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A nationwide scam involving extortion phone calls using AI-generated voices of peoples loved ones has made it to McMinnville.

Scammers are using artificial intelligence technology to send frightened, desperate messages that sound like the voice of loved ones. Last month, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a warning about the scams. It could be a child or grandchild saying they had a wreck or got arrested and need bail money. Other calls involve phony kidnappers spoofing the voices of their supposed victims. Warren County locals Olivia Hylton and her husband were targeted recently.

Last Friday, Hylton reported on social media how her husband received a terrifying call from a woman screaming about being in an accident. Suddenly a man's voice comes on the phone line saying It wasnt an accident, it was an incident. The voice on the line went on to say that he was a drug dealer and that if the husband tried to call his wife or didnt come up with $10,000 she would be dead.

Im very happy I was with my friend and my husband was able to get hold of her. Until the sheriff said it was a scam, we were scared for the girl on the phone, Olivia Hylton explained. Hylton and her husband reported the call to law enforcement and the Warren County Sheriffs Department informed them that these types of scam calls are actually very frequent.

A similar story, the case of Jennifer DeStefano, made national headlines earlier this month. DeStefano received a frightening call from what sounded like her daughter. The scammer on the line asked for a million dollars. When DeStefano explained there was no way she could raise that the amount was lowered to $50,000.

Dan Mayo, assistant special agent in charge of the Phoenix office, pointed out how scammers can sometimes get details regarding victims from public social media accounts and to keep an eye out for unfamiliar area codes or country codes. Databases of repeated previous commercial hacks are also a source of personal information which can include family members, employment and more. Many of these scammers had not only the number and name associated with it but information about family members or friends.

The FTC advises people to attempt to contact the person who supposedly contacted them to verify the story before ever sending any money. Always use a phone number you know is theirs. If you cant get in touch with them then reach out to other family members or friends. You may also prepare a code word to confirm identity in such a case.

Regardless of the nature or pretext of the scam, there are certain telltale signs that something may be awry. Scammers will almost always require payment through channels that make it difficult, or impossible, to get the money returned. Wire transfers, cryptocurrency and gift cards being required for payment may be a sign that the person requesting money is not above board.

The AI scam call is not the only one that has affected Warren County citizens recently. The McMinnville Police Department also warned locals of a series of scam calls affecting people in Warren County involving a person claiming to be with law enforcement and asking for money to take care of a warrant for failure to appear before the Grand Jury. The police department warns that they will never call and ask for money to clear up a warrant and if in doubt about such, call local law enforcement.

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Artificial intelligence scam calls received locally - Southern Standard

Elon Musk is very worried and he isn't the only one!

As Artificial Intelligence or AI, gains a bigger and stronger foothold in our society, many are concerned that no one has an eye to the future.

Google's AI is particularly worrying as one of their engineers made it very clear. Google's AI is sentient! Google fired him!

Just last week we had an AI CEO on the show who was telling us all about how wonderful AI is. My final question to him was "have you ever seen a Terminator movie?". He said no.

I have long predicted that the people involved in creating AI have indeed never seen a Terminator movie. Turns out I was right.

AI is more dangerous than, say, mismanaged aircraft design or production maintenance or bad car production, in the sense that it is, it has the potential however small one may regard that probability, but it is non-trivial it has the potential of civilization destruction, Musk said in his interview with Tucker Carlson this week.

Are you worried that Artificial Intelligence will take over the world?

Our polls are not scientific and are for entertainment

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Are you worried that Artificial Intelligence will take over the world? - iHeart

As businesses and governments alike strive towards improved sustainability in 2023, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly being touted as a tool that can manage environmental impacts and climate change while also improving business efficiency. But is AI as green as it seems, or is it just another instance of greenwashing?

AI has huge potential to make businesses more sustainable. Already being deployed by companies like Google to efficiently cool their data centres, in hospitality to track and reduce food waste, and by governments including Indonesia and Peru using AI and satellite data to show near-real-time vessel movements in the ocean to combat illegal and unsustainable fishing.

From a legislative stance, businesses will soon have to comply with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, which obligates financial market participants to disclose their non-financial and diversity information. Businesses are, therefore, actively looking for green solutions that can improve their marketability and ultimately their bottom line. AI is being touted as something that can manage environmental impacts and climate change while also improving business efficiency a win-win.

However, when implementing AI solutions, there is often little detail given at the micro-level on how AI will save the planet any more effectively or efficiently than traditional computer-human operations. Greenwashing occurs when environmental claims are unproven, over-inflated, or just incorrect. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has been cracking down on greenwashing in advertising, recently issuing reprimands to HSBC, Alpro, and Innocent, among others.

When implementing AI and measuring the energy savings it can produce, this needs to be offset against the electricity consumption of AI systems themselves, as this is potentially substantial. It has been calculated that AI's global carbon footprint might foreseeably be equal to that of the aviation industry. Until all AI is powered by renewable electricity, including using sustainable data sources, AI's energy consumption must be considered when making claims about the energy-saving capabilities of AI.

The UK Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumer Bill (Bill) is expected to grant new powers for regulators against companies that make misleading environmental claims. Companies could face fines of up to 10% of their global turnover for breaches of consumer law. This Bill, combined with the new EU AI Act and divergent 'sector by sector' approach to regulation in the UK, is going to increase the regulatory considerations for businesses when looking to utilise and deploy AI technologies in their business.

While predictions and claims have been made about the green benefits of AI, there is little published information about how AI use in these fields will be deployed, how AI software will differ from non-AI software, and whether that difference will be beneficial in reducing the rate of climate change or meeting biodiversity and ESG goals. Developers and users risk being challenged on such green claims in 2023.

AI is already being used as a tool to combat greenwashing. AI is being deployed to analyse a company's publicly available information on the web to detect early signs of greenwashing or identify related risks. The hope is that this increased scrutiny will force higher ESG standards. There is an irony to being caught out by an AI system for making false statements about the energy efficiency and ESG benefits of the AI system your business has deployed.

Three things you must consider about your organisations AI sustainability:

Download our guide the latest AI regulation for businesses in the UK and EU in 2023.

Continued here:
Is artificial intelligence sustainable? - Womble Bond Dickinson

It used to cost an arm and a leg not to mention the hassle of moving furniture in and out of homes all the time to stage a house being prepared for sale.

These days, Alec Miles pays about $40 a picture and the staging is done virtually, showing buyers what a living room or den could look like without all the actual heavy lifting.

"I pay a professional photographer to take the pictures and then outsource the digital staging to another company," said Miles, a salesperson with EXP Realty in London, Ont.

"Actual staging is so expensive that it's almost cost prohibitive, whereas the turnaround for virtual staging is 12 hours and I know it'll look great."

That's just one typeof artificial intelligence (AI) that is changing how real estate is done in London and beyond.

Osman Omar has been a Realtor in the city for five years. ChatGPT, an AIchatbot developed by OpenAIthat was released in November, has started helping him come up with ideas about how to describe listings and acts as a "sounding board" for ideas.

"It helps put together a skeleton of information," Omar said. "If a client wants a write-up that is more professional, or something more upbeat and funny, I can ask it to do that and I get ideas. From a social media perspective, you can take your public remarks [from a listing]and then help condense that for different social media platforms."

Realtors wear a lot of hats, so taking work off their plates so they can focus on marketing a property can bebeneficial, Omar said.

"If you're savvy, it can really help give the property the exposure it deserves. AI can help you with [search engine optimization], social it's a good sounding board."

Some buyers looking for homes have alsobeen using AI, Miles said.

"You can ask OpenAI or ChatGPT about the best neighbourhoods in London, or the worst neighbourhoods, or neighbourhoods close to schools or parks. It gives you a starting point."

"The more in-depth understanding of the real estate marketthat comes from someone like me," said Miles. "I'm the one who will tell you if that house caught fire because of a meth lab that's not going to come up on ChatGPT."

Some Realtors use AI to write listings for them, though that takes away from the personal touch, Miles said.

"It's not personal if you have an AI doing that," he said. "But asking for the Top 10 or Top 5 neighbourhoods in London is a great learning tool for someone who is a new agent or anyone trying to provide extra value in the industry."

But AI won't replace actual human beings in the industry anytime soon, Omar said.

"Talking to an agent that knows what is happening in the market is the best way to get the best sale."

The next evolution will be virtual reality tours of properties, Omar added.

"I think we'll get to a place where people will view homes virtually. You put on your VR headset, get a feel for the place before driving down to see it. Nothing replaces in person, but it would be a preliminary screening."

In the United States, appraisers use AI to value properties based on data and images. Mortgage lenders can make decisions based on an AI-generated calculation of risk, and developers can select construction sites based on platforms that specialize in zoning regulations.

AI-powered platforms can generate property recommendations tailored to a homebuyer's desires, and botswill alert you if the house of your dreams comes up for sale.

CBC News asked ChatGPT about the most affordable neighbourhoods in London. It listed White Oaks, Argyle, East London, Pond Mills and Southcrest.

We also asked ChatGPTabout the best neighbourhoods for families in the city. Here's what the bot came up with:

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How artificial intelligence is changing the real estate game - CBC.ca

With artificial intelligence speeding the innovation process, what does that mean for invention and a properly balanced patent system?

Blog by Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most powerful technologies of our generation, and it presents big opportunities and risks.At the USPTO, weare working on the responsible introduction of new AI into our workflow and organizational excellence, and are working across government and closely with the Department of Commerce on AI.

Through our AI and Emerging Technology (ET) Partnership, we are also looking closely at the growing role of AI in innovation and its potential to dramatically affect our lives, improve our countrys competitiveness, economic prosperity, and national security. Our AI/ET Partnership supports the Biden Administrations whole-of-government approach to AI, including the National AI Initiative to advance U.S. leadership in AI.

As AI assumes a larger and larger role in innovation, and given recent developments and the current trajectory in innovation in AI, we are presented with new questions. If an AI system can contribute to an invention at the same level as a human, is the invention patentable under current law? Does allowing AI systems to be listed as inventors promote and incentivize innovation? Should the USPTO require applicants to provide an explanation of contributions AI systems made to inventions claimed in patent applications? These are some of the questions we are asking in our recent request for comments on AI and inventorship.

For the last several years, the USPTO has been exploring these and other questions about the role of AI in innovation. And we know that role is increasing. We recently analyzed all of our patents to study the impact that artificial intelligence is having on technology development in the United States and the world. We found that 80,000 of our utility patent applications in 2020 involved artificial intelligence 150% higher than in 2002. AI now appears in 18% of all utility patent applications we receive, and in more than 50% of all the technologies that we examine at the USPTO.

This data reinforces that AI is important in innovation in all industries, and from all regions of the country. And we know there are a lot of surrounding questions related to AI and inventorship.

AI has the potential to benefit our wellbeing in many ways, from revolutionizing the drug discovery and development process to helping address climate change. It also presents potential drawbacks, some of which we may not even yet recognize. Its important that we take a measured approach and hear your feedback on these important issues.

Thats why we need your input on how the U.S. government should address AI-enabled innovations while ensuring that our laws and policies continue to encourage and incentivize innovation without unduly locking up advances that can be readily discovered with the use of AI. Our takeaways will shape our future work on AI and ET policy at the USPTO and will help inform the broader U.S. governments approach to these critical technologies.

We have listening sessions coming up to learn about the impact of AI on the invention process and intellectual property on April 25 at the USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, VA, and on May 8 at Stanford University. You can attend both sessions either in-person or virtually, and well make recordings available afterwards. And, planning is already underway for our next AI and Emerging Technologies (ET) Partnership event later this summer. There, well focus on how we are responsibly using AI tools at the USPTO. You can find information about all these events on our AI and ET Partnership page of the USPTO website.

I hope you will join us at an upcoming listening session and encourage you to submit your feedback to the request for comments by May 15. We look forward to hearing from you!

Posted at 01:38PM Apr 18, 2023 in USPTO |

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Director's Blog: the latest from USPTO leadership - United States Patent and Trademark Office