Letters: Why don't we have a Question Time for the public to press our politicians?
The RNZ Concert programme is an oasis in a desert of negative news in the world dominated by bigotry and prejudice. The interviews with musical guests performing often with the NZSO and other talented musicians such as the superb recently crowned New Zealand youth choir contact are a joy to hear – the interviewees are not verbose and egocentric but are appreciative, informed music lovers like myself.
Margaret Ward, New Zealand
Waikato medical school
The short course opening to graduates at the new Waikato medical school, concentrating on training for general practice and rural medicine, raises two questions. Will the new doctors have a different form of medical registration to those who undergo the longer training at Otago and Auckland Universities, thereby restricting their work to areas in which they are specialised? Secondly, will their qualification be recognised worldwide as a complete or limited medical training?
Stewart Hawkins, St Heliers.
Building costs
The cost of building construction throughout New Zealand – already in crisis – is worsening as more and more building projects fold almost on a daily basis. Has anyone noticed?
Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.
Property buy-outs
It is understandable that the Government cannot continue to fully compensate home owners when properties are damaged and destroyed through natural events. However, when the authorities encourage and permit housing to be built on flood plains and unstable land, then they should be made responsible to fully compensate those affected by random natural events.
Insurance companies will not insure property that is deemed high risk, and no doubt banks will be reluctant to lend to buyers of dodgy housing. If we want to maintain confidence in the housing industry, support should be provided when common sense is not followed.
Kay Agar, Onehunga.
Homelessness
Homelessness is becoming a major problem worldwide and appears to be driven mainly by drug and alcohol addiction.
I watched an interesting news item from America that showed the extreme lengths they are going to in order to help their homeless. They provide financial support, meals, drug rehab programmes and shelter. In exchange, they require participants to participate in drug rehab and submit to regular drug tests. Unfortunately, people would rather live on the streets and use their welfare payments on drugs and alcohol.
Where do we go to from here? If they won't help themselves, what can be done?
Jock MacVicar, Hauraki.
Naked little man
I understand there have been a number of complaints about the nude skier in Lotto's recent TV advertisement. However, the little man who advertises Pak'nSave has been cavorting naked across the screen for years without any complaint.
In today's politically correct society, couldn't that be interpreted as some form of discrimination?
David Trower, Auckland Central.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
13 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Escape the world into the shire
The game centres around the business of making hearty meals. Just when you thought the Lord of the Rings product train had run out of steam, Wētā Workshop has more, Bill Hickman writes. Wētā Workshop has released a new video game that allows players to build their own home in a Hobbit village in Middle Earth. Tales of the Shire is billed as a "cosy game" providing a calmer, more meditative experience than the frenetic pace of traditional video games. Players create Hobbit characters — from choosing the possessions that adorn their Hobbit-hole homes to selecting the extent of hair on their little feet. The Hobbit avatars move about in a picturesque Middle Earth world buffeted by seasonal winds and are guided by birds as they tend to their gardens, fish, cook and interact with other townsfolk. Wētā Workshop founder Sir Richard Taylor said as the world emerged from the height of the pandemic, it made sense to create a game that was a departure from the conflict and drama that fuelled much of the Lord of the Rings films. "Tolkien described The Shire as Warwickshire circa 1890 type of world. This is pastoral England, this is beautiful days of slashing down the corn in the fields and harvesting, making hearty meals for your family," Taylor said. He said the game's look was purposely designed to emphasise the beauty and calm of the idyllic setting that was home to the Hobbits. The Shire is pastoral England, Warwickshire circa 1890. "We wanted to create a wonderfully, painterly watercolour world so it felt like you were stepping into a living picture, dotted with trees and hobbit holes," Taylor said. Game studio director Tony Lawrence said, at its peak, 54 people collaborated on the game, working out of Wētā's Miramar workshop as well as from Italy, Australia and California. The game's creators were able to draw on the studio's 25 years of bringing Middle Earth to life to add authenticity to the settings and activities players encountered, he said. "If there's a question about Lord of the Rings we've quite a few experts just lurking around the place that can help us with anything. If we wanted to understand how a character might make a sword, having a master sword [maker] onsite is pretty good to come watch. They're the kind of things that you can't do anywhere else in any other studio," Lawrence said. Lawrence said the government's rebate for game developers was an important factor in helping Wētā take the time to develop the game's detail and depth. — RNZ
RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
Musicians concerned by lack of regulation around fast-evolving AI technology
Jeremy Toy. Photo: RNZ / Evie Richardson New Zealand's musicians are watching on with a mix of horror and wonder as artificial intelligence programmes create increasingly plausible songs, often with just a few clicks of a button. Just weeks ago a band called the 'Velvet Sundown' rose up the Spotify charts before it was revealed all their music had been generated by AI. As the technology continues to evolve at breakneck speed, artists and producers here are concerned about the lack of regulation around the tech. In recent years, a number of easily accessible generative AI music tools have been released, where users can create complete songs by merely inserting a simple prompt. One of these is Suno, a US-based company, which has faced a number of lawsuits from major record labels in the US and Germany over copyright issues. Sophie Burbery, a musician and PHD student studying the topic, said companies like Suno don't disclose what music their AI software is learning from, leaving artists vulnerable. "Suno has admitted that all of its music is trained on anything that it can scrape from the internet under fair use. No decisions have been made yet within those court systems as to whether or not they can actually rely on that as a way of getting away with not paying musicians for their music or licensing it or asking permission because at the moment they've done none of those things. " Experts say the use of AI here in New Zealand is similar to the 'wild west' with no regulation or laws in place. Concern was sparked following the recent release of the government's AI strategy report, which contained no mention of the implications for creative industries. Burbery said if this continues, the consequences could be dire for our music and other creative industries. "It's really up to the government to be doing this work, and to be saying hey look, you want to have your platform up in New Zealand Suno and Udio you need to tell us where and how you've trained your AI, and it has to be labelled as the output and who owns the output of the ai?" Sophie Burbery. Photo: Supplied / Paul Taylor These AI programmes have generated many questions around copyright, an area where New Zealand is unique. Under the current Copyright Act, when a person uses AI to create a piece of art, such as a song, the end product automatically belongs to them, even it's based on a multitude of other people's songs. Clive Elliott KC, a barrister at Shortland Chambers who specialises in Intellectual Property told Checkpoint the current law is not fit for purpose when it comes to protecting creatives. "We can't use old principles that have been around for many years. We've got to say this is a completely different paradigm we face in here and we have to find a way which compensates people who have contributed to the learning process." Elliot said the Copyright Act is simply too out of date to apply to the rapidly evolving technology. "It's theft in a way, but it's theft of a tiny piece of information. And the problem with copyright is you have to show that a substantial part of the work has been copied." "The Copyright Act has been under review for years now. [The government] need to step up and say this is this is urgent." For some in the industry, like producer and artist Jeremy Toy, the risks are worrying. "If it's adopted early on with songwriters that it normalises the process of using AI to create your music. It's completely stripping you of your creative ideas." "I find it offensive as a musician that people think they can train a computer to think independently like a creative." They said there are some things that AI will never be able to replicate. "Connecting on the level that's not verbal, just being in a room with someone and playing music with them, that will never be recreated." Although the buzz around AI has amplified in recent years, some musicians say its been a part of the industry for a while now. Rodi Kirk. Photo: RNZ / Evie Richardson Rodi Kirk, who works in music tech, said AI is commonly used when producing music, particularly in the mixing and mastering stages of production. "One thing that might be surprising is that tools that rely on machine learning are not super new in terms of music production." Kirk remained optimistic about the benefits the technology could bring. "I wouldn't release a song and swap my voice for somebody that was well known, but you might do things that change your voice around for creative purposes. This general suite of tools that will be enabled by AI, I think people will do really creative stuff with them. " With no regulation or protections for artists in sight, Burbery said it is unclear where AI will take the music industry next. "It could offer many great creative possibilities but we don't know what they are because the way it has been developed is so unethical." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
4 days ago
- RNZ News
Wētā Workshop's new Hobbit game Tales of the Shire a 'cosy' escape from the world
Just when you thought the Lord of the Rings product train had run out of steam, Wētā Workshop has more. On Wednesday it released a new video game that allows players to build their own home in a Hobbit village in Middle Earth. Tales of the Shire is billed as a "cosy game" providing a calmer, more meditative experience than the frenetic pace of traditional video games. Players create Hobbit characters - from choosing the possessions that adorn their Hobbit-hole homes to selecting the extent of hair on their little feet. The Hobbit avatars are moved about a picturesque Middle Earth world buffeted by seasonal winds and guided by birds as they tend to their gardens, fish, cook and interact with other townsfolk. Tales of the Shire is billed as a "cosy game". Photo: Supplied / Wētā Workshop Wētā Workshop founder Sir Richard Taylor said as the world emerged from the height of the pandemic, it made sense to create a game that was a departure from the conflict and drama that fuelled much of the Lord of the Rings films. "Tolkien described The Shire as Warwickshire circa 1890 type of world. This is pastoral England, this is beautiful days of slashing down the corn in the fields and harvesting, making hearty meals for your family," Taylor said. He said the game's look was purposely designed to emphasise the beauty and calm of the idyllic setting that was home to the Hobbits. "We wanted to create a wonderfully, painterly watercolour world so it felt like you were stepping into a living picture, dotted with trees and hobbit holes. I think it looks beautiful and it seems to fit perfectly for Tolkien's imagination of what the Shire should be," Taylor said. Wētā Workshop founder Sir Richard Taylor. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Game studio director Tony Lawrence said at its peak, 54 people collaborated on the game, working out of Wētā's Miramar workshop as well as from Italy, Australia and California. The game's creators were able to draw on the studio's 25 years of bringing Middle Earth to life to add authenticity to the settings and activities players encountered, he said. "If there's a question about Lord of the Rings we've quite a few experts just lurking around the place that can help us with anything. If we wanted to understand how a character might make a sword, having a master sword [maker] onsite is pretty good to come watch. They're the kind of things that you can't do anywhere else in any other studio," Lawrence said. Game studio director Tony Lawrence. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Tony Lawrence said the government's rebate for game developers was an important factor in helping Wētā take the time to develop the game's detail and depth. New Zealand Game Developers Association executive director Joy Keene said the scheme was reversing a trend of local game developers heading offshore to work. "It's been absolutely essential to studios - especially studios like Wētā Workshop - where the rebate has assisted them to hire more staff, pay staff more to keep them rather than those staff going offshore, and given them some stability to actually develop these games," Keene said. At its peak, 54 people collaborated on the game. Photo: Supplied / Wētā Workshop Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
