By JAMES POLLARD, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Artificial intelligence is a matter of design — not destiny.

That’s the message from ten philanthropic foundations aiming to loosen the grip that the technology’s moneyed developers, fueled by an investing frenzy, hold over its evolution. Launched Tuesday under the name Humanity AI, the coalition is committing $500 million across the next five years to place human interests at the forefront of the technology’s rapid integration into daily life.

“Every day, people learn more about the ways AI is impacting their lives, and it can often feel like this technology is happening to us rather than with us and for us,” MacArthur Foundation President John Palfrey said in a statement. “The stakes are too high to defer decisions to a handful of companies and leaders within them.”

Artificial intelligence has been embraced as a productivity booster in fields such as software engineering or medicine. It could help students with a range of visual, speech, language and hearing impairments to execute tasks that come easily to others. Humanitarian groups are testing its ability to translate important documents for refugees. And some farmers find it useful for detecting pests in their hard-to-survey fields.

But others question whether its deployment is actually improving their quality of life. Some point out that real harms exist for children turning to AI chatbots for companionship. AI-generated deepfake videos contribute to the online spread of misinformation and disinformation. The electricity-hungry systems’ reliance on energy generated by fossil fuels contributes to climate change. And economists fear AI is taking jobs from young or entry-level workers.

The problem, according to Omidyar Network President Michele L. Jawando, is that tech giants aren’t investing en masse in the first set of use cases. They’re focused on products that may or may not help humans thrive.

Jawando pointed to OpenAI ‘s recent entrance into the online marketplace as an example. At its DevDay last week, the company touted ChatGPT’s new capabilities as a virtual merchant that can sell goods directly for Etsy sellers or deliver food from Uber Eats.

The coalition recognizes the private sector’s desire to maximize profits and governments’ interest in spurring innovation, according to Jawando. But between tech companies’ great influence and the Trump administration’s regulatory rollbacks to speed up AI technology construction, she said philanthropic leaders recognized the need for more capital and more collaboration to amplify the voice of civil society.

“We feel like Humanity AI can really answer the question: what do humans need for flourishing? What does that actually look like?” Jawando said. “Most of what we’re offered right now is efficiency. But that’s not flourishing. I don’t want my life to be efficient. I want my life to flourish. I want it to feel rich and robust and healthy and safe.”

Led by the MacArthur Foundation and Omidyar Network, Humanity AI seeks to take back agency by supporting technology and advocates centering people and the planet. Members must make grants in at least one of five priority areas identified by the coalition: advancing democracy, strengthening education, protecting artists, enhancing work or defending personal security.

The alliance of a broad range of philanthropies underscores the widespread concern. Its ranks represent humanities supporters such as the Mellon Foundation, tacklers of inequality in the Ford Foundation, an open internet grantmaker in the Mozilla Foundation, leading education funders such as Lumina Foundation, charitable behemoths such as the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and groups like the Siegel Family Endowment that explore technology’s societal impacts.

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They’re not the first philanthropic coalition to emerge this year with the goal of ensuring everyday people don’t get left behind. The Gates Foundation and Ballmer Group were among the funders who announced in July that they’d spend $1 billion over 15 years to help create AI tools for public defenders, parole officers, social workers and others who help Americans in precarious situations. Other efforts seek to improve AI literacy and expand access for entrepreneurs in low-income countries.

Humanity AI hopes to expand its coalition. Partners began coordinating grants this fall and will pool new money next year in a collaborative fund managed by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

Grantees include the National Black Tech Ecosystem Association, which builds diverse leadership pipelines in STEM; AI Now, a research institute at New York University studying AI’s social implications; and a Howard Law School initiative dedicated to developing AI solutions that advance civil rights.

“We can choose participation over control,” Mozilla Foundation Executive Director Nabiha Syed said in an emailed statement. “The systems shaping our lives must be powered by people, open by design, and fueled by imagination.”

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

Ciudadanos estadounidenses —muchos de ellos hombres latinos— han sido detenidos en interacciones con ICE como comúnmente se conoce al Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas de EE. UU.

(Flickr/ICE)

Desde que llegó al poder, el presidente Donald Trump inició una escalada para detener y deportar a inmigrantes, con la intención de sacar del país a un millón.

Sin embargo, ciudadanos estadounidenses —muchos de ellos hombres latinos— han sido detenidos en interacciones con ICE, como comúnmente se conoce al Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas de EE. UU.

En algunos casos, estos ciudadanos, bajo la sospecha de que residen ilegalmente en el país, han sido esposados, arrestados, recluidos en celdas y centros de detención para inmigrantes.

Si bien es difícil saber cuántos ciudadanos estadounidenses han sido detenidos en las redadas de inmigración, ya que el gobierno federal no cuenta con un registro completo de estos incidentes, reportes tanto de medios de comunicación como de organizaciones apuntan a más de una docena.

El pasado 7 de octubre, América’s Voice, un grupo progresista de defensa de la inmigración, publicó 15 ejemplos de ciudadanos estadounidenses detenidos en las operaciones de deportación masiva que se están llevando a cabo en varias ciudades y estados del país. 

En Chicago, a principios de octubre, los agentes de inmigración usaron tácticas más agresivas, como helicópteros, bombas de humo y gas lacrimógeno, que se han vuelto más frecuentes y visibles en la última semana. 

Así que para hablar sobre cómo los ciudadanos estadounidenses están quedando atrapados en el sistema de control migratorio del gobierno y lo que revela esto sobre la situación nacional, invitamos a Maribel Hastings, asesora de América’s Voice.

Más detalles en nuestra conversación a continuación.

Ciudad Sin Límites, el proyecto en español de City Limits, y El Diario de Nueva York se han unido para crear el pódcast “El Diario Sin Límites” para hablar sobre latinos y política. Para no perderse ningún episodio de nuestro pódcast “El Diario Sin Límites” síguenos en Spotify, Soundcloud, Apple Pódcast y Stitcher. Todos los episodios están allí. ¡Suscríbete!

The post PODCAST: ¿Están atrapando a ciudadanos estadounidenses en operaciones de inmigración? appeared first on City Limits.

DALLAS — On an otherwise imperfect evening, Minnesota Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt was perfect when it counted. He made 31 saves in regulation and in overtime, as the Wild saw a 3-0 lead slip away, but prevailed in a shootout for a 4-3 victory over the Kings on Monday at Grand Casino Arena.

Settling into the backup role behind Filip Gustavsson, Wallstedt foiled shootout attempts by Adrian Kempe, Trevor Moore, Kevin Fiala and Andrei Kuzmenko of Los Angeles, offering a celebratory punch of his blocker hand after the last one, which got the Wild their first home win of the season.

With that much success versus the four Kings, it was as if the Minnesota scouting staff had Wallstedt well-prepared for what might be coming. Not so, said the 22-year-old Swede. While there are plenty of scouting reports available, he doesn’t like to spend too much time with them.

“I had no idea. I like to keep it that way. A clean slate. Just go out, make the read, play off your feet and what you see,” Wallstedt said after his first career shootout win.

Following Wallstedt’s save on former Wild forward Fiala, Marco Rossi scored for Minnesota, setting up the goalie’s chance to clinch the two points.

“And then we scored, I just thought to myself, ‘This is the moment you’ve been dreaming for. You have the chance to win it for your team. Just go out and make the save the same way I’ve been doing it three shots before,’ ” Wallstedt said. “Obviously, that happened.”

His decision to eschew the shootout scouting reports and rely on skills and instincts is not uncommon among some of the better goalies in the NHL. Dallas puck-stopper Jake Oettinger, the Lakeville native who splits his summer time between his hometown and a western Wisconsin cabin, said you can over-think things if you know too much about the shooters.

“I used to look at a sheet of what everyone used to do, and I think that kind of got in my head a little bit,” Oettinger said after the Stars’ morning skate on Tuesday. “I would be not even reading the play, just kind of what their tendencies were.”

Oettinger won his first shootout of the season in Dallas’ second game, at Colorado, and said that his gut feelings and athleticism are the keys to the one-on-one contests that determine an extra point when games are tied after 65 minutes.

“Now, I just try to be an athlete and read the play and have fun,” he said. “I think I’ve done pretty well in shootouts since then.”

Wary of the Wild power play

The Stars were off on Monday and had a chance to watch the Wild’s win Monday. Like most in the NHL, they have taken note of Minnesota’s seven power-play goals over the course of two games while preparing for their head-to-head meeting on Tuesday night in Texas.

“We saw the three (goals) last night. They’re on a roll,” said Stars coach Glen Gulutzan, back for his second stint with the team in the wake of Peter DeBoer dismissal after last season. “It’s like anything else, when you get hot, you get hot. So, we’ve got a good penalty kill, but they’ve got some special players.”

The Dallas players said the most important approach was to simply stay out of the penalty box versus Minnesota.

“Every game you want to be smart, you don’t want to take any unnecessary penalties, but especially against a team that’s been buzzing on the power play early on,” said Stars center Wyatt Johnston. “You’ve got to be really smart with all the little stuff.”

Briefly

Minnesota made a potential bottom-six change on Tuesday, with a five-game road trip upcoming. After getting his first two NHL games at center on the Wild’s fourth line, rookie Hunter Haight was sent down to Iowa, and the Wild recalled Ben Jones to fill that spot. Jones, 26, began this season with Iowa. He logged 26 games for Minnesota last season but did not record a NHL point.

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By MICHELLE L. PRICE, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says the U.S. struck another small boat that he accused of carrying drugs in the waters off Venezuela.

The Republican president said Tuesday in a post on social media that six people aboard the vessel were killed in the strike and no U.S. forces were harmed. It’s the fifth deadly strike in the Caribbean as the Trump administration has asserted that it is treating alleged drug traffickers as unlawful combatants who must be met with military force.

Frustration with the administration has been growing on Capitol Hill among members of both parties. Some Republicans are seeking more information from the White House on the legal justification and details of the strikes. Democrats contend the strikes violate U.S. and international law.