Last week, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin announced new guidance that the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD) applies to algorithmic discrimination, i.e., when automated systems treat people differently or negatively based on protected characteristics. This can happen with algorithms trained on biased data or with systems designed with biases in mind. LAD prohibits
Privacy Tip #427 – Ahead of the TikTok Ban, Users are Turning to Another Chinese App with Similar Privacy Concerns – What you Should Know
TikTok users are seeking alternate platforms to share and view content as the U.S. is set to ban the popular social media app on January 19, 2025. Instead of turning to U.S.-based companies like Facebook or Instagram, users are flocking to another Chinese app called Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote. The app, which previously
Conclusion of Copyright Office’s Report on Artificial Intelligence Delayed Until 2025
This week, Director Shira Perlmutter indicated that the publication of part two of the U.S. Copyright Office’s three-part report on copyright issues raised by artificial intelligence (AI) would be further delayed. In her letter to the ranking members of the Senate Subcommittee on Intellectual Property and the House Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the
Predicting Date of Death with Artificial Intelligence
Launched in July 2024, Death Clock is an application that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to predict when its users will die. Death Clock trained its AI model using over 1,200 life expectancy studies. It then uses the answers from a questionnaire about the user’s physical health, like diet and exercise, to calculate each user’s date
USPTO Employee AI Usage
Last year, as reported in a memo recently obtained by WIRED, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued internal guidance that its examiners and other employees cannot use generative artificial intelligence (AI) for any purpose. The memo, authored by USPTO chief information officer Jamie Holcombe, expressed security and bias concerns associated with
Microsoft Patent Aims to Eliminate AI Hallucinations
Microsoft is developing a way to eliminate hallucinations, or false responses, in artificial intelligence (AI) models. It filed U.S. Patent Application No. 18/140,658, entitled “Interacting with a Language Model using External Knowledge and Feedback,” in April 2023. The application published on October 31, 2024, and became available for public inspection.
The patent specification describes a
Ex-Yahoo! Patents Asserted Against Fashion Retainer Shein
In the early to mid-2000s, Yahoo! worked to develop and refine its search engine capabilities. During this period, Yahoo! obtained U.S. Patent Nos. 8,341,157, 7,698,329; 8,209,317; 9,805,097; and 8,527,623, which are generally related to improving the quality of search engine results. For example, the ’623 Patent relates to a method of detecting a user vacillation
Honeywell Asserts Barcode-Scanning Patents Against Scandit AG
Swiss company Scandit AG created an application called ShelfView, which enables retailers to verify the prices of various products and ensure that associated promotions are correctly updated. The application utilizes barcode scanning, optical character recognition, and augmented reality to analyze a store’s current inventory and make recommendations on any needed adjustments. Scandit has also developed
Artists’ Copyright Infringement Suit Against AI Companies Can Proceed
In 2023, visual artists Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan, and Karla Ortiz filed a class action lawsuit against several Artificial Intelligence (AI) companies, alleging that the companies’ various AI models violated copyright law by using the artists’ work in their training data sets. In ruling on the defendants’ motion to dismiss in August 2024, Judge William