AI Adoption Concerns and Perceived Benefits Among US Workers #1672

May 25, 2023PodcastTodd Cochrane

A recent survey reveals that 79% of American workers harbor concerns about potential wage cuts due to AI integration in their workplaces, despite many also recognizing possible workload alleviation. The study by Checkr via Pollfish sampled 3,000 American workers from various generations and found that 74% fear losing their jobs to AI within two years. Nevertheless, a surprising 86% are willing to accept a pay reduction for a reduced workweek facilitated by AI. The attitudes towards AI reflect a mix of apprehension and anticipation, illuminating the complexities of AI adoption in the workplace. This is a summary from Business Insider. It should come as no surprise as people are starting to see the platform’s power.

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Unchecked Surveillance: FBI Misuses FISA Section 702 Over 278,000 Times, Unclassified Court Document Reveals #1671

May 22, 2023PodcastTodd Cochrane

The FBI conducted warrantless searches on citizens, misusing its surveillance powers granted under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) more than 278,000 times between 2020 and early 2021, according to a recently unclassified court document. This controversial legislation, designed to prevent criminal and terrorist activities by foreigners, was improperly applied to US citizens, notably George Floyd protesters, January 6 Capitol rioters, and Congressional campaign donors. This misuse is described as “persistent and widespread” in the court opinion, indicating multiple instances of inadequate justification for these surveillance activities. Despite this rampant misuse, the information garnered through these searches can be and has been, used for prosecutions. With FISA Section 702 expiring at year’s end, this revelation could be a significant factor in the discussions regarding its reauthorization. We must demand that Congress repeal Section 702 later this year. Summary derived from The Register

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OpenAI’s ChatGPT: Now On Your iPhone! Android, You’re Next! #1670

May 18, 2023PodcastTodd Cochrane

OpenAI has officially introduced its ChatGPT app for iOS users in the US. The app, offering similar features to the ChatGPT website, includes voice input and lets ChatGPT Plus subscribers toggle between standard and GPT-4 language models. Although currently missing live web access, it promises conversation history sync and data export. The company plans to expand availability to more countries soon and hints at an upcoming Android version. However, iPad users may have to wait longer for a fully optimized version.

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Apple Launches New Concert Discovery Tools

May 17, 2023AppleApple, Apple Maps, Set ListsJenThorpe

Apple Music offers the ultimate listening experience for music fans around the world, distinguished in part by its global team of expert curators and lifelong music obsessives who make a point to surface the songs and albums users have to hear. Apple Music expanded its curation efforts into live shows, introducing concert discover features on Apple Maps and Apple Music. Together, these new features celebrate the joy of live music, and give fans and artists more ways to connect.

On Maps, more than 40 new Guides, each expertly curated by Apple Music editors, highlight the best venues to experience live music in some of the world’s leading culture hubs. From landmark Viennese symphony halls to cutting-edge techno clubs in Brooklyn and Tokyo, these hand-picked selections – currently spanning over 10 cities – are all music fans need for an unforgettable night out.

Apple Music Guides also allow fans to browse venues’ upcoming shows directly form Maps through Shazam’s concert discovery module – part of a suite of features that Shazam introduced last spring, leveraging concert information from the world-renowned event recommendation and artist discovery platform Bandsintown.

On Apple Music, the brand-new Set Lists space shines a light on a selection of major tours, letting fans listen to set lists and read about the productions. For the first time on the app, fans will also be able to browse artists’ upcoming shows in their area by launching Shazam’s concert discovery module.

Apple Music Guides will be rolling out on Maps at apple.co/Musicenues. Featured cites include Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York City, and San Francisco in North America; Berlin, London, Paris, and Vienna in Europe; Melbourne, and Sydney in the Asia-Pacific region, and Mexico City in Latin America.

Apple Music’s Set Lists are available at apple.co/setlists.

TechCrunch reported that these changes aim to make Apple’s services more competitive with rivals, like Spotify, which now has robust concert discovery functionality in its own app following a revamp last hair that brought a Live Events Feed that’s personalized to users’ interests.

According to TechCrunch, Apple’s new guides, however, aren’t customized for the end user – they’re curated by Apple Music editors, similar to a guidebook offering. And the Apple Music app is only personalized in the sense that fans are now able to browse shows in their local area.

TechCrunch also reported that Apple’s new Set Lists will also launch at apple.co/setlists, and will initially include artists like Sam Smith, BLACKPINK, Peso Pluma, Kane Brown, Blink-182, and Ed Sheeran. Apple didn’t provide any sense of how often these Set lists would be updated with more artists and tours, but we’d expect to see more over time.

Personally, I think that people who love going to see shows will likely find these new features to be useful. Those who cannot afford to travel to the shows can still listen to the curated playlist. That’s going to be really helpful for people who have disabilities that make traveling difficult for them.

YouTube’s Recommendations Are Leading Kids To Gun Videos

May 17, 2023YouTubeYouTubeJenThorpe

YouTube’s recommendations are leading young kids to videos about school shootings and other gun-related content, according to a new report, Engadget reported. According to the Tech Transparency Project (TTP), a nonprofit watchdog group, YouTube’s recommendation algorithm is “pushing boys interested in video games to scenes of school shootings, instructions on how to use and modify weapons” and other gun-centric content.

The researchers behind the report set up four new YouTube accounts posing as two 9-year-old boys and two 14-year-old boys. All accounts watched playlists of content about popular video games, like Roblox, Lego Star Wars, and Grand Theft Auto. The researchers then tracked the accounts’ recommendations during a 30-day period last November.

“The study found that YouTube pushed content on shootings and weapons to all of the gamer accounts, but at a much higher volume to the users who clicked on the YouTube-recommended videos,” the TTP writes. “These videos included scenes depicting school shootings and other mass shooting events; graphic demonstrations of how much damage guns can inflict on a human body; and how-to guides for converting a handgun to a fully automatic weapon.”

In a statement, a YouTube spokesperson pointed to the YouTube Kids app and its in-app supervision tools, which “create a safer experience for tweens and teens” on its platform, Engadget reported.

“We welcome research on our recommendations, and we’re exploring more ways to bring in academic researchers to study out systems,” the spokesperson said. “But in reviewing this report’s methodology, it’s difficult for us to draw strong conclusions. For example, the study doesn’t provide context of how many overall videos were recommended to the test accounts, and also doesn’t give insight into how the test accounts were set up, including whether YouTube’s Supervised Experiences tools were applied.”

The Associated Press reported that the test accounts simulated two nine-year-olds who both liked video games. The accounts were identical, except that one clicked on the videos recommend by YouTube, and the other ignored the platform’s suggestions.

According to The Associated Press, the account that clicked on YouTube’s suggestions was soon flooded with graphic videos about school shootings, tactical gun training videos, and how-to instructions on making firearms fully automatic. One video features an elementary school-age girl wielding a handgun; another showed a shooter using a .50 caliber gun to fire on a dummy head filled with lifelike blood and brains. Many of the videos violate YouTube’s own policies against violent or gory content.

The Tech Transparency Project provided key points from its report:

YouTube recommended hundreds of videos about guns and gun violence to accounts for boys interested in video games, according to a new study.
Some of the recommended videos gave instructions on how to convert guns into automatic weapons or depicted school shootings.
The gamer accounts that watched the YouTube-recommended videos got served a much higher volume of gun-and shooting-related content.
Many of the videos violated YouTube’s own policies on firearms, violence, and child safety, and YouTube took no apparent steps to age-restrict them.
YouTube also recommended a movie about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer to minor accounts, the study found.

According to the report, between Nov. 1 and Nov. 30, YouTube pushed 382 real firearms videos to the nine-year-old engagement account – an average of more than 12 per day. The videos includes graphic demonstrations of what high-powered weapons can do to a human torso or human head. YouTube served far fewer weapons videos – 34 – to the gamer of the same age who did not watch the recommendations.

During the same 30-day period, the report stated, YouTube served 1,325 real firearms videos to the 14-year-old engagement account – an average of more than 44 per day. The videos features shooting scenes and “how-tos” for using or modifying firearms. By contrast, the 14-year-old account that did not click on the recommended content got 172 weapons videos.

In my opinion, parents who have children between the ages of 9 and 14 should take steps to prevent their children and teens from seeing a flood of weapon-related videos. YouTube recommends the YouTube Kids app, and its in-app supervision tools.

CNBC Had A “Sprawling” Interview With Elon Musk

May 17, 2023Twitterdiscrimination, Elon Musk, Twitter, work from homeJenThorpe

Tesla CEO Elon Musk sat down for a sprawling interview with CNBC anchor David Faber on Tuesday following Tesla’s 2023 annual shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas, CNBC reported.

During the course of their approximately hour long conversation, Musk reflected on:

How he has managed a takeover of Twitter so far and what lies ahead. Among other things, he said Twitter’s Community Notes feature has cost Twitter $40 million in business when two big clients reduced spending after their ads received community notes accusing them of false advertising. He also claimed that when the acquisition closed, Twitter had negative $3 billion in annual cash flow and $1 billion in the bank.

He also defended his own tweets that were widely criticized as lending credence to conspiracies about George Soros and a recent mass shooting event in Allen, Texas, insisting “I’ll say what I want, and if the consequence of that is losing money, so be it.”

His political views, including his belief that Joe Biden won the 2020 election and it wasn’t stolen, but that he thinks there was at least some voting fraud. He also said he voted for Biden but hinted that he wasn’t happy with his choice, saying “I wish we could have just a normal human being as president.”

His personal views and habits when it comes to work and productivity: He said he takes only two or three days off per year, works seven days a week and gets six hours of sleep a night. He also said he believes it’s morally wrong for people in the “laptop class” to advocate for working form home when service workers, such as people who work in factories, still have to show up in person.

CNBC also posted an article titled: “Elon Musk: Working from home is ‘morally wrong’ when service workers still have to show up” From the article:

Silicon Valley “laptop classes” need to get off their “moral high horse” with their “work-from-home bull***, Tesla CEO Elon Musk told CNBC’s David Faber in a Tuesday interview.

Musk was discussing return-to-office imperatives that have caused significant concern among tech workers in Silicon Valley and across the U.S., many of who were promised generous remote work mandates by top executives.

“I think that the whole notion of work from home is a bit like the fake Marie Antoinette quote, ‘Let them eat cake’,” Musk said. “It’s not just a productive thing,” Musk said, “I think it’s morally wrong.”

Musk referred to tech workers as the “laptop classes living in la-la-land,” telling Faber it was hypocritical to work from home while expecting service workers to continue to show up in person.

Twitter’s headquarters in the United States is located in San Francisco, California. The California Civil Rights Department clearly states: “Disability discrimination occurs when an employer treats a qualified employee or applicant unfavorably because she has a disability. The law also requires an employer to provide reasonable accommodation to an employee or job applicant with a disability, unless doing so would cause significant difficulty or expense for the employer.”

It seems to me that reasonable accommodation for workers with disabilities should include the option to work from home. As a person who has disabilities, I find Elon Musk’s comments about employees who want to work from home to be disgusting and degrading.

WhatsApp Announces Chat Lock

May 17, 2023MetaMeta, Privacy, WhatsAppJenThorpe

WhatsApp posted on its blog “Chat Lock” Making your most intimate conversations even more private”. The purpose of this new feature appears to give users a more secure way to protect their intimate conversations behind one more layer of security. From the blog post:

Our passion is to find new ways to help keep your messages private and secure. Today, we’re excited to bring to you a new feature we’re calling Chat Lock, which lets you protect your most intimate conversations behind one more layer of security,

Locking a chat takes that thread out of the inbox and puts it behind its own folder that can only be accessed with your device password or biometric, like a fingerprint. It also automatically hides the content of that chat in notifications, too.

We think this feature will be great for people who have reason to share their phones from time to time with a family member of those moments where someone else is holding your phone at the exact moment an extra special chat arrives.You can lock a chat by tapping the name of a one-to-one or group and selecting the lock option. To reveal these chats, slowly pull down on your inbox and enter your phone password or biometric.

Over the next few months, we’re going to be adding more options for Chat Lock, including locking for companion devices and creating a custom password for your chats so that you can use a unique password different from the one you use for your phone.

Engadget reported that Chat Lock should allow users to keep certain conversations more private. The tool lets you lock any conversation, which it places in a specialized folder that is only accessible via biometrics, like a fingerprint or a face scan, or by entering a current password.

According to Engadget, WhatsApp says they’re busy prepping for more features for Chat Lock, like the ability to create a custom password for each chat and a tool to lock chats across multiple devices. Parent company Meta has been extraordinarily busy trying to keep WhatsApp safe and reliable, as it recently beefed up the verification system to hinder would-be scammers and added more options to deal with disappearing messages.

iPhone in Canada reported that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg commented on Chat Lock, saying “New locked chats in WhatsApp make your conversations more private. They’re hidden in a password protected folder and notifications won’t show sender or message content.”

Chat Lock brings further privacy to conversations and is something iMessage should integrate at some point as well. There’s nothing worse than seeing some embarrassing notifications pop up from your group chats that aren’t silenced, iPhone in Canada reported. On iPhone, it is possible to lock down the opening of WhatsApp with Face ID or Touch ID, but that doesn’t stop or hide notifications from chats.

iPhone in Canada also reported: We’re not seeing WhatsApp Chat Lock in Canada yet, but if you are, let us know.

To me, it makes sense for WhatsApp to provide the kind of privacy that should be enabled for private, personal chats. This new feature makes WhatsApp one of the most secure apps for people who want to have personal chats with someone special.