Scan me! I double dog dare you!!

Sinisa Markovic reminds us that while QR codes have always held a bit of danger to them, their ubiquitousness and newer fancier designs can make them even more dangerous. He writes, "QR codes hide their destination until scanned." "Fancy QR codes further complicate detection. Their layouts no longer resemble the familiar black and white grid. Logos appear in the center. Modules become rounded, stretched, or recolored. Background images blend into the code. These design changes preserve scan success while disrupting visual and structural assumptions used by existing detection tools." Be careful out there. "According to reporting by NordVPN, 73% of Americans scan QR codes without verifying the destination, and more than 26 million users have been redirected to malicious websites." To help avoid quishing scams, be sure to read more at HELPNETSECURITY: QR codes are getting colorful, fancy, and dangerous

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Brain Capital

The brain is a fascinating organ. I have come to appreciate its complexities even more as my mother's Alzheimer's gets worse. The McKinsey Health Institute/World Economic Forum report calls for "investing in the brain," which I think is a wise choice regardless of the status of artificial intelligence. According to this post, the report lists "five levers for action" and offers "a road map for next steps." The steps are:
1. Safeguard brain health by ensuring access to effective care for brain health conditions and promoting brain health across the life course.
2. Foster brain skills for the next generation, current workers, and those in later life.
3. Study brain capital by defining it as an interdisciplinary field, developing robust measures, and expanding research and development to drive progress.
4. Invest in brain capital by funding products, services, and systems that improve brain capital, using both traditional and innovative financial instruments.
5. Mobilize for brain capital by forging a coordinated global movement that aligns stakeholders around a shared vision and road map to build brain capital.
Not exactly what I expected to read. I may have to go back to the source report. Set aside some additional time to improve your brain capital by reading more at McKinsey Health Institute: The human advantage: Stronger brains in the age of AI

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Something is missing?

I'd love to sit down with Tomas Arvizu and discuss the legal AI market or have him on a panel at ILTACON. His post and the report, "2026 Report on the State of the US Legal Market" address many things but I'm going to zero in on what I think it missing from the "bubble" discussion. I've downloaded the 23-page report (it will cost you your email address) but have not had a chance to review it yet so my questions and comments may be addressed there. The first is the issue of whether or not we'd see a legal-specific AI bubble pop before the general industry bubble might pop. I focus on that first because the arguments are heating up on the cost and the value of legal specific AI wrappers over the generic AI tools. I don't think there is enough demand for so many generic AI tools, let alone the even larger number of legal-specific generative AI tools. None of the legal players have the funding of OpenAI, Google or the other big players. And differentiation of those legal wrappers when they all access the same LLMs on the backend will get harder as time progresses. Much like the Word vs WordPerfect battle, choose the wrong AI player and your efforts and investments could be moot. If we look to where the industry ended up with legal research, photocopies and telephone charges, it went from fully billable to overhead. From what I've seen, AI is stuck in the overhead bucket even as firms move out of their experimentation phases. We'll turn to Don Ho for our background music as you read more at Thomson Reuters Blog: State of the US Legal Market 2026 analysis: Will the AI bubble burst? A crucial warning for law firms

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Jeffrey Brandt, Editor

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