Today in Tech

With new technology and attack methods such as AI voice phishing being used by hackers, the old methods of passwords and authentication may soon be going away. On this episode, Keith chats with Julianna Lamb, CTO and co-founder of Stytch, about new authentication methods that can improve security for end users and companies to help protect account information.

Generative artificial intelligence is providing large and small impacts within businesses as they look to use tools to find new employees and keep the ones they have. Employees within companies are also using genAI in new ways, causing additional legal issues for many companies. Keith chats with Jay Sabin, an employment attorney from Brach Eichler, about navigating through many of these new legal and company obstacles.

New announcements and artificial intelligence integrations by Amazon, Microsoft and OpenAI indicate that the enthusiasm for AI is hitting another wave. Keith and Chris talk about the new image creation tools and other text-based generative AI that will soon be infiltrating your day-to-day work tasks and other parts of your life.

Documents related to the FTC vs. Microsoft case were inadvertently leaked this week, showing plans for a new Xbox, a desire to buy Nintendo and exclusive gaming plans, among other items. This also comes on the heels of a report that Microsoft AI researchers leaked 38TB of employee data. Maybe they need a plumber like Mario to fix the leaks. Plus, would you pay for Twitter/X in order to fight the ‘bots?

Keith and Chris discuss the recent cyberattack against MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment, which had one company refusing to pay ransom while another one did. Dynamics of how the hackers were able to get into company systems were also disturbing. Also, we discuss the Google vs. DOJ antitrust trial, whether scientists need to meddle with asteroids, and whether people who work at home have insane energy when they venture out into the public.

Recent news and trends indicate continuing problems around generative AI, such as security issues, the ‘dumbening’ of the tech, cost problems; which leads us to wonder whether we are about to hit the proverbial ‘trough of disillusionment.’ Is this the case or are we just at another plateau, with more greatness to come? Keith speaks with Mike Mason from Thoughtworks and Nicholas Mattei from Tulane University about whether we have reached “Peak AI”.

The September launch event for the iPhone 15 and Apple Watch Series 9 featured several small improvements in performance and features, as well as continued commitment to environmental sustainability. Keith chats with Macworld’s Michael Simon and Computerworld’s Ken Mingis about the highlights and lowlights from the event.

New research says that a weakening economy and consumers holding onto their phones for longer period are driving smartphone sales to decline to their lowest volume in a decade. Also, Keith and Chris discuss whether companies should disclose if they use AI to generate content, whether generations have different opinions on subscription loyalty, and whether self-checkouts at supermarkets needs to have rules of etiquette.

With the election cycle heating up for 2024, is there anything we can do to stop political deepfake images, video or audio from influencing voters’ minds? Or is it too late to put this genie back in the bottle? Keith chats with Matthew Write, a professor of computing security at RIT and a member of the DeFake Project, which aims to detect deepfakes and help journalists determine whether something is real or fake.

The old era of a heroic boss leading his team into ‘battle’ are long gone, given the exponential growth of disruption in the workplace. Keith chats with Ron Gutman, an adjunct professor at Stanford University and innovator on leadership issues, about how bosses and other company leaders need to adopt an anti-heroic persona.