65% of Start Ups Are Now Paying for ChatGPT

ChatGPT has become arguably the single most consequential new product of the past few years, and it turns out that it’s enjoying enduring popularity among start ups as well with all things having been considered and taken into account. While the market cooldown has created a situation wherein a number of start ups are struggling to make ends meet, they are still paying for a premium subscription of ChatGPT because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up giving them access to the latest version.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that a financial consulting firm by the name of KruzeConsulting just put out some data about the start ups in its portfolio. Of the 800 or so start ups that are on its platform, 65% stated that they are paying for ChatGPT. It bears mentioning that the proportion was as low as 3% as of December 2022, which was when the paid version of ChatGPT became available.

This suggests a massive uptick in the number of start ups that are taking an interest in the paid version of this chatbot. It started gaining a lot of traction in early 2023, with ChatGPT Plus becoming an extremely useful tool. It has the ability to make work easier to do than might have been the case otherwise, and as if that wasn't enough, it offers GPT 4 which is considerably more advanced than the GPT 3.5 available in the free version.

GPT Plus also gives users the chance to utilize DALL-E 3. This ability to generate AI images is something that can prove useful in a wide range of scenarios. OpenAI stopped offering subscriptions for ChatGPT Plus last year, prompting some users to offer them on eBay for a marked up price. It is now offering them again at this current point in time, and that means that there will be a flurry of subscribers. Companies can get a customized version of ChatGPT as well that can cater to their precise and specific needs.

Chart: DIW

Read next: 34% of Americans Say They've Never Heard of ChatGPT
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Here Are the Most Impersonated Brands in Phishing Attacks

If you have ever received an email that asked you to click on a link lest your account with a particular service get disabled, it’s almost certain that it was a phishing attempt. These emails might look like they come from a legitimate source, but in spite of the fact that this is the case, they’re an attempt to get your log in credentials or payment information.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that phishing attacks like these are some of the most frequent cyber attacks that get made. They can result in issues such as you losing access to confidential information, or even intellectual property getting leaked to the Dark Web. As a result of the fact that this is the case, organizations should continuously train their employees for the purposes of making these attacks less successful than might have been the case otherwise.

Proofpoint just released the 2024 iteration of its State of the Phish report which reveals which brands end up getting phished the most with all things having been considered and taken into account.

It turns out that Microsoft was the most impersonated brand by far, with 68 million phishing emails sent out using its name in 2023 alone. Of these 68 million emails, 20 million talked about an Office 365 subscription because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up making users more likely to click.

Adobe came in at a distant second with 9.4 million, closely followed by DHL with 8.8 million. Google then came in fourth with 6.1 million emails, and AOL managed to close out the top five with 4.4 million emails.

It bears mentioning that people still using AOL might be less tech savvy than those that are using more recent email clients, and that might create a situation wherein they’d click on links due to note knowing the harm that they can cause. It’s essential that people and employees alike be trained so that they steer clear of these links.

Chart: DIW

Read next: One Out of Six Phishing Email Attachments Get Opened, New Report Reveals
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

After Introducing Many Good Features Back to Back, Instagram is Set to Introduce a New feature Called Blend

Instagram is working on a new feature that will blend the reels that you have shared with your friends and will suggest you reels according to them. The feature is known as “Blend” and it will give you reels suggestions according to the type of reels you and your friends share with each other. App researcher, Alessandro Paluzzi, shared the example of this feature on X. He shows that Instagram is bringing out this feature that is going to facilitate a lot of users who love sharing reels with their friends.

Instagram’s chief said in 2022 that most friends interact with each other online more than offline. Now, friends talk to each other by sharing reels in the DMs, not by posting on their Instagram feed. Due to this, Instagram is working on a lot of features that can help the users who love DMing their friends.

Inbox notes is also one of these features that will highlight the chat prompts from your conversations and will highlight them at the top of your DM inboxes. Channels are helping a lot of influencers and celebrities stay in touch with their followers through the DMs. Collections is also a feature by Instagram that lets the users collaborate and interact with a post on their group feed. Instagram has also introduced a new feature that lets the users share a post to only their close friends on a feed.

Blend seems like it is a great feature to link more people with each other through reels and memes they share with each other. This feature can either make Instagram a more interesting app for friends or it won’t work as well as expected. This feature isn’t available for testing but soon it will be ready for use.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Salaries for Remote Work Have Started to Decline, New Study Reveals

There was a time when it really seemed like people would be able to earn the highest salaries from the comfort of their very own home. In spite of the fact that this is the case, data released by the World Economic Forum revealed that remote job salaries are declining. Back in the third quarter of 2022, 37% of jobs paying more than $200,000 per year were remote, but more recent data shows that this proportion has plummeted to just 12%. This was data from the fourth quarter of 2023, and it reveals that remote jobs are paying less than might have been the case otherwise.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that this trend holds for jobs in the tech sector as well as non-tech related jobs. Hybrid jobs are also seeing the same trend, with 16% of high paying jobs offering hybrid schedules in the first quarter of 2023, which fell to just 3% by the last quarter of the year.

However, it bears mentioning that the World Economic Forum doesn’t think that remote jobs are going anywhere at this current point in time. Jobs might continue to be remote because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up fulfilling worker demand for better work life balance with all things having been considered and taken into account.

In April of 2022, 20% of all job listings on LinkedIn were remote, but this declined to just 8% by December of 2023. It will be interesting to see where things go from here on out, since companies clearly want employees to return to the office, but employees might want to have the freedom that comes with working from home.

One thing that’s for certain is that the work from home trend didn’t become the norm the way so many people expected it to. Quite on the contrary, it started to fade away pretty much as soon as people could start to return to working from the office, and this trend might continue in the future.

Read next: One Out of Six Phishing Email Attachments Get Opened, New Report Reveals
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

One Out of Six Phishing Email Attachments Get Opened, New Report Reveals

The first instance of phishing that was recorded online occurred in 1995, and by 2000, the infamous ILOVEYOU virus made it one of the most renowned forms of cybercrime in the world. In spite of the fact that this is the case, not much progress has been made in reducing the efficacy of phishing in subsequent decades. It bears mentioning that malicious attachments in phishing emails are still among the most widespread security risks out there.

Proofpoint, a cybersecurity firm for enterprises, recently analyzed 183 million simulations that involved phishing in some way, shape or form. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that in a test conducted by IT departments, one out of every six recipients of a phishing email clicked on the attachment.

Another form of phishing that saw a surprisingly high level of success was link based phishing with all things having been considered and taken into account. The way this works is that the recipient will find a link that will either take them to a fraudulent password reset page, or some type of webpage that would result in them downloading malware or ransomware.

Link based phishing was successful in 11% of instances based on the analysis that was conducted by the aforementioned cybersecurity firm. The phishing method that had the lowest success rate of all was that of data entry phishing, which succeeded on just 3% of occasions.

This just goes to show that malicious links make up the most significant phishing threats of all. That’s why it’s so essential to avoid clicking on links that you have received in emails unless you are aware of who sent the email to begin with. Another important thing that people need to do is report phishing as soon as it occurs. Just 18% of the people that fell prey to phishing attempts in these simulations reported what had occurred, and that can make them considerably more dangerous than might have been the case otherwise. The low reporting rate has the potential to allow malware to spread even further.

H/T: Statista.

Read next: Global Smartphone Shipments Set to Reach 1.2 Billion in 2024
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Global Smartphone Shipments Set to Reach 1.2 Billion in 2024

After a period of relative instability, global smartphone shipments are expected to increase by 3% in 2024 with all things having been considered and taken into account. The budget segment in particular was hard hit by the struggling economy, and it appears that it will be seeing a recovery in a wide range of regions including India and the MENA region. In spite of the fact that this is the case this segment is expected to see a 4% downturn this year.

It is important to note that the premium segment is going to see some truly impressive growth as well. It’s estimated that this market segment will see a 17% uptick in shipments in 2024, and as a result of the fact that this is the case, it will be driving much of the rebound that will be seen by the wider industry.

The budget economy segment, which refers to phones that are sold for between $150 and $249, is also going to see an 11% uptick. Apart from budget phones, the worst performing segments in terms of growth will be phones that cost between $250 and $599, which will see a 2% growth rate, and $800 plus, which will see a 3% rate of growth.

Based on what the data is showing, the smartphone industry will continue to see single digit growth in shipments for the foreseeable future. Such trends are crucial because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up bolstering a struggling industry. New OEMs such as Xiaomi are driving some of the growth, with Apple and Huawei helping to boost shipments for premium smartphones as well.

It will be interesting to see if the trend holds, since some companies might not be able to survive for much longer if growth falters in any way, shape or form. Chinese OEMs in particular will want to capitalize on growth at this current point in time since this will make competing with Apple easier than might have been the case otherwise.

H/T: CounterPointResearch

Read next: Data Shows Telegram Revenue Keeps on Increasing after the app Introduced In-app Purchases
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Data Shows Telegram Revenue Keeps on Increasing after the app Introduced In-app Purchases

Ever since Telegram has started monetizing their users in 2022, its revenue has been keeping on increasing. February 2024 is the biggest month for Telegram’s revenue till date.

The company has just raised $300 million after their revenue kept on steadily increasing last year. This raise of money will help Telegram make more profits.

In February, Telegram gained $5.2 in net revenue from Apple’s App Store and Google's Play Store. This is a 13% increase in revenue from January while January had more revenue than December. It just means that Telegram is generating more revenue with each passing month after monetizing the app.

Telegram’s revenue growth is being defined as slow and steady and this means that it can grow a lot more if it keeps on increasing with the same rate. Russia is the biggest contributor of its revenue, followed by Ukraine.

Telegram has earned a total net revenue of $52 million and most of it came from these countries. Downloads of Telegram aren't different from what they were before the monetization. Right now, the number of Telegram downloads on App Store and Play Store are still the same.

There were 26 million total downloads in February and since June 2022, 506 million downloads have been recorded. In June 2022, in-app purchases on Telegram were introduced and according to the data, it didn’t affect the number of downloads of the app.

Most of the app downloads are from India. India makes up about 94 million of the total downloads of Telegram apps since June 2022. This means that Telegram is growing a lot in revenue as well as downloads.

Now we will have to see what the year 2024 will bring for Telegram. The data shows that Telegram is going to grow more in the months to come.

Chart: AppFigures.

Read next: ChatGPT Will Now Cite Its Answer Sources For Enhanced Credibility
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World