EUROPOL: “In response to the growing public attention given to ChatGPT, the Europol Innovation Lab organised a number of workshops with subject matter experts from across Europol to explore how criminals can abuse large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, as well as how it may assist investigators in their daily work. Their insights are… Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Monthly Archives: March 2023
Top Russia-Adjacent Disinformation Sites
Via Dave Troy – “The top 35 sites are, well, quite representative. Treat all of these outlets with extreme caution.Folks interested in Russia-linked propaganda should take a look at the top 250 or so sites here (Google Doc) and make sure they’re not missing anything.” See also the accompanying visualization map. Continue Reading
Report Identifies PFAS Injected into at least 1,600 Oil and Gas Wells
Industry-Friendly State Disclosure Rules May Shield Far Broader Use. “Previously unpublicized information unearthed by Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) shows that since at least 2013, oil and gas companies have used more than 21 tons (43,000 pounds) of a class of extremely toxic and persistent chemicals known as PFAS in hydraulic fracturing of oil and… Continue Reading
Executive Order on Prohibition on Use by the United States Government of Commercial Spyware that Poses Risks to National Security
March 27, 2023 – “By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Policy. Technology is central to the future of our national security, economy, and democracy. The United States has fundamental national security and foreign… Continue Reading
How unbelievably realistic fake images could take over the internet
Vox: “..In just a few short years, AI-generated images have come a long way. In a more innocent time (2015) Google released “DeepDream,” which used Google’s artificial neural network programs — that is, artificial intelligence that’s been trained to learn in a way that mimics a human brain’s neural networks — to recognize patterns in… Continue Reading
Banks, Financial Industry Hit by Rising Ransomware Attacks
Bloomberg via Wealth Management: “Ransomware gangs didn’t come out with any big new innovations last year, but “what 2022 lacked in innovation it made up for in volume,” according to a report by a financial services group. In its annual outlook on cyber threats, the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or FS-ISAC, reported that… Continue Reading
Declassified report suggests “Havana syndrome” could result from energy weapon
Salon: “A newly obtained declassified report prepared for the director of national intelligence by a panel of experts appears to show conclusively that “Havana syndrome” — a cluster of unexplained symptoms experienced by diplomats and government personnel abroad — is not a naturally occurring health problem. It does not reach any conclusions about who or… Continue Reading
Consumer Help Center and FDIC Resource Guide
San Francisco Fed: “Consumer Help Center and FDIC Resource Guide – If you have questions about a business or personal bank account, please visit the Federal Reserve’s Consumer Help Center at www.federalreserveconsumerhelp.gov, or contact the center at 1-888-851-1920 or [email protected]. Information about the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) can be found at www.fdic.gov. For questions… Continue Reading
A.I. Is Sucking the Entire Internet In. What If You Could Yank Some Back Out?
Slate: “Over the coming years, A.I. companies will release even more advanced models that will remind us that this is just the beginning. At least one of these tools will be different in an important way: It will be prohibited from seeing 80 million of the images that helped teach its predecessors to draw and… Continue Reading
Alexander Skarsgård Explains the Answer to Everything
The New York Times – (It Involves Doing Some Math – Opinion / Video) “Partha Dasgupta is a Cambridge University economist who in 2021 prepared a more than 600-page report for the British government about the financial value of nature. Not your average bedtime reading. But believe us when we say his report, the culmination… Continue Reading
How to recognize AI snake oil
Much of what’s being sold as “AI” today is snake oil — it does not and cannot work. Why is this happening? How can we recognize flawed AI claims and push back? Presentation by Arvind Narayanan Associate Professor of Computer Science, Princeton University Center for Information Technology Policy. Continue Reading
The Four Quadrants of American Politics
The Atlantic: “Control of the House of Representatives could teeter precariously for years as each party consolidates its dominance over mirror-image demographic strongholds. That’s the clearest conclusion of a new analysis of the demographic and economic characteristics of all 435 congressional districts, conducted by the Equity Research Institute at the University of Southern California in… Continue Reading
