News of the Cyber World

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China Could Rise Global Backslash

China Faces Rising Global Backlash Against Flood of Cheap Exports

China’s effort to jump-start its economy by exporting a vast quantity of cheap manufactured products is running into unexpected resistance from the United States, European Union, and even developing nations such as Brazil and Mexico. All of these nations are concerned with market disruptions caused by a tidal wave of Chinese imports, as happened during the “China Shock” two decades ago.
China Shock 2.0 includes a torrent of cheap solar panels, electric vehicles, and lithium-ion batteries, which dictator Xi Jinping has identified as the “New Three” industries that will revive the flagging Chinese economy.
“In particular, China’s manufacturers are pumping out so many solar panels that the resulting global glut and price crash are prompting people to line their garden fences with the once-prized product,” Business Insider noted on Thursday.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) added that emerging economies are worried about China dumping huge quantities of steel, ceramics, and chemicals into their markets.
“India alone has opened antidumping probes into everything from Chinese-made bolts and screws to glass mirrors and vacuum-insulated flasks. Argentina is investigating Chinese elevators. The U.K. is scrutinizing excavators and electric bicycles,” the WSJ said.
The first China Shock saw manufacturing bases in the U.S. and Europe crumble under the blizzard of cheap Chinese goods, destroying thousands of jobs as other countries found themselves unable to compete with China’s incredibly cheap labor and minimal regulatory overhead.

TikTok is Quite Profitable Indeed

China Finds Big Money in TikTok Psyop as ByteDance Profits Soar 60%

Bloomberg reports that ByteDance’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) skyrocketed to more than $40 billion in 2023, a staggering 60 percent increase from the previous year’s $25 billion. The company’s revenue also saw substantial growth, reaching nearly $120 billion, up from $80 billion in 2022.

ByteDance’s success can be attributed to its ability to leverage its popular short-video platforms to expand into international e-commerce and maintain its global popularity. The company’s domestic app, Douyin, has evolved into an all-in-one platform, encroaching on the territories of rivals such as Tencent’s WeChat, Alibaba’s e-commerce, and Meituan’s food delivery services.

Overseas, the successful rollout of TikTok Shop in markets like the United States and Southeast Asia has unlocked new revenue sources beyond digital marketing. TikTok aims to grow its US e-commerce business tenfold this year, capitalizing on its 170 million users in the country.

However, ByteDance faces challenges in its most lucrative market, the United States. In March, the US House of Representatives passed a bill that could ban TikTok unless ByteDance sells the app. The measure’s outcome in the Senate remains uncertain, and the upcoming presidential rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, along with Beijing’s response, could further complicate matters.

Despite these obstacles, ByteDance has started to streamline its operations by cutting jobs in its gaming development and enterprise software units, which had failed to meet expectations. The company is now focusing on catching up with the latest trend in generative AI by building its own chatbots and large language models.

TikTok Notes VS Instagram

China’s Psyop Is Expanding: TikTok Set to Launch Instagram Competitor

The Verge reports that in a move that could shake up the social media landscape, TikTok is preparing to launch a dedicated photo-sharing app called TikTok Notes. The news comes after users received notifications from the company stating that it will be launching “a new app for photo posts” and that existing and future public TikTok photo posts will be shared on the new platform.

A URL for the upcoming app, photo.tiktok.com, briefly appeared online, providing a glimpse of what users can expect. The site featured a prompt to open a post in the TikTok Notes app, and an image suggesting that users will be able to write captions alongside their photos.

TikTok’s foray into the photo-sharing space could pose a significant challenge to established players like Instagram. With its massive user base and the ability to populate the new app with photos already shared on TikTok, the company may have a head start in attracting users to its new platform.

In a statement to TechCrunch, TikTok said it is “exploring ways to empower our community to create and share their creativity with photos and text in a dedicated space for those formats.” However, the company did not provide a specific timeline for the app’s release.

TikTok is most popular with American teenagers, some of whom have developed “TikTok brain.” Studies have shown that social media usage changes the brain of teens, making it even more crucial that the top app for young Americans is not controlled by a hostile communist power.

Here's the link to the study.

Tough Year for Tesla

Elon’s Tough Year: Tesla’s Sales Outlook Dims as Analysts Predict EV Decline in 2024

According to a recent report from Bloomberg, Alexander Potter of Piper Sandler expects Tesla’s deliveries to slip 0.5 percent to just under 1.8 million vehicles in 2024. Similarly, Philippe Houchois of Jefferies foresees a roughly three percent drop to 1.77 million vehicles. This gloomy outlook comes on the heels of Tesla’s disappointing first-quarter delivery numbers, which missed consensus estimates by the biggest margin ever in Bloomberg data going back seven years. This is particularly startling because Tesla has boasted about massive sales growth as the most prominent EV maker in the country.

The analysts cite slowing growth as a major concern for the electric vehicle maker. “Growth is slowing, and there’s no quick fix,” Potter wrote in his April 9 report. He believes that Tesla should be able to overcome demand issues by 2026, anticipating a lower-cost vehicle, scaled-up production of the Cybertruck, and more than half his price target stems from bullishness on the company’s driver-assistance software.

Houchois, on the other hand, is relatively pessimistic about Tesla’s ability to deliver on its self-driving ambitions. “Unveiling a robotaxi on Aug. 8 may help sentiment but not address the time frame and investment needed to render the technology and business model viable,” he said in a note to clients Wednesday. Jefferies cut its full-year earnings estimates by about 30 percent and its revenue projection by 15 percent.

The analysts’ concerns are reflected in their price target cuts, with Potter lowering his to $205 and Houchois reducing his to $165. Tesla’s shares have been under pressure this year, down 29 percent despite a recent rally sparked by CEO Elon Musk’s announcement of a date to reveal a robotaxi, a project he has teased at least as far back as 2016.

UK Banning Cellphones?

UK Considers Smart Phone Ban For Under-16s as Fears of Harmful Effects Grow

A leak claims the British government is considering legislating to ban the sale of smartphones to under-16s has split the right between conservatives and libertarians, torn between trying to manage the increasingly apparent damage caused by new technology or stepping back and letting the market decide.

“As conservatives know, not all change is progress”, says a prominent Tory MP of the damage being done to a generation of young people by unfettered access to social media as claims emerge the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is working on a ban on selling smartphones to children under the age of 16. The government, for its part, offered a “non-denial” to the reported leak, saying only they would not comment on speculation, but that “Our commitment to making the UK the safest place to be a child online is unwavering”.

Influential Westminster insider blog Guido Fawkes, which originally splashed the news of the apparently in-the-works phone ban, derides the idea as “Orwellian… illiberal” and doomed to failure.

Naturally, the law could be easily circumvented, and most phones for children are already bought by their parents anyway. But as some observers in favour of the change note, the law is a valuable tool for building new norms and that smartphone usage is not appropriate for developing minds and the government could back that position by statute.

Conservative Party Member of Parliament Miriam Cates, who is firmly on the pro-family wing of the party, said despite negative perceptions among parts of the right when it comes to the government banning things, there is no real objection in the country to bans on having sex with children or against children being able to drive cars on public roads, demonstrating that it is widely understood some behaviours are self-evidently harmful.

FISA Bill Section

Biden Backs FISA Bill as Speaker Mike Johnson Moves Again to Renew Spy Powers Authority

President Joe Biden backed a bill House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) hopes to pass on Friday that would reauthorize a controversial surveillance bill.

President Joe Biden’s administration announced its support for H.R. 7888, the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA), a bill to reauthorize Section 702 of the Communications Decency Act. Section 702 is a law that is meant to target foreign adversaries but often surveils Americans’ private communications without a warrant.

House Republicans on Wednesday killed the rule that would have allowed the vote on RISAA; Johnson vowed to try again on Friday.

The Biden administration also came out against Rep. Andy Biggs’ (R-AZ) amendment that would require a warrant for searching Americans’ communications.

“Our intelligence, defense, and public safety communities are united: the extensive harms of this proposal simply cannot be mitigated. Therefore, the Administration strongly opposes the amendment.”

Biggs said in response to the White House statement, “Of course Joe doesn’t support a warrant requirement. His weaponized federal police apparatus wouldn’t be able to spy on American citizens anymore. GET A WARRANT.”

Biggs is the sponsor of the House Judiciary Committee-advanced Protect Liberty and End Warrantless Surveillance Act, which was hailed as one of the most significant privacy reform bills in several generations.

Speaker Mike Johnson Claims Classified Briefing Made Him Flip-Flop on Spy Powers Reform

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Wednesday explained his apparent flip-flop on a controversial surveillance law, saying that he now favors limited reforms after receiving a classified briefing.

Speaker Johnson was asked by reporters why he changed his opinion on reforming Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a controversial surveillance law that is meant to target foreign adversaries, but often surveils Americans’ communications without a warrant.

Johnson this week came out against a warrant requirement for Section 702 and moved not to allow an amendment that would have barred intelligence and law enforcement agencies from purchasing Americans’ private information through third-party data brokers. This is considered a run around the Fourth Amendment protection against warrantless searches.

This amounts to a dramatic reversal, since Johnson supported legislation to close the data broker loophole in July 2023, and the Louisiana congressman supported the USA RIGHTS act, which FreedomWorks described as one of the “strongest possible reforms” of FISA.

Johnson said his reversal came after receiving classified briefings on Section 702. He explained:

When I was a member of Judiciary I saw the abuses of the FBI, the terrible abuses over and over and over… and then when I became Speaker I went to the SCIF and got the confidential briefing on sort of the other perspective on that to understand the necessity of section 702 of FISA and how important it is for national security. And it gave me a different perspective.

“That’s part of the process, you have to be fully informed,” he added.

AI Section

Officials Investigate Spread of AI-Generated Deepfake Porn at California High School

An investigation has been launched into allegations of inappropriate digital photos being created and shared among a school community in Los Angeles, California.

The investigation surrounds Fairfax High School, Fox 11 reported Wednesday, noting the Los Angeles Unified School District said the photos were allegedly made and shared via a third-party messaging app.

Officials also said, “Los Angeles Unified remains steadfast in providing training on the ethical use of technology — including AI — and is committed to enhancing education around digital citizenship, privacy, and safety for all in our school communities.”

In March, five students from a Beverly Hills middle school were reportedly expelled after making AI-generated deepfake pornographic images of multiple classmates, according to Breitbart News:

The disturbing case came to light in February when explicit images depicting the faces of 16 eighth-grade students, aged 13-14, superimposed on artificially generated naked bodies, were shared through messaging apps. The victims’ sex have not been disclosed, but the incident has sent shockwaves through the community and raised serious concerns about the misuse of emerging technologies.

This type of AI-generated image, known as a “deepfake,” can be very convincing to the untrained observer. Breitbart News previously reported that apps to generate deepfake porn have exploded in popularity.

Students and families in the Fairfax District are deeply concerned regarding the issues surrounding the inappropriate images. They are also worried it is becoming a disturbing trend, per NBC LA.

Cheating Detector: Students Submitted 22 Million Papers Written by AI Last Year

Students  submitted more than 22 million papers last year that were likely written by AI tools, according to new data published by Turnitin, a software service that checks papers for plagiarism.

Turnitin says its plagiarism detection tool found millions of papers that may include a significant amount of AI-generated content, according to a report by Wired.

Last year, the company launched an AI writing detection tool and trained it on a slew of papers written by high school and college students, as well as known AI-generated content. Turnitin says its detector tool now has a false positive rate of less than one percent when examining entire documents.

Turnitin noted that its detector tool has analyzed more than 200 million student-submitted papers and found that 11 percent of them appear to be at least 20 percent made up of AI-generated written language, with three percent of the papers being at least 80 percent written by AI.

These types of tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT have become a major problem in the world of academia, as students are increasingly using the tool as their go-to source for cheating.

As Breitbart News reported, a study published last year found that 17 percent of students at Stanford University admitted to using ChatGPT on their final exams. Students at an elite academic program at a Florida high school were accused of cheating by using ChatGPT to write their essays.

While educators want to hold students accountable for cheating, accurately detecting the use of AI in writing assignments can be difficult.

Notably, AI detection tools can pose a risk of false positives against English language learners.

As Breitbart News reported, a Stanford study found last year that AI detection tools are biased against non-native English speakers and falsely accuse them of cheating.

Can You Believe Your Ears? FTC Awards Prizes for Tech to Detect AI-Generated Deepfake Voices

NPR reports that the winners of the FTC contest showcase a variety of approaches to detecting AI-generated voices, also known as audio deepfakes. OriginStory, created by researchers at Arizona State University, uses sensors to detect human characteristics such as breathing, motion, and heartbeat information. “We have this very unique speech production mechanism. And so by sensing it in parallel with the acoustic signal, you can verify that the speech is coming from a human,” explained Visar Berisha, a professor at ASU’s College of Health Solutions and part of the winning team.

Another winner, DeFake, created by Ning Zhang from Washington University in St. Louis, injects data into recordings of real voices to prevent AI-generated voice clones from sounding like the real person. This technology was inspired by earlier tools developed by University of Chicago researchers that place hidden changes in images to prevent AI algorithms from mimicking them.

AI Detect, made by startup Omni Speech, uses AI to catch AI. CEO David Przygoda explains that their machine learning algorithm extracts features from audio clips, such as inflection, and uses that to teach the models to differentiate between real and fake audio. “They have a really hard time transitioning between different emotions, whereas a human being can be amused in one sentence and distraught in the next,” Przygoda notes.

While there are existing commercial detection tools that rely on machine learning, factors like sound quality and media format can make them less reliable. Berisha believes that AI-based detectors will become less effective over time, similar to the challenges faced by detectors of AI-generated text. This led him to develop a process that authenticates human voices as words are being spoken.

Bad News for MBAs: AI Revolution Poised to Disrupt Entry-Level Jobs on Wall Street

The New York Times reports that investment banks are increasingly turning to AI to automate and streamline many of the tasks typically performed by entry-level analysts, raising questions about the future of these roles in the industry. The grunt work that has long been associated with the early stages of a Wall Street career, such as creating PowerPoint presentations, crunching numbers in Excel, and finessing financial documents, can now be completed by AI tools in a fraction of the time.

Major banks, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Deutsche Bank, are already experimenting with AI software that can perform these tasks with remarkable speed and efficiency. According to Christoph Rabenseifner, Deutsche Bank’s chief strategy officer for technology, data and innovation, “The easy idea is you just replace juniors with an AI tool.” However, he also acknowledged that human involvement will still be necessary to some extent.

The potential impact of AI on the investment banking industry is significant. Accenture estimates that AI could replace or supplement nearly three-quarters of bank employees’ working hours across the industry. As a result, top executives at major banks are debating how deeply they can cut their incoming analyst classes, with some suggesting reductions of up to two-thirds.

Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, compared the consequences of AI to those of “the printing press, the steam engine, electricity, computing and the internet, among others” in his annual shareholder letter. He also noted that AI “may reduce certain job categories or roles” and labeled the technology as one of the most important issues facing the nation’s largest bank.

Japanese Companies Warn that ‘Social Order Could Collapse’ in Age of AI

Two influential Japanese companies are warning that “social order could collapse” in the new AI era as they call for new laws to restrain the technology.

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT), Japan’s largest telecommunications company, and newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, the most widely-read newspaper in the country with a morning circulation of about six million copies, published a proposal on Monday calling for new laws to restrain generative AI technology, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

The companies warn that “in the worst-case scenario, democracy and social order could collapse, resulting in wars” if AI is left unchecked, adding that the technology has already started to damage human dignity.

NTT and Yomiuri also reportedly suggested implementing laws to protect elections and national security from generative AI, noting that their executives have been analyzing the impact of such technology since last year in a study group led by researchers at Keio University in Tokyo.

The two companies issuing this warning are among Japan’s most influential with regards to policy, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Meanwhile, there exists a global push to stop the potential negative impact posed by AI, with the European Union spearheading the agenda.