January 2024 - nexa - server-nexa.polito.it

[GI-STS] WEBINAR ANNOUNCEMENT - Climate and Humanitarian Consequences of an even Limited Nuclear Exchange and the Actual Risks of Nuclear War

by Diego.Latella

[Please, feel free to send the announcement below to those people you think might be intereted in it] =========================== WEBINAR ANNOUNCEMENT =========================== Climate and Humanitarian Consequences of an even Limited Nuclear Exchange and the Actual Risks of Nuclear War Public webinar February 16, 2024 - 16:00 (CET) (Official language: English) Programme Moderated by Mieke Massink - CNR ISTI; CNR GI-STS 16:00 Opening Fabio Recchia - President of Area della Ricerca CNR, Pisa Giuliano Colombetti - CNR IBF; CNR GI-STS 16:15 Climatic and Agricultural Consequences of a Regional Nuclear War Venance Journé - Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, Paris, F 16:45 Actual Current Risks of a Limited Nuclear Exchange Paolo Cotta Ramusino - Secretary General of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs 17:15 Discussion The webinar is organized by the Gruppo Interdisciplinare su Scienza, Tecnologia e Società (GI-STS) dell'Area della Ricerca di Pisa del CNR In cooperation with Areaperta - Area della Ricerca CNR di Pisa Caffè della Scienza "N. Badaloni" - Livorno Centro Interdisciplinare Scienze per La Pace dell'Università di Pisa Istituto di Biofisica del CNR Istituto di Fisiologia Clinica del CNR Istituto di Informatica e Telematica del CNR Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologie dell'Informazione ``A. Faedo'' del CNR La Nuova Limonaia Laboratorio Informatica e Società del CINI Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs Unione degli Scienziati Per Il Disarmo For further information --- including the link for online participation --- please refer to the "Events" web page (http://gists.pi.cnr.it/events.html ) in the web site of the Gruppo Interdisciplinare su Scienza, Tecnologia e Società (GI-STS) of Area della Ricerca di Pisa del CNR,(http://gists.pi.cnr.it ). =========================== D. Latella -- Dott. Diego Latella - Senior Researcher CNR/ISTI, Via Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy (http:www.isti.cnr.it) FM&&T Lab. (http://fmt.isti.cnr.it) CNR/GI-STS (http://gists.pi.cnr.it) https://www.isti.cnr.it/People/D.Latella - ph: +390506212982, fax: +390506212040 =================== The quest for a war-free world has a basic purpose: survival. But if in the process we learn how to achieve it by love rather than by fear, by kindness rather than compulsion; if in the process we learn how to combine the essential with the enjoyable, the expedient with the benevolent, the practical with the beautiful, this will be an extra incentive to embark on this great task. Above all, remember your humanity. -- Sir Joseph Rotblat I don't quite know whether it is especially computer science or its subdiscipline Artificial Intelligence that has such an enormous affection for euphemism. We speak so spectacularly and so readily of computer systems that understand, that see, decide, make judgments, and so on, without ourselves recognizing our own superficiality and immeasurable naivete with respect to these concepts. And, in the process of so speaking, we anesthetise our ability to evaluate the quality of our work and, what is more important, to identify and become conscious of its end use. […] One can't escape this state without asking, again and again: "What do I actually do? What is the final application and use of the products of my work?" and ultimately, "am I content or ashamed to have contributed to this use?" -- Prof. Joseph Weizenbaum ["Not without us", ACM SIGCAS 16(2-3) 2--7 - Aug. 1986]

Jan. 22, 2024

IA che genera testi e che predice

by de petra giulio

Segnalo un ciclo di quattro conversazioni su “*L’intelligenza artificiale che genera testi e che predice il futuro*” https://centroriformastato.it/iniziativa/lintelligenza-artificiale-che-gene… organizzato dal Centro per la Riforma dello Stato e dal Forum Disuguaglianze e Diversità, che si svolgerà a Roma dal 25 gennaio al 29 febbraio 2024. Le conversazioni sono con nexiane e nexiani che su questi temi sono più volte intervenuti in lista. Il primo incontro, dal titolo *"l'apprendimento automatico*", sarà con Guido Vetere A questo indirizzo si può trovare la descrizione dei contenuti dell'incontro. https://centroriformastato.it/iniziativa/lapprendimento-automatico/ L'incontro si svolgerà a *Roma giovedì 25 gennaio in via della Dogana Vecchia 5 * *a partire dalle 17,30. *Sarà possibile partecipare anche a distanza, collegandosi tramite il link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86774059521

Jan. 21, 2024

DPD AI chatbot swears, calls itself ‘useless’ and criticises delivery firm | Artificial intelligence (AI) | The Guardian

by Alberto Cammozzo

<https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/jan/20/dpd-ai-chatbot-swears-ca…> The delivery firm DPD has disabled part of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered online chatbot after a disgruntled customer was able to make it swear and criticise the company. Musician Ashley Beauchamp, 30, was trying to track down a missing parcel but was having no joy in getting useful information from the chatbot. Fed up, he decided to have some fun instead and began to experiment to find out what the chatbot could do. Beauchamp said this was when the “chaos started”. To begin with, he asked it to tell him a joke, but he soon progressed to getting the chatbot to write a poem criticising the company. With a few more prompts the chatbot also swore. Parcel delivery firm DPD have replaced their customer service chat with an AI robot thing. It’s utterly useless at answering any queries, and when asked, it happily produced a poem about how terrible they are as a company. It also swore at me. 😂 pic.twitter.com/vjWlrIP3wn — Ashley Beauchamp (@ashbeauchamp) January 18, 2024 Beauchamp shared the conversation on X, with the chatbot replying to one message: “Fuck yeah! I’ll do my best to be as helpful as possible, even if it means swearing.” Then in another instance, the chatbot calls itself a “useless Chatbot that can’t help you”. One post by Beauchamp, a classical musician from London, was viewed 800,000 times in 24 hours. Referring to the chatbot, he wrote on X: “It’s utterly useless at answering any queries, and when asked, it happily produced a poem about how terrible they are as a company.” DPD uses AI in its online chat to answer queries as well as human operators. The company said a new update had been behind the chatbot’s unusual behaviour and it had since disabled the part that was responsible and was updating its system as a consequence. “We have operated an AI element within the chat successfully for a number of years,” the firm said. “An error occurred after a system update yesterday. The AI element was immediately disabled and is currently being updated.” Beauchamp said that while his chatbot adventure had been “very amusing” there was a serious side to the exchange. “These chatbots are supposed to improve our lives, but so often when poorly implemented it just leads to a more frustrating, impersonal experience for the user,” he said. “I think it’s really struck a chord with people.” As for his parcel, DPD said it was in touch with Beauchamp to “resolve his issue”.

Jan. 20, 2024

Germany’s last solar panel producer prepares to close shop

by Luigi Scorca

https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy-environment/news/germanys-last-sola…

Jan. 19, 2024

Re: [nexa] L'essere umano che non cambia, ma potrebbe

by Antonio

> Triste notizia, che purtroppo non genera stupore. Non genera stupore, (anche) perché l'opinione pubblica difficilmente, molto difficilmente ne viene a conoscenza. Questi qui sotto sono i 30 maggiori "trend" (in ordine di presenza sui media) di oggi, ovvero gli "argomenti" di cui sta discutendo la gente. Supercoppa, Trump, Guerra, Australian Open, Meloni, Corte di Cassazione, Netanyahu, Houthi, Davos, Russia, Israele, Impagnatiello Sinner, Legge Scelba, Samsung Galaxy, Tramontano, Piano pandemico, Biden, Villadei, Medio Oriente, Pakistan, Ucraina, Conte, Sanremo, Salvini, Saluto romano, Swawn Barber, Hamas, Yemen, Solinas. Il metaverso di Zuckerberg (peraltro) è tutto sbagliato [1] A. [1] https://www.wired.it/article/metaverso-zuckerberg-zona-oscura-realta-virtua…

Jan. 19, 2024

Meta documents show 100, 000 children sexually harassed daily on its platforms | Meta | The Guardian

by Alberto Cammozzo

<https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/jan/18/instagram-facebook-child…> Meta estimates about 100,000 children using Facebook and Instagram receive online sexual harassment each day, including “pictures of adult genitalia”, according to internal company documents made public late Wednesday. The unsealed legal filing includes several allegations against the company based on information the New Mexico attorney general’s office received from presentations by Meta employees and communications between staff. The documents describe an incident in 2020 when the 12-year-old daughter of an executive at Apple was solicited via IG Direct, Instagram’s messaging product. “This is the kind of thing that pisses Apple off to the extent of threatening to remove us from the App Store,” a Meta employee fretted, according to the documents. A senior Meta employee described how his own daughter had been solicited via Instagram in testimony to the US Congress late last year. His efforts to fix the problem were ignored, he said. The filing is the latest in a lawsuit initiated by the New Mexico attorney general’s office on 5 December, which alleges Meta’s social networks have become marketplaces for child predators. Raúl Torrez, the state’s attorney general, has accused Meta of enabling adults to find, message and groom children. The company has denied the suit’s claims, saying it “mischaracterizes our work using selective quotes and cherry-picked documents”. Meta issued a statement in response to Wednesday’s filing: “We want teens to have safe, age-appropriate experiences online, and we have over 30 tools to support them and their parents. We’ve spent a decade working on these issues and hiring people who have dedicated their careers to keeping young people safe and supported online.” A 2021 internal presentation on child safety was also referenced in the lawsuit. According to the suit, one slide stated that Meta is “underinvested in minor sexualization on IG, notable on sexualized comments on content posted by minors. Not only is this a terrible experience for creators and bystanders, it’s also a vector for bad actors to identify and connect with one another.” The complaint also highlights Meta employees’ concerns over child safety. In a July 2020 internal Meta chat, one employee asked: “What specifically are we doing for child grooming (something I just heard about that is happening a lot on TikTok)?” According to the complaint, he received a response: “Somewhere between zero and negligible.” Meta’s statement also says the company has taken “significant steps to prevent teens from experiencing unwanted contact, especially from adults”. The New Mexico lawsuit follows a Guardian investigation in April that uncovered how Meta is failing to report or detect the use of its platforms for child trafficking. The investigation also revealed how Messenger, Facebook’s private messaging service, is used as a platform for traffickers to communicate to buy and sell children. Meta employees discussed the use of Messenger “to coordinate trafficking activities” and facilitate “every human exploitation stage (recruitment, coordination, exploitation) is represented on our platform”, according to documents included in the suit. Yet, an internal 2017 email describes executive opposition to scanning Facebook Messenger for “harmful content” because it would place the service “at a competitive disadvantage vs other apps who might offer more privacy”, the lawsuit states. In December, Meta received widespread criticism for rolling out end-to-end encryption for messages sent on Facebook and via Messenger. Encryption hides the contents of a message from anyone but the sender and the intended recipient by converting text and images into unreadable cyphers that are unscrambled on receipt. Child safety experts, policymakers and law enforcement have argued encryption obstructs efforts to rescue child sex-trafficking victims and the prosecution of predators. Privacy advocates praised the decision for shielding users from surveillance by governments and law enforcement.

Jan. 19, 2024

L'essere umano che non cambia, ma potrebbe

by don Luca Peyron

Triste notizia, che purtroppo non genera stupore. https://www.wired.it/article/stupro-metaverso-polizia/ -- _________________________ don Luca Peyron Pastorale Universitaria - Apostolato Digitale Arcidiocesi di Torino www.universitari.to.it via XX settembre 83, Torino tel. 011 5156239

Jan. 18, 2024

Toward a Humane Metaverse: Challenges and Opportunities

by don Luca Peyron

Un editoriale ed un numero di Giuseppe Riva ed altri che mi paiono interessanti. Buona lettura dl https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/cyber.2023.29303.editorial _________________________ don Luca Peyron Pastorale Universitaria - Apostolato Digitale Arcidiocesi di Torino www.universitari.to.it via XX settembre 83, Torino tel. 011 5156239

Jan. 18, 2024

Re: [nexa] padre Benanti sostituisce Amato alla commissione algoritmi

by Giorgio Ventre

Trump interviewed in a Fox Newscast supported by ChatGPT Just kidding !-))) Il 16/01/24 18:57, Stefano Quintarelli ha scritto: > giusto > > al riguardo (misinformation and disinformation) vi preoccupa di piu > [1] Trump > [2] Fox > [3] ChatGPT > > ? > > ciao, s. > > On 16/01/24 18:50, Antonio wrote: >>> la commissione deve ragionare su rapporto tra Ai e stampa periodica >>> (in particolare >>> quotidiani) >>> non e' che gli si sta dando una attenzione eccessiva ? >> >> Dal sito del Dipartimento per l'informazione e l'editoria [1] >> "a seguito della crescente possibilità di manipolare le notizie >> prodotta dall’IA è stata costituita presso il Dipartimento la >> Commissione AI per l’Informazione" il cui contributo potrà introdurre >> elementi necessari a "tutelare la professionalità del lavoro >> giornalistico e a proteggere i cittadini dalla diffusione di fake news" >> >> Secondo il report appena uscito [2] del World Economic Forum la >> disinformazione è la più grande minaccia globale del 2024. >> Per avere un'idea di quali siano state le "minacce" degli ultimi 17 >> anni, eccovi l'elenco. >> >> 2024 Misinformation and disinformation >> 2023 Cost-of-living crisis >> 2022 Climate action failure >> 2021 Infectious diseases >> 2020 Extreme weather >> 2019 Extreme weather >> 2018 Extreme weather >> 2017 Extreme weather >> 2016 Involuntary migration >> 2015 Interstate conflict >> 2014 Income disparity >> 2013 Income disparity >> 2012 Income disparity >> 2011 Storms and cyclones >> 2010 Asset price collapse >> 2009 Asset price collapse >> 2008 Blow up in asset prices >> 2007 Infrastructure breakdown >> >> Antonio >> >> [1] >> https://informazioneeditoria.gov.it/it/sottosegretario/media/informazione-s… >> [2] https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Global_Risks_Report_2024.pdf >> _______________________________________________ >> nexa mailing list >> nexa(a)server-nexa.polito.it >> https://server-nexa.polito.it/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nexa > _______________________________________________ > nexa mailing list > nexa(a)server-nexa.polito.it > https://server-nexa.polito.it/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nexa -- ======================================================================== Prof. Ing. Giorgio Ventre Scientific Director, Apple Developer Academy Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica e delle Tecnologie dell'Informazione Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II Via Claudio 21 80125, Napoli, Italy Tel: +39 081 7683908 Fax: +39 081 7683816 Mob: +39 3807679372 E-mail: giorgio(a)unina.it http://www.dieti.unina.it http://www.developeracademy.unina.it/en/ http://www.docenti.unina.it/giorgio.ventre ========================================================================

Jan. 17, 2024

Re: [nexa] padre Benanti sostituisce Amato alla commissione algoritmi

by Antonio

> al riguardo (misinformation and disinformation) vi preoccupa di piu > [1] Trump > [2] Fox > [3] ChatGPT Trump che "usa" Fox che "usa" ChatGPT :) Battuta a parte ... nel 1787, durante una seduta della Camera dei Comuni del Parlamento inglese, Edmund Burke, rivolgendosi ai cronisti parlamentari, esclamò "Voi siete il quarto potere!". In questi duecento anni la stampa, i media, hanno scalato posizioni, se è vero che l'informazione è (IL) potere. Bene ma, se è così, perché per i "potenti" (leggi WEF), la disinformazione è una minaccia SOLO adesso? Lo è per un solo motivo, l'IA generativa non è controllabile se non controllando i dati immessi, non c'è NESSUN altro modo per controllare una rete neurale, non c'è un algoritmo "magico". Se do in pasto ad un LLM un milione di frasi con la scritta: "il cielo è giallo", la macchina, ad un prompt: "di che colore è il cielo" risponderà GIALLO. ChatGPT è stata un "prototipo per le masse", un modo geniale per Microsoft per (ri)diventare l'azienda più ricca del mondo ma ChatGPT è "democratica", hanno tirato giù quasi tutto il web, senza andare lì a selezionare (non c'era tempo) e su quello ci hanno costruito un successo prevalentemente economico. Ma la "futura" IA non sarà altrettanto democratica. Con queste macchine ormai a disposizione di tanti, il discrimine saranno solo i dati in input, e manipolare l'opinione pubblica a piacimento di chi ci metterà i soldi sarà ancora più facile. Sempre dal report del WEF, nel 2012, 2023 e 2014 la "minaccia" (per i ricchi ovviamente) era la disuguaglianza economica, la "Income disparity" chissà, magari avevano paura di una rivoluzione, dal 2015 è sparita dal primo posto e oggi non si trova nemmeno tra i primi 10 posti [2]. Evidentemente l'"informazione" è stata talmente ben controllata tanto da coprire, ad esempio, il fatto che un gruppo ristrettissimo di persone, i cinque uomini più ricchi del mondo, Elon Musk, Bernard Arnault, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison e Warren Buffett, hanno raddoppiato in pochi anni il loro capitale complessivo, passato da 405 a 869 miliardi di dollari. Contestualmente la porzione di popolazione mondiale più povera, composta da circa cinque miliardi di persone, non è riuscita a migliorare la condizione di partenza [3]. A. [1] https://www.infodata.ilsole24ore.com/2024/01/14/microsoft-supera-apple-e-di… [2] 1) Misinformation and disinformation 2) Extreme weather events 3) Societal polarization 4) Cyber insecurity 5) Interstate armed conflict 6) Lack of economic opportunity 7) Inflation 8) Involuntary migration 9) Economic downturn 10) Pollution [3] Oxfam, "Disuguaglianza: il potere al servizio di pochi" https://www.oxfamitalia.org/disuguaglianza-il-potere-al-servizio-di-pochi/

Jan. 16, 2024