PR Newswire: Kroger Launches Chefbot, a First-of-Its-Kind AI Twitter Tool that Delivers Personalized Recipe Recommendations Based on Ingredients Already in Users’ Kitchens (PRESS RELEASE). “Developed in partnership with integrated creative and media agency 360i, and technology partners Coffee Labs and Clarifai, Kroger’s Chefbot offers an innovative and user-friendly conversational solution for breaking away from mundane mealtime routines and unwanted at-home food waste—common challenges for many as families continue to enjoy more meals together at home. Chefbot’s AI analyzes photographs to recognize nearly 2,000 ingredients, unlocking 20,000 Kroger recipes for users to cook.”
bots
EurekAlert: When bots do the negotiating, humans more likely to engage in deceptive techniques
EurekAlert: When bots do the negotiating, humans more likely to engage in deceptive techniques. “Recently computer scientists at USC Institute of Technologies (ICT) set out to assess under what conditions humans would employ deceptive negotiating tactics. Through a series of studies, they found that whether humans would embrace a range of deceptive and sneaky techniques was dependent both on the humans’ prior negotiating experience in negotiating as well as whether virtual agents where employed to negotiate on their behalf.”
VentureBeat: Google’s Area 120 launches Tables, a rules-based automation platform for documents
VentureBeat: Google’s Area 120 launches Tables, a rules-based automation platform for documents. “Google’s Area 120 incubator today launched Tables, a work-tracking tool with IFTTT-like automation features and support for Google products, including Google Groups, Google Sheets, and more. Currently in beta in the U.S., Tables automates actions like collating data, checking multiple sources of data, and pasting data into other docs for handoff.”
ZDNet: Twitter takes down ‘Dracula’ botnet pushing pro-Chinese propaganda
ZDNet: Twitter takes down ‘Dracula’ botnet pushing pro-Chinese propaganda. “Social media research group Graphika said today it identified a Twitter botnet of around 3,000 bots that pushed pro-Chinese political spam, echoing official messaging released through state propaganda accounts. Graphika said it was able to identify the botnet due to a quirk shared by the vast majority of bot accounts, most of which used quotes from Bram Stoker’s Dracula book for the profile description and the first two tweets.” Dracula?
Deadline: AI centre stage in weird and wonderful take on Festival Fringe
Deadline: AI centre stage in weird and wonderful take on Festival Fringe. “The researchers instructed the ImprovBot to repetitively mine the 100-word text descriptions of every show from 2011 to 2019, amounting to more than two million words. Online audiences will be allowed to interact with ImprovBot on Twitter that created the new shows based on previous fringe listings from 1pm on Friday, August 7. The bot will use this data to devise the world’s first AI-generated event blurbs for an imagined festival of comedy, plays, musicals, and cabaret.”
The Next Web: This AI uses emoji to protect BLM protestors from facial recognition
The Next Web: This AI uses emoji to protect BLM protestors from facial recognition. “If you’ve attended any of the recent Black Lives Matter protests, there’s a good chance you’ve been caught on camera. And if your image has been shared on social media, it could end up in a facial recognition database used by police…. These concerns led Stanford Machine Learning researchers to develop a new anonymization tool: the BLMPrivacyBot.”
Business Insider: A new algorithm could catch social-media trolls as they try to influence US elections. Researchers are offering it for free.
Business Insider: A new algorithm could catch social-media trolls as they try to influence US elections. Researchers are offering it for free.. “The tool, described in a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, works by learning to recognize known, common patterns associated with troll activity and disinformation campaigns. Russian troll accounts, for instance, have posted many links to far-right websites, but the content on those sites didn’t always match the posts’ accompanying text or images. Venezuelan trolls, meanwhile, have often posted fake websites.”
EurekAlert: Chatbots can ease medical providers’ burden, offer guidance to those with COVID-19 symptoms
EurekAlert: Chatbots can ease medical providers’ burden, offer guidance to those with COVID-19 symptoms. “COVID-19 has placed tremendous pressure on health care systems, not only for critical care but also from an anxious public looking for answers. Research from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business found that chatbots — software applications that conduct online chats via text or text-to-speech — working for reputable organizations can ease the burden on medical providers and offer trusted guidance to those with symptoms.”
CNET: Twitter challenges millions of accounts every week to determine if they’re bots or not
CNET: Twitter challenges millions of accounts every week to determine if they’re bots or not . “Twitter Chief Technology Officer Parag Agrawal said Thursday that the company challenges millions of accounts every week to determine if they’re run by a human or completely automated.”
The Conversation: How fake accounts constantly manipulate what you see on social media – and what you can do about it
The Conversation: How fake accounts constantly manipulate what you see on social media – and what you can do about it. “Undoubtedly you’ve heard reports that hackers and even foreign governments are using social media to manipulate and attack you. You may wonder how that is possible. As a professor of computer science who researches social media and security, I can explain – and offer some ideas for what you can do about it.”
The Register: Kinda goes without saying, but shore up your admin passwords or be borged by this brute-forcing botnet
The Register: Kinda goes without saying, but shore up your admin passwords or be borged by this brute-forcing botnet . “Servers are being targeted with a malware attack that uses its infected hosts to brute-force other machines. Known to Akamai researchers as Stealthworker, the infection preys on weak passwords then uses a massive arsenal of malware to overtake Windows and Linux servers running popular CMS, publishing, and hosting tools.”
Chatbot Strategy: How to Improve Your Marketing With Bots (Social Media Examiner)
Social Media Examiner: Chatbot Strategy: How to Improve Your Marketing With Bots. “Wondering if your business should start using chatbots? Looking for tips on what chatbots can do and how to set them up? To explore how to improve your marketing with bots, I interview Natasha Takahashi on the Social Media Marketing Podcast. Natasha is a chat marketing expert and co-founder of School of Bots, the leading training site for creating profitable chatbots. She’s also host of the 10 Minute Chatbot Marketer podcast. You’ll discover six ways to use bots in your Facebook marketing and find tips for developing a chatbot strategy. You’ll also learn uses for chatbots outside of Facebook Messenger.” Podcast with extensive article.
University of Rochester: How Dr. Chatbot evolved into a regionwide COVID-19 tracking tool
University of Rochester: How Dr. Chatbot evolved into a regionwide COVID-19 tracking tool. “Members of an innovative technology and mobile applications lab at the Medical Center worked overtime to develop a state-of-the-art tool to help monitor the spread of coronavirus at the University and beyond.”
Bleeping Computer: New BotSight browser extension reveals Twitter bots
Bleeping Computer: New BotSight browser extension reveals Twitter bots. “Released by the NortonLifeLock Research Group (formerly known as Symantec Research Labs), the BotSight browser extension will display a small icon and a percentage score next to each account to indicate whether it’s classified as a real person or a bot.”
The Politic: Internet Bots are Taking Over Politics—and Social Media Companies Can’t Stop Them
The Politic: Internet Bots are Taking Over Politics—and Social Media Companies Can’t Stop Them. “A recent Carnegie Mellon report found that almost half of all the tweets using this #ReopenAmerica came from bots, leading me to wonder how these bots continue to infiltrate our social media in such an unstoppable manner. So, I decided to make my own.”