Employees want AI to amplify their skillsgettyGenerative AI is not conventional automation swapping out a human being for software and should not be treated as such. It would be a waste of time and effort, not to mention an example of low expectations, to pitch genAI as a means to simply automate tasks. Rather, it goes far beyond this role and needs to be looked at as the transformative force it can be that amplifies, not replaces, human work.Unfortunately, business leaders tend to look at genAI and AI in general as a cheaper way to get things done. Their employees, on the other hand, see something different happening, an analysis published by Accenture relates. Ask employers and employees exactly how AI transformation happens, or what the results will be, and it quickly becomes clear we are caught in a stare down, the reports authors, led by Accenture CTO Karthik Narain, state.The key is to put people in charge of the direction AI will take with their jobs. Most see the role generative AI can play in assisting and amplifying their work it can lead to job satisfaction, and career-advancement opportunities.Generative AI, by its very nature, is inherently a learning technology. It can enhance and advance its skills over time, ultimately improving its value to the individual using it and to the organization as a whole, Narain and his co-authors state. In other words, the more people use it, the better it gets, and then the more people want to use it.Their employers, on the other hand, tend to take a narrower view of AI as the route to greater automation. Its a situation brewing uncertainty and distrust, and risks holding back the technologys adoption and potential, the Accenture team states.MORE FOR YOUThey offer three key avenues for achieving the best results with an AI-savvy workforce:Accessibility of automation: AIs growing accessibility is whats driving bottom-up autonomy in the workforce. While weve had no-code/low-code in the past, the adoption and utilization of todays natural language-driven AI tools is growing far more rapidly and will touch far more types of workforce tasks. The question for enterprises is how to leverage these capabilities and workers enthusiasm to reimagine their strategies. However, at this time, only 47% of executives surveyed by Accenture say they expect their organizations to make genAI tools significantly-to-fully accessible to their employees to automate tasks and workflows over the next three years.Agentic workflows. Theres been a great deal of discussion in recent months about the potential of AI agents to solve complicated cognitive tasks, and this will be a boost to people across organizations. They can serve as a layer of abstraction across technology, handling lower-level tasks like writing code and connecting pieces together. Instead of employees asking, how can I write this software or what software can perform this task, they can ask how can an agent help me accomplish my goal?Physical copilots. This is an area in which frontline and manual workers will be interfacing with AI. Technologies such as robots, exoskeletons, and drones will be enhanced with AI and genAI to achieve greater contextual understanding of the world and the ability to take more flexible and general-purpose actions in it.GenAI is highly democratized technology which can be used by anyone, the Accenture authors point out. However, they caution, the pace of diffusion will grind to a halt if people are uncertain about what the future will hold. The key to AI success is to provide people the freedom to learn and discover how AI can amplify their skills, through building small automations, finding efficiencies, and seeing which new innovations work and which dont, they add. This will give you a jump start on the future, propelling you far beyond what strict automation ever could.

Members of the City Youth Organization in Hyderabad hold posters in support of India's ban of TikTok in June 2020.Noah Seelam/AFPGetty ImagesBy Andrew R. ChowJanuary 18, 2025 12:24 PM ESTWhen Congress passed a bill in April 2024 ordering ByteDance to either sell TikTok or face a ban, many speculated that ByteDance would opt to sell, because the American market was too valuable to relinquish freely. But TikTok actually faced an even bigger exodus of users in 2020, when India banned the app. At the time, India was TikToks biggest foreign market outside of China, with 200 million users. (For comparison, the U.S. currently has over 170 million TikTok users.) Following military clashes along the disputed border between India and China, the Indian government banned TikTok along with over 50 other Chinese apps, citing national security concerns. Despite the ban, TikTok did just fine in expanding around the world, while national and international tech companies rushed to fill the Indian void, in the process transforming their global approaches to social media. At the same time, digital rights activists tell TIME that the Indian government used the ban as precedent to crack down upon other digital platforms they deemed to be a threat. The way that users, tech giants, the government, and TikTok all adapted to the ban offer clues about what could unfold in the U.S. in the coming months.Post-ban opportunityIndian users flocked to TikTok as early as 2017. Video was already a dominant format in the country, buoyed by massive 4G and 5G infrastructure projects that allowed people with smartphones in remote villages to stream content. TikTok took that ecosystem even farther, allowing Indias millions of regional dialect speakers to share content and create digital communities. (At the same time, caste-based hate speech grew rapidly on the platform.)A lot of the people in the rural part of the country were okay with just being themselves, and creating a 15-second clip of some song they liked, says Murli Kanne, an entrepreneur based in Hyderabad, India, who was working in influencer marketing at the time. People started getting followers really easily. Hindi was mostly the language used in the viral TikToks, but a lot of regional content popped up as well.When the Indian government banned TikTok in June 2020, some influencers striving for global fame started using VPNs to post on TikTok. But for the millions and millions of smaller-scale users, local companies rushed to meet their demand, including MX TakaTak, Chingari, and Mojwhich was launched in July 2020 by the Indian social media powerhouse ShareChat, registered over one million downloads within a week. In November 2020, at least 13 of the top 100 social apps in the Google Play Store in India were TikTok clones, with most of them newly launched, Rest of World reported. Many of these apps offered money to influencers to post on their platforms. The Indian government encouraged these efforts by issuing an Innovation Challenge to build local versions of banned apps.Big Tech takes overBut as these local apps fought for market share, they were about to fall behind much larger and more-resourced American competitors. A few of these apps were not up to the mark when we compare tech, Kanne says. I dont think they had a chance with the giants against them.YouTube was already a hugely popular platform in India. Within months of the TikTok ban, its parent company Alphabet launched a beta version of YouTube Shorts in the country. And because audiences were already on the platform, many Indian content creators found instant success with Shorts. Comedy creator Dushyant Kukreja found that his Shorts received similar levels of views as his TikTok videos, and he soon grew his YouTube following from 40,000 to over 6 million. Creator Manjusha Martin, who had built a TikTok audience of over 770,000, created a web series on Shorts, surpassing 2 million followers on that platform.Buoyed by this success, YouTube soon expanded Shorts to dozens more countries. By the summer of 2022, they reported 1.5 billion viewers every month, rivaling TikToks viewership.Instagram, not to be outdone, pushed out its Reels feature in August 2020, and made India the first country to have a version of the app with Reels in a separate tab. Indians tuned into watch music and cricket, with over 1 million reels created related to the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup. In 2022, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Reels made up more than 20% of the time people spent on Instagram, making it the companys fastest-growing content format by far.Ultimately, most of the Indian-based TikTok alternatives folded, and Indian audiences and creators got used to Shorts and Reels. The scrappy and broadly rural culture of TikTok in India winnowed down into a more top-down influencer culture on those two platforms. India is now the biggest market for both YouTube (almost 500 million monthly users) and Instagram (362 million).Global competition and privacy concernsAlthough the Indian userbase was a significant loss for TikTok, the company simply expanded across the world. Research shows that TikToks userbase essentially doubled between 2020 and 2024. And the U.S. wasnt even the main driver of this uptick: Indonesia has the most TikTok users in the world. (Brazil, Mexico, and Vietnam also have sizable audiences.) TikToks current dominance across continents, and its proven ability to rebound from previous massive bans, mean that ByteDance is likely in no hurry to sell the app. Rather, it will likely simply continue its expansion abroad, and hope that Americas political situation changes.Meta and YouTube, meanwhile, have a huge opportunity to grow, just like they did in India in 2020. And this time, they have a huge headstart, because Reels and Shorts are already a key part of American social media.However, many Americans have expressed the desire for new platformsas evidenced by the flood of TikTokers to the Chinese app Red Note over the past week. Unless you pay Meta to promote your posts, theyre not really going to show it to people, Christina Shuler, a South Carolina-based entrepreneur who recently signed up for Red Note, tells TIME. And Facebook is just a bunch of angry people on there. So it was refreshing to get on Red Note and know that my content was appreciated.As users search for a new landing spot, digital rights activists view these TikTok bans from a more ominous perspective. Raman Jit Singh Chima, the Asia-Pacific policy director at Access Now, says that Indias TikTok ban led to an increase in the government censorship of digital content. Over the last couple months, VPN apps have been disappearing from the countrys app stores, seemingly for not complying with local rules. The ban has built a precedent that has allowed the Indian government to continue blocking access to more web and social media content, including very often content posted by journalists or critics of the Administration, Chima claims. U.S.-based activists worry that the same thing could happen following the U.S. ban, especially given that the Supreme Court upheld it, giving the green light for Congress to put pressure on other social media apps they deem dangerous going forward. Other countries may follow suit and issue their own bans, as well. We are disappointed to see the Court sweep past the undisputed content-based justification for the lawto control what speech Americans see and share with each otherand rule only based on the shaky data privacy concerns, David Greene, the civil liberties director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, wrote in a statement emailed to TIME.More Must-Reads from TIMEL.A. Fires Show Reality of 1.5C of WarmingHome Losses From L.A. Fires Hasten An Uninsurable FutureThe Women Refusing to Participate in Trumps EconomyBad Bunny On Heartbreak and New AlbumHow to Dress Warmly for Cold WeatherWere Lucky to Have Been Alive in the Age of David LynchThe Motivational Trick That Makes You Exercise HarderColumn: No One Won The War in GazaContact us at letters@time.com

LG plans to launch its brightest-ever OLED screen later this year. A new internal structure enables the fourth-gen panel to achieve a maximum brightness of 4,000 nits about 30 percent higher than the previous generation.The new display also boosts color brightness by 40 percent, increasing from 1,500 to 2,100 nits. These improvements are attributed to LG's updated primary RGB tandem structure, which has evolved from three to four stacks, sandwiching two layers of blue pixels between layers of red and green pixels.Last year, the company proposed using the tandem system to increase resistance to burn-in one of the primary drawbacks of OLED panels. The technology combines fluorescence and phosphorescent elements to increase blue light efficiency, which is the main cause of burn-in.In addition, LG's fourth-gen panel also aims to address another issue common to OLED screens reflections in bright rooms. The company claims that its new special film blocks 99 percent of light reflected from and within the display's surface.LG said the primary use case for the brightness and energy efficiency improvements is wait for it AI. Similar to how PC hardware manufacturers recently began promoting AI PCs that run GenAI workloads locally, TV companies like LG and Samsung are trying to sell the concept of "AI TVs." // Related StoriesAn AI customization page on LG's website reads like the industry discovered a new buzzword to convince consumers to upgrade their TVs again. The company is promoting AI as the next stage in the evolution of smart TVs.AI-powered features include acoustic tuning and brightness control, which analyze a user's room to adjust sound and brightness automatically. Additionally, AI director processing optimizes color distribution, while super resolution technology upscales images to 8K while preserving film grain. Other AI features include a "picture wizard" to assist users in navigating settings and a chatbot to provide troubleshooting support. Needless to say, these all sound like a bunch of nothingburger features, but I digress.LG has yet to disclose shipping dates for their latest OLED panels, but they are expected to appear in flagship TVs sometime this year, followed by OLED gaming monitors.Although the need for AI features remains unproven, the newly announced quality and reliability improvements might contribute to OLED's already growing market share. At CES, LG said that 22 percent of PC gaming monitors are OLED compared to just 18 percent of TVs. Samsung has also seen a surge in OLED sales and is preparing models capable of reaching 500Hz refresh rates, but high prices remain the biggest obstacle to wide adoption.

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" Table of ContentsTable of ContentsNot a history lessonAm I sure its not a gimmick?Should I just use XPan, then?I didnt understand the XPan mode on a OnePlus phone when I first tried it out. In fact, I didnt like it at all, and passed it off as a silly gimmick to promote OnePluss partnership with Hasselblad, which at the time wasnt quite living up to expectations.Recently Ive been using the OnePlus 13, and think it has one of the best cameras on any OnePlus phone yet, so I challenged myself to give XPan another try. I soon discovered I had been completely wrong about it.Andy Boxall / Digital TrendsHasselblad and Fujifilms XPan camera was first introduced in 1998, when it was the first dual-format 35mm camera you could buy, enabling you to take full 65:24 aspect ratio panoramic photos, in addition to standard format photos. Hasselblad promoted the XPan camera using the tagline, For a world less square, and you can read more about its history and impact on its website.RelatedOnePlus entered into a partnership with Hasselblad in 2022 and the OnePlus 9 was the first phone to showcase the pairs efforts. The XPan mode arrived on it in a software update soon after release, and it is hidden under the More menu in the camera app to this day, if you want to find it for yourself. After that, you can drag it down to the main camera option bar if youre really keen. I wasnt keen, but I gave it a shot.Andy Boxall / Digital TrendsXPan has changed a little for the OnePlus 13. You can shoot ultra-wide 15mm equivalent photos, 23mm wide photos, or 73mm zoomed in photos. It seems to shift away from the pure XPan experience, but in doing so it has made the mode more accessible. The interface is unique too, with a custom overlay to give it that unique XPan camera look, plus the screen flashes into a negative when you tap the shutter button, just like if you were taking a real photo.Andy Boxall / Digital TrendsI dont take panoramic photos very often, and for a start I couldnt get my head around using the XPan mode. Im not the only one, and the more I read, watched, and learned about the actual XPan camera, the more I not only discovered how challenging it is to get to grips with the format, but also how rewarding it can be when you experiment with it, and how dramatic photos taken with it can look.I was getting sucked in. I love this quote from photographer Matthias Jambon-Puillet in a piece about XPan cameras, Cursed to desire one, cursed to break the bank buying one, cursed to realize that you have no real-life use for it. Its very true. XPans potential is exciting, but theres no truly obvious use case for XPan mode on the OnePlus 13, as most people will just use the wide-angle camera in the app instead of it. But XPan was calling me, and as I didnt have to fork out for a real XPan camera to test it, I went out to take photos.1 of 3Andy Boxall / Digital Trends Andy Boxall / Digital Trends Andy Boxall / Digital Trends I took some, then some more, and more again as I began to fall for the vision of the world it can create. Get it right, and photos can be gloriously cinematic, serene or moody, or dramatic and exciting. I began to learn how XPan photos require different framing techniques, and looking at your environment in a new way to find out if an XPan photo works. It doesnt work in all situations, just like a 1:1 aspect ratio photo isnt always right, but when you even partially get it right the result looks very cool indeed.Andy Boxall / Digital TrendsIve taken a lot of XPan photos with the OnePlus 13 and enjoyed every moment. Its a sentence I never expected to write, especially after barely thinking about the mode since I first tried it on the OnePlus 9. I know Ive changed as a photographer since then, and in maturing perhaps I see more opportunities in these less common methods, get more excited about looking at the world through a camera differently, and am just more willing to get it wrong. Or perhaps the OnePlus 13s camera is so much more capable it makes the photos look better. Theres also a chance Hasselblad has deepened its relationship with OnePlus, and the mode itself is simply better than when I first tried it.It all means Im really glad I made the effort. However, there is a stumbling block here, and it has afflicted the XPan mode since the beginning. The photos are 7872 x 2912 pixels in size, which makes them look terrible on anything other than the OnePlus 13s screen, a TV, or a monitor. Forget sharing them on Instagram or another social network, they just look odd. XPan photos are big and wide, and viewing them in a little box in a social feed doesnt do them any justice.Andy Boxall / Digital TrendsShould this stop you trying XPan out? Absolutely not. Shoot photos for your own enjoyment as well as for posting on social media. Not everyone will get XPan anyway. Im the first to admit I didnt get it at all, but Im very pleased to also say Ive seen the error of my ways. Its another reason to get the OnePlus 13, a phone that continues to impress me more than two months into using it every day.Editors Recommendations

When ChatGPT commercially launched in 2022, governments, industry sectors, regulators and consumer advocacy groups began to discuss the need to regulate AI, as well as to use it, and it is likely that new regulatory requirements will emerge for AI in the coming months.The quandary for CIOs is that no one really knows what these new requirements will be. However, two things are clear: It makes sense to do some of your own thinking about what your companys internal guardrails should be for AI; and there is too much at stake for organizations to ignore thinking about AI risk.The annals of AI deployments are rife with examples of AI gone wrong, resulting in damage to corporate images and revenues. No CIO wants to be on the receiving end of such a gaffe.Thats why PWC says, Businesses should also ask specific questions about what data will be used to design a particular piece of technology, what data the tech will consume, how it will be maintained and what impact this technology will have on others It is important to consider not just the users, but also anyone else who could potentially be impacted by the technology. Can we determine how individuals, communities and environments might be negatively affected? What metrics can be tracked? Related:Identify a Short List of AI RisksAs AI grows and individuals and organizations of all stripes begin using it, new risks will develop, but these are the current AI risks that companies should consider as they embark on AI development and deployment:Un-vetted data.Companies arent likely to obtain all of the data for their AI projects from internal sources. They will need to source data from third parties.A molecular design research team in Europe used AI to scan and digest all of the worldwide information available from sources such as research papers, articles, and experiments on that molecule. A healthcare institution wanted to use an AI system for cancer diagnosis, so it went out to procure data on a wide range of patients from many different countries.In both cases, data needed to be vetted.In the first case, the research team narrowed the lens of the data it was choosing to admit into its molecular data repository, opting to use only information that directly referred to the molecule they were studying. In the second case, the healthcare institution made sure that any data it procured from third parties was properly anonymized so that the privacy of individual patients was protected.By properly vetting internal and external data that AI would be using, both organizations significantly reduced the risk of admitting bad data into their AI data repositories.Related:Imperfect algorithms.Humans are imperfect, and so are the products they produce. The faulty Amazon recruitment tool, powered by AI and outputting results that favored males over females in recruitment efforts, is an oft-cited example -- but its not the only one.Imperfect algorithms pose risks because they tend to produce imperfect results that can lead businesses down the wrong strategic paths. Thats why its imperative to have a diverse AI team working on algorithm and query development. This staff diversity should be defined by a diverse set of business areas (along with IT and data scientists) working on the algorithmic premises that will drive the data. An equal amount of diversity should be used as it applies to the demographics of age, gender and ethnic background. To the degree that a full range of diverse perspectives are incorporated into algorithmic development and data collection, organizations lower their risk, because fewer stones are left unturned. Poor user and business process training.AI system users, as well as AI data and algorithms, should be vetted during AI development and deployment. For example, a radiologist or a cancer specialist might have the chops to use an AI system designed specifically for cancer diagnosis, but a podiatrist might not.Related:Equally important is ensuring that users of a new AI system understand where and how the system is to be used in their daily business processes. For instance, a loan underwriter in a bank might take a loan application, interview the applicant, and make an initial determination as to the kind of loan the applicant could qualify for, but the next step might be to run the application through an AI-powered loan decisioning system to see if the system agrees. If there is disagreement, the next step might be to take the application to the lending manager for review.The keys here, from both the AI development and deployment perspectives, are that the AI system must be easy to use, and that the users know how and when to use it.Accuracy over time.AI systems are initially developed and tested until they acquire a degree of accuracy that meets or exceeds the accuracy of subject matter experts (SMEs). The gold standard for AI system accuracy is that the system is 95% accurate when compared against the conclusions of SMEs. However, over time, business conditions can change, or the machine learning that the system does on its own might begin to produce results that yield reduced levels of accuracy when compared to what is transpiring in the real world. Inaccuracy creates risk.The solution is to establish a metric for accuracy (e.g., 95%), and to measure this metric on a regular basis. As soon as AI results begin losing accuracy, data and algorithms should be reviewed, tuned and tested until accuracy is restored.Intellectual property risk.Earlier, we discussed how AI users should be vetted for their skill levels and job needs before using an AI system. An additional level of vetting should be applied to those individuals who use the companys AI to develop proprietary intellectual property for the company.If you are an aerospace company, you dont want your chief engineer walking out the door with the AI-driven research for a new jet propulsion system.Intellectual property risks like this are usually handled by the legal staff and HR. Non-compete and non-disclosure agreements prerequisite to employment are agreed to. However, if an AI system is being deployed for intellectual property purposes, it should be a bulleted check point on the project list that everyone authorized to use the new system has the necessary clearance.

Russia is struggling to get its new intercontinental ballistic missile working properly.Moscow has put a lot of money and propaganda behind the ICBM.Failures leave Russia reliant on older missiles that won't last forever, experts warn.Russia has the world's largest nuclear arsenal, but it's having trouble getting its newest intercontinental ballistic missile to work. The debacle leaves it dependent on capable but inferior missiles at a time when other major powers are modernizing their nuclear forces.Russia's new RS-28 Sarmat ICBM appeared to suffer a catastrophic failure during testing in September, with satellite imagery showing a big crater around the launchpad at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.That apparent failure followed what missile experts have described as a host of other issues. Ejection tests and its flight testing were repeatedly delayed, according to the Royal United Services Institute think tank in London, and it had at least two canceled flight tests and at least one other flight test failure.The Sarmat is meant to replace the Soviet-era R-36, which first entered service in 1988. NATO calls the long-range missile, which has been modified over the years, the SS-18 "Satan." Without the new Sarmat, Russia has to rely on older missiles, extending their lives, but that can't go on indefinitely.Stuck with inferior missilesDelays to the Sarmat, or even its cancellation, would mean Russia has to keep using older systems as nations like China field new DF-41 ICBMs and the US pushes forward with upgrades for its ICBM force as part of the Sentinel program.The R-36 is "already really, really past its service life," said Timothy Wright, a missile technology expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, yet the Russians keep having to extend it.Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the turn of the century they were going to be out of service by 2007, but here they are, still in operation nearly two decades later."There's only so much they can do," Wright said. "Parts will start failing at some point." He said the R-36s "will eventually start failing because their parts just will need replacement, and they don't make the parts anymore." If Moscow tried to launch 40 R-36s, he said, "you might not get all 40 out the ground, frankly." Russia's Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile is launched in Russia's northwest region of Plesetsk in April 2022. Roscosmos Space Agency Press Service via AP, File Fabian Hoffmann, a missile expert at the Oslo Nuclear Project, said the R-36 has been "sitting there for a really long time."Russia was required to reduce the size of its arsenal of missiles under the New START treaty with the US. Hoffman said that Russia could use old parts from those missiles to keep its usable ones running. But the supply is not infinite, he said. "Who knows how much these missiles can still take, how many years?"There's the possibility Russia would "have to start cannibalizing existing missiles, taking them out of service or retiring them or taking them off what they call combat duty alert, which is where the missile is literally ready to go," Wright said.Russia has other ICBMs, but the R-36 carries the largest and most strategically significant payload. The Sarmat, as its replacement, will likewise carry a substantial payload.Big missiles with lots of warheadsThe purpose of the Sarmat was "to constitute a big bulk of their warheads in the future," Wright said.The Sarmat has an estimated maximum range of 18,000 miles. It has a ten-ton payload and can carry 10 large warheads or 16 smaller ones, per a Missile Threat fact sheet from the Center of Strategic and International Studies. The R-36 it is meant to replace has a shorter range but similar payload, able to carry 10 multiple independent re-entry vehicles. A disarmed R-36 intercontinental ballistic missile, which has the NATO reporting name SS-18 Satan. Mykhaylo Palinchak/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Other Russian ICBMs are "much smaller," Wright said. They can't carry the same heavy MIRV payload. Russia's RS-24 Yars ICBM, for example, can only carry three MIRV warheads.As of May 2023, Russia had 1,674 warheads deployed, with a total stockpile of 4,489, per the CSIS. Many of these are deployed on other missiles and elements of the Russian nuclear triad, which provide it with deterrence, but Russia wants the big missile with the tremendous destructive capacity.Russia was understood to have 46 R-36s in April 2016. Wright said that "if they then took that missile out of service, then they have a bit of a gap.""And for Russia, it's important to ensure they have warhead parity with the Americans," he said. "Whatever number the Americans have, the Russians want it as well."Russia appears to be keeping its warheads limited in accordance with the New START treaty. But if that changes, and it may as Russia has suspended its involvement with the treaty, Russia may want to deploy more warheads. Without the Sarmat, Russia will need to find other places for its warheads.The Sarmat's problemsHoffman said the most recent Sarmat test was "catastrophic." He said that "it's not even like the missile failed to hit its target and you can say, 'Oh, the guidance system didn't really work.' No, the whole thing blew up."That means it was either a freak accident, or "there's something fundamentally wrong with the propulsion system, which is of course catastrophic," he said. "And so if I was Russia, I think at this point I would be concerned about that."Some experts have warned that Russia's struggles could make it desperate, making problems more likely.Wright said he can't see Russia deciding to cancel the Sarmat program. He said Putin "has invested a lot of propaganda into the system. When he unveiled it in 2018, it was all these fantastic reasons why it's so good." Russia's President Vladimir Putin. GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images Putin bragged in 2018 that "missile defense systems are useless against them, absolutely pointless" and that "no other country has developed anything like this."The Russians have also dumped a lot of money into this project, making cancellation unpalatable.Hoffman agreed, saying Russia had little choice given the state of its older missiles. It wants Sarmat for propaganda reasons, and "it's also just desperation in terms of: 'What else would there be?'"But big delays in getting Sarmat operational would likely cause problems for Russia, with nothing in line to replace the Sarmat."Sarmat's designed to fulfill a very specific purpose, which is to essentially have lots of warheads on top of it," Wright said, and there is no direct replacement in Russia's arsenal or in the works.

This weekend, Japanese audiences get to watch the hot new Mobile Suit Gundamseries, GQuuuuuuX, in theaters. Fortunately, North American audiences will also get a chance to see the upcoming anime on the big screen, as wellwell just have to wait a while before we can. On Friday, film distributor Gkids revealed it picked up the theatrical rights for the Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX -Beginning- film. Itll come to theaters here on February 28 and run for thats not clear at the moment, nor is it clear if the screenings will only have Japanese audio (like when Dan Da Danhit theaters last year), or include an English dub. While the larger franchise is no stranger to theatrical films and compilations, this makes for the first Gundamshow sinceReconguistain Gto have its first three episodes hit theaters, and the first show in the franchise period to reach North American venues. GQuuuuuuXcomes with a lot of creative talent behind it in Neon Genesis Evangelion alums Kazuya Tsurumaki and Yoji Enokido, plus that franchises creator, Hideaki Anno. In a statement, Gkids president David Jesteadt highlighted the mecha series creative pedigree, saying their outrageous combination of artistic talent collaborating on such a storied series as Mobile Suit Gundam is appointment viewing. Were proud to play a part in bringing such an exciting new project to audiences in the cinematic experience that the film truly deserves.While we wait for Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuXstheatrical cut on February 28 (and the actual show to hit sometime this year), it might not hurt to catch up on the shows set in the Universal Century continuity, since it seems like that may important. Alternatively, Mubi recently got after After War Gundam X,and that sounds like its pretty good in its own right. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Modifying the default cube in Blender using the Random Flow addon.Shops:blendermarket.com/creators/blenderguppygumroad.com/blenderguppyPatreon:patreon.com/blenderguppy#shorts #b3d #blender3d #3dmodeling #conceptart

"No News: Great News!" Animated Short Film is a dark comedy short film that explores what humanity might mean to Earthand the consequences that follow."The film, directed by Frank Guarini, was selected and awarded funding as part of Nouns Fest 2024 short films collection.Writer/Director - Francesco GuariniFrank's Website: https://www.frankguariniart.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frankguarini_art/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francescoguarini/ CG Supervisor - Javier Soler https://www.linkedin.com/in/javiersdc/ Music - Tom Chichester-Clark https://www.elshammusic.com Design/AD - Francesco GuariniCharacter Artist/Look Dev - Arianna Querin https://www.instagram.com/arique_art/ Production Consultant - Rebeca Castellanos - Ramn Girldez https://www.linkedin.com/in/rcastellanosrozalen/ Environment Artist - Ismael Mrquez https://www.linkedin.com/in/ismael-marquez-carrillo/ Arianna Querin https://www.linkedin.com/in/arianna-querin-5598b4145/ Environment Shading Artist - Pedro Fernndez Lpez https://www.linkedin.com/in/pedro-fern%C3%A1ndez-l%C3%B3pez-816a2614b/ VFX Artist - Pepe Buendia https://www.linkedin.com/in/pepebaze Rigging - Antonio Mndez https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonio-m%C3%A9ndez-lora-97b80925/ Animation - Abel Romero https://www.instagram.com/_abelromero_/ Lighting & Compositing - Javier SolerRoid - Vahid HakimzadehNews Anchors - Charlie Inman - Laura Podesta - Tom Fellows - Deanna Johnston

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At the start of the year, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a Florida woman had been convicted for her part in swindling victims in an online romance scheme. When she pled guilty, she admitted to laundering more than $2.7 million to her co-conspirators abroad.Although this crime ring was busted, the DOJ reports there are many others, and such scams are increasing each year. Gone are the days of getting a misspelled email from a dethroned Nigerian prince asking for money. Social scientists have found that scammers are using sophisticated social engineering techniques that are adaptable, realistic, and often irresistible.How Frequent are Frauds?Emails from the Nigerian prince who needed money to reclaim his wealth and power almost seem quaint compared to todays scammers. In 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported that consumers lost almost $8.8 billion to scams. The amount was a 30 percent increase from 2021, meaning that people were becoming more susceptible to scams.The rip-offs included romance cons in which a fraudster pretended to be someone who was romantically interested in the victim and then began asking for money. The swindles also involved fake investments, phony sweepstakes, and tech support scams in which a person was contacted and told there was something wrong with their computer, which could be corrected for a fee.As technology becomes more advanced, criminals have turned to deepfake videos or voice-cloning to manufacture a crisis involving a family member or friend. Usually, the victim receives a call in which a voice that sounds like their loved one says they are stranded and need help getting home. Sometimes, the caller says they are in jail and need bail money. In 2022, adults ages 60 and older were 73 percent more likely than younger people to report they fell for such a scam.Read More: Understanding the Psychology of CatfishingDecoding DeceptionHow are scammers so successful? In a 2022 study in the American Journal of Criminal Justice, researchers analyzed how victims described their interactions with scammers in order to identify patterns in both how the communication unfolded and how the victim perceived it. The study found that scammers use complex human psychology and proven principles of persuasion to swindle victims.In the study, researchers analyzed descriptions by scam victims (n=52), all of whom were approached either on a social media site like Facebook or a dating app. The study found consistent themes in how the victims reported their interactions with their scammer.One common strategy involved the scammers initiating a give-and-take with the victim. Reciprocation leveraged a sense of obligation in victims through small gifts or gestures, fostering trust and creating an emotional debt, says Fangzhou Wang, the lead author of the study and an assistant professor at the University of Texas-Arlington in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.Victims, for example, received bouquets of flowers. One was surprised with a flower arrangement on Valentines Day. I admit, the victim wrote. I was completely gobsmacked by this guy.Manufacturing a crisis was another manipulative technique in which the fraudster claimed some sort of personal financial emergency and needed urgent help.These strategies highlighted the fraudsters ability to exploit human psychology to achieve their goals, Wang says.Part of that exploitation involved weaponizing social norms, particularly the obligations people feel when asked for help during a crisis.One victim, for example, described how he believed the woman he communicated with online was going through an emergency in which she couldnt pay her electric bill because she had reallocated funds to pay for her sick mothers medication. She claimed she had no one else but the victim to help her.If I could help her this time, it would mean a lot to her, the victim shared. Despite my misgivings, I sent her $100. It was all I had.What are the Persuasive Techniques?In addition to appealing to social norms, fraudsters also used established persuasive techniques to sell themselves to the victim. Likeability, for example, is a known factor in persuasion because people are more hesitant to refuse someone they like. The scammers in the study worked overtime to make themselves both likable and relatable to the victims, which enhanced the likelihood the victim would make a decision-making error when asked to send money.Similarly, researchers have found that people are more likely to be persuaded by authority figures, and the study identified how scammers relied on appeals to authority. People are socially conditioned to comply with authority figures, so scammers often send documentation like doctors notes, letters from bank officials, or notices from government agencies to back up their claims.For example, if a scammer claimed they needed $3,000 to pay a customs tax in order to import gold bars, which they promised to later share with the victim, then they produced an official letter with realistic-looking stamps and logos.As a result of scammers using multiple strategies, Wang says the analysis found victims had both complex and deep emotions about what occurred.Many victims continued to rationalize or justify their relationships with fraudsters even after inconsistencies arose, Wang says.How to Avoid ScammersIn the study, all of the victims met their scammers online through social contexts such as Facebook or dating apps. In some instances, the scammer and victim began communicating daily via telephone and text, which made the relationship feel real.To avoid scammers, Wang advises people to be wary if they have met someone online and they want to move the communication off-platform to texting or phone calls.Scammers often make declarations of love early in the communication, and Wang says this should be considered a red flag. People should also be alarmed if their new friend turns to them for financial help with some sort of crisis.In the event a person feels the love is real, Wang recommends verifying their information. Use reverse image searches, verify credentials, and check the consistency of the fraudsters claims, she says.Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:Office of Public Affairs. Florida Woman Sentenced for Laundering Millions of Dollars from Romance ScamsFair Trade Commission. New FTC Data Show Consumers Reported Losing Nearly $8.8 Billion to Scams in 2022Fair Trade Commission. Protecting Older Consumers 20222023Emilie Lucchesi has written for some of the country's largest newspapers, including The New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and an MA from DePaul University. She also holds a Ph.D. in communication from the University of Illinois-Chicago with an emphasis on media framing, message construction and stigma communication. Emilie has authored three nonfiction books. Her third, A Light in the Dark: Surviving More Than Ted Bundy, releases October 3, 2023, from Chicago Review Press and is co-authored with survivor Kathy Kleiner Rubin.