Monday, January 6, 2025

Achieve 2025 Goals with ChatGPT’s Step-by-Step New Year Plans, Progress Checks, and Motivational Support

Setting goals for the upcoming year is a common practice, but achieving them is not. The key difference lies in how these goals are set—many are either poorly planned or unrealistic, preventing them from being accomplished.

Fortunately, now we have AI to help us in setting up new year's goals which are practical and well laid down. All we need to do is provide AI, in our case it is ChatGPT, a well-structured prompt that clearly conveys our thoughts and goals, helping it guide us according to our aspirations.

The following prompts can serve as examples of well-articulated templates that anyone can use to help ChatGPT create a personalized New Year's guide for achieving their goals:

New Year's Resolution Guide

Start by giving ChatGPT a prompt that requests a month-by-month plan for the entire year, with each step elaborated in detail. The instructions should also include what should be done if any hurdles are faced following the plan.

Prompt: Be my guide. Give me a well structured plan to fulfill my new year's goal. I want (put your goal here e.g.: to prepare for the CSS examination 2026). Give me a step by step and month wise plan to fulfill my goal. Also, tell me about how I can measure my progress throughout the year. If I face any hurdles during my progress, guide me how I can overcome them. The plan should be practical for (29 years, you can change the age for your case) old person.


Now here is what ChatGPT responded:

Response: Year 1: Foundational Year (2025)

January - February: Orientation & Planning

  • Goals: Familiarize yourself with the CSS syllabus, exam structure, and subject selection.
    • Download the FPSC syllabus and past papers.
    • Identify optional subjects based on your interests and educational background.
    • Create a dedicated study schedule, allocating 4-5 hours daily for preparation.
  • Action Points:
    • Purchase/recommend books and resources for compulsory and optional subjects.
    • Start reading one English newspaper (e.g., Dawn.com) for current affairs and vocabulary.
    • Begin improving English essay writing by practicing 2-3 essays monthly.
  • Progress Measurement:
    • Complete reading the CSS syllabus.
    • Finalize your optional subjects.

Building a Habit

To fulfill your new year’s goal, building a daily habit is imperative. Ask ChatGPT to map out a monthly plan to help you build a daily habit, so you can easily follow your yearly plan.

Prompt: Give me a monthly plan to help me fulfill my new year's goal. Map out a 30-day plan to help me in building a daily habit. Provide me the plan quantitatively, so I can measure my progress. Also. include some inspirational quotes to keep me enthusiastic.

Response:

Here’s a 30-day Quantitative Habit-Building Plan to set the foundation for your CSS preparation and build productive habits. Each day's tasks are practical, measurable, and focused on building consistency.

30-Day Plan for January: Building a CSS Preparation Habit

Week 1: Initiation Phase (Days 1-7)

Goal: Develop a steady routine and start small with manageable tasks.

Day

Task

Time

Progress Measurement

1

Set a dedicated study space and time. Write your CSS goal on paper.

30 min

Create a checklist of necessary study materials.

2

Read 2 articles from Dawn (editorial + op-ed) and summarize one.

1 hour

Write 1 summary (150 words).

3

Study English grammar (Parts of Speech).

1 hour

Complete 3 practice questions.

4

Identify optional subjects and finalize them.

1 hour

List your finalized optional subjects.

5

Read 5 pages of Pakistan Affairs textbook (History of Pakistan Movement).

1 hour

Take brief notes (5-7 points).

6

Practice writing an essay introduction on any topic (200 words).

45 min

Complete one introduction.

7

Take a 30-minute mock comprehension test (English).

30 min

Evaluate and record your score (out of 10).

Quote of the Week:

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." – Lao Tzu

AI: A Motivational Coach

Make ChatGPT your motivation coach. Give it a prompt to provide you with inspirational words that will keep you motivated in the time of despair. Use ChatGPT as your friend who will always push you out of a quagmire.

Prompt: Be my motivational coach. Provide me some motivational lines that would lift my spirit when I am feeling down and am ready to give up. Those speeches should be in accordance with my goal stated above and the plan you have laid down for me. They should be precise, effective and practical.

Response: Here are motivational speeches tailored to your journey of preparing for the CSS exam. These speeches are designed to inspire you when you feel discouraged and to remind you of the strength and potential you carry.

Speech 1: The Power of Consistency

"Greatness is not achieved overnight. It is built, brick by brick, through consistent effort. Think of your CSS preparation as building a grand monument. Each hour you spend studying, every line you write, and every question you answer is another brick laid in your path to success.

Yes, there will be days when the weight feels unbearable, when progress seems slow, and doubts creep in. But remember this: the only way to fail is to stop. Every small step you take, even on the hardest days, brings you closer to your goal.

Be kind to yourself. Success doesn’t demand perfection—it demands persistence. Keep showing up, keep putting in the work, and trust the process. The reward will be worth the struggle. Believe in the future you’re creating."

Speech 2: Why You Started

"Take a moment to reflect. Why did you start this journey? Why did you decide to prepare for the CSS exam? Was it to serve your country? To prove to yourself that you can achieve greatness? To secure a brighter future for yourself and your family?

Whatever your reason, let it be your driving force. Write it down. Pin it where you can see it every day. Because when the nights get long and the studies feel endless, your 'why' will remind you to keep moving.

Challenges are temporary, but the pride of achieving your dreams will last forever. You started this journey for a reason—finish it for that same reason."

Time Management Planner

Ask ChatGPT to also lay out a time management plan. The plan that shows how you can utilize your time most effectively to achieve your goal.

Prompt: Please help me utilize my time effectively to achieve my goal by creating a detailed day-by-day plan. Specify how many hours I should dedicate to my goal each day and suggest the most suitable times of day or night for maximum productivity. Additionally, outline how much time should be allocated to specific activities on a daily and weekly basis.

Response: To achieve your CSS goal, effective time management is key. Here's a day-wise plan that balances your study sessions, revisions, and breaks, along with weekly activity allocations. This plan is tailored for a 29-year-old, factoring in optimal productivity periods.

Daily Plan

Morning Routine (5:30 AM - 8:30 AM)

  • 5:30 - 6:00 AM: Wake up, morning prayer, and light exercise to refresh your mind.
  • 6:00 - 6:30 AM: Review notes from the previous day.
  • 6:30 - 8:30 AM: Focus on compulsory subjects like English essay writing, prĂ©cis, and grammar. Morning hours are ideal for creative tasks as your mind is fresh.

Total Morning Study Hours: 2 hours

Mid-Morning (10:00 AM - 12:30 PM)

  • 10:00 - 11:30 AM: Study optional subjects. These require deep concentration, and mid-morning is an optimal time for retaining complex concepts.
  • 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM: Read newspapers and analyze current affairs. Take notes for Pakistan Affairs and Current Affairs topics.

Total Mid-Morning Study Hours: 2.5 hours

Progress Assessor

Progress assessment is very important. Ask ChatGPT to provide you with assessment metrics that would allow you to assess whether everything is going as per the plan or not.

Prompt: Be my assessor and provide me with some assessment metrics that would allow me to assess my progress, that shows where I am in following the plan or if I am lagging behind. Include all quantitative and qualitative scales that would help me trace my progress. Also, include a mini plan to follow if I am lagging behind in my original plan.

Response:

Assessment Metrics for CSS Preparation Progress

To track your progress effectively, you need a combination of quantitative and qualitative metrics. Here's a detailed breakdown:

1. Quantitative Metrics

Daily and Weekly Metrics

  • Study Hours Target:
    • Daily: 8-10 hours.
    • Weekly: 50-60 hours.
    • Assessment: Use a time tracker (app or manual log) to record actual study hours.
Example: Achieving 85%+ of the weekly target shows you're on track.
  • Tasks Completed:
    • Measure completion of planned daily and weekly tasks (e.g., writing essays, solving MCQs, etc.).
    • Assessment: Mark tasks as Complete, Partially Complete, or Incomplete.
Goal: 90%+ of tasks completed weekly.
  • Mock Test Scores:
    • Assign weekly or bi-weekly mock tests (objective or subjective).
    • Assessment: Record scores for improvement trends. Target: Improve by 5-10% with each mock test.
  • Monthly Metrics

    • Essay Practice:
      • Number of essays written and evaluated.
Goal: 4 essays per month, gradually improving structure and argumentation.
  • Books/Topics Covered:
    • Count the number of chapters or topics completed in a subject. Goal: Cover 20-25% of the syllabus per month.
  • MCQ Accuracy:
    • Weekly MCQs attempted and accuracy rate.
Target: Achieve 70%+ accuracy in each subject by Month 2 and improve steadily.

These prompts can help you plan your new year’s goals effectively. All you need to do is substitute my goal with yours, and then you have your new year’s goal guide laid down.

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by Ehtasham Ahmad via Digital Information World

OpenAI Turns Its Focus To Superintelligence To Accelerate Scientific Discovery

OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman shared a personal blog about the company’s future goals, which will entail superintelligence.

Altman did not shy away from confirming that the makers of ChatGPT are experts in designing AI but their new focus is bringing superintelligence into the world. This came with reassurance about using it to improve scientific discovery and create innovative offerings. As a result, it could massively enhance abundance with prosperity.

While it’s not a plan that’s envisioned to come into play anytime soon, he did hint at how we could be thousands of days away from its arrival. Also, the intensity would be a lot, he continued.

While artificial general intelligence or AGI has a fixed definition, the tech giant likes to define it on its own terms and conditions. This includes how autonomous it is in terms of outperforming mankind at cost-effective tasks. Other companies like top investor and software giant Microsoft provide its own definition of AGI which is a system generating profits that go up to $100B.

Let’s not forget to mention that when and if OpenAI does attain this figure, it will restrict access to its tech as per a contract it signed with Microsoft. Now it’s not yet a certain definition the OpenAI CEO referred to in this case but it’s clear what the company’s focus is looking like in the near future.

AI agents are in the pipeline to join the company and carry out specific tasks autonomously. This could drastically alter outputs for some leading firms in the upcoming year.

Altman shared how he continuously believes in putting good tools in the hands of great leaders to ensure incomes get distributed widely. Now experts do see that as a major possibility but we must mention that AI tech in today’s time is very limited. Problems are on the rise such as hallucination, obvious errors, and costly technology.

Sam Altman is confident that all of this will overcome the hurdles and hopefully soon. Again, nothing can be predicted when we think about AI as seen in the past. Timelines could alter to a great extent.

We do believe in the next few years, people will envision our goals and act carefully, Altman explained. The number of possibilities at stake for OpenAI makes it far away from the norms of a regular company. Now the world does feel the statements coming from the CEO are promising but safety is always questionable.

To act responsibly and allocate necessary resources to meet goals while not compromising user safety and privacy is a lot of work. So as you can expect, superintelligence comes with a lot of risk.

We’ve seen the company share on several occasions how it wants a successful transition to superintelligence. But it does know that nothing is guaranteed and nothing comes easy. They’re still in the phase of trying to figure things out. As per the blog, the AI giant has a solution in place to stop things from going wrong.

Ever since this post was published, the company has disbanded teams. These were focused on matters like AI safety such as superintelligent systems. There have been so many leading researchers known for safety-driven designs and visions who left the company. Moreover, many did cite the cause of departure being the overly ambitious goals of the tech giant. This includes current work that entails corporate restructuring to attract greater investors.

Altman is fighting critics who feel the firm doesn’t keep safety as its top agenda. His response is to see the past track record and then decide.

OpenAI aims for superintelligence, promising scientific breakthroughs, but must navigate technical, ethical, and safety challenges.
Image: DIW

Read next: Generative AI Startups Set Record: $56 Billion Raised in 2024, Up 192% From 2023
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Cybersecurity in the Digital Age: A Global Business Imperative

Data has become the cornerstone of the global economy, often compared to gold for its value. As businesses increasingly transition into the digital world, they face a growing array of cyber threats. In this environment, cybersecurity is not merely an option; it is a necessity. This shift demands a proactive, agile approach to safeguarding digital assets. Furthermore, cybersecurity transcends local boundaries—it is a global issue that requires universal strategies.

The Global Nature of Cyber Threats

The interconnected nature of the digital economy means no business operates in isolation. Cyber attackers disregard national boundaries; a breach in one region can ripple across continents, whether through ransomware, phishing, or systemic data compromises. The rise of cloud computing, remote work, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices has further expanded the attack surface, presenting businesses with new challenges.

Global cybersecurity strategies must, therefore, address threats holistically, covering the entire digital infrastructure from cloud environments to mobile networks. However, technology alone is not enough. Expertise, continuous learning, and an adaptive approach are essential to counter the evolving tactics of cybercriminals.

Sweden’s Leading Role in Cybersecurity Innovation

Cyber security company Sweden has established itself as a leader in cybersecurity, boasting a robust technological landscape and innovative solutions. Among its key players is Accigo, renowned for its forward-thinking strategies and comprehensive protection against sophisticated cyber threats. Accigo’s approach exemplifies how Swedish cybersecurity firms are not just reactive but focus on future-proofing businesses.

By anticipating vulnerabilities and tailoring bespoke solutions, Accigo empowers organizations to thrive without the constant fear of cyber risks. Their services extend beyond mere protection—they instill confidence, enabling businesses to focus on growth and innovation.

Cybersecurity as a Business Imperative

Cybersecurity has evolved from a technical concern to a core business priority. Regardless of size or industry, every business is vulnerable to breaches that can incur substantial financial losses and irreparable reputational damage. In today’s digital economy, trust is paramount. Customers are increasingly vigilant about how their data is handled and gravitate toward businesses that prioritize proactive protection.

Accigo exemplifies the value of a trusted cybersecurity partner. By combining technical prowess with a deep understanding of global business needs, Accigo delivers tailored solutions that go beyond mere compliance. Their expertise spans cloud security, endpoint protection, and real-time threat detection, ensuring robust defenses against emerging threats.

Future-Proofing Cybersecurity with Innovation

Accigo distinguishes itself by focusing on resilience and adaptability. Instead of solely addressing current threats, their solutions are designed to evolve alongside technological advancements and emerging cyber risks. This forward-looking strategy ensures clients are equipped to navigate the uncertainties of the digital landscape.

By leveraging Swedish innovation, Accigo positions itself as a global leader in cybersecurity. Their commitment to protecting data, preserving business continuity, and maintaining customer trust highlights the critical role cybersecurity plays in the modern business ecosystem.

Building a Secure Digital Future

As businesses become increasingly reliant on digital infrastructure, the importance of robust cybersecurity measures cannot be overstated. Cyber risks are no longer confined to the IT department; they permeate every aspect of an organization, from the C-suite to customer-facing operations.

Organizations partnering with firms like Accigo gain a strategic advantage, benefiting from advanced cybersecurity solutions that align with their unique needs. To secure your digital future, explore how Accigo’s innovative approach to cybersecurity can safeguard your business and empower growth. Visit www.accigo.com to learn more about their services.

Image: Pexels / sora-shimazaki
by Web Desk via Digital Information World

Sunday, January 5, 2025

Study Finds AI Struggles with Patient Communication, Hindering Diagnosis Accuracy

Artificial intelligence helps us in countless things and it also proves itself to be of great help in healthcare systems. But according to a new study by Stanford University and Harvard Medical School, artificial intelligence cannot talk to the patients in a way that can lead to their accurate diagnosis. In the medical field, communicating with patients is an important thing so the doctors and healthcare specialists can understand what patients are feeling but AI is showing limitations in its communication skills when it comes to diagnosing patients.

The researchers used Conversational Reasoning Assessment Framework for Testing in Medicine or CRAFT-MD to test AI how well it can work during communication in healthcare. It is important to note how interaction with patience and AI can help the system understand the diseases or problems patients are going through, especially now that many people are turning to AI like ChatGPT for their health concerns. The result of the test shows that even though many AI chatbots were successful in passing medical exams, they struggle when it comes to basic communication with the patients.

During medical diagnosis, doctors need to ask questions at the right time to the patients, and list down the information the patient gives in a proper way to find out what is actually wrong. As AI cannot communicate well, it raises alarms of how well AI can actually do in medical settings. The researchers tested on four prominent AI models and gave them 2,000 medical cases. It was found that GPT-4 gave correct diagnosis 82% of the times when it was given case summaries, but the correctness of diagnosis dropped to 63% when it had to interact with the patient to gather information. The correctness level dropped more when AI models had to go through open ended questions rather than multiple choice questions.

The areas where AI models struggled the most were in gathering critical information, case history of patients and not asking questions that could help connect all the conversation going on. One of the researchers, Daneshjou, said that he is interested in working with AI in a clinical setting but right now the results AI is showing aren't satisfactory. CRAFT-MD framework is a great way to test AI responses in healthcare fields as it can monitor real time conversations. The researchers suggest that developers should work more on communication skills of AI and make it capable so it can handle unstructured conversation.


Image: DIW-Aigen

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Generative AI Startups Set Record: $56 Billion Raised in 2024, Up 192% From 2023

The rise of Artificial Intelligence marks a new era, with everyone vying to stay competitive. As the time is passing, the hype of generative AI is growing steadily. People are also investing in generative AI because they know that it is going to bring a lot of opportunities for them. Pitchbook/TechCrunch conducted an analysis about the investments in generative AI and it was found that a total of $56 billion have been funded to AI companies from different VCs in 2024. These fundings have been done for various AI powered tools, like AI apps, services, images, videos, texts, speech, audio and much more. It just means that AI is going to be on everything soon and many companies are securing their future for that.

A total of 885 deals have been done in 2024 between different AI companies and VCs. In 2023, 691 deals had been done and only $29.1 billion had been invested in AI. Now, the investments have risen 192% from 2023, and it doesn't seem that it will slow down anytime soon. Many AI companies like Anthropic, OpenAI and xAI have been taking billions of funds to make more generative AI based products. In Q4 2024, a total of $31.1 billion deals had been done. Some notable generative AI investments were Anthropic's $4 billion Strategic Investment from Amazon, Databricks’ $10 billion series J, OpenAI’s $6.6 billion round and xAI’s $6 billion Series C.

Generative AI Investments Surge: Venture Capital Funding Soars 192% to $56 Billion in 2024

There were only $951 million acquisitions and mergers of generative AI in 2024, with some deals made by Google, Amazon and Microsoft. $2.7 billion were funded by Google on CharacterAI’s staff’s hiring and licensing their technology. On the other hand, $650 million was given by Microsoft to the CEO of Inflection to license their AI models. Startups outside the USA took $6.2 billion of VC investments in 2024, with China based Monoshot AI taking $1 billion, Cologne based company DeepL taking $300 million and French based AI company taking $640 million.

In 2025, it seems that AI startups are going to become very saturated, and only some major AI developing coding assistants will be able to get big funds. Investors want to see good revenue growth in the companies they are investing in and there are some technical challenges too that may not let some startups make the cut for funds. Only the AI companies with good fundings will be able to grow as they need advanced technologies and data centers to produce AI products.

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New Survey Reveals How Much Nostalgic Americans Are About Early Internet Days and Old Websites
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Global Internet Shutdowns in 2024: A $7.69 Billion Wake-Up Call, With Pakistan Leading the Loss

$7.69 billion were lost in 2024 because of internet shutdowns, according to the latest data from Top10VPN with Pakistan being affected the most economically because of it. Pakistan lost a total of $1.62 billion due to internet lockdown in 2024, followed by $1.58 billion in Myanmar and $1.12 billion in Sudan. Though the global impact of internet shutdowns was still felt in 2024, it wasn't as severe as in previous years. In 2022, the losses totaled $24.61 billion, followed by $9.01 billion in 2023.

A Decline in Shutdown Costs, But the Question Remains: Why Are They Happening?

2024 marked the year with the highest number of countries being affected because of internet lockdown (28). 167 of the internet lockdowns were self imposed in those countries and it affected 648.4 million people.

The internet outages reported were 88,788 hours in total, which is a 12% increase from 2023. Even though there were some major internet shutdowns in 2024, there was a decline of social media blockages. X got shut down in Pakistan and that's why many people thought that there was an increase in social media outages but that wasn't the case.

When internet shutdowns happen, even VPNs cannot be of any help to bypass the restrictions imposed on citizens. Internet shutdowns are a result of the government imposing outages for a lot of reasons for example an incident that causes mass political unrest or to not let people talk about a certain issue.


Sometimes, governments shutdown internet in a specific area and sometimes, they shut down the whole country too. In the past year many areas of India got internet shutdowns where the government tried to shut down specific networks or even the whole infrastructure of the internet. This has many severe economic effects on the people who rely completely on the internet for their work.

Most of the internet outages reported in 2024 were because of civil conflicts. Iraq had the highest number of internet outages in 2024. But on the other hand, Pakistan had the biggest economic effect because of internet outages happening in the country due to anti-government protests and elections-rigging. Conflict was the main reason for internet outages in Sudan and Myanmar.

If there are any social media blocks by the government in the country, citizens can use VPNs to access that platform. As there have been a lot of internet shutdowns in 2024, VPN use has also increased. X and TikTok have been the most blocked apps in 2024 in some countries, so many people access them using VPN.

Read next: Survey Reveals US Consumers’ Nostalgia for Early Internet Days and Old Websites
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Saturday, January 4, 2025

New Survey Reveals How Much Nostalgic Americans Are About Early Internet Days and Old Websites

A new survey of 1,000 Americans by Hosting Advice found out how many people in the USA miss the old internet the most, and the results of the survey revealed that 63% of millennials Americans miss the initial era of the internet. There's a lot of nostalgia that comes with reminiscing about the era when technology was slowly gaining momentum, and 81% of the Americans surveyed said that they really miss the early internet days. Generation X was the generation that saw the era before the internet and how the internet evolution happened, with 30% feeling nostalgic about the early internet era.

The respondents of the survey said that they would definitely use the old internet websites if they came back, with Myspace being at top, followed by Instant Messenger/AOL and Napster. Most of the respondents said that the old internet era was the best because there was less commercialisation and they could use the internet in peace. Now 62% of the respondents said that they feel very annoyed by ads and AI generated content on websites. 46% also said that they miss the era of the internet when there were no political discussions on digital spaces, and they were just chatting amongst friends and loved ones without being bombarded with ads and irrelevant posts.

37% of the respondents also said that the internet in its early stages was more inclined to form connections between people and provide better opportunities than the internet today. It is because the internet wasn't gaining any profit back then and you could talk about different topics and cultures all while being anonymous. That's why 55% of the respondents also believe that the internet was more creative back in the day, but on the other hand 51% of the respondents are happy with the shirt from text heavy websites to more images and video content now.

9 in 10 Americans say that the use of early internet has shaped how they browse the internet today, with 58% browsing internet as a leisure activity and 53% thankful for early websites to help them discover their hobbies and interests. The Internet isn't only responsible for how people spent their time as it was a crucial way to help people learn, explore and engage with their interests freely and that's why many people are still attached to their digital past. Even though there are many new technologies, most Americans still feel nostalgic about their past internet habits and websites they used to love so much.


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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World