PICKS are stories from many sources, selected by our editors or recommended by our readers because they are important, surprising, troubling, enlightening, inspiring, or amusing. They appear on our site and in our daily newsletter. Please send suggested articles, videos, podcasts, etc. to picks@whowhatwhy.org.
|
Listen To This Story
 |
Hackers Can Read Private AI Assistant Chats Even Though They’re Encrypted (Maria)
The author writes, “AI assistants have been widely available for a little more than a year, and they already have access to our most private thoughts and business secrets. … The providers of these AI-powered chat services are keenly aware of the sensitivity of these discussions and take active steps — mainly in the form of encrypting them — to prevent potential snoops from reading other people’s interactions. But now, researchers have devised an attack that deciphers AI assistant responses with surprising accuracy. The technique exploits a side channel present in all of the major AI assistants, with the exception of Google Gemini. It then refines the fairly raw results through large language models specially trained for the task.”
Thinking About the Unthinkable: Five Nuclear Weapons Issues to Address in 2024 (Sean)
The author writes, “With an exceedingly complex international security environment, policymakers, planners, and legislatures need to think about the unthinkable this year and take action. Deterring nuclear use requires a sober assessment of the new and changing ways adversaries are attempting to leverage nuclear weapons and clear-eyed plans for how to manage nuclear threats if deterrence fails.”
On Israel, Trump Is Even Worse Than Biden (Laura)
From The Intercept: “Trump would never face such pro-Palestinian pressure from within the Republican Party. He and his MAGA cult of Christian nationalists would never force Israel to accept a ceasefire — or a Palestinian state. Mast has harshly attacked Biden for continuing to support a two-state solution, dismissing the idea by saying that ‘a Palestinian state would be run by terrorists.’ There are limits to Biden’s support for Netanyahu. Trump and the Republican Party have none.”
The New Battle Over Youth Disenfranchisement (Dana)
The authors write, “Several states have passed laws barring same-day voter registration or the use of student IDs to prove identification at polling places. Many of these restrictive voting laws have been passed under the guise of making elections more secure by eliminating a source of voter fraud. But voter fraud is incredibly rare, and is not associated with student IDs or same-day voter registration.”
The House Passed a TikTok Ban Bill. But Is the App Really a National Security Threat? (Sean)
From NPR: “President Biden has indicated he would sign the law, but first it must clear the Senate, where it faces an uncertain future. Several other anti-Tiktok efforts in the Senate have stalled, and it is too soon to tell whether the House’s legislation will meet a different fate. Whatever happens with this measure, it marks the first time a chamber of Congress has passed a bill that could shut down a social media platform, a move that civil liberties advocates say tramples on the free speech rights of millions of American users.”
Elon Musk Keeps Spreading a Very Specific Kind of Racism (DonkeyHotey)
The authors write, “Racist pseudo-science is making a comeback thanks to Elon Musk. Recently, the tech billionaire has been retweeting prominent race scientist adherents on his platform X (formally known as Twitter), spreading misinformation about racial minorities’ intelligence and physiology to his audience of 176.3 million followers.”
Kate Middleton’s Edited Mother’s Day Photo, Explained by an Expert (Laryn)
From Vox: “‘Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,’ Catherine ‘Kate’ Middleton, a.k.a. the Princess of Wales, apparently wrote on social media Monday, personally apologizing for doctoring an official photo of herself with her children. The photo, posted for Mother’s Day in the UK, first drew attention from suspicious royal watchers online, whose doubts were confirmed when the AP issued a ‘photo kill’ for the image, declaring it manipulated. ‘I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused.’”
