Newsletter Archives

• The best stories of 2024 — updated!

  Posted on December 30, 2024 at 02:45 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.53 • 2024-12-30

  Look for our BONUS issue on January 6, 2025!

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  The year 2024 is now in the books. I’m pleased to report some positive moves this year that may make the tech industry’s products better for us all.

  I’ll give you some important updates today on (1) keeping artificial-intelligence services from creating malicious images, (2) minimizing social-media websites’ negative effects on users’ mental health, and (3) discovering how “answer engines” are improving on the tiresome linkfests of old-guard search giants.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.53.0, 2024-12-30).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Public Defender AI, ChatGPT, DALL-E, Deepfakes, Generative AI, Google Gemini, Newsletters, OpenAI, Perplexity, Social Media

• Your government at work

  Posted on August 26, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Max Stul Oppenheimer • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.35 • 2024-08-26

  LEGAL BRIEF

  

  By Max Stul Oppenheimer, Esq.

  While most of the world was distracted by the question of whether anyone in their right mind would voluntarily swim in the Seine, there were major legal developments affecting the tech world.

  In a two-part series, I’ll first summarize what the US federal government has been up to. In the follow-on column, I’ll cover some notable actions taken by state governments and private individuals.

  First, the feds.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.35.0, 2024-08-26).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Legal Brief AI, Antitrust, ByteDance, Credit cards, Deepfakes, Federal Trade Commission, Generative AI, Google, Newsletters, Targeted Pricing, Terms of Service, TikTok

• Protecting yourself from AI deepfakes

  Posted on May 20, 2024 at 02:44 CDT by Max Stul Oppenheimer • Comment in the Forums

  LEGAL BRIEF

  

  By Max Stul Oppenheimer, Esq.

  It has been apparent for some time that developments in generative artificial intelligence present serious potential for harm.

  A recent example has made the problem concrete.

  On January 17, 2024, the Baltimore Sun broke the news with the headline “Baltimore County Public Schools investigating Pikesville High principal’s alleged ‘highly offensive’ recording.”

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.21.0, 2024-05-20).

  Legal Brief AI, Deepfakes, Generative AI, Legal, Newsletters, Privacy, Revenge, Security

• Can you detect AI deepfake images with your own eyes?

  Posted on April 8, 2024 at 02:44 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Artificial-intelligence image generators now produce such lifelike output — and the AI apps are improving their accuracy every day — that we’re seeing an increasing number of surprising, enraging, and manipulative videos and stills. All this forces us to ask, “Is it real, or is it AI?”

  The answers will be crucial to us, as AI bots unstoppably expand into all aspects of our day-to-day lives. Phony images — often called deepfakes or fauxtography — are scrambling free elections around the world. And AI-generated videos that overlay women’s faces onto the nude bodies of porn stars can ruin the mortified victims’ lives and even cause suicides.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.15.0, 2024-04-08).

  Public Defender AI, Deepfakes, Generative AI, Newsletters

• Anyone can render you naked with three mouse clicks

  Posted on October 30, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Artificial-intelligence technologies have so invaded our lives that now dozens of sketchy websites enable anyone to upload a picture of your face and immediately receive an AI-generated nude that’s completely photorealistic.

  Tech-savvy perverts have published fake nudes of celebrities for years, of course. But making those falsified images required at least some talent with Photoshop and other image-editing tools.

  At the new AI-fake websites, you just upload a fully clothed headshot of anyone. You then click, click, click, and you have a “nudified” copy. Most people would believe the resulting image is an actual photograph of how the victimized person supposedly looked at the time.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.44.0, 2023-10-30).

  Public Defender AI, Deepfakes, Generative AI, images, Newsletters, Watermarks

• Is the woman in this video real or a deepfake? Now find out.

  Posted on January 23, 2023 at 02:44 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  There’s been an explosion in artificial intelligence (AI) that can create fake videos and compose passable writing samples. These computer-generated outputs are now good enough to fool the average person, who may absorb social media with an uncritical eye.

  The major media have exhaustively (but superficially) written about these AI programs. So I won’t bore you with the mind-numbing details of exactly how they work.

  Instead, I’ll tell you how to detect them and — hopefully — protect yourself against fakes of all kinds.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.04.0, 2023-01-23).

  Public Defender Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, Deepfakes, Newsletters, Video

• Take a selfie – NOW!

  Posted on November 22, 2021 at 02:43 CST by Max Stul Oppenheimer • Comment in the Forums

  LEGAL BRIEF

  

  By Max Stul Oppenheimer, Esq.

  Deepfakes are a growing problem. Could taking a selfie be your best defense?

  In the last column, we saw why law must lag technology. It must, because legislators have no better crystal ball than the rest of us — and judges, faced with the task of extrapolating existing statutes to situations that were not foreseen, reach different conclusions as to how to draw the curve. Therefore, a period of uncertainty — until a legislature reacts or a judicial consensus is reached or imposed by the Supreme Court — is inevitable.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.45.0 (2021-11-22).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Legal AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Copyright, Deepfakes, Legal Brief