Agregátor RSS

The North Korean threat actor tracked as Kimsuky has been observed deploying a previously undocumented Golang-based malware dubbed Durian as part of highly-targeted cyber attacks aimed at two South Korean cryptocurrency firms. "Durian boasts comprehensive backdoor functionality, enabling the execution of delivered commands, additional file downloads, and exfiltration of files," Newsroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]

Cameras tested are specced for Baidu's Apollo

Six boffins mostly hailing from Singapore-based universities say they can prove it's possible to interfere with autonomous vehicles by exploiting the machines' reliance on camera-based computer vision and cause them to not recognize road signs.…

'This was a no sh*tter'

RSAC  A malware-laced USB stick, inserted into a military laptop at a base in Afghanistan in 2008, led to what has been called the worst military breach in US history, and to the creation of the US Cyber Command.…

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming cybersecurity, and those leading the charge are using it to outsmart increasingly advanced cyber threats. Join us for an exciting webinar, "The Future of Threat Hunting is Powered by Generative AI," where you'll explore how AI tools are shaping the future of cybersecurity defenses. During the session, Censys Security Researcher Aidan Holland will

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming cybersecurity, and those leading the charge are using it to outsmart increasingly advanced cyber threats. Join us for an exciting webinar, "The Future of Threat Hunting is Powered by Generative AI," where you'll explore how AI tools are shaping the future of cybersecurity defenses. During the session, Censys Security Researcher Aidan Holland will The Hacker Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]

Kromě aut a robotů prodává Tesla i více či méně zajímavý merch. Některé jsou obyčejné a od konkurence se liší pouze logem, jiné jsou opravdový bizár, nad kterými zůstává rozum stát.

Seznam nasadil na svých webových službách nový dialog, který vyžaduje souhlas se sběrem dat pro cílenou reklamu, anebo aktivaci předplatného. Mapy.cz ale poběží v trošku odlišném režimu a budou nadále zdarma i bez akceptace používání dat pro kontextovou reklamu, napsal včera v sérii tweetů ...

Mezi dražšími TWS sluchátky je spousta zajímavých modelů od prémiových audiofilských značek. Na porovnání jsme vybrali japonskou firmu Final Audio, která se na konci roku 2023 začala oficiálně prodávat v ČR, a Astell&Kern zaměřující se zejména na DAP a v poslední době i drátová sluchátka. Jak si ...

Google on Thursday released security updates to address a zero-day flaw in Chrome that it said has been actively exploited in the wild. Tracked as CVE-2024-4671, the high-severity vulnerability has been described as a case of use-after-free in the Visuals component. It was reported by an anonymous researcher on May 7, 2024. Use-after-free bugs, which arise when a program

Google on Thursday released security updates to address a zero-day flaw in Chrome that it said has been actively exploited in the wild. Tracked as CVE-2024-4671, the high-severity vulnerability has been described as a case of use-after-free in the Visuals component. It was reported by an anonymous researcher on May 7, 2024. Use-after-free bugs, which arise when a program Newsroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]

A guide to finding the right endpoint detection and response (EDR) solution for your business’ unique needs. Cybersecurity has become an ongoing battle between hackers and small- and mid-sized businesses. Though perimeter security measures like antivirus and firewalls have traditionally served as the frontlines of defense, the battleground has shifted to endpoints. This is why endpoint

A guide to finding the right endpoint detection and response (EDR) solution for your business’ unique needs. Cybersecurity has become an ongoing battle between hackers and small- and mid-sized businesses. Though perimeter security measures like antivirus and firewalls have traditionally served as the frontlines of defense, the battleground has shifted to endpoints. This is why endpointThe Hacker Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]

Malicious Android apps masquerading as Google, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, and X (formerly Twitter) have been observed to steal users' credentials from compromised devices. "This malware uses famous Android app icons to mislead users and trick victims into installing the malicious app on their devices," the SonicWall Capture Labs threat research team said in a recent report. The

Malicious Android apps masquerading as Google, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, and X (formerly Twitter) have been observed to steal users' credentials from compromised devices. "This malware uses famous Android app icons to mislead users and trick victims into installing the malicious app on their devices," the SonicWall Capture Labs threat research team said in a recent report. The Newsroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]

Nearly a year after rolling out a generative artificial intelligence (genAI) tool to help it process thousands of claims documents, global insurance claims management firm Sedgwick says the technology’s accuracy is nearly perfect.

Sedgwick, which operates in 80 countries, receives about 1.7 million pages of digital claims-related documents a day. The documents then go through an arduous vetting process by examiners who must decide whether they’re valid and how they should be handled.

In April 2023, Sedgwick unveiled a genAI tool called Sidekick to help with document summarization, data classification, and claims analysis. Sidekick uses OpenAI’s GPT-4, giving the company “an unlimited number of large language models to be created for varying purposes.”

In December, Computerworld spoke with the company’s global chief digital officer, Leah Cooper, about the challenges and purposes of the genAI rollout. At that time, Sedgwick’s Sidekick genAI technology had combed through 14,000 documents and was “shockingly good” at accurately spitting out summaries. Five months later, Cooper said more than 50,000 documents have been processed by Sidekick, and those documents have been evaluated by more than 1,000 examiners who reported a 98%-plus accuracy rate in the document summarizations.

Leah Cooper, Sedgwick’s global chief digital officer

Sedgwick

Computerworld revisited the topic with Cooper to ask her what she and the company have learned about genAI and its capabilities for reducing workloads and increasing document processing efficiencies.

Tell me about the kinds of documents you had Sidekick evaluate. Are they all medical-related insurance documents or do they run the gamut? And how long are they? “Medical documents in the workers compensation space were the core focus for our initial pilot, but we have since expanded to other types of documents and photos for validation. The average length of the documents in the testing phase was six to seven pages, but some were much longer, ranging from 25 to 30 pages.”

Tell me a little about Sidekick, how you developed it using OpenAI’s GPT-4, and how it connects to your document management system? “We developed Sidekick so that we can leverage the best of what genAI has to offer, giving our claims professionals an advantage in their daily work.

“If we can drive efficiencies by taking the busywork out of claims administration, and allow our people to focus on taking care of our customers, we can transform not only the process but the experience of having a claim. Our first initiative was to summarize documents that are received in support of a claim. Those were the basics: deploying ChatGPT into the Sedgwick environment so that our data stayed secure, and then evaluating a first use case to see if genAI could be successfully implemented.  

“We are thrilled to say that we did that successfully, incorporating over 50,000 documents during our pilot phase of Sidekick. We’ve just wrapped up our second phase, where we integrated Sidekick technology into our proprietary claims admin systems. This was a huge part of the productivity driver in our business.

“Now, how do we make this tool more relevant to our business? How do we drive productivity, decrease resolution time, and shift from a tactical application to a strategic and conceptual one? This is where we are uniquely positioned: it’s not one tool, it’s several capabilities pulled together to create a scalable, rapidly deployable platform in a unique way. If we combine generative AI with 50 years of understanding and refining how the claims model works and a best-in-class data science program, Sedgwick will pivot into a business model that transforms the claims industry.

Last time we spoke, you told me about 500 employees were using Sidekick. Did that number remain the same and how did they use genAI in their work? “Now we have over 1,100 employees who have used this tool. Examiners are using this technology to summarize claims documents and expedite the entire process.”

What kind of feedback did employees using Sidekick give you – positive and negative (if both)? “Employees are actually asking us to make this product widely available more quickly. People who have used this solution are telling colleagues about the accuracy of summarizations and time saved on claims, fostering a culture of excitement around a new tool which hasn’t existed before.”

How did you determine the 98%+ accuracy rate? “In Sidekick’s pilot phase, we constantly asked for feedback from employees who were evaluating the output results of Sidekick. Examiners would be prompted to say whether the document was successfully summarized or whether something was missing.

“One key to defining a strong AI program is to set the expectation of outputs so users can understand what they are judging as part of this new process. By identifying what examiners are looking for and defining our output results, we were able to set a standard for what is deemed successful and what is not. 

“It’s incredibly important to obtain real feedback from the users who are ‘boots on the ground.’ Individuals who would normally create these summarizations manually were the ones who graded the AI. In the first few months, we did a lot of tweaking based on feedback and it took multiple iterations of prompt engineering to simulate what goes through an examiner’s mind.

“Once we nailed it down and were satisfied with initial testing scores, we rolled it out more widely to 1,100 employees, who ultimately scored Sidekick with the 98%+ accuracy rating. Business partner involvement in determining success is crucial to adoption of the technology. If the people that support these claims are not behind it, companies will not realize a successful engagement with technology.”

Can you explain the time savings and potential productivity increases genAI created? “This technology has created and will continue to learn efficiency gains throughout our organization. We’ve been trying to find a way to automate tasks associated with claims administration that are not complex for business operations, they’re just necessary steps in a process. From my perspective, we want to focus on how we can recognize areas that need lesser attention (e.g., the simpler claims) and allow our examiners to really focus on the other types of claims that could benefit from faster and more collaborative engagement with our customers. If we can take busywork out of claims that need minimal investigation and instead direct adjusters to a claim that needs more attention, clinical resources and time with customers, then we have changed the model for care throughout a difficult time in somebody’s life.”

You receive about 1.7 million claims-related documents every day, so the 50,000 documents handled by genAI is a relatively small percentage. What kind of methodology did you use to ensure these documents were an accurate representative of the whole? “During this rollout, we didn’t select only documents that had certain attributes. We wanted the big picture. In the end, we worked with clients who were anxious to collaborate with us on new technology-forward programs to analyze claims. We worked with clients directly to receive approval to use this new technology during our claims process and ran every document through the generative AI solution once they were on board. This gave us a solid exposure to every type of claim and document, ensuring that genAI was thoroughly vetted for every scenario.”

What are some things you’ve learned from the project? “When we first integrated genAI into our operations, we had to learn quick about how and when to best apply it. GenAI technology is rapidly evolving, it seems like on a daily basis. While this is transformative, it also means that we have a perpetual learning curve and challenge to understand the best application of genAI. It gives us an opportunity to work in the most agile environment imaginable: this is a very exciting, and overwhelming, time for leadership. 

“A great deal of articles and media around this topic have compared genAI to the introduction of the internet, and while they’re a bit different, there are some major similarities. Sedgwick and companies around the world are investing in these tech tools, but the companies that will see the most success are the ones that think critically about how to best leverage this technology. By identifying how genAI best fits into operational models — which can be challenging as much of the tech is developed in a vacuum — it is vital to identify the best use-cases for each tool. As these challenges and opportunities continue, we’re excited to see what new opportunities arise as innovation continues.”

Did you encounter anything unexpected throughout this trial of Sidekick? “We encountered a number of positive takeaways from this trial of Sidekick. Namely, the reliability of the genAI products currently available were much higher than we expected.

“Initial accuracy rates were staggeringly high, and they have proven to be incredibly useful for our claims management teams. In the past, tech tools ‘out of the box’ have not been this effective. That initial success highlights the rapid innovation, which will continue, of artificial intelligence right now and the current and potential use-cases for it across business models and operations.”

What’s the next step in your genAI journey? Will you be instituting a larger rollout, or are you considering other areas of the business for its use and, if so, what are they? “The next steps … involve a focus on transforming workflows through the combination of new tech tools, along with data science, decision engines, and dynamic API outreaches. This combination of tools into a new platform will enable low-touch automation on simple claims like never before. Our operational model and understanding of the industry climate has already set the stage for our ‘must haves.’ We understand that better than anybody out there. 

“However, our latest genAI release lets us recognize, ‘OK, we just learned this from new data or supporting documents. What does that mean to the claim?’ That’s where data science steps in: through our years of best-in-class operations and collaboration with clients, we have a data set that lets us know what happens next. Taking the information that we learned from generative AI, and combining that then with the analytical AI of predictive modeling, we can drive the advancement of a claim and provide prescriptive recommendations to our claims examiners. 

“And that’s an important point here. The goal is never to replace the critical thinking and judgment calls that our people do so well. It’s to inform them with relevant, rapid data so that they can make those decisions even better. To put it simply, we will be able to say, ‘This claim has taught us this, so expect that.’

“We can address the next step in claim lifecycle, and we can think further out to find an optimal path for resolution. Claim resolution time will recede, early adopters will reap benefits of technology enablement more rapidly, and the experience of those who we serve will improve. But this triangle that brings together genAI, data science, and 50 years of knowledge has uniquely positioned us to make that claims model more intelligent and more situation specific than ever before.”

Do you have any tips or recommendations for others considering rolling out genAI? “The AI sector has been funded and developed beyond the knowledge and understanding of how to use these tools, and companies are struggling to find a way to integrate this technology with legacy processes. It’s important to focus on meaningful ways to transform the way companies do business by adding in resources that help shape judgment calls without removing a human from the claims experience. 

“I would say that facilitating a strong partnership between tech and operations is key to figuring out this genAI journey. You have to approach the work as if no processes are sacred, and companies and employees can’t be afraid to leverage AI to find new innovations and efficiencies.

“And for a last tip, I like to call this ‘digital triage,’ in that there cannot be the assumption that there is a blanket application out there that will be useful across an entire business model. Take our work, for example, with complex claims, it is necessary for a human to be there to partner with the person submitting their claim, and by leveraging a tech solution such as genAI, the groundwork can be laid for humans to focus on the most important aspects of the process.”

Chatbots, Emerging Technology, Financial Services Industry, Generative AI

Vědecké přístroje na palubě Vesmírného teleskopu Jamese Webba (JWST) jsou tak citlivé, že dokážou odhalit, jaké počasí panuje na exoplanetě vzdálené neuvěřitelných 280 světelných let. V tomto konkrétním případě se jedná o exoplanetu WASP-43b, plynného obra v souhvězdí Sextantu. Ten obíhá velice ...

Every now and then, I come across an Android customization concept so clever, so cool, so splendidly useful that I just can’t wait to share it with you.

Today, my fellow Android-appreciating animal, is one of those days.

The concept in question is a hefty and exceptionally practical upgrade for your Android audio experience. It brings a boost to the way you interact with sound on whatever Android device you’re using, no matter who made it or how old it may be. And it’ll take you less than a minute to get going (though, if you enjoy geeking out over details as much as I do, you may find yourself fine-tuning its setup and exploring advanced options within it for a while beyond that).

I’m tellin’ ya: It’s one heck of an improvement. And unlike most of the stuff we’re bound to hear about at Google’s grand I/O gala next Tuesday, it’s something you can start using this very second — and something with an impact that’ll be immediately obvious and genuinely advantageous all throughout your day, both for professional work-related purposes and for any after-hours audio adventuring.

Ready for a whole new level of Android aural pleasure?

[Psst: Don’t stop with audio. Treat yourself to all sorts of advanced Android knowledge with my free Android Shortcut Supercourse. You’ll learn tons of useful new tricks for your phone!]

Meet your Android audio enhancement

The upgrade of which we speak may seem simple on the surface, but don’t be fooled: This nifty little lift will affect all aspects of your Android-using experience and make your life easier — even saving you time and increasing your efficiency — countless times a day.

It’s a completely new take on the Android volume panel — y’know, the little slider that shows up whenever you tap your phone’s physical volume keys. Unless you’re a complete and total nerd (hello!), that’s probably a part of the Android interface you haven’t spent much time thinking about. But believe you me, once you see how much of a meaningful difference this improvement introduces, you’ll wonder how you went so long without it.

Our upgrade comes by way of a thoughtfully crafted app called Precise Volume 2.0. The app essentially replaces your standard volume panel interface with a totally different, much more customizable, and delightfully feature-rich alternative. (And, yes, you’d better believe this is another one of those wonderful control-claiming superpowers that’d be possible only on Android.)

But enough with the broad blathering. Precise Volume has six especially noteworthy benefits that I’d encourage you to consider:

1. It empowers you to create all sorts of custom presets — specific sets of volume levels for media, ring and notification noises, call and alarm chimes, and even general system sounds — and then activate those with a single swift tap right from your regular volume panel pop-up.
2. It includes easy options for automation, too, so you can instantly have your phone change its volume settings in any specific way anytime a particular app is opened, anytime a specific Bluetooth or wired device is connected, or even anytime a certain day and time arrives.
3. It expands the standard system volume sliders to make ’em much more precise, with a visible zero to 100 scale that lets you get super-nuanced about the exact volume level you want for any given moment or purpose. You can even increase that scale, if you want extra control beyond that, and make your volume sliders operate on a zero to 1,000 step increment setup (or any other measure you like).
4. It includes simple equalizer settings, which can make any audio you’re hearing sound noticeably better and can also be included in those presets and automations we just went over. These settings can even make your phone’s maximum volume higher, if you find things are occasionally too quiet.
5. It adds in a not-yet-broadly-available Android-15-style volume panel expansion that makes all your audio controls even easier to manage from anywhere.
6. And it brings that simple, standard Android design into the volume panel on any device — delivering quite an improvement over the murky mess present on phones by Samsung and other heavy-handed companies by default.

The Precise Volume panel in its initial form, at left, and fully expanded, at right.

JR Raphael, IDG

Not bad, right? Now, there is one catch: For the full set of features, including the volume panel replacement, you’ll have to pony up six bucks as an in-app purchase for Precise Volume’s Pro version. But you can play around with some of the features even in the app’s free version. And if you like what you find, you’ll likely find that one-time purchase to be very worth its weight.

So let’s get started, shall we?

60 seconds to smarter Android audio

First things first, on the simplest possible level:

• Download Precise Volume 2.0 from the Play Store.
• Open it up and accept the couple of permissions it requests. (They’re completely innocuous and required for parts of the app’s operation.)
• Explore the app’s tabs and the options within ’em to play around with the presets and other features.

For the full-fledged volume replacement panel at the heart of this conversation, meanwhile:

• Tap the Settings tab at the bottom of the Precise Volume interface.
• Tap “Volume Button Override.”
• Flip the toggle next to “Enabled,” then follow the prompts to upgrade to the app’s Pro version.
• Once that’s done, tap that toggle again, then follow the prompt to allow Precise Volume the ability to display itself over other apps. That’s needed for reasons that should be obvious, and there’s no harm in allowing it.
• Once that’s done, tap that toggle one more time — and this time, follow the prompt to enable the app as an Android accessibility service. That may sound scary, but it’s genuinely required for an app to be able to process your physical button presses in this way and effectively replace a part of the system interface. And Precise Volume is extremely up front about the exact reasons for all of its permission requirements and the fact that it doesn’t collect, store, or share any form of personal data.
  • After you select the app’s name, be sure to flip the topmost toggle to turn its accessibility service on — not the lower toggle to activate it as an accessibility shortcut.
  • And note that on a Samsung phone, this part of the process is unnecessarily convoluted. After selecting the option to enable the accessibility service, you’ll have to tap “Installed apps” and then find Precise Volume 2.0 in the list before you’ll see the relevant option.

And that’s it! Just head back to your home screen and then press your phone’s physical volume-up or volume-down key, and you should see the new Precise Volume panel appear in place of the standard volume pop-up. You can then get to the expanded bottom-of-screen interface by tapping the three dot icon within the regular side-of-screen panel.

The Precise Volume panel in action — from zero to 100.

JR Raphael, IDG

Beyond that, you’ll absolutely want to spend a bit of time in the “Manage Volume Presets” area of Precise Volume’s Settings tab. That’s where you can create those one-tap presets we talked about a minute ago.

Precise Volume’s presets make it possible to create complete audio settings for any specific scenario.

JR Raphael, IDG

The “Automation” area of that same tab is where you can configure simple automations for what happens when specific apps are opened, specific devices are connected, or specific days and times occur — if, say, you want your media volume to bump up and your notification volume to go all the way down whenever you open Google Meet or maybe your notification and ring volume to bump up during the workday but then drop back down in the evenings.

Precise Volume’s automations open the door to all sorts of step-saving smartness.

JR Raphael, IDG

The “Behavior” section within that same tab is where you can control the precise nuance level of your volume slider, if you want to make the control even finer than the default zero to 100 scale.

Make your volume control as nuanced as you want with Precise Volume’s “Steps” setting.

JR Raphael, IDG

And the Equalizer tab at the bottom of the Precise Volume app is the place where — well, y’know. All that equalizer stuff, including the volume booster, resides.

It may sound technical, but Precise Volume’s Equalizer area is full of simple, effective enhancements.

JR Raphael, IDG

And there ya have it: an awesome Android audio upgrade. The power is now at your fingertips, and a smarter, more efficient, and more powerful way of interacting with audio on your phone will always be present and waiting to be called into action.

Get six full days of advanced Android knowledge with my free Android Shortcut Supercourse. You’ll learn tons of efficiency-enhancing magic for your phone!

Android, Mobile, Mobile Apps, Productivity Software