DeepTrust! ??

Last Saturday I got a feeling that all wasn't well with the newsletter I'd published. It all started when I noticed that what I'd written wasn't auto saving, so I copied it over to a new version in a panic in case all was lost, but then on publishing it, I noticed that the title hadn't saved and a working title had gone out.

You can likely imagine my response... ??

Whilst I enjoy posting this newsletter on LinkedIn, my trust in the platform and confidence in it to deliver notifications and emails to subscribers is not as high as I would like. Such was my 'paranoia' that I messaged Tech YOU Out! 'Superfan' Timothy C. to see if he'd received an email or notification. He still hasn't, but he got tired of waiting for it and found it himself. If you're like Tim, you can read it here.

That brings me nicely to this weeks topic: Deep Trust, inspired by a comment from Tim.

Adam Clarke Oooh did you see the stuff about deepfakes of Rishi this week? I know this isn’t new, but I’ve read that somethings like 75% of democracies in the world will go to the polls this year! Misinformation and role of social media is something I’m fascinated (and frequently perturbed) by ??

A bit heavy for a Saturday morning Tim, but I'll have a go.

The over trusting of technology is nothing new.

Just look at the Post Office/Horizon scandal. People were too trusting of it on all sides and blind trust of what we see can be very dangerous. Thankfully, Alan Bates didn't from the beginning. However, I believe that the majority of people in the situation sub-postmasters found themselves in, and under that amount of pressure would have done the same as the other 700+. Accountants and bookkeepers are perhaps the major exception to this hypothesis.

Back in 1999 the internet was still pretty basic, Mark Z was only 15 and Thefacebook.com wouldn't launch for another 5 years. On a side note, have you looked at MySpace lately? Where did all the pictures go?

20 years on and we now find ourselves at the precipice of trust and Facebook and social media platforms are at the center of it. The same platforms that brought together people from across the world are now breading grounds for deepfakes, misinformation and scams. Sometimes all three at the same time ??♂?

Personally, I love that people have different opinions, but I hate that we are increasingly seeing deepfakes and lies being used to try and convince others. AI is merely accelerating what was already there and making it more realistic than it ever was before.

This video is very interesting, one point that was made about America being so partisan and hatred for the other side. They don't need much convincing, they are already primed and already there. As a Canadian MP points out, they haven't even dealt with telephone scams yet.

One solution isn't technologically focused at all. (Thank god! I've learnt the hard way with my office setup, as more tech can't solve all your problems.) It's to teach and create professional scepticism of the stories people see, so we can have critical thinking be our default. Doesn't sound like a great way to live our lives though does it.

Hey kids, in today's lesson we are going to teach you to TRUST NO ONE! Everyone is out to get your money, your votes and you likes.

Oh ??

The reality is that a mind shift will need to happen but technology will need to play an oversized role in fixing a problem that was perhaps always there but has helped to grow exponentially.

We can't be ON IT 24/7 and be critical of everything we see

As sometimes we see something in passing or we are tired. One piece of advice is to watch things live, this is currently much harder to fake. Linear TV, this is your comeback moment. If in doubt, I check the BBC or Sky News, but that's my personal preference.

Oh and there's even a board game called Lizards and Lies that has been made to teach people how conspiracy theories move around online. You can download it for free. That's your Saturday night sorted, but then there is also Traitors (No spoilers please).

Fairly intelligent people being duped by fairly intelligent people, who you probably think would know better because we think we could do better, but it is unlikely that we would.

Thankfully, AI is still ?? enough to be hacked, the mistake brands are making by overly trusting this technology in the hope of enhanced profits etc etc.

"A DPD error caused their chatbot to swear at customer". Let's be honest, it probably wasn't an error, it was probably just badly implemented.

Whilst last month a car dealership's chatbot agreed to sell a Chevrolet for a single dollar. They no longer use said chatbot.

Thankfully, there's one thing we can still trust, even after 19 years

Simpler times, though none of the videos I tried to embed worked, so you'll have to watch it on YouTube. Do you trust me?

Anyway, over to you Shakira ??