Kozminski Techblog

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With the rapid development of AI in all segments of the economy, there are raising concerns that AI may be used to manipulate politics and public opinion and used by certain groups of people to achieve their goals.

What AI tools are used to manipulate the public opinion?

1. Deepfakes: Deepfakes are AI-generated videos or images that depict people saying or doing things they never did. These realistic forgeries can be used to spread misinformation, damage reputations, or manipulate public opinion.

2. Social media bots: AI-powered bots can be programmed to spread specific messages or content on social media platforms. They can create false impressions of public opinion, amplify certain narratives, or even harass and intimidate users with opposing views.

3. Algorithmic bias: AI algorithms used in social media platforms can perpetuate biases and reinforce echo chambers. This can lead to the amplification of certain opinionsand the suppression of others, skewing public perception and creating a distorted view of reality.

4. Micro-targeting: AI can analyze vast amounts of data to identify and target individuals with personalized messages. By exploiting people’s preferences, emotions, and vulnerabilities, these tailored messages can sway opinions and influence voting behavior.

5. Automated news generation: AI can generate news articles, making it easier to disseminate fake news or propaganda. This can lead to the spread of misinformation, further distorting public opinion and undermining trust in news sources.

What concerns does utilization of AI in politics raise?

AI could give governments unprecedented surveillance power over citizens. It could exacerbate mis/disinformation and deepfakes, while simultaneously improving tools that to combat such synthetic media. AI could undermine democratic values by perpetuating and amplifying social inequalities. It could further undermine trust and the social contract (although we’ve done a sufficient job of debasing that all by ourselves). It could challenge politicians and communicators in terms of AI’s disruption of work, employment and economies.

As AI continues to advance, its potential to manipulate public opinion becomes an increasingly pressing issue. It is crucial for policymakers, technology companies, and society as a whole to address these concerns and develop safeguards to protect democratic values, maintain trust, and ensure that AI is used responsibly and ethically. This may involve regulations, transparency initiatives, and public education efforts to raise awareness about the risks and challenges posed by AI-driven manipulation of public opinion.

What are the potential benefits of AI in politics?

 AI will automate tasks such as content creation, allowing strategists to focus on strategy. In the battle between those throwing stones and those having to deal with the broken windows, it will help organizations with their crisis communications by using machine learning to monitor news, identifying patterns and problems to minimize damage. It might help predict the outcomes of elections and referenda with greater precision than polls, thereby helping political campaigns make more informed decisions on where to spend their time and money.

Generative AI will take political modeling and sentiment analysis to another level. It will be deployed in political circles to personalise messages to individual voters. Texts that have been personalised based on your past voting history or the issues that you care about most will become more granular. Helpful? Slightly creepy? A logical extension of current personalisation algorithms that we currently use every day? 

AI will sift through large amounts of data to help inform government policy decisions. It could predict and help prevent instances of election interference and improve public services. It might change the balance of power between governments and citizens by giving citizens more voice and agency. It could be used within citizen assemblies to help with facilitation, information gathering, consensus building and idea generation. Citizen assemblies could be asked to recommend AI policies. AI will likely help the media in its watchdog efforts. 

Additional materials

Author; Jamil Jahangirov

Reading Time: 3 minutes

With the rapid development of AI in all spheres of economy and other industries governments of different states endorse the utilization of AI in military industry. However, considering the risk of losing control over AI there are concerns about how dangerous it would be create “killing machines”.

How deep is AI currently integrated in the military?

AI can benefit the military in numerous ways including: 

• Warfare systems
• Strategic decision making
• Data processing and Research
• Combat Simulation
• Target Recognition
• Threat Monitoring
• Drone Swarms
• Cybersecurity
• Transportation
• Casualty Care and Evacuation

One of the most notable ways militaries are utilizing AI is the development of autonomous weapons and vehicle systems. AI-powered crewless aerial vehicles (UAVs), ground vehicles and submarines are employed for reconnaissance, surveillance and combat operations and will take on a growing role in the future. 

As AI technologies continue to evolve, their impact on military intelligence is likely to grow. Some experts predict that AI systems will become increasingly integrated into military operations, providing decision-makers with real-time insights and enabling them to respond more quickly and effectively to threats. 

Benefits of AI in the military

• Improved speed and accuracy: AI systems can process massive amounts of data quickly and accurately, allowing military intelligence agencies to gain insights faster and more precisely. 
• Gives systems the ability to react at gigahertz speed, which could also the overall pace and outcome of human combat.
• Enhanced situational awareness: AI-powered sensors and other technologies can help military intelligence agencies maintain a better understanding of the battlefield, providing them with a more complete picture of the enemy’s capabilities and intentions.
• Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or UAVs combined with AI can be used to patrol border areas, identify possible threats, and transmit valuable information.
• Deep Fake technology includes the use of photo, audio, and video forgeries known as “deep fakes” as a method to create false news reports, and public discourse, erode public trust, and blackmail diplomats [3]. AI can be used to detect manipulations.
• Better resource utilization: By automating routine tasks, AI systems can free up human intelligence analysts to focus on more complex and strategic problems.
• Militaries can use computer vision and AI algorithms that analyze footage from UAVs and can automatically identify hostile activity. This would reduce the amount of time it would take a human to go through drone footage and obtain information [3]. Personnel could instead focus their time on making more efficient decisions based on the actionable information provided by AI.
• Reduced risk to human life: By relying on machines to perform dangerous or difficult tasks, militaries can reduce the risk to their personnel and increase their operational effectiveness.
• Autonomous systems are able to operate at higher efficiency and safety level. Militaries can implement AI into their unmanned systems and extend their robotic capabilities for navigation [1]. They can conduct dangerous reconnaissance missions without having to put their personnel at risk. 

What are the risks of AI in the military?

• Malfunction: Autonomous weapons systems rely on AI algorithms to make decisions, and if there is a malfunction, the system may target the wrong individuals or groups. This could result in unintended casualties and human rights violations.
• Lack of Accountability: Since AWS is designed to operate without human intervention, assigning responsibility for any errors or violations during their operation becomes challenging. This lack of accountability could lead to impunity for individuals responsible for errors or violations.
• Hacking: AWS could be hacked, making them vulnerable to unauthorized use. This could result in the system being used against the country that created them or other unintended targets.
• Lack of Human Control: AWS does not require human intervention to operate, raising concerns about losing human control over military force. This lack of control could have significant implications for the conduct of warfare.

Personal opinion

In my opinion, the implementation of AI in the military should continue, However, the governments and military staff should minimize the risks of losing control over the machines by slowing down the progress and doing deeper analysis over the situation.

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What is blockchain?

Blockchain is a revolutionary technology that underlies Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and it is changing the way the world does business. It is a distributed, global platform that fundamentally changes what we can do online, how we do it, and who can participate. 

Blockchain technology offers a new way for us to manage trust, which is essential in business and in life. It is a tamper-proof, secure protocol that allows transactions to be simultaneously anonymous and secure. Blockchain technology has the potential to transform many industries, including finance, healthcare, and supply chain management. It can enable secure, transparent, and efficient transactions without the need for intermediaries. The blockchain revolution is still in its early stages, but it has the potential to reshape the global economy and transform our lives in profound ways.

Trend № 1: International trade and business

Smart contracts are an essential element of the blockchain ecosystem that many businesses have grown to adopt. It simplifies documents such as licenses and certificates, among others. This reduces overall costs while eliminating reliability on third parties. Additionally, it improves both speed and accuracy in the conduct of international trade. 

Taking the example of IBM, they state, that Blockchain helps shippers, ports, customs services, logistics providers, banks, insurers, and others better manage documents across organizations and borders – all in real time and with absolute precision.

You can get more information about this topic in WTO’s research.

Trend №2: Decentralized Finance and Banking

DeFi eliminates intermediaries by allowing people, merchants, and businesses to conduct financial transactions through emerging technology. It is an alternative approach to traditional finance, based on the belief that the centralized approach is inefficient and that current banking systems are especially vulnerable to cyber-attacks because of the centralized nature of the system and the use of outdated technology. DeFi applications give users more control over their money through personal wallets and trading services that cater to individuals. DeFi protocols implement financial services as a suite of smart contracts, which are software programs that encode the logic of conventional financial operations4. DeFi has the potential to transform many industries, including finance, healthcare, and supply chain management.

Trend №3: Blockchain Gaming

Blockchain gaming leverages blockchain technology to create decentralized gaming experiences, offering players the ability to own in-game assets and earn cryptocurrency through play-to-earn games. This new model provides enhanced security, protected data encryption, and transparent transactions, making it difficult for fraudsters to cheat the system. Blockchain games typically allow players to trade in-game items for cryptocurrency, which can then be exchanged for money, providing a new way for players and developers to earn money. However, there are some limitations and challenges, such as technical complexity for players and a limited selection of blockchain-based games. Despite these challenges, the future of blockchain gaming is promising, with the potential for significant growth and mainstream adoption as more businesses endorse blockchain technology

Author: Jamil Jahangirov

Used tool; Perplexity AI

Reading Time: 3 minutes

How has the business changed over the past decades?

Changes in the demand and expectations

In comparison with the past decades, customers have become way more impatient and try to get their product as soon as possible. This situation forces businesses to make their services faster and more convenient.

Government’s regulations

The regulations, imposed by the governments of the states significantly influence the business market.

Among them:

• Tax codes
• Employment and labor laws
• Advertising regulations
• Environmental regulations

The most important tech trends of the future

1. The widespread utilization of AI

Currently, the AI reshapes the business market with the high speed. One of the good examples can be AI insurance.

Using AI in this market sector could help with:

• Making the risk assessment more accurate,
• Making the fraud detection easier,
• Faster service and decreasing the risk of errors

“We believe with technology and machine learning, a lot of [human underwriting] can be done away with, “The percentage of insurance applications that require human touch will go down dramatically, maybe 80% to 90%, and even to low single digits.”

Sofya Pogreb, COO at Next Insurance

2.Increased cyber-security measures

Due to the increase of the cyber-attacks in the last several years businesses will emphasize on improving their cyber-security systems.

“SMBs, like their large enterprise counterparts, will lock down on a comprehensive backup-and-disaster-recovery solution to keep protected, and also form new standardized blocking and tackling game plans to keep the business even more safe.”

Jim Lippie, CEO of SaaS Alerts

It’s important to note that many organizations lack sufficient cybersecurity talent, knowledge, and expertise —and the shortfall is growing. Broadly, cyber risk management has not kept pace with the proliferation of digital and analytics transformations, and many companies are not sure how to identify and manage digital risks.

3. Automation of business processes

Nowadays a lot of small business owners consider the automation opportunity to save money and solve the shortage of work force in certain areas.

“With continued shortages of workers within select domains, automation investments will continue to increase. Examples for small business include online pricing automation to balance profitability and revenue growth, as well as inventory management systems to ensure the perfect amount of inventory is on hand.”

Omri Traub, founder of Popcart

Business automation is well-suited for streamlining processes across just about every area of an organization  Process automation manages business processes for uniformity and transparency. Often handled by dedicated software, process automation can increase productivity and efficiency — while also delivering valuable business insights

Used AI tools: Bing AI

Author: Jamil Jahangirov

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