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EU-US Privacy Shield passes third Commission ‘health check’ — but litigation looms

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eu us privacy shield passes third commission health check but litigation looms

The third annual review of the EU-US Privacy Shield data transfer mechanism has once again been nodded through by Europe’s executive.

This despite the EU parliament calling last year for the mechanism to be suspended.

The European Commission also issued US counterparts with a compliance deadline last December — saying the US must appoint a permanent ombudsperson to handle EU citizens’ complaints, as required by the arrangement, and do so by February.

This summer the US senate finally confirmed Keith Krach — under secretary of state for economic growth, energy, and the environment — in the ombudsperson role.

The Privacy Shield arrangement was struck between EU and US negotiators back in 2016 — as a rushed replacement for the prior Safe Harbor data transfer pact which in fall 2015 was struck down by Europe’s top court following a legal challenge after NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed US government agencies were liberally helping themselves to digital data from Internet companies.

At heart is a fundamental legal clash between EU privacy rights and US national security priorities.

The intent for the Privacy Shield framework is to paper over those cracks by devising enough checks and balances that the Commission can claim it offers adequate protection for EU citizens personal data when taken to the US for processing, despite the lack of a commensurate, comprehensive data protection region. But critics have argued from the start that the mechanism is flawed.

Even so around 5,000 companies are now signed up to use Privacy Shield to certify transfers of personal data. So there would be major disruption to businesses were it to go the way of its predecessor — as has looked likely in recent years, since Donald Trump took office as US president.

The Commission remains a staunch defender of Privacy Shield, warts and all, preferring to support data-sharing business as usual than offer a pro-active defence of EU citizens’ privacy rights.

To date it has offered little in the way of objection about how the US has implemented Privacy Shield in these annual reviews, despite some glaring flaws and failures (for example the disgraced political data firm, Cambridge Analytica, was a signatory of the framework, even after the data misuse scandal blew up).

The Commission did lay down one deadline late last year, regarding the ongoing lack of a permanent ombudsperson. So it can now check that box.

It also notes approvingly today that the final two vacancies on the US’ Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board have been filled, meaning it’s fully-staffed for the first time since 2016.

Commenting in a statement, commissioner for justice, consumers and gender equality, Věra Jourová, added: “With around 5,000 participating companies, the Privacy Shield has become a success story. The annual review is an important health check for its functioning. We will continue the digital diplomacy dialogue with our U.S. counterparts to make the Shield stronger, including when it comes to oversight, enforcement and, in a longer-term, to increase convergence of our systems.”

Its press release characterizes US enforcement action related to the Privacy Shield as having “improved” — citing the Federal Trade Commission taking enforcement action in a grand total of seven cases.

It also says vaguely that “an increasing number” of EU individuals are making use of their rights under the Privacy Shield, claiming the relevant redress mechanisms are “functioning well”. (Critics have long suggested the opposite.)

The Commission is recommending further improvements too though, including that the US expand compliance checks such as concerning false claims of participation in the framework.

So presumably there’s a bunch of entirely fake compliance claims going unchecked, as well as actual compliance going under-checked…

“The Commission also expects the Federal Trade Commission to further step up its investigations into compliance with substantive requirements of the Privacy Shield and provide the Commission and the EU data protection authorities with information on ongoing investigations,” the EC adds.

All these annual Commission reviews are just fiddling around the edges, though. The real substantive test for Privacy Shield which will determine its long term survival is looming on the horizon — from a judgement expected from Europe’s top court next year.

In July a hearing took place on a key case that’s been dubbed Schrems II. This is a legal challenge which initially targeted Facebook’s use of another EU data transfer mechanism but has been broadened to include a series of legal questions over Privacy Shield — now with the Court of Justice of the European Union.

There is also a separate litigation directly targeting Privacy Shield that was brought by a French digital rights group which argues it’s incompatible with EU law on account of US government mass surveillance practices.

The Commission’s PR notes the pending litigation — writing that this “may also have an impact on the Privacy Shield”. “A hearing took place in July 2019 in case C-311/18 (Schrems II) and, once the Court’s judgement is issued, the Commission will assess its consequences for the Privacy Shield,” it adds.

So, tl;dr, today’s third annual review doesn’t mean Privacy Shield is out of the legal woods.

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We asked ChatGPT what will be Google (GOOG) stock price for 2030

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We asked ChatGPT what will be Google (GOOG) stock price for 2030

Investors who have invested in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) stock have reaped significant benefits from the company’s robust financial performance over the last five years. Google’s dominance in the online advertising market has been a key driver of the company’s consistent revenue growth and impressive profit margins.

In addition, Google has expanded its operations into related fields such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence. These areas show great promise as future growth drivers, making them increasingly attractive to investors. Notably, Alphabet’s stock price has been rising due to investor interest in the company’s recent initiatives in the fast-developing field of artificial intelligence (AI), adding generative AI features to Gmail and Google Docs.

However, when it comes to predicting the future pricing of a corporation like Google, there are many factors to consider. With this in mind, Finbold turned to the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT to suggest a likely pricing range for GOOG stock by 2030. Although the tool was unable to give a definitive price range, it did note the following:

“Over the long term, Google has a track record of strong financial performance and has shown an ability to adapt to changing market conditions. As such, it’s reasonable to expect that Google’s stock price may continue to appreciate over time.”

GOOG stock price prediction

While attempting to estimate the price range of future transactions, it is essential to consider a variety of measures in addition to the AI chat tool, which includes deep learning algorithms and stock market experts.

Finbold collected forecasts provided by CoinPriceForecast, a finance prediction tool that utilizes machine self-learning technology, to anticipate Google stock price by the end of 2030 to compare with ChatGPT’s projection.

According to the most recent long-term estimate, which Finbold obtained on March 20, the price of Google will rise beyond $200 in 2030 and touch $247 by the end of the year, which would indicate a 141% gain from today to the end of the year.

2030 GOOG price prediction: Source: CoinPriceForecast

Google has been assigned a recommendation of ‘strong buy’ by the majority of analysts working on Wall Street for a more near-term time frame. Significantly, 36 analysts of the 48 have recommended a “strong buy,” while seven people have advocated a “buy.” The remaining five analysts had given a ‘hold’ rating.

1679313229 737 We asked ChatGPT what will be Google GOOG stock price
Wall Street GOOG 12-month price prediction: Source: TradingView

The average price projection for Alphabet stock over the last three months has been $125.32; this objective represents a 22.31% upside from its current price. It’s interesting to note that the maximum price forecast for the next year is $160, representing a gain of 56.16% from the stock’s current price of $102.46.

While the outlook for Google stock may be positive, it’s important to keep in mind that some potential challenges and risks could impact its performance, including competition from ChatGPT itself, which could affect Google’s price.


Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.

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This Apple Watch app brings ChatGPT to your wrist — here’s why you want it

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Apple Watch Series 8

ChatGPT feels like it is everywhere at the moment; the AI-powered tool is rapidly starting to feel like internet connected home devices where you are left wondering if your flower pot really needed Bluetooth. However, after hearing about a new Apple Watch app that brings ChatGPT to your favorite wrist computer, I’m actually convinced this one is worth checking out.

The new app is called watchGPT and as I tipped off already, it gives you access to ChatGPT from your Apple Watch. Now the $10,000 question (or more accurately the $3.99 question, as that is the one-time cost of the app) is why having ChatGPT on your wrist is remotely necessary, so let’s dive into what exactly the app can do.

What can watchGPT do?

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Discord goes all in with AI: chatbots, automods, whiteboards and more

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Discord goes all in with AI: chatbots, automods, whiteboards and more

AI is the future, at least over on Discord.

The messaging application originally made for gamers has become Gen Z’s favorite online hangout destination of choice, and now it’s rolling out a number of features powered by artificial intelligence.

In an announcement(Opens in a new tab) on Thursday, Discord shared what’s coming to the platform soon: an AI chatbot, an automated AI moderator, a conversation summarizer, an avatar remixer, and a whiteboard. Some of these features begin rolling out today, March 9. Others will launch in the coming weeks and months.

While AI has jumped into the mainstream thanks to the popularity of OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot, Discord has had an active AI community for quite a while now. According to the company, third-party AI apps already on the platform already have more than 30 million monthly users. Nearly 3 million servers on Discord have some AI element integrated into the community.

In fact, the biggest community on Discord is Midjourney, a text-to-image AI project which allows users to generate art from right within the server. Discord says Midjourney’s server has more than 13 million members.

So, with AI being such an integral part of Discord already, it seemed like only a matter of time before Discord itself started bringing AI directly into the platform.

images

AutoMod AI
Credit: Discord

The first feature coming to some Discord servers as soon as today is AutoMod AI. Discord already has an AutoMod feature, which basically automatically moderates rooms for admins based on the rules of the server. Discord has now integrated OpenAI-powered AI into AutoMod, allowing it to search the server and contact moderators when it thinks rules are possibly being broken. According to Discord, AutoMod AI can also consider the context of a conversation so, for example, users don’t get penalized for posts that are misconstrued.

Clyde is a bot that Discord users may already be familiar with, and starting next week, Clyde is getting an AI upgrade. Currently, the Clyde bot provides information, such as server error messages, and also responds to timeout or ban requests from users and mods. However, that’s pretty much all Clyde was able to do. Until now.

Clyde chatbot

Clyde
Credit: Discord

Clyde will now be able to answer all sorts of questions from users, much like OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot. Users simply have to type “@Clyde” followed by their prompt. Clyde will be able to pull up information and also help find specific emojis or GIFs based on a user’s description.

Another AI feature coming to Discord next week is Conversation Summaries. Again, the name is fairly descriptive of what it does. With users all over the world, many Discord channels are always moving regardless of time of day. Conversation Summaries will allow users to catch up on what they missed on a Discover Server. The AI-powered feature will “bundle” chats into topics so users can easily read up on what they find most interesting.

Conversation Summaries

Conversation Summaries
Credit: Discord

Starting today, developers can start playing with Avatar Remix, an open-source Discord app that integrates AI art into the messaging app. Avatar Remix allows users to take a fellow user’s avatar and change it up “using the power of generative image models.” What does that mean? In the demo that Discord showed Mashable, a user was able to add a party hat or a mustache to a friend’s avatar by simply mentioning their username and describing what changes they’d like to make.

Avatar Remix

Avatar Remix
Credit: Discord

The company is also launching an “AI incubator,” offering support for developers creating AI-powered apps on Discord.

Finally, Discord revealed a feature that’s coming soon that has long been requested by the Discord community: a whiteboard. But, of course, this won’t be just any collaborative whiteboard feature. It’s going to be AI-powered, allowing users to collaborate in generating AI art and more.

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