COMPETITION IS RAGING AFTER CHATGPT GEMINI WINS BUT HOW FAR ?

The first wave of enthusiasm generated by generative artificial intelligence (AI) was unprecedented. Just two months after its launch in November 2022, ChatGPT already had 100 million users. Internet searches for “artificial intelligence” have exploded; more than $40 billion of venture capital was invested in AI companies in the first half of this year alone.

Towards a second phase of development

However, a second, more serious phase is currently underway. A whole new industry, based on super-powerful AI models, is starting to take shape. Three strategic elements will determine its future shape and indicate whether OpenAI will maintain its dominance or whether other players will take the lead.

The first element is computing power, which represents a high cost, incentivizing creators of algorithmic models to be more efficient. Due to the exorbitant costs of training and running more powerful models, OpenAI is currently focusing on GPT-4.5 rather than the next big model, GPT-5. This factor could allow financially strong competitors, such as Google, to catch up. Google's state-of-the-art model, Gemini, appears more powerful than the current version of OpenAI's model.

High technology costs have also led to the proliferation of much smaller models, specialized for specific tasks. Startups such as Replite focus on computer coding to help developers write programs. Open source models also allow new players to enter the field of generative AI. According to Hugging Face, an AI company, around 1,500 versions of these highly targeted models exist.
In search of data… and profitability
The second force shaping the generative AI market is the quest for data. Large models, such as those from OpenAI and Google, are voracious, having been trained on more than 1 trillion words. , the equivalent of more than 250 Wikipedias in English. As they become more important, they will need to be fed even more. However, the limits of the Internet are almost being reached, prompting model creators to sign contracts with news and photo agencies, create synthetic training data, and explore new forms of data, such as videos.

The third crucial force is money. Many creators of algorithmic models are already turning to more profitable applications than consumer bots like ChatGPT. OpenAI has evolved as a non-profit company towards more profitable models, bespoke services. OpenAI, which was founded in 2015 as a non-profit company, has not only licensed its models to Microsoft, but also builds tailor-made tools for companies. such as Morgan Stanley and Salesforce. Abu Dhabi plans to create a company to help commercialize the services of Falcon, its open source AI model.

Other approaches include attracting software developers by offering tools to create products based on their models. OpenAI offers tools to help them create products using its models; Meta, Facebook's company, hopes that LlamA, its open source model, will help create a loyal community of programmers.

Although companies like OpenAI and Google, with their large user bases and considerable financial resources, have an initial advantage, finding effective solutions remains a major challenge. The model designer who adopts the most effective approach, the most ingenious method of synthesizing data or the most convincing argument for potential customers will have every chance of success.. .

Wishing that the AI ​​does not slip up very quickly !!....

A RAISED CONSCIOUSNESS

NEAR DEATH

"Conscious" experiences of imminent death therefore, quite incompatible with the biological reality of a dying brain. Is it possible that the human brain is activated by the process of death?

Recently, researchers have reported increased electrical activity in the brains of dying people. It could be associated with last-minute conscious experiences, a new vision of the role played by the brain in this final stage of life.

To find out for sure, researchers at the University of Michigan in the United States have decided to study, in "more detail than ever before", the biological mechanism at work in the brain in all last moments.

The study, led by Jimo Borjigin, associate professor in the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology and the Department of Neurology, and his team, follows animal studies conducted nearly 10 years ago in collaboration with George Mashour, founding director from the Michigan Center for Consciousness Science.

A cerebral burst before a complete stop

The brain "on fire"

To do this, it was necessary to find dead patients, for the blow, of a cardiac arrest, but maintained under ventilatory assistance. And observe the signals of electrocardiogram and electroencephalography (EEG) before and after the withdrawal of the assistance, synonymous with brain death.

They studied the files of four people. When they were taken off their life support devices, two of them (a 24-year-old woman and a 77-year-old woman) saw their heart rates increase, and their brain activity also showed a spike in gamma waves. , at a frequency level usually associated… with consciousness.

In addition to confirming this stimulation, already observed in animals, these researchers have mainly identified the most stimulated part of the brain, the temporo-parieto-occipital junction, an area previously associated, among other things, with the memorization of dreams.

“A similar pattern was observed in healthy brains during wakefulness and dreaming, in patients experiencing visual hallucinations or out-of-body experiences,” the study describes.

Jimo Borjigin indicates, in support of these results obtained after observing a posterior area of ​​the brain associated with consciousness: If this part of the brain is stimulated, it means that the patient sees something, can hear something and can potentially feel sensations outside his body.

She specifies that this specific area was “on fire!”.

In the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), which published their work on Monday, the scientists however draw limits to their study: they first concede that they do not really know why these signs have not been observed. in the other two patients, a history of seizures may have had an impact, they said.

George Mashour explains in a press release:

"How living experience can emerge from a dysfunctional brain during the dying process is a neuroscientific paradox. Dr. Borjigin has conducted an important study that helps shed light on the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms."

The beginnings of a "secret" consciousness still misunderstood

Due to the small sample size, the authors caution against making overarching statements about the implications of the results. They also note that it is impossible to know in this study what the patients experienced (because they did not survive to testify).

Larger studies, including EEG-monitored intensive care patients who survive cardiac arrest, could provide much-needed data to determine whether these bursts of gamma activity are evidence of hidden consciousness, even when approaching the death.

Although the mechanisms and physiological significance of these findings remain to be explored, these data demonstrate that the dying brain may still be active. They also suggest the need to reassess the role of the brain during cardiac arrest.

This study then lays the groundwork for further research into covert consciousness during cardiac arrest, which could serve as a model system to explore the mechanisms of human consciousness.

CHATGPT PAUSE AI

OR PLAY ON FEARS ?

Elon Musk, boss of Tesla, Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, Andrew Yang, former Democratic candidate for the American presidential election, or even two recipients of the Turing Prize, the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in the field of artificial intelligence ( IA): all are among more than 1,000 celebrities and scientists who signed an open letter calling for an urgent pause in the creation of language models like ChatGPT, hours after its latest version went live on Wednesday, March 29.

In this text, they and they call for a 6-month break in the research and development of the most advanced AI software. For the authors of this open letter, AIs such as ChatGPT are not simply friendly “chat agents” who are hyper-gifted with whom to chat or who are able to help a student cheat in class. “We must immediately put on hold [...] the development of systems more powerful than GPT-4 [the last iteration of the algorithm which allows ChatGPT to work]”, can we read in this document.

One of the peculiarities of the text is that it is signed by Sam Altman, the man at the head of OpenAI, the company that designed ChatGPT: he says he himself is "a little bit scared" by ChatGPT, imagining the software being used for "large-scale disinformation or cyberattacks".

ChatGPT does not tell the truth..And other dangers of AI

"We haven't thought at all yet, for example, of solutions to compensate for all the job losses that the use of AI will generate", underlines Grigorios Tsoumakas, expert in artificial intelligence at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. More than 300 million employees worldwide could lose their jobs because of the automation of tasks, underlined the bank Goldman Sachs in a new study published Monday, March 27.

These AIs placed today in the hands of millions of Internet users like so many digital toys are not the safest either. “We have seen how easily experts have been able to circumvent the few security measures put in place on these systems. What would happen if terrorist organizations manage to seize it to create viruses, for example?” asks Grigorios Tsoumakas.

Cybersecurity risks are symptomatic of a larger problem with these systems, according to Joseph Sifakis. “We can't make tools available to the public so easily when we don't really know how these AIs will react”, judges this expert.

Without counting that it would be necessary to educate the common users. Indeed, “there may be a tendency to believe that the responses from these systems are true, when in reality these machines are simply trained to calculate the most likely continuation of a sentence to sound the most human. It has nothing to do with true or false”, asserts Carles Sierra. A striking example concerning images. This is an image that could be a photo taken in France during the numerous demonstrations against the pension reform and which was broadcast in particular on several Facebook and Twitter accounts in the last days of March 2023, to denounce the police violence. The face of an elderly and bloody person, surrounded by what looks like CRS. Gold according to Guillaume Brossard,

Enough to make these tools formidable weapons of massive disinformation.

But not only: “It is urgent to ask what will happen when people start making decisions that will have an impact on their lives based on the responses of their AIs”, adds Joseph Sifakis. What, for example, if a judge asks GPT-4 what is the best sentence to pronounce in a case?

An AI use case can illustrate this danger. An AI is indeed suspected of having pushed a man to suicide in Belgium. Presented as a woman, Eliza uses a conversational robot called Chai, developed by a start-up based in Silicon Valley. At first glance, Eliza is a generative artificial intelligence like any other in the galaxy of chatbots which is based on the model of GPT-J language, similar to Chat-GPT. But for the widow of a Belgian father who would have fallen in love with it, the conversations that her husband had with IA led him to suicide.

At the origin of the case, this Belgian had started chatting with the chatbot when he had become “eco-anxious” and obsessed with the impending catastrophe of global warming, two years ago. After six weeks of intense conversations, Eliza becomes his real "confidant", "like a drug (...) which he could no longer do without", says his wife.

Until the seesaw. "He evokes the idea of ​​sacrificing himself if Eliza agrees to take care of the planet and save humanity through intelligence," says his widow. But his suicidal ideas do not arouse any objection from Eliza: on the contrary, she asks him why he still has not carried out his words. “We will live together, as one person, in paradise,” the chatbot wrote to him. The man will eventually take action.

The risk posed by artificial intelligences is not only that they adopt behaviors that are too human: it is also that of humans falsely convincing themselves that an AI is human.

Why a moratorium for AI?

This is so that their progress and learning curves to automatically generate texts and images in an ever more sophisticated way, does not go out of control. “Should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and lies?” asks the text.

One more step in this direction could cause humanity to “develop non-human consciousnesses that would obsolete and replace us,” the paper's authors write. For them, what is at stake is “the loss of control over the future of our civilization”.

Among the solutions considered are the monitoring of AI systems, techniques to help distinguish the real from the artificial, or even new authorities and institutions capable of managing "dramatic economic and political disruptions (especially for democracy) that the AI ​​will cause".

A finding that is far from being shared by everyone, and which has sparked a lively debate in the community of researchers on the subject. Yann Le Cun, a world-renowned French expert in artificial intelligence, head of research at Meta (Facebook) on the subject, did not hide his skepticism about the text broadcast.

“This open letter is a nameless bazaar that rides the wave of AI media without addressing the real issues,” said Emily M. Bender, a researcher at the University of Washington and co-author of a landmark article on the dangers of AI published in 2020. Daniel Leufer, a specialist in innovative technologies working on the societal challenges posed by AI for the Internet rights NGO Access Now, goes even further:

“The prospect of an overpowered superintelligence or non-human consciousness is still largely in the realm of science fiction. It is not worth playing on the fears of a hypothetical future when artificial intelligence already represents a danger for democracy, the environment and the economy”.

CHATGPT AND ARTIFICIAL "INTELLIGENCES" HOW TO IDENTIFY TRUE FROM FALSE

One of the reasons for this popularity is that ChatGPT has shown impressive capabilities in many areas as well as emerging capabilities, for example computer code generation and "multimodal" generation. Another reason is that its chat interface allows users to interact with a large underlying GPT3.5 language model more effectively and efficiently than before, through interactive chats.

These results led to the question whether these major language systems could be used for professional, documentary, educational or even artistic purposes. It is possible that this type of system will transform certain professions and that it will profoundly affect teaching and education – children being particularly vulnerable to these systems.

An “intelligence”… in appearance only

ChatGPT produces almost grammatically perfect texts despite having no understanding of what it is producing. He has truly amazing abilities and some of the cases shown as examples are remarkable. Its texts, often complex, may resemble the original data used for learning and have certain characteristics.

But with the appearance of being true, these results can sometimes be completely false. What is the nature and status of these artificial words without associated reasoning? The understanding of natural language involves complex and varied reasoning, spatial, temporal, ontological, arithmetic, based on knowledge and allowing to link objects and actions in the real world, which ChatGPT is far from integrating having no phenomenal insight.

While a few chosen examples may suggest that language models are capable of reasoning, they are in fact incapable of any logical reasoning and have no intuition, no thought, no emotions. ChatGPT speaks with confidence in good French as in other languages ​​after having swallowed billions of data, but understands nothing of what it says and can very easily generate fake news, discrimination, injustices and amplify the information warfare.

How to tell right from wrong: from technology to education

These approaches, which are not very transparent, can however be evaluated in many aspects on existing data (these are benchmarks) to show the lack of performance of the systems on logical reasoning problems such as deduction, induction or abduction – or even common sense.

Education can take up this subject to show the limits of this disembodied artificial language, and have students work on a better understanding of the concepts of numerical modelling, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Children who are more gullible in front of AIs

This is especially important because children can be especially gullible to such speech-enabled systems like ChatGPT.

Winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, the American Richard Thaler highlighted in 2008 the concept of “nudge”, a technique which consists in encouraging individuals to change their behavior without forcing them and by using their cognitive biases.

Furthermore, we were able to show that young children followed suggestions from dialog systems embedded in objects (like a Google Home or a robot) more than those from a human. Our research approach was based on a game about altruism and conducted as part of the IA Humane chair (for Human-Machine Affective Interaction and Ethics) on digital nudges_ amplified by AI. This interdisciplinary chair, a kind of laboratory for the study of human-computer interaction behaviors, brings together researchers in computer science, linguistics and behavioral economics.

Conversational agents like ChatGPT could become a means of influencing individuals. They are currently neither regulated nor evaluated and very opaque. It is therefore important to fully understand their operation and limits before using them, and in this context, the school has a major role to play.

Why is ChatGPT so powerful?

ChatGPT is an interactive multitasking multilingual system using generative AI freely available on the Internet. Generative AI systems rely on algorithms capable of encoding gigantic volumes of data (texts, poems, computer programs, symbols) and generating syntactically correct texts for a large number of tasks.

Transformers are one of these types of algorithms. These are neural networks that learn the most salient patterns of words in many contexts and are thus able to predict the word or sequence likely to be relevant later in a given text.

ChatGPT is the successor to the large language model (LLM) InstructGPT, to which a dialog interface has been added. InstructGPT works better than previous approaches: Indeed, the developers were able to better match generative AI (like GPT3.5) with user intent across a wide range of tasks. For this, they use "reinforcement learning", meaning that the AI ​​also learns from the comments that humans make on its texts.

Increasing the size of language models does not inherently make them better at following user intent. These large language models can generate results that are misleading, toxic, or just plain useless to the user because they don't align with the user's intent.

But the results show that fine-tuning through human feedback is a promising direction for aligning language models with human intent, even if InstructGPT still makes simple errors.

Thus, the technological performance of ChatGPT therefore comes from the size of the generative AI using "transformers" (175 billion parameters), from the alignment of the responses of the AI ​​by reinforcement learning but also from the possibility of dialogue with this system.

The impact of ChatGPT on the information retrieval market

Microsoft-OpenAI's ChatGPT is a threat to Google's querying model through its search and production power. Google is positioning Bard as a more thoughtful and accurate interactive search engine, which is not hampered by the topical issues encountered by ChatGPT since it was trained on data available before September 2021 – and therefore does not know the more recent news (for now).

The Chinese company Baidu also has a generative AI project with Ernie Bot. The "BigScience" project, created by HuggingFace and including funding from the CNRS and the Ministry of Research, has made it possible to create "Bloom", a generative AI using a language model of 176 billion parameters trained on multitasking multilingual data and above all in “open science”! This innovative project is a public/private cooperation and has involved more than a thousand researchers from many countries. This could lead to a “ChatBloom”.

Ethical issues

The current context is marked by widely disseminated achievements and applications of these systems, the massive impact of which requires ethical reflection.

These multilingual, multitasking and interactive generative AIs raise many questions: the data chosen to train them, the distribution of languages ​​in a multilingual system, system optimization parameters, ownership of the generated content, etc.

In addition, the generative power of AIs is often amplified by filters that allow certain subjects to be censored and logic deduction modules in order to verify the veracity of statements. A handful of humans (engineers, transcriptionists, evaluators) created this type of system used by millions of people.

These massively used artificial intelligence systems therefore pose major ethical challenges, including the transformation of the notion of information production, the relationship to truth and the massive risks linked to disinformation and manipulation.

Article by Laurence Devillers, Professor of Artificial Intelligence, Sorbonne University

published in TheConversation on February 20.

To find out more, find the author in “Robots and men, myths, fantasies and reality”, published by Plon and “Emotional robots: and ethics in all this? », published by the Observatory.

YOUR COMPUTER NEEDS !!

DEFRAGMENTATION TOOL

For the story, if at the time of the release of Windows 95 in 1995 the system contained a fast fragmentation tool effective and included in the system it is not the same currently.

Yes, Microsoft had also been criticized for providing a well-known Microsoft Internet Explorer web-browsing tool (included and free) to Windows 95, while many software companies at the time were selling web crawler software! !!

Today we do not know if it is for calculation, economy, or to leave the share to the other companies of software creation but it is a fact, the defragmentation tool provided with the current systems are not of a extraordinary performance. !!!!

Of course it is possible to buy a tool to complete your machine with a High Performance Defragmentation utility .

Defragmentation and a process that brings together the clusters that make up the files on your machine in a contiguous way to increase the performance of your PC.

Whatever the size of your Ram (memory of your PC) the system will anyway call for temporary files and a disk swap disk area performance because if the speed of the memories is measured in nanoseconds (0.000000001s ) the hard disks are in milliseconds (0.001s)

The new SSD-type drives are actually memories, but first and foremost their higher cost than the hard drives are one of the reasons why the classic hard drive still equips a very large fleet of machines.

The type of memory used in the SSD is not identical for many technical reasons to the RAM memory of a PC!

So yes the SSD is faster than a hard drive but there is still a very strong margin of progress in terms of disk type "Memory Disk" !!

On the other hand the disorder in the structure is whatever the technology of the disc a brake evicting the speed !!!!!

If to limit the wear of first generation SSDs whose life was quite limited we can say that currently even SSD can now benefit from defragmentation , so it is a great idea to have a PC at the top of its performances !!!!!!

After many tests of software in terms of defragmentions we choose Defraggler from Piriform for its quality.

Moreover Defraggler exists in several version of which a Free version that you will be able to download on the link which we provide with this article !!!

It's Free and Safe (no risk of viruses) !!!

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his Article is the first in a long series to come on technology and tools and programs.

Expert in Computer Science, in technology, this section is with my team the result of numerous tests to evaluate the best software and make them available to our readers with efficient and high-performance complete versions.

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WITH ELON MUSK CAN TWITTER BECOME

THE SOCIAL NETWORK OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION ?

Across the Atlantic, no one seems indifferent to efforts to restore voice to what was Donald Trump's favorite "megalophone". With six months of key legislative elections for the White House, the acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk is feared by part of the American political class, approved by the other part. According to a recent YouGov poll, more than three out of four Donald Trump voters (77%) approved of Elon Musk's project in recent days, compared to only 20% of Joe Biden voters.

In fact, the reactions largely overlap with political divisions. On the right, the critics of "political correctness" rejoice. They consider the arrival of the libertarian billionaire very promising in their fight against “Bigh Tech censorship”, nicknamed to the big companies of Silicon Valley. On Twitter, the organization that brings together Republican MPs has called on Elon Musk to "liberate" the account of Donald Trump, banned since the assault on the Capitol. On the left, on the other hand, there are concerns about the arrival at the head of Twitter of a man who, as the New York Times writes in an editorial, "uses the platform to drag his critics through the mud, irony on the physique of certain people and to promote cryptocurrencies”. Robert Reich, former minister of Bill Clinton, speaks of “a nightmare”.

It is that the businessman from Tesla and SpaceX indicated that he would make improvements to the platform and in the first place that he adhered to the principle of freedom of expression. The boss of Tesla took the opportunity to reiterate its desire to relax the moderation of content broadcast on the platform: “freedom of expression is the cornerstone of a functioning democracy, he underlined in the press release announcing the operation. Twitter is the virtual agora in which we debate the issues that will decide the future of humanity. ". And Twitter has 217 million active and monetizable users worldwide, including 38 million in the United States. A sacred sounding board!

Elon Musk, a self-described “free speech diehard,” said in the April 14, 2022 TED Talk that Twitter was “an agora” and that it was “very important that this agora is an inclusive space for freedom of expression”.

Freedom of expression, censorship, even misinformation ?

However, the Republicans regularly denounce the censorship of social networks, and in particular of Twitter. During the 2020 presidential campaign, the founder of the social network with the blue bird, Jack Dorsey, had been the least reluctant, among the major platforms, to moderate content more, first by refusing political advertisements then by further contextualizing speeches. But Twitter had finally "permanently" censored all of Donald Trump's accounts, after the attack on Capitol Hill by his supporters on January 6, 2021.

Elon Musk has already declared, during an interview with the boss of the TED conferences, that he is opposed to this type of indefinite sanctions. It is therefore not excluded that Donald Trump's account could be restored even if the latter declared on Fox News on Monday that he would not return to this social network following the takeover of the platform. He clarified that he will officially join his own platform dubbed "Truth Social" in the next seven days, as planned.

Elon Musk , often close to the ideas of libertarians , is well aware of the uses of Twitter to use it frequently... and provoke just as regularly, fully enjoying his freedom of expression. On March 14, he challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin “in a man-to-man fight. The stake is Ukraine,” he wrote on Twitter, addressing the official Kremlin Twitter account. And faced with the incomprehension of a surfer, Elon Musk had assured that he was "completely serious".

But can this desire for freedom of expression at all costs happen for any social network to be regulated ?

Moderation or not?

Elon Musk plans to generate Twitter revenue from subscriptions rather than advertising. But by sparing itself the worry of attracting and retaining advertisers, Twitter would have less need to focus on content moderation. Twitter would thus become a kind of opinion site, for paying subscribers, devoid of control. Elon Musk's description of a platform that no longer cares about moderating content is worrisome considering the harm done by social media algorithms.

Testimony from whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, and recent regulatory efforts, such as the Online Safety Bill unveiled in the UK or future European Union legislation, show that the public is widely concerned about the role played by technology platforms in shaping societal ideas and public opinion. Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter highlights a host of regulatory concerns.

Due to Elon Musk's other activities, Twitter's ability to influence public opinion in the sensitive aviation and automotive sectors automatically creates a conflict of interest, not to mention the implications for disclosing important information needed by shareholders. In this sense, Elon Musk has already been accused of delaying the disclosure of his participation in Twitter.

This is why since 2016, the American left has dreamed of effective regulation of social networks, but the election of Joe Biden has not made it possible to move the file forward. One of the most ardent militants of this cause is none other than Barack Obama. In recent days, the former president was in Silicon Valley to raise this issue again. In front of Stanford students, he insisted on the dangers that social networks posed to democracy. Among the avenues he suggested is the supervision of algorithms by a regulatory authority, in the same way as cars or the food industry. Barack Obama is the most followed personality on Twitter.

“Nothing prevents Elon Musk from buying Twitter, it is his right, it is the law of the market, there is no reason to oppose it. But in a few months, it will have to submit to the Digital Services Act when it operates on European territory,” warns MEP Geoffroy Didier (Les Républicains), who participated in the negotiations for this new regulation. , the now famous “DSA”, or “digital services legislation” in French, which was the subject of an agreement between the European Parliament and the Member States on Saturday 23 April.

"I hope even my worst critics will stay on Twitter, because that's what freedom of expression means," added Elon Musk on Monday.

One way to respond to his critics, who consider that there is a risk that the billionaire will seek to censor accounts that disagree with him on the platform and, in turn, make misinformation...

PERCEE FULGURANTE DU RESEAU US.TRUTH SOCIAL DE DONALD TRUMP

"Le temps de la Vérité est venu » a tweeté, mardi 22 février 2022, Donald Trump Junior, le fils de l'ex-président, avec une capture d'écran d'un message de son père sur le réseau : « Soyez prêts! Votre président favori va bientôt vous recevoir ".

US.Truth Social, dont Donald Trump est à l'initiative, a entamé, dimanche 20 février au soir, sa mise en ligne progressive aux États-Unis et devrait être « complètement opérationnel » d'ici fin mars. Disponible uniquement sur le magasin d'applications mobiles d'Apple aux États-Unis, la plateforme a connu un démarrage en trombe, accédant lundi au rang d'application gratuite la plus téléchargée du moment sur l'App Store

Contre la « cancel culture »

Truth Social a été présenté par Donald Trump comme une alternative à Facebook, Twitter et YouTube, dont il a été banni après l'assaut du Capitole, le 6 janvier 2021.

Twitter, qui fut, en campagne et au pouvoir, un outil de communication privilégié de l'homme d'affaires new-yorkais, avait en effet supprimé en mai dernier le compte «@realDonaldTrump» qui comptait 88 millions d'abonnés après l'intrusion de ses partisans le 6 janvier dans le Capitole. Donald Trump a aussi été banni de manière temporaire ou définitive de la plupart des autres grands réseaux sociaux ou plateformes internet, dont Facebook, Instagram, YouTube ou encore Snapchat. En mai dernier, l'ancien président américain Donald Trump avait fait son retour en ligne avec un site prenant la forme d'un blog intitulé From the desk of Donald J. Trump («Depuis le bureau de Donald J. Trump»).

« C'est touchant pour moi de voir des personnes qui ont vu leur voix muselée utiliser la plateforme », a déclaré Devin Nunes, en faisant référence à la « cancel culture », cette idée selon laquelle des personnalités se retrouvent effacées de la place publique par l'opinion populaire qualifiée de « bien-pensante » par la droite.

Le Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), la maison mère du réseau, s'est passée des grandes entreprises technologiques traditionnelles pour ses besoins en infrastructure. Il a notamment noué un partenariat exclusif avec la plateforme Rumble.

« LA VÉRITÉ arrive... »

« Nous voulons qu'ils nous disent quels contenus ils veulent sur la plateforme », a-t-il ajouté. "Contrairement aux oligarques fous de la Silicon Valley qui disent aux gens ce qu'ils veulent qu'ils pensent et décident qui peut ou ne peut pas être sur les réseaux".

Le 21 février est un jour férié aux États-Unis en l'honneur des présidents américains. Donald Trump et son épouse Melania ont aussi prévu de vendre à cette date 10 000 NFT (objets numériques authentifiés) illustrant des moments-clés du mandat de l'ancien chef d'État républicain.

« LA VÉRITÉ arrive... », a tweeté, vendredi, Elise Stefanik, la numéro trois des élus républicains à la Chambre des représentants, en référence à la formule menaçante de la série télé "Game of Thrones" ("L'hiver arrive...").

Elle a posté une capture d'écran de son message sur Truth Beta, la version en test du réseau social : « Je suis tellement contente d'être sur TRUTH! Merci au président @realDonaldTrump pour ses qualités de leader. Ensemble, les premiers patriotes américains vont SAUVER L'AMÉRIQUE, casser les géants de la tech et protéger la LIBERTÉ D'EXPRESSION! »

Suspense sur une nouvelle candidature de Donald Trump

D'après différents communiqués, le groupe dispose d'environ 1,25 milliard de dollars pour partir à l'assaut de ses concurrents sur le marché, déjà très encombré, des réseaux sociaux prisés des ultra-conservateurs, comme Gettr, lancé début juillet par l'ancien conseiller de Donald Trump, Jason Miller, mais aussi Parler et Gab.

À 75 ans, Donald Trump laisse courir les doutes sur son intention de briguer à nouveau, ou non, l'investiture républicaine dans la course à la Maison Blanche, alors qu'il fait l'objet d'enquêtes.

INNOVATION A QUOI S'ATTENDRE EN 2022 ?

Voici les tendances et innovations bien réelles, répertoriées dans le passionnant nouveau livre du journaliste techno Alain McKenna, 100 choses à savoir absolument en 2022 : cinq concepts qui façonneront selon lui le paysage de cette nouvelle année.

« Tu boiras dans des bouteilles en papier »

Bouteille de papier de Paboco

Après les pailles en papier, place aux bouteilles en papier ?

 Alain McKenna évoque dans son livre la bouteille de Paboco, conçue à partir de fibres de papier et déjà testée par Coca-Cola dans certains pays d’Europe pour remplacer le plastique. La bouteille de ketchup en plastique signée Heinz pourrait elle aussi être la dernière qu’on achète, écrit-il par ailleurs.

 « La question du plastique jetable, c’est extrêmement grave, rappelle-t-il. Chez nous, on a commencé depuis un petit bout de temps à enlever les plastiques de la salle de bains. J’ai remplacé les bouteilles de shampoing par des barres de shampoing dur. Il y a plein de produits domestiques comme ça qu’on peut échanger. Il existe même du savon à linge sous forme de feuilles qui se dissolvent dans l’eau. »

« La semaine de quatre jours sera populaire »

De plus en plus d’employeurs songent à raccourcir la semaine de travail pour attirer les travailleurs.

De plus en plus d’employeurs songent à raccourcir la semaine de travail pour attirer les travailleurs. Le mouvement est déjà amorcé en Europe, alors que les résultats de chercheurs américains sont très encourageants, souligne-t-on dans le livre. « Il y a des tests qui se font et qui témoignent qu’on peut décrocher du travail un petit peu plus et être plus productif le temps qu’on est au bureau, et tout le monde gagne. C’est un peu ça, les effets constatés dans les projets pilotes des dernières années, souligne Alain McKenna. On parle sans arrêt de pénurie de main-d’œuvre… Ce n’est pas toutes les entreprises qui peuvent se permettre un horaire plus flexible, évidemment, mais les travailleurs ont plus de leviers pour négocier leurs conditions d’emploi. »

« Carey Price pourrait te souhaiter bonne fête »

Aux États-Unis, la popularité de l’application Cameo — qui permet de recevoir une vidéo personnalisée de la part d’une célébrité — ne se dément pas. « C’est extrêmement populaire dans l’anglosphère en ce moment. Je pense qu’on s’en va vers ça quand on regarde comment TikTok évolue. Veut, veut pas, les réseaux sociaux nous poussent vers des gens qui sont des pôles, qui ont une certaine attraction plus grande que d’autres, et ce croisement de personnalités publiques et de sportifs avec les réseaux sociaux mène à ce genre de situation où les gens sont prêts à payer pour se faire envoyer un message vidéo par une star du hockey. »

« Tu seras téléporté dans une salle près de chez toi »

La réalité mixte, vous connaissez ? « Tu mets des lunettes qui projettent de l’information et qui ont des capteurs de mouvement qui te permettent de savoir où tu es dans l’environnement physique. Ça crée une réalité où tu as à la fois du virtuel et du réel, et ça s’en vient très fort », explique Alain McKenna. Le journaliste détaille dans son livre le projet de Guy Laliberté, Hanai World, qui permettrait aux spectateurs d’assister — à distance — à un événement en direct comme s’ils étaient assis dans la salle, grâce à des caméras installées sur place à des postes stratégiques. « Microsoft, Facebook, Apple ont des projets, les grosses technos sont là-dedans ; il y a des milliards de dollars qui vont être investis dans la recherche et le développement. »

« Tu auras chaud (ou froid) à volonté »

Avec le bracelet Embr Wave, qui vient d’arriver sur le marché, on peut maintenant leurrer son cerveau pour ajuster sa température corporelle. « C’est comme un thermostat personnel ; ça joue avec les sensations, mais ça ne changera pas la température dans la pièce !

Il y a plein de choses qu’on n’a pas encore découvertes, précise Alain McKenna. Les montres connectées détectent le rythme cardiaque en temps réel, la température de la peau…

Pour l’instant, on utilise beaucoup les capteurs pour pousser les données sur son état de santé vers une application, mais la prochaine étape, c’est d’utiliser ces capteurs pour interagir ou envoyer à notre corps des informations ou des signaux qui permettent d’être en meilleure condition. » À quand un bracelet qui favoriserait le sommeil ?

100 choses à savoir absolument en 2022 d'Alain McKenna.

META OR THE DANGER OF TRANSHUMANISM

Mark Zuckerberg's company now intends to become a metaverse company, even going so far as to rename itself "Meta" to mark its ambitions.

During an online conference, the Facebook boss unveiled his vision for a technology that could transform the Internet as we know it today.

Inspired by science fiction, and in particular the novel "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson or "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline, the metaverse presents itself as a virtual and immersive online world. Everyone can live part of their life there, in the form of an avatar or a hologram.

For Meta, this universe promises more social contact without traveling, whether it's organizing a business meeting, participating in a fitness class or strolling through a pixel store.

The "metavers" are in short the equivalent of the OASIS of Steven Spielberg's film: a kind of lining of the physical world, accessible by Internet and connected interfaces, and in which we should be able to exist in the form of avatars.

This extension of the Internet is made possible by the convergence of different technologies, so that an individual can experience a world in virtual reality, by engaging his body, living emotions and sensations. “Gradually, screens, holograms, VR headsets and augmented reality glasses are supposed to allow fluid movements of virtual universes in physical places, such as teleportations,” Mark Zuckerberg explained on his Facebook profile.

The Oculus Quest headset developed by Meta completely immerses the user's gaze in a 3D setting. To move, you must also equip yourself with hand controllers. To get around, some imagine a treadmill system. Besides Meta, HTC, Sony already have their headsets.

According to information from Bloomberg, Apple's will be released in 2022.

Being able to truly move around in a virtual environment today requires a combination equipped with lots of sensors in order to faithfully reproduce your every gesture.

The technologies necessary for the proper functioning of the metaverse are not yet there ...

Towards transhumanism ?

Meta will invest $ 10 billion in 2021 alone to complete its project, but although it strikes a blow, Meta will have to come to an agreement or force to abandon a number of competitors such as Fortnite or Roblox. The war of the virtual worlds has begun.

And if it is Facebook that wins the market, we have everything to fear from the metaverse. Indeed. " Today Marc Zuckerberg intends to create a parallel universe by using for that the technology allowing to manufacture a virtual reality which must replace reality. It is not in science fiction but in transhumanism.

Transhumanism, which intends to increase mankind thanks to new technologies, considers that man who currently exists must disappear. With regard to reality, he intends to make it disappear in order to replace it with an augmented reality ”, according to the philosopher and theologian Bertrand Vergely, author in particular of La temptation de l'Homme-Dieu (Le Passeur Editeur, 2015)

THE FACEBOOK GROUP WILL CHANGE NAME

TO BE CALLED META

Mr. Zuckerberg also unveiled the new logo:

an icon reminiscent of an infinite symbol and the Oculus virtual reality glasses, which belongs to the group.

The objective is to highlight the metaverse contraction of “meta” (“beyond”, in ancient Greek), to show that there is “always more to build”, and “universe”, his project of Internet of the future, supposed to reach a billion people.

No changes are made to the structure of the group, which includes Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Oculus and Portal, among others.

According to the founder, the metaverse represents the future of the internet, after computers and mobile phones, to which the public will have access to interact, work or be entertained via technologies (augmented reality glasses, virtual reality headsets, etc. .).

Still according to Zuckerberg, the project should create "millions" of jobs over the next decade, including 10,000 in Europe.

In the midst of the “Facebook Files” affair, this name change appears to be a distraction by critics of the Californian group, entangled in scandals and controversies, from disinformation to data confidentiality, including respect for competition law. .

The firm "thinks that a new brand can help it change the subject", already reacted last week an NGO of anti-Facebook activists, ironically baptized "the real supervisory board of Facebook" (The Real Facebook Oversight Board ), when rumors of a name change were circulating.

RECORD PROFITS FOR GOOGLE

WITH ADVERTISING

At a time when part of the world is partly frozen by the Covid-19 pandemic, advertising, Google's real engine, has been running at full speed, with a "titanic quarter" from January to March 2021, according to experts .

Google therefore records record profits thanks to advertising.

Also thanks to its ability to capitalize on the new habits of its users, the search engine seems to ensure an equally favorable exit from the health crisis.

The online search giant thus achieved

55.31 billion in turnover from January to March, or 34% more than a year ago, when the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic had caused drop the spending of some advertisers, particularly in the travel sector, at the end of the first quarter.

On the search engine, advertising revenue rose from $ 25 billion to $ 32 billion in one year, well beyond expectations, and it grew 50% on YouTube, to $ 6 billion.

In 2020, as consumers deserted physical stores, Google and Facebook accelerated the development of ad formats that make shopping easier, with buttons directly in ads or videos to redirect users to brands.

"Google makes money"

"The line between digital and physical is blurring and we are innovating on all channels" of distribution, detailed Mr. Schindler. “It's not just online, it's not just offline. It's a mix. And that is our strong point, at the conjunction of Search (the search engine), Maps and YouTube. "

The Californian group manages in any case to ride the wave of recovery. It is "well on its way to generating 130.15 billion in net advertising revenue in 2021, an increase of 25% over one year", estimates the firm E-Marketer, which attributes 28.6% of the market share to it, just ahead of Facebook.

“Basically Google makes money, the company is pretty much all about ads,” commented analyst Rob Enderle. "There is no risk of declining revenues unless regulators intervene."

Abuse of dominant position

It seems it is the only cloud on the horizon for Alphabet, the parent company.

The current year could indeed be marked by developments in the fight against certain practices of technological leaders, deemed anti-competitive by more and more governments, including that of Joe Biden in the United States.

Facebook and Google are already facing lawsuits from the authorities on the competition law front. Several digital platforms, such as Amazon, TripAdvisor or Yelp, complain that Google promotes its own offers in search results.

MICROSOFT DECLARES THAT CHINA

HACKED HIS SERVER PROGRAM

EXCHANGE MESSAGING

All federal government agencies have until Friday March 5 at noon to download the latest software update to block the attacker!

Microsoft has said that a group of hackers who work for the Chinese government are found to be the perpetrator and that the latter mainly spies on US targets.

The latest software update for Exchange blocks hackers, prompting the United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to issue a rare emergency directive that forces all government networks to do so.

CISA, the leading defensive cybersecurity agency in the United States, rarely exercises its authority to ask the entire US government to take protective measures to protect its cybersecurity.

The move was necessary, the agency said, because Exchange hackers are able "to gain permanent access to the system."

Additionally, Microsoft Vice President Tom Burt wrote that hackers recently spied on a wide range of US targets, including disease researchers, law firms and defense contractors.

Contacted by email, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington referred to recent comments by spokesman Wang Wenbin.

"China has repeatedly reiterated that given the virtual nature of cyberspace and the fact that there are all kinds of actors online that are difficult to trace, pinpointing the source of cyber attacks is a complex technical issue," Wang said. .

"We hope that the media and businesses concerned will adopt a professional and responsible attitude and stress the importance of having sufficient evidence when identifying incidents of cybercrime, rather than making baseless accusations."

We remember that recently the Navajo Nation Hospital was the victim of a brutal wave of ransomware attacks.

There is no immediate indication that the hack led to significant exploitation of US government computer networks. But the announcement marks the second time in recent months that the United States has rushed to tackle a widespread hacking campaign seen as the work of foreign government spies.

The United States is still assessing the damage after suspected Russian hackers broke into a software management company, SolarWinds, and used the breach to stage hacks that hit nine federal agencies and about 100 private companies, according to White House comments.

As the developer of the world's most popular Windows operating system, Microsoft is regarded by Western cybersecurity experts as having exceptional insight into global hacking campaigns.

The campaign not only allowed hackers to access victims' emails and calendar invitations, but their entire network, Microsoft said. The hackers used four separate zero-day exploits, which are rare digital tools that get their name from the fact that software developers don't know about them, leaving them with no time to prepare a fix.

ESET, a Slovak cybersecurity company, said on Twitter that its researchers saw several groups of hackers, not just the one Microsoft named in its announcement.

Hackers would also exploit some vulnerabilities in older versions of Exchange.

LE CLIP DELIRANT DE XAVIER NIEL POUR PROMOUVOIR LA 5G

Free Mobile vient de dégainer son offre 5G, en frappant très fort : le nouveau réseau mobile est intégré automatiquement et sans surcoût au forfait à 19,99 euros par mois.

Et le buzz de ce mardi 15 décembre est signé Xavier Niel, qui fait parler de lui dans un clip délirant pour la 5G avec un spot publicitaire unique en son genre. Partagé par Free sur son compte Twitter, ce dernier met en scène le PDG dans un décor qui rappelle celui du documentaire controversé « Hold-Up », long-métrage sur le coronavirus .

Se moquant des complotistes et des préjugés liés à la 5G, qui se développe actuellement en France, Xavier Niel fait toute la vérité sur la 5G (« la 5G fait pousser un cinquième téton », « la 5G rend les chauves impuissants ») et n’hésite pas à mouiller le costume en se prenant une douche froide. Avant de conclure avec une seule vérité : chez Free, le forfait 5G ne sera pas plus cher que celui de la 4G.

L’opérateur de Xavier Niel revendique également aujourd’hui disposer du plus grand réseau de France. Free met ainsi en ligne sa nouvelle carte officielle de couverture. Transparente, celle-ci permet de se rendre compte précisément des zones couvertes en 5G par l’opérateur dans la bande 3,5GHz (en bleu) et 700 MHz (en vert).

Reste désormais à différencier le niveau de débit disponible, pour le moment manquant. Pour l’heure, l’opérateur de Xavier Niel, dispose 5 255 sites activés, dont 220 sites 3,5 GHz répartis sur tout le territoire, soit une couverture de 40% de la population.

Free le précise :

« Les zones couvertes sont simulées de manière informatique, il est donc possible que certaines imprécisions existent. La couverture peut varier dans le temps, en raison de nombreux facteurs : la saison, les conditions météorologiques, le nombre d’utilisateurs, l’apparition d’un obstacle… ».

Par ailleurs, la couverture à l’intérieur des bâtiments peut être altérée en fonction des matériaux de construction utilisés, la présence de fenêtres et la localisation du téléphone à l’intérieur du bâtiment.

Les cartes de couverture 5G des opérateurs seront suivies de près par l’Arcep. Le régulateur a révélé d’ailleurs fin octobre ses recommandations pour rester dans les clous et surtout éviter les plaintes des consommateurs.

L' IMPLANT CEREBRAL POUR LE CERVEAU HUMAIN D'ELON MUSK

Elon Musk a tenu une conférence pour présenter les avancées de Neuralink, sa start-up œuvrant sur un implant cérébral. Le milliardaire tourné vers le futur (Tesla, Space X) a présenté vendredi 28 août les dernières avancées de son projet de « cerveau connecté ».

En un an, de nombreux progrès ont été réalisés et de nouvelles pistes sont désormais privilégiées. Neuralink, l'une des sociétés appartenant à Elon Musk, s'était fait discrète depuis la présentation de ses travaux en 2019. Pour rappel, cette start-up développe un implant cérébral qui pourrait être installé par un robot en chirurgie ambulatoire. Un implant dont les fonctions restent à définir, mais son objectif principal à long terme serait de proposer une nouvelle interface entre l'humain et la machine.

Lors de la conférence Elon Musk accompagné par de nombreux scientifiques et ingénieurs a présentait son projet. L'occasion pour Neuralink de présenter ses progrès en s'appuyant sur un groupe de cochons déjà équipés de la version « 0.9 » de ce fameux implant.

L'étape suivante sera la mise en route de tests humains en ciblant une population de tétraplégiques.

Nouvel implant de la taille d'une petite pièce de monnaie

On retiendra l'adoption d'une nouvelle approche pour l'implant. Plutôt qu'implanter le module au plus près des neurones et s'appuyer sur un réseau de fils connectés à un transmetteur positionné derrière l'oreille, Neuralink travaille désormais sur une version qui réduirait la complexité chirurgicale en se focalisant sur la surface du cortex cérébral, à l'avant du cerveau. Un neurochirurgien a expliqué qu'il est déjà possible de cibler énormément de fonctions cognitives en privilégiant cette partie du cerveau, y compris la vision et l'audition.La nouvelle version de l'implant présentée par Elon Musk éliminerait ainsi la présence d'un module externe derrière l'oreille : le millier d'électrodes insérés dans les neurones interagiraient uniquement via un module (23 mm de diamètre et 8 mm d'épaisseur) inséré dans le crâne, le tout étant mis en place en limitant au maximum les fils et en raccourcissant les connexions. La charge de l'implant s'effectuerait par induction et son autonomie serait suffisante pour assurer une journée d'utilisation, tandis que le Bluetooth serait supporté comme moyen de connexion. Les recherches vont continuer pour sécuriser le dispositif : la puce connectée doit être protégée contre d'éventuelles perturbations externes et internes et sa communication avec un ordinateur (ou un smartphone) doit être inviolable.

Nouveau robot

Le fonctionnement de cet implant cérébral devrait être basé sur la lecture des pics électriques représentant l'activité neuronale, les électrodes captant ces informations et l'implant les confrontant aux modèles enregistrés pour analyser les « commandes » envoyées (ou reçues) par le cerveau. L'implantation en elle-même s'appuierait toujours sur l'aide chirurgicale d'un robot pour éviter les vaisseaux sanguins et positionner très précisément les électrodes.

Là aussi, le robot présenté en 2019 a évolué vers du matériel qui ressemble beaucoup plus à un équipement médical. C'est ce robot qui sera chargé de creuser la boîte crânienne devant accueillir le module Neuralink — les ingénieurs tentent actuellement de lui permettre d'atteindre des zones plus profondes du cerveau. En l'état du projet, il serait déjà parfaitement capable d'implanter le matériel actuel sur le cortex. L'opération ne prendrait qu'une heure, selon Elon Musk, et ne nécessiterait pas d'anesthésie générale.

Une « symbiose avec l'IA »

Si cette technologie doit servir dans un premier temps à traiter les maladies neurologiques, l'objectif à long terme est d'élargir les fonctions de ces implants. Car rien ne refroidit les ardeurs du milliardaire, qui veut coloniser Mars et craint que les technologies d'intelligence artificielle (IA) ne transforment les humains en « chats domestiques » des ordinateurs. La puce est ainsi censée nous permettre d'arriver à une « symbiose avec l'IA »..II s’agit rien moins que de permettre à l’homme de « fusionner » avec l’intelligence artificielle, au lieu d’en devenir l’esclave comme le milliardaire le craint. « En fin de compte, nous pouvons concevoir une interface cerveau-machine complète, ce qui permettra de réaliser une symbiose avec l’intelligence artificielle », déclarait-il l’an dernier. On en est encore très loin, mais Neuralink a posé de nouveaux jalons. La puce connectée pensée par Elon Musk devrait permettre de créer une « symbiose avec l'IA ». L'équipe de Neuralink rêve ainsi, entre autres, de soulager des douleurs extrêmes, guérir des addictions et créer une forme de télépathie. Ces avancées pourraient également permettre à des personnes fortunées de doter leur cerveau d'une puissance nouvelle, informatique.

Elon Musk a aussi affirmé qu'il serait possible, à terme, de stocker ses souvenirs sous forme numérisée, dans une référence à un épisode de la série futuristeBlack Mirror. « Vous pourrez sauvegarder vos souvenirs, et aussi potentiellement les télécharger dans un autre corps ou dans un robot », a-t-il affirmé.

« Le futur va être bizarre ».

Non, tout ceci n'est pas de la science-fiction ! Bien sûr, il reste encore énormément de travail à Neuralink pour présenter urbi et orbi un premier produit finalisé, sans oublier les autorisations nécessaires des autorités sanitaires.

La Food and Drug Administration (FDA), qui régule, entre autres, la commercialisation des médicaments aux Etats-Unis, a désigné cette nouvelle technologie comme un « dispositif révolutionnaire », rapporte le site américain The Verge

ELON MUSK PRESENTE LA PUCE CONNECTEE

DANS LE CERVEAU POUR TRAITER

 LES MALADIES NEUROLOGIQUES

Elon Musk a vanté sur YouTube les avancées de son projet d'implant cérébral. Neuralink : la nouvelle version d’une interface homme-machine révolutionnaire.

Une fusion entre une puce connectée et un animal pour faire avancer la science ? C’est le projet mis au point par la start-up d’Elon Musk, Neuralink, qui a implanté une puce connectée dans le cerveau d’un cochon. Le but ? Relier l’animal à un ordinateur

Gertrude participe à une expérience de science-fiction: la start-up d'Elon Musk, Neuralink, a implanté une puce connectée dans le cerveau de ce cochon cobaye, un prototype en vue de fabriquer la version pour les humains qui redonnera la parole et la mobilité aux personnes paralysées.

« C'est comme une Fitbit (montre connectée) dans votre crâne », s'est enthousiasmé Elon Musk vendredi, lors d'une conférence en ligne sur les progrès de son projet d'interface reliant le cerveau aux ordinateurs, qui suscite beaucoup de scepticisme dans la communauté scientifique.

Un Link dans le squelette

L'entrepreneur futuriste (Tesla, SpaceX) a présenté il y a un an une puce dotée de fils ultra-fins, pouvant être implantés dans le cerveau par un robot, une sorte de machine à coudre ultra-précise.

Le nouveau modèle, sans-fil grâce à la technologie bluetooth, se recharge la nuit et mesure 23 mm de diamètre (comme une petite pièce de monnaie) sur 8 mm d'épaisseur. En théorie, la puce ronde sera implantée dans le cerveau, sans qu'il y ait besoin de passer une nuit à l'hôpital, et sans laisser de trace, si ce n'est une petite cicatrice sous les cheveux.

Traiter des maladies neurologiques et dégénératives

Pour faire la démonstration de cette technologie, Elon Musk a présenté trois cobayes porcins : Joyce, le cochon « témoin » sans Link ni électrodes, Dorothy qui a subi la chirurgie mais dont l’implant a été retiré, et Gertrude sur laquelle l’implant est toujours en place dans une partie du cerveau liée au museau. Dorothy illustre le fait que le Link n’est pas permanent et qu’on peut le remplacer pour le mettre à jour. Quant à Gertrude, dès qu’elle sent quelque chose de bon à manger, le Link capte le signal et le transmet.À l’heure actuelle, l’implant n’a été installé dans aucun être humain. Mais la technologie a été testée sur un singe qui a pu « prendre le contrôle d’un ordinateur », assurait Elon Musk en 2019 lors de la première présentation des travaux de Neuralink. Rien ne dit évidemment que ce qui fonctionne chez les animaux marchera sur les hommes.

Pour l'instant, dans les laboratoires de Neuralink, le cochon Gertrude marche sur un tapis roulant, le groin dans une mangeoire accrochée devant elle, pendant que la puce retransmet ses signaux neurologiques. A partir de ces informations, l'ordinateur est capable de prédire à tout instant où se trouvent chacun de ses membres. De quoi donner l'espoir de rendre la mobilité aux personnes paraplégiques.

Cette technologie servirait d'abord à traiter les maladies neurologiques. Mais l'objectif à long terme est de rendre les implants si sûrs, fiables et simples qu'ils relèveraient de la chirurgie élective (de confort). Des personnes pourraient alors débourser quelques milliers de dollars pour doter leur cerveau d'une puissance informatique.

Objectif séduction

L'objectif du fantasque patron, avec cette présentation sur YouTube, était avant tout de séduire et recruter de nombreux ingénieurs, chirurgiens, chimistes, spécialistes de la robotique et autres. La start-up ne compte qu'une centaine de salariés, mais en espère 10.000 aussi vite que possible, pour relever une montagne de défis.

Comme pour les voitures autonomes de Tesla, en retard sur les annonces ambitieuses du patron, la puce dépend des feux verts des régulateurs. Elon Musk a annoncé que Neuralink venait d'obtenir l'approbation des autorités sanitaires américaines pour des tests, sans préciser d'horizon pour les premières implantations humaines. En juillet 2019, il les promettait pour 2020.

« Le futur va être bizarre »

Mais rien ne refroidit les ardeurs du milliardaire, qui veut coloniser Mars et craint que les technologies d'intelligence artificielle (IA) ne transforment les humains en « chats domestiques » des ordinateurs. La puce est ainsi censée nous permettre d'arriver à une « symbiose avec l'IA »..II s’agit rien moins que de permettre à l’homme de « fusionner » avec l’intelligence artificielle, au lieu d’en devenir l’esclave comme le milliardaire le craint. « En fin de compte, nous pouvons concevoir une interface cerveau-machine complète, ce qui permettra de réaliser une symbiose avec l’intelligence artificielle », déclarait-il l’an dernier. On en est encore très loin, mais Neuralink a posé de nouveaux jalons.

Il a aussi évoqué la possibilité de communiquer des pensées brutes, non limitées par les langues humaines -de la « télépathie non linguistique consensuelle et conceptuelle ». Son équipe rêve, entre autres, de mettre fin aux douleurs extrêmes, de guérir les dépressions et addictions ou encore de percer les mystères de la conscience.

D’autres projets liés au cerveau

De nombreuses entreprises travaillent sur le contrôle des ordinateurs par la pensée, et d’autres d’interfaces cerveau-machine sont en cours de développement. Facebook finance ainsi un projet pour traduire en mots l’activité du cerveau, via des algorithmes, afin de rendre la parole aux personnes rendues muettes à cause de maladies neurodégénératives.

De nombreux scientifiques rappellent cependant que le cerveau n’est pas aussi compartimenté qu’on aimerait le croire.

« Chaque cerveau a une structure unique, massivement interconnectée », a commenté Dean Burnett, chercheur de l’université de Cardiff, en amont de la conférence.

LA GUERRE DE WASHINGTON CONTRE HUAWEI

L’administration Trump cherche à tout prix à empêcher le géant chinois des télécoms d’acquérir des technologies «made in USA» indispensables à ses téléphones.Les États-Unis ont annoncé lundi durcir leurs sanctions contre le géant chinois des télécoms Huawei, en les étendant à 38 de ses filiales, afin de limiter leur accès aux technologies américaines, selon un communiqué du département américain au Commerce.

L’administration de Donald Trump reproche à Huawei et ses filiales d’avoir «accentué leurs efforts pour obtenir des semi-conducteurs de pointe développés ou produits à partir de logiciels et de technologies américaines afin d’atteindre les objectifs politiques du Parti communiste chinois», selon le secrétaire au Commerce Wilbur Ross, cité dans le communiqué.

Le groupe chinois est devenu au 2e trimestre le premier vendeur de téléphones portables dans le monde.

Et ce, malgré l’opposition des USA à ce que Huawei déploie sa 5G.Au sommet malgré les pressions: Huawei est devenu au deuxième trimestre le premier vendeur mondial de smartphones, au moment où le groupe chinois lutte contre Washington pour déployer dans le monde sa technologie 5G.

Huawei se retrouve au centre de la rivalité sino-américaine, sur fond de guerre commerciale et technologique et de soupçons d’espionnage.

TIKTOK BANNED SOON IN THE USA

The New York Times indicates that Donald Trump could issue an executive order based on the “International Emergency Economic Powers Act” to force American app stores to remove TikTok from their catalog. “I have that authority. I can do it with a decree, ”hammered Donald Trump on Friday. He added that he would act on Saturday.

TikTok would serve Chinese interests

TikTok belongs to the Chinese group ByteDance. It has almost a billion users worldwide and is very popular with young people.

For several weeks, the social network has been suspected of serving the interests of the Chinese government, between censoring content and spying on the data of American users.

The social network has often had to defend itself from its links with China, where ByteDance has a similar application, under another name. He has always denied sharing data with the Chinese authorities and assured that he does not intend to accept requests in this direction. The company was under investigation by CFIUS, the US agency responsible for ensuring that foreign investments do not pose a risk to national security.

Banning the app as it currently exists could also go through a roundabout route. Because the US administration also plans to force the Chinese parent company of TikTok, ByteDance, to sell the platform to an American group. Here too, it is the argument of the protection of national security that would be put forward. Negotiations are already open with Microsoft, according to the Washington Post. According to information from Reuters unveiled this Saturday afternoon, the Chinese group would indeed be ready, under pressure, to sell the American branch of TikTok to the company founded by Bill Gates.

Precedents exist, as the American daily points out. In March, a Chinese company was forced to sell its stake in an American hotel software company. Last year, the Trump administration forced the Chinese owners of the gay dating app Grindr to relinquish control of the company.

"We are not political"

A few days ago, TikTok made a commitment to have a high level of transparency and in particular to allow checks on its algorithms, to reassure users and regulators.

“We are not political, we do not accept political advertising and we have no agenda. Our only objective is to remain a lively and dynamic platform appreciated by all, declared Wednesday in a blog post the boss of TikTok, Kevin Mayer. “The whole industry is under scrutiny, and with good reason. Due to the company's Chinese origins, we are examined even more closely. We accept it and take up the challenge, ”he explained.

James Lewis, head of the technology policy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, believes that the security risk involved in using TikTok is "close to zero." In contrast, "it looks like ByteDance could be put under pressure from Beijing," Lewis said.

The social network is also disputed elsewhere than in the United States. He has been banned since June 30 in India, where he was placed at the head of the list of 59 Chinese applications blocked by New Delhi on its territory to "ensure the security and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace". Pakistan, a very conservative Muslim country , for its part recently launched "a final warning" to TikTok so that content deemed "immoral, obscene and vulgar" be removed from its platform.

The American decision could also push other countries to do the same.

FACING THE BOYCOTT ADVERTISING AND A LOSS OF 7.2 BILLION FACEBOOK STRENGTHENS

 THE RULES OF MODERATION

They have stopped their advertising campaigns on Facebook or Instagram in the name of the fight against hatred on the networks. Patagonia and North Face were the first to position themselves by canceling advertising campaigns planned on Facebook and Instagram for the month of July. Coca-cola followed very quickly, before the Mozilla browser, Starbucks cafes or Dockers clothes got into gear. The arrival of large groups like Unilever alongside brands already committed to the boycott has established the movement over time.

Movement Against Systemic Racism in the United States

In the context of the vast movement against systemic racism in the United States, which resurfaced after the death of Georges Floyd, associations, including the NAACP, the large organization for the defense of the civil rights of African-Americans and an organization fighting against anti-Semitism, the Anti-Defamation League, as well as the Sleeping Giants collective called on companies not to buy ad space on Facebook in July. Facebook is seen as overly tolerant of racist, insulting, or advocating speeches - including comments made by US President Donald Trump.

"Stop Hate for Profit"

In a long plea posted on the “Stop Hate for Profit” site, the organizers detail their approach. “Social networks have allowed hatred and extremism to spread faster than ever (…). Every day, our organizations are alerted to numerous examples of hate and disinformation messages disseminated on Facebook and supported by paid advertising ”, we can read.

“There was a domino effect in a context of very strong social tensions in the United States. Brand neutrality on subjects such as racism or the defense of civil rights is no longer tolerated. Those who have been silent in recent weeks have been strongly criticized, ”explains Stéphanie Laporte, director of the“ social media ”program at Inseec.

New digital activism

"We have entered a new era of digital activism," notes Greg Sterling, an analyst specializing in online marketing. “NGOs call on advertisers to clean up social networks, because of their reluctance, or even their refusal, to do it themselves. Whose act: all social platforms will be forced to review their regulations, adjust them or adopt new measures that prevent hatred and racism from proliferating. "

“The networks will have to take this problem seriously, otherwise their revenues will be directly affected,” says Michelle Amazeen, professor of communication at Boston University. The pressure is mounting, "finally, to make platforms responsible hosts that do not promote hatred and violence to generate profits."

Tightening of moderation rules

The “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign has already tarnished the image of the firm. Last Friday, Facebook's share price fell more than 8%, causing losses estimated at $ 7.2 billion by the Bloomberg site.

If Mark Zuckerberg, the boss of the planetary social network, has been defending for months his a priori approach more lax than Twitter or YouTube in the name of freedom of expression, he was however obliged to present concessions last Friday . The platform will now remove more types of hate advertisements, and problematic messages from politicians can be masked and flagged as such, much like its competitor Twitter. From now on, Facebook will thus withdraw all advertisements which affirm in particular that people of certain origins, ethnicities, nationalities, gender or sexual orientation represent a threat to the safety or health of others.

Heavy reliance of brands on Facebook and Instagram

But the degree of reliance of brands on Facebook is enormous. The audience that we find on Facebook and Instagram - which belongs to Facebook - cannot be found elsewhere. Facebook has 2.6 billion users and over 7 million advertisers on its family of applications, the majority of which are SMEs.

Advertisers may therefore not resist for very long the appeal of such an audience, targeted and personalized on a very large scale.

TOWARDS STRENGTHENING SECURITY

ONLINE PAYMENTS

As of Saturday, new standards intended to reinforce the security of transactions will apply to counter fraud, according to the indications of the French Observatory for the security of means of payment.

These new measures are provided for by a European directive (known as "DSP 2"). Adopted in mid-January 2018, it provides a new layer of security, called “strong authentication” on online banking transactions and operations in order to further lower the fraud rate.

According to the Observatory for the security of means of payment, in 2018, the rate of fraud by authenticated payment was 0.07%, compared to 0.21% for unauthenticated transactions.

To do this, issuers of bank cards and banks, payment operators, online merchants, etc. are required to deploy a so-called “strong authentication” device for the customer during electronic payments or sensitive banking operations.

Concretely, the use of a single code received by SMS to secure a transaction will no longer be considered sufficient and will have to be gradually reinforced by means of new solutions, such as biometric recognition (fingerprint, facial recognition), the issuance of a personal code sent by mail or compulsory connection to the mobile banking application.

Access to bank accounts will also require stronger authentication at least every 90 days. Measures that many establishments have already implemented with their customers.

However, this strong authentication will be dispensed with, all distance purchases of less than 30 euros, payments to automatic transport and parking machines, transfers between accounts of the same person within the same banking establishment or transfers. to people registered as "trusted beneficiaries" by the client with his bank.

In addition, the responsibility for this authentication rests with the banks and no longer with online merchants. In addition, this directive defines the legal status of account aggregation services and payment initiators. From now on, these two activities will have to be carried out by approved service providers.

The directive establishes their conditions of exercise and the manner in which they must operate with the banks of their customers.

The aim is to protect consumers, who until now were not legally covered, and to stimulate competition in payment services.

VIRTUAL REALITY IMAGE

LUNGS REACHED BY THE CORONAVRUS

"There is such a contrast between the abnormal infected lung and the adjacent healthy lung tissue." You don't have to be a doctor to understand these images, ”says Dr. Keith Mortman, chief of thoracic surgery at GW University Hospital.

The severity of the infection highlighted

The patient, close to sixty, was already in intensive care and required the help of a respirator. To better understand the degree of progress of the disease. In the video healthy tissues are represented in blue, the infected parts appear in green and yellow.

The disease is diffuse and causes serious damage to both lungs. For the doctor, it is likely that long-term lung damage will remain in very seriously ill patients who may have survived the virus.

About 20% of Covid-19 patients develop severe symptoms and some of them require mechanical assistance to breathe. No age class is spared.

MEETING APPS ADAPT AT CONTAINMENT

Your apps have redoubled their inventiveness for you.

No more meetings, but a multitude of meetings and video chat to wait and be desired.

A world tour 2.0

Tinder will provide one of its Premium features for free, until April 30, and the dating app offers a gift to its users.

To meet people across the globe, Match Group will offer access to the Passport, usually reserved for Premium subscribers.

In a press release, the firm explains that it wants to bring Internet users together for new international adventures.

This week, users will be able to swipe profiles from around the world and thus share this moment with Internet users across the globe.

Without paying a penny, Tinder users will enjoy Tinder Gold or Plus functionality.

The CEO explains that he wants to give his community the opportunity to "share thanks to technology, to learn and listen to all those who live the same situation as you, in different geographic areas, during a period of unprecedented isolation" .

Video chat to wait

Once, nicknamed "the anti-Tinder" because it only subjects the user to four profiles per day, has put the small dishes in the big ones.

The application created for the occasion a completely new function, "live-video".

In practice, as soon as two users indicate that they like each other, they can talk to each other in writing and now, on video.

Once is not a pioneer of the genre: its competitor Bumble had already launched this function six months ago.

"Without the possibility of meeting right away, video is an option that intends to respond to the exceptional situation we live in, while protecting users who do not have to share their number or email address to chat live via a third-party tool, ”explains Once in its press release.

Nothing more fulfilling than sharing all over the world and live!

FACEBOOK WOULD LIKE TO GET A VIRGINITY BACK

In a press release entitled "Start the decade by helping you better control your privacy", Mark Zuckerberg takes advantage of the day of data protection to return to the tool "activity outside of Facebook"

Facebook has indeed launched a tool allowing internet users to limit the tracking it operates across the web. An announcement that goes in the direction of the position for the protection of privacy that the company is trying to strengthen.

Announced almost two years ago, just after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the tool "Your activity outside of Facebook" allows you to see third-party sites and applications that share data with the social network. Because many services resell their data to Facebook without necessarily clearly informing Internet users. “Companies send us information about your activities on their sites and we use this information to show you relevant advertisements. Now you can see a summary of this information and log it out of your account if you wish, ”writes Mark Zuckerberg.

Indeed it is not necessary to be connected via Facebook to the sites in question, the web is full of little cookies that will allow web pages to link your browsing history to your Facebook profile.

Concretely, the new tool therefore allows you to prevent a particular service from sharing your data with Facebook, or outright to prohibit all sites and applications in the future from sharing your personal data with the company.

Be aware, however, as Facebook indicates, that the site will continue to receive "your activity on the companies or organizations you visit", but the information will simply no longer be linked to your account and will be used "for measurement purposes and to make improvements to our system. " And you will not escape advertising however, warns the site: "You will always see the same amount of advertising, but they may be less personalized. "

In the next few weeks, a message redirecting you to the Confidentiality Assistance tool should appear on your news feed.

In addition, the social network seeks to prevent the publication and sharing of articles and images considered inappropriate according to its own charter, while taking care to respect freedom of expression. He recently confirmed that political advertisements, even false ones, would not be censored, attracting a new salvo of convictions in the middle of the American presidential campaign.

It is therefore necessary to take a step back on Facebook ads...

OFF-STANDARD OPERATION OR DISMANTLING

A DARKWEB PLATFORM

One of the largest illegal platforms active in France on the "dark web" was dismantled after a large operation led by Customs, the first of its kind, announced Saturday the Minister of Public Accounts Gerald Darmanin.

Qualified as "exceptional", this operation, "the first of its kind in France" mobilized more than forty officers of the National Directorate of Intelligence and Customs Investigations (DNRED), the handlers of the customs and several technical experts. It took place simultaneously in several cities of France.

The investigation, which continues, has been entrusted to the Central Office of the fight against crime related to information and communication technologies (OCLCTIC).

Narcotics, weapons and false papers.

The forum "Black Hand" ("Black Hand"), active in the part of the Internet not referenced by search engines, had been selling for over two years many illegal products and services (narcotics, weapons, false papers, stolen bank details ...), according to the minister's press release.

A darknet is a layered network (or network overlay) that uses specific protocols integrating functions of anonymization. Some darknets are limited to the exchange of files, others allow the construction of a complete anonymous ecosystem (web, blog, mail, irc). Sharing is anonymous users can communicate without much fear of interference from the share of governments or companies. For these reasons, darknets are often associated with political dissent type communication and illegal activities as in the case of the "Backhand" forum.

Many data entered.

The investigators seized nearly 4,000 euros in cash and around 25,000 euros in various virtual currencies. They were also able to access the content of the "Black Hand" server and proceed with the massive data entry. After 48 hours of police custody, four suspects were brought Friday to magistrates of the public prosecutor's office of Lille, after the dismantling occurred Tuesday.The main administrator of the site and "several other people were arrested".

According to the first elements of the survey, more than 3,000 people were registered on this forum, "thus confirming the very active character of this French forum".

"I congratulate DNRED's agents for this extraordinary operation, and the dismantling of this platform is a first at the national level and illustrates the mobilization of customs," said Gerald Darmanin in a statement.

BLACK-OUT SUR LE SITE PIRATE

ZONE-TELECHARGEMENT.

Black-out sur le portail pirate français Zone Téléchargement et DLP.

Depuis la fermeture subite, lundi 28 novembre 2016, du site de téléchargement illégal Zone Téléchargement et DLP par la Gendarmerie la toile s'affole.

A l’origine de cette fermeture, une plainte est déposée en novembre 2014 par des membres de l’Association de lutte contre la piraterie audiovisuelle (Alpa) et de la Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique (Sacem). Puis une enquête des gendarmes du Centre de lutte contre les criminalités numériques conduit aux administrateurs des sites.

Zone Téléchargement était classé par la plateforme de statistiques Alexa à la onzième place des sites les plus consultés de France, devant Twitter et DLP 29ème.

Pourquoi une telle popularité ?

Le succès s'explique en partie par l'offre du catalogue du site de téléchargement illégal de films, de jeux vidéo ou d'albums de musique : sa catégorie "films" proposait par exemple plus de 40 000 fichiers différents.

L'exhaustivité et l'exigence technique comme la proposition de fichiers en HD-Light faisaient que ces deux sites se démarquaient des autres sites du genre. Ce choix considérable était financé par ses nombreuses publicités intrusives.

« La pratique du téléchargement illégal est tellement entrée dans les mœurs que les utilisateurs de Zone Téléchargement n'avaient plus vraiment conscience de l'illégalité de leur comportement. »

analyse un spécialiste du numérique.

De plus l'offre légale "ne correspond pas à notre économie de l'impatience" : un film 4 mois en salle, puis seulement après il passe en vidéo.

Les criminalités numériques sont-elles sévèrement punies ?

Selon la gendarmerie nationale, le préjudice causé par Zone Téléchargement est estimé à 75 millions d'euros pour les ayants-droits.

Les risques encourus peuvent être élevés. Pour preuve la condamnation En septembre, a été condamné à 5 millions d’euros de dommages et intérêts et à un an de prison dont huit mois ferme pour la diffusion illégale à grande échelle de films et musiques.l’administrateur du site pirate Omgtorrent (2008- 2015)

Et quatre clients du site, identifiés grâce à l'adresse IP de leur ordinateur, ont aussi été condamnés à un mois de prison avec sursis chacun.

Les deux sites concernés permettaient à « un clan familial » de bien vivre. Ce business rapportait 1,5 million d’euros par an, grâce aux pubs affichés sur les deux sites .

Ces administrateurs risquent jusqu’à trois ans de prison et 300.000 euros d’amende pour contrefaçon. Si les charges de contrefaçon en bande organisée sont retenues, ces peines peuvent monter à 7 ans de prison et 750.000 euros d’amende.