Tech Dive

Imagine a world where you can’t trust the videos you see of political candidates or the news articles shared on your social media feed. Could this be the future we will face as our electoral systems are increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence?  Rishi Sunak’s recent decision to call a General Election this July has sparked many exciting discussions across various sectors, including tech. One topic generating significant interest is the paper from the Centre for Emerging Technology and Security (CETaS), a research centre based at The Alan Turing Institute titled “AI- Enabled Influence Operations: The Threat to the UK General Election”. In this blog I will outline some of the key findings of the report and explore AI’s growing hand in modern elections. Note - the paper is well worth a read in full and can be found here: https://cetas.turing.ac.uk/publications/ai-enabled-influence-operations-threat-uk-general-election  The Paper  This is a project that was started wel...

So you have taken the plunge and have signed up to your first hackathon or tech challenge! This blog post will provide you with the tips you need to make your first hackathon run as smoothly as possible, and will *hopefully* help lead you to a win! What is a hackathon? A hackathon is an event where developers, and other technical professionals, work together on a project over a relatively small timeframe. The specifics vary from hackathon to hackathon: Some last 24 hours, others two months. Some are team based whilst others are individual. Some allow prep time and others do not allow any prior preparation. Taking part in a hackathon is a great way to develop your technical and soft skills and build a portfolio of projects to show off in the future. Hackathons are also a great way to practice working collaboratively, which is an essential skill for any developer. So on to the tips… Before the hackathon Read over the rules and requirements of the hackathon properly.  Some hackathons...