New York Set to Restrict Social-Media Algorithms for Teens

Lawmakers in New York have reached a tentative agreement to “prohibit social-media companies from using algorithms to steer content to children without parental consent (source paywalled; alternative source),” according to the Wall Street Journal. “The legislation is aimed at preventing social-media companies from serving automated feeds to minors. The bill, which is still being completed but expected to be voted on this week, also would prohibit platforms from sending minors notifications during overnight hours without parental consent.”

Meanwhile, the results of New York’s first mental health report were released today, finding that depression and anxiety are rampant among NYC’s teenagers, “with nearly half of them experiencing symptoms from one of both in recent years,” reports NBC New York. “In a recent survey conducted last year, 48% of teenagers reported feeling depressive symptoms ranging from mild to severe. The vast majority, however, reported feeling high levels of resilience. Frequent coping mechanisms include listening to music and using social media.”

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Adobe Scolded For Selling ‘Ansel Adams-Style’ Images Generated By AI

The Ansel Adams estate said it was “officially on our last nerve” after Adobe was caught selling AI-generated images imitating the late photographer’s work. The Verge reports: While Adobe permits AI-generated images to be hosted and sold on its stock image platform, users are required to hold the appropriate rights or ownership over the content they upload. Adobe Stock’s Contributor Terms specifically prohibits content “created using prompts containing other artist names, or created using prompts otherwise intended to copy another artist.” Adobe responded to the callout, saying it had removed the offending content and had privately messaged the Adams estate to get in touch directly in the future. The Adams estate, however, said it had contacted Adobe directly multiple times since August 2023.

“Assuming you want to be taken seriously re: your purported commitment to ethical, responsible AI, while demonstrating respect for the creative community, we invite you to become proactive about complaints like ours, & to stop putting the onus on individual artists/artists’ estates to continuously police our IP on your platform, on your terms,” said the Adams estate on Threads. “It’s past time to stop wasting resources that don’t belong to you.”

Adobe Stock Vice President Matthew Smith previously told The Verge that the company generally moderates all “crowdsourced” Adobe Stock assets before they are made available to customers, employing a “variety” of methods that include “an experienced team of moderators who review submissions.” As of January 2024, Smith said the strongest action the company can take to enforce its platform rules is to block Adobe Stock users who violate them. Bassil Elkadi, Adobe’s Director of Communications and Public Relations, told The Verge that Adobe is “actively in touch with Ansel Adams on this matter,” and that “appropriate steps were taken given the user violated Stock terms.” The Adams estate has since thanked Adobe for removing the images, and said that it expects “it will stick this time.” “We don’t have a problem with anyone taking inspiration from Ansel’s photography,” said the Adams estate. “But we strenuously object to the unauthorized use of his name to sell products of any kind, including digital products, and this includes AI-generated output — regardless of whether his name has been used on the input side, or whether a given model has been trained on his work.”

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AI Researchers Analyze Similarities of Scarlett Johanssson’s Voice to OpenAI’s ‘Sky’

AI models can evaluate how similar voices are to each other. So NPR asked forensic voice experts at Arizona State University to compare the voice and speech patterns of OpenAI’s “Sky” to Scarlett Johansson’s…

The researchers measured Sky, based on audio from demos OpenAI delivered last week, against the voices of around 600 professional actresses. They found that Johansson’s voice is more similar to Sky than 98% of the other actresses.

Yet she wasn’t always the top hit in the multiple AI models that scanned the Sky voice. The researchers found that Sky was also reminiscent of other Hollywood stars, including Anne Hathaway and Keri Russell. The analysis of Sky often rated Hathaway and Russell as being even more similar to the AI than Johansson.

The lab study shows that the voices of Sky and Johansson have undeniable commonalities — something many listeners believed, and that now can be supported by statistical evidence, according to Arizona State University computer scientist Visar Berisha, who led the voice analysis in the school’s College of Health Solutions and the College of Engineering. “Our analysis shows that the two voices are similar but likely not identical,” Berisha said…

OpenAI maintains that Sky was not created with Johansson in mind, saying it was never meant to mimic the famous actress. “It’s not her voice. It’s not supposed to be. I’m sorry for the confusion. Clearly you think it is,” Altman said at a conference this week. He said whether one voice is really similar to another will always be the subject of debate.

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Male Birth Control Gel Continues to Show Promise

Gizmodo reports there’s been progress on a male birth-control gel “being developed with the help of several organizations, including the U.S. government’s National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, part of the larger NIH.”

It’s now being tested in a larger-scale Phase IIB trial, which involves around 400 couples. [Five milliliters of gel — about a teaspon — is applied to each shoulder blade once a day, reports NBC News.] That trial is still ongoing, but researchers have already begun to pore through some of the available data, which has provided encouraging results. In the summer of 2022, for instance, Diana Blithe, chief of the NICHD’s Contraceptive Development Program, reported that the NES/T gel’s efficacy rate so far appeared to be on par or even better than contraceptive hormonal options for women…
The findings are still preliminary, and it will take more time for the full Phase II data to be collected and analyzed. But Blithe and her team have been encouraged by everything they’ve seen to date. In the team’s early assessments, the gel appears to be both effective and safe, with minimal side effects for men taking it… Blithe and her colleagues are set to meet with the FDA next year about the steps needed to begin a larger Phase III trial and are still seeking a commercial partner to help bring the NES/T gel to the market.
Initial findings also showed that the contraceptive worked faster than expected, Blithe said, according to NBC News. They add that at least three other companies are also working on male birth control:
Also at the Boston conference on Sunday, YourChoice Therapeutics said a very small trial in the U.K. — just 16 men — showed that its nonhormonal pill, YCT-529, was safe and free of side effects. The San Francisco company’s nonhormonal pill works by blocking the vitamin A receptor important for male fertility.YourChoice is planning a larger trial, according to CEO Akash Bakshi.

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8BitDo’s Reimagining of IBM’s Model-M Keyboard Draws Reactions Online

“Few computer keyboards are as iconic, as influential, or as beige as the IBM Model-M,” writes the blog OMG Ubuntu adding that it’s “no surprise then that it’s been given a modern reimagining by 8BitDo.”

Following on from their Nintendo NES and Famicom and Commodore 64 homages, 8BitDo has unveiled its latest retro-inspired mechanical keyboard. This one pays tribute to a true computing classic: the IBM Model-M keyboard.

Lest anyone familiar with the real thing get too excited I’ll mention up front that 8BitDo’s Keyboard-M is a mechanical keyboard, using Kailh Box V2 white switches (swappable, of course) and not the buckling spring mechanism synonymous with the original. On Linux you can enable a buckling spring sound effect for every key press though, should you buy this and want the clatter to accompany it…!

Like 8BitDo’s other retro keyboards you can use this over Bluetooth, 2.4G wireless (USB adapter sits underneath), or wired. It has a built-in rechargeable 2000mAh Li-on battery that’s good for 200 hours between charges.

“It certainly looks the business,” writes the Verge, “especially with the slick new wireless numpad / calculator combo pad 8BitDo will sell alongside it for another $44.99.”

And Ars Technica adds that “The M Edition’s color scheme, chunkier build, and typeface selection, including on the Tab key with arrows and elsewhere, are nods to IBM’s Model M,” (noting that the Model M first succeeded the Model F keyboard in 1985). “Of course, the keyboard’s naming, and the IBM behemoth and floppy disks strategically placed in marketing images, are notes of that, too…”
“The M Edition also comes with the detachable A and B “Super Buttons” that connect to the keyboard via a 3.5 mm jack and are programmable without software.”

“The paint job is pretty faithful to the original,” notes Windows Central, “with a combination of gray and white throughout, right down to the accurately recreated LED status panel in the right-hand corner. There are even two key caps with an IBM-inspired blue font on them. It’s just tremendous.”
Ars Technica offers this advice to unconvinced purists:
If you want a real Model M, there’s a market of found and restored models available online and in thrift stores and electronics stores. For a modern spin, like USB ports and Mac support, Unicomp also makes new Model M keyboards that are truer to the original IBM design, particularly in their use of buckling spring switches.

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