In the News: Tap for Apple Pay Later, No More AI, and AI Campaign Mail
This week we’ll cover new forms of consumption: deferred payments from your Apple wallet and political advertising. The potential harms are clear — users may spend excessively and constituents might be tricked by false messaging. For these reasons, key figures in tech are calling for a moratorium on A.I. development. What do you think about the progress of A.I. advancements?
Is Apple Tricking You Into Taking On More Debt?
By: Matt Jordan
This past Tuesday (March 28th) Apple joined a growing trend in offering a buy now, pay later (bnpl) option to its Apple wallet. The feature allows users to purchase goods and services online in four installments over six weeks. The first of which is at the time of purchase of course. Apple also allows users to now apply for a loan of $50 — $1000 with no interest or fees. This is all part of their initiative to keep users' financial health in mind.
While this feature seems great on the surface, experts are concerned with users’ ability to take on debt so quickly and easily. Splitting something into four payments can make it appear cheaper than it actually is, causing users to spend money they don’t have. Millennials and gen-Zs have been flocking to these enticing payment options. “It looks pretty innocuous on the surface … like what harm could this really do? But using it repetitively and in close proximity could really create a downward spiral for debt.” says Teri Bradford, a Senior Payment Specialist at the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City about these buy now, pay later services.
Elon Musk joins a call to halt the development of AI
By: Jason Yi
As GPT-4 looms on the horizon, leaders in AI are raising concerns about new and more powerful models like it. An organization called the Future of Life Institute released an open letter calling for a six-month halt in the development of systems “more powerful” than GPT-4. The FLI is funded by the Musk Foundation and the letter was co-signed by Elon Musk himself. In the letter, the FLI cites 12 pieces of research from leading experts in the AI field, including academics and former employees of AI giants like OpenAI, Google, and DeepMind. The letter was primarily concerned with the ethical concerns of AI; however, many are criticizing the letter for presenting outlandish claims that mirror apocalyptic scenarios. Interestingly, the FLI raises the concern that AI will make it easier for “propaganda and untruth” to spread online, but many point out that this is at odds with Musk’s approach to Twitter, which has seen a rise in misinformation since Musk’s purchase. As AI research accelerates, we have to be more cognizant of potential impacts on society. Though many believe that outright halting progress is not the answer.
AI for President
By: Meredith Lou
As A.I. advances in our daily lives, we must consider the impact of its quickly-growing presence in politics. Recently, the Democratic National Committee (D.N.C.) joined the masses in using OpenAI’s ChatGPT for first drafts of fundraising messages. According to three people with knowledge of the matter, the D.N.C. began testing the use of A.I.-generated content for their messages, which has frequently outperformed human-written copy in regards to engagement and donations. 2024 presidential campaigns have already begun employing the predictive ability of machine learning to better target advertising, more effectively engage with voters, and predict patterns in human behavior.
With these more efficient functions of A.I., it is important to also be aware of the dangers. Simultaneous to resonant messaging and improved targeting is the rise in deepfakes, or synthetic images and videos using an existing person’s face, and synthetic audio clips. In a world that is already highly polarized by social media and plagued by disinformation, many people are wary that the increased presence of A.I. in campaigns can be weaponized to create fake messages that are sent directly to voters.
