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A4 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 18 OctOber 2023

Can New York's mayor speak Mandarin? No, but with AI he's

making robocalls

By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE Senate would ban "materi-
Associated Press ally deceptive" deepfakes
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New relating to federal can-
York City Mayor Eric Ad- didates, with exceptions
ams has been using artifi- for parody and satire. This
cial intelligence to make month, two Democratic
robocalls that contort his members of Congress
own voice into several lan- sent a letter to the heads
guages he doesn't actually of Meta and X, formally
speak, posing new ethical known as Twitter, to express
questions about the gov- concerns about AI-gener-
ernment's use of the rapidly ated political ads on their
evolving technology. social media platforms.
The mayor told reporters In September, the music
about the robocalls on streaming service Spotify
Monday and said they've introduced an AI feature
gone out in languages to translate a podcast into
such as Mandarin and Yid- multiple languages in the
dish to promote city hiring podcaster's voice. More
events. They haven't in- recently, the startup Elev-
cluded any disclosure that enLabs in October intro-
he only speaks English or duced a voice translation
that the calls were gener- tool that it said "can con-
ated using AI. New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks in New York's Times Square during a news conference, vert spoken content to an-
"People stop me on the Dec. 30, 2022. Associated Press other language in minutes,
street all the time and say, while preserving the voice
'I didn't know you speak on the other side of a com- New Yorkers that he speaks Google was the first big of the original speaker." A
Mandarin, you know?'" said puter screen wants them to languages that he doesn't tech company to say it spokesperson for the may-
Adams, a Democrat. "The do. is outright Orwellian. Yes, would impose new labels or's office said they used
robocalls that we're using, In New York, the watchdog we need announcements on deceptive AI-generat- ElevenLabs' tool for their
we're using different lan- group Surveillance Tech- in all of New Yorkers' native ed political advertisements robocalls. Native speakers
guages to speak directly to nology Oversight Project languages, but the deep that could fake a candi- listened to the recordings
the diversity of New York- slammed Adams' robocalls fakes are just a creepy van- date's voice or actions for before they went out to en-
ers." as an unethical use of artifi- ity project." election misinformation. sure the translations were
The calls come as regula- cial intelligence that is mis- The growing use of artifi- Facebook and Instagram accurate. Calls have been
tors struggle to get a han- leading to city residents. cial intelligence and deep- parent Meta doesn't have made in Spanish, Yiddish,
dle on how best to ethically "The mayor is making deep fakes, especially in politics a rule specific to AI-gener- Mandarin, Cantonese and
and legally navigate the fakes of himself," said Albert and election misinforma- ated political ads but has Haitian Creole. The city
use of artificial intelligence, Fox Cahn, executive direc- tion, has prompted calls a policy restricting "faked, has also used the technol-
where deepfake videos or tor of the organization. "This and moves toward greater manipulated or trans- ogy to promote a series of
audio can make it appear is deeply unethical, espe- regulation from govern- formed" audio and imag- concerts organized by the
that anyone anywhere is cially on the taxpayer's ment and major media ery used for misinformation. Adams administration, the
doing anything a person dime. Using AI to convince companies. A bipartisan bill in the U.S. spokesperson said.q

Pentagon releases footage of hundreds of ‘highly
concerning’ aircraft intercepts by Chinese planes

officials called concerning. that despite the U.S. surg- most of them unsafe — a
The photos and video were ing carrier strike groups and specific term that is used
released in advance of a amphibious ships to support only in the most egregious
soon-to-be issued annual Israel, and now almost 20 cases. Still the officials said
report by the Pentagon on months of war in Ukraine, "I it was important to release
the China's military power haven't had one piece of the footage and call out
and the security threats it equipment or force struc- the behavior because they
may pose to partners in the ture depart" his command, said it was part of a larger
Indo-Pacific. referring to ships, aircraft trend of regional intimida-
A U.S. Navy plane passes by a Chinese flag as it flies over the The Pentagon has tried for and military units. "We have tion by China that could
areas of Second Thomas Shoal, locally known as Ayungin Shoal, years to posture itself to be been taking a number of accidentally lead to con-
at the disputed South China Sea while Chinese coast guard ships ready for a potential con- steps to strengthen our flict.
tries to block Philippine coast guard and supply ships during a flict with China over Taiwan commitment to the region, "All of these examples
rotation and resupply mission on Aug. 22, 2023. even as it now finds itself strengthen our deterrence we've released today un-
Associated Press
supporting allies in two hot in the region and we will derscore the coercive in-
By TARA COPP U.S. warplanes by Chinese wars, Ukraine in Europe and continue to do that," he tent of (China) by engag-
Associated Press aircraft that have occurred Israel in the Middle East. said. ing in behaviors particularly
WASHINGTON (AP) — The in the last two years — more Admiral John Acquilino, The officials said the Chi- in international airspace,"
Pentagon has released than the total amount over head of U.S. Indo-Pacific nese flights were risky and said Ely Ratner, assistant
footage of some of the the previous decade and Command, said at a Penta- aggressive in nature, but secretary of defense for In-
more than 180 intercepts of part of a trend U.S. military gon press briefing Tuesday stopped short of calling do-Pacific security affairs.q