While one of my previous weekly picks showed that there is currently no mathematical proof for the reliability of today’s cryptographic algorithms, this article shows a way out: if a quantum computer is used as a basis to build a cryptographic algorithm, the foundation can be shown to protect against attacks to the system. While (…)
This article is fascinating because it exposes how indirect prompt injection attacks against LLM assistants like Google Gemini are not just theoretical—they have real-world implications, enabling hackers to hijack smart homes through poisoned data. This highlights a fundamental security flaw: current LLMs cannot reliably distinguish trusted commands from untrusted, external data.
Even Homer sometimes nods. I chose this article for two key reasons. First, it shows that phishing isn’t just a threat to non-technical users—even seasoned IT professionals can fall victim, despite using multi-factor authentication (MFA). Second, this incident was part of a larger supply chain attack with potentially catastrophic consequences. The takeaway? Think a thousand (…)
I find this article interesting because it highlights the tension between digital sovereignty and the expansion of global technology. With 75% market penetration compared to the single-digit presence of US alternatives, Pix demonstrates how public digital goods can effectively challenge the dominance of Big Tech. This case raises the question of whether payment systems constitute (…)
This issue paper outlines the urgent need to foster the secondary use of health data as a strategic priority for Switzerland’s health and innovation ecosystem.
The latest C4DT Insight, written by Dr. Paola Daniore, is out! In this issue paper, she outlines the urgent need to foster the secondary use of health data as a strategic priority for Switzerland’s health and innovation ecosystem.
This article talks about deepening digital estrangement, digital intrusion, and digital distraction from the perspective of a teacher who has seen the harm that overreliance on AI has caused to her students’ educational attainment. Hers is another testimony to the need for the definition of responsible and trustworthy AI to include when it should be (…)
Using the infamous example of the backdoor in the xz library, this piece astutely dissects the systematic failure of the software economy to properly support open-source software development, leaving our so-called software ‘supply’ chain vulnerable to attacks. I agree wholeheartedly with the author that if we do not stop treating open-source software as a free (…)
The collaboration between the Swiss Data Science Center (SDSC) and the Canton of Vaud aims to generate a tangible and lasting impact on the economy and public community of the Vaud region. In this context, the SDSC supports collaborative projects in the field of data science, bringing together the strengths of academic excellence, companies, particularly SMEs and public actors.
While public LLM APIs are convenient, they store all queries on providers’ servers. Running open LLMs locally offers privacy and offline access, though setup can be challenging depending on hardware and model requirements. ‘Anyway’ addresses this by distributing queries across multiple GPUs with dynamic scaling. Prof. Guerraoui works on fault tolerance in distributed systems. This (…)
EPFL, ETH Zurich and the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) released Apertus today, Switzerland’s first large-scale, open, multilingual language model — a milestone in generative AI for transparency and diversity.
I follow the advances of quantum computers with great interest, mainly because I’m curious when, or if, they will ever be able to break current cryptography algorithms. The holy grail of the algorithms is called ‘Shor’s algorithm’, which can factorize numbers quickly. Already in 2001, a quantum computer factorized 15! Yet since then, no quantum (…)
I particularly enjoyed this article because it challenges today’s automation-at-all-costs mindset, urging us to prioritize human-AI collaboration over replacement, with the goal that AI plus human expertise exceeds what AI can achieve alone. Learning when to collaborate versus automate is vital for more trustworthy and effective outcomes.
The author highlights a crucial point that is often neglected by technology experts, entrepreneurs and government authorities alike: how the public understands and feels about this emerging technology. This article captures genuine opinions—optimism, anxiety, and confusion—from people outside the immediate quantum research community.
Traditional cybersecurity is by itself a nontrivial problem to address, and even big companies with dedicated budgets and teams are not immune to attacks. In an already precarious security landscape, adding AI to the mix has not only the potential to make a bad situation worse, but truly disastrous, as this excellent write-up of the (…)
Whether you’re for or against the proposed E-ID, a public discussion is the healthiest if it is founded on factually correct arguments. While this piece is clearly opinionated, it also tries to examine the main arguments from the opposition as neutrally as possible, and provides a good explanation and discussion for each of them, pointing (…)
The Israeli airstrike campaign against Iranian military and cyber infrastructure on 12 June had an ‘interesting’ side effect. Accounts that had previously been identified as allegedly being managed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and that promoted Scottish independence fell silent following the strikes. This resulted in a 4% reduction in all discussion related (…)
The new method developed by EPFL researchers in collaboration with colleagues in Germany, is efficient, fast and inexpensive. This means that it could help moderators in the fight against disinformation on Telegram.
Damir Filipović, named best teacher in the financial engineering section for 2024, could very well have pursued a career in pure mathematics but instead chose the tumultuous field of quantitative finance.
A secure and reliable electronic identity (e-ID) is both a challenge and a crucial issue in today’s digital landscape. EPFL and SICPA are joining forces to design an innovative system of cryptographic algorithms.
I found this article interesting because, rather than perpetuating fear-driven narratives, it provides a thorough analysis backed by demographic realities in the Western world. Labour shortages, it suggests, make it unlikely that AI will ‘take all our jobs’. It emphasises how AI can increase access to specialist roles for a wider range of workers. The (…)
Like many legislative measures intended to protect users in the digital world, age-verification laws have noble aims. However, their practical implementation is messy. As is often the case, the solution not only likely involves privacy-preserving tech, but also requires compliance, enforcement, and government investment in educational initiatives to be effective.
Scandalous examples such as the fake video of Obama being arrested are a bleak reminder of not only what is possible today, but also that these technologies are becoming more and more commonplace in our daily lives. So what are the current state-of-the-art techniques for detecting deepfakes? On the occasion of this year’s DEFCON, this (…)
This article prompts reflection on what we mean by ‘trust’ when we talk about ‘trustworthy’ AI. There are many dimensions to trust, and the author helpfully breaks them down. In human-AI interactions, misalignments can occur when stakeholders interpret ‘trust’ differently. For example, companies might emphasize the epistemic aspect—reliance on knowledge and its acquisition—of trust, while (…)
