Google High Schools It Again
May 4, 2022
Dr. Satrajit Chatterjee may have been kicked out of the Google High School Science Club. The shame!
The alleged truth appears in “Another Firing Among Google’s AI Brain Trust and More Discord.” The venerable New York Times, owner of Wordle, states:
Less than two years after Google dismissed two researchers who criticized the biases built into artificial intelligence systems, the company has fired a researcher who questioned a paper it published on the abilities of a specialized type of artificial intelligence used in making computer chips.
Googzilla has been eager to make clear that its approach to smart software is the one best way. Sure, some may disagree — Just don’t complain too loudly or work at Google are a couple of tips. I have pointed out that the nifty approach used by the online ad company can demonstrate “drift”. I call this tendency the “close enough for horseshoes” approach. I mean that if something is good enough for ad matching, then the same system will work for other Googley things. Do you want to stand in front of a Waymo or let the Google output your health index? Sure you will. You just don’t know it yet.
Dr. Chatterjee was concerned that the information presented in the delightful, easy-to-read article “A Graph Placement Methodology for Fast Chip Design” added some flair to the write up. (Like most real science, this allegedly accurate paper is behind a paywall; however, you may be able to view it. Good luck!) Here’s the summary of the Googlers’ assertions about its smart software platform:
In this work, we propose an RL-based approach to chip floorplanning that enables domain adaptation. The RL agent becomes better and faster at floorplanning optimization as it places a greater number of chip netlists. We show that our method can generate chip floorplans that are comparable or superior to human experts in under six hours, whereas humans take months to produce acceptable floorplans for modern accelerators. Our method has been used in production to design the next generation of Google TPU.
Got that. The translation is that the Google can design chips without too many humans: Cheaper, better, faster and don’t push back with “Pick two”.
Dr. Chatterjee did and he allegedly has an opportunity to find his future elsewhere; for example, working at Dr. Timnit Gebru’s organization, a home for some Xooglers who crossed mental swords with Dr. Jeffrey Dean and his acolytes.
The New York Times, in Gray Lady fashion, asserted:
Dr. Chatterjee’s dismissal was the latest example of discord in and around Google Brain, an A.I. research group considered to be a key to the company’s future. After spending billions of dollars to hire top researchers and create new kinds of computer automation, Google has struggled with a wide variety of complaints about how it builds, uses and portrays those technologies. Tension among Google’s A.I. researchers reflects much larger struggles across the tech industry, which faces myriad questions over new A.I. technologies and the thorny social issues that have entangled these technologies and the people who build them.
Googlers can fiddle with mobiles in meetings, wear torn T shirts, and sleep on the floor under their workstation mini-desk. Just don’t disagree with the One True Way.
What if Drs. Chatterjee and Gebru are a little bit correct in their assertions that the GOOG’s smart software is dorky in many ways. What if these little dorkies add up to delivering 60 confidence in the outputs.
As I said, “close enough for horseshoes” works when burning through ad inventory. However, applied to other domains that horseshoe might land in the crowd and knock a two year old for a loop. Not good unless someone in the Google High School Science Club can address a cranial fracture.
Stephen E Arnold, May 4, 2022
Palantir Technologies: Following in the Footsteps of Northern Light and Autonomy
May 4, 2022
What market sector is the one least likely to resonate with race car fans? I would suggest that the third party Chinese vendor TopCharm23232 is an unlikely candidate. Another outlier might be PicRights, a fascinating copyright enforcement outfit relying on ageing technology from Israel.
What do you think about search and content processing vendors?
I spotted this ad in the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal which resides behind a very proper paywall.
The full page ad appeared in my Kentucky edition on May 3, 2022. I was interested when Northern Light, a vendor of search systems relying originally on open source technology shaped by Dr. Marc Krellenstein, sponsored a NASCAR vehicle. I wonder how my NASCAR fans were into Northern Light’s approach to content clustering? Some I suppose.
I also noted Autonomy plc’s sponsorship of an F-1 car and the company’s logo on the uniform of the soccer / football club Tottenham Hotspur. (That’s the club logo with a big chicken balancing on a hummingbird egg.)
How did the sponsorships work out? I am not sure about sales and closing deals, but hanging with the race car drivers and team engineers is allegedly a hoot.
Will Palantir’s technology provide the boost necessary to win the remaining F-1 races? I don’t do predictive analytics so, of course, Palantir is a winner. The stock on May 4, 2022, opened at $10.55. For purposes of comparison, Verint which is a company with some similar technology opened at $54.04. Verint does not do race cars from what I have heard.
Stephen E Arnold, May 4, 2022
Stephen E Arnold
Stephen E Arnold
What Is Crazier Than Enterprise Search? Maybe Content Management Systems?
May 4, 2022
I met a content management system guru many years ago. He explained to me in a remarkably patronizing way that CMS was the future of enterprise content. The words “all” and the phrase “search is just a utility” still echo when I think of him.
He was incorrect. CMS is certainly not a replacement for an XML repository which can “point” to objects like a sales presentation which began life as a PowerPoint and then emerged as a nifty PDF for the 20 somethings in marketing.
CMS, in my view, boils down to clunky systems which allow different people with a wide range of cognitive content to create, retrieve, and do stuff with text and some art. Search remains pretty darned crazy as a market sector, but there are some open source options and a number of semi-useful cloud services. The tendency for art history majors to bandy the word “all” in chats about a CMS continues to make me laugh. Right, “all”. What about company videos on RuTube.ru? I am waiting for an answer.
There is something that CMS is quite skilled. “Vulnerable Plugins Plague the CMS Website Security Landscape” states:
According to the researchers, vulnerable plugins and extensions “account for far more website compromises than out-of-date, core CMS files,” with roughly half of website intrusions recorded by the firm’s clients occurring on a domain with an up-to-date CMS. Threat actors will often leverage legitimate — but hijacked — websites to host malware, credit card skimmers, or for the deployment of spam.
Thank goodness these CMS cannot index “all” content, which limits breach risks to some degree.
Quite an attack surface: Art history majors versus the bad actors with engineering degrees from a technical university or an enterprising coder who dropped out of school to sell his services via Aletenen.
Stephen E Arnold, May 4, 2022
Filtering by the Google: Yeah!
May 4, 2022
For anyone who wishes to understand how online advertising is placed, The Next Web presents a brief overview in, “Here’s Why Sketchy Ads Appear on Legit Websites.” The article begins with by briefly explaining how programmatic advertising works to instantly match targeted online ads with available ad spaces. See the write-up to learn more about that process. As one might imagine, this system makes a tempting ecosystem for nefarious ads. Platforms and the ad networks that serve them maintain screening policies of various rigor. We learn:
“For example, Google Ads has an extensive content policy that forbids illegal and dangerous products, inappropriate and offensive content, and a long list of deceptive techniques, such as phishing, clickbait, false advertising and doctored imagery. However, other ad networks have less stringent policies. For example, MGID, a native advertising network my colleagues and I examined for a study and found to run many lower-quality ads, has a much shorter content policy that prohibits illegal, offensive and malicious ads, and a single line about ‘misleading, inaccurate or deceitful information.'”
To detect and block unacceptable advertising, ad networks typically use a mix of human moderators and automated tools. Sadly, the “smart” software built for the task does not seem to be working. The article tells us:
“Malicious advertisers adapt to countermeasures and figure out ways to evade automated or manual auditing of their ads, or exploit gray areas in content policies. For example, in a study my colleagues and I conducted on deceptive political ads during the 2020 U.S. elections, we found many examples of fake political polls, which purported to be public opinion polls but asked for an email address to vote. Voting in the poll signed the user up for political email lists. Despite this deception, ads like these may not have violated Google’s content policies for political content, data collection or misrepresentation, or were simply missed in the review process.”
Such failures mean even reputable sites are plagued by clickbait or worse, often skillfully masquerading as legitimate content. Users must be vigilant and look out for themselves, it seems.
Cynthia Murrell, May 4, 2022
App Tracking? Sure, Why Not?
May 4, 2022
Big tech companies, including Google, Facebook, and Apple, are supposed to cut back on the amount of data they collect from users via apps. Despite the lip service to users, apps are still collecting data and it appears these companies will not stop anytime soon. Daiji World explains how much data apps are still gathering in: “Apps Still tracking Users’ Data On Apple App Store.”
A University of Oxford research term investigated 1759 Apple IOS apps in the United Kingdom App Store. The team monitored these apps before and after Apple implemented new tracking policies that supposedly make it harder to track users. Unfortunately, these apps are still tracking users as well as collecting user fingerprinting. The team found hard evidence of user tracking:
“The researchers found real-world evidence of apps computing a mutual fingerprinting-derived identifier through the use of “server-side code” — a violation of Apple’s new policies and highlighting the limits of Apple’s enforcement power as a privately-owned data protection regulator. ‘Indeed, Apple itself engages in some forms of user tracking and exempts invasive data practices like first-party tracking and credit scoring from its new privacy rules,’ claimed Konrad Kollnig, Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford.”
Apple’s Privacy Nutrition Labels are also inaccurate and are in direct conflict with Apple’s marketing claims. It is a disappointment that Apple is purposely misleading its users. Enforcing user privacy laws is sporadic, and tech companies barely follow what they set for themselves. Apple has its own OS, so they have a closed technology domain that they control:
“ ‘Apple’s privacy efforts are hampered by its closed-source philosophy on iOS and the opacity around its enforcement of its App Store review policies. These decisions by Apple remain an important driver behind limited transparency around iOS privacy,” [the research team] emphasised.”
Does this come as a surprise for anyone? Nope.
Apple can d whatever it wants because it is a prime technology company and it develops everything in-house. The only way to enforce privacy laws is transparency, but Apple will not become crystal clear because it will mean the company will lose profits.
Whitney Grace, May 4, 2022
Google: The Dog Ate My Homework and I Want a Free Pass to the Circus
May 3, 2022
I read “Google Urges Court To Scrap $1.6 Billion EU Antitrust Fine.” I interpreted the headline to mean that Google wants the court to forget the actions, legal decision, and fine. When I was in graduate school, I taught a class (I know it is hard to believe) and students came up with some wild and crazy explanations for missing group meetings, turning in papers late, and screwing up an examination question. Yep, the “dog ate my homework” was offered to me. I also liked the reasoning of a student to qualify for a free pass to the circus. Yes, that happened.
The write up reports as actual factual:
Alphabet unit Google on Monday urged Europe’s second-highest court to dismiss a 1.49-billion-euro ($1.6 billion) fine imposed by EU antitrust regulators three years ago for hindering rivals in online search advertising.
Imagine. Hindering rivals.
Stephen E Arnold, May 3, 2022
MBAs Gone Wild: CNN Plus and Its Financial Sussy
May 3, 2022
I read “This Chart Might Explain Why CNN Plus Shut Down Early.” The chart may be semi accurate but it is like one of those weird stone knobs on Ollantaytambo’s megalithic walls. The numbers are visible, but the mystery of the stone making remains.
CNN Plus was the exact opposite of the video derby — TikTok. CNN Plus paid people. TikTok allows people to monetize. CNN Plus required expensive cameras and accoutrements. TikTok requires a smartphone. CNN Plus was the equivalent of a mud flap on a 1950 Ford truck with patina (translation: rust).
What is interesting is that the real news analysis noted:
We don’t know the exact logic that caused CNN to pull the plug, but seeing how CNN Plus only had 150,000 subscribers and apparently needed to burn $1 billion for a chance at that $800 million a year, it’s not hard to see what was at stake. Instead, CNN got out early.
Okay, insightful. And the cited source and CNN are going to shape the future of journalism?
Stephen E Arnold, May 3, 2022
AlphaSense Downloads Some Bucks
May 3, 2022
AlphaSense is a market intelligence platform utilized by businesses to extract insights from 10,000 business sources, including SEC filings, news sources, analyst research, and transcripts. AlphaSense prides itself on assisting companies to save time and discover important market information that is translated into profits. Alley Watch details the business platform’s latest round of fundraising: “AlphaSense Raises $180M For Its Market Intelligence And Search Platform For Businesses To Be In The Know.”
The article is an interview with AlphaSense’s CEO Jack Kokko, who stated that the investors in the Series C fundraising were Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Morgan Stanley, AllianceBernstein, Viking Global Investors, City, Cowen Inc., Barclays, Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, Bank of America, as well as their past investors. He also highlighted the services AlphaSense offers and what makes it different from its competition:
“AlphaSense is a market intelligence and search platform for businesses. It leverages AI and natural language processing technology to extract relevant insights from an extensive universe of public and private content, including over 10,000 premium business sources. Without AlphaSense, people would lack a reliable way to find the mission-critical information that matters, given how disparate and inaccessible much of it is. We enable professionals to make critical decisions with confidence and speed, improving their business performance and outcomes.”
What appears to make AlphsaSense different is its AI-enabled tech teamed with NLP that locates pertinent information and then delivers it in a user-friendly manner.
Kokko started AlphaSense because when he worked at Morgan Stanley he found the current search technology lacking. He partnered with Rag Neervannan to launch AlphaSense in 2011 to create a platform that would fill a niche. Kokko was proud that during this round of investing many of his clients invested in AlphaSense. With the funding, he plans to invest in product development, expand in new territories and languages, and hire more employees.
Whitney Grace, May 3, 2022
Apple and Stalking? The Privacy Outfit?
May 3, 2022
Here is a tale of unintended, though not unanticipated, consequences. Engadget tells us “Police Reports Suggest a Larger Pattern of AirTag Stalking.” A few isolated cases of bad actors using Apple AirTags to facilitate stalking or car theft have come to light since the device was released in April 2021. To learn how widespread the problem is, Motherboard requested any records mentioning the technology from dozens of police departments around the country. Writer K. Holt summarizes:
“Motherboard received 150 reports from eight police departments and found that, in 50 cases, women called the cops because they received notifications suggesting that someone was tracking them with an AirTag or they heard the device chiming. (An AirTag will chime after it has been separated from its owner for between eight and 24 hours.) Half of those women suspected the tags were planted in their car by a man they knew, such as a current or former romantic partner or their boss. The vast majority of the reports were filed by women. There was just one case in which a man made a report after suspecting that an ex was using an AirTag (which costs just $29) to stalk him. Around half of the reports mentioned AirTags in the contexts of thefts or robberies. Just one instance of AirTag-related stalking would be bad enough. Fifty reports in eight jurisdictions in eight months is a not insignificant number and there are likely other cases elsewhere that haven’t been disclosed.”
Apple was aware the product had the potential to be abused, which is why the alerts cited by victims were built into it from the start. The company has since made some tweaks to make it more obvious if its product has been slipped into one’s belongings, like chiming sooner or making those notification messages clearer. At first the notifications only worked on iOS devices, leaving Android users in the dark. An Android app has since been released, but those users must be aware of the problem, and remember to manually scan for potential AirTag-alongs, for it to be of any use. Google is reportedly working on OS-level detection, which would be some consolation.
And the bad actors? Probably beavering away.
Cynthia Murrell, May 3, 2022
Gizmodo: The Facebook Papers, Void Filling, and Governance
May 2, 2022
If you need more evidence about the fine thought processes at Facebook, navigate to “We’re Publishing the Facebook Papers. Here’s What They Say About the Ranking Algorithms That Control Your News Feed.” In the story is a link to the link tucked into the article where the once-confidential documents are posted. In the event you just want to go directly to the list, here it is: https://bit.ly/3vWqLKD.
I reacted to the expansion of the Gizmodo Facebook papers with a chuckle. I noted this statement in the cited article:
Today, as part of a rolling effort to make the Facebook Papers available publicly, Gizmodo is releasing a second batch of documents—37 files in all.
I noted the phrase “rolling effort.”
In my OSINT lecture at the National Cyber Crime Conference, I mentioned that information once reserved for “underground” sites was making its way to mainstream Web sites. Major news organizations have dabbled in document “dumps.” The Pentagon Papers and the Snowden PowerPoints are examples some remember. An Australian “journalist” captured headlines, lived in an embassy, and faces a trip to the US because of document dumps.
Is Gizmodo moving from gadget reviews into the somewhat uncertain seas of digital information once viewed as proprietary, company confidential, or even trade secrets?
I don’t know if the professionals at Gizmodo are chasing clicks, thinking about emulating bigly media outfits, or doing what seems right and just.
I find the Facebook papers amusing. The legal eagles may have a different reaction. Remember. I found the embrace of interesting content amusing. From my point of view, gadget reviews are more interesting if less amusing.
Stephen E Arnold, May 2, 2022
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