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Google has a plan to save us from AI deepfakes during the US presidential race
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Amidst the rise of AI popularity, Google has decided that political ads that make use of artificial intelligence have to clearly disclose when imagery or audio has been manipulated synthetically. 

Campaigns that put out AI-generated ads on YouTube and any other Google platforms will have to show an obvious disclaimer that users are unlikely to miss, as reported by the Associated Press.

Experts have already been sounding off about the need for widespread regulation and the raising of awareness among the wider public ahead of elections, and it seems they're not the only ones with concerns. 

When and where the new policy will kick in

This political policy update was made by Google last week, with the policy officially kicking into effect in mid-November. Google also announced that it will adopt similar policies for campaign ads in time for elections in the European Union, India, South Africa, and other regions for which Google has a verification process in place. 

AI-generated and falsified media clips have become an everyday occurrence in political media, and generative AI tools are a new way to assist with that. Not only do these tools make it easier and faster to produce misinformation, they also enable bad actors to mimic speech or appearance in photos and videos more realistically. 

AI-generated video has already been used by the political campaign of one of the current forerunners for the Republican party in the US, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.

DeSantis’ campaign put out an ad that depicted his GOP opponent and Republican frontrunner, Donald Trump, positively embracing Dr. Anthony Fauci, who served as one of the chief medical experts who advised Trump during the COVID pandemic. In a similar vein, the Republican National Committee (RNC) released a wholly AI-generated ad depicting what it imagines the future to be under Joe Biden. 

Looking at AI and deepfakes on a federal level

In an effort echoing Google’s new policies, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has begun looking at implementing regulation to moderate AI-generated ads such as ‘deepfakes’ (doctored videos and images of real people). Advocates on the issue say this should help steer voters away from misinformation. It’s easy to see how regulation of this sort could help – deepfakes can come in the form of political figures saying or doing things they never expressed in real life.

Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar is a co-sponsor of legislation that would demand similar requirements to Google’s policy law; potentially deceptive AI-generated political ads will have to include disclaimers disclosing the fact. Sen. Klobuchar commented on Google’s policy in a statement praising the company’s move but also stating that “we can’t solely rely on voluntary commitments.”

Multiple states have already passed or have begun discussing legislation to address deepfake technology. 

This new policy does not mean all use of AI by political campaigns is banned – there are notable exceptions for altering content in ways that don’t change the substance and content of the advert. For instance, this includes using AI tools for media editing and quality improvement purposes. It also will apply largely to YouTube, along with the rest of Google’s platforms, and whatever third-party sites exist within Google’s ad display network.

What are other tech giants' policies?

As of this week, Google is still the only platform to put a policy like this in place in what is probably a proactive effort. I expect other social media platforms will have to follow if their existing policy is insufficient, especially if more widespread legislation comes into place.

Meta, parent company of Instagram and Facebook, doesn’t have an AI-specific prescriptive policy but does have a general blanket policy against “faked, manipulated or transformed” audio and imagery for misinformation purposes. TikTok bans political ads altogether. The Associated Press reached out to X (formerly Twitter) last week for comment on the issue, but it seems the X team is a little busy just keeping the platform from falling apart and didn’t issue a comment. 

This is concerning. Right now, it’s still very much a wild west of sorts when it comes to the use of AI for political gains. I very much appreciate any proactive efforts, even by tech companies, because to me, it shows they’re thinking about the future – and not just capturing audiences in the present. 

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These were the most popular browser extensions during the pandemic
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The transition to working from home during the pandemic drastically changed the way in which we use technology with the browser becoming one of the most important tools for remote work.

Now as we've reached the two-year mark of the start of the pandemic, Mozilla has published a new blog post taking a closer look at which browser extensions were the most downloaded and used during the early days of the lockdown in Firefox.

As meetings went virtual with employees relying on video conferencing software like Zoom to connect with their teams, the browser extension Zoom Scheduler saw a 1,522 percent increase in installs. This is because it integrates Google Calendar with Zoom so that users can scheduler or start their Zoom meetings directly from their calendar.

Since remote workers also spent more time looking at their work from home monitors, the Dark Background and Light Text extension, which flips the colors of webpages to make them more visible, saw a 351 percent increase in installs at the beginning of the pandemic. Likewise, the Tree Style Tab extension also experienced a 126 percent increase in downloads as it can help users deal with tab overload by opening browser tabs in a cascading “tree” format similar to vertical tabs in Microsoft Edge. 

Protecting our privacy and staying entertained

Cybercrime ran rampant during the beginning of the pandemic so in addition to using a VPN and antivirus software when working remotely, Firefox users also began installing privacy extensions for their browser.

Cookie AutoDelete, which eliminates unused cookies whenever you close a tab in Firefox, saw its install numbers skyrocket by 386 percent and the browser extension also averaged more than 206k installs per month between March and May of 2020.

As remote workers used Facebook's social media platform to stay connected during lockdown, Mozilla's own Facebook Container was another popular browser extension. This extension isolates your Facebook identity into a separate “container” so that the social media giant can't track your moves around the web.

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> The most popular Firefox extensions of 2021 were both adblockers

> Google, Microsoft set aside rivalry to build more secure browser extensions

> Microsoft Edge has nearly toppled a major rival in the desktop browser war

Blocking trackers was also important to those working from home during the pandemic which is why the Privacy Badger browser extension saw installs jump by 80 percent globally. An interesting thing about this browser extension is that it gets better at blocking trackers the longer you use it since Privacy Badger “learns” more about the hidden trackers you naturally encounter while online.

When it came to staying entertained while in lockdown, Firefox users installed the BetterTTV browser extension to alter the look and feel of Twitch, the Watch2gether extension to have watch parties with friends and colleagues online and YouTube Non-Stop to solve the problem of the video platform's annoying “Video paused. Continue watching?” prompt.

Regardless of which browser you're currently using, browser extensions can help add to your online experience and make the software and services you depend on while working from home even more useful.

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Samsung Galaxy Z Flip phone officially revealed in commercial during the Oscars
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While many pundits (us included) were expecting Samsung to reveal its much-rumored foldable clamshell device, the Galaxy Z Flip, at its Unpacked 2020 event on February 11, the Korean company has jumped the gun by fully revealing the device in a commercial aired during tonight's Oscars broadcast.

The commercial was spotted by The Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel, who managed to capture the TV spot and post it on his Twitter page – you can check the commercial below.

In the video, the Galaxy Z Flip is mostly shown sitting on a table and folded at a 90-degree angle, allowing users to easily video chat and also view themselves, hands-free. 

We'd previously heard reports that the device would be targeted at a younger female audience, and this commercial seems to back that up, particularly in the way it presents the phone in a similar fashion to the clamshell-style powder compact cases that reportedly inspired its design.

As pointed out by The Verge, small print is displayed during the commercial informing viewers that they “may notice a small crease in the center of the main screen, which is a natural characteristic of the screen.”

During its brief 30-second runtime, the ad also offers a look at the Galaxy Z Flip's small outer touch display, which sits next to the device's dual camera and shows an incoming call which can be interacted with directly. We presume notifications will also be shown on this smaller screen. 

While pricing and availability information wasn't revealed during the TV spot, it does end with the suggestion that – as expected – all will be revealed during Samsung's Unpacked 2020 event. 

As always, we'll keep you updated with any new Galaxy Z Flip developments as they happen.

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