Fake Bidens and Trumps, Google firing off again, and more!
Greetings, intelligists!
Today, we focus on robot-powered robo-calls, more unhappy news at google, and the incredible rise of Nvidia. Here are today’s headlines:
AI Deepfakes Impersonating Biden in Robocalls: An Election Preview
In an unsurprising development, AI technology was used to impersonate President Biden in robocalls.
The fake calls this week reached out to New Hampshire voters, urging them to skip the Democratic primary. This incident highlights the growing concerns around AI's potential misuse in political processes.
In these parts, we’ve been warning our readers about the increasing use of AI in the dark arts, such as social engineering. Nowadays, it is quite easy for a reasonably skilled person to copy individuals’ voices, make fake calls and videos, and send convincingly realistic messages. In the past, it might have been much more complex and required advanced skills. But today, simple text prompts can get the job done.
While the article linked below mentions how some are calling for regulation, a better, faster, and less cumbersome strategy might be educating the general public. However, something tells me that the AI-fueled bombardment to come might leave the public believing very little of what they see, no matter how realistic.
With an election year upon us in the US, we can only hope that people will wisen up. Or, at the very least, question whether the person on the other line is the real Donald Trump or the Robo-Donald (as pictured in today’s AI-generated photo).
Read More: AI's Political Misuse
Google’s Termination of Appen Raises Questions
Google has announced the termination of its contract with Appen, a key provider of search quality raters, effective March 19, 2024.
This move raises speculations and has put thousands of Google contractors around the world on edge.
It’s no secret in the tech world that Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has more external, temporary contractors than actual employees. The tech giant has recently taken further steps to downsize, firing over 12,000 employees in 2023 and starting 2024 by firing at least another 1,000.
This latest move, though, raises questions about Google's future plans for AI integration, quality assessment, and focus on search quality. The decision also reflects a massive revenue loss for Appen.
In recent months, Google has been rocked by the unprecedented advancement of AI from competitors. Some of them, such as Perplexity AI, started specifically as AI-powered web search platforms.
Google continues to have an utterly immense customer base and dominates global web searching. Yet in a way, this latest news confirms that the company is reeling with the prospect of entering a possible period of decline. As the saying goes, the bigger they are, the harder they fall, and to date, there has been no such thing as an invincible company.
For many, imagining a world without Google is difficult. This is in part due to Google’s reach. Chrome, Android, Google Maps, Google Search, and other Google products are used by billions of people every day. Despite this, many have noted (as have I) in recent years that the quality of the web search has declined.
It is becoming all too common to find searches using Google resulting in endless spam, sponsored ads that look like legitimate results, and poor-quality content that comes up in searches. Countless users have learned how to “game” SEO to make even mediocre content end up high in the search results.
This has made searching for quality information difficult for some users. Meanwhile, an entire generation has come to assume that the top Google search results are the best or most authoritative, which is not the case.
In this sense, many might welcome the shakeup in the upper tiers of the internet. It might be a sign of AI accelerating improvements in finding and delivering data to users. However, for those whose livelihoods depend on Google, these are times of great uncertainty.
Read More: Google's Strategy Adjustment
Nvidia: Unrivaled in AI, but Rivals Lurk in the Shadows
Nvidia, a titan in the AI chip market, continues to dominate the competition with a staggering 70-90% market share. Company stock has skyrocketed in recent months. In the past year alone, Nvidia stock quadrupled, and now has investors wondering how high it will fly.
However, the landscape is changing with competitors like Intel and AMD stepping up their game. While these rivals are introducing new AI accelerators, Nvidia's combination of high-powered graphics processors and its Cuda software gives it a unique edge. This is because many of the most important AI companies use Nvidia architecture in their platforms, such as OpenAI and Meta. Some consider Nvidia to be providing weapons in the AI wars.
Only time will tell how far Nvidia will go. In the recent past, we’ve also seen major global crises when it comes to supply chains and prices. Who can forget the post-Covid chip shortages and the impact they had on cars and computers worldwide? Investors, though, will likely continue to jump into the bearish market that is AI-focused processor manufacturing.
Read More: Nvidia's Competitive Edge
Absolutely fascinating topics in today's newsletter! ?? As we delve into the future of AI and its impact on society, it reminds me of what Einstein once said: "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." In the spirit of using technology for the greater good, Treegens invites you to be part of a monumental effort ?? - the Guinness World Record for Tree Planting, promising not just to inspire but to instigate real change. Think you're interested? Dive in here: https://bit.ly/TreeGuinnessWorldRecord Let's shape the future responsibly! ???
US Army Veteran | Empowering Veterans | Servant Leader
10 个月No. It's vital to emphasize the importance of responsible communication, especially when discussing emerging technologies like AI. Quickly attributing such events to AI, without solid evidence, not only misleads the public but also risks unfairly stigmatizing a technology with significant potential for positive impact. We must distinguish between what is known and what is speculated, ensuring our discussions are evidence-based rather than conjectural. As technology evolves, our approach to reporting and discussing it must also advance, focusing on informative and constructive discourse rather than sensationalism. This commitment to accurate and responsible communication is crucial for maintaining the integrity of our information landscape in this rapidly advancing technological era.