Category «Technology Trends»

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, September 21, 2024

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Five highlights from this week: FTC Says Social Media Platforms Engage in ‘Vast Surveillance’ of Users; AI voices are officially too realistic; Tor Network Denies Report That ‘Anonymity Is Completely Canceled’; ‘Terrorgram’ Charges Show US Has Had Tools to Crack Down on Far-Right Terrorism All Along; and DuckDuckGo Joins AI Chat, Promises Enhanced Anonymity.

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Internet Trends, Privacy, Search Engines, Search Strategies, Social Media, Spyware, Technology Trends

ChatGPT is bullshit

Recently, there has been considerable interest in large language models: machine learning systems which produce human-like text and dialogue. Applications of these systems have been plagued by persistent inaccuracies in their output; these are often called “AI hallucinations”. Dr. Michael Townsen Hicks, Dr. James Humphries and Dr. Joe Slater argue that these falsehoods, and the overall activity of large language models, is better understood as bullshit in the sense explored by Frankfurt (On Bullshit, Princeton, 2005): the models are in an important way indifferent to the truth of their outputs. They distinguish two ways in which the models can be said to be bullshitters, and argue that they clearly meet at least one of these definitions. They further argue that describing AI misrepresentations as bullshit is both a more useful and more accurate way of predicting and discussing the behaviour of these systems.

Subjects: AI, Big Data, Information Management, Internet Resources, KM, Legal Research, Search Engines, Technology Trends

Power-hungry AI is driving a surge in tech giant carbon emissions. Nobody knows what to do about it

Since the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, the world has seen an incredible surge in investment, development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) applications. According to one estimate, the amount of computational power used for AI is doubling roughly every 100 days. Researchers Gordon Noble and Fiona Berry turn our attention to the environmental impacts which have been largely overlooked. A single query to an AI-powered chatbot can use up to ten times as much energy as an old-fashioned Google search.

Subjects: AI, Energy, Search Engines, Technology Trends

Generative AI Resources 2024

Referencing an article in this month’s Georgetown Law Technology Review, “…traditional AI algorithms normally operate by carrying out a specific function or completing a task using a data set that contains information on how that function or task has previously been done In other words, traditional AI is able to follow a set of rules, make predictions, or utilize instructions to complete a task; but it is not creating anything new in doing so. Generative AI (GAI) has the ability to create something new, specifically new content.” Marcus P. Zillman’s new resource guide spans subject matters including law, economics, education, information technology, planning and strategic deployment and use of GAI, as well a best practices and governance.

Subjects: AI, Cybersecurity, Economy, Education, Financial System, Information Management, Internet Trends, KM, Legal Research, Search Engines, Search Strategies, Social Media, Technology Trends

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, June 15, 2024

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Five highlights from this week: Want free and anonymous access to AI chatbots? DuckDuckGo’s new tool is for you; Windows Recall is changing in 3 key aspects after user backslash; Harvard, MIT and Wharton research reveals pitfalls of relying on junior staff for AI training; AI in law enforcement is risky, but holds promise; and The NSA’s guide to keeping your phone and yourself safe.

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Education, Legal Research, Privacy, Technology Trends

Toward a durable, dictator-proof Washington Post

David H. Rothman’s timely, outside the box commentary addresses the growing wave of news outlets abruptly closing down their websites, laying off staff, and in some cases, eliminating access to their respective archives. Rothman proposes an alternative to “how do I charge them enough” to stem the tide of closures, an avenue he prompts billionaire Jeff Bezos, owner of the Washington Post, to consider. A good-sized trust or corporate equivalent would enable the Washington Post to be run as a sustainable enterprise in the public interest, rather than as a mere profit generator.

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Economy, Ethics, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, KM, Leadership, Management, Social Media, Technology Trends

Where Did the Open Access Movement Go Wrong?: An Interview with Richard Poynder

Noted journalist and scholarly communication observer Richard Poynder explains why he has given up on the open access movement. This email interview was conducted by Rick Anderson.

Subjects: AI, Communications, Copyright, Education, KM, Legal Research, Technology Trends

Face Scanning and the Freedom To “Be Stupid In Public”: A Conversation with Kashmir Hill

An interview by Ryan Tate with the New York Times reporter and long time privacy journalist Kashmir Hill on how investigating Clearview AI helped her appreciate facial recognition—and envision a chaotic future.

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Human Rights, Legal Profession, Legal Research, Privacy, Technology Trends

Schrödinger’s AI – Where Everything and Nothing Changes

Whether speaking with lawyers and law students who haven’t gotten around to trying ChatGPT or collaborating with post-doc explainable and legal AI experts with 20+ years of machine learning and Natural Language Processing experience, Colin Lachance, legal tech innovator and leader, is no closer to understanding in what way and precisely when permanent change will come, but is unshakeably convinced that change will be enormous, uneven, disruptive and, in many cases, invisible.

Subjects: AI, Competitive Intelligence, Information Management, KM, Legal Education, Legal Profession, Legal Technology, Technology Trends

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, October 21, 2023

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Six highlights from this week: LinkedIn Phishing Scam Exploits Smart Links to Steal Microsoft Accounts; Digital Dystopia – The Danger in Buying What the EdTech Surveillance Industry is Selling; Login.gov to add facial recognition tech; Temporary moratorium on use of facial recognition in NY; The Fake Browser Update Scam Gets a Makeover; and How to Spot and Avoid Zelle Scams in 2023.

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Education, Government Resources, Privacy, Technology Trends