Consumer watchdog Testachats has filed complaints against several Belgian festivals for “illegal practices” in their cashless payment systems, reports 24brussels.
Les Ardentes and Tomorrowland are facing legal actions for failing to disclose hidden fees in their ticket prices. Additionally, festivals such as Ronquières, Paradise City, Les Ardentes, Pukkelpop, Graspop, and Rock Werchter are accused of not permitting cash payments for parking or tickets, while Brosella has allowed stalls to reject cash completely.
Concerns Over Cashless Systems
Despite the introduction of a charter this year by federal Minister for Consumer Protection, Rob Beenders (Vooruit), Testachats asserts that festival grounds are still not consumer-friendly. Many festivals impose activation fees and costly refund deductions, while others complicate transactions with virtual currencies, such as ‘pearls’ at Tomorrowland and ‘douros’ at Dour Festival. The valuation of these currencies rarely aligns with euros, making it challenging to use remaining balances effectively.
Testachats points out that some events, including Francofolies and Paradise City, demonstrate it is feasible to operate without hidden costs or convoluted payment systems. Nonetheless, the organization cautions that until stricter regulations are implemented, festival attendees will continue to navigate a landscape of confusing, costly, and potentially unlawful payment practices.
Scotland secretary Douglas Alexander said of Rayner’s departure that MPs ‘feel quite acutely that sense of loss’
Douglas Alexander said he understood that Labour MPs would be “despondent” as a result of two significant departures in the past two weeks.
The Scotland secretary told BBC Breakfast:
Many of us were devastated by Angela Rayner’s departure from the government last week. She’s an extraordinary woman who’s overcome the most extraordinary challenges and we are grieving and feel quite acutely that sense of loss.
Now to have the dismissal of Peter Mandelson just the next week, I totally get it, of course Labour MPs will be despondent that in two weeks in a row we have seen significant resignations from public service.
We’ll do it by working in partnership with the developers and with the builders. My job is to get every barrier out of the way that is stopping that construction going ahead.
The UK economy flatlined in July, according to official figures, in grim news for Rachel Reeves as she gears up for a challenging budget. It was a slowdown compared with June, when the economy grew by 0.4%, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Britain will not rejoin the EU in the foreseeable future, according to the minister who has piloted Keir Starmer’s recent reset of European relations. Nick Thomas-Symonds said he could not see the country re-entering the bloc in his lifetime, despite the thaw in continental relations that he has helped bring about.
Up to 400 large shops are at risk of closure with as many as 100,000 jobs at risk if the government goes ahead with plans to hit stores with higher business rates, retailers have warned. Some of the UK’s largest retail premises, including supermarkets and department stores, would face higher property tax charges under new rules being considered by the government before November’s budget.
Transport for London has invited the RMT to resume talks as the union’s week of strikes comes to a close, with the tube expected to restart gradually, with early disruption, on Friday. The RMT did not confirm whether it would accept TfL’s invitation to further talks next Wednesday, after saying further strikes could follow.
Special needs reforms for children in England could turn into “welfare reforms mark 2” unless the government can convince parents that it is not aiming to save money, according to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The thinktank said any changes to the current system of education, health and care plans (EHCPs), which mandate tailored support for children with special needs, will be highly controversial among parents, but said reform was “long overdue” as the number of EHCPs issued has ballooned by 80% since 2018.
Hospices are “on the brink” and two in five are making cuts this year despite the importance of end-of-life care if assisted dying becomes legal, the sector has warned before the first House of Lords debate on the legislation. The terminally ill adults (end of life) legislation is due to have its second reading in the House of Lords on Friday.
Stephen Colbert attends the 36th Annual PaleyFest “An Evening with Stephen Colbert” at the Dolby Theatre on Saturday, March 16, 2019, in Los Angeles.
Richard Shotwell/Invision/Associated Press
Stephen Colbert said AI can mimic art, but it might feel “alien.”
He compared AI-mediated experiences to processed food, missing key “micronutrients.”
“The Late Show” host said machines can’t replicate the flaws that make art human.
Stephen Colbert doesn’t buy that machines can make art that feels human.
“The Late Show” host said on an episode of the “Possible” podcast published Wednesday that AI can mimic art but will always struggle to escape the “uncanny valley.” He asked whether AI-generated art will ever stop feeling “alien.”
True art comes from people because it fuses ideas with emotional experience, he said.
“Art is by humans for humans about being human. It’s not about ideas because ideas are constructs, and humans are not a construct,” Colbert said.
Humans “experience ideas and they have emotional responses to them,” he added.
Beyond art, Colbert also likened AI-mediated experiences to eating processed food: technically complete, but missing something vital.
“There is a growing suspicion that there are micronutrients of which we are not aware that we are robbed of,” he said.
Those “micronutrients,” he added, may lie in the very failures and imperfections of human connection. The flawed nature of human interactions is inextricable from our experience of the world, he said.
Colbert isn’t dismissing AI altogether. He said the technology could expand access to healthcare in underserved regions, where “a medical station manned by AI” might be better than nothing. But he remains skeptical of claims that machines can replicate human intimacy, such as in therapy.
Colbert did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
AI and art
AI has already begun reshaping the art world.
In Hollywood, studio giants have spoken publicly about their use of AI, pitching it as a way to both save money and make better films.
Lionsgate last September said it would work with Runway to experiment with its AI tools. AMC Networks followed suit this year. Amazon has talked about its use of AI to provide TV recaps and invested in Fable, a startup that lets people make their own TV shows using AI.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in July that the series “The Eternaut” was the streamer’s first to have shots fully generated by AI in its final footage.
“That VFX sequence was completed 10 times faster than it could have been completed with visual, traditional VFX tools and workflows,” Sarandos said about visual effects.
The release of OpenAI’s new image generator sparked a tsunami of Studio Ghibli-style memes and raised copyright concerns earlier this year. But OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, said in April that AI art is a “net win” for society.
Altman said in an interview published on YouTube by the founder and content creator Varun Mayya that AI can expand creativity by lowering the barriers to entry.
Still, many worry about unauthorized or ethically questionable uses of AI.
In June, Disney and NBCUniversal sued the AI company Midjourney, saying it stole their famous characters, such as “The Simpsons” and “Minions.” Midjourney denied the claims in its legal response.
AI is central to a lawsuit that says Amazon MGM Studios violated copyright in its “Road House” remake and used AI to replicate actors’ voices to finish the film, in violation of labor contracts. Amazon said the suit was without merit and that the film didn’t use AI-cloned voices.
