David Lidsky's Blog, page 341

AI child sexual abuse images are spreading. Here’s how the DOJ is responding

Justice Department officials say they’re aggressively going after offenders who exploit AI tools to manipulate images of children.

A child psychiatrist who altered a first-day-of-school photo he saw on Facebook to make a group of girls appear nude. A U.S. Army soldier accused of creating images depicting children he knew being sexually abused. A software engineer charged with generating hyper-realistic sexually explicit images of children.

Law enforcement agencies across the U.S. are cracking down on a troubling spread of child sexual abuse imagery created through artificial intelligence technology—from manipulated photos of real children to graphic depictions of computer-generated kids. Justice Department officials say they’re aggressively going after offenders who exploit AI tools, while states are racing to ensure people generating “deepfakes” and other harmful imagery of kids can be prosecuted under their laws.

“We’ve got to signal early and often that it is a crime, that it will be investigated and prosecuted when the evidence supports it,” Steven Grocki, who leads the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “And if you’re sitting there thinking otherwise, you fundamentally are wrong. And it’s only a matter of time before somebody holds you accountable.”

The Justice Department says existing federal laws clearly apply to such content, and recently brought what’s believed to be the first federal case involving purely AI-generated imagery—meaning the children depicted are not real but virtual. In another case, federal authorities in August arrested a U.S. soldier stationed in Alaska accused of running innocent pictures of real children he knew through an AI chatbot to make the images sexually explicit.

$600 million more will go to North Carolina’s Helene relief fund

The spending measure approved unanimously by North Carolina’s lawmakers will take $604 million more from the state’s savings reserve.

North Carolina state lawmakers signed off on a measure Thursday to provide over $600 million more toward Hurricane Helene recovery and relief and also directed some storm-affected counties to open more ballot sites to address crowds and congestion during the early voting period.

In a one-day session, the Republican-controlled legislature unveiled and approved two measures related to the catastrophic flooding and damage, which state officials say resulted in 97 deaths. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration said Wednesday that Helene likely caused at least a record $53 billion in damages and recovery needs in western North Carolina.

Two weeks ago, the General Assembly approved what was described as a preliminary $273 million relief package, with legislative leaders promising that much more would follow in the coming months. The initial relief cash was designed largely to meet the state’s matching share to meet federal requirements for disaster assistance programs.

Cooper on Wednesday offered his own wide-ranging storm relief and mitigation request of $3.9 billion, with over $1 billion alone in grants to businesses, farmers and utility repairs. Thursday’s relief bill doesn’t address most of his recommendations. GOP leaders said they just received the governor’s proposal earlier in the week and would consider it more closely in the weeks ahead. The legislature returns for more work on Nov. 19.

“The assessment of what needs to be done is still in progress,” Senate leader Phil Berger told reporters. “What we’ve done is deploy an adequate amount of resources at this time to deal with some of the more immediate things that have some time sensitivity.”

The spending measure approved unanimously takes $604 million more from the state’s nearly $4.5 billion “rainy day” savings reserve and moves it to the Helene relief fund. Legislators also located $77 million from other funds and reserves for other items.

The relief bill now heading to Cooper’s desk includes $50 million in small business loans in affected areas, $100 million in loans for local governments for emergency water and wastewater system repairs, and $5 million more to address mental health needs of public school students and their families in the region.

The state also located other funds to provide tuition grants for college students affected by the storm, including assistance for students enrolled for the spring semester at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.

Some mountain-area Democrats said the relief measure doesn’t go far enough and pleaded for more help more quickly. Businesses already weighed down by loans need grants now to survive, said Democratic Sen. Julie Mayfield of Buncombe County. Mayfield said an eviction moratorium or massive rental assistance also is needed to prevent workers from losing their housing, which would cause them to leave the area.

“Speed matters,” Mayfield said, her voice cracking with emotion. “The people and the economy of our region hang in the balance in this moment—this moment—not in November, not in December, not next year, but now.”

But Republican Sen. Ralph Hise of Mitchell County—like Buncombe, one of the hardest hit areas—said that the legislature is getting more money out to respond to the hurricane than lawmakers have done for previous storms. Hise said damages are so widespread that it will take more than just state government to complete the rebuilding. The federal government, nonprofits and churches will be key players, he said.

“There’s a lot of fear of what’s going to happen in the future and how do we stop that right now,” Hise said. “But we have to deal with our immediate needs first.”

The voting measure approved by wide margins directs elections boards in 13 mountain counties to ensure that, as soon as possible, there is at least one early in-person voting site for every 30,000 registered voters in each county.

According to legislators and the State Board of Elections, the directive is expected only to affect Henderson and McDowell counties. Early voting began Oct. 17 with Henderson and McDowell—both Republican-leaning—only opening one voting site each.

Another site in McDowell County didn’t open due to hurricane damage. Henderson County officials had announced before the legislation that a second site would open for a couple of days next week.

With passage of the bill—which becomes law without Cooper because it affects a small number of counties—Henderson County would have four sites, said Sen. Tim Moffitt, a Henderson County Republican. McDowell County would be expected to have a second site after all.

On the opening day of early voting in Henderson County, officials closed lanes on a major highway to help move traffic, and golf carts ferried voters from an auto parts store to the lone voting site. But some House Democrats questioned whether it was appropriate to add early voting sites in Henderson when the county election board had previously decided before Helene to have only one this fall.

Nearly 1.89 million people statewide had cast ballots in person through Wednesday, according to the State Board of Elections, or 126,000 more than at a similar point in 2020. Early in-person voting continues through Nov. 2. Republicans have emphasized early voting this fall compared to previous election cycles.

How Boeing’s stalled union talks are threatening operations at small suppliers

Five Boeing suppliers said continuation of the strike would cause them to furlough workers or consider halting production.

Striking workers’ rejection of planemaker Boeing’s latest contract offer has created a fresh threat to operations at aerospace suppliers such as family-run Independent Forge.

As Boeing strike continues, a major sticking point for union members is revealed

Pressure to end the strike is growing on new CEO Kelly Ortberg.

Since going on strike last month, Boeing factory workers have repeated one theme from their picket lines: They want their pensions back.

Boeing froze its traditional pension plan as part of concessions that union members narrowly voted to make a decade ago in exchange for keeping production of the company’s airline planes in the Seattle area.

Like other large employers, the aerospace giant argued back then that ballooning pension payments threatened Boeing’s long-term financial stability. But the decision nonetheless has come back to have fiscal repercussions for the company.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers announced Wednesday night that 64% of its Boeing members voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and remain on strike. The offer included a 35% increase in wage rates over four years for 33,000 striking machinists but no restoration of pension benefits.

The extension of the six-week-old strike plunges Boeing—which is already deeply in debt and lost another $6.2 billion in the third quarter—into more financial danger. The walkout has stopped production of the company’s 737, 767 and 777 jetliners, cutting off a key source of cash that Boeing receives when it delivers new planes.

The company indicated Thursday, however, that bringing pensions back remained a non-starter in future negotiations. Union members were just as adamant.

“I feel sorry for the young people,” Charles Fromong, a tool-repair technician who has spent 38 years at Boeing, said at a Seattle union hall after the vote. “I’ve spent my life here, and I’m getting ready to go, but they deserve a pension, and I deserve an increase.”

Need holiday-shopping ideas? Gen Z and boomers both love this unlikely brand

Older and younger generations may not share a lot of favorites, but a new survey of 9,000 shoppers shows they do have some things in common.

Gen Z and boomers might not have a lot in common, but guess what? They both love Kohl’s.

Dunkin’s horny Halloween donut wants to have sex with literally everyone

I’ve never been so scared of a confectionary.

Look, I just came here for the coffee. Really.

Musk promises paid rides in Tesla robotaxis next year in California and Texas

In California, Tesla will face an uphill climb in securing the needed permits to offer fully autonomous rides to paying customers.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday said the electric vehicle maker will roll out driverless ride-hailing services to the public in California and Texas next year, a claim likely to face significant regulatory and technical challenges.

Treasury extends clean energy manufacturing tax credit to some miners

The final rules stipulate that the 45X tax credit can be obtained only once an ‘eligible component’ is created, essentially favoring mining companies that own processing facilities.

The U.S. Treasury Department said on Thursday it would allow some mining companies to access a tax credit aimed at boosting American production of solar panels, lithium-ion batteries, and other clean energy components, a shift in position after industry pressure.

Elon Musk is bringing Silicon Valley’s ‘ask for forgiveness, not permission’ playbook to politics

A letter from the Department of Justice seems to have put Musk’s election ‘lottery’ on hold.

Speaking to his biographer Walter Isaacson, Elon Musk said of his approach to authority: “I guess I’ve always wanted to push my chips back on the table or play the next level of the game.” Isaacson later quotes Musk as saying, “I’ve got a bad habit of biting off more than I can chew.”

Lilium stock price plummets to penny territory as FAA green light for flying taxis can’t save it from insolvency

The air taxi firm said its main subsidiaries will likely file just days after the Federal Aviation Administration cleared a path for a new aircraft category.

Today, air taxi firm Lilium revealed in a U.S. regulatory filing that its two main subsidiaries will file for insolvency in the near future.