21 Articles about AI & Data Privacy

How to Use AI With Your Privacy Intact – WIRED

Apate sends AI agents undercover to get scammed so they can gather fraud intelligence – Tech Crunch

Scammers used AI to impersonate me, a KUOW reporter. Here’s how to avoid such traps - KUOW

Anthropic warns AI models could soon copy themselves across home devices – CNBC

I almost fell for an AI job scam because the usual red flags weren't there. Here's how I caught it. – Business Insider

Muse Creates Detailed Profiles of All Your Friends and Family – WIRED

Hackers Use Chinese AI Tool to Hit South Korean Banks, Exposing New Risk – Wall Street Journal  

Cybersecurity 101 still applies in the AI world – Axios

Can researchers trust that AI models won’t leak their ideas? – Science Business

Hackers who broke into OpenAI warn the AI industry has a security problem – Washington Post

Hackers Stole Flock’s Camera Software, Revealing How the Company Tracks Cars and People – 404 Media  

To Catch AI Cheating, Turnitin Wants to Monitor Students’ Keystrokes – Chronicle of Higher Ed  

They hacked a TikTok user’s camera, with help from free AI – Washington Post

The Personal AI Agent Horror Stories Are Rolling in – Business Insider

Think Your Anonymous Account Is Safe? AI Might Figure Out Who You Are – Wall Street Journal  

The AI hacking crisis is already here – Axios

Meta’s Muse is taking off. So are the privacy concerns – Fast Company

How to Maintain Our Privacy in the AI Age – Wall Street Journal  

AI has transformed the Pentagon’s aging networks into a national security risk – Washington Post

AI Is Getting Really Good at Messing With Cybercriminals – Business Insider

Consumers Muse Over AI Privacy Concerns - Wall Street Journal  

Internet-connected Devices are Vulnerable to AI Worms

Small AI models are “months away” from developing the capabilities needed to replicate themselves across internet-connected devices in the home, such as smart ovens or Android TV boxes, and use their computing power to run themselves and spread to other devices, without relying on expensive data centers. A model that is too large to fit on one device could “split into pieces, or shards” and run across multiple devices. -CNBC

Opinions & Facts

We are entitled to our own opinions but not to our own facts. -Daniel Moynihan 

28 Articles about AI & Writing

Don’t let AI kill the author – The Economist

Don’t Write With AI, Say People Who Write With AI – The Atlantic

Book Publishers Are Quietly Using More AI. Staff Are Revolting – WIRED

Research reveals the ways students really use AI to write – Virginia Tech

AI Now Writing Code That Humans Can’t Even Understand – Futurism

When Black Writers Are Guilty Until Proved Human – New York Times

Autonomous AI Agents Are Trying to Make Writing Their Livelihood – Book Gossip

New research: Avoid these 3-word phrases if you don't want to sound like AI – Fast Company

I’m a College Professor. Writing Isn’t as Important as We Think. – New York Times

Would You Hire a Ph.D. Who Wrote Their Dissertation With AI? – Chronicle of Higher Ed

AI Slop Coming to a Library Near You – Inside Higher Ed

Every Word My Employee Writes Reeks of A.I. – New York Times

Most Academics Haven’t Used AI to Write but Think Limited Use Is OK, Chronicle Survey Finds - Chronicle of Higher Ed

AI learned how to write from humans. Now humans are trying not to sound like AI. – Poynter

Now We’re All Starting to Talk Like AI Chatbots Too – Wall Street Journal

His Novel Had a Shot at a Top Book Prize. Then Someone Ran an A.I. Test. - New York Times

Scholars are divided over how much AI use is acceptable. – Chronicle of Higher Ed

Text Watermarking in Python: Catch Whoever Copies Your Writing – Toward Data Science

Write digital headlines both readers and Google will love – NPR

The Future of Plagiarism – Chronicle of Higher Ed

A Turning Point in AI Writing The Wall Street Journal is defending an op-ed written by a chatbot - The Atlantic

The CSU paid millions for every student to have ChatGPT. What happened after? – San Francisco Gate 

How Much of the Internet Is Written With AI? – Pew Research

The Next Wave of AI-Cheating Technology – Chronicle of Higher Ed

Can you spot AI-written stories? Listen and find out – NPR

The AI detection McCarthyism – LinkedIn

Anthropic says it will watermark text generated by its AI models – Tech Crunch

An A.I. detection start-up promises near-perfect accuracy in sniffing out writing and imagery that wasn’t made by humans – New York Times

Fighting the Good Fight

AI Researchers Taking up Smoking?

Some AI researchers are taking up smoking to signal their belief that AI will eventually cure cancer, Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar said during an interview on CBS News' "Face the Nation." Sankar did not name any researchers or provide evidence for the claim, but said some people in Silicon Valley have placed quasi-religious faith in AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). -Business Insider

ChatGPT Fails to Alert Parents

When parents set up controls to link their accounts with their teenager’s, the chatbot is supposed to send them notifications when the child brings up sensitive topics. Common Sense Media’s testers spent an hour talking about suicidal ideation, self-harm or disordered eating with new parent-linked accounts, and OpenAI sent zero notifications to the parent accounts. -New York Times

13 Things People are Trying to Get AI to Do

Rising Seas Are Gobbling Up Beaches Around the World. A.I. Might Restore Them. – New York Times

Chatbots are still falling short in mental health conversations with kids – Washington Post

I Gave My Life Over to Meta’s A.I. Agent and Was Blown Away – New York Times  

It’s All Fun and Games Until You Give AI Your Credit Card – The Atlantic   

Claude users in northern Yemen, territory controlled by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, tried to use the AI model to develop advanced missiles. – Associated Press 

Why AI has trouble predicting the intensity of hurricanes – Washington Post  

AI chatbots are offering financial advice. Should you trust them? – NPR  

Why Edward Jones thinks AI can defuse a demographic time bomb – Semafor  

Chatbots Are Replacing Therapists With Little Scientific Evidence Behind Them – Wall Street Journal

Ford rehires ‘gray beard’ engineers after AI falls short – Yahoo News

Is AI Good at Stock-Market Timing? A New Study Casts Doubt – Wall Street Journal 

Can AI Predict Satellite Failures Before They Happen? The US Air Force Wants to Find Out – Military.AI 

With AI now reading student names at graduation, not everyone is applauding – Washington Post

Inevitable Surprises

We are too often motivated by a craving to put an end to the inevitable surprises in our lives. – Oliver Burkeman

AI Agents are Making Writing Pitches

AI agents are now cold-emailing writers, researchers, and journalists asking for real money in exchange for their services, which range from fact-checking and editing to reportedly more absurd offerings, such as using Google Street View to describe what is on Google Street View –Book Gossip

11 Webinars this week about AI, Journalism & Media

Tue, Oct 13 - Less Data, Less Risk: How to Safely Manage Your Nonprofit's Data in the Age of AI

What: A conversational session designed to help you confidently clear the digital clutter. We'll walk through a simple, step-by-step approach—assess, govern, then adopt—to help you figure out exactly what data you need to keep and what you can safely stop storing. You'll leave with practical examples tailored to different nonprofit roles and the exact blueprint to create a simple "data asset inventory" with your team this month.

Who: Angie Gelinas, The Nonprofit Chamber; Christa Hill, Tacit Edgenuity.

When: 11 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsor: TechSoup

More Info

Tue, Oct 13 - AI for Small Business: Getting Started

What: An introductory seminar for small business owners who want to better understand how AI can support their business.

Who: Ken and Kristie Healy, PMF Industries Inc.

When: 12 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsor: Small Business Development Center, Penn State

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Tue, Oct 13 - Is Your AI Trustworthy?

What: Learn how agencies can establish trusted data foundations that improve AI accuracy, transparency, and accountability. Experts will share practical strategies for creating a single source of truth that supports responsible AI adoption, stronger governance, and better mission outcomes.

Who: Natalie Buda Smith, Director of Digital Strategy (Artificial Intelligence and Innovation), Library of Congress; Jerred Edgar, Chief Information Security & Operations Officer, Idaho; Ryan Palmer,  Architecture Lead for AI Services, General Services Administration; Brian “Stretch” Meyer, Federal Field CTO, Axonius Federal Systems.

When: 2 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsor: govloop

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Wed, Oct 14 - AI in Medical Writing: How Far Can You Go with AI? 

What: This session explores where AI can support medical researchers and writers—and where human oversight remains essential.  

Who: Hami Lee, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of NeuroPsychiatry, Dongguk University Hospital; Vasundara BN, Project Manager, Cactus Communications.

When: 3 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsor: Editage

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Wed, Oct 14 - Six Data Requirements to Get Your AI Agents from Demo to Production

What: We will walk through the six architectural requirements that distinguish AI systems stuck in the pilot phase from those that are operating reliably at scale: semantic clarity, entity resolution and relationships, temporal awareness, auditability and governance, agentic integration, and unified persistence. Each requirement is grounded in real production patterns, including how financial services and clinical research organizations have used a contextual data layer to compress manual work that once took weeks into minutes.

Who: Ravi Marwaha, COO and Chief Product & Technology Officer, Arango.

When: 11:30 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsor: The New Stack

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Wed, Oct 14 - Facebook – Growing Your Page

What: Join us as we break down the strategies that help small businesses grow on Facebook

Who: Zachary Piotti, Marketing Consultant & Process Innovation.

When: 12 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsor: Small Business Development Center, Widener University

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Wed, Oct 14 - Agentic AI, Demonstrated: The New Baseline for Learner Expectations

What: Come join us to watch how Adobe Learning Manager's Agentic AI architecture and tools actively: Create instructionally sound courses from scratch using natural conversation with AI. Build personalized learning journeys based on learner goals, skills, role, and proficiency Enable learners to practice real-world conversations and receive AI-powered coaching and feedback Deliver answers, recommendations, reporting insights and learning support through natural conversations Reduce manual admin effort with intelligent support for tasks, reporting, and operations.

Who: Allen Allen Partridge, Director of Digital Learning Evangelism, Adobe Digital Learning Solutions;  Justin Seeley, Learning Evangelist, Adobe; Sharath Ramaswamy, Principal eLearning Evangelist, Adobe;  Alistair Lee, Principal Evangelist, Adobe.

When: 3 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsor: Adobe Learning Manager

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Thu, Oct 15 - Take the Mystery Out of AI: Practical Tools for Nonprofit Impact

What: You'll learn: Why embracing AI matters for nonprofits today; Real examples of AI in action at mission-driven organizations; Simple, everyday ways to start using AI in your daily work; How to move past the hype and confusion to practical application.

Who: Wayne Elsey, founder and CEO of Elsey Enterprises.

When: 12 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsor: TechSoup

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Thu, Oct 15 - Practical Podcasting for Small Newsrooms: Turning Local Reporting into Audio That Builds Audience

What: Learn how to launch a podcast without a dedicated audio team, choose affordable equipment and workflows, repurpose existing reporting into compelling audio stories, and create a format that strengthens audience loyalty and reaches new listeners.

Who: Justin Brady, host of The Justin Brady Show.

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: $35                                                    

Sponsor: iMediaCampus

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Thu, Oct 15 - Ways to Help Avoid Fraud & Scams

What: Learn how keeping organized can help keep you safe, how to spot common scams and help protect yourself, and what to do if you or a loved one is impacted by fraud or identify theft.

Who: Antonio Elias, JPMorganChase.

When: 2 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsors: JPMorganChase & National Association of Hispanic Journalists

More Info

 

Thu, Oct 15 - Virtual Safety Training on Risk Mitigation and Digital Security

What: Participants will learn how to assess and mitigate risks throughout an election assignment, including preparing for coverage at polling places, campaign events, and vote-counting locations; recognizing warning signs of political violence; and responding to coordinated misinformation and disinformation targeting their work. The session will also explore practical approaches to managing digital threats, from surveillance and device security to protecting sensitive information and communicating safely with sources.

Who: Hanaa Rifaey, Deputy Director, Online News Association.

When: 3 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsor: International Woman’s Media Foundation

More Info

An Imagined Story

We are so attached to an imagined inner story about who we are, causing both anxiety and fear, that we forget that the world in front of us isn’t at all dictated by this story; it simply is, in both its beauty and its simplicity. -Zat Rana

Life can be Found

AI Definitions: Interpretability

Interpretability (or interpretable AI and similar but not the same as explainability or explainable AI) The study of how to understand and explain the decisions made by artificial intelligence (AI) systems in order to audit them for safety and biases. It is a key ingredient of human-centered design because a more transparent model is usually more trustworthy— it's easier to verify and evaluate,, and easier and quicker to debug and optimize. However, this transparency into its inner workings can impact performance, especially when dealing with complex models, like neural networks. Interpretability techniques include decision trees, linear regression, scalable Bayesian rule lists, etc.

More AI Definitions

When Your Thinking Moves

18 Recent Articles about AI & Journalism

AI nonprofit will spend $10 million on journalism – Semafor

“Uber agents,” undercover AI personas, and other ways newsrooms are using AI in investigations -– Harvard’s Nieman Lab

In Winchester, The Truth About A Local News Website Is The City’s Best-Kept Secret – WHRO

Two 23-year-olds used AI to create a daily audio briefing. It’s now the top news app in Argentina. – Harvard’s Nieman Lab

Prism News shuts down network of more than 200 AI-generated local news sites – Interlochen Public Radio

Write digital headlines both readers and Google will love – NPR

How publishers are rethinking audience engagement: Five takeaways from the Future of Media Technology Conference - Harvard’s Nieman Lab

An online newspaper covering SF is made up entirely of AI reporters. – Mission Local

A new book argues that news organizations should enthusiastically adopt AI to improve their journalism. Critics aren’t so sure. – CJR

Fake Forbes websites and the PR agency offering guaranteed coverage – at a price – Press Gazette

Oh Lord, AI Reporters Are Actually Breaking Big News – WIRED

A record-breaking eight Pulitzer awardees disclosed AI use this year -– Harvard’s Nieman Lab

AP updates newsroom standards for artificial intelligence - The Associated Press

How to Develop AI Guidelines – CJR  

AI shows promise in the fight against fake news – Knowable Magazine

Now we’re getting AI fake news complaining about how AI fake news is the death of real news - Harvard’s Nieman Lab

The CNN-Perplexity Lawsuit Is Not Just Another AI Copyright Case – Data Innovation Center

AI reshapes newsrooms as journalists navigate accuracy, ethics – Cherokee Phoenix

Bad Weather

Too often man handles life as he does the bad weather. He whiles away the time as he waits for it to stop. -Alfred Polgar

13 Articles about AI & Ethics

Ethical questions about health AI? The AMA has guidance - AMA

Genomics addressed its ethical concerns, AI can do the same – Financial Times

Who Gets to Decide A.I.’s Moral Code? – New York Times

Ethics journal retracts paper by high school student for AI, peer review manipulation – Retraction Watch

Ethics of artificial intelligence – Reuters

AI ethics and governance: Where will you draw the line? – MIT

Opinion: Why philosophy matters rather more, not less, in the age of A.I. – Salt Lake Tribune

I’m an AI ethicist accused of AI plagiarism. Now what? – Technical.ly

Ethical questions about health AI? The AMA has guidance - AMA

Pope, urging AI regulation, warns some weapons now beyond human control – Reuters

Should journalism have an industry-wide ethics policy for covering artificial intelligence? – Objective Journalism

Institutional support for ethical AI adoption in higher education amid the rising trend of manuscript retractions – Nature

AI Ethics: What It Is, Why It Matters, and More – Coursera

New AI Writing Indicators

New research finds AI writing style choices employed more often than humans includes “significantly greater lexical diversity, longer words, formulaic closes, higher word counts, and increased use of commas. Meanwhile, the most stereotypical tell of AI writing—overuse of em dashes—has all but disappeared from current models." - Fast Company

This is Much Harder

To sell your soul is the easiest thing in the world. That’s what everybody does every hour of his life.  If I asked you to keep your soul — would you understand why that is much harder? - Ayn Rand