OpenAI goes Incognito | EU picks content giants for online rules

OpenAI rolls out new ‘incognito mode’ on ChatGPT

The San Francisco-based start-up said the new mode, dubbed the ‘incognito mode’ by one employee, prohibits ChatGPT to save user’s conversation history or use it to improve its AI. The move comes as scrutiny grows over the chatbot’s ability to wield user data to ‘train’ its AI system.

Last month, Italy banned ChatGPT for potential privacy violations, France and Spain also began probing the service. Mira Murati, OpenAI’s chief technology officer, told Reuters the company was compliant with European privacy law and is working to assure regulators.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/openai-rolls-out-incognito-mode-chatgpt-2023-04-25/

EU picks 19 tech giants for online content rules

Five Alphabet subsidiaries, two Meta Platforms units and Twitter sit among 19 companies subject to landmark EU online content rules.

The rules, under the Digital Services Act, require the companies to perform risk management, conduct external and independent auditing, share data with authorities and researchers and adopt a code of conduct.

By August this year they will also need to increase efforts to tackle disinformation and protection, according to EU industry chief Thierry Breton, or risk fines as much as 6% of their global turnover.

Breton singled out Facebook, Twitter and TikTok as tech giants that concerned him the most:

“Now that Facebook has been designated as a very large online platform, Meta needs to carefully investigate the system and fix it where needed ASAP… At the invitation of Elon Musk, my team and I will carry out a stress test live at Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco,” he said.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/google-amazon-meta-microsoft-15-others-subject-eu-content-rules-2023-04-25/

US policing AI at companies to prevent civil rights violations

US officials are warning financial firms that the use of AI can increase the risk of bias and civil rights violations and signalled they are policing marketplaces for such discrimination.

The heads of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Justice Department’s civil rights unit, Federal Trade Commission and others signalled this concern, adding that increased reliance on automated systems in sectors including lending, employment and housing threatens to exacerbate discrimination based on race, disabilities and other factors.

“Claims of innovation must not be cover for lawbreaking,” Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission, told reporters.

https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2023-04-25/u-s-policing-ai-at-companies-to-make-sure-it-doesnt-violate-civil-rights

US deploys more cyber forces to foreign governments

After the latest round of cyber-attacks the US has decided to deploy more of its cyber forces to help foreign governments.

In the last three years, the US military’s Cyber National Mission Force has conducted 47 such “hunt forward” defensive operations across 20 countries at the invitation of those nations, US Army Major General William Hartman said on Monday.

“The demand for that only increases, and they are not all the same,” Hartman, CNMF’s commander, said of the missions.

The initiative reflects a broader push by the US government to improve collaboration with foreign allies on combating cybercrimes, which often cross borders.

https://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20230425/NEWS06/912357001/US-deploys-more-cyber-forces-abroad-to-help-fight-hackers