Weekly bulletin from AIport, issue #26

Hello and welcome to our latest issue of the AI bulletin! 

We hope you enjoy this week's selection of the hottest developments in machine learning and data science. Don’t forget to leave us a like — we look forward to seeing you next week.

We’d also like to extend our thanks to Dr. Jingtai Liu for his valuable contribution to this bulletin.

North America

• The Verge editors lay out their vision for the future of web search following OpenAI’s launch of SearchGPT yesterday: listen to the Vergecast here.

• Video game performers and voice actors from the SAG-AFTRA labor union in Los Angeles, which represents over 150,000 media professionals, go on strike over the use of AI “to the detriment of [its] members.”

• The US Senate unanimously passes the DEFIANCE Act, introduced in March following Taylor Swift’s deepfake controversy, to halt the production of nonconsensual sexually explicit AI-generated images and edits.

• Scientists from Stanford Engineering and the Toyota Research Institute successfully achieve AI-powered tandem drifting with autonomous vehicles at Thunderhill Raceway in California. 

Europe

• The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris are being touted as the first sporting event in history to be backed by AI, including ML-enabled video surveillance.

• In the UK, a school in Essex gets chastised by a watchdog for unlawfully using AI-powered facial recognition technology to administer cashless lunch payments.

• Due to the AI boom, electricity consumption by data centers in Ireland now surpasses that of all urban households combined, potentially derailing sustainability efforts.

Asia

• In China, Kuaishou’s text-to-video AI model Kling is now available globally. Meanwhile, another Chinese GenAI video solution, PixVerse by Aishi Technology, receives a substantial upgrade with the release of PixVerse V2.

• A supermarket chain in Japan becomes the first in the world to utilize AI for monitoring obligatory smiles from customer-facing employees, sparking concerns over potential workplace harassment. 

Latin America 

• Recent OECD data reveals that seven countries in Latin America either already possess a national AI strategy or are actively developing one.

Africa

• Following the African Union’s adoption of the Continental AI Strategy in June, the Media Institute of Southern Africa publishes an open letter to African heads of state, urging them to establish a suitable data policy framework that protects citizens’ rights.

Australia

• Adelaide’s Elizabeth Aquadome pool becomes the first in South Australia to implement computer vision to prevent drowning accidents, with all trained lifeguards now equipped with special AI smartwatches: watch a short 9News report.