Top AI Pioneer Says He Regrets Not Prioritizing Safety Over Usefulness In His AI Work

Another day is passing by and we’re hearing more and more news about the world of AI and how the huge threats that it comes with cannot be denied.

One of the top pioneers in the world of AI is not staying silent on the emerging threats that it possesses. Moreover, he claims that he definitely regrets not putting safety at the top of the list when developing his work as it mostly focused on the usefulness of the ordeal.

Professor Yoshua Bengio spoke to the BBC today and how he was feeling really lost regarding his work in this life. His comments are coming at a time when experts in the industry are claiming AI is causing an extinction of humanity and it would not be long before we see that take center stage.

He similarly called for greater regulation and hoped for some militaries to be given extra regulatory powers so they could keep AI in check and balance. For those that don’t know, he is deemed to be the second of three godfathers in this domain and has been hailed as a true pioneer in the AI forefront.

Now, he feels it’s his responsibility to voice his message on the matter to the world before it gets too late. After all, AI continues to develop at an alarming pace and it’s not fair to stay silent and watch destruction taking place in front of your eyes.

A recently held interview was aired on the BBC where Bengio added how he had no clear direction on where such a project was going and it was, therefore, best to avoid overthinking and make the most of the situation now.

He added how this new type of work was giving him a lot of direction and providing a great identity on a lot of things that aren’t clear. In the same way, he says that it’s a challenge and the AI sector is one that can never be easy to deal with.

The idea and goal right now is to keep on engaging, encouraging, and even discussing with so many people that you find the right solution. And if you remember, such a warning was also set out by another AI pioneer by the name of Dr. Geoffrey Hinton. He spoke about how more regulation was required for AI.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

World’s Top AI Experts Sound The Alarm On Growing Risks And Threats Of Their Own Work

The world of AI has been a controversial debate and one that has sprung into a more prominent existence recently.

A group of the world’s top AI leaders have sat down and issued a joint statement that clearly speaks about the growing risks and threats that their own work possesses. They say the alarm bells were sounding for quite some time now and it’s important that officials take notice before it's too late.

The warning was called out as a huge risk for extinction and in situations where it’s not managed properly, it’s going to be worse than others.

This particular statement got hundreds of signatories including those belonging to the leaders of Anthropic, OpenAI, and even DeepMind. See, the goal was to let go of the challenges that discuss the huge risks involved by those that have been involved in the ordeal for a while now.

And the fact that terms like catastrophic are being utilized means things are definitely being dealt with seriously. The move comes after a moment of huge concern regarding the intense impacts AI can have on society as so many firms try to get bigger breakthroughs in their sectors with the revolutionizing technology.

Most experts, media personnel, and those in charge of making policies mentioned how the risks are urgent and need to be dealt with right now. It can be a very hard matter to discuss and there are plenty of concerns being raised on the subject too.

This paves the way for more discussion and when you think about it, it’s not something really new. Remember, we’ve had influential figures from the past like CEOs of Google, Antrhopic, and Sam Altman sign the document and call for radical change and a pause to training more models because they strongly feel the risks are plenty.

So many researchers in this world have ended up signing statements on this matter and they hope they can speak more in detail about this subject so more awareness is created along the way.

The news comes months after we saw dozens of other influential personalities and researchers sign another open letter that called for a pause in generative AI lasting six months. So as you can see, the general consensus across the whole matter is that the threat is there and something needs to be done quickly.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

The State of Social Media in 2023 Revealed

Social media has gone through drastic changes these past few years, and a new report released by Sprout Social and The Harris Poll just revealed the state of the modern industry with all things having been considered and taken into account. This report surveyed 778 professionals working in the industry, ranging from marketing managers, customer support representatives as well as communications experts.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that social media budgets are expected to increase dramatically over the next few years. 80% of the people that responded to this survey said that their organizations plan to increase the budgets for social media marketing and the like. 15% expect a 71% to 100% increase, 26% indicated that a 51% to 70% increase was on the cards, 23% cited a 31% to 50% uptick and 33% said that up to 30% increases were upcoming.

96% of business leaders agreed that increasing social media budgets was important because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up keeping them in line with competitors. 94% cited the positive impact on brand recognition as a prime reason for investing more in social media, 92% said that it would make them more competitive, 91% use social media to better understand customers and 89% said that it helped them to predict future trends.

91% went so far as to say that the success of their company is largely contingent on how they would go about using social media to derive important data that can help them create a sufficient strategy. In spite of the fact that this is the case, 69% also mentioned that these insights are currently being under utilized by their organizations.

This raises the question: how can businesses extract the maximum amount of value from this data by leveraging the latest tools and tech? 71% of business leaders said that they are already using Customer Relationship Management software, or CRM for short. Social Media Management programs, or SMM, are also being used by 69% of survey respondents since this can make it easier to plan their social media outreach than might have been the case otherwise.

However, there are also some challenges that must be addressed. 42% of the people that answered questions contained within this survey said that they don’t have access to as many social media tools as they would prefer. A similar proportion, 42%, stated that their tech solutions are not properly integrated with the overall framework that they are working with, and that is something that will most definitely need to change.

A lot of variance can be seen in terms of how easy people find it to demonstrate the benefits of the data they have on hand. While 70% claimed that it was at least somewhat easy, 11% stated that it was somewhat difficult.

However, most survey respondents agreed that things are about to get a lot easier over the next few years. Of the people surveyed, only 5% said that it will get harder to show the impact of these analytics on the bottom line. 81% said that it will become simpler, and 15% are expecting no major changes either way.

58% of professionals in the industry want improved integration to make their lives easier in the long run. 56% called for a greater level of collaboration between the disparate departments of their organization, and 54% are eager to see upcoming advancements in the tech so that they can use these sophisticated programs to get to the next stage.

With 97% of business leaders acknowledging that social data usage will become more relevant in the next three years, it will be interesting to see what further changes come to this industry.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

New Features Coming to WhatsApp: Screen Sharing For All Users and Status Archive for Businesses

WhatsApp, one of the most popular messaging app, is famous for constantly evolving to bring its users new and exciting features. In recent news, WaBetaInfo reported on two upcoming features that will make WhatsApp experience even better.

Starting off with the first update, users will soon be able to share their screen while being on a video call. According to WBI, WhatsApp is working on a screen sharing feature for video calls. This means users can share their screen with the person they are talking to, allowing them to see whatever they are doing on their phone in real-time. Whether it’s showing a presentation, walking through an app, or simply sharing a funny meme, screen sharing will make video calls more interactive and engaging. It’s a fantastic tool for both personal and professional use, enabling people to collaborate, assist, and connect with others like never before.

Moving on to the second update, WhatsApp has become an essential communication tool for companies around the world, and WAbetainfo has revealed an upcoming update tailored specifically for them. The latest status update will allow businesses to archive their status Android version of the app. Currently, when a business posts a status, it disappears after twenty-four hours. However, with this new feature, businesses will have the option to save their status updates, creating an archive of important information, announcements, or promotions. This will enable businesses to have a more permanent record of their status updates, making it easier to refer back to previous posts and maintain a comprehensive history of their communications. The pilot version has already been released and will soon be available to more users.

Both of these features showcase WhatsApp’s commitment to enhancing user experiences and providing valuable tools for businesses. Whether an individual is looking to share their screen during a video call or a business seeking to archive their status updates, WhatsApp has it covered. These features will undoubtedly elevate WhatsApp usage to new heights, making it an even more versatile and powerful platform for communication.

As with all new features, it’s important to note that they might not be available immediately for all users. WhatsApp typically rolls out updates gradually.

In conclusion, WhatsApp’s upcoming screen sharing and status archive features demonstrate the app’s dedication to innovation and meeting the diverse needs of its users. With screen sharing on video calls, users can now share their phone’s screen in real-time, fostering better communication and collaboration. Meanwhile, the status archive feature empowers businesses to maintain a record of their important updates, ensuring efficient and effective communication with their customers.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Here’s What Creators Need to Know About the YouTube Algorithm in 2023

Creators based on YouTube are often left baffled by the algorithm because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up seeming impossible to understand. The Creator Insider channel recently put out a new video that tried to make the algorithm easier to parse than might have been the case otherwise.

Firstly, the video touches on the question of timing videos. Many creators wonder what the ideal time frame is to post their videos in order to get a more favorable boost from the algorithm. In spite of the fact that this is the case, the video suggests that this is the wrong approach. Creators need to replace the term algorithm in this question with the term audience.

Simply put, if your audience tends to prefer videos that are posted at a precise time, the algorithm will follow suit. That means that you should time your videos based on your own audience rather than attempting to base it arbitrarily on what you feel like the algorithm will reward.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that thinking long term is also incredibly useful. A lot of creators tend to put out sensationalized content in the hopes that this would drive higher view counts and engagement.

While this might work in the short term, it can ruin your channel in the short term. You need to thinking about what viewers will return to your channel for six months from now rather than content that would get a short term boost before fading into obscurity.

It is also useful to address the question of multi-format content posting. You can now post regular long form content along with shorts, and podcasts are also seeing a rapid rise in popularity with all things having been considered and taken into account.

According to this video, you should put all of the content on the same channel as long as it appeals to the same audience. Creating separate channels is only useful in cases where the alternate formats would be targeting a different set of viewers.

Another thing that might make you want to create multiple channels is if you post content in multiple languages. This video reveals that you can now consider adding multi-track audio which can give your content an international appeal. Such practices are far better than making multiple channels since all of your content will be found in one place rather than spread across YouTube.

The final topic discussed in this video is the evolution of search and discovery. Large Language Models will factor into the equation by creating more nuanced recommendations for viewers. YouTube is clearly going for a quality over quantity approach, which indicates that fewer recommendations might make it to the home page.

This is being done to prevent something called decision fatigue. Viewers might get overwhelmed if they have too many options to choose from, so YouTube is attempting to dial it back a notch which would give niche creators the chance to shine. These recommendations can be vital tools for new creators who are trying to get ahead in the industry.



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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Podcast Ad Spending Expected to Reach $4 Billion by 2025

Podcasts have become a unique new avenue for advertisers who are looking to target certain consumers that are harder to reach. This has lead to a massive increase in ad spends on podcasts, going from $842 million in 2020 to over $2.2 billion by 2023. The rate of growth is showing no signs of going into the negatives, with the increase for the rest of the year expected to be somewhere in the region of 43% or so.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that the growth rate of advertising dollars that are spent on podcasts is slowing down to an extent. 2020 saw a 72% growth in podcast ad spendings, but in spite of the fact that this is the case, the growth rate has remained more or less consistent ever since then.

Apart from a sudden uptick in 2023 when the growth in ad spends reached 43%, each year has seen increases that are somewhere in the mid twenties. 2021 saw ad spends on podcasts increasing by 26%, followed by 25% in 2022. Projected growth for 2024 also hovers at around 23%, although it remains to be seen if this comes to past.

Based on these figures, the Interactive Advertising Bureau estimates that ad spends on podcasts will touch a whopping $4 billion by 2025. One thing that might make this data somewhat less accurate than might have been the case otherwise is that it is based on self reported statistics. There has been no transparency on how the data was used to compile these percentage increases, so it will be interesting to see if growth matches these predictions.

• Also read: Search Marketing is Experiencing a Massive Change, With 20% of CMOs Decreasing Investments in SEO

The podcast ad industry received a brief scare in the final quarter of 2022, becoming the worst performing fourth quarter in recent years in terms of growth percentage. However, 2023 proved that this was just a short term dip, and future numbers are looking stronger than ever. Podcasts are fast becoming a mainstay of the ad industry, and an increase in output looks like it will be right around the corner.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Internet Use rising in the Middle East and Africa: A Digital Revolution in the Making

Insiders Intelligence’s latest report highlights that the Middle East and Africa are on the brink of a remarkable increase in internet usage, with an estimated additional eighty million individuals projected to join the online community on a monthly basis between 2023 and 2027.

By 2023, an estimated sixty percent of the global community will be regular internet users. While North America currently boasts a high internet penetration rate, with 89.7% of the population already online in the ongoing year, it is the Asia-Pacific region that will lead the way in terms of overall internet usage, with 61.1% of its population regularly connecting to the internet.

However, on the basis of online shopping, the tables flipped dramatically. The Asia-Pacific region is expected to account for an astonishing 61.0% in the global digital shoppers, whereas North America will have a modest 8.5% share. This disparity helps explain the jaw-dropping difference in ecommerce sales between Alibaba in China and Amazon in the United States. Alibaba’s ecommerce sales in China nearly triple those of Amazon in the America.

The speedy growth of internet adoption in the Middle East and Africa is likely attributed to various factors. Increasing accessibility to inexpensive smartphones and modified digital infrastructure has played a crucial role in driving connectivity in these regions. Additionally, government support for digital transformation initiatives have contributed to the digital revolution taking place.

This surge in internet adoption is not only changing the way people communicate and access information but also opening up new opportunities for businesses. The rise of ecommerce platforms, online marketplaces, and digital start-ups in these regions is transforming traditional business models and enabling entrepreneurs to reach a wider customer base.

As internet penetration continues to expand in these areas, the gap in digital access is gradually being bridged. This has the possibility to empower individuals, boost economic growth and encourage innovation in these regions. It is an exciting time for both regions as they embrace the technological revolution and join the global online community.

Hence, it can be said that the 2 regions are witnessing an impressive surge in internet consumption, with approximately 80 million more people expected to come online regularly between 2023 and 2027. While North America is leading in overall internet accessibility, the Asia-Pacific area dominates in terms of digital shoppers. The growing internet adoption in the region is not only transforming societies but also creating exciting opportunities for businesses and entrepreneurs.


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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World