Kuwait bans crypto and virtual assets transactions

July 20, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Asia

Kuwait’s Capital Markets Authority has officially confirmed the commitment to “absolute prohibition” of virtually all crypto operations in the country.

The state of Kuwait is the latest jurisdiction to ban virtually all operations involving cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC).

On July 18, Kuwait’s main financial regulator, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), issued a circular on the supervision and issuance of virtual assets in the country.

In the circular, the CMA confirmed the commitment to “absolute prohibition” on major use cases and operations involving cryptocurrencies, including payments, investments, and mining.

The circular also bans local regulators from issuing any licenses allowing firms to provide virtual asset services as a commercial business.

In the meantime, securities and other financial instruments regulated by the Central Bank of Kuwait and the CMA are excluded from the latest prohibitions, the announcement notes.

Apart from the prohibitions, the CMA also required customers to be cautious and aware of the risks associated with virtual assets. The regulator particularly flagged cryptocurrencies, arguing that they “don’t carry a legal status and are not issued or supported.”

The CMA added:

“It is not linked to any asset or issuer, and that the prices of these assets are always driven by speculation that exposes them to a sharp decline.”

The penalties for violating Kuwait’s Anti-Money Laundering laws are stipulated in Article 15 of Law No. 106 of 2013, the regulator noted.

Kuwait’s new regulations align with the country’s measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, the regulator stated. The CMA also referred to the conclusions of a study by the National Committee for Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism regarding the commitment to applying recommendation 15 by the Financial Action Task Force.

According to local reports, the CMA’s crypto restrictions are part of a new inter-departmental crypto ban involving several supervisory authorities in Kuwait. Similar circulars have reportedly been issued by the Central Bank of Kuwait, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Insurance Regulatory Unit.

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Twitter suspends memecoin-linked AI bot after Elon Musk’s ‘scam crypto’ claim

June 19, 2023 Coin Telegraph

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"Explain This Bob," the popular AI-powered Twitter account also linked to a memecoin, was suspended shortly after Elon Musk alleged it was a "scam."

Twitter has suspended the account of the popular memecoin-linked artificial intelligence-powered bot “Explain This Bob” after Elon Musk alleged it was a “scam crypto account.”

Musk alleged the account was a scam in a tweet on June 18 in areply to the bot, the account was seemingly suspended soon after.

This sure looks like a scam crypto account. If so, it will be suspended.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 18, 2023

The Explain This Bob account reportedly amassed over 400,000 followers before its suspension. The bot was created by Prabhu Biswal from India and used OpenAI’s GPT-4 model to comprehend and provide responses to tweets by those who tagged the account.

The project was also linked to the ERC-20 memecoin Bob Token (BOB) that was launched in April 2023. The suspension sent the price of BOB down over 30% according to CoinGecko.

The suspension is a U-turn on Musk’s earlier impression of the bot, who tweeted “I love Bob” in response to one of its tweets on April 20, a tweet which also prominently features on the project’s website.

I love Bob
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2023

Twitter has not taken action against the account for Bob Token, however. The project’s team humorously responded to the news of the suspension, sharing a meme of Musk monitoring a distraught “Bob” in a prison.

#FREEBOB pic.twitter.com/SOUm7opQ7o
— Bob (@BobEthToken) June 18, 2023

Observers believe Musk is of the view that Explain This Bob is being used as a marketing tactic to prop up BOB’s price.

Since the suspension, the hashtag “FREEBOB” has circulated on Crypto Twitter. Most observers take the view that BOB isn’t a scam coin and the suspension is unwarranted as the launch of the token was “fair” in addition to BOB being “fully decentralized” with a 0% tax mechanism.

Another claimed the team didn’t provide themselves with any tokens or airdrops prior to the Bob Token launch in April.

So does @elonmusk plan to provide any proof of $BOB being a scam or are we just expected to take his word for it?

Intrigued to understand what constitutes a scam crypto account @elonmusk?

Renounced contract
0 tax
0 team tokens
Fully decentralised
Fair launched

Can you explain… pic.twitter.com/0U2nuUsyqB
— Crypto Boss (CB) (@Cryptoboss2000) June 18, 2023

Cointelegraph contacted Biswal and Twitter for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

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Hollywood studios reject banning AI from writer’s rooms

May 3, 2023 Coin Telegraph

The Writers Guild of America sent out a list of demands to Hollywood studios, including regulating AI usage in guild-affiliated projects.

Artificial intelligence (AI) brings yet another industry into a hot debate over its usage as Hollywood and the greater media industry faces petitions from the Writers Guild of America (WGA).

WGA recently sent out a list of demands which included the regulation of AI usage on the minimum basic agreement (MBA) covered projects. It stated that AI should not be used to write or rewrite literary material nor be used as source material.

Additionally, it demanded that MBA-covered material can’t be used in training AI. In its initial statement back in March, the guild wrote:

“The WGA’s proposal to regulate use of material produced using artificial intelligence or similar technologies ensures the Companies can’t use AI to undermine writers’ working standards including compensation, residuals, separated rights and credits.”

However, Hollywood studios officially rejected the demands and countered with an offer of “annual meetings to discuss advancements in technology.”

This issue pertaining to AI usage was one of many, including compensation and working conditions, that pushed the WGA to go on an authorized strike in Los Angeles on May 2 for the first time in 15 years.

Scabby won’t let AI write, or rewrite, their script. #WGAStrike #1u https://t.co/nTebf308YV
— Writers Guild of America, East (@WGAEast) May 3, 2023

Ellen Stutzman, the chief negotiator for the WGA, called the proposal “reasonable” and said that AI should be kept “out of the business of writing television and movies.” She also commented that some members of the guild had penned the name “plagiarism machine" for AI.

AI tools are already being implemented in Hollywood for touching up visuals and de-aging actors’ appearances, among other things.

Hollywood production studios’ stance of openness to emerging technologies such as AI differs from the stance of major companies in other creative industries like the music industry.

The initial response of Universal Music Group after AI-generated music started popping up on streaming services was a manhunt to get them removed, along with lawsuits. Though some artists themselves with established names in the industry are encouraging the usage of the technology.

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Samsung employees banned from using ChatGPT-like AI tools

May 2, 2023 Coin Telegraph

The company-wide ban prevents Samsung employees from accessing generative AI tools on all Samsung-owned devices and internal networks.

Samsung is the latest entity to take a stance against emerging generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools as they rapidly infiltrate major global industries.

According to a Bloomberg report on May 2, the company will ban the use of generative AI tools like ChatGPT among its employees. This new policy comes after Samsung staff uploaded a “sensitive code” to the platform.

Samsung told staff that as interest in AI platforms is growing, so are the security risks. The internal memo highlighted concerns over the data sent to AI platforms and its potential to be stored on external servers with little control to retrieve or erase.

“HQ is reviewing security measures to create a secure environment for safely using generative AI to enhance employees’ productivity and efficiency.”

However, it continued that until such measures are in place, the company is “temporarily restricting the use of generative AI.” This includes a ban on the use of generative AI tools on Samsung-owned computers, tablets, phones and its internal networks.

Additionally, any employees who use such tools on personal devices were asked not to submit any company information or else risk “disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment.”

In April, Samsung conducted an internal survey regarding generative AI tools, in which 65% of respondents believed the technology poses a security risk.

Samsung is not the only major company to raise concerns about the emerging technology. Since the beginning of the year, firms such as JPMorgan, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup have restricted or banned the usage of tools like ChatGPT.

However, many of these same companies are in the process of developing their own AI tools. JPMorgan created a ChatGPT-based tool that analyzes statements from the Federal Reserve to decipher trading signals. Samsung is also working on an AI tool for translation and summarizing documents.

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OpenAI’s ChatGPT re-enters Italy after obliging transparency demands

April 29, 2023 Coin Telegraph

The revocation of the ban in Italy required ChatGPT to reveal its data processing practices and implement age-gating measures among other legal requirements.

Popular interactive artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, ChatGPT, has been reallowed to provide services in Italy after addressing the privacy concerns raised by the region’s data protection agency, Garante.

On March 31, OpenAI’s ChatGPT was placed on a temporary ban in Italy after a watchdog suspected the AI chatbot of violating the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirement.

Exactly 29 days after the ban, on April 29, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that ChatGPT was “available in Italy again” without revealing the steps taken by the company to comply with the Italian regulator’s transparency demands.

we’re excited chatgpt is available in again!
— Sam Altman (@sama) April 28, 2023

The revocation of the ban required ChatGPT to reveal its data processing practices and implement age-gating measures among other legal requirements. As highlighted by the Italian regulator, the temporary ban was a response to the recent data breach that CHaptGPT suffered on March 20.

We took ChatGPT offline Monday to fix a bug in an open source library that allowed some users to see titles from other users’ chat history. Our investigation has also found that 1.2% of ChatGPT Plus users might have had personal data revealed to another user. 1/2
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) March 24, 2023

While the abrupt ban initially raised possibilities about a wave of AI regulations, the willingness of ChatGPT to swiftly comply with local authorities is seen as an overall positive move, widely welcomed by its users globally.

European Union legislators are working on a new bill to keep a check on the explosive AI developments.

As Cointelegraph reported, the bill aims to classify AI tools according to the perceived risk levels based on their capability. The risk levels range from minimal to unacceptable. According to the bill, high-risk tools will not be banned entirely but will be subjected to stricter transparency requirements.

If signed into law, generative AI tools, including ChatGPT and Midjourney, will be subject to disclosing the use of copyrighted materials in AI training.

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