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- [00:05]
Shemitah Basu
Good morning. It's Wednesday, January 15th. I'm Shemitah Basu. This is Apple News today. On today's show, ChatGPT goes to court over copyright infringement. How one middle class majority minority community in Southern California has been hit hard by the fires. And some good news for the Princess of Wales. But first to Capitol Hill, where Pete Hegseth, President elect Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of defense, faced tough questions from senators on the Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing. It was also a test of loyalty to Trump, not just for the nominee, but for the Republican lawmakers questioning him. In his opening statement, Hegseth, a military veteran and former Fox News host, acknowledged criticisms from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle that he lacks the qualifications to lead the Pentagon and one of the world's largest military forces.
- [01:07]
Pete Hegseth
Now, it is true and has been acknowledged that I don't have a similar biography to defense secretaries of the last 30 years. But as President Trump also told me, we've repeatedly placed people atop the Pentagon with supposedly the right credentials.
- [01:21]
Shemitah Basu
Heading into this hearing, a number of Republican senators seemed to be on the fence about his nomination. But NBC senior political reporter Sahil Kapoor watched from Capitol Hill yesterday as one by, by one, they seemed to fall in line.
- [01:35]
Sahil Kapoor
I think Hegseth is one step closer to becoming secretary of defense after this hearing for the simple reason that watching the Republican senators on the Armed Services Committee, I did not see a single one of them seriously challenge him, have a contentious back and forth with him, dig into the myriad allegations in his past, the questions about his qualifications or financial mismanagement claims.
- [01:59]
Shemitah Basu
Several Democratic senators did bring up his past, including allegations of excessive drinking and an incident in 2017 where a woman accused Hegseth of sexual assault. He paid her an undisclosed amount of money to settle, and he's described the encounter as consensual. But he was married at the time. Some Republican senators defended Hegseth, like Senator Mark Wayne Mullen, a Republican from Oklahoma.
- [02:23]
Pete Hegseth
How many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night? Have any of you guys asked them to step down and resigned for their job? And don't tell me you haven't seen it, because I know you have. And then how many senators do you know have got a divorce before cheating on their wives? Did you ask them to step down?
- [02:42]
Shemitah Basu
One of the key Republicans who Hexeth needs to win over is Iowa Senator Joanie Ernst. She's been outspoken about being sexually assaulted while she served in the military, and she was one of the few Republican senators heading into the hearing.
- [02:56]
Xochil Gonzalez
Who.
- [02:56]
Shemitah Basu
Who hadn't publicly promised to vote for Hegseth As a result. The Des Moines Register reports that she's been the focus of a pressure campaign by Trump and his allies to confirm Hegseth. And Kapoor told us she appeared more open to his nomination yesterday than before.
- [03:13]
Sahil Kapoor
She kind of asked him to promise to appoint a senior level person to combat sexual assault in the military, which he had. An interesting answer. He said, as I promised you, Senator, yes, I will. So it looks like this was already choreographed.
- [03:26]
Shemitah Basu
During Ernst's round of questioning, Hegseth walked back past comments he made. He previously said women should not hold combat roles because, quote, men in those positions are more capable. Yesterday, he told Ernst that women would continue to hold combat roles under his leadership. After the hearing, Ernst put out a statement saying Hegseth has her support. Senator Jack Reid, the Democratic ranking member on the committee, criticized Hegseth for injecting partisan politics into a role that was meant to stay above it. Reed said Hagsett's nomination will be the first he has opposed over many years on the Armed Services Committee, having voted to confirm the previous eight defense secretaries. Let's turn now to a court case involving ChatGPT, what's being called the first big test for AI in the copyright space. A number of news organizations, including the New York Times, the New York Daily News, and the nonprofit center for Investigative Reporting, have merged their individual lawsuits into one case against OpenAI and its biggest investor, Microsoft, accusing OpenAI's chatbot of copyright infringement. Both sides appeared in court on Tuesday. The news outlets say training the artificial intelligence bot by feeding it millions of copyrighted articles is basically making ChatGPT a substitute for the publisher's original work. OpenAI argues the more journalistic data they provide the Chatbot, the more accurate and relevant results will be and that they're protected by fair use rules because this is a case where copyrighted work is being used for education and research purposes. This combined lawsuit is a sign that ChatGPT has a lot of news organizations worried.
- [05:18]
Bobby Allen
It's fair to say the entire digital publishing industry is on edge about generative AI tools like ChatGPT.
- [05:25]
Shemitah Basu
That's NPR's tech correspondent Bobby Allen speaking on NPR. After the suits were first filed in 2023.
- [05:32]
Bobby Allen
There are fears about job loss, fears over AI turbocharging misinformation online, and a concern that AI companies like OpenAI are becoming popular on the backs of copyright holders.
- [05:44]
Shemitah Basu
NPR explains OpenAI's fair use defense. The law around this can be murky, but the gist is to clear the bar of fair use, a copyrighted piece of work must be transformed into something brand new, and it cannot compete with the original content in the same marketplace.
- [06:01]
Bobby Allen
The Times says fair use does not apply here. In fact, The Times says OpenAI has become a direct competitor of the Times's website. And the lawyers point out that ChatGPT is often citing the Times incorrectly, claiming the paper reported things it never has reported. Which of course is a huge problem for the paper's credibility and reputation.
- [06:21]
Shemitah Basu
The Times wants ChatGPT's data set, its most valuable asset, to be destroyed, allen says. That would be an extraordinary measure, but it means the court could force OpenAI to rebuild using only authorized materials. Either way, the suit could lead to big changes on both sides of the argument.
- [06:39]
Bobby Allen
This would be an incredibly disruptive, if not impossible task for the company. Other AI companies with similar business models will be watching this lawsuit closely, as will other publishers whose work has been harvested without permission by ChatGPT.
- [07:02]
Shemitah Basu
Now to Southern California, where the LA wildfires are still burning and dangerous winds have picked back up. Tens of thousands of acres have burned over the last week. They've wiped out neighborhoods, businesses, schools, community centers and so many homes. Many people tend to think of Los Angeles as a city filled with mansions and rich celebrities, but that's certainly not true all over. And today we're going to focus on Altadena, the middle class town of roughly 42,000 people affected by the fires just north of LA in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.
- [07:35]
Xochil Gonzalez
Altadena is just still a very kind of tiny town within a big city.
- [07:40]
Shemitah Basu
That's Atlantic staff writer Xochil Gonzalez.
- [07:43]
Xochil Gonzalez
It's like a hidden gem in la. It's just one of the most striking places that I've ever been to. And yet at the same time, it's utterly unpretentious.
- [07:52]
Shemitah Basu
Altadena has been a sanctuary of sorts for people of color for generations. It started out overwhelmingly white due to discriminatory redlining, but the Fair housing Act of 1968 made that racist policy illegal and more people of color started to make their homes in Altadena. The rate of black home ownership there is around 80%, nearly double the national average.
- [08:15]
Xochil Gonzalez
And then in more recent decades, it's a very, very large Latino population as well. And honestly, it's one of these beautiful communities where really the spectrum of kind of class backgrounds is far more integrated than I've seen anywhere in a long, long time.
- [08:31]
Shemitah Basu
Many Altadena families have lived there for generations. One of the first identified victims of the LA fires was a 66 year old black man named Victor Shaw. He died while battling the fire with a garden hose trying to defend his family home of more than 50 years. It's too soon to say exactly how many families in Altadena lost their homes, but so far across the community more than seven and structures have been reported lost in the fires. One local official told NPR they estimate around half of the small businesses are gone. Five of Altadena's public schools were severely damaged, plus several private schools, and Altadena lost a senior center, a public golf course, a country club and multiple places of worship. Gonzalez says residents have come together to support each other during this crisis, trying to navigate FEMA applications and insurance claims. Many are worried they won't be able to afford the cost rebuilding, particularly as major insurance companies have pulled out of California in recent years.
- [09:34]
Xochil Gonzalez
There's a lot of uncertainty about future costs. There's a lot of people that were able to make something work because they were maintaining a home that had been long paid off because it was a multi generational home. But now they're going to have to take on debt in order to rebuild. There's a lot of fear and a lot of anxiety and a lot of fiscal anxiety. It's so hard to be middle class right now and usually it doesn't involve a ton of safety net. And I think for people on the margins of poverty like this is when you start to see a housing crisis and a homelessness crisis become even more acute.
- [10:18]
Shemitah Basu
Before we let you go, here are a few other stories we're following today. We've talked a lot about how the wildfires have been affecting people, their homes and communities. They're also impacting animals. Dogs, cats and a number of other pets and wild animals have been seen wandering the streets of LA on social media. Many were left behind as people evacuated in a hurry. The Pasadena Humane Society says it alone has taken in hundreds of animals since the fires started. VOX has a guide on how you can help, where you can donate money or if you're local, places where you can take small and larger animals in need of a place to stay. The guide says. If you can, fostering pets is also a big help. We'll link to that story and those resources in our Show Notes page. Impeached Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested for questioning yesterday, becoming the first South Korean leader to be detained while in office. The arrest is the latest in the fallout of Yoon's brief declaration of martial law in December. He's being criminally investigated on allegations of insurrection, which he has called meritless. He was stripped of his presidential power after being impeached last month. This ends a weeks long standoff between Yoon and law enforcement while deepening Seoul's leadership crisis and paralyzing the country at a critical moment. And finally, the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton says her cancer is in remission. Middleton visited the hospital in London where she received treatment over several months and thanked the staff saying, quote, it makes you appreciate all the small things in life that you take for granted. Middleton announced in March last year she had been diagnosed with cancer and completed treat in September. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next. As 100 year lifespans become more common for Americans, the Atlantic says it's time for us to reconsider how we approach school, work and retirement. If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News plus Narrated to find that story. And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.