Current Affairs for UPSC IAS

The documentary “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain” has been recently released directed by Morgan Neville. To craft the film’s narrative, Neville drew on tens of thousands of hours of video footage and audio archives—and, for 3 particular lines detected within the film, Neville commissioned an IT-software company to make an A.I. generated version of Bourdain’s voice.

A nonpartisan watchdog group ‘Project on Government Oversight’ (POGO) is calling for a code of ethics for US Supreme Court justices amid concerns about conflicts of interest.

Cosmetic doctors and plastic surgeons around the world have reported surges in bookings for surgical and non-surgical treatments following lockdown. This also brings to focus broad ethical issues involving surgeon, patient and society as major stakeholders.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued first global report on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in health and six guiding principles for its design and use.

A number of President Biden’s senior officials have relatives or spouses working for the administration, and the Biden administration is being accused of promoting nepotism in the newly formed government following the 2020 US Presidential election.

The Ethics and Medical Registration Board at National Medical Commission has got its new president, duly appointed by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as per the National Medical Commission Act, 2019.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) ethics officer has adjudged Tamil Nadu Cricket Association president to be in conflict of interest. This is the first time the ethics officer has found a state association president to be in a position of conflict.

The French defense ethics committee has identified the guiding principles and made recommendations relating to methodology, research, use, design, but also training concerning the development of techniques contributing to autonomy in weapons systems. This proposal is being scrutinised by the Ministry.

The major social media platforms failed to comply with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 within the deadline required by the government.

Linux Foundation, which is the core of the open-source community, took the unprecedented step of banning the entire University of Minnesota from contributing to the Linux kernel

The clinical trial of COVAXIN on children aged 2-18 years is approved by the Drugs Controller General of India. This will be the first Covid vaccine to be tested over children in India.

The increasing scale of AI in terms of its size of neural networks, the energy use, size of data sets and its authenticity, and the prevalence of the technology in society is raising the major ethical questions.