Digital
‘Twitter has spoken’, says Musk as 65% back his claims on fake users in poll
Mumbai: The Twitter-Elon Musk wrangle does not seem to be resolving itself any time soon, with both sides trading charges and counter charges. A Twitter poll by the Tesla CEO has revealed that nearly 65 per cent of his followers do not believe Twitter’s claims on the percentage of fake/spam accounts on the platform.
The Tesla CEO conducted the poll on Saturday on whether “less than five per cent of Twitter daily users are fake/spam?” to be answered with a Yes/No. The billionaire triumphantly declared the results of the online poll on Monday: “Twitter has spoken …”, disclosing that 64.9 per cent of over eight lakh users who participated in the poll believe that Twitter’s claims that less than five per cent of its active users are bots is not true.
Twitter has spoken …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2022
Some of the Twitterati went so far as to accuse the networking giant of trying to hide its actual bot count, with Musk emphatically agreeing to the accusation.
The Tesla CEO is engaged in a fierce legal battle with Twitter after he backed out of his $44 billion acquisition deal, claiming the social media giant did not keep up its part of the deal by disclosing the correct data on spam and bot accounts on the platform. Twitter claims that spam profiles account for only five per cent of its daily active users.
Earlier, Musk challenged Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal to a “public debate” over the issue of fake accounts on the platform. In multiple tweets, while replying to a follower’s tweet summarising the highlights of the $44 billion acquisition offer to buy Twitter, Musk asserted that the social media company’s method of estimating spam bots and accounts is flawed and “materially false.”
The billionaire currently faces a lawsuit after breaching the $44 billion acquisition agreement of the social media company.
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Digital
Ethical AI must benefit society, not dominate it, says WFEB chief Sanjay Pradhan at IAA event
At Mumbai event, ethics expert urges businesses and governments to shape AI responsibly
MUMBAI: Artificial intelligence may be racing ahead at lightning speed, but its direction must still be guided by human conscience. That was the central message delivered by Sanjay Pradhan, president of the World Forum for Ethics in Business (WFEB), during the latest edition of IAA Conversations held in Mumbai.
The session was organised by the International Advertising Association (IAA) and the Artificial Intelligence Association of India (AIAI) in association with The Free Press Journal at the Free Press House on 7 March. Addressing a packed audience, Pradhan called for stronger ethical leadership to ensure AI remains a tool that benefits humanity rather than one that governs it.
“Artificial intelligence has rapidly become one of the most powerful technologies humanity has created,” Pradhan said. “It is unlocking breakthroughs in medicine, science and creativity at a pace unimaginable just a few years ago.”
But he warned that the same technology carries serious risks. AI, he noted, can amplify disinformation faster than facts can travel, compromise privacy, deepen discrimination and disrupt millions of livelihoods. Referencing concerns raised by AI pioneers such as Geoffrey Hinton, often called the godfather of AI, Pradhan stressed that the real challenge is not whether AI will shape the world, but whether humans will shape it with ethics and wisdom.
Structuring his talk around four guiding questions, why, what, how and who, Pradhan introduced the audience to WFEB’s emerging AI Ethics Partnership, a global platform aimed at advancing responsible artificial intelligence. He outlined four priority concerns that demand urgent attention: disinformation, bias and discrimination, data privacy and job security.
To make the idea of ethical AI easier to grasp, Pradhan offered a simple metaphor. Ethical AI, he said, is like a three layered cake. The outer layer represents the visible value ethical AI creates for businesses and society. The middle layer is organisational culture that moves ethics from written codes to everyday practice. The innermost layer, however, is the most crucial, the conscience of individual leaders.
Drawing from Indian philosophical thought through WFEB co-founder Ravi Shankar, Pradhan noted that while artificial intelligence can reproduce stored knowledge, true intelligence is boundless and rooted in conscience, creativity and compassion. Practices such as breathwork and meditation, he suggested, can help leaders develop the calm clarity needed for ethical decision making.
The event also featured a discussion with Maninder Adityaraj Singh, chief of staff and head of innovation at Rediffusion Brand Solutions Pvt Ltd, and Yash Johri, lawyer, Supreme Court of India.
Opening the session, IAA India chapter president Abhishek Karnani, highlighted the need for industries to understand and engage with AI responsibly.
“AI has to be befriended and understood,” added Rediffusion managing director and AIAI national convenor Sandeep Goyal. “Its ethical use will determine whether it becomes a friend or a foe.”
As AI continues to reshape industries and societies, Pradhan ended with a simple but powerful call to action. Businesses, governments and individuals must work together to ensure that the algorithms shaping the future reflect human values rather than just cold logic.
