From a faked video of Selena Gomez doling out kitchenware to phony Joe Biden robocalls, deepfake scams seem to be cropping up with alarming frequency.

And as we barrel toward what’s been dubbed the “generative elections,” companies and governments have been attempting to set standards and install guardrails to prevent such AI-aided fakery. There were some major steps toward those efforts in the past week:

• The Biden administration announced a new consortium dedicated to AI safety, with companies like OpenAI, Adobe, Google, and 200 others on board as partners. It’s yet another piece that builds on the sweeping executive order Biden signed last fall. One of the body’s stated goals is establishing guidelines for “watermarking synthetic content.”
• Meta said that it will begin attempting to identify and label all AI-generated content on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. The company said it’s working with “industry partners on common technical standards” to do so.
• Google became the latest major company to sign on to an industry effort to label AI-created media called the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity, joining tech industry peers like Adobe and Microsoft. The group aims to bring together the Adobe-led Content Authenticity Initiative, which provides a “nutrition label” of sorts for content and news industry-focused Project Origin, according to its website.
• The FCC banned the use of AI-generated voices in robocalls.

The problem? It can be extremely hard to suss out whether a piece of media is AI-generated. Watermarking, one of the most-discussed fixes, can often be a cat-and-mouse game with bad actors that at least some technologists think could ultimately be a losing battle.

Keep reading here.—PK

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How many automakers does it take to compete with Tesla’s Supercharger network?

For one newly formed joint venture, the answer is seven: BMW, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, and Stellantis.

This supergroup of auto industry heavyweights announced Feb. 9 that the JV they unveiled last July is now official, complete with regulatory approval, a CEO, and a name: IONNA.

IONNA will now get to work establishing a network of at least 30,000 new EV fast chargers across North America, with plans for the first batch to come online in the US this year. The venture’s stated goal is to be “the leading network of reliable high-powered charging stations” on the continent. The effort, if successful, would represent a major expansion of the number of high-speed chargers available to EV drivers in the US—and will compete against other automaker-backed charging networks like VW-owned Electrify America and Tesla’s Supercharger.

“It makes a ton of sense, because EV car sales are slowing and there are two fundamental things that will speed it back up: Decrease the cost of the cars…and then deal with the No. 2 issue, which is range anxiety and the ability to get charging out there,” Andy Bennett, CEO of EV charging software company EVolve, told Tech Brew.

Keep reading here.—JG

Unlike tech disruption waves past, the job displacement effects of generative AI are more likely to start in white-collar offices than on factory floors.

A new report from the Society for Human Resource Management and The Burning Glass Institute found that jobs in finance, legal, and tech fields are among those most exposed to the effects of a new wave of generative AI.

The report lists jobs like loan and mortgage brokers, law office workers, and some accounting roles as especially high-risk. Areas of tech like data processing and hosting services, software publishing, and custom computer programming were also listed as vulnerable.

While other technological changes have hit low-wage work especially hard, the report said these types of roles will likely remain relatively unscathed by AI.

“The GenAI automation wave is unique in that blue-collar workers may be the least harmed,” the report’s authors wrote. “The reasons for this are both increased demand for these workers due to the growth of premium goods and service categories and the inability of GenAI to perform physical tasks. In fact, the occupations most exposed to GenAI are high-wage, professional roles.”

Keep reading here.—PK