I’m sure you’ve been quite concerned, not having heard from me in two weeks. Week one (July 4th week) we were on vacation in Northern Ontario, so I figured I wouldn’t bother you for a week. Week two, we were working remotely, also in Northern Ontario. And while I had every intention of sending something out, I encountered technical difficulties just as I was about to hit ‘send’. So, I went fishing instead. Now I’m back to provide you with some useful topics of conversations for whatever cocktail or dinner parties you have planned for this weekend. Scroll on down for Coldplay, Ava Cado, hallucinations, and more.
Something about ...
Truth vs. Probability
We work with numerous law firms, and I spoke with another one this morning who’s looking for a new technology partner. We’ve had a few questions from them on AI as it relates to their business, but I liked this article which suggests that while the law is about truth, AI is about probabilities. It also mentions that number of “hallucinations” that come out of AI, including cases that never even happened. Which takes me back to one of our favorite sayings; “trust but verify”. And don’t be the jackass attorney who was fined for referencing non-existent cases.
Showers
I gave up warm/hot showers a few years ago and have never looked back. And I never shower before bed (well, not since I was playing old men’s hockey with games starting at 1030PM)- it’s always in the morning and maybe again late afternoon if we have evening plans. That became a habit when I still had a lot of hair and morning bedhead was a concern. Even now without much left, it’s still an issue. New research shows that for some, a warm shower before bedtime helps to reduce body temps and leads to better sleep. For others, a cold morning shower gets them off to a strong start for the day. What preferences do my readers have?
Marco Rubio
The next time Marco Rubio calls you, you’d probably be best off to assume it’s a deepfake. It seems that more than a handful of national and world leaders have been targeted recently by deepfakes claiming to be Rubio and looking to talk global policy and politics. I guess that if you’re a world leader, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Rubio would be in contact with you… but don’t you think it would be something scheduled, and that if you weren’t expecting the outreach, that somebody would make a little effort to verify its legitimacy?
Auctions
Which would you go for, the $5.3M martian rock, or the $10M Hermes handbag? At 54 pounds and capable of doing a lot more than just holding a wallet, brush, makeup, phone, and car keys, I think the rock is a much better bang for the buck.
Coldplayed
There are a lot of bad things about the internet. Like when you’re caught on camera at a concert with someone other than your wife, and in front of 65,000 people, and then having it go viral. On the other hand, the internet is great for coming up with terms like “Coldplayed”, or the line “Coldplay hasn’t made a single in two years. Last night, they made two.”
Fast Food
Security researchers claim that a flaw in the McDonald’s AI hiring tool led to data for 64 million applicants being leaked. The AI provider says it was more like five. Nothing like being off by 100%, one way or the other. In any case, it’s not so much that one side claims 20% of the population was affected while the other side claims 0% was affected- it’s that McDonald’s used 123456 as both the username and password. I can see Homer Simpson smacking his head and saying “D’oh”. Take this as a friendly reminder to change your default settings. And maybe McDonald’s should look to Ava Cado, Chipotle’s new AI hiring agent, for how to do things.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Jim Millican and I spent the first few days of this week in Chicago at the summer event for the AM&AA (Alliance of Mergers and Acquisitions Advisors), talking about the importance of technology due diligence during a transaction. If you’re buying a company, you need to understand what kind of mess you’re getting yourself into in terms of cybersecurity, compliance, bad contracts, or outdated hardware. And if you’re getting ready to sell, having all of your technology in good working order makes for one less thing a buyer has to worry about. Whether we’re ensuring your investment is worthwhile, or increasing your value, you should never assume the technology is working properly.
That’s it for this week. Busy weekend coming up, including my father’s day gift of getting fitted for a new driver. Anybody who’s ever played golf with me will be shocked to hear that I’m considering moving on from the old Patty Bergs, but hitting a driver has always been a huge frustration. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.
In the meantime, congrats to the entire Ashton Solutions team for again landing on the MSP501 list of the top 501 managed IT services providers, globally. Nice work, team!
Have a great weekend.
Abbey