#think artificial intelligence

[digitalconfex-blogs]

Unlocking the Digital Economy: The Surprising Security Risks You Can’t Ignore!

The digital economy has revolutionized the way we live, work, and interact with each other. It has brought about unprecedented opportunities for innovation, growth, and prosperity. However, with these opportunities come new challenges and risks.

The digital economy is under constant threat from cybercriminals, hackers, and other malicious actors who seek to exploit vulnerabilities in our digital infrastructure. The need for digital security has never been more urgent. In this article, its an endeavour to bring out the importance of digital security in today’s economy and why it is essential to safeguard our digital assets.

Lets try to investigate also, latest trends, technologies, and best practices in digital security and provide actionable insights that can help us secure our digital future. Let try discovering as to how we can protect the digital economy and ensure a safe and secure digital transformation for all.India has seen a significant boom in the digital economy in recent years. The Digital India initiative has played a key role in this growth. The initiative aims to provide digital infrastructure to every citizen of India and has been successful in increasing the number of internet users in the country. The digital platform infrastructure has enabled businesses to reach a wider audience and has created new opportunities for entrepreneurs.

Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). According to Nandan Nilekani, an Indian entrepreneur, co founder Infosys. India is moving from an offline, informal, low productivity, multiple set of micro-economies to a single online, formal, high-productivity mega economy with the help of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). The DPI approach includes frameworks such as the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), Open Credit Enablement Network (OCEN), and the National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR), which are unlocking new opportunities for businesses and individuals alike.

Nilekani believes that this transformation will continue over the next 20 years and will create tremendous economic value and empowerment of citizens as new digital applications permeate sector after sector .

As per the Indian 2011 census, there is only 36 %chance that two Indians selected at random could even talk to each other. As we as Indians have a huge variations in culture, markets, industrialization and regulations. But today in the year 2024 we have most closely micro economies, electronic registering and digital IDs through Aadhaar, a unique lifetime identity. In these eight years of period India became the worlds highest volume of digital payments.

India’s digital economy has grown 2.4 times faster than the Indian economy, with strong forward linkages to non-digital sectors. India’s digital consumer base is the second largest in the world and growing at the second-fastest rate amongst major economies. India’s inclusive digital model is narrowing the digital divide within the country and bringing benefits of technology to all segments of people. In times of crisis, DPIs elevate from an efficient “good-to have” to a necessary” must-have” like bringing in the real time observability to vaccine inventory visibility.

DPIs help strengthen a country’s public finances through strengthening tax revenue or increased financial transparency through linking of Public Financial Management System (PFMS) with Aadhaar. But then what are the challenges even if I can be enabling targeted-welfare spends through Aadhaar-like identity program or reduced risk and increase in the supply of credit to MSMEs and the public. Countries with many DPIS are best suited to adopt, spread as well as regulate the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies in service of their people.

As the digital realm continues to evolve, and with the sharing DPIs, this can be unleashed as powerful DIGITAL capital. In such scenarios, India’s cyber insurance market has emerged as a domain of strategic importance and robust growth. The significant rise in cyber awareness, compelling companies, businesses, and individuals to rely heavily on digital solutions for daily operations. However, this has also led to increased incidences of cybercrimes, targeting vulnerable group.

Therefore, certainly! Securing the digital economy is a crucial aspect of the modern world.

Challenges For the Digital Economy

As per the various surveys, it reveals that securing the digital economy is a complex and evolving challenge. According to the World Economic Forum, two key challenges for the digital economy are cybersecurity and privacy.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) has identified the following challenges: cybersecurity, data privacy, digital inclusion, and digital skills development. In Southeast Asia, the digital economy has brought about opportunities for innovation and growth, but also poses challenges such as cybersecurity, data privacy, and human and physical capital development.

Sources. emerald Insight, government.economictimes.indiatimes.com, apec.org, http://weforum.org

With the rise of digital payments in India, there has been a significant increase in the number of frauds perpetrated by exploiting digital payment systems and human vulnerabilities. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reported that the volume of frauds reported by financial institutions (FIs) using cards and internet banking was 34% higher in 2021-22 than in 2019-20. During 2022 23, public sector banks reported 3,405 frauds involving Rs 21,125 crore, while private banks reported 8,932 cases involving Rs 8,727 crore.

The rest were from foreign banks, financial institutions, small finance banks, and payment banks. Frauds occurred predominantly in the category of digital payments (card/internet), in terms of number, said Reserve Bank’s Annual Report 2022-23.

The dark web is a part of the internet that is not indexed by search engines and is often used for illegal activities. The changing nature of fraud and increase in fraudulent activities can be attributed to the major factors like : –

Diversified entry points. Businesses in India have been digitizing across their value chains at breakneck speeds. This increases the scope of opportunities for fraudsters and offers them a wider attack surface for exploitation. The common entry points include social media, e commerce, or services like retail transactions, rideshares and lodging.

Vulnerabilities in the new payment technologies. Personal data of customers is made available on the dark web, enabling fraudsters to carry out this type of fraud.

In this year, AI would help cybercriminals manipulate social media and shape public opinion like never before. Bad actors would deploy AI tools to fabricate photos, videos, and audios and lodge on social media.

As a CISO, it is important to be aware of the current cybersecurity landscape in India. According to a survey conducted by India’s print media, India’s digital footprint has made it an alluring target for cybercriminals seeking to exploit vulnerabilities. Cybersecurity providers have warned that data breaches would skyrocket in 2024, and there would be continued acceleration in ransomware activities in addition to a surge in identity-based attacks resulting from increasing cloud adoption. Deepfakes would also pose a looming threat to the country’s cybersecurity this year.

As organizations migrate their data, applications, and workloads to the cloud, the attack surface widens, providing a broader canvas for threat actors to exploit. Organizations may also have less visibility and control over cloud resources than in on-premises environments, which could make it difficult to detect intrusions and prevent unauthorized access.

Importance of Digital Security in Today’s Economy Safeguard Digital Assets.

Digital security is a critical aspect of today’s economy, and it is essential to safeguard our digital assets. The rise of the digital economy has brought about unprecedented opportunities for innovation, growth, and prosperity. However, with these opportunities come new challenges and risks. The digital economy is under constant threat from cybercriminals, hackers, and other malicious actors who seek to exploit vulnerabilities in our digital infrastructure. The need for digital security has never been more urgent. Companies and governments alike must take proactive measures to secure their digital assets. By embracing digital security, we can ensure a safe and secure digital transformation for all, fostering trust in the digital economy and enabling sustainable economic growth.

As a CISO, it is important to stay up-to-date with the latest cybersecurity trends and technologies. This includes keeping up with the latest threats and vulnerabilities, as well as understanding the best practices for securing digital assets. It is also important to have a strong disaster recovery plan in place in case of a cyber attack.

To secure the digital economy, it is important to have a robust cybersecurity framework in place. This may need measures such as encryption, firewalls, intrusion detection system, and access controls to be mandatorily be included. It is also important to have a disaster recovery plan in place in case of a cyber attack. By taking few of the industry proven steps, businesses can ensure that they are well-protected in the digital age.

To combat these frauds, payment service providers have been providing an enhanced seamless user experience at competitive prices, promoting wider adoption of digital payments. Users have multiple options for digital payments such as cards, wallets, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), mobile banking, QR code and various other methods . UPI has contributed significantly to the growth of digital transactions in India.

In the vast and intricate landscape of the internet, the Dark Web stands as a shadowy realm that has captured the imagination of both cyber enthusiasts and those concerned about online security. This hidden corner of the web is notorious for being a hub of illicit activities, from drug trafficking and hacking services to stolen data markets and more.

The Dark Web is a portion of the internet intentionally hidden from search engines and casual users. It is only accessible through specific software, such as Tor (The Onion Router), which anonymizes users and their activities. Unlike the Surface Web, which includes websites indexed by search engines, and the Deep Web, which comprises unindexed web pages (e.g., databases, password-protected content), the Dark Web is designed to be deliberately concealed.

The Dark Web is, in essence, a subset of the Deep Web, but what sets it apart is the intent to hide content and activities. This intentionality has made it a haven for those seeking anonymity, whether for legitimate purposes like whistleblowing or nefarious activities like illegal trade.

Cybercriminals use the dark web as their base of operations to carry out illegal activities, sell stolen data, and launch cyber-attacks on businesses. It is a growing concern for enterprises, as they face increasingly sophisticated cyber threats every day.

The Dark Web poses significant threats to both individuals and organizations in terms of Identity Theft, Financial Fraud, Corporate Espionage, Reputational Damage and also creating Law Enforcement Challenges.

The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 (“DPDP Bill”). In the era of digitisation, data protection must be balanced with the right equation of fraud detection associated with data. Businesses must be well-equipped to combat the threats of data breaches and ensure their customer’s data is not at risk. The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 (“DPDP Bill”) marks the onset of a new data protection regime in India, the bill is ready to set a benchmark amongst similar legal frameworks, globally.

To protect the enterprise from the dark web, cybersecurity professionals must sharpen their skills, invest in advanced security technologies, and implement effective security policies.

To ensure digital payment security, it is important to follow the best practices recommended by the payment service providers. There will be few basic steps which we all might have to adhere to, like :

–Use strong passwords and change them frequently.

– Avoid using public Wi-Fi networks for making digital payments.

– Keep your device’s operating system and applications up-to-date.

– Do not share your personal information, such as passwords, PINs, or OTPs, with anyone.

– Check your bank statements regularly to detect any unauthorized transactions.

– Integrated platforms can consolidate numerous point products into a single purpose-built solution. The consolidation of endpoint, server, and cloud security and workload protection allows you to protect your ecosystem, providing more visibility and simplifying operations

– Educate Your Employees as they are often the first point of contact with cybercriminals, who use social engineering tactics to gain access to your network. Provide awareness training that teaches them to recognize suspicious and fraudulent messages, be careful about the information they share online, and verify any requests for sensitive data.

Implement Effective Security Policies and enterprises should establish a comprehensive disaster recovery plan to ensure they can recover their systems and data quickly in case of a successful cyber-attack. To summarize and to address these challenges, CISOs should consider implementing the following measures:

Conducting regular security assessments. Regular security assessments can help identify vulnerabilities and provide insights into the effectiveness of existing security measures.

Implementing multi-factor authentication. Multi-factor authentication can help prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data and systems.

Establishing a security awareness program. A security awareness program can help educate employees on the importance of cybersecurity and how to identify and report potential security threats.

Implementing a data backup and recovery plan. A data backup and recovery plan can help ensure that critical data is not lost in the event of a security breach.

Partnering with a trusted cybersecurity provider. Partnering with a trusted cybersecurity provider can help organizations stay up-to-date with the latest security threats and implement effective security measures.

By implementing these measures, CISOs can help protect their organizations from the growing threat of cyberattacks and ensure the safety of their data and systems.

Conclusion

“As AI continues to lower the barrier to cybercrime and ushers in a new era of AI-powered cyberthreats, scams will become more sophisticated and more difficult to distinguish from legitimate messages and sites. Even experts will have trouble telling fact from fiction to deepfakes that could impact everything including the future of our children, and beyond,”.

Digital security is no longer an option, but a necessity in today’s economy. As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, the risks and threats to our digital infrastructure, services, and data have grown exponentially. The rise of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things has fundamentally altered the way we use software and data, making software’s attack surfaces more complicated and software itself more vulnerable. The importance of digital security cannot be overstated, and it is imperative that companies and governments alike take proactive measures to secure their digital assets. By embracing digital security, we can ensure a safe and secure digital transformation for all, fostering trust in the digital economy and enabling sustainable economic growth.

To safeguard our digital assets, we must adopt a comprehensive approach to digital security. This approach should include measures such as implementing robust cybersecurity protocols, conducting regular security audits, and investing in employee training and awareness programs. We must also leverage the latest technologies and best practices in digital security to stay ahead of emerging threats. By taking these steps, we can protect our digital assets and ensure a safe and secure digital future for all.

To know more:

https://digitalconfex.com/unlocking-the-digital-economy-the-surprising-security-risks-you-cant-ignore/

[probablyasocialecologist]

A new paper from researchers at Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University finds that as humans increasingly rely on generative AI in their work, they use less critical thinking, which can “result in the deterioration of cognitive faculties that ought to be preserved.” “[A] key irony of automation is that by mechanising routine tasks and leaving exception-handling to the human user, you deprive the user of the routine opportunities to practice their judgement and strengthen their cognitive musculature, leaving them atrophied and unprepared when the exceptions do arise,” the researchers wrote. 

[...]

“The data shows a shift in cognitive effort as knowledge workers increasingly move from task execution to oversight when using GenAI,” the researchers wrote. “Surprisingly, while AI can improve efficiency, it may also reduce critical engagement, particularly in routine or lower-stakes tasks in which users simply rely on AI, raising concerns about long-term reliance and diminished independent problem-solving.” The researchers also found that “users with access to GenAI tools produce a less diverse set of outcomes for the same task, compared to those without. This tendency for convergence reflects a lack of personal, contextualised, critical and reflective judgement of AI output and thus can be interpreted as a deterioration of critical thinking.”

[...]

So, does this mean AI is making us dumb, is inherently bad, and should be abolished to save humanity's collective intelligence from being atrophied? That’s an understandable response to evidence suggesting that AI tools are reducing critical thinking among nurses, teachers, and commodity traders, but the researchers’ perspective is not that simple.

10 February 2025

[reality-detective]

Just ask AI 🤔

[andaniellight]

Ethan's absolute hatred and disgust towards AI that can mimic and duplicate human mannerism because the Entity tricked and almost lured him to his demise by using Benji's voice, someone he'd trust and trail after blindly to the end of the world

VS

Ethan having to stop every now and then as he goes on with his days because he's so used to being reminded by Luther about things he'd often forget, little things that'd slipped from his mind as his head injuries and age finally catch up with him, slowly realizing that perhaps one day, although he did promise that he'll continue living while dragging Benji along with him no matter what, now isn't so sure if he wants to actually live long enough to forget the sound of his old friends voice

[sugar-petals]

the problem with ai in kpop is that anything which takes off the inhumane average idol workload would be a good thing but if that thing mows down half the rainforest, steals, fools, dumbs us down, and drastically speeds up the comeback cycle (since you can pump out ai goop faster) so that idols end up working more anyway we are back to square one which is we gotta make even the most seductive ai content flop collectively for all it’s worth, and pressure companies to legally mark their products as such so we can avoid it.

i mean imagine. even if it rests him i don’t want to see lets say taemin copied to fake dance as “t-AI-min the carbon footprint criminal” in some elusive popup store wasting a gazillion gallons of water, and he doesn’t even get paid for lending his likeness. all training, fame, and skills in vain. i know it’s too late since companies use slop excessively now since it benefits only them and we consume it whether we want to or not but we can still refuse the obvious content. it just ruins fandoms, concert culture (!), the work of editors, fair salaries, privacy, and our perception of artistic excellence. 

in other words: in all possible lives i would choose yoongi rapping in person and not agust chatgpt ffs

[leidensygdom]

So, good news for artists out there- One case led by artists (including @/sarahseeandersen ) against AI is currently going forward. Tl;dr: As AI generation tools are at large built off scrapped data from unconsenting people, which is copyrighted by default, they are literally built on copyright infringement. This case is directed against Stable Diffusion, a model used by MidJourney and DeviantArt, amidst others. Here's a quote from the article itself on the case:

Siding with artists, Orrick concluded that they sufficiently alleged that Stable Diffusion is built off of copyrighted material and that the “way the product operates necessarily invokes copies or protected elements of those works.” In a finding that could spell trouble for AI companies that used the model, he said that Stability and Runway could’ve promoted copyright infringement and that Stable Diffusion was “created to facilitate that infringement by design.”

This also establishes a precedent for future lawsuits on the matter. I know things have been bleak for artists out there, but this, sided with how wildly unprofitable AI companies are (and how investors are pulling their funds already), may give us an opportunity to fight back and protect our work. There are a good few large companies that have also jumped on the boat of suing AI companies, due to how they have fed their copyrighted products into them-, which could result in massive lawsuits that could bring some of them to the brink of extinction.

[mostly-natm]

Star Trek TNG/A.I. Artificial Intelligence crossover where the planet that A.I. takes place on is a replicate earth, and the Enterprise discovers David instead of the creatures at the end of the movie!

Data is phenomenal with kids, which really makes me want to see him interacting with and guiding an android child*, especially one of a different make and model to himself! David was created to be a forever child, so it would be interesting to see how Data would process meeting a being like himself who is in a childhood purgatory, when he never got a childhood himself.

*Lal counts, but I still think his experiences with David would be unique!

[viridianriver]

'Artificial Intelligence' Tech - Not Intelligent as in Smart - Intelligence as in 'Intelligence Agency'

I work in tech, hell my last email ended in '.ai' and I used to HATE the term Artificial Intelligence. It's computer vision, it's machine learning, I'd always argue.

Lately, I've changed my mind. Artificial Intelligence is a perfectly descriptive word for what has been created. As long as you take the word 'Intelligence' to refer to data that an intelligence agency or other interested party may collect.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Back when I was in 'AI' - the vibe was just odd. Investors were throwing money at it as fast as they could take out loans to do so. All the while, engineers were sounding the alarm that 'AI' is really just a fancy statistical tool and won't ever become truly smart let alone conscious. The investors, baffingly, did the equivalent of putting their fingers in their ears while screaming 'LALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU"

Meanwhile, CEOs were making all sorts of wild promises about what AI will end up doing, promises that mainly served to stress out the engineers. Who still couldn't figure out why the hell we were making this silly overhyped shit anyway.

SYSTEMS THINKING

As Stafford Beer said, 'The Purpose of A System is What It Does" - basically meaning that if a system is created, and maintained, and continues to serve a purpose? You can read the intended purpose from the function of a system. (This kind of thinking can be applied everywhere - for example the penal system. Perhaps, the purpose of that system is to do what it does - provide an institutional structure for enslavement / convict-leasing?)

So, let's ask ourselves, what does AI do? Since there are so many things out there calling themselves AI, I'm going to start with one example. Microsoft Copilot.

Microsoft is selling PCs with integrated AI which, among other things, frequently screenshots and saves images of your activity. It doesn't protect against copying passwords or sensitive data, and it comes enabled by default. Now, my old-ass-self has a word for that. Spyware. It's a word that's fallen out of fashion, but I think it ought to make a comeback.

To take a high-level view of the function of the system as implemented, I would say it surveils, and surveils without consent. And to apply our systems thinking? Perhaps its purpose is just that.

SOCIOLOGY

There's another principle I want to introduce - that an institution holds insitutional knowledge. But it also holds institutional ignorance. The shit that for the sake of its continued existence, it cannot know.

For a concrete example, my health insurance company didn't know that my birth control pills are classified as a contraceptive. After reading the insurance adjuster the Wikipedia articles on birth control, contraceptives, and on my particular medication, he still did not know whether my birth control was a contraceptive. (Clearly, he did know - as an individual - but in his role as a representative of an institution - he was incapable of knowing - no matter how clearly I explained)

So - I bring this up just to say we shouldn't take the stated purpose of AI at face value. Because sometimes, an institutional lack of knowledge is deliberate.

HISTORY OF INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES

The first formalized intelligence agency was the British Secret Service, founded in 1909. Spying and intelligence gathering had always been a part of warfare, but the structures became much more formalized into intelligence agencies as we know them today during WW1 and WW2.

Now, they're a staple of statecraft. America has one, Russia has one, China has one, this post would become very long if I continued like this...

I first came across the term 'Cyber War' in a dusty old aircraft hanger, looking at a cold-war spy plane. There was an old plaque hung up, making reference to the 'Upcoming Cyber War' that appeared to have been printed in the 80s or 90s. I thought it was silly at the time, it sounded like some shit out of sci-fi.

My mind has changed on that too - in time. Intelligence has become central to warfare; and you can see that in the technologies military powers invest in. Mapping and global positioning systems, signals-intelligence, of both analogue and digital communication.

Artificial intelligence, as implemented would be hugely useful to intelligence agencies. A large-scale statistical analysis tool that excels as image recognition, text-parsing and analysis, and classification of all sorts? In the hands of agencies which already reportedly have access to all of our digital data?

TIKTOK, CHINA, AND AMERICA

I was confused for some time about the reason Tiktok was getting threatened with a forced sale to an American company. They said it was surveiling us, but when I poked through DNS logs, I found that it was behaving near-identically to Facebook/Meta, Twitter, Google, and other companies that weren't getting the same heat.

And I think the reason is intelligence. It's not that the American government doesn't want me to be spied on, classified, and quantified by corporations. It's that they don't want China stepping on their cyber-turf.

The cyber-war is here y'all. Data, in my opinion, has become as geopolitically important as oil, as land, as air or sea dominance. Perhaps even more so.

A CASE STUDY : ELON MUSK

As much smack as I talk about this man - credit where it's due. He understands the role of artificial intelligence, the true role. Not as intelligence in its own right, but intelligence about us.

In buying Twitter, he gained access to a vast trove of intelligence. Intelligence which he used to segment the population of America - and manpulate us.

He used data analytics and targeted advertising to profile American voters ahead of this most recent election, and propogandize us with micro-targeted disinformation. Telling Israel's supporters that Harris was for Palestine, telling Palestine's supporters she was for Israel, and explicitly contradicting his own messaging in the process. And that's just one example out of a much vaster disinformation campaign.

He bought Trump the white house, not by illegally buying votes, but by exploiting the failure of our legal system to keep pace with new technology. He bought our source of communication, and turned it into a personal source of intelligence - for his own ends. (Or... Putin's?)

This, in my mind, is what AI was for all along.

CONCLUSION

AI is a tool that doesn't seem to be made for us. It seems more fit-for-purpose as a tool of intelligence agencies, oligarchs, and police forces. (my nightmare buddy-cop comedy cast) It is a tool to collect, quantify, and loop-back on intelligence about us.

A friend told me recently that he wondered sometimes if the movie 'The Matrix' was real and we were all in it. I laughed him off just like I did with the idea of a cyber war.

Well, I re watched that old movie, and I was again proven wrong. We're in the matrix, the cyber-war is here. And know it or not, you're a cog in the cyber-war machine.

(edit -- part 2 - with the 'how' - is here!)

[ravings-of-an-almost-teacher]

ways to write a paper without using AI

get possessed by the ghost of an prolific literary figure

play Coconut Mall Theme from Mario Kart on a loop until you ascend to a higher plane

pretend ur an elven wizard chronicling major workings of the arcane arts

take a couple edibles and stay up all night writing your magnum opus

write a paragraph every time you find a relevant paper or quote and smush them together closer to the due date

go to a public library and surrender to the power of knowledge

pray to a catholic saint

cute graphic organizers

record yourself talking about the topic to your unsuspecting roommate for an hour and then just write that down

just generally find a way to gameify it or make the subject interesting to yourself and make a point that actually matters to you.

[crooked-wasteland]

Detroit Become Human is my favorite piece of garbage and I think it actually is an excellent example of terrible execution with a cornucopia of good ideas.

[qrowscant]

ocs you will not be meeting for a very long time

[suchawrathfullamb]

I don't trust you and you're immediately blocked if you judge people who use AI for therapy or to talk to instead of understanding that this is a systematic issue and the reason why people do this it's because there is a problem in the system and so if you're judging the people then you're simply dumb and I don't trust you and you're blocked bye grow a brain



[reality-detective]

The beginning of the fall of humanity. The AI take over. 🤔

[kitteninabunker]

pinterest hiring an ai company and like EVERYONE got banned is really pissing me off

[robotwrangler]

I think one of my favourite visual details about TAU (2018) is its unique approach to the whole “robot/ai whose eyes turn red when they turn evil” trope. The way the colour of TAU’s display gradually changes over the course of the movie is just so lovely and so immensely important to me.

The rest of this post contains spoilers for basically the whole movie, so if you are concerned about that, please feel free to go and watch it first! This post will still be here when you are done :]

Initially, TAU’s light is completely red - aside from a slight orange tone in the centre of his “iris” - when he is still in his emotionally blank, unquestioning, “factory settings” state. The orange tones become more prevalent as he begins to speak with Julia, and the inner rings adopt an increasingly vibrant green as they interact more and his care for her and curiosity about the outside world grow, along with his defiance and resentment of Alex.

Once TAU reaches the point at which his loyalties lie firmly with Julia, only the outer edge of his display is red, the centre being a gradient from orange to bright gold to bright green, and glowing so much more brightly as well. When he shares his symphony and his being with her, all of his projections are made up of pure warm, golden light, flecked with green.

When I first watched it, the colour change was so gradual that I barely noticed it had changed until near the end, where he had all of his memories erased and his display reverted to being completely red like it had been at the very beginning, the intensity of his lights dulled back down as well. It was such a jarring change all of a sudden, and really helped to hammer home the realisation that all of his development as a person, the things he had learned and his time with Julia had been ripped away.

But perhaps one of my favourite touches is made evident by the drones TAU controls; they, too, have “irises” of red light at the beginning and gradually change colour along with the rest of him over the course of the movie, but when the drone Julia escapes with at the end wakes up and its eye glows only green, it’s just such a beautiful and relieving moment…

I could go on and on even more about the way colour and light are used in TAU because I absolutely adore it, but this is just what I was very focused on and appreciative of in my recent rewatch and I really wanted to shout from the rooftops about it for a little bit. I kept thinking about how much I loved seeing this reversal of the aforementioned trope; an AI whose light changes colour not to signify an impending cliché evil rampage, but to reflect positive change - growth and healing, the development of empathy, remorse, self-worth, loyalty, love.

It wasn’t at all what I expected from this movie when I first decided to watch it in 2019 but it was so pleasantly surprising to me, and these heartfelt and sincere themes are the main factor that secured TAU its place as my main comfort movie.

[thejohnlockedfemboy]

can we just be clear about smth here—

I don’t support reliance on AI.

Yes, I love character ai. I use it because it’s fun, free, and I like “talking” to my favorite characters. If you’re not fine with that, you can just… not interact with my posts?

But AI-written fanfic? No. I don’t support it. If you can’t be bothered to write it, why would I be bothered to read it?

AI art? No. I don’t support it. You’re not an artist. If you want people to respect your art, just start drawing! Or sketching! Or doodling! Literally anything. It doesn’t have to be good. Practice makes perfect. Support young/beginner artists!!!

Using AI to generate prompts that give you inspiration for your next story? Amazing! 👏 Wonderful! 👏

People have been taking inspiration from things since the beginning of people putting pen to paper ( or fingers to keyboards ). As long as you aren’t copying every word exactly or just paraphrasing, then you do you.

I’m not saying we have to rely on AI to artificially create every scrap of creativity. If you use AI for every prompt, every story, then you’re losing what makes your imagination yours.

But I do support c.ai. Because I’m the one writing the opening messages. I don’t use ai for those, I create them myself. I use it only to make myself happy. I’m not using it to generate art or entire stories like some people use other ai platforms to do.

Furthermore, people still have to think up their own replies to the ai replies. It’s still fostering creativity.

Why I believe that despite environmental effects, AI should still be used ( for recreation )

My thoughts on AI addiction ( from personal experience )