List of All Articles with Tag 'tech'

Pope Francis warned that artificial intelligence could pose a risk to society, highlighting its "disruptive possibilities and ambivalent effects" and urging those who would develop or use AI to do so responsibly.

International Business Machines said on Wednesday it would host Meta Platforms' artificial intelligence language program on its own

(Reuters) -British retailer John Lewis Partnership has agreed a five-year deal with Alphabet Inc's Google Cloud, enabling it to harness

Bots are better and significantly faster than humans at cracking Captcha tests, according to a comprehensive new study that inspected the security system deployed in over 100 popular websites. Automated bots pose a significant threat to the internet because they can masquerade as legitimate human users and perform harmful operations like scraping content, creating accounts and posting fake comments or reviews, as well as consuming scarce resources. “If left unchecked, bots can perform these nefarious actions at scale,” warned scientists, including those from the University of California, Irvine. For over two decades, Captchas have been deployed as security checks by websites to block potentially harmful bots by presenting puzzles that are supposed to be straightforward for people to solve – but very difficult for computers. Earlier forms of Captcha, for instance, asked users to transcribe distorted text from an image, but with advances in computer vision and machine learning, bots soon caught up to recognise the text with near perfect accuracy. Engaged in an arms race with bots, Captchas have since evolved into an annoying presence on the internet, becoming increasingly more and more difficult to solve for both bots and humans. However, the new yet-to-be peer-reviewed research, posted in arXiv, finds bots are able to quickly crack Captcha tests with ease, suggesting global effort users put into cracking these puzzles every day may be more trouble than its worth. In the study, scientists assessed 200 of the most popular websites and found 120 still used Captcha. They took the help of 1,000 participants online from diverse backgrounds – varying in location, age, sex and educational level – to take 10 captcha tests on these sites and gauge their difficulty levels. Researchers found many bots described in scientific journals could beat humans at these tests in both speed and accuracy. Some captcha tests took human participants between nine and 15 seconds to solve, with an accuracy of about 50 to 84 per cent, while it took the bots less than a second to crack them, with up to near perfection. “The bots’ accuracy ranges from 85-100 per cent, with the majority above 96 per cent. This substantially exceeds the human accuracy range we observed (50-85 per cent),” scientists wrote in the study. They also found that the bots’ solving times are “significantly lower” or nearly the same as humans in almost all cases. Since current Captchas do not meet the required security goal of keeping bots away, researchers have called for better and more dynamic approaches to protect websites. Read More Shock for millions of voters as details exposed in hack – which went undetected for a year AI-driven cyberattack can now steal your passwords with near 100 per cent accuracy, study warns More than a million NHS patients’ details compromised after cyberattack Many adults would struggle to understand video-sharing platforms’ rules – Ofcom Now even Zoom tells staff: ‘Come back to the office’ Ozzy Osbourne PlayStation tweet which failed to reveal link to Sony banned

Many adults would struggle to understand the terms and conditions for using video-sharing apps, making them particularly unsuitable for children, Ofcom has found. The regulator calculated that the T&Cs set by six platforms – BitChute, Brand New Tube, OnlyFans, Snapchat, TikTok and Twitch – required advanced reading skills to understand, making them unsuitable for many users, including children. At nearly 16,000 words, OnlyFans had the longest terms of service, which would take its adult users more than an hour to read, the regulator said. This was followed by Twitch (27 minutes, 6,678 words), Snapchat (20 minutes, 4,903 words), TikTok (19 minutes, 4,773 words), Brand New Tube (10 minutes, 2,492 words) and BitChute (8 minutes, 2,017 words). Ofcom calculated a ‘reading ease’ score for each platform’s terms of service, finding that all but one was “difficult to read and best understood by high-school graduates”. Twitch’s terms were found to be the most difficult to read, while TikTok was the only platform with terms of service that were likely to be understood by users without a high school or university education – although the reading level required was still higher than that of the youngest users permitted on the site. Ofcom also found that Snapchat, TikTok and BitChute use “click wrap agreements”, which make acceptance of the terms of service implicit in the act of signing up. Users are not prompted or encouraged to access the terms of service and so it makes it easier to agree to them without actually opening or reading them. The regulator said its regulation of video-sharing platforms was important in informing its broader online safety regulatory approach under the Online Safety Bill, which it expected to receive royal assent later this year. Jessica Zucker, online safety policy director at Ofcom, said: “Terms and conditions are fundamental to protecting people, including children, from harm when using social video sites and apps. “That’s because the reporting of potentially harmful videos – and effective moderation of that content – can only work if there are clear and unambiguous rules underpinning the process. “Our report found that lengthy, impenetrable and, in some cases, inconsistent terms drawn up by some UK video-sharing platforms risk leaving users and moderators in the dark. “So today we’re calling on platforms to make improvements, taking account of industry good practice highlighted in our report.” A Snapchat spokeswoman said: “As Ofcom recognises, we have a number of good-practice measures in place, including using reading-ease tools to regularly review language. “We are in the process of updating our guidelines, including adding more information about moderation and what content is and isn’t allowed. We will continue to gather feedback and work with Ofcom to ensure our rules are easy to understand.” BitChute said: “BitChute welcomes users and creators aged 16 and older from all backgrounds to exercise their individual freedoms to share and consider the widest possible variety of experiences and viewpoints. Therefore, it is essential for us to provide transparency and accessibility. “We look forward to reviewing Ofcom’s report with an eye for possible improvements.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Oxford scientists find no evidence to suggest Facebook not good for wellbeing Ozzy Osbourne PlayStation tweet which failed to reveal link to Sony banned Harry and Meghan ring young online innovators after funding awards

TOKYO (Reuters) -Sony on Wednesday reported a 30.6% fall in first-quarter operating profit, in line with analyst estimates. Profit for

Global law firm Dentons is splitting from its Chinese operations to comply with impending data regulations, one of

There is no evidence to suggest using Facebook is detrimental to wellbeing, Oxford scientists have said, challenging the view that the social media platform is linked to psychological harm. Researchers from the University’s Oxford Internet Institute analysed data from nearly a million people across 72 countries over 12 years – in the largest study of its kind – to understand more about the impact of Facebook on wellbeing. Professor Andrew Przybylski, who co-led the research published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, said: “We examined the best available data carefully – and found they did not support the idea that Facebook membership is related to harm – quite the opposite. “In fact, our analysis indicates Facebook is possibly related to positive well-being.” The research looked at Facebook data from 2008 to 2019, going back to when the platform was in its early stages. “We examined 72 countries’ per capita active Facebook users in males and females in two age brackets, 13-34 years and 35+ years,” the researchers said. The results also showed the association between using Facebook and wellbeing was slightly more positive for males as well as for younger people. Writing in the research paper, the authors said: “Although reports of negative psychological outcomes associated with social media are common in academic and popular writing, evidence for harms is, on balance, more speculative than conclusive.” Professor Matti Vuorre, also of the Oxford Internet Institute, who co-led the study, said: “Our findings should help guide the debate surrounding social media towards more empirical research foundations. “We need more transparent collaborative research between independent scientists and the technology industry to better determine how, when and why modern online platforms might be affecting their users.” Commenting on the study, Peter Etchells, professor of psychology and science communication at Bath Spa University, said: “This is a fascinating study that attempts to link Facebook uptake with measures of mental wellbeing in a broad-strokes manner, using data from over 70 countries. “Contrary to popular sentiment, the researchers didn’t find a negative association between the two; instead, it was generally the case that there were positive associations between country-level Facebook uptake and mental wellbeing. “To my mind, the value in this study lies in proof of principle – it demonstrates that it’s possible to leverage industry data to address meaningful questions about how digital technology interacts with our mental health.” But Prof Etchells said there were some caveats associated with the findings – which the study authors have addressed. He said: “This is a descriptive study, and as such cannot tell us anything about causation – that is, we don’t know how, if, or to what extent, changes in Facebook adoption drive changes in mental wellbeing. “Wellbeing is a complex phenomenon, and even in the context of social media use, we need to be careful drawing any firm conclusions by looking at how people use a single platform such as Facebook.” Read More Move fast and beat Musk: The inside story of how Meta built Threads Japan's tech investor SoftBank trims losses and promises offensive turnaround Chatbots sometimes make things up. Not everyone thinks AI's hallucination problem is fixable Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

A tweet by Ozzy Osbourne showing him gaming on a Sony PlayStation VR2 has been banned for failing to mention that it was an ad. The tweet from Osbourne’s account in February read: “Did this spot with @PlayStation team. We had a lot of fun. Their new VR2 is really amazing.” The tweet included a video which began with a blue screen displaying the PlayStation logo before cutting to Osbourne in a living room taking a virtual reality headset and controllers out of a blue PlayStation box as his wife Sharon Osbourne told him that they needed to pack boxes and catch a flight to England. Osbourne replied that he wanted to play on his PlayStation and was shown swearing at dinosaurs via a VR headset and controllers before the video ended with the text: “Play has no limits,” followed by the PlayStation logo. We considered the wording, including the use of the word spot to refer to the video, was not sufficient to clearly indicate to consumers that the tweet was part of a commercial relationship between Sony and Ozzy Osbourne Advertising Standards Authority Sony, which responded to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) on both their and Osbourne’s behalf, said their agreement gave Osbourne’s management company final approval over the video’s script. The tech giant confirmed that Osbourne was contracted to post a tweet sharing the video as part of the agreement, with Sony specifying only that Osbourne must share the video in a way which clearly disclosed that he had worked with Sony. Addressing the tweet itself, Sony believed that the word “spot” in the text “Did this spot with the @PlayStation team” would be clearly understood by Twitter users to refer to an ad. They also believed that the placement of the wording at the beginning of the tweet meant it was sufficiently prominent for consumers to understand the commercial nature of the video before they watched it. The ASA said consumers should be made aware that a post was an ad before they engaged with it. The watchdog said: “We acknowledged the positioning of that wording in the tweet was both prominent and visible before the video started playing. “However, we considered the wording, including the use of the word spot to refer to the video, was not sufficient to clearly indicate to consumers that the tweet was part of a commercial relationship between Sony and Ozzy Osbourne and that the tweet was therefore an ad.” It added: “Because the ad did not make clear its commercial intent upfront, we considered it was not obviously identifiable as a marketing communication and concluded that it breached the Code.” It ruled that the ad must not appear again in the form complained about. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live No evidence to suggest Facebook not good for wellbeing, Oxford scientists say Harry and Meghan ring young online innovators after funding awards James Bulger’s mother condemns ‘disgusting’ AI clips on TikTok of murdered son

There is no evidence to suggest using Facebook is detrimental to wellbeing, Oxford scientists have said, challenging the view that the social media platform is linked to psychological harm. Researchers from the University of Oxford’s Oxford Internet Institute analysed data from nearly a million people across 72 countries over 12 years – in the largest study of its kind – to understand more about the impact of Facebook on wellbeing. Professor Andrew Przybylski, who co-led the research published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, said: “We examined the best available data carefully – and found they did not support the idea that Facebook membership is related to harm – quite the opposite. “In fact, our analysis indicates Facebook is possibly related to positive well-being.” The research looked at Facebook data from 2008 to 2019, going back to when the platform was in its early stages. “We examined 72 countries’ per capita active Facebook users in males and females in two age brackets, 13-34 years and 35+ years,” the researchers said. The results also showed the association between using Facebook and wellbeing was slightly more positive for males as well as for younger people. It was generally the case that there were positive associations between country-level Facebook uptake and mental wellbeing Prof Peter Etchells Writing in the research paper, the authors said: “Although reports of negative psychological outcomes associated with social media are common in academic and popular writing, evidence for harms is, on balance, more speculative than conclusive.” Professor Matti Vuorre, also of the Oxford Internet Institute, who co-led the study, said: “Our findings should help guide the debate surrounding social media towards more empirical research foundations. “We need more transparent collaborative research between independent scientists and the technology industry to better determine how, when and why modern online platforms might be affecting their users.” Commenting on the study, Peter Etchells, professor of psychology and science communication at Bath Spa University, said: “This is a fascinating study that attempts to link Facebook uptake with measures of mental wellbeing in a broad-strokes manner, using data from over 70 countries. “Contrary to popular sentiment, the researchers didn’t find a negative association between the two; instead, it was generally the case that there were positive associations between country-level Facebook uptake and mental wellbeing. “To my mind, the value in this study lies in proof of principle – it demonstrates that it’s possible to leverage industry data to address meaningful questions about how digital technology interacts with our mental health.” But Prof Etchells said there were some caveats associated with the findings – which the study authors have addressed. He said: “This is a descriptive study, and as such cannot tell us anything about causation – that is, we don’t know how, if, or to what extent, changes in Facebook adoption drive changes in mental wellbeing. “Wellbeing is a complex phenomenon, and even in the context of social media use, we need to be careful drawing any firm conclusions by looking at how people use a single platform such as Facebook.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Ozzy Osbourne PlayStation tweet which failed to reveal link to Sony banned Harry and Meghan ring young online innovators after funding awards James Bulger’s mother condemns ‘disgusting’ AI clips on TikTok of murdered son

Get your thumb ready for next month. Apple is making a subtle change to the iPhone's software that will likely mess with your muscle memory: The big red "end call" button is moving.

By Hannah Lang (Reuters) -State banks that are a member of the U.S. Federal Reserve system should obtain a written