Agregátor RSS

Social media site dispatches crucial clarification days after curious announcement

X (formerly Twitter) sparked security concerns over the weekend when it announced users must re-enroll their security keys by November 10 or face account lockouts — without initially explaining why.…

Security, trust, and stability — once the pillars of our digital world — are now the tools attackers turn against us. From stolen accounts to fake job offers, cybercriminals keep finding new ways to exploit both system flaws and human behavior. Each new breach proves a harsh truth: in cybersecurity, feeling safe can be far more dangerous than being alert. Here’s how that false sense of security

Security, trust, and stability — once the pillars of our digital world — are now the tools attackers turn against us. From stolen accounts to fake job offers, cybercriminals keep finding new ways to exploit both system flaws and human behavior. Each new breach proves a harsh truth: in cybersecurity, feeling safe can be far more dangerous than being alert. Here’s how that false sense of securityRavie Lakshmananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]

Jen Easterly says most breaches stem from bad software, and smarter tech could finally clean it up

Ex-CISA head Jen Easterly claims AI could spell the end of the cybersecurity industry, as the sloppy software and vulnerabilities that criminals rely on will be tracked down faster than ever.…

Australia’s competition regulator is suing Microsoft and its Australian subsidiary for allegedly misleading approximately 2.7 million customers about Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscription options when it integrated Copilot AI.

The case raises stark transparency questions for enterprise customers, as CIOs increasingly look to include “AI transparency clauses” in renewal contracts to prevent similar price shocks tied to automation features.

Microsoft faces potential penalties of up to $33 million (A$50 million) for the breach.

While the lawsuit addresses consumer subscriptions, the bundling strategy signals broader implications for enterprise procurement. Technology leaders are now incorporating contractual safeguards against forced AI upgrades as software vendors increasingly integrate generative AI into core productivity suites and pass through corresponding cost increases.

Allegations of deceptive conduct

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) alleged Microsoft engaged in deceptive conduct from October 31, 2024, by telling subscribers with auto-renewal enabled they had two options: accept Copilot integration with a price increase of up to 45% or cancel their subscription. The regulator claims that Microsoft deliberately concealed a third option that would have allowed customers to maintain their existing features at previous prices.

“The ACCC alleges that since 31 October 2024, Microsoft has told subscribers of Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans with auto-renewal enabled that to maintain their subscription they must accept the integration of Copilot and pay higher prices for their plan, or, alternatively, cancel their subscription,” the ACCC said in a statement. “This information provided to subscribers was false or misleading.”

Deliberate omission alleged

The case centers on two emails and a blog post Microsoft allegedly sent subscribers about Copilot integration and accompanying price increases. Annual subscription prices for Microsoft 365 Personal increased from $71 to $103 (A$109 to A$159), while Family plans rose from $90 to $116 (A$139 to A$179). According to the ACCC’s court filings, Microsoft made no mention of Microsoft 365 Classic plans in these communications.

“We will allege in court that Microsoft deliberately omitted reference to the Classic plans in its communications and concealed their existence until after subscribers initiated the cancellation process to increase the number of consumers on more expensive Copilot-integrated plans,” ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said in the statement.

The Classic plans allegedly became visible only when subscribers began the cancellation process, denying customers the ability to make informed decisions about subscription options that included retaining all existing features without Copilot at the lower price point. The proceedings involve only consumer Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans, not business or enterprise subscriptions.

Industry shift toward AI bundling

Microsoft’s bundling approach reflects a broader industry shift, according to Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief analyst and CEO at Greyhound Research. “Customers rarely buy AI as an isolated feature, so vendors are turning it into part of the core suite,” Gogia said. “For Microsoft, adding Copilot straight into Word, Excel, and Outlook ensures that every user encounters its capabilities in their daily routine.”

However, the strategy introduces transparency risks extending beyond consumer markets. “Once an AI feature becomes the default rather than an explicit decision, the boundary between added value and forced adoption becomes blurred,” Gogia said. He added that leaders are now writing “AI transparency clauses” into renewal contracts to prevent surprise increases tied to new automation features.

“Optional AI lets finance and risk teams ring-fence cost, audit usage, and decide when to scale,” Gogia said. “Bundled AI removes that visibility. Vendors that trade clarity for faster uptake may gain short-term revenue but risk long-term erosion of customer confidence.”

Microsoft rolled out Copilot integration globally in January with varying price increases across jurisdictions. The Australian action comes months after those worldwide changes.

Market power amplifies scrutiny

The ACCC emphasized the essential nature of Microsoft Office applications in its complaint. “The Microsoft Office apps included in 365 subscriptions are essential in many people’s lives, and given there are limited substitutes to the bundled package, canceling the subscription is a decision many would not make lightly,” Cass-Gottlieb added.

Gogia noted this market position amplifies regulatory scrutiny and affects enterprise procurement dynamics. “When a platform becomes as entrenched as Office 365, every additional service layered on top of it inherits the power of that monopoly,” he said. The analyst pointed to Microsoft’s antitrust pressure in Europe for tying Teams to Office 365 as a similar pattern.

“The key difference is that Copilot is not an app but a learning system embedded into the workflow itself,” Gogia said. “When intelligence becomes inseparable from the productivity stack, procurement moves beyond simple licensing to questions of liability and governance.”

Potential penalties and global implications

The ACCC is seeking penalties, injunctions, declarations, consumer redress, and costs. Under Australian Consumer Law, the maximum penalty for each breach is the greater of $33 million (A$50 million), three times the total benefits obtained from the conduct, or 30% of Microsoft’s adjusted turnover during the breach period if benefits cannot be determined.

Microsoft did not immediately respond to ComputerWorld’s queries.

Gogia suggested the case could become a global template for AI transparency. “If the Australian court rules that Microsoft misled users, the ripple will be immediate,” he said. “Global vendors would have to redesign renewal communications to show exactly what portion of a subscription relates to AI, what data it uses, and how customers can opt out.”

“Transparency around AI is quickly turning into a measure of corporate ethics,” Gogia said. “Copilot now stands as the global test case for whether default AI integration can coexist with fair disclosure.”

Existing Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers who have not renewed since July 8 may still access Classic plans by initiating the cancellation process, according to the ACCC.

V jižní Číně byl objeven největší dopadový kráter z období holocénu • Síla dopadu odpovídala 40 atomovým bombám svrženým na Hirošimu • Dopad musel zdevastovat místní ekosystém i tehdejší lidské obyvatele

Čelovka Campgo T9 slibuje dosvit až 185 metrů a až dvoudenní výdrž. • Zlevnila na 639 Kč, v takových akcích moc často nebývá. • Alza má v nabídce i několik zajímavých alternativ.

Ryzen 9 9950X3D2, Ryzen 7 9850X3D a Zen 5 APU pro socket AM5 budou uvedena na CES 2026, tedy zhruba za dva měsíce a týden. Půjde dost možná o poslední modely vydané před generací Zen 6…

The ransomware group known as Qilin (aka Agenda, Gold Feather, and Water Galura) has claimed more than 40 victims every month since the start of 2025, barring January, with the number of postings on its data leak site touching a high of 100 cases in June. The development comes as the ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation has emerged as one of the most active ransomware groups, accounting for

The ransomware group known as Qilin (aka Agenda, Gold Feather, and Water Galura) has claimed more than 40 victims every month since the start of 2025, barring January, with the number of postings on its data leak site touching a high of 100 cases in June. The development comes as the ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation has emerged as one of the most active ransomware groups, accounting for Ravie Lakshmananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]

Sloup veřejného osvětlení s číslem S-0627-021 v brněnské ulici Marie Majerové je skrývá dobíjecí stanici pro elektromobily. Jedná se o vůbec první zařízení svého druhu v České republice, které není připevněno na povrchu, ale je instalováno uvnitř speciálně upraveného tubusu sloupu. Za ...

Nahromaděné fotografie z chatů a skupin na WhatsAppu mohou snadno zabrat gigabajty z interní paměti telefonu. Aplikace na to pamatuje a nabízí snadný způsob, jak se nadbytečných fotek a videí zbavit.

The newly released OpenAI ChatGPT Atlas web browser has been found to be susceptible to a prompt injection attack where its omnibox can be jailbroken by disguising a malicious prompt as a seemingly harmless URL to visit. "The omnibox (combined address/search bar) interprets input either as a URL to navigate to, or as a natural-language command to the agent," NeuralTrust said in a report

The newly released OpenAI ChatGPT Atlas web browser has been found to be susceptible to a prompt injection attack where its omnibox can be jailbroken by disguising a malicious prompt as a seemingly harmless URL to visit. "The omnibox (combined address/search bar) interprets input either as a URL to navigate to, or as a natural-language command to the agent," NeuralTrust said in a report Ravie Lakshmananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]

V marketech se pravidelně objevují slevy na aplikace a hry • Vybírejte pro platformy Android i iOS • Na titulu můžete ušetřit desítky korun

We grumble about political polarization, but there’s even less agreement about artificial intelligence (AI). 

Zoomers believe AI will bring big benefits to humanity, downplaying the risks and problems. 

LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman wrote in a January New York Times Op-Ed that AI in the hands of regular users will boost human creativity and control and democratize knowledge and innovation by giving billions of people access to reasoning tools once reserved for experts. 

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is also bullish on the technology. On “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon” in February, he said AI would make “excellent medical guidance and top-notch tutoring” universally available at no cost within a decade, giving everyone access to high-quality expertise. Gates framed this as a massive equalizer for global education and healthcare, saying AI-driven personalization and virtual help would improve billions of lives by breaking down knowledge barriers.

Earlier this month, Nare Khachatryan published a long post — “The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Society in 2025” — on the PrometAI blog. The article described AI as “a catalyst of human progress,” saying that one technology is reshaping every layer of human life. It said AI touched 3.5 billion lives daily in 2025 and compared its effect to the Industrial Revolution. Khachatryan listed positive changes in healthcare, education, and creativity.

Among Khachatryan’s claims: AI will improve cancer detection accuracy by nearly 40%, reduce global healthcare costs by $100 billion annually, shrink drug development timelines from 15 to five years, and enable 90% fewer traffic accidents through the use of autonomous vehicles. The piece concluded that AI “is quietly reshaping what it means to live, work, and dream,” envisioning it as a democratizing and human-empowering force if guided with fairness and conscience.

On social networks like Reddit, it’s easy to find a large number of overly optimistic AI fans who attack critics as clueless Chicken Little types. 

All is lost — already?

Then there are the doomers.

Earlier this week, the Emory Wheel editorial board published an opinion column claiming that without regulation, AI will soon outpace humanity’s ability to control it. The post said AI’s uncontrolled evolution threatens human autonomy, free expression, and democracy, stressing that the technical development is faster than what lawmakers can handle.

The New York Times published a March opinion piece by Tressie McMillan Cottom called “The Tech Fantasy That Powers A.I. Is Running on Fumes,” saying the technology makes a post-truth culture worse by rewarding prediction over real understanding. The piece said AI systems promote lazy thinking, strengthen false information, and replace real reasoning with fake thinking, lowering our ability to seek truth and have open discussions.

Scientific American published a January piece claiming that AI companies hide behind exaggerated claims while ignoring the fact that AI already causes real harm. The column mentioned examples like wrongful arrests from facial recognition, deepfake pornography, wage suppression by algorithmic management, and systemic bias in health care and housing. 

Super-doomers are everywhere. Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares wrote a book “If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies,” arguing that artificial general intelligence (AGI) will likely escape human control, consume Earth’s resources to sustain itself, and lead to the extinction of all organic life. 

In short, experts say AI will either bring about an age of peace, prosperity, health, and leisure — or it will take all the jobs and destroy humanity.

Don’t forget AGI

Both zoomers and doomers agree that humanity’s fate will be decided when the industry releases AGI or superintelligent AI. But there’s strong disagreement on when that will happen. 

From OpenAI’s Sam Altman to Elon Musk, Eric Schmidt, Demis Hassabis, Dario Amodei, Masayoshi Son, Jensen Huang, Ray Kurzweil, Louis Rosenberg, Geoffrey Hinton, Mark Zuckerberg, Ajeya Cotra, and Jürgen Schmidhuber — all predict AGI by later this year to later this decade. 

Others don’t agree. 

AGI or superintelligent AI won’t happen for decades, if ever, according to Gary Marcus, Yann LeCun, Stuart Russell, Arvind Narayanan, Helen Toner, the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, AIMultiple Research, and others. 

At least it will do all our software coding for us, right? 

The coding tool of the future?

Dario Amodei thinks AI will write almost all code within a year and replace human developers completely. Altman believes it  will become the world’s best programmer by late 2025. Marc Benioff thinks AI will automate almost all software engineering jobs. Zuckerberg believes AI will perform mid-level engineers’ work and make coding automatic. Andy Jassy thinks it will cut down the need for most corporate software jobs. Arvind Krishna thinks AI-driven automation will save billions and take over IBM’s engineering. And Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers believe machines will automatically write most code by 2040.

Not true at all, say other experts. Yann LeCun, Stephen Wolfram, Boris Cherny, Simon Willison, Alex Gu, and Marselena Sequoia believe that despite progress in AI-assisted coding, current systems lack the reasoning, understanding, and reliability to autonomously perform most software development work anytime soon. They believe skilled human programmers will remain indispensable for complex, large-scale projects.

Almost every strong public opinion about AI is extreme.

Flip a coin

Some say we need strict global rules, maybe like those for nuclear weapons. Others say strong laws would slow progress, stop new ideas, and give the benefits of AI to China. 

There’s no agreement on open-versus-closed systems. Some think open AI makes the world safer because everyone can check how it works. Others think giving powerful tools to anyone is too risky and could help criminals or hostile nations. 

No one agrees who should be in charge: companies, governments, or international groups.

Experts debate whether we can make AI truly safe. Some believe science will solve it with better design and testing. Others say safety is about values and ethics, which humans don’t agree on. 

Supporters of Universal Basic Income think everyone should get a share of the wealth AI creates. Critics call that unrealistic and dangerous. 

Artists and writers disagree on whether AI inspires more creative work or replaces and destroys human creativity.

People debate whether AI makes us smarter or dumber. Many scientists say AI can speed up research and give everyone access to expert help. But others think it will fill the world with falsehoods and make people lazy about thinking. 

AI excels at recognizing patterns, not understanding ideas, leading to doubts about its “knowledge.” Some say chatbots show true intelligence; others say they just copy what they’ve seen before without any real thought at all.

People disagree on what AI is. Some think it already shows reasoning, problem-solving, and consciousness. Others argue it only copies understanding and lacks thinking, awareness, or even a consistent “self.”

Just say no to extreme views

One thing is clear about AI: We don’t agree on what it is, how it works, and what its impact on people will be in the future.

When it doubt remain clear-headed

This leads me to the following advice: Reject AI dogma. Reject certainty. Be suspicious of motives (like when those who can make money from AI tell us to relax and accept it).

And reject the extremes. AI is most likely neither all good or all bad. 

AI is already causing harms. It contributes to privacy invasion, disinformation and deepfakes, surveillance overreach, job displacement, cybersecurity threats, child and psychological harms, environmental damage, erosion of human creativity and autonomy, economic and political instability, manipulation and loss of trust in media, unjust criminal justice outcomes, and other problems. 

But it’s also already helping people by improving healthcare and medical discovery, driving scientific and climate research, enhancing productivity and economic growth through automation, minimizing human error and increasing safety, improving transportation and urban infrastructure management, strengthening cybersecurity and data privacy, and boosting creativity, culture, and problem-solving for some. 

One thing is certain: Anyone who says AI is all good or all bad is wrong. We should be humble and open-minded about AI’s future, neither zoomer nor doomer. We should explore and exploit AI’s benefits while advocating for protections from potential or actual harms. 

AI has both good and bad impacts on people. It’s the mixed bag of the century. 

ProCharge BESS je 120kWh solární baterie pro hybridní napájení stavenišť • Elektrický provoz dramaticky snižuje spotřebu nafty a emise skleníkových plynů • Výkon 45 kVA zvládne napájet kanceláře i nabíjet těžkou techniku