๐ Clickbait Funeral, Android Spyware, AI's Societal Risks
Todayโs pick
When a funeral is clickbait. In late December 2023, several of Brian Vastag and Beth Mazur's friends were devastated to learn that the couple had suddenly died. Vastag and Mazur had dedicated their lives to advocating for disabled people and writing about chronic illness. As the obituaries surfaced on Google, members of their community began to dial each other up to share the terrible news, even reaching people on vacations halfway around the world. ย By Mia Sato via The Verge
๐: What an absolutely crappy internet we have created. #AI โIn the wake of death, AI-generated obituaries litter search results, turning even private individuals into clickbait.โ - Ulrike Franke (@RikeFranke)
Hackers uncover new TheTruthSpy stalkerware victims: Is your Android device compromised? A consumer-grade spyware operation called TheTruthSpy poses an ongoing security and privacy risk to thousands of people whose Android devices are unknowingly compromised with its mobile surveillance apps, not least due to a simple security flaw that its operators never fixed. By Zack Whittaker via TechCrunch
๐: NEW: Notorious stalkerware operation TheTruthSpy was hacked โ again. Two hacking groups independently found a security flaw in TheTruthSpy that allowed the mass access of stolen mobile device data from tens of thousands of victims. - Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai (@lorenzofb)
The best way to reach new readers is through word of mouth. If you click THIS LINK in your inbox, itโll create an easy-to-send pre-written email you can just fire off to some friends.
OpenAI CEO warns that 'societal misalignments' could make artificial intelligence dangerous. The CEO of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI said Tuesday that the dangers that keep him awake at night regarding artificial intelligence are the โvery subtle societal misalignmentsโ that could make the systems wreak havoc. By Jon Gambrell via Washington Post
Adobe's Very Cautious Gambit to Inject AI Into Everything. Last fall, Adobe Inc. offered select photographers from its vast network of seasoned professionals the opportunity to shoot 1,000 photos of bananas. For $60. Another commission called for snapshots of flags โin real-life situations,โ and one paying $80 sought hundreds of close-ups of mouths chewing food. By Austin Carr via Bloomberg
How LLMs are learning to differentiate spatial sounds. Humans have unique sensory functions, among them binaural hearing โ meaning we can identify types of sound, as well as what direction it's coming from and how far away it is, and we can also differentiate multiple sources of sound all occurring at once. ย By Taryn Plumb via VentureBeat
Thanks for reading to the bottom and soaking in our Newslit Daily fueled with highlights for your morning.
I hope you found it interesting and, needless to say, if you have any questions or feedback let me know by hitting reply.
Take care and see you tomorrow!
P.S. Want to advertise with us? Weโd love to hear from you.