Why NZ should be clamping down on deepfake images
Denmark is set to clamp down on deepfake images, giving citizens copyright over their likeness and voice. A deepfake is an image, video or audio recording which has been digitally altered to appear to be someone else. They have become increasingly sophisticated with the rapid advancement of AI, and recent studies have shown that the vast majority of people can't distinguish between deepfake and real images So are New Zealand laws fit for purpose? Jesse finds out.
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Techday NZ
32 minutes ago
- Techday NZ
Developers adopt AI tools but trust issues persist, survey finds
Stack Overflow has released the results of its 2025 Developer Survey, detailing the perceptions and habits of more than 49,000 technologists across 177 countries. The AI trust gap The survey indicates a significant disparity between AI adoption and trust among developers. While 84% of respondents use or plan to use artificial intelligence tools in their workflow, nearly half (46%) report that they do not trust the accuracy of AI-generated output. This marks a substantial rise from 31% indicating a lack of trust in the previous year. This year's expanded artificial intelligence section included 15 new questions, addressing topics such as the utility of AI agent tools, the impact of AI on developers' jobs, and the phenomenon of "vibe coding". "The growing lack of trust in AI tools stood out to us as the key data point in this year's survey, especially given the increased pace of growth and adoption of these AI tools. AI is a powerful tool, but it has significant risks of misinformation or can lack complexity or relevance. With the use of AI now ubiquitous and 'AI slop' rapidly replacing the content we see online, an approach that leans heavily on trustworthy, responsible use of data from curated knowledge bases is critical. By providing a trusted human intelligence layer in the age of AI, we believe the tech enthusiasts of today can play a larger role in adding value to build the AI technologies and products of tomorrow," said Prashanth Chandrasekar, CEO of Stack Overflow. The survey found that 75% of users do not trust AI-generated answers, and 45% find debugging AI-generated code time-consuming. Ethical and security concerns are prevalent, with 61.7% citing these as reasons for hesitancy, while 61.3% wish to maintain full understanding of their code. AI use and productivity Despite low overall adoption, AI agents are associated with productivity improvements. Only 31% of developers currently use AI agents, but among those, 69% report increased workplace productivity. Meanwhile, 17% are planning to adopt such tools, while 38% are not planning to use them at all. A majority (64%) of developers do not see AI as a threat to their employment, though this figure has declined slightly from the previous year's 68%. Platforms and tools Visual Studio Code and Visual Studio remain the most used Integrated Development Environments (IDEs). New AI-enabled IDEs have entered the market, with Cursor at an 18% usage rate, Claude Code at 10%, and Windsurf at 5% among respondents. Among large language models (LLMs), OpenAI's GPT series is the most popular, used by 81% of developers surveyed. Claude Sonnet received 43% usage, and Gemini Flash 35%. Vibe coding and new ways of learning 'Vibe coding', defined as generating software from LLM prompts, was explored for the first time. While AI tools are being adopted for learning and development, nearly 77% of developers indicated that vibe coding is not part of their professional workflow. The trend is more relevant for less experienced developers seeking a rapid start, but it comes with a trade-off in the level of trust and confidence in the output. Community platforms continue to play an important role. Stack Overflow is the most common platform, used or planned to be used by 84% of respondents, followed by GitHub at 67%, and YouTube at 61%. Notably, 35% of respondents reported consulting Stack Overflow when confronted with AI-related issues. The survey shows that 69% of developers have learned a new technology or programming language in the past year, with 36% focusing specifically on AI-enabled tools. Usage of AI tools for learning to code has risen to 44%, up from 37% last year. Top resources remain technical documentation (68%), online resources (59%), and Stack Overflow (51%). For those learning AI-specific skills, 53% used AI tools. Gen Z developers (aged 18-24) are more likely to engage with coding challenges, with 15% participating compared to an overall average of 12%. Additionally, a higher proportion of this age group prefers chat-based and challenge-based learning approaches than other cohorts. International responses and technology adoption The United States, Germany, India, United Kingdom, France, Canada, Ukraine, Poland, Netherlands, and Italy were the top ten countries by survey participation. Trust in AI tools differs by region; India saw the highest proportion of developers expressing some or significant trust in AI at 56%, followed by Ukraine at 41%. Other countries showed lower levels of trust, including Italy (31%), Netherlands and United States (28%), Poland (26%), Canada and France (25%), United Kingdom (23%), and Germany (22%). Python continues to gain in popularity, with a seven percentage point increase since 2024. JavaScript (66%), HTML/CSS (62%), and SQL (59%) remain popular programming languages. Docker usage grew by 17 percentage points to 71%, marking it as a widely adopted tool in cloud and infrastructure development. PostgreSQL holds the position as the most sought-after database technology, with 47% planning to use it in the next year or continuing usage, marking its third year at the top in this category. For documentation and collaboration, GitHub leads at 81%, followed by Jira (46%) and GitLab (36%).
RNZ News
8 hours ago
- RNZ News
The Panel with Kathryn Graham and Tim Wilson Part 1
Tonight, on The Panel, Wallace Chapman is joined by panellists Kathryn Graham and Tim Wilson. Starting off, the Panel hears from one of the first jewllers to work with Michael Hill in his first store in Whangarei. They also talk to Jules, a pensioner who is living in her car for the first time after being made homeless and they discuss how Christopher Luxon was booed at a netball game: is it ever OK to boo a politician? To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
RNZ News
8 hours ago
- RNZ News
Mixing opera and politics
This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. Poster for the Wellington Opera production of Verdi's "A Masked Ball". Photo: Wellington Opera Verdi had to jump through a lot of hoops to stage his opera, "A Masked Ball". The idea seemed operatic enough. The intrigue surrounding the assassination of the 18th-century monarch King Gustavo III of Sweden, but the 19th-century censors had other ideas. To have someone shooting a royal just wouldn't do. They forced Verdi to set the opera in Boston in the USA, where there were no kings or queens to assassinate. Next month, Wellington Opera will stage the original uncensored version of "A Masked Ball" with Jared Holt playing King Gustavo and soprano Madeleine Pierard taking on the lead female role, Amelia. Pierard and conductor Brian Castles-Onion spoke to RNZ Concert's Bryan Crump ahead of a three-performance season at the Wellington Opera House starting on 6 August. It's still a rarely staged opera, not because of its politics, but because it's long. Not Wagner long, but still taking three acts with two intervals. Australian conductor, Brian Castles-Onion Photo: Wellington Opera Castles-Onion, however, thinks it's one of Verdi's best. And he thinks Pierard is one of the best-qualified sopranos to take on the lead role of Amelia; a married woman who has fallen for King Gustavo who, unfortunately for her, is not the man she's married to. It's the second year in a row that Pierard and Castles-Onion have featured in Wellington Opera Company productions. Last year Pierard played the title role in Tosca, while Castles-Onion directed Orchestra Wellington in the pit. The company has established a reputation for high-quality productions made without any support from the Government arts funding body, Creative New Zealand. Castles-Onion says he loves the vibe at Wellington Opera. The Australian-based maestro certainly loves conducting opera, with hundreds of performances to his name. He prefers the orchestra pit to the concert hall podium because he loves the human voice. Madeleine Pierard Photo: Robert Cato Pierard prefers the stage to the concert hall because of her love of acting. For her, the challenge as a singer who is a good actor is to keep the body from getting in the way of her singing - given the acting and the music come from the same place. A good singer doesn't have to contort their body to get the message across, she says. Let the voice flow and the music will bring out the drama.
