August 7, 2023

IN THIS ISSUE

🤖 AI is writing lousy guidebooks and they're topping Amazon charts

🏥 Cyberattack forces U.S. hospitals to shut emergency rooms

🛰️ NASA reestablishes contact with its 47-year-old spacecraft

👊 The Musk/Zuckerberg cage fight could actually happen

UP FIRST

AI is writing lousy travel guidebooks and they're topping Amazon charts

The 'renowned' authors behind the titles don't even exist

Amazon is filling up with poor-quality travel guidebooks created using generative AI tools by people looking to make a fast buck, according to a New York Times report.

It points out how the books are made and marketed using widely available tools and self-publishing services, with a new wave of AI text generators such as ChatGPT and image generators like Midjourney enabling anyone with the time to knock together a publication, often of very poor quality. The ability to buy fake online reviews is even sending some of the titles to the top of Amazon’s book charts.

The Times highlights a customer who purchased a top-rated guidebook on France by a renowned travel writer, according to Amazon’s listing. But after receiving the book, it quickly became apparent that it was filled with “vague descriptions, repetitive text, and lack of itineraries.”
Furthermore, the author's photo appeared to have been created by AI.

Amazon said it invests “significant time and resources to ensure our guidelines are followed and remove books that do not adhere to these guidelines,” but it seems that its online store is battling to stay on top of the situation.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Cyberattack forces U.S. hospitals to shut emergency rooms

The ransomware attack also prompted Prospect Medical Holdings to take its national computer system offline

Hackers have targeted the computer systems of a California-based health care provider, forcing emergency rooms across the U.S. to close and ambulance services to be redirected.

The ransomware attack took place at Los Angles-based Prospect Medical Holdings, which has hospitals and clinics in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Texas.

Some radiology, diagnostic, and heart health facilities in Connecticut, for example, have been forced to temporarily suspend work while investigators determine the full impact of the damage.

The incident forced the targeted facilities to use pen and paper instead of computers to manage patient records.

Ransomware attacks involve a hacker locking up data on a computer network before demanding payment to restore access. Individuals, businesses, and organizations can all be targeted. It appears that some hackers go after medical facilities as they believe the potentially dramatic consequences of the resulting disruption are more likely to prompt them to pay up in a bid to return to normal activities.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

NASA has reestablished contact with its 46-year-old spacecraft

Voyager 2 phoned home after two weeks of flying solo

NASA has managed to get back in touch with one of its most famous spacecraft: Voyager 2.

NASA accidentally cut communications with the spacecraft, which launched in 1977, after “inadvertently” sending it a command on July 21 that caused its antenna to tilt away from Earth. The mishap meant it was unable to send back data from its journey in deep space.

The good news is that NASA has managed to restore contact with Voyager 2 after sending it a command in an effort that was considered a long shot.

“NASA has reestablished full communications with Voyager 2,” the agency’s Jet Propulsion Agency tweeted at the weekend. “We shouted 12.5 billion miles (19.9 billion kilometers) into interstellar space, instructing it to turn its antenna back to Earth, and after 37 hours, we found out it worked!”

If the effort had failed, NASA would’ve been forced to wait until October when Voyager 2 was scheduled to perform a reorientation maneuver that would’ve given it a good chance of getting back in touch.

ON THE HORIZON

Musk says cage fight with Zuckerberg will be live-streamed on X

The clash was first suggested by Musk in June, and now Zuckerberg has offered a date

Elon Musk of SpaceX, Tesla, and the social media platform formerly known as Twitter (now X) looks set to take on Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a cage fight.

The plan was suggested as an apparent joke by Musk in June, but Zuckerberg, who spends some of his free time training in mixed martial arts, quickly agreed to the challenge.

On Sunday, a flurry of posts by the pair on X and Threads suggested the cage fight could take place as early as this month -- August 26 to be precise.

Musk tweeted that the fight will be live-streamed on X, adding that all proceeds will go to a charity for veterans. Zuckerberg, posting on his own Threads platform, suggested using “a more reliable platform” instead -- without actually naming Facebook or Instagram.

As for training, well, Zuckerberg already looks pretty much ready, while Musk says he’s lifting 45-pound weights at the office in preparation, adding that he's too busy for any dedicated workouts.

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