Meta Study Shows Public Attitude Towards AI Chatbots
- Written by Deep Shikha Content Writer
- Fact-Checked by
Meta Platforms Inc. released a study on April 3 about people’s reactions to AI chatbots, like ChatGPT, and how they believe these bots should interact with humans. Participants’ views were tallied before and after deliberations with AI experts. Overall, the belief that “AI has a positive impact” increased after educational sessions and discussions were had about the new technology.
The research started in October 2023 , when Meta collaborated with Stanford’s Deliberative Democracy Lab and the Behavioral Insights Team on a Community Forum on Generative AI . The study used Deliberative Polling to gather opinions on AI from 1,545 people across Brazil, Germany, Spain, and the USA.
After a weekend of discussions, people were also more aware that AI chatbots might reflect existing biases from their training data. They also acknowledged the concerns about data privacy and security. In summary, talking about chatbots for a weekend made people understand the benefits as well as the possible risks.
The Community Forum revealed that while people generally see AI chatbots as a positive step forward, they emphasize the need for developers to prioritize transparency and control.
According to Bloomberg , the Meta report often mentioned “transparency,” indicating users are fine with chatbots if they’re aware they’re interacting with one. Clearly marking or introducing chatbots is a simple but crucial detail that can significantly influence people’s attitudes. This could be why Meta is focusing on labeling AI-generated content in user feeds.
While most people in the study already had a positive outlook on AI, one area of discussion that revealed a not-so-positive outlook (before and after discussion) was making AI as human-like as possible. Participants from all four countries disagreed that AI chatbots should be made as humanlike as possible, especially if the user isn’t informed. This shows that while many may see the benefits of AI tech, there’s also a sense that it’s threatening the authenticity of our own existence.
Google Sues Two Developers Over Fake Crypto App Scams
- Written by Elijah Ugoh Cybersecurity & Tech Writer
- Fact-Checked by
Google is suing two crypto app developers in New York federal court, accusing them of luring unsuspecting users into downloading and investing in dozens of fake crypto apps distributed on its Google Play app store.
Reuters reported on Thursday that victims of the crypto scam have lost tens of thousands of dollars. Google alleged that accused scammers — Yunfeng Sun, based in Shenzhen, China, and Hongnam Cheung, based in Hong Kong — uploaded 87 different fake crypto investment apps.
The lawsuit alleged that the two developers and their associates have been using these fraudulent apps to drive their schemes since 2019, garnering more than 100,000 downloads worldwide.
“Keeping people safe online is core to our business, and we will not tolerate the misuse of our platforms to facilitate cryptocurrency scams,” says Halimah DeLaine Prado, General Counsel at Google, in an email to Blockworks . “This litigation is a critical step in holding these bad actors accountable,” she added.
Google explained that Sun and Cheung would create fake cryptocurrency exchange and investment apps and upload them to the Google Play Store with fake locations, allegedly misrepresenting them as legitimate investing apps. The duo and their associates would then use a “social engineering” scheme involving random romantic text messages, fake press releases, and YouTube videos promoting the apps to lure in victims.
“The texts would purport to be from wrong numbers, but then the texters would strike up conversations with the victims, developing friendships and romantic attachments,” Google added. After convincing people to invest through their apps, the platform will show investors their balance and returns on investments to make it look convincing.
But, users are usually not allowed to take out their money. They can withdraw only small amounts of their returns, according to Google. “When users tried to withdraw larger amounts of their ‘earnings,’ they were told to pay more money,” Google said.
If the victims turned to their romantic friend to complain, the “friend” or “romantic partner” who had earlier convinced them to invest through these apps would just disappear.
No comment has been made by the defendants yet. The lawsuit, with case No. 1:24-cv-02559, was filed at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
