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Daily Archives: May 27, 2021

Deepfake Maps Could Really Mess With Your Sense of the World

Wired: “Researchers applied AI techniques to make portions of Seattle look more like Beijing. Such imagery could mislead governments or spread misinformation online….In a paper published online last month, University of Washington professor Bo Zhao employed AI techniques similar to those used to create so-called deepfakes to alter satellite images of several cities. Zhao and colleagues swapped features between images of Seattle and Beijing to show buildings where there are none in Seattle and to remove structures and replace them with greenery in Beijing. Zhao used an algorithm called CycleGAN to manipulate satellite photos. The algorithm, developed by researchers at UC Berkeley, has been widely used for all sorts of image trickery. It trains an artificial neural network to recognize the key characteristics of certain images, such as a style of painting or the features on a particular type of map. Another algorithm then helps refine the performance of the first by trying to detect when an image has been manipulated…”

Why COVID vaccines give way better protection than a COVID infection

Mashable: “COVID vaccines give us much better protection than a COVID infection, say infectious disease experts. That’s one of many reasons to get a COVID shot, which are rigorously (and continually) tested for safety. The vaccines trigger a significantly more robust immune response than a naturally-acquired infection. Ultimately, this better prepares your body for a… Continue Reading

The FBI will feed compromised passwords to Have I Been Pwned

Engadget: “Have I Been Pwned, the website that gives you a way to check which of your login details have been compromised by data breaches, is working with the FBI to grow its database. The partnership will give the website access to fresh passwords as they become compromised, depending on what the feds are investigating… Continue Reading

How a largely untested AI algorithm crept into hundreds of hospitals

Fast Company: “In the midst of the [pandemic] uncertainty, Epic, a private electronic health record giant and a key purveyor of American health data, accelerated the deployment of a clinical prediction tool called the Deterioration Index. Built with a type of artificial intelligence called machine learning and in use at some hospitals prior to the pandemic,… Continue Reading

Building global open-access knowledge on Digital Self-Determination

“The Berkman Klein Center’s latest Research Sprint, co-hosted with Digital Asia Hub, explored digital self-determination, a multi-faceted concept that includes ownership and agency over one’s data, and what it means cross-culturally and through various lenses, including for example how digital self-determination can and should play out in areas such as health, the gig economy, and… Continue Reading

Another Nobelium Cyberattack

ZDNET – Microsoft warns of current Nobelium phishing campaign impersonating USAID: “Russian-backed group gained control of email marketing platform used by USAID to ramp up its attacks…” Microsoft Blog: “This week we observed cyberattacks by the threat actor Nobelium targeting government agencies, think tanks, consultants, and non-governmental organizations. This wave of attacks targeted approximately 3,000 email accounts at more than 150 different organizations. While organizations in the… Continue Reading

Stephen Hawking’s archive will be digitized and made freely available

A treasure trove of archive papers and personal objects – from Hawking’s seminal works on theoretical physics to scripts from episodes of The Simpsons – are to be divided between two of the UK’s leading cultural institutions following a landmark Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) agreement on behalf of the nation.  The £4.2m AIL agreement between… Continue Reading