Report Highlights Costly AI Model Training, Potential Data Shortage Impacting Future Development

Stanford University's latest AI Index Report talks about many AI trends, as it shows that it is very costly to train AI models and AI development can get affected with lack of data in the future. Many AI companies do not mention how much cost it takes to train and develop an AI model but one thing is sure that their cost can be in millions of dollars. The Artificial Intelligence Index Report highlights the estimations about how much money it takes to train an AI model. For instance, the Transformer Model [the foundational block to most modern large language models (LLMs)] only costs $930 to train.

RoBERTa Large which was released in 2019 is trained after spending $160,000 on it. ChatGPT-4 by OpenAI and Gemini Ultra by Google cost around $78 million and $191 million respectively. These costs of already developed AI models suggest that the AI models that are still under developmental stages probably cost around billions of dollars.

There is also another challenge for many AI developers and that is the lack of data to train their AI models. Many AI models have been developed after giving them data from different books, articles and other sources. But there is a huge dependency on AI models for data and information. There is a chance that many data scientists will not know what data to give these AI models in order to improve them in the upcoming years. Epochai published a report in 2022 that predicted that data scientists will run out of high quality language data by 2024, low quality language data will be all used up in the upcoming two decades and image data will be finished between 2030-2040.

One of the solutions to this problem is to train LLMs by the synthetic data that is produced by themselves. Researchers from Stanford say that this solution can avoid data depletion and can also provide data when the naturally occurring data is scattered everywhere. But there are also some limitations with training AI models with synthetic data. LLMs can forget this kind of data and start producing outputs that are poorly synthesized. Their data will be limited and they will forget the true data distributions.

Read next: These Are the Top 15 Carbon Emitters in the World
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

WhatsApp To Soon Allow Users To Create Events Through Community Group Chats

WhatsApp is on another mission to create ease for its users who make use of group chats frequently.

The popular texting platform is rolling out a new endeavor for creating events through community group chats as mentioned by WABetaInfo who was the first to announce the discovery.

For now, it’s up for grabs to a limited number of testers online but if things go as planned, there’s no reason why the masses won’t benefit from it too.

This new ‘Event’ option is designed to allow users across the platform’s community group to produce events on the chat. It can be found through the attachment panel where eligible testers can make the most of it for the likes of online meetings, seminars, and more.

As per the screenshots, users can feature details like date, location, as well as time. They would then end up linking this to calls rolled out on WhatsApp after an event gets created through the platform. Users get the chance to select if they would like to have links included for accepting video calls or voice calls across the invite.

Members taking part in this community group accept event invites and also attain alerts regarding changes done by a certain creator in question. Websites like these note how events feature on the app could be attained through older beta variants so that the majority of users can benefit from it online in the next few weeks.

You can always refer to the platform’s Community in case you need a reference as it brings everyone together, no matter what the topic of discussion would be or which groups are relevantly involved.

Similarly, users can get the chance to give rise to communities that go up to 100 groups featuring close to 2000 members as a whole as revealed by the latest support document.

The platform creates things through automated means as a part of the Announcement group for every community where admin members could make use of this for sending messages to every single community member.

Other than this, the platform is making efforts toward exploring various features to improve user engagement on the platform.

We’re also seeing the famous texting platform work on a host of different features like Favorites, third-party app support, default for uploading media in original quality, and also picture in picture mode.

In the past couple of months, Whatsapp has included a few features such as video forward or rewind as well as 16 different channel admin members. This would also entail a new option for filtering out group chats. Users can search for chats with ease via several filters that are found at the chat list’s top.

Read next: Influencer Earnings Set to Rise in 2024
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Influencer Earnings Set to Rise in 2024

eMarketer - a market-research firm, has released data about influencer earnings. The report says that influencer earnings from social media are expected to grow by 16.5% in 2024, reaching $13.7 billion.
Affiliate marketing, where influencers earn commissions through trackable links or specific codes used by their followers to make purchases, is becoming more popular. It's projected to bring in over $1 billion for creators in 2024, marking a 22.6% increase from the previous year.

Platforms like LTK and Amazon have traditionally been used by influencers to host their affiliate links, but TikTok Shop, launched in the US last year, is pushing this growth further. TikTok, along with Instagram and YouTube, is heavily promoting affiliate marketing.

Instagram and YouTube are also improving their affiliate marketing programs. Affiliate marketing is seen as an inclusive way for creators, including those of color who may face challenges in securing brand deals, to earn money.

YouTube continues to be a dominant platform for influencer earnings, with direct platform payouts to creators predicted to rise by 10% to $3.2 billion this year. The platform's investment in influencer marketing has surged, especially for its shorts format, which saw a 700% increase in spending in 2023.

The demand for longer videos is one reason why YouTube is expected to be the most lucrative platform for creators in 2024. Platforms like TikTok are also supporting creators with initiatives that compensate them for creating longer content.

Despite this, direct monetization efforts like platform payouts are still challenging for many creators, especially with the prevalence of ads in short-form videos, which are less directly tied to creator income.

In addition to brand deals and affiliate marketing, influencers have other revenue streams such as launching courses, merchandise, and creator subscriptions. These alternative sources are particularly beneficial for creators with smaller audiences, helping them earn a living even without large-scale fame. The market for influencers has become saturated, reducing the likelihood of becoming an overnight sensation on platforms like TikTok. Instead, many are finding ways to monetize their content effectively over time.

Tipping, merchandise, and paid subscriptions, though still small parts of the overall earnings pie for social media creators, are growing gradually. TikTok has particularly embraced tipping, introducing features that allow followers to send money to creators either through their profiles or during live streams.

Overall, the ways influencers make money are diversifying. While brand partnerships remain crucial, the rise of affiliate marketing and the expansion of other income avenues are helping creators adapt to a changing digital landscape.

US consumers are spending more despite economic challenges like high inflation and rising interest rates, which in turn supports the growth in creator earnings. As the influencer market evolves, those who diversify their income streams and adapt to new opportunities are likely to see the most success.

Read next: Cybersecurity Crisis: 17 Billion Personal Accounts Compromised Since 2004
by Mahrukh Shahid via Digital Information World

CounterPoint Data Shows Global PC Shipments are Growing, With Lenovo Taking the Lead

According to the latest data from CounterPoint Research, Global PC shipments have grown 3% YoY in Q1 of 2024. The PC global shipment was seeing a huge decline for the past 8 quarters due to low demand and inventory correction. The rest of quarters in 2024 are also going to see a growth in YoY shipments by 3%. The biggest reason for this growth will be AI PC momentum. There will also be different sectors seeing shipment recoveries and overall a fresh hand new replacement cycle.

The biggest PC shipments in Q1 of 2024 were by Lenovo. Lenovo shipments were up by 8% which is a lot compared to its shipments in Q1 of 2023. HP and Dell, which have the huge market shares, 21% and 16% respectively, didn’t see much growth in their shipments in Q1 of 2023. Their shipments are expected to increase in the coming quarters, driven by their shipments in North America. Apple’s shipment growth also increased by 2% and that was because of its M3 Base Models.

• Also read: Revealed: Glassdoor's Top 25 Internship Opportunities of 2024

45% of the PCs being shipped this year are going to be powered by AI so we can say that 2024 is going to be an AI driven year for PC shipments. William Li, who is a Senior Analyst at CounterPoint, thinks that AI capable laptops and PCs are going to see a huge increase in their shipments in 2025-2026. Many more generative AI functions will be incorporated in them by then. AI laptops are going to be a huge catalyst in driving out more shipments of PCs. Many manufacturers are ready to promote their AI PCs as their main products in the second half of 2024. Overall, 2024 is going to be a lucky year for PC vendors.

Read next: New Report Highlights Ongoing WordPress Vulnerabilities, With 20% Critical And 67% Medium Threats Identified
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

New Report Highlights Ongoing WordPress Vulnerabilities, With 20% Critical And 67% Medium Threats Identified

WPScan’s 2024 WordPress vulnerability report talks about some security threats that WordPress keeps on experiencing and the website publishers should be aware of them. The report says that 20% of the vulnerabilities in the report were critical level threats while 67% of them were medium level threats. There are some threats that are due to malware and website vulnerabilities that cannot be dodged most of the time. But there are some mistakes that publishers make that make their websites more vulnerable to hackers. This can be avoided by taking right decisions while disabling or updating an extension.

The highest level of threats WordPress has is by critical vulnerabilities that make up 2.38% of the total vulnerabilities. But when these critical vulnerabilities are combined with other high level threats which are 17.68%, they make up 20% of all the vulnerabilities. There are two types of vulnerabilities on WordPress– Authorized Vulnerabilities and Unauthorized Vulnerabilities. Authorized Vulnerabilities are those where the attacker first takes the user credentials and other permission levels to exploit a specific vulnerability. Unauthorized vulnerabilities directly launch the attack, without taking the user credentials first. These kinds of vulnerabilities are easiest to exploit. According to the WPScan report, 22% of the vulnerabilities reported didn’t require any authentication while the vulnerabilities requiring admin permission levels were 30.71%.

The reason why many websites on WordPress are vulnerable to malware is because of their weak passwords and nulled plugins. Nulled plugins are pirated softwares that are easy to get infected by malwares. Weak passwords can easily be guessed through brute force, and by social engineering tactics like phishing and pretexting.

Vulnerabilities that required administrator level credentials were the highest to be exploited with 30.71% vulnerabilities, followed by CSRF (Cross Site Reverse Forgery) with 19.26% vulnerabilities. The others included Contributor (19.62%), Unauthenticated Vulnerabilities (12.35%) and Author (1.19%). Broken Access Controller in WordPress refers to security failure that allows an attacker to gain access to high credential permissions. The WPScan report shows that Broken Access Controller gives access to 84.99% vulnerabilities, followed by 20.64% from SQL injection.

The highest number of vulnerabilities on WordPress were reported in third-party plugins and themes. A total of 13 vulnerabilities were reported in WordPress core in 2023. Only one vulnerability out of 13 was a high level threat which is the second biggest threat after Critical. All these levels of threats are made by the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS). Site audits are not responsible for covering website security but they should talk about security headers. The security issue can quickly become an SEO issue if the website’s ranking starts getting low because of security concerns. Strong passwords and two factor authentication should be the main priority for keeping a website away from malware and hackers.

Read next: Cybersecurity Crisis: 17 Billion Personal Accounts Compromised Since 2004
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Over 17 Billion Personal Accounts Leaked Worldwide Since 2004

Cybersecurity researchers found that data breaches increased globally in the first quarter of 2024, reaching over 17 billion exposed personal accounts. Surf Shark reported a fivefold increase in leaked accounts as compared to last year. The stats show that the US, Russia, and China were the most affected countries in 2024.

The monitoring data from Surfshark indicates that over 17.2 billion accounts have been breached since 2004, with approximately 6.5 billion having unique email addresses. This suggests that some accounts were breached multiple times due to people using the same email or password for different online profiles.

To address this ongoing threat, Surfshark emphasizes the importance of creating strong passwords, avoiding reuse, and being cautious when sharing personal information online. In terms of breaches by country, the US leads with three billion breached accounts since 2004, followed by Russia, China, France, and Germany.

Looking at per capita breaches, Russia has the highest rate with 16.8 accounts breaches per resident. This is followed by the US, South Sudan, France and Czechia. Other countries among the top ten most breached include Brazil, UK, India, Italy and Canada.

These findings highlight the persistent and widespread nature of data breaches, underscoring the need for individuals and organizations to prioritize cybersecurity measures to protect personal information online.

Read next: Global IT Spending to Surge 8% in 2024, Says Gartner Forecast
by Mahrukh Shahid via Digital Information World

Glassdoor has Shared a List of Top 25 Internship Opportunities of 2024

Summer is almost here and there are some internships available that students can join to gain some experience. Glassdoor published a list of top 25 internships to do in 2024. Most of these internships are from tech, finance and consulting industries and most of them amount up to $9000 a month. At 25th position is Apple, which has a median monthly salary of $7500 and has a 4.5 career opportunity rating. Next is Intuit with a median salary of $7666 and 4.5 ratings for career opportunities. In 23rd, 22nd, and 21st positions are ServiceNow, McKinsey & Company and BlackRock which have the median salaries of around $7000.

Oracle is at 20th position in terms of internship opportunities with 4.6 career opportunity ratings. It has a median salary of $7500. After that is Meta with a median salary of $8400. Google is at 18th position for internship opportunities in 2024 with an average monthly salary of $800. Other good companies for internship opportunities are eBay, EMD, LinkedIn and Boston Consulting Group. All of their median monthly salary ranges from $8000 to $8333. Microsoft is at 13th position with $7890 average salary and 4.7 career opportunity ratings. Salesforce is at 12th spot and Qualcomm is at 11th spot with both of them having 4.6 career opportunity ratings.

Now we will talk about the top 10 companies that are offering exciting internships to students of undergraduate and graduate students. Coming at number 10 is Adobe and the next is Uber. Barclays is at 8th spot and Capital One is at 7th spot with a median monthly salary of $8833. Atlassian is at 6th spot and Amazon is at 5th.

The 4th spot for best internships in 2024 is covered by J.P Morgan with 4.7 career opportunity ratings. Similar to J.P Morgan, NVIDIA has a median monthly salary of $8333 and is at 3rd spot. Roblox has the 2nd spot for best internship opportunities and the 1st and at the top is Bain & Company. It has a median base monthly salary of $9000 and has a career opportunity rating of 4.9.

Rank	Company	Median Base Monthly Salary	Career Opportunity Rating
1	Bain & Company	$9,000	4.9
2	Roblox	$10,333	4.4
3	NVIDIA	$8,333	4.9
4	J.P. Morgan	$8,333	4.7
5	Amazon	$9,000	4.4
6	Atlassian	$8,166	4.7
7	Capital One	$8,833	4.5
8	Barclays	$8,833	4.6
9	Uber	$8,666	4.5
10	Adobe	$8,500	4.5
11	Qualcomm	$8,333	4.6
12	Salesforce	$8,333	4.6
13	Microsoft	$7,890	4.7
14	Boston Consulting Group	$8,000	4.6
15	LinkedIn	$8,333	4.5
16	AMD	$8,000	4.6
17	eBay	$8,666	4.4
18	Google	$8,000	4.6
19	Meta	$8,400	4.4
20	Oracle	$7,500	4.6
21	BlackRock	$7,166	4.7
22	McKinsey & Company	$7,083	4.7
23	ServiceNow	$7,000	4.7
24	Intuit	$7,666	4.5
25	Apple	$7,500	4.5

Read next: Global IT Spending to Surge 8% in 2024, Says Gartner Forecast
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World