emerging technologies

Pro:

AI-powered chatbots automate IT help at Dartmouth — from edscoop.com by Ryan Johnston

Excerpt:

To prevent a backlog of IT requests and consultations during the coronavirus pandemic, Dartmouth College has started relying on AI-powered chatbots to act as an online service desk for students and faculty alike, the school said Wednesday.

Since last fall, the Hanover, New Hampshire, university’s roughly 6,600 students and 900 faculty have been able to consult with “Dart” — the virtual assistant’s name — to ask IT or service-related questions related to the school’s technology. More than 70% of the time, their question is resolved by the chatbot, said Muddu Sudhakar, the co-founder and CEO of Aisera, the company behind the software.

Con:

The Foundations of AI Are Riddled With Errors — from wired.com by Will Knight
The labels attached to images used to train machine-vision systems are often wrong. That could mean bad decisions by self-driving cars and medical algorithms.

Excerpt:

“What this work is telling the world is that you need to clean the errors out,”says Curtis Northcutt, a PhD student at MIT who led the new work.“Otherwise the models that you think are the best for your real-world business problem could actually be wrong.”

Reflections on “The metaverse: real world laws give rise to virtual world problems” [Pryor]

On 03/28/2021, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, innovation, law schools, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, pace of change, policy, political science, society, the downsides of how people use tech, United States, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, by Daniel Christian

The metaverse: real world laws give rise to virtual world problems — from cityam.com by Gregor Pryor

Legal questions
Like many technological advances, from the birth of the internet to more modern-day phenomena such as the use of big data and artificial intelligence (AI), the metaverse will in some way challenge the legal status quo.

Whilst the growth and adoption of the metaverse will raise age-old legal questions, it will also generate a number of unique legal and regulatory obstacles that need to be overcome.

From DSC:
I’m posting this because this is another example of why we have to pick up the pace within the legal realm. Organizations like the American Bar Association (ABA) are going to have to pick up the pace big time. Society has been being impacted by a variety of emerging technologies such as these. And such changes are far from being over. Law schools need to assess their roles and responsibilities in this new world as well.

Addendum on 3/29/21:
Below are some more examples from Jason Tashea’s “The Justice Tech Download” e-newsletter:

Florida prisons buy up location data from data brokers. (Techdirt) A prison mail surveillance company keeps tabs on those on the outside, too. (VICE)
Police reform requires regulating surveillance tech. (Patch) (h/t Rebecca Williams) A police camera that never tires stirs unease at the US First Circuit Court of Appeals. (Courthouse News)
A Florida sheriff’s office was sued for using its predictive policing program to harass residents. (Techdirt)
A map of e-carceration in the US. (Media Justice) (h/t Upturn)
This is what happens when ICE asks Google for your user information. (Los Angeles Times)
Data shows the NYPD seized 55,000 phones in 2020, and it returned less than 35,000 of them. (Techdirt)
The SAFE TECH Act will make the internet less safe for sex workers. (OneZero)
A New York lawmaker wants to ban the use of armed robots by police. (Wired)
A look at the first wave of government accountability of algorithms. (AI Now Institute) The algorithmic auditing trap. (OneZero)
The (im)possibility of fairness: Different value systems require different mechanisms for fair decision making. (Association for Computing Machinery)
A new open dataset has 510 commercial legal contracts with 13,000+ labels. (Atticus Project)
JusticeText co-founder shares her experience building tech for public defenders. (Law360)

Bitcoin – The Currency Of The Future [Javaid]

On 03/28/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, economics, emerging technologies, future, global / globalization, society, by Daniel Christian

Bitcoin – The Currency Of The Future — from bitrebels.com by Faizan Javaid

Excerpt:

In its relatively short lifespan, Bitcoin has managed to grow from only a small movement of computer fanatics, Cypherpunks, and cryptographers into an increasingly mainstream phenomenon. Not only that but it is supported by a blueprint and ethos that could very well lead to a redesign of the internet and the financial system we know today. In its wake, many financial analysts, supporters as well as skeptics seem to be faced with the same question: Could Bitcoin be the currency of the future?

From DSC:
I like the last sentence. That should have been the title of the article — i.e., “Could Bitcoin be the currency of the future?”

A New York Lawmaker Wants to Ban Police Use of Armed Robots [Fussell]

On 03/27/2021, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, emerging technologies, future, legal reform, legislatures / government / legal, policy, political science, robotics, society, by Daniel Christian

A New York Lawmaker Wants to Ban Police Use of Armed Robots — from wired.com by Sidney Fussell
Officers’ use of Boston Robotics’ Digidog intensifies concerns about militarization of the police.

Excerpt:

NEW YORK CITY councilmember Ben Kallos says he “watched in horror” last month when city police responded to a hostage situation in the Bronx using Boston Dynamics’ Digidog, a remotely operated robotic dog equipped with surveillance cameras. Pictures of the Digidog went viral on Twitter, in part due to their uncanny resemblance with world-ending machines in the Netflix sci-fi series Black Mirror.

How a Discriminatory Algorithm Wrongly Accused Thousands of Families of Fraud [Geiger]

On 03/26/2021, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, emerging technologies, ethics, Europe, law schools, legal reform, legislatures / government / legal, morals/values, policy, political science, society, sociology, the downsides of how people use tech, United States, by Daniel Christian

How a Discriminatory Algorithm Wrongly Accused Thousands of Families of Fraud — from vice.com by Gabriel Geiger; with thanks to Sam DeBrule for this resource
Dutch tax authorities used algorithms to automate an austere and punitive war on low-level fraud—the results were catastrophic.

Excerpt:

Last month, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte—along with his entire cabinet—resigned after a year and a half of investigations revealed that since 2013, 26,000 innocent families were wrongly accused of social benefits fraud partially due to a discriminatory algorithm.

Forced to pay back money they didn’t owe, many families were driven to financial ruin, and some were torn apart. Others were left with lasting mental health issues; people of color were disproportionately the victims.

On a more positive note, Sam DeBrule (in his Machine Learnings e-newsletter) also notes the following article:

Can artificial intelligence combat wildfires? Sonoma County tests new technology — from latimes.com by Alex Wigglesworth

14th Annual Edition | 2021 Tech Trends Report — from the Future Today Institute

Our 2021 Tech Trends Report is designed to help you confront deep uncertainty, adapt and thrive. For this year’s edition, the magnitude of new signals required us to create 12 separate volumes, and each report focuses on a cluster of related trends. In total, we’ve analyzed nearly 500 technology and science trends across multiple industry sectors. In each volume, we discuss the disruptive forces, opportunities and strategies that will drive your organization in the near future.

Now, more than ever, your organization should examine the potential near and long-term impact of tech trends. You must factor the trends in this report into your strategic thinking for the coming year, and adjust your planning, operations and business models accordingly. But we hope you will make time for creative exploration. From chaos, a new world will come.

Some example items noted in this report:

Natural language processing is an area experiencing high interest, investment, and growth.
+ No-code or low-code systems are unlocking new use cases for businesses.
Amazon Web Services, Azure, and Google Cloud’s low-code and no-code offerings will trickle down to everyday people, allowing them to create their own artificial intelligence applications and deploy them as easily as they could a website.
The race is on to capture AI cloudshare—and to become the most trusted provider of AI on remote servers.
COVID-19 accelerated the use of AI in drug discovery last year. The first trial of an AI-discovered drug is underway in Japan.

Items re: AI — via Sam DeBrule’s “Machine Learnings” e-Newsletter

On 03/22/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), change, emerging technologies, ethics, legislatures / government / legal, morals/values, parents/guardians, platforms, political science, privacy, society, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, United States, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
The items below are from Sam DeBrule’s Machine Learnings e-Newsletter.

#Awesome

“Sonoma County is adding artificial intelligence to its wildfire-fighting arsenal. The county has entered into an agreement with the South Korean firm Alchera to outfit its network of fire-spotting cameras with software that detects wildfire activity and then alerts authorities. The technology sifts through past and current images of terrain and searches for certain changes, such as flames burning in darkness, or a smoky haze obscuring a tree-lined hillside, according to Chris Godley, the county’s director of emergency management…The software will use feedback from humans to refine its algorithm and will eventually be able to detect fires on its own — or at least that’s what county officials hope.” – Alex Wigglesworth Learn More from Los Angeles Times >

#Not Awesome

Hacked Surveillance Camera Firm Shows Staggering Scale of Facial Recognition — from
A hacked customer list shows that facial recognition company Verkada is deployed in tens of thousands of schools, bars, stores, jails, and other businesses around the country.

Excerpt:

Hackers have broken into Verkada, a popular surveillance and facial recognition camera company, and managed to access live feeds of thousands of cameras across the world, as well as siphon a Verkada customer list. The breach shows the astonishing reach of facial recognition-enabled cameras in ordinary workplaces, bars, parking lots, schools, stores, and more.

The staggering list includes K-12 schools, seemingly private residences marked as “condos,” shopping malls, credit unions, multiple universities across America and Canada, pharmaceutical companies, marketing agencies, pubs and bars, breweries, a Salvation Army center, churches, the Professional Golfers Association, museums, a newspaper’s office, airports, and more.

Will holographic displays change what we mean by web-based collaborations, communications, presentations? Plus several other relevant Q’s [Christian]

On 03/18/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, collaboration, communications, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, distance education, drama/theater, education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, interface design, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, media/film, online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, platforms, society, storytelling, streams of content, teaching online, telelegal, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, tools, training / L&D, user experience (UX), vendors, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, by Daniel Christian

ARHT Media Inc.
Access The Power Of HoloPresence | Hologram Technology | Holographic Displays | Hologram Events

Excerpt:

ARHT Media mounted a holographic display at the event in Vancouver and had Sunlife’s executive captured and transmitted live as a hologram to the event from our Toronto studio. He was able to see the audience and interact with them in realtime as if he was attending the event and present in the room.

From DSC:

Will holographic displays change what we mean by web-based collaboration?
Will this be a part of the future learning ecosystems inside of higher education? Inside of the corporate training world? Inside the world of events and webinars?
How will this type of emerging technology impact our communications? Levels of engagement?
Will this type of thing impact telehealth? Telelegal?
How will this impact storytelling? Media? Drama/acting? Games?
Will the price come down to where online and blended learning will use this type of thing?
Will streams of content be offered by holographic displays?

The Future of Higher Ed Viewed from Cape Town, South Africa — from eliterate.us by Michael Feldstein

Excerpt:

A while back, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by friends at the University of Cape Town about the future of higher education as part of a short video they were compiling for their senior leadership. Here’s what they came up with:

GPT-3: We’re at the very beginning of a new app ecosystem [Rao]

On 03/06/2021, in emerging technologies, experimentation, game-changing environment, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interaction design, interactivity, Natural Language Processing (NLP), vendors, vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, wearables, by Daniel Christian

GPT-3: We’re at the very beginning of a new app ecosystem — from venturebeat.com by Dattaraj Rao

From DSC: NLP=Natural Language Processing (i.e., think voice-driven interfaces/interactivity).

Excerpt:

Despite the hype, questions persist as to whether GPT-3 will be the bedrock upon which an NLP application ecosystem will rest or if newer, stronger NLP models with knock it off its throne. As enterprises begin to imagine and engineer NLP applications, here’s what they should know about GPT-3 and its potential ecosystem.

Student Builds Volumetric 3D TV To Complete Bachelor’s Program — from vrscout.com by Bobby Carlton

In the end, they ended up building a volumetric 3D closed-circuit TV system capable of producing live holographic imager; I’d say that’s pretty noteworthy.

From DSC:
If we can imagine it…

Addendum on 3/12/21:

The Top 5 Technologies for Innovation Leaders in Electronics and IT [Lux Research]

On 03/05/2021, in emerging technologies, future, innovation, internet, IT in HE, machine-to-machine communications, Natural Language Processing (NLP), vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, by Daniel Christian

The Top 5 Technologies for Innovation Leaders in Electronics and IT
Digital biomarkers, edge computing, and AI-enabled sensors are among the top technologies transforming the electronics landscape, according to Lux Research

BOSTON, MA, MARCH 4, 2021?– Digital transformation is one of the hottest topics in every industry, and as consumers are eagerly adopting increasing amounts of digital tech, electronics, and IT players have a unique opportunity to impact more industries than ever before. To help guide innovation in this booming space, Lux Research released its annual report, “Foresight 2021: Top Emerging Technologies to Watch.”
…
Lux’s annual report analyzes the digital transformation space, reviewing what topics emerged and which technologies gained traction during 2020. Its expert analysis of the hottest innovation topics and best tech startups found that the top five technologies electronics and IT innovation leaders should look to in the next decade are:

AI-Enabled Sensors – Merging hardware and software to collect and validate critical data will be a major part of use cases from consumer wearables to medical devices to industrial IoT.
Digital Biomarkers – Using data analytics to detect disease through changes in streams of data analytics is a potent path for electronics companies to grab a piece of the healthcare pie.
Natural Language Processing – Natural language processing (NLP) allows electronics and IT players to extend into new services and industry segments, either by using it to leverage their own data or by providing it as a service.
Edge Computing – Limitations in bandwidth and latency are pushing critical computation away from the cloud and out to the edge, with rapidly improving hardware and software enablers.
Synthetic Data – AI needs vast amounts of training data, and when real data is scarce, synthetic data can be a solution. It also boosts data diversity and privacy.

From DSC:
Some things to keep on your radar…

The Future of Wearable Computing May Be Augmented Reality [Russey]

On 03/04/2021, in Augmented Reality (AR), emerging technologies, future, ideas, innovation, vision/possibilities, wearables, by Daniel Christian

The Future of Wearable Computing May Be Augmented Reality – Newest Developments in AR Glasses — from wearable-technologies.com by Cathy Russey

Excerpt:

From healthcare to factory floors, augmented reality glasses are aiding people in various professions do their job efficiently. Doctors use them to conduct precise surgery and factory workers use them for productivity, efficiency, and safety. AR glasses have been identified as a vital technology supporting shop-floor operators in the smart factories of the future.

A wave of billion-dollar computer vision startups is coming [Toews]

On 03/04/2021, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, change, corporate / business world, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, future, innovation, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

A wave of billion-dollar computer vision startups is coming — from forbes.com by Rob Toews

Excerpt:

Today, computer vision is finding applications across every sector of the economy. From agriculture to retail, from insurance to construction, entrepreneurs are applying computer vision to a wide range of industry-specific use cases with compelling economic upside.

Expect to see many computer vision startups among the next generation of “unicorns.” A crop of high-growth computer vision companies is nearing an inflection point, poised to break out to commercial scale and mainstream prominence. It is an exciting and pivotal time in the technology’s journey from research to market.

AI in the Legal Industry: 3 Impacts and 3 Obstacles [exigent-group.com]

On 02/20/2021, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, culture, emerging technologies, innovation, law schools, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, trends, using teams, vendors, by Daniel Christian

AI in the Legal Industry: 3 Impacts and 3 Obstacles — from exigent-group.com

Excerpt:

In this article, we’ll talk about three current impacts AI has had on the legal industry as well as three obstacles it needs to overcome before we see widespread adoption.

Consider JPMorgan’s Contract Intelligence (COIN) software. Rather than rely on lawyers to pour over their commercial loan contracts, the banking giant now uses COIN to review these documents for risk, accuracy and eligibility. Not only does this save JPMorgan 360,000 hours per year in contract review, it also results in fewer errors. One can also look to major law firms like DLA Piper, which now regularly rely on AI for M&A due diligence. At Exigent, we’ve had first-hand experience using AI to support document analysis for our clients as well.

2. Legal departments need to build cross-functional expertise
…bringing greater diversity into the legal department is essential if the efficiencies promised by AI in the legal industry are to be realized.

Fortunately, some legal departments have begun to bring data scientists on board in addition to lawyers. And the industry is beginning to open up to hybrid roles, like legal technologists, legal knowledge engineers, legal analysts and other cross-functional experts. It’s clear that a greater diversity of skills are in the legal department’s future; it’s just a matter of how smoothly the transition goes.

Learning Ecosystems

Reflections on “The metaverse: real world laws give rise to virtual world problems” [Pryor]

Bitcoin – The Currency Of The Future [Javaid]

A New York Lawmaker Wants to Ban Police Use of Armed Robots [Fussell]

Will holographic displays change what we mean by web-based collaborations, communications, presentations? Plus several other relevant Q’s [Christian]

GPT-3: We’re at the very beginning of a new app ecosystem [Rao]

The Top 5 Technologies for Innovation Leaders in Electronics and IT [Lux Research]

The Future of Wearable Computing May Be Augmented Reality [Russey]

Categories

Tags