August 31, 2024
GPT apps fail to disclose data collection, study finds
Many of the GPT apps in OpenAI's GPT Store collect data and facilitate online tracking in violation of OpenAI policies, researchers claim.
Boffins from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, recently analyzed almost 120,000 GPTs and more than 2,500 Actions – embedded services – over a four-month period and found expansive data collection that's contrary to OpenAI's rules and often inadequately documented in privacy policies.
The researchers – Evin Jaff, Yuhao Wu, Ning Zhang, and Umar Iqbal – describe their findings in a paper titled "Data Exposure from LLM Apps: An In-depth Investigation of OpenAI's GPTs."
"Our measurements indicate that the disclosures for most of the collected data types are omitted in privacy policies, with only 5.8 percent of Actions clearly disclosing their data collection practices," the authors claim.
Read the full article on The Register hereMay 1, 2023
BME Senior Design Winners
Senior Design Award Winners:
— WashU Biomedical Engineering (@WashUBME) May 2, 2023
1st Place: Group 6 – Savannah Chatman, Samantha Olson, Trinh Woolridge
2nd Place: Group 11 – Ryan Gladwell, Joshua Josef, Cassandra Majewski
3rd Place: Group 8 – Miranda Copehaver, Evin Jaff, Alex Joggerst pic.twitter.com/ersd5nmEOF
May 2, 2022
BME Team Present Surgical Stent Prototype at BME Day
Very proud to have worked with these super stars from @WashUBME in the design of a novel ureteral stent to prevent and/or better detect iatrogenic ureteral injuries… thank you for choosing me and @ChrisArett @WashU_Uro as your clients, can’t wait to see what comes next! pic.twitter.com/wuNgtC2t1Z
— Nimrod Barashi, M.D. (@Uro_BarashiMD) May 2, 2022
May 5, 2020
Students answer the call to design solutions for COVID-19
Excerpt from McKelvey Engineering School Magazine:
'Smart HEPA filters'
Jaff's team aimed to design a more efficient system for monitoring HEPA filters, which help minimize airborne transmission of the virus. His team members included Max Yu, a first-year student in the College of Arts & Sciences; Alaina Bohrer, a first-year Engineering student; Brandon Chow, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences; Lilly Gonzalez, a student studying in the School of Law. In ideal conditions, all hospitals would have enough negative pressure rooms to minimize the rate of airborne infection, but as the disease progresses, there is a good chance that we will exhaust our supply of negative pressure rooms," Jaff said. "An alternative the hospitals can use to meet high demand is using a HEPA-filter system, which induces similar negative pressure but is not nearly as precise and requires more frequent monitoring."
Team members used microcontrollers and Internet of Things technology to design a system that would automate the required routine monitoring and alert nurses when the system needed manual configuration. Currently, HEPA systems are routinely checked by a nurse for any issues and nurses often expend valuable PPE equipment to monitor the systems.
"Our group focused on automating that process, allowing nurses and health care workers more time to focus on other duties, whether that be taking care of COVID-19 patients or any other sort of work they need to do," Jaff said.
Read the full article in Washington University's Engineering Magazine hereDecember 3, 2019
Help with the push of a Button
Excerpt from McKelvey Engineering Magazine:
It's a simple question: How can institutions provide help for people considering suicide?
For Evin Jaff, a first-year student majoring in biomedical engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering, the solution arrived the way many things do nowadays: through Amazon.
After losing a friend to suicide in his sophomore year of high school, he wanted to design a solution that could help prevent future deaths. He'd noticed within his own community that teens had a need for proper mental health resources but weren't taking advantage of offered services. Inspired by Amazon's Dash button technology, Jaff developed a product that connects at-risk individuals with the resources they need with the push of a button.
Read the full article in Washington University's Engineering Magazine hereSeptember 26, 2018
Seattle teen creates button for suicide prevention
Excerpt from KING 5 News:
Evin Jaff, a senior at Seattle Academy, has a love for Doritos. He even had the Amazon one-click button for the chips. Then his parents presented him with a challenge.
“[They asked] is this really the best thing you can be doing with that? Having a button that orders Doritos?” Jaff recalled.
So, when Jaff got involved with his school’s suicide prevention committee a few months later, he had an idea.
“With the click of a button it will dial a suicide prevention number for you and connect you with a hotline in under ten seconds.”
Jaff said the still-unnamed button can break down the barriers that keep people from reaching out for help.
Though the idea sounds simple – click a button and your phone connects you with a crisis hotline or family member almost instantly -- its purpose could help save lives.
Read the full article on KING 5 News here