Mother’s Day Roundup - Elections, AI and more
A collection of thoughts and links before you enjoy your day
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Good morning from the Eastern Shore again. Get used to me saying that more over the coming months as I’ve rented the apartment above my friends’ garage for the summer. I’ll split my time between here and DC most of the time, with some trips to Wisconsin, California, Yellowstone, and Dublin sprinkled throughout.
My view for the summer.
Won’t lie. This past week started out really rough for me, but it has ended spectacularly. I can’t describe how much my mood improved and my anxiety reduced once I got out here. It’s supposed to be a beautiful day here, so my plan is to finish this newsletter, plant the tomatoes, peppers, and herbs we bought yesterday (I’m so excited - I’ve been wanting a garden for so long), run some errands to pick up stuff for the apartment and check the crab pots for the season.
First, a happy Mother’s Day to everyone out there.
has a beautiful piece on mothers that is worth reading, as I know this day brings mixed emotions to some people. I like to view this day as an opportunity to celebrate all the women who care for the people and animals in their lives. In fact, on Tuesday, I’m doing my first women’s salon dinner to do just that. I’ll report back on how it goes.I do want to give a shout-out to my mom, Nancy.
As you can see, she loves to fish - this is us on our lake in Wisconsin, where we have our annual family fishing tournament. That will kick off next weekend and go through Labor Day. This year I’ll only have about ten days to make my mark. Maybe the commissioner (aka Dad) will let me include rockfish in the mix. 😂
In addition to fishing, she loves to knit, cross-stitch and sew. I love how she has these shows she watches on YouTube with women sharing all the latest in various patterns. She also spends a lot of time doting on her two nephews. We love her a ton, and I hope she has a good day. I also hope she forgives me for her late present - though it will be worth it!
Here are a few other things to note before you leave:
Happy Election Day in Turkey and Thailand. In Turkey, Twitter and Facebook took down content violating local law, raising questions again about when and how online platforms should handle government requests. Politico has a good primer on the Turkey elections, and as of this writing, polls have closed in Thailand.
Is Democracy ready for its AI test? I talked to Axios last week about my favorite topic - all of the elections in 2024. It was already going to be chaotic and even more so now with all the new AI tools coming out. My main point to them is that "the 2024 election is going to be exponentially more challenging than it was in 2020 and 2016."
All the AI hearings. We’ve got three hearings in Congress this week about AI, including one with Open AI CEO Sam Altman. I’m already cringing at how bad some of the questions will be.
Meta releases response to “spirit of the policy” Oversight Board case. I missed this on May 9, but Meta released its response to the Oversight Board case that looked at the newsworthiness exception and spirit of the policy decisions regarding a case in Sri Lanka. What stands out to me in this case and the COVID misinfo policy advisory opinion is the pushback from Meta on being able to do things consistently at scale. For Sri Lanka, it was pushback on being able to label content every time a spirit of the policy decision is made. For COVID, it was having global vs local policies.
The new movie “Air” is fantastic. If you want something to watch today, I highly recommend the new movie Air about Nike signing Michael Jordan which is now available on Amazon Prime. The soundtrack is to die for - if you are an 80s fan. 😁
I hope you all have a lovely Sunday.
What I’m reading
Coda: Brazil takes on big tech
Politico EU: Digital Bridge: TTC primer — EU-India summit — AI Act gets real
Semafor: A new lab measures how algorithms impact different populations
Issues in Science and Technology: Misunderstanding Misinformation: What Misinformation Is and Isn’t
Bloomberg: Brazil Judge Orders Google to Testify Over Fake News Bill
European Parliament: AI Act: A Step Closer to the First Rules on Artificial Intelligence
Techdirt: Moderator Mayhem: A Mobile Game to See How Well You Can Handle Content Moderation
Kristen Soltis Anderson's Substack: “This Is the Bad Place”: 2024 Edition
Lawfare: Lawfare Podcast: Brian Fishman on Violent Extremism and Platform Liability
Integrity Institute: Transparency, Trade-offs, and Free Speech with Brandon Silverman
U.S. Department of State: Secretary Antony J. Blinken at Freedom House 2023 Annual Awards Ceremony
Google Blog: Google IO 2023: Building Responsible AI
Facebook: Introducing AI Sandbox and Expanding Meta Advantage Suite
Calendar
🚨NEW 🚨
May 16, 2023 - Open AI CEO Sam Altman Senate Hearing
May 16, 2023 - Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Hearing on Artificial Intelligence in Government
May 17, 2023 - House Judiciary Committee Hearing on AI and Intellectual Property
May 23, 2023 - Google Marketing Live (GML)
Topics to keep an eye on:
Facebook 2020 election research
TV shows about Facebook - Doomsday Machine and second season of Super Pumped
May 14, 2023 – Thailand election
May 14, 2023 – Turkey election
May 15-16: Copenhagen Democracy Summit
May 16, 2023 - Open AI CEO Sam Altman Senate Hearing
May 16, 2023 - Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Hearing on Artificial Intelligence in Government
May 17, 2023 - House Judiciary Committee Hearing on AI and Intellectual Property
May 13 and 27, 2023 – Mauritania election
May 21, 2023 – Greece election
May 21, 2023 – Timor-Leste election
May 24-26, 2023 - Nobel Prize Summit: Truth, Trust and Hope
May 30, 2023 - Atlantic Council Report Launch: Telegram, WeChat and WhatsApp useage in the United States
May: EU-India Trade and Technology Council meeting in Brussels
June 4, 2023 – Guinea Bissau election
June 5-9 - RightsCon
June 5 - 9 - WWDC - Apple developer event
June 5, 2023 - The European Commission, European parliament and EU member states are due to agree a final definition for political advertising
June 11, 2023 – Montenegro election
June 19, 2023 - Meta response due on COVID misinfo
June 24 - June 30 - Aspen Ideas Festival
June 24, 2023 – Sierra Leone election
June 25, 2023 – Guatemala election
TBD June: DFR Lab 360/OS
July 11-13, 2023 - TrustCon
July 2023 – Sudan election (likely to have further changes due clashes erupted mid-April, despite temporary humanitarian ceasefire,)
July 23, 2023 – Cambodia election
July or August 2023 – Zimbabwe election
August 10 - 13, 2023 - Defcon
August-2023 – Eswatini election
August 2023 - First GOP Presidential Primary Debate
Mid-September: All Tech Is Human - Responsible Tech Summit NYC
September 27-29, 2023: Athens Democracy Forum
September 28-29, 2023 - Trust & Safety Research Conference
TBD September: Atlantic Festival
TBD September: Unfinished Live
September 2023 – Bhutan election
September 2023 – Tuvalu election
September 9, 2023 – Maldives election
September 30, 2023 – Slovakia election
September 2023 – Rwanda election
October 2023 – Oman election
October 2023 Poland election
October 8, 2023 – Pakistan election
October 10, 2023 – Liberia election
October 14, 2023 – New Zealand election
October 22, 2023 – Switzerland election
October 29, 2023 – Argentina election
October 2023 – Gabon election
October 2023 – Ukraine election
November 20, 2023 – Marshall Islands election
November 29, 2023 – Argentina election
December 20, 2023 – Democratic Republic of the Congo election
December 2023 –Togo election
2023 or 2024 – Peru election
TBD – Dominica election
TBD – Luxembourg election
TBD – Myanmar election
TBD – Spain election
TBD – Gabon election
TBD – Madagascar election
TBD – Haiti election
TBD – Libya election
TBD – Singapore election
2024
January 2024 – Bangladesh election
January 2024 – Finland election
January 13, 2024 – Taiwan election
February 4, 2024 – El Salvador election
February 4, 2024 – Mali election
February 14, 2024 – Indonesia election
February 25, 2024 – Senegal election
February 25, 2024 – Belarus election
March 17, 2024 – Russia election
March 31, 2024 – Ukraine election
April 10, 2024 – South Korea election
April 2024 – Solomon Islands election
April 2024 – Maldives election
May 5, 2024 – Panama election
May 19, 2024 – Dominican Republic election
June 2024 – Mongolia election
July 7, 2024 – Mexico election
July 15 - 18, 2024 - Republican National Convention
August 19 - 22, 2024 - Democratic Convention, Chicago
October 27, 2024 – Uruguay election
October 2024 – Mozambique election
October 2024 – Chad election
November 2024 – Guinea Bissau election
November 2024 – Moldova election
November 2024 – Romania election
November 5, 2024 – United States of America election
November 12, 2024 – Palau election
December 2024 – Croatia election
TBD – Algeria election
TBD – Austria election
TBD – Belgium election
TBD – Botswana election
TBD – Burkina Faso election
TBD – Chad election
TBD – Comoros election
TBD – Croatia election
TBD – Dominica election
TBD – Egypt election
TBD – Ethiopia election
TBD – Georgia election
TBD – Ghana election
TBD – Iceland election
TBD – India election
TBD – Iran election
TBD – Jordan election
TBD – Kiribati election
TBD – Kuwait election
TBD – Lithuania election
TBD – Madagascar election
TBD – Mauritania election
TBD – Mauritius election
TBD – Montenegro election
TBD – North Korea election
TBD – North Macedonia election
TBD – Romania election
TBD – Rwanda election
TBD – San Marino election
TBD – Slovakia election
TBD – South Africa election
TBD – South Sudan election
TBD – Syria election
TBD – Tunisia election
TBD – United States of America election
TBD – Uzbekistan election
TBD – Venezuela election