🎃 It’s a boo-tiful Tuesday, friends! Let’s get started with our tech brain teaser. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, holds meetings to encourage discussion and decision-making. What does he call them? Are they … A.) Open-mic meetings, B.) Silent meetings, C.) Lightning meetings or D.) Customer meetings? Make your best guess, and you’ll find the very interesting answer at the end.

🛑 Don't let your email provider decide what you see! Hit Reply to this email now, and you can leave me a comment, too. It tells the algorithms you want my content, keeping Big Tech from shoving me in your spam folder. Make your inbox your choice! Thank you so much. — Kim

I got this note from Ben in Texas. “Hi there, Kim. I love your podcast. You were talking about AI and I got to thinking. When I read a story online at some website, how can I tell if a human wrote it or some bot?”

Ask USA Today. Last week, a bunch of mysterious bylines with stories suddenly appeared on its site (Washington Post, paywall link). Did these writers have a pulse?

Staff writers at the USA Today-owned Reviewed said their management published stories written by AI under the names of nonexistent humans. They couldn’t find the stories’ writers with any other bylines or social media profiles, not even on LinkedIn. Of course, USA Today’s parent company, Gannett, denies it all.

AI lies

When reading something online, especially from a larger, more well-known website or publication, you want to trust what you get is the truth. But AI makes things up. Did you hear about the law professor who was accused of sexual harassment? AI made up the whole story.

Humans code AI algorithms, folks, and we're all full of opinions and biases. When you read an AI-generated article or social media post, you're still getting a spoonful of someone else's viewpoint. It's like a game of digital telephone, and sometimes, you only hear one side of the call.

I know it’s a lot to think about. Let’s start by identifying what’s AI-generated and what’s not. I’ve got your back with the telltale signs.

AI wants to sound important

Remember back in school, when you were trying to meet a predetermined word (or page) count? AI’s the same way, often generating the same info, repeated over and over, with only slight changes in the phrasing.

Keep an eye out for unnecessary words and eye-rolling transitions, like “moreover,” “consequently” and “furthermore.” That’s not a kid at his first journalism job — it's a telltale sign of a bot in the bytes.

AI doesn’t do analyses

AI can state facts, but it can’t talk about how those facts impact real life. A human-written celebrity gossip piece would end with something like, “Kim Kardashian dieting for months to squeeze her butt into the 60-year-old Marilyn Monroe dress proves she’ll do what she must to get attention on social media.”

A human writer will draw a meaningful conclusion. If an article is just spouting statements like, “Kim Kardashian wore a dress that Marilyn Monroe owned,” it might be AI.

Quotes and numbers don’t pan out

AI can write quotes and cite numbers like nobody’s business! As CNN pointed out, when chatbots are asked to write an article with quotes, they (hilariously) make up names like John Doe and Jane Smith. Not so hard to spot.

AI is also really bad at quoting real-world figures. If an article gives a percentage, ratio or amount, copy and paste it into Google. If a chatbot wrote it, there’s a good chance you won’t find any other evidence.

There’s no personality

Chatbots struggle with humor. The result is often bland writing without an interesting take. If you find yourself thinking, “Wait, this website used to have a lot more humor,” AI writers may be taking over.

Now, if you think, “I wish Kim would stop making those bad jokes,” congrats, you’re getting an email written by me, real-life Kim Komando.

Keeping an eye out

Since ChatGPT launched last November, phishing emails are up 1,265%. That’s not a typo! AI chatbots are popping up in new corners of the internet every day. And that’s not a bad thing. Like this handy use: AI assistants can scour long articles, research for us and sum up the main points.

But remember, AI’s been found to hallucinate (yes, that’s the real term for it) statistics, legal cases, names and science. It just makes crap up, well, so do humans sometimes.

😂 Humans are being tested against a new AI program. The robot wins in every category except one: Hunting. The robot again beats the human, but someone working there sets the animals free and tells AI to try to get them again. The robot doesn't move, while the human wins because … robots can't recaptcha. (Get it?!)

AI goes DC: President Biden’s new executive order requires AI companies (Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, etc.) to share safety test data with the government. It’ll also create rules for watermarking, privacy protection and government use of AI. I don’t mean to be a cynic, but the government’s done a horrible job controlling Big Tech, and AI’s already on another level.

📄 Talk data to me: OpenAI paid users can now upload a mountain of PDFs, data files and images. It will spit out a full analysis in moments — something that might take a human team months. It’ll even answer questions and generate charts, too. If you have a job doing any of this work, AI’s coming for your paycheck.

Put the “fun” in funeral: A Chicago doctor designed the Longevity Test that's going viral. The 38-question exam estimates how long you'll live based on your diet, exercise habits, social life and other factors. Take the test here. Remember, it’s just a test and it might be wrong. I got 93.

☕ With enemas like this: If you're lucky, you haven't heard of the latest detox trend on TikTok: The coffee enema. Yup, you brew coffee and put it up your butt. Side effects range from unpleasant to deadly. PSA: Docs say it doesn't work. Take your coffee the old-fashioned way.

Speak up: ChatGPT’s new voice feature allows you to talk to AI for the first time. On Reddit, folks say it's so realistic, it can even cough or breathe between words. One X user said he used ChatGPT to flesh out the idea for an entire novel while on a walk. I've been working on a novel for years, so this is def on my to-do list.

Lightbulb moment: Researchers took a good, hard look at 93 smart home devices. Conclusion: We're screwed. You're not just sharing info with your Internet of Things gadgets. In many cases, personal data — right down to your location — gets packaged and sold to who-knows-who. And someone thinks the government can control AI?

This is batty: A horde of bats attacked a group of women in an old Victorian they’d rented through Airbnb. They got bit by the bats and even had to get rabies shots. Yeah, they’re suing Airbnb. Speaking of, why did Batman run to the Bat Cave? He had to go to the Bat‑Room.

⚠️ Major eye drop recall: The FDA just recalled 27 kinds of eye drops sold under brand names like CVS Health, Rite Aid, Target Up&Up, Leader, Rugby and Velocity Pharma. A dangerous bacteria was lurking in an eye drop manufacturing facility, and affected drops could cause potentially blinding eye infections. Check out the complete list of affected brands.

Do this vital step now while you’re thinking about it. Sometimes, spam blockers filter out safe messages you really want to see — like my newsletters! I know because many of you have dropped me comments about it.

The good news is it takes just a minute to fix it.

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Sound like a tech pro, even if you're not one. Try my award-winning, daily podcast. Search for my last name with "K" wherever you get your podcasts and "Go Komando!"

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Buzz off: Your phone’s MAC address is like a beacon that shouts, “Here I am!” Apple’s “private Wi‑Fi address” feature from 2020 fixed that … or so we thought. Turns out it never truly worked. Three years and several OS updates later, iOS 17.1 patches the security feature. Don’t like tracking? Update your iPhone.

📴 Boot loop: That’s when your phone is in the perpetual restart cycle — and it’s happening to Google Pixel owners trying to upgrade to Android 14. If you have more than one user profile on your phone, don’t update yet; your phone will be an expensive paperweight till Google figures this out.

Look for me in the crowd: In case you’re living under a rock, it’s World Series time. You can catch Game 4 today at 8 p.m. EDT on Fox. If you have cable, you’re all set. On streaming, you can go with the ESPN+ app ($15 a month and you get Hulu and Disney+, too), Hulu with Live TV ($77 a month, whoa) or Fubo TV. (Score! Fubo TV has a seven-day free trial.) I’ll be there rooting for the D‑backs!

📅 Tuesday at 10 a.m.: Stop going back and forth through email or text to schedule a meeting. In Google Calendar, click Create > Appointment schedule and set your calendar for all the times you’re free. Hit Next, then you’ll get a link to share. Send that along, and your recipient can choose a time that works for you both. Nice.

Get an unknown call? Type the phone number into Google, Bing or Yahoo in quotation marks for a precise match. Results often include websites, forums or consumer complaint boards where that number may have been reported. While you’re at it, file a report at reportfraud.ftc.gov. Think of it as community service.

A virtual private network, or VPN, is a great place to start. A VPN encrypts your data and hides your IP address, giving you an extra layer of protection from snoops, advertisers and Big Tech companies looking to profit off you.

Some VPNs slow your connection or, worse, track your internet activity and compromise your security. Not ExpressVPN.

ExpressVPN’s servers run on RAM, or volatile memory, that’s cleared each time the server is reset — meaning they don’t save your data. You can connect in just one click from a Windows PC, Mac, iPhone, Android, iPad, you name it.

🚨 Deal alert: Get an extra THREE months free since you subscribe to my newsletter.

What ghost around comes around!

(Confused by this costume? When someone you’re texting with doesn’t respond to you, it’s called “ghosting.”)

🤫 The answer: C.) Silent meeting. You grab a seat and everyone quietly reads a detailed memo for about 30 minutes. Then, the meeting starts. No misunderstandings, no fluff — just focused, informed dialogue once the reading's done.

Before jumping on the radio train, I worked for Unisys. One day, I got called into HR because my manager filed a grievance against me, claiming I said his name in an “offensive manner.” His name was “Dick.” 😂

And on that happy note, a reminder to hit Reply to this email so your provider’s algorithm will deliver my messages to you. Drop a review to let me know if we’re hitting the mark with this newsletter. I read all your notes. I’ll be back in your inbox tomorrow with more tech know-how to fill your brain and protect your digital life! — Kim