national affairs - CybAI news

13 Aug

Kamala Harris’ Rally Crowds Aren’t AI-Generated. Here’s How You Can Tell

stp2y0 CommentsRAG models2024 election, ars technica, donald trump, Kamala Harris, national affairs, politics

Suffice it to say that this mountain of evidence from direct sources weighs more heavily than marked-up images from conservative commentators like Chuck Callesto and Dinesh D'Souza, both of whom have been caught spreading election disinformation in the past.When it comes to accusations of AI fakery, the more disparate sources of information you have, the better. While a single source can easily generate a plausible-looking image of an event, multiple independent sources showing the same event from multiple angles are much less likely to be in on the same hoax. Photos that line up with video evidence are even better,…

31 Jul

Donald Trump’s Plan to Hoard Billions in Bitcoin Has Economists Stumped

stp2y0 CommentsRAG models2024 election, cryptocurrency, donald trump, elections, national affairs

Even if Trump were to restrict the reserve to bitcoin seized through law enforcement activity, his administration must also weigh up the opportunity cost associated with holding onto bitcoin. Whereas some assets—like bonds—generate a consistent income stream for holders, bitcoin does not, making it expensive to hold.“The question comes down to what the government would get out of the hoards of bitcoin it would be holding,” says George Selgin, director emeritus for the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the Cato Institute, a US think tank that promotes libertarian principles. Previously, the US government has periodically auctioned off the…

28 Jul

Bitcoin Bros Go Wild for Donald Trump

stp2y0 CommentsRAG models2024 election, bitcoin, cryptocurrency, donald trump, national affairs

Trump’s speech is an hour behind. A half hour into the wait, restless attendees start chanting “Trump.” The woman sitting in front of me murmurs her own chant:“Bitcoin, bitcoin—that’s what they should be chanting.” She must have gotten the memo: It’s not a Trump rally; it’s a bitcoin rally.When Trump finally takes the stage to “God Bless the USA,” he basks in the glory of his standing ovation, “thrilled…to become the first American president ever to address a bitcoin event.” His next step is to pander to his supporters in the audience. “This is the kind of spirit that will…

28 Jun

French AI Startups Felt Unstoppable. Then Came the Election

stp2y0 CommentsGenAIalgorithms, artificial intelligence, machine learning, national affairs, politics, regulation

“Then on the other extreme, [the left-wing New Popular Front] have been so vocal about all the taxation measures they want to bring back that it looks like we're just going back to pre-Macron period,” Varza says. She points to France’s 2012 “les pigeons” (or “suckers”) movement, a campaign by angry internet entrepreneurs that opposed Socialist president François Hollande’s plan to dramatically raise taxes for founders.Maya Noël, CEO of France Digitale, an industry group for startups, is worried not only about France’s ability to attract overseas talent, but also about how appealing the next government will be to foreign investors.…

20 Jun

Neo-Nazis Are All-In On AI

stp2y0 CommentsAIalgorithms, artificial intelligence, machine learning, national affairs, politics, social media

Extremists across the US have weaponized artificial intelligence tools to help them spread hate speech more efficiently, recruit new members, and radicalize online supporters at an unprecedented speed and scale, according to a new report from the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), an American non-profit press monitoring organization.The report found that AI-generated content is now a mainstay of extremists’ output: They are developing their own extremist-infused AI models, and are already experimenting with novel ways to leverage the technology, including producing blueprints for 3D weapons and recipes for making bombs.Researchers at the Domestic Terrorism Threat Monitor, a group within…

30 May

Foreign Influence Campaigns Don’t Know How to Use AI Yet Either

stp2y0 CommentsGenAIartificial intelligence, china, disinformation, national affairs, openai, propaganda, russia

Today, OpenAI released its first threat report, detailing how actors from Russia, Iran, China, and Israel have attempted to use its technology for foreign influence operations across the globe. The report named five different networks that OpenAI identified and shut down between 2023 and 2024. In the report, OpenAI reveals that established networks like Russia’s Doppleganger and China’s Spamoflauge are experimenting with how to use generative AI to automate their operations. They're also not very good at it.And while it’s a modest relief that these actors haven’t mastered generative AI to become unstoppable forces for disinformation, it’s clear that they’re…