Paul Stenhouse: AI fingerprint analysis and the continuing tech layoffs
Saturday Morning with Jack Tame · Newstalk ZB
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Show Notes
Some new research suggests our fingerprints may not be as unique as we thought they are.
The common thesis has always been that each of our fingerprints is unique, but researchers from Columbia University have run AI over 60,000 fingerprints and found that it's possible to detect when two fingerprints belong to the same person with 75-90% accuracy.
Here's the scary part - they don't know how AI is doing it, but it doesn't seem to be using the markers that forensics experts have been using for decades. It seems there is something about the curvature and the angle of the swirls in the centre that are common enough on each of our fingerprints to identify us. There are still lots of questions, like is it to do with how the samples are collected? Or do these markers change over time?
The tech layoffs continue
Google has started 2024 with another round of layoffs impacting over a thousand employees and their CEO Sundar Pichai says to brace for more. Google is actively working to cut out layers of middle management to "simplify execution", but also focusing its investments in its core areas - which has seen funding reallocated from elsewhere.
The tech sector has laid off nearly 8,000 workers so far this year, according to layoffs.fyi. Folks from Amazon, Discord, Instagram and many startups.
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