Often, people hear the term AI or artificial intelligence and think the service or system was able to reach the point of success as AI all on its own. However, what people do not really know is that in order to have functional AI, the program needs a vastly significant amount of data to use. Many experts are starting to believe that AI needs data more than data needs AI.
This belief essentially shatters the idea that AI is the answer to all tech issues. We have seen AI have several successes, with ChatGPT being incredibly successful and autonomous cars becoming more commonly produced and seen. However, in order to truly be effective, AI needs a lot more work to be done than simply developing the service. The data collection is essential to all forms of AI. 
<h2>To break it down, it can be simply compared to human intelligence. </h2>
Humans virtually never innately know things. In some way, shape, or form, humans have to be taught in order to have an idea on different parts of life. AI works this way as well. It does not innately know all of the answers to the world, unless it has been programmed with the necessary data. For example, for AI programs that generate text, it needs to have data involving words, grammar, sentence structure, and more implemented into the programing. Without this key database, the AI would not be able to generate any text, as it would have no basis to build upon.
<h2>A strong data management foundation is key to AI production.</h2>
When viewing the relationship between data and AI, it can get a little complicated. AI needs data in order to thrive but data does not need AI. Data has been collected, analyzed, and recorded for centuries without the use of AI; AI has never existed without data. 
<h2>For those looking to create or use AI, you must prepare data.</h2>
In order to prepare data, there are additional systems that can be built to hold the data and even analyze it. The best method for data collection for AI services and systems can be described as back-office modernization. The data has to be dependable and trustworthy in order for the AI to be accurate. It is easiest to find reliable data with data that is tracked from its creation and processing. This starts in the &ldquo;middle&rdquo; and &ldquo;back&rdquo; offices of data collection. 
The back office can be described as a data factory. It is the thing responsible for collecting, verifying, analyzing, and distributing data. Having a strong back office data management system means that the work done at the front of the office, the AI, will be reliable. 
<h2>Sometimes, data and AI are in a catch-22 relationship.</h2>
AI is extremely helpful in sifting through data, but it needs data in order to do that. This means that in the current stage of AI development that is happening in the world, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. Even once it seems all the data necessary for an AI system has been collected, odds are there is still more needed, and it will need to be updated. Parts of life change daily. Words used, jobs done, etc. all change constantly. This means AI systems will need constant data updates in order to remain aware of changes occurring.

AI Needs Data to Function Properly

Have you often heard this phrase &ldquo;cyber security&rdquo; and just kind of pretended to understand what it means? After all, why do things online need to be protected anyway, right? Well, you are certainly not alone! As we develop more and more technologically, we require different things and cyber security is simply a newer concept that may have slipped past you. That is why we are here to explain to you all that you need to know about cyber security!
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In order to understand cyber security, you first need to understand cyberattacks. 
Cyberattacks are attacks and/or threats to the digital world of databases, online systems, networks, and programs. Usually, cyberattacks aim to leak information, change information, extort money, or simply interrupt the flow of life and work for people and/or businesses. Cyber security is a form of security that is meant to protect the digital world from such cyberattacks. 
With cyber security the databases, systems, networks, and programs that are at risk of attack are protected through a variety of different means, dependent on the needs of the situation. Most often, there are multiple layers of protection to make a cyberattack harder to accomplish and less likely to be successful. However, something as simple as a password is a form of cyber security. Cyber security can get as complicated as a complex framework with multiple firewalls and other protective layers. 
What are the most common forms of cyberattacks?
You likely have come across a cyberattack and not even noticed it. The most common threat that the average person faces is phishing. This is usually seen in emails that pose as one thing with the goal of getting you to engage with the email in order to open up your information to the attacker. Additionally, there is also social engineering, ransomware, malware, and more. 
Why do I need cyber security? 
For specifics, the answer really is dependent on your specific needs, but there are reasons in general why everyone does need this type of protection. If you are someone who uses online banking in any way and/or have ever, if your information is stolen in a cyberattack, you could be robbed. Having things like a friend&rsquo;s and/or colleague&rsquo;s information could lead to a leak if attacked. If you are a client based business with a database holding customer info, that could all be leaked if attacked. Essentially, anything ever typed into a device or online could be leaked and used against you. With cyber security, you protect your own information, information for people you know, and your business&rsquo; information.

Learning A Bit More About Cyber security

With most forms of software development, there are two main parts, front-end development, and back-end development. These are most easily understood in web development, as their differences are most prominent then. To put it simply, front-end is the part we as users see and experience while back-end is the invisible part that controls the website behind the scenes. Without a strong back-end, the front-end of a website simply cannot work. Because of the overlap in how they work together, it can get a bit confusing so allow us to deep dive together and understand these two parts of development.
First, let us start with what we see, front-end. 
In terms of a website, the front-end consists of literally everything you see. This means the design, layout, choice of text, how the pages navigate, and so much more are all done by front-end developers. There are different ways in which developers code all of these things in order to set up the front of a development project. Various coding languages allow for things such as drop-down menus, tables, popup windows, etc. The largest front-end languages are JavaScript, HyperText Markup Language (more commonly known as HTML), and Cascading Style Sheets (more commonly known as CSS). 
However, these are not the only languages and often when building software, developers will use different coding languages for different things, allowing them to work together to create a unique layout. Each language has it&rsquo;s own set of aspects that it does best, so when used in conjunction, one can create a perfect piece of complex software. Most often, people with careers as front-end developers have a background specifically in things like web design and even graphic design. 
Now, let us go behind the scenes and take a look at back-end development. 
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">Back-end development works with the server side of software. It is the creation of a website&rsquo;s structure, allowing it to function and run as smoothly and easily as possible. Back-end development builds operations of websites, databases to store various sources of information, and application programming interface (also known as API). Just like with front-end development, there are different coding languages and tools that are used for different things. The most common languages and tools are Java, Python, Ruby, and SQL Server.

Understanding the Differences Between Front-End and Back-End

Recently, a report came out showing that a vast majority of phishing attacks that were done in 2024 made use of trustworthy domains in order to seem more legitimate to victims. The report was published in <a href="https://darktrace.com/blog/darktrace-releases-annual-2024-threat-insights">Darktrace&rsquo;s Annual Threat Report</a> for 2024. It showed that phishing email campaigns found ways to embed sender addresses or payload links from actual businesses and websites. This allowed the phishing emails to go undetected as phishing scams and led to an increase in cyber-attacks. 
With these attacks, the victims largely were businesses themselves, such as Dropbox, SharePoint, and QuickBooks. Often, services like these have cyber security methods in place that filter out phishing emails, but due to the seeming legitimate appearance of the emails, they slipped through the cracks.
<h2 style="line-height: 150%;">Emails were embedded with details for services such as Zoom Docs.</h2>
Additionally, other commonly exploited services were HelloSign, Adobe, and Microsoft SharePoint. 96% of all analyzed phishing emails took advantage of existing domains such as from these services. This allowed them to not have to register new ones and easily go undetected by security software. 
Furthermore, evidence suggests that attackers used redirecting links from major services, like Google. With these links, attackers were able to deliver malicious payloads. For example, the main way hackers used Dropbox for their attacks was by including a link in the email that would lead to an authentic Dropbox-hosted PDF. The issue was that the PDF was then embedded with a malicious URL, which allowed attackers to cyber-attack.
<h2 style="line-height: 150%;">Phishing was found to still be a preferred form of cyber-attack. </h2>
Another common technique for attacking had to do with the Amazon Simple Email Service. Hackers had been previously able to attack email accounts from a variety of businesses, vendors, and third parties, such as the Amazon Simple Email Service. They then used these already compromised email accounts and used them to further expand their attacks&rsquo; breadth. Darktrace reports that this tactic &ldquo;highlights that identity continues to be an expensive problem across the estate and a persistent source of pain across enterprise and business networks.&rdquo; 
<h2 style="line-height: 150%;">AI has further aided in phishing attacks. </h2>
Because of how prominent AI generated text has become, many phishing attacks are able to become spear phishing, which is a cyber security term meant to describe highly focused email attacks. Artificial intelligence has sophisticated the way in which attackers phish tenfold. According to reports, 38% of phishing emails can be described as spear phishing and 32% had detectable AI generated text. This allowed attackers to increase the amount of text in an email, in some ways making it seem more authentic. It also allowed for more complexity in the text itself, also aiding in its believability. 
<h2 style="line-height: 150%;">The way of attacking is different now too.</h2>
Because of the modern age we live in, attackers no longer have to rely on using sketchy links. While many still do, there are other options available to them. For example, 2.7 million phishing emails featured multistage malicious payloads. Additionally, nearly one million had malicious QR codes. Utilizing malicious QR codes is a newer concept as QR codes have become a more popular feature for services. Keeping with the up-to-date features and using these codes further creates a more believable scam. 
Hackers have found ways to consistently up their game and become more authentic seeming as technology grows. While cyber security is also being constantly updated, hackers have the upper hand of being aware of these changes and growths. Nonetheless, the best way to remove phishing threats is to maintain up-to-date cyber security systems and avoid clicking on anything that seems fishy, even if it could be something real.

A Majority of Phishing Attacks Utilized Trustworthy Domains

Apple is always looking for ways to expand and grow within the tech industry. They often lead the way in innovation and are really upping the game with their latest reported project. Robots. Home Robots. Yes, home robots, just like those commonly seen in sci-fi movies, often in the horror subgenre. Recently, rumor had it that they were working on their own electric vehicles; however, it seems that they have abandoned that plan for another, less occupied market. The leading tech company announced in early April that they will make this pivot for their next project after dropping the electric vehicle project for an unknown reason in February. 
Apple has not released much information regarding the robots but many theories point to a plan with two robots in development. 
One of the forms of the robot will be a classic home robot assistant that we have already seen from other companies. This device will sit tabletop with an adjustable display screen and perform actions similar to that of the Amazon Alexa line of devices and the Google Home. The other robot that is being developed is one that will likely appear more like the stereotypical image of a robot, as it will be a fully movable device that is meant to follow users around in their homes. At this time, it is unknown exactly what kind of tasks the robot will have the ability to perform. It is safe to assume that it will at the very least have the same capabilities as a stationary device. The project remains in the early stages of research and development. 
This endeavor from Apple comes after a few other tech companies made attempts at home robots. 
The largest, and really only, successful home robot continues to be the Roomba by iRobot. This home robot is able to vacuum floors with no one controlling it and has literally swept the floor with other home robot attempts. In 2021, Amazon made a go at a home robot, given its success with the Alexa line of devices. This robot was known as Astro and was on the market for $1,600. The robot has a few different abilities, mostly centered on home management and acting as a virtual assistant. It is still available for purchase, but the device never quite took off. 
Many are excited to see whether or not the robot from Apple will be a success. Largely, people are also curious to see what the project is going to result as, especially given the fact that Apple abandoned their decade long electric vehicle endeavor in order to begin work on this project.

Apple to Explore Home Robots

Google is expected to make big changes to their current AI feature, Gemini, which could affect some public services, as well as their subscription service. The company&rsquo;s artificial intelligence chatbot is their main AI feature available, but they are working on plans that will expand their AI services. Most likely, experts are expecting the free features for general public use to remain the same, while these new features would only be made available with a subscription package. Google has not formally announced any plans, so no one quite knows exactly what they intend to do, but many have theories based on a few different things. Inside sources report that Google is working on a new project that simply expands the horizons of many of their current business avenues. 
Furthermore, one higher up in the tech world announced a career shift that has created further speculation.
Logan Kilpatrick, who previously worked as the head of developer relations for OpenAI announced on LinkedIn that he would be taking over as the lead for Google&rsquo;s AI Studio. In his post, Kilpatrick wrote that he has lots of hard work ahead, but he plans to make Google the leading AI development company. He also stated that his department is hiring a large AI development centered team. The news of this new team being built for Google leads many to believe that they are furthering their investment into this new realm of technology. 
Currently, Google&rsquo;s premium subscription package includes higher drive storage and Gemini for Gmail and Docs. 
Some who have been tracking Google&rsquo;s work in recent years think that these features may go widespread into public use as they implement their new tech for their premium subscription. Other reports have recently come out that suggest that Google will set forth a reply suggestion feature on the Gmail app for Android users. 
Not only is Google possibly expanding their artificial intelligence services, but Apple also reportedly wants to partner with them. Back in March, Bloomberg reported that Apple wants to partner with Google to incorporate Gemini into iPhone features. If such a partnership is to be successful, people anticipate that the feature will be included in a new update for IOS.

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