Chaos & Amazement 2310 MissJourney, Worldcoin, and GPT-5
This week's Chaos & Amazement features AI voice-cloning scams, TikTok's European legal issues, Mercedes-Benz's new payment method, and Worldcoin's AI-driven digital identity service.
Wednesday was International Women's Day!
The Gender Pay Gap Bot, @PayGapApp, called out companies on International Women's Day for not mentioning their gender pay gap while celebrating women employees. For example, Wizz Air was highlighted for having a 60.5% pay gap, 13.7 percentage points wider than the previous year.
Creative agency ACE introduced MissJourney, an alternative text-to-image generator that only produces images of women, in honor of International Women's Day. https://missjourney.ai
From the Department of Generative AI
Twitch.tv: Nothing, Forever - Season 2
The AI-generated Twitch stream inspired by Seinfeld that has come back online after launching in December 2022. https://www.twitch.tv/watchmeforever
GrammarlyGO, a new generative AI tool from Grammarly, can write and rewrite content in a user's writing style. The tool will be available to all users via a beta program starting in April 2023. https://9to5google.com/2023/03/09/grammarly-ai-generative/
DuckDuckGo has launched DuckAssist, an AI assistant currently limited to their browsing apps and browser extensions, using Wikipedia as its primary source. https://mashable.com/article/duckduckgo-ai-chatgpt-assistant
NewsGPT is a new AI-generated news channel that delivers daily news without human reporters. While some seek clarification, others are intrigued by unbiased news. https://newsgpt.ai
Scammers use AI voice-cloning to impersonate family members in distress and fool victims into losing thousands of dollars, sometimes spoofing specific numbers to add credibility. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/03/05/ai-voice-scam/
AI is stealing your job.
A new paper analyzes which fields are most exposed to AI language modeling, with telemarketers, language & literature teachers, historians, and law enforcement teachers among those most impacted. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4375268
Marc Andreessen believes that AI will not cause unemployment since it will only automate specific tasks, leaving many jobs that require human skills. However, he warns about the high cost of education and the need to address this issue for the economy to thrive. https://pmarca.substack.com/p/why-ai-wont-cause-unemployment
TikTok, the clock is ticking
TikTok is facing bans, blocks, and probes in various European countries. Some countries monitor the situation, while others have launched investigations and banned government employees from using the app on their work devices. https://www.politico.eu/article/mapped-tiktok-faces-bans-probes-blocks-across-europe-security-privacy/
TikTok's new Series feature lets creators sell premium videos for their price and receive 100% of earnings. This feature will help creators earn more revenue and monetize their content. https://www.tiktok.com/creators/creator-portal/en-us/product-feature-updates/new-to-tiktok-collections-stories-promote-and-more/
Robots on Wheels and on Legs
In Germany, Mercedes-Benz has introduced a new payment method, Mercedes pay+, that allows customers to pay for digital services and upgrades in their shop using a fingerprint sensor inside the car. The feature offers various services, including remote door locking, vehicle tracker, and emergency key deactivation. https://media.mercedes-benz.com/article/486af56e-4b2f-43e1-ba68-739cfe81518d
US robotics startup Figure has unveiled the first images of its humanoid robot, generating excitement since news of its existence and initial funding of $100 million was revealed in September. The company plans to build autonomous robots for a wide range of applications. https://www.figure.ai
Government Tech
A US welfare fraud detection algorithm discriminates based on ethnicity and gender, according to an investigation by Wired and Lighthouse Reports. The algorithm processes arbitrary data inputs and can flag individuals for investigation, leading to life-changing consequences. https://www.wired.com/story/welfare-algorithms-discrimination/ and https://www.lighthousereports.com/suspicion-machines-methodology/
Access Now's #KeepItOn report found that 35 countries enforced 187 internet shutdowns in 2022, most triggered by mass protests or conflict. India came top of the list with 84 shutdowns. https://www.accessnow.org/internet-shutdowns-2022/
Russia has the highest estimated cost of restricting the internet, surpassing second-ranked Iran, per Statista's infographic on the cost of internet shutdowns in 2022. https://www.statista.com/chart/23864/estimated-cost-of-internet-shutdowns-by-country/
Worldcoin, backed by Sam Altman, uses iris scans to create a global ID and financial service for users. The goal is to provide a trustworthy digital identity using AI. https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/07/worldcoin-cofounded-by-sam-altman-is-betting-the-next-big-thing-in-ai-is-proving-you-are-human/
From my blog
ttypes' music video "73 78 Honey" is made entirely of GIFs https://www.bnox.be/2023/03/mesmerized-by-ttypes-gif-based-music.html
Canva.com revolutionized online design tools. Time for a quick historic overview and an interview with one of the founders. https://www.bnox.be/2023/03/how-canvas-founders-turned-idea-into.html
Imec's digimeter report shows changing attitudes towards technology among the Flemish. The latest edition of the Digimeter by imec reveals that 40% of Flemish people consider themselves dependent on their smartphones, while 36% spend too much time on them. Moreover, 27% consider themselves addicted, an increase of 5 percentage points compared to the previous year. https://www.bnox.be/2023/03/the-flemish-and-their-smartphones-its.html
AI Explained YouTube channel has put together everything known about GPT-5. Potential leaks suggest a powerful model but data quality and safety are crucial. The video explores how to improve GPT-5 if data quality decreases and how it could change the job market. GPT-5's development will impact the future of AI and the world. https://www.bnox.be/2023/03/gpt-5-everything-we-know-or-dont-know.html
Coke's "Masterpiece" campaign takes viewers on a time-traveling art adventure. https://www.bnox.be/2023/03/cokes-time-traveling-art-adventure.html
Weird and Wonderful
SafKan Health's OtoSet is an FDA-cleared device for cleaning earwax by flushing out the ear canals and then sucking out the waxy water. https://otoset.com
asdfjkl; "Tell me something interesting. Tell me about how your day went."