Page 46 - BusinessWest May 15, 2023

COURT DOCKETS>>
The following is a compilation of recent lawsuits involving area businesses and organizations. These are strictly allegations that have yet to be proven in a court of law. Readers are advised to contact the parties listed, or the court, for more information concerning the individual claims.
CHICOPEE DISTRICT COURT
Dan Pellerin v. Springfield Plumbing Supply Co. Inc. and Donald Barnard Jr.
Allegation: Consumer fraud and negligence result- ing in theft of funds from plaintiff: $22,454.52 Filed: 1/11/23
Continued from page 34
Jessica Pena v. Equitas Tahoe LLC, Family Dollar Stores of Massachusetts LLC, and Spartan Con- crete Services Inc.
Allegation: Negligence and failure to warn, causing personal injury: $24,264
Filed: 1/18/23
Michelle Correa v. Madison Square Realty Man- agement Inc. et al.
Allegation: Negligence; trip and fall causing per- sonal injury: $25,000
Julia Makusiewicz v. Dyeisha Terry, PV Holding Corp. d/b/a Avis Rent-A-Car System LLC, and Sedgwick Claim Management Inc.
Allegation: Motor-vehicle negligence causing per- sonal injury: $4,094.50
Filed: 4/4/23
Filed: 3/24/23
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AI
Amid all these implications is the compelling idea that AI will only get sharper.
“We’ve all gotten used to Siri, and we’ve all got- ten used to Google, but now you’re going to have this super-intelligent, conversational assistant with you,” Wilson said.
Loper added that these discussions are no lon-
ger theoretical. He noted that speakers at the Davos World Economic Forum, among others, have been thinking seriously about what types of work are going to be replaced by artificial intelligence and what careers will continue to be dominated by human beings, with their unique sensing and critical skills.
“Human beings aren’t going away any time soon, but we’re going to have a level of augmentation that we’ve never experienced, and we don’t know how to work with it yet. It’s so new,” he added. “James and I are playing with ChatGPT, and we’re kind of in awe of it, but we’re just skimming the surface compared to some of the ways people are using it. It’s just amazing.”
Added Wilson, “if you try to imagine this in a much smaller sense, it’s like when the smartphone came out — how did that change business? Texting and email- ing and video chat reconfigured the way things are done, but in a smaller sense.”
Loper agreed. “This is much bigger than anything like that.”
Risk and Reward
Przemyslaw Grabowicz, a computer scientist in the College of Information and Computer Science at UMass Amherst, is heading up a research initiative called EQUATE (which stands for equity, account- ability, trust, and explainability), which is currently developing a coordinated response to the Biden administration’s request for public comment on its AI
Continued from page 9
JAMES WILSON
“It may not be about writing anymore. It may be about editing and getting a draft from the AI expert and then adjusting it. The amount
of content that can be created is staggering.”
and ways in which profits from this develop- ment will be converted into long-term societal gain rather than short-term profits. If not, such technology may contribute to the growth of misinformation and polarization.
“As a society, nobody wants these kinds of consequences, but if corporations focus on short-term financial gain, they may not consid- er the potential harmful consequences of tech- nology being used in a way that it wasn’t meant to when it was developed.”
Such questions, Bean noted, will be further accelerated by advances in other technologies, especially robotics. “We are rapidly approach- ing the day when there will be free-standing
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Lift
Accountability Policy.
“As a computer scientist, I believe technology can
make our lives better, maybe in some senses easier,” he told BusinessWest. “But I think there’s a risk that, if we step into new technologies too quickly, then soci- ety may develop a distrust for new technology that may, in the end, slow down developments.”
The National Telecommunications and Informa- tion Administration (NTIA), a Commerce Department agency that advises the White House on telecommu- nications and information policy, is studying whether there are measures that could be implemented assure that AI systems are “legal, effective, ethical, safe, and otherwise trustworthy.”
“Responsible AI systems could bring enormous benefits, but only if we address their potential conse- quences and harms,” NTIA Administrator Alan David- son told Reuters. “For these systems to reach their full potential, companies and consumers need to be able to trust them.”
In crafting accountability policies, Grabowicz said, leaders in all areas of life need to think carefully about the consequences of technology development
Meanwhile, the machine-rental side of the business remains solid as well, she said, noting that businesses will rent equipment for a day, a few weeks, a quarter, or for much longer stretches depending on need. To mark its 35th anniversary, the company is donating 10% of its rental revenue to various charities, includ- ing Baystate Children’s Hospital, each quarter.
The service side of the operation is another key contributor to the company’s overall success, Soto- lotto said, noting that clients need their machines to operate successfully, and LiftTruck’s ability to provide reliable service has been another of its hallmarks.
robots in our lives who are able to think, make deci- sions, and interact with the world around them.”
In terms of security, he went on, it is hard to quan- tify the threat. “With Microsoft’s new tool VALL-E, which can mimic a human voice with a sample size as small as three seconds; deepfakes being able to be produced in minutes by anyone with basic computer skills; and more and more data being available to be mined, we are going to need to rethink security.
“While it is possible to imagine how technology will respond to meet these threats, the risk to busi- nesses is the gap that exists in between the threats coming online and the response being available and adopted,” he added. “A lot of businesses are likely to face real threats in that gap — not to mention physical security, things like hacking a moving vehicle or send- ing a robot to conduct a robbery.”
In short, Bean said, “while there is much to look forward to, there are certainly many threats that will need to be understood and addressed.”
Meanwhile, artificial intelligence continues to evolve — in ways we may not even see coming. BW
Lock and Load
These various parts contribute to the whole, she said, adding that LiftTruck has much to celebrate as it marks its milestone anniversary this year.
Mostly, it is celebrating what has become a fam- ily, or a bigger family, to be more precise, one that includes several people related to one another, but also others who have been part of this operation for years — in many cases, 35 years.
Together, they have made this venture an uplifting success story — in every sense of that phrase. BW
operate out of there would be great,” she told Busi- nessWest. “This is definitely something we’ve been talking about and moving toward; it’s a logical next step.”
The sales side of the business has been steady, she added, and it received a somewhat unexpected boost during COVID, when rentals were harder to come by (just as rental cars were) and many customers decid- ed to buy instead — if they could find machines to buy.
And overall sales remain steady as customers seek to replace machines that hit a certain number of hours.
46 MAY 15, 2023
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