Pitt Cyber Blog

This week, we’re reading about leaks from a Chinese hacking firm, open-source AI trade-offs, a new Executive Order on foreign transfer of Americans' data, and polling data on the nation's trust in electoral processes. 

Oftentimes, the conversation around AI spurs broader musings: about the role of work in our lives, the effects of runaway capitalism and what it means to be human in an age when computers can outsmart us. To that end, we appreciated recent writing from The Atlantic and The New York Times prompting readers to grapple with the complicated relationship between technology, its creators and society. 

This week, we're reading about FCC action again deepfake phone calls, considerations of antitrust law in the AI market, the dual edged sword of open source AI, and new industry efforts on watermarking. 

AI-generated voices in robocalls can deceive voters. The FCC just made them illegal | The Associated Press

The Senate's testimony last week on youth online safety prompted us to compi

This week we're diving into Jeff Horwitz's new book on Facebook's innerworkings (building on his previous WSJ reporting informed by whistleblower Frances Haugen), weighing the tradeoffs of monopolistic conditions in the AI industry, and reflecting on the so-called liar's dividend – and what it means for accountability. 

Lots of great content this week: we especially recommend Mustafa Suleyman piece in Foreign Affairs on AI containment. Other reading includes the intersection of human trafficking and cybercrime at 'pig-butchering' scam centers in Southeast Asia and a new index to evaluate AI national preparedness. 

This week, we're reading about how disinformation has endangered population immunity for some diseases in the U.S., the sinister intent behind the Taliban's commitment to digital connectivity, and OpenAI's new election policies. 

Is Vaccination Approaching a Dangerous Tipping Point? | JAMA Network

Tops reads this week include AI plagiarism, the growth in ransomware attacks in 2023, a report by the UN High-level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence and contrasting examples of how AI might be used for good (advance forecasting of earthquakes) or ill (look no further than 4chan). 

Happy 2024! This week, we're reading a few big think pieces on neuro-ethics and the fragmentation of the internet, U.S.

This week, we're reading about the PRC's expanded cyberattack targets as well as Chinese efforts to establish dominance in developing countries' AI infrastructure, the latest speculation from Silicon Valley regarding a correlation between AI and existential doom, and an assessment of federal agency accounting of AI use cases. 

Opinion | Behind China’s Plans to Build AI for the World | Politico