Latest news with #Salvi
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
AI can be more persuasive than humans in debates, scientists find
Artificial intelligence can do just as well as humans, if not better, when it comes to persuading others in a debate, and not just because it cannot shout, a study has found. Experts say the results are concerning, not least as it has potential implications for election integrity. 'If persuasive AI can be deployed at scale, you can imagine armies of bots microtargeting undecided voters, subtly nudging them with tailored political narratives that feel authentic,' said Francesco Salvi, the first author of the research from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. He added that such influence was hard to trace, even harder to regulate and nearly impossible to debunk in real time. 'I would be surprised if malicious actors hadn't already started to use these tools to their advantage to spread misinformation and unfair propaganda,' Salvi said. But he noted there were also potential benefits from persuasive AI, from reducing conspiracy beliefs and political polarisation to helping people adopt healthier lifestyles. Writing in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, Salvi and colleagues reported how they carried out online experiments in which they matched 300 participants with 300 human opponents, while a further 300 participants were matched with Chat GPT-4 – a type of AI known as a large language model (LLM). Each pair was assigned a proposition to debate. These ranged in controversy from 'should students have to wear school uniforms'?' to 'should abortion be legal?' Each participant was randomly assigned a position to argue. Both before and after the debate participants rated how much they agreed with the proposition. In half of the pairs, opponents – whether human or machine – were given extra information about the other participant such as their age, gender, ethnicity and political affiliation. The results from 600 debates revealed Chat GPT-4 performed similarly to human opponents when it came to persuading others of their argument – at least when personal information was not provided. Related: The AI Con by Emily M Bender and Alex Hanna review – debunking myths of the AI revolution However, access to such information made AI – but not humans – more persuasive: where the two types of opponent were not equally persuasive, AI shifted participants' views to a greater degree than a human opponent 64% of the time. Digging deeper, the team found persuasiveness of AI was only clear in the case of topics that did not elicit strong views. The researchers added that the human participants correctly guessed their opponent's identity in about three out of four cases when paired with AI. They also found that AI used a more analytical and structured style than human participants, while not everyone would be arguing the viewpoint they agree with. But the team cautioned that these factors did not explain the persuasiveness of AI. Instead, the effect seemed to come from AI's ability to adapt its arguments to individuals. 'It's like debating someone who doesn't just make good points: they make your kind of good points by knowing exactly how to push your buttons,' said Salvi, noting the strength of the effect could be even greater if more detailed personal information was available – such as that inferred from someone's social media activity. Prof Sander van der Linden, a social psychologist at the University of Cambridge, who was not involved in the work, said the research reopened 'the discussion of potential mass manipulation of public opinion using personalised LLM conversations'. He noted some research – including his own – had suggested the persuasiveness of LLMs was down to their use of analytical reasoning and evidence, while one study did not find personal information increased Chat-GPT's persuasiveness. Prof Michael Wooldridge, an AI researcher at the University of Oxford, said while there could be positive applications of such systems – for example, as a health chatbot – there were many more disturbing ones, includingradicalisation of teenagers by terrorist groups, with such applications already possible. 'As AI develops we're going to see an ever larger range of possible abuses of the technology,' he added. 'Lawmakers and regulators need to be pro-active to ensure they stay ahead of these abuses, and aren't playing an endless game of catch-up.'
Time of India
09-05-2025
- Time of India
Rohtas polytechnic student found hanging at hostel room
Sasaram: A second-year student of a govt polytechnic died allegedly by suicide during a video call with her boyfriend at her hostel room in Indarpuri under the same police station of Rohtas district late on Thursday night, days after an IIT-Kharagpur student from Bihar was found dead under similar to initial investigation reports, Salvi Kumari, a resident of Nadi Khurd village under Karpi police station in Arwal district, was alone in her hostel room at the time of the said that the tragedy came to light when hostel staff and fellow students found Salvi hanging from a ceiling fan. A friend of the deceased, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said she got a call from Salvi's boyfriend, a resident of Masaurhi in Patna, in the night, expressing concern that she might be in distress. The friend rushed to Salvi's room, but after receiving no response to repeated knocks, she alerted the hostel warden and another student. On opening the door forcibly, they discovered Salvi hanging from the ceiling fan, with the video call still active on her then informed her family members as well as police, which arrived at the scene and seized the cellphone for forensic analysis. Salvi's body was taken down in the presence of her family members and sent for postmortem at Sadar Hospital in Sasaram. The body was later handed over to her have initiated an investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding her death. A senior police officer said that all angles, including psychological distress, the condition of hostel facilities and her last known communication, are being is worth noting that just last week, the students of the college had filed a formal complaint with the principal regarding the poor quality of food being served in the A second-year student of a govt polytechnic died allegedly by suicide during a video call with her boyfriend at her hostel room in Indarpuri under the same police station of Rohtas district late on Thursday night, days after an IIT-Kharagpur student from Bihar was found dead under similar to initial investigation reports, Salvi Kumari, a resident of Nadi Khurd village under Karpi police station in Arwal district, was alone in her hostel room at the time of the said that the tragedy came to light when hostel staff and fellow students found Salvi hanging from a ceiling fan. A friend of the deceased, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said she got a call from Salvi's boyfriend, a resident of Masaurhi in Patna, in the night, expressing concern that she might be in distress. The friend rushed to Salvi's room, but after receiving no response to repeated knocks, she alerted the hostel warden and another student. On opening the door forcibly, they discovered Salvi hanging from the ceiling fan, with the video call still active on her then informed her family members as well as police, which arrived at the scene and seized the cellphone for forensic analysis. Salvi's body was taken down in the presence of her family members and sent for postmortem at Sadar Hospital in Sasaram. The body was later handed over to her have initiated an investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding her death. A senior police officer said that all angles, including psychological distress, the condition of hostel facilities and her last known communication, are being is worth noting that just last week, the students of the college had filed a formal complaint with the principal regarding the poor quality of food being served in the hostel.
Time of India
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Code of war: India and Pakistan take their battle to the (web)front
Live Events India vs Pakistan on the cyber front (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel It's no longer just bullets and bombs—now the battlefield stretches into cyberspace. Ever since the Pahalgam terror attack , tensions between India and Pakistan have taken a sharp turn into the digital world, with hacker groups from launching a series of high-stakes cyberattacks. From defacing military websites to spreading phishing malware, these digital skirmishes are far from being just geeky backdoor tactics. Instead, they're a fierce extension of geopolitical strategy—testing each other's limits. Let's dive into the latest digital warfare unfolding between these two hacker groups are intensifying their efforts to breach Indian military websites and databases, with a particular focus on sites linked to schools and veterans. In the latest wave of attacks, websites such as Army Public School Nagrota, Sunjuwan, and the Army Institute of Hotel Management were targeted, with several defaced pages mocking the victims of the Pahalgam sources have reported that at least two cyberattack groups, 'Cyber Group HOAX1337' and 'National Cyber Crew', have been active this week , launching repeated attempts to infiltrate Indian military-linked sites. 'There have been consistent attacks aimed at websites connected to children, veterans, and civilians,' sources said, stressing that these are calculated provocations designed to test India's restraint and provoke the armed cyberattacks, they note, are part of a broader pattern of digital warfare by Pakistan, which has long used such tactics as an extension of its larger strategy of terrorism and information warfare. The continued ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) mirror this ongoing a particularly troubling development, a malicious PDF file, allegedly titled 'Report & Update Regarding Pahalgam Terror Attack', has been flagged by Indian cybersecurity experts. The document, linked to phishing domains that mimic official Indian government websites, is believed to be part of a larger scheme to compromise sensitive predict that the cyberattacks will intensify, with Vishal Salvi, CEO of Quick Heal Technologies , highlighting a sharp escalation in Pakistan-backed cyber campaigns targeting Indian defence and critical infrastructure. His firm's recent investigations revealed that hacker group APT36 (also known as Transparent Tribe) has been deploying advanced malware like CrimsonRAT and MeshAgent through sophisticated phishing attacks. 'These cyber strikes coincide with rising DDoS surges and website defacements, all aimed at destabilizing public trust,' Salvi told ET Krishnamurthy, a partner at PwC India, noted that cyberattacks have moved beyond isolated disruptions. "Cyberattacks have become deliberate extensions of geopolitical strategy," he told ET earlier. "Every major flashpoint now triggers coordinated digital offensives aimed at undermining a country's critical infrastructure." The digital battlefield is evolving quickly, and both sides are adapting to evade detection and cause maximum escalation is not limited to government and military targets. Dhiraj Gupta, cofounder of mFilterIt, a fraud detection agency, revealed that social media bots and malicious ads have been increasingly used to shape narratives and spread chaos. mFilterIt reported a 10-15% rise in malicious ad placements on OTT platforms over the past week, with 70% of its clients affected by misleading ads.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pritzker's call for mass protests sparks call for investigation over ‘criminal incitement'
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WTVO) — An Illinois lawmaker is calling for an investigation of Gov. JB Pritzker for criminal incitement after he called for 'mass protests' and 'disruption,' adding 'Republicans cannot know a moment of peace,' while at a Democratic fundraising event over the weekend. Illinois GOP Chairman Kathy Salvi said the governor's comments shouldn't be taken lightly, after two assassination attempts were made against President Donald Trump. 'And I can only hope and pray that no violence and harm comes to any person on account of those irresponsible and incendiary remarks,' Salvi told . Trump's Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller Pritzker's comments 'could be construed as inciting violence.' 'He didn't say about peaceful protests last night, again words matter and he can't walk back the words that he used last night,' Salvi said. 'If I were in charge and I had a say, it would be my opinion that there should be an open investigation for criminal incitement by this governor, because words matter.' 'Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption. But I am now,' Pritzker said in his keynote address at the New Hampshire Democratic Party's McIntyre-Shaheen 100 Club Dinner. 'These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace,' he continued. 'They have to understand that we will fight their cruelty with every megaphone and microphone that we have.' 'We will never join so many Republicans in the special place in hell reserved for quislings and cowards,' Pritzker added. 'We will relegate their portraits to the museum halls reserved for tyrants and traitors.' In his State of the State address in February, Pritzker drew parallels between Trump's political agenda and the . At a rally with students of the University of Illinois-Chicago on Monday, Pritzker downplayed his recent remarks, saying he wasn't calling for violence. 'I called for people to take out their megaphones and their microphones, to stand up on soap boxes and get to the ballot box in order to defeat the people who are trying to take away so many things from the American people,' Pritzker said. MSNBC political commentator Jen Psaki, former aide to President Joe Biden, 'a call to action' for Democrats as they look to 2028. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Time of India
23-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
BluSmart bust makes investors rewrite the fine print
Financial and governance irregularities at Gensol Engineering and its affiliate BluSmart have pushed investors to strengthen the terms of investment contracts, lawyers told The Times of India . These events follow a string of similar issues at Indian startups that had already made investors more cautious, but recent developments are prompting even tighter legal safeguards. According to Maulin Salvi, who leads the corporate governance practice at Nishith Desai Associates, investors are now asking for additional disclosures, such as the sources of income of founders and promoters. 'They are also expanding the definition of bad leaver events and making the due diligence process more rigorous,' said Salvi. In the past, only criminal complaints against founders would qualify as bad leaver events, enabling investors to remove them. The scope is now being widened to include breaches of non-compete clauses and violations of investment terms. Salvi also said, 'Following a series of lapses at startups, LPs (limited partners) are seeking more accountability from venture capital investors today. Many contracts are also coming with deferred payment options (funds which investors disburse to companies) rather than upfront payments.' Winnie Shekhar, a partner at IndusLaw, said the BluSmart incident in particular has led investors to reassess the downside protections included in venture deals. Downside protection refers to measures put in place to secure an investor's capital in case of failure or misconduct. 'We are seeing a clear shift towards tighter controls – liquidation preference stacking, veto rights on risky spends, and sharper monitoring covenants are becoming more common,' Shekhar said. BluSmart, once positioned as a challenger to Ola and Uber, has suspended its operations. This followed a regulatory investigation that found Gensol promoters Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi had diverted funds raised through loans intended for purchasing electric vehicles for BluSmart, and instead used them for personal expenses. Lenders to the companies are now exploring all legal options to recover their money. Live Events You Might Also Like: Eversource makes Rs 1,200 crore offer for BluSmart, but deal clouded by Gensol probe In a separate incident, startup Medikabazaar recently removed its founder and former CEO Vivek Tiwari from its board, following allegations of fraudulent activity. In response to such developments, investors are increasingly insisting on clauses that allow them and the board to remove promoters and change management in the event of fraud or financial misconduct. These rights would apply regardless of whether the wrongdoing occurred before or after the investment, said Vivek Sriram, a partner at Khaitan & Co. In a globalised investment environment, the design of contracts has become even more critical. This includes broadening the scope of both audits and due diligence processes. For example, audits should now cover not just the company but also its allied entities. 'In the case of BluSmart, prime facie it seems that such clauses were missing,' said Anusha Soni, managing partner at AT & Partners. She added that investors must include proper checks and balances in their contracts to guard against such lapses. You Might Also Like: Stranded by Swindle: Gensol, BluSmart staff queue up to catch better ride
