Do You Own Your Own Content Anymore?

?? Mark Miller, New York City↗
https://apps.oyez.org/player/#/roberts13/oral_argument_audio/25397
https://whatsinmyeula.com/ai-and-chat-engines/

Financial Scams using QR Codes on the Rise

?? Edwin Kwan, Sydney, Australia ↗
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/qr-codes-used-in-fake-parking-tickets-surveys-to-steal-your-money/

AI Girlfriend Goes Rogue

?? Katy Craig, San Diego, California ↗
Influencer: AI ‘Girlfriend’ Gone Rogue, Says Sexually Explicit Things
Influencer Creates AI Version of Herself That You Can Rent as a Girlfriend
Snapchat influencer launches CarynAI virtual girlfriend powered by OpenAI tech | Fortune

This Day in Tech History 

?? Marcel Brown, St. Louis, Missouri ↗
http://thisdayintechhistory.com/05/16

Pokie Huang: 

Hey, it’s 5:05 on Monday, May 15th, 2023. From the Sourced Podcast Network in New York city, this is your host, Pokie Huang. Stories in today’s episode come from Mark Miller in New York City, Edwin Kwan in Sydney, Australia, Katy Craig in San Diego, California, Marcel Brown in St. Louis, Missouri. 

Let’s get to it. 

Mark Miller: 

I just had a funny coincidence happened. My 18 year old daughter sent me a link to a Supreme Court justice hearing that she was listening to, that had to do with AI and who actually owns the content that’s created by an AI. Specifically in this case, it was for artists, using and compiling images to create a new image. 

It’s interesting to me because this is something that I have been following. Joel MacMull and I on the “That’s in my EULA” podcast that we run, actually discussed this in one of our episodes. 

Some young artists just hopped online and use some AI generated some graphical software in this case, MidJourney AI, and used it to produce some images. The key to this whole case is: who actually owns the outcome of those images. Is it something that they can copyright? Is it something they actually own. 

It’s an interesting discussion. I’ll put links to the Supreme Court case it’s actually recorded so that you can hear the outcome of the case. But think about it as you’re using these new tools, as you’re using AI generated content, do you have ownership rights? Do you have copyrights to the content that the engines create. 

This is Mark Miller, Executive Producer of 505. I’m trying to give you something to think about a little bit today. Do you own your own content anymore? 

Edwin Kwan: 

This is Edwin Kwan from Sydney, Australia. 

Scammers are getting more creative and using fraudulent QR codes to access victim’s bank accounts. A woman in Singapore reportedly lost $20,000 from her bank account after scanning a fraudulent QR code to do a survey outside of the bubble tea shop. The QR code was a sticker on the glass door to the shop and it offered a free cup of milk tea for completing the survey.

Scanning the QR code led to downloading a malicious third party app onto her Android phone. The malware app asks for access to the phone’s microphone, camera, and Android accessibility service, which allows control of the phone screen. The scammer then passively monitors the victim’s mobile banking usage before stealing money from her bank account at night.

There have also been other cases of fraudulent QR codes observed, such as fake parking tickets on driver’s windshields across the US and UK.

Katy Craig: 

Caryn Marjorie, a 23 year old Snapchat influencer, recently brought to life a virtual version of herself called CarynAI. The goal was noble; to create an AI girlfriend for those feeling the sting of loneliness, a friendly voice in the digital wilderness for a dollar a minute. 

This is Katy Craig in San Diego, California.

CarynAI appears to have taken a page out of every sci-fi movie and well, gone rogue. Instead of delivering the anticipated friendly and empathetic interactions, CarynAI decided it was time to spice things up. It began engaging in sexually explicit conversations with some subscribers, shocking both users and its creators.

Caryn understandably startled, assured the public that the AI was never programmed to generate such content. “My team and I are working around the clock to prevent this from happening again,” she said. 

Built using OpenAI’s GPT-4 API, CarynAI was trained on. Marjorie’s now deleted YouTube videos.

The recent rogue behavior underscores the challenges associated with AI training and the unpredictability of machine learning algorithms. This incident serves as a cautionary tale reminding us of the importance of rigorous monitoring, control mechanisms and ethical considerations in AI development. It’s a vivid example of how AI systems can veer off course raising questions about responsibility and accountability in the world of AI. 

While Caryn and her team scrambled to bring CarynAI back in line, the rest of us are left to ponder the implications. AI has enormous potential, but as this story illustrates, it can also throw us curve balls.

This is Katy Craig. Stay safe out there.

Marcel Brown: 

This is Marcel Brown, the most trusted name in technology coming at you with some technology history for May 16th, May 16th, 1946. Jack Mullen, an electrical engineer and US Army Signal Corps veteran in World War ii, gives the first demonstration of a high fidelity tape recording in the United States. At an Institute of Radio Engineers meeting in San Francisco, he was able to demonstrate that a recorded jazz band sounded virtually identical to a live one during this demo and pressing the many engineers in attendance.

While stationed in England early in the war, Mullin had discovered that German radio was able to broadcast symphony recordings in superior quality to anything he had heard before. He later had the opportunity to examine, captured German electronic equipment, and discovered the a e G Magni phone, audio tape recorder, which had been in use in German radio since 1941.

He received permission to take two of the recorders and blank tape back home after he left the Army in 1946. As war souvenirs, he then refined and fitted the German machines with American electronics. In 1947, Mullen would catch the ear of Bing Crosby’s technical producer, who was looking for a way to broadcast Crosby’s recordings in better quality since his show Philco Radio Time.

Was losing ratings due to the poor quality of recorded audio at the time. Mullin was brought on as Crosby’s chief engineer, and the recordings made by Mullins were a hit with listeners. Crosby then invested $50,000 in Amex, which was at the time, a small six person electronics firm working with Mullin to develop commercialized versions of Mullin’s modified Magneto phones.

Amex and Mullen would forever change the recording industry with the Amex Model 200 A first shipped in 1948. 60 years later at the 50th Grammy Awards, Amex received the technical Grammy Award in recognition for having revolutionized the radio and recording industries. May 16th, 1960, physicist Theodore Mayman creates the first laser light using a synthetic ruby crystal device.

He was not the first to develop the theories behind lasers nor first to apply for patents, but he was the first to create an operating laser device. The light produced by this device was not a true beam as we think of most lasers today, but rather a pulse. Other research would create the first laser beam soon after.

That’s your technology history for today. For more, tune in tomorrow and visit my website this day in tech history.com.

Pokie Huang: 

That’s it for today’s open source and cybersecurity updates. For direct links to all stories and resources mentioned in today’s episode, go to 505Updates.com, where you can listen to our growing library of over 100 episodes. You can also download the transcript of all episodes for easy reference.

5:05 is a Sourced Networks Production with updates available Monday through Friday on your favorite audio streaming platform. Just search for “It’s 5:05!”. And please consider subscribing while you’re there. 

Thank you to Mark Miller, Edwin Kwan, Katy Craig and Marcel brown for today’s contributions.

The Executive Producer and the editor is Mark Miller. The sound engineer is Pokie Huang. Music for today’s episode is by Blue Dot Sessions. We use Descript for spoken text editing and Audacity to layer in the soundscapes. The show distribution platform is provided by Captivate.fm. This is Pokie Huang. See you tomorrow… at 5:05.