Google's John Mueller Encourages Adaptation to AI, Predicts Decline in Hype and Rise of Practical Uses

Google’s John Mueller has a message for the world, especially those who aren’t huge fans of AI.

According to him, AI is here to stay and the quicker we accept this reality, the better. Secondly, he feels that taking a stance against AI won’t benefit you. And lastly, he wants everyone to know that the hype surrounding AI will likely be a bit different in the near future.

In case you haven’t noticed, many are starting to feel more insecure now about their future thanks to AI. But as per Mueller, you cannot hate or fear something when you’re not using it. The world of tech keeps on getting more advanced and the sooner you accept AI, the more you can benefit.

John predicted the AI hype will slow down soon as people will feel it’s monotonous. Similarly, he hopes those uses of AI that aren’t beneficial will die down but at the same time, they would be compensated with better or more advanced ones.

John further added how these aren’t his personal beliefs but the number of amazing advances in the field of technology since the past couple of years says so much and would continue to evolve.

To get better at AI, you need to play with it and see what makes sense and what gets those desirable results. This way, you won’t be left behind, he explained. John did acknowledge how the hype can be a lot for some to deal with and getting insecure is normal. A lot of misinformation does exist about AI and tools. This is why it’s easy to get insecure by feeling the hype is right.

With time, this too will settle down but for now, it’s hard to avoid falling into the pressure of AI. Things do evolve with time and this technology will do so as well, he feels. So where are all of these trains of thought coming from, if you might ask?

The answer is simple. It’s coming from understanding how systems work. He’s taken out time to understand what’s real and what’s the hype, encouraging others to do so. At the start, there’s always a lot of buzz. We saw that with Bing Chat, Google’s AI Overviews, and then ChatGPT. With time, things did calm down in terms of hype.

Image: Google Search Central/Youtube DIW-Edited

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Researchers Flag Accuracy Concerns in OpenAI's Whisper Transcription Tool

Researchers are worried about mistakes in OpenAI's Whisper, a tool that transcribes audio into text. According to the Associated Press, engineers and researchers found that Whisper sometimes “hallucinates,” meaning it adds extra details that aren’t actually in the audio. This is odd for a transcription tool, which should just capture what’s said.

Instead, Whisper sometimes throws in unexpected comments, like racial remarks or made-up medical advice. This is especially concerning if it’s used in hospitals or medical settings where accuracy is critical.

A University of Michigan researcher saw these mistakes in 8 out of 10 transcriptions from public meetings. A machine learning engineer reviewed over 100 hours of Whisper transcripts and found that more than half contained “hallucinations.” Another developer found issues in nearly all of the 26,000 transcriptions he created with the tool.

OpenAI says they’re actively working to improve Whisper's accuracy and reduce hallucinations. They also remind users that Whisper isn’t meant for high-stakes contexts, like medical decisions. “We thank researchers for sharing their findings,” an OpenAI spokesperson said.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next: Instagram Tests New ‘Expand Your Image’ Feature That Uses AI To Adjust Pictures on Stories
by Asim BN via Digital Information World

Instagram Tests New ‘Expand Your Image’ Feature That Uses AI To Adjust Pictures on Stories

Have you ever noticed how uploading images from a smartphone to Instagram can be a struggle? We’re talking about making sure the picture fits into the desired aspects and outline of the app.

Since you’re mostly clicking using your smartphone’s camera, the dimensions are different from the platform's classic 4:5 aspect ratio. Instagram needs you to fulfill this requirement before publishing. Hence, it’s not always easy to make sure the picture looks good and no visible borders are seen.

In case you don’t do it yourself, the app crops or includes white borders to ensure everything is good to go in the FIT option. To be honest, many users were complaining and it looks like Meta has listened to feedback.

Now, users will soon be able to benefit from AI-based photo expansion, thanks to this new feature. The popular platform is testing Expand Your Image which uses generative AI for expanding photo edges to fill up Stories. Pictures get analyzed before uploading and undergo expansion using the right content.

But the question on many people’s minds is whether it will work seamlessly in all scenarios or not? As per experts, the answer is sadly no. Who knows, it just might thanks to rapid developments in the world of AI.

The feature is definitely worth a watch but in other news, the app is already using AI for editing pictures. For instance, there is a Restyle feature where users get to reimagine pictures by adding visual styles described. You can transform clicks through prompts such as watercolor. Similarly, you can use effects like collage styles from magazines or a newspaper with added torn-edge effects.

There will be another Backdrop feature that alters how a scene or background is witnessed through a prompt like ‘put me in front of a rainbow’ or ‘surround me with rose petals’. It’s amazing how much creativity is included thanks to AI. However, if and when you do plan on using assistance from AI, the image will feature watermarks towards the bottom left-hand side. This makes users differentiate AI from content designed by humans.

For now, this expand your image feature is in testing but we’ll let you know once it goes live so stay tuned.

Image: Sam Sheffer / X

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• Is Your Mindset Holding You Back? Find Out with This Simple Eight-Question Quiz!
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Is Your Mindset Holding You Back? Find Out with This Simple Eight-Question Quiz!

Scientists from Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have introduced a test to measure growth mindset in people. They put forward a reliable eight question scale which measures growth mindset according to beliefs of the individual on learning, efforts and persistence. The scientists tested this scale on 723 participants from ages 16-85 and found that it is reliable and gives accurate results.

Growth mindset has become an important term across all areas of life. People with a growth mindset have an ability to put their mind and efforts to grow in their life and to achieve their goals. On the other hand, people with a fixed mindset believe that their basic life qualities cannot be changed with some effort. The "eight statements" determine an individual's beliefs and thoughts about growth and developing mindset by asking them to agree or disagree with the statement.

The statements ask individuals if they think they can improve their skills and knowledge through efforts, if they are able to change their influence and development, if they can change their skill and knowledge through practice and statements related to it. The participants who took the test were asked if these statements define them, or if they are like them or not very like them.

The growth mindset questions.

1. I know that with effort I can improve my skills and knowledge

2. I can influence and change my development in general

3. I can change my skills and knowledge through practice

4. I like to take challenges and try new things

5. I see learning as my goal

6. Effort makes me stronger

7. I have faith in my own skills and my possibilities

8. I want to spend more time/work on an area to develop my skills/knowledge

The most interesting thing about the study was that men scored higher (4.36 out of 5) than women (4.27 out of 5). The researchers say that this might be due to gender gap or difference in their brain chemistry. This scale is very helpful in understanding a person's mindset and it is very useful in today's time when growth mindset is being regarded as a good quality.

Image: DIW-Aigen

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Google Under Pressure From Climate Advocates To Demonetize Environmental Disinformation

Search engine giant Google is under pressure from climate advocates to help stop the growing number of inaccuracies published about the environment.

As per reports from civil society groups, the company is getting told to rigorously enforce policies that demonetize such kinds of disinformation online. There are so many ads put alongside inaccurate climate posts that keep popping up.

Now this is not the first time that the Android maker is getting called out for the act. The company did pledge to bring an end to the growing trend but despite its efforts, content of this sort is on the rise.

Recently, a new open letter was rolled out to the head of Google Sundar Pichai. Endorsed by so many signatures, they’re asking for quicker and stricter implementation of the act. The news comes as a growing number of weather concerns rocked the country recently.

Hurricanes are on the rise in the US, which gave rise to mountains of disinformation. This was just a short while before the much anticipated UNCOP29 climate summit was set to occur.

We are already aware of Google rolling out another policy in 2021 that stopped ads against content of this kind which ignored climate change. Anyone wishing to make money by lying on leading platforms wouldn’t have the content monetized. And YouTube was a part of the list.

Meanwhile, another letter from a number of groups such as the Union of Concerned Scientists confirmed that monetization hasn’t stopped and it’s still on the rise. This is why regulators are now speaking up against the issue and want Google to take immediate action before it’s too late. A lot of communities keep getting affected.

The letter also acknowledged Google’s efforts on this front and how some ads were stopped but others continue to align with misleading content related to climate change. Last month, another round of scrutiny against Google for the same reason arose. The campaign dubbed Global Witness saw $1.5M in revenue generated for the Epoch Times on the website in the past year.

Video streaming giant YouTube enabled monetization of such content where influencers were given high payrolls to promote the fake news. So it’s like doing wrong and getting masked with Google ads that reward the creators with huge sums of money, the reports show.

As of now, Google has yet to respond to all the allegations on this matter.

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Study Reveals Positive Creator Emotions in Video Thumbnails Boost YouTube Viewer Engagement

The face-focused thumbnails have become a widespread trend on YouTube. But new creators are confused about which type of face to show on their YouTube video thumbnail. Should they look happy, sad or shocked? What type of pose should they make? Kapwing teamed up with a marketing agency NeoMam Studios to find the answers to these questions.

They used AI facial recognition technology to categorize common thumbnail faces of biggest YouTube creators. The thumbnails were categorized into six groups: sad, surprised, fearful, happy, confused and calm. These categories were then calculated according to the highest to lowest thumbnail faces used. MrBeast is the one who started the trend of face-focused thumbnails and study found that his thumbnails contained all six emotion categories. PewDiePie and KSI were also among the YouTubers with thumbnails in all categories.

Some creators were also using only some specific face focused thumbnails. For instance, all of Mark Rober’s thumbnails are calm and happy, while Ludwig’s thumbnails show happiness, confusion and fear. Overall, most of the thumbnails by YouTube creators were showing happy emotions, with surprise and happiness being used mostly. Calm faces in the thumbnails came at third spot, followed by sadness. The Stoke Twins also frequently used fearful emotions in their thumbnails.

It was thought that angry or sad thumbnails would get more views, cofounder of Kapwing Eric Lu said. But it turns out that happy or surprised thumbnails gets the most clicks and views. It means that viewers like consuming positive content.

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57% of Small Businesses Leverage AI in Marketing; Facebook Leads Channels with High Satisfaction in Ads

Small Business Marketing Trends Report by LocaliQ explored different marketing trends among SMBs (small and medium-sized businesses), their growth and what challenges small business owners are facing nowadays. The report was based on a survey of 730 small businesses. The report highlights the marketing channels and tactics SMBs are using nowadays. 52% said that they are focusing on social media marketing, 47% are using social media ads and 40% are search advertising. SEO and email outreach isn't as popular among small businesses.

The survey also found out what social media channels small businesses are most interested in nowadays. Facebook (76%), was the top social media channel used by SMBs, followed by Instagram (63%) and LinkedIn (43%). Facebook makes sense as it has the highest number of users among social media channels, but LinkedIn being this popular among SMBs didn't make sense.

76% of SMBs said that they are very satisfied with the results they get by search advertising. 74% were satisfied with video marketing, 75% with content marketing and 73% were satisfied with the results of social media ads. Even though only 29% SMBs use video marketing, it still came second for the most satisfactory marketing tactic. 58% SMBs said that they are very interested in using social form videos for marketing. 48% and 30% also want to try influencer marketing and podcast marketing respectively.

SMBs were also asked if they have tried AI for marketing or not. 57% answered with yes, while 33% said no. 10% said that they are not sure about AI. 61% said they are using AI to save time while 50% are using it to generate ideas. AI is mostly being used for content creation (52%), social media management (39%) and chatbots (34%) by SMBs.

Take a look at the charts below for more insights:

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