Innovation
Ojibwe Woman Makes History As North Dakota Poet Laureate
North Dakota legislature has nominated an Ojibwe woman as the state’s poet laureate, making her the state’s first Native American to hold this post and drawing attention to her knowledge of Native American boarding schools.
Denise Lajimodiere, a Turtle Mountain Band member from Belcourt, has written several award-winning poetry books. She is known all over the country as an expert on the history of Native American boarding schools. In 2019, she wrote an academic book called “Stringing Rosaries” about the terrible things that boarding school survivors had to go through.
“It is an honor and a privilege to represent my tribe Ojibwe,” Lajimodiere said in an interview following her bipartisan confirmation as poet laureate on Wednesday.
Kim Konikow, in charge of the North Dakota Council on the Arts, says that poet laureates represent the state by giving speeches at inaugurations and graduations, reading poetry, and putting on educational programs.
Lajimodiere, an educator with a doctorate from the University of North Dakota, aims to use her position as poet laureate to hold workshops with Native kids around the state. She intends to write a new book on them.
Lajimodiere’s appointment is significant and inspiring because “representation counts at all levels,” according to Nicole Donaghy, executive director of the advocacy group North Dakota Native Vote and a Standing Rock Nation Hunkpapa Lakota Ojibwe.
North Dakota legislature has nominated an Ojibwe woman as the state’s poet laureate.
Donaghy believes that the more Native Americans view themselves in positions of distinction, the better for our communities.
“I’ve grown up knowing how amazing she is,” said Rolette Democrat Rep. Jayme Davis, who is from the same Turtle Mountain Band as Lajimodiere. No one is more deserving.
Lajimodiere’s book “Stringing Rosaries,” which highlighted firsthand testimonies of what boarding school survivors went through, encouraged talks about how to solve injustices that Ojibwe Native people have faced, according to Davis.
From the 18th century to the 1960s, networks of boarding schools in North America institutionalized the legal kidnapping, abuse, and forced cultural assimilation of Indigenous children. Much of Lajimodiere’s work deals with trauma experienced by Native Americans in the region.
“Sap seeps down the trunk of a fir tree-like bitter tears... I brace against the tree and weep for the children, the parents left behind, my father who lived Ojibwe, and those who didn’t,” Lajimodiere wrote in a poem based on interviews with Boarding School Victims that appeared in her 2016 book “Bitter Tears.”
The 1978 statute empowers tribes Ojibwe in foster care and adoption cases involving Native youth.
Davis, the legislator, stated that Lajimodiere’s writing influences ongoing efforts to confront the past, such as returning ancestral remains — including boarding school victims — and safeguarding tribal cultures in the future by incorporating the federal Indian Child Welfare Act into state law.
The 1978 statute empowers tribes Ojibwe in foster care and adoption cases involving Native youth. As the United States Supreme Court contemplates a challenge to federal law, North Dakota and several other states have discussed codifying it this year.
Last year, the U.S. Department of the Interior issued a report that identified over 400 Native American boarding schools that attempted to assimilate Native children into white society. According to the federal analysis, more than 500 students perished at the boarding schools, but officials estimate that number to rise dramatically as the inquiry continues.
SOURCE – (AP)
Business
Tesla reduces US prices for 3 of its electric vehicle models following a rough week.
Tesla reduced the pricing of three of its five models in the United States by $2,000 late Friday, highlighting the issues facing the electric vehicle firm run by billionaire Elon Musk.
The business reduced the costs of the Model Y, a small SUV that is Tesla’s most popular model and the best-selling electric vehicle in the United States, as well as the versions X and S, which are older and more expensive versions. Prices for the Model 3 car and Cybertruck remained unchanged.
Tesla cuts US prices for 3 of its electric vehicle models after a difficult week
The reductions dropped the starting price for a Model Y to $42,990, $72,990 for a Model S, and $77,990 for a Model X.
The decision comes a day after Tesla’s shares fell below $150 per share, wiping out all gains earned over the previous year. The Austin, Texas-based company’s stock price has fallen almost 40% this year due to declining sales and growing competition. Discounted sticker prices are intended to entice more car purchasers.
Musk announced early Saturday on X, the social media site that was previously known as Twitter, that the cost of an entry-level Tesla could be as low as $29,490 after accounting for a federal tax credit and gas savings.
Industry observers have been waiting for Tesla to unveil the Model 2, a tiny electric vehicle for approximately $25,000. This month’s media rumors that Musk intended to cancel the project added to uncertainty about the company’s direction, but Musk denied the reports.
Tesla cuts US prices for 3 of its electric vehicle models after a difficult week
The price drops marked the end of a long workweek for Tesla, which said on Monday that it would be laying off 10% of its global workforce, or approximately 14,000 employees. The company also announced the recall of roughly 4,000 of its 2024 Cybertrucks after discovering that the accelerator pedal could become stuck, enabling the vehicle to accelerate accidentally and increasing the danger of a crash.
Musk stated on Saturday that he has postponed a planned weekend travel to India to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi due to “very heavy Tesla obligations.” He expressed on X that he was looking forward to rescheduling the visit for later this year.
Tesla is slated to report first-quarter profits on Tuesday.
Tesla cuts US prices for 3 of its electric vehicle models after a difficult week
The business stated earlier this month that its global sales declined substantially from January to March as competition grew, electric car sales growth stagnated, and previous price cuts failed to attract additional buyers.
Tesla’s quarterly sales fell year on year for the first time in nearly four years.
SOURCE – (AP)
Business
Elon Musk Announces Tesla Will Unveil A ‘Robotaxi’ On August 8
Elon Musk has long expressed an interest in self-driving cars, stating they will be one of Tesla’s most essential products. Despite promises, self-driving cars have yet to be available.
On a Friday afternoon, when corporations typically bury the news, Musk stated on X that Tesla would showcase its robotaxi on August 8.
His post was brief and needed more details. “Tesla Robotaxi to be unveiled on 8/8,” the Tesla CEO (and X owner) wrote.
Elon Musk Announces Tesla Will Unveil A ‘Robotaxi’ On August 8
Musk previously stated that Tesla would build a car without controls for human use. He has previously stated that Tesla cars with Full Self-Driving Capability will steadily improve their driving abilities through software updates. Musk has consistently stated that the cars will eventually be capable of operating as completely autonomous taxis, allowing their owners to earn money by giving taxi rides on their own.
So far, the business has outperformed several of Musk’s estimates about when genuine self-driving will be available.
Tesla announced five years ago, in April 2019, that it intended to start operating robotaxis by 2020. The business estimated that the self-driving cars would last 11 years and travel 1 million miles, earning the company and the car’s operators $30,000 per year.
However, Musk said that his track record of making forecasts is occasionally off by a long shot.
“The only criticism, which is valid, is that I am not always on time. But I get it done, and so does the Tesla team,” Musk remarked during the April 2019 event.
Full Self-Driving capabilities may be acquired with a new Tesla Model 3, for example, for an extra $12,000 over the car’s base price of around $40,000. Depending on the vehicle’s original configuration, it can also be purchased on a monthly subscription basis for up to $199.
In little gray print, Tesla’s online description states, “The currently enabled features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous,” implying that it is incapable of fully self-driving.
Musk claims the technology will one day make Tesla vehicles extremely valuable.
Elon Musk Announces Tesla Will Unveil A ‘Robotaxi’ On August 8
“You can think of every car we sell or produce that has full autonomy capability as something that in the future may be worth five times what it is today,” he said on the company’s third-quarter earnings call last year.
Experts who have evaluated the technology say it is still far from being able to operate autonomously without human assistance.
Kelly Funkhouser, associate director of automotive technology for Consumer Reports, recently evaluated the system and stated that she is less concerned about its safety than the standard Tesla Autopilot, designed to provide more limited driving assistance primarily on highways. Ironically, this is due to the poor performance of full self-driving technology. Funkhouser compared it to relinquishing control of your automobile to a new teen driver.
“You’re not likely to tune out and become complacent or over-reliant on it,” she told me. “In fact, I would say you’re potentially more alert.”
Several businesses, notably Waymo, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, and General Motors affiliate Cruise, are developing autonomous ride-sharing systems.
Elon Musk Announces Tesla Will Unveil A ‘Robotaxi’ On August 8
Cruise has halted its testing after one of its self-driving cars struck and dragged a pedestrian. According to an internal inquiry, corporate personnel did not adequately disclose the occurrence to regulators. The corporation is under investigation by the Department of Justice for the event.
Waymo recently had to recall its vehicles after two collided with the same tow truck within minutes of each other.
SOURCE – (CNN)
Business
OpenAI Reveals Voice Engine, But Won’t Yet Publicly Release The Risky AI Voice-Cloning Technology
SAN FRANCISCO — OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is entering the voice assistant market and demonstrating new technology that can clone a person’s voice, but claims it will not be released publicly due to safety concerns.
The artificial intelligence startup introduced its new Voice Engine technology on Friday, less than a week after filing a trademark registration for the moniker. The business claims it can replicate a person’s voice from a 15-second audio of them conversing.
OpenAI Reveals Voice Engine, But Won’t Yet Publicly Release The Risky AI Voice-Cloning Technology
OpenAI intends to preview it with early testers “but not widely release this technology at this time” because of the risks of misuse.
The San Francisco-based company said in a statement, “We recognize that generating speech that resembles people’s voices has serious risks, which are especially relevant in an election year.”
OpenAI Reveals Voice Engine, But Won’t Yet Publicly Release The Risky AI Voice-Cloning Technology
In New Hampshire, officials are investigating robocalls issued to hundreds of voters shortly before the presidential primary. The calls contained an AI-generated voice impersonating President Joe Biden.
Several startup companies now market voice-cloning technology, some of which are available to the general public or specific commercial customers such as entertainment studios.
OpenAI Reveals Voice Engine, But Won’t Yet Publicly Release The Risky AI Voice-Cloning Technology
According to the AI compnay, early Voice Engine testers have pledged not to impersonate someone without their agreement and to reveal that the voices are AI-generated. The company, best known for its chatbot and image-generator DALL-E, used a similar strategy when unveiling but not publicly distributing its video-generator Sora.
However, a trademark application submitted on March 19 indicates that OpenAI intends to enter the speech recognition and digital voice assistant market. Eventually, upgrading such technologies could allow OpenAI to compete with other speech products like Amazon’s Alexa.
source – (AP)
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