Read This Before It's Too Late: A Guide to Highest Paying Academic Fields

Education is the most empowering and the greatest blessing one can receive in this world and life. The more educated a person becomes, the more aware they know what's right or wrong and can navigate their life through its ups and downs. However, this definition of education acting as a gospel to a human being is old. In the 21st century, education means getting educated formally and seeking employment to make as much money as possible, at least for most people.

Since the accumulation of materialistic wealth is the new paradigm, it often conflicts with which path to take on their education journey will fulfill their wish to make six monthly figures.

If you’re in high school and have a conflict of opinion of which major to select, then this post is for you, or if you’re a parent and want to help your kids choose the right degree in 2024 for the highest salaries in the world, then continue reading.

The following statistics are from the analysis of CollegeNPV from the evaluation of data gathered from the U.S. Department of Education and Bureau of Labour Statistics. These stats depict the average return on investment of a degree in the U.S.

The highest-paying field is engineering, which comprises majors like electrical engineering, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, software engineering, and chemical engineering. The average return on investment in the engineering field is $570,616.

Next up in the second place, we got Computer and Information Science fields like IT, cyber security, and data science. The average return on investment for computer science is $477,229, and it is more likely to increase in the coming decade due to the high demand for computer scientists. As for Computer Science, Harvard’s CS program ranked number 1 on the CollegeNPV list with the highest return on Investment. Computer science graduates have a return of over $4 million of what they invested $256,539 as median income and a median debt of $14,000.

• Also read: New Research Shows AI Can Take Over High Paying Jobs that Require Years of Training Easily

Next up, we got Mathematics with the average return on investment of $340,875. Business fields have a RoI of $205 191, and Architecture brings $196,711 of RoI. Fields related to social sciences are at the lower end, with fewer job opportunities, and the RoI is $118,454.

Humanities field with degrees like performance arts, English literature, theology, and the most least valuable degrees in terms of opportunities and lifetime earnings. Humanities degrees have a negative return on investment of $39,000, and majors like English have the highest decrease in graduates, with 32% of students likely to even complete their degree.

Field of Study	Average return on investment
Engineering	$570,616
Computer and Information Sciences	$477,229
Mathematics	$340,875
Engineering Technicians	$311,141
Business	$205,191
Architecture	$196,711
Nursing and Health Professions	$194,756
Physics, Chemistry and Geology	$168,822
Social Sciences	$118,454
Interdisciplinary Studies	$69,656
Biology	$63,913
Agriculture	$59,556
Area, Ethnic, Cultural, Gender and Group Studies	$42,959
Legal Studies	$38,999
Natural Resources and Conservation	$28,985
Communication and Journalism	$28,654
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement and Firefighting	$27,284
Foreign Languages	$25,750
Public Administration and Social Services	$7,787
Philosophy and Religious Studies	$6,011
History	$4,938
Fitness, Parks and Recreation	-$1,078
Liberal Arts and General Studies	-$13,337
Psychology	-$15,644
Education	-$20,075
Family and Human Sciences	-$24,540
Communications Technologies	-$28,911
English Language	-$39,057
Theology	-$91,749
Visual and Performing Arts	-$104,015

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by Ahmed Naeem via Digital Information World

Google Open Sources Its SynthID Text Tool For Watermarking To Better Identify AI Text

Google has confirmed that its SynthID Text tool will soon be open-sourced. The company says the goal is to make it generally available for the masses.

The tool can be installed from the leading AI app Hugging Face and also through the company’s Responsible GenAI Toolkit. This was confirmed in a post through X which signaled its free use by developers and brands. Hence, many can now better identify content made from AI.

For those still wondering how the tool works, here’s a little breakdown. When a prompt is added in the form of a query, the model predicts the sequence of tokens. This could be a single term or a character and can be looked at as building blocks to process data.

Every model assigns tokens a score which is the likelihood that it would be a part of the output. The tool will add more data if needed by modulating the probability of token generation.

The final design of scores for every model’s choice of terms is totaled with the probabilities to give a watermark. So the pattern for scoring varies for watermarked content and those without a watermark. So this helps SynthID detect when and if content is made using AI or if a combo of different sources was used to give the output.

As per Google, it’s been a part of Gemini since the start of Spring. Hence, it won’t compromise quality, accuracy, or even the speed at which text is generated. It also works great for text that’s cropped or paraphrased.

However, the firm even admits that the watermarking approach does come with its a fair share of restrictions. For instance, it doesn’t do a great job when short text is considered. The same is the case for text rewritten from other languages or replies to factual queries.

In terms of replies to actual prompts, there are fewer chances to make adjustments for tokens without impacting the real accuracy. For instance, asking for the capitals of certain cities or content where little variation can be seen will give inaccuracies.

Google is not the only firm working on AI text watermarking. We’ve seen the makers of ChatGPT experiment with different watermarking methods for a while now. There is a delay in the release, thanks to commercial and technical considerations.

As per experts, this kind of tool can assist in removing inaccuracies in content and better detect AI. today, a growing problem is the rise of AI detectors that falsely flag content when they use generic terms. So if this new tech is adopted, it could be a revolution.

Today, we’ve seen the government of China make watermarking tech a mandatory option for all AI content. The same goes for the state of California which is trying to adopt similar tech. And given the urgency of the matter, more nations will follow. As per the EU, predictions from research studies go as far as to claim that 90% of all online content could be synthetically generated by 2026.

Read next: AI’s Limitations in Storytelling: What This Study Reveals About Reader Preferences
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

AI’s Limitations in Storytelling: What This Study Reveals About Reader Preferences

A new research published in Journal of Communication says that many readers do not like stories if they assume that they are written by AI. Even if a story is written by humans but they were told that it's AI written, they think of it poorly. This shows that many people still don't trust AI and anything produced by it. The author of the study, Haoran Chris Chu, says that AI is good at writing logical and consistent things, but it is still not the best at creating stories that can engage people. That's why people don't like AI written stories.

• Also read: OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman Confirms AI Won't Replace Human Writers Anytime Soon

AI can help write narratives for people like public health workers and encourage people to come towards healthy lifestyle and behavior but it cannot create compelling stories to keep the interest of readers. Researchers did a survey by giving participants two stories– one written by ChatGPT and the other by a human. They were then asked to rate the stories according to how engaging they were.

The researchers also changed the labeling of some stories by changing AI-written to human-written and vice versa. The survey focused on counter arguing and transportation in the stories. Counterarguing refers to picking apart a story while transportation refers to feeling engrossed in a story. The results of the survey showed that AI-written stories lacked transportation which didn't engage the users. Some AI-written stories showed counterarguing but not perfectly. For now, this survey is good news for many storytellers and writers who were afraid of AI and AI-written content.

Image: DIW-Aigen

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• Facebook Marketplace Dominates with 49 Percent of Shoppers—But TikTok Isn’t Far Behind at 41 Percent!
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Facebook Marketplace Dominates with 49 Percent of Shoppers—But TikTok Isn’t Far Behind at 41 Percent!

According to a survey of 2,000 Americans by Chime, most people tend to shop online on Saturday at 2:30 pm the most. The survey found that 42% of Americans shop on Saturday, followed by 41% who shop after seeing something on social media. Gen X tends to shop on Sundays too (24%) while Gen-Z also shop online on Mondays (17%). 63% of the respondents said that they browse products online during weekdays, with millennials being the generation to do it the most (72%).

The survey was part of State of Social Sending Report which was about online shopping habits of Americans. According to the report, Americans browse products on social media thrice a week, but some also do it every day (18%). There are different channels Americans shop from. Facebook is the top marketplace for shopping for Americans. 49% shop through Facebook Marketplace but sometimes when they are scrolling for entertainment, it also turns into a purchase if they see something worthy of buying (32%). Other shopping channels for Americans include TikTok Shop (41%), Instagram (19%) and Craigslist (11%).

45% say that they are also comfortable in saving their debit or credit card information on social media sites as compared to other brands or websites (21%). Americans also spend three hours on average for window shopping and have full carts on different sites. But there are some reasons why they don't purchase the items in the cart. Those reasons include: Waiting for sale (45%), indecisiveness (31%) and forgetting about the things they have added in the cart (14%). 40% of the Americans make the purchase in the afternoon while 39% do it at night. 74% of Americans have bought a product from social media in the last month with $168 average spent on a product from social media in the last six months. Most of the purchases are of clothes, fashion accessories, tech gadgets and beauty products.

The survey found that 32% Gen-Z shop for personal hygiene products, 20% baby boomers purchase pet supplies and 26% Gen-X are likely to buy home goods from social media. The things that are least likely to be purchased online are food, drinks and kid supplies.

The survey also found what social media shoppers think of ads. 43% find them helpful as compared to 41% who find them concerning. Baby boomers found ads the most concerning (50%). 44% of Americans also try to create targeted ads. 93% of Americans have experienced targeted ads one way or another.

Read next: Do You Rely Too Much On GPS? Here's Why It Could Be Destroying Your Navigation Skills
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

WhatsApp Announces Cloud-Based Contact Storage

Meta’s popular texting platform WhatsApp just confirmed that it’s going to store users’ contacts on Cloud.

The decision is one that many will welcome with open arms because let’s face the reality, what’s better than getting access to contacts from any personal device, right? This is exactly Meta’s goal which says it’s rolling out a new feature that saves contacts on the Messenger app’s cloud storage.

The news was confirmed on the company’s blog which says users can now save and manage contacts through the app directly. In the past, it was not easy to find anyone on the platform. You had to go inside the integrated list on the device, type numbers manually, and then scan QR codes. When you include connections to the app that were not there previously, you would save that contact through local means.

It’s not ideal when devices are lost as local saving makes it harder when devices are lost or when you opt to upgrade. Also, you might need access to contacts on devices like your PC and vice versa.

It might now seem like a mighty upgrade but the benefits of saving on Cloud are always great.

Combining the feature with updates from the past enables users to set up several WhatsApp accounts on one device. You can separate contacts depending on your profile. This is true for those keeping personal profiles separate from work ones. Now, you can save them separately for each account.

It’s also more secure as WhatsApp promises a bigger privacy upgrade in the future, thanks to this feature. Soon, users can share contacts through username only and without any visible phone details. This simply adds more privacy for those unwilling to share numbers directly.

Clearly, the feature is going to get love but we do think it was much overdue on Meta’s part. Cloud on mobile devices has been the go-to option for years. Already, several leading texting apps offer it so it’s about time WhatsApp got on the bandwagon too.

Apps like Signal keep promoting privacy to the highest degree but thanks to this new feature, we can see how WhatsApp is slowly but surely getting there. It just might take the lead but only time can tell so stay tuned!

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Do You Rely Too Much On GPS? Here's Why It Could Be Destroying Your Navigation Skills

Imagine going on a road trip where you need to reach your destination before dawn, but the problem is you do not know which way to take. All you have is the address of your destination, but there is no guidance on what path to go on. If you have ever been in a similar situation like this, then you can relate to the stress and anxiety that gradually rise within you until you can’t take the frustration anymore.

This is where GSP (Global Positioning System) acts as a God-send help that allows you to navigate easily to your destination, all at your fingertips via smartphone and internet connection. However, a recent study, based on meta-analysis on the effects of GPS on navigational abilities, published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology, found that people who use GPS are more likely to have poor environmental knowledge and a bad sense of direction.

Global Positioning System uses satellite navigation to access time data and location anywhere on earth. GPS uses 24 satellites that orbit around the earth as a network, and through transmitting signals to GPS receivers on the ground, mathematical precision is made to detect the exact signals by triangulating signals from several satellites orbiting around the earth. The initial release of GPS was first used for military purposes. However, due to its growing popularity and practicality, it is now used in vast varsities of applications for navigation and mapping.

Neurologically speaking, any mental capability that isn’t trained or re-used over a period of time diminishes in functionality. Similarly, GPS use among humans for a prolonged period can reduce their navigational skills. Research has shown that people who regularly use GPS can reduce their capacity to learn landmarks and spatial environmental clues. Furthermore, relying too much on GPS can also cause the natural innate ability to find their way without technological guidance.

Laura Miola and her colleagues, who published the study, set a meta-analysis between GPS and three focal study points: a sense of direction, wayfinding performance, and environmental knowledge.

The study participants were above 16 and divided into two groups; one group used GPS, and the other didn’t use GPS as they relied more on traditional navigation methods, such as maps and asking people for directions. The focus of the study was to measure the results of wayfinding, environmental knowledge, and self-reported navigational abilities.

To match the study results, 23 studies were identified that met the academic criteria and had a participant range from 13 to 636 people between the ages of 16 to 84 years old. The data collected in these studies were mainly from a single-time point; however, one study measured the results as a follow-up after 3 months, while another study did a follow-up on the participants over three years.

The results gathered from all of these studies showed a unanimous result that using GPS frequently can diminish environmental knowledge and a sense of direction. However, the researchers could not build a strong connection between the use of GPS and the decline in wayfinding performance. Additionally, it was also found that people who already have a hard time forming mental maps and struggle with spatial learning often use GPS, which further hinders their improvement in these areas.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next: Elon Musk’s Twitter Acquisition Linked to Decreased Academic Engagement, Study Finds
by Ahmed Naeem via Digital Information World

Elon Musk’s Twitter Acquisition Linked to Decreased Academic Engagement, Study Finds

A group of researchers published their study in PS: Political Science and Politics which talked about how Elon Musk’s acquisition of X (formerly known as Twitter) impacted academics and how most verified users stopped using the platforms. Before Elon Musk took over Twitter, most of the academics used to communicate with their fellows, peers, public and policymakers on the micro-blogging network. When Musk took over Twitter, he did many changes like reinstatement of suspended accounts, mass layoffs and shift in policies which made many users, including academics, decrease their use of the platform while some left it.

The study was done to find out how, when and why the engagement on Twitter dropped after Elon Musk’s acquisition and what influence did it leave on academic activity. The author of the study, Kevin Munger, said that they had been interested in this topic because Twitter used to be a great social network to engage in academic discussions, especially for social scientists. There was a great shift in engagement after Musk’s takeover so it was needed to study the impact it left on academic communications.

The researchers collected tweets from 15,700 academic accounts that used to tweet on different topics including sociology, politics, psychology and economics. The activity before and after Elon Musk’s takeover on these accounts was studied. Likes, replies, retweets and quote tweets were examined too. A Bayesian Change-Point analysis was used to find out when the engagements on those accounts started to change.

According to the results, it was found that engagements on those accounts decreased drastically after Elon Musk’s takeover in October 2022. Even though the engagement on Twitter was declining since 2021, it dropped all of a sudden on November 19, 2022. It was the day when Elon Musk announced to reinstate Donal Trump’s account after it had been banned in January 2021. This suggests that engagement dropped because of policy decisions and not because of the person who took over the platform.

The study also found that verified accounts lost more engagements than non-verified accounts. Many prominent academics had verified accounts but they lost most of their engagements. But the study didn't talk about retweeting and replying tweets on verified versus non-verified accounts. Overall, the study found that Elon Musk’s takeover on Twitter affected many big academic accounts and they saw decline in their engagements.

But this study has some limitations. One limitation is that this study doesn't talk about reasons why academics left Twitter with evidence. Another limitation is that they study used Application Programming Interface (API) and it can create problems for future studies on social media engagements. A comprehensive study should be done standing out reasons for decline in academics seeing a decline in their engagements and other issues should also be highlighted.

Image: DIW-Aigen

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