring practices. Meta had contracted Kenya-based firm Sama to moderate Facebook content in eastern and southern Africa. However, Sama closed its content moderation arm in January and announced it would be laying off 260 content moderators when its contract with Meta ends on March 31. The suit claims that redundancy notices were not issued and that Meta and Sama
Several Black-led venture capital firms have written an open letter in response to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) op-ed which suggests Silicon Valley Bank’s diversity focus contributed to its collapse. Following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the WSJ published an opinion piece by Kessler in which he stated: “I’m not saying 12 white men would have avoided this mess, but the company may have been distracted by diversity demands.” Black Women in Venture Capital, BLCK VC, 1863 Ventures, and Living Cities wrote an open letter to the Wall Street Journal editors and
Leading cybersecurity and digital skills training company ThriveDX has partnered with the OneTen coalition to help Black talent secure tech and cybersecurity jobs – without needing college degrees. In 2020, America’s leading CEOs, companies, and talent developers banded together to form a coalition dedicated to upskilling, hiring, and promoting one million Black individuals who do not have four-year degrees. OneTen’s growing portfolio of 70+ partners includes educators, trainers, and providing Black people with the skills needed to secure “family-sustaining” jobs across the US. The coalition reports that they have helped more than 65,000 people secure top
Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) collapse has reignited debates about whether the US government is doing enough to regulate financial institutions – but another debate is brewing. Here’s an excerpt from a Wall Street Journal opinion piece published on March 12: “Was there regulatory failure? Perhaps. SVB was regulated like a bank but looked more like a money-market fund. Then there’s this: In its proxy statement, SVB notes that besides 91% of their board being independent and 45% women they also have “1 Black,” “1 LGBTQ+” and “2 Veterans.” I’m not
