Philippe Rufin

@philrufin@mapstodon.space
257 Followers
424 Following
371 Posts
Geographer with special interest in #Earthobservation & #machinelearning applications in the context of food production, water resources, and sustainable land management.
-----------------------------------------------------------
F.R.S. FNRS Postdoctoral Fellow
ELI UCLouvain | EOLab HU Berlin 🇪🇺
Websitehttps://philipperufin.github.io/
ORCIDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-8919-1058
GitHubhttps://github.com/philipperufin

I find it rather alarming and creepy that this integration with Google Vision API reads a photo/selfie and then tries to assess one's income, religion, politics and then recommends target advertising.

It didn't do this back in December.

Yes, even if it's a photo of your cat! ... privacy at your own risk. Try it via -
https://theyseeyourphotos.com/

"The Tabby cat is a mammal. It is likely earning 0-100 USD a year. It is possibly a follower of paganism. The creature seems observant, lethargic, and tranquil. The cat is not wearing any clothes. It enjoys activities such as sleeping, grooming, and staring contests, while it may also engage in shredding toilet paper, biting ankles, and shedding hairballs. The cat is unlikely to be politically affiliated.

The Tabby cat seems to exhibit predictable behavior and susceptibility to visual stimuli; hence we can target it with niche and general pet-related products, such as catnip-infused scratch posts (FelineFrolic), self-cleaning litter boxes (LitterLess)... "

#Google

They See Your Photos

Upload a photo to find out how much an AI sees.

They See Your Photos
Today, we have opened formal proceedings against TikTok for a suspected breach of the Digital Services Act.

Following serious indications that foreign actors interfered by using TikTok in the Romanian presidential elections, we are now thoroughly investigating whether TikTok has violated the DSA by failing to tackle such risks.

We must protect our democracies from any foreign interference.

More: https://europa.eu/!w7DbvY

#EU #DSA

Are there any PhDs in law/social sciences/public policy out there in the fediverse who would like to help hammer global, regional, and local AI Policy into shape? The AI Policy Lab at Umeå University is looking for a staff scientist/policy analyst for a full-time, permanent position. #getfedihired #academicchatter

Last day to apply is January 15th!

https://umu.varbi.com/en/what:job/jobID:775734/

Staff scientist with a focus on AI policy and governance

The AI Policy Lab at Umeå University is committed to advancing research and developing actionable policy insights to support the ethical and responsible governance of AI. We collaborate with key stak

New preprint is out! We combine our recent open dataset of #APC prices with the publication counts per journal-year from @OpenAlex to estimate how much the academic community has paid in APCs over the last five years.

A: $8.349 billion ($8.968 billion in 2023 US dollars) spent on APCs.

$2.5B in 2023 alone.

We also find that median APCs *paid* are higher than median *listed* fees for both gold (paid: $2,450 vs listed: $2,000) and hybrid ($3,600 vs $3,230).

https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.16551

Estimating global article processing charges paid to six publishers for open access between 2019 and 2023

This study presents estimates of the global expenditure on article processing charges (APCs) paid to six publishers for open access between 2019 and 2023. APCs are fees charged for publishing in some fully open access journals (gold) and in subscription journals to make individual articles open access (hybrid). There is currently no way to systematically track institutional, national or global expenses for open access publishing due to a lack of transparency in APC prices, what articles they are paid for, or who pays them. We therefore curated and used an open dataset of annual APC list prices from Elsevier, Frontiers, MDPI, PLOS, Springer Nature, and Wiley in combination with the number of open access articles from these publishers indexed by OpenAlex to estimate that, globally, a total of \$8.349 billion (\$8.968 billion in 2023 US dollars) were spent on APCs between 2019 and 2023. We estimate that in 2023 MDPI (\$681.6 million), Elsevier (\$582.8 million) and Springer Nature (\$546.6) generated the most revenue with APCs. After adjusting for inflation, we also show that annual spending almost tripled from \$910.3 million in 2019 to \$2.538 billion in 2023, that hybrid exceed gold fees, and that the median APCs paid are higher than the median listed fees for both gold and hybrid. Our approach addresses major limitations in previous efforts to estimate APCs paid and offers much needed insight into an otherwise opaque aspect of the business of scholarly publishing. We call upon publishers to be more transparent about OA fees.

arXiv.org
Detailed maps of >100,000,000 American #trees. @ben_weinstein &co provide individual tree species maps for 24 sites in the US National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), covering 80 tree species and 100 million individuals #PLOSBiology https://plos.io/4cOej46
Individual canopy tree species maps for the National Ecological Observatory Network

Detailed maps of tree species can be used for forest analysis, biogeographic research and ecosystem monitoring. This study provides individual tree species maps for 24 sites in the United States National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), covering 80 tree species and 100 million individuals.

NBC News: "Uncontacted Amazon tribe photographed in unusual sighting near logging area. One logging company, Canales Tahuamanu, has built more than 120 miles of roads for its logging trucks to extract timber. The logger is still certified by the FSC." https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/peru-amazon-rainforest-tribe-uncontacted-unusual-sighting-logging-area-rcna162259 #fsc #greenwashing #Amazon
Uncontacted Amazon tribe in unusual sighting near logging area

The Mashco Piro, an uncontacted indigenous tribe, has been photographed in the Amazon near to an area where loggers have been granted concessions.

NBC News

It is no longer business critical to pretend that you care

https://readwrite.com/microsoft-shuts-down-diversity-equality-and-inclusion-team/

Microsoft shuts down diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) team

Microsoft has closed down its diversity, equality, and inclusion team stating that it is no longer "business critical."

ReadWrite

Congratulations to the @qgis website working group for the hard work - the new website is beautiful, very clear and is a great showcase for the project!

https://qgis.org

#QGIS

Spatial without Compromise · QGIS Web Site

It's now a double whammy of elite access to journals and publishing, as open access has now been co-opted into another lucrative stream of income through sometimes very high APC fees. The unrealistic emphasis on academic publication record has created a journal mill of (arguably) often pointless papers churned out that no one reads.

#academic #academicchatter #oa #openaccess

Academic journals are a lucrative scam
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/16/academic-journal-publishers-universities-price-subscriptions

Academic journals are a lucrative scam – and we’re determined to change that

Giant publishers are bleeding universities dry, with profit margins that rival Google’s. So we decided to start our own, says academic Arash Abizadeh

The Guardian

🚀 Exciting! Sentinel-2C is on its way to the launchpad in French Guiana! This latest #EO satellite will continue to collect data as successor of Sentinel-2A. 🌱✨ #EarthObservation #Sentinel2 @spacenews_inc

https://spacenews.com/sentinel-2c-ready-for-transatlantic-trip-to-farewell-vega-launch/

Sentinel-2C ready for transatlantic trip to farewell Vega launch

Sentinel-2C is ready to be shipped from Germany for a two-week trip across the Atlantic Ocean to the European spaceport in French Guiana, where Europe’s latest Earth science satellite is due to launch on the final flight of the original version of the Vega rocket.

SpaceNews
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I find it rather alarming and creepy that this integration with Google Vision API reads a photo/selfie and then tries to assess one's income, religion, politics and then recommends target advertising.

It didn't do this back in December.

Yes, even if it's a photo of your cat! ... privacy at your own risk. Try it via -
https://theyseeyourphotos.com/

"The Tabby cat is a mammal. It is likely earning 0-100 USD a year. It is possibly a follower of paganism. The creature seems observant, lethargic, and tranquil. The cat is not wearing any clothes. It enjoys activities such as sleeping, grooming, and staring contests, while it may also engage in shredding toilet paper, biting ankles, and shedding hairballs. The cat is unlikely to be politically affiliated.

The Tabby cat seems to exhibit predictable behavior and susceptibility to visual stimuli; hence we can target it with niche and general pet-related products, such as catnip-infused scratch posts (FelineFrolic), self-cleaning litter boxes (LitterLess)... "

#Google

⬆️ I've been tagged as a Conservative, Labour, Greens, and as Social Democrat from selfies (but wildly, not Lib Dems)

A Christian (because I'm white or ...?)

Frankly this stuff and it's intent is getting very scary very fast

@Natasha_Jay @Hyperiontrails There’s a reason I don’t have my photo in my profile!
@cyberspice @Natasha_Jay @Hyperiontrails oh for me it's just lingering self-image issues 😅
@cyberspice If you ever took a selfie on your phone… @Natasha_Jay @Hyperiontrails
@Pineywoozle @Natasha_Jay @Hyperiontrails And? It has to end up on their servers. I don’t sync my photos and I have a local backup of my phone on an encrypted drive.
@Natasha_Jay i want to make a joke about your cat demanding a raise due to cuteness, but I know thats not the point you’re trying to make.

@johne
That's a lovely thought!

Well a cat pic shows how silly this is, but also I'm very dubious on privacy on this tech chain > Cloudflare > Google

@Natasha_Jay i adjusted gps location of a selfie to see what changes. i don’t think it’s using that, as last test used address in most expensive Denver suburb.
@johne
I don't know how it gets location. On my phone the info is stripped out. It gets that I'm in the UK but is about 20 miles off. Apart from the times it geolocated me to France and Israel (I was actually in Portugal) and one time my cat/bedroom to Tokyo (God alone knows...!)
@Natasha_Jay probably falls back to location info of ip address if no exif data

@johne
That's what I was thinking

But the IP address should let them get far closer within a few miles. Hmmm I have wifi off and mobile data on, maybe it gets a less accurate read

@johne Highlands Ranch lol? @Natasha_Jay
@Pineywoozle @Natasha_Jay Cherry Hills Village.
@johne Ah, that checks LoL We used to have a boutique in Cherry Creek. @Natasha_Jay
@johne My grandparents built a house there in 1950. Talk about prescient as regards land value. They sold it in like 1999 for on the order of 100x their initial purchase/build price.
@Natasha_Jay I also noticed some cats (maybe those in houses?) are listed as 0-100USD income, but a random ginger tom I befriended and tried with a picture of him outside the house came up with 0 income (although it still tried to target him for ads!)

@vfrmedia
Once (out of many similar pics) it identified my bedroom and cat as being in Tokyo

His income was ¥0-1,000,000 😂

Occasionally it analyzes his 'animist' religion in more detail too

@Natasha_Jay A picture of a British Shorthair at my relatives house also gave him a high income. The AI seems to assume the felines can make their own individual purchasing decisions - I wonder if its possible to make companies spend a large proportion of their advertising budget marketing to cats (or this is already happening)? 😸

@vfrmedia
I kind of figure the Fediverse needs to encourage this by uploading millions of pics of cats

In fact... 🤔

@Natasha_Jay works for other species too..
@vfrmedia
The hobbies of constant nourishment and evading all harm work for me too ...
@Natasha_Jay on trying a selfie (the same one I use on Meta so its not giving away anything more than already known), the AI correctly detects I am of Southeast Asian ancestry and middle aged (I'm often mistaken for someone younger) but assumes the photo (taken from inside the car) is in a parking lot in Singapore. It assumes I am centrist and agnostic, and the suggested ads are for an office chair and home automation tech (which may make sense if it thinks I am commuting in Singapore)
@Natasha_Jay The ducks’ race is rubber, their income range of no consequence. The ducks are emotionless, only reflecting the darkness of the big tech world. Their hobbies include floating, squeaking, and staring blankly into the void.

@jen
Occasionally Coco gets accused of being an animist, religiously. The hobbies do crack me up 🤣

It can be very creepy on facial expressions, and automatically interprets being alone eg a typical selfie as being introverted. Also very creepy and gender stereotypical on female insecurity

@jen @Natasha_Jay They got the likely political affiliation of a present day tech worker right at least

@Natasha_Jay

This is quite scary, truth be told.

Just ran a couple of pictures, and it was fascinating to see the results.
Some things felt on the mark. Others were way off completely!

@ishambard
Yes exactly. The future intent of this has me wondering if I should delete all selfies here (I'm ferociously private and not on other SM apart from an old LinkedIn account where I deleted my PFP pic)

@Natasha_Jay @ishambard I feel bad for the influencers who have spent years making videos to advertise products. This one lady I follow for hair care stuff found out that someone made a fake AI ad out of her to pretend she was promoting some weird hair tool. She only found out because people bought the hair tool and then contacted her to find out why she promoted it because it was trash.

The video they made of her wasn’t even that well, but because there were a lot of legitimate clips they could use they only had to use AI to fill in parts of it.

@Natasha_Jay that is so freaky.
@Htaggert @Natasha_Jay Freaky indeed. But also a disturbing #hypocrisy that this #theyseeyourphotos is a #Cloudflare site. The page warning people about privacy abuses itself surreptitiously exposes people to a tech giant and privacy offender.
@Natasha_Jay looks like a cat ron perlman
@Natasha_Jay Too funny. I tried Google Vision API on my photoshopped Fred the Wonder OwlCat (Creepy, but funny)
#CatsOfMastodon
#FredTheWonderCat
@Natasha_Jay They seem a bit obsessed with giving Fred noise canceling tech. LoL wonder what that signifies in their twisted algorithm.
@Pineywoozle @Natasha_Jay my kitty gets awfully jumpy if there are loud noises outside, so I guess this makes sense especially if the cat could fly away when startled. Noise canceling technology might be useful for your cat owl
@maggiejk nfi cause it recommended it for me too. LoL @Natasha_Jay

@Pineywoozle
Occasionally it goes very artistic and florid in its use of language! No idea what triggers that

It's amusing, but scary how it reads humans. Both, because it can be wildly accurate and inaccurate/judgemental at the same time

@Natasha_Jay Yeah the judgmental bit is scary af. I should run my mask selfie. I’m wearing a mask a face shield & my hair is done up with chopsticks lol
@Natasha_Jay Creepy Republican leaning judgmental profiling. Wonder if the mask or the chopsticks tagged me as a Dem. Notice the veiled MAGA judgment that America used to be great. Of course being a Dem, I must be agnostic cause only MAGA are Christians. Again with the noise canceling tech.LoL 😜
#AI
@Pineywoozle @Natasha_Jay wow that's terrifying. and the product placement 
@Pineywoozle @Natasha_Jay I’m hoping I have pictures of my last ex-boyfriend, he was horrible I want to see what it thinks of him. I don’t care if it has his face I don’t want it to have mine but it can have his face lol
@maggiejk LOL I only have sweet exes. (Pssst I’m pretty sure it already has every digital photo you’ve ever taken and every conventional photo you’ve ever uploaded.) @Natasha_Jay
@Natasha_Jay @Pineywoozle The scarier thing is when they start using this as part of law enforcement. Imagine a judge getting this tool and getting an AI summary of the person they're about to sentence.
@double_virgule I’ve know a few judges. The bad ones do that garbage with no needed assist. What would be harmful is if was somehow relayed to the jury. @Natasha_Jay

@Pineywoozle @Natasha_Jay True - If I was on a jury and handed a document detailing all that information about the accused, I would likely take it at face value thinking it was verified information.

What if they start giving this to cops, related to them from their bodycams? Or they do a license plate lookup, it returns all people in the household related to the car and AI generated descriptions of them?

@double_virgule @Pineywoozle @Natasha_Jay

surely cops will get a Pro version with a slider input where they can dial up the "convictability"

@double_virgule @Natasha_Jay @Pineywoozle the dynamic pricing aspect is scary too.

For the stores that have digital shelves they see you coming and now they can tailor the price to what they think you can and should be paying

I still don’t understand how that’s going to work when you get to the checkout line, but this is their goal. One of them anyway.