Weapons of mass destruction – why Uncle Sam wants you.

14

October

2023

No ratings yet.

The Second World War was the cradle for national and geopolitical informational wars, with both sides firing rapid rounds of propaganda at each other. Because of the lack of connectivity (internet), simple pamphlets had the power to plant theories in entire civilizations. In today’s digital age, where everything and everyone is connected, the influence of artificial intelligence on political propaganda cannot be underestimated. This raises concern as, unlike in the Second World War, the informational wars being fought today extend themselves to national politics in almost every first-world country.

Let us take a look at the world’s most popular political battlefield; the US elections; in 2016, a bunch of tweets containing false claims led to a shooting in a pizza shop (NOS, 2016), these tweets had no research backing the information they were transmitting, but fired at the right audience they had significant power. Individuals have immediate access to (mis)information, this is a major opportunity for political powers wanting to gain support by polarising their battlefield.

Probably nothing that I have said to this point is new to you, so shouldn’t you just stop reading this blog and switch to social media to give your dopamine levels a boost? If you were to do that, misinformation would come your way six times faster than truthful information, and you contribute to this lovely statistic (Langin, 2018). This is exactly the essence of the matter, as it is estimated that by 2026, 90% of social media will be AI-generated (Facing reality?, 2022). Combine the presence of AI in social media with the power of fake news, bundle these in propaganda, and add to that a grim conflict like the ones taking place in East Europe or the Middle East right now, and you have got yourself the modern-day weapon of mass destruction, congratulations! But of course, you have got no business in all this so why bother to interfere, well, there is a big chance that you will share misinformation yourself when transmitting information online (Fake news shared on social media U.S. | Statista, 2023). Whether you want it or not, Uncle Sam already has you, and you will be part of the problem.

Artificial intelligence is about to play a significant role in geopolitics and in times of war the power of artificial intelligence is even greater, luckily full potential of these powers hasn’t been reached yet, but it is inevitable that this will happen soon. Therefore, it is essential that we open the discussion not about preventing the use of artificial intelligence in creating conflict and polarising civilisations, but about the use of artificial intelligence to repair the damages it does; to counterattack the false information it is able to generate, to solve conflicts it helps create, and to unite groups of people it divides initially. What is the best way for us to not be part of the problem but part of the solution?

References

Facing reality?: Law Enforcement and the Challenge of Deepfakes : an Observatory Report from the Europol Innovation Lab. (2022).

Fake news shared on social media U.S. | Statista. (2023, 21 maart). Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/657111/fake-news-sharing-online/

Langin, K. (2018). Fake news spreads faster than true news on Twitter—thanks to people, not bots. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat5350

NOS. (2016, 5 december). Nepnieuws leidt tot schietpartij in restaurant VS. NOS. https://nos.nl/artikel/2146586-nepnieuws-leidt-tot-schietpartij-in-restaurant-vs

Please rate this

Traveling Back in Time with TikTok’s 80’s AI Yearbook Photo Trend

6

October

2023

No ratings yet.

For about a week, a new trend has risen in popularity in the TikTok community.

From the start, TikTok was a platform where creativity bloomed, and the current craze for “80s AI yearbook photos” trend has gone an extra step in taking nostalgia to unprecedented levels. Generative AI has made it possible for people once more to go to a decade associated with neon lights, perm, and large jackets. Even more, for people to experience fashion trends that they were never a part of.

@mmmjoemele

Oh my 👀🤣 #AgostoDump #aiyearbook

♬ original sound – Dose of RX | A dose of life ✨️ – RX | A dose of life ✨️

The app that enables its users to do this is called Epik. They charge their users $5 dollars to create 60 yearbook pictures that are delivered in 24 hours, or $10 dollars if they want express delivery in 2 hours. So far almost every video that has been posted about the process of making the photos shows a queue of 1.000+ which goes to show that this is likely to be extremely profitable for the creators of this AI/app.

Generative AI continues to prove its ability in producing engaging and entertainment-rich experiences. In a matter of minutes, these sophisticated AI algorithms take a picture of your face and flawlessly put it into ‘80s yearbook photo frames that contain typical hair-cuts, fashionable styles and environment typical for this period. This is not just an ordinary filter, but rather a kind of time machine for photographing oneself.

This is in line with some of the major points we have made while studying this course. This highlights the possibility of using AI for purposes of entertainment and creativity. As a result, generative AI is not only about data analysis, but it can also become a means of artistic expression, converting ordinary selfies into notable creations of digital art.

This TikTok trend makes us think about the future of Generative AI in entertainment. Are we going to witness other movements where AI is used to revive ancient periods in time by methods that will be invented in the future? What implications could this have on our perceptions of nostalgia and cultural references?

To sum up, TikTok’s ‘80s yearbook photo trend is an enjoyable take on the use of AI in creating entertaining, but nostalgia driven content. This is an important message for our time. It means technology connects us both with the past and present so that we can investigate and appreciate different aspects of history. 

Please rate this

Exploring HeyGen AI: The Gateway to Effortless Video Translation

19

September

2023

No ratings yet.

One thing I found in my studies abroad is that learning a language means more than communicating with the local population; it also allows access to an extensive set of content and culture. Now think of yourself as a freelance content creator, or you are working for the company that created an amazing video. It’s educational, entertaining, and it has the potential to appeal to people all over the world. But to do so, there is still a language barrier that needs to be broken. It would normally require a team of translation and dubbers to painstakingly duplicate your video in more than one language.

In the rapidly evolving landscape of digital content creation, a new player has emerged to simplify the process of video translation: HeyGen AI. For creators who want to make their content available to a global audience while preserving the authenticity of their message, this groundbreaking service offers a unique solution.

With one click, this tool aims to simplify the whole translation process. In order to ensure that this translation stays true to the original charm of the video, it employs a real voice clone which closely imitates the actual speech style of the creator. Your content is always true to your tone, no matter what language you speak.

To illustrate this concept, let’s consider the example of Mr. Beast, a renowned content creator known for his philanthropic endeavors and engaging videos. Mr. Beast has set up a company to assist him in reaching an international audience at this time, by dubbing and translating the videos in 14 different languages (Creator Global, 2023). However, with HeyGen AI, he and his team can effortlessly create videos in various languages without delay for manually dubbing, and expand his global reach without compromising the essence of his content.

The goal of HeyGen AI isn’t to break the language barrier, it’s to open up new possibilities for creators and viewers.

Creator Global. (2023). Creator Global. Retrieved from Creator Global: https://www.creatorglobal.com

Please rate this

Filter bubbles

13

October

2022

No ratings yet.

I first heard of the term filter bubble a few years ago during one of my lectures during my bachelor. I found it an interesting topic as filter bubbles are everywhere, and I believe even more widespread during the pandemic. For those of you who don’t exactly know yet what a filter bubble is: you find yourself in a filter bubble, every time that you are surrounded by news and opinions that are in line with your opinion (Farnam Street, n.d.). This probably does ring a bell now, as for our generation we can easily link it to the algorithms that our favorite social media apps use. One well-known example of filter bubbles is when Trump (suddenly) won the presidential elections in 2016. A lot of people didn’t see it coming that Trump actually had won the elections as they were almost sure that Hillary Clinton would win (Baer, 2016). This happened because many people actually ‘lived’ in a filter bubble. This happened because the algorithms that are used by social media platforms like Facebook, generate a personalized timeline that is more adjusted to your preferences every time you open or like an article. The algorithm personalizes the content, which results in only content that is in line with your opinion showing up on your timeline at some point. The fact that it is so easy to surround yourself with other people who share the same opinions also reinforces the creation of filter bubbles. A lot of people tend to believe they are well-educated on certain topics because they read content all day. But the problem is that this content is so tailored to their beliefs, that it often only tells one side of the story (Baer, 2016).

Another example of when filter bubbles were a hot topic was during the peak of the pandemic when polarization occurred in society due to the different beliefs of people. Two groups were created, and more people started believing that vaccines were only causing harm and that the pandemic was a hoax. In the United States, 42% of Americans have seen a lot or some news about the coronavirus outbreak that seemed completely made up (Mitchell & Oliphant, 2020). This number is alarming, as this can be caused by people living in filter bubbles. People who questions the pandemic started clicking on some articles that agreed with their doubts, causing the algorithm to show them more and more similar articles that are in line with their opinions. This causes people to believe that what they think is true because that’s the only news they see at some point. However, the problem is that they only see a very small fraction of the actual news on the pandemic and thus barely have an idea that there are other facts that can be true.

Personally, I think this is a serious problem and one of the downsides of social media. People can start believing in their own reality and not listen to others anymore, because all they see is news that is in line with their believes. What do you guys think of it? And do you believe that there is a clear solution for the problem of filter bubbles?

References

Baer, D. (2016, November 9). The ‘Filter bubble’ explains why Trump won and you didn’t see it coming. The Cut. Available at: https://www.thecut.com/2016/11/how-facebook-and-the-filter-bubble-pushed-trump-to-victory.html (Accessed: October 13 2022)

Farnam Street (2019, November 14). How filter bubbles distort reality: Everything you need to know. Farnam Street. Available at: https://fs.blog/filter-bubbles/ (Accessed: October 13 2022)

Mitchell, A. & Oliphan, J. (2020, March 18). Americans Immersed in COVID-19 News; Most
Think Media Are Doing Fairly Well Covering It. Pew Research Center [Blog Post]. Available at:
https://www.journalism.org/2020/03/18/americans-immersed-in-covid-19-news-mostthink-media-are-doing-fairly-well-covering-it/ (Accessed: October 13 2022)

Please rate this

Somebody is watching me

11

October

2022

No ratings yet.

Rockwell said it first, “I always feel that somebody is watching me and I have no privacy.” How many times has it occurred to you to discuss that you are interested in buying a product or paying for a service, and right after you unlock your smartphone and…what a coincidence! Your feed on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and other social media and search engines is full of ads related to the desired item. Maybe the universe is listening and displaying all the relevant ads. Maybe not. 

Let’s use an example to make it more clear. Take, for instance, the use case that you are living in Rotterdam and you are visiting a friend of yours in Amsterdam. That friend of yours is really excited about the iPhone 14 that she ordered online, and she is trying to convince you to buy it. You say that you will think about it and the conversation ends there. You return home, unlock your smartphone, and…surprise! It is literally everywhere in your online presence. How is that possible? You call your mom and start discussing conspiracy theories and how Mark Zuckerberg and Adam Mosseri are eavesdropping. They are not. But if they are not, how do our thoughts and discussions about products magically convert into ads? 
They have master’s degrees in tracking and watching our actions in the online and offline worlds as well. If you are not naive or more politically correct, if you have ever read the terms and conditions on Facebook, you would have realized by now that you have consented to surveillance in your online behavior. Every digital step that you make (aka every click) leaves a digital footprint behind, which is turned into data that is saved to your unique online customer profile. Tracking is not restricted to the online world. Back to the I-phone 14 example Facebook tracked your location and found out that you and your friend were together. And, respectively, they track her purchasing history and focus on the last purchase, the iPhone 14. To be honest, anyone who would have paid that amount of money would talk about it. Facebook takes advantage of the probability that your friend discussed that purchase with you and decided to give it a shot with you.

Besides location tracking, Facebook’s algorithm detects similarities and differences in your and your friend’s interests, demographics, places you have been, groups you are a part of, hashtags you follow, and so on (Selman, 2021). If you are influenced by the conversation, you will be tempted by the ads and click on them to find further info. Then the footprint is yours and more ads will be displayed. If you ignore the ads, eventually, after a while, they will be replaced with ads that you are more likely to engage with. 

To conclude, there are no conspiracy theories and nobody is listening to your private conversations through your smartphone. That is what Edward Snowden should have probably said in order to not live freely, but he lived many years under asylum because the NSA and CIA wanted to…make him quiet.

Sources:

Selman, H. (2021). Why We See Digital Ads After Talking About Something. [online] McNutt & Partners. Available at: https://www.mcnuttpartners.com/why-we-see-digital-ads-after-talking-about-something/ [Accessed 11 Oct. 2022].

Please rate this

More than Killing Your Time? The Trend, Future, and Growth of Consumer Internet

2

October

2022

No ratings yet.

Undoubtedly, Meta cannot ignore the competition from TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance nowadays. The temptation of content ranking based on social graphs for users is increasingly inferior to the taste and convenience of recommended content. However, three trends are emerging in the consumer Internet, from media to algorithms to interaction. Meta, or Facebook and Instagram together, is on the way to differentiating itself meanwhile building the safeguard with resources on user and technology.

  1. Immersive Medium

It has been witnessed that Facebook gained explosive growth after it added photo sharing from the text mode, and Instagram expanded rapidly after adding the video function to photo media. The progression of the medium, from text to images, then videos, 3D afterward, and till then VR, is the most signification advancement that all the consumer internet companies above are devoting into.

  1. Involvement of AI

Computers are becoming smarter and more convenient. As time passed, Facebook changed from a collection of personal information to time stamp posts, then to ranking feed with weight and signal. The recommendation is another stop with a huge step: the content pool is more than your interests and following but from the whole internet. Afterward, AI generation and creation will be the next focus.

  1. Dynamic User Interaction

The third trend for consumer internet would be the transformation of user-orientated towards computer-controlling. While “click”, “scroll,” and “tap” were used in the initial versions of Facebook and Instagram, TikTok applied “swipe” to simplify the process in a more user-friendly way. Other companies, such as Youtube, are using “autoplay”, which is a more interchangeable and less-interaction method.

No matter what technology or direction those consumer internet companies are heading to, the attractive part is that they’re combining those trends and making them boundless. In the long run, the diverse content creation environment and lower cost of AI could realize a vision far more than user engagement, but what users choose to interact with. 

Reference

Rebecaa F. (2019). The Strategy Behind TikTok’s Global Rise. Harvard Business Review, September, 19.

Please rate this

Tantan; one of the large dating platforms with a freemium business model

2

October

2022

5/5 (2)

Dating apps have become an enormous business around the world. It connects all kinds of people together who would like to find their soulmate. An example of a dating application is Tantan. The app had around 360 million users in 2020, whereas most of them are in China (Chen, 2020). At first, I thought it was like a Chinese version of Tinder. However, it is not only meant for people in China. You can download it yourself for free in the Google Play store or Apple store and make friends with people all around the world. Tantan has a freemium business model, where users can choose between monthly subscriptions that provide benefits that non-subscribers do not have. The benefits are for example being able to see who liked your profile or having unlimited likes.

As mentioned earlier, Tantan has implemented a freemium business model. It is essential to find the right balance between what they offer for free and not for free. When relatively many people do not buy one of the subscriptions, it indicates either that Tantan offers too many features for free or that it is not clear what value buying one of the subscriptions brings. On the contrary, when relatively many people do buy the premium versions, it can suggest that the application is not appealing enough. After all, it is better to for example have 5% of 2 million users to buy one of the subscriptions than to have 50% of 100.000 users that buy a subscription (Kumar, 2014).

In my opinion, Tantan’s freemium business model has the right balance. It depicts very clear what great benefits the consumer can generate with one of the subscriptions. Have you tried the Tantan app and what do you think about it? If not, I recommend you download and experience Tantan.

Sources

Chen, W., 2020. Chinese dating app Tantan claims 360 million registered users but no profits. [Online]
Available at: https://kr-asia.com/chinese-dating-app-tantan-claims-360-million-registered-users-but-no-profits
[Accessed 28 9 2022].

Kumar, V., 2014. Making “Freemium” Work. Harvard Business Review .

Please rate this

Has Facebook’s Outage Taught Us Anything on our Social Media Dependency ?

6

October

2021

No ratings yet.

As I am sure you are all aware, Facebook had one of the longest outages it has ever recorded on Monday evening here in Europe, lasting about 6 hours ((Barry, 2021). The outage was worldwide, and affected the normal flow of information as a whole. Despite an estimated $50 billion decrease in market value (Sweney, 2021), the negative impact it had on users worldwide was significantly more important. This has led many people to question whether we as a society are over-dependant on social media applications such as the Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp of the Facebook group.


Different regions in the world attach different importances to “western social medias” such as Facebook. In developing countries, notably in Latin America, where the emergence of internet and smartphones has been close to twofold in the last two years (TechCrunch Is Now a Part of Verizon Media, 2021), social medias are borderline a necessity for the daily functions of locals. Indeed, the free nature of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp means that more people rely on these social networks than on regular sim contracts or sim based communications. In Latin America, 85% of all internet users have a social media account. This only highlights what kind of devastating impact the failure of Facebook can have on local inhabitants.

It has been seen that more developed regions of the world, namely Europe, are less influenced by free social media. As opposed to the aforementioned 85%, only 50% of europeans actively depend on Facebook and its applications for communications (Sweney, 2021).

But as we move further east, there is a trend for a smaller usage of Facebook’s social media platforms. Unexpectedly, Russia reports a mere 8.8% of people using Facebook, as many Russians prefer local alternatives such as OdnoKlassniki (OK.ru). Further East, we can see that the usage pattern of Western social medias is smaller than elsewhere. The biggest economies in Asia, namely China, Japan and South Korea, all have comparatively low usage rates for Facebook despite such a prominent GDP per capita. In China, the Facebook company is totally banned. Nevertheless, less economically developed countries in Asia, such as India, follow the same trend as Latin America as they have abnormally large usage rates for free social medias.

Some have pinned the timing of Facebook’s outage as mitigating, as it occurred during the Indian Night time. For a country with over 500 million Whatsapp users (Sweney, 2021), the impact of this outage could have been significantly more pronounced if it had happened a couple of hours later.

This highlights the fragility that lies on relying solely on social medias for communications. It also underlines how the perspective on over dependency on social medias depends strongly on geographic placement.
Furthermore, this outage has pushed many people to express further concerns on security, as the source of the issue has not been explained in a clear and detailed manner.

REFERENCES

  • Barry, E. (2021, October 5). Messenger Apps Signal and Telegram Benefit After Facebook Outage. Time. https://time.com/6104151/signal-downloads-facebook-outage/
  • Sweney, M. (2021, October 5). Facebook outage highlights global over-reliance on its services. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/05/facebook-outage-highlights-global-over-reliance-on-its-services
  • TechCrunch is now a part of Verizon Media. (2021, September 22). TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/22/latin-americas-second-wave-of-digital-transformation/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADqC0VgYnPsGg02YWG2uVJZRj6w1KfmshCPtU8Mo7upu0qonam70DxE93UhNwfKAUpHDSaR4RoZ77p3A4v24BqvdYPk_W79haMBOZDJjmO6fRUPtJ6sUcjUAuPu5xoK_BmPm5qjJJ8SKQKR1sMOSEsHvWIOJHz-mjHy2bJQoPif0

Please rate this

The Dark Pages Of Facebook

6

October

2021

No ratings yet.

Facebook has received a lot of bad publicity in the last week. Almost everybody is aware of the huge outage that affected Facebook and its subsidiaries, which made it impossible for consumers to use Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. This is ofcourse a big problem and shows how reliable we are on a few companies to communicate with each other. However, this outage took the spotlight from much bigger problems with the platform that were revealed a couple of days earlier.

On Sunday, the identity of a whistleblower was revealed on the TV show “60 Minutes”. Frances Haugen started her job at Facebook in the civic integrity team. However, as time went on and this team got dissolved, Haugen became more and more disenchanted by the company. At some point during this year, she realized that the company prioritized its profits over the wellbeing of its users. She gathered thousands of documents and left the company (Duffy, 2021).

But what where the issues that made Haugen leave Facebook?

It has been shown that the use of social media can have negative effects on its users, like increased stress or anxiety (Brown, 2018). Haugen, however, revealed that Facebook knew of some of these negative effects and chose growth instead of fixing these issues. Two instances can be identified from the leaked documents. According to Haugen, Facebook knew from research that using Instagram could have a negative effect on the mental health of teenage girls and that it helps to create a divide in society (Eijsvoogel, 2021). The company chooses to ignore these problems and by doing so creating a worse society for us to live in.

Luckily, this problem is getting more attention in recent times. Haugen even appeared in front of the United States congress and lawmakers all over the world want to control (the seemingly endless) power of social media companies like Facebook. I would love to hear what you think about this issue! Should the government set stricter laws to try and limit the harm of social media or is this the responsibility of the users and not the company that provides the platform?

References:

Brown, J. (2018, January 4). Is social media bad for you? The evidence and the unknowns. Bbc.com; BBC Future. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180104-is-social-media-bad-for-you-the-evidence-and-the-unknowns

Duffy, C. (2021, October 4). Facebook whistleblower revealed on ’60 Minutes,’ says the company prioritized profit over public good. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/03/tech/facebook-whistleblower-60-minutes/index.html

Eijsvoogel, J. (2021, October 5). Deze vrouw wil aan het licht brengen hoe gevaarlijk Facebook is. NRC. https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2021/10/05/de-vrouw-die-facebook-in-t-nauw-bracht-a4060808

Please rate this

Finally action against social media platforms?

6

October

2021

No ratings yet.

Over the last couple of years, scandal after scandal regarding the blatant disregard for mental health issues by social media platforms like Facebook have been brought to the public’s attention. The 2020 Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, where several industry experts give insights into how social media platforms are exploiting users by manipulating their mental health for their own profits, brought great attention to these issues, but over time these effects subsided. This week, again, Facebook whistleblower Francis Haugen came out and stirred the pot by testifying before Congress the dangers of Facebook for children, and how the company put profits before the safety of users. Finally, it seems that governments are listening to society’s cries for help, but will it be enough to enforce stricter regulations?

It is not “news” that social media heavily manipulates its users to try and keep them on the app as long as possible, improving their own profits. For years it has been publicly known that platforms like Facebook hire people who’s main aim is to make the website as addictive as possible, without regard for the implications these might have on the mental health of users. As a result, increased anxiety, depression, and isolation are associated with excessive social media usage. Multiple employees have gone public to try and gain attention for this issue; some successfully, some to no avail. Recently, it was discovered that Facebook tried to cover up an internal report which researched how their products affects users. The report finds that 32% of young girls who felt bad about their body felt worse when they went to Instagram. Furthermore, the report concludes that Instagram negatively affects mental health in both young boys and young girls. With an app so commonly used among children, and (young) adults it is staggering how legislators are not cracking down on this extremely damaging industry. After all, (mental) health should be a main priority for governments.

This latest scandal has again put the power of social media in the media’s eye. Finally, legislators in the U.S. have put forward new, and expanding regulations that could have a bit of an impact on the negative effects of social media, such an expansion of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act which makes it illegal for platforms to collect data from under 13-year olds without consent of their parents. However, I am not very optimistic as other initiatives have often failed to become accepted into regulation, or fail to really serve the purpose of the legislation. Furthermore, the power of the platforms is enormous, and these are heavily involved in the funding of political parties, which poses another interesting question: should these gigantic (tech) corporations be allowed to be this involved in politics? However, that is a topic for a different blog.

Source: https://www.ft.com/content/e9e25ff3-639a-4cc1-bb81-dedf24d956e3 https://www.ft.com/content/febd8adc-8729-4e50-889d-f22a109fd44e

Please rate this