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Daily Archives: October 1, 2024

AI assistants are blabbing our embarrassing work secrets

Washington Post [unpaywalled]: “Corporate assistants have long been the keepers of company gossip and secrets. Now artificial intelligence is taking over some of their tasks, but it doesn’t share their sense of discretion. Researcher and engineer Alex Bilzerian said on X last week that, after a Zoom meeting with some venture capital investors, he got an automated email from Otter.ai, a transcription service with an “AI meeting assistant.” The email contained a transcript of the meeting — including the part that happened after Bilzerian logged off, when the investors discussed their firm’s strategic failures and cooked metrics, he told The Washington Post via direct message on X. The investors, whom he would not name, “profusely apologized” once he brought it to their attention, but the damage was already done. That post-meeting chatter made Bilzerian decide to kill the deal, he said. Companies are pumping AI features into work products across the board. Most recently, Salesforce announced an AI offering called Agentforce, which allows customers to build AI-powered virtual agents that help with sales and customer service. Microsoft has been ramping up the capabilities of its AI Copilot across its suite of work products, while Google has been doing the same with Gemini. Even workplace chat tool Slack has gotten in on the game, adding AI features that can summarize conversations, search for topics and create daily recaps. But AI can’t read the room like humans can, and many users don’t stop to check important settings or consider what could happen when automated tools access so much of their work lives…”

Microsoft brings AI-powered overviews to Bing

TechCrunch: Microsoft has launched its answer to Google’s AI-powered search experiences: Bing generative search. On the heels of a pilot in July, Bing generative search — albeit still under development — began rolling out to all U.S. users this morning. The easiest way to invoke it is by searching “Bing generative search” on Bing; Microsoft also… Continue Reading

Google Flights now uses Amtrak data to show ‘trains to consider’ alongside flights

9to5Google: Google Flights has started showing “trains to consider” alongside flights in a new partnership with Amtrak. First announced earlier this year, Google Flights is offering train routes as an alternative to airlines. This functionality allows customers to find a more sustainable transportation option as well as perhaps finding something less expensive or closer to… Continue Reading

Download Over 33,000 Sounds from the BBC Sound Effects Archive

“The BBC Sound Effects Archive is available for personal, educational or research purposes. There are over 33,000 clips from across the world from the past 100 years. These include clips made by the BBC Radiophonic workshop, recordings from the Blitz in London, special effects made for BBC TV and Radio productions, as well as 15,000… Continue Reading

Tor and Tails privacy projects merge

BoingBoing: “The Tor Project protects user privacy and anonymity on the network. Tails is a portable operating system that does so in the software. The two projects are merging, writes Pavel Zonaff, who hails the move as the “natural outcome of the Tor Project and Tails’ shared history of collaboration and solidarity.”Countering the threat of… Continue Reading

The late summer release for GovInfo included 85 individually tracked system changes

GovInfo – RSS Feeds for Searches, Browse Pages Updates, and New Mobile Buttons – The late summer release for GovInfo included 85 individually tracked system changes. Highlights were functionality to create RSS feeds based on search criteria, design improvements for mobile button display, browse updates that include migrating the Public and Private Laws collection to the… Continue Reading

Georgia Voter Registration Check

Keep The Vote is a nonprofit voter education organization. We’re a group of cybersecurity professionals who work to ensure every qualified American is allowed to participate in our elections: Georgia has removed hundreds of thousands of people from their voter rolls. While many of those removals were possibly appropriate, it’s certain that many legitimate voters… Continue Reading

Airborne plastic chemical levels shock researchers

Aalekhya Reddam, Nicholas Herkert, Heather M. Stapleton, David C. Volz. Silicone wristbands reveal ubiquitous human exposure to ortho-phthalates and non-ortho-phthalate plasticizers in Southern California. Environmental Research, 2024; 258: 119465 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.119465 Science Daily – A new study documents how Southern Californians are chronically being exposed to toxic airborne chemicals called plasticizers, including one that’s been… Continue Reading