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The World Health Organization’s new chatbot launched on April 2 with the best of intentions.

A fresh-faced virtual avatar backed by GPT-3.5, SARAH (Smart AI Resource Assistant for Health) dispenses health tips in eight different languages, 24/7, about how to eat well, quit smoking, de-stress, and more, for millions around the world.

But like all chatbots, SARAH can flub its answers. It was quickly found to give out incorrect information. In one case, it came up with a list of fake names and addresses for nonexistent clinics in San Francisco. The World Health Organization warns on its website that SARAH may not always be accurate.

From: Why does AI hallucinate? | MIT Technology Review.

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TSB is warning consumers to avoid making online purchases on Facebook Marketplace. Fraud experts have assessed that 34% of the adverts tested on the platform to be scam posts.

From: A third of Facebook Marketplace adverts could be scams.

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Many scams and attempted scams go unreported, so it’s impossible to understand the scale of the problem. In a 2022 survey of 1,000 people in England, one in six said they were scammed on the marketplace. Another 2022 survey of 1,000 people in the US found that 62 percent had encountered a scam on Facebook.

From: Facebook Marketplace Is Being Ruined by Zelle Scammers | WIRED.

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A 2022 ProPublica investigation found that Facebook Marketplace scams had run rampant and that the company was potentially understaffed to a degree that impeded its ability to stop scammers.

From: Facebook Marketplace Is Being Ruined by Zelle Scammers | WIRED.

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xxxThe consumer data right was supposed to increase healthy market competition, but instead, mid-tier and regional banks have been incurring disproportionately higher compliance costs compared to the Big Four (National Australia Bank, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group). High compliance costs are forcing difficult investment trade-offs – particularly for smaller banks – leading to vital technology and customer projects being deprioritized. These include digital banking experiences, scam detection and prevention.

From: Can Australia revive its open banking initiative? – Kapronasia.

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Digital wallets are not just replacing cash; they are also becoming a repository for ID cards, insurance cards, and driver’s licenses.

From: Is the U.S. Ready for a Cashless Society? – PaymentsJournal.

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According to Marqeta’s 2024 State of Payments Report, nearly three-quarters of U.S. consumers aren’t concerned about moving towards a cashless society. In fact, more than a quarter of respondents said it feels awkward to pay with cash, with nearly half of those ages 18 to 34 expressing this sentiment.

From: Is the U.S. Ready for a Cashless Society? – PaymentsJournal.

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new study by Juniper Research has predicted that the installation of digital identity apps will reach 5.2 billion globally by 2029, representing over 60% of the global population. This figure marks a significant increase of 126% from the current 2.3 billion app installations noted this year.

From: Digital identity apps to hit 5.2bn installations by 2029.

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While we certainly value the upsides of networking, over the years, we’ve learned there is equal value in protecting our time and the relationships we’ve worked hard to build.

From: How to Gracefully Decline a Networking Request.

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KnowBe4 needed a software engineer for our internal IT AI team. We posted the job, received resumes, conducted interviews, performed background checks, verified references, and hired the person. We sent them their Mac workstation, and the moment it was received, it immediately started to load malware.

Our HR team conducted four video conference based interviews on separate occasions, confirming the individual matched the photo provided on their application. Additionally, a background check and all other standard pre-hiring checks were performed and came back clear due to the stolen identity being used. This was a real person using a valid but stolen US-based identity. The picture was AI “enhanced”.

From: How a North Korean Fake IT Worker Tried to Infiltrate Us.

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(Edited)
Excuse me? I’ve been on board bitcoin since 2013. Right now some individuals in tech hold very large amounts and are gaming the system to hold more. The unregulated market is heavily gamed by such large interests and exchanges able to move relatively large volumes and liquidate leveraged positions almost at will with zero overview by regulators. People executing these strategies are the same people critical of central bankers and regulators. Such regulations were instituted for a reason after the 1930 crash.

Liquidity on exchanges may be “enough” for anyone to buy some, but it is low, relatively small exchanges can and do cause huge swings. Just now almost 4% within a hours. That’s no basis for a stable fiat medium of exchange. Nor is there any reason to assume that a stable price can be maintained at any time. It never has been stable.

CBDCs on the other hand can be created by institutions ultimately accountable to governments and voters.

Bitcoin no longer is the libertarian/anarchist’s choice, it’s been veering into authoritarian control, bought even Trump.

From: Kamala Harris campaign seeks ‘reset’ with crypto companies.

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The UN estimates that global money laundering equates to 2 – 5% of global GDP. This estimate seems to have been made in the early 2000’s and based on an IMF report from 1998 – in today’s money that is $2 trillion – $5 trillion annually, which encompasses the size of the UK’s GDP.

Yet just a small fraction of this total is detected – Europol estimate that 2.2% of the proceeds of crime are found and even then only about half of this total is seized.

There is no shortage of anti-money laundering (AML) regulation – the EU is on its 6th AML Directive, first issued in 1991 and the pace is accelerating – there have been three AML directives in the last 10 years.

Compliance with AML regulations is costly. LexisNexis estimate UK banks spent £34.2 billion in 2022 – scaling this up (by GDP) globally implies the global cost of compliance is over $1 trillion annually. Most countries implement AML regulations based on recommendations from an inter-governmental organisation called the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

From: Feed | LinkedIn.

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