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Daily Archives: January 16, 2023

BankThink ChatGPT will break financial services, but then it might save it

American Banker – Dev Patnaik: “I recently spent the best part of a weekend playing with ChatGPT, the AI-powered natural language tool that answers questions and responds to prompts in an unerringly human way. My conclusion? It signals the end of the financial services industry as we know it. That claim will be laughed off by the vast majority of financial services leaders. Unfortunately, many probably aren’t aware of what ChatGPT is — most financial executives I’ve spoken to in recent weeks haven’t heard of it. Those that have heard of it view it as little more than an upgraded chatbot In fact, the technology behind ChatGPT poses a direct threat to financial providers’ core strategy. Most financial firms think they’ll be able to keep earning high margins by selling trust and advisory services, especially to high-net-worth individuals. They’ve doubled down even as robo advisor firms have taken nearly $1 trillion in assets under management over the past decade. ChatGPT, or rather GPT3 and large models like it, will turbocharge these these upstart’s ability to provide trusted advice and planning o the full range of financial services from pensions to insurance to tax strategy.”

A Tech News Site Has Been Using AI To Write Articles, So We Did The Same Thing Here

BuzzFeed News would like to thank ChatGPT. “Technology news outlet CNET has been found to be using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to write articles about personal finance without any prior announcement or explanation. The articles, which numbered at 73, covered topics such as “What Is Zelle and How Does It Work?” and had a small disclaimer… Continue Reading

Global Risks Report 2023

World Economic Forum: Cost of living dominates global risks in the next two years while climate action failure dominates the next decade. “As 2023 begins, the world is facing a set of risks that feel both wholly new and eerily familiar. We have seen a return of “older” risks – inflation, cost-of-living crises, trade wars,… Continue Reading

Open Syllabus Explorer

“Mapping the college curriculum across 7,292,573 syllabi. Open Syllabus is a non-profit research organization that collects and analyzes millions of syllabi to support novel teaching and learning applications. Open Syllabus helps instructors develop classes, libraries manage collections, and presses develop books. It supports students and lifelong learners in their exploration of topics and fields. It… Continue Reading

Google Translate gets offline translation for 33 more languages

Android Police: “Google Translate has become a powerful tool for people who need quick, on-point translations. If you have the smartphone app, you can download language packages to translate phrases completely offline, but it’s not available for all the languages Google Translate currently supports. Still, Google is making an active effort to not only support… Continue Reading

Opposing Attempts to Criminalize Librarianship through State Obscenity Laws

EveryLibrary Institute: “In 2023-2024, we anticipate that many legislators whose bills failed the last session will reintroduce language in this session and anti-access activists will be inspired to sponsor their own regressive initiatives. The EverLibrary Institute is releasing a new Policy Brief “Opposing Attempts to Criminalize Libraries and Education Through State Obscenity Laws” to help… Continue Reading

Visualizing Congressional Productivity

Center for Data Innovation: The Economist has created a visualization tracking productivity in the U.S. Congress. The visualization shows the number of major bills passed in every session of Congress from 1947 to 2023 as well as the party that held control over the House, Senate, and presidency during each session. In the visualization, bills… Continue Reading

How Google’s Ad Business Funds Disinformation Around the World

Pro Publica: “In one instance, Google continued to place ads on a publication in Bosnia and Herzegovina for months after the U.S. government officially imposed sanctions on the site. Google stopped doing business with the site, which the U.S. Treasury Department described as the “personal media station” of a prominent Bosnian Serb separatist politician, only… Continue Reading

Database States – No database is neutral

The Baffler -Sanjana Varghese: The UK, as it turns out, is not particularly adept at securing its data. In 2009, a group of British academics released a report calling the UK a “database state,” citing the existence of forty-six leaky databases that were poorly constructed and badly maintained. Databases that they examined ranged from one… Continue Reading