As issues surrounding AI and NFTs continue to come to light, conversations about ethical uses of technology become more complex. This month, we are taking a look at stories that address the issues of data privacy in AI technology, the ongoing legal battlefield of NFTs, and digital strategies in theatre. 

The moral and ethical questions that surface considering such stories make for fascinating yet daunting discussions. What can or should companies be allowed to do with our likeness? Should NFTs be treated as stocks or a different type of asset? If these questions keep you up at night, read on for how tech is changing and how it is changing us.

Biden’s AI Bill of Rights Is Toothless Against Big Tech:

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has released a Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights. This draft bill includes five principles of individual rights:

• to control how their data is used;

• to opt out of automated decision-making;

• to live free from ineffective or unsafe algorithms;

• to know when AI is making a decision about them; and

• to not be discriminated against by unfair algorithms.

While necessary, this bill only applies to the federal government and does not hold big tech companies accountable. However, author Alondra Nelson believes that this bill is a crucial first step for regulating AI.

SEC Probing Bored Ape Creator Yuga Labs Over Unregistered Offerings: Report:

Yuga Labs, the creator of the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, is being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for potentially violating federal law for sales of its digital assets. The question over NFT sales is whether they are similar enough to stocks to require the same disclosure rules. Yuga Labs has stated that it is fully cooperating with the SEC in hopes of partnering with “the rest of the industry and regulators to define and shape the burgeoning ecosystem.”

Meta’s VR Headset Harvests Personal Data Right Off Your Face:

Meta’s new VR headset, Quest Pro, which contains internal cameras to track a user’s eye movements and facial expressions, has raised new privacy concerns. Although Meta has stated that the technology is not being used to predict users’ emotional states and that it deletes images collected from internal cameras, some data may be processed and stored on Meta servers. Data may also be used by external companies, which will be “will be subject to their own terms and privacy policies.” Some experts have expressed concerns over the matter. VR/AR consultant Avi Bar-Zeev offers additional concerns that Meta is emotionally exploiting users.

Is Tech Changing the Legacy of Theatremakers?

New efforts in digitally documenting theatre works are rising in popularity and may change the landscape of the theatre world. Creators are being encouraged to document their work for archival, grant writing, and accessibility purposes. Digital documentation can be used to inspire emerging and independent artists who make valuable contributions to the field. Some, however, express concerns about the balance between live and recorded theatre productions, citing the “ephemeral quality of live theatre” that recorded works risk losing.

Record Labels Say AI Music Generators Threaten Music Industry:

Much like those in the visual art realm, musicians and industry professionals fear that AI trained on copyrighted works infringes on artists’ ownership rights. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has released a statement that any AI software using its members’ music is not authorized to do so. They have called disseminated works resulting from AI-assisted creation methods “unauthorized copies or unauthorized derivative works of our members’ music.”