Month: February 2024

OpenAI sued, again, for scraping and replicating news stories–The Register

The Intercept, Raw Story, AlterNet want damages and to have their content removed from models

Katyanna Quach

Three digital publishers have sued OpenAI over claims that it stole their copyrighted articles to train ChatGPT in two separate lawsuits filed on Wednesday.

ChatGPT was trained on huge swathes of text scraped from the internet, including lots of journalism. News publishers, however, aren’t happy that OpenAI used their articles to train its models without permission or compensation, and the New York Times has already sued OpenAI over the issue.

The Intercept, Raw Story, AlterNet are the latest media organizations to sue OpenAI for copyright infringement. The Intercept filed one case, and as Raw Story and AlterNet are owned by the same entity it filed the other. The same law firm, Loevy & Loevy, is running both cases.

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Judge rejects temporary pause in enforcement of Trump civil fraud penalties–The Hill

BY ELLA LEE

A New York appellate division judge ruled Wednesday that multimillion-dollar penalties imposed on former President Trump in his civil fraud case will not be paused while he appeals the judgment; however, for now, Trump can apply for loans.  

Justice Anil Singh temporarily denied the former president’s request to stay the enforcement of the more than $454 million in penalties a different New York judge ordered him to pay for conspiring to alter his net worth to receive tax and insurance benefits.  

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Judge in Trump civil fraud case was sent envelope with white powder, source says–NBCNews

The envelope never made it to Judge Arthur Engoron, but caused an emergency response at the courthouse.

By Adam Reiss and Dareh Gregorian

Judge Arthur Engoron, who handed down a $355 million ruling against former President Donald Trump in his civil fraud trial, was sent an envelope containing white powder on Wednesday, causing an emergency response at his New York City courthouse, a source with direct knowledge of the incident confirmed to NBC News. 

The judge and his staff were not exposed to the substance — his mail is pre-screened on a daily basis and was intercepted before it reached him, the source said. A court officer opened the letter and powder fell out, according to the New York Police Department, exposing the officer and another court employee to the substance, the source said. The New York City Fire Department said the two refused any medical treatment. The threatening letter was first reported by ABC News.

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Judge slaps down law firm using ChatGPT to justify six-figure trial fee–The Register

Brandon Vigliarolo

The legal eagles at New York-based Cuddy Law tried using OpenAI’s chatbot, despite its penchant for lying and spouting nonsense, to help justify their hefty fees for a recently won trial, a sum the losing side is expected to pay.

NYC federal district Judge Paul Engelmayer, however, rejected the submitted amount, awarded less than half of what Cuddy requested, and added a sharp rebuke to the lawyers for using ChatGPT to cross-check the figures. The briefs basically cited ChatGPT’s output to support their stated hourly rate, which does depend on things like the level and amount of research, preparation, and other work involved.

Cuddy told the court “its requested hourly rates are supported by feedback it received from the artificial intelligence tool ‘ChatGPT-4,'” Engelmayer wrote in his order [PDF], referring to the GPT-4 version of OpenAI’s bot.

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Nassau County bans trans women from playing sports at its facilities–Gothamist

By 

Giulia Heyward

An executive order signed by the Nassau County executive on Thursday essentially bars trans women from participating in women’s sports teams at facilities run by the county, and forces sports leagues to comply with the measure or lose access to fields and facilities.

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The New York Civil Liberties Union called the executive order “illegal” and said it is already considering options to stop it.

“Requiring girls who are trans to compete on boys’ teams effectively bars them from sports altogether,” said Bobby Hodgson, the NYCLU’s LGBTQ rights litigation director, in a press release. “Participating would mean being outed and being denied the same opportunities other girls enjoy: to challenge themselves, improve fitness, and be part of a team of their peers. At its heart, this order is an attempt to shut trans people out of public spaces.”

State Attorney General Letitia James called the executive order “transphobic and deeply dangerous” in a statement, and added that her office was reviewing its legal options.

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Prosecutors say ex-FBI informant charged over false Hunter Biden reports claimed he got information from Russian intelligence–NBCNews

Prosecutors said in their filing Tuesday that Alexander Smirnov “is actively peddling new lies that could impact U.S. elections after meeting with Russian intelligence officials.

By Sarah Fitzpatrick and Ryan J. Reilly

LAS VEGAS — A former FBI informant who allegedly fed the bureau false information about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden during the 2020 presidential campaign said that some of the information he spread came from “officials associated with Russian intelligence,” prosecutors said in a filing Tuesday.

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Alabama Supreme Court rules frozen embryos are ‘children’ under state law–AP

BY KIM CHANDLER

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law, a decision critics said could have sweeping implications for fertility treatment in the state.

The decision was issued in a pair of wrongful death cases brought by three couples who had frozen embryos destroyed in an accident at a fertility clinic. Justices, citing anti-abortion language in the Alabama Constitution, ruled that an 1872 state law allowing parents to sue over the death of a minor child “applies to all unborn children, regardless of their location.”

“Unborn children are ‘children’ … without exception based on developmental stage, physical location, or any other ancillary characteristics,” Justice Jay Mitchell wrote in Friday’s majority ruling from the all-Republican court.

India effectively kills e-wallet used by over 300 million–The Register

Paytm’s merchant services will live on, but its main consumer product looks be toast

Simon Sharwood

India’s government has effectively killed an e-wallet service used by over 300 million people.

The service is called Paytm and, as The Register reported in early February, it is in trouble because its parent company of the same name started a bank that was found to have consistently failed in its obligations to prevent money laundering. India’s government effectively shut down the bank and prevented Paytm’s bank from funnelling new funds to users’ wallets.

Users of the Paytm wallet were given a deadline of February 29, after which they would not be able to add funds, but would be able to spend the balance stored in their wallets.

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To understand the impact of this change, imagine PayPal no longer allowing members to increase account balances. That’s how big this will be in India.

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Judge awards civil penalty of more than $350 million against Trump…Today’s Edition Newsletter

Judge Arthur Engoron released his Decision and Order in the civil fraud trial against Trump, his family members, and business organizations. The decision imposed penalties of $354.8 million plus interest against Trump and family members, plus interest. After interest, Trump owes $454 million to the State of New York.

Trump is also prohibited from conducting business in New York for three years and borrowing from New York-chartered banks. His businesses will remain under the supervision of a court-appointed monitor, who will oversee the preparation of financial statements that comply with generally accepted accounting principles.

The decision is another step in a long road to accountability for Trump. Yes, he will appeal, but he will be required to post a bond in an amount sufficient to cover the existing penalties and interest ($454 million) plus interest that will accrue on appeal.

Trump was unable to come up with a bond to cover E. Jean Carroll’s first judgment against Trump (only $5 million), so he posted cash. That fact suggests Trump will struggle to find an entity to underwrite a bond in the range of half a billion dollars.

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Shopping for Assisted Living is an Opaque Experience–The Center for Retirement Research 

Kim Blanton— @SquaredAwayBC on X, 

An advocate for improving care and federal oversight in assisted living facilities succinctly described the experience of searching for a safe place for a loved one.

“The assisted living sector operates under a caveat emptor – let the buyer beware – principle,” Richard Mollot, executive director of the Long Term Care Community Coalition, told the Senate Committee on Aging in January.

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More federal involvement is a “moral imperative” to protect patients and support families, Mollot told the committee. He and other experts said oversight is appropriate since Medicaid patients in many states qualify for funding for assisted living facilities. States have developed their own standards for monitoring care. But national standards and inspections would provide consistency in care quality and resident safety standards, he said.

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