Snippings

xxx

Over the next few months, the authorities would learn that the audio wasn’t genuine—Eiswert hadn’t said those hateful things—and in time they would learn who had framed him. Their investigation would show both how easy it is for someone today to use artificial intelligence tools to mimic someone else’s voice, and the swift damage a viral fake can wrought:

From: Welcome to Fakesville: Inside an AI Nightmare That Tore Apart a School — The Information.

xxx

xxx

ROBOT ROMANCE REVEALED: Women will be having more sex with ROBOTS than men by 2025
That’s according to a professional, who also thinks robot sex will be more common than human intercourse by 2050

From: REVEALED: Women will be having more sex with ROBOTS than men by 2025 – The Sun | The Sun.

xxx

xxx

Private transactions, which are sent directly to validators or block proposers, instead of public mempools, now account for about half of the total on Ethereum, in terms of the total gas usage – reflecting the computational power required to process transactions. The percentage was about 7% in September 2022 when Ethereum transitioned into a proof-of-stake network, but it’s taken off this year, jumping from about 15% since the start of 2024.

From: Dark Pools Dominate Ethereum as Private Transactions Surge – at Least by One Measure.

xxx

xxx

With AI getting this good, we’re moving past memeification and toward severe harm for everyone but the scammer. In the Aniston example, her business relationships are potentially harmed, as is her reputation with fans. Consumers might waste money or compromise their identity, and the proliferation of fake content could cause people to question the validity of real endorsements, which hurts legitimate brands. Worse, all this “AI slop” further erodes our collective ability to believe anything.

From: ‘Whack-a-Mole’: Agents and Lawyers Scramble to Fight AI Celeb Ad Scams.

xxx

xxx

Aylo says it’s blocking access to its websites over privacy concerns around the new laws. The laws generally require adults to upload some form of government ID to prove they’re 18 or older. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has criticized the laws as “surveillance systems” that could lead to misuse or theft of sensitive data.

From: Pornhub blocks Indiana, Kentucky, and more over age verification laws – The Verge.

xxx

Google’s former CEO Eric Schmidt, is the ultimate tech insider, and his insights around AI reveal a landscape changing so quickly that even he is struggling to keep up the pace.

 

 

Schmidt is specifically talking about the combination of large context windows, AI agents that can learn and improve themselves, and text-to-action capabilities. He says that these will have an impact on the world at a scale that no-one understands, yet much bigger than what he calls the “the horrific impact we’ve had by social media”. If we look at each of these factors in turn, we can see why Schmidt is making such a forecast.

First of all, large context windows, the working memory of large language models, are solidly on their way. My day-to-day model, Claude, can already hold 200k tokens (approximately 150k words) in its working memory. Millions or more are coming.

Secondly, agent-based systems, which autonomously execute multi-step tasks and adapt to environmental feedback, are poised to unlock significant economic value next.

Finally text-to-action capabilities will emerge, translating natural language into specific, working programs. Imagine your own personal programmer at your fingertips, ready to create whatever you envision. A dating app that matches people based on their Netflix viewing history and Spotify playlists?2 A prototype within minutes.

With these three capabilities in place, the 

 

xxx

n this paper, we study the staggered introduction of a generative AI-based conversational assistant using data from 5,179 customer support agents. Access to the tool increases productivity, as measured by issues resolved per hour, by 14% on average, including a 34% improvement for novice and low-skilled workers but with minimal impact on experienced and highly skilled workers. We provide suggestive evidence that the AI model disseminates the best practices of more able workers and helps newer workers move down the experience curve.

From: Generative AI at Work | NBER.

xxx

Disseminating best practice is what management consultants were for.

xxx

By moving from information to action—think virtual coworkers able to complete complex workflows—the technology promises a new wave of productivity and innovation.

From: Why agents are the next frontier of generative AI | McKinsey.

xxx

 

Use case 1: Loan underwriting

Use case 2: Code documentation and modernization

Use case 3: Online marketing campaign creation

 

I turns out that my friend is not the only who was conned into contacting  airline scammers.

xxx

Holidaymakers are being warned about a rise in scams where fake social media accounts are used to impersonate airlines.

From: Scammers use fake social media accounts to impersonate airlines.

xxx

xxx

As part of the planned “Digital Information and Smart Data” Bill, the government says that it will support economic growth by establishing “digital verification services”.

The short explanation given reads as follows:

These measures support the creation and adoption of secure and trusted digital identity products and services from certified providers to help with things like moving house, pre-employment checks, and buying age restricted goods and services.

Needless to say, when it was published, it set off a mini-wave of speculation that the new government is attempting to introduce ID cards – something that Tony Blair famously failed to do when he was in Downing Street.

From: No, the government isn’t planning to introduce ID cards.

However, as James O’Malley points out, the document more emphatically does not say that the government will creatre a digitial identity.

xxx

In the past year, there has been a noticeable rise in “selfie spoofing” scams, where fraudsters use an individual’s selfie to authenticate a stolen identity and subsequently open fraudulent accounts. This fraud method accounted for 20 percent of all identification document fraud cases last year.

From: Is biometric authentication still effective? | Biometric Update.

xxx

xxx

Apple is generating serious revenue from its payment services like BNPL and tap-to-pay – the company received $24 billion in Q2 payments revenue, up 14% year over year. The tech giant also announced that it will open up NFC payments on iPhones to third-party developers, which could enable everything from stablecoin tap-to-pay to better merchant rewards to account-to-account tap payments.

From: Apple opens up NFC as it pulls in $24B in Q2 payments revenue (TWIF 8/16).

xxx