Daily Tech Digest - January 20, 2025

Robots get their ‘ChatGPT moment’

Nvidia implies that Cosmos will usher in a “ChatGPT moment” for robotics. The company means that, just as the basic technology of neural networks existed for many years, Google’s Transformer model enabled radically accelerated training that led to LLM chatbots like ChatGPT. In the more familiar world of LLMs, we’ve come to understand the relationship between the size of the data sets used for training these models and the speed of that training and their resulting performance and accuracy. ... Driving in the real world with a person as backup is time-consuming, expensive, and sometimes dangerous — especially when you consider that autonomous vehicles need to be trained to respond to dangerous situations. Using Cosmos to train autonomous vehicles would involve the rapid creation of huge numbers of simulated scenarios. For example, imagine the simulation of every kind of animal that could conceivably cross a road — bears, dear, dogs, cats, lizards, etc. — in tens of thousands of different weather and lighting conditions. By the end of all this training, the car’s digital twin in Omniverse would be able to recognize and navigate scenarios of animals on the road regardless of the animal and the weather or time of day. That learning would then be transferred to thousands of real cars, which would also know how to navigate those situations.


How to Use AI in Cyber Deception

Adaptation is one of the most significant ways AI improves honey-potting strategies. Machine learning subsets can evolve alongside bad actors, enabling them to anticipate novel techniques. Conventional signature-based detection methods are less effective because they can only flag known attack patterns. Algorithms, on the other hand, use a behavior-based approach. Synthetic data generation is another one of AI’s strengths. This technology can produce honeytokens — digital artifacts purpose-built for deceiving would-be attackers. For example, it could create bogus credentials and a fake database. Any attempt to use those during login can be categorized as malicious because it means they used illegitimate means to gain access and exfiltrate the imitation data. While algorithms can produce an entirely synthetic dataset, they can also add certain characters or symbols to existing, legitimate information to make its copy more convincing. Depending on the sham credentials’ uniqueness, there’s little to no chance of false positives. Minimizing false positives is essential since most of the tens of thousands of security alerts professionals receive daily are inaccurate. This figure may be even higher for medium- to large-sized enterprises using conventional behavior-based scanners or intrusion detection systems because they’re often inaccurate.


How organizations can secure their AI code

Organizations also expose themselves to risks when developers download machine learning (ML) models or datasets from platforms like Hugging Face. “In spite of security checks on both ends, it may still happen that the model contains a backdoor that becomes active once the model is integrated,” says Alex Ștefănescu, open-source developer at the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). “This could ultimately lead to data being leaked from the company that used the malicious models.” ... Not all AI-based tools are coming from teams full of software engineers. “We see a lot of adoption being driven by data analysts, marketing teams, researchers, etc. within organizations,” Meyer says. These teams aren’t traditionally developing their own software but are increasingly writing simple tools that adopt AI libraries and models, so they’re often not aware of the risks involved. “This combination of shadow engineering with lower-than-average application security awareness can be a breeding ground for risk,” he adds. ... When it comes to securing enough resources to protect AI systems, some stakeholders might hesitate, viewing it as an optional expense rather than a critical investment. “AI adoption is a divisive topic in many organizations, with some leaders and teams being ‘all-in’ on adoption and some being strongly resistant,” Meyer says. 


AI-driven insights transform security preparedness and recovery

IT security teams everywhere are struggling to meet the scale of actions required to ensure IT operational risk remediation from continually evolving threats. Recovering digital operations after an incident requires a proactive system of IT observability, intelligence, and automation. Organizations should first unify visibility across their IT environments, so they can quickly identify and respond to incidents. Additionally, teams need to eliminate data silos to prevent monitoring overload and resolve issues. ... Unfortunately, many companies still lack the foundational elements needed for successful and secure AI adoption. Common challenges include fragmented or low-quality data disperse in multiple silos, lack of coordination, a shortage of specialized talent like data and AI engineers, and the company own culture resistant to change. Fostering a culture of security awareness starts with making security a visible and integral part of everyday operations. IT leaders should focus on equipping employees with actionable insights through tools that simplify complex security issues. Training programs, tailored to different roles, help ensure that teams understand specific threats relevant to their responsibilities. Providing real-time feedback, such as simulated scenarios, builds practical awareness.


AI Is Quietly Steering Your Decisions - Before You Make Them

Agentic AI here is a critical enabler. These systems analyze user data over various modalities, including text, voice and behavioral patterns to predict intentions and influence outcomes. They are more than a handy assistant helping you cross off a to-do list. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called these agents "AI's killer function," comparing them to "super competent colleagues that know absolutely everything about my whole life - every email, every conversation I've ever had - but don't feel like an extension." And they are everywhere. Microsoft and Google spearheaded chatbot integration into everyday tools, with Microsoft embedding its Bing Chat and AI assistants into Office software and Google enhancing productivity tools such as Workspace with Gemini capabilities. The study cited the example of Meta, which has claimed to achieve human-level play in the game Diplomacy using their AI agent CICERO. The research team behind CICERO, it says, cautions against "the potential danger for conversational AI agents" that "may learn to nudge its conversational partner to achieve a particular objective." Apple's App Intents framework, it explained, has protocols to "predict actions someone might take in the future" and "to suggest the app intent to someone in the future using predictions you [the developer] provide."


Why digital brands investing in AI to replace humans will fail

Despite its strengths, AI cannot (yet) accurately replicate core human qualities such as emotional intelligence, critical thinking, and nuanced judgment. What it can do is automate time consuming, repetitive operations. Rather than attempting to replace human workers, forward-thinking organisations should encourage the power of human-AI collaboration. By approaching AI this way, brands can respond to customers digital problems faster, meaning employees can use the time gained to direct their efforts to complex problem-solving, strategic planning and customer relations. Those that adopt a hybrid approach, to find the optimal balance between AI and human insight, will be most successful. The collaboration between AI-powered tools and human intelligence creates a powerful combination that can strengthen performance, drive innovation, and help deliver a better overall customer experience. ... On the other hand, businesses that are looking to replace workers, and eventually rely solely on AI-generated operations, risk losing the genuine human touch. This loss of authenticity has the potential to alienate customers, leaving them to feel that their experiences with digital brands are insincere and mechanical. 


From devops to CTO: 5 things to start doing now

If you want to be recognized for promotions and greater responsibilities, the first place to start is in your areas of expertise and with your team, peers, and technology leaders. However, shift your focus from getting something done to a practice leadership mindset. Develop a practice or platform your team and colleagues want to use and demonstrate its benefits to the organization. ... One of the bigger challenges for engineers when taking on larger technical responsibilities is shifting their mindset from getting work done today to deciding what work to prioritize and influencing longer-term implementation decisions. Instead of developing immediate solutions, the path to CTO requires planning architecture, establishing governance, and influencing teams to adopt self-organizing standards. ... “If devops professionals want to be considered for the role of CTO, they need to take the time to master a wide range of skills,” says Alok Uniyal, SVP and head of IT process consulting practice at Infosys. “You cannot become a CTO without understanding areas such as enterprise architecture, core software engineering and operations, fostering tech innovation, the company’s business, and technology’s role in driving business value. Showing leadership that you understand all technology workstreams at a company as well as key tech trends and innovations in the industry is critical for CTO consideration.”


The Human Touch in Tech: Why Local IT Support Remains Essential

While AI can handle common issues, complex or unforeseen problems often require creative solutions and in-depth technical expertise. Call center agents, with limited access to resources — and often operating under strict protocols — may be unable to depart from standardized procedures, even when doing so might be beneficial. The collaborative, adaptable problem-solving approach of a skilled, experienced IT technician is often the key to resolving these intricate challenges. Many IT issues require physical intervention and hands-on troubleshooting. Remote support, though helpful, can't always address hardware problems, network configurations, or security breaches that require on-site assessment and repair. Local IT support companies offering on-site visits have a clear advantage in addressing these types of issues efficiently and effectively. ... Local providers often possess a wide range of skills and experience, allowing them to handle a broader spectrum of issues. Their ability to think creatively and collaboratively enables them to address complex problems that may stump call center agents or AI systems. Furthermore, their local presence allows for swift on-site responses to critical situations.


Six ways to reduce cloud database costs without sacrificing performance

Automate data archiving or deletion for unused or outdated records. Use lifecycle policies to move logs older than specific days to cheaper storage or delete them. TTL (Time to Live) is an easier way to perform such data lifecycle. TTL refers to a setting that defines the lifespan of a piece of data (e.g., a record or document) in the database. After the specified TTL expires, the data is automatically deleted or marked for deletion by the database. ... The advantage of consolidating multiple applications to one single database results in fewer instances, hence reducing costs for compute and storage, enabling efficient resource utilisation when workloads have similar usage patterns. The Implementation can follow schema-based isolation where separate schemas for each tenant can be implemented & row-level isolation where a tenant ID column can be used to segment data within tables One example is to host a SaaS platform for multiple customers on a single database instance with logical partitions. ... Creating copies of specific data items can enhance read performance by reducing costly operations. In an e-commerce store example, you’d typically have separate tables for customers, products, and orders. Retrieving one customer’s order history would involve a query that joins the order table with the customer table and product table.


AI, IoT, and cybersecurity are at the heart of our innovation: Sharat Sinha, Airtel Business

At Airtel Business, we understand that cybersecurity is a growing concern for Indian enterprises. With cyberattacks in India projected to reach one trillion per year by 2033, businesses need robust solutions to safeguard their digital assets. That’s where Airtel Secure Internet and Airtel Secure Digital Internet come in. Airtel Secure Internet, in collaboration with Fortinet, provides comprehensive end-to-end protection by integrating Fortinet’s advanced firewall with Airtel’s high-speed Internet Leased Line (ILL). This solution offers 24/7 monitoring, real-time threat detection, and automated mitigation, all powered by Airtel’s Security Operations Centre (SOC) and Fortinet’s SOAR platform. It ensures businesses are protected from a range of cyberthreats while optimising operational efficiency, without the need for large capital investments in security infrastructure. In addition, Airtel Secure Digital Internet, in partnership with Zscaler, uses Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) to continuously validate user, device, and network interactions. Combining Zscaler’s cloud security with Security Service Edge (SSE) technology, this solution ensures secure cloud access, SSL inspection, and centralised policy enforcement, helping businesses reduce attack surfaces and simplify security management. 



Quote for the day:

"The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things." -- Ronald Reagan

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