Cyborg patented?
Forbes reports that Microsoft has obtained a patent for a “conversational chatbot of a specific person” created from images, recordings, participation in social networks, emails, letters, etc., coupled with the possible generation of a 2D or 3D model of the person.
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Racial bias in algorithms
From the UK Open Data Institute’s Week in Data newsletter
This week, Twitter apologised for racial bias within its image-cropping algorithm. The feature is designed to automatically crop images to highlight focal points – including faces. But, Twitter users discovered that, in practice, white faces were focused on, and black faces were cropped out. And, Twitter isn’t the only platform struggling with its algorithm – YouTube has also announced plans to bring back higher levels of human moderation for removing content, after its AI-centred approach resulted in over-censorship, with videos being removed at far higher rates than with human moderators.
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Gap between rich and poor university students widest for 12 years
Via The Canary.
The gap between poor students and their more affluent peers attending university has widened to its largest point for 12 years, according to data published by the Department for Education (DfE).
Better-off pupils are significantly more likely to go to university than their more disadvantaged peers. And the gap between the two groups – 18.8 percentage points – is the widest it’s been since 2006/07.
The latest statistics show that 26.3% of pupils eligible for FSMs went on to university in 2018/19, compared with 45.1% of those who did not receive free meals. Only 12.7% of white British males who were eligible for FSMs went to university by the age of 19. The progression rate has fallen slightly for the first time since 2011/12, according to the DfE analysis.
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Quality Training
From Raconteur. A recent report by global learning consultancy Kineo examined the learning intentions of 8,000 employees across 13 different industries. It found a huge gap between the quality of training offered and the needs of employees. Of those surveyed, 85 per cent said they , with only 16 per cent of employees finding the learning programmes offered by their employers effective.
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When one takes the DMCA, Microsoft, Adobe, the RIAA, and the MPAA and puts it all together, we end up with an America that is as far from freedom as one could imagine. Everyday our freedom of choice, expression, speech, thought, and press are attacked surreptitiously by organizations that criminalize sharing freely information that is deemed “protected” for commercial exploitation.
Is there any reason that one should have to shell out $300 for Windows Vista when free, open source alternatives exist (even if buy a system without Windows, the manufacturer must make up the cost of the lost sale to Microsoft!)
Is there any reason you shouldn’t be allowed to make as many copies of your movies, music, software, etc. as you need to safely protect your data, besides the fact that doing so (even legally) is assumed to be “piracy” and you are punished by restrictive DRM systems that assume your are doing wrong?
These are real issues that affect everyone, and we must fight back for our freedoms!
I like it. Nicely produced and explains well. Just added it with a few discussion starter questions into my Moodle for the software installation unit of my apprentices NVQs!
Thanks all! Much appreciated. 🙂