Feb 16-29, 2024 - Vol 4, Issue 14
INDIA NEWS
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Microsoft to help India become Deepfakes, GenAI amplifying romance scams in India, an AI world leader: Satya Nadella warn researchers in the AI era.
Mumbai, Feb 7 (IANS) As India embarks on its Artificial Intelligence (AI) journey, Microsoft will help the country become self-reliant by fostering a skilled AI workforce and empowering every sector and industry to transform with AI, the company’s Chairman and CEO, Satya Nadella, said on Wednesday. During his address, Nadella announced that Microsoft will provide 2 million people in India with AI skilling opportunities by 2025, to help close skills gaps and strengthen India’s ability to thrive
"India is uniquely positioned to make the promise of AI a reality. We are committed to partnering broadly across the public and private sector to help close the nation's AI skills gap and create new opportunities throughout the country,” Nadella told the gathering. Nadella highlighted how Microsoft Copilot, along with the company’s other AI solutions, is driving measurable productivity gains for people and organisations by helping them complete work faster and with superior quality. Many organisations in India are already accelerating innovation using Copilot for Microsoft 365 and GitHub Copilot, like Axis Bank, Infosys, HCL Tech, LTIMindtree and others.
Microsoft said that organisations in India are seeing an average $3.86 return for every US dollar spent on AI projects, and more than 150 organisations are already innovating with Azure OpenAI Service across industries such as agriculture, aviation, ecommerce, and fast-moving consumer goods. Air India, the flag carrier airline, deployed a generative AI virtual agent called AI.g. It has successfully answered over half a million customer queries since its launch in March 2023, and manages over 6,000 queries a day in four languages. With its fourth data centre region set to go live soon, and data centres in collaboration with Jio, Microsoft boasts more datacenter regions than any other cloud provider in the country.
India well positioned to use AI to make software development more productive: Google computer science. He emphasised the importance of education and skill development in AI for students and software developers. New Delhi, Feb 5 (IANS) India is well positioned to use artificial intelligence (AI) to make software development more productive in the country, Google said in a blogpost on Monday. The post detailed the recent between fireside chat, Dr. Jeff Dean, Chief Scientist, Google DeepMind and Google Research, and Dr. Pramod Varma, CTO of EkStep Foundation and former Chief Architect Aadhaar & India Stack. The experts delved into unique opportunities and ethical considerations for AI in India, and the country's position as a leader in responsible AI innovation. According to Dean, India can capitalise on AI due to its strong foundation in engineering and
"Young students in India are eager to understand the shift from more traditional computer science to learned based approaches for solving all kinds of problems. You're going to see more students wanting to enter this kind of study and field of endeavor," Dean said. "AI is going to make software development much more productive, and India is especially well positioned in this space," he added. Dean noted that AI also has the potential to bridge gaps in underserved communities. AI also has a big role in healthcare and education -- from its ability to personalise education and provide greater access, to enabling doctors to make more informed medical decisions, Dean said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Varma emphasised the importance of leveraging AI to address the diverse linguistic and cultural landscape of India, aiming to increase productivity, efficiency, and address literacy gaps, while lowering costs. He also called the need to democratise AI tools and bridge gap between people and the technology with more availablity and accessibility. "You have to bring people and AI together to drive their productivity and ability to access information and knowledge which they don't have. There’s a huge divide even today. AI tools, compute, and expertise all need to be democratised," Dr. Varma said. He also stressed on the need for checks and balances as AI becomes increasingly widespread. Dr. Varma advocated for a focus on regulating the quality of services powered by AI, rather than attempting to regulate the technology itself.
X to let advertisers run ads next to ‘curated list’ of creators San Francisco, Feb 13 (IANS) Elon Musk-run X has announced that advertisers will soon be able to run ads next to certain content creators on the platform via the Creator Targeting programme.
"This means giving advertisers more control to be able to use the self-serve X Ads Manager to run ads against the content of their chosen creator(s)," it added.
This move will allow advertisers to prevent their ads from appearing next to controversial or offensive content.
The new development comes after numerous brands pulled their ads from X last year after their ads appeared next to proNazi content.
"Soon, advertisers on X can run ads against a curated list of premium content creators via Creator Targeting," the company said in a blogpost.
The microblogging platform also plans to add the ability to serve ads only on an individual creator’s profile -- completely eliminating the unlikely event
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of unwanted adjacencies while aligning your brand to creators you love most. Creator Targeting is an extension of X's powerful and brand safe video offering, according to the company. Last year, notable companies like Apple and Disney paused their ad spending on X after Musk endorsed an antisemitic post on the platform. However, he later apologised for that.
convincing personas in romance scams. “I strongly advocate for heightened vigilance when coerced away from established platforms into private conversations, where the protective layers of the initial site are forfeited. Regardless of the involvement of generative AI or deepfakes, the watchword is caution,” said Chris Boyd, staff research engineer at Tenable. New Delhi, Feb 12 (IANS) As Valentine's Day approaches, cyber-security researchers on Monday said that romance scams are on the rise in India and 66 per cent of people in the country fell prey to an online dating scam. In 2023, 43 per cent of Indians became victims of AI voice scams and 83 per cent of those who were scammed lost money. In recent years, romance scams have undergone a chilling transformation, merging traditional tactics with advanced technologies like generative AI and deepfakes, according to a new report by Tenable, the exposure management company. “AI-generated deepfakes have become sophisticated enough that more than two-thirds (69 per cent) of Indians say they cannot differentiate between AI and a person’s real voice,” the findings showed. Scammers are now leveraging generative AI and deepfake technologies to create more
These scams often originate on platforms like Facebook, tricking victims into a false sense of security, the report mentioned. “A troubling trend emerging is one where scammers routinely target older individuals, especially those who are widowed or suffer from memory loss,” the report added. According to researchers, requests for money from newfound connections should sound immediate alarm bells. It's crucial to scrutinise photographs and videos that deliberately conceal background details, hindering online verification, they advised. “Awareness and vigilance are our best defences against these heartless manipulations, ensuring that love seekers don't fall victim to the tangled web of AI-enhanced deception,” said Boyd.
Google announces $27 mn funding to boost AI training for people in Europe London, Feb 12 (IANS) Google on Monday announced the 25 million euros ($26.98 million) funding from Google.org to support artificial intelligence (AI) training and skills for people across Europe, with a particular focus on vulnerable and underserved communities.
people across Europe develop their knowledge, skills and confidence around AI, ensuring that no one is left behind," he added.
The company announced the funding as part of its AI Opportunity Initiative for Europe. Google will start by dedicating 10 million euros to equipping workers with the skills they need to avoid being left behind.
"The equity-free programme is to support startups using AI to solve society’s biggest challenges, in health, education and cybersecurity," Google said.
"AI has enormous potential to transform the world for the better. Yet research shows that the benefits of AI could exacerbate existing inequalities -- especially in terms of economic security and employment," Adrian Brown, Executive Director, Centre for Public Impact, which is running the nonprofit scheme alongside Google, said in a blogpost. "This new programme will help
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Celebrity impersonations, particularly targeting older demographics, have become widespread.
The initiative will also include a new series of Google for Startups Growth Academies across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The company is now open for applications for the Growth Academy: AI for Health. Under the AI Opportunity Initiative, the tech giant is also expanding its AI foundational courses to 18 languages. The courses are free of charge and available to everyone, offering a series of modules on introductory AI skills to help people and businesses get practical skills and knowledge
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