Microsoft

FTI 2020 Trend Report for Entertainment, Media, & Technology [FTI]

On 11/13/2019, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, algorithms, Amazon, analytics, Apple, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning, Asia, augmented reality, Australia, Blockchain, bots, business, Canada, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, cognitive computing, collaboration, communications, computer science, content development, content repositories, convergence, corporate / business world, creativity, digital audio, digital photography, digital video, drama/theater, education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, engineering, entrepreneurship, Europe, experimentation, Facebook, freelancing, future, game-changing environment, generational differences, gesture / gesturing, global / globalization, Google, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, ideas, immersion, India, innovation, intelligent systems, interactivity, internet, Law Schools, leadership, learning ecosystem, legislatures / government / legal, Media/film, Microsoft, Mixed reality, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Near Field Communication (NFC), parents, photography, platforms, policy, Privacy, programming, psychology, publishing, robotics, Smart/Connected TV, social learning / networks, social media, society, strategy, streams of content, technology (general), telecommunications, television, tools, trends, United States, vendors, virtual reality / worlds / learning, vision, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, wearables, workplace, XR - extended reality, youth, by Daniel Christian

FTI 2020 Trend Report for Entertainment, Media, & Technology — from futuretodayinstitute.com

Our 3rd annual industry report on emerging entertainment, media and technology trends is now available.

157 trends
28 optimistic, pragmatic and catastrophic scenarios
10 non-technical primers and glossaries
Overview of what events to anticipate in 2020
Actionable insights to use within your organization

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Synthetic media offers new opportunities and challenges.
Authenticating content is becoming more difficult.
Regulation is coming.
We’ve entered the post-fixed screen era.
Voice Search Optimization (VSO) is the new Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Digital subscription models aren’t working.
Advancements in AI will mean greater efficiencies.

Emerging Tech Trend: Patient-Generated Health Data — from futuretodayinstitute.com — Newsletter Issue 124

Excerpt:

Near-Futures Scenarios (2023 – 2028):

Pragmatic: Big tech continues to develop apps that are either indispensably convenient, irresistibly addictive, or both, and we pay for them, not with cash, but with the data we (sometimes unwittingly) let the apps capture. But for the apps for health care and medical insurance, the stakes could literally be life-and-death. Consumers receive discounted premiums, co-pays, diagnostics and prescription fulfillment, but the data we give up in exchange leaves them more vulnerable to manipulation and invasion of privacy.

Catastrophic: Profit-driven drug makers exploit private health profiles and begin working with the Big Nine. They use data-based targeting to over prescribe patients, netting themselves billions of dollars. Big Pharma target and prey on people’s addictions, mental health predispositions and more, which, while undetectable on an individual level, take a widespread societal toll.

Optimistic: Health data enables prescient preventative care. A.I. discerns patterns within gargantuan data sets that are otherwise virtually undetectable to humans. Accurate predictive algorithms identifies complex combinations of risk factors for cancer or Parkinson’s, offers early screening and testing to high-risk patients and encourages lifestyle shifts or treatments to eliminate or delay the onset of serious diseases. A.I. and health data creates a utopia of public health. We happily relinquish our privacy for a greater societal good.

Watchlist: Amazon; Manulife Financial; GE Healthcare; Meditech; Allscripts; eClinicalWorks; Cerner; Validic; HumanAPI; Vivify; Apple; IBM; Microsoft; Qualcomm; Google; Medicare; Medicaid; national health systems; insurance companies.

Microsoft wants anyone to be a developer, whether they code or not [Murphy]

On 11/12/2019, in analytics, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, computer science, data mining, Microsoft, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, programming, tools, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Microsoft wants anyone to be a developer, whether they code or not — from qz.com by Mike Murphy

Excerpt:

Computers are meant to make life easier, but the ability to actually create new functionality for them resides only with a very skilled few. Microsoft wants to make computers a bit more like automobiles—millions of people know how to operate a car, and owning one can change your life, even if comparatively few have any idea how to build an engine.

Onstage at Microsoft’s Ignite enterprise developer conference in Florida [on 11/4/19], CEO Satya Nadella announced a host of new tools aimed at making it easier for anyone to develop apps.

Earlier this year, Microsoft unveiled the Power Platform, wrapping together a set of programs it has had for a few years that allow companies to wrangle their data into understandable visualizations, and build apps using that data and Microsoft’s technologies.

Announcing AI Business School for Education for leaders, BDMs and students — from educationblog.microsoft.com by Anthony Salcito

Excerpt:

…Microsoft’s AI Business School now offers a learning path for education. Designed for education leaders, decision-makers and even students, the Microsoft AI Business School for Education helps learners understand how AI can enhance the learning environment for all students—from innovations in the way we teach and assess, to supporting accessibility and inclusion for all students, to institutional effectiveness and efficiency with the use of AI tools. The course is designed to empower learners to gain specific, practical knowledge to define and implement an AI strategy. Industry experts share insights on how to foster an AI-ready culture and teach them how to use AI responsibly and with confidence. The learning path is available on Microsoft Learn, a free platform to support learners of all ages and experience levels via interactive, online, self-paced learning.

Google’s war on deepfakes: As election looms, it shares ton of AI-faked videos [Tung]

On 09/27/2019, in A/V -- audio/visual, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning, computer science, emerging technologies, ethics, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, morals/values, pace of change, platforms, political science, society, technology (general), the downsides of technology, by Daniel Christian

Google’s war on deepfakes: As election looms, it shares ton of AI-faked videos — from zdnet.com by Liam Tung
Google has created 3,000 videos using actors and manipulation software to help improve detection.

Excerpt:

Google has released a huge database of deepfake videos that it’s created using paid actors. It hopes the database will bolster systems designed to detect AI-generated fake videos.

With the 2020 US Presidential elections looming, the race is on to build better systems to detect deepfake videos that could be used to manipulate and divide public opinion.

Earlier this month, Facebook and Microsoft announced a $10m project to create deepfake videos to help build systems for detecting them.

From Jane Hart — the “Top 200 Tools for Learning 2019” is now published

On 09/18/2019, in adjunct faculty, Adobe, Apple, Asia, Australia, blogs / blogging, Canada, Canvas - and other Instructure-related items, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, colleges, communications, community colleges, content development, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, Europe, faculty, global / globalization, Google, higher education, India, internet, IT in HE, Law Schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Media/film, Microsoft, multimedia, new media literacies, online learning, platforms, podcasting, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, social learning / networks, social media, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, Technologies for your home, technology (general), tools, training / L&D, trends, UK, United States, universities, vendors, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Per Jane Hart on LinkedIn:

Top 200 Tools for Learning 2019 is now published, together with:

PLUS analysis of how these tools are being used in different context, new graphics, and updated comments on the tools’ pages that show how people are using the tools.

Someone is always listening — from Future Today Institute

Excerpt:

Very Near-Futures Scenarios (2020 – 2022):

Optimistic: Big tech and consumer device industries agree to a single set of standards to inform people when they are being listened to. Devices now emit an audible ping and/ or a visible light anytime they are actively recording sound. While they need to store data in order to improve natural language understanding and other important AI systems, consumers now have access to a portal and can see, listen to, and erase their data at any time. In addition, consumers can choose to opt-out of storing their data to help improve AI systems.
Pragmatic: Big tech and consumer device industries preserve the status quo, which leads to more cases of machine eavesdropping and erodes public trust. Federal agencies open investigations into eavesdropping practices, which leads to a drop in share prices and a concern that more advanced biometric technologies could face debilitating regulation.
Catastrophic: Big tech and consumer device industries collect and store our conversations surreptitiously while developing new ways to monetize that data. They anonymize and sell it to developers wanting to create their own voice apps or to research institutions wanting to do studies using real-world conversation. Some platforms develop lucrative fee structures allowing others access to our voice data: business intelligence firms, market research agencies, polling agencies, political parties and individual law enforcement organizations. Consumers have little to no ability to see and understand how their voice data are being used and by whom. Opting out of collection systems is intentionally opaque. Trust erodes. Civil unrest grows.

Action Meter:

Watchlist:

Google; Apple; Amazon; Microsoft; Salesforce; BioCatch; CrossMatch; ThreatMetrix; Electronic Frontier Foundation; World Privacy Forum; American Civil Liberties Union; IBM; Baidu; Tencent; Alibaba; Facebook; Electronic Frontier Foundation; European Union; government agencies worldwide.

Microsoft President: Democracy Is At Stake. Regulate Big Tech — from npr.org by Aarti Shahani

Excerpts:

Regulate us. That’s the unexpected message from one of the country’s leading tech executives. Microsoft President Brad Smith argues that governments need to put some “guardrails” around engineers and the tech titans they serve.

If public leaders don’t, he says, the Internet giants will cannibalize the very fabric of this country.

“We need to work together; we need to work with governments to protect, frankly, something that is far more important than technology: democracy. It was here before us. It needs to be here and healthy after us,” Smith says.

“Almost no technology has gone so entirely unregulated, for so long, as digital technology,” Smith says.

Reflections on “Uh-oh: Silicon Valley is building a Chinese-style social credit system” [Elgan]

On 08/27/2019, in 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, algorithms, Amazon, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning, Asia, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, corporate / business world, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, data mining, emerging technologies, ethics, face-to-face, Facebook, future, game-changing environment, generational differences, Google, hearts -- matters of the heart, intelligent systems, internet, Law Schools, legislatures / government / legal, Microsoft, morals/values, platforms, policy, political science, Privacy, society, surviving, the downsides of technology, tools, trends, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Uh-oh: Silicon Valley is building a Chinese-style social credit system — from fastcompany.com by Mike Elgan
In China, scoring citizens’ behavior is official government policy. U.S. companies are increasingly doing something similar, outside the law.

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

Have you heard about China’s social credit system? It’s a technology-enabled, surveillance-based nationwide program designed to nudge citizens toward better behavior. The ultimate goal is to “allow the trustworthy to roam everywhere under heaven while making it hard for the discredited to take a single step,” according to the Chinese government.

In place since 2014, the social credit system is a work in progress that could evolve by next year into a single, nationwide point system for all Chinese citizens, akin to a financial credit score. It aims to punish for transgressions that can include membership in or support for the Falun Gong or Tibetan Buddhism, failure to pay debts, excessive video gaming, criticizing the government, late payments, failing to sweep the sidewalk in front of your store or house, smoking or playing loud music on trains, jaywalking, and other actions deemed illegal or unacceptable by the Chinese government.
…
IT CAN HAPPEN HERE
Many Westerners are disturbed by what they read about China’s social credit system. But such systems, it turns out, are not unique to China. A parallel system is developing in the United States, in part as the result of Silicon Valley and technology-industry user policies, and in part by surveillance of social media activity by private companies.

Here are some of the elements of America’s growing social credit system.

If current trends hold, it’s possible that in the future a majority of misdemeanors and even some felonies will be punished not by Washington, D.C., but by Silicon Valley. It’s a slippery slope away from democracy and toward corporatocracy.

From DSC:
Who’s to say what gains a citizen points and what subtracts from their score? If one believes a certain thing, is that a plus or a minus? And what might be tied to someone’s score? The ability to obtain food? Medicine/healthcare? Clothing? Social Security payments? Other?

We are giving a huge amount of power to a handful of corporations…trust comes into play…at least for me. Even internally, the big tech co’s seem to be struggling as to the ethical ramifications of what they’re working on (in a variety of areas).

Is the stage being set for a “Person of Interest” Version 2.0?

Amazon, Microsoft, ‘putting world at risk of killer AI’: study

On 08/23/2019, in algorithms, Amazon, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning, emerging technologies, ethics, Europe, Law Schools, legislatures / government / legal, Microsoft, morals/values, society, the downsides of technology, United States, by Daniel Christian

Amazon, Microsoft, ‘putting world at risk of killer AI’: study — from news.yahoo.com by Issam Ahmed

Excerpt:

Washington (AFP) – Amazon, Microsoft and Intel are among leading tech companies putting the world at risk through killer robot development, according to a report that surveyed major players from the sector about their stance on lethal autonomous weapons.

Dutch NGO Pax ranked 50 companies by three criteria: whether they were developing technology that could be relevant to deadly AI, whether they were working on related military projects, and if they had committed to abstaining from contributing in the future.

“Why are companies like Microsoft and Amazon not denying that they’re currently developing these highly controversial weapons, which could decide to kill people without direct human involvement?” said Frank Slijper, lead author of the report published this week.

Addendum on 8/23/19:

EU reportedly wants strict limits for ‘indiscriminate’ facial recognition — From cnet.com by Katie Collins
Europe could introduce sweeping reforms governing how facial recognition technology can be used.

AI is in danger of becoming too male — new research — from singularityhub.com by Juan Mateos-Garcia and Joysy John

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

But current AI systems are far from perfect. They tend to reflect the biases of the data used to train them and to break down when they face unexpected situations.
…
So do we really want to turn these bias-prone, brittle technologies into the foundation stones of tomorrow’s economy?
…
One way to minimize AI risks is to increase the diversity of the teams involved in their development. As research on collective decision-making and creativity suggests, groups that are more cognitively diverse tend to make better decisions. Unfortunately, this is a far cry from the situation in the community currently developing AI systems. And a lack of gender diversity is one important (although not the only) dimension of this.

A review published by the AI Now Institute earlier this year showed that less than 20 percent of the researchers applying to prestigious AI conferences are women, and that only a quarter of undergraduates studying AI at Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley are female.

From DSC:
My niece just left a very lucrative programming job and managerial role at Microsoft after working there for several years. As a single woman, she got tired of fighting the culture there.

It was again a reminder to me that there are significant ramifications to the cultures of the big tech companies…especially given the power of these emerging technologies and the growing influence they are having on our culture.

Addendum on 8/20/19:

Google’s Hate Speech Detection A.I. Has a Racial Bias Problem — from fortunes.com by Jonathan Vanian
Excerpt:
A Google-created tool that uses artificial intelligence to police hate speech in online comments on sites like the New York Times has become racially biased, according to a new study. The tool, developed by Google and a subsidiary of its parent company, often classified comments written in the African-American vernacular as toxic, researchers from the University of Washington, Carnegie Mellon, and the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence said in a paper presented in early August at the Association for Computational Linguistics conference in Florence, Italy.
.
On the positive side of things:
Number of Female Students, Students of Color Tackling Computer Science AP on the Rise — from thejournal.com

DSC: Holy smokes!!! How might this be applied to education/learning/training in the 21st century!?!

On 07/30/2019, in 21st century, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, adult learning, algorithms, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning, assistive technologies, business, change, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, computer science, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Cost of legal services - including access, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, disruption, education, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, Languages and translation, Law Schools, learning, learning ecosystem, learning from the living [class] room, Microsoft, Mixed reality, multimedia, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, presentations, social learning / networks, society, teaching & learning, teaching online, Technologies for your home, tools, training / L&D, user experience (UX), vendors, virtual reality / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, Walmart of Education --> New Amazon.com of Higher Education, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

DC: Holy smokes!!! How might this be applied to education/learning/training in the 21st century!?!

“What if neither distance nor language mattered? What if technology could help you be anywhere you need to be and speak any language? Using AI technology and holographic experiences this is possible, and it is revolutionary.”

Also see:

Microsoft has a wild hologram that translates HoloLens keynotes into Japanese — from theverge.com by Tom Warren
Azure and HoloLens combine for a hint at the future

Excerpt:

Microsoft has created a hologram that will transform someone into a digital speaker of another language. The software giant unveiled the technology during a keynote at the Microsoft Inspire partner conference [on 7/17/19] in Las Vegas. Microsoft recently scanned Julia White, a company executive for Azure, at a Mixed Reality capture studio to transform her into an exact hologram replica.

The digital version appeared onstage to translate the keynote into Japanese. Microsoft has used its Azure AI technologies and neural text-to-speech to make this possible. It works by taking recordings of White’s voice, in order to create a personalized voice signature, to make it sound like she’s speaking Japanese.

Microsoft’s new AI wants to help you crush your next presentation [Leary]

On 06/27/2019, in A/V -- audio/visual, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning, assistive technologies, communications, digital audio, education technology, Microsoft, Natural Language Processing (NLP), personalized/customized learning, platforms, presentations, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, tools, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, by Daniel Christian

Microsoft’s new AI wants to help you crush your next presentation — from pcmag.com by Jake Leary
PowerPoint is receiving a slew of updates, including one that aims to help you improve your public speaking.

Excerpt:

Microsoft [on 6/18/19] announced several PowerPoint upgrades, the most notable of which is an artificial intelligence tool that aims to help you overcome pre-presentation jitters.

The Presenter Coach AI listens to you practice and offers real-time feedback on your pace, word choice, and more. It will, for instance, warn you if you’re using filler words like “umm” and “ahh,” profanities, non-inclusive language, or reading directly from your slides. At the end of your rehearsal, it provides a report with tips for future attempts. Presenter Coach arrives later this summer.

“Tech giants believe that voice is as big as touchscreen…” [Wynter Elwood]

On 06/19/2019, in 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adjunct faculty, algorithms, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning, bots, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Google, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, IT in HE, learning, learning ecosystem, learning hubs, learning spaces, Microsoft, Mobile learning, Mobile technologies, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, student-related, teaching & learning, Technologies for your home, technology (general), tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, usability, user experience (UX), vendors, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Do you have a virtual personal assistant? With #VoiceAssistants we might get time back to do what we want to do. Tech giants believe that voice is as big as touchscreen and will invest a lot in the further development. #Microsoft #Google https://t.co/uPqkKyiPT3 pic.twitter.com/IjeVn5Af4p

— Wynter (@WynterElwood) June 17, 2019

Also see:

Microsoft is building a virtual assistant for work. Google is building one for everything else — from qz.com by Dave Gershgorn

Excerpts:

In the early days of virtual personal assistants, the goal was to create a multipurpose digital buddy—always there, ready to take on any task. Now, tech companies are realizing that doing it all is too much, and instead doubling down on what they know best.
…
Since the company has a deep understanding of how organizations work, Microsoft is focusing on managing your workday with voice, rearranging meetings and turning the dials on the behemoth of bureaucracy in concert with your phone.

Voice is the next major platform, and being first to it is an opportunity to make the category as popular as Apple made touchscreens. To dominate even one aspect of voice technology is to tap into the next iteration of how humans use computers.

From DSC:
What affordances might these developments provide for our future learning spaces?

Will faculty members’ voices be recognized to:

Sign onto the LMS?
Dim the lights?
Turn on the projector(s) and/or display(s)?
Other?

Will students be able to send the contents of their mobile devices to particular displays via their voices?

Will voice be mixed in with augmented reality (i.e., the students and their devices can “see” which device to send their content to)?

Hmmm…time will tell.

Blockchain: The move from freedom to the rigid, dominant system in learning — from oeb.global by Inge de Waard
In this post Inge de Waard gives an overview of current Blockchain options from industry and looks at its impact on universities as well as philosophises on its future.

Excerpt:

I mentioned a couple of Blockchain certification options already, but an even more advanced blockchain in learning example has entered on my radar too. It is a Russian implementation called Disciplina. This platform combines education (including vocational training), recruiting (comparable with what LinkedIn is doing with its economic graph) and careers for professionals. All of this is combined into a blockchain solution that keeps track of all the learners’ journey. The platform includes not only online courses as we know it but also coaching. After each training, you get a certificate.

TeachMePlease, which is a partner of Disciplina, enables teachers and students to find each other for specific professional training as well as curriculum-related children’s schooling. Admittedly, these initiatives are still being rolled out in terms of courses, but it clearly shows where the next learning will be located: in an umbrella above all the universities and professional academies. At present, the university courses are being embedded into course offerings by corporations that roll out a layer post-university, or post-vocational schooling.

Europe embraces blockchain, as can be seen with their EU Blockchain observatory and forum. And in a more national action, Malta is storing their certifications in a blockchain nationwide as well. We cannot deny that blockchain is getting picked up by both companies and governments. Universities have been piloting several blockchain certification options, and they also harbour some of the leading voices in the debate on blockchain certification.

Also see:

7 blockchain mistakes and how to avoid them — from computerworld.com by Lucas Mearian
The blockchain industry is still something of a wild west, with many cloud service offerings and a large universe of platforms that can vary greatly in their capabilities. So enterprises should beware jumping to conclusions about the technology.

Learning Ecosystems

Near future scenarios for patient-generated health data [Future Today Institute]

Microsoft wants anyone to be a developer, whether they code or not [Murphy]

Announcing AI Business School for Education for leaders, BDMs and students [Salcito]

Google’s war on deepfakes: As election looms, it shares ton of AI-faked videos [Tung]

“Someone is always listening” [Future Today Institute]

Microsoft President: Democracy Is At Stake. Regulate Big Tech [Shahani]

Reflections on “Uh-oh: Silicon Valley is building a Chinese-style social credit system” [Elgan]

Amazon, Microsoft, ‘putting world at risk of killer AI’: study

Microsoft’s new AI wants to help you crush your next presentation [Leary]

Blockchain and AI in learning and in education [de Waard]

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