In today’s newscast:
UCSC film showcase highlights stories of wrongful convictions
The Making an Exoneree film class at UC Santa Cruz teaches students how to investigate wrongful convictions and make documentaries about them.
On May 29, five student films will screen at the Digital Arts Research Center at 6 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. There will also be a livestream.
Sharon Daniel teaches the course.
“We actually pay for the students to visit the wrongfully incarcerated person whose case they're working on in prison,” Daniel said, “and to interview people and document evidence and look for new case files and basically go back to the scene of the crime and try to find new information.”
Daniel says wrongful convictions often happen because of poorly executed investigations, official misconduct, or police coercion. But overturning them can take a long time.
“There's a lot of reluctance in the criminal legal system to re-evaluate cases once a person's been convicted,” she said.
According to the National Registry of Exonerations, 3,820 people have been exonerated since 1989.
State bills aim to regulate AI in workplaces
It was a big week for legislation aiming to regulate the use of AI in workplaces.
As CapRadio reports, California state lawmakers advanced a number of bills to establish new guardrails, including banning AI from making personnel decisions for employees and prohibiting the use of AI surveillance tools in the workplace.
Democratic State Sen. Jerry McNerney represents Stockton and authored one of the bills.
“We need to decide if we want to let machines make decisions that can change people’s lives,” McNerney said. “Technology, including AI, has a role, but there are currently no real guardrails on how it can be used in the workplace.”
Business groups largely oppose bills attempting to regulate AI in workplaces.
They argue new regulations would be burdensome for employers and hamper innovation.
