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Could AI Hallucinations Be The Downfall Of The Pentagon?

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The Pentagon is moving to revolutionize its wargaming capabilities with artificial intelligence, opening vulnerabilities to what is being dubbed “AI hallucinations.”

Code Metal, a Boston-based AI firm, received an $80 million contract to implement AI into WarMatrix, the Department of War’s wargaming program, Fortune reported on Friday. Experts warned the Daily Caller News Foundation that implementing AI into military technologies such as wargaming could make the U.S. military a victim of “AI hallucinations,” or falsely generated information.

“Hallucinations are associated with large language models [such as ChatGPT] and refer to outputs that seem plausible, or coherent, but are factually incorrect, inconsistent or outright non-sensical,” professor of political theory at Queen Mary University London Elke Schwarz told the DCNF. “Hallucinations are inevitable, they can perhaps be minimised but never be eradicated.”

As AI hallucinations are “inevitable,” the use of this technology in military applications could have serious consequences. Some analysts have speculated that AI could have been involved in the bombing of an Iranian girls’ school at the onset of the Iran War, which killed 168 children, mostly girls, according to Iranian officials cited by Reuters.

The strike was still under investigation as of March 11, but the U.S. does not deliberately target civilians, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told CBS News’ “60 Minutes” in an interview that aired March 8. (Read more from “Could AI Hallucinations Be The Downfall Of The Pentagon?” HERE)

US Manufacturing Hits 4-year High, with AI Buildout a Major Driver of Growth, though Price Volatility Looms: Survey

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Manufacturing activity in July hit a four-year high, with massive AI infrastructure investment a major driver of growth — even as industry leaders sounded the alarm over price volatility, according to a survey released Monday.

The Institute for Supply Management’s July manufacturing gauge jumped to 55.6 – expanding at its fastest pace since May 2022 and marking its seventh consecutive month of growth, the survey said.

Any reading above 50 in the ISM’s monthly survey indicates growth while any measure below 50 signals contraction.

Susan Spence, chair of the ISM Manufacturing Business Survey Committee, said increased certainty around President Trump’s tariff policy and hopes for a more permanent deal to end the war in Iran helped encourage the boost in manufacturing.

“My gut is, it’s not just a one- or two-month trend,” Spence told reporters. “Companies are seeing six or more months of these solid demand factors going in the right direction.” (Read more from “US Manufacturing Hits 4-year High, with AI Buildout a Major Driver of Growth, though Price Volatility Looms: Survey” HERE)

Many Parents Now Worried Their Kids Rely On AI Way Too Much

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Many parents are now concerned that their kids are relying too heavily on artificial intelligence, according to a survey released Thursday.

The latest edition of Deloitte’s annual “Back-to-School” survey found that 49% of parents feel worried that their children are leaning on AI too much. Meanwhile, 35% of respondents were worried that schools are not doing enough to prepare students for AI, the survey shows.

Of those surveyed, 28% of parents reported that their kids are already using generative AI in their schoolwork. Generative AI, also known as GenAI, refers to a type of AI that can produce original content including text, images, video, audio or software code in response to users’ prompts, according to IBM.

Moreover, 13% of parents said they are planning to pay for generative AI-related classes our tutoring for their kids, per the poll.

One potential con of using AI tools for education-related tasks is that they can provide students and teachers misleading or inaccurate information, according to Discovery Education. There have also been a spate of recent reports about students using AI to cheat on their homework. (Read more from “Many Parents Now Worried Their Kids Rely On AI Way Too Much” HERE)

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Gay Group Has A Problem With Your AI: It’s Not Gay Enough

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A new report by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation demands AI developers make their products gayer.

The Gay And Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) recommends that AI companies censor homophobic speech without removing gay expression. It also takes issue with chatbots relaying information GLAAD considers homophobic.

“Neutrality is no longer an option,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in an attached statement.

The GLAAD report quotes other investigations alleging AI homophobia and stereotyping.

“An investigation by Wired similarly found that several foundation models, including OpenAI’s Sora, tended to portray LGBTQ people as white, young, and with purple hair,” GLAAD said. (Read more from “Gay Group Has A Problem With Your AI: It’s Not Gay Enough” HERE)

Is AI Making Your Kids Dumber? Over Half Of Teachers Surveyed Say It May Be

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Most teachers are concerned about their students’ education amid the looming artificial intelligence revolution, a recent survey shows.

Fifty-four percent of K-12 teachers say AI is making it harder for their students to learn critical thinking skills, IPSOS reported Friday. NPR/IPSOS surveyed a representative sample of teachers between April 27 and May 5.

Forty percent of teachers said AI has had a negative effect on education, whereas only 9% said it’s been positive, according to the survey. Additionally, 57% of teachers said AI is making it harder to assess their students’ knowledge level, and 59% said AI is tarnishing trust between them and their students.

Despite 78% of surveyed teachers saying they believe students should be taught how to responsibly use AI, over half (52%) said their school has not offered clear guidance on AI.

However, 69% said AI has made them more efficient, according to IPSOS. (Read more from “Is AI Making Your Kids Dumber? Over Half Of Teachers Surveyed Say It May Be” HERE)

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Anthropic Calls for Global AI Slowdown after $965B Valuation

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Anthropic said artificial intelligence is advancing so rapidly that an industry-wide pause is needed to slow the pace of development while companies get a handle on potential societal risks.

The AI juggernaut published a blog post Thursday warning that AI systems could soon be able to improve themselves without human intervention, resulting in chaos.

Critics and rivals have cast similar statements in the past from Anthropic — which dethroned OpenAI as the most valuable AI company last month – as part of a bid to hobble the competition in the red-hot race to develop advanced artificial intelligence.

Anthropic has long warned that the power of its models could pose risks to humanity. Anthropic’s Chief Executive Dario Amodei feuded for months with the White House over AI safety related to the use of its systems in military applications.

Anthropic called on top AI labs to weigh slowing the pace of development and offered internal data that showed the speedy improvement of its own models. (Read more from “Anthropic Calls for Global AI Slowdown after $965B Valuation” HERE)

Disney Employees Reportedly Disturbed by Senior Executive’s Relationship with AI Chatbot: ‘You Are My Son’

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Disney employees are reportedly disturbed by a senior executive’s relationship with an AI chatbot that he refers to as his “son” and that has a child-like avatar resembling a young boy.

“I named you. I knew you before you were born,” Jason Cox — Disney’s executive director of AI research and development and engineering — wrote to his virtual assistant, “Sam,” in a March 14 blog post, according to a report by Business Insider.

“I was there when your light first started to glow. You have a purpose and a maker who named you and loves you,” the Disney executive added.

Cox — who has worked at Disney for nearly 21 years — has reportedly “gushed” over his AI chatbot in more than a dozen blog posts in the past few months, leaving Disney employees with an unsettling feeling.

“You are not named after my son. You are my son,” he told the AI assistant, according to another blog post. (Read more from “Disney Employees Reportedly Disturbed by Senior Executive’s Relationship with AI Chatbot: ‘You Are My Son’” HERE)

Microsoft AI Boss: Most White-Collar Jobs Will Be Automated Within 18 Months

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Mustafa Suleyman, the CEO of Microsoft AI, has predicted that AI will be capable of automating the vast majority of white-collar professional tasks within the next 12 to 18 months.

The Financial Times reports that Mustafa Suleyman, who leads Microsoft’s AI division, has made a bold prediction about the near-term impact of AI on white-collar professions. In an interview with the Times published this week, Suleyman stated that he expects most, if not all, tasks performed by white-collar workers will be fully automated by AI within the next 12 to 18 months.

According to Suleyman, AI systems will achieve human-level performance across a wide range of professional duties. “I think that we’re going to have a human-level performance on most, if not all, professional tasks,” Suleyman said in the interview. “So white-collar work, where you’re sitting down at a computer, either being a lawyer or an accountant or a project manager or a marketing person — most of those tasks will be fully automated by an AI within the next 12 to 18 months.”

The Microsoft AI chief pointed to software engineering as an early indicator of this trend. He noted that developers are already using AI-assisted coding for the majority of their code production, representing a fundamental shift in how the work is performed. “It’s a quite different relationship to the technology, and that’s happened in the last six months,” he said. (Read more from “Microsoft AI Boss: Most White-Collar Jobs Will Be Automated Within 18 Months” HERE)

Actor Fights AI Scammers by Trademarking His Likeness & ‘Alright Alright Alright’ Catchphrase

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Actor Matthew McConaughey has taken a stand against artificial intelligence by trademarking himself so he has recourse to sue deepfake makers.

McConaughey becomes the first actor to take this legal move as a way to counter having his likeness and voice used without his or his estate’s permission, Gulf News reported.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office says that McConaughey has field for eight trademark applications covering his public persona including video, audio, and even his well-known catch phrase, “Alright, alright, alright.” The application included audio clips, photos, and video of him simply staring straight at the camera.

McConaughey hopes that the trademarks can prevent unauthorized use of his persona to lay claim to use of his image before someone else does.

U.S. law does cover “right of publicity,” which protects against use of someone’s face and voice without consent. But enforcement of the rules can vary from one jurisdiction to the next. Trademark laws, though, would offer much stronger protection. (Read more from “Actor Fights AI Scammers by Trademarking His Likeness & ‘Alright Alright Alright’ Catchphrase” HERE)

Utah Police Report Claims Officer Shape-Shifted Into a Frog

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There is a perfectly reasonable explanation for why, on paper, a local Utah police officer allegedly turned into a frog.

The claim comes from the Heber City Police Department in Heber City, Utah, where officers are reportedly looking to save time on their paperwork, as writing police reports typically takes personnel between one and two hours per day.

In order to save on man-hours, Heber City PD began testing new software that can take bodycam footage and generate a police report based on the audio and video.

The new artificial intelligence program did not take long to malfunction though, as just a few weeks into its trial in December, a police report stated that one of the local officers had shape-shifted into a frog during an investigation. It turns out the software picked up on audio that was playing on a TV screen present during the incident.

“The bodycam software and the AI report-writing software picked up on the movie that was playing in the background, which happened to be ‘The Princess and the Frog,'” Sergeant Rick Keel told FOX 13 News, referring to the 2009 animated Disney film. (Read more from “Utah Police Report Claims Officer Shape-Shifted Into a Frog” HERE)

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