• “THE FLOOD OF ChatGPT-CRAFTED RESUMES AND BOT-SUBMITTED APPLICATIONS IS SPIRALING OUT OF CONTROL, with LinkedIn now processing 11,000 submissions per minute, and AI technology disrupting the traditional hiring process with automated noise, haunting social media and the web with sensational pictures and misleading information. Whereas earlier technologies helped people craft a personal resume more efficiently, now AI enables candidates to generate hundreds of customized applications with minimal effort, turning the recruitment process into a numbers game that overwhelms businesses trying to find genuinely qualified applicants. Beyond volume, Fraud also poses an increasing threat, with research firm Gartner forecasting that by 2028 some 25% of job applicants could be phony.” [ARSTECHNICA]

• DECISIONS ARE TYPICALLY JUDGED BY HOW THEY TURN OUT, rather than the process used to make them – ignoring the reality that a ‘good’ decision can still have a bad outcome due to numerous factors beyond our control, or that a poor decision might still work our well, just thanks to dumb luck. Even when listing pros & cons, or getting input from others, most decisions still get made based on reliance to gut instinct and underlying cognitive bias. Reality is that optimal decisions should be based on clarifying realistic goals, estimating reasonable probabilities, and considering opportunity costs – effectively reacting to logic versus instinct. Instead, too often, people tend to just ‘stick’ with whatever has already consumed so much time/ effort/ money/ ego invested, and gamble on the outcome being optimal. DCG can help, including our Lunch & Learn session on Decision Making. Let us help optimize your business productivity, profitability and stability!

• ‘BURNOUT’ IS DECRIBED BY WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION as “chronic workplace stress arising from exhaustion or lack of energy, increased distance from or negativity towards work, and behavior that’s less than professional.” So, workplace stress is considered the principal cause of Burnout – from working long hours hassled by bosses, clients, team members, investors, and so on. But latest study found that fewer than one in three of burned-out execs & workers attributed it to their work. Instead, they described stress in their daily lives which leads to a form of depression stemming from general psychological stress. Especially for those with more anxious personality, it was more about ‘what could go wrong’ in their lives with family, health or financial issues . [JRNL OF PSYCHOSOMATIC RESEARCH]

• ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS ALREADY MAJORLY IMPACTING ADVERTISING, and a guide to the impact on other creative industries. While ‘creative’ work is often seen as immune from automation, it appears not so. AI models are designed to predict the ‘most likely’ answer, which is often the opposite of the most ‘original’ one, while “most of the Trillion dollars spent on ads each year goes to ‘workmanlike’ campaigns with passable video or rewrite ad copy produced at the click of a button. Moreover, while fancy tools will allow millions of micro-businesses to produce functional video ads in varying languages, the global ad market is controlled by just four tech firms with over half the accounts, and will doubtfully democratize access to LLM models, more likely buying up and hoarding it. The OpenAI owner predicts that AI will one day be able to do 95% of marketing.” [ECONOMIST]

THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:

• Latest study of college student AI usage found: (1) Over 40% saying they use it Frequently, and another 40% saying Occasionally; (2) The reason they prefer technology is because “it doesn’t judge them like a human teacher or tutor, and they view it as a non-biased sounding board; (3) Basically their situation is grim – facing an uncertain job market, degrees of dubious value, and students were prepared by an education system in crisis.” [TECH TRENDS JOURNAL]

• “America’s Immigration policy is at the heart of the international Left’s declared determination to end Western civilization’s nation-state – the principal entity in which democracy is vested. The latest Los Angeles rioters were manifestly not American but international agitators, celebrating the burning of police vehicles and breakdown of order by waving Mexican & Palestinian flags. The proximate cause of local unrest was Immigration, but whether protests are Floyd-related, campus antisemitism, or baseball victory celebrations is immaterial. The ‘riots’ are coordinated by well-funded, far Left militants who seize on incipient protests and stoke them into violence against the entire superstructure of central government and the nation & civilization it represents – a sophisticated and pre-meditated attack on authority per se.” [WASHINGTON EXAMINER]

• Asian Crime syndicates have managed to launder some $44 billion is scams to black market bank accounts in America, including Bank of America which allowed hundreds of unverified customers to open accounts – 176 of which claimed the same small home as their business, according to prosecutors. [SECURE THE VILLAGE]