Technology Archives - Infohub Pakistan

DeepMind, owned by Alphabet, has unveiled a new AI chatbot called Sparrow, trained on DeepMind’s giant language model Chinchilla.

The bot can talk to humans and answer questions using Google Search for information, which humans rate on usefulness and accuracy. The sparrow is then trained using a reinforcement learning algorithm to acquire a specific object through trial and error.

AI is being developed to talk to humans without the dangerous consequences of causing harm or encouraging violence.

The large language model the bot is being trained on is generated from text that sounds like humans, collected mostly from the Internet, and it also collects inevitably biased data. Without proper safeguards in place, an AI chatbot can spew hateful and toxic discriminatory content while interacting with humans.

Companies are working to tackle this problem and are trying to come up with solutions like OpenAI, which leverages learning to incorporate human preferences into its models. This technique is incorporated into DeepMind’s Sparrow. After tests, the bot answered 78 percent of humans’ factual questions correctly. In developing the answers, the researchers set 23 rules that the bot had to avoid, similar to financial advice.

DeepMind’s safety researcher, Geoffrey Irving, says DeepMind hopes to use the method to “use dialogue in the long term for protection.” While Dovi Keela, a researcher at AI startup Hugging Face, says Sparrow is “a good next step in what follows. A general trend in AI, where we’re looking to improve the security aspects of large language model deployments.” are trying more seriously.”

According to , the model needs to be well developed before it can be used because it makes mistakes, deviates from the subject and generates random responses.

What is an online degree?

An online degree or online course allows a person to study from their home in any country, at any university or college they wish to move to a new country or city to study on a campus. People are able to study online courses wherever they are, irrespective of their region and location. You study online using online guide material notes or online resources that are available for that particular degree. These online study resources include e-books, video lectures, and presentations that are available to students. Some of the online courses offered by Open Institute include textbooks, while some allow you to source your own through booksellers and libraries.

Carefully research online degrees

When looking for online degrees, be careful because they have a lot of online courses available. Some courses do not carry a degree-level qualification and may include an enrollment fee. However, some online degrees are offered completely free and can provide insight into the higher education and distance learning experience.

If you are planning to take an online degree course, be sure to research all the information about the course to see if it will provide the quality knowledge and level of support and interaction you have been looking for. Will you get the qualification you are looking for or not? All these points should be considered while looking for an online degree as they are important to save you both time and money.

How long do online degree courses take to complete?

Some online course institutes do not set a fixed timetable for classes and lectures. They upload content weekly or every two days. While some institutes have a fixed timetable of regular classes for students. So this means that the time it takes to complete your online degree depends on the time you are able to commit to your studies. A typical campus-based undergraduate degree program takes 3 to 4 years to complete and an online degree course can take 3 to 6 years to complete. Open University online degrees give you flexibility, which means it allows you to take your time to complete your studies. However, there is a time limit within which you have to complete your online course.

Why get an online degree? Is there any benefit to it?

Earning an online degree includes several benefits. Some of them are as follows:

Study anywhere:

One of the biggest advantages of pursuing an online degree course is that you don’t have to go to a university for on-campus classes. You can easily earn your degree while studying from your home whether you are studying in any foreign or local university.

Gain global experience:

Studying online through any foreign university gives you experience and knowledge about their education. You can get to know how foreign teachers teach, their degree passing standards, variety of knowledge about their courses, their environment, their lifestyle and much more.

Study at your own pace:

You will have the flexibility to fit your schedule on a part-time or full-time basis and commit to your studies.

Value Amount:

Another advantage of pursuing an online degree program is that the fee structure of online courses is much lower than that of on-campus degree programs. Also one saves on travel, hostel, tuition and location costs to the university whether it is in your home country or a foreign university.

What are the best online degree courses offered in the UK

Many universities offer online courses that people can study from home. The most popular international university rankings do not publish rankings of the best online studies. Because we believe that finding the best online degrees is important to decide where to study.

Discover which UK universities offer the best online degree courses and degree programs so you can start studying wherever you are.

A degree from one of the UK’s best universities is globally recognized and highly valued for a number of reasons including the quality of teaching, research quality and the expertise of lecturers. Gaining this type of qualification can help you reach your career goals and help you fulfil the field you want to enter.

But travelling abroad is not always an option. This could be for personal reasons that mean you cannot leave your home country, or because you can afford it. That’s why we’ve reviewed the best universities in the UK to study online to help you get the best qualifications even if you can’t go abroad yet.

Not all universities offer online degrees and there is a lack of league tables that affect the quality of the online study.

The universities listed below may offer all types of degrees, such as distance learning bachelor’s, master’s and PhDs, or only some degree levels. Now let’s take a closer look at the best online degrees in UK universities.

What online courses can I take?

Studying online offers more flexibility, allowing you to study from your home, so accommodation, tuition and travel costs are decreased. But there are several types of online courses, including:

Distance education
Online learning
Hybrid model
Blended Education

If you want to study online temporarily but return to campus after your studies, you can look into hybrid courses that offer remote study with optional in-class learning.

Or if you want to stay in your home country for your entire course, distance learning would be a more suitable option. So now that we have cleared the basics, here are the top UK universities offering online courses.

University College London

Known for its expertise in science, medicine, engineering and business, UCL is ranked fourth in the UK (2022). You can do an online postgraduate degree at UCL which offers distance learning courses in a range of disciplines including, and.

For example, the Physics and Engineering in Medicine MSc is offered as a distance learning postgraduate course but is identical to the course delivered on campus. Students can choose to study the course for up to five years, which allows for a lot of flexibility.

Course content is taught through video lectures, online tutorials and e-learning resources. UCL also grants online short courses for personal and professional development through the University and Institute of Education’s extensive open online courses.

The university does not offer distance learning at the graduate level but has partnered with the University of London to offer online undergraduate degrees in management and social sciences. LSE is responsible for the academic direction of programs including:

Business Analytics (B.Sc.)
Accounting and Finance (B.Sc.)
Economics (B.Sc.)

Courses are delivered through self-paced independent study with 24/7 technical support in addition to live online sessions. Students can choose to learn on a desktop, mobile or tablet. These programs have four annual intakes in August, November, February and May. They can take three to six years to complete.

University of Edinburgh

Ranked 6th in the UK, the University of Edinburgh has 15 years of experience in delivering online courses including both online degrees and short online courses. Qualifications include:

Postgraduate Professional Development (up to 50 credits)
Post Graduate Diploma (120 credits)
Post Graduate Certificate (60 credits)
Master’s degree (MSc or LLM) (up to 180 credits)

A variety of Master’s degree programs are available through online study at the University of Edinburgh including:

Data Science for Health and Social Care
Digital Education
Epistemology, ethics and the mind
Global Health Policy
History
Law

You can also enhance your skills through short courses in various fields such as arts and culture, business, animal welfare, health and wellness. Overall, the university prides itself on offering online courses with the same quality as its on-campus programs.

King's College London

King’s College London is ranked 7th in the UK and is a large research university located in central London, particularly known for its expertise in healthcare. King’s College London alumni include twelve Nobel laureates, including Maurice Wilkins who discovered the structure of DNA.

If you cannot visit the campus, King’s College London offers online postgraduate programs and short online courses to students living in any part of the world.

Online master’s programs include:

Advanced Cybersecurity (MSc)
Applied Neuroscience (MSc)
(LLM)
Public health
Mental Health Psychology and Neuroscience (MSC/PGDip/PGCert)
Global Financial Analytics MSc/PGDip

The University has its own e-Learning and Teaching Service (KEATS) which can be accessed on desktop, mobile or laptop devices. Short online courses on FutureLearn are hosted and run by leading university academics.

There are six entry points each year, giving students more flexibility and choice in when to start their programme.

Whatever distance learning programme you might be searching for, one of these universities is sure to offer you the education and skills you need.

ISLAMABAD: Payments worth $34 million to international service providers have been suspended following which mobile users will not be able to download Google Play Store services from December 01, 2022, The News reported on Saturday.

The direct Carrier Billing (DCB) mechanism was stopped by the central bank after which mobile companies paid $34 million annually to international service providers including Google, Amazon and Meta.

Pakistani users will now be forced to download other international apps and pay only through credit cards or debit cards. But the credit card facility is limited to a certain number of users, so a majority of mobile users may miss out on downloading apps from the Google Play Store.

The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and four Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOS) on Friday unanimously wrote a joint letter to the State Bank, asking the DC to pay the dollar fee. B requested to withdraw its decision to cancel the procedure. Considering the liquidity crisis facing the country

Top government sources have confirmed to The News that Google services like downloading apps will not be available. They informed the relevant authorities that a balance payment of $34 million was due, so if the balance was not cleared, their services would no longer be available for download by the Google App Store.

The four mobile operators sent a joint letter to the government, stating that the telecom industry is the largest contributor to foreign direct investment, along with other significant shares in the form of taxes, responsibilities and other charges.

The role of the telecom sector in expanding the Digital Pakistan agenda cannot be overlooked. Pakistan’s digital transformation aims to benefit all social and economic sectors and therefore requires the involvement and facilitation of all stakeholders.

The State Bank of Pakistan cancelled the IT designation of telecom operators a few months ago. It was further suggested that the cases be routed on a case-to-case basis for subsequent approval. As a result, mobile operators said they are facing severe delays in obtaining approvals, resulting in critical service disruptions as they internally build IT and digital infrastructure to meet all operational requirements. Help the company in managing and provide billing management, fraud management software, and service to its customers. Payments related to Office 365, robotics automation software and digital advertising on software developers as well as major IT platforms.

The digital economy in Pakistan is heavily dependent on international service providers for hosting on cloud platforms, licenses required for services/platforms, security features and in many cases local workforce to meet international standards. Requires technical expertise.

All the major players like Google, Amazon and Meta are affected by the non-payment and are most likely to stop their services which will affect telecom and internet users unable to fulfil their needs from the digital platform. It will appear if there is. Digital banking, e-commerce, e-education, and e-health that use cloud infrastructure and licenses for both applications as well as web-based platforms are being adversely affected.

Distribution and monetization of digital platforms will be extremely difficult given the lack of distribution support and interest from the likes of Google, Amazon and Apple representing Facebook. As digital marketing is the most effective channel for all brands, products and services will shrink drastically or become unavailable, thus, impacting brands, services and products outside the digital space.

“Any possible closure of such digital services due to non-payment of payments will make a very negative representation of Pakistan in the world in this age of social media and at any cost,” the letter said. But should be prevented.

The letter concluded: “It is to the point to state here that we all understand the prevailing challenge of the deteriorating economic situation in the country and are thus willing to work amicably with the regulator (SBP); as we already working with them on import-related transactions of telecom sector to get through these difficult times.