#FactCheck - Uncovered: Viral LA Wildfire Video is a Shocking AI-Generated Fake!

Introduction

The rise in start-up culture, increasing investments, and technological breakthroughs are being encouraged alongside innovations and the incorporation of generative Artificial Intelligence elements. Witnessing the growing focus on human-centred AI, its potential to transform industries like education remains undeniable. Enhancing experiences and inculcating new ways of learning, there is much to be explored. Recently, a Delhi-based non-profit called Rocket Learning, in collaboration with Google.org, launched Appu- a personalised AI educational tool providing a multilingual and conversational learning experience for kids between 3 and 6.

AI Appu

Developed in 6 months, along with the help of dedicated Google.org fellows, interactive Appu has resonated with those the founders call “super-users,” i.e. parents and caregivers. Instead of redirecting students to standard content and instructional videos, it operates on the idea of conversational learning, one equally important for children in the targeted age bracket. Designed in the form of an elephant, Appu is supposed to be a personalised tutor, helping both children and parents understand concepts through dialogue. AI enables the generation of different explanations in case of doubt, aiding in understanding. If children were to answer in mixed languages instead of one complete sentence in a single language (eg, Hindi and English), the AI would still consider it as a response. The AI lessons are two minutes long and are inculcated with real-world examples. The emphasis on interactive and fun learning of concepts through innovation enhances the learning experience. Currently only available in Hindi, it is being worked on to include 20 other languages such as Punjabi and Marathi. 

UNESCO, AI, and Education

It is important to note that such innovations also find encouragement in UNESCO’s mandate as AI in education contributes to achieving the 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development Goals (here; SDG 4- focusing on quality education). Within the ambit of the Beijing Consensus held in 2019, UNESCO encourages a human-centred approach to AI, and has also developed the “Artificial Intelligence and Education: Guidance for Policymakers” aiming towards understanding its potential and opportunities in education as well as the core competencies it needs to work on. Another publication was launched during one of the flagship events of UNESCO- (Digital Learning Week, 2024) - AI competency frameworks for both, students and teachers which provide a roadmap for assessing the potential and risks of AI, each covering common aspects such as AI ethics, and human-centred mindset and even certain distinct options such as AI system design for students and AI pedagogy for teachers.

Potential Challenges

While AI holds immense promise in education, innovation with regard to learning is contentious as several risks must be carefully managed. Depending on the innovation, AI’s struggle with multitasking beyond the classroom, such as administrative duties and tedious grading, which require highly detailed role descriptions could prove to be a challenge. This can become exhausting for developers managing innovative AI systems, as they would have to fit various responses owing to the inherent nature of AI needing to be trained to produce output. Security concerns are another major issue, as data breaches could compromise sensitive student information. Implementation costs also present challenges, as access to AI-driven tools depends on financial resources. Furthermore, AI-driven personalised learning, while beneficial, may inadvertently reduce student motivation, also compromising students' soft skills, such as teamwork and communication, which are crucial for real-world success. These risks highlight the need for a balanced approach to AI integration in education.

Conclusion

Innovations related to education, especially the ones that focus on a human-centred AI approach, have immense potential in not only enhancing learning experiences but also reshaping how knowledge is accessed, understood, and applied. Untapped potential using other services is also encouraged in this sector. However, maintaining a balance between fostering intrigue and ensuring the inculcation of ethical and secure AI remains imperative.

References

• https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/what-you-need-know-about-unescos-new-ai-competency-frameworks-students-and-teachers?hub=32618
• https://www.unesco.org/en/digital-education/artificial-intelligence
• https://www.deccanherald.com/technology/google-backed-rocket-learning-launches-appu-an-ai-powered-tutor-for-kids-3455078
• https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/artificial-intelligence/how-this-google-backed-ai-tool-is-reshaping-education-appu-9896391/
• https://www.thehindu.com/business/ai-appu-to-tutor-children-in-india/article69354145.ece
• https://www.velvetech.com/blog/ai-in-education-risks-and-concerns/ 

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Introduction:

Technology has become a vital part of everyone’s life nowadays, it occupies essential activities of a person’s life whether we are working or playing and studying. I would say from education to corporate, technology makes everything easier and simpler to achieve the goals for a particular thing.  Corporate companies are using technology for their day-to-day work and there are many law-based foundations that are publishing blogs and papers for legal awareness, many lawyers use internet technology for promoting themselves which amounts to growth in their work. Some legal work can now be done by machines, which was previously unthinkable. Large disputes frequently have many documents to review. Armies of young lawyers and paralegals are typically assigned to review these documents. This work can be done by a properly trained machine. Machine drafting of documents is also gaining popularity. We’ve also seen systems that can forecast the outcome of a dispute. We are starting to see machines take on many tasks that we once thought was solely the domain of lawyers.

How to expand law firms and the corporate world with the help of technology?

If we talk about how lawyers’ lives will be impacted by technology then I would explain about law students first. Students are the one who is utilizing the technology at its best for their work, tech could be helpful in students’ lives. as law students use SCC online and manupatra, which are used for case laws. And during their law internships, they use it to help their seniors to find appropriate cases for them. and use it as well for their college research work. SCC and manupatra are very big platforms by which we can say if students use technology for their careers, it will impact their law career in the best ways.

A lawyer running a law firm is not a small task, and there are plenty of obstacles to that, such as a lack of tech solutions, failure to fulfil demands, and inability to innovate, these obstacles prevent the growth of some firms. The right legal tech can grow an organization or a law firm and there will be fewer obstacles.

Technology can be proven as a good mechanism to grow the law firm, as everything depends on tech, from court work to corporate. If we talk about covid during 2020, everything shifted towards the virtual world, court hearings switched to online mode due to covid which proved as a bone to the legal system as the case hearings were speedy and there was no physical contact due to that.

Legal automation is also helping law firms to grow in a competitive world. And it has other benefits also like shifting tedious tasks from humans to machines, allowing the lawyer to work on more valuable work. I would say that small firms should also need to embrace automation for competition in the corporate sector. Today, artificial intelligence offers a solution to solve or at least make the access-to-justice issue better and completely transform our traditional legal system.

There was a world-cited author, Richard Susskind, OBE, who talked about the future of law and lawyers and he wrote a book, Online Courts and the Future of Justice. Richard argues that technology is going to bring about a fascinating decade of change in the legal sector and transform our court system. Although automating our old ways of working plays a part in this, even more, critical is that artificial intelligence and technology will help give more individuals access to justice.

The rise of big data has also resulted in rapid identification systems, which allow police officers to quickly see an individual’s criminal history through a simple search.The FBI’s Next Generation Identification (NGI) system matches individuals with their criminal history information using biometrics such as fingerprints, palm prints, iris recognition, and facial recognition. The NGI’s current technologies are constantly being updated, and new ones are being added, to make the NGI the most comprehensive way to gather up-to-date information on the person being examined

During covid, there were e-courts services in courts, and lawyers and judges were taking cases online. After the covid, the use of technology increased in the law field also from litigation to corporate. As technology can also safeguard confidential information between parties and lawyers. There was ODR, (online dispute resolution) happening meetings that were taking place online mode.

File sharing is inevitable in the practice of law. Yet sometimes the most common ways of sharing (think email) are not always the most secure. With the remote office, the boom has come an increased need for alternate file-sharing solutions. There is data encryption to protect data as it is a reliable method to protect confidential data and information.

Conclusion-

Technology has been playing a vital role in the legal industry and has increased the efficiency of legal offices and the productivity of clerical workers. With the advent of legal tech, there is greater transparency between legal firms and clients. Clients know how many fees they must pay and can keep track of the day-to-day progress of the lawyer on their case. Also, there is no doubt that technology, if used correctly, is fast and efficient – more than any human individual. This can prove to be of great assistance to any law firm.  Lawyers of the future will be the ones who create the systems that will solve their client’s problems. These legal professionals will include legal knowledge engineers, legal risk managers, system developers, design thinking experts, and others. These people will use technology to create new ways of solving legal problems. In many ways, the legal sector is experiencing the same digitization that other industries have, and because it is so document-intensive, it is actually an industry that stands to benefit greatly from what technology has to offer.

Introduction

In today's era of digitalised community and connections, social media has become an integral part of our lives. A large number of teenagers are also active and have their accounts on social media. They use social media to connect with their friends and family. Social media offers ease to connect and communicate with larger communities and even showcase your creativity. On the other hand, it also poses some challenges or issues such as inappropriate content, online harassment, online stalking, misuse of personal information, abusive and dishearted content etc. There could be unindented consequences on teenagers' mental health by such threats or overuse of social media. The data shows some teens spend hours a day on social media hence it has a larger impact on them whether we notice it or not.  Social media addiction and its negative repercussions such as overuse of social media by teens and online threats and vulnerabilities is a growing concern that needs to be taken seriously by social media platforms, regulatory policies and even user's responsibilities. Recently Colorado and California led a joint lawsuit filed by 33 states in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against meta on the concern of child safety.

Meta and concern of child users safety

Recently Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, has been sued by more than three dozen states for allegedly using features to hook children to its platforms. The lawsuit claims that Meta violated consumer protection laws and deceived users about the safety of its platforms. The states accuse Meta of designing manipulative features to induce young users' compulsive and extended use, pushing them into harmful content. However, Meta has responded by stating that it is working to provide a safer environment for teenagers and expressing disappointment in the lawsuit.

According to the complaint filed by the states, Meta “designed psychologically manipulative product features to induce young users’ compulsive and extended use" of platforms like Instagram. The states allege that Meta's algorithms were designed to push children and teenagers into rabbit holes of toxic and harmful content, with features like "infinite scroll" and persistent alerts used to hook young users. However, meta responded with disappointment with a lawsuit stating that meta working productively with companies across the industry to create clear, age-appropriate standards for the many apps.

Unplug for sometime

Overuse of social media is associated with increased mental health repercussions along with online threats and risks. Social media’s effect on teenagers is driven by factors such as inadequate sleep, exposure to cyberbullying and online threats and lack of physical activity. Its admitted that social media can help teens feel more connected to their friends and their support system and showcase their creativity to the online world.  However, social media overuse by teens is often linked with underlying issues that require attention. To help teenagers, encourage them for responsible use and unplug from social media for some time, encourage them to get outside in nature, do physical activities, and express themselves creatively.  

Understanding the threats & risks

• Psychological effects 

• Addiction: Excessive use of social media will lead to procrastination and excessively using social media can lead to physical and psychological addiction because it triggers the brain's reward system. 
• Mental Conditions Associated: Excessively using social media can be harmful for mental well-being which can also lead to depression and anxiety, self-consciousness and may also lead to social anxiety disorder.
• Eyes, Carpal tunnel syndrome: Excessive spending time on screen may lead to put a real strain on your eyes. Eye problems caused by computer/phone screen use fall under computer vision syndrome (CVS). Carpal tunnel syndrome is caused by pressure on the median nerve.

• Cyberbullying: Cyberbullying is one of the major concerns faced in online interactions on social media. Cyberbullying takes place using the internet or other digital communication technology to bully, harass, or intimidate others and it has become a major concern of online harassment on popular social media platforms. Cyberbullying may include spreading rumours or posting hurtful comments. Cyberbullying has emerged as a phenomenon that has a socio-psychological impact on the victims. 
• Online grooming: Online grooming is defined as the tactics abusers deploy through the internet to sexually exploit children. The average time for a bad actor to lure children into his trap is 3 minutes, which is a very alarming number. 
• Ransomware/Malware/Spyware: Cybercrooks impose threats such as ransomware, malware and spyware by deploying malicious links on social media. This poses serious cyber threats, and it causes consequences such as financial losses, data loss, and reputation damage. Ransomware is a type of malware which is designed to deny a user or organisation access to their files on the computer. On social media, cyber crooks post malicious links which contain malware, and spyware threats. Hence it is important to be cautious before clicking on any such suspicious link.
• Sextortion: Sextortion is a crime where the perpetrator threatens the victim and demands ransom or asks for sexual favours by threatening the victim to expose or reveal the victim’s sexual activity. It is a kind of sexual blackmail, it may take place on social media and youngsters are mostly targeted. The cyber crooks also misuse the advanced AI Deepfake technology which is capable of creating realistic images or videos which in actuality are created by machine algorithms. Deepfakes technology since easily accessible, is misused by fraudsters to commit various crimes including sextortion or deceiving and scamming people through fake images or videos which look realistic. 

• Child sexual abuse material(CSAM): CSAM is inappropriate or illicit content which is prohibited by the laws and regulatory guidelines. Child while using the internet if encounters age-restricted or inappropriate content which may be harmful to them child. Through regulatory guidelines, internet service providers are refrained from hosting the CSAM content on the websites and blocking such inappropriate or CSAM content. 

• In App purchases: The teen user also engages in-app purchases on social media or online gaming where they might fall into financial fraud or easy money scams. Where fraudster targets through offering exciting job offers such as part-time job, work-from-home job, small investments, liking content on social media, and earning money out of this. This has been prevalent on social media and fraudsters target innocent people ask for their personal and financial information, and commit financial fraud by scamming people on the pretext of offering exciting offers.

Safety tips:

To stay safe while using social media teens or users are encouraged to follow the best practices and stay aware of the online threats. Users must keep in regard to the best practices. Such as;

• Safe web browsing.
• Utilising privacy settings of your social media accounts.
• Using strong passwords and enabling two-factor authentication.
• Be careful about what you post or share.
• Becoming familiar with the privacy policy of the social media platforms.
• Being selective of adding unknown users to your social media network.
• Reporting any suspicious activity to the platform or relevant forum.

Conclusion:

Child safety is a major concern on social media platforms. Social media-related offences such as cyberstalking, hacking, online harassment and threats, sextortion, and financial fraud are seen as the most occurring cyber crimes on social media. The tech giants must ensure the safety of teen users on social media by implementing and adopting the best mechanisms on the platform. CyberPeace Foundation is working towards advocating for a Child-friendly SIM to protect from the illicit influence of the internet and Social Media. 

References:

• https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/heres-why-states-are-suing-meta-for-hurting-teens-with-facebook-and-instagram/
• https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/24/technology/states-lawsuit-children-instagram-facebook.html

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