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Another automated delivery service / pilot…hmm…

On 09/25/2019, in 21st century, Amazon, dangers of the status quo, emerging technologies, engineering, entrepreneurship, Google, law schools, legislatures / government / legal, platforms, robotics, society, technology (general), the downsides of how people use tech, tools, United States, by Daniel Christian

Walgreens to test drone delivery service with Alphabet’s Wing — from cnbc.com by Jasmine Wu

Key Points:

  • Walgreens is working with Alphabet’s drone delivery service Wing to test a new service.
  • The pilot program will deliver food and beverage, over-the-counter medications and other items, but not prescriptions.
  • Amazon said in June its new delivery drone should be ready “within months” to deliver packages to customers.

 

Add that to these other robots, drones, driverless pods, etc.:

 

From DSC:
Is a wild, wild west developing? It appears so. What does the average citizen do in these cases if they don’t want such drones constantly flying over their heads, neighborhoods, schools, etc.?

I wonder what the average age is of people working on these projects…?

Just because we can…

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5 emerging tech trends impacting the enterprise [Kelly]

On 09/17/2019, in 21st century, analytics, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, Augmented Reality (AR), cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, communications, corporate / business world, data related items, emerging technologies, engineering, immersion, innovation, mobile technologies, platforms, robotics, society, technologies for your home, technology (general), telecommunications, tools, trends, workplace, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

5 emerging tech trends impacting the enterprise — from campustechnology.com by Rhea Kelly

Excerpts:

Gartner’s Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle focuses specifically on new technologies (not previously highlighted in past Hype Cycles) that “show promise in delivering a high degree of competitive advantage over the next five to 10 years.” The five most impactful trends to watch this year are:

  1. Sensing and mobility.
  2. Augmented human.
  3. Postclassical compute and comms.
  4. Digital ecosystems.
  5. Advanced AI and analytics.
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Armies of delivery robots, drones, pods: Do we really want to create this kind of future?

On 08/22/2019, in Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, assistive technologies, corporate / business world, emerging technologies, legislatures / government / legal, platforms, robotics, society, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, trends, by Daniel Christian

Autonomous robot deliveries are coming to 100 university campuses in the U.S. — from digitaltrends.com by Luke Dormehl

Excerpt:

Pioneering autonomous delivery robot company Starship Technologies is coming to a whole lot more university campuses around the U.S. The robotics startup announced that it will expand its delivery services to 100 university campuses in the next 24 months, building on its successful fleets at George Mason University and Northern Arizona University.

 

Postmates Gets Go-Ahead to Test Delivery Robot in San Francisco — from interestingengineering.com by Donna Fuscaldo
Postmates was granted permission to test a delivery robot in San Francisco.

 

And add those to ones formerly posted on Learning Ecosystems:

 

From DSC:
I’m grateful for John Muir and for the presidents of the United States who had the vision to set aside land for the national park system. Such parks are precious and provide much needed respite from the hectic pace of everyday life.

Closer to home, I’m grateful for what my parents’ vision was for a place to help bring the families together through the years. A place that’s peaceful, quiet, surrounded by nature and community.

So I wonder what kind of legacy the current generations are beginning to create? That is…do we really want to be known as the generations who created the unchecked chaotic armies of delivery drones, delivery robots, driverless pods, etc. to fill the skies, streets, sidewalks, and more? 

I don’t. That’s not a gift to our kids or grandkids…not at all.

 

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Gartner: Top Wireless Tech Trends to Watch [Kelly]

On 08/22/2019, in 21st century, emerging technologies, engineering, internet, IT in HE, platforms, robotics, society, tools, trends, United States, by Daniel Christian

Gartner: Top Wireless Tech Trends to Watch — from campustechnology.com by Rhea Kelly

Excerpts:

The research firm identified 10 key wireless trends worth watching as the technology continues to develop over the next five years:

  • Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) wireless. This is the technology that will allow conventional cars, self-driving cars and the road infrastructure to all share information and status data.
  • Wireless sensing. This involves using the absorption and reflection of wireless signals as sensor data for radar tracking purposes. As an example, Gartner pointed to wireless sensing as an indoor radar system for robots and drones.
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Amazon pledges $700 million to teach its workers to code [Matsakis]

On 07/11/2019, in Amazon, career development, computer science, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, data related items, pace of change, platforms, programming, reinvent, robotics, staying relevant, surviving, technology (general), United States, vendors, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Amazon pledges $700 million to teach its workers to code — from wired.com by Louise Matsakis

Excerpt:

Amazon announced Thursday that it will spend up to $700 million over the next six years retraining 100,000 of its US employees, mostly in technical skills like software engineering and IT support. Amazon is already one of the largest employers in the country, with almost 300,000 workers (and many more contractors) and it’s particularly hungry for more new talent. The company currently has more than 20,000 vacant US roles, over half of which are at its headquarters in Seattle. Meanwhile, the US economy is booming, and there are now more open jobs than there are unemployed people who can fill them, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

 

Against that backdrop, Amazon’s jobs skills efforts provide some reassurance that—in theory at least—you could be retrained into a new role when the robots arrive.

 

From the announcement:

Based on a review of its workforce and analysis of U.S. hiring, Amazon’s fastest growing highly skilled jobs over the last five years include data mapping specialist, data scientist, solutions architect and business analyst, as well as logistics coordinator, process improvement manager and transportation specialist within our customer fulfillment network.

 

Also see:

  • Amazon to Invest $700M to Retrain 100,000 Workers for New Jobs — from pcmag.com by Michael Kan Icon
    ‘There is a greater need for technical skills in the workplace than ever before. Amazon is no exception,’ the company said. The goal is to ‘upskill’ one third of Amazon’s total work force by 2025 through free retraining programs.
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Now we need to add handwriting to the list of things that can be mimicked. #Fakes

On 07/01/2019, in Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, law schools, legislatures / government / legal, political science, robotics, society, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
A couple of somewhat scary excerpts from Meet Hemingway: The Artificial Intelligence Robot That Can Copy Your Handwriting (from forbes.com by Bernard Marr):

The Handwriting Company now has a robot that can create beautifully handwritten communication that mimics the style of an individual’s handwriting while a robot from Brown University can replicate handwriting from a variety of languages even though it was just trained on Japanese characters.
…
Hemingway is The Handwriting Company’s robot that can mimic anyone’s style of handwriting. All that Hemingway’s algorithm needs to mimic an individual’s handwriting is a sample of handwriting from that person.

 

From DSC:
So now there are folks out there that can generate realistic “fakes” using videos, handwriting, audio and more. Super. Without technologies to determine such fakes, things could get ugly…especially as we approach a presidential election next year. I’m trying not to be negative, but it’s hard when the existence of fakes is a serious topic and problem these days.

 

Addendum on 7/5/19:
AI poised to ruin Internet using “massive tsunami” of fake news — from futurism.com

“Because [AI systems] enable content creation at essentially unlimited scale, and content that humans and search engines alike will have difficulty discerning… we feel it is an incredibly important topic with far too little discussion currently,” Tynski told The Verge.

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We better get a plan together, or future generations will be dealing with a mess! [Christian]

On 06/28/2019, in 21st century, Amazon, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, bots, business, change, corporate / business world, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, game-changing environment, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, law schools, legislatures / government / legal, platforms, robotics, society, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
First of all, a couple of articles:

This futuristic driverless pod will soon be delivering pizza in Texas — from digitaltrends.com by Trevor Mogg

Excerpt:

Global pizza purveyor Domino’s is planning to use self-driving pods to deliver its cheesy meals to hungry customers. The food company is partnering with California-based tech startup Nuro for a trial service in Houston, Texas later this year.

 

 

Amazon is creating detailed 3D models of suburbia to train its new delivery robots — from theverge.com by James Vincent
‘Eventually, we’ll be delivering around the world.’

 

 

From DSC:
Instead of Amazon having their army of robots/drones, Domino’s having their army of driverless pods, etc…perhaps we should think about how we want this all to unfold in the future — especially with an eye on what the world will be like for future generations.

 

“The company won’t say where or when it plans to expand these tests…”

 

From DSC:
It should NOT be Amazon’s decision (nor Domino’s decision, nor any other company’s decision) to expand any tests here! It should be up to citizens to weigh in on what we want our future to look like before any such endeavors are allowed to move forward another inch.

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Numerous nations/governments likely developing weapons of war based on AI, robotics, etc.

On 06/24/2019, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, Asia, computer science, emerging technologies, engineering, Europe, game-changing environment, global / globalization, human-computer interaction (HCI), intelligent systems, legislatures / government / legal, platforms, programming, robotics, society, the downsides of how people use tech, trends, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
I just ran across this recently…what do you think of it?!

 

 

From DSC:
For me, this is extremely disturbing. And if I were a betting man, I’d wager that numerous nations/governments around the world — most certainly that includes the U.S. — have been developing new weapons of warfare for years that are based on artificial intelligence, robotics, automation, etc.

The question is, now what do we do?

Some very hard questions that numerous engineers and programmers need to be asking themselves these days…

By the way, the background audio on the clip above should either be non-existent or far more ominous — this stuff is NOT a joke.

Also see this recent posting. >>

 

Addendum on 6/26/19:

 

Experts in machine learning and military technology say it would be technologically straightforward to build robots that make decisions about whom to target and kill without a “human in the loop” — that is, with no person involved at any point between identifying a target and killing them. And as facial recognition and decision-making algorithms become more powerful, it will only get easier.

 

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‘Robots’ Are Not ‘Coming for Your Job’– Management Is [Merchant]

On 06/01/2019, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, bots, business, career development, change, corporate / business world, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, ethics, leadership, MBA, morals/values, motivation, reinvent, robotics, society, staying relevant, surviving, technology (general), tools, workplace, by Daniel Christian

‘Robots’ Are Not ‘Coming for Your Job’—Management Is — from gizmodo.com by Brian Merchant; with a special thanks going out to Keesa Johnson for her posting this out on LinkedIn

A robot is not ‘coming for’, or ‘stealing’ or ‘killing’ or ‘threatening’ to take away your job. Management is.

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

At first glance, this might like a nitpicky semantic complaint, but I assure you it’s not—this phrasing helps, and has historically helped, mask the agency behind the *decision* to automate jobs. And this decision is not made by ‘robots,’ but management. It is a decision most often made with the intention of saving a company or institution money by reducing human labor costs (though it is also made in the interests of bolstering efficiency and improving operations and safety). It is a human decision that ultimately eliminates the job.

 

From DSC:
I’ve often said that if all the C-Suite cares about is maximizing profits — instead of thinking about their fellow humankind and society as a whole —  we’re in big trouble.

If the thinking goes, “Heh — it’s just business!” <– Again, then we’re in big trouble here.

Just because we can, should we? Many people should be reflecting upon this question…and not just members of the C-Suite.

 

 

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If this foot gets in the door…where will we go in the future if we want some peace and quiet?! [Christian]

On 04/24/2019, in Amazon, Apple, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, change, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, Facebook / Meta Platforms, future, game-changing environment, generational differences, Google, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, law schools, legislatures / government / legal, Microsoft, robotics, society, technology (general), tools, United States, vendors, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

From LinkedIn.com today:

 

Also see:

 

From DSC:
I don’t like this at all. If this foot gets in the door, vendor after vendor will launch their own hordes of drones. In the future, where will we go if we want some piece and quiet? Will the air be filled with swarms of noisy drones? Will we be able to clearly see the sun? An exaggeration..? Maybe…maybe not.

But, now what? What recourse do citizens have? Readers of this blog know that I’m generally pro-technology. But the folks — especially the youth — working within the FAANG companies (and the like) need to do a far better job asking, “Just because we can do something, should we do it?”

As I’ve said before, we’ve turned over the keys to the $137,000 Maserati to drivers who are just getting out of driving school. Then we wonder….”How did we get to this place?” 

 

If you owned this $137,000+ car, would you turn the keys of it over to your 16-25 year old?!

 

As another example, just because we can…

just because we can does not mean we should

 

…doesn’t mean we should.

 

just because we can does not mean we should

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This video/article forces me to reflect on what’s likely happening in the militaries throughout the globe [Christian]

On 03/13/2019, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, Asia, Australia, Canada, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, engineering, entrepreneurship, ethics, Europe, experimentation, future, game-changing environment, hearts -- matters of the heart, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, intelligent systems, law schools, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, morals/values, pace of change, platforms, programming, robotics, society, sociology, surviving, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, trends, UK, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

How MIT’s Mini Cheetah Can Help Accelerate Robotics Research — from spectrum.ieee.org by Evan Ackerman
Sangbae Kim talks to us about the new Mini Cheetah quadruped and his future plans for the robot

 

 

From DSC:
Sorry, but while the video/robot is incredible, a feeling in the pit of my stomach makes me reflect upon what’s likely happening along these lines in the militaries throughout the globe…I don’t mean to be a fear monger, but rather a realist.

 

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Note to the ABA and to the legal field, check this out: “India Just Swore in Its First Robot Police Officer” [Robitzski]

On 02/21/2019, in computer science, emerging technologies, engineering, ethics, human-computer interaction (HCI), India, intelligent systems, law schools, legislatures / government / legal, morals/values, pace of change, platforms, programming, robotics, society, by Daniel Christian

India Just Swore in Its First Robot Police Officer — from futurism.com by Dan Robitzski
RoboCop, meet KP-Bot.

Excerpt:

RoboCop
India just swore in its first robotic police officer, which is named KP-Bot.

The animatronic-looking machine was granted the rank of sub-inspector on Tuesday, and it will operate the front desk of Thiruvananthapuram police headquarters, according to India Today.

 

 

From DSC:
Whoa….hmmm…note to the ABA and to the legal education field — and actually to anyone involved in developing laws — we need to catch up. Quickly.

My thoughts go to the governments and to the militaries around the globe. Are we now on a slippery slope? How far along are the militaries of the world in integrating robotics and AI into their weapons of war? Quite far, I think.

Also, at the higher education level, are Computer Science and Engineering Departments taking their responsibilities seriously in this regard? What kind of teaching is being done (or not done) in terms of the moral responsibilities of their code? Their robots?

 

 

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Towards a Reskilling Revolution: Industry-Led Action for the Future of Work [WEF]

On 01/25/2019, in 21st century, adult learning, Asia, Australia, business, Canada, career development, change, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, disruption, economics, education, Europe, future, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, India, learning, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, reinvent, robotics, science, society, sociology, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, technology (general), trends, UK, United States, universities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Towards a Reskilling Revolution: Industry-Led Action for the Future of Work — from weforum.org

As the Fourth Industrial Revolution impacts skills, tasks and jobs, there is growing concern that both job displacement and talent shortages will impact business dynamism and societal cohesion. A proactive and strategic effort is needed on the part of all relevant stakeholders to manage reskilling and upskilling to mitigate against both job losses and talent shortages.

Through the Preparing for the Future of Work project, the World Economic Forum provides a platform for designing and implementing intra-industry collaboration on the future of work, working closely with the public sector, unions and educators. The output of the project’s first phase of work, Towards a Reskilling Revolution: A Future of Jobs for All, highlighted an innovative method to identify viable and desirable job transition pathways for disrupted workers. This second report, Towards a Reskilling Revolution: Industry-Led Action for the Future of Work extends our previous research to assess the business case for reskilling and establish its magnitude for different stakeholders. It also outlines a roadmap for selected industries to address specific challenges and opportunities related to the transformation of their workforce.

 

See the PDF file / report here.

 

 

 

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Tiny microbots fold like origami to travel through the human body [Torbet]

On 01/24/2019, in biology, emerging technologies, Europe, health, nursing, research, robotics, science, by Daniel Christian

Tiny microbots fold like origami to travel through the human body — from digitaltrends.com by Georgina Torbet

Excerpt:

Tiny robots modeled after bacteria could be used to deliver drugs to hard to reach areas of the human body. Scientists at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) have developed what they call elastic microbots that can change shape depending on their environment.

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

On 01/21/2019, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, 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.”

 

 

 

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