The ancestor of all modern birds probably had iridescent feathers ScienceDaily
The sports where women outperform men BBC
Has pop music got less melodic? I’ve immersed myself in 70 years of hits – this is what I’ve foundGuardian
Why you should use a VPN on your mobile device
ProtonVPN: “Growing public awareness about the threat posed to our fundamental right to privacy by online trackers has fueled a surge in VPN adoption, a trend that has been boosted thanks to people spending more time online due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Although VPN use is at an all-time high, many people still associate the technology with their desktop and laptop computers. In this article, we will examine why, in a world where over half of all internet activity is performed on mobile devices, this is a worrying oversight.
Websites and your internet service provider (ISP) can track you just as well on your mobile devices as when you are on your laptop. It is therefore vital to protect your privacy with a VPN when using a smartphone or tablet…”
Hackers Allegedly Steal Billions of Personal Records From Fla. Security Firm
PC Mag: “A little-known company in Florida allegedly lost records on 2.9 billion individuals to hackers, according to a class-action lawsuit. National Public Data specializes in background checks and fraud prevention. But the data it collects appears to have ended up in the hands of a hacking group called “USDoD.” It began selling access to the stolen data in April, claiming to have info on users in the US, UK, and Canada.
It has since been hit with a class-action lawsuit, Bloomberg Law reports. California resident Christopher Hoffman filed after his identity protection provider notifiedhim that his personal data had been compromised in the breach. The data leak might be one of the largest of all time, although the full scale of the incident remains unconfirmed. National Public Data didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But in June, malware collection site VX Underground was able to review the stolen data, which was originally on sale for $3.5 million…”
We need to prepare for ‘addictive intelligence’
MIT Technology Review [unpaywalled] The allure of AI companions is hard to resist. Here’s how innovation in regulation can help protect people. “AI concerns overemphasize harms arising from subversion rather than seduction. Worries about AI often imagine doomsday scenarios where systems escape human control or even understanding.
Short of those nightmares, there are nearer-term harms we should take seriously: that AI could jeopardize public discourse through misinformation; cement biases in loan decisions, judging or hiring; or disrupt creative industries. However, we foresee a different, but no less urgent, class of risks: those stemming from relationships with nonhuman agents.
AI companionship is no longer theoretical—our analysis of a million ChatGPT interaction logs reveals that the second most popular use of AI is sexual role-playing. We are already starting to invite AIs into our lives as friends, lovers, mentors, therapists, and teachers. Will it be easier to retreat to a replicant of a deceased partner than to navigate the confusing and painful realities of human relationships?
Indeed, the AI companionship provider Replika was born from an attempt to resurrect a deceased best friend and now provides companions to millions of users. Even the CTO of OpenAI warns that AI has the potential to be “extremely addictive.” We’re seeing a giant, real-world experiment unfold, uncertain what impact these AI companions will have either on us individually or on society as a whole.
Will Grandma spend her final neglected days chatting with her grandson’s digital double, while her real grandson is mentored by an edgy simulated elder? AI wields the collective charm of all human history and culture with infinite seductive mimicry. These systems are simultaneously superior and submissive, with a new form of allure that may make consent to these interactions illusory. In the face of this power imbalance, can we meaningfully consent to engaging in an AI relationship, especially when for many the alternative is nothing at all?”