UN Security Council meets to talk AI risks | Twitter served second lawsuit this month

UN Security Council meets for first time to discuss AI risks

The United Nations Security Council held its first meeting on artificial intelligence on Tuesday where China said the technology should not become a “runaway horse” and the US warned against its use to censor or repress people.

The 15-member council was briefed by UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, Jack Clark, co-founder of high-profile AI startup Anthropic, and Professor Zeng Yi, co-director of the China-UK Research Centre for AI Ethics and Governance.

Britain’s foreign secretary James Cleverly, who chaired the meeting, said AI will “fundamentally alter every aspect of human life” and while he acknowledged AI can help address climate change and help boost economies, he also argued it could fuel weapons and disinformation.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2023-07-18/un-security-council-meets-for-first-time-on-ai-risks

Meta opens AI model to commercial use

Meta’s AI model Llama will now give start-ups and other businesses a free-of-charge alternative to the likes of ChatGPT and Bard.

The new version of the model, Llama 2, will be distributed by partner Microsoft through its Azure cloud service and will run on the Windows operating system, Meta said in a blog post.

On a Facebook post, Mark Zuckerberg said that the model will also be available via direct download and through Amazon Web Services.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/meta-opens-ai-model-commercial-use-throwing-nascent-market-flux-3637386?utm_source=Newswav&utm_medium=Website

Twitter sued over severance pay

In a latest series of cases arising from Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media company, Twitter has been hit with a lawsuit to claim that it owes at least $500 million in severance pay to ex-employees. This takes Twitter’s lawsuits to two this month alone.

The proposed class action filed in Delaware federal court by former Twitter senior engineer Chris Woodfield also alleges that the company targeted older workers for layoffs, a claim that has not been made in the other pending cases.

Woodfield, who worked for Twitter out of Seattle, says the company repeatedly told employees that they would receive two months’ salary and other payouts if they were laid off, but that he and other workers have not received the money.

https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2023-07-18/twitter-again-sued-over-severance-pay-bias-during-layoffs

Stellantis signs $11bn in contracts for vital semiconductors by 2030

Stellantis, an automobility firm, has signed contracts worth just over $11 billion with chip makers to guarantee the flow of chips for EVs and high-performance computing functions by 2030.

The global auto industry is only now recovering from a pandemic-fuelled shortage of semiconductor chips that forced car manufacturers to shut down production on certain models and scramble to find new sources of chips.

“We have hundreds of very different semiconductors in our cars,” Maxime Picat, Stellantis’ chief purchasing and supply chain officer said in a statement. “We have built a comprehensive ecosystem to mitigate the risk that one missing chip can stop our lines.”

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/STELLANTIS-N-V-117814143/news/Stellantis-inks-11bln-in-contracts-for-vital-semiconductors-by-2030-44359758/