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The United States, United Kingdom and European Union have signed the first "legally binding" international AI treaty on Thursday, the Council of Europe human rights organization said. Called the AI Convention, the treaty promotes responsible innovation and addresses the risks AI may pose. Reuters reports: The AI Convention mainly focuses on the protection of human rights of people affected by AI systems and is separate from the EU AI Act, which entered into force last month. The EU's AI Act entails comprehensive regulations on the development, deployment, and use of AI systems within the EU internal market. The Council of Europe, founded in 1949, is an international organization distinct from the EU with a mandate to safeguard human rights; 46 countries are members, including all the 27 EU member states. An ad hoc committee in 2019 started examining the feasibility of an AI framework convention and a Committee on Artificial Intelligence was formed in 2022 which drafted and negotiated the text. The signatories can choose to adopt or maintain legislative, administrative or other measures to give effect to the provisions. Francesca Fanucci, a legal expert at ECNL (European Center for Not-for-Profit Law Stichting) who contributed to the treaty's drafting process alongside other civil society groups, told Reuters the agreement had been "watered down" into a broad set of principles. "The formulation of principles and obligations in this convention is so overbroad and fraught with caveats that it raises serious questions about their legal certainty and effective enforceability," she said. Fanucci highlighted exemptions on AI systems used for national security purposes, and limited scrutiny of private companies versus the public sector, as flaws. "This double standard is disappointing," she added.

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There are a few ways to declutter a closet and pare down your wardrobe, though some are much more involved than others. As fall approaches, why not try a simple one? The hanger method takes a little time, but not much effort, and by the end of the season, you'll have enough hard data on what you really wear to make some choices about what you should keep.

What is the hanger method?

This is an old tip that has stuck around because it works: Take every hanger in your closet and turn them all so they're facing the same way. Basically, make the hook on every hanger face the back wall of the closet. That's really it, as far as first steps go. Then, set a period of time, like a month or three months, and during that time, any time you wear something and hang it back up, turn its hanger around. If you wear it again, don't turn the hanger back to the starting point direction; keep it facing the second direction. At the end of your pre-set time, pull out anything on a hanger still facing the original direction and commit to donating or tossing a sizable chunk of those items.

Though it takes a few months to come to fruition, this is a relatively easy and data-driven way to weed through your clothes because it helps you see exactly what you do wear and what you don't wear. Actually being able to see which hangers were untouched in that time will help you figure out which clothes you don't really need, or at least which ones you should rotate to the front of the closet so you wear them.

Limitations of the hanger method

Be advised that how well this works depends on a few factors. For instance, you need to give yourself a long enough time frame to do this that you actually have a fair chance at wearing the clothes. That's why I recommend doing it during a full season, like fall: Over the course of three months, you'll have enough time to wear work outfits, leisure outfits, and probably special-occasion outfits, so you'll really get to see some hard data, as opposed to giving yourself a month and only seeing a handful of worn items.

Second, it only works if you commit to decluttering once you've reached the conclusion of the experiment, so pull out some other decluttering methods when you reach that point. The five-second rule works well here. Pick up a piece of clothing you didn't wear, give yourself five seconds to determine if you want to keep or donate it, and then act quickly on your choice.

Finally, this can be combined with other organizational methods with a little effort. If you're using tiered hangers to save space in a small closet, for instance, be careful that you don't spin the tiered hanger around when you get clothes off it, confusing the direction your worn and unworn clothing items are facing. You can also try it with hanging shoe organizers or shelves within the closet, turning the shoes or clothes one way to start and flipping them around after you wear them. If you do that, try to write down the original and new directions somewhere, like a note in your phone, so you stay on track and don't get confused.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: On Thursday, ABC announced an upcoming TV special titled, "AI and the Future of Us: An Oprah Winfrey Special." The one-hour show, set to air on September 12, aims to explore AI's impact on daily life and will feature interviews with figures in the tech industry, like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Bill Gates. Soon after the announcement, some AI critics began questioning the guest list and the framing of the show in general. [...] Critics of generative AI ... question the utility of the technology, its perceived environmental impact, and what they see as blatant copyright infringement. "Sure is nice of Oprah to host this extended sales pitch for the generative AI industry at a moment when its fortunes are flagging and the AI bubble is threatening to burst," tweeted author Brian Merchant, who frequently criticizes generative AI technology in op-eds, social media, and through his "Blood in the Machine" AI newsletter. "The way the experts who are not experts are presented as such what a train wreck," replied artist Karla Ortiz, who is a plaintiff in a lawsuit against several AI companies. "There's still PLENTY of time to get actual experts and have a better discussion on this because yikes." On Friday, Ortiz created a lengthy viral thread on X that detailed her potential issues with the program, writing, "This event will be the first time many people will get info on Generative AI. However it is shaping up to be a misinformed marketing event starring vested interests (some who are under a litany of lawsuits) who ignore the harms GenAi inflicts on communities NOW." The AI TV special will feature "some of the most important and powerful people in AI," said ABC. They include Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, YouTube creator Marques Brownlee, Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin from the Center for Humane Technology, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and author Marilynne Robinson. The show will air on September 12 on ABC (and a day later on Hulu) in the U.S.

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Normally, this time of year feels like a missed deadline in the garden: I am rushing to pick, process, and prune, turning over beds and trying to get ahead of fall cleanup, which makes me loathe the onset of September. But all that work gleaning, collecting seed, seeding green spaces, and changing over the beds now will make sure your garden is in good shape for next year. Here are all the gardening tasks you should be doing in September.

Gleaning

I'm choosing this word deliberately over "harvesting" this year. After a summer where everyone I know has been plagued with fungi and viruses in the garden, it's a reminder that harvesting the spoils of your garden is about our own benefit, but it also removes a vector of disease from our beds. After many years of "chop and drop" (where you chop down spent plants at ground level and leave them to compost in place) evangelism, it's become a common topic of conversation amongst gardening groups to ensure you remove yard waste from your garden beds to prevent the spread of soil-borne diseases. So this year, I'm making an effort to get into my beds and chop the plants and remove them. Diseased plants go in the trash (not compost, even city compost) and healthy plants go into my compost pile. Even though they'll end up in roughly the same place after composting (back in the beds), the heat from compost pile will kill many of the viruses that could be present.

Seed collection

Instead of leaving fruit to rot in the beds, it's advised to be more deliberate about which plants you should propagate for next year. The solution is seed collection, an endeavor I've become a lot more serious about in recent years. While the cost of seeds is a great justification of this, finances aren't my primary motivation. By choosing the plants that have done the best in my yard, and doing so year after year, I am actually creating my own strain of that fruit that is bred to do well in my yard. After all, it's already thrived in those conditions.

Some plants make it easy for you: green beans, sunflowers, beans, and peas, for instance. They dry themselves outside and present themselves to you ,waiting to be collected. A second group of vegetables requires more patience: celery, lettuce, parsley, cilantro, cabbage, fennel, and broccoli. These vegetables have to be allowed to go to seed, which means they flower, and those flowers eventually bear seeds. Once the seeds make an appearance, you collect them. They won't be dry—you'll need to spread them out on a plate and place them in a spot with decent airflow (I put them in front of a fan). Then there are the nightshades: tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers. These are the most expensive seeds to buy, and are well worth saving. Find the best example of a fruit from the healthiest plant to sacrifice. Cut it open and scoop out all the seeds, placing them and the accompanying "goop" that surrounds the seeds into a jar with a little water, and allow that water to ferment for a day or two. Then drain the seeds in a colander, onto a sheet of paper towel and dry as you would the other seeds. It's OK if the seeds stick to the paper towel—it won't matter when it's time to germinate.

Flower seeds follow the same pattern. All flowers produce seeds in different ways, from poppies, which store their tiny seeds in dried pods, to foxglove, which shakes seeds from the entire length of its stalk. For any flower you want to save seeds for, pay attention at the end of the season to the flowers and look for the seeds or conduct an internet search for how to save those seeds specifically.

Seed your green spaces

September has the right mix of heat and rain in most places, which makes it ideal for germinating seeds. If you have a traditional lawn, it's time to take advantage of the conditions, but since prep will take time, get started now. The same is true of eco lawns: If you're going to overseed clover or other ground covers, order your seeds now.

Change over your beds

As you start bringing summer crops to an end, you have to decide what to do with the garden beds for fall and winter. I am a huge proponent of all-season gardening, which means you can put fall and winter crops in now. But there's a strong argument for occasionally letting your beds rest, even if it's only one or two beds out of your lot. In the resting beds, clear them exceptionally well of any weeds, and then give them a hefty dose of compost, and some myco powder (mycorrhizal inoculant, which will spawn mycelium in your soil). Then, plant a cover crop suited for your bed. There's oil driller radish, if you need to break up soil, fava beans, which bring a hefty dose of nitrogen to the soil, clovers, and grasses. Your local nursery will have options appropriate for your zone. When spring rolls around, you'll chop the plants, allow the roots to compost and plant your summer crops into your recovered bed.

Clean up berries

While your entire yard is going to get cleaned up in the coming months, I make sure to start with my berry arbor. You want to do this pruning while you can still tell which vines are green (new growth) and brown (second-year growth that should be pruned away). I tidy up the rows (meaning the vines that have sprouted out of place get plucked), chop everything to a level height of about six feet, and tuck all vines back into the trellis. Doing this now ensures a far more prolific and accessible fruit harvest next year.

General cleanup

You can get a head start on other fall tasks, but realistically, most people are far too busy still processing the vegetable and fruit in their yard. There'll be plenty of time come next month.