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Introducing Mindstream’s Weekly Roundup coming out each Sunday!

This issue will be a power-packed roundup of the entire week's news!

Get all of the last week’s leading articles in one place.

And we’ve got the results of AI image or real, too.

Let’s go!

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AI IMPACT

How AI is changing media forever

AI is making waves in the media game, and it’s not just robots stealing the spotlight. 

Almar Latour, the head at Dow Jones and the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, spilt the details at the World Economic Forum in Davos. 

He’s all about AI building a stronger connection between media and the public, especially when trust is on shaky ground.

AI made vs human-made

On the same panel, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan stirred the pot on AI-generated content, urging the industry to figure out what’s made by machines versus what’s human-made.

And he dropped some facts on intellectual property and artist ownership - basically, we need to sort out who owns what - and the current copyright laws aren’t fit for purpose.

Teamwork makes the dream work…

Almar spoke briefly about the New York Times and OpenAI court debacle and that we all should work together rather than be at each other’s throats. 

In a nutshell, AI is the buzz at this year's World Economic Forum, and it's not just a side note. 

The talk has shifted from broad strokes to getting down and dirty in the nitty-gritty of AI in different industries.

One thing is for sure - AI isn’t going anywhere…

Our View:

AI is going to turn the media landscape upside down - but can it repair trust?

Poll results for the article’s question:

Can AI repair trust in the media?

• No it will make it worse. 75% ✅

• Yes, AI is more trustworthy than humans. 25%

MICROSOFT

Microsoft hacked by Russians!

Microsoft suffered a major Russian hack just days after announcing a complete security overhaul, leaving them with egg on their faces.

The same folks who pulled off the SolarWinds attack were responsible.

Last November, these hackers used a password spray attack to get into a “not-so-important” test account. 

From there, they managed to peek into some Microsoft’s big shots email accounts. 

Senior leadership, cybersecurity personnel, legal entities - they were aiming for the juicy stuff.

The plot twist…

Microsoft only caught wind of this caper last week!

As per them, there shouldn’t be any reason to panic, seeing that their documents and data are safe and sound… supposedly.

Apparently, the hackers didn’t get through and reach customer data or mess with production systems. 

This attack comes just after Microsoft's announcement to level up their software security. This was after the Azure cloud got hit. 

Bad timing for Microsoft…

According to them, no Microsoft products or services were left vulnerable.

This isn't Microsoft's first rodeo in the cyber battleground… 

Remember the SolarWinds drama a few years back? Or the Exchange Server fiasco in 2021? 

Even last year, Chinese hackers danced through the clouds to breach US government emails using a nifty Microsoft exploit.

Microsoft is not backing down on these threats.

They're revamping everything – how they design, build, test, and run their software. 

This is the real deal, the biggest security upgrade since the Security Development Lifecycle in 2004.

Our View:

When these big tech companies get hacked it makes you wonder if they’re using “Password1” as their passwords…

Poll results for this article’s question:

What do you think of this attack on Microsoft?

• They should level up their security ASAP! 55% ✅

• No one’s untouchable, it happens. 45%

2024 ELECTIONS

OpenAI’s election disinformation plan

It’s a big year for elections, and we all know what that means.

AI fakery is going to flood social media to trick us.

But OpenAI has unveiled a big plan to try and fight the inevitable disinformation.

New rules for politics

OpenAI says they are trying to “prevent abuse, provide transparency on AI-generated content, and improve access to accurate voting information.”

Here’s the lowdown on the new policies:

• ChatGPT, DALL-E, and other OpenAI tool users and makers are now forbidden from using OpenAI’s tools to impersonate candidates or local governments.

• Users cannot use OpenAI’s tools for campaigns or lobbying.

• Users are not permitted to use OpenAI tools to discourage voting or misrepresent the voting process.

A new way to tag AI images

OpenAI also plans to incorporate the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity’s digital credentials into images generated by DALL-E.

The digital credential system would encode images with a tag of sorts, effectively making it far simpler to know when you’re looking at an AI image.

Microsoft, Amazon, Getty Images and others are also signing up for this.

Our View:

Is this enough? I doubt it. Deepfakes are going to be everywhere…

Poll results for this article’s question:

Do OpenAI’s policies do enough?

• Yes, they can’t do anything more. 45%

• No it doesn’t go far enough. 55% ✅

AI IMAGE OR REAL? - THE RESULTS

Yesterday we asked you to vote on an image and guess whether it was a real photo or an AI-generated image. 

Isn’t black and white amazingly artistic? Especially when it makes you wonder whether this is a real image or not!

Here’s what you said:

52% of you said Made with AI

48% of you said Real Photo!

It was…

REAL!

Are you sad?

AI JOB IMPACT

AI may cost more than human workers!

Workers of the world - rejoice!

It turns out replacing humans with AI is far more costly than expected, and this will slow the rate of job replacement, at least according to a new study by MIT.

The study explained

In the, researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and AI Lab sought to quantify the question of not just whether AI will automate human jobs, but when this could happen.

Researchers ended up finding that a vast majority of jobs previously identified as vulnerable to AI are not economically beneficial for employers to automate at this time. You can relax - for now!

One major stat is that only about 23% of the wages paid to humans right now for jobs that could potentially be done by AI tools would be cost-effective for employers to replace with machines right now.

That means in layman’s terms, 76% of jobs that are “at risk” of AI are actually safe, for the time being.

Gradual pace

The study does not claim that these AI replacements will not happen - but does say the change will be much more gradual - which is a relief to lawmakers and employees everywhere.

“It gives us this ability to start being a little more quantitative of how rapidly we expect worker displacement to happen, and that will allow people to start building plans that are much more concrete in terms of the retraining that needs to be done.” Said Neil Thompson, one of the authors.

Our View:

It’s like death by a thousand cuts rather than guillotine, but we’ll take it!

Poll results for this article’s question:

Do you think AI will take your job inside 2 years?

• Yes, I’m screwed! 40%

• No, I’m safe. 60% ✅

OPENAI

Altman thinks we’re all overreacting!

OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, thinks the buzz around AI taking over the world is a bit much. 

Specifically, he’s talking about AGI, or artificial general intelligence - the kind of AI that can outperform humans.

Altman believes AGI might be around the corner, but he’s not losing sleep over it. 

Despite the hype around OpenAI’s ChatGPT, he warned folks not to get too carried away, predicting that some might end up “disappointed” with the technology. 

He emphasised that we’re quite at the point of having true AGI yet.

OpenAI has been on a mission to achieve AGI since 2015. Now with backing from Microsoft, they aim to develop AI responsibly. 

When asked if AI could worsen economic inequalities, especially in light of recent political events, Altman acknowledged the concern but reassured that AI is more of a tool than a job snatcher.

Altman’s departure is now a distant memory.

Altman’s temporary exit from OpenAI in November raised eyebrows due to concerns about AI safety and the company’s role. 

However, he quickly bounced back after strong support from OpenAI’s team and investors, and it’s being seen as nothing more than a bump in the road.

Microsoft even snagged a non-voting board observer seat in the process. 

The AI revolution might be more of a gentle nudge than a massive shakeup, at least according to Altman.

Our View:

Altman's take on AI seems pretty chill – he's not sweating the idea of it taking over the world, and he sees it more as a cool tool for boosting productivity than a job-stealing villain.

Poll results for this article’s question:

What do you think about all of this? Is the world overreacting?

• They’re not overreacting ENOUGH! 38%

• Yes, it’s being blown out of proportion. 62% ✅

AI STARTUPS

Holistic is the next big thing in AI

Two brainiacs from Google DeepMind, Laurent Sifre and Karl Tuyls, are cooking up something big in Paris. 

Rumour has it, that they’re in talks with investors to kickstart their very own AI startup. Tentatively named Holistic.

And get this, they might be playing with a big budget north of $200M!

These guys are no strangers to the AI scene. 

Sifre, the Go mastermind from DeepMind’s 2016 breakthrough, and Tuyls, delving into the gaming world with multi-agent reinforcement learning, are ready to take the plunge. 

They’re even given the old DeepMind a nod goodbye. 

Shhh…

The two are keeping tight-lipped about the details. 

DeepMind won’t spill the beans either, the startup buzz is real! 

France seems to be the place to be for AI action, with investors showing interest in promising projects. 

Remember Mistral AI?

They’re making waves too, racking up a $2 billion valuation by the end of 2023. 

And don’t forget Kyutai, a nonprofit AI lab, starting strong with a hefty €300 million.

By the way, and just to clear things up – this French venture is not the same as the Holistic AI based in London. 

Two Holistics, different cities, different games - and confusion for everyone else, thanks guys! Can’t you pick a different name?

Our View:

Two of DeepMind’s biggest names making their own thing? You know this is going to be huge. It seems the French tech scene is turning into this hub for AI magic, following the success stories of Mistral AI and Kyutai.

Poll results below!

AI ART

📸 Our Image of the Day

🎨 Daily Image Prompt

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YESTERDAY’S POLL

 🤔 “Would you invest in Holistic?”

Yes, sounds like a game-changer - 64% ✅
No, I’d pass on this one - 36%

🗣️ Reader’s Opinions

“Unless it's something very different than other startups, I don't see the hype ” - Michael.d

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