Meta Is Designing New Built-In Generation Tools For Ads As It Works To Align Against The Generative AI Shift

Tech giant Meta is on the move to align itself with the current wave of Generative AI.

The company is working to create a new range of advertising tools that would assist in refining its options in the AI world and that entails the creation of built-in generation tools for the sake of ad creatives.

The company mentioned through its innovative Sandbox project how it would be putting a small group of advertisers to the test and that includes the option of designing more ad campaigns.

Today, Meta’s AI Sandbox project currently entails three different types of elements including Image Outcropping, Text Variations, and Background Generation.

With the help of text variation, users would now be able to make use of AI to produce several variations in advertising text while providing marketers with a series of new options to select from for better performance.

As could be seen with such an example, this whole process would take the latest advertising copy and provide users with a long list of alternatives depending on the ads of Meta and its best practices. They would then be able to use such variations via a one-click procedure and the A/B tests to see how effective the performance really is.

Meanwhile, the tool called Background Generation is there to make backdrops for images of products using text inputs. And yes, in case you’re wondering, it’s quite similar in function to DALL-E.

At the end of it all, it might save users funds and time while helping them make more creative elements. But we do agree that some of these examples of Generative AI could be a little hard to mend so you might need to be careful when dealing with this.

Lastly, users would be able to make use of a feature called Image Outcropping that’s designed to adjust visuals so that they fit into all sorts of aspect ratios across a number of different surfaces including Reels and Stories.

As could be seen in such examples, these types of systems can simulate all kinds of extended visuals. This way, users can fit into it using different formats, even if there are no custom creatives for such endeavors.

But we do see how such tools may turn out to be a great help while putting together a range of creative elements that are paired so well together with Meta’s Advantage + targeting initiative. And at the end of the day, it provides the company’s ad systems with a series of creative options for users and enhances the performance of ads.

Clearly, there are some massive limitations that such tools continue to provide with time. And users would no longer need to keep closer eyes upon every element that’s created. But in those situations when the system ends up confusing itself or starts to churn out garbage, things might need a little extra regulation and control.

These are clearly some great ways to make use of generative. We don’t see them as replacements but as complements to the current system that’s already in place. And that would provide some more great options and end up making considerations that weigh up with time.

Meta also shed light on how it was now making use of some great targeting options that it plans to include in its Advantage+ Campaigns. This provides some great ways to target the intended audience.

Soon, Facebook’s parent firm hopes to see advertisers shift from manual to its Advantage+ campaigns in a single click. And that just makes the entire process of integration so much simpler.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

NBCUniversal Advertising Chief Linda Yaccarino Holds Discussions With Twitter As Musk Hints At Hiring New CEO

The advertising chief of NBCUniversal is busy holding some discussions with Twitter amid speculations that she might be the company’s new CEO.

The news comes after the firm’s chief Elon Musk excitedly announced through his Twitter account that he had finally found a new CEO that would be able to take on the responsibility from him. However, he failed to name who that person is or would be.

The report from The Wall Street Journal went into detail about who Yaccarino is and how her tenure at NBCUniversal has been since she first adopted the leading role in the year 2011.

She was also known for playing the front role in launching the streaming platform as per a new report by The Journal that cited some anonymous sources while reporting talks carried out between her and Musk’s popular microblogging website.

For now, Yaccarino is remaining hushed on the matter and is not even commenting on matter. But if that is indeed the case, it’s a decision that was a long time coming as many felt perhaps the world’s second richest person really needed a break and had to put someone else in charge because he simply could not do everything on his own.

Musk is the world’s second richest individual and the main owner of Twitter but he has vowed to step down from the role of the CEO once he finds someone capable of doing the task and that might be right now.

After stepping down, he would resume the role of the firm’s executive chair and its CTO. Therefore, that means taking on the role of overseeing products, the firm’s systems operations, and also the software involved.

For now, Musk is yet to name the CEO but he did give out a hint that it would be a female as he referred to the new role as ‘She’.

Musk who is also the owner of several other leading companies including Tesla and SpaceX, had provided lots of hints when he wished to step down in the latter part of last year. The majority of people who took part in a poll last year had voted in favor of him stepping down and he hoped to do that by the end of 2023. Therefore, it seems he’s just sticking to his guns.

He has similarly been bashed by investors from Tesla who felt he was very distracted and couldn’t focus on Tesla because Twitter was taking a huge chunk of his time. Therefore, the firm was outlined as being mismanaged with fears of a downfall if things remained in this manner.

There are even reports of a board meeting taking place to speak about how serious the matter has become and if Musk should even remain as the CEO of Tesla as he was finding it hard to make time for the organization.

This sudden decision of a new CEO comes as Twitter makes a series of changes to the app with the rollout of new features such as video calls and encrypted messages through DMs.

Read next: Twitter Is Finally Launching Encrypted DMs But It’s Restricted To Verified Users Only
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

The Advent of 2023 Marked an Alarming Upsurge in Cyber Assaults on Governments

There was a notable spike in cyber spying campaigns, indicating an alarming increase in the exploitation of digital platforms for illicit actions.

In a recent investigation by Surfshark, there has been a rapid rise in cyber assaults targeting official agencies, highlighting a concerning pattern in the realm of digital security.

A published report by Surfshark revealed that out of 921 plus significant cyber-assaults recorded between 2006 to the first quarter of 2023, 720 plus were directed at government bodies. The report highlights the alarming trend in digital assaults toward government bodies, even during the initial month of 2023.

The government witnessed a substantial spike in digital assaults since 2020, with annual means rising from 30 to 95 incidents. A study revealed that nearly fifty percent of the 920 critical cases studied emerged in the past three years. Sociable engineering was often the initial tactic used by threat players, leading to spyware or ransomware strikes, although in specific cases, misleading campaigns were also used.

The Surfshark report indicates that cyber spying drives are a major cause for concern, as 15 percent of all strikes on government commodities since 2006 have been identified as such. The first quarter of 2023 saw 30 plus hits, with almost one-third of them (nine) being cyber spying incidents, a number that's almost equivalent to the whole year of 2022.

According to the analysis, cyber spying campaigns are primarily executed by state-sponsored entities, indicating an escalation in e-warfare between governments. The researchers cite recent cases, such as the Russian hacking of the French National Assembly site and the involvement of a Vietnamese cyber spying group in targeting a United States federal organization in March, as evidence of this trend.

Some of the most diligent and skilled threat players in the world include NK (North Korea), Chinese, and Russian state-sponsored groups. The North Korean Lazarus Group, for instance, is notorious for targeting cryptocurrency firms as a means of generating funds for the country's military and government procedures.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Lazarus Group was responsible for one of the most significant cryptocurrency thefts in history, in which they breached the Ronin Network and stole over $600 million plus worth of cryptocurrencies. This incident highlights the group's highly refined capabilities and the seriousness of the danger posed by state-sponsored cyber-spying drives.

Read next: Internet Restrictions Are On The Rise And Here Are The Places That Have Been Affected The Most in 2023
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Human Rights Watchdogs Say AI Driven Policing Could Further Oppress Marginalized Communities

AI has a wide range of usage cases associated with it, many of which have stoked a fair amount of controversy. Recent innovations in the field have led some to suggest the use of AI to predict criminal behavior which can then be used to police such activities before they have had a chance to occur.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that human rights groups are warning that such practices are quite dangerous. For one thing, they could lead to already oppressed minorities such as Black Americans and the Roma community in Europe becoming even more marginalized than might have been the case otherwise.

AI can be used to scan people’s faces and figure out if there are any outstanding warrants against them, but in spite of the fact that this is the case it has been shown to disproportionately target people of color. Research has shown that Black people are far more likely to get misidentified as criminals than people who are white.

Fair Trials, a human rights organization, has joined hands with several other watchdogs to urge the EU to take swift action. The European Parliament is set to take a vote that will determine whether or not machine learning surveillance will be allowed to come into play. Watchdogs are trying to get them to vote no because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up preventing this authoritarian practice from becoming commonplace.

People of color are already disproportionately targeted by the police with all things having been considered and taken into account. In the UK, black people were seven times more likely to be stopped and search at random than white people.

52.6 out of every 1,000 black people were randomly searched by the police between April of 2021 and March of 2022, yet only 7.5 out of every 1,000 white people faced the same level of scrutiny. All in all, AI surveillance has the potential to do more harm than good, and it needs to be kept at bay.

H/T: Cybernews

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

EU regulations may impose stricter limitations on cloud service providers from outside the EU

It is likely that several cloud service providers (CSPs) from outside the European Union (EU), including Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, would face considerable difficulties in European nations. The EU is presently working on a new regulation that will make it necessary for these CSPs to work with EU companies if they want to handle sensitive data within the European continent. As a result, they will have to create business alliances and legal contracts with organizations established in the EU. The major goal of this regulation is to strengthen EU control and protection of sensitive data.

To obtain an EU cyber security label for handling sensitive data, cloud service providers (CSPs) must form a partnership where a European company holds a majority stake, in collaboration with a non-European cloud provider. This joint venture arrangement is a requirement for CSPs seeking to handle sensitive data and receive the EU cyber security label.

As reported by Reuters, other major limitations are also there in the draft document. Personnel with access to sensitive data should reside in the EU and be qualified for this position after passing a screening procedure. The cloud services holding this data should also be managed and administered from inside the EU, and any data processing should also take place within this region. In addition, serious penalties will be imposed on a CSP in the event that a data breach compromises intellectual property, human health, or public safety.

The intention, as stated in another passage from the text, is to reduce any possible impact of non-EU organizations on EU laws, conventions, and values. To do this, only organizations with legal presence in the European Union (EU) are permitted to run certified cloud services, preventing any person or group from exercising real influence over the cloud service provider (CSP).

Additionally, a CSP must not be directly, indirectly, solely, or jointly controlled by companies whose registered head office or headquarters are situated outside of an EU member state in order to be qualified for certification.

If the proposed rule becomes law, both non-European cloud service providers (CSPs) and their European clients will be significantly impacted. To comply with the new regulations, both parties must make sure that the cloud services they use bear the EU cyber security badge.

Considering that in order to continue functioning, firms will need to acquire the appropriate certification for cyber security, organizations that already use platforms like Azure from Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud Platform, or GCP, for managing sensitive data may be particularly impacted by this need.

Read next: Google Takes Responsibility with AI, Panics at Competitors
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Google Takes Responsibility with AI, Panics at Competitors

This year's I/O conference featured a wide range of new services and products in addition to a discussion by Google about the duty of AI.

The keynote address at Google I/O heavily emphasized AI, discussing the company's advancements in the field and what it means to use AI responsibly. Google has emphasized responsible integration early, while competitors like OpenAI and Microsoft struggle to balance letting AI run rampant and keeping it under control.

During Google's event, James Manyika, the head of the Technology and Society division, discussed how the tech giant hopes to integrate AI responsibly while launching many new services.

Google is investing significantly in research and development related to ethical standards, transparency tools, privacy protections, data security measures, and more. The business also revealed a council for AI ethics that will bring together professionals worldwide to offer guidance on moral matters involving artificial intelligence.

The company has also made pledges towards responsible use of data within its products. It includes creating better ways for users to control their data with simple tools like Activity Controls and My Account Privacy Settings. Google also plans to use its expertise in machine learning algorithms to detect potential malicious actors better using its services or manipulating data sets.

Google is trying to maintain the safety and security of using artificial intelligence for all parties. It's clear that Google is doing more than just panicking about potential competitors – they're taking steps to ensure the responsible use of their cutting-edge technology.

Google's recent keynote clarified that the company needed to catch up with competitors like ChatGPT and Bing. Google responded by rolling out several new generative AI features throughout its portfolio of products, including Search, Google Workspace, and even Google Cloud.

Although Google highlights the appropriate use of AI, it is conceivable to interpret the deployment of so many new capabilities as a desperate attempt to outperform the competition. By taking its time to make sure that its features are accurate and prepared for release to the public, Google is attempting to establish itself as the mature adult in the room.

Google's caution that "generative AI may be inaccurate or offensive" demonstrates that the corporation is still looking for a solution to the misleading information problem that its rivals are also confronting. However, these new features seem exciting, and we can't wait to try them out. Watching if they elevate Google above the opposition or make up for previous failings will be interesting.



Read next: Google Excites App Developers With The Launch Of New AI Features For The Play Store
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Global Tensions: Countries Across the World Report Armed Clashes in 2023

With the world stepping into the current year, many regions are still fighting various conflicts that are leading to armed clashes and outbreaks of violence.

The widely affected region is Yemen, where the conflicts have been heated since 2014. These problems are resulting in the suffering of many people around the country. Besides Yemen, Syria is also facing wars over the past 10 years, leading to worse outcomes.

Africa is also not far behind in these conflicts and wars. The rise of human violence and civil wars have taken place in various regions of Africa. Parts, such as Nigeria and Sudan are also widely affected due to these conflicts.

In addition, Asia is also experiencing conflicts from previous years. Afghanistan has been under the control of the Taliban, since 2021, which is leading to violence in Afghanistan. While neighboring countries including India and Pakistan also facing armed clashes as per ACLED data. Further, clashes between the army and the local public are also experienced in Myanmar.

Europe's situation is also not peaceful as compared to other countries around the globe. The war between Russia & Ukraine is impacting widely on the economies and the clashes of both countries. These conflicts are resulting in the deaths of thousands of people in these affected countries.

America's situation is also not better as various states have reported several conflicts and clashes over the past decade. These clashes are the source of wars and political instability around the US.

Thus, these past and current conflicts around the globe have resulted in suffering for local individuals. The impacts of these conflicts can worsen, further leading to deaths, displacement, and economic instabilities.

Even while efforts have been made to end these conflicts in a variety of ways, the world community still must come together and find answers to the issues preventing war and its worst effects. For the sake of people's safety, the globe needs more stability and peace.

H/T: Acleddata Via Statista

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World