This week, we begin with an article about how Facebook has developed a new way for reverse engineering deepfakes and tracking their sources by evaluating AI-generated imagery. Next, we have a piece about how the inclusion of data from minority populations in the Y Chromosome Haplotype Reference Database (YHRD) without their prior consent raises ethical concerns around forensic databases. The following article explains how HCA Healthcare and Google’s data-sharing partnership potentially jeopardise the privacy of patients’ real-time health data. Following that, we have an article about how Peru, NASA, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have collaborated to track gold mining activity and deforestation in the Amazon using satellite-based Earth observation. Next is a piece about diagnosing biases in AI-based credit score systems to improve decision-making among low-income and minority groups. Finally, we have an article about how increased corporate disclosure of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data will provide activist investors with new possibilities to enhance industry performance.
Facebook Develops New Method to Reverse-Engineer Deepfakes And Track Their Source
Deepfakes aren’t a big problem on Facebook right now, but the company continues to fund research into the technology to guard against future threats. Its latest work is a collaboration with academics from Michigan State University (MSU), with the combined team creating a method to reverse-engineer deepfakes: analyzing AI-generated imagery to reveal identifying characteristics of the machine learning model that created it.
Forensic Database Challenged Over Ethics of DNA Holdings
In May 1999, a disturbing crime shocked the inhabitants of Kollum, a small village in the Netherlands. A local 16-year-old girl was found raped and murdered in a field nearby, and some people said that Iraqi or Afghan residents at an asylum seekers’ centre in the village could be to blame.
Google’s Health Care Data-Sharing Partnership is a Problem
On May 26, Google and HCA Healthcare, a national hospital chain, announced a data sharing partnership that will provide the internet giant with access to a host of patient records and real-time medical information. But what is being cast by both companies as a win for improved patient treatments and outcomes is hardly a victory for consumers.
Teaming up to Track Illegal Amazon Gold Mines in Peru
Tracking gold mining activity and deforestation in the Amazon in near real-time using satellite-based Earth observations is now possible thanks to a collaboration between Peru, NASA and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The service is an effort by SERVIR-Amazonia, a joint initiative between NASA and USAID, which boosts environmental resilience and decision-making around the world.
Bias Isn’t The Only Problem With Credit Scores—And No, AI Can’t Help
We already knew that biased data and biased algorithms skew automated decision-making in a way that disadvantages low-income and minority groups. For example, software used by banks to predict whether or not someone will pay back credit-card debt typically favors wealthier white applicants.
As Companies Disclose More ESG Data, Activists Have an Opportunity
The growth of corporate disclosure on ESG issues will offer new opportunities to activist investors as they search for evidence of underperformance, according to a recently released white paper. Activists are increasingly using ESG issues as a focus area in their engagement with issuers, but it can be hard to build a thesis when there is a lack of data showing how companies stack up against peers.
Source: https://mailchi.mp/zigram/data-asset-weekly-dispatch_21_june_1
