Lifeboat Foundation

A critical authentication bypass vulnerability has been disclosed in the Really Simple Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) plugin for WordPress that, if successfully exploited, could grant an attacker to remotely gain full administrative access to a susceptible site.

The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024–10924 (CVSS score: 9.8), impacts both free and premium versions of the plugin. The software is installed on over 4 million WordPress sites.

“The vulnerability is scriptable, meaning that it can be turned into a large-scale automated attack, targeting WordPress websites,” Wordfence security researcher István Márton said.

GitHub projects have been targeted with malicious commits and pull requests, in an attempt to inject backdoors into these projects.

Most recently, the GitHub repository of Exo Labs, an AI and machine learning startup, was targeted in the attack, which has left many wondering about the attacker’s true intentions.

Big Tech’s AI spending continues to accelerate at a blistering pace, with the four giants well on track to spend upwards of a quarter trillion dollars predominantly towards AI infrastructure next year.

Though there have recently been concerns about the durability of this AI spending from Big Tech and others downstream, these fears have been assuaged, with management teams stepping out to highlight AI revenue streams approaching and surpassing $10 billion with demand still outpacing capacity.

Below, I take a look at the growth in AI spending from Big Tech this year and yet, as it quickly approaches the quarter-trillion mark, and next week, I’ll discuss exactly what this means for the market’s biggest beneficiary.

I dunno what’s wrong with Facebook, but it’s AI keeps doing dumb things.

Is your cat saying “feed me!” or “I love you?” A new AI-powered app promises to demystify what your feline is saying.

I love the analogy they use here of space flight — a deeply impressive human accomplishment that has, nevertheless, primarily relied on engineering solutions because the science behind it is relatively well understood. It’s a great reminder that BCIs are not “rocket science” because, unlike rocket science, we don’t yet have the science to underpin the engineering that advances will rely on.

Yet despite this, Gordon and Seth throw a bone to engineers who can’t wait for the science to catch up. And they do this by suggesting that artificial intelligence may “soften” if not completely eliminate the science challenges facing the development of successful BCIs.

At this point it’s hard to tell how far AI-driven engineering solutions might support BCIs designed to enhance performance — and Gordon and Seth suggest that near term technologies may be “limited to controlling apps on phones or other similarly prosaic activities”. But they also acknowledge that, in spite of the considerable challenges, BCIs still hold promise for human enhancement in the future.

A small study found ChatGPT outdid human physicians when assessing medical case histories, even when those doctors were using a chatbot.

Evo is a large language model that is not trained on words but on the genomes of millions of microbes. It can accurately predict the effects of mutations.

Step Into the Future with The Cybernetic Singularity: The Syntellect Emergence 🎧 The groundbreaking third volume of The Cybernetic Theory of Mind series by Alex M Vikoulov is now available as an audiobook!

Ecstadelic Media Group releases a new non-fiction audiobook The Cybernetic Singularity: The Syntellect Emergence, in addition to a previously published Kindle eBook, part of The Cybernetic Theory of Mind series. Written by Alex M. Vikoulov; Narrated by Virtual Voice; Foreword by Antonin Tuynman, PhD; Format: Audible audiobook (Press Release, Burlingame, CA, USA, November 16, 2024 09.23 AM PST)

Continue reading “From Homo Sapiens to Holo Syntellectus: A Journey into the Cybernetic Singularity” »

The parallels between human memory and vector databases go deeper than simple retrieval. Both excel at compression, reducing complex information into manageable patterns. Both organize information hierarchically, from specific instances to general concepts. And both excel at finding similarities and patterns that might not be obvious at first glance.

This isn’t just about professional efficiency — it’s about preparing for a fundamental shift in how we interact with information and technology. Just as literacy transformed human society, these evolved communication skills will be essential for full participation in the AI-augmented economy. But unlike previous technological revolutions that sometimes replaced human capabilities, this one is about enhancement. Vector databases and AI systems, no matter how advanced, lack the uniquely human qualities of creativity, intuition, and emotional intelligence.

The future belongs to those who understand how to think and communicate in vectors — not to replace human thinking, but to enhance it. Just as vector databases combine precise mathematical representation with intuitive pattern matching, successful professionals will blend human creativity with AI’s analytical power. This isn’t about competing with AI or simply learning new tools — it’s about evolving our fundamental communication skills to work in harmony with these new cognitive technologies.