ML & AI can help to identify archaic language in in the corpus of existing laws

Good news!

Fax and Telegram? New York’s Archaic Requirements Get an A.I. Overhaul. - The New York Times "Gov. Kathy Hochul will direct state agencies to eliminate or modernize antiquated requirements, and examine if task forces or councils have outlived their purpose."

Credits: Stanford HAI newsletter

Britain needs tax code simplification

The same or similar can be said about the convoluted tax code of many other Western countries! This has been known for several decades and various economists have raised the issue.

Britain needs tax simplification

Chart of the day

How refreshing this downward trend! When the busybody lawmakers do less!

Fewer and less laws, more freedom!

Why do elected representatives repeal so few laws?

Source

 

French Senate Backs Bill Defining Rape as Any Non-consensual Act with Palki Sharma. Really!

I don't believe this makes things easier in court regarding sometimes difficult cases of alleged rape!

Second, it may result in being used as a weapon or a means of extortion by a woman against a man.

What if a woman first consents and then reconsiders etc.

In my view, this is perhaps a feel good legislation!

Men beware of the battle of the sexes!

Arizona, United Kingdom and other Western jurisdictions force porn websites to require age verification of visitors

How stupid is that! How many adults will be pissed off by that! Busybody legislators at their worst!

When child protection laws goes overboard! 

Where does this end? Will also Google search have to ask users for age verification when they Google for porn pix?

Is it not primarily the responsibility of parents to prevent their young children from accessing such sites (and other age inappropriate sites)?

Will not businesses provide child protection as well when demanded by parents?

Why do not e.g. devices used by children advertise/signal that a child is using this device?

Was is not one of the motivations to make pornography easier available in Western countries since the 1960s or so, because it prevents some sexual assaults etc. on women? What a retrograde development!

It appears by using e.g. a VPN (choosing a location in another country) one can easily circumvent these age verification procedures implemented by porn sites, but not without hassles.

What people do for short lived fame, notoriety and attention!

Sentimentalism (Gefühlsduselei in German) instead of arguments! If every member of parliament would so similar things, the parliament would become like a circus! What a spectacle! Who voted for this woman?

Did the baby enjoy this being hauled into parliament? Could be a frightening experience for a baby!

Green Party Member of the German Parliament Hanna Steinmüller speaking in the German parliament with her baby Source

 

«Das Gegenteil von dem, was ich erreichen wollte»: Der Hauptautor des KI-Gesetzes der EU packt aus

Bürokraten/Berater versus gewählte Repräsentanten? Ein altbekanntes Thema in westlichen Demokratien!

AI Act: Der Hauptautor der KI-Regeln der EU packt aus (behind paywall) "Gabriele Mazzini hat als Bürokrat der EU mehr als jeder andere zur AI Act, dem Regelwerk für künstliche Intelligenz, beigetragen. Mit dem Ergebnis ist er so unglücklich, dass er gekündigt hat."

Gabriele is an AI governance expert, leading the drafting of the EU AI Act and advising on legislative negotiations. A Research Affiliate at MIT, he holds a PhD and LLM from Harvard. (Source)

Digital addiction or social media use disorder

New clinical terms in the 21st century!

How much will and how many individuals and adolescents be affected by this? We will find out!

Our ever busybody elected representatives are already working on related legislation.

Prohibiting e.g. the use of smartphones in K-12 schools is not a good solution.

Texas Senate passes bill to prohibit sex changes on birth certificates

That makes common sense! Call it forgery!

"The Texas Senate passed a bill to prohibit individuals in Texas from changing their biological sex on their birth certificates in most cases. It was filed after some judges and school officials appear to be circumventing state law that bans biological men and boys from participating in women’s and girls’ sports. ..."

Texas Senate passes bill to prohibit sex changes on birth certificates | Just The News

Texas Moves to Regulate AI. Really!

Bad news! And this law seems to be very bureaucratic and far reaching! Stifling!

And the law was introduced by a Republican!

"... What’s new: The Texas legislature is considering the proposed Texas Responsible AI Governance Act (TRAIGA). The bill would prohibit a short list of harmful or invasive uses of AI, such as output intended to manipulate users. It would impose strict oversight on AI systems that contribute to decisions in key areas like health care.

How it works: Republican House Representative Giovanni Capriglione introduced TRAIGA, also known as HB 1709, to the state legislature at the end of 2024. If it’s passed and signed, the law would go into effect in September 2025.

The proposed law would apply to any company that develops, distributes, or deploys an AI system while doing business in Texas, regardless of where the company is headquartered. It makes no distinction between large and small models or research and commercial uses. However, it includes a modest carve-out for independent small businesses that are based in the state.

The law controls “high-risk” AI systems that bear on consequential decisions in areas that include education, employment, financial services, transportation, housing, health care, and voting. The following uses of AI would be banned: manipulating, deceiving, or coercing users; inferring race or gender from biometric data; computing a “social score or similar categorical estimation or valuation of a person or group;” and generating sexually explicit deepfakes. The law is especially broad with respect to deepfakes: It outlaws any system that is “capable of producing unlawful visual material.” 

Companies would have to notify users whenever AI is used. They would also have to safeguard against algorithmic discrimination, maintain and share detailed records of training data and accuracy metrics, assess impacts, and withdraw any system that violates the law until it can achieve compliance.

The Texas attorney general would investigate companies that build or use AI, file civil lawsuits, and impose penalties up to $200,000 per violation, with additional fines for ongoing noncompliance of $40,000 per day.

The bill would establish a Texas AI Council that reports to the governor, whose members would be appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor, and state legislative leaders. The council would monitor AI companies, develop non-binding ethical guidelines for them, and recommend new laws and regulations. ..."

DeepSeek’s Open Reasoning Model, Affordable Humanoid Robots, Texas’ Restrictive AI Law, GenAI for Electronics

Neil Gorsuch: America Has Too Many Laws

Very I blogged here about a very recent interview with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. Kudos that he comes forward with this serious issue!

The issue of too many laws that have been accumulating over time in Western democracies is at least five decades old as far as I remember. I believe, e.g. the economist Friedrich von Hayek also criticized this condition.

Perhaps in the future our elected representatives ought to eliminate two old laws for every new one! Sounds like Trump!

A clarion call to return to small and limited government!

Caveat: I did not read the whole article.

"Or country has always been a nation of laws, but something has changed dramatically in recent decades. Contrary to the narrative that Congress is racked by an inability to pass bills, the number of laws in our country has simply exploded. Less than 100 years ago, all of the federal government’s statutes fit into a single volume. By 2018, the U.S. Code encompassed 54 volumes and approximately 60,000 pages. Over the past decade, Congress has adopted an average of 344 new pieces of legislation each session. That amounts to 2 million to 3 million words of new federal law each year. Even the length of bills has grown—from an average of about two pages in the 1950s to 18 today. ..."

Neil Gorsuch: America Has Too Many Laws - The Atlantic (Second co-author Janie Nitze) "An excess of restrictions has taken a very real toll on the lives of everyday Americans. Their stories must be told."

India Rolls out new Criminal Laws to Replace Colonial-era Ones with Palki Sharma

Good news! What took so long!

Ifo-Präsident Fuest zum Wachstumschancengesetz: „Das ist nicht einmal ein Tropfen auf dem heißen Stein, das ist Homöopathie“

Schon der Name "Wachstums­chancengesetz" ist so lächerlich und falsch! Ein Name kann sehr verräterisch sein, so wie der Name dieses Gesetzes! So ein Unsinn!

Walter Eucken, Ludwig Erhard u.v.a. sind schockiert in ihren Gräbern!

Befreit die Wirtschaft vom übermächtigen und gierigen Staat sollte das Gesetz heißen. Freie Marktwirtschaft für Alle (angelehnt an Wohlstand fuer Alle)!

Clemens Fuest zum Wachstumschancengesetz: „Das ist Homöopathie“ Die deutsche Wirtschaft stottert. Die Ampel baut auf das Wachstumschancengesetz, um Unternehmen zu entlasten. Ifo-Präsident Fuest tut das als Homöopathie ab.

Bundestag verabschiedet das Wachstums­chancengesetz

Senate advances $95 billion foreign aid legislation in rare Sunday vote on Superbowl Sunday

What a historic moment!

Putin the Terrible must be gnashing with his teeth! When will the lethargic, apathetic, and slavish Russian people finally get rid of their last czar, the megalomaniac and war criminal Putin the Terrible! How many more young Russian men have to die or be maimed because Putin the Terrible has conducted a “special military operation” since February of 2022!

"... The 67-27 procedural vote Sunday brings the chamber closer to a vote on a $95 billion aid package, which includes $60 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel, $4.8 billion for the Indo-Pacific and $9 billion in humanitarian assistance in Gaza, the West Bank and Ukraine, per The Hill.  ..."

Senate advances $95 billion foreign aid legislation in rare Sunday vote | Just The News "I can't remember the last time the Senate was in session on Super Bowl Sunday," Leader Schumer said.

Brazillian city Porto Alegre enacts an ordinance that was written by ChatGPT

Sign of our times! What is next?

"... The experimental ordinance was passed in October in the southern city of Porto Alegre and city councilman Ramiro Rosário revealed this week that it was written by a chatbot, sparking objections and raising questions about the role of artificial intelligence in public policy.

Rosário told The Associated Press that he asked OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT to craft a proposal to prevent the city from charging taxpayers to replace water consumption meters if they are stolen. He then presented it to his 35 peers on the council without making a single change or even letting them know about its unprecedented origin.  ... The 36-member council approved it unanimously and the ordinance went into effect on Nov. 23. ..."

Brazillian city enacts an ordinance that was written by ChatGPT | AP News

A need for laws to prescribe what constitutes transgender

I am not an expert on matters related to transgender. As a classical liberal here is my statement on the subject.

I am afraid transgender is an idea whose time has come. Transgender will most likely not fade away or become a footnote in history anytime soon. If history is any guide, we have tried to ignore homosexuality for a long time. We may need to start to deal with transgender in Western countries.

Perhaps, some Western countries have already passed common sense laws to define transgender. I am personally not aware of any such legislation. However, such laws could serve as a prototype or model.

Not to pass any transgender laws e.g. to avoid giving transgender any legitimacy or to hope transgender is only transient is probably not an option. It will probably only make things worse or awkward! 

Has an individual legitimately transgendered when this individual declares to be transgender or are certain requirements beyond mere declaration to be met? What are these requirements?

At what age can a human being choose to transgender? At any age? What about parental consent? 

What is transgender treatment (also euphemistically called care) and who pays for it?

How AI could write our laws

There is certainly great potential! Best of all would be better language! How about decluttering, consolidation, and simplification? Tons of laws accumulate over time, it grows like weed. Perhaps now we have a tool to deal with this mess!

The following article covers other assistive AI topics like lobbying (e.g. strategizer), new legislation impact assessment and more.

How AI could write our laws | MIT Technology Review ChatGPT and other AIs could supercharge the influence of lobbyists—but only if we let them

European Union: The Artificial Intelligence Act or political delusions of grandeur

The European Union would be well advised:

1. Do not to be the first major international jurisdiction to attempt to comprehensively codify this new and very sophisticated technology. Excessive pride is destructive! Most legislators don't even understand the new, transformative technology!
2. Do not cripple a new and very promising technology in its infancy. Busybody lifetime career politicians stay away! Observe first and longer, act later!
3. Laissez faire, laissez passer!
4. Europe is no longer the center of the world. Don't be delusional!
5. Competitors like India, South Korea, Taiwan, or China will applause such stupidity!

I have argued here that the EU is morphing into a Soviet Union, the larger it becomes! Statism over federalism etc. Big government!

"The AI Act is a proposed European law on artificial intelligence (AI) – the first law on AI by a major regulator anywhere. The law assigns applications of AI to three risk categories. First, applications and systems that create an unacceptable risk, such as government-run social scoring of the type used in China, are banned. Second, high-risk applications, such as a CV-scanning tool that ranks job applicants, are subject to specific legal requirements. Lastly, applications not explicitly banned or listed as high-risk are largely left unregulated. ..."

The Artificial Intelligence Act |