Hello ODI Supporter,
The UK government announced new measures this week to keep children safe online. While a consultation will take place on setting a minimum age for social media use, a new clause will be added to existing legislation that would make a ban enforceable quickly, depending on the outcome. Announcing the measures on Monday, PM Keir Starmer also said that legal loopholes would be closed to crack down on illegal, AI-generated content. Chatbot providers will now have to comply with illegal content rules set out in the Online Safety Act. The new rules will also force social media companies to keep children’s data after their death, with an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill. The data will be preserved within five days of the death of a child being reported, and then made available to a coroner or Ofcom. Ellen Roome, the mother of a 14-year-old boy who took his own life, had campaigned for social media companies to preserve children’s data since his death. She was told about the new measures by Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, ahead of the announcement.
Microsoft experts in Cambridge have developed a new method for keeping archived data safe, such as personal photos, business documents and medical information. Rather than using magnetic tape or hard disks, the new method stores data on glass. Writing in the journal Nature, the scientists describe how they turn the data into groups of symbols, which are then encoded into glass using a laser. Or something like that. The researchers were able to store 4.84TB of data on a 12 square cm piece of glass, only 2mm deep. The symbols can be read back using a microscope with a camera, and then decoded with machine learning. The storage system has the potential to keep data at room temperature for 10,000 years.
We’ve extended the deadline for our Head of Research role to 13th March, so there is still time to apply. This role will support the Director of Research and will be responsible for scoping, selling and delivering ODI’s research to support the creation of an open, trustworthy data ecosystem. You’ll play a key role in ensuring that research priorities at the ODI are aligned with our strategy; and that they remain sustainable through fundraising and business development. If you’re interested, we’d love to hear from you, so have a look at the job description and get in touch.
Join us on Thursday 26 March, 16:00-17:00 for the latest instalment in our data-centric AI webinar series. We’ll be looking at data portals and what their designers and maintainers need to consider as the global digital ecosystem shifts, so sign up now. The next edition of Solid World will look at modelling, analysing and sharing research data, and take place on Monday 23 March, 16:00-17:00. Tickets are available now. And on Monday 23 February 16:00-17:00 GMT, join us as we look at ethical AI in action in the next webinar in our Data Ethics Professional series. There is still time to sign up.
And finally… India set a Guinness World Record this week with over 250,000 AI responsibility pledges in 24 hours! The achievement was announced at the AI Impact Summit held this week in New Delhi. The summit also saw some high-profile pullouts and an awful lot of queuing. And while there were some big investment announcements, some felt it was more about networking and publicity than policy or deliverables. Still, a Guinness World Record!! Kinda makes up for the blanket rejection of global AI governance by the US…
Until next time.
David and Jo
PS: We’re running a survey on the governance and sustainability for volunteering and social action open data infrastructure. If you have the time, please take a look at the background information and complete the survey.
