AI regulation must catch up to reality

The Hindu

2 days ago

AI regulation must catch up with reality
As AI giants such as OpenAI, Meta, Google, Anthropic and Microsoft unveil deeper integrations of their AI models, a range of users and regulators are raising serious questions about how these companies sourced the huge troves of data that were used to build their diverse chatbot offerings. This question now leads us back to the various privacy cases that have stuck to companies such as Meta and Google, where plaintiffs alleged that their data was collected without their permission or that they were being tracked and targeted without their knowledge or informed consent.
While courts across the U.S. are dissecting the legal implications of these data harvesting methods, Big Tech's approach usually results in an out-of-court settlement and the denial of wrongdoings, meaning that there is a lack of transparency. Zooming out, OpenAI faces allegations that it scraped copyrighted content across the entire internet, including the works of authors, artists, and journalists in order to create its large language models (LLMs) and its AI image and video generators. While there is general agreement that AI regulation is needed, patchy data protection laws and little consensus across regions means that Big Tech companies often have free rein to source and use data as they wish.
Google to appeal antitrust decision
Google has said that it will appeal an antitrust decision over its dominant status in the online search and related advertising market. While a U.S. federal judge noted that Google illegally dominated two markets in the online advertising technology space, Google felt that the U.S. Department of Justice's measures to reduce its dominance went far beyond the court's decision. Google claimed that steps such as sharing more data with rivals would harm its customers, and that the premise of the case focused more on data sharing rather than safeguarding the data of users.
Another issue is how Generative AI is changing the way consumers and businesses interact with the web, leading to the question of whether Google holds an illegal monopoly in this space as well. Google said that it believed the court's original decision was wrong, and that it would look forward to its appeal.
U.S to closely check visa applicants' social media
A cable from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicating that foreign students applying for a visa to study in the U.S. could face enhanced scrutiny of their social media handles has triggered fears about how one's social media activity could lead to the potential loss of education opportunities. In particular, those planning to visit, study, or work at Harvard University are facing expanded checks, according to reports. This update comes in the wake of anti-Israel protests on U.S. university campuses that the government has deemed to be an expression of antisemitism aimed at American Jews rather than a form of political opposition to Israel's military violence against Palestinians.
While the U.S. Department of State has collected visa applicants' social media handles and identifiers since 2019, Mr. Rubio's latest cable suggests more serious screening for content that the U.S. government considers to be critical of Israel. Many anti-Israel protesters have also been labelled as Hamas supporters by conservatives.