Welcome to The Long View—where we peruse the news of the week and strip it to the essentials. Let’s work out what really matters.
This week: A big-tech consortium goes toe-to-toe with Google Maps, and a big-tech consortium tries to fool AI regulators.
1. OMF Big Beasts Fight Google and Apple
First up this week: A collaborative effort to help build interoperable, open map products released its first alpha dataset. The Overture Maps Foundation (OMF) wants developers to use its freely-licensed data—instead of Google’s API.
Analysis: OMG OMF—OSM WTH? LOL BBQ
The elephant in the room is OpenStreetMap. However, OMF’s parent, the Linux Foundation, says the effort complements OSM—and that OSM will be greatly improved by importing OMF’s data.
Kif Leswing: Meta, Microsoft and Amazon team up on maps
“Big challenge”
Digital maps are important for nearly all mobile apps. … Google and Apple dominate the market for online maps, charging mobile app developers for access to their mapping services. The other mega-cap tech companies … along with TomTom … are joining together to help create another option. [They’re] releasing data that could enable companies to build their own maps, without having to rely on Google or Apple.
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Data on places is often difficult to collect and license, and building map data requires lots of time and staff to gather and clean it. … Google’s and Apple’s maps aren’t ideal, because they don’t provide access to the underlying data. … Overture is aiming to establish a baseline for maps data … leaving it up to companies to build their own software on top.
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One big challenge is keeping the map data up to date, as businesses close and roads change. The foundation hopes its members can contribute enough real-time information to enable the regular release of accurate updates.
Jon Fingas: Overture’s map dataset could help any app maker
“Isn't a new concept”
The “alpha” set includes worldwide info for over 59 million places, 780 million unique buildings, road data from OpenStreetMap and borders. The map layers are packaged in a recently-launched Overture map format that’s meant to be standardized and interoperable. … It serves as a starting point that gives app creators an idea of what’s possible.
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The foundation was formed in December last year. … While open map data isn’t a new concept, Overture believes the collective effort is necessary to deliver accurate, up-to-date info that’s no longer practical for any one organization to provide.
cowsup is “happy to see it”:
This is the best case of “competition is good for consumers” I’ve seen. Google Maps has such a head start compared to anyone else, and is the de facto way many people navigate; Apple Maps has only been able to catch up in the US thanks to the dominance of iPhones.
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Their competitors just gave it away completely free for anyone to build off of. I’m not sure I’ve seen anything quite like this before.
With a more succinct opinion, here’s Skwerl:
Awesome! That’s an incredible amount of … quality data—for free! Google charges a mint for this.
However, ciurana calls it an “unholy alliance”:
Throwing support behind OpenStreetMap would be the logical, moral, and smart business move but they won’t do it because of short-term greed. They want control over the content as much as over the end-user experience. Tom Tom being in the mix guarantees that they won’t pursue OpenStreetMap because it hurts their interests.
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This effort is bound to fail and maintain the Apple/Google duopoly because, from the description, it brings no added value or innovation to the space. Smart folks and startups will gravitate toward OpenStreetMap, commercial applications toward ArcGIS and similar, and this abortive effort will remain in Limbo.
But scientia42 looks at it differently:
Overture is part of the Linux Foundation. … It’s “complementary to the crowdsourced OpenStreetMap (OSM) project and the foundation encourages members to contribute data directly to OSM.”
Dig deeper: Fascinating interview with OMF ED Marc Prioleau
2. FMF Big Beasts—an AI Talking Shop
Speaking of big tech, the Frontier Model Forum has broken cover this week. This gruesome foursome seeks to establish AI best practices (and probably try to avoid unwanted regulation).
Analysis: Regulatory capture 101
This looks straight out of the standard “regulatory capture” playbook. Rehashed, warmed over platitudes that look good at first sight and make regulators’ lives easier—but do little to address the real fears of people who know what they’re talking about.
George Hammond: Top tech companies form group seeking to control AI
“Promote safety research”
Four of the world’s most advanced artificial intelligence companies have formed a group to research increasingly powerful AI and establish best practices for controlling it, as public anxiety and regulatory scrutiny over the impact of the technology increases. … Anthropic, Google, Microsoft and OpenAI launched the Frontier Model Forum, with the aim of “ensuring the safe and responsible development of frontier AI models.”
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The Frontier Model Forum will aim to promote safety research and provide a communication channel between the industry and policymakers. … Its work will centre on the potential risks stemming from considerably more powerful AI, as opposed to answering questions around copyright, data protection and privacy that are pertinent to regulators today.
Meredith Whittaker is not a fan:
This, as far as I can tell, is the 2018 Partnership on AI strategy … reheated with almost no changes, except abandoning the pretext of civil society engagement. … Which is to say, this isn’t new!
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A marketing hook that the companies are using to (try to) wipe the regulatory slate clean and start again. And by start again … they mean retry the tactics they tried 5-8 years ago … and hope this time they’re not derailed by scholars and movements concerned about the (alarming) social implications.
Neither is lytlebill, who offers this “translation”:
“Please don’t regulate us. In contrast to 99% of our actions to date, we’re going to do good things for consumers instead of the bottom line this time—pinky swear.”
And/or: “Look at our ‘responsible’ code of conduct that sets standards in a way that makes it exceptionally difficult for anyone without our giant pile of exiting resources and technological head start to get into the market and compete with us. You should totes set any regulation to match this.”
The Moral of the Story:
You have two hands—one for helping yourself, the other for helping others
—Audrey Hepburn
You have been reading The Long View by Richi Jennings. You can contact him at @RiCHi, @richij or [email protected].
Image: Nicole Geri (via Unsplash; leveled and cropped)