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EU needs to ‘speed up work on AI laws’

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BERLIN: The European Union needs to speed up work on artificial intelligence (AI) regulation, Commission vice president Margrethe Vestager said Monday, as policymakers wrestle with the risks from the emergent technology.

“There is no time to waste” on passing rules to control the use of AI, Vestager told reporters in Berlin.

The European Commission put forward regulatory proposals in early 2021, but progress on the legislation has been slow.

EU member states set out their views on the Commission’s ideas at the end of 2022, while MEPs will put the matter to an initial vote in committee in Strasbourg on Thursday.

The Parliament’s opinion should be confirmed in a plenary vote in June, before negotiations between the EU’s institutions begin in earnest.

“What I think is important is speed. We really need our legislation to get in place,” Vestager said.

“I really hope that we can have the first meeting of the political negotiation before summer so that we can end it this year.”

The arrival of new AI tools such as ChatGPT has reinvigorated the debate over regulation and spurred a response from governments.

ChatGPT can generate essays, poems and conversations from the briefest of prompts, and has proved itself capable of passing some tough exams.

But it has been dogged by concerns that its abilities could lead to widespread cheating in schools or supercharge disinformation on the web.

The chatbot can only function if it is trained on vast datasets, raising concerns about where its maker OpenAI gets its data and how that information is handled.

Italy temporarily banned the programme in March over allegations its data-gathering broke privacy laws, while French and German regulators have opened their own probes.

“When it comes to artificial intelligence like ChatGPT it will also be caught by the (EU’s) AI Act,” Vestager said.

The proposed legislation is “future proof” because it targets the uses of AI, not the specific technologies behind it, Vestager said.

The EU’s draft rules outlaw certain uses such as “generalised surveillance”, while companies must authorise themselves for other “high-risk” uses, such as facial recognition.

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Instagram, WhatsApp, and Reality Labs layoffs are announced by Meta

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Instagram, WhatsApp, and Reality Labs divisions of tech behemoth Meta have all announced layoffs.

Part of the company’s continuous endeavour to match resources with its long-term strategic goals and location plan is the decision that was made on Wednesday.

The long-term goal of the adjustments, according to a statement from Meta, is to keep the business competitive. “Today, a few teams at Meta are making changes to ensure resources are aligned with their long-term strategic goals and location strategy,” said the statement. Though attempts would be made to assist affected staff in securing other opportunities, the corporation stated that although some employees will move to different roles, others may find their positions abolished.

Despite not disclosing the precise number of layoffs, Meta seems to be carrying out CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s “Year of Efficiency,” which he started in the previous year. In an effort to reduce costs overall and shift its attention away from the Metaverse, Meta has eliminated over 10,000 workers since making that announcement.

Curiously, the second quarter’s financial results beat expectations, and this was announced right after the layoffs. That being said, the decision to restructure its virtual reality hardware and software operations was probably influenced by the department’s continued significant losses.

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Adobe unveils the Firefly AI video creator.

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Adobe has enhanced its Firefly Video Model by introducing an AI-driven video generator to augment its creative apps.

The Adobe Firefly Video Model will boost the functionalities of creative tools such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Adobe Express, and Premiere Pro.

Ely Greenfield, chief technology officer of digital media at Adobe, stated, “The adoption of Firefly in our creative applications has been substantial, and it is inspiring to observe how the creative community has utilised it to expand the limits of possibility.” “We are excited to provide creative professionals with additional tools for ideation and creation, all engineered to ensure commercial safety.”

The inaugural Generative Extend tool for Premiere Pro is currently accessible in beta, enabling users to prolong clips by a maximum of two seconds at resolutions of 720p or 1080p at 24 FPS.

Users will furthermore have the capability to utilise the program to augment audio, prolonging sound effects by up to ten seconds.

Furthermore, Adobe is launching two new web-based video production tools: Text-to-Video and Image-to-Video.

These tools are currently accessible in a restricted public beta within the Firefly online application.

According to Adobe, the Firefly Video Model is currently in a restricted public beta on their website.

Individuals wishing to utilise the new tools must currently join the waitlist, while generations remain complimentary during this period.

The company announced that it will provide additional details regarding Firefly AI video generation offerings and pricing following its formal public launch.

The news occurred weeks after Meta introduced Movie Gen, an AI-driven tool for generating realistic movie clips.

The program will utilise a text prompt to produce 16-second films accompanied by synced AI-generated audio.

Meta has stated that Movie Gen will create personalised artificial intelligence videos utilising only one photograph.

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Pakistan’s first multi-mission satellite has started operational.

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The inaugural multi-mission satellite of Pakistan, PAKSAT MM1, has been successfully operationalized with the assistance of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC).

The operationalization of the satellite represents a significant milestone in the nation’s space and digital growth framework.

The success of PAKSAT-MM1 will revolutionize Pakistan’s communication infrastructure, benefiting multiple IT sectors.

The satellite will deliver services including television broadcasting, mobile telecommunications, community internet access, and tele-education to enhance local enterprises.

This satellite will enhance internet coverage in remote regions, advancing the government’s objective of Digital Pakistan.

Pakistan has ascended 14 positions in the United Nations E-Governance Development Index. The country currently ranks 136th overall, an improvement from 150th in 2022.

Pakistan’s historic lunar mission (ICUBE-Q) was launched on May 3 aboard China’s Chang’E6 from Hainan, China.

The iCube-Qamar satellite project is Pakistan’s inaugural lunar exploration initiative, constituting a key achievement in the nation’s space endeavors.

The satellite iCube-Q was conceived and created by the Institute of Space Technology (IST) in partnership with Shanghai University SJTU of China and Pakistan’s national space agency SUPARCO.

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