ChatGPT dragged to US court over AI copyright cases

WASHINGTON, USA—US comedian

Sarah Silverman and two other authors have sued Open AI over copyright infringement in the latest push back by creatives since the company’s release of ChatGPT took the world by storm.

The plaintiffs accuse the San Francisco company of using their works to train their artificial intelligence models without permission, adding to a series of cases that could complicate the development of tech world’s biggest new trend.

The trio also filed a suit against Facebook parent company Meta, whose less known open source models also used pirated downloads of their books for training purposes, the suit alleged.

Much of the training material used by OpenAI and Meta “comes from copyrighted works—including books written by the plaintiffs—that were copied by OpenAI and Meta without consent, without credit, and without compensation,” the trio’s lawyers said in a blog post.

In both lawsuits, which were filed on Friday in a California court, the authors accuse the tech companies of using their books to train their AI models and are claiming a series of copyright infringements.

If these types of cases succeed, they would upend the way the technology is developed, limiting the way tech giants can build their models and churn out convincing, human-like content.

Plaintiffs in the barrage of recent cases include source-code owners against OpenAI and Microsoft’s GitHub, visual artists, as well as photo agency Getty against Stability AI. San Francisco lawyer Joseph Saveri and Matthew Butterick are behind other such lawsuits and filed the latest on behalf of Silverman and the authors Christopher Golden and Richard Kadrey.

The lawsuit referred to Silverman’s 2010 bestselling memoir “The Bedwet- ter,” Golden’s horror novel “Ararat” and Kadrey’s Sandman Slim supernatural noir series.

Silverman is best known in the United States for her edgy and often controversial humor as well as being outspoken on social and political issues.

Against OpenAI, the plaintiffs say they “did not consent to the use of their copyrighted books as training material for ChatGPT. Nonetheless, their copyrighted materials were ingested and used to train ChatGPT.”

The authors provided exhibits in the lawsuit that gave ChatGPT’s detailed summaries of their works.

Against Meta, the trio say the company turned to an illegally constructed “shadow library” to build the firm’s LLaMA models that included their works.

These libraries use pirated torrent downloads to illegally publish copyrighted works. AFP

Are we ready to become the center for hospitality excellence in Asia? (Part 1)

ARE WE ready to claim the title of Asia’s center of excellence for hospitality? If there is a course that consistently brings so much excitement and joy to me as an educator, it’s tourism and hospitality marketing.

The goal of this course is simple—attract new tourists to visit the country and retain old tourists by encouraging them to explore the country continuously. There is much to be said about the Philippines that truly makes us an exceptional destination.

I ensure that my students who hold the potential to become tourism service providers understand it by heart. I call them the game chargers. They are the foundation of our sustainable competitive advantage, which can drive the growth of this Industry that is proven to be a catalyst for the economic development.

It’s intriguing to explore the underlying reasons behind the persistent struggle of the Philippines to keep pace with neighboring Asian countries when it comes to attracting tourists. Secretary Christina Frasco of the Department of Tourism said the Philippines’ target is to attract 4.8 million international visitors as part of the National Tourism Development Plan. There is no harm in setting targets, but it is equally important to identify what we do best to capture the interest of foreign tourists to visit the Philippines.

So what sets us apart from other countries as a destination? The formula is straightforward; dig deeper on the push and pull. Understand tourists’ motivation (push) and partner it with the attributes of the destination (pull). The answer to the above-mentioned question is no secret; it lies within the fabric of our nation, what we do every day and who we are as a country – it is the value we place on family.

We treat every tourist as a member of our own family. There is magic in the warm Filipino smile, which serves as a heartfelt expression of “malasakit” (concern and compassion). Filipino hospitality, which is ingrained in our culture, is one of the distinct features of our country.

In connection, the DOT launched the Filipino Brand of Service Excellence (FBSE), a flagship program of the agency envisioned to provide all key players in the tourism and hospitality industry with a benchmark on how to provide excellent service to tourists the “Filipino way,” and make it our brand. FBSE is rooted in the 7 Ms of our core values as Filipinos. These are Malikhain, Makatao, Makakalikasan, Makabansa. Masayahin, May Bayanihan and May Pag-asa. The training has four modules, focusing on (1) Filipino Values and Service Excellence, (2) Understanding the Guests, (3) Delivering Great Service Excellence, and (4) Service Recovery.

The program aims to train 100,000 Filipino tourism workers across 16 regions in the country. This strategic action of the DOT is commendable; finally, we are now capitalizing on one of our real strengths as a tourism destination. It is nourishing the “true” backbone of the industry - our people, to make it firm and future-ready. Given that the program’s funds are limited, a certain group of service providers will be prioritized for the training based on the level of their involvement in the delivery of tourism services. Still, DOT can include transport drivers, souvenir vendors, park utilities, and those with limited but critical interactions with tourists since they can also directly influence their overall tourism experience. With FBSE, we can now expect harmony and synchronicity in the delivery of Filipino hospitality; this plays a crucial role in enhancing the Filipino identity as a globally recognized tourism destination. It is like having all tourism suppliers participate in a grand chorale orchestrated by the DOT chief.

No matter where your journey takes you in the Philippines, whether it’s in the powdery white sand of Boracay, the pristine coral reefs in Palawan or even a city tour in Intramuros, expect a Filipino who will warmly greet you ‘Mabuhay!’, the standard Filipino greeting across the country. To be continued.

The author is a Doctor of Business Administration student at the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business, De La Salle University. He can be reached at jhon_-@dlsu. edu.ph.

The views expressed above are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official position of DLSU, its faculty, and its administrators.

The chairman of Australian mining giant Rio Tinto warned this week of a knock-on effect on the commodities sector.

Beijing has come under immense pressure in recent months to unveil new growth-fueling policies after a series of below-par indicators showed the post-Covid rebound has run of the tracks.

US Fed executive proposes increased capital requirement

WASHINGTON, USA—A senior Federal Reserve official has proposed raising capital requirements for large and mid-sized US banks as part of a “comprehensive” series of measures to tighten banking regulation and supervision.

The proposals announced Monday by the Fed’s vice chair for supervision, Michael Barr, cover a wide range of issues aimed at strengthening oversight of banks with more than $100 billion in total assets.

This would include mid-sized institutions, which came under significant financial stress earlier this year after a bank run spurred by concern about how lenders like Silicon Valley Bank had managed their interest rate risk.

“The comprehensive set of proposals that I have described here today would significantly strengthen our financial system and prepare it for emerging and unanticipated risks,” Barr told a conference in Washington on Monday morning. He added that the $100 billion threshold would subject more banks to the Fed’s “most risk-sensitive capital rules,” which currently only apply to internationally active firms, or those with $700 billion or more in assets.

In a statement, the president of the American Bankers Association said Barr’s proposals to lift capital requirements could have negative consequences for the banking sector.

“We share Vice Chair Barr’s goal of a safe, sound and resilient banking system, but we are disappointed that he remains determined to push forward new bank capital requirements despite strong evidence that the U.S. banking system is already well capitalized,” Rob Nichols said.

“Higher capital requirements come at a cost to the economy, and regulators have other existing regulatory tools to manage risks including those that led to the recent bank failures,” he added.

While the “holistic review” of the banking system began before the recent banking crisis, Barr said it was informed by the recent collapse of midsized regional lenders including SVB.

“Our recent experience shows that even banks of this size can cause stress that spreads to other institutions and threatens financial stability,” he said.

“China’s latest policy support toward the property sector was a bit surprising—given the low expectations on the property market,” said Zhou Hao, of Guotai Junan International Holdings. “The policies are intended to hedge against the strong headwinds in the market.” With AFP Manila

Barr added that his proposals would be equivalent to “requiring the largest banks hold an additional two percentage points of capital,” or $2 in additional money set aside for every $100 the bank has in assets. AFP

By Julito G. Rada

AREGIONAL think tank expects the Philippine economy to be the top performer among the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its three major trading partners, saying the easing inflation rate will boost consumer demand.

The ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office kept the growth forecast for the Philippines at 6.2 percent this year, the highest in the region. This is contained in the organization’s July update of its regional economic outlook.

It also maintained its forecast of 6.5-percent expansion for the Philippines in 2024, next to Vietnam’s 7.6 percent.

“ASEAN+3’s recovery is now riding on resilient demand within the region,” said AMRO chief economist Hoe Ee Khor.

“Recovering labor markets and falling inflation, along with steadily growing intra-regional tourism, are helping to cushion growth against sluggish external demand that is dampening the region’s exports,” Khor said.

He said inflation had decelerated across most ASEAN+3 economies due to easing global commodity prices and normalizing supply chains, allowing many of the region’s central banks to pause or ease the pace of monetary tightening. This, in turn, is bolstering consumption.

The interagency Development Budget Coordinating Committee earlier projected a 6-percent to 7-percent growth this year, saying the economy would continue to be resilient amid the headwinds coming from both the domestic and external fronts.

The country’s gross domestic product expanded by 6.4 percent in the first quarter, despite the elevated inflation and higher interest rates that impacted consumer demand.

AMRO said the ASEAN+3 region was expected to grow by 4.6 percent this year, up from 3.2 percent last year.