Hundreds Of Websites Fail To Block Scraping Bots Because They Keep Multiplying

The name Anthropic should ring a bell for you and in case it doesn’t we’d like to shed some light on that front.

The popular scrapping AI website has been a serious source of concern for so many obvious reasons. And the biggest one of them all has to do with its ability to scrape data from wherever and whenever it feels like.

By now, we’d assume that websites would have been able to block the firm from performing such actions but the reality is far from that. But why, is a question you might be having.

The answer is simple, AI websites like Anthropic are giving rise to more and more scraping bots and the rate at which these are multiplying is insane. Websites might think they’re blocking the right bots but that’s not the case. This combined with failed attempts to target the great number of bots that keep multiplying is making matters worse.

Did we mention how most companies are launching newer bots with unique names and they’re only going to get blocked if owners update the robots.txt?

Sites are mostly blocking two bots that aren’t even used by the firm anymore. The real troublemaker by Anthropic is failing to be targeted and therefore as it remains unblocked, it keeps doing the damage.

An anonymous operator the company Dark Visitors who tracks the operations of various AI firms mentioned how many web scrapers keep getting updated so that prevents them from being detected. The webpage keeps seeing massive popularity as more and more individuals try to prevent AI from using its material.

See, experts realize that the ecosystem never stays stagnant. There are many fluctuations and therefore website owners are finding it super hard to keep up. Companies keep changing the page’s robots.txt file which entails instructions telling bots if they contain permission for crawling certain sites.

Time and time again, certain sites make use of means that they shouldn’t for crawling purposes.

In certain situations, the endeavor leads to unwanted impacts like restricting search engines, tools used for archiving material, or those linked to academic research. Even if that was not the intention of the owner, it happens.

Let’s take Anthropic for instance, so many robots.txt files of popular websites such as Reuters and Conde Nast are blocked to scraper bots that were once used by the company and Claude’s AI chatbot.

Therefore, any of these websites and many more weren’t blocking Anthropic unknowingly.

Many are tired and don’t know what to do next. Let’s take the repair guide website iFixit for instance. It mentioned how a crawler from Anthropic was targeting its page close to one million times in a single day. That’s a lot of files to access when you come to think of it.

Experts suggests it’s time AI firms put on a more respectable face of the pages being crawled. They tend to risk many pages from blocking for abuse, no matter what morals are used in the industry.

Image: DIW-Aigen

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Mark Zuckerberg Drops F-Bomb While Discussing His Excitement For Closed vs Open-Source AI At Meta

It looks like Mark Zuckerberg clearly cannot control his excitement when it comes to discussing open vs closed-source AI.

Meta’s CEO got a little too enthusiastic during his last interview with the CEO of Nvidia and it’s apparent why because it comes at a time when the company is all set to launch its latest open-source Llama 3.1 model.

The live conversation featured a very overly excited Zuckerberg who was seen speaking about the future of AI alongside his co-guest Jensen Huang from Nvidia. Both tech leaders also revealed their opinions regarding the virtual world at the industry conference dubbed SIGGRAPH 2024.

One day, Zuckerberg feels each firm will design its own personal AI that would be quite like having your own customized social media profile. And Nvidia’s head couldn’t praise Zuckerberg more about how massive and great last year’s launch of Llama 2 was.

Zuckerberg couldn’t help but shed light on how he adores open source models and it’s to an extent that he finds it selfish. But the desire is never-ending to have his firm curate the tech that it requires to ensure the best social experiences.

The leading platform owner explained how he’s designed a lot of things and while some have been massively successful, others not so much. For him, closed platforms are not worth it and shouldn’t be there. It makes him upset to a great extent, he continued.

If you ask us, we’re not too surprised to see Zuckerberg’s emotions run high on this front. Remember, Meta’s Llama 3.1 model is certainly the biggest one of its kind. It’s going to be accessible and modifiable to all and it could also be distributed through the source code.

Zuckerberg is the most hopeful that the upcoming computing world will go back to a time when everything is an open ecosystem. He further went on to roll out the right manifesto that explains why open-source is the future and the way to go.

In comparison to other firms that opt for the close-source maneuver, especially ChatGPT maker OpenAI, Meta’s CEO feels it’s time to close the gap and therefore he pointed toward the cheapest production costs and best performance statistics that this kind of technology can deliver.

A host of industry leaders such as Zuckerberg’s archrival Musk were quick to praise him and the company for making Llama 3.1 open-sourced. Other tech leaders have long argued that open sourcing-is beneficial for all as it gives rise to greater transparency and more safety.

At the end of the day, Zuckerberg knows that two options will always exist. One has to do with open source and the other one is closed source. In general, there’s great value when you’re dealing with open-sourced software, he mentioned in the end.

Image: NVIDIA / YT

Read next: Meta Allows Users To Create Custom AI Characters For Chats
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Meta Allows Users To Create Custom AI Characters For Chats

The thought of being able to speak to your favorite creator on the Instagram app is no longer a dream.

Meta is rolling out its AI Studio to all users where they can produce AI characters to imitate their persona. This includes equipping the feature to carry out conversations that make it seem like it’s their doppelganger. Hence, both fans and followers have more reasons to celebrate.

The company first rolled out its AI Studio in the fall of last year but it wasn’t until now that they started to experiment with the various types of unique offerings that can be availed by all.

This came in the form of a unique test where a series of Instagrammers were given the chance to play around with the dynamic tools and most importantly, the unique AI characters.

As per tech giant Meta, the latest AI characters are supposed to be the company’s solution for app users having a large fanbase. Remember, it’s hard for creators to respond to all and keep track of the long list of messages flowing in its direction. Now, things are getting so much simpler with AI as unique characters are designed to be a true extension of their true selves, as recently unveiled by Meta’s head for AI Studio.

Above all, creators can use every comment produced, see the captions made, and read transcripts for reels that were created. In the same way, they will be given the chance to witness any customized instructions which they wish to add so in the end, it’s AI working on their behalf.

As per Mark Zuckerberg, the potential that chatbots entail is huge and therefore that’s why the head of Meta has a lot of ambitious plans in this regard. During another interview with Bloomberg, he shed light on the hundreds of millions of possibilities that could arise from AIs designed through his apps by creators.

Right now, it’s still not clear if users of the platform would be interested in interacting with AI variants of their popular creators. We already saw the tech giant roll out another trial in the past where it experimented with different chatbots that took on the persona of their favorite celebs. However, things didn’t quite go as planned and it’s safe to mention how the characters produced left so much to the imagination.

A lot of people felt confused in terms of whether or not they were holding chats with a celeb embodying AI or AI that is impersonating their favorite character. Now, public figures would be given the chance to represent themselves or AI would be extended to impersonate a celeb would be so much clearer than before.

Remember, the AI Studio isn’t solely for creators. It’s giving all users the chance to make the most of its latest and unique venture where customized AI characters are designed to carry out chats on particular topics. Similarly, they would be given the chance to provide advice or design memes.

Similar to the creator-based characters, chatbots are going to be powered by the company’s Llama 3.1 model. Moreover, users will be given the chance to share chatbot creations and carry out tracking to determine the actual usage but they cannot see one another’s interactions carried out.

The latest chatbots are the newest means by which Meta has pushed more users to spend time with AI as it adds technology to different aspects of the app.

We cannot forget how Meta has long struggled with putting out accurate data. In another post, we saw Facebook’s parent firm mention how its respective policies are put into use to ensure everyone remains safe at all times and also helps to ensure AI technology is used in the most responsible of ways.

So far, all the screengrabs provided by the organization display chats with the latest AI characters that feature a disclaimer that most of us are already familiar with. This entails how some of the messages produced by AI could be false and inappropriate and therefore proceeding with caution is always advisable.

Image: Meta

Read next: Survey Shows Median Income of Search Marketers: Salaries Range from $85K to $200K Annually in 2024
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Survey Shows Median Income of Search Marketers: Salaries Range from $85K to $200K Annually in 2024

According to a survey by Search Engine Land, the average salary of 2024 the majority of search marketers ranges from $85,000 to $200,000 annually on average. The 2024 Search Engine Land Salary and Career Survey found out that individuals in executive management make $198,182 annually while the salary was even higher in 2023, $220,000.

The survey also found that salaries of other groups have increased YoY on average. For instance, senior directors and directors are paid $156,221 while their salary was $122,760 last year on average. In 2023, managers were paid $87,688 but now their average salaries have increased to $99,933. In 2023, staff used to earn $60,866 annually but now they are paid $85,572 on average.

The survey also found out that many executives were paid 3.62 times more than their staff in 2023 but now it has lowered to 2.32 times in 2024. There are many factors which can contribute to variance in median salaries. These factors include years of experience and size of the company. The median managerial level salaries can range from $14,000-$270,000. Directors and senior directors can get salaries ranging from $28,000 to $329,685. The salaries for executive management can be from $50,000 to $310,000. The median compensation is higher in companies with more than 1000 employees.

52% of the search marketers who were surveyed work in companies which have more than 500 employees. If you have more experience, your compensation is also higher. Mostly, salaries are increased after six or seven years and the second jump in salary comes after ten years. The survey also found out that marketers who have graduate degrees get 25% higher salaries than those who do not have graduate degrees. But a graduate degree doesn't matter in compensation according to the survey.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

A New Survey Shows How Interested Women are to Use AI Tools Despite Facing Discrimination

Women Go Tech in support with Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and Google.org surveyed 5,400 women from 13 European countries and divided them into 4 groups: Women interested in tech careers (31%), women not interested in tech careers (30%), women who have worked in tech field for more than 2 years( 27%) and women who have worked in tech field for less than 2 years (12%). The reason for the survey was to find out how interested women are in AI tools.

The results of the survey showed that 68% of the women who were surveyed have used at least one AI tool, mostly ChatGPT while 61% said that they are interested in learning more about AI tools and their applications. Overall 77% of the women who were surveyed were interested in AI tools, out of which 64.6% were in tech related fields or interested in tech.

Despite this much interest in AI, women are still hesitant to use these tools because they think about having data privacy and ethical concerns. One quarter of the surveyed women said that they are not comfortable with their tech skills. This is due to women underestimating their abilities and having stereotypical and societal expectations that do not let them be interested in tech that much. Most women feel like an ‘imposter’ as they think that they do not belong in tech roles despite them having necessary qualifications and skills. 28% of the women in the survey reported that they have experienced discrimination and 32% of them say that they feel like they’ll face discrimination in the future. Many companies are implementing AI tools in workplaces, but 30% of the surveyed women said that they are not clear about AI policies while only 8% said that their company has given them AI policies at work.

Read next: Capgemini Reports that Many Companies are Going to Implement AI Agents By the End of 2025
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Capgemini Reports that Many Companies are Going to Implement AI Agents By the End of 2025

According to Capgemini, a technology services giant, AI robots are going to work together and solve tasks by 2025. It will be known as ‘multi-agent AI’ where multiple artificial intelligence agents will work collaboratively and will be able to plan and execute complex tasks. Capgemini says that the USA is close to achieving this but Europe is still some time away from implementing AI agents in their workforce.

In the report by Capgemini, it was stated that 82% of the companies which were surveyed are planning to implement AI agents in the next one to three years while only 7% of the companies say that they have no plans for implementation of these AI agents. The survey was based on more than 1,100 companies having more than $1 billion revenues. The chief innovation officer of Capgemini, Pascal Brier, says that there are two types of AI agents– AI agents which carry out the tasks of humans and AI agents which talk to other AI agents.

He added that AI agents that can talk to other AI agents can adapt, understand, interpret and carry out different tasks independently and they can even replace human workers. AI and generative AI are working together to make things easier for humans. 71% of the companies say that AI agents are going to help with automation while 64% of the companies say that AI agents are going to relieve humans from repetitive tasks.

In 2023, only 6% of the firms had adopted generative AI but now it has increased to 24%. 10% of the firms having annual revenue of $1 billion to $5 billion have implemented generative AI while 49% of the companies with more than $20 billion revenue have done so. 88% of the companies have invested in AI while 66% of them belong to retail.

Read next: Survey Shows that Many Business Leaders Are in Favour of Using AI for Creativity
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Russian-Speaking Actors Account for $500M Crypto Ransomware in 2023

TRM Labs, a blockchain intelligence and analytics firm, says that 69% of the crypto ransomware attacks accounting to $500,000,000 were done by Russian-speaking actors. Asia is leading in scams and investment frauds right now with North Korea being the country with the most data breaching and billions of dollars being stolen due to it in 2023. However, Russia is dominating in all kinds of malicious activities, including ransomware attacks including cryptocurrency.

In its report, TRM says that most Russian speaking actors are involved in cyber crimes related to crypto. The cybercriminals infiltrate the system and demand ransom if the companies do not want them to steal and delete their data. Many ransomware actors like Clop, PLAY, Lockbit, ALPHV/BlackCat, Black Basta and Akira are involved in this and all of them are Russian-speaking. RansomHub is a new ransomware gang but it has quickly become the strongest and largest.

The total ransomware payments amount to $500 million in 2023, while ALPHV and LockBit collected $320 million approximately. Illicit items and services on the Russian language darknet market which makes 95% of the sales globally. In 2023, the Russian market got $1.4 billion in sales while the Western market accounted for $100 million.

Russia is also responsible for a lot of money laundering with 82% of cryptocurrency handled by illegal groups there. Most of this cryptocurrency is used to purchase military equipment from sanctioned Chinese manufacturers to be used by Russians in Ukraine, TRM reports. About $85,000,000 were said to be sent from Russia to China since the war in Ukraine started.

The experts believe that this much involvement of Russians in cybercrimes is due to various reasons like their historical, normative and regulatory issues. This is why many Russians who are skilled in technology are choosing this path and attacking different firms for ransom. Russia is also politically isolated from Western countries so it is hard to track, disrupt and arrest criminals who are operating from Russia. If no measure is taken soon, the number of cybercrimes can increase with no one to stop them

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World