Embedded Files
AI and National Defense
National Security Agency Director Army Gen. Paul M. Nakasone has just announced that the national security systems will use artificial intelligence. The use of artificial intelligence has been shunned by many because of the general idea that they aren’t able to trust a non-human source of intelligence. This may be due to the fact that they can’t trust its reliability or they are generally just concerned about the fact that it will take over in ways that can be stopped. However, the National Security Agency has just opened their arms to using AI for various reasons. The director added that recent strategies have been guided through the use of artificial intelligence due to its beneficial effects. The US has even passed a declaration that introduces responsible AI use in military operations. The use of artificial intelligence has been smiled upon by many US officials as they add that the use of AI has been a crucial part in the National Security Department. Although the National Security agency has accepted the use of artificial intelligence for advancements in the country, they have also recognized the potential drawbacks to using AI. Nakasone made a note that it is critical for the US to maintain a stronger position in relation to the artificial intelligence itself as the technology matures. In addition, Nakasone stated that as AI continues to grow there could be potential drawbacks and it is highly important to learn the vulnerabilities that they could be faced with through the usage of artificial intelligence.
-Abhishek Naka, October 2023
How Technology Has Affected The Business World
From 2000-2023, technology has revolutionized to fit the needs of humans. For example, think of Uber. Uber is a company, derived from the taxi system, in which customers pay for rides to their favored destination. This app has allowed humans to avoid the hassle that comes with driving. The same can be said with businesses as well. Companies have reduced the overall workload of managing businesses due to notable technological advancements. Some examples of this could be reaching a greater audience and securing sensitive information in companies.
An agency can communicate top countless people, especially the younger audience, by advertising on social media. In fact, according to Nealschaffer.com, 77% of businesses use social media to reach customers, and ads on social media have a worldwide revenue of $153 billion in 2021.
Social media can also be used to attract a younger and more loyal fanbase to a company. Since the majority of users on social media are a junior audience, businesses can advertise on these platforms to gain a mass following. Examples of these could be Nike, which dominates the sneaker market with 65.9% of people wearing it.
According to StrongDM, In 2020 alone, there were over 700,000 attacks against small businesses, totaling $2.8 billion in damages. However, this isn't due to the cyber attack being powerful, it's due to the fact that many small businesses invest in defense systems that are free and designed for regular consumers. However, as more technological advancements occur, cyber-attacks have been starting to get blocked due to improvements in cybersecurity.
As technology improves to further heights, business has been following in its footsteps. With the increased use of cybersecurity and social media, companies can expect an increase in profits and a higher customer base.
Sohum Mishra, October 2023
The Future of Brick-and-Mortar Retail In The Digital Age
Brick and Mortar: a traditional street-side business that offers products and services to its customers face-to-face in an office or store that the company owns or rents. In the USA alone, there stands a whopping 1,069,000 brick-and-mortar stores. However, due to the approaching entry into the technological period, will brick-and-mortar stores survive the turmoil, or will they turn into dust?
According to EuroDev, many people predicted the end of brick-and-mortar stores at the hands of the COVID-19 virus; a virus that put many countries into lockdown, which prevented them from visiting these in person retail shops. However, even though the Corona Virus hit the retail industry tremendously, against all odds, brick-and-mortar stores rose throughout the past year.
Pandemic or no pandemic, it is obvious that consumers are still craving for the in person store feel. This is due to two reasons First, consumers are used to walking into a store and picking out what they want to buy. Especially the older generation, they don't feel a need to switch over to something new. Like that one saying, “If it ain't broke, don't fix it”.
The second reason gets a little more complicated than that. Consumers love the option of being able to see and feel a product and purchase it immediately, rather than having to wait for it to arrive through shipping, which may take days or even weeks to arrive. Just imagine this, you order a box of glass, and the website says it will arrive in 4 days. However, the glass takes a week to arrive, and when you open the box, it is all shattered and broken. You would probably think that it was a massive waste of money. However, if you had gone and purchased it in person, you could have seen the quality and decided if you wanted to purchase it from that.
As the world develops and evolves, we see many alterations to everyday things such as cars, houses, and technology. Stores are no different, as we have seen a shift from brick-and-mortar to technology, especially after the recent pandemic. However, brick-and-mortar stores are not out for the count, as they still provide benefits that e-commerce don't offer.
-Sohum Mishra, September 2023
Online Misogyny
In the modern digital age, social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and more are incredibly important to teenagers. We gravitate towards these apps for entertainment, but we also find steadfast political opinions and in-depth analyses of international news and current issues. As young people, we are susceptible to the influence of nearly anything we see or hear. Our environments, online and in person, are vital to our behavioral development and the opinions we will carry into adulthood. This is why it is so important social media platforms monitor the content they share; when they don’t, it can lead to easily influenced adolescents supporting and sharing the views of dangerous micro-celebrities. For example Andrew Tate and many more.
Ex-kickboxer Andrew Tate is a 35-year-old social media influencer and self-described misogynist best known for his videos offering advice to men, particularly on how to interact with women. In one especially explicit video, he advised viewers to “Slap, slap, grab, choke, shut up b****, sex.” Some other infamous remarks of his include him stating that victims of rape should “bear responsibility” and that those who seek mental health support are “useless.” Tate also offered online courses offering financial help and advice on cryptocurrency, dubbed Hustler’s University. Recently he and his brother were arrested but his toxic masculinity message is still at large.
As I stated before, young people are essentially products of our environment. With Tate's high levels of online exposure and no end in sight, the threat he poses to today's youth--specifically male youth--is huge. Tate has marketed himself to young men as a role model; someone they should aspire to be like. He spoon-feeds them dangerous and sexist rhetoric. In a situation like this, many ask: "what can we do about it?" I said we young people are products of our environments, and I meant it. I believe that combating the culture Tate, and misogynists at large, creates a better future. If your classmate, brother, friend, or son is supporting misogynistic beliefs, say something. Don't turn a blind eye; help educate and do not tolerate the world Andrew Tate is trying to build. Banning him on social media was an excellent and important move, but change cannot be made unless we all do something about it.
-Seven Jamison, September 2023
ChatGPT Taking Over Our World
ChatGPT continues to advance each day, which makes people start to wonder if this will open up new job opportunities or cause layoffs? The progression of artificial intelligence also known as “AI,” has led to many increases in layoffs. Many workers are getting laid off from their jobs and are being replaced by ChatGPT and AI. According to Mikaela Cohen from CNBC, “This year, the tech industry already cut 5% more jobs than it did in all of 2022” (Cohen.2023. 2). The real questions are what is ChatGPT, and why is it affecting so many jobs?
First of all, what is ChatGPT? Like AI, ChatGPT is an online tool that can generate human-like responses. ChatGPT has proven to be more beneficial than many jobs. This leaves many jobs at risk of being replaced by this online tool. A few jobs at risk are computer programmers, data analysts, graphic designers, and much more. Jack Kelly from Forbes states, “The investment bank estimates 300 million jobs could be lost or diminished by this fast-growing technology” (Kelly.2023.1). This proves that although some jobs will not be affected by ChatGPT, there are still many that are, leaving the workers at risk.
We know that ChatGPT has a large impact on so many jobs, but why is it affecting all of these jobs? This online tool is capable of doing many things such as programming computer codes, writing essays, and much more. According to a source from Al Jazeera, “ChatGPT became the fastest-growing consumer app in the world two months after its launch, with more than 100 million users by January” (Al Jazeera.2023.4). The evidence proves that many people are finding ChatGPT to be very resourceful in their everyday lives, and the online tool is causing more and more layoffs each day.
ChatGPT may not affect all jobs, but ChatGPT generates human-like responses and has proven to be equally as effective as many jobs. This leaves many jobs at risk, so, in conclusion, ChatGPT is causing an increase in layoffs.
-Sahana Selvakumar, July 2023
Netflix subscriptions jump 8%, revenue climbs as password sharing prevention upholds
In May of 2023, Netflix implemented a crackdown on password sharing for their company. Netflix states that 100 million households were sharing accounts, impacting the company’s ability to invest in news and TV shows. To combat this, Netflix added a few sets of policies that users will have to follow to prevent password sharing.
Shortly after this crackdown went into effect, Netflix added 100,000 new accounts from May 26-27th, Antenna’s data found. This crackdown not only affected subscriber accounts but also share prices for Netflix stock. Shares had climbed up from 380 all the way up to 415 in the span of 2 weeks.
However, many past subscribers from the popular streaming service are not too happy about the password-sharing policy. Brandy Anderson has been a traveling emergency room nurse for the past three years. She has worked in Brooklyn, Boston, and DC, but her Netflix addresses are based in Midland, Georgia.
Many affected users, including Brandy, have taken to social media to protest the new policy. Some people even threaten to quit or switch to competitors with more comfortable sharing privileges“I’m not paying eight more dollars, I’m just not,” says Andersen, who plans on canceling her $19.99-a-month premium plan. “I’m paying plenty as it is”.
-Sohum Mishra, July 2023
Is ChatGPT going to open up jobs or cause layoffs?
AI has become some of the biggest news of the year. With ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Photoshop’s generative autofill AI-generated content saturating the internet, of course, ChatGPT has been at the forefront of AI’s recent rise to popularity. It has an estimated 100 million users and has become a household name across the United States and abroad.
With ChatGPT’s massive rise in popularity, there has been lots of content created arguing about its effects in the long term and what AI will mean for the future of many industries. In many cases, people are worried that they might lose their jobs because they can be replaced with AI which will be faster and more efficient than them. This is true to some extent. There will likely be some jobs that will be completely eliminated with the rise of AI. Jobs that require the processing of information and require little critical thinking will probably be slowly phased out in the coming years. This, however, does not mean that there will no longer be any jobs for people. Instead, AI will likely function to change the economy and job market in a similar way that computers changed it.
Large language AI models provide an ability to filter and sort through massive amounts of information at exceptionally high speeds, and they also have the ability to then present that information in an accessible and understandable format. This is an immensely useful development by itself and like any technological advance it has downsides, but what ChatGPT and other AI models based on or similar to it lack is the ability to think critically.
If one spends time playing with ChatGPT, one can quickly find that when asked multi-step questions or queries that can be interpreted in various ways, ChatGPT can not accurately respond or understand what it has been asked. It can not critically think. This is what will prevent AI from completely erasing the need for humans at least for a while. At the point that AI technology is at, it will be a tremendous asset, but it is unlikely to have much of an impact on jobs until the technology reaches a more developed point than it is at currently.
-Alexander Snyder, July 2023
Is Chatgpt going to open up jobs or cause layoffs?
“ChatGPT may lead to more layoffs.” When business leaders were asked if ChatGPT would lead to workers being laid off in 2023, 33% responded with a “Definitely”. Business leaders responded to this question due to ChatGPT’s enhanced thinking and advanced communication skills, making it far better than many employees. Due to this, ChatGPT will cause significant layoffs in 2023.
ChatGPT can perform at significantly high intelligence in a very short amount of time. A recent study conducted that ChatGPT was remarkably smarter than humans, answering difficult questions at lightning speed. Due to these results, business leaders have taken a special liking to ChatGPT with 55% stating that “its work quality is excellent”. Therefore, businesses have started to save money using ChatGPT with 48% claiming that they have saved $50,000 USD using the AI Software.
ChatGPT allows for human-like conversation which improves customer experience. According to a Forbes survey taken in 2023, 73% of businesses use ai-powered chatbots for instant messaging, optimizing emails, and personalized services. 33% of businesses already use ChatGPT to write website content. This helps to build a foundation of loyalty and improves customer retention.
As AI becomes more predominant in society, many business leaders are starting to consider layoffs for their employees due to AIs' enhanced knowledge and communication expertise. Therefore, ChatGPT will cause many layoffs in 2023.
-Sohum Mishra, July 2023
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse