Daily Archives: September 16, 2021

INDUSTRY INSIGHT

The pandemic has put a spotlight on how big data and analytics technologies are being used in the public health sector.

A prime example of this?Contact tracing, where phone numbers and location data from mobile devices were combined with lab results in public health systems to issue alerts when an individual came in contact with a confirmed COVID patient.This information empowered people to preemptively self-isolate and/or head for rapid testing. Google and Apple, meanwhile, developed some groundbreaking application programming applications (APIs) for contact tracing that protected anonymity, while allowing their devices to receive updates from state disease surveillance systems and send out alerts.

The use of big data during the pandemic is certainly a harbinger of things to come, and public health agencies must understand how such data is being used. They should start working on plans to protect the privacy of the end user and comply with the evolving laws around personal data privacy.

Additionally, organizations should determine what theyll do with the data theyre gathering.Of course, all the data in the world is worthless without the right tools to read and interpret it. Artificial intelligence is vital for processing the vast amounts of data collected by todays technology.It has powered everything from tracking the initial spread of the outbreak to helping researchers quickly analyze and interpret huge amounts of data to come up with a vaccine. Going forward, AI and big data will be vital to analyzing vaccine efficacy, identifying breakthrough case trends and more.

Targeted outreach and prevention

Big data and AI have been foundational technologies for other programs. During the pandemic, data has been used for targeted outreach and prevention efforts, especially during the vaccine rollout. The ability to recognize trends in a cohort or region allowed for more effective risk mitigation. For immunization information systems (IIS), this meant parsing data to identify and prioritize groups who are at the most risk from a lack of vaccination. The age-bracketed rollout of the vaccine is a good example of this. Yet, new insights from ongoing data analytics efforts will help micro-target more at-risk groups as time goes on.

Identifying at-risk groups is just one part of the pandemic response process. From there, it involves what are essentially next-generation logistics efforts: monitoring vaccine distribution, managing vaccine appointments and tracking the growing numbers of vaccinated individuals.This efforts feature an incredible number of moving parts: government and public health offices, vaccine providers, health care workers and more.Marketing and education components will also see data analytics play an important role in their efforts.

All of which places a high data load on systems -- a load which requires modern architectures and flexibility to manage. Unfortunately, most public health offices today are using outdated systems that were designed for managing a load about 10 times smaller than what they're forced to deal with now.

Cloud computing can help public health agencies scale up to accommodate the new data load, with architectures that auto-scale and adapt to changing flows.But the systems themselves must also be architected to support the horizontal scaling enabled by cloud computing.

Stateless architecturesand BPMN 2.0

Newer architecturesare designed for this sort of flexibility. Called "stateless applications,"these architectures dont storetheirstate on the serveranddontneed to know the history of what was happening on the system,allowingorganizations toadd more servers to scale up and meet demand.The pandemic served as a powerful reminder of just howfastthings can change.Stateless applications are the ideal way to keep up withevolving requirements and mandates, allowing agencies to implement new functional changesquickly and easily.

Along with the versatility of stateless architectures, public health organizations should be leveraging Business Process Management Notation 2.0. This notation method allows systems to take in, change and adapt to new requirements with ease. One of the major stresses placed on health systems during the pandemic was that new requirements from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention didnt necessarily fit into the outdated systems public health offices used. Agencies then had to manually solve for many new processes. BPMN 2.0 avoids that problem altogether, saving countless hours of work and ensuring a higher level of compliance.

Sharing data among multiple entities

Science depends on reliable data, but it has traditionally been a rare occurrence for health care data to be shared among multiple entities. Data privacy concerns are one of the main reasons for this siloed approach. However, those silos started coming down as health care researchers and public health agencies around the world started collaborating during the pandemic.

REST-based APIs can serve an important function here. Public health agencies have relied on the HL7 industry standard for sharing health informationviaAPIs, but before the COVID outbreak many of these agencies were transitioning to the updated FHIR standard, which offersmore functionality and flexibilitythan HL7.During the pandemic, manyof thesetransition projects went on hold.Its now time toget back to implementingFHIR in order to meet public certification requirements.

Sharing health care data is a new trend, and an exciting one. As AI makes it easier to provide meaningful data ownership and protect personal data privacy, it facilitates collaboration by multiple entities on shared data. This in turn spurs innovation, allowing the best minds in science to work together toward a better future. For IIS, this means sharing ideas about what works that will lead to new best practices across organizations.

Big data, analytics and AI allow public health organizations to respond rapidly to public health emergencies, which potentially translates into lives saved.

And thats the big goal for all of these innovative new approaches for IIS: save lives and improve public health. Todays developing trends will help mitigate the effects of the next pandemic and result in a safer future for all.

About the Author

John Schaeffer is CEO of SSG, a health care technology and information services company.

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How data, analytics and AI power public health - GCN.com

The worlds energy systems are changing. Driven by strong demand for clean energy and mounting impacts from climate-driven extreme weather, entities around the world are setting ambitious goals to reduce emissions from the fossil fuels that have powered economic growth for over a century.

The majority of emissions come from three sectors: electricity generation, transportation and buildings. Steep increases in renewables will reduce electric sector emissions and power new loads from transportation and buildings. But the grid must undergo profound changes for this to occur.

Electricity will drive global decarbonisation. The future grid must first be clean. No feasible, affordable path exists to replace gasoline with a carbon-free liquid fuel for vehicles, nor natural gas with a carbon-free alternative for cooking and heating. No path, that is, apart from electrifying vehicles and buildings, which is recognised as the lowest-cost, lowest-risk decarbonisation strategy.

Clean electricity will drive emissions reductions across the economy. Some renewable energy will still come from power plants, but those can be difficult to build, as can be the long transmission lines that bring power to users. By contrast, local renewables can provide clean, affordable power directly to customers more easily, making it decentralised.

The future grid will address key challenges: power outages and economic losses from extreme weather. With these events becoming more frequent and severe, maintaining the grids century-old, centralised architecture is a costly proposition. It must be resilient.

With renewables, growth and variation in electricity services as well as significant unpredictability in supply and demand, the grid must become dynamic. And in order for that grid to function, it must be smart.

Thats where artificial intelligence (AI) comes in.

On an increasingly complex future grid, the number of decisions will far exceed human and conventional digital automation capabilities. Theres already automation on todays grid, but automation can only go so far. Fully enabling a future grid and maximising its benefits will require AI. Ultimately, AI will transform the grid from an aging supplier of commodity electricity to an intelligent system of systems that produces optimised outcomes.

There are three main sectors where AI will drive decarbonisation the most electricity, buildings and transportation.

Leveraging years or decades worth of data, AI will generate forecasts for key factors including weather, renewable energy generation, customer demand and market prices. These forecasts, and learning from predicted vs. actual outcomes, will enable AI to optimise every resource on the grid for every moment of the day. And its real-time control capabilities will execute on forecasts and correct for anomalies, ultimately down to the sub-second level.

More importantly, the role of buildings on a decarbonised grid will change: instead of a passive, predictable consumer of electricity, buildings will become an integrated, dynamic resource and active market participant. Just as important as the selling of clean, locally generated electricity into markets will be the selling of grid services, with buildings flexible loads helping to maintain a balanced, reliable grid. AI-enabled buildings will allow users to match consumption with on-site and off-site renewable generation to achieve 24/7 clean energy objectives.

Storage will be as important as renewables and AI in achieving global decarbonisation, solving the challenge of intermittent renewable generation so that clean energy is available when its needed. Storage will enable buildings and transportation to act as fully flexible grid resources, making up for shortfalls in on-site generation and providing grid services when devices cant.

Building a massive grid that instantaneously balances supply and demand while providing power has been called the greatest engineering feat of the 20th century. Powering a fully decarbonised economy with AI-driven renewables and energy storage may prove to be the greatest achievement of the 21st.

Todays markets bear very little resemblance to those that will underpin a decarbonised grid. The range and value of AI-enabled energy services havent been contemplated in many jurisdictions, let alone the means of incorporating and compensating them in real time. Electricity markets must transform completely.

Every barrier that prevents a customer from buying or selling the clean energy services they want, and that the grid needs, at any time, must be removed. In its place must be efficient, transparent market mechanisms which AI will animate, allowing customers and utilities to realise their desired outcomes with or without human involvement.

Its an annual meeting featuring top examples of public-private cooperation and Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies being used to develop the sustainable development agenda.

It runs alongside the United Nations General Assembly, which this year features a one-day climate summit. This is timely given rising public fears and citizen action over weather conditions, pollution, ocean health and dwindling wildlife. It also reflects the understanding of the growing business case for action.

The UNs Strategic Development Goals and the Paris Agreement provide the architecture for resolving many of these challenges. But to achieve this, we need to change the patterns of production, operation and consumption.

The World Economic Forums work is key, with the summit offering the opportunity to debate, discuss and engage on these issues at a global policy level.

Since policy drives markets, policymakers must instigate needed changes over the next decade to enable full electric sector decarbonisation by 2035, a pillar of many long-term emissions reduction strategies.

AI technology itself must continue to evolve. But the biggest barrier isnt technical its regulatory. Action towards mid-century decarbonisation must occur. The costs and risks of inaction increase every moment and stand between us and the much-needed decarbonised grid of the future.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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AI is transforming the grid. Here's how. - World Economic Forum

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Plug and Play the largest global innovation platform in the field of Artificial Intelligence, and international accelerator and investment platform INTEMA (Intelligent Machines) launched by AI subsidiary of MTS, largest telecom operator in Eastern Europe (NYSE: MBT, MOEX: MTSS), have commenced a partnership that will see INTEMA and Plug and Play's global ecosystem development, leveraging the platform to support its comprehensive digital transformation strategy in the field of Artificial Intelligence.

Plug and Play Logo (PRNewsfoto/Plug and Play)

The collaboration with Plug and Play will allow INTEMA by MTS AI to expand the number of global AI startups to be included in the accelerator program which provides access to international expertise in Artificial Intelligence and possible investment opportunities.

Plug and Play, headquartered in Silicon Valley, is renowned for connecting startups, corporations, and investors throughout the world to help them to collaborate and scale together. Plug and Play's global ecosystem across the United States, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Milan, Paris, Abu Dhabi, Barcelona, Shanghai, Singapore, and Tokyo encompasses over 40,000 startups and 500 official corporate partners. In 2020 alone, 2,065 projects were accelerated in Plug and Play.

INTEMA by MTS AI accelerator aims to select best global startups and coach the teams in key areas including technology, product, marketing and sales expertise. As part of the partnership, Plug and Play experts will become mentors in INTEMA acceleration program and share their experience with the participants in the training program to enhance their knowledge, skills and capabilities in order to help them scale their businesses and foster the creation of cutting-edge AI solutions. INTEMA by MTS AI accelerator also welcomes AI experts from leading technology companies such as Samsung, Shazam, Apple, Intel, Nvidia and others to work with its accelerator startups and provide mentorship.

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Each accelerator program participant will receive this expert guidance alongside up to $100,000.00 in early-stage funding from INTEMA. They may also be included in INTEMA fund pipeline which recently made its first investment of $10 million in San Diego-based startup Kneron that makes AI chips (among its investors are Foxconn, Qualcomm, Sequoia and Horizon ventures).

"In the realm of artificial intelligence, we are building a full-cycle system for dealing with ideas, projects, and products. The collaboration with Plug and Play will strengthen our efforts in this process: we seek for potential teams all around the world, support AI solution developers, and take their products to the next level. Going forward, we plan to continue investing in promising AI-focused teams and technologies as part of our venture fund, corporate accelerator, and venture studio," said Alexander Khanin, Head of the MTS AI Center.

"We see soaring demand from investors for products and startups in AI. Experts claim AI to be a major game changer in the upcoming years. We select the best AI teams from all over the world to boost them with our expertise and resources. Our mentors and experts work with leading global tech companies, our team has a solid background investing in tech companies. We give our portfolio companies computing powers of our top tier superpod for free. The mission of our accelerator backed by AI focused VC fund is to give companies and startups an elevator ride so they could disrupt industries with their tech. We are sure that Plug & Play is a great partner for that," - said Alexey Posternak, Chief Financial and Investment Officer at MTS AI Center.

"Serving one of the leading AI global platforms is a great honor for Plug and Play. We are excited to explore the Russian telecommunications market as well with an in-depth approach to be able to drive innovation forward. At Plug and Play we are convinced that established corporations that connect and cooperate with best-in-class startups prosper under the possibilities these collaborations offer to them. The partnership with INTEMA by MTS AI promises to be of great value for both sides when it comes to creating growth opportunities, exploring new markets and accelerating innovation measures," said Saeed Amidi, CEO Plug and Play

"We're thrilled to work with INTEMA by MTS AI platform and expand the possibilities for our startups to do business and expand in new countries. INTEMA by MTS AI will be a key factor to our sourcing efforts and we are aligned internally to engage with startups from a business development and investment capacity. This will better serve MTS AI clients and help them achieve growth," said Alfredo Gomez, Partnerships Manager at Plug and Play.

About INTEMA by MTS AIINTEMA by MTS AI is a worldwide platform for the development, acceleration, and commercialization of AI solutions owned by AI subsidiary of PJSC MTS (NYSE: MBT, MOEX: MTSS). MTS AI is working on a variety of solutions based on computer vision technologies, including a natural language recognition and speech synthesis system, as well as a platform for creation voice robots and smart assistants.INTEMA by MTS AI is a startup accelerator that focuses on AI-based projects with a solid idea, solution prototype, and development. INTEMA r Venture Fund seeks late-seeding A and B series companies in the worldwide market with strong potential for further expansion in the B2B and B2C categories.For more information, visit https://aicenter.mts.ru

About Plug and PlayPlug and Play is the leading innovation platform, connecting startups, corporations, venture capital firms, universities, and government agencies. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we're present in 35+ locations across five continents. We offer corporate innovation programs and help our corporate partners in every stage of their innovation journey, from education to execution. We also organize startup acceleration programs and have built an in-house VC to drive innovation across multiple industries where we've invested in hundreds of successful companies including Dropbox, Guardant Health, Honey, Lending Club, N26, PayPal, and Rappi. For more information, visit https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/

Notes To Editors:Founders of any projects in the field of artificial intelligence can apply for participation in the MTS AI acceleration program. Applications are accepted until October.

Tancredi Intelligent Communication Helen Humphrey T: +442034342321 M: +447449226720 helen@tancredigroup.com

Salamander Davoudi T: +442034342334 M: +447957549906 salamander@tancredigroup.com

Julia UsenkoPR manager MTS AIPhone: +7 (912) 8257112E-mail: ymusenko@mts.ru

Alfredo Gomez SoriaCorporate Partnerships ManagerPhone: +49 (0) 15157674901E-mail: alfredo@pnptc.com

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SOURCE Plug and Play

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Plug and Play to collaborate on innovation in Artificial Intelligence with INTEMA by MTS AI - Yahoo Finance

Statista reveals that the AI implementation plans in organizations in the U.S. in 2021 show that only 33% of U.S organizations have started implementing AI in their workplace.

Many people still associate artificial intelligence with science fiction dystopias, but as artificial intelligence advances and becomes more normal in our daily lives, this perception is fading. Artificial intelligence is now a well-known term.

One example is The Really Useful Information Company (TRUiC). According to a news release, they now use AI to power up new startup registrations, domain name selection, and a range of things that traditional brainstorming used to do among humans. For example, if you want to start a new LLC in Texas to tap into the same tax incentives as Elon Musk well, you can do it without the need to even pick up the phone. This is because TRUiC will take you through the process of reviewing the best providers, making a new logo for your business, picking an AI website builder, and picking a domain name or business idea all driven by AI.

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Before we can discuss the impact of AI in the workplace, we first need to understand exactly what artificial intelligence is:

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a broad term that refers to any type of computer software that performs human-like tasks such as learning, planning, and problem-solving.

While the mainstream adoption of artificial intelligence is a new occurrence, it is not a new notion. The contemporary area of artificial intelligence was founded in 1956, but major progress toward establishing an artificial intelligence system and making it a technological reality took decades of effort.

AI can perform jobs with significantly better precision and speed than humans, from automating various areas of the business to forecasting trends in data, revolutionizing not only what organizations and managers can do, but also how they do it. Chatbots, intelligent voice assistants, and conversational AI are revolutionizing the customer experience in healthcare, finance, retail, and travel. Meanwhile, a slew of new machine learning applications is allowing businesses to conduct in-depth analyses of critical internal data in order to revamp their operations.

Whether you are updating your business structure or busy with new business formation, incorporating AI into your daily operation will contribute to the future of your business.

Below are four of the top ways businesses are currently implementing AI in the workplace:

Chatbots are quickly gaining traction in the current digital workplace due to their capacity to decipher spoken and written communications utilizing natural-language processing. Chatbots improve client engagement, reduce mistake rates, and allow employees to respond more quickly.

Many businesses now use them to improve customer service, but they may soon become an indispensable tool for employees as well. Employees might use chatbots to manage reminders, prioritize action items, and seek assistance with routine IT chores like submitting service requests or resetting passwords.

Augmented reality (AR) bridges the gap between the virtual and physical worlds by enhancing interactions with digital content. AR overlays text, icons, and images over the users vision, allowing them access to the information they need to complete a task effectively. Employees may, for example, be in a virtual meeting while zooming in on a floor plan that shows in front of them. Augmented reality could be even more potent in the workplace when paired with AI. Artificial intelligence might add a new layer to virtual and augmented, allowing designers to build more personalized experiences based on data about consumers interests.

According to the US Department of Energy, commercial buildings waste up to 30% of the energy they consume. Many building owners have energy management programs or systems in place to track usage, but the advice they give is frequently based on historical data rather than real-time information. Energy management platforms are becoming smarter as a result of IoT sensors and AI.

For example, AI could assist building owners in predicting peak energy demand. It can detect variations in temperature and humidity as a result of factors such as weather and office density, making the environment more comfortable for everyone.

In the workplace, AI technology aids in the creation of ideal conditions for the development of new products and services. Employees have more free time to interact with consumers and gather vital feedback now that AI tools have taken over the monotonous tasks. They will be able to generate more unique ideas to help the sector expand as a result of this. These changes may lead to increased job satisfaction.

Artificial intelligence will soon be able to do repetitive or difficult problem-solving activities. In industries, AI-enabled computers will make choices in place of humans. With AI being used for customer service and financial choices, it makes sense to incorporate it into the everyday workings of a business.

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Technology Perspective: How AI Helps With New Business Formation - Android Headlines

HOW DOES AI APPLY TO MEDICAL SERVICES?

It really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that the healthcare industry is considered one of the most promising areas for the use of artificial intelligence. Of course, we're not talking about allowing some kind of software-defined entity with a virtual consciousness to control our medical services. Instead, we're referring to a group of powerful IT systems that can process and analyse vast amounts of data in a blink of an eye, and then produce findings so elaborate that it would take a human several lifetimes to do the same.

Thanks to those systems that, in the business environment, we now call "AI", we should soon be able to develop drugs that are more effective, enhance the accuracy of diagnoses, create better medical equipment, improve the well-being of patients, and much more and that's only because we know AI can handle data better than we ever will. In other words, AI can help us find some good answers in little time and that is a fact.

And it's not a fairy tale. The things we named above are achievable. The only part healthcare companies need to figure out is how they get enough computing power to run such resource-heavy AI/ML operations. And we've got an answer for them.

You cannot run data-heavy AI operations on a regular IT infrastructure, especially in healthcare. When you become aware that you will be dealing with insane amounts of data, countless cybersecurity issues, and thousands upon thousands of digital operations per day, you realise that you need a platform that guarantees high availability of systems and applications, state-of-the-art security, and maximum reliability. Therefore, you need something like an IBM POWER-type solution. Why?

Let's start from the beginning. IBM Power Systems is a family of servers based on high-performance microprocessors called POWER. The name is no coincidence IBM Power Systems are considered some of the most powerful IT platforms on the planet. Hence, some of the biggest enterprises out there to run data analysis and AI/ML processes are using them.

If you go to IBM's website, you will learn that eight out of the top 10 retailers, eight out of the top 10 banking companies, and nine out of the top 10 insurance companies all use POWER-type IT infrastructures. Those are some serious organisations and institutions, and they cannot afford to take a risk and use a platform that is maybe good enough to support their operations. They all chose IBM Power Systems because they know they are more than good enough to do the job.

That being said, IBM and vendors such as Comarch are now taking IBM Power Systems to the next level by adding cloud computing technology to the mix. The result of that is, for instance, Comarch PowerCloud, which allows IBM POWER Systems users to migrate their traditional IT infrastructures to the cloud with minimal effort. But that's not the only reason why this particular product is getting more and more attention. Another big plus is that it uses a pay-as-you-go model. Thus, not only does it give you more control of spending, but it also enables you to lower your costs (according to Comarch, those can be reduced by as much as 30-40%).

We could go on and on presenting more reasons, but probably the most important one (at least in the context of this article) is that cloud-based IBM POWER-type solutions such as Comarch PowerCloud can provide you with (more than) enough computing power to start using AI for improving all kinds of medical services today.

If youre interested in finding out more about how the latest IT products and services based on IBM's POWER technology and to see how you can use them to run AI/ML operations and drive innovation in the healthcare industry read our free ebook: "Why Healthcare Needs AI and IBM POWER-driven Platforms".

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How healthcare companies can benefit from AI and IBM POWER driven IT infrastructures - Euronews

It. Never. Fails. Every time an AI article finds its way to social media theres hundreds of people invoking the terrifying specter of SKYNET.

SKYNET is a fictional artificial general intelligence thats responsible for the creation of the killer robots from the Terminator film franchise. It was a scary vision of AIs future until deep learning came along and big tech decided to take off its metaphorical belt and really give us something to cry about.

At least the people fighting the robots in The Terminator film franchises get to face a villain they can see and shoot at. In real life, you cant punch an algorithm.

And that makes it difficult to explain why, based on whats happening now, the real future might be even scarier than the one from those killer robot movies.

Luckily, we have experts such as Kai Fu Lee and Chen Qiufan, whose new book, AI 2041: Ten Visions of our Future, takes a stab at predicting what the machines will do over the next two decades. And, based on this interview, theres some scary shit headed our way.

According to Lee and Qiufan, the biggest threats humans face when it comes to AI involve its influence, lack of accountability or explainability, its inherent and explicit bias, its use as a bludgeon against privacy, and, yes, killer robots but not the kind youre thinking of.

If were going to prioritize a list of existential threats to the human race, we should probably start with the worst of them all: social media.

Facebooks very existence is a danger to humanity. It represents a business entity with more power than the governing body of the nation in which its incorporated.

The US government has taken no meaningful steps to regulate Facebooks use of AI. And, for that reason, billions of humans across the planet are exposed to demonstrably harmful recommendation algorithms every day.

Facebooks AI has more influence over humankind than any other force in history. The social network has more active monthly users than Christianity.

It would be shortsighted to think decades of exposure to social networks, despite hundreds of thousands of studies warning us about the real harms, wont have a major impact on our species.

Whether in 10, 20, or 50 years, the evidence seems to indicate well live to regret turning our attention spans over to a mathematical entity thats dumber than a snail.

The next threat on our tour-de-AI-horrors is the fascinating world of anti-privacy technology and the nightmare dystopia were headed for as a species.

Amazons Ring is the perfect reminder that, for whatever reason, humankind is deeply invested in shooting itself in the foot at every possible opportunity.

If theres one thing almost every free nation on the planet agrees on, its that human beings deserve a modicum of privacy.

Ring doorbell cameras destroy that privacy and effectively give both the government and a trillion-dollar corporation a neighbors eye-view of everything thats happening in every neighborhood around the country.

The only thing stopping Amazon or the US government from exploiting the data in the buckets where all that Ring video footage is stored is their word.

If it ever becomes lucrative to use our data or sell it. Or a political shift gives the US government powers to invade our privacy that it didnt previously have, our data is no longer safe.

But its not just Amazon. Our cars will soon be equipped with cloud-connected cameras purported to watch drivers for safety reasons. We already have active microphones listening in all of our smart devices.

And were on the very cusp of mainstreaming brain-computer-interfaces. The path to wearables that send data directly from your brain to big techs servers is paved with good intentions and horrible AI.

The next generation of surveillance tech, wearables, and AI-companions might eradicate the idea of personal privacy all-together.

The difference between being the first result of a Google search or ending up at the bottom of the page can cost businesses millions of dollars. Search engines and social media feed aggregators can kill a business or sink a news story.

And nobody voted to give Google or any other companys search algorithms that kind of power, it just happened.

Now, Googles bias is our bias. Amazons bias determines which products we buy. Microsoft and Apples bias determine what news we read.

Our doctors, politicians, judges, and teachers use Google, Apple, and Microsoft search engines to conduct personal and professional business. And the inherent biases of each product dictate what they do and do not see.

Social media feeds often determine not just which news articles we read, but which news publishers were exposed to. Almost every facet of modern life is somehow promulgated via algorithmic bias.

In another 20 years, information could become so stratified that alternative facts no longer refer to those that diverge from reality, but those that dont reflect the collective truth our algorithms have decided on for us.

AI doesnt have to actually do anything to harm humans. All it has to do is exist and continue to be confusing to the mainstream. As long as developers can get away with passing off black box AI as a way to automate human decision-making, bigotry and discrimination will have a home in which to thrive.

There are certain situations where we dont need AI to explain itself.But when an AI is tasked with making a subjective decision, especially one that affects humans, its important we be able to know why it makes the choices it does.

Its a big problem when, for example, YouTubes algorithm surfaces adult content to childrens accounts because the developers responsible for creating and maintaining those algorithms have no clue why it happens.

But what if there isnt a better way to use black box AI? Weve painted ourselves into a corner almost every public-facing big tech enterprise is powered by black box AI, and almost all of it is harmful. But getting rid of it may prove even harder than extricating humanity from its dependence on fossil fuels and for the same reasons.

In the next 20 years, we can expect the lack of explainability intrinsic to black box AI to lie at the center of any number of potential catastrophes involving artificial intelligence and loss of human life.

The final and perhaps least dangerous (but most obvious) threat to our species as a whole is that of killer drones. Note, thats not the same thing as killer robots.

Theres a reason why even the US military, with its vast budget, doesnt have killer robots. And its because theyre pointless when you can just automate a tank or mount a rifle on a drone.

The real killer robot threat is that of terrorists gaining access to simple algorithms, simple drones, simple guns, and advanced drone-swarm control technology.

Perhaps the best perspective comes from Lee who, in a recent interview with Andy Serwer, said:

It changes the future of warfare because, between country and country, this can create havoc and damage, but perhaps, anonymously and people dont know who did the attack.

So its also quite different from nuclear arms race, where [the] nuclear arms race at least has deterrence built-in. That you dont attack someone for the fear of retaliation and annihilation.

But autonomous weapons might be doable as a surprise attack. And people might not even know who did it. So I think that is, from my perspective, the ultimate greatest danger that I can be a part of. And we need to be cautious and figure out how to ban or regulate it.

Originally posted here:

5 real AI threats that make The Terminator look like Kindergarten Cop - The Next Web

Walmart has tapped Argo AI and Ford to launch an autonomous vehicle delivery service in Austin, Miami and Washington, D.C., the companies said Wednesday.

The service will allow customers to place online orders for groceries and other items using Walmarts ordering platform. Argos cloud-based infrastructure will be integrated with Walmarts online platform, routing the orders and scheduling package deliveries to customers homes. Initially, the commercial service will be limited to specific geographic areas in each city and will expand over time. The companies will begin testing later this year.

Walmart and Ford have partnered before in a limited test with Postmates in fall 2018. In that pilot program, which focused on Miami-Dade County, they used simulated self-driving vehicles to study the user experience of delivering groceries. Argo was not involved in that study.

This latest collaboration will use Ford vehicles integrated with Argo AIs self-driving technology. The aim is to show the potential for autonomous vehicle delivery services at scale, according to Argo AI CEO and co-founder Bryan Salesky.

The announcement illustrates Fords two-track system to launch a commercial service that uses autonomous vehicles to shuttle people and possibly packages. The automaker has been testing the business side of how a dedicated fleet of autonomous vehicles might operate in the real world. It backed Argo AI in 2016 and tapped the company to develop and test the self-driving system.

It also shows how Austin and Miami have become central to their initial commercialization plans.

Earlier this summer, Argo AI and Ford announced plans to launch at least 1,000 self-driving vehicles on Lyfts ride-hailing network in a number of cities over the next five years, starting with Miami and Austin. The first Ford self-driving vehicles equipped with Argos autonomous vehicle technology are expected to become available on Lyfts app in Miami later this year.

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Walmart to launch autonomous delivery service with Ford and Argo AI - TechCrunch

Plug and Play the largest global innovation platform in the field of Artificial Intelligence, and international accelerator and investment platform INTEMA (Intelligent Machines) launched byAI subsidiary of MTS, largest telecom operator inEastern Europe, have commenced a partnership that will see INTEMA andPlug and Plays global ecosystem development, leveraging the platform to support its comprehensive digital transformation strategy in the field of Artificial Intelligence.

The collaboration with Plug and Play will allow INTEMA by MTS AI to expand the number of global AI startups to be included in the accelerator program which provides access to international expertise in Artificial Intelligence and possible investment opportunities.

Marketing Technology News: Plug and Play Announces Launch of COVID-19 Startup Accelerator

Plug and Play, headquartered in Silicon Valley, is renowned for connecting startups, corporations, and investors throughout the world to help them to collaborate and scale together. Plug and Plays global ecosystem acrossthe United States,Frankfurt,Amsterdam,Milan,Paris,Abu Dhabi,Barcelona,Shanghai,Singapore, andTokyoencompasses over 40,000 startups and 500 official corporate partners. In 2020 alone, 2,065 projects were accelerated in Plug and Play.

INTEMA by MTS AI accelerator aims to select best global startups and coach the teams in key areas including technology, product, marketing and sales expertise. As part of the partnership, Plug and Play experts will become mentors in INTEMA acceleration program and share their experience with the participants in the training program to enhance their knowledge, skills and capabilities in order to help them scale their businesses and foster the creation of cutting-edge AI solutions. INTEMA by MTS AI accelerator also welcomes AI experts from leading technology companies such as Samsung, Shazam, Apple, Intel, Nvidia and others to work with its accelerator startups and provide mentorship.

Each accelerator program participant will receive this expert guidance alongside up to$100,000.00in early-stage funding from INTEMA. They may also be included in INTEMA fund pipeline which recently made its first investment of$10 millioninSan Diego-based startup Kneron that makes AI chips (among its investors are Foxconn, Qualcomm, Sequoia and Horizon ventures).

In the realm of artificial intelligence, we are building a full-cycle system for dealing with ideas, projects, and products. The collaboration with Plug and Play will strengthen our efforts in this process: we seek for potential teams all around the world, support AI solution developers, and take their products to the next level. Going forward, we plan to continue investing in promising AI-focused teams and technologies as part of our venture fund, corporate accelerator, and venture studio, saidAlexander Khanin, Head of the MTS AI Center.

We see soaring demand from investors for products and startups in AI. Experts claim AI to be a major game changer in the upcoming years. We select the bestAI teams from all over the world to boost them with our expertise and resources. Our mentors and experts work with leading global tech companies, our team has a solid background investing in tech companies. We give our portfolio companies computing powers of our top tier superpod for free. The mission of our accelerator backed by AI focused VC fund is to give companies and startups an elevator ride so they could disrupt industries with their tech. We are sure that Plug & Play is a great partner for that, saidAlexey Posternak, Chief Financial and Investment Officer at MTS AI Center.

Serving one of the leading AI global platforms is a great honor for Plug and Play. We are excited to explore the Russian telecommunications market as well with an in-depth approach to be able to drive innovation forward. At Plug and Play we are convinced that established corporations that connect and cooperate with best-in-class startups prosper under the possibilities these collaborations offer to them. The partnership with INTEMA by MTS AI promises to be of great value for both sides when it comes to creating growth opportunities, exploring new markets and accelerating innovation measures, saidSaeed Amidi, CEO Plug and Play

Were thrilled to work with INTEMA by MTS AI platform and expand the possibilities for our startups to do business and expand in new countries.INTEMA by MTS AI will be a key factor to our sourcing efforts and we are aligned internally to engage with startups from a business development and investment capacity. This will better serve MTS AI clients and help them achieve growth, saidAlfredo Gomez, Partnerships Manager at Plug and Play.

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Plug and Play to Collaborate with INTEMA on Innovation AI - MarTech Series

As explored through Europeana Pro news earlier this year, AI has huge potential for the cultural heritage sector. It offers the possibility to generate extensive amounts of data to enrich heritage collections, making them easier to explore and interconnected. Beginning in December 2019, the EuropeanaTech AI in relation to GLAMs Task Force aimed to carry out a horizon scanning exercise to investigate the role and impact of this technology in the sector, and gain a greater understanding of projects which use it.

In September 2020, the Task Force surveyed professionals working in galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAMs),research institutions and the wider industry (including technology suppliers and thecreative industries). The survey received 56 responses and the results offer valuable insights into the use of AI in the cultural heritage sector.

Almost all the respondents (91.8%) were interested in at least one AI topic, and more than half of them (54%) had expertise in this area. Several shared that they were already working on AI-related projects which were mostly aimed at digitisation and discoverability. However, many people also reported challenges in working with AI, particularly in relation to the skills and expertise which projects required of staff and a lack of appropriately annotated training data.

In addition to the survey, the Task Force interviewed eight cultural heritage professionals from various European institutions. Their responses add rich perspectives on the approaches that cultural heritage institutions are taking towards AI, and are included as case studies in the report.

Everyone who was interviewed agreed that AI has great potential for cultural heritage, and wanted to investigate using it further. It was clear from many responses that AI will play an increasingly large and valuable role throughout the activities of cultural organisations, especially with regard to access, metadata extraction and enrichment. However, as in the survey, many people referred to challenges when working with AI, stressing the need for cross-departmental collaboration, the challenging lack of data with suitable annotations and the complexities of integrating AI into existing infrastructure. They also expressed concerns regarding ethics and how best to demonstrate and communicate the value of applying AI.

From the results of this Task Force, it is clear to see that AI and Machine Learning (ML) projects are already being carried out in GLAMs and have been for several years, even if they have not always been visible. We hope that the results of this Task Force will be one way to share and promote this work!

While we have seen obvious interest in and enthusiasm for AI across the sector, there are also obstacles. People reported that it can take a long time before the results of an AI strategy or research become apparent, which means that it can sometimes be a challenge to convince organisations of the necessity of the work. The report gives insights into the main challenges faced by GLAMs, ranging from access to training data, ethical considerations, and issues related to scaling up projects to institution-wide implementations.AI is not seen as a 'quick technology fix' for the humanities, and precisely because of this time-consuming aspect, data and knowledge sharing seem essential for the continuation and success of these projects.

The EuropeanaTech community will continue to support knowledge exchange on AI, and seek further collaboration with other initiatives to increase its impact. The Task Force and the EuropeanaTech Steering Group have outlined action points for this future work which focuses on the themes knowledge exchange, data sharing and strategic input:

We want to achieve knowledge exchange through the EuropeanaTech x AI webinar series and by organising other events which focus on specific topics and collaborations with Cultural AI Lab, AI4LAM and The Museums + AI Network. If you have got an idea, please get in contact with Europeanas Research and Development Manager Antoine Isaac, antoine.isaac@europeana.eu.

Following on from the EuropeanaTech challenge for AI/ML datasets, Europeana has begun to publish datasets of potential interest for AI applications under the Europeana community umbrella in Zenodo. The first contribution is a style classification dataset from the V4Design project.

Strategic input will build on the reflections from this final report, including integrating and linking new AI systems into existing systems, publicly sharing models trained on domains specific to cultural heritage collections, implementing AI in a way that is considerate of ethical and legal, and reducing the carbon footprint of training models and processing at scale.

Keep following the work of EuropeanaTech to explore how this progresses, and download and read the report in full!

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New EuropeanaTech Task Force report explores AI in relation to GLAMs - News | Europeana Pro

Technology has been trying to ease human beings lives for years now, and space tech seems to have solved a major problem for rangers.

A new space technology, termed as SpaceCows program, will help rangers predict where their herd is headed and cull them or fence off from important sites.

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CSIRO teamed up with Microsoft to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and space technologies to help the rangers predict the movement of feral herds and manage them to make sure they are kept away from important heritage and cultural sites.

AI will utilise data and track data of tagged animals through satellite and will create a replica of virtual landscape. The AI will be able to make calculations and predict the movements of the herds. For example, it will be able to predict if the herds will be moving towards the water bodies based on the temperature of the day. Through this calculation, rangers will be ready with their plan.

SpaceCows is a joint project between Aboriginal land management groups, universities, CSIRO, satellite company Kineis, and Microsoft.

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Experts from the project will help train rangers aptly to use the AI-technology such as drones and tablets, to help them manage their herd in farm lands of more than 22,000sq km.

"We've got areas we call bora grounds where we do initiations. (Theyre) like meeting places, you know, where our mob gather and our dancers and songwriters can perform,"Balnggarrawarra ranger and Cape Yorks Normanby Station traditional owner Vince Harrigan said. "Some of our rock art theyre down really low, in sheltered areas. There have been cases where there have been cattle right next to these low paintings, rubbing up against them. Over time theyre brushing it off, rubbing it off."

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SpaceCows: AI to help rangers predict herds` movements to save sacred sites and rock art - WION