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4TB of voice samples just stolen from 40k AI contractors at Mercor

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Re: 4TB of voice samples just stolen from 40k AI contractors at Mercor

#71

Post by hdndjsbbs »

wlesieutre wrote: post #9
eqvinox wrote: post #3

The only data that cannot be stolen or leaked is data that doesn't exist. Hard lesson for both users and companies. Germans (because of course) have a word for this: "Datensparsamkeit". Being frugal with your data.

I miss the pre-LLM days when you could make a decent argument that having any unnecessary data was just a liability. Now all anybody thinks is “more data for the AI!”

10+ years ago companies were hoovering up data for ML - trying to find correlations in high-dimensionality data. Mostly the results were garbage but occasionally you hit on a real, unexpected phenomenon.

Nowadays you just throw all the data into a black box and believe whatever it says blindly.

Re: 4TB of voice samples just stolen from 40k AI contractors at Mercor

#72

Post by ethagnawl »

MattGaiser wrote: post #66
ethagnawl wrote: post #54

So, they should all just rotate their voices ... right? I jest but the majority of the "normal" people I know are happy to hand over biometrics because _it's easier_. We need to start branding biometrics as "forever passwords" or something to help people understand just what they're handing over when they validate access to their checking account or enter Disney World or whatever else.

One of the problems is that "forever passwords" is a term used positively when I worked in banking, as it was a password that the customer could not forget and would not need support using. So I could easily see a lot of people viewing this as a positive.

That's a really good point. It lays bare some of my biases when it comes to thinking about and communicating with "normal people" about this sort of thing.

Re: 4TB of voice samples just stolen from 40k AI contractors at Mercor

#73

Post by b00ty4breakfast »

littlecranky67 wrote: post #38
eqvinox wrote: post #3

The only data that cannot be stolen or leaked is data that doesn't exist. Hard lesson for both users and companies. Germans (because of course) have a word for this: "Datensparsamkeit". Being frugal with your data.

Data can never be stolen, because it is not a physical thing. Data can be copied, and it can be erased - sometimes both happens at the same time. Data can be lost, that is when its last existing copy was erased.

[dead]

Re: 4TB of voice samples just stolen from 40k AI contractors at Mercor

#74

Post by deltoidmaximus »

java-man wrote: post #25
throw0101c wrote: post #12

"My voice is my passport. Verify Me." :)

HSBC did that. I could never understand that - the exact phrase was in the movie!

Fidelity seemed to sign you up for this when you called them on the phone almost automatically. Ridiculous since it was defeated easily in a hacker movie from the 1990s using a tape recorder.

Re: 4TB of voice samples just stolen from 40k AI contractors at Mercor

#75

Post by dpoloncsak »

ToucanLoucan wrote: post #42
Forgeties79 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Before LLM’s there was_____” I see this whenever an LLM’s impact is assessed. We know. The issue is scale and the ability for smaller and smaller groups (down to individuals) to execute at scale. Fake news always existed. Now one dude in India can flood multiple sock puppet media accounts with right wing content/images (actual example) at a scale previously unimaginable.

> Now one dude in India can flood multiple sock puppet media accounts with right wing content/images (actual example) at a scale previously unimaginable. I have the faintest possible hope that such things are going to be the death knell of social media. Yeah a lot of credulous idiots are happily giving AI thirst traps their money for stroking their confirmation bias, but that's just who's left at this point. It feels…

Mate you're on a social media site right now that often has AI-generated content displayed at the top of whats "trending". Sure the general user-base does a better job here flagging that sort of stuff, as AI seems to be a shared interest in much of the community, but it still sneaks it's way by

Re: 4TB of voice samples just stolen from 40k AI contractors at Mercor

#77

Post by order-matters »

ethagnawl wrote: post #54

So, they should all just rotate their voices ... right? I jest but the majority of the "normal" people I know are happy to hand over biometrics because _it's easier_. We need to start branding biometrics as "forever passwords" or something to help people understand just what they're handing over when they validate access to their checking account or enter Disney World or whatever else.

the "it's easier" people operate on a fundamentally different way than you or I. they thrive in the world of plausible deniability and social trust. They almost dont care what happens to them as long as it isnt their fault. And they do not consider putting themselves at risk to be the same as being at fault

in a certain light, it's kind of admirable. they live like the world is the way it should be

Re: 4TB of voice samples just stolen from 40k AI contractors at Mercor

#78

Post by jacquesm »

Schlagbohrer wrote: post #30
jacquesm wrote: post #4

You could have seen this coming a mile away. So far I have gotten away with never uploading my ID and/or interacting with one of those companies (though one idiot working for some VC thought it was ok to sign a document on my behalf by uploading my signature!!, never mind a bit of fraud) but it is getting harder and harder. Banks and in some cases even governments forcing you to send data to these operators is a very…

Tell us more about that fraud story! Was the person your attorney or accountant? Or just some "smart" person who decided to wisely save time by doing fraud?

It was a fund administrator. I still find it unbelievable that they would so casually do this. And yes, they thought they were very smart... and helpful too...

Re: 4TB of voice samples just stolen from 40k AI contractors at Mercor

#79

Post by jacquesm »

hiccuphippo wrote: post #48
jacquesm wrote: post #4

You could have seen this coming a mile away. So far I have gotten away with never uploading my ID and/or interacting with one of those companies (though one idiot working for some VC thought it was ok to sign a document on my behalf by uploading my signature!!, never mind a bit of fraud) but it is getting harder and harder. Banks and in some cases even governments forcing you to send data to these operators is a very…

Why is the ID a hidden secret that can be used for anything regarding security in the first place?

Because historically that's how it worked, but officials just looked at the document and verified that it was the real thing. Then photocopiers came along and it became normalized to take copies of the documents. Then digital copies happened and that changed things completely when coupled with networking technology. What the officials in charge don't seem to understand is that by making digital copies in networked environments the IDs themselves lost their value completely, after all if the digital copy serves any purpose at all as a stand-in for the original then they have become that original.

Re: 4TB of voice samples just stolen from 40k AI contractors at Mercor

#80

Post by elevation »

eqvinox wrote: post #3

The only data that cannot be stolen or leaked is data that doesn't exist. Hard lesson for both users and companies. Germans (because of course) have a word for this: "Datensparsamkeit". Being frugal with your data.

> The only data that cannot be stolen or leaked is data that doesn't exist. Hard lesson for both users and companies.

Except no company is learning this lesson.

The enterprise threat model includes "our own users", and the modus operandi is to maintain as much information on that threat as possible.

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