Fake messaging: WhatsApp, the popular messaging tool, will pay researchers up to $50,000 to study the spread of fake news through its platform, notes Mashable.com. The announcement came after reports of mob lynchings in India fueled by false information spread on WhatsApp, reports the Washington Post. India’s government asked the app maker to take immediate action to stop the spread of fake news.
Defining fake news: While we’re still on the topic of fake news, Cambodia’s recent crackdown on false information is raising concerns about press freedom in the country, reports The Guardian. A new directive aimed at fake news on websites and social media allows for violators to be jailed for two years and fined US$1,000, but civil rights groups said the new rules could give “authorities the power to silence individuals at the click of a button.”
Fired by a computer: A Los Angeles worker was recently shown the door by an automated process that seemed to assume he was let go after his original manager was laid off, the BBC reports. The case could raise questions about artificial intelligence processes, but the real fix would be a more intelligent machine, The Conversation says.
AI manages your money: Meanwhile, some financial firms are looking at ways AI can manage investments, according to an Associated Press article at SFChronicle.com. ETF Managers Group and Ocean Capital Advisors have launched an AI-powered fund that “sifts through millions of data points from countries around the globe and uses what it learns to determine how best to allocate the fund’s holdings.”
Quantum vs. quantum: Some security experts have recently worried that the coming quantum computing revolution will lead to a great ability to crack encryption. But quantum encryption may be able to combat the cracking threats of quantum computing, suggests Lightwaveonline.com. Recent efforts have focused on quantum key distribution and post-quantum, public-key encryption.
Explore the 2017 Internet Society Global Internet Report: Paths to Our Digital Future and read the recommendations to ensure that humanity remains at the core of tomorrow’s Internet.