Today in Tech

With more AI models and tools coming out from companies on a weekly basis, we are beginning to wonder whether this will turn many companies away from the technology as they look for the ‘best tool possible.’ Meanwhile, continued errors and AI hallucinations have companies holding back on fully deploying the technology. Keith chats with Rebecca Parsons, CTO Emerita at Thoughtworks, about how companies need to remain vigilant and responsible in their AI development, while also accepting that we are still in the early days and that errors will happen.

The BlackCat ransomware gang, which attacked a large U.S. healthcare company that delivers prescription drug services, has apparently received a $22 million payment and then stiffed their affiliates. Guest co-host Paul Desmond joins the Today in Tech crew to discuss this story and other technology news, including why it’s a bad idea for scientists to try and create a new wooly mammoth species.

The ongoing saga between the LockBit ransomware gang and law enforcement officials feels like a made-for-TV movie with back-and-forth ‘trolling’, while at the same time the FBI provides warnings about ransomware aimed at hospitals. Paul Desmond joins the crew for another week of guest co-hosting on the show, where they also talk about ongoing AI mishaps from Microsoft and Google, as well as whether they’ll ever wear a smartphone bracelet (no) or use a transparent laptop screen (possibly).

Over the past 20 years, innovation and new products seemed to come mainly from Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and other venture capitalist investments. But that may be changing, as research labs, academics and research and development groups come up with new ways to develop “what’s coming next.” In this episode, Keith chats with Chris Shaw, CMO at NTT Research, about some of the big trends in how new products and technologies will be developed over the next 10 to 20 years.

OpenAI has fired its opening salvo in the burgeoning AI-generated video space with the announcement of its Sora tool that can generate short video clips based on text prompts. Guest co-host Paul Desmond joins the show to discuss what this could mean for video-related jobs and how misinformation could result from this. Also: law enforcement cracks down on a ransomware gang and how the television has gone from the centerpiece of a home to “just another display.”

With more AI models and platforms and updates coming on a regular basis, we’re starting to wonder whether businesses and consumers will start suffering from “AI overload”, which could slow or disrupt adoption of the technology. Guest co-host Jack Gold joins the crew to discuss this and other technology news of recent weeks, including whether it’s time to put the brakes on the self-driving car industry.

The ‘spatial computing’ Apple Vision Pro has been out for a few weeks now, and reviews have been mixed about whether this is the future of computing or just a really expensive gadget. Keith chats with Macworld’s Mike Simon and Jason Cross, and Computerworld contributing writer Michael deAgonia about their impressions of the device and whether business users will find value in the device.

In our latest technology news roundup, we discuss how scammers were able to grab $25 million from a Hong Kong company’s finance employee by using deepfaked AI video; the rise of dumb people using Apple Vision Pro devices in not-so-smart ways, and whether a mega-sports streaming service will mean the death of the cable TV industry.

While generative AI dominated the headlines last year, there are some other amazing macro-trends in the world of technology that will have a big impact this year. Keith chats with Mike Bechtel, chief futurist and managing director at Deloitte Consulting, about the big trends for the year, as identified in the company’s Top Tech Trends report.

Whether companies are at the beginning or in the middle of their generative AI projects, getting the correct large language model (LLM) as a basis for the project is a key decision. Keith chats with Peter Pezaris, chief strategy officer at New Relic, about some of the decisions that companies need to make when exploring LLMs.