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Nevada has a new helper in its quest to plow through a backlog of unemployment claims: Google AI. Gizmodo reports that the initiative will task one of the companys cloud-based AI models with analyzing appeals hearing transcripts and suggesting whether cases should be approved. Welcome to the future, where a robot weighs in on whether you get the government money you requested. The Nevada Independent wrote in June that the AI model, trained on the states unemployment law and policies, will analyze transcripts of virtual appeals hearings. It will then spit out a ruling, which a state employee will review for mistakes and decide whether to honor. It replaces the current Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR) process, which averages three hours for a real-life human to complete. Carl Stanfield, DETRs IT administrator, told the Nevada Independent that Googles AI (which uses the companys Vertex cloud system) can rule within five minutes. The time saving is pretty phenomenal, Stanfield said. Its easy to understand why Nevada would be eager to lean on the emerging tech. As recently as June, the state reportedly had a backlog of over 10,000 unprocessed appeals, about 1,500 of which were left over from the pandemic. And if the techs reviews are accurate or the human reviewers catch its mistakes it could be an enormous timesaver. However, there could be psychological pressure for the employees reviewing the cases to rubber-stamp the AIs conclusions. If a robots just handed you a recommendation and you just have to check a box and theres pressure to clear out a backlog, thats a little bit concerning, Michele Evermore, a former deputy director for unemployment modernization policy at the Department of Labor, told Gizmodo. Stanfield told Gizmodo that a governance committee will meet weekly while the state is fine-tuning the model and quarterly after it goes live to monitor for hallucinations and bias. The stakes could be high for claimants as the AI-powered system could affect their ability to appeal bogus decisions. In cases that involve questions of fact, the district court cannot substitute its own judgment for the judgment of the appeal referee, Elizabeth Carmona, a senior attorney with Nevada Legal Services, told Gizmodo. In other words, if the human reviewing the decision misses the AIs mistakes, a court may not have the legal standing to overturn it. One Nevada politician put it a bit more bluntly. Are we out of our ever-loving minds? NV state senator Skip Daly (D-Reno) said to the Nevada Independent this summer. Im just dubious of the whole concept of overreliance on algorithms and computers. I hope that we are cautious about it, and think before we just say, We got to be faster or better than the next guy.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/nevada-will-use-google-ai-to-process-a-backlog-of-unemployment-cases-202718427.html?src=rss
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Its easy to forget that theres another social network besides Threads for people tired of Elon Musks totally normal X platform. Bluesky is a fine alternative, as it definitely feels like Twitter. However, it has been lacking some of the features that made Twitter such an internet hotspot back in the day. Well, we just got a big one. The company just announced that users can now upload video content. There are some caveats. First of all, the videos have to be under a minute. Thats a fairly huge hurdle for just about every piece of content other than TikTok-style shorts. As a comparison, Metas Threads allows for five minute videos. Also, the videos autoplay by default, though that can be handled in the settings. Finally, theres a hard limit of 25 videos per user each day, though the company says it could tweak that in the future. The platform supports most of the major video file types, including .mp4, .mpeg, .webm, and .mov files. Users can also attach subtitles to each video, which is a nice little bonus. There are some guardrails in place to protect against spam and abuse. Only users who have verified their email address can upload videos and illegal content will be purged from the infrastructure. Theres also a way to submit reports to the moderation team. Additionally, each video will be scanned for CSAM by Hive and Thorn. Update to version 1.91 of the mobile app to get started, though it also works via the desktop client. Not every user will be able to access this feature right away, as version 1.91 will be a gradual rollout to ensure a smooth experience. Bluesky recently added direct messages into the mix, which is something Threads doesnt have. The platform may be a distant third, when compared to X and Threads, but its certainly growing. A massive influx of Brazilian users recently joined the social media site after X was banned in the country.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/bluesky-now-lets-you-upload-videos-but-there-are-some-caveats-185702403.html?src=rss
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On Wednesday, Adobe unveiled Firefly AI video generation tools that will arrive in beta later this year. Like many things related to AI, the examples are equal parts mesmerizing and terrifying as the company slowly integrates tools built to automate much of the creative work its prized user base is paid for today. Echoing AI salesmanship found elsewhere in the tech industry, Adobe frames it all as supplementary tech that helps take the tedium out of post-production. Adobe describes its new Firefly-powered text-to-video, Generative Extend (which will be available in Premiere Pro) and image-to-video AI tools as helping editors with tasks like navigating gaps in footage, removing unwanted objects from a scene, smoothing jump cut transitions, and searching for the perfect b-roll. The company says the tools will give video editors more time to explore new creative ideas, the part of the job they love. (To take Adobe at face value, youd have to believe employers wont simply increase their output demands from editors once the industry has fully adopted these AI tools. Or pay less. Or employ fewer people. But I digress.) Firefly Text-to-Video lets you you guessed it create AI-generated videos from text prompts. But it also includes tools to control camera angle, motion and zoom. It can take a shot with gaps in its timeline and fill in the blanks. It can even use a still reference image and turn it into a convincing AI video. Adobe says its video models excel with videos of the natural world, helping to create establishing shots or b-rolls on the fly without much of a budget. For an example of how convincing the tech appears to be, check out Adobes examples in the promo video: Although these are samples curated by a company trying to sell you on its products, their quality is undeniable. Detailed text prompts for an establishing shot of a fiery volcano, a dog chilling in a field of wildflowers or (demonstrating it can handle the fantastical as well) miniature wool monsters having a dance party produce just that. If these results are emblematic of the tools typical output (hardly a guarantee), then TV, film and commercial production will soon have some powerful shortcuts at its disposal for better or worse. Meanwhile, Adobes example of image-to-video begins with an uploaded galaxy image. A text prompt prods it to transform it into a video that zooms out from the star system to reveal the inside of a human eye. The companys demo of Generative Extend shows a pair of people walking across a forest stream; an AI-generated segment fills in a gap in the footage. (It was convincing enough that I couldnt tell which part of the output was AI-generated.) Adobe Reuters reports that the tool will only generate five-second clips, at least at first. To Adobes credit, it says its Firefly Video Model is designed to be commercially safe and only trains on content the company has permission to use. We only train them on the Adobe Stock database of content that contains 400 million images, illustrations, and videos that are curated to not contain intellectual property, trademarks or recognizable characters, Adobes VP of Generative AI, Alexandru Costin, told Reuters. The company also stressed that it never trains on users work. However, whether or not it puts its users out of work is another matter altogether. Adobe says its new video models will be available in beta later this year. You can sign up for a waitlist to try them.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/adobe-previews-ai-video-tools-that-arrive-later-this-year-172021715.html?src=rss
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