Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related

The real reason tech struggles with algorithmic bias [Eisenstat]

On 02/13/2019, in 21st century, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, business, computer science, emerging technologies, ethics, Facebook / Meta Platforms, Google, morals/values, professional development, programming, society, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

The real reason tech struggles with algorithmic bias — from wired.com by Yael Eisenstat

Excerpts:

ARE MACHINES RACIST? Are algorithms and artificial intelligence inherently prejudiced? Do Facebook, Google, and Twitter have political biases? Those answers are complicated.

But if the question is whether the tech industry doing enough to address these biases, the straightforward response is no.
…
Humans cannot wholly avoid bias, as countless studies and publications have shown. Insisting otherwise is an intellectually dishonest and lazy response to a very real problem.
…
In my six months at Facebook, where I was hired to be the head of global elections integrity ops in the company’s business integrity division, I participated in numerous discussions about the topic. I did not know anyone who intentionally wanted to incorporate bias into their work. But I also did not find anyone who actually knew what it meant to counter bias in any true and methodical way.

But the company has created its own sort of insular bubble in which its employees’ perception of the world is the product of a number of biases that are engrained within the Silicon Valley tech and innovation scene.

Reflections on “135 Million Reasons To Believe In A Blockchain Miracle” [Maddock]

On 02/09/2019, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Blockchain, change, changing business models, emerging technologies, India, internet, law schools, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, new business models, political science, by Daniel Christian

135 Million Reasons To Believe In A Blockchain Miracle — from forbes.com by Mike Maddock

Excerpts:

Which brings us to the latest headlines about a cryptocurrency entrepreneur’s passing—taking with him the passcode to unlock C$180 million (about $135 million U.S.) in investor currency—which is now reportedly gone forever. Why? Because apparently, the promise of blockchain is true: It cannot be hacked. It is absolutely trustworthy.

Gerald Cotton, the CEO of a crypto company, reportedly passed away recently while building an orphanage in India. Unfortunately, he was the only person who knew the passcode to access the millions his investors had entrusted in him.

…

This is how we get the transition to Web 3.0.

Some questions to consider:

Who will build an easy-to-use “wallet” of the future?
Are we responsible enough to handle that much power?

Perhaps the most important question of all is: What role do our “trusted” experts play in this future?

From DSC:
I’d like to add another question to Mike’s article:

How should law schools, law firms, legislative bodies, government, etc. deal with the new, exponential pace of change and with the power of emerging technologies like #blockchain , #AI, #ML , #FacialRecognition etc.?

Google is bringing translation to its Home speakers [Newman]

On 02/08/2019, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, Google, innovation, languages and translation, Natural Language Processing (NLP), platforms, technologies for your home, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, by Daniel Christian

Google is bringing translation to its Home speakers — from businessinsider.com by Peter Newman

Excerpt:

Google has added real-time translation capabilities to its Google Home smart speakers, the Home Hub screened speaker, as well as other screened devices from third parties, according to Android Police.

Also see:

Google Assistant is now your multilingual interpreter — from androidpolice.com by Hagop Kavafian

AI bias: 9 questions leaders should ask [Casey]

On 02/01/2019, in 21st century, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, corporate / business world, emerging technologies, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, intelligent systems, MBA, organizational change, platforms, workplace, by Daniel Christian

AI bias: 9 questions leaders should ask — from enterprisersproject.com by Kevin Casey
Artificial intelligence bias can create problems ranging from bad business decisions to injustice. Use these questions to fight off potential biases in your AI systems.

Excerpt:

People questions to ask about AI bias
1. Who is building the algorithms?
2. Do your AI & ML teams take responsibility for how their work will be used?
3. Who should lead an organization’s effort to identify bias in its AI systems?
4. How is my training data constructed?

Data questions to ask about AI bias
5. Is the data set comprehensive?
6. Do you have multiple sources of data?

Management questions to ask about AI bias
7. What proportion of resources is appropriate for an organization to devote to assessing potential bias?
8. Have you thought deeply about what metrics you use to evaluate your work?
9. How can we test for bias in training data?

13 industries soon to be revolutionized by artificial intelligence [Forbes Technology Council]

On 01/30/2019, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, corporate / business world, education, education technology, emerging technologies, health, internet, IT in HE, nursing, trends, United States, workplace, by Daniel Christian

13 industries soon to be revolutionized by artificial intelligence — from forbes.com by the Forbes Technology Council

Excerpt:

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have a rapidly growing presence in today’s world, with applications ranging from heavy industry to education. From streamlining operations to informing better decision making, it has become clear that this technology has the potential to truly revolutionize how the everyday world works.

While AI and ML can be applied to nearly every sector, once the technology advances enough, there are many fields that are either reaping the benefits of AI right now or that soon will be. According to a panel of Forbes Technology Council members, here are 13 industries that will soon be revolutionized by AI.

Emerging technology trends can seem both elusive and ephemeral, but some become integral to business and IT strategies—and form the backbone of tomorrow’s technology innovation. The eight chapters of Tech Trends 2019 look to guide CIOs through today’s most promising trends, with an eye toward innovation and growth and a spotlight on emerging trends that may well offer new avenues for pursuing strategic ambitions.

Amazon is pushing facial technology that a study says could be biased [Singer]

On 01/29/2019, in Amazon, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, data related items, emerging technologies, ethics, IBM, law schools, legislatures / government / legal, morals/values, platforms, society, technology (general), the downsides of how people use tech, tools, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Amazon is pushing facial technology that a study says could be biased — from nytimes.com by Natasha Singer
In new tests, Amazon’s system had more difficulty identifying the gender of female and darker-skinned faces than similar services from IBM and Microsoft.

Excerpt:

Over the last two years, Amazon has aggressively marketed its facial recognition technology to police departments and federal agencies as a service to help law enforcement identify suspects more quickly. It has done so as another tech giant, Microsoft, has called on Congress to regulate the technology, arguing that it is too risky for companies to oversee on their own.

Now a new study from researchers at the M.I.T. Media Lab has found that Amazon’s system, Rekognition, had much more difficulty in telling the gender of female faces and of darker-skinned faces in photos than similar services from IBM and Microsoft. The results raise questions about potential bias that could hamper Amazon’s drive to popularize the technology.

UIX: When the future comes to West Michigan, will we be ready? [Russell]

On 01/28/2019, in 21st century, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, change, colleges, community colleges, computer science, corporate / business world, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, future, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, ideas, intelligent systems, law schools, legislatures / government / legal, lifelong learning, Michigan, pace of change, platforms, reinvent, RSS, society, staying relevant, streams of content, student-related, surviving, technologies for your home, technology (general), the downsides of how people use tech, tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

UIX: When the future comes to West Michigan, will we be ready? — from rapidgrowthmedia.com by Matthew Russell

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

“Here in the United States, if we were to personify things a bit, it’s almost like society is anxiously calling out to an older sibling (i.e., emerging technologies), ‘Heh! Wait up!!!'” Christian says. “This trend has numerous ramifications.”

Out of those ramifications, Christian names three main points that society will have to address to fully understand, make use of, and make practical, future technologies.

The need for the legal/legislative side of the world to close the gap between what’s possible and what’s legal
The need for lifelong learning and to reinvent oneself
The need to make pulse-checking/futurism an essential tool in the toolbox of every member of the workforce today and in the future

Photos by Adam Bird

From DSC:
The key thing that I was trying to relay in my contribution towards Matthew’s helpful article was that we are now on an exponential trajectory of technological change. This trend has ramifications for numerous societies around the globe, and it involves the legal realm as well. Hopefully, all of us in the workforce are coming to realize our need to be constantly pulse-checking the relevant landscapes around us. To help make that happen, each of us needs to be tapping into the appropriate “streams of content” that are relevant to our careers so that our knowledgebases are as up-to-date as possible. We’re all into lifelong learning now, right?

Along these lines, increasingly there is a need for futurism to hit the mainstream. That is, when the world is moving at 120+mph, the skills and methods that futurists follow must be better taught and understood, or many people will be broadsided by the changes brought about by emerging technologies. We need to better pulse-check the relevant landscapes, anticipate the oncoming changes, develop potential scenarios, and then design the strategies to respond to those potential scenarios.

Two articles regarding Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the K-12 classroom

On 01/26/2019, in 21st century, Amazon, Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, computer science, curriculum, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, Google, K-12 related, online learning, teachers, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

Online curricula helps teachers tackle AI in the classroom — from educationdive.com by Lauren Barack

Dive Brief:

Schools may already use some form of artificial intelligence (AI), but hardly any have curricula designed to teach K-12 students how it works and how to use it, wrote EdSurge. However, organizations such as the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) are developing their own sets of lessons that teachers can take to their classrooms.
Members of “AI for K-12” — an initiative co-sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence and the Computer Science Teachers Association — wrote in a paper that an AI curriculum should address five basic ideas:
- Computers use sensors to understand what goes on around them.
- Computers can learn from data.
- With this data, computers can create models for reasoning.
- While computers are smart, it’s hard for them to understand people’s emotions, intentions and natural languages, making interactions less comfortable.
- AI can be a beneficial tool, but it can also harm society.
These kinds of lessons are already at play among groups including the Boys and Girls Club of Western Pennsylvania, which has been using a program from online AI curriculum site ReadyAI. The education company lent its AI-in-a-Box kit, which normally sells for $3,000, to the group so it could teach these concepts.

AI curriculum is coming for K-12 at last. What will it include? — from edsurge.com by Danielle Dreilinger

Excerpt:

Artificial intelligence powers Amazon’s recommendations engine, Google Translate and Siri, for example. But few U.S. elementary and secondary schools teach the subject, maybe because there are so few curricula available for students. Members of the “AI for K-12” work group wrote in a recent Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence white paper that “unlike the general subject of computing, when it comes to AI, there is little guidance for teaching at the K-12 level.”

But that’s starting to change. Among other advances, ISTE and AI4All are developing separate curricula with support from General Motors and Google, respectively, according to the white paper. Lead author Dave Touretzky of Carnegie Mellon has developed his own curriculum, Calypso. It’s part of the “AI-in-a-Box” kit, which is being used by more than a dozen community groups and school systems, including Carter’s class.

What does it say when a legal blockchain eBook has 1.7M views (in 2 weeks time)? [Cohen]

On 01/24/2019, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Australia, Blockchain, bots, career development, change, emerging technologies, human-computer interaction (HCI), intelligent systems, internet, law schools, legislatures / government / legal, pace of change, technology (general), vendors, workplace, by Daniel Christian

What does it say when a legal blockchain eBook has 1.7M views? — from legalmosaic.com by Mark A. Cohen

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

“Blockchain For Lawyers,” a recently-released eBook by Australian legal tech company Legaler, drew 1.7M views in two weeks. What does that staggering number say about blockchain, legal technology, and the legal industry? Clearly, blockchain is a hot legal topic, along with artificial intelligence (AI), and legal tech generally.
…
Legal practice and delivery are each changing. New practice areas like cryptocurrency, cybersecurity, and Internet law are emerging as law struggles to keep pace with the speed of business change in the digital age. Concurrently, several staples of traditional practice–research, document review, etc.– are becoming automated and/or no longer performed by law firm associates. There is more “turnover” of practice tasks, more reliance on machines and non-licensed attorneys to mine data and provide domain expertise used by lawyers, and more collaboration than ever before. The emergence of new industries demands that lawyers not only provide legal expertise in support of new areas but also that they possess intellectual agility to master them quickly. Many practice areas law students will encounter have yet to be created. That means that all lawyers will be required to be more agile than their predecessors and engage in ongoing training.

Amazon has 10,000 employees dedicated to Alexa — here are some of the areas they’re working on [Hartmans]

On 01/23/2019, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Amazon, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, Bring your own device (BYOD), business, Canvas - and other Instructure-related items, career development, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, computer science, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, future, game-changing environment, global / globalization, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, internet, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, lifelong learning, microlearning, mobile learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Near Field Communication (NFC), personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, smart classrooms, society, technologies for your home, tools, training / L&D, trends, TVs, United States, using teams, vendors, vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Amazon has 10,000 employees dedicated to Alexa — here are some of the areas they’re working on — from businessinsider.com by Avery Hartmans

Summary (emphasis DSC):

Amazon’s vice president of Alexa, Steve Rabuchin, has confirmed that yes, there really are 10,000 Amazon employees working on Alexa and the Echo.
Those employees are focused on things like machine learning and making Alexa more knowledgeable.
Some employees are working on giving Alexa a personality, too.

From DSC:
How might this trend impact learning spaces? For example, I am interested in using voice to intuitively “drive” smart classroom control systems:

“Alexa, turn on the projector”
“Alexa, dim the lights by 50%”
“Alexa, open Canvas and launch my Constitutional Law I class”

AI fail: Japan’s Henn-na Hotel dumps ‘annoying’ robot staff, hires humans [Ryall]

On 01/21/2019, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, business, future, game-changing environment, robotics, society, tools, workplace, by Daniel Christian

AI fail: Japan’s Henn-na Hotel dumps ‘annoying’ robot staff, hires humans — from scmp.com by Julian Ryall
Dinosaur receptionists are a thing of the past as Japan’s first robot hotel concludes there “are places where they are just not needed”

Excerpt:

The hotel decided to withdraw the dinosaur and humanoid robots that staffed front desks at its properties because they were unable to respond to queries from guests about local attractions or access to airports. Humans were also on stand-by every time a guest’s passport needed to be registered.

That said, also see:

AI predictions for 2019 from Yann LeCun, Hilary Mason, Andrew Ng, and Rumman Chowdhury — from venturebeat.com by Khair Johnson

Excerpt:

In the year ahead, Chowdhury expects to see more government scrutiny and regulation of tech around the world.

“AI and the power that is wielded by the global tech giants raises a lot of questions about how to regulate the industry and the technology,” she said. “In 2019, we will have to start coming up with the answers to these questions — how do you regulate a technology when it is a multipurpose tool with context-specific outcomes? How do you create regulation that doesn’t stifle innovation or favor large companies (who can absorb the cost of compliance) over small startups? At what level do we regulate? International? National? Local?”

She also expects to see the continued evolution of AI’s role in geopolitical matters.

“This is more than a technology, it is an economy- and society-shaper. We reflect, scale, and enforce our values in this technology, and our industry needs to be less naive about the implications of what we build and how we build it,” she said. For this to happen, she believes people need to move beyond the idea common in the AI industry that if we don’t build it, China will, as if creation alone is where power lies.

“We hold the responsibility of recreating the world in a way that is more just, more fair, and more equitable while we have the rare opportunity to do so. This moment in time is fleeting; let’s not squander it.”

Gartner survey shows 37% of organizations have implemented AI in some form [gartner.com]

On 01/21/2019, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, business, career development, change, computer science, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, emerging technologies, pace of change, platforms, programming, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Gartner survey shows 37% of organizations have implemented AI in some form — from gartner.com
Despite talent shortages, the percentage of enterprises employing AI grew 270% over the past four years

Excerpt:

The number of enterprises implementing artificial intelligence (AI) grew 270 percent in the past four years and tripled in the past year, according to the Gartner, Inc. 2019 CIO Survey. Results showed that organizations across all industries use AI in a variety of applications, but struggle with acute talent shortages.

The deployment of AI has tripled in the past year — rising from 25 percent in 2018 to 37 percent today. The reasons for this big jump is that AI capabilities have matured significantly and thus enterprises are more willing to implement the technology. “We still remain far from general AI that can wholly take over complex tasks, but we have now entered the realm of AI-augmented work and decision science — what we call ‘augmented intelligence,’” Mr. Howard added.

Key Findings from the “2019 CIO Survey: CIOs Have Awoken to the Importance of AI”

The percentage of enterprises deploying artificial intelligence (AI) has tripled in the past year.
CIOs picked AI as the top game-changer technology.
Enterprises use AI in a wide variety of applications.
AI suffers from acute talent shortages.

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