Speaking of fights, a big one is brewing between the makers of AI chatbots and the people creating the text they’re hoping to train with.

In today’s edition:

• The role of AI in a looming addiction crisis.
• GPT-4 suddenly got “lazier” and “dumber.”
• No one wants to relocate for new jobs anymore.

Training troubles

AI bots like ChatGPT are “starting to hit a brick wall” when it comes to finding new text to help the tech continue to improve, according to Stuart Russell, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley who is an expert in the field.

Russell’s revelation, which came while he spoke at a recent UN summit, is foreboding news for the cutting-edge tech. Text is the lifeblood of AI chatbots, helping them better understand what to say and when to say it.

As if that’s not bad enough, the pool of text that chatbots can pull from for training might be shrinking as well.

A new lawsuit alleges Google has been “secretly stealing everything ever created and shared on the internet by hundreds of millions of Americans” to train its AI products.

Clarkson Law Firm, which filed the lawsuit, also lodged a similar complaint against OpenAI in late June. The complaint described the way the startup collected data to train its chatbot, ChatGPT, as “the negligent and otherwise illegal theft of personal data of millions of Americans who do not even use AI tools.”

It’s not just personal data that has people up in arms. Authors are arguing that using their published books to train chatbots is a violation of copyright law.

That argument could be difficult, though, because chatbots aren’t simply redistributing copyrighted works, writes John Eden, a lawyer who is an expert in copyright law.

“These platforms are rapidly learning from large amounts of publicly accessible data and then generating new content,” Eden wrote.

So how does this all end?

Eden has some theories, including AI companies adopting and publishing data-use policies.  But in the short term, one thing seems certain: more litigation.

Media companies have already indicated they’re ready to go to war to protect their content from AI chatbots if they aren’t compensated for it.

In the meantime, tech companies probably won’t look to slow down.

In response to the lawsuit, Google’s general counsel, Halimah DeLaine Prado, previously told Insider that “American law supports using public information to create new beneficial uses” and that “we look forward to refuting these baseless claims.”

AI marketing, Elon under pressure, & starter homes

• AI-powered drug dealers. Online pill services are using AI to supercharge the aggressive marketing tactics that initially drove the US opioid-overdose epidemic. With advertisers empowered with more data than ever and the ability to go direct to the consumer, another public-health catastrophe may be looming.
• ChatGPT used to feel slow but accurate. Now, it seems fast and inaccurate. The AI community is whispering (slash, complaining) about what some believe was the result of OpenAI’s radical redesign of GPT-4. Critics are calling it “lazier” and “dumber” compared with its previous capabilities.
• This man lost 125 pounds by doing the opposite of what he tried before. Chris Terrell tried losing weight for decades: fad diets, cutting carbs, and more. But none of it worked. So instead of trying to lose weight fast, Chris took a slower approach and stopped obsessing over his weight. The result: He shed 125 pounds in less than three years.
• Meta’s Threads is putting Elon Musk under pressure. Threads is rushing to add a bunch of features. Though Musk didn’t reference the new competitor, he reportedly emailed Twitter’s staff to think of new features faster than ever. Meanwhile, an analysis has found that even Twitter employees are signing up for Threads.
• Americans aren’t moving for new jobs anymore. The rate of Americans relocating for jobs had long been declining but has now reached its lowest level in decades. And job seekers have described why moving just isn’t worth it: expenses, housing, transportation, and more.
• Expats 🫶 Mexico. The country was named the most popular place to live and work abroad, per a survey of more than 10,000 expats. Several other Spanish-speaking countries also ranked high, with Spain, Panama, and Costa Rica also ranking in the top 10.
• The 17 most affordable cities for first-time homebuyers. Affordable starter homes are becoming more difficult to find. But Chicago and El Paso, Texas, are among cities with reasonably priced options and strong quality-of-life factors.

Inflation, dedollarization, & junk fees

• More good news for the economy: Inflation is down. The consumer price index report for June clocked in at 3%, the lowest reading since March 2021. It’s the latest data point that could indicate a recession may not be coming after all.
• A dedollarization debate. Is the US dollar at risk of losing its crown? Depends on whom you ask. The personal-finance guru Robert Kiyosaki believes the threat posed by the BRICS nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — is legit. But the Nobel laureate Paul Krugman says it’s all “much ado about almost nothing.”
• Bank of America is accused of opening fake accounts and charging junk fees. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says BofA staffers, wanting to reach sales incentives, used credit reports to submit bogus account applications. The regulator also said the bank had made $80 million in revenue by charging some customers more than one $35 overdraft fee for the same purchase.

Emmy nominees, titanium rain, & cheeseburgers

• All the 2023 Emmy nominees. This year’s nominees include the streaming hits “Succession,” “Ted Lasso,” “The Last of Us,” and “The White Lotus.” The prestigious television award show is set to happen in September.
• You think this weather is bad? At least it’s not raining titanium. That’s the case on Exoplanet LTT9779 b, which orbits a star about 262 light-years from Earth, has metal clouds, and has astronomers saying it “shouldn’t exist.”
• Thailand’s Burger King is taking the term “cheeseburger” quite literally. The burger consists of 20 slices of cheese and no meat. And if that’s not enough to put you in cardiac arrest, customers can request extra cheese.

Living room shades