a broken mirror reunited in an e-sports Many of us have felt it, and now it's official: "brain rot" is the Oxford dictionaries' word of the year. or signup to continue reading Oxford University Press said Monday that the evocative phrase "gained new prominence in 2024," with its frequency of use increasing 230 per cent from the year before. Oxford defines brain rot as "the supposed deterioration of a person's mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging." The word of the year is intended to be "a word or expression that reflects a defining theme from the past 12 months". "Brain rot" was chosen by a combination of public vote and language analysis by Oxford lexicographers. It beat five other finalists: demure, slop, dynamic pricing, romantasy and lore. While it may seem a modern phenomenon, the first recorded use of "brain rot" was by Henry David Thoreau in his 1854 ode to the natural world, Walden. Oxford Languages President Casper Grathwohl said that in its modern sense, "'brain rot' speaks to one of the perceived dangers of virtual life, and how we are using our free time." "It feels like a rightful next chapter in the cultural conversation about humanity and technology. It's not surprising that so many voters embraced the term, endorsing it as our choice this year," he said. The 2023 Oxford word of the year was "rizz," a riff on charisma, used to describe someone's ability to attract or seduce another person. Collins Dictionary's 2024 word of the year is "brat" –- the album title that became a summer-living ideal. DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team. WEEKDAYS Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation. WEEKLY The latest news, results & expert analysis. WEEKDAYS Catch up on the news of the day and unwind with great reading for your evening. WEEKLY Get the editor's insights: what's happening & why it matters. WEEKLY Love footy? We've got all the action covered. WEEKLY Every Saturday and Tuesday, explore destinations deals, tips & travel writing to transport you around the globe. WEEKLY Going out or staying in? Find out what's on. WEEKDAYS Sharp. Close to the ground. Digging deep. Your weekday morning newsletter on national affairs, politics and more. TWICE WEEKLY Your essential national news digest: all the big issues on Wednesday and great reading every Saturday. WEEKLY Get news, reviews and expert insights every Thursday from CarExpert, ACM's exclusive motoring partner. TWICE WEEKLY Get real, Australia! Let the ACM network's editors and journalists bring you news and views from all over. AS IT HAPPENS Be the first to know when news breaks. DAILY Your digital replica of Today's Paper. Ready to read from 5am! DAILY Test your skills with interactive crosswords, sudoku & trivia. Fresh daily! Advertisement AdvertisementZilinskas scores 32 as IU Indianapolis downs Alabama A&M 88-83

Indian diaspora on Saturday issued a media advisory strongly condemning the racist attacks on Sriram Krishnan, who was recently appointed as Senior AI Advisor by President-elect Donald Trump. "Sriram Krishnan, who was recently appointed by President-elect Trump as his Senior AI Advisor, has become a target of reprehensible racist attacks. There is absolutely no place in our public discourse for spiteful, vengeful, racially motivated, ad hominem epithets," the advisory reads. "At Indiaspora, we categorically and unequivocally denounce racism of any and all kinds. As enunciated in our media statement issued a few days ago, we strongly support Sriram's appointment to this important position because we are confident that he will serve America very well in public office," it added. Recently, the Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna criticised those targeting Indian-born Krishnan, over his Indian origin. Khanna emphasised that the ability of the United States to attract talent from around the world shows America's "exceptionalism" which puts it ahead of other countries like China. Following a post by an X user, who wrote, "Did any of yall vote for this Indian to run America," Khanna on X wrote, "You fools criticizing @sriramk as Indian born criticize Musk as South African born or Jensen as Taiwanese born." "It is great that talent around the world wants to come here, not to China, and that Sriram can rise to the highest levels. It's called American exceptionalism," the post added. US President-elect Donald Trump nominated Sriram Krishnan as senior policy advisor for Artificial Intelligence at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Sharing a post on the Truth Social platform, Trump wrote, "Sriram Krishnan will serve as Senior Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy." "Working closely with David Sacks, Sriram will focus on ensuring continued American leadership in AI, and help shape and coordinate Al policy across Government, including working with the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Sriram started his career at Microsoft as a founding member of Windows Azure," he said. Krishnan, 41, acknowledged the offer and expressed his gratitude for the opportunity by saying, "I'm honoured to be able to serve our country and ensure continued American leadership in AI working closely with @DavidSacks. Thank you @realDonaldTrump for this opportunity." Krishnan till recently was a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz and a personal investor in over two dozen companies including SpaceX, Figma and Scale.ai. He previously led organisations at Meta, X and Microsoft. He holds a Bachelor of Technology in Information Technology from SRM Engineering College, Anna University.LAST year, motorcyclists made up 75.3% of road deaths in Malaysia, according to the Malaysia Road Fatalities Index by Transport Ministry. It was reported that 6,473 people were killed in road accidents, 4,880 of them motorcyclists. From 2010 to 2019, on average, 59% of those who died in road accidents were on motorcycles. Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) director-general Assoc Prof Dr Siti Zaharah Ishak Siti Zaharah said the number of fatalities from road accidents had not dropped, with an average of 6,300 deaths per year from 2010 to 2023. “We are recording over 6,000 deaths from road accidents annually, with the exception of 2020 and 2021, which recorded 4,297 and 4,539 road fatalities respectively. “This drop was due to fewer vehicles on the road when the movement control order was implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic,” she said. In Klang Valley, which encompasses Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, 1,230 road fatalities were recorded last year. Selangor had 1,037 road fatalities with Kajang topping the chart at 123 deaths, followed by Shah Alam and Petaling Jaya, each with 91. Kuala Lumpur recorded 186 road fatalities while Putrajaya had seven. Motorcyclists’ risky behaviours making illegal U-turns. — Photos: MUHAMAD SHAHRIL ROSLI, IZZRAFIQ ALIAS, FAIHAN GHANI and KK SHAM/The Star “This data shows that urban areas such as Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya and Kajang tend to have higher fatalities, likely due to higher traffic volume and congestion. “In contrast, rural and less densely populated districts like Sabak Bernam recorded fewer fatalities. “Districts with higher traffic density also contribute to these numbers, highlighting the need for improved traffic management and road safety in these areas,” said Siti Zaharah. Miros also found that 50% of road fatalities occurred on federal roads, while 19% were on local streets or municipal roads and 16% on state roads. “Police statistics show that between 2019 and 2023, 15% to 22% of fatal motorcycle crashes occurred on expressways. “Motorcycles have a significantly higher incidence of single-vehicle crashes compared to other vehicle types, accounting for 68% of such incidents.” Miros’ studies also show that loss of control was the primary cause of fatal motorcycle crashes in Malaysia. Siti Zaharah said this was often a result of high speed, sharp turns or sudden manoeuvres. Other contributing factors, she said, included rear-end collisions often due to tailgating or sudden stops, besides poor visibility caused by inadequate lighting and slippery road conditions. “Reckless riding at high speeds is a significant factor. “Although multiple-vehicle crashes (MVC) are less common than single-vehicle crashes, MVCs involving motorcycles have a higher fatality rate,” she added. Utilisation of exclusive motorcycle lanes may be low due to barriers. Crash trends, rider behaviour Siti Zaharah said one of the more common scenarios in motorcycle crashes on highways involved collisions with stationary vehicles. “A significant number of motorcycle crashes occur when riders collide with vehicles in the emergency lane. “These vehicles can include lorries and cars that have stopped due to mechanical issues or other reasons. “The risk is particularly high at night or under low visibility conditions when motorcyclists may not see the vehicles in time.” Miros also found many motorcycle crashes occurring during peak commuting hours when riders are travelling to and from work. “These crashes often result from increased traffic density, time pressures and rider fatigue,” she said. “Vehicles like cars, buses and lorries can create hazardous conditions for motorcyclists, who are more physically vulnerable.” Through various studies conducted over the years, she said Miros identified several types of reckless behaviour that jeopardised motorcyclists’ safety. “Dangerous behaviours like stunt riding, commonly known as rempit, and illegal racing are also prevalent causes of crashes. Utilisation of exclusive motorcycle lanes may be low due to insufficient lighting in tunnels. “These activities involve high speeds and dangerous manoeuvres, leaving motorcyclists vulnerable to losing control or colliding with other vehicles or objects on the highway. “Other reckless riding behaviours include speeding, which reduces reaction time and increases crash severity, lane splitting and filtering. “Riding without protective gear, ignoring traffic signals and signs, improper overtaking and distractions such as using mobile phones – especially among p-hailing riders – also contribute to the risks faced by motorcyclists.” Motorcycle lane ratings There are three types of motorcycle lanes: exclusive, non-exclusive and paved road shoulders. An exclusive motorcycle lane is built separately from the traffic carriageway and has a physical barrier, while a non-exclusive motorcycle lane is part of the traffic carriageway and is separated by a non-physical barrier. Paved shoulders are part of the traffic carriageway marked by a normal-edge line, where motorcyclists can distance themselves from other vehicles. Within Malaysia, there are 351.1km of exclusive motorcycle lanes and 204.9km of non-exclusive motorcycle lanes. “Our earlier studies have shown a 39% reduction in crashes with the implementation of exclusive motorcycle lanes,” said Siti Zaharah. “However, utilisation rates remain low due to factors such as water ponding, poor pavement conditions, roadside hazards and even criminal threats. “Other reasons include longer travel distances on the motorcycle lanes, violations by other vehicles using the lanes and inconsistent lane layouts. Many riders disregard Kesas Highway rules that prohibit motorcyclists on the main carriageway from 6am to 11pm. “Improvements and maintenance, however, such as those on Federal Route 2, have increased usage rates from 81% in 2016 to 92% in 2023.” Motorcyclists are legally required to use motorcycle lanes when available, as mandated by Section 79(2) of the Road Transport Act 1987. Siti Zaharah said Miros was assessing the safety of exclusive motorcycle lanes and providing them with star ratings. “The rating system will help identify locations with the best conditions for motorcyclists and guide maintenance priorities by highlighting lower-rated lanes that may require urgent upgrades or repairs. “The initiative aims to enhance the overall infrastructure for motorcyclists, ensuring safer travel routes and encouraging the use of designated lanes. “Highly rated locations can serve as benchmarks when designing new exclusive motorcycle lanes, promoting consistent safety standards across the network,” she said. Improving bike handling To promote the safety of motorcyclists, several programmes have been introduced to equip them with road training and skills. “Since it was found that most road crashes involved motorcyclists commuting to work, Miros has a Commuting Safety Support Programme (CSSP) that is a direct intervention programme. “It was launched in 2017 in cooperation with the Social Security Organisation (Socso) to train motorcycle riders towards enhancing travel safety knowledge, awareness and basic skills,” Siti Zaharah said. Miros also offers the P-hailing Safe Riding Training that covers safe and defensive riding techniques. Under the Miros Ori-Rider programme, motorcyclists are also provided specialised training for safe riding and motorcycle maintenance. The Miros Motorcycle Collision Alert System (MCAS), a pilot project launched last year with 35 units installed in 18 motorcycle models, showed an 89% drop in crashes and over 1,000 avoided collisions. It gives real-time alerts to enhance riders’ situational awareness, enabling them to gauge safe distances and brake safely. The Anti-lock Braking System will also be made mandatory for all new motorcycles 150cc and above, beginning Jan 1 next year, which will enhance braking safety and reduce crash risks.

EU universal charger rules come into forceAbortion has become slightly more common despite bans or deep restrictions in most Republican-controlled states, and the legal and political fights over its future are not over yet. It's now been two and a half years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and opened the door for states to implement bans. The policies and their impact have been in flux ever since the ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. Here's a look at data on where things stand: Overturning Roe and enforcing abortion bans has changed how woman obtain abortions in the U.S. But one thing it hasn't done is put a dent in the number of abortions being obtained. There have been slightly more monthly abortions across the country recently than there were in the months leading up to the June 2022 ruling, even as the number in states with bans dropped to near zero. “Abortion bans don’t actually prevent abortions from happening,” said Ushma Upadhyay, a public health social scientist at the University of California San Francisco. But, she said, they do change care. For women in some states, there are major obstacles to getting abortions — and advocates say that low-income, minority and immigrant women are least likely to be able to get them when they want. For those living in states with bans, the ways to access abortion are through travel or abortion pills. As the bans swept in, abortion pills became a bigger part of the equation. They were involved in about half the abortions before Dobbs. More recently, it’s been closer to two-thirds of them, according to research by the Guttmacher Institute. The uptick of that kind of abortion, usually involving a combination of two drugs, was underway before the ruling. But now, it's become more common for pill prescriptions to be made by telehealth. By the summer of 2024, about 1 in 10 abortions was via pills prescribed via telehealth to patients in states where abortion is banned. As a result, the pills are now at the center of battles over abortion access. This month, Texas sued a New York doctor for prescribing pills to a Texas woman via telemedicine. There's also an effort by Idaho, Kansas and Missouri to roll back their federal approvals and treat them as “controlled dangerous substances,” and a push for the federal government to start enforcing a 19th-century federal law to ban mailing them. Clinics have closed or halted abortions in states with bans. But a network of efforts to get women seeking abortions to places where they're legal has strengthened and travel for abortion is now common. The Guttmacher Institute found that more than twice as many Texas residents obtained abortion in 2023 in New Mexico as New Mexico residents did. And as many Texans received them in Kansas as Kansans. Abortion funds, which benefitted from “rage giving” in 2022, have helped pay the costs for many abortion-seekers. But some funds have had to cap how much they can give . Since the downfall of Roe, the actions of lawmakers and courts have kept shifting where abortion is legal and under what conditions. Here's where it stands now: Florida, the nation’s second most-populous state, began enforcing a ban on abortions after the first six weeks of pregnancy on May 1. That immediately changed the state from one that was a refuge for other Southerners seeking abortion to an exporter of people looking for them. There were about 30% fewer abortions there in May compared with the average for the first three months of the year. And in June, there were 35% fewer. While the ban is not unique, the impact is especially large. The average driving time from Florida to a facility in North Carolina where abortion is available for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy is more than nine hours, according to data maintained by Caitlin Myers, a Middlebury College economics professor. The bans have meant clinics closed or stopped offering abortions in some states. But some states where abortion remains legal until viability – generally considered to be sometime past 21 weeks of pregnancy , though there’s no fixed time for it – have seen clinics open and expand . Illinois, Kansas and New Mexico are among the states with new clinics. There were 799 publicly identifiable abortion providers in the U.S. in May 2022, the month before the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade. And by this November, it was 792, according to a tally by Myers, who is collecting data on abortion providers. But Myers says some hospitals that always provided some abortions have begun advertising it. So they’re now in the count of clinics – even though they might provide few of them. How hospitals handle pregnancy complications , especially those that threaten the lives of the women, has emerged as a major issue since Roe was overturned. President Joe Biden's administration says hospitals must offer abortions when they're needed to prevent organ loss, hemorrhage or deadly infections, even in states with bans. Texas is challenging the administration’s policy and the U.S. Supreme Court this year declined to take it up after the Biden administration sued Idaho. More than 100 pregnant women seeking help in emergency rooms and were turned away or left unstable since 2022, The Associated Press found in an analysis of federal hospital investigative records. Among the complaints were a woman who miscarried in the lobby restroom of Texas emergency room after staff refused to see her and a woman who gave birth in a car after a North Carolina hospital couldn't offer an ultrasound. The baby later died. “It is increasingly less safe to be pregnant and seeking emergency care in an emergency department,” Dara Kass, an emergency medicine doctor and former U.S. Health and Human Services official told the AP earlier this year. Since Roe was overturned, there have been 18 reproductive rights-related statewide ballot questions. Abortion rights advocates have prevailed on 14 of them and lost on four. In the 2024 election , they amended the constitutions in five states to add the right to abortion. Such measures failed in three states: In Florida, where it required 60% support; in Nebraska, which had competing abortion ballot measures; and in South Dakota, where most national abortion rights groups did support the measure. AP VoteCast data found that more than three-fifths of voters in 2024 supported abortion being legal in all or most cases – a slight uptick from 2020. The support came even as voters supported Republicans to control the White House and both houses of Congress. Associated Press writers Linley Sanders, Amanda Seitz and Laura Ungar contributed to this article.

Biden’s sin wasn’t pardoning Hunter. It was letting him in the White House | OpinionWASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s personnel choices for his new Cabinet and White House reflect his signature positions on immigration and trade but also a range of viewpoints and backgrounds that raise questions about what ideological anchors might guide his Oval Office encore. With a rapid assembly of his second administration — faster than his effort eight years ago — the former and incoming president has combined television personalities , former Democrats, a wrestling executive and traditional elected Republicans into a mix that makes clear his intentions to impose tariffs on imported goods and crack down on illegal immigration but leaves open a range of possibilities on other policy pursuits. “The president has his two big priorities and doesn’t feel as strongly about anything else — so it’s going to be a real jump ball and zigzag,” predicted Marc Short, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence during Trump’s 2017-21 term. “In the first administration, he surrounded himself with more conservative thinkers, and the results showed we were mostly rowing in the same direction. This is more eclectic.” Indeed, Secretary of State-designee Marco Rubio , the Florida senator who has pilloried authoritarian regimes around the world, is in line to serve as top diplomat to a president who praises autocratic leaders like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Hungary’s Viktor Orban. Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon has been tapped to sit at the Cabinet table as a pro-union labor secretary alongside multiple billionaires, former governors and others who oppose making it easier for workers to organize themselves. The prospective treasury secretary, Scott Bessent , wants to cut deficits for a president who promised more tax cuts, better veterans services and no rollbacks of the largest federal outlays: Social Security, Medicare and national defense. Abortion-rights supporter Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is Trump’s choice to lead the Health and Human Services Department, which Trump’s conservative Christian base has long targeted as an agency where the anti-abortion movement must wield more influence. Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich allowed that members of Trump’s slate will not always agree with the president and certainly not with one another. But he minimized the potential for irreconcilable differences: “A strong Cabinet, by definition, means you’re going to have people with different opinions and different skills.” That kind of unpredictability is at the core of Trump’s political identity. He is the erstwhile reality TV star who already upended Washington once and is returning to power with sweeping, sometimes contradictory promises that convinced voters, especially those in the working class, that he will do it all again. “What Donald Trump has done is reorient political leadership and activism to a more entrepreneurial spirit,” Gingrich said. There’s also plenty of room for conflict, given the breadth of Trump’s 2024 campaign promises and his pattern of cycling through Cabinet members and national security personnel during his first term. This time, Trump has pledged to impose tariffs on foreign goods, end illegal immigration and launch a mass deportation force, goose U.S. energy production and exact retribution on people who opposed — and prosecuted — him. He’s added promises to cut taxes, raise wages, end wars in Israel and Ukraine , streamline government, protect Social Security and Medicare, help veterans and squelch cultural progressivism. Trump alluded to some of those promises in recent weeks as he completed his proposed roster of federal department heads and named top White House staff members. But his announcements skimmed over any policy paradoxes or potential complications. Bessent has crusaded as a deficit hawk, warning that the ballooning national debt , paired with higher interest rates, drives consumer inflation. But he also supports extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts that added to the overall debt and annual debt service payments to investors who buy Treasury notes. A hedge-fund billionaire, Bessent built his wealth in world markets. Yet, generally speaking, he’s endorsed Trump’s tariffs. He rejects the idea that they feed inflation and instead frames tariffs as one-time price adjustments and leverage to achieve U.S. foreign policy and domestic economic aims. Trump, for his part, declared that Bessent would “help me usher in a new Golden Age for the United States.” Chavez-DeRemer, Trump promised, “will achieve historic cooperation between Business and Labor that will restore the American Dream for Working Families.” Trump did not address the Oregon congresswoman’s staunch support for the PRO-Act, a Democratic-backed measure that would make it easier for workers to unionize, among other provisions. That proposal passed the House when Democrats held a majority. But it’s never had measurable Republican support in either chamber on Capitol Hill, and Trump has never made it part of his agenda. When Trump named Kennedy as his pick for health secretary, he did not mention the former Democrat’s support for abortion rights. Instead, Trump put the focus on Kennedy’s intention to take on the U.S. agriculture, food processing and drug manufacturing sectors. The vagaries of Trump’s foreign policy stand out, as well. Trump’s {a}choice for national security adviser{/a}, Florida Rep. Mike Waltz, offered mixed messages Sunday when discussing the Russia-Ukraine war, which Trump claims never would have started had he been president, because he would have prevailed on Putin not to invade his neighboring country. Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Waltz repeated Trump’s concerns over recent escalations, which include President Joe Biden approving sending antipersonnel mines to Ukrainian forces. “We need to restore deterrence, restore peace and get ahead of this escalation ladder, rather than responding to it,” Waltz said. But in the same interview, Waltz declared the mines necessary to help Ukraine “stop Russian gains” and said he’s working “hand in glove” with Biden’s team during the transition. Meanwhile, Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence , the top intelligence post in government, is an outspoken defender of Putin and Syrian President Bashar al Assad, a close ally of Russia and Iran. Perhaps the biggest wildcards of Trump’s governing constellation are budget-and-spending advisers Russell Vought, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Vought led Trump’s Office of Management and Budget in his first term and is in line for the same post again. Musk, the world’s wealthiest man, and Ramaswamy, a mega-millionaire venture capitalist, are leading an outside advisory panel known as the “Department of Government Efficiency.” The latter effort is a quasi-official exercise to identify waste. It carries no statutory authority, but Trump can route Musk’s and Ramaswamy’s recommendations to official government pathways, including via Vought. A leading author of Project 2025 , the conservative movement’s blueprint for a hard-right turn in U.S. government and society, Vought envisions OMB not just as an influential office to shape Trump’s budget proposals for Congress but a power center of the executive branch, “powerful enough to override implementing agencies’ bureaucracies.” As for how Trump might navigate differences across his administration, Gingrich pointed to Chavez-DeRemer. “He might not agree with her on union issues, but he might not stop her from pushing it herself,” Gingrich said of the PRO-Act. “And he will listen to anybody. If you convince him, he absolutely will spend presidential capital.” Short said other factors are more likely to influence Trump: personalities and, of course, loyalty . Vought “brought him potential spending cuts” in the first administration, Short said, “that Trump wouldn’t go along with.” This time, Short continued, “maybe Elon and Vivek provide backup,” giving Vought the imprimatur of two wealthy businessmen. “He will always calculate who has been good to him,” Short said. “You already see that: The unions got the labor secretary they wanted, and Putin and Assad got the DNI (intelligence chief) they wanted. ... This is not so much a team-of-rivals situation. I think it’s going to look a lot like a reality TV show.”

Some Democrats frustrated over Biden reversing course

Identity verification powered by advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) is vital to strengthen security and prevent fraud in government benefits programs. This is an excerpt from a conversation between e.Republic President Dustin Haisler and Jordan Burris, vice president of public sector at Socure and former chief of staff to the U.S. chief information officer. They discuss how identity is evolving and what state and local government leaders need to know about modern identity verification technology. A recording of their entire conversation can be played above. When I was in the federal government, we reframed identity as core to everything and a key to mission enablement. Identity is critical because it’s synonymous with trust. There must be a conversation about all the areas in our lives where identity comes into play. And then, we need to safeguard identity and make sure we’re using it in the way it’s intended without creating undue friction for people. Socure was founded in 2012 on the premise that everyone should be able to prove who they are online. More importantly, people in marginalized groups should have a seamless and simple way to do so. They should not have to go to a call center every time they need to prove who they are. Socure seeks to create the nucleus of understanding on someone’s digital identity footprint so they can better assert their identity when they’re not able to engage in person. The technologies we deploy help us do that at scale while stopping bad actors seeking to disrupt it. The first step in changing anything is recognizing the problem to be solved. Identity verification cannot be thought of in the way we’ve done it historically. You can’t ask people where they lived or the color of their car five years ago. I fail those questions all the time. We have to look at every facet of someone’s digital identity and empower organizations to make a risk assessment that this is the right individual on the other end of the computer screen. And we have to give them the tools to do that transparently. Individuals who are deemed non-risky should get through the process as quickly as possible so they’re not waiting days, weeks or months to access critical government services. Early on, our founder and chief product officer knew we needed to use machine learning at scale to see common patterns and solve problems and challenges across a whole swath of customers. We’ve built a platform that uses predictive signals to help inform our customers on what is happening at the root level when an identity asserts itself — and whether it’s showing a pattern indicating someone has committed identity theft or completely fabricated an identity. We also extract how the user’s device is acting. Is it acting within the bounds of a normal user and how they would engage with their phone or device? Even more importantly, we can start to look at things like biometrics of the documents that they’re using — are they tampered with, forged or fabricated? These are all things that, to the human, may be hard to discern, especially when looking through logs and patterns. But you can use machine learning or AI to solve some of these challenges at scale. It’s becoming harder to discern who a good person is from one fabricated or made up through AI. A fake identity’s actions could be very similar to those of a real individual. It can have an image pretending to be me, even using my voice or tone. AI is going to be our number-one tool to combat this. Anyone working in identity today who is not embracing these tools is missing a big opportunity and falling behind where the ecosystem is headed. It’s going to be paramount to understand and establish that linkage of trust for people. We’re also going to find ways to better explain what is happening so that not everyone has to be a data scientist. We can make sure the information is easily digestible for those in the business or on the front lines, ultimately improving customer experience.Media Roundup: Neighbours star cancer diagnosis, another ABC radio host leaves, Meta tightens ad rules to fight scams

Stock market today: Tech stocks and AI pull Wall Street to more recordsStock analysts at StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BGC Group ( NASDAQ:BGCP – Get Free Report ) in a research report issued on Sunday. The firm set a “buy” rating on the stock. BGC Group Trading Up 1.4 % Shares of NASDAQ BGCP opened at $4.43 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $4.43. BGC Group has a 52-week low of $3.14 and a 52-week high of $5.51. About BGC Group ( Get Free Report ) Read More Receive News & Ratings for BGC Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for BGC Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .

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