Gallagher advocates targeted approach to AI regulation
As the Senate and its top Democrat eye comprehensive legislation for regulating artificial intelligence, House Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher is advocating for a “clinical, targeted and iterative approach” to the technology.
Wisconsin’s Gallagher, who helms the House Armed Services’ cyber subcommittee, said that could include the build-out of the Pentagon’s previously released AI ethical principles across other parts of the U.S. government. Eventually, that effort could grow to include international allies and partners.
But overall, he stressed the importance of moving quickly during the current Congress to knock out straightforward AI regulatory priorities on issues that extend beyond the Defense Department, ranging from autonomous vehicle reciprocity to controls on outbound capital investments.
“I think the instinct in the House — and I don’t speak for my colleagues but I think it’s a bipartisan instinct — is to not do comprehensive because Congress rarely does comprehensive well,” he told reporters Tuesday.
—CQ-Roll Call
Stanford president says he’ll resign amid scrutiny over his research
After a months-long, independent review of allegations against his scientific articles found issues with his work, Stanford University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne announced Wednesday that he will resign from his post.
The review, which was announced in December, followed allegations reported in Stanford’s student newspaper that scientific work co-authored by Tessier-Lavigne contained altered images.
The panel concluded that Tessier-Lavigne “did not engage in any fraud or falsification of scientific data” in a dozen papers it reviewed, nor did it find he had “knowledge of or was reckless regarding research misconduct in my lab,” he said in a letter Wednesday to the Stanford community.
“Although the report clearly refutes the allegations of fraud and misconduct that were made against me, for the good of the University, I have made the decision to step down as President effective August 31,” Tessier-Lavigne wrote. However, the report did identify some issues with Tessier-Lavigne’s work, including “instances of manipulation of research data by others” in his lab, which the panel found Tessier-Lavigne did not take sufficient steps to correct.
—Los Angeles Times
Woman tried to avoid bison, Yellowstone officials say, but was gored: A possible reason why
An Arizona woman thought she was doing the right thing. When the 47-year-old Phoenix resident and another individual came upon a pair of bison in a field Monday morning at Yellowstone National Park, they abruptly stopped their stroll, turned and walked away.
It wasn't enough. One of the two large animals charged and gored the woman, and park officials believe mating season may have played a key role. The battering marked the first bison-human attack in 13 months at the park. The incident happened, coincidentally, during National Bison Month.
The unidentified woman suffered "significant injuries to her chest and abdomen" and was airlifted about 165 miles southwest to a medical facility in Idaho Falls, according to park officials in a statement on Monday.
There was no update on the woman's condition, and park officials did not immediately respond to a call or email asking for more information.
—Los Angeles Times
Italy breaking temperature records as wildfires rage in Greece
Europe’s heat wave is getting worse, with temperatures forecast to peak at 47C (116.6F) on Wednesday in Sicily and Sardinia, while wildfires continue to rage in Greece.
Authorities warned lives were in danger as the mercury climbed from Spain to Turkey. The latest blast of Saharan heat could test Europe’s record of 48.8C, set in Sicily two years ago, after local records were broken in Rome and Catalonia on Tuesday.
The danger level from wildfires around Athens remains very high amid near-gale force winds, while another blaze on the Greek island of Rhodes forced the evacuation of three villages to nearby beaches.
As U.S. climate envoy John Kerry met with China’s Vice President Han Zheng on his final day of talks in Beijing, man-made global warming is turbocharging heat waves across the Northern Hemisphere.
—Bloomberg News
