Good Monday Morning

It’s August 14th. Here are agencies accepting donations to help Maui recover.

Today’s Spotlight is 931 words — about 3 1/2 minutes to read.

3 Stories to Know

1. Meta’s Legal Challenge: Meta wants a new hearing following a ruling that its ad-targeting system may have facilitated discrimination. The ruling allowed plaintiffs, including civil rights groups, to pursue claims of race, gender, and other bias in advertising. 

2.Acoustic Attack on Keystrokes: A newly discovered acoustic attack can steal data by detecting keystrokes with an alarming 95% accuracy. Using built-in microphones on devices, the method listens to the sounds of typing, translating them into the actual keys pressed. Heads up: this is elite level hacking, not someone looking for your Facebook password.

3. TikTok’s U.S. Retail Push: TikTok is venturing into e-commerce in the U.S. by selling made-in-China goods, aiming to leverage its massive user base. The move marks a significant shift for the platform and aligns with parent company ByteDance’s broader e-commerce ambitions.

Spotlight on What to Know About AI

This week, Spotlight begins to demystify the intricate world of AI, unpacking the terminology, unraveling the mechanisms, and delving into the current debates.

Essential Definitions

Machine Learning (ML): A method where computers analyze data to predict outcomes, like Netflix’s recommendation system.

Large Language Model (LLM): A specialized form of ML trained on vast text data, enabling tools like chatbots to communicate naturally with people.

Generative AI: AI models creating content like the text or images in Dall-E’s or MidJourney’s art generation.

The Human Touch in AI Training

Human involvement in AI extends far beyond mere data processing. It’s not just a handful of experts either; thousands of people worldwide are engaged in the meticulous task of labeling data. This process involves identifying and categorizing elements within images, texts, and other forms of data.

For instance, labeling various plant species in photos teaches an AI to recognize similar patterns, while in other cases, humans might be transcribing and annotating spoken language. This extensive human interaction underlines the complexity of AI and is essential to its success.

The magnitude of this human involvement also brings challenges, such as ensuring quality and dealing with the sheer volume of data that requires annotation. Some projects might involve millions of individual pieces of data, each one needing precise labeling. While self-teaching algorithms exist, they concern scientists due to potential inaccuracies, emphasizing the irreplaceable role of human insight.

Machine Learning vs. True AI

ML predicts and analyzes data, forecasting weather patterns, whereas true AI (AGI) would interpret the weather’s impact on daily life. While ML is prevalent in tools like Google’s search engine, AGI is still a concept from science fiction, epitomized by HAL 9000 from “2001: A Space Odyssey” or Data from “Star Trek”. 

Coming Next Week

Next week, Spotlight takes you further into the realm of AI, exploring ethical dilemmas, corporate strategies, and the latest corporate events at Zoom, Google, and the New York Times  that are impacting the industry.

Practical AI

Quotable: “These tools don’t work. They don’t do what they say they do. They’re not detectors of AI.”
— Deborah Weber-Wultf, a member of a multi-university research group evaluating 14 software programs that purportedly detect AI output.

NYC’s AI Bias Law: New York City’s new law targets AI bias in hiring, requiring audits for discrimination. This pioneering legislation aims to promote transparency and fairness in employment, while again, keeping humans in the mix.

Tool of the Week: Lifewire provides a walk-through demonstrating how to use Google Bard in Google Sheets.

Trends, Spends & TikTok

Did That Really Happen — Heinz Ketchup’s Sugar Content

A viral social media claim stated that Heinz Tomato Ketchup contains a staggering amount of sugar. Snopes found the claim partially true; while Heinz ketchup does contain sugar, the amount is in line with industry standards and clearly labeled on the packaging. 

Following Up — Amazon’s Packaging Revolution

We told you last week that Amazon is retrenching. Now there’s news that Amazon may ditch unnecessary outer packaging for its Prime customers, aiming to reduce waste and save on costs. There are significant savings from reduced materials and shipping weights if it works. The long-term impact on both Amazon’s bottom line and the environment is yet to be determined.

Protip — Venmo Privacy Alert

Venmo’s social feed can inadvertently expose sensitive financial details. If you’ve ever used the platform, follow Brian Chen’s advice to review your privacy settings to ensure that your personal information remains confidential.’

Screening Room — Hyundai puts its family SUV in Grand Theft Auto

Science Fiction World — New Force of Nature? 

Researchers at Fermilab near Chicago are closing in on the potential discovery of a fifth fundamental force of nature, building on findings from 2021. Evidence from the behavior of sub-atomic particles called muons suggests they are being influenced by an unknown force. This discovery, part of the ‘g minus two (g-2)’ experiment, may lead to a revolution in physics.

 Coffee Break — Smarter Than A Scammer?

The Washington Post has another great interactive quiz for you to test your wits against digital scammers.

Sign of the Times

Good Monday Morning

It’s August 7th. News broke Sunday that U.S. scientists successfully repeated their fusion tests on July 30 with higher energy yields. 

Today’s Spotlight is 882 words — about 3 1/2 minutes to read.

3 Stories to Know

1. Hollywood to Cameo’s Rescue: Amid the ongoing strike, Hollywood actors are turning to Cameo for income, providing a much-needed boost for the previously embattled video greeting company. In July, layoffs had reduced Cameo’s head count to fewer than 50, as reported by The Information.

2.Prospect Medical Battling Cyberattack: Prospect Medical, an 18-hospital chain in five states, is battling an ongoing cyberattack. In response, they’ve taken their computer systems offline, suspending all nonemergency services, including elective surgeries and outpatient appointments. The FBI said it was working on the case with other law enforcement agencies.

3. Meta’s Preemptive News Block in Canada: In response to Canada’s Bill C-18, yet to take effect, Meta has blocked Canadian news content on Facebook and Instagram. The soon-to-be-enforced law requires tech giants to negotiate payments for hosting news content. Google also plans a similar move, echoing the companies’ 2021 Australian actions and earlier threats in California.

Spotlight on Amazon Retrenching 

Amazon Refocuses Amid Challenges: After a pandemic-induced surge and subsequent hit to its stock price and reputation, Amazon has been leaning harder than ever on its core cloud services and e-commerce businesses, experiencing a 65% increase in its market cap this year. Wall Street has welcomed the company’s job cuts of over 27,000, allowing room for key initiatives:

1. Tech Expansion: Amazon channeled $100M into its emerging generative AI program, mirroring its successful transformation of cost centers like logistics into profit engines. With ad revenue up 20% plus quarterly, hitting $10.6B in Q2, AI is next in line. Also, in a competitive move, Amazon’s AI-powered coding assistant, CodeWhisperer, is now free, rivaling Microsoft’s $10 monthly charge.

2. Grocery Consolidation: Amid store closures, Amazon is testing a unified checkout process for Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods, bypassing certain ingredient restrictions long in place at the upscale grocer In another move, home delivery service, currently exclusive to Prime members, is being trialed for non-Prime members.

3. Health care Venture: Amazon Clinics now offer nationwide video visits, a recent expansion. Operating independently of insurance, they offer potentially insured prescriptions, including through Amazon Pharmacy. Recall Amazon’s earlier $3.9 billion acquisition of OneMedical, bringing in 200 physician locations across major markets.

Hurdles remain despite these advances. Amazon’s purchase of Roomba creator iRobot suffered a privacy blow with leaked videos from Roomba development units. Critics spotlight Amazon’s pollution footprint, especially shipping materials and fuel for transporting returns. Despite efforts, including a UPS deal for no-cost returns and phasing out plastic padded shipping bags, critics remain unsatisfied.

Practical AI

Quotable: “We were surprised by how much the N-word was there.” — Gaming executive Justin Liebregts whose studio used AI software to monitor player conversations for toxicity.

Noteworthy: A multi-university study of 14 generative AI tools concluded that it remains relatively easy to fool software designed to tell if content was AI or human-created.

Tool of the Week: Meta released three new text-to-music generators. You can try the most basic and make a 12 second audio clip free.

Trends, Spends, & TikTok

Did That Really Happen — Investor Arrested

Fabian Marta, one of the 6,000-plus investors in the theatrical release of the movie “Sound of Freedom,” was arrested in St. Louis on July 23 and charged with felony child kidnapping. Despite social media rumors, Marta was not a producer for the film, but contributed to its $5 million theater budget.

Following Up — Chromebook Obsolescence

Back-to-School Warning:Last week, we reported on third-party sellers offering soon-to-be unsupported Google Chromebooks on platforms like Amazon and Walmart. This week, a report from U.S. PIRG called the situation “absurd” and revealed eight ChromeOS devices with an impending “death date” are currently available for purchase.

Protip — Personal Info Help

Google has rolled out a feature to aid in locating search results containing your personal information and assist in their removal. The service also tracks the status of past removal requests and sets alerts for when new copies are detected online. More details available here.

Screening Room — Debinha Dazzles for Nike Football

Science Fiction World — AI-Powered Medical Milestone 

Surgeons have successfully implanted AI-enabled microchips in a quadriplegic man’s brain, leading to the restoration of some feeling in his hand. This breakthrough included five chips connected to electrodes and sensors on the patient’s arm and hand.

Coffee Break — Most Polluted Cities

The American Lung Association has an updated State of the Air report that allows you to find the cleanest and most polluted places–and see how your city stacks up. 

Sign of the Times

Good Monday Morning

It’s July 31st. Some of the goodest boys and girls in the world will be competing on Saturday in the World Dog Surfing Championships.

Today’s Spotlight is 1,247 words — about 4 1/2 minutes to read.

3 Stories to Know

1.   Cruise is opening in Nashville. The company offers autonomous vehicle taxi services with a safety driver, like in SF. Local officials are expected to drop safety driver requirements over time in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, and now, Nashville.

2.Shoppers who want to consider a company’s values while shopping have a new app. Users can select whether they’re conservative or liberal and their positions on topics like climate change or LGBTQIA rights. The Veebs app’s premium features costs $12/year.

3.Twitter’s decline with mercurial owner Elon Musk at the helm is being hastened by a series of self-inflicted wounds. Marketing experts and the public remain shocked at how quickly he changed the brand name of Twitter to X. In just the last week, that move generated multiple problems:

• Apple won’t distribute the new app because its name doesn’t meet character length guidelines.
• The user who had the Twitter handle X for years says that the company took his name without warning or compensation. He was later offered some promotional items.
• Police halted the company’s new massive signs from being placed on the building because Twitter never obtained permits.
• Local residents are incensed over a huge lighted sign that now flashes from the company’s roof and directly into an apartment building across the street. City officials say that sign was also erected without a permit.

Spotlight on EdTech

Generative AI remains the biggest story in education technology. We’ve previously covered issues like student privacy and heavy-handed administrators using law enforcement tools inside schools, but AI use is a fast-moving wild card capable of disrupting education.

Educators are concerned about keeping pace with advancing technology, financial inequality among students, and the lack of training for themselves. Then there is the answer engine issue. Generative AI is often used as an answer engine instead of as a search engine to find resources.

And generative AI often provides incomplete or inaccurate responses.

A major new UNESCO education technology report last week called for schools to ban smartphones from classrooms and that teachers monitor students’ use of technology. The report also recommends that resource-starved schools shouldn’t leave students alone with self-paced learning or tutoring programs that lack human interaction.

Suppliers Prep for the Rush

The people who made the most money during a gold rush are the very few who find some of the early gold and the shopkeepers and other merchants who supply the miners. Federal funds that are part of the American Rescue Plan require schools put at least 20% of awards into combating learning loss from the pandemic disruption.

Tech companies took note of the money available to school administrators for the edtech equivalent of pickaxes. VC investments in education tech companies tripled to $16.8 billion between 2019 and 2021. Overall expenditures are expected to reach $300 billion, and a national survey suggests that only 11% of school and district leaders require peer reviewed research showing edtech effectiveness before buying.

Planned Obsolescence

Google Chromebooks are a painful symbol of how school systems have to juggle existing emergent needs with future budgets. The hybrid machine has a feature set and price point between tablet and laptop computer, and is designed to stop working on certain dates. The Oakland Unified School District had to replace 3,800 of them last year and faces 40,000 more replacements over the next 5 years.

Generative AI in Schools

The timing seems perfect for generative AI, but it’s not ready yet. Interfaces are often clunky, privacy guardrails are nonexistent, and they can be difficult to effectively use. The biggest issue remains accuracy. Whether they’re called hallucinations, dreams, or something else, large language models sometimes spit out completely wrong information — and even the programmers and companies behind them don’t always know why.

That won’t stop the continuing explosion of generative AI use in classrooms, and there are fun successes to celebrate including the professor who had ChatGPT develop a college course about its use and then uses its own software to teach it.

Practical AI

Quotable: “I’m an AI-creation/” — Bikini-clad fashion influencer Milla Sofia, who Futurism reports has tens of thousands of social media followers and even a marriage proposal.

Noteworthy: MIT announced PhotoGuard, a software tool that makes it much more difficult to manipulate an image.

Tool of the Week: ChatGPT finally released its Android app. The iOS version launched in May.

Trends, Spends & TikTok

Did That Really Happen — No, Fentanyl Laced Money Is Not A Thing

Media outlets and some police departments continue posting scary headlines about money that has been tainted with fentanyl harming people. Here are some counter headlines about fentanyl poisoning from accidental contact:

Experts Say Risk Is Extremely Low — NPR
Toxicology Expert Dispels Myths — UC Davis
Risks Are Very Minimal — Ohio State

There’s also this infographic from the DEA that advises first responders that incidental skin contact “is not expected to lead to harmful effects.”

P.S. There is also no recorded case in North America of a child dying after eating tainted Halloween candy except one boy who was murdered by his father. You can still snag a Reese’s or Snickers, but don’t get hysterical about a fake threat.

Following Up — Androids Get Tracker Warning

Remember how we told you about a man who killed a person he was following by using an AirTag? Google says that your Android device can now tell you if an AirTag you don’t own is “determined to be traveling with you.” You can also scan for unknown devices.

Protip — Don’t Buy Obsolete Chromebooks

It’s not just school systems. Third-party sellers can use Amazon, eBay, and other platforms to sell you Chromebooks that are or will soon expire. That’s fine if you both know about the date. Here’s how to stay an informed consumer.

Screening Room — Captivating Inclusivity Spot from Brazil

Science Fiction World — Protecting Old Growth With New Tech 

Stand.earth Research Group has launched Forest Eye, a new satellite tool that tracks old-growth logging in British Columbia. The tool allows the public to hold the government and industry accountable. Forest Eye has already identified more than 5,700 hectares of old-growth forest that have been logged, the majority of which are candidate deferrals. More details here, including how you can help.

Coffee Break — Most Popular Emoji

We’ve missed World Emoji Day, but here’s a handy feature showing the most popular of them by country and by platform. 

Sign of the Times