Tech Beat by Namecheap – 5 May 2023

Fears caused by ChatGPT are mainly over the extent to which it may be able to replace humans. But something else to keep us up at night is that the AI chatbot could also be a powerful tool for cybercriminals. Find out more about the warning against the potential dangers discovered in the last few months. 

In other news

• Google is racing to protect its core business from AI. Alphabet a/k/a Google has plans for an all-new search engine powered by AI technology. The move comes in response to the threat posed by new search engines like Microsoft’s Bing, which recently added new artificial intelligence technology. Google’s employees were reportedly shocked when they learned that Samsung was considering replacing Google with Bing as the default search engine on its devices. The New York Times reports an estimated $3 billion in annual revenue was at stake with the Samsung contract, and an additional $20 billion is tied to a similar Apple contract that will be up for renewal this year. 

• Wearable patches now deliver drugs through the skin. MIT News reports on a new wearable device developed by MIT researchers that passes drugs through the skin by using harmless ultrasonic waves. These wearable devices can be used for treating various skin conditions, as well as delivering muscle relaxants, hormones, and other drugs. For certain conditions, delivering through the skin is much more direct, as drugs taken orally require larger doses due to loss through the gastric system.    

• AI project attempting to talk to animals. The Earth Species Project is a non-profit from founding members of Mozilla Labs and Twitter that’s attempting to use artificial intelligence to decode non-human communication, according to ZDNet. The research will use large machine learning-based language models similar to the ones that power ChatGPT and Google Bard. This could be achieved by deciphering collected bioacoustic data and then translating it into human languages. These language models are exposed to huge sets of data during the training process, after which they learn different inputs to understand the relationships between words and their meanings. This technology could be especially useful in wildlife conservation and scientific research. 

• The Brits are ready to ban fake reviews. The UK government is set to introduce the Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumer Bill, which aims to tackle the market dominance of big tech firms and protect consumers. BBC News reports the bill will make buying, selling, or hosting fake reviews illegal and will ban people from receiving rewards for writing glowing reviews. Companies will also have to remind users when free subscription trials end. 

• Italy lifts ban on ChatGPT. The BBC reports that the Italian data protection authority has removed the restriction placed on the OpenAI-owned AI Chatbot at the beginning of last month over privacy concerns. Garante has said that ChatGPT failed to check whether users were 13 or above, but Open AI promised to provide a tool to verify the age of users in Italy. Garante has welcomed the changes but has also called for more compliance. The regulator would like to see an age verification system as well as a campaign to inform the public about personal data processing and opting out. 

• Robotic avatars: cool or cringe? The Avatar XPrize competition showcased a variety of different hardware and software approaches to creating an avatar system that can transport human presence to a remote location in real time. IEEE Spectrum points out that while robots are not yet ready for the real world, the competition highlighted the power of humans paired with robotic systems, transporting our experience and adaptability to a remote location. A robotic avatar system is similar to virtual reality but brings a human into a physical environment.  

Tip of the week: Use AI to up your social media game

The world is advancing technologically, and AI is leading the way in many industries. Social media marketing is no exception. AI for social media is becoming increasingly popular, and small businesses can leverage its power to create compelling content. With AI, social media content creation can be streamlined and more efficient. Here are some tips for using AI for social media content creation.

• AI can help you generate content ideas. With AI-powered tools, you can analyze the latest trends and topics in your industry and create content ideas that are fresh and relevant to your audience. Bing’s chat-based search engine lets you ask questions like “What are people talking about today?” and “What topics are trending on TikTok?” This research will save you time and effort in brainstorming ideas and ensure that your content is in line with your audience’s interests.

• AI can help you create personalized content. By analyzing your audience’s behavior, preferences, and demographics, AI can create personalized content that speaks directly to your audience. This will help to increase engagement and drive conversions. Namecheap’s Relate Social has built-in features for generating custom text and images using AI. 

• AI can help you optimize your social media posts. With AI-powered tools, you can analyze your social media posts’ performance and optimize them to send at the right time of day. This will help you to get more out of your social media marketing efforts and achieve better results.