The Center for Data Innovation submitted comments to the Competition Bureau Canada’s consultation on artificial intelligence (AI) and competition. In its comments, the Center argues that Canada’s AI sector is vibrant and diverse. At this stage, there is no clear evidence of market failure, substantial barriers to entry, or exclusionary practices that would necessitate intervention by the Competition Bureau. Read the submission.  ..read more

This week’s list of top data news highlights covers April 27, 2024 to May 3, 2024 and includes articles on the world’s first “AI diplomat” and using a digital twin of an airport to reduce carbon emissions. 1. Reinventing the Passenger Experience A Paris-based tech firm called Valeo has partnered with Unity, a gaming software developer, to produce an extended-reality racing video game for passenger’s seat. The game blends in virtual reality (VR) technology with the physical surrounding of a moving car to enhance the passenger experience.  2. Streamlining Digital Enterprise Amazon has added ..read more

The Center for Data Innovation spoke with Mark Gagas, Vice President of Sensory Robotics, a company that develops and promotes robotic safety systems that track both robots and humans and allow safe collaboration with heavy robots that would otherwise be dangerous. Gagas spoke about the inspiration behind Sensory Robotics, the unique features of the technology, and how AI and data are enhancing robotics safety. Martin Makaryan: What does Sensory Robotics do? Mark Gagas: Sensory Robotics provides 3D safe sensing technology that works with robotic and autonomous applications, including AI. Our f ..read more

The Center for Data Innovation submitted comments to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s independent body set up to uphold information rights, on its generative AI consultation. The Center provided evidence on the third chapter of the consultation relating to the accuracy principle outlined in the UK GDPR, and how this might affect model outputs. The Center offered a number of recommendations for how the ICO can better evaluate this, including: The ICO should recognise alternative metrics to statistical accuracy in the measure of model performance and reliability. The ICO sh ..read more

Reviews play a major role in e-commerce sales by allowing consumers to make informed decisions about products and businesses based on information from previous customers. However, fake reviews can impact trust in products and businesses by deceptively influencing consumer behavior. Following a series of enforcement actions against companies that it determined intentionally suppressed negative reviews and paid for fake reviews, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken steps to specify certain illegal review practices.  On June 30, 2023, the FTC proposed the Trade Regulation Rule on the ..read more

The Lincoln Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has released a new dataset called TorNet that contains radar returns from thousands of tornadoes that have hit the United States in the past decade. The dataset can help researchers train machine learning models to forecast tornadoes which are traditionally extremely hard to predict.  Get the data. Image credit: Nikolas Noonan ..read more

Bloomberg used data from its recent news reports to map student protest hotspots that have started nationwide in support of the Palestinian side in the Gaza war. According to the visualization, students have set up pro-Palestinian tents on at least 50 college campuses, and New York leads the nation in terms of arrested students. Take a look. Image credit: Bloomberg ..read more

The about-face the scientific, academic, and tech communities have made on the risks of large language models (LLMs) creating biothreats should serve as a stark reminder for policymakers about the pitfalls of premature regulation. When LLMs were reaching the heights of their popularity last year, experts warned policymakers about how these tools would make bioterrorism “horrifyingly easy.” A 2023 report from the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a think tank focused on reducing nuclear and biological threats, said that “experts broadly agree that while offering benefits, these capabilities will enabl ..read more

WASHINGTON—Ahead of the Senate Commerce Committee’s planned markup of the bipartisan Future of AI Innovation Act (S.4178), legislation that establishes voluntary standards and creates testbeds to spur AI innovation, the Center for Data Innovation released the following statement from Senior Policy Manager Hodan Omaar: The Future of AI Innovation Act is a refreshing example of how policymakers can and should steer AI toward positive outcomes. The bill doesn’t just dangle a carrot of progress, it paves a path forward for achieving it. The Act positions the United States to uncover new groundbre ..read more

From trust and optimism to fear and skepticism, the attitudes and opinion of Americans about AI will likely shape not only the adoption of the technology, but also public support for policies to accelerate its development and use. For example, Congress is likely to proceed cautiously with AI in areas where voters worry the technology’s risks outweigh its benefits. On the other hand, Congress is more likely to accelerate digital transformation where voters believe that the technology will improve their lives. Join the Center for Data Innovation and Public First for the release of an in-depth su ..read more