Why Big Tech Companies Are Open-Sourcing Their AI Systems

Patrick Shafto
Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Amazon have been making remarkable progress in artificial intelligence. Recently they have released much of their work to the public for free use, and adaptation. This seems bizarre: why would companies reveal the methods at the core of their businesses? And what does their embrace of open-source AI say about the current state of artificial intelligence?

Hundreds of South Carolina Inmates Sent to Solitary Confinement Over Facebook

Dave Maass Electronic Frontier Foundation
Through a request under South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act, EFF found that, over the last three years, prison officials have brought more than 400 disciplinary cases for “social networking”—almost always for using Facebook. The offenses come with heavy penalties. In 16 cases, inmates were sentenced to more than a decade in what’s called disciplinary detention, with at least one inmate receiving more than 37 years in isolation.

Tidbits - November 27, 2014

Portside
Reader Comments - Darren Wilson Acquittal - Reader Responses; Black Friday Protests; Election Lessons for the Left; Immigration Reform; Ursula K. Le Guin, Pension Reform(?); Water Grab; Facebook Drivers Vote Union; Berlin Wall's Fall - Reflections from the GDR; Israel Lobby and Ukrainian Fascists; Mexico - 43 students murdered; Israel, Palestine and Rasmeah Odeh; The Selfless Gene; Announcement - New Politics Forum on the Environmental Crisis - New York - Dec. 9

labor

Silicon Valley, Meet Organized Labor

Kevin Roose New York Magazine
After a long absence organized labor is attempting to unionize workers in Silicon Valley. The teamsters have aimed their campaign Facebook drivers. Previous campaigns in 1992 and 2008 ended in failure.
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