Is My FBI Agent Reading this Right Now?

You know those moments when you feel like you are living in a simulation? I get them after I've briefly mentioned out loud that I am in need of new workout shorts to a friend. Soon after doing so, I open up any of my social media platforms and right in the middle of my feed I see workout apparel advertisements. Every time that this happens to me, I say "Wow, my FBI agent knows me so well."

In The Age of Artificial Intelligence was a Frontline Documentary introducing a few of the ways that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has and will impact our future. Throughout the documentary the term "deep learning" was used. Deep learning AI mimics the neural patterns of a human's brain. It is used to collect data on what we do, how we act, how we respond to events, and much more. In the first section of the documentary, an AI machine played the world's best Go player. Go is a strategic game popular in Japan, China, Korea, and Southeast Asian countries. The game has as many possible moves as there are molecules in the human body. The AI computer and the best Go player played five matches. The first match, the human won, but AI beat the human in the four games following. Just like a person, the more interaction an AI computer has, the better its abilities will be overtime. This is where the documentary introduces the concept that "the more data, the better AI can work."

I learned that in China, you do not need a credit card in order to purchase grocery items. Their currency is facial recognition. There are no cashiers in grocery stores. While it is awesome that you don't have to physically swipe your card, this highlights one of the many major negative implications of the rise of AI: unemployment. AI is smart. It finds ways of doing things that the human brain wouldn't think of doing. It makes things more efficient and can learn and adapt faster than the human mind can. Now imagine that you were the manager at a factory and had the choice of hiring one of two applicants. Applicant one was much faster and smarter than applicant two. Obviously, as the manager you have to make the best choice for your company. You would go with the employee who is faster and smarter because they will improve the performance of your factory. BUT what are the ethical implications we have to look at? 

To apply the previous analogy to a real-time situation, autonomous vehicles are soon to take over the world. With 90% of accidents caused by human drivers, autonomous vehicles are the key to a safe road-way. I can't be the only person who speeds up really fast to get away from driving next to enormous 18-wheelers on the interstate. The number of horror stories I have heard about 18-wheelers have told me not to take any chances driving near them. In order to make the road-way safer, a company has been working on a few contracts that allow them to deliver in-home appliances to the people/places that order them using their autonomous 18-wheelers. A positive of autonomous delivery vehicles is that the driver won't make any mistakes and cause an accident. But a major negative is that the trucking industry will need fewer and fewer drivers in the coming years. Every industry has some form of use for AI. While that will benefit what we can get out of that specific industry, AI is projected to threaten 50% of jobs in the next 15 years. As a rising senior, this worries me. What if I finally land a great, well-paying job and a few years later I am laid off because a computer doesn't take a bathroom break?

The final yet a highly relevant, topic is Privacy. As Americans we have the right to privacy according to Griswold vs Connecticut case. While this case was about the use of contraceptives between married couples, it resulted in every American citizen having the right to do what they please within their own home without subject to search. If the first, third, fourth, fifth, eight, and ninth amendments all relate to the privacy of each American individual, how will AI impact our society? In China, AI is everywhere. The Chinese has access to an AI program that can recognize the face of a random person in under a hundredth of a second with very little error. The programs that help organizations and firms market their products are also invading our privacy within the home. Product like Amazon Alexa's or Google Home's are always listening for certain queues. If microphones and camera's are always on waiting for the owner's signal to do something, does the device collect other data? Does it hear arguments within the family, does it hear me read my credit card information, or does it take pictures when I am in the shower? Truthfully, I do not know, but it is certainly possible. Once this data is collected, who is gonna use it? The companies that use these devices have explicitly stated that the devices do collect data, but not for advertising purposes just to improve the in-home AI tech. Other privacy issues related to date collection can be linked to Facebook. Facebook offered a free app where you can upload all of the information about yourself that you want. Facebook then sells this information to other companies so they can advertise to you. This was a huge invasion of privacy, and in California, users have the right to deny companies from doing this.

All of the data collected by the apps on our phone, the devices in our house, and the sites we use on our computers collect data. This data is used by companies to make suggestions for you. When you type three words of your question into google, AI is coming up with multiple suggestions that will help you find an answer quickly. AI will also look at all of the things that you like on Instagram or Facebook, and will start placing those ads, products, people, and/or pages on your timeline so that you continue to use those apps. Based on the trail that you leave behind on a site, AI can theoretically predict what you were looking for.

So is AI good or bad? I guess it is a good thing in the medical world because it can be used to detect disease or cancer early on. It is a good thing because it can make the road-way safer. And it is a good thing because it can make searching for and obtaining products or information easier. Though, AI is also a bad thing. If used inside the home it can infringe on people's privacy, and it will eventually take jobs away from millions of people. Overall, AI is a good, helpful form of technology that comes with many negative implications.

LA Times Confronts LAPD for Arrest of Journalist

Echo Park Lake in Los Angeles, California was a hotspot for the homeless prior to March 25, 2021. The LAPD and city planners of LA made plans to clear Echo Park Lake to make repairs to the damages in the area. LA Times news reporter, James Queally, was arrested even after showing his LAPD-issued media credentials. Queally was arrested and zip-tied for detainment when he proceeded to follow the story. Though following the action of a potential story is very dangerous, returning to the office with no news to report is equally as frightening. Queally was following the protest against the removal of the homeless who had set up camp in Echo Park Lake.

Under the first amendment, United States citizens have the right to freedom of the press. While this clause does not specifically mean just reporters and journalists, they are certainly included in this amendment. Even with LAPD-issued media credentials, the arrest of James Queally is unconstitutional. Even though it is dangerous to follow the story beyond the news areas set up around incidents, it is not against the law. People have the right to report what they see and to publish this news in any form of text that they please, as long as it is not making a threat or inciting violence. The first amendment says that US citizens have the right to assemble peacefully. These reporters were not committing any crimes, inciting any violence, or violating the first amendment in any way, yet they were still arrested unlawfully. Queally was released when it was confirmed that he was an LA Times reporter, even though he had proved that on the scene. 

Freedom of the press is an extremely important clause of the First Amendment. It ensures that the government is not manipulating and controlling what information the public sees and what they are aware about. Giving press freedom is significant because it allows Americans to talk about and share their individual perspective of the events going on in the world. 

Not so "Clean Diesel"

Each year the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issues a standardized test for all vehicles on the road that determines whether or not the car produces a moderate amount of pollutants. Because the EPA does not have enough resources and time to give every single vehicle on the market an environmental check-up, each automobile company must self-check their vehicles. Across all vehicles put on the market each year, the EPA only has enough resources to check about 15% of the vehicles. When given the privilege to assess one's own product, the EPA would expect nothing but cooperation from automobile companies. But in 2015, a major contributor to diesel cars in the US was caught cheating on the EPA's test and had been pushing faulty advertisement to their consumers. 

Volkswagon, a German automobile company also known as VW, was caught using a "defeat device" on diesel cars from 2009-2015. A defeat device is a type of software within a VW diesel engine that will alter the results produced by the car and the diesel used to operate it. The EPA was tipped off and immediately inspected the automobile maker's models on the market. They found that the Volkswagon diesel vehicles that were being advertised as "clean diesel" to consumers all across the nation were actually producing 40 times more than the allotted amount of nitrogen oxide pollutants.

Personally, I believe that there are two major pieces of information that our class has learned relating to this scandal. The first piece is from the Eight Values of Free Expression, specifically, "Marketplace of Ideas" which is also known as "Discover of Truth." 

The second piece of information from our class that relates to this scandal falls under the Six Clauses of the First Amendment. The third clause, the right to free speech, and the fourth clause, the right to freedom of the press, are misused here in my eyes. When a marketing team is devising a plan to advertise their product, they spend a lot of time and money researching what their target markets want. They interview customers, use focus groups, and send out surveys to people within their target market all just to figure out what they like and what they want out of the product that the company sells. Based on Volkswagon's "Clean Diesel" approach to their strategic marketing plan, this research probably concluded that VW customers and potential customers wanted vehicles to be more friendly to the environment.

If my assumption is true, Volkswagon recognized what their target market wanted, but they did not have the technology available to meet the type of value the consumers need in return of their purchase. This led VW to implementing the defeat device in their diesel engines, an intentional decision made to deceive the American public. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are very important rights that every citizen of the United States holds. Major corporations are treated as people because they are made up of people working for them, so they are treated the same. While a person is allowed to say something that is ignorant, it is immoral to knowingly deceive the public. VW did exactly that. They released "Clean Diesel" advertisements knowing that they were lying to the EPA and thousands of Americans who purchase their diesel vehicles.

This is extremely wrong because VW convinced thousands of consumers to purchase their diesel vehicles on the leading value that their marketing team decided to promote: clean, eco-friendly vehicles. Volkswagon vehicles range from $18,000 to above $40,000. For a customer to purchase a vehicle that they think will be contributing to the reduction of society's carbon footprint and to actually be doing the opposite is infuriating. In the end, VW was charged for their defeat devices, costing the automobile company over $25 Billion towards civil compensation and restitution for consumers and federal and state authorities..

My New Understanding of The Supreme Court

    Prior to reading the History.com article on the Supreme Court, I honestly knew very little about The Supreme Court and what role the Justices played in our government. I understand that the Supreme Court is the Judicial branch of the US Government, but my understanding of what power that gave them was almost nonexistent.

    After reading the article, I now understand that the Supreme Court has the jurisdiction over all laws that the United States has, and is solely responsible for determining if those laws are constitutional or not. These decisions are made by the nine Justices that make up the Supreme Court. These Justices have the right to their position for the rest of their lives or until they decide that they no longer want to work. If a Justice were to die or retire, the US President would nominate a new one and the Senate would have to approve of it. The highest position in the Supreme Court is the Chief Justice. They are tasked with setting the agenda for the Supreme Court, presides over the Supreme Court, and if presides over Impeachment trials if they are on the table.

    I believe the most important take-away from this History.com article is that the Supreme Court Justices do not have a term limit. This is also the most surprising thing about the Supreme Court as well. I understand and support why the President has the ability to nominate a Justice if it is required during their term. This allows the President to put somebody in the Supreme Court that will make decisions that would most likely align with those of their own. Even after the term of the President ends, their impact could still be carried forward through the decisions that the Justice makes in the future.

    While I like this aspect of the Supreme Court, it also confuses me and raises some caution. What if the Justices choose to abuse their power? Without a term limit, how could we remove one or more of them from power? What if the Supreme Court's nine members are all from one political party? Are there any rules against who can be in the Supreme Court?

    After watching the video I am more aware of what the Supreme Court actually does. It helped to define the role of the Justices and how they help to govern the United States. They help to provide the American people with a fair and just ruling on court cases based on what our Constitution says. They are in charge of applying what our Constitution says about the way that we can live in the United States based on what rights we are given as citizens.

My Top 5 News Sources

A majority of the news that I pay attention to relates to the world of sports, current events, street fashion, and music. 

1. National Hockey League (NHL) App

    Since I was three years old I have been playing the most fluid and barbaric sport humanity has to offer. Ice Hockey is played on an 1/8 of an inch of a steel that is strapped to the bottom of your feet. It allows you to cut and dig into the ice beneath you to change direction and pick up momentum. While you are trying to create space for your team to advance the puck into the offensive zone, five defenders attempt to steal the puck using any force that they can.

    Even after my opportunity to attempt to become a professional hockey player passed, my obsession and appreciation for the sport remained. The National Hockey League is the highest level of hockey in the world. Professionals from Canada, the US, and all over Europe relocate to North America to pursue their dreams of playing for one of the 32 NHL teams. The NHL app that I have on my phone gives me daily updates on my favorite teams, major trades around the league, and reminders for crucial games that will be played on the upcoming schedule. This app allows me to check the scores from every game, see each teams standings, and view the intense race to the playoffs. 

2. XXL Magazine

    XXL Magazine is an extremely popular source of news and promotion for Hip-Hop and Rap fans and artists all over the globe. A major event that this site has every year is their "XXL Freshman Freestyle." Fans and experts in the industry vote on 10-15 of the breakout artists that have the most potential to succeed in Hip-Hop. Their musical talents are tested in the XXL Freestyle Cypher where they are grouped with other Freshmen and prompted to freestyle a verse, chorus, or hook together on the spot. Being a XXL Freshman is a major accolade and respect from some people in the industry is gained, but their expectations grow to a new height. 

    This magazine publishes stories about individual artists across the industry to talk about the impact that they have made on younger generations, upcoming artists, and even artists who are considered to be the OG's. XXL also promotes upcoming albums, mixtapes, and singles from a variety of Rap, Hip-Hop, and R&B artists. This is my favorite source for news within the Hip-Hop industry, and the daily updates that I receive alert me to new music from my most listened to artists.

3. The New York Times

    The New York Times is a website/application that I visit less frequently than my other sources of news, but still a very important one to me. I typically focus on the things that bring me the most joy which are sports, music, and fashion. The New York Times has plenty of feel good, motivational stories, but whenever I visit the site, most headlining pieces are about politics, COVID-19, and acts of violence. While it is important to stay updated and not ignore the negativity that these stories make me feel, I chose not to occupy my mind with things that upset me.

    The New York Times is a left leaning newspaper, but I feel that they do an adequate job with listening to both sides in our current polarized climate. This is a very valuable characteristic for a major newspaper to have. Today, too many people are writing pieces to get a reaction. They don't care who thinks they are right and who thinks they are wrong, but as long as their piece is being talked about they are bringing their company views and money. If a journalist is able to do this, they are securing their job and paycheck. The New York Times strives to support their statements. They acknowledge a variety of perspectives, even if the journalist disagrees with the people they are interviewing or writing about.

4. Twitter

    When I made the effort to reduce the amount of time that I wasted on social media, I could not part ways with Twitter. I was able to remove Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook from my daily life which enabled me to focus on work, my education, and my future career. But Twitter... I couldn't give up Twitter. If I need a laugh, want to find a heart warming video, want to see what my favorite musicians or celebrities are saying, Twitter is the place to go. Even though I had very little social media, checking twitter once a day was enough to stay up to date with new trends and major news across the world. 

    While there are hundreds of thousands of accounts that spread faulty information, the number of comedic personalities that you can find make it worth it. I always take news that I find on Twitter with a grain of salt unless it comes from a verified account, but even then I am a bit skeptical. I rarely tweet because my main use for this app is to see random, yet important, content. 

5. Instagram

    Instagram is the most used social media app on a daily basis in the United States. This app allows you to post pictures, videos, stories, and even surveys on your account. You can create groups in direct messages or just shoot a quick reply to a friends story. The main purpose of this app for me is to see upcoming releases in the streetwear scene as well as new music that will be released by my favorite artists. Aside from keeping up with my friends who live all over the world, I follow the official verified accounts of my favorite musicians and my favorite clothing brands. Their posts show me what new designs they are releasing, update me if an artist is in the studio creating music, when they will release this material, and even introduce me to other brands and artists like their own. 

    Like Twitter, not all news that I see on Instagram I can accept as the truth. There are plenty of people who create fake accounts, try to sell off-brand clothing, and even create rumors about release dates for music that will never bless a fanbase's ears. But the beauty of Instagram is it's ability to personalize. By following the official accounts of my favorite brands and artists, I can hear directly from them when they will be releasing new material. Their snippets of music or pictures of an upcoming clothing line boost my excitement and get me to prepare my credit card. It is not always my best reaction to new things... but it does bring me enjoyment and keep me on my toes.