US senators launch $32bn AI plan; Dublin to New York portal closes

US senators demand $32bn investment in AI research and regulation

A bi-partisan group of senators has called for more than $32 billion of annual spending to fund research into AI outside of the military, as part of a wider regulatory plan for the emergent technology.

Senators said they also support legislation to prevent AI-fuelled election interference in the form of manipulated recordings of what people say or do, aka deepfakes.

“We’re not going to wait on legislation that addresses every aspect of AI and society,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, told reporters Tuesday. “If some areas are ready earlier than others, they should go forward.”

The proposed legislation will see one of the biggest moves by US politicians to tackle the rise of generative AI, which has become a central concern for governments since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022.

Read more

Lewd behaviour between live Dublin-New York portal forces closure 

A “livestream” portal connecting Dublin with New York has had to be shut down by authorities after people were caught demonstrating lewd behaviour on the Irish side.

The portal uses cameras, a large screen, and cutting-edge live broadcasting to link the US with Ireland, allowing people on either side to see and interact with each other.

But authorities decided to temporarily close the portal after videos on social media emerged showing people on the Dublin side flashing body parts and displaying inappropriate content through their smartphones, including swear words and pictures of 9/11.

Organisers of the art project said they would shut off the portal while they sought out solutions to prevent bad behaviour.

“While we cannot control all of these actions, we are implementing some technical solutions to address this and these will go live in the next 24 hours,” said the Dublin City Council in a statement on Monday.

Read more

NHS approves home blood testing kit for cancer victims

A diagnostic device that will help reduce the time cancer victims need to spend in hospital has been given regulatory approval in the UK.

The Liberty has been undergoing testing at Christie in Manchester. The device allows cancer patients to carry out blood tests and upload results while at home, cutting down the need for hospital visits, and allowing for more regular tracking.

Clinicians claim that the device, which will initially be made available at 12 NHS sites, could help boost NHS productivity, although some have warned that more testing needs to be carried out before it is deployed more widely.

In recent studies, 22 patients participated in home-based trials, supplemented by regulatory approval trials involving 470 patients. However, Cancer Research urged cautious interpretation of these findings due to the limited participant pool.

US billionaire Frank McCourt eyes TikTok

Billionaire and former LA Dodgers-owner has reportedly expressed an interest in buying TikTok from Chinese owners Bytedance, which faces having to offload the social media platform in the next year or risk being banned in the US.

Real estate mogul Frank McCourt – executive chairman and former CEO of McCourt Global – told reporters this week he is assembling a group of investors with the aim of buying TikTok. The group will include investment bank Guggenheim Securities and law firm Kirkland & Ellis, as well as technology experts, academics, and parent groups.

Buyers are beginning to express their interest in acquiring the social media firm after President Joe Biden signed into law rules that mean Bytedance must offload the firm within a year, citing security threats.

Bytedance has launched legal action against the legislation.

“We thought this was a really fantastic opportunity to accelerate the creation of an alternative internet,” McCourt told the Associated Press, with the acquisition set to be made through his internet advocacy group Project Liberty.

Several high-profile technologists, including Tim Berners-Lee, support the bid, the group claims. Should it succeed, McCourt plans to transform TikTok into an open-source model.

Read more