Post Shake Up, DeepMind Explains It Has the Secret AI Sauce
June 15, 2021
Do you remember the power struggle between the posh DeepMinders and the Mountain View crowd? No. Oh, well, no problem. Here’s the short version: Mountain View triumphed. Is that the Mountain View unit which wrestled with ethical AI? Answer: Yep, so what? Mountain View won. DeepMind lost.
I think I have spotted the first official statement which suggests the direction the post-skirmish Google AI jabber will go. Sure, I may be wrong, but let’s take a look at what’s revealed in “DeepMind Researchers Say Reinforcement Learning Is the Key to Cracking General AI.” [If you want to get some info about reinforcement learning, try this link. For a run down of other AI “religions”, check out this link. ]
Now let’s look at the write up “DeepMind Researchers Say…” passage:
In a new paper submitted to the peer-reviewed Artificial Intelligence journal, scientists at UK-based AI lab DeepMind argue that intelligence and its associated abilities will emerge not from formulating and solving complicated problems but by sticking to a simple but powerful principle: reward maximization.
I ask, “But what if other methods are useful?” The response I hypothesize, “Well, we’re the DeepMind Google.”
There is this statement quoted in the “DeepMind Researchers Say” article:
“Reinforcement learning assumes that the agent has a finite set of potential actions. A reward signal and value function have been specified. In other words, the problem of general intelligence is precisely to contribute those things that reinforcement learning requires as a pre-requisite,” Roitblat said. “So, if machine learning can all be reduced to some form of optimization to maximize some evaluative measure, then it must be true that reinforcement learning is relevant, but it is not very explanatory.”
I have put in bold face and red the operative word in this quasi quantum supremacy type statement from the online ad agency: “If.”
Yep, if, the close cousin of would, coulda, shoulda, and “I apologize.”
Stephen E Arnold, June 15, 2021
DarkCyber for June 15, 2021, Now Available
June 15, 2021
DarkCyber is a video news program issued every two weeks. The June 15, 2021, show includes five stories:
- Pentest tools you can download and use today for free
- A free report that explains Britain’s cyber weaknesses
- Additional information about the E2EE revolution
- Another tip for finding flexible developers and programmers who will do exactly what you want done
- The FireScout, a drone with a 100 mile range and the ability to drop sonobuoys and other devices, perform surveillance, and remain aloft for up to 10 hours.
The DarkCyber video news program contains information presented in Stephen E Arnold’s lectures to law enforcement and intelligence professionals. His most recent lecture was the New Dark Web. He presented his most recent research findings to a group of more than 100 cyber fraud investigators working in Connecticut for a variety of LE and related organizations. The
The June 15, 2021, DarkCyber video program is available from Mr. Arnold’s blog splash page and can be viewed on YouTube. One important note: The video program does not contain advertisements or sponsored content. We know that’s unusual today, but the DarkCyber team prefers to operate without an invisible hand on the controls or an invisible foot on the team’s neck.
Kenny Toth, June 15, 2021
IBM and Its Chip Strategy: More Than a Case Study. Now a Road Map to MBA Think Weakness
June 14, 2021
Technology companies have to be good at technology. When big outfits become consulting, services, and de-vestment operations, stuff happens. IBM, for many, is a technology company. That myth has been shattered, not for customers and not for oldsters put out to pasture to reduce costs, but to those at IBM. I have no dog in the IBM fight. I admit to be greatly entertained by the IBM Watson cognitive computing razzle dazzle. But even WebFountain, acquisitions positioned as smart software (no, I won’t mention a certain clustering company in the metasearch game), and open source code did not fool too many people. Example: The lucky doctors who were interviewed about cancer fighting. Enjoyable I believe — up to a point. Then hasta la vista and take the Sixth Avenue subway back to your office.
The information in “Why IBM Is Suing GlobalFoundries over Chip Roadmap Failures” contains a short, useful summary of IBM’s divestiture of its chip fabrication business. Here’s a comment from the article, which I found interesting:
IBM can’t transfer assets as part of a deal and then get mad when the “buyer” decides to sell.
I read this to mean that IBM decided to divest. The sale went through. Then the buyer made independent decisions. IBM, years later, decides to sue.
Here’s the MBA think weakness: We can sell, get cash, and let someone else worry about the technology our wizards couldn’t master given the IBM bean counter constraints.
The MBA think has morphed into lawyer thing. IBM lost control of its own technology because its MBA think generated one model with certain assumptions. Reality then intruded with quite specific facts. Now the fate of IBM rests with legal eagles.
What made IBM a dominant force was control. Give that up and what do you get? Let’s ask IBM Watson.
Stephen E Arnold, June 14, 2021
Great Moments in PR: Google and France June 2021
June 14, 2021
I am not sure what percentage of Alphabet Google’s annual revenue $268 million represents. My old handheld calculator balks at lots of numbers. I am more of a 00 or 000 kind of old timer. France believes that this figure is fair and appropriate for alleged missteps by the mom and pop online ad company.
I found the article “Google to Improve Ad Practices after Being Slapped with $268 Million Fine” interesting. In fact, I circled in True Blue this passage:
Following the results of this investigation, Google has decided to reach a settlement with the French antitrust authority. As a part of this settlement, the tech giant will have to improve its ad services to offer better interoperability with other platforms, and will also pay a $268 million fine.
Yep, the do better assurance. What was the alleged saying bandied about when Messrs. Brin and Page were roller blading around the Mountain View offices? I think it was this one:
It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.
A slight edit yields:
It’s easier to pay the find than make specific commitments.
Stephen E Arnold, June 14, 2021
Palantir SPACtacular Pipeline Filler
June 14, 2021
I read “Palantir Gets Aggressive in SPAC Investments, Backing Digital Health, Aviation and Robot Companies.” The article explains that in a short period of time — about 12 weeks — the intelware company has “forged agreements to invest in at least six special purpose acquisition companies.”
Why?
The answer may be in this statement from the article:
Beyond the financial returns, Palantir is looking for innovative companies in big markets that can make use of its data tools.
Who says?
The write up answers this question too:
“We’re seeing an opportunity to back really good management teams with big visions,” said Kevin Kawasaki, Palantir’s head of business development. The company can partner and “allow them to have our data operating systems platform that we’ve put 15 years and billions of R&D dollars into,” he said.
It appears that Palantir is investing and then its “investment” is used to license its software.
If I am correct, this is an interesting way to generate revenues and obtain customer engagement. Let’s assume I am on the right track, my questions are:
- With the buzz generated by the initial public offering, have leads been converting into signed agreements at an improved rate?
- Is the Palantir system encountering the type of headwinds that other search and content processing companies have encountered; that is, long and complex set up, tuning, and customization process for impatient clients?
- Is the market for intelware facing competition from lower cost providers from other countries and US start ups which “appify” large, workstation like systems?
I, of course, don’t have answers to these questions. Worth watching how this SPACtacular pipeline filler delivers the sustainable revenue.
Stephen E Arnold, June 14, 2021
An Idea for American Top Dogs?
June 14, 2021
My hunch is that the cyber security breaches center of flaws in Microsoft Windows. The cyber security vendors, the high priced consultants, and even the bad actors renting their services to help regular people are mostly ineffectual. The rumors about a new Windows are interesting. The idea that Windows 10 will not be supported in the future is less interesting. I interpret the information as a signal that Microsoft has to find a fix. Marketing, a “new” Windows, and mucho hand waving will make the problem go away. But will it? Nope. Law enforcement, intelligence professionals, and security experts are operating in reactive mode. Something happens; people issue explanations; and the next breach occurs. Consider gamers. These are not just teenies. Nope. Those trying to practice “adulting” are into these escapes. TechRepublic once again states the obvious in “Fallout of EA Source Code Breach Could Be Severe, Cybersecurity Experts Say.” Here’s an extract:
The consequences of the hack could be existential, said Saryu Nayyar, CEO of cybersecurity firm Gurucul. “This sort of breach could potentially take down an organization,” she said in a statement to TechRepublic. “Game source code is highly proprietary and sensitive intellectual property that is the heartbeat of a company’s service or offering. Exposing this data is like virtually taking its life. Except that in this case, EA is saying only a limited amount of game source code and tools have been exfiltrated. Even so, the heartbeat has been interrupted and there’s no telling how this attack will ultimately impact the life blood of the company’s gaming services down the line.”
I like that word “existential.”
I want to call attention to this story in Today Online: “Japan’s Mizuho Bank CEO to Resign after Tech Problems.” Does this seem like a good idea? To me, it may be appropriate in certain situations. A new top dog at Microsoft would have a big job to do for these reasons:
- New or changed software introduces new flaws and exploitable opportunities.
- New products with numerous new features increase the attack surface; for example, Microsoft Teams, which is demonstrating the Word method of adding features to keep wolves like Zoom, Google, and others out of the hen house.
- A flood of marketing collateral, acquisitions, and leaks about a a new Windows are possible distractions for a very uncritical but influential observers.
But what’s the method in the US. Keep ‘em on the job. How is that working?
Stephen E Arnold, June 14, 2021
More Google Management Methodology in Action: Speak Up and Find Your Future Elsewhere
June 11, 2021
“Worker Fired for Questioning Woke Training” presents information that Taras Kobernyk (now a Xoogler) was fired for expressing his opinion about specialized training. The “training” was for equity training. The former employee of the online ad company was identified as an individual who was not Googley. The Fox News segment aired on Wednesday, June 9, 2021 and was online at this link as of 10 am on June 11, 2021. The story was recycled at “Tucker Carlson Interviews Former Google Employee Who Was Fired after Questioning Woke Training Programs.” Here’s a quote from that write up:
“I was told that certain sections of the document were questioning experiences with people of color or criticizing fellow employees, or even that I was using the word “genetics” in the racial context.”
Some pundit once said, “Any publicity is good publicity.” Okay. Who would have thought that a large company’s human resources’ management decisions would carry another Timnit Gebru placard? Dare I suggest a somewhat sophomoric approach may be evident in these personnel moves? Yes, high school science club DNA traces are observable in this case example if it is indeed true.
Stephen E Arnold, June 11, 2021
Western Union And Wise Boost Google Pay
June 11, 2021
Western Union and Wise are trusted money wiring services and the companies have teamed with Google Pay. Tech Moran explores the new business team up in the story, “Google Pay Partners With Western Union And Wise To Launch An International Money Transfer Service.”
Wise and Western Union are now integrated parts of Google Pay. Google Pay is only available in the US. Customers can now transfer money through the Google Pay app to Singapore and India. Using Wise’s international services, Google Pay will not be available to eighty countries and Western Union connects the app to two hundred countries by the end of 2021.
In order to send money to India or Singapore, the Google Pay app will give customers the option to send money via Western Union or Wise. Google Pay selected Singapore and India as test countries due to the amount of remittance payments sent there from the US senders.
COVID increased the amount of money sent through online payments, but demands for remittance services have decreased since 2019:
“The Covid 19 pandemic has led to an increase in online payments though generally there is a drop in overall remittances flows as the money migrants sent has declined up to 14 percent from 2019.This is occasioned by worsening economic conditions and employment levels in migrant-hosting countries as revealed by the World Bank.”
Remittance services have an advantage over online payments in that they do not require an online account to receive or send money. Are there implications for enforcement officials working in the cyber crime space? Oh, some.
Whitney Grace, June 11, 2021
No Internet? No Problem. Well, Maybe a Small Almost Insignificant Hurdle
June 11, 2021
The Internet is an essential tool for modern life, but not everyone in the United States has ready access to broadband services. The US is one of the world’s most developed countries, so how many of its citizens cannot get online? In 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), estimated that 14.5 million Americans lacked Internet access, however, that number is no where near the truth.
The Daily Dot investigates the real amount in the article: “New Study Shows Digital Divide Is Much Worse Than The Government Says It Is.” BroadbandNow released a report that stated 42 million Americans were unable to access broadband services. The digital divide was a huge concern during the COVID pandemic as remote workers and students were forced to work in fast food parking lots and other locations with free Wi-Fi. BroadbandNow calculated 42 million by:
“BroadbandNow manually checked more than 58,000 addresses using “check availability” tools from 11 large internet service providers (ISPs) to see whether wired or fixed wireless service was available. The addresses were from areas that at least one of those 11 ISPs offered service according to a form the FCC has where ISPs self-report whether broadband is being served
That form, Form 477, has been criticized in the past because if an ISP offers service to just one home in a Census block, the FCC counts that entire area as having access from that provider. That is an issue because many Census blocks can be enormous, and counting one person as having access as serving an entire area leads to over-reporting of availability.”
The report also discovered that all types of Internet sources were over reported on broadband maps. The maps used to determine broadband access are known to contain errors. The FCC plans to design a new system to more accurately measure broadband needs in the US.
Congress passed the “Broadband DATA Act” in March 2020 and funds for broadband mapping were included in a COVID relief bill. Despite the need for Internet services, Congress continues to argue and waste taxpayer money over the last administration.
Whitney Grace, June 11, 2021
Chronic Cyber Insecurity
June 11, 2021
NPR has shared the transcript of an All Things Considered interview with former NSA general counsel Glenn Gerstell in, “USAID Hack: Former NSA Official Calls U.S. Cyber Insecurity a ‘Chronic Disease.’” The exchange is not reassuring. Host Michel Martin begins with the recent news of another breach, announced by Microsoft late last month. Once again the perpetrators appear to be Russian operatives, probably the same ones that were behind the SolarWinds attack. Not that Putin will admit as much when he is confronted, as he will likely be, by President Biden at their upcoming meeting in Geneva. We note this exchange:
“MARTIN: Why do you think these attacks keep happening despite the sanctions that the Biden administration has already imposed, you know, on Russia? And do you think the government’s doing enough to protect itself against these threats and also us, the public?
“GERSTELL: Well, your question is really the key one. And I think the lesson we learn from this is that this in some ways, our cyber insecurity in this regard, is a chronic disease for which we don’t have a single cure. It’s not an illness for which there’s a particular drug that we could take to get rid of it. So unfortunately, however, we’re at the beginning end of this chronic condition. This is going to get worse before it gets better. It will ultimately get better. But in the meantime, we have sophisticated attackers, nation states and criminals who can co-opt legitimate servers and companies and computers and softwares. And this proves, unfortunately, that our current scheme of deterrents simply isn’t working.”
What will work is the multi-billion dollar question. Martin wonders whether there are any plans to regulate crypto currency. Gerstell allows that is a step that might be taken, but it would do little to disrupt either spying or the sowing of chaos generated by these types of attacks. It could, however, curtail the sort of ransomware attack that recently shut down a pipeline on the East Coast and had some fools pumping gasoline into plastic bags and other unwise receptacles. That would be something, we suppose.
Cynthia Murrell, June 11, 2021
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
