The private healthcare data of over four million Colorado citizens has been compromised, after threat actors successfully exploited a vulnerability in the MOVEit transfer app used by IBM.

The attack was made possible after the Russian ransomware gang Clop first exploited the MOVEit vulnerability in June, in a seismic cyberattack that affected hundreds of global organizations including The US Department of Energy, the BBC, and Shell Gas.

The breach, which also impacted Missouri’s Department of Social Services (DSS), occurred just a week after Colorado’s Department of Higher Education fell victim to a similar MOVEit exploit that wiped 16 years’ worth of data from its systems.

Private Healthcare Information Stolen in Latest MOVEit Exploit

MOVEit’s file transfer vulnerability has claimed yet another victim. Colorado’s HCPF has recently notified over four million individuals about a May 2023 breach that led to their personal and health information being compromised.

In HCPF’s data breach notification, the agency explained the data was compromised because one of the state’s main hardware providers IBM “uses the MOVEit application to move HCPF data files in the normal course of business.”

It states that while their systems weren’t exploited directly, “certain HCPF files on the MOVEit application used by IBM were accessed by the unauthorized actor”.

These files stolen by the unauthorized actor contained sensitive information relating to approximately 4,091,794 individuals, including full names, social security numbers (SSNs), Medicaid ID numbers, Medicare ID numbers, dates of birth, clinical health care data, and more.

HPCF has pledged to provide victims with two years of credit monitoring services via Experian to counteract fraud attempts like phishing attacks.

News of IBM’s exploit broke just a week after the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) announced it experienced a ransomware attack that wiped data dating back to 2004.

Fortunately, no HCPF or Colorado state government data was leaked in either attack — but other recent MOVEit victims haven’t been so lucky.

Medicaid Data Exposed in Missouri

Colorado wasn’t the only state to get tangled up in IBM’s recent security breach. The MOVEit attack also affected Missouri’s Department of Social Services (DSS) – a state agency that also uses IBM as a vendor – although the scale of the impact is currently unknown.

In a recent data breach notification, the state agency explained while “the data vulnerability did not impact any DSS systems” it did impact “data belonging to DSS”. They confirmed that this includes health information belonging to Medicaid participants in Missouri.

“”Upon receiving a security bulletin from Progress, we severed interaction of MOVEit Transfer with the department’s IT systems to avoid any further impact to Missouri citizens and their data. No IBM systems were impacted.” – Missouri’s Department of Social Services

Compromised data included individuals’ names, dates of birth, and medical claims. However, only two social security numbers were exposed and no banking information was breached in the attack.

MOVEit Exploit Claims More Victims

News of these healthcare attacks emerged just two months after the Russian ransomware group Clop threatened to publically expose MOVEit victims that didn’t corporate. The ransomware gang gave the affected organizations until June 21 to pay their ransoms, threatening to publish their private information if demands weren’t met.

A number of high-profile names were spotted on this list, including The US Department of Energy, John Hopkins University, 1st Source Bank, and Shell Gas. However, Clop hasn’t claimed responsibility for the IBM breach, and neither the HCPF nor the DSS has appeared on the gang’s victim list — raising doubt about whether they were involved with these attacks.

But whether or not Clop is behind these latest attacks, one thing is for certain: we can be sure to expect more MOVEit mass exploits in the future.

It’s now become even easier to sift through Amazon reviews, thanks to the retailer’s new feature which uses generative AI to summarise customer-generated product reviews.

The highlight feature, which has been in testing since the start of the year, picks out shared themes and the overall “customer sentiment” of reviews, before summing them up in a short paragraph on the product detail page. But what about fakes?

Amazon claims it will be using machine learning models that analyze “thousands of data points” to prevent phony reviews from appearing in summaries. But with 200 million fake reviews being blocked from the platform in 2022 alone and tools like ChatGPT making their creation easier than ever, it’s unclear whether the company’s efforts will be enough.

Amazon Launches New AI Review Summary Feature

As part of Amazon’s recent effort to incorporate artificial intelligence into more of its products and services, the ecommerce giant has just launched an AI review summary aimed at streamlining the customer experience.

Amazon’s new tool uses generative AI to create review summaries, saving customers the time and effort involved with digging through swathes of user comments manually. The feature draws from the most frequently mentioned features and customer opinions and condenses its findings into a short paragraph on the product detail page.

According to a recent press release by Amazon, this new AI-powered feature aims to “help customers determine at a glance whether a product is right for them.”

Amazon’s new product insights feature. Source: aboutamazon.com

The ecommerce platform has also released a “product insights” feature (pictured above) which lets customers filter reviews by common search categories like “Ease of use” and “Stability” to gain targeted insights about the product they’re considering.

Can These AI Reviews Be Fully Trusted?

Amazon’s new review summary feature gives shoppers an easy way to measure customer sentiments at a glance. But how is the company planning to combat the millions of fake reviews that exsist across the site?

According to Amazon’s recent press release, the company is currently investing significant resources to proactively stop the proliferation of bogus reviews across the platform. These investments are funding “machine learning models that analyze thousands of data points to detect risk” including factors like review history and sign-in activity, as well as filtering conducted by human moderators.

“The new AI-generated review highlights use only our trusted review corpus from verified purchases,” – Vaughn Schermerhorn, director of community shopping at Amazon

Amazon began using AI to track and take down reviews in June, after AI chatbots like ChatGPT contributed to an uptick of forged reviews on the site. Amazon also cracked down on the practice throughout 2022, blocking more than 200 million fake reviews and pursuing legal action against multiple review brokers.

Clearly, the ecommerce behemoth is taking fraud detection seriously. But with an analysis from Fakespot finding that 42% of Amazon’s 720 million reviews were fake in 2020, we’d still recommend taking these AI-generated reviews with a grain of salt.

Want to jump into AI but not sure which tool to use? We compare ChatGPT to rival Bard.

Could AI Change Customer Reviews Forever?

Amazon’s new AI summary feature marks the biggest overhaul of its review process seen since they were first rolled out in 1995. But while Amazon’s review summarization rollout may be the biggest to hit the ecommerce world, it’s not the first.

In May, Microsoft added AI-generated app review summaries to its store, displaying top-line review synopsis’ alongside its usual five-star ratings. Online retail company Newegg also launched AI-generated review summaries just last week, boasting custom lists of pros and cons based on customer feedback.

Now Amazon has made the move, it’s fairly likely that these AI-powered summaries will set an industry standard. And with CEO Andy Jassy recently revealing that every Amazon business is running multiple AI initiatives, customers can expect to see a lot more AI upgrades across the site soon.

ChatGPT may be incredibly popular right now, but a new report found that its creator OpenAI could be headed for bankruptcy as early as 2024.

There’s no denying that ChatGPT and the subsequent generative AI platforms that came after it have transformed business as we know it. From improving productivity to spurring mass layoffs, the technology is poised to make a massive impact on world.

Still, not all revolutionary technology is profitable from the get-go, and OpenAI is going to have to find a way to make more money from ChatGPT if it wants to stay viable.

ChatGPT Is Losing Users Fast

If you aren’t growing, you’re dying. At least, that’s the general consensus in the tech industry, with firms like Meta and Google in a constant battle to add users and improve functionality of their platforms.

Unfortunately, one of the biggest problems that OpenAI is currently facing is the number of users taking advantage of ChatGPT. More specifically, the generative AI platform has been hemorrhaging daily active users. They’ve been on the decline since May, when the total number had reached an impressive 1.9 billion.

Now, at only 1.5 billion, ChatGPT has lost 21% of users in just two months, and the numbers are not trending in the right direction.

ChatGPT Competitors on the Rise

So, why are users leaving ChatGPT? The report from Analytics India Magazine posits that the availability of the API has made it so users can access the large language model (LLM) that powers the platform without actually having to use the comparatively limited ChatGPT platform itself.

However, as is often the case in the tech world, a big problem is that ChatGPT competitors are popping up all over the place. Google Bard, Meta’s Llama 2, and Anthropic’s Claude AI have all rolled out with success, drawing their own users and cutting into the brief monopoly that OpenAI and ChatGPT enjoyed since November 2022.

While ChatGPT and its creator OpenAI have a lucrative partnership with Microsoft, which saw $10 billion in funding, that money is the only thing keeping the company in business, considering it costs $700,000 per day to keep the platform running.

Is ChatGPT Going Anywhere?

To be fair, the tech industry is filled with great ideas that aren’t profitable. The ride-sharing industry, for example, has been transforming the transportation industry for years, but its poster child Uber has only just become profitable this year.

Suffice to say, ChatGPT is a powerful, productivity-driving technology that clearly has a market for use. And with OpenAI backed by the likes of Microsoft, it’s safe to assume that the company isn’t going to declare bankruptcy any time soon.

Still, growth is important no matter who signs your checks, which means ChatGPT needs to turn it around in a big way if it wants to be the go-to option for generative AI technology.

The push to get employees back in the office has backfired in a major way, with 80% of employers stating that they regret rushing the decision in a new study.

The return-to-office movement of 2023 has been a tumultuous one to say the least. From big tech firms to small startups, the decision to get rid of remote and flexible work policies has caused everything from strikes to walkouts at businesses like Apple and Amazon.

Employers are finally starting to get the picture, though, with a new study revealing that the majority of them aren’t happy with their decisions.

Employers Regret Early Return-to-Office Decisions

According to a new study from Envoy, titled Without accurate data, the physical workplace won’t survive, 80% of executives would’ve approached their return-to-office strategy differently if they had access to better workplace data.

“Many companies are realizing they could have been a lot more measured in their approach, rather than making big, bold, very controversial decisions based on executives’ opinions rather than employee data.” – Larry Gadea, CEO and founder of Envoy

The study surveyed 1,000 US businesses and their executives, all of which have employees working at least one day per week in the office.

A lack of meaningful data backing up the return-to-office mandates has been a big problem for employers and employees alike. In fact, an Amazon executive admitted last week that their chaotic return-to-office mandate has backed by “no data either way,” which has fueled the substantial backlash from employees.

The Return-to-Office Backlash

With employees around the world begging for more flexible working accommodations and no data to back up the alternative, it’s understandable that these decision makers regret their return-to-office decisions.

Honestly, after all the widely publicized backlash in response to return-to-office mandates across the business world, business owners and employers should be happy that regret is all they’re feeling.

Amazon employees staged a walkout earlier this year, Apple employees have formed a coalition to address hybrid work policies being removed, and other tech firms are having trouble attracting new recruits due to their new in-office mandates.

One study even found that a large majority of employees would start looking for new jobs if flexible accommodations ended, which means that these kinds of mandates are cutting into your ability to retain top talent.

Statistics About Remote and Hybrid Work

If you want to avoid regretting your decision to force your employees back into the office, your best bet is to actually utilize data-driven insights to make the right call. Fortunately, we’ve collected some work-from-home research that should help you decide whether a return to the office is the right call.

For starters, remote workers experienced a 22% performance boost when asked to work from home. Additionally, 47% of employers noted a productivity increase when switching to a more flexible work policy for employees.

If productivity isn’t your primary focus (which would be ridiculous), remote work also saves businesses money. In fact, one study found that businesses can save $11,000 per remote employee per year.

Simply put, remote work and flexible accommodations are the new norm for businesses that want to compete in a meaningful way. And if you rush the decision without any data, there’s a pretty good chance you’re going to regret it.

After demanding remote workers back at least three days a week in February, Amazon is cracking down on staff attendance, but its approach is leaving a lot of employees confused.

According to emails obtained by the insider, a number of workers have been incorrectly identified as breaching the RTO policy, with some believing the error was caused by a technical bug.

Amazon has been quick to own up to its mistake, but with company employees famously resisting the crackdown and the news breaking just a week after a company executive claimed to have “no data” to back the policy change, this development definitely isn’t a good look for the ecommerce giant.

Amazon Fumbles Return to Office Clampdown

Amazon is doubling down on its return to office mandate, but not very successfully.

This week, the online retail powerhouse sent out a series of emails to employees it believed were not complying with its three-day-a-week office policy.

The email claimed they weren’t meeting the company’s “expectation of joining (their) colleagues in the office at least three days a week” even though their assigned office was ready.

Amazon claimed the notification was sent out to workers they believed hadn’t physically clocked in at least three days a week for at least five of the past eight weeks, when their building had been ready eight weeks or more.

“I’ve seen many people across the company who believe they received the same notification incorrectly.” – Anonymous Amazon employee

Unsurprisingly, Amazon’s accusatory emails raised some eyebrows amongst the workforce. According to internal tickets filed on Wednesday afternoon, falsely identified employees are confused and angered by the company’s actions, with at least one worker believing the error was caused by a technical bug in data generating and processing.

In Elon Musk’s latest legal quandary, X – the rebranded social media company formerly known as Twitter – has been fined $350,000 for failing to hand over Donald Trump’s Twitter data to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on time.

While Musk eventually cooperated with authorities, the court ruling declares that the Executive Chair “initially delayed production of the materials,” after arguing the requests violated his First Amendment rights.

Purposely disrupting the special counsel’s investigation into a former President might represent a new low for serial tech entrepreneur Musk, but it’s not his first eye-roll moment this month. X recently drummed up controversy for blinding local residents with an obnoxious flashing ‘X’ sign on Twitter HQ, before suing a non-profit campaigning against digital hate.

Elon Musk vs the DOJ

Elon Musk’s X-Corp has landed itself in legal water yet again for failing to comply with the Department of Justice over data relating to Trump’s involvement with the 2021 insurrection on the Capitol.

Special counsel member Jack Smith issued a search warrant to Twitter in January, requesting access to Donald Trump’s @realDonaldTrump account.

Smith also asked the company not to disclose this warrant to anyone – including the former President – as this may jeopardize the investigation by giving him an “opportunity to destroy evidence, change patterns of behavior [or] notify confederates.”

Unfortunately for the DOJ, Musk didn’t want to play ball. In an appeal that has since been rejected, Twitter argued the nondisclosure order violated his First Amendment right to freedom of speech. On February 7, US district court judge Beryl Howell found Twitter in contempt of court and gave the company until 5 pm to hand over the account information.

After Musk ignored this request, the social media company was fined $50,000 a day, with the sum doubling each successive day. The South-African billionaire finally handed over the documents three days after the court-ordered deadline, with the total outstanding fee amounting to $350,000.

Is Musk Cozying Up to Donald Trump?

After news of Twitter’s noncompliance broke, Musk has been accused by multiple outlets of delaying the government’s access to evidence on purpose. While X-Corp hasn’t released an official statement on the matter, Musk’s ties to the former President are hardly a secret.

Despite being former rivals of sorts when Trump briefly launched his own Twitter alternative, Musk made headlines last November for reinstating Donald Trump on the platform, alongside equally controversial music artist Kanye West. Both figures had previously been blocked from the app after breaking content moderation rules and Tweeting offensive content.

While Musk and Trump may seem like unlikely allies – with the X-Corp boss describing himself as “neither left nor right” and previously claiming the former President is “too old to be chief executive of anything, let alone the United States of America” – the two public figures are both united against censorship on the platform.

However, whether Musk’s noncompliance was ideological is yet to be determined. The DoJ’s spar with Elon Musk hasn’t been the only controversy X-Corp has been shrouded in this month, though.

X’s Kamakazi Mission Continues

After Twitter’s unexpected rebrand to “X-Corp” late last month, the social media company faced legal action from Meta and Microsoft as both companies already own “X” trademarks. X-Corp also received a fine from San Francisco authorities after affixing a giant flashing X sign on the top of Twitter HQ, and has since been asked to take it down.

More recently, the social platform has been fined by AFP, the world’s oldest news agency, for failing to compensate the publisher for displaying its news on its site. Whether Musk decides to comply with the AFP and make a payout, or continue burying his head in the sand, this chaotic sequence of events suggests that days at the newly branded X-Corp are definitely numbed.

Microsoft has just announced a new Dynamics 365 Field Service Copilot initiative which utilizes generative AI to cut out monotonous tasks burdening the service industry.

Microsoft Copilot was primarily focused on streamlining processes for office-based workers, but this new pivot sees the company leverage its large language model assistant to improve operational efficiency on the front line, helping to “address the challenge of repetitive tasks and burnout” as a result.

Microsoft isn’t forgetting about desk-based workers altogether. The software company also announced it would be launching Microsoft Edge for Business next week, a corporate-focused search engine that aims to be the standard browser experience for organizations.

Microsoft Unveils Copilot for Its Dynamic 365 Field Service

In Microsoft’s latest AI experiment, the Seattle-based company has announced a series of new features that aim to increase the efficiency of frontline processes.

While the tech giant may be more familiar with streamlining desk-based practices, these new tools aim to “help frontline workers thrive” by addressing issues currently plaguing the global service workforce, such as labor shortages, device overload, and disjointed systems. But how exactly does Microsoft plan on improving things for companies such as HVAC, lawn care and plumbing businesses?

One of the company’s biggest new announcements is its new Copilot and Dynamics 365 Field Service integration, which will allow service managers and technicians to automate repetitive tasks like work order and schedule creation, freeing up valuable time as a result.

Copilot new Shifts plugin for Microsoft 365 Copilot. Source: microsoft.com

Building on Microsoft’s original Copilot model, which assists office-based tasks like creating documents, and reading and summarising emails, this field service assistant is targeted at the global 2.7 billion-strong service industry, where cases of burnout and poor retention are at their highest.

“Technology can relieve pressures on the frontline that are causing burnout as well as help organizations drive engagement and a sense of belonging that can help increase retention,” – Charles Lamanna, CVP of business applications at Microsoft

Speaking to VentureBeat, Charles Lamanna, Microsoft’s CVP of business applications, explains this initiative marks the first step the company is taking to infuse next-gen AI and data with productivity tools to “address the challenge of repetitive tasks and burnout” and to relieve the burden for frontline workers.

Microsoft Announces New Field Service Integration with Teams

Microsoft has also released a Dynamics 365 Remote Assist app in Teams mobile, which allows technicians to receive and issue updates and request remote assistance from specialists. This new integration will also make it easier for technicians to view upcoming work orders through their home interface.

“Our new Dynamics 365 Remote Assist app in Teams mobile will enable problem-solving in real time with remote experts using 3D spatial annotations that lock to the physical world.” – Charles Lamanna, CVP of business applications at Microsoft

This new Dynamics 365 Remote Assist app will also harness data from Microsoft Teams’ new Shift plugin, allowing team members to keep an eye on upcoming shifts and gain clearer visibility over their outstanding tasks.

Microsoft Edge for Business Will Be Rolled Out Next Week

It’s been a busy week at Microsoft HQ, as the company is also preparing for the release of Microsoft Edge for Business – a new search engine that aims to be the “standard browser experience for organizations”.

The browser, which was first announced at Microsoft Build in May, will bare a lot of resemblance to the company’s flagship Edge browser. However, as the search engine has been designed with the needs of businesses in mind, it will also feature enterprise-grade security, additional productivity features, and enhanced admin controls, according to this recent blog post.

Microsoft Edge for Business is due to be released alongside Microsoft Edge stable version 116, on the week commencing August 17.

It’s well documented that scammers are everywhere online, but a new report from call security specialist Hiya reminds us not to overlook good old fashioned phone fraud, highlighting the ongoing prevalence of Amazon scams and a recent surge in Venmo-related deception.

According to the firm’s latest Global Call Threat Report for Q2 2023, Amazon continues to inspire a large amount of instances of phone fraud and is the second most common scam call in the UK.

In the US, however, mobile payment service Venmo has leapfrogged Amazon for the last quarter and is the third most prevalent pretense phone scammers operate under, after pretending to be family members and the long-running auto warranty ruse.

Watch Out for Venmo Scams

Usefully, the Hiya report reminds us of how the most common Venmo scams operate. Venmo scams aren’t anything new, of course, and typically they’ll still start with an unexpected call or text message explaining that there’s been an unauthorized charge on your account.

Alternatively, the criminals operating the scam may say there have been suspicious log-in attempts on your account. After that, you’ll be connected to a phony customer service rep, who’ll try and get you to verify your Venmo details with them.

Overall, Hiya data shows that as many as one in every four phone calls received in the US can be classed as spam, with the company reporting a suspected 6.5 billion spam calls worldwide in Q2 2023.

AI and the Future of Fraud

We’ve reported on the rise of AI voice scams before and the new Global Call Threat Report reminds us that artificial intelligence is bolstering the scammer toolbox in new and frequently terrifying ways.

Specifically, it once again highlights the extreme case where AI was used to fake a child’s kidnapping and demand a ransom payment.  Phone fraud is just one of the many AI and ChatGPT scams you need to watch out for these days, though the company warns that AI likely represents the future of phone fraud.

“AI voice-generated scams are very likely the model of the future and we expect to find more evidence going forward,” commented Kush Parikh, President of Hiya.

Wham, Bam, No Thank You Scams

Phone fraud probably isn’t news to you, but the Hiya report underlines the unfortunate fact that you just can’t seem to get away from scammers these days.

As illustrated by the continued popularity of Amazon and Venmo scams, anything related to online shopping and payments continues to be ripe for exploitation by criminals, while even LinkedIn scams are causing a blight on the otherwise staunchly professional social network.

Throw in AI changing the fraud landscape in the same, dramatic way that it’s reshaping other aspects of our lives and it’s clear that cybercriminals have come a long way from the humble email phishing scam, dangerous as these still can be.

Now, we’re not saying that you should treat every unexpected email, text, or phone call with suspicion. We’re just saying that’s what we do.

Slack has unveiled a bold new redesign that the Salesforce owned company hopes will help users improve their focus, collaboration and productivity when using the app.

The update, which will roll out to Slack’s estimated 20 million users over the “coming months,” is fundamentally designed to streamline its most important functionality and make it easier to navigate.

Navigation is something some veteran Slackers argue has gotten overly complicated in the app over the years, with the numerous feature additions often distracting from Slack’s core messaging purpose – and sometimes getting lost in the Slackosphere themselves.

Slack Redesign: 6 Features You’ll Actually Care About

The first thing you’ll notice when taking in the Slack redesign is its clean new UI, which is meant to be both easier on the eye with a slightly softer default purple hue, as well as easier to use.

Then you’ll start to become aware of the various changes that have taken place in the interface, with our six favorite new Slack redesign features being as follows.

1) Dedicated DM Section

The heart of the redesign for us is the new far-left navigation bar added to Slack. This now features just six icons to help you decide how you want to navigate the app, with one of them being dedicated to that most old school of Slack features: the DM, or direct message.

The six choices on the new nav bar are better than half the 13 options I currently have on offer in my pre-redesign Slack sidebar – and suffice to say a quicker way to jump to the stuff that actually matters is a welcome addition to the platform.

Image credit: Slack

2) New “Create” Option

Slack probably does a whole lot more than you realize, it’s just much of its functionality gets lost amidst the dreaded current Channels list.

In the new Slack, you’ll have a central “Create” option that allows you to not only message a channel or send a DM, but start a Huddle video or audio call; use Slack’s unloved document collaboration feature, Canvas; or start a new channel entirely.

3) There’s Now An Activity Feed

Whisper it softly, but Slack has added an Activity Feed in its 2023 redesign that reminds of a similar view offered in rival workplace collaboration platform Microsoft Teams.

It’s a single location where you’ll find all your “@” mentions, threads, reactions, notifications and more, so you’ve got an easy way to see everything that potentially needs your attention in the app.

Image credit: Slack

4) Saving Stuff for Later Gets New Life

Did you know Slack has a special way you can save the messages you want to look at and action later? We didn’t really, either.

Fortunately, that’s changing in the Slack redesign thanks to the “Later” icon taking pride of place on the main sidebar. Displaying this more noticeably should encourage people to actually use the feature, which is intended to help you better prioritize your workload and therefore improve productivity.

5) Easier Switching Between Multiple Workspaces

Not everyone will be important enough to have multiple workspaces to toggle between, but for those who are, Slack’s new Enterprise Grid organizational view is a godsend.

It will let you see all of your channels and messages, from multiple workspaces, in one centralized view via the Home menu, which promises a much slicker user experience for the bigwigs out there.

6) Huddles Added to Every Chat Window

Most people are probably guilty of thinking that video calling at work is a case of Zoom vs Google Meet. There are plenty of other video conferencing apps out there, of course, but it’s these two and maybe a couple of other big players like Teams who tend to dominate the discussion.

Slack hopes this redesign will earn its Huddle video and audio chat feature a seat at the table. Moving forward, every messaging window will have the option to start a Huddle in the top right-hand corner. You still might not use it, but at least now you’ll know it’s there.

Google finds itself at the eye of the AI ethics storm once again this week, as the contentious issues of AI “deepfake” technology and also data scraping have the tech giant battering down the hatches both at home and abroad.

In the US, Google is seeking to agree a deal with record industry superpower Universal Music that compensates artists for the use of their voice and melodies by generative AI platforms, which imitate these to create “deepfake” songs, usually without the original artist’s consent.

Down Under in Australia, Google is in a seemingly more combative mood, arguing in court that the burden should be on publishers to opt-out of data scraping, if they don’t want their content to be used.

I’m A Barbie Girl In An AI World

Google is currently facing two significant AI dilemmas, in seemingly contrasting ways, and on opposite sides of the globe. The issues at hand are the use of AI to repurpose music made by human artists and the use of AI to repurpose human-generated web content.

The more pressing of the two is arguably Google’s negotiations with fellow global conglomerate Universal over a music licensing deal that effectively covers sampling by generative AI platforms.

This was first reported by the Financial Times, which cites four people familiar with the matter, as confirming the discussions are currently at an early stage.

The ultimate goal of these talks, according to the sources, is to develop a tool that both lets fans use AI to create so-called “deepfake” songs for Google-owned YouTube content, but also pays the copyright owner for what is being used.

At present, AI is a bit of a Wild West when it comes to what you can find out. You may well have heard a long-deceased Johnny Cash “covering” Barbie Girl if you spend enough time online, while no doomscrolling session on Instagram is complete until you see Harry Potter/Breaking Bad/The Sopranos reimagined as a 90s sitcom.

Precedent Exists In The Form of YouTube

Unsurprisingly, artists themselves are less than impressed with their voices being used in uncontrollable ways. Big names such as Drake (one of many global megastars, including Taylor Swift and BTS to be represented by Universal) have spoken out against their works being effectively cloned without permission.

In addition to the viral rendition of Barbie Girl, you now also have entire social media outlets dedicated to AI songs, with rappers Tupac and Notorious B.I.G. among the other deceased stars to feature prominently on the @PluggingAI channel

What might a final deal between Universal and Google look like? It’s too early to say, but a precedent of sorts exists in the current agreement between YouTube and the music industry, over the use of copyrighted songs in user-created video. This system, which was hard-fought to begin with, already pays out an estimated $2bn a year to the music industry and its artists, for the use of their songs.

Google Opts Out of Responsibility For Web Scraping

There’s little doubt a deal with Universal to help Google create a legitimate AI music tool would be a major boost for the search giant as it looks navigate largely uncharted technological waters. Rivals such as Microsoft and its search engine, Bing, are likely to benefit from tight integration with ChatGPT, though Google has its own chatbot product in Bard – and the Bard vs ChatGPT debate is another matter entirely.

Less certain is how long it will be permissible for Google and other big AI players to scrape the web as part of training their AI systems. According to Google, the issue does also warrant addressing, though it argues that responsibility rests with publishers to opt-out of have their data and content trawled. That’s per a Guardian report that cites Google’s submission to a review of the AI regulatory framework in Australia.

Apparently, the Mountain View-based firm argues that copyright law should be amended to explicitly allow for web scraping by default, saying that it amounts of “fair use” of publicly published content.

Those who don’t want to have their work included in AI training models should be able to opt-out or otherwise specify how their works can be used, not unlike how Creative Commons licenses currently operate. While what happens in Australia could end up having no bearing on the wider AI and copyright debate, it’s still an interesting one to monitor as AI lawsuits like the one fronted by Sarah Silverman descend on courtrooms in the US and all over the world.

A major new scientific study is looking to turn the popular notion of social media stalwart Facebook being bad for your mental health on its head.

Researchers at the world-renowned University of Oxford’s Internet Institute studied individuals in 72 countries for over 12 years and say they found no evidence linking Facebook usage to poor mental well-being. On the contrary, the report argues it may have discovered “quite the opposite.”

In challenging the popular link between social media platforms like Facebook and psychological distress, the two principal researchers – Professor Andrew K. Przybylski and Professor Matti Vuorre – explain their methodology as relating data surrounding Facebook adoption to responses to benchmark mental well-being questions over time.

Is Facebook Actually Good For Mental Health?

In the full study published on the Royal Society website, the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) researchers reveal that they measured mental health sentiment based on data from the Gallup World Poll Survey. The internationally recognized annual study asks respondents things like, “Did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday?” as well as if they experienced more negatively associated feelings like “worry”, “sadness”, or “stress.”

This was then compared to global user base data provided by Facebook for the years 2008 to 2019, during which adoption of the platform spiked massively. The idea here is that if Facebook usage had a genuinely negative impact of people’s mental health, this would be reflected by a noticeable increase in negative sentiment in the Gallup over the same period.

Instead, Professor Przybylsk says the analysis “indicates Facebook is possibly related to positive well-being” – though he makes clear this an anecdotal suggestion, not empirical evidence.

“We found no evidence suggesting that the global penetration of social media is associated with widespread psychological harm” – Principal Researchers, Vuorre and Przybylski

“This is not to say this is evidence that Facebook is good for the well-being of users. Rather, the best global data does not support the idea that the expansion of social media has a negative global association with well-being across nations and different demographics,” he explains in an OII statement.

The Problem With the OII’s Study

While the study claims to offer the first empirical evidence that Facebook usage is not overtly linked with a decline in mental health, there are a number of caveats worth mentioning here.

First and foremost, the two data sets – while substantial – are separate, and therefore their findings are not inextricably linked. While the study relates reliable information in a compelling manner, it is impossible to prove a “cause and effect” relationship between the two. Given how complex a phenomenon mental health is, it therefore seems unwise to assume any cast iron conclusions from the study.

If you were being hyper-critical, you could say the OII study is notable for what it doesn’t prove, rather than what it does.

In addition, the researchers admit that “the observed associations were small and did not reach a conventional 97.5% one-sided credibility threshold in all cases”, and that “in the United States, 13- to 17-year-olds are more likely to use TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat than Facebook, so the user base of Facebook now consists of relatively more older individuals”.

However, despite these caveats, previous research has aligned in some ways. For example, Stanford University found that deactivating Facebook could negatively impact mental health in some individuals, in 2019. 

Social Media Concerns Aren’t Going Away

It’s impossible to try and judge overall social media trends by a single platform. As much as anything, Facebook is a very different beast to newer platforms like Instagram and TikTok, which are much more visual than Mark Zuckerberg’s social network has ever been.

Visual content has been found by a number of prominent psychological studies, such as the Psychology of Popular Media Culture, to result in a higher level of toxic self-comparisons and the pursuit of unrealistic ideals, in turn leading to social anxiety and self-image mental health issues.

It’s one reason many people find it beneficial to hide Like counts on Instagram, as well as perhaps why there’s still such a demand for text-first platforms like Threads and X. Even if social media isn’t single-handedly responsible for torpedoing international morale, there seems to be little doubt it’s a double-edged sword for many users.

Zoom has made a U-turn on two key company policies in the space of a few days, with the video conferencing provider making decisions that impact both staff and customers.

Most recently, the company was forced to clarify whether user data from Zoom calls and chats would be used to train its AI tools, and even changed its Terms of Service to reflect that.

Just days before that, despite being the proverbial poster child of the remote working revolution, Zoom decided that its employees need to start coming into their offices in person. The company now believes that a hybrid approach to working is more effective.

Zoom Updates its Terms of Service After Backlash

Zoom confirmed this week that it will not use customer audio, video and chat data to improve its artificial intelligence products, tools, and systems.

Alarm bells were sounded after StackDiary reported over the weekend that changes made to the company’s services in March 2023, gave the company far-reaching permissions to use user data in machine learning processes. This led to a clarificatory change to the company’s terms of service.

The privacy policy says that Zoom has “…perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable license and all other rights required or necessary to redistribute, publish, import, access, use, store, transmit, review, disclose, preserve, extract, modify, reproduce, share, use, display, copy, distribute, translate, transcribe, create derivative works, and process Customer Content…”

It also says that, by downloading a Zoom product, “you consent to Zoom’s access, use, collection, creation, modification, distribution, processing, sharing, maintenance, and storage of Service Generated Data for any purpose… including for the purpose of… machine learning or artificial intelligence (including for the purposes of training and tuning of algorithms and models), training, testing, improvement of the Services, Software, or Zoom’s other products…”

In response to the uproar, Zoom published a blog post saying it wouldn’t use customer audio and video data, and added this to its terms of service:

“Notwithstanding the above, Zoom will not use audio, video, or chat Customer Content to train our artificial intelligence models without your consent.”

Zoom Calls Staff Back To Office

Just a few days prior, Zoom reversed another decision, asking employees working within fifty miles of one of their offices to shift to hybrid working arrangements and come into the office at least two days a week.

The new policy will come into force during August and September and is thought to affect around 7,400 employees, CBS reports.

Zoom has said that their video conferencing technology will remain integral to the way their employees work but admitted in-person communication is an effective way to work. They join other tech companies, like Google, in bringing employees back into workspaces.

While some have pointed out the irony of Zoom’s desire to get its employees back into the office, others have dubbed it as a real sign that enthusiasm for remote work is dwindling as more and more companies end remote work in the US and all over the world.

Cybersecurity researchers have shown that an AI model can work out what people are typing based on the sounds that different keys make when they’re pressed, and could feasibly be used to guess victims’ passwords during video conferencing calls.

Considering the number of apps the average user hands over microphone access to, as well as the extensive use of software like Zoom by remote employees, these findings are extremely concerning. Passwords and other sensitive information could easily be uncovered using this sort of technique.

A deep learning model with the power to identify keystrokes in this way is just one of the latest instances of AI scams, fraud, and cyber attacks being linked to the booming new technology.

AI Can Recognize Almost Every Keyboard Key You Press

In a recently-published study, UK-based researchers Joshua Harrison, Ehsan Toreini and Maryam Mehrnezhad found that a deep learning model could classify 95% of keystrokes made on a 2021 MacBook Pro recorded on a nearby iPhone 17.

They trained the model by pressing 36 keys a total of 25 times each, in order to help it recognize the individual waveforms produced by individual keystrokes.

Along with the impressive – and worrying – results achieved via the iPhone audio recording, “when trained on keystrokes recorded using the video-conferencing software Zoom, an accuracy of 93% was achieved, a new best for the medium”, the researchers said.

Interestingly, on the few occasions the deep learning model used by researchers was mistaken in its classification, it was only a few keys away from the right answer. This suggests the position of the keys on the keyboard contributes significantly to unique audio profiles.

The researchers say that their results “prove the practicality of these side-channel attacks via off-the-shelf equipment and algorithms.”

What Are Side-Channel Attacks?

Side-channel attacks are a category of cyber attacks that take advantage of extra information available via channels and mediums created by the physical implementation of a system and its hardware.

The capturing of audio in a video call is just one example of a side-channel attack. Van Eck Phreaking – a different kind of side-channel attack – involves utilizing equipment that can pick up electromagnetic emissions emitted by LCD displays to extract data about what’s on the screen.

How to Protect Yourself From The Threat

Some recommendations of what you can do to combat cyber attacks facilitated by AI tools with the above capabilities are put forward by the trio of researchers.

Perhaps the easiest to implement action is simply using multiple cases in your password. The AI model was good at recognizing most keystrokes but struggled with the shift key, according to Ars Technica.

Other recommendations include changing the rhythm at which you type and adding decoy keystrokes when typing while on video calls. Using a password manager to help juggle multiple combinations also comes highly recommended, as it’s an effective way to limit the damage if one of your accounts is compromised.

A 2020 lawsuit that alleges Google violated the privacy of millions of users by tracking them via its supposedly private “Incognito” browser option has moved closer to trial, with a California judge denying the tech giant’s recent request for a summary judgment.

The potential implications are huge, not least for privacy-conscious internet users who use tools like VPNs and Google’s Incognito mode feature to protect themselves from tracking, but might not actually be browsing as privately as they think.

The question revolves around whether Google’s statements found on a variety of privacy policy and help pages did in fact give a perceived, cast-iron promise that Google would not collect data in incognito mode.

Google’s Incognito Lawsuit Moves Closer to Trial

This week, tech giant Google was denied a request for a summary judgment in a $5 billion lawsuit lodged against the company that alleges that Google invaded millions of users’ privacy rights by tracking their browsing activity while they used Incognito.

A court judge stated in the filing denying the judgment that “Google’s motion hinges on the idea that plaintiffs consented to Google collecting their data while they were browsing in private mode.”

“Because Google never explicitly told users that it does so, the Court cannot find as a matter of law that users explicitly consented to the at-issue data collection” the filing adds.

The plaintiffs also claim to have evidence that Google has been mixing log data from private and regular browsing sessions to target users with personalized ads.

Google strongly disputes these claims, with a spokesperson telling The Verge that Incognito gives users the ability to browse the internet without having their activity saved to their browsers or devices.

Google’s Litany of Lawsuits

This isn’t the first time in recent years that Google has been hit with a hefty lawsuit, with a number of other groups taking the company to task in court.

In 2021, 36 state attorney generals filed a lawsuit against Google for alleged antitrust violations relating to the Android app store.

In the same year, Google lost its right to appeal the €2.42 billion antitrust fine imposed by the European Commission in 2017 for antitrust violations relating to the tech giant’s shopping feature.

In 2022, Google settled an $85 million privacy lawsuit in Arizona which alleged that the company violated the state’s consumer fraud act and misled users about the amount of data it was collecting.

More recently, Google agreed to pay $23 million to users who clicked on links in Google Search between 2006 and 2013, because it was sharing this information with other parties and sites without their knowledge.

Also this year, the company was hit with a far-reaching lawsuit relating to its AI products, with a complaint alleging that they were trained on data scraped from millions of Americans, which included copyrighted content. The same group filed a similar lawsuit against ChatGPT creators OpenAI.

How Do You Browse Privately Online?

We’ll cut to the chase: although there are ways to browse the internet more or less privately, it’s very difficult to do so in a completely anonymous fashion. Despite this, however, it’s still worth taking steps to secure and protect yourself.

One way to enhance your privacy is through a VPN. VPNs – or “virtual private networks” – funnel all of your data through private, encrypted servers before it reaches the internet, masking your IP address in the process. Just make sure you opt for a recognized provider like Surfshark rather than a free VPN you’ve stumbled across on the app store – they’re prone to leaking user data and often have very poor security infrastructure.

Another way to protect yourself from tracking is to use a privacy-focused browser like Brave, which doesn’t track you in the same way Google does. Admittedly, the results aren’t quite as accurate, but if privacy is your main priority, it’s definitely a good idea to make the switch.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai took home total compensation with a worth over $225 million in 2022, the same year that Alphabet announced its intention to cut 10,000 employees amid a wave of layoffs in tech.

That hike in pay for Pichai marked a 3,474% increase over the previous year, but it wasn’t the only truly massive boost in compensation for tech CEOs at companies that also drastically slashed their workforce this year and last year.

CEOs at Meta, Microsoft, Uber, and Salesforce are also among those to make large personal gains while delivering short-term boost through one or more large rounds of layoffs, says data from a new analysis.

Just How Large Were CEO Compensations Last Year?

The facts, analyzed by ABC News using data from research firm Equilar, show similar trajectories for a handful of the biggest tech CEO compensation packages and layoff plans during 2022 and this year.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella saw nearly $55 million in compensation, while the company planned to lay off 10,000 workers; Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi received about $24 million in compensation, and this year the company laid off “hundreds.”

Employees have voiced their dismay as best they can, as Tech.co writer Isobel O’Sullivan earlier reported:

“Google staffers are also pressed about the company’s proposed decision to buy back $70 billion in stock, a type of reacquisition that has previously attracted criticism from President Joe Biden for prioritizing company profits over alternatives like employee pay rises.”

CEO Wages Are More Inflated Than Ever

Granted, CEOs making large amounts of money is nothing new. The Economic Policy Institute issued one report in 2018 explaining that the average CEO pay had jumped 940% since 1978, an growth far higher than the typical worker, which grew a mere 11.9%, and also far higher than even very high earners, who saw a wage growth of 339.2% during that period.

But CEOs are now making more money more quickly — Economic Policy Institute’s 2021 report just three years later found that CEO pay was now 1,460% higher than it was in 1978.

The numbers can seem abstract when laid out so quickly, but the takeaway seems clear: The value provided by a working employee isn’t compensated with anything near the same process as the value a CEO has to offer.

Employees Aren’t Happy About It

Inflated wages for CEO might be a little harder to swallow when your own wages are shrinking thanks to growing inflation and rising costs of living, so it’s safe to say that many workers are little on edge about it on 2023. Plus, AI advancements may be set to further increase the gap, pushing wages down by weakening the labor market.

Some flexibility measures might help — remote work is a popular perk, as it can ease many stress-inducing aspects of modern work — but ultimately, workers will likely need just one thing to rest a little easier: Fewer raises for CEOs and more raises for everyone else.

Microsoft’s ChatGPT-powered Bing Chat is coming “soon” to third-party browsers, which includes mobile devices.

The expansion will bring the AI-enabled tool to users beyond those who prefer the Bing mobile app and Microsoft Edge web browser — which, let’s face it, isn’t nearly as many users as popular browsers like Chrome or Firefox can boast.

As part of the announcement, Microsoft has released some numbers to highlight the success of its AI bot: Within just the six months that the tool has been around, it has surpassed one billion chats in total. This is another confirmation of what we’ve all guessed: AI is pretty popular in 2023.

Bing Chat Will Have More Limitations in Other Browsers

Under a section titled “Third-Party Browser Support,” Microsoft’s announcement explained what users can expect for Bing’s functionality outside of Microsoft Edge. First, they confirmed that the new functionality has one big goal: Reaching more users.

“This next step in the journey allows Bing to showcase the incredible value of summarized answers, image creation and more, to a broader array of people.”

At the same time, Microsoft notes that the original flavor Bing offers the “best-in-class” experience:

“With Edge, you’ll unlock longer conversations, chat history, and more Bing features built right into the browser. To experience the best browser for Bing, and get the full breadth of features, simply open the Microsoft Edge browser and click the Bing Chat icon in the sidebar.”

TechCrunch has a little more on what type of limitations to expect: Apparently, testers using Chrome reported that the tool only supported five messages per conversation, down from 30, and limited character counts of 2,000, rather than 3,000.

There’s no clear date for when third-party browser support will arrive, either, or if certain browsers are first in line for this new access to Bing Chat.

Microsoft Has Faith in Bing Chat

The fact that Microsoft wants to roll out Bing Chat to everyone outside of its walled garden of Microsoft products says a lot about how much faith the company has in its AI solution.

Assuming the tool really does have a lot to offer, it can serve as a top-of-the-funnel incentive to usher more users into the Microsoft system, allowing the tech giant to remain in the same conversation as much bigger browsers like Chrome, which currently holds 63.55% of the market share of browsers worldwide, compared to Edge’s 5.14% share.

Artificial intelligence has made huge strides in the last few years — even while it still has a long way to go, both when it comes to concerns surrounding copyright and when it comes to its actual performance.

We’re Still Seeing How Much AI Can Do

The tech community is no stranger to hype cycles: In just the last few years, we’ve seen cryptocurrency, the Metaverse, and NFTs, to name a few. Generative AI has definitely been the top trend across 2023. But as with any hyped-up technology, one big question remains: Can the new tech prove its worth once all the hype moves on to the next big thing?

AI shows plenty of promise, since it’s a tool that’s already out in the world and offers plenty of clear benefits to users who can figure out which AI prompts will turn out the best results from text AI generators like ChatGPT and Bard.

Still, many huge roadblocks have yet to be cleared, and we’ll likely only find out if AI can go the distance once we’ve seen another new iteration or ten.

The California-based Prospect Medical Holdings has been hit with a ransomware attack that has forced a shutdown for hospitals across multiple states. Recovery efforts are on the way.

The days-long security incident started last Tuesday, and many hospitals remain affected nearly a week later, a spokesperson for the healthcare group said. The company operates 16 hospitals and over 165 clinics and outpatient facilities across four states: California, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

It’s another example of the dangers behind cyber attacks on the healthcare industry, which remains one of the most attractive targets for ransomware groups.

Emergency Rooms Close, Hospitals Use Paper Records

Prospect Medical Holdings revealed the company-wide ransomware attack with an announcement post noting a “data security incident that has disrupted our operations.”

Springfield, Pennsylvania’s Crozer-Chester Medical System (CCMS) has reverted to old-school paper records, as many of its computers have gone offline. Representatives of this system have confirmed that the “security incident” was indeed a ransomware attack. 

According to other reports, “many” primary care services remained closed for the majority of last week, including emergency rooms.

How Bad Is the Damage?

The company says that it has taken its systems offline in response in order to “protect” them and is investigating with the aid of “third-party cybersecurity specialists.” Operations have yet to return to normal, but the notice mentions a few details about the 16 hospitals under its purview:

• Hospitals continue to accept walk-ins through the emergency departments.
• Scheduled surgical procedures remain as planned unless patients are otherwise notified by their physician’s office.
• Visiting hours are not affected.

This is far from an isolated incident, however: According to the latest healthcare stats, a minimum of 21 systems in the US have dealt with ransomware in 2023 alone, for a total of 50 hospitals affected.

Why Is Healthcare Such a Big Target?

Ransomware attackers are looking for targets that have a few things to offer: First, they need a large amount of sensitive customer data. Without these databases, there’s not much worth ransoming.

Second, the targets need to be large enough that they have a budget that could accommodate a hefty ransom. Healthcare industries fit both those criteria, along with dental, insurance, and many government operations.

In fact, healthcare operations have been more likely to be hit with ransomware than to escape it in recent years: Ransomware attacks hit 66% of healthcare organizations, a 2021 survey found, which was up from just 34% the previous year. Plus, healthcare attacks are more likely to see a ransom paid out, according to the same data.

If your hospital might be at risk, your best options are to have a cybersecurity team standing by to assist — as well as training your staff on how to spot the phishing tactics that can give attackers a foothold.

Agence France-Press (AFP) has filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk’s social media company X Corp — formerly known as Twitter — for failing to engage in discussions about paying for the distribution of their content.

AFP, which is widely regarded as the oldest news agency in the world, based the case on a 2019 EU copyright reform that requires online platforms to remunerate publishers for displaying their news.

Musk was quick to dismiss the action as “bizarre” in a Tweet, but with the controversial CEO already drowning in legal cases from former employees, landlords, and even social media rival Mark Zuckerburg, his failure to take the case seriously is hardly surprising.

AFP Is Sueing X Corp Over News Payments

France’s leading news agency, Agence France-Presse AFP, has sued Musk-owned social media platform X Corp for failing to pay out for displaying their stories.

The case hinges on an EU copyright reform that was written into French law in 2019. The rule, known as “neighboring rights” urges large online platforms, like X and Meta, to compensate publishers for distributing their original content.

“Agence France-Presse has expressed its concerns over the clear refusal from Twitter (recently rebranded as ‘X’) to enter into discussions regarding the implementation of neighbouring rights for the press” – Recent statement from AFP

AFP argues that its content drives up engagement and ad revenue on X’s platform and claims the social media company has shown a “clear refusal” to engage in debate around the topic. But this isn’t the first time France has taken aim at the US’s biggest tech firms.

Alphabet’s Google has begun compensating AFP and other French news organizations in 2019 after being slapped with a $593 million fine for failing to comply with the EU’s neighboring rights law. Following this, Meta’s Facebook agreed to pay French publishers for resharing its content in 2021.

So, with the EU’s neighboring rights bill having real implications for some of Silicon Valley’s biggest players, is Musk taking AFP’s case seriously?

Short answer, no.

Elon Musk Dismisses Case as “Bizarre”

In typical keyboard warrior fashion, Musk was quick to shake off AFP’s claims.

“This is bizarre. They want us to pay ‘them’ for traffic to their site where they make advertising revenue and we don’t!?” Musk Tweeted in response to X News Daily.

This is bizarre. They want us to pay *them* for traffic to their site where they make advertising revenue and we don’t!?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 3, 2023

Musk’s retort reflects commonly held beliefs among big tech that platforms like X actually benefit news publications by driving traffic to their sites — a view that is strongly refuted by the agencies.

How Long Can Musk Refuse to Pay Out?

Unfortunately for Musk, his copyright qualms don’t end with AFP.

Just days before the French agency sued X Corp, Canada passed a new law requiring tech companies to share revenue with news sites displayed on their platforms.

Instead of complying, Meta and Google have already decided to remove news from their platforms in Canada — a move that the minister for Canadian Heritage has criticized for being “irresponsible” and detrimental to the nation’s democracy.

Musk is yet to make an official stand against the AFP or any Canadian publishers, but with the megalomaniac CEO already landing himself in hot water for banning journalists from the platform and falsely labeling media publications as “state-affiliated media,” our money isn’t on him complying.

Despite disappointing iPhone sales contributing to Apple’s biggest sales dip since 2016, faith in the company remains high, thanks to profits from digital services like Apple TV surging and stock market buzz around its pending generative AI tool, AppleGPT.

So far this fiscal year Apple has invested $22.61bn in research and development, and CEO Tim Cook announced the company is going to “continue investing and innovating” in its quarterly earnings call for Q3.

Like fellow efforts made by Meta and Amazon, the company’s AI gambit is paying off. With financial experts raising concerns over big tech’s “AI bubble” will Apple’s recent investments be successful in the long term?

Apple’s Hardware Sales Are Down, But Services Remain Strong

Apple announced its third consecutive decline in revenue in its recent earnings report, largely due to a slowdown in global iPhone, Mac, and iPad sales.

According to the report, iPhone sales – which account for almost half of the company’s revenue – dropped by 2.4%, while iPad sales fell by 20%. This marks the company’s biggest sales slump since 2016, when the manufacturer dealt with a similar decline in the Chinese market.

It wasn’t all bad news for Apple though, with sales of wearables like AirPods and Apple Watch jumping by 2.5% over the same period.

“The services business is important in many ways for us. It strengthens our ecosystem [and] it’s important because it makes the overall business less dependent on the performance of our products.” – Apple’s Finance Chief Luca Maestri

Thanks to a recent diversification effort, revenue from Apple’s services division was also up 8% YoY, and the segment is projected to grow 5.8% annually moving forward.

Apple’s services now boast double the number of subscriptions they did three years ago, and paid subscriptions managed by Apple now have twice as many subscribers than Netflix, HBO, Disney+, and Peloton combined.

Apple Doubles Down on AI Spending

Aside from ramping up spending on services like Apple Music and AppleTV, Apple also announced it would be deepening its investment into generative AI.

According to the recent earnings call, the company spent $22.61bn on R&D in the past fiscal year – $3.12bn more than the previous year – with a sizable chunk of this going on AI development.

Compared to its big tech rivals Google and Meta, Apple was slightly late to cash into the AI boom, but Tim Cook attests that the technology is “integral to virtually everything that (they) build” and that the company is committed to investing in its development going forwards.

“Obviously, we’re investing a lot (on AI), and it is showing up in the R&D spending that you’re looking at.” – Tim Cook, Apple CEO

Fortunately, this risk appears to be paying off. After news broke that the manufacturer was developing its own generative AI chatbot, known internally as AppleGPT, the company’s stock price soared by 2.3%, adding $71 billion to its market cap.

However, despite the promising stock market buzz that Apple’s AI projects are attracting, the company is yet to announce a release date for AppleGPT, or make any real returns on its sizable investments.

Will Apple’s AI Gamble Pay Off?

Big tech’s recent economic challenges have forced major players to tighten their belts, as evidenced by the seemingly unstoppable wave of tech industry layoffs this year. Still, this hasn’t stopped companies like Apple, Meta, and Google from pouring billions into AI developments.

For many, this approach is paying off. Meta’s share price recently surged by 8% after the success of its AI-powered Instagram Reels platform, and Amazon’s recent’s earnings beat market expectations thanks to a series of successful AI initiatives launched by the ecommerce retailer.

This isn’t to say this strategy is foolproof, however. Strategists at JPMorgan Chase have recently expressed concerns over big tech’s AI bubble, explaining that while hype around the technology is sending stock prices through the roof, concrete evidence of its success remains lacking.

One thing remains certain: while Apple is yet to report any major returns from its AI investments, being left behind in the race for AI dominance could prove to be an even bigger risk.

Amazon staffers aren’t happy about the ecommerce giant’s backtrack on offering remote work flexibility, and a top executive’s latest comments have made the matter worse.

According to SVP of Amazon Video and Studios Mike Hopkins, he has “no data either way” to explain why the company is mandating that its employees resume in-office work.

Amazon’s known for its data-driven decision making process, and the apparent contradiction inherent in making a big decision without data supporting it is what’s upsetting many laborers at the huge tech company.

Is Amazon’s RTO Mandate Unsupported by the Data? One Executive Says So.

Hopkins’ statements emerged during an internal staff meeting recently, in which he was asked if he had any data to share about Amazon’s return-to-office mandate.

Hopkins said he had “no data either way” regarding the sweeping decision.

The new mandate, revealed last February, will push most employees back to the office at least three days a week. It’s a reversal of the company’s promise from as recent as 2022 that it would not force employees back into the physical office.

Hopkins did indicate some reasons for removing flexible work options, saying that CEO Andy Jassy and other executives all believe”we just do our best work when we’re together.” He also, according to journalism from Insider, cited a leadership principle that entreats Amazon staffers to “have backbone, and disagree and commit” — with the implication being that now is a time to commit, rather than disagree.

The Data Might Say The Opposite

The data does exist, but Amazon’s executives may not like what it says in this instance. We’ve seen plenty of studies that appear to indicate that workers who work remotely, or have the option to do so, tend to be both happier and more productive.

One of Tech.co’s own surveys found that 47% of businesses notice increased productivity levels amongst employees who work remotely. Other studies found a hike in optimism about work from those who worked at home (89%) when compared to those at the office (77%).

One Upwork report found that 32.2% of hiring managers say that productivity has increased since remote work policies have started.

Companies Continue the Push for In-Office Work

There are plenty of reasons why many companies don’t always follow the data when making decisions. This may be due to short-term quarterly profits distracting from long-term sustainability, or in the case of a return to office, it may be because they feel a loss of control over their employees when they don’t have eyes on them all the time, or a need to justify costly long-term office building leases.

Whatever the case, many major companies are attempting to push employees back into their office in 2023.

We’re tracking the biggest changes in this area across two big articles: Companies That Have Ended Fully Remote Work in 2023, and Companies That Offer Remote Work From Home Jobs in 2023

Amazon’s workers have composed an internal petition, but so far it seems that Amazon is committing to a data-less decision, regardless of its employees’ disagreements.

Humans can detect artificially generated speech about 73% of the time, a new study has found. That’s the majority of the time, but it’s not an overwhelming success — indicating that there may be plenty of opportunities for deepfake voice audio to scam you in the near future.

After the study, participants were trained in how to detect generated speech audio clips and became slightly better but were still not perfect. Even with training, deepfake audio can fool the typical person.

The study even found similar results across the two languages it tested, English and Mandarin.

How the New Study Tackled Deepfake Speech

The study was conducted by researchers at University College London, who trained a text-to-speech AI on two datasets to generate 50 speech samples in the two different languages. Then, 529 participants listened to audio clips and attempted to determine which were fake and which were spoken by a real, flesh-and-blood human.

The results: 73% accuracy. In other words, one in every four deepfake audio attempts can expect to work without raising any red flags for their targets.

Kimberly Mai, the first author of the study, explained that this is bad news:

“In our study, we showed that training people to detect deepfakes is not necessarily a reliable way to help them to get better at it. Unfortunately, our experiments also show that, at the moment, automated detectors are not reliable either.”

Deepfake Speech Scams Are More Common Than You Think

Audio deepfakery might sound like Mission: Impossible spy technology, but one in four adults have already experienced one, according to one survey.

That same McAfee survey found that 10% were personally targeted, and another 15% knew someone who had been. At the same time, victims were pretty sure they couldn’t be fooled. As Tech.co senior writer Aaron Drapkin put it at the time:

The McAfee survey also found that 70% of people said they were “unsure” if they’d be able to tell the difference between an AI voice and a human one. Almost one-third (28%) of US respondents said they wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a voicemail left by an “Artificial Imposter,” as McAfee puts it, and a loved one.

Of the victims in the US who lost money through AI voice cloning scams, 11% lost between $5,000–$15,000.

Now, the new survey indicates that many of those people would still be suckered by the right audio clip.

Could You Still Identify Fake Audio Speech?

Look, the good news is that the average person can still figure out when speech is computer generated a full 73% of the time. And with the right training, you can slightly boost your average.

The best way to stay safe, however, is likely to use a little analytical thought outside of the audio itself: Are you being asked to reveal sensitive information? This indicates a motive behind a potential scam. Have you initiated the process yourself? A scammer will target you and be the first to reach out.

Hopefully, automated deepfake speech detectors will continue to improve as well, helping to take some of the burden off of our fallible human ears.