Latest news with #Handsome
BBC News
15-04-2025
- BBC News
Dangerous dog attack owners defend their pets
The owners of dogs that have attacked humans and other pets have said they "saw the beauty" in their animals and wanted to give them a second number of incidents where an out of control dog has caused injury has risen sharply over the past five Chant from Bishopsworth in Bristol took ownership of a Bullmastiff in having the dog, which he named Handsome, for just three days it lost control and began mauling a neighbours' dog. Mr Chant was injured himself by the dog as he tried to intervene and still has a crooked finger as a result of the incident. Caution: Graphic description of violence He said: "He was brought up to fight, so his ears are clipped, his tail's clipped so... he's gone jogging it round the corner, gone straight into her (his neighbour's) hallway and he's grabbed her dog and ripped all his leg open. "I panicked, I dived on top of him, and as I grabbed him he's bit down and bit into me fingers, I've grabbed his cheeks. So he's grabbed that finger on one side and done that finger on another side. I'm bleeding all over the place, I've managed to drag him out."The neighbour called the police and her dog had to be put down because of its Chant said the police told him he would also have to put his own dog down because of what it did, or face found a vet who carried out the procedure for free. 'Big scrap' Claire Garraway from Withywood in Bristol owns three dogs including a female rottweiler which attacked her 25-year-old son in her Garraway said: "My two sons were having a big scrap and she could hear all the commotion behind the door, she didn't know who it was so she automatically bit my son on the bum and he went to hospital and had a tetanus jab."She said: "I was unhappy that she done that obviously but I didn't want to get rid of her or put her down because she's never done anything like that before, and I think the commotion was so much she was doing it out of protection of me." According to the government, dogs are considered dangerously out of control if they injured people, or made people concerned they were about to be included unlimited fines, six months' imprisonment, or both, and offenders might be banned from owning dogs in the future. Allowing a dangerous dog to kill someone could lead to 14 years' imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both. 'Deserve a chance' Despite Mr Chant's experiences, he said he did not regret buying a dog breed known for Chant said: "I can see the beauty in him… they deserve a chance. "Alright they were brought up to clip their ears and get in there and fight and win some money, they were brought up like that. "If they come out of that and nobody wants them any more because they're like that they deserve a chance for them to pull back, that's only fair. "And if they don't, then yeah put them down," he said. Jenny and Colin Coombes from Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset adopted a Romanian border collie rescue dog which they named bit a builder who was working in their Coombes said: "He lunged and he nipped. We made sure the guy went to hospital and he was okay about it."The couple were worried it might happen Coombes added: "We did debate returning him to the home, the dogs home that we got him from and they helped us over that they were very good and they supported us and offered us extra training and we got through it. "It was our fault because we were at that stage where we were still inexperienced with handling a dog like that and we just allowed the dog to get a little bit too close to the guy."Ms Coombes said she believed dog attacks were not always the owners' said: "Sometimes, especially with a rescue dog it can be a dog that's got problems and got issues." Victims of dog attacks have told the BBC how they have been affected Champion was walking home in West Somerset when an elderly man with three dogs parked alongside her."As I passed, the dog shot out [of the car] and grabbed onto my leg," she wound was bandaged up and she was given a tetanus shot and a course of penicillin to resist against any Champion is also a dog owner herself and said the experience had left her wary of other people's pets."I'm not scared of dogs," she said. "But now I'm looking out for dogs all the time even though I have two of my own."The owner of the dog that bit Mrs Champion could not be identified so no action was taken.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'We need to speak up': Authors protest against Meta training AI on their work
Landing a publishing deal was a dream come true for Jack Strange. "It was incredible. I'd had so many rejections along the way," he says. "So when someone said yes, I cried because it's everything I ever wanted." Before Jack published debut novel Look Up, Handsome, he'd written other, self-published titles. But he felt an entirely different emotion when he found out that those works had appeared on LibGen - a so-called "shadow library" containing millions of books and academic papers taken without permission. An investigation by The Atlantic magazine revealed Meta may have accessed millions of pirated books and research papers through LibGen - Library Genesis - to train its generative AI (Gen-AI) system, Llama. Now author groups across the UK and around the world are organising campaigns to encourage governments to intervene. Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is currently defending a court case brought by multiple authors over the use of their work. Llama is a large language model, or LLM, similar to Open AI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini. The systems are fed huge amounts of data and trained to spot patterns within it. They use this data to create passages of text by predicting the next word in a sequence. Despite the systems being labelled intelligent, critics argue LLMs do not "think", have no understanding of what they produce and can confidently present errors as fact. Tech companies argue that they need more data to make the systems more reliable, but authors, artists and other creatives say they should pay for the privilege. A Meta spokesperson told BBC Newsbeat it had "developed transformational GenAI powering incredible innovation, productivity and creativity for individuals and companies". They added that "fair use of copyrighted materials is vital to this", and that the company wants to develop AI that benefits everyone. As well as concerns over copyright and accuracy, AI systems are also power-hungry, prompting environmental fears, and worries they could threaten jobs. While Jack's debut novel wasn't part of the LibGen dataset, he did find some of his self-published books had been taken. He says he wasn't surprised because he'd seen so many fellow authors affected, but that it did spur him on to want to do something about it. "There's always something you can do. You can't just say 'oh well'. You've got to speak up and fight back," he tells BBC Newsbeat. Meta says open source AI like Llama will "increase human productivity, creativity, and quality of life". But Jack says it poses a real risk to creatives like him. "It's annoying that the first thing AI comes for are creative jobs that bring you joy. "We're so undervalued already, and we're even more undervalued now with AI coming in." Jack says going up against a company like Meta, which is worth more than a trillion dollars, doesn't feel like a fight he can take on alone. "How much control can you take back when your work has already been taken? "How do we live with that and how do we get protected from that?" He's one of a growing number of writers calling on the government to intervene, with a demonstration planned on Thursday near Meta's London office, as well as action online. Abie Longstaff works at the Society of Authors, a union representing writers, illustrators and translators, and tells Newsbeat they have been raising concerns about the risks of AI for years. "We all feel that level of helplessness," she says. "But we're all fighting so hard." She says her work has also been stolen and used to train AI, something she believes has an impact on future publishing opportunities. "Large language models work by prediction, they work by looking at patterns. They want our voice, they want our expression, they want our style. "So you can as a normal person go onto one of these sites and say 'please can you write me a book in the style of Abie Longstaff' and they'll write it in my style, in my voice." Because their works have been scraped though, writers won't get any compensation or recognition if it's used this way. "We want to see compensation, we want to see that it's more transparent," Abie says. "The company has taken our books and used it to make money. It has money, but instead of paying us for our intellectual property instead of licensing a word, it's taking it all for free." Artists release silent album in protest against AI using their work Glue pizza and eat rocks: Google AI search errors go viral Apple suspends error-strewn AI generated news alerts The Society of Authors as well as other unions like the Writers' Guild are encouraging writers to get in touch with their MPs to raise their concerns in government. In December, the government shared a consultation in a bid to navigate the issue between copyright holders being in control and paid for their work and AI companies having "wide and lawful access to high-quality data". One proposal was giving tech companies automatic access to works such as books, films and TV shows to train AI models unless creators opted out. But Abie thinks that's the wrong way round. "It's like saying you've got to put a note on your wallet saying no-one steal it," she says. "It should be the AI companies asking us if they can use our work." Writing is something Jack had always dreamed of doing - and still does, despite the challenges he's currently facing. "It's still my dream to be an author and hopefully write full time. It's incredibly difficult now, it's going to be more difficult with AI coming in." Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.
BBC News
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Meta AI book scraping: 'We need to speak up', say authors
Landing a publishing deal was a dream come true for Jack Strange."It was incredible. I'd had so many rejections along the way," he says."So when someone said yes, I cried because it's everything I ever wanted."Before Jack published debut novel Look Up, Handsome, he'd written other, self-published he felt an entirely different emotion when he found out that those works had appeared on LibGen - a so-called "shadow library" containing millions of books and academic papers taken without investigation by The Atlantic magazine revealed Meta may have accessed millions of pirated books and research papers through LibGen - Library Genesis - to train its generative AI (Gen-AI) system, author groups across the UK and around the world are organising campaigns to encourage governments to which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is currently defending a court case brought by multiple authors over the use of their work. 'More difficult with AI coming in' Llama is a large language model, or LLM, similar to Open AI's ChatGPT and Google's systems are fed huge amounts of data and trained to spot patterns within it. They use this data to create passages of text by predicting the next word in a the systems being labelled intelligent, critics argue LLMs do not "think", have no understanding of what they produce and can confidently present errors as companies argue that they need more data to make the systems more reliable, but authors, artists and other creatives say they should pay for the privilege.A Meta spokesperson told BBC Newsbeat it had "developed transformational GenAI powering incredible innovation, productivity and creativity for individuals and companies".They added that "fair use of copyrighted materials is vital to this", and that the company wants to develop AI that benefits well as concerns over copyright and accuracy, AI systems are also power-hungry, prompting environmental fears, and worries they could threaten jobs. Facing down a trillion dollar company While Jack's debut novel wasn't part of the LibGen dataset, he did find some of his self-published books had been says he wasn't surprised because he'd seen so many fellow authors affected, but that it did spur him on to want to do something about it."There's always something you can do. You can't just say 'oh well'. You've got to speak up and fight back," he tells BBC says open source AI like Llama will "increase human productivity, creativity, and quality of life". But Jack says it poses a real risk to creatives like him."It's annoying that the first thing AI comes for are creative jobs that bring you joy. "We're so undervalued already, and we're even more undervalued now with AI coming in."Jack says going up against a company like Meta, which is worth more than a trillion dollars, doesn't feel like a fight he can take on alone."How much control can you take back when your work has already been taken?"How do we live with that and how do we get protected from that?" He's one of a growing number of writers calling on the government to intervene, with a demonstration planned on Thursday near Meta's London office, as well as action Longstaff works at the Society of Authors, a union representing writers, illustrators and translators, and tells Newsbeat they have been raising concerns about the risks of AI for years."We all feel that level of helplessness," she says. "But we're all fighting so hard."She says her work has also been stolen and used to train AI, something she believes has an impact on future publishing opportunities."Large language models work by prediction, they work by looking at patterns. They want our voice, they want our expression, they want our style. "So you can as a normal person go onto one of these sites and say 'please can you write me a book in the style of Abie Longstaff' and they'll write it in my style, in my voice."Because their works have been scraped though, writers won't get any compensation or recognition if it's used this way."We want to see compensation, we want to see that it's more transparent," Abie says."The company has taken our books and used it to make money. It has money, but instead of paying us for our intellectual property instead of licensing a word, it's taking it all for free." The Society of Authors as well as other unions like the Writers' Guild are encouraging writers to get in touch with their MPs to raise their concerns in December, the government shared a consultation in a bid to navigate the issue between copyright holders being in control and paid for their work and AI companies having "wide and lawful access to high-quality data".One proposal was giving tech companies automatic access to works such as books, films and TV shows to train AI models unless creators opted Abie thinks that's the wrong way round."It's like saying you've got to put a note on your wallet saying no-one steal it," she says. "It should be the AI companies asking us if they can use our work." Writing is something Jack had always dreamed of doing - and still does, despite the challenges he's currently facing."It's still my dream to be an author and hopefully write full time. It's incredibly difficult now, it's going to be more difficult with AI coming in." Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.
CBC
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Comedian Mae Martin on their move into music — and dealing with onstage nerves all over again
Like many performers who make a move into music, Mae Martin was nervous that their debut album, I'm A TV, would come across as inauthentic. "My great fear is that it'll feel like I'm trying to be a rock star," the Canadian comedian tells Q 's Tom Power in an interview. "But it felt like it sounded like me and like an extension of my other work, and so maybe people would be more receptive to it." You might know Martin for their hit stand-up special SAP, their semi-autobiographical comedy series Feel Good, or their popular Handsome podcast, which they co-host with comedians Tig Notaro and Fortune Feimster. But when it comes to performing music, Martin says their success as a comedian wasn't enough to ease their onstage nerves. WATCH | Mae Martin's full interview with Tom Power: "I thought that all those years of stand-up would translate to feeling super chill and confident, because I don't get that stage fright anymore, but it really has not been the case," they say. "I was quivering, shaking." The very first time Martin performed music for an audience was at Largo at the Coronet, a Los Angeles club known for its live music and comedy shows. "I do a monthly show there and I would always have musical guests," Martin says. "And so I would play a cover, and that was the first time I played music in front of people. I loved the energetic shift with the audience, like you could suddenly hear a pin drop. And it was terrifying because I'm so used to breaking that tension with the punchline, you know?" My muscle memory is like, if no one's laughing, I'm bombing. - Mae Martin While Martin thinks all creativity comes from the same muscle, they say performing feels really different between music and comedy. In particular, when you're used to getting laughs on stage and feeding off the adrenaline of the crowd, it can feel alarming to be met with a silent, attentive audience. "With comedy you can bail halfway through a joke if it's not working," Martin says. "My muscle memory is like, if no one's laughing, I'm bombing. So if I'm playing a song and people are just silent and paying attention, I'm like, oh God." The other big difference is that earnest songwriting requires a lot more vulnerability than comedy. "With stand-up, you have to be so careful not to be too earnest or you could be described as being preachy with your message," Martin explains. "With music, yeah, people are up for that vulnerability and they're open to it. There are some things and ideas and thoughts that we have that aren't easily packaged into a set-up in a punchline structure … so it's great to be able to explore them with that amazing veil of metaphor and poetry and stuff. It's great."
