“In September 2023, NewsGuard identified what appeared to be the first of its kind: a network of 17 TikTok accounts using AI text-to-speech software to create videos advancing conspiracy theories about celebrities, amassing hundreds of millions of views. Now, the phenomenon appears to be growing and shifting its focus to politics. NewsGuard has identified 41… Continue Reading
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Author Archives: Sabrina I. Pacifici
Everyone Has A Price And Corporations Know Yours
The Lever – “Digital surveillance and customer isolation are locking us into a consumer hell of personalized prices. Six years ago, I was at a conference at the University of Chicago, the intellectual heart of corporate-friendly capitalism, when my eyes found the cover of the Chicago Booth Review, the business school’s flagship publication. “Are You… Continue Reading
Peer review is essential for science. Unfortunately, it’s broken.
Ars Technica: “Rescuing Science: Restoring Trust in an Age of Doubt was the most difficult book I’ve ever written. I’m a cosmologist—I study the origins, structure, and evolution of the Universe. I love science. I live and breathe science. If science were a breakfast cereal, I’d eat it every morning. And at the height of… Continue Reading
Even Disinformation Experts Don’t Know How to Stop It
The New York Times – “Researchers have learned plenty about misinformation and how it spreads. But they’re still struggling to figure out how to stop it…Holding the line against misinformation and disinformation is demoralizing and sometimes dangerous work, requiring an unusual degree of optimism and doggedness. Increasingly, however, even the most committed warriors are feeling… Continue Reading
New map gives horror glimpse at world’s climate in 60 years
Express UK: “As Britons experience a cold, rainy summer, experts are urging them to appreciate the milder conditions while they can. A new interactive map developed by scientists from the University of Maryland offers a glimpse into a much hotter future, predicting drastic changes in climate for cities worldwide within the next 60 years. According… Continue Reading
National Coral Reef Monitoring Program
“Coral reefs are among the most valuable ecosystems on earth, providing people with goods and services that include food, storm protection, and recreational opportunities. Despite their importance, coral reef ecosystems are in decline from a myriad of man-made and natural threats. In response, the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program established an integrated and focused monitoring… Continue Reading
Not Everyone Has an Inner Voice Streaming Through Their Head
Scientific American [unpaywalled]: “Most of us have an “inner voice,” and we tend to assume everybody does, but recent evidence suggests that people vary widely in the extent to which they experience inner speech, from an almost constant patter to a virtual absence of self-talk. “Until you start asking the right questions you don’t know… Continue Reading
GoogleDark Web Monitoring
Gizmodo: “The Mountain View company will integrate Dark Web monitoring with Google’s Results About You page sometime toward the end of the month. That feature notifies users if their personal information, their name, address, or phone number, appears in search results. Google has previously stated its goal to scrub personal information from results, though it… Continue Reading
Is AI the Bitter End or the Lucrative Future of Book Publishing?
Esquire – As the law fights to catch up to Big Tech, the future of books hangs in the balance. Are writers doomed by “the biggest rip-off in creative history” or could AI offer new ways of making a living? “I get hung up on the word scraping,” author R.O. Kwon says. “It sounds quite… Continue Reading
Private-Sector AI Indicators Dataset
DataIsPlural: “The Private-Sector AI Indicators dataset, from Georgetown University’s Emerging Technology Observatory, provides “a diverse range of indicators of AI-related activity for hundreds of companies worldwide, from startups to multinationals.” For each of the 670+ companies included, the dataset counts the number of AI-related research articles published by its employees (disaggregated by topic), AI-related patents… Continue Reading
Every Phone Can ID Your Router – Here’s How to Stop It
PC Mag: “Your smartphone constantly checks available Wi-Fi nodes, looking to reconnect with any that you’ve used before. You can see it happening, and it’s very convenient (though vulnerable to spoofing and “evil twin” attacks). What you don’t see is that your smartphone also uploads identifying details about your router to giant databases maintained by… Continue Reading
NewsGuard Launches Monthly AI News Misinformation Monitor
Creating Benchmark for Comparing the Trustworthiness of Leading Generative AI Models – “NewsGuard today launched a monthly AI News Misinformation Monitor – see the July 2024 issue here, setting a new standard for measuring the accuracy and trustworthiness of the AI industry by tracking how each leading generative AI model is responding to prompts related… Continue Reading
