Celebrity Deepfakes are Getting Widespread Across Social Media Sites and Users Need to Beware of Them

Bitdefender, a cyber security company, shares a report that shows that there are many advertisements on Facebook and Instagram that use celebrities' deepfakes to sell different products on these sites. The voices of many celebrities are played over their clips to offer many product giveaways and convince them for investments. Bitdefender analyzed many videos and found that they targeted more than one million users in the US and Europe and these posts reached 100,000 people on average on different social media sites. Another thing that these scammers did was create fake news websites of popular news sites like the New York Times and link the deep fake posts to those news websites.

Bitdefender’s Security Analyst, Slime Bizga, said that the company hasn’t been able to identify what are the number of scams this has caused but there is a rise seen in them from the past few months. This report was published after Meta has announced that it is going to label AI generated content on its social media sites while working with technical experts to identify AI content. The FCC has also said that it is thinking about banning AI generated voice overs on robocalls after an incident where the AI generated voice of Joe Biden could be heard discouraging New Hampshire voters from going to polling stations.

Bizga said that as elections are near, these kinds of deep fakes of politicians can be seen but her team hasn’t looked into them but it is highly likely that the deepfakes of politicians are as widely being used as celebrities’. Bizga also added that deep fakes of celebrities on social media sites can easily be identified because the voices aren’t edited perfectly. They are not synced, there is something wrong with movements and their quality of voices isn’t great. The deepfake of a youtuber, Mr. Beast, the only one that users weren’t able to identify easily. In future, the deep fakes are going to get more advanced. So, users need to be alert and keep an eye on every content to prevent themselves from being scammed.

Photo: DIW-AIgen

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Zuckerberg Advocates Founder Involvement in Decision-Making, Acknowledges Need for Talented Teams Despite Reluctance to Delegate

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, shared insights into his unconventional leadership style during a recent episode of the Morning Brew Daily podcast. He expressed a reluctance towards delegating responsibilities, a principle that has sparked controversy within the business and leadership community.

Zuckerberg emphasized the importance, in his view, for founders to immerse themselves in decision-making processes and various aspects of their company's operations. He acknowledged the necessity of recognizing personal limitations to avoid hindering progress. Despite his inclination towards hands-on involvement, Zuckerberg acknowledged the indispensability of a talented team to handle essential tasks beyond his capacity.

Photo: Digital Information World - AIgen

Reflecting on his evolving confidence over time, Zuckerberg asserted his commitment to delving deeply into various matters and steering them towards his envisioned direction. He acknowledged the inevitability of setbacks but stressed the importance of continuous learning and improvement over time.

The Meta CEO's management approach has faced scrutiny amid significant layoffs affecting thousands of employees. Zuckerberg attributed some of these actions to timing misjudgments regarding investments, particularly in metaverse technology, and the need to streamline operations following excessive hiring during the pandemic-driven tech and e-commerce surge.

In an effort to enhance efficiency, Zuckerberg declared a "year of efficiency" and initiated measures to reduce bureaucratic layers within Meta's organizational structure. He expressed a desire to avoid an overly complex management hierarchy, emphasizing a focus on empowering individuals directly involved in executing tasks rather than creating layers of managerial oversight.

Read next: Research Finds that Many of the Adults in the UK Are Not Aware that AI Generated CSAM is Illegal
by Asim BN via Digital Information World

Research Finds that Many of the Adults in the UK Are Not Aware that AI Generated CSAM is Illegal

Research by The Lucy Faithfull Foundation found out that 40% of the people in the UK thought that sexual abuse material generated by AI (Artificial Intelligence) is legal in the UK and they didn’t know that it was illegal. The Lucy Faithfull Foundation is a UK based foundation that provides prevention and awareness against sexual abuse. The research also found out that 66% of people in the UK believe that AI is going to have harmful effects on children. On the other hand, 70% of the individuals in UK didn’t know that AI is being used for generating child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

88% of people in UK said that sexual or abusing images of people under 18 generated by AI should be illegal in the UK, 40% said that they assumed that it is legal in the UK. Keep in mind that it is completely illegal to generate, distribute and view sexual images of children in the UK. The foundation is working on raising awareness about how the offenders are using pictures of real children to make CSAM but there are serious consequences for these offenders in the UK.

According to the foundation, AI isn’t the only one responsible for making sexual images of children. The offenders also use faces of children who have been previously abused to turn their images into CSAM. Children who have been abused in the past go through the trauma again after their images turn into what they have faced in the past. The director of Stop It Now helpline, Doald Findlater, says that the public isn’t fully aware of how AI is being used to create sexual images of children. As AI is advancing, the public should make them educated on what harmful effects AI can cause to other people. There are also some speculations that some certain machine learning models are trained on CSAM. But this can only be done by combining two concepts like “child” and “explicit content”.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Apple to Release New AI Tools for Developers

Apple is close to finishing a new tool for people who make apps for iPhones. This tool will help them write the code they need. The company plans to share this tool with other software creators soon, possibly within this year. This information comes from people who know a lot about Apple's plans.

The new tool is part of Apple's effort to make its main programming software, Xcode, even better. It aims to be as good as a similar tool from Microsoft called GitHub Copilot.

Apple is also making another tool that writes code to check if apps work well. This could make a usually slow job much faster. Right now, Apple is asking some of its engineers to try out these new tools to make sure they work well before letting other developers use them.

Apple has not talked about this news yet when asked.

These new tools are part of Apple trying to catch up in the area of AI, where companies like OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft are currently leading. This news comes shortly after Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, mentioned on a call about earnings that they are excited to share new AI products later this year.

Bloomberg has also found out that Apple wants to add AI features to the next updates for iPhones and iPads, known as Crystal, and to the MacOS with a project called Glow.

The company is working on making playlists on Apple Music and slideshows smarter. There's also a plan for a smarter search feature called Spotlight that can help with finding and opening apps.

Photo: DIW - AIgen

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by Mahrukh Shahid via Digital Information World

CPJ's Report Exposes Gaza Conflict as Deadliest for Journalists, With Palestinians Bearing Brunt, Amid Global Peril for Media

Amidst the perilous landscape for journalists globally, a staggering revelation has emerged: nearly three-fourths of the reporters who lost their lives in 2023 were Palestinians covering the Gaza-Israel conflict, marking it as one of the deadliest periods for media personnel in almost ten years, as reported by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

The CPJ's annual report, released recently, highlighted that out of the 99 journalists who perished worldwide, a significant 72 were Palestinians reporting on the Gaza conflict. The organization lamented that if not for these tragic incidents in Gaza, the overall global count of journalist fatalities would have shown a decline compared to the previous year.

Jodie Ginsberg, president of the CPJ, expressed deep concern over the unprecedented threat faced by journalists, particularly those operating within Gaza. She underscored the vital role played by Palestinian journalists in providing firsthand accounts of the conflict, given the restricted access for international media in the region.

The report revealed a grim reality: 77 journalists lost their lives while on duty in the Gaza conflict, with Palestinians bearing the brunt, constituting almost 77% of the total casualties. Ginsberg condemned the lack of widespread solidarity for Palestinian journalists, attributing it to geopolitical divides and complexities surrounding the Israel-Palestine issue.

Furthermore, the CPJ is investigating whether Israeli forces deliberately targeted journalists during the Gaza conflict, potentially constituting war crimes, according to Ginsberg. She emphasized the importance of holding perpetrators accountable and ensuring the protection of journalists in conflict zones worldwide.

• Also read: New Data Reveals 1.4 Billion Children Lack Social Protection Globally

Despite some improvements in journalist safety in certain regions like Ukraine and Mexico, the overall death toll reached its highest since 2015, with a stark increase of nearly 44% from the previous year. The CPJ warned of persistent dangers faced by journalists in countries like Mexico, the Philippines, India, Pakistan and Somalia, where violence and government surveillance pose significant threats to press freedom.

Chart: CPJ

In Gaza, the risks extend beyond working hours, with journalists facing the constant threat of Israeli airstrikes or arrest even when off duty. Ginsberg reaffirmed the CPJ's commitment to documenting attacks against journalists and seeking justice through international bodies such as the International Criminal Court.

The plight of journalists in conflict zones underscores the urgent need for global solidarity and concerted efforts to safeguard press freedom and uphold journalistic integrity.

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by Web Desk via Digital Information World

Reddit's Prominence in Google Search Results for Product Reviews Prompts Scrutiny Over Potential Spam Issues, Per Detailed Analysis

A new analysis by Detailed.COM finds that Reddit appears 97.5% times in Google search if someone asks about a product review. It frequently appears in the two third slots that Google has reversed for Discussions and Forums on its search page. The analysis for this research was done by putting 10,000 key phrases, and the results showed that Discussions and Forums appeared 77% of the time. Reddit was the highest forum to appear with 7509 results and was featured 14263 times. Quora was the second with 3513 results. It was featured 3832 times. Other domains included in Discussions and Forums appeared 4982 times combined. The total number of these domains was 766.

Even though Reddit appearing in search results doesn’t seem too bad, this clearly means that Reddit has a spamming problem and Google is pushing so hard to make Reddit appear in its search results. Many users have previously said that when they Google something, they add ‘Reddit” at the end of it as they prefer seeing Reddit answers. Many Reddit threads analyzed for this research show that they have affiliate links in their comments and it feels like it is exclusively being done with Google.

The author of this analysis, Glenn Allsopp, says that this Google search result is the worst he has ever seen on Google. As this report got published, Reddit's representative said that this report is completely flawed and misleading. He said that the examples that this report is showing don’t show the complete picture. He added that Google is sending more traffic to Reddit because it has the best and authentic product reviews. Talking about the spam, he said that many communities have an option that automatically removes spam comments from their discussions and replies and Reddit also has it. Our moderators also use those tools and insights for removing spam on Reddit. In Q3 of 2023, Reddit launched a Spam Detection Method that helped remove 2 million spam accounts from the forum.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Apple Vision Pro Focuses on User Privacy

Apple has shared details about how the Apple Vision Pro headset protects user privacy. The company has worked on privacy for years and got over 5,000 patents with privacy in mind. Now, they have an "Apple Vision Pro Privacy Overview" that talks about how they keep user information safe.

The document says Apple Vision Pro follows Apple's privacy rules, like those for iPhone apps. But it also has new privacy features for the unique abilities of the headset. For example, it can now include information about where you move your head and hands, and what's around you, in its privacy labels on the App Store.

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Apple Vision Pro can see much more about your surroundings than an iPhone because it has many cameras, microphones, and gyroscopes. But Apple makes sure this data stays private. It stores details about your environment only on the device, not anywhere else.

Also, even though the headset knows where you're looking, it doesn't share this with apps. This is because what you look at can give away your thoughts. The system just tells an app to start without saying what caught your eye. Apps only know what you choose by a tap, not everything you see.

Apple also explained how you can let someone else use your headset without them seeing your private information.

"Privacy is more than a design principle, it is who we are. As you have seen, spatial computing is incredibly personal. Apple Vision Pro, powered by visionOS, features groundbreaking privacy protections to make it possible for you to have peace of mind while seamlessly interacting with digital content." Concluded Apple in the document. Adding further, "From protecting where you look to storing Optic ID data on-device, Apple Vision Pro protects your information. As we continue to explore what’s possible with spatial computing, our work to bring privacy to life is not and never will be finished."

Photo: unsplash / @romasha

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by Mahrukh Shahid via Digital Information World