A Temporary Ceasefire, An AI Lawsuit, & Robots For Grief
November 22, 2023
Something To Be Thankful For This Thanksgiving
Early in the morning today, leaders from Israel and Hamas announced that the two sides had agreed to a ceasefire agreement. The arrangement, brokered by Qatar, will see both sides pause fighting in Gaza for at least four days in exchange for Hamas turning over 50 of the hostages it took during the October 7 attacks. “The Israeli government is committed to bringing all the hostages home,” said Israel’s government in a statement accompanying the announcement, adding that “the release of every 10 additional hostages will result in an additional day in the pause.”
According to anonymous Israeli officials, the deal will also involve the release of 30 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel per day. Almost 300 Palestinian women and children are currently being held captive by Israel on top of the 7,000 others imprisoned in Israel. 2,000 of those are being held in “administrative detention,” meaning they’re stuck in jail indefinitely because they haven’t been given any sentencing.
Israel will also allow 300 aid trucks into Gaza each day under the ceasefire agreement. During the ceasefire period, the trucks will be allowed to carry fuel into Gaza, a much-needed resource that’s been limited in recent weeks. IDF troops will also remain in Gaza throughout the ceasefire period. “We will continue the war until we achieve all of our war aims: To eliminate Hamas, return all of our hostages and our missing, and ensure that there is no element in Gaza that threatens Israel,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after announcing the deal. “We will not relent until we achieve absolute victory.”
This past week, we shared a story about Senator Joe Manchin possibly running as a third-party candidate, and we asked if you would vote third-party. Here are the results of that survey.
Please note: there will not be a new edition of Daily Pnut tomorrow, Friday, or for our Sunday readers. We’ll be back to your regularly-scheduled Pnut Programming on Monday. Have a wonderful holiday weekend!
Everyone Duck, North Korea’s Trying To Launch Another Satellite!
- As powers like China and the U.S. are engaged in a new race to the moon, the Korean peninsula is being engulfed in its own neo-space race. On Tuesday, North Korea took another step in that competition, launching what’s believed to be a spy satellite into orbit.
- The satellite was sent into orbit on the back of a rocket. Japan thought the launch might have been a possible ballistic missile, causing the government to warn citizens in Okinawa to seek shelter. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned the launch anyway, saying, “Even if what they launched was supposedly a satellite, the use of ballistic missile technology is a clear violation of the relevant United Nations resolutions. It is also a serious issue that could affect the safety of our nation’s citizens.”
- Japan’s fears of a bombardment from Pyongyang might not have been that unfounded, though. North Korea has tried and failed to launch two spy satellites before this one, so maybe Kishida was just worried about a third failed satellite crashing down in Okinawa. Luckily for him (kind of, not really), this launch was successful, according to North Korean authorities. South Korea plans to launch its own spy satellite later this month as well.
More Cartridges For Kyiv
- U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is drumming up support for more U.S. aid to Ukraine as, well, I think everyone’s tired of all the conflict at this point. In a surprise trip to Kyiv, Austin used Ukraine’s capital as a backdrop to appeal to Congress for more war funding, calling additional defense spending on Ukraine “a smart investment.”
- Ukraine’s ability to “take the fight to the enemy,” as Austin says, will rely mainly on U.S. supplies. One anonymous Ukrainian official told the press that American deliveries of NATO-standard 155mm artillery shells have dropped “by more than 30%” since the Israel-Hamas war began – a significant hit considering those shells make up “about 60-70% of Ukraine’s overall supply.” Austin’s visit to Kyiv was accompanied by a new $100 million security aid package for Ukraine, but the Biden administration is looking to secure a new aid package in the billions sometime soon.
Additional World News
- Global talks to cut plastic waste stall as industry and environmental groups clash (NPR)
- Deportation drive sparks ‘sense of panic’ among Afghan refugees in Pakistan (Reuters)
- A Hamas Leader Says a Truce and Hostage Deal Are ‘Close.’ Here’s What We Know. (NYT, $)
- US fires on and kills hostile forces after attack in Iraq, US official says (CNN)
- Dutch political leaders campaign on final day before general election that will usher in new leader (ABC)
- Zelenskyy says he survived no fewer than 5 Russian assassination attempts (NBC)
- Israel-Hamas war is deadliest conflict on record for reporters, says watchdog (Guardian)
“If we command our wealth, we shall be rich and free; if our wealth commands us, we are poor indeed.” – Edmund Burke
Robots Win Another Round
- U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria on Monday dismissed most of comedian Sarah Silverman’s lawsuit against Meta, in which she claimed that the tech company’s use of authors’ copyrighted books to train its generative artificial intelligence model was unauthorized. “This is nonsensical,” Chhabria wrote in the order. “There is no way to understand the LLaMA models themselves as a recasting or adaptation of any of the plaintiffs’ books.”
- Silverman’s lawsuit also argued that every result produced by Meta’s AI tools constitutes copyright infringement, which was also dismissed. Chhabria gave her lawyers a chance to replead six claims. Meta, interestingly, did not move to dismiss the allegation that the copying of books for purposes of training its AI model constitutes copyright infringement. The dismissal was similar to one handed down by U.S. District Judge William Orrick, who said that artists couldn’t prove copyright infringement if the AI art generated wasn’t identical to their work.
Hey, Who Put This Oil In My Ocean?
- An estimated 1.1 million gallons of crude oil has leaked into the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. Coast Guard first noticed the leak on Friday, and in the latest update provided on Tuesday, the source of the leak was identified as coming from a spot near the 67-mile-long Main Pass Oil Gathering company’s pipeline system near Louisiana’s Plaquemines Parish. The Coast Guard said, “The Unified Command is working diligently to determine the source of the release.”
- NOAA’s emergency operations coordinator Doug Helton said they’re more concerned about the impact of the spill. “There are endangered and threatened species in Louisiana waters. Most of the coastal Louisiana is wetlands and marshes … Even if this doesn’t make it ashore, it doesn’t mean that this is an incident that we can just ignore.” For example, the world’s most endangered sea turtle species, the Kemp’s Ridley, was found hatching for the first time in three-quarters of a century just north of the spill.
Additional USA Reads
- Cornel West plans a trip to Michigan to target voters softening on Joe Biden (Politico)
- Disruptive Thanksgiving-week storm ramping up across the East as holiday travel rush begins (CNN)
- Navy spy plane with 9 on board overshoots Marine base runway in Hawaii, ends up in bay: “It was unbelievable” (CBS)
- Pro-Palestinian staffers ask progressive Chicago mayor to back a cease-fire (Politico)
- Manhunt underway after Colorado shooting leaves 3 dead, 1 injured, officials say (ABC)
- Dexter Wade, buried alone in Mississippi, finally gets the funeral he was denied (NBC)
- Trump, 77, issues letter lauding his health and weight loss on Biden’s 81st birthday (NPR)
This AI Runs On Grief
- People have turned to ChatGPT and other AI chatbots for a variety of things: recipes, homework answers, electronic girlfriends – you name it. Now, companies are looking to harness the amazing power of AI to resurrect the dead…kind of.
- Startups in the field of “grief tech” are using AI to sell services that are supposed to help with the grieving process, including: AI-generated video conversations with the dead, virtual chatbots of the deceased that you can chat with 24/7, and AI-guided audio recordings for posterity. Of course, these services are accompanied by the standard payment models, with most offering subscriptions for users to access their dead loved ones. StoryFile, one such company, offers a $499 one-time payment to let users access longer, higher-definition videos of the departed.
- There are obviously all kinds of weird problems with this new industry. The companies are basically profiting off the grieving process (though they claim to be helping it), and also (we assume) operate without the consent of the people they’re “resurrecting” using AI algorithms. “There are some losses from which we don’t recover, that just have to be integrated. Grief cannot be book-ended,” says one bereavement counselor. “If we spend our lives avoiding, ditching, and sidelining grief, we will pay the price for it.”
Additional Reads
- 354 pounds of methamphetamine seized from pick-up truck crossing from Mexico to US (ABC)
- Texas lawyer slipped papers laced with drugs to inmates, was ‘major supplier’ to jail, officials say (NBC)
- Deep sea explorer Don Walsh, part of 2-man crew to first reach deepest point of ocean, dies at 92 (ABC)
- Banksy reveals his first name in resurfaced interview clip (Guardian)
- Scientists said the ozone hole was recovering. That good news was premature, one study claims (CNN)
- Mucus-Covered Jellyfish Hint at Dangers of Deep-Sea Mining (NYT, $)
- The secret millionaire: mobile-home caretaker leaves $3.8m to New Hampshire town (Guardian)