Today in Tech

Elon Musk and other AI luminaries are calling for a 6-month pause on AI tool training so that the industry may better collaborate on design and development before the technology accelerates to infinity and beyond. Keith chats with Jason Mars, Ph.D., from the University of Michigan, about whether this is a good or bad idea.

Coming off the heels of an AI image of Donald Trump getting arrested, a fake image of the pope wearing a white puffy coat tricks many on the Internet. Keith and Chris discuss other tech news from the week, including the Twitter source code leak, what jobs may be in danger from ChatGPT, and why working-from-home exclusively might be going away at many companies.

Google finally launches its Bard AI app as an alternative to ChatGPT, while Microsoft continues to add more functionality to ChatGPT through Bing, all while others begin calling for regulation as more and more competitors appear. Keith and Chris discuss this, as well as additional layoffs in the tech space and research that proves that in-office engagement between employees is valuable. 

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified in front of a hostile and united Congressional committee on Thursday, mostly failing to convince lawmakers that user data it collects from more than 150 million Americans is protected from the Chinese Communist Party. But in the end, there are doubts about whether the government can successfully ban the popular video-sharing application, and whether this hearing was mostly about theatrics and grandstanding.

Americans lost more than $10 billion in 2022 due to internet scams in 2022, a jump from $6.9 billion in 2021. Cryptocurrency and investment scams are now competing with ransomware, phishing, and other methods that criminals are utilizing to try and separate consumers from their money. We chat with Rob Holmes, founder of investigation firm MI:33, about the myriad ways that scammers, counterfeiters, and criminals are using tools to con people, and how consumers can better protect themselves. 

Recent geopolitical events and other natural disasters in recent years have shown how reliant we are on electricity, and how vulnerable the power grid can be. Rebuilding the grid following a nightmare scenario such as an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack could take years, so preparation from an individual, town and regional basis can be key to accelerating recovery. We chat about this topic with Dr. William R. Forstchen, author of “One Second After” and other books that explore life in a small town following such an attack.

While the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and other banks is mainly an economic story, it will have ripple effects on the technology industry, including startups and large enterprises. Additional topics this week include whether tech bros have become villains in Hollywood content, and how a new superconductor material could improve our electric future.

ChatGPT and other AI tools can create content that helps bad actors create better phishing emails or generate malware/ransomware code. But on the other side of the coin, the tools can better educate users about security threats, identify bugs and vulnerabilities on websites faster, and help researchers in their security efforts. We chat with Etay Maor, an adjunct professor at Boston College and industry cybersecurity expert, about these key issues. 

Etay Maor, 

Adjunct professor at Boston College, senior director of security strategy, Cato Networks 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/etaymaor/ 

Growing evidence indicates that Facebook (Meta) is seemingly abandoning its metaverse aspirations as it chases ChatGPT and other AI technologies. Is this the death knell for the metaverse? Keith chats with Dan Roberts from Decrypt and Mike Mason from Thoughtworks about whether this concept has legs beyond “Meta”

Keith and Chris catch up on the tech news of the week, including how people are increasingly concerned over deepfake video and audio creeping into the 2024 election cycles, and whether media (traditional and social) can spot the fakes before they do significant damage. Also, TikTok executives woo European politicians in the face of potential bans of the video-sharing app.