Adobe’s artificial intelligence generated sexualized images in response to prompts for a fourth grade book project. The incident coincided with the release of new state guidelines to prevent harmful AI in schools.
Tech
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Modern parenting means apps for sports, school and more. Where is the data going?
California is a national leader in data privacy, yet state law has gaps that allow companies to collect and sell students’ data. A new bill from Assemblymember Dawn Addis aims to add protections.
Posted inLatest News
Mapping 218,000 Santa Cruz parking citations: UCSC student tracked city’s parking tickets in real time
Third-year UC Santa Cruz student Ivan Kuria built a website that maps and tracks every parking ticket issued in the city of Santa Cruz, and also shows daily tickets going back years. Although the site no longer updates, viewers can still see daily maps of tickets issued between 2020 and Feb. 11.
Posted inBusiness & Technology
Lights out for Ambient Photonics’ pioneering solar cell technology amid funding shortfalls
Ambient Photonics’ low-light solar cell technology showed great promise for helping reduce reliance on single-use batteries in electronic devices. The company chose Scotts Valley for its headquarters and manufacturing facility, even as many technology companies were moving their production facilities overseas. Despite promising deals with major consumer electronics producers, the company fell short on funding and had to fold.
Posted inHealth & Wellness
Can AI help make homeless Californians healthier?
A California company is using artificial intelligence to help diagnose homeless Californians. The technology promises better access to health care, but it also raises questions.
Posted inEducation
Pacific Collegiate School changes laptop policy after student privacy concerns
Weeks after issuing Chromebooks to all students, the charter school on Santa Cruz’s Westside revised its laptop policy after student feedback, adding limits on monitoring and an opt-out for older students.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
California investigates Elon Musk’s AI company after ‘avalanche’ of complaints about sexual content
Attorney General Rob Bonta said his office is looking into whether a new artificial-intelligence image editing tool from Elon Musk’s company violates California law.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Mass surveillance is not public safety – Santa Cruz must cancel its Flock contract
Mass surveillance cameras operated by the private company Flock Safety are spreading across Santa Cruz County, putting residents’ privacy, safety and constitutional rights at risk, warns a group of activists working to get the cameras removed.
Posted inBusiness & Technology
How Californians can use a new state website to block hundreds of data brokers
A new tool called DROP lets California residents fill out a few forms to keep their personal data from being tracked or sold by data brokers.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Yes, artificial intelligence will probably end the human race. Just not in the way you think.
Time magazine didn’t declare artificial intelligence itself 2025’s “person of the year” (that honor went to its architects), but it sure could have, as this was the year AI officially passed the Turing test. The question now, writes retired firefighter Daniel DeLong, is how it will take us out.
