Author: Ian Vielma

There is a growing concern regarding the potential impact of AI on higher education, with many questioning the continued relevance of a college degree. The CEO of Indeed has expressed worries that skills acquired by college students could become obsolete due to advancements in AI technology. Additionally, a LinkedIn survey revealed that 47% of US executives see AI as a tool to boost workplace productivity, with plans to incorporate it into their organizations within the year. LinkedIn executives emphasized the urgent necessity for upskilling as AI evolves, suggesting that adaptability will be a crucial expectation for employees, potentially diminishing the…

The University of Murcia in Spain introduced an AI-powered chatbot designed to address students’ questions regarding the university. Lola, the AI chatbot, was capable of responding to over 38,708 questions and achieved an accuracy rate exceeding 91%. It offered prompt responses to students’ questions outside conventional office hours. The chatbot significantly saved time and removed the burden from the administration. Source: https://1millionbot.com/en/chatbot-1millionbot-universidad-de-murcia-resolver-dudas-estudiantes/

US Senators Tom Cotton and Kristen Gillibrand presented the H.R. 7062, or the Farm and Food Cybersecurity Act. This aims to allow Congress and the Department of Agriculture to collaborate to prevent cyber attacks on American food chain flaws. Senator Cotton stated, “This legislation will ensure we are prepared to protect the supply chains our farmers and all Americans rely on.” Full Story

Cognition AI has recently introduced its latest innovation. Devin AI, the first AI software engineer. A tool meant to build alongside you or independently complete tasks for you to review. Its goal is to allow engineers to focus on more interesting problems and engineering teams can strive for more ambitious goals. What does this mean for the future of Software Engineering? Many students and current engineers may be faced with this question. Though it is in its early stages and has not yet been made accessible to the public, it is only a matter of time before it is. A…

A recent application error revealed that a vending machine had been tracking and recording students at a University. Invenda, the vending machine manufacturer responsible for this incident, claims that the technology is compliant with GDPR and the European Union’s privacy standards. Still, it is unclear whether it meets Canadian standards. The University of Waterloo pledged in a statement to remove the Invenda machines “as soon as possible.” This comes as a result of the privacy concerns students face when interacting with Invenda vending machines. Full Story

23andMe, a biotechnology company, revealed a data breach that started on April 29, 2023. But was only discovered recently in October 2023. The attacker accessed at least 14,000 accounts and then exploited those accounts to obtain user data from the DNA Relatives and Family Tree profile features. 23andMe reported that around 6.9 million consumers were impacted overall. Full Story

US Companies such as Walmart, Chevron, and Starbucks are monitoring their employees’ internal interactions with artificial intelligence. Aware, an AI tool used to understand the risk within their communications, is being seen as a problem for workers’ privacy. Full Story

Verizon, a wireless provider, found evidence of a data breach on December 12, 2023, almost three months later, and that the breach included 63,206 workers’ sensitive personal data. The personal data is said to have workers’ full name, physical address, Social Security number (SSN), date of birth, and compensation information. Full Story

Permission Slip, an online app, was created to simply the difficult process of removing personal information from websites. The application employs legal frameworks such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe and similar legislation worldwide to enable the deletion of users’ personal records from databases upon request. Read More Here

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has announced an update to the Privacy Framework. Version 1.1 intends to make a minor update to the Privacy Framework to facilitate ease and effectiveness of use and ensure the tool is responsive to current privacy risk management needs. Full Story