WEBVTT - Tech News: China Tells AI to Tow the Party Line 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:12.440 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 0:00:12.440 --> 0:00:16.080 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:19.319 I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio. And how the tech 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:22.480 are Young. It's time for the tech news for Thursday, 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:27.320 April thirteenth, twenty twenty three, and first up, Carl Bode 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:31.760 of tech Dirt has an article about how telecommunications companies 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:35.479 are running into trouble when it comes to accessing the 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:40.320 money meant to fund the rip and replace mandate they 0:00:40.400 --> 0:00:43.480 are under all right, So to understand this, we actually 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:46.320 have to go back a little bit. Several years ago, 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:51.599 beginning under the Trump administration, the US government demanded that 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:57.600 US telecom companies remove and replace any telecom infrastructure components 0:00:58.000 --> 0:01:02.240 that came from the Chinese company Huawei. The main concern 0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:06.759 is that these components could potentially serve as a way 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:11.160 for Huawei and then by extension, the Chinese government, to 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:16.319 penetrate US communications networks and spy on US. Essentially, this 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:21.080 is understandably a concern for one thing. As Boat actually 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:23.959 points out, the US has a history of doing this 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:28.959 to US telecom companies itself. See also the NSA and 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:31.839 HECK if we're going to do this to ourselves, doesn't 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:33.800 it stand to reason that other people will try to 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:38.360 do it to us too. Snarkiness aside, and we should 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:41.040 still be concerned about our own government, those of us 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:43.000 in the United States. That's where I am, but our 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:46.440 own government spying on us should always remain a concern. 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:49.160 It's also a concern that foreign governments could try to 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:54.760 do similar things by building into components this capacity. So 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:57.760 the government told companies, hey, if you got any Huawei 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:00.840 gear in your infrastructure, you need to ditch and replace 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:03.880 it with something else. And to that end, the government 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:07.080 has authorized around two billion dollars in funds to help 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:11.840 companies do this, particularly these smaller telecom companies that don't 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:16.360 have the same resources as the ginormous telecom companies. But 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:20.880 now it appears as though one the money allocated isn't 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:24.520 nearly enough to cover the job, and two a lot 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:27.720 of companies have encountered resistance or at the very least 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:31.600 and unresponsive government as far as getting hold of those 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:36.160 funds goes. Meanwhile, Bode points out the government has sort 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:40.920 of pivoted to really focus on TikTok rather than Huawei, 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:45.480 and while TikTok may also pose a risk to some degree. 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:48.840 By comparison, it's really nothing when you take into account 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:52.240 the actual infrastructure of the communication system within the United 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:55.560 States itself. So I think it's fair to say that 0:02:55.760 --> 0:02:59.680 Bode at least feels leaders are leaning harder on optics 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:03.280 and easier to sell story than they are in putting 0:03:03.320 --> 0:03:07.520 in the work to actually follow through on an earlier mandate. 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:13.560 On the AI front, China's Cyberspace Administration has published proposed 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:18.160 regulations with regard to AI development, and to be specific, 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:23.359 we're talking about generative AI stuff like chat GPT, for example, 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:26.880 And I'm currently working on an episode that will cover 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:31.240 stuff like AI and regulations because I feel like, similar 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:34.440 to what Bode was saying about TikTok in the earlier story, 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:38.640 we're kind of being led to a perspective on AI 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:42.800 that I think is reductive and also ultimately misleading. Now 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:45.520 I am not saying that we shouldn't be concerned about 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:52.480 generative AI, but I am concerned about generalizing generative AI 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:55.560 to mean artificial intelligence in total, because I think it 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:59.760 misses the big picture and creates opportunities for lots of 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:02.840 comes down the road. But anyway, that's for a future 0:04:02.880 --> 0:04:05.280 episode that's going to take me a long time to 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:10.400 put together. Anyway, officials in China are pushing for laws 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:15.560 that would place tight restrictions on generative AI. Such AI. 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:19.440 These regulation state would need to avoid creating statements that 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:23.760 undermine or contradict the state itself. Now, some of this 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:28.279 comes across as being kind of reasonable, right, like, not 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:33.360 the upset the state, but that generative AI should have 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:36.760 some restriction so that doesn't do stuff like promote terrorism 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:40.479 or extremism. That sounds reasonable, though we do have to 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:45.839 remember that what China officials define as terrorism and extremism 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:49.200 can cover a wide spectrum and can include stuff like 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:53.240 I'm not sure the government is doing the right thing here. Anyway, 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:55.400 it should come as no surprise that China wants to 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:58.680 avoid a future in which AI could subvert the state's power, 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:02.719 because that's powerful the course for China in general. A 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:05.520 lot of stuff in China law. The laws in China 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:11.040 ultimately kind of lead back to cementing the state's authority. 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:14.839 Now that being said, many of the proposed regulations are 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:18.160 not that different to what we're hearing in other countries, 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:21.960 including the United States. Namely that generative AI should not 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:27.360 compromise a person's privacy. That's reasonable. They should respect laws, 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:31.000 including those protecting intellectual property. That's something that a lot 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:34.000 of creators have been calling for. That they should not 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:39.400 create discriminatory content. They should not promote things like hate 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:45.280 speech and racism, they should not propagate misinformation. All of 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:48.120 these are regulations that we're hearing about, or at least 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:50.640 proposed regulations. We're hearing about all over the world, not 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:54.480 just in China, and I do think that regulations for 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:59.839 generative AI are likely a necessary step. You could argue, hey, 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:02.120 we should just leave this up to the companies to 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:06.479 build in these protections themselves, but generally speaking, when you 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:10.000 just leave stuff to an industry, the stuff that comes 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:13.320 out is not necessarily the best for the public good. Overall, 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:16.440 I feel that a lot of nations can look at 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:21.039 China's example, or rather it's proposed example, and use that 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:25.040 when thinking about how to frame their regulations. They can 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:27.080 sit there and say, well, here are things that we 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:30.719 should try and aim for, and here are the things 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:33.160 that we should try to avoid. Right, so you can 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:36.400 take it as both an example of what to do 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:39.520 and what not to do. There's a line, and maybe 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:43.120 sometimes it's a fine line between protecting the public and 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:46.800 then protecting the status quo. Also on the subject of 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:49.960 AI and a bit about Elon Musk, but trust me, 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:52.480 this is not going to be like Tuesday's episode, where 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:55.200 more than half the show focused on Musk and Twitter. 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:59.719 Ours Technica and Business Insider have reported that Musk is 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:05.440 purchasing around ten thousand GPUs or graphics processing units. In fact, 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:08.680 that he's already done so and spent millions in the process, 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:11.080 And you might wonder, well, why would you want ten 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:15.560 thousand GPUs. That's not entirely clear, but the speculation is 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:18.200 that this is part of Musk's plan to create a 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:24.680 competing artificial intelligence lab. So y'all might remember that a 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:27.480 month or two ago I did an episode about open ai, 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:30.840 and in that episode I mentioned that Musk was one 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:35.080 of the founders of open ai, but that he left 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:39.760 the organization in twenty eighteen. There are different stories about 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:43.640 why he left, and it's possible that the truth is 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:47.080 either unknown to the public or that the truth is 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:49.920 actually a combination of the various stories that are out there. 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:52.720 But one thing that's pretty clear is that Musk did 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:55.760 not like the direction open Ai was going in. According 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:59.400 to Ours Technica, one complaint Musk had was that open 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:05.480 Ai was to quote unquote woke. Now, Originally, when I 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:08.080 was framing out this episode, I had a whole lot 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:10.520 I was going to say about that, But honestly, anyone 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:12.760 who has listened to me for a while already knows 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:14.760 where I would go with that. So I'm going to 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:17.480 drop it because there's no need for me to get 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:23.120 on the soapbox anyway. Musk's move seemingly contradicts his participation 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:26.480 in signing a letter for AI Research to kind of 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:28.720 pump the brakes a bit out of a concern that 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:31.560 AI could do more harm than good if we don't 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:36.319 create some checks and balances. And for the cynics among you, 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:40.079 you might say, Aha, Musk was doing this not because 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:42.720 of his concern that AI is going to go all 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:45.800 terminator on us, but because he wanted to put a 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:49.160 freeze on the AI industry in general so that he 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:52.560 could make up some lost ground because they're getting started 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:56.200 late in the game. And I'll leave it to you 0:08:56.640 --> 0:09:00.640 to figure out, like what scenario was most likely true. 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:03.760 We don't know at the end of the day. You know, 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:07.800 unless you happen to be one of Musk's closest circle, 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:10.920 you'd probably don't know. But yeah, you know, it's kind 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:14.200 of fun to speculate. One other quick update on Twitter 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:19.040 related stories. NPR, which I mentioned earlier this week, Twitter 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:23.160 had previously labeled as state affiliated media, and then after 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:27.160 objections were raised, they change that label to government funded 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:32.080 has now said sayonara to Twitter. So reportedly National Public 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:36.640 Radio will halt the use of its fifty two Twitter feeds. 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:41.480 Individual NPR stations, like the local affiliates, may or may 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:44.600 not follow suit. A lot of them already have. Also, 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:48.080 NPR is not forcing staff to suspend their own personal 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:51.839 Twitter accounts. They can maintain them if they want to. PBS, 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:55.640 that's the public broadcast TV organization here in the United States, 0:09:55.840 --> 0:09:58.720 has also issued a statement indicating that it will no 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:02.760 longer use Twitter. So for people like me, this feels 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:05.760 like a pretty massive blow to Twitter. Now, I recognize 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:09.280 that my own experience on Twitter is not universal, so 0:10:09.400 --> 0:10:11.920 I don't want to fall into the trap of generalizing 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:16.320 from my own experience and then just projecting that on everybody. Instead, 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:19.920 I will say that when I was on Twitter, regularly. 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:23.320 There were three main things that drew me there. One, 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:26.080 Twitter gave me a platform where I could share my thoughts, 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:29.360 which more often than not were stupid jokes that were 0:10:29.440 --> 0:10:32.600 not very funny to anyone other than myself, which is 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:34.400 essentially the kind of stuff I say on the show 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:38.240 all the time. Two, I could follow celebrities, and that 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:41.920 was fun because there were people that I admired in 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:44.800 show business, and sometimes they would tweet to other people 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:47.040 that I also admired in show business, and it was 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:50.240 kind of like I was eavesdropping on famous people chit 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:52.160 chatting with each other, and that was kind of fun. 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:56.360 And Three, and most importantly, I would go to Twitter 0:10:56.480 --> 0:11:00.640 because news outlets were using Twitter to post breaking news stories. 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:03.359 So if you just kept Twitter running on in the background, 0:11:03.800 --> 0:11:05.640 it meant that you were keeping up to date with 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:10.080 the latest news. But for a major media organization to 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:12.640 pull out of Twitter, well that takes a swing at 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:17.000 one of those foundational pillars for Twitter content. Now, of course, 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:19.960 I have no clue what the majority of Twitter users 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:23.720 use as the reason they go to Twitter, right Like, 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:27.160 I don't know what most people use Twitter for. It's 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:30.120 entirely possible that the vast majority of them don't give 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:33.240 a fig about the news. And even if other media 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:38.600 organizations follow the lead of NPR and PBS, these users 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:40.400 are not going to bat an eyelash at that, because 0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:41.880 that's not what they go to Twitter four in the 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:44.120 first place. I just think that for folks who are 0:11:44.160 --> 0:11:49.480 like me, this becomes yet another reason to just ditch Twitter. Okay, 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:51.679 we've got more news stories to cover before we get 0:11:51.720 --> 0:12:04.840 to those, let's take a quick break. We're back. So 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:12.040 morale over at Meta is unsurprisingly on the decline, according 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:16.200 to various news reports. The company has obviously held a 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:19.520 couple of high profile rounds of layoffs, with potentially more 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:24.480 in the future, and according to The Straits Times, those 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:28.360 layoffs amount to nearly thirty percent of the company's staff. 0:12:28.520 --> 0:12:32.760 So just imagine. Let's say that you work in a company, 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:35.480 or you know, whatever business you work at. Imagine that 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:38.079 you're in a room with all of your coworkers and 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:41.960 you're told that out of every three of them, one 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:44.440 is going to be laid off. One out of every 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:46.719 three employees are going to be laid off, which may 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:49.360 or may not include you. And it's all in the 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:53.160 name of the Year of efficiency. That's what Zuckerberg has said. 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:56.400 The Straits Times goes on to say that while Zuckerberg 0:12:56.480 --> 0:12:59.720 has been pushing employees to go back to the office, 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:03.360 the same is not necessarily true for upper management. A 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:08.200 lot of executives have ended up working remotely from other locations, 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:12.120 and so unlike the rank and file of META, they 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:17.120 are not required to come in. So you're being coerced 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:20.520 or forced to come back to your office. But meanwhile 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:22.920 you are seeing that the leadership are not under the 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:27.280 same rules. That also starts to contribute to problems with morale. 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:33.000 There becomes this very obvious disconnect between what's expected of 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:37.120 you and what's expected of leadership. Zuckerberg himself is on 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:40.400 parental leave, which you know, first of all, parental leave 0:13:40.520 --> 0:13:44.040 is a great benefit. All employees should have access to 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:48.840 parental leave. Parental leave is what allows parents to spend 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:52.520 that time they need with their children in order to 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:54.720 make certain that their kids are going to be growing 0:13:54.800 --> 0:13:58.280 up healthy and safe. And I am fully in favor 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:01.680 of parental leaf for all employees. And I'm not a parent, 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:03.960 like I don't have kids and I'm never going to 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:06.320 have kids, but I am fully in favor of parental 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:09.440 leave because I want those kids to grow up to 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:13.760 being well adjusted, productive members of society so they can 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:16.400 take care of me when I'm too old to do anything. 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:19.040 So it is in my own self interest to care 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:21.960 about the kids. But anyway, I'm not going to throw 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:25.040 shade at anybody for taking parental leave, and that includes 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:28.720 Mark Zuckerberg. I am not going to shame the leader 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:30.760 of the company who's telling people to go back into 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:34.440 the office for taking time off if that's if it 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:37.760 means that he's spending time with his child is newborn. 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:43.080 To me, that's justifiable. However, his absence again adds to 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:46.760 morale issues within the company. Employees have said that they 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:49.640 felt increased pressure to show that they are working hard 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:53.000 on projects. You know, a lot of the framing of 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:56.800 this has been around executive saying that they had more 0:14:56.840 --> 0:14:59.120 employees than they had work to do, and that a 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:01.880 lot of employees we're spending the majority of their time 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:04.840 not really being productive at all because there wasn't enough 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:08.680 work for them to tackle. So part of this was 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:14.280 talking about like a reorganization to bring into alignment the 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:18.360 workload with the workforce, and that may or may not 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:21.160 be true. It probably is true to a certain degree, 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:26.160 and the remaining employees feel that they need to justify 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:28.720 their employment right, that they need to make certain that 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:32.080 they are not doing anything that could potentially put their 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:35.520 job at risk in the current economic climate. That is 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:40.800 incredibly understandable. But meanwhile top leadership is largely absent from 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:44.600 Meta HQ. Also, the company has been scaling back on 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:49.480 employee benefits like meals and subsidies for ride healing services 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:51.880 and that kind of thing, which again makes sense the 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:55.960 companies cutting back on costs, although employees might be asking, 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:58.280 are these the costs that make the most sense to 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:01.520 cut back on its stuff that affects quality of life. 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:05.800 You have already laid off a third of us. The 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:09.680 bosses are never around. You know, you're making us come 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:12.160 back into the office, but are pulling out some of 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:15.800 the benefits of working in an office. The icing of 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:17.960 the cake, of course, is that tech companies at large 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:22.760 are implementing hiring freezes or they're even actively downsizing. So 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:25.240 it's not like the solution for the employees just to 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:27.760 hand in their resignation and then go find their dream 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:31.840 jobs somewhere else. It is a really bad situation. Potentially 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:37.600 made worse by Meta continually emphasizing business strategies that, at 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:40.520 least in the near term, are not likely to generate 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:44.720 significant revenue, which means that not only are the employees 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:48.240 getting more and more unhappy, that's not going to make 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:52.640 shareholders happy either, which in turn will potentially fuel other 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:54.800 cutbacks in the future, and it becomes this kind of 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:58.920 perpetuating cycle. The state of Arkansas has followed the state 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:02.360 of Utah's lead in passing a bill that will require 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:06.440 anyone under the age of eighteen to get parental consent 0:17:06.880 --> 0:17:12.000 before they can open a social media account. Rob Thubron 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:15.440 of tech Spot has a piece about this in which 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:20.160 he talks about how the law has some perplexing exceptions, 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:24.560 some of which could potentially really undermine the whole law itself. So, 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:29.080 for example, Lebron says that some of the amendments to 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:33.040 this bill appear to exempt social platforms where users can 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:38.680 quote generate short video clips of dancing, voiceovers, or other 0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:42.199 acts of entertainment in which the primary purpose is not 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:48.560 educational or informative end quote. So, first of all, there's 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:51.680 all sorts of content on all of these social platforms, right, 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:56.520 some of which is intended to be educational at least 0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:58.960 to some degree, or informative. You know, you have the 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:02.560 infotainments where it's trying to teach you something, and that 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:06.760 same platform may also host content that has nothing to 0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:11.320 do with education or information. It's all about just entertainment, right, 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:15.359 like making you laugh or creating a scary video or 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:19.480 whatever it may be. And with this wording, it makes 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:22.879 it sound like a platform like TikTok, for example, would 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:27.480 potentially be exempt from the rule because it's a platform 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:30.359 that allows users to generate short video clips of dancing 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:34.919 and voiceovers and other kinds of entertainment. So that's weird 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:39.000 because the government in general is really down on TikTok 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:41.480 right now. But based on that wording, it sounds like 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:45.919 TikTok would not be subjected to these rules. Potentially, a 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:50.359 platform like Instagram or Snapchat would not be subjected to 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:54.680 that rule. In addition to those other amendments, exempt services 0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:58.240 like email and messaging services as well as video streaming, 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:04.440 professional networking, and gaming focused social services. So with those exemptions, 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:06.520 it sounds like okay, so LinkedIn would not be covered 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:10.080 by this rule. You could create a LinkedIn account and 0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:13.480 not have to go through age verification. But then that 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:15.440 kind of makes sense. I mean, what thirteen year old 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:18.760 wants to build a LinkedIn profile? But then you start 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:22.040 to wonder, well, if gaming focused services are potentially exempt, 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:25.720 does that mean that Twitch is exempt from this rule 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:28.240 as well. I mean, I guess what I'm saying is 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:30.840 that there sounds like there's a ton of wiggle room 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:34.760 with these amendments, and it could be that this particular 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:37.960 law won't actually do anything but take up space in 0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:41.560 a rule book. So the intent is to make sure 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:44.600 that children receive some protection, particularly when it comes to 0:19:44.640 --> 0:19:48.720 the practices of data collection and exploitation, and I'm fully 0:19:48.720 --> 0:19:52.280 in agreement with that. I don't think that kids should 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:56.760 be necessarily subjected that. I don't think anyone should. Honestly, 0:19:56.800 --> 0:19:59.080 I think at this point that the power of our 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:03.119 information should be shifted back toward the individual, kind of 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:06.320 the way the EU tries to do it. I think 0:20:06.320 --> 0:20:08.879 that that needs to be sort of a global rule. 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:11.879 It just isn't. But I certainly think that that should 0:20:11.880 --> 0:20:15.000 apply to children. But I'm not sure that this bill 0:20:15.119 --> 0:20:19.199 as reported achieves that goal. Maybe I'm wrong anyway. For 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:23.320 the few social platforms out there, that somehow cannot argue 0:20:23.400 --> 0:20:27.640 their way out of being subject to this rule. They 0:20:27.640 --> 0:20:30.399 will have to enlist the services of a third party 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:35.280 verification company, which will end up going through steps so 0:20:35.320 --> 0:20:38.679 that users will have to submit information about themselves to 0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:43.320 prove their identity and their age before citizens in Arkansas 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:45.240 have a chance to sign up for an account. This 0:20:45.359 --> 0:20:49.240 does not go It's not retroactive, so existing accounts are 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:54.160 grandfathered in. If a fourteen year old already has, say 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:56.240 a Facebook account, that fourteen year old doesn't have to 0:20:56.240 --> 0:21:00.520 go through this process, but moving forward, knew users would 0:21:00.560 --> 0:21:05.240 have to, assuming that the platform was subjected to this 0:21:05.359 --> 0:21:10.399 kind of restriction, and anyone below the age of eighteen 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:14.280 will need parental consent before they are allowed to create 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:18.880 that profile. So yeah, I don't know. We'll have to see. 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:22.520 I haven't. In full disclosure, I have not read this law. 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:25.879 I haven't sat down to read the actual language of 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:28.240 the law itself. I'm not an expert in law either, 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:30.800 so even if I did read it, I would probably 0:21:30.840 --> 0:21:34.399 not walk away with a full understanding of it. But yeah, 0:21:34.440 --> 0:21:38.560 it sounds to me like there's some pretty big gaps here, 0:21:39.240 --> 0:21:44.320 and it's potentially a useless law. If it turns out 0:21:44.320 --> 0:21:47.320 that everyone falls under at least one exemption, then the 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:50.399 law doesn't apply to anybody, So we'll have to see. 0:21:50.520 --> 0:21:53.480 I do know that the state of Utah's version is 0:21:53.640 --> 0:21:57.960 far more restrictive than the state of Arkansas, so that's 0:21:57.960 --> 0:22:02.800 a much different story, and other states are currently debating 0:22:02.840 --> 0:22:06.960 their own version of this kind of law. Again, I 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:10.800 do think it's important to have laws in place to 0:22:10.800 --> 0:22:13.679 protect children. I don't know if age verification is the 0:22:13.840 --> 0:22:16.600 big one. I guess it's part of it, because you 0:22:16.640 --> 0:22:21.040 do need to know who needs to be protected, right, 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:24.920 But I think there need to be some laws that 0:22:24.960 --> 0:22:29.040 just are going across the board to protect the privacy 0:22:29.240 --> 0:22:33.520 of children online and to do it better than the 0:22:33.560 --> 0:22:35.760 way it's been done in the past, because often it 0:22:35.800 --> 0:22:38.960 feels like the cannon is being pointed in the wrong direction. 0:22:40.200 --> 0:22:43.320 But again, I'm no expert in law, so all I 0:22:43.400 --> 0:22:48.480 know is that the consequences often end up being unintentionally 0:22:48.520 --> 0:22:52.040 harmful toward parties that have very little to do with 0:22:52.160 --> 0:22:54.960 the actual problem. All Right, we're gonna take another quick break. 0:22:55.000 --> 0:22:57.040 When we come back, I've got a couple more stories 0:22:57.040 --> 0:23:10.479 I want to cover. All right, Now, here's some good news. Today, 0:23:10.600 --> 0:23:13.719 Apple posted that the company has set a target to 0:23:13.880 --> 0:23:18.240 use one hundred percent recycled cobalt by twenty twenty five 0:23:18.640 --> 0:23:24.399 in Apple design batteries. This follows some other initiatives that 0:23:24.440 --> 0:23:29.400 also look to increase recycled material content and Apple products. 0:23:29.560 --> 0:23:32.119 In fact, Apple said that you know, for products that 0:23:32.200 --> 0:23:34.840 have magnets in them, they're going to aim for one 0:23:34.880 --> 0:23:38.719 hundred percent recycled rare earth elements by twenty twenty five. Now, 0:23:38.720 --> 0:23:42.440 I've talked in past episodes about how modern electronics require 0:23:42.520 --> 0:23:47.120 some specific materials, and some of these materials are difficult 0:23:47.160 --> 0:23:51.040 to come by. Some of them rely upon mining operations 0:23:51.080 --> 0:23:55.320 in areas of the world where the mine operations are 0:23:55.400 --> 0:23:59.639 using what amounts to slave labor. Like it contributes to 0:24:00.440 --> 0:24:05.920 human misery, it contributes to human trafficking. It also ends 0:24:06.000 --> 0:24:11.520 up supporting militias that end up creating instability in various regions. 0:24:11.800 --> 0:24:15.920 It's a really big human rights nightmare in some parts 0:24:15.960 --> 0:24:20.080 of the world, and even in the places where that's 0:24:20.119 --> 0:24:23.119 not an issue, where the human rights piece of the 0:24:24.119 --> 0:24:28.840 puzzle isn't really relevant, all of these mining operations create 0:24:28.920 --> 0:24:34.480 environmental problems. So switching to recycled materials is a huge deal. 0:24:35.080 --> 0:24:38.800 It removes the reliance upon new mining operations for those 0:24:38.800 --> 0:24:43.520 particular components. It drastically reduces e waste, which is a 0:24:43.800 --> 0:24:51.399 huge deal. It's incredibly frustrating that we've got mountains of 0:24:52.280 --> 0:24:58.320 defunct or unwanted electronics that either are not being reused 0:24:58.560 --> 0:25:02.600 so that they continue useful life beyond their initial one 0:25:03.040 --> 0:25:08.960 or recycled. The recycling process is tricky. It's not the 0:25:08.960 --> 0:25:10.919 easiest thing in the world to do, and to do 0:25:10.960 --> 0:25:14.560 it in a way where you're actually doing it economically 0:25:14.640 --> 0:25:19.000 and efficiently is hard. So in some ways it's understandable 0:25:19.040 --> 0:25:22.040 that there's this issue here, but Apple is framing this 0:25:22.080 --> 0:25:25.040 as part of the company's overall strategy to achieve carbon 0:25:25.080 --> 0:25:28.320 neutral status by twenty thirty. And I really hope Apple 0:25:28.359 --> 0:25:31.720