Unbelievable video shows Tesla electric semitruck go head-to-head with a diesel 18-wheeler — see who won

Sara Klimek
Mon, August 14, 2023

So far, electric vehicle giant Tesla has focused on developing the next generation of passenger vehicles. But, a video released on Twitter shows the power and capacity of Tesla’s new Semi truck as it easily drives up a steep hill on the Donner Pass.

Conventional diesel semitrucks have historically struggled to get up to highway speed going up steep slopes. Many of them may reach only 60 miles per hour within 30 seconds, which can block other motorists from passing and slow down the speed of traffic. The Tesla Semi, in comparison, can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in less than 20 seconds.

Tesla currently uses its semitrucks to carry materials between its California and Nevada facilities. Therefore, it’s likely the Semi recorded in the video was carrying freight.

Besides the apparent benefits of traversing across graded surfaces, Tesla’s Semi may also revolutionize the trucking and hauling industry in terms of emissions. Combination trucks account for nearly 18% of motor vehicle emissions nationwide. Tesla’s Semi has a smaller footprint and opens up the opportunity to be powered by alternative renewable sources like solar and wind.

The Semi uses 2 kilowatt hours of energy per mile and can travel up to 500 miles before needing a charge. Like its smaller EV counterparts, the Semi needs to charge for only 30 minutes to recover 70% of its range capacity.

Trucking companies will see drastic financial returns from purchasing electric Semis rather than diesel vehicles. The company estimates buyers will save more than $200,000 on fuel in the first three years of ownership. The remote diagnostic system also decreases the maintenance and repairs needed on the vehicle, suggesting that the long-term cost of owning one may be more optimal than an internal combustion engine.

The first Tesla Semis were sold to PepsiCo in 2022, and Tesla remains one of the predominant users of the vehicles for its own trucking purposes. The company expects more of its Semis to be on the road in the coming years.

A theoretical physicist says AI is just a ‘glorified tape recorder’ and people’s fears about it are overblown

Sawdah Bhaimiya
Mon, August 14, 2023 at 5:33 AM MDT·2 min read

Michio Kaku, a theoretical physicist, says AI can't distinguish true from false.

Theo Wargo/Getty Images

A theoretical physicist shut down the fears around AI saying it's just a "glorified tape recorder."


Michio Kaku said chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT can't even distinguish true from false.


An AI godfather also said that fears about AI threatening humanity are "preposterously ridiculous."

A theoretical physicist shut down the hype around the dangers of AI saying chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT are just "glorified tape recorders."

Michio Kaku, a professor of theoretical physics at City College of New York and CUNY Graduate Center, was interviewed by CNN's Fareed Zakaria about his thoughts on AI.

"It takes snippets of what's on the web created by a human, splices them together, and passes it off as if it created these things," he said. "And people are saying: 'Oh my God, it's a human, it's humanlike.'"

Kaku explained that chatbots cannot distinguish true from false: "That has to be put in by a human."

AI tools like ChatGPT and Google Bard are able to hold conversations and do powerful mathematical calculations, among other skills.

This has triggered concerns about the capabilities and risks associated with AI. Chatbots are usually based on large language models that are fed large amounts of information. They are also trained by humans to help improve their responses.

In March, billionaire Elon Musk and multiple AI experts signed an open letter calling for a six-month moratorium on the development of AI more powerful than OpenAI's GPT-4. It cited the potential risk of AI causing the loss of control of civilization.

Yann LeCun, dubbed an AI "godfather" and Meta's chief AI scientist, shared similar sentiments with Kaku saying that fears about AI posing a threat to humanity are "preposterously ridiculous."

"Will AI take over the world? No, this is a projection of human nature on machines," LeCun said at a press event in Paris in June, per BBC News.

INDONESIA
Burning mangrove trees for a living: 'I'd quit tomorrow if I could'

Raja Lumbanrau and Lorna Hankin - BBC World Service
Mon, August 14, 2023 

Nurhadi uses the two furnaces he owns in the village of Batu Ampar, Indonesia for charcoal production

Indonesia has more mangrove trees than any other country but there's growing concern about the "dangerous" rate they are being cut down, turned into charcoal and exported to places such as Europe, China and Japan. People involved in the work know the trees are important for the environment and would like to quit but they see no other way to survive.

Inside a wooden hut, near his house on the island of Borneo, Nurhadi keeps two furnaces burning all year round. The 68-year-old employs at least a dozen people.

Four men cut up wood collected from mangrove trees, while another throws it into a furnace made from earth and stones. Once burned, the wood is cooled and packaged, ready to be sold.

Mangrove wood is very hard and dense but not very durable, which makes it ideal for charcoal production and particularly good for barbeques. But it is a resource-intensive process with little return.

Sixteen tonnes of raw material only produces three tonnes of charcoal. "If I produce less than three tonnes, it's a loss," Nurhadi says. Once costs are taken into account, he estimates he only makes a profit of about $1,250 (£1,000) per year.

"There's no money in cutting down mangroves. Nobody gets rich from charcoal furnaces. We do this to have food on our plate," he explains.

A conversation he once had with a government official sums up his predicament: "He asked me: 'Are you ready to leave the charcoal business?' I answered: 'If you can provide farming land or other opportunities, I'd quit tomorrow.'"

Almost half of the 9,000 people in Nurhadi's village, Batu Ampar, rely on mangrove charcoal for a living, a tradition dating back to the 1940s. Some families like Nurhadi's have been doing this for generations - his father and grandfather owned the same furnaces, so he says this is the only work he knows.

Indonesia is home to 20% of the world's mangroves, and Nurhadi's area, the Kuba Raya Regency has the biggest mangrove forest in the western part of Indonesian Borneo.

But the number of furnaces is increasing - in 2000 there were 90 but today there are at least 490 - and that is speeding up deforestation.


BBC graphic showing deforestation in the region from 2006 to 2020

Arsyad Al Amin, who is involved in a local research project, predicts that the Batu Ampar mangrove forest will only last for another 74 years if things carry on as they are. "It will all be gone in 2096," the researcher from the Bogor Agricultural Institute says.

Thick, dense forest areas of mangrove canopy have decreased so much that bare patches can now be seen from planes overhead.

"If there is no effort to accelerate rehabilitation, this is dangerous. We desperately need intervention," he warns.
Mangrove forests:

Tackle climate change, by reducing carbon in the atmosphere - some do this up to 10 times better than forests on land


Protect people from coastal erosion, storm surges and tsunamis


Provide nurseries for tropical fish


Shield coral reefs from storms and heat waves


Boost economies of many developing countries

Source: The Ocean Agency

Deep in the forest, an hour north of Batu Ampar village by boat, dozens of mangrove trees have been cut down. The people living along the river breathe in air mingled with the smoke coming from rows of furnaces.

There are areas in this forest where it is legal to take wood, but as the number of furnaces grows, it gets harder to source raw materials and loggers venture further into the protected areas.

Among the sound of monkey chatter and birdsong is the unmistakable sound of a chainsaw revving up.

We speak to some men who are cutting down an average-sized mangrove tree. "We would not cut down the big trees," says one lumberjack who refuses to reveal his name because he is operating in a protected forest. He's wearing minimal safety gear. "A logger died from being crushed by wood when cutting," he says. "This is a high risk job, but my children need to eat."

Local officials claim action against illegal logging is hard to enforce

The local environment and forestry agency claims it's been hard to enforce the regulations on illegal logging.

"There are too many home furnaces and a large number of locals involved in this activity," spokesman Adi Yani says.

He also thinks that if they impose the rules strictly "it has the potential to cause social unrest".

"Repressive law enforcement" was carried out a few years ago against loggers and furnace owners in Batu Ampar village, says an official with the local government, Herbimo Utoyo. But, he adds, "it never reached court because it is viewed as a tradition, a culture".

He also says the government has offered to train people how to farm honey from the forest and produce palm sugar to try to move them away from the charcoal industry, but he admits: "It hasn't been successful yet. It's hard to break something that has been done from generation to generation."

Illegal logging has turned many of Indonesia's forested areas sparse

But one man who quit the charcoal business says the government needs to do more. "We feel like we were left alone without the government's support. If they do have programmes, maybe they only came to the head of the village. No-one came to us," 39-year-old Suheri says.

Ten years ago, he used to run two furnaces but decided to stop after a peatland fire smothered his village in smoke. "I thought that if the fire happened in our mangrove forest, we'd be devastated," he explains.

Before the pandemic, he tried farming mud crab in mangrove aquaculture, but the venture failed. "I suffered a huge loss, and I am in debt because of it," he says. Now he collects honey from the forest's bees instead.

Suheri uses his boat to navigate the waterways and can spend hours looking for beehives that are ready to be harvested.

When he spots one, he puts on a homemade hat with a veil, climbs up the tree and uses smoke from burned nipah leaves to distract the bees. "There are many risks with collecting honey - mud, wild animals, snakes and crocodiles. The least of the risks is getting stung by the bees," he says with a little laugh.

Suheri says he is determined not to return to charcoal production

If he is lucky, Suheri can collect up to five bottles of honey in a day, with one bottle of raw, wild forest honey selling for $10 (£8). It's a very good price but he says he can't count on just honey for a living because "the harvesting season is uncertain".

When he's not in the forest looking for honey, Suheri breeds croaker fish but the eggs are expensive and there is a high chance they will die.

Even thought it's not easy, he says he is determined to find something other than the furnaces to make money, in the hope it inspires others in his village to stop cutting down mangrove trees to make charcoal.

"I have to do better... If I want people to change, I have to succeed!" he exclaims.

SAG-AFTRA Will No Longer Approve Indie Projects Written Under WGA Contract

Gene Maddaus
Mon, August 14, 2023

SAG-AFTRA announced Monday that it will no longer grant interim agreements to independent projects that were written under a Writers Guild of America contract.

The union has already given permission for 207 independent projects to continue to film during the strike, including ones with stars like Jason Bateman, Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey.

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SAG-AFTRA argued that the agreements supported the strike because they involved independent producers who agreed to all of the union’s demands. But they have caused considerable backlash within the union, as some members felt they undermined the strike’s overall impact.

Monday’s announcement was the first concession to that backlash. The union agreed that going forward, it will not approve projects that were written under a WGA contract and will be produced in the U.S.

“We have been advised by the WGA that this modification will assist them in executing their strike strategy, and we believe it does not undermine the utility and effectiveness of ours,” the guild announced Monday. “It is a win-win change.”

The move is a signal of solidarity with the WGA strike, which began on May 2. The WGA strike rules forbid members from engaging in “writing services,” but do not preclude WGA-covered scripts from being produced.

The SAG-AFTRA decision will not affect the 207 projects that have already been approved. In order to obtain an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA, the producers must show they do not have financing from companies in the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. They must also agree to the latest terms proposed by SAG-AFTRA before the strike was called on July 13.

The contracts will ultimately be modified to conform to the whatever agreement the AMPTP reaches with SAG-AFTRA.

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CRYPTO CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Testimony from Sam Bankman-Fried's trusted inner circle will be used to convict him, prosecutors say

LARRY NEUMEISTER
Mon, August 14, 2023 

 FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried leaves Manhattan federal court in New York, Feb. 16, 2023. Prosecutors said Monday, Aug. 14, they'll use testimony from Bankman-Fried's “trusted inner circle” of former executives at his collapsed cryptocurrency empire against him at an October trial. (

NEW YORK (AP) — Testimony from FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s “trusted inner circle” of former executives at his collapsed cryptocurrency empire will be used to prove at an October trial that he misappropriated billions of dollars from his investors to fuel his businesses, make illegal campaign contributions and enrich himself, prosecutors said Monday.

Prosecutors made the assertions in papers filed in Manhattan federal court, where Bankman-Fried is charged with defrauding investors in his businesses and illegally diverted millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency from customers using his FTX exchange. He has pleaded not guilty.

The court filing, in which prosecutors describe evidence they plan to present to jurors, came three days after Bankman-Fried was sent to a federal jail in Brooklyn to await trial by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who said there was probable cause to believe he had tried to tamper with witness testimony at least twice since his December arrest.

It also came on the same day that prosecutors filed a streamlined indictment that contains the seven charges Bankman-Fried faces at the Oct. 2 trial — but there's no longer a campaign finance charge for now, though it could go to trial later if they are found to conform with the terms of an extradition treaty with the Bahamas.

Still, prosecutors said in the latest indictment that Bankman-Fried misappropriated customer money to help fund over $100 million in political contributions in advance of the 2022 election. The indictment said he sought to “maximize FTX's political influence” and use “these connections with politicians and government officials to falsely burnish the public image of FTX as a legitimate exchange.”

Late Monday, Bankman-Fried's lawyers filed their own court papers related to trial evidence. In them, they asked that the trial judge exclude evidence about the FTX bankruptcy, the solvency of FTC and its affiliated trading platform, Alameda Research, and their ability to pay customers back.

They also asked that the judge ban prosecutors from telling jurors that Bankman-Fried resigned from FTX. They said they may oppose the prosecution's plans to introduce evidence related to severed or withdrawn counts, such as the campaign finance charge.

Before Friday, Bankman Fried, 31, had been living with his parents in Palo Alto, California, after signing a $250 million personal recognizance bond following his extradition from the Bahamas last December.

Prosecutors recently sought his detention, saying he had tried to intimidate his former girlfriend, Caroline Ellison — the onetime CEO of Alameda Research — by releasing some of her writing to a journalist.

On Monday, the government said they would rely on testimony from Ellison, FTX co-founder Gary Wang and former FTX engineering chief Nishad Singh to show jurors “the unlawful conduct directed and undertaken by the defendant.”

All three have pleaded guilty to criminal charges in cooperation agreements with the government that could earn them leniency at sentencing.

Prosecutors said they “formed the defendant's trusted inner circle during the course of the conspiracy” and their testimony will be supplemented by multiple former employees of Alameda and FTX along with several victims, including customers, lenders and investors.

Other evidence will consist of financial records, Google documents and spreadsheets, and private communications, they added.

A spokesperson for Bankman-Fried declined comment on Monday.

Meanwhile, the judge on Monday granted a request by defense lawyers that their client be supplied his daily prescribed medications for depression and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

UN to hold emergency meeting on Azerbaijan's blockade of road from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh

EDITH M. LEDERER
Mon, August 14, 2023 

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting Wednesday in response to a call from Armenia saying the mainly Armenian-populated region of Nagorno-Karabakh in neighboring Azerbaijan is blockaded and 120,000 people are facing hunger and “a full-fledged humanitarian catastrophe.”

Armenia’s U.N. Ambassador Mher Margaryan asked for the meeting on the dire situation in Nagorno-Karabakh in a letter to the ambassador of the United States, which holds the Security Council presidency this month.

The U.S. Mission to the U.N. said Monday the emergency open meeting will take place on Wednesday afternoon.

In his letter to Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Margaryan said Azerbaijan’s complete blockade since July 15 of the Lachin Corridor – the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia – has created severe shortages of food, medicine and fuel.

“The deliberate creation of unbearable life conditions for the population is nothing but an act of mass atrocity targeting the indigenous people of Nagorno-Karabakh and forcing them to leave their homeland,” he said, stressing that this constitutes “an existential threat to them.”

Margaryan asked the Security Council, which is charged with ensuring international peace and security, “to prevent mass atrocities including war crimes, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and genocide.”

Nagorno-Karabakh came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by the Armenian military in separatist fighting that ended in 1994. Armenian forces also took control of substantial territory around the Azerbaijani region.

Azerbaijan regained control of the surrounding territory in a six-week war with Armenia in 2020. A Russia-brokered armistice that ended the war left the region’s capital, Stepanakert, connected to Armenia only by the Lachin Corridor, along which Russian peacekeeping forces were supposed to ensure free movement.

Margaryan accused Azerbaijan of violating the Russian-brokered armistice and international humanitarian law as well as orders by the International Court of Justice in February and July. The U.N.’s highest court said in its orders that Azerbaijan should “take all measures to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directors,” the Armenian ambassador said.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry has accused Armenia of violating its territorial integrity and sovereignty and of smuggling weapons into Nagorno-Karabakh.

Last week, the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court warned that Azerbaijan is preparing genocide against ethnic Armenians in its Nagorno-Karabakh region and called for the Security Council to bring the matter before the international tribunal.

Luis Moreno Ocampo said in a report requested by a group of Armenians, including the country’s president, that as a result of the blockade “there is a reasonable basis to believe that a genocide is being committed.”

He said the U.N. convention defines genocide as including “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction.”

Privately held Esmark makes offer for US Steel, sets up bidding contest for iconic steelmaker

ALEXANDRA OLSON
Mon, August 14, 2023 






 A water tower at United States Steel Corp.'s Edgar Thomson Plant in Braddock, Pa., is seen, Thursday, May 7, 2020. On Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023, U.S. Steel said that it rejected a $7.3 billion buyout proposal from rival Cleveland Cliffs and was reviewing “strategic alternatives” after receiving several unsolicited offers. 

(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)


NEW YORK (AP) — Industrial conglomerate Esmark said Monday it has made an all-cash offer to buy U.S. Steel that values the iconic steelmaker at $7.8 billion, topping an earlier offer from rival Cleveland-Cliffs.

On Sunday, U.S. Steel said it had rejected a cash and stock offer from Cleveland-Cliffs that was valued at $7.3 billion as of the close of trading Friday. U.S. Steel also said it had received offers for all or parts of the company from several parties and was evaluating its options.

Pittsburgh-based Esmark is run by James Bouchard, a former vice president in U.S. Steel's European operations. In an interview, Bouchard said he is interested in modernizing U.S. Steel and keeping the company under American ownership.

Besides its steel-producing and distribution business, privately held Esmark has operations in aviation, oil and gas exploration, real estate and other industries.

Cleveland-Cliffs is the largest producer of flat-rolled steel and iron in North America. Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel has been a symbol of industrialization since it was founded in 1901 by J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie and others, though its stock price has languished in recent years as steel prices have fluctuated.

In Monday trading on Wall Street, U.S. Steel shares soared 36.8% to close at $31.08. Cleveland-Cliffs shares rose 8.8% to $15.98.

WELCOME TO ESMARK
Press Room

The Esmark Center

In October 2008, Founder James P. Bouchard brought the Esmark legacy and brand name back to life for a third time, and today continues to refine its pathfinder business model that has propelled the company into a $400 million dollar enterprise in just three years.

Esmark is a diversified, privately-held family company with a portfolio of industrial companies with strong roots in the steel industry. Over the years, Esmark has diversified its interests and operations into a number of businesses engaged in the industrial and commodity sectors.

Esmark (a former publicly traded company on NASDAQ: ESMK) has focused on several key industries including steel services, oil and gas exploration, aviation, real estate, business services, technology and sports management.

Today, Esmark’s two largest business segments are steel services and oil and gas production. Since 2009 the company has been reacquiring some of its original steel assets that followed its growth from humble beginnings in Chicago to becoming the fourth largest American steel producer before the sale of its largest asset in 2008. Led by Founder, Chairman and CEO James P. Bouchard, Esmark’s management team has over a century of experience in executive management, strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, finance, purchasing, sales, and operations. Together, this team is rebuilding a company that will once again blend the best of its respective skills and backgrounds to deliver significant returns to its shareholders.

Esmark’s rapid rise to prominence began with its first acquisitions in 2003: East Chicago, Indiana-based Electric Coating Technologies, Inc. and Chicago Heights, Illinois-based Sun Steel, providing the company with a strong foundation into the steel service center and converter segments of the industry. Over the course of the next four years, Esmark acquired seven other service centers, painted products, and steel distribution companies that quickly propelled the company into a leading provider of value-added steel products in the Midwest with more than $600 million in annual revenue by 2006. By that time, the company had a market base stretching across the Midwest with more than 2,000 customers engaged in a diverse range of industries. During its expansion Esmark also built a number of strategic partnerships and joint ventures with leading steel companies from around the world to purchase, process, and distribute steel products throughout the U.S.

Esmark successfully completed the first hostile tender/reverse merger in the history of the United States with the combination of Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel Corporation and Esmark in 2007 and demonstrated its commitment to shareholder value with the successful sale of Esmark to OAO Severstal in August of 2008. Esmark was founded in 2003 at 25 cents per share, with an enterprise value of $2 million and revenue of $4 million. The sale to OAO Severstal was for $19.25 per share with an enterprise value of $1.3 billion and 2008 revenue of $3 billion.

Clawed blue creature found in pet aquariums worldwide turns out to be new species

Aspen Pflughoeft
Mon, August 14, 2023 

Far from its home in Indonesia, a blue, clawed creature moved around an aquarium. Scientists peered into the tank, studying their pet-turned-specimen — and discovered a new species.

Researchers in Czechia acquired several freshwater crayfish from a pet trader specializing in “ornamental aquatic animals,” according to a study published Aug. 10 in the journal Zootaxa. Crayfish are also known as crawfish or crawdads.

Freshwater crayfish are “popular ornamental animals” in the pet trade, researchers said. Several different species are all sold under the common name of “blue moon crayfish.” These species are collected in Indonesia, then exported to Europe, North America and Japan to fill aquariums worldwide.

Over a span of eight years, researchers found five distinct blue crayfish — and discovered a new species: Cherax woworae, or the steel blue crayfish, the study said.


The steel blue crayfish is “moderately-sized,” reaching about 2 inches in length and just under an inch in width, researchers said. It has two equal-sized and multi-colored claws. Its body has a “steel blue” color with “marbled sides.”

Photos show the crayfish. It has dark blue legs and an orange-tipped tail. From arm to tip, its claws change from turquoise blue to peachy orange to black.

A Cherax woworae, or steel blue crayfish, sitting on fabric.

The new species was named Cherax woworae after Daisy Wowor, a crustacean scientist and curator at the Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense in Java, Indonesia, the study said.

Steel blue crayfish are known to burrow and are native to the western coast of New Guinea, the Indonesian side of the island, the study said. The species has also been found in “thermal waters” in Hungary. The Hungarian population was “probably released by irresponsible hobbyists and originate from the pet trade.”

Researchers recommended field surveys to determine the full distribution of the new species.

The new species was identified based on its coloring and body shape, the study said. DNA analysis found the species had between 5.6% and 13.8% genetic divergence from other freshwater crayfish.

The research team included Jiří Patoka, Surya Gentha Akmal, Martin Bláha and Antonín Kouba.

UK

Rishi Sunak criticises social media craze that led to disorder
ITS THE LAW THAT'S THE CAUSE

Stephen Stafford & PA Media - BBC News
Tue, August 15, 2023 

The Prime Minister has condemned the way looting and disruption has been organised on social media as "appalling" and "unacceptable".

Rishi Sunak's comments follow calls by the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) for parents to be held accountable for children involved in criminal social media crazes

Disorder in London's Oxford Street spread last week after online rumours.

Mr Sunak said those involved should face "the full force of the law".

Nine people were arrested after trouble broke out on 9 August when social media videos urged people to turn up and cause disorder.

West End stores were forced to close their shutters and lock customers inside during the looting bid, which was reportedly inspired by a social media craze encouraging people to take part in an "Oxford Street JD robbery".

Rishi Sunak made the comments about the disorder in London following a visit to a hospital in Milton Keynes

Asked what he made of the disturbances, which occurred while he was on holiday in the US, Mr Sunak told broadcasters: "I have got to say it is appalling.

"Criminal damage, criminal behaviour is unacceptable.

"I fully support the police in bringing those people to justice - because that type of behaviour is simply unacceptable in our society."

Dispersal orders were also imposed in Southend after posts encouraging anti-social behaviour.

Donna Jones, who is PCC for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight as well as chair of the APCC, said that such incidents were organised and shared on social media and were a "real indication of societal breakdown".

She said the trend for social media crazes was "incredibly worrying" and called for action from social media companies.

"This is mindless vandalism, and it's also criminal activity in terms of shoplifting and theft, looting, mass looting," she said.

"This is taking away police hours from operational policing that they should be doing to keep genuine people that need protecting safe."

Ms Jones said parents could be forced to pay the fines for the criminal behaviour of their children under the age of 16, or under 18 if in full-time education.

"We need to send a clear message - this is not acceptable and the parents need to be held accountable," she said.

She said another social media craze involved teenagers in Southampton goading others into taking paracetamol.

BBC Verify searched TikTok to see whether there were recent videos about a paracetamol challenge involving teenagers in Southampton but couldn't find any.

They asked TikTok whether any had existed but had been deleted by them.

TikTok said: "These claims are simply wrong. We have found no evidence to support them and this content has not trended on TikTok. We have written to the government with the facts to clear up these misrepresentations."

Ms Jones said a "handful" of children were admitted to hospital in Southampton as a result of an alleged paracetamol-taking challenge.

Southampton City Council said the incident happened at Southampton Central train station, and involved children aged between 15 and 17.

It said: "We are aware of the incident in question and are continuing to work across the appropriate agencies as part of ongoing investigations and to ensure those involved are fully supported. We are unable to comment any further."

"I don't think [teenagers] understand that the fun that goes along with it - as they see it as fun - could actually potentially be very, very worrying," she added.

"This is taking up much needed ambulance time, police time and of course we can't afford for that to happen and I think parents need to get involved."

NHS advice is that paracetamol is safe to take as a painkiller when used correctly and when the dosage recommendations are followed, but can cause serious liver damage if those are exceeded.

Ms Jones called for TikTok in particular to investigate its role in organising gatherings and harmful challenges.

In a statement, TikTok said: "We have seen no evidence to support these claims and we have zero tolerance for content facilitating or encouraging criminal activities.

"We have over 40,000 safety professionals dedicated to keeping TikTok safe - if we find content of this nature, we remove it and actively engage with law enforcement on these issues."

OUTSOURCING

Firm regrets taking Facebook moderation work

Chris Vallance - BBC News
Tue, August 15, 2023 

Facebook on a screen

A firm which was contracted to moderate Facebook posts in East Africa has said with hindsight it should not have taken on the job.

Former Kenya-based employees of Sama - an outsourcing company - have said they were traumatised by exposure to graphic posts.

Some are now taking legal cases against the firm through the Kenyan courts.

Chief executive Wendy Gonzalez said Sama would no longer take work involving moderating harmful content.

Warning - this article contains distressing content

Some former employees have described being traumatised after viewing videos of beheadings, suicide and other graphic material at the moderation hub, which the firm ran from 2019.

Former moderator Daniel Motaung previously told the BBC the first graphic video he saw was "a live video of someone being beheaded".

Mr Motaung is suing Sama and Facebook's owner Meta. Meta says it requires all companies it works with to provide round-the-clock support. Sama says certified wellness counsellors were always on hand.

Ms Gonzalez told the BBC that the work - which never represented more than 4% of the firm's business - was a contract she would not take again. Sama announced it would end it in January.

"You ask the question: 'Do I regret it?' Well, I would probably put it this way. If I knew what I know now, which included all of the opportunity, energy it would take away from the core business I would have not entered [the agreement]."

She said there were "lessons learned" and the firm now had a policy not to take on work that included moderating harmful content. The company would also not do artificial intelligence (AI) work "that supports weapons of mass destruction or police surveillance".

Wendy Gonzales said "lessons" had been learned

Citing continuing litigation, Ms Gonzalez declined to answer if she believed the claims of employees who said they had been harmed by viewing graphic material. Asked if she believed moderation work could be harmful in general, she said it was "a new area that absolutely needs study and resources".

Stepping stone

Sama is an unusual outsourcing firm. From the beginning its avowed mission was to lift people out of poverty by providing digital skills and an income doing outsourced computing tasks for technology firms.

In 2018 the BBC visited the firm, watching employees from low-income parts of Nairobi earn $9 (£7) a day on "data annotation" - labelling objects in videos of driving, such as pedestrians and street lights, which would then be used to train artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Employees interviewed said the income had helped them escape poverty.

The company still works mainly on similar computer vision AI projects, that do not expose workers to harmful content, she says.

"I'm super proud of the fact that we've moved over 65,000 people out of poverty," Ms Gonzales said.

It's important, she believes, that African people are involved in the digital economy and the development of AI systems.

Throughout the interview Ms Gonzales reiterated that the decision to take the work was motivated by two considerations: that moderation was important, necessary work undertaken to prevent social media users from harm. And that it was important that African content was moderated by African teams.

"You cannot expect somebody from Sydney, India, or the Philippines to be able to effectively moderate local languages in Kenya or in South Africa or beyond," she said.

She also revealed that she had done the moderation work herself.

Moderators' pay at Sama began at around 90,000 Kenyan shillings ($630) per month, a good wage by Kenyan standards comparable to nurses, firemen and bank officers, Ms Gonzalez said.

Asked if she would do the work for that amount of money she said "I did do the moderation but that's not my job in the company".
Training AI

Sama also took on work with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.

One employee, Richard Mathenge, whose job was to read through huge volumes of text the chatbot was learning from and flag anything harmful, spoke to the BBC's Panorama programme. He said he was exposed to disturbing content.

Sama said it cancelled the work when staff in Kenya raised concerns about requests relating to image-based material which was not in the contract. Ms Gonzalez said "we wrapped up this work immediately".

OpenAI said it has its own "ethical and wellness standards" for our data annotators and "recognises this is challenging work for our researchers and annotation workers in Kenya and around the world".

But Ms Gonzalez regards this type of AI work as another form of moderation, work that the company will not be doing again.

"We focus on non-harmful computer vision applications, like driver safety, and drones, and fruit detection and crop disease detection and things of that nature," she said.

"Africa needs a seat at the table when it comes to the development of AI. We don't want to continue to reinforce biases. We need to have people from all places in the world who are helping build this global technology."