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For its year of achievements, NJHMFA honored as statewide leader by NJBIZ

TRENTON, N.J. —  The New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA) has been honored as a 2023 Leader in Real Estate, Construction, and Design by NJBIZ.

This recognition joins many awards the Agency won in 2023 for its work on promoting affordable and mixed-income housing construction and economic development across New Jersey.

This most recent award recognized NJHMFA’s role in making high-quality, accessible, affordable housing construction possible through its financing capacity, innovative programs, and collaborative partnerships. Since 2021, NJHMFA has undergone a record expansion of the Agency’s core multifamily programs, which now produce more than $1.3 billion in annual construction.

“NJHMFA is committed to ensuring that New Jersey residents have access to high-quality affordable housing near the schools, jobs, transportation, services, and other amenities that their households require,” said Executive Director Melanie R. Walter. “We are honored that NJBIZ has recognized our successful efforts to provide these housing opportunities by naming us as a Leader in Real Estate, Construction, and Design for 2023.”

Among the projects that were cited as part of NJBIZ’s recognition are Hinchliffe Residences and Barclay Place. Both projects, which opened in the summer of 2023, are examples of how NJHMFA financing can help municipalities further their planning, growth, and housing goals, while simultaneously creating a thriving inclusive community for all who live there.

Hinchliffe Residences was a key component of the long-awaited redevelopment and revitalization of Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson. Hinchliffe Residences reflects and embraces the unique architecture and history of the adjacent Hinchliffe Stadium, one of the only four standing stadiums that once hosted Negro League baseball games. This development seamlessly integrates historical essence with modern planning elements, including affordable senior housing, a daycare, and a new parking deck. The project is the state’s largest-ever historic preservation project and a key piece of the city’s future. The Hinchliffe redevelopment has received a 2023 Smart Growth Award from NJ Future, the 2023 Outstanding Implementation Award from the New Jersey Chapter of the American Planning Association, and the 2023 Governor’s Excellence Award for Innovative Economic Development.

The Barclay Place development is the first completed project financed through the NJHMFA’s Hospital Partnership Subsidy Program. This program, serves as a national model, with other states now replicating the way NJHMFA leverages hospitals’ status as anchor institutions to improve community health outcomes through the creation of affordable and supportive housing. NJHMFA, Saint Joseph University Medical Center, NJCDC, NJCC, and other partners received a 2023 Smart Growth Award from NJ Future, the 2023 Project of the Year Award from the Supportive Housing Association of New Jersey, and the 2023 Governor’s Excellence Award for Housing Development for this remarkable supportive housing community.

Other projects that have received recognition in 2023 include the Gordon H. Mansfield Veteran’s Community in Tinton Falls, NJ, a 70-unit community for military veterans that won the NAA Excellence Award for New Construction Community of the Year; One Thompson Place in Dover, which received a 2023 Smart Growth Award; and Freedom Village at Hamilton Woods, which was cited as part of the NJBIZ award. Other landmark projects in the development pipeline include Hospital Partnership Subsidy Program projects in Newark and Camden, and 28 Walnut in Madison, which was among the first projects to receive Affordable Housing Production Fund Support.

About Us: The New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA) advances the quality of life for residents of and communities throughout New Jersey by investing in, financing, and facilitating access to affordable rental housing and homeownership opportunities for low and moderate-income families, older adults, and individuals with specialized housing needs. To learn more about NJHMFA, visit: https://NJHousing.gov/

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PARTS iD announces delisting from NYSE American

CRANBURY, N.J. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — PARTS iD, Inc. (NYSE American: ID) (“PARTS iD” or “the Company”) on Wednesday announced that it received notification from the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) that the NYSE has initiated proceedings to delist the Class A common stock of PARTS iD, Inc. from NYSE American.

 

The NYSE also indefinitely suspended trading of the Company’s Class A common stock effective Dec. 26, 2023. PARTS iD does not intend to appeal the NYSE’s determination.

 

The NYSE determined that the Company is no longer suitable for listing and will commence delisting proceedings pursuant to Section 1003(c)(iii) of the NYSE American Company Guide in light of the disclosure on Dec. 26, 2023 that the Company filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of title 11 of the United States Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

 

About PARTS iD, Inc.

PARTS iD is a technology-driven, digital commerce company focused on creating custom infrastructure and unique user experiences within niche markets. Founded in 2008 with a vision of creating a one-stop eCommerce destination for the automotive parts and accessories market, we believe that PARTS iD has since become a market leader and proven brand-builder, fueled by its commitment to delivering a revolutionary shopping experience; comprehensive, accurate and varied product offerings; and continued digital commerce innovation.

 

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

All statements made in this press release relating to future financial or business performance, conditions, plans, prospects, trends, or strategies and other such matters, including without limitation, expected future performance, consumer adoption, anticipated success of our business model or the potential for long term profitable growth, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In addition, when or if used in this press release, the words “may,” “could,” “should,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “predict,” “potential,” “confident,” “look forward,” “optimistic” and similar expressions and their variants, as they relate to us may identify forward-looking statements. We operate in a changing environment where new risks emerge from time to time and it is not possible for us to predict all risks that may affect us, particularly those associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, which have had wide-ranging and continually evolving effects. We caution that these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks, and uncertainties, which change over time, often quickly and in unanticipated ways.

 

Important factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties, including without limitation: the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia has affected and may continue to affect our business; competition and our ability to counter competition, including changes to the algorithms of Google and other search engines and related impacts on our revenue and advertisement expenses; the impact of health epidemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic, on our business and the actions we may take in response thereto; disruptions in the supply chain and associated impacts on demand, product availability, order cancellations and cost of goods sold including inflation; difficulties in managing our international business operations, particularly in the Ukraine, including with respect to enforcing the terms of our agreements with our contractors and managing increasing costs of operations; changes in our strategy, future operations, financial position, estimated revenues and losses, product pricing, projected costs, prospects and plans; the outcome of actual or potential litigation, complaints, product liability claims, or regulatory proceedings, and the potential adverse publicity related thereto; the implementation, market acceptance and success of our business model, expansion plans, opportunities and initiatives, including the market acceptance of our planned products and services; developments and projections relating to our competitors and industry; our expectations regarding our ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection and not infringe on the rights of others; our ability to maintain and enforce intellectual property rights and ability to maintain technology leadership; our future capital requirements; our ability to raise capital and utilize sources of cash; our ability to obtain funding for our operations; changes in applicable laws or regulations; the effects of current and future U.S. and foreign trade policy and tariff actions; disruptions in the marketplace for online purchases of aftermarket auto parts; costs related to operating as a public company; the Company’s intention to continue operations during the Chapter 11 Cases; the Company’s ability to conduct its business in an uninterrupted manner during the Chapter 11 Cases; the potential outcome and timing of the delisting of the Company’s Class A common stock; the Company’s ability to obtain timely approval of the Bankruptcy Court with respect to motions filed in the Chapter 11 Cases; and the possibility that we may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors.

 

Further information on the factors and risks that could cause actual results to differ from any forward-looking statements are contained in our filings with the SEC, which are available at https://www.sec.gov (or at https://www.partsidinc.com). The forward-looking statements represent our estimates as of the date hereof only, and we specifically disclaim any duty or obligation to update forward-looking statements.

Contacts

Investors:

Brendon Frey

ICR

ir@partsidinc.com

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Culture Entertainment News Lifestyle

‘Barbie’ broke records, but studios employed fewer female directors on 2023’s top films

Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” wasn’t just the year’s biggest box office winner. It also made history as the highest-grossing movie directed by a woman.

 

Despite the film’s outsized success, major studios gave most of their biggest gigs to male filmmakers. That’s the conclusion of a new study by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University.  It found that women comprised just 16% of directors on the 250 top-grossing films, which was down from 18% in 2022. There were modest improvements the higher up the list of money-earners you climb — female filmmakers called the shots on 14% of the 100 top films, which was up from 11% in 2022.

 

The findings come as female filmmakers like Gerwig, “Salburn’s” Emerald Fennell, “Past Lives’s” Celine Song and “Priscilla’s” Sofia Coppola released some of the year’s buzziest and most acclaimed movies; and pop divas like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift topped the box office with concert films.

 

All that critical and commercial success hasn’t changed the employment picture. Indeed, things weren’t much brighter when it came to female talent in other key roles. Overall, women accounted for 22% of all directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors and cinematographers working on the 250 top-grossing films. That was a decline from 24% in 2022. Moreover, 75% of the top-grossing films employed 10 or more men in key behind-the-scenes roles, while just 4% employed 10 or more women.

 

In descending order women comprised 26% of producers, 24% of executive producers, 21% of editors, 17% of writers, 14% of composers and 7% of cinematographers. Of these roles, women saw gains as composers on the top 250 films, improving by 6%. The number of women employed as producers, executive producers and writers all declined, while the percentage of female editors and cinematographers was roughly even with 2022.

 

“It’s the ultimate illusion, Greta Gerwig’s well-deserved triumph belies the inequality that pervades the mainstream film industry,” Dr. Martha Lauzen, the report’s author and the center’s founder and executive director, said in a statement. “The numbers tell the story. Behind-the-scenes gender ratios in Hollywood remain dramatically skewed in favor of men.”

 

The study found that on movies with at least one woman director, more women were hired for key behind-the-scenes roles than films with exclusively male directors. When women were in the directing chair, 61% of writers, 35% of editors, 10% of cinematographers and 26% of composers were female. On films with male directors, women accounted for 9% of writers, 18% of editors, 7% of cinematographers and 11% of composers.

 

 

 

— Variety

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Art & Life Culture Farewell Services

Ana Ofelia Murguía, Mexican star and voice of Disney’s Coco, dies at 90

Ana Ofelia Murguía, the Mexican actor best known for voicing the titular character of Disney and Pixar’s 2017 animated movie “Coco,” died Sunday, Dec. 31, BBC News reports. She was 90.

 

“Coco,” which follows a young boy as he crosses over to the land of the dead during Mexico’s Día de los Muertos, won two Academy Awards, for best animated feature and original song for “Remember Me.” Murguía voices the aging Mama Coco, whose memory of her father is reignited by her great-grandson, Miguel. At the emotional climax, Murguía’s Coco sings the film’s central song, “Remember Me,” with Miguel.

 

“Coco” was lauded for its representation of Mexican culture and celebrated for its exploration of heavy subjects, like death, through the lens of a children’s movie.

 

Mexico’s National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature paid tribute to Murguía on X/Twitter, writing that her “career was vital for the performing arts of Mexico.”

 

Murguía, who was born in Mexico in 1933, won the Golden Ariel special lifetime achievement award in 2011 at a ceremony honoring the best of Mexican cinema. The award was jointly given to writer-director Jorge Fons. Throughout her career, Murguía won best supporting actress at the Ariel awards (Mexico’s equivalent to the Oscars) in 1979, 1986 and 1996.

 

With more than 100 acting credits, Murguía got her start on an episode of the Mexican telenovela “La Tormenta.” Her most famous roles include 1994’s “The Queen of the Night,” 1992’s “Mi Querido Tom Mix” and 1979’s “Life Sentence.”

 

Murguía’s last acting role was in a 2018 episode of “José José: El Príncipe de la Canción,” a fictionalized retelling of the famed Mexican singer’s life story.

 

 

 

— Variety

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Business Culture Foodies/Tastylicious Healthcare Lifestyle Regulations & Security Science

Reckitt/Mead Johnson Nutrition voluntarily recalls select batches of Nutramigen Hypoallergenic Infant Formula Powder because of possible health risk

  • All product tested by MJN was confirmed negative for contaminants.
  • No illnesses or adverse consumer reactions have been reported to date.
  • No Nutramigen liquid formulas or any other Reckitt nutrition products are impacted.

 

 

PARSIPPANY, N.J. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — Reckitt/Mead Johnson Nutrition (MJN), a producer of nutrition products, announced today that it has voluntarily chosen to recall from the U.S. market select batches of Nutramigen Powder, a specialty infant formula for the dietary management of Cows Milk Allergy (CMA) in 12.6 and 19.8 oz cans, due to a possibility of contamination with Cronobacter sakazakii in product sampled outside the U.S. All product in question went through extensive testing by MJN and tested negative for the bacteria.


Cronobacter bacteria can cause severe, life-threatening infections (sepsis) or meningitis (an inflammation of the membranes that protect the brain and spine). Symptoms of sepsis and meningitis may include poor feeding, irritability, temperature changes, jaundice (yellow skin and whites of the eyes), grunting breaths and abnormal movements. Cronobacter infection may also cause bowel damage and may spread through the blood to other parts of the body.

 

Nutramigen in 12.6 and 19.8 oz containers was manufactured in June 2023 and distributed primarily in June, July, and August 2023. Based on the limited availability of the remaining stock of this special infant formula, it is believed that much, if not all, of the products recalled in the United States have been consumed. There are no reports of illnesses or adverse events to date. The products were distributed through retail stores nationwide. The batches in question can be identified by the batch code on the bottom of the can.

 

The following recalled product batch codes and can size associated with each batch were distributed in the U.S.:

  • ZL3FHG (12.6 oz cans);
  • ZL3FMH (12.6 oz cans);
  • ZL3FPE (12.6 oz cans);
  • ZL3FQD (12.6 oz cans);
  • ZL3FRW (19.8 oz cans); and
  • ZL3FXJ (12.6 oz cans).

 

The products have a UPC Code of 300871239418 or 300871239456 and “Use By Date” of “1 Jan 2025”.

 

No other U.S. distributed Nutramigen batches or other Reckitt products are impacted

Reckitt/Mead Johnson Nutrition manufactured additional products during this finished product campaign and distributed them outside of the U.S. Reckitt/Mead Johnson Nutrition will be contacting the regulatory authorities in each of those countries to determine the proper disposition of those products.

 

If parents have any questions, they should consult with their pediatrician or contact us at 866-534-9986 24/7 or by email at consumer.relations@rb.com

 

We are committed to the highest level of quality and safety and it is for this reason that we have taken this measure. Other testing of the batches in question tested negative for Cronobacter and other bacteria.

 

The health and safety of infants is our highest priority. All of our products undergo rigorous and industry-leading quality tests and checks to ensure that they meet or exceed all standards set by regulatory bodies, including the World Health Organization and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It is for this reason that we have confidence in the safety and quality of every infant formula we make.

 

What Consumers Should Do if They Purchased This Product

Consumers who purchased Nutramigen should check the bottom of the can to identify whether the batch number is affected. Product with the batch codes listed above should be disposed of, or contact us for a total refund. Please contact us at 866-534-9986 or by email at consumer.relations@rb.com and we will help verify if this product was impacted. If you have any concerns, contact your health care provider. For more information, please visit us at www.enfamil.com.

Contacts

Media Contact: US.CA.MEDIAandPR@reckitt.com

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Art & Life Culture Lifestyle Perspectives

Members’ Musings: Life’s Landscapes a current annual art exhibition at Grounds for Sculpture

Members’ Musings is the 14th annual exhibition of artwork created exclusively by Members of Grounds For Sculpture, showcasing their diverse talents through a variety of artistic creations in a range of media now through Feb 25.

This year’s artists include Gay Bitter, Karen Fadool, Helen Marie Farrant, Nancie Gunkelman, Barry Hantman, Elizabeth Hume, Marcia Kanter, Gene Mydlowski, Jeffrey Sayre, Adria Sherman, Elizabeth Smith, and Faith Wight.

Members were asked to consider the consistent and newly formed patterns of their life and how these patterns develop new landscapes. “Over the last few years, we all have had to consider a new way of being.”

Within and beyond the physical or geographical, Members are free to interpret their landscapes as the place where they are, where they want to go, or forge a completely new dimension. “This call asks artists to interpret how our experiences and life choices form the patterns in life’s landscapes. Where do you see yourself? Where do you want to be? Where are you from?”

The juror and curator for this year’s juried exhibition is Jihan A. Thomas, a visual artist, ceramicist, and arts educator based in Philadelphia, Pa. She has over 16 years’ experience working within arts and cultural institutions in Philadelphia such as The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Clay Studio, The African American Museum in Philadelphia, and The Barnes Foundation and is represented in the Philadelphia in the Museum Education Division with the Pennsylvania Arts Education Association.

Thomas thinks that art can be a conduit for empowerment, self-actualization, and self-reflection. Thomas uses her art to serve her community and to amplify the power of art. She is the co-founder and art director of Boston Black Market and Art Enrichment Center, a newly opened arts center located in North Philadelphia.

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Culture Education Local News Programs & Events

MLK Jr. Day 2024 honors the King by ‘Restoring a cultural legacy of care — A Day of Community Service’

First Steps – “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
Martin Luther King Jr.

 

 

The James Kerney Campus (JKC) of Mercer County Community College plans to celebrate its annual Martin Luther King Jr. community day of service on Jan. 15, 2024 with a day of events.

 

The day’s agenda starts at 8 a.m. with registration in the JKC Front Lobby. The organizers plan to follow through about one hour later with the welcoming remarks in Kerney Hall. Then, the variety of service projects will begin.

 

At 12:30 p.m. the participants will break for lunch in the JKC cafeteria. They will resume their service agenda with a Service Celebration at 1:30 p.m. in the Trenton Hall at JKC.

SERVICE ACTIVITIES TO INCLUDE:

  • Sock Drive – Collecting men’s white crew or tube socks for clients of Task. The mission of Task is to feed those who are hungry in the Trenton Area and offer programs to encourage self-sufficiency and improve the quality of life of its patrons.
  • Utensil Wrap Up and Bag Lunches – Task –(Peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches, juice box, dessert) The mission of Task is to feed those who are hungry in the Trenton area and offer programs to encourage self-sufficiency and improve patrons’ quality of life.
  • Community Clean Up – MLK Park/ City Streets
  • Trenton Hall Garden – Building raised beds for the MCCC’s Vegetable garden. This project will provide fresh produce to supplement the colleges’ food pantry.
  • Kidspack 2.0 – the goal is to provide snack (granola bars, fruit and Juice) to the street Teams for Jan. 16th walk home.
  • Blessing Bags – Rescue Mission and Womanspace – provide hygiene bags for clients.

 

 

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After testings, South Korean Internet giant Naver plans to let companies use its Rookie office helper robots to deliver meals and parcels

—  Korean tech company ready to export IT systems that direct automated workforce through the 5G cloud

 

 

Song Jung-a / Financial Times:

 

 

At a Starbucks in the futuristic headquarters of Naver, South Korea’s biggest Internet company, a line of robots is on standby to fetch coffee for the company’s employees.

 

About 100 robots on wheels — called Rookies — wander around the offices, carrying out simple tasks such as delivering meals and parcels and testing the boundaries of human interaction with machines in one of the first examples of a robot-friendly building.

PHOTO: Naver’s Rookie robots act as office helpers as they roam from floor to floor in its futuristic headquarters in South Korea © Naver

 

Naver has been experimenting with integrating service robots into office life for more than a year in the 36-storey building on the southern outskirts of Seoul. These “brainless” robots roam around the building, rolling through security gates and taking lifts, powered by Naver’s cloud system that enables them to see, recognize and operate seamlessly.

 

The company is now keen to export the cutting-edge 5G-based cloud robotics technology, with many countries in Europe as well as Japan and Saudi Arabia expressing interest in benchmarking its system.

 

“There are not many companies globally who can offer this high-quality robot service at this scale,” said Seok Sang-ok, chief executive of Naver Labs, Naver’s research and development unit, in an interview with the Financial Times.

 

“This requires a lot of seamless co-operation with many of our affiliates. Naver’s wide-ranging services, including search engines, online shopping and social networking, have allowed us to experiment with various robot technologies and services, all in-house.”

 

Like Amazon, Naver sells products online and operates a sizeable cloud business. It spends about a quarter of its annual sales on R&D with Naver Labs in charge of developing artificial intelligence, robotics and autonomous driving. Naver’s “digital twin” technology — a 3D scan of cities and buildings — also helps the robots to recognise their surroundings and find the most efficient routes. As they operate with just a normal video camera and without advanced processors and navigation tools, it costs much less to make them, Naver says.

 

“We’ve tested the robots for more than a year and now have a lot of data on human interaction with robots,” said Seok.

 

“We’ll focus on exporting IT services, as I believe our robotics technology using the cloud will become much better in two to three years.” Park Sang-soo, a researcher at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, said Naver faced export challenges, with the complexity of its technology meaning it was not as easy as “selling just a fleet of robots.”

 

“Naver’s robots are working well in its offices because the building was designed for that purpose, but it should consider the non-technological factors of the target countries such as their IT infrastructure and regulation to sell its platform solution,” he said.

 

South Korea has a thriving domestic robot industry, most of them being deployed in factories, as the country sees AI and robots as key to alleviating labour shortages in the face of the world’s lowest birth rate.

 

According to the International Federation of Robotics, South Korea has the highest “robot density” in the world, with 1,000 industrial robots per 10,000 manufacturing employees, compared with 399 in Japan, 322 in China, and 274 in the US. Robots are widely used in Korea’s car and semiconductor plants, but they are also becoming an increasingly visible part of day-to-day life.

 

Sales of service robots in South Korea are expected to almost double from $530mn this year to $1bn in 2026, an average annual increase of 23 per cent, according to the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information. Naver is looking to sell a combination of systems for industrial and server robots. Last month, it opened Asia’s largest data centre to accelerate its push into AI and the cloud. In the vast building in Sejong City that houses 600,000 servers, multiple robots carry heavy servers between IT warehouses and server rooms, while self-driving shuttles are in operation for employees and visitors to the campus.

PHOTO: Naver uses a variety of robots in its vast new data centre, opened in November in Sejong City © Naver

 

“We have a full portfolio [of technologies] that can cover many new use cases,” said Albert Wang, Naver Labs’ principal researcher.

 

“A lot of companies focus on single applications. We are really looking at the system levels. We have multiple types of robot systems co-operating together.”

 

Despite being a technology powerhouse, South Korea remains weak in software development, with its tech exports mostly confined to hardware such as chips, electronics and electric vehicle batteries. Naver is trying to change that picture, with exports of IT services like digital twins, robotics and AI tools, although it has so far failed to gain a foothold abroad with its powerful search engine. Earlier this year, the country won its first major high-tech export contract to the Middle East to build and operate digital twins or virtual versions of five cities including Riyadh, Medina and Mecca, for five years. It is also looking to offer tailored versions of its latest ChatGPT-like artificial intelligence model to foreign governments concerned about US data controls.

 

“We are just beginning to export our IT services, which can become the country’s new export driver,” said Seok. “We aim to become the leading exporter of the country’s IT services in the medium to long term.”

 

 

 

— Techmeme

​

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Business Culture Economics Government International & World Regulations & Security Technology

China struggles to contain a shadow market for business data, as most companies shun the 48 official gov. data exchanges

—  Dozens of marketplaces have sprung up since a 2020 initiative but most transactions still happen on the black market

 

 

Financial Times:

 

China is struggling to reduce the influence of a shadow market for business data, as companies shun the official exchanges that have been set up to tighten control over the sale of information.

 

Local governments across the country have established 48 exchanges, most of them coming after Beijing enshrined data as a national priority in 2020, making it a fifth pillar of production alongside land, labour, capital and entrepreneurship. Under regulatory supervision, government bodies, state-owned enterprises and private companies can buy and sell data on everything from weather patterns to city traffic flows.

 

However, industry insiders and experts say there is no clear incentive for companies to participate in these fledgling marketplaces and that most data sales are still happening off the exchanges.

 

“We are having difficulty attracting participants to enter the marketplace,” said an employee at a state-backed data exchange, adding that the majority of data sales occurred elsewhere.

 

A report published by the Shanghai Data Exchange last month forecast that by 2025, only 10 per cent of data sales would occur on exchanges.

 

The initiative has been part of broader reforms to increase authorities’ control over data after two decades when internet companies such as Tencent and Alibaba created economic fiefdoms powered by vast troves of consumer data. Since 2021, Big Tech has suffered fines for data violations and the Cyberspace Administration of China has been given stronger regulatory powers over how companies procure, manage and store data.

 

Since the 2020 move by the State Council, the country’s cabinet, to make data a factor of production, “the government has put data on a pedestal as something that can be traded”, said Xiang Li, an expert on data management in Hong Kong.

 

Beijing’s stated aim is to unleash productivity by giving more companies access to data that will enable them to deploy artificial intelligence in everything from smart manufacturing to autonomous driving. The value of data bought and sold in China is expected to increase from Rmb88bn ($12.3bn) last year to Rmb516bn ($72.5bn) by the end of the decade as the use of AI grows, according to the Shanghai Data Exchange report.

 

But experts say that the government faces an uphill battle in convincing private companies to sell their data on centralized exchanges rather than through a data broker.

 

The majority of existing data sold on these platforms comes from government bodies, including local transportation and weather bureaus, or from state-owned enterprises (SOEs), which are easier to cajole into handing over their data than private companies, said Kendra Schaefer, head of tech policy at the Beijing-based consultancy Trivium China.

 

According to a Financial Times analysis, the majority of data sold by the 700 merchants on the state-backed Guiyang Global Big Data Exchange, the country’s first such platform, are from state agencies and SOEs.

 

The government of Guizhou province in south-west China, where Guiyang is the capital, has also introduced draft regulations that compel local government bodies and SOEs to hand over their data to the exchange.

 

Companies such as China Southern Power Grid sell customers’ electricity consumption data on Guiyang’s exchange to credit agencies as a new tool to conduct credit checks, according to domestic media reports.

 

The official data exchanges are also designed to provide ways for companies, cash-strapped local governments, and state-owned enterprises to monetise data resources amid slowing economic growth.

 

The official exchanges in Guiyang, Shanghai and Beijing are offering subsidies to incentivise companies to participate.  Even with such incentives, companies are still showing reluctance owing to concerns about getting on the wrong side of data laws restricting the sale of consumer data, according to Trivium’s Schaefer.

 

“We’re at an interesting point in history. Companies are buying and selling this critical economic resource, but the laws surrounding how trading works for this resource don’t exist yet,” she said.

 

The employee at the state-backed exchange, who did not wish to be named, acknowledged that this legal uncertainty prevented it from onboarding new merchants.

“Current data laws are not specific about the legality of data exchanges,” they said.

 

The CAC did not respond to a request for comment.

 

While Beijing had hoped to court data hawkers with the promise of new revenue streams for their data, Schaefer said many companies were also deterred by the high expense of cleaning up their data in preparation for selling on a centralised exchange.

 

“Many companies have poor data management processes, so they need to clean it up before they sell it, which is costly,” she said.

 

“The state wanted companies to jump on board and say: ‘This is an amazing way to make additional revenue from a resource I generate already’,” said Schaefer.

 

“But the reality is that it’s risky and expensive for companies to stick their data on the platforms. The benefit for the companies is unclear.”

 

 

 

— Techmeme

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Business Culture Digital - AI & Apps Education Lifestyle Regulations & Security Science Technology

Hollywood unions against AI to recreate actors’ performances set precedent for future labor movements to prevent automation

—  The year was dominated by talk of what artificial intelligence could do — and what it could do better than most humans.

 

 

Angela Watercutter / Wired:

 

 

Revolt against the machines began at Swingers. And at Bob’s Big Boy, where for weeks Drew Carey picked up the tab. Members of the Writers Guild of America, (WGA), met at both Los Angeles-area diners frequently during their 148-day strike, which hinged on protecting Hollywood’s scribes from being overrun by the march of artificial intelligence.

 

Members of the WGA were just a small part of the resistance. There were others. The Screen Actors Guild—American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or SAG-AFTRA, soon joined them on the picket lines, together forming a formidable uprising against the perceived threat of AI.

 

What each union was seeking was different. Writers wanted to make sure AI couldn’t be trained on their work or manipulate it without their say-so; actors wanted guardrails on how the technology could be used to recreate their performances. Both parties ended up setting a tone for how labor movements in the future could push back against encroaching automation.

“It is interesting that the Hollywood strikes became the highest-profile example of workers resisting AI in 2023,” says Brian Merchant, author of this year’s Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech, a book about the Luddite movement.

 

At the same time, he adds, the unions’ confrontations with studios came at a time when the boom in AI technology was causing a lot of folks to be critical of Silicon Valley and new tools primed to take their jobs. Originally, the WGA’s AI stipulations didn’t seem like they’d be hotly contested demands—then they became a central issue. “Workers and unions have been fighting automation and certain uses of AI in the workplace for years, of course, but the Writers Guild were among the first to do so after the rise of OpenAI and ChatGPT,” Merchant says. Ultimately, it was the first big face-off between humans and AI, he adds, and “the humans won.”

 

Their timing couldn’t have been better. Throughout 2023, many trades and professions, from painters to coders and beyond, found themselves vulnerable to being replaced by machine learning. IBM’s CEO estimated out loud that some 7,800 jobs at the company could be done by bots in the next five years. A Goldman Sachs report from late March estimated nearly 300,000 jobs globally could be affected by automation. Radiologists, journalists(gulp), tax preparers—everyone, it seemed, spent at least part of 2023 wondering if robots were coming for their jobs.

 

That, in turn, led to increased interest in what protections organized labor could provide workers, even as some unions, like the United Auto Workers and Teamsters, seemed to fall behind on addressing AI’s potential to encroach on jobs. In a recent piece for Harvard Business Review, MIT engineering professor Yossi Sheffi argued short-sightedness on these issues affects both workers and employers, since disengaged staffers could become part of a workforce that’s even less prepared if and when automation comes to their industry.

 

Sheffi wrote the piece in September, when both SAG and WGA were deep into their strikes. At the time, he noted that other industries should “take to heart” what was happening in Hollywood. “Resolving these issues [between the actors and writers and the studios] will take time, but at least in this case, the parties have started the process before AI has become an industry mainstay,” he wrote. “But other unions don’t seem to be facing up to the ways technological advances will change jobs.”

AS THE ADVANCE of AI marched on throughout 2023, it became clear that unions were only part of the resistance. Authors, worried that large language models had been trained using their books, filed a handful of lawsuits against OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, and others. So did visual artists, against Stable Diffusion,

 

Midjourney, DeviantArt, and more. None of those suits has reached any kind of conclusion, and some argue copyright claims aren’t the way to stop the bots from absorbing creative work, but the suits did turn the courts into yet another battlefield, in addition to picket lines, on which humans pushed back against AI incursion.

 

By the end of 2023, governments entered the fray. In early November, US president Joe Biden signed an executive orderattempting, among other things, to curtail AI’s impact on human work and provide “federal support for workers facing labor disruptions, including from AI.” Unions, including SAG, praised the move, which came as world leaders were heading to the UK for the AI Safety Summit, where, as my colleague Will Knight wrote, they sought to contain the threats of machine learning while also harnessing its power.

 

That has always been the tricky part. From weavers to writers, lots of people use machines to improve their work. Automation helps! As AI boosters will tell you, the technology can cultivate new forms of creativity. People can write books alongside AI, create new styles of visual art, build infinite Seinfeld generators. Some Hollywood writers use the tools for basic brainstorming tasks. Fear comes in when brainstorming evolves into a studio head asking ChatGPT to write a new movie about a cat and a cop who are best friends. No scribes needed.

 

Currently, chatbots can’t whip up fully formed scripts, or novels, or Caravaggios, but the tech is evolving so quickly it feels all but imminent. When Sam Altman was briefly ousted from OpenAI in November, there was all kinds of speculation that the company was developing its tech too quickly, that its for-profit ambitions had overwhelmed its altruistic intentions. Altman is now back at the head of his company, but whether or not OpenAI is still evolving too quickly remains to be seen. But Microsoft does now have a nonvoting board seat.

 

Funny thing about that: Microsoft actually offered jobs to OpenAI staffers during that brief period when Altman was voted off the island. So did Salesforce. OpenAI employees all but told Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff to go screw, but the sentiment stood as a reminder that while AI is poised to take many jobs, it also creates jobs in AI. The “learn to code” crowd has all new ammo. Even Biden’s executive order was clear about the fact that the US government wanted to attract the best and brightest in the field.

 

But that’s job creation, not job displacement. New technologies create jobs all the time, but with AI, some of those jobs pay pennies. What’s more, AI can also ask you to train it to do your job before picking up your tools. Going forward, the likelihood that AI will displace many entry-level jobs while creating a few highly skilled gigs seems high. The biggest questions in AI right now nearly all revolve around what these machines are learning from people, whether it’s human skill or human bias.

 

 

 

— Techmeme