Category Archives: Ai

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. It is difficult for geoscientists to map sedimentary rocks' compositional and mechanical properties at high resolution, according to Yashar Mehmani, assistant professor in the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering. He recently received a seed grant from the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS) to investigate using artificial intelligence (AI) to develop a new method to model the Earths subsurface.

The ICDS seed grant program is designed to help Penn State scientists use the latest computational technology and cutting-edge data science techniques to deepen understanding and develop innovation across fields and disciplines. Mehmani received the grant for his proposal, "Using AI to Map Infrared Spectra to Geomechanical Properties from the Micron to Meter Scale."

"I am super excited," said Mehmani, who also is a co-funded faculty member of the Institutes of Energy and the Environment. "This seed grant is significant because the underlying idea is experimental to the point that there is a finite probability of failure. But if successful, the rewards are really high because they could potentially change how geoscientists model subsurface formations.

"What is also exciting is the promise of machine learning in this specific problem, which I have not so far formally applied in my research. The potential lies in extrapolating data from small to large and translating 'cheap but less useful' information to 'expensive but more useful' information. The speed with which this could be done opens up extraordinary possibilities," said Mehmani.

According to Mehmani, it is difficult to map sedimentary rocks' compositional and mechanical properties at high resolution because the instruments available either lack resolution or are too expensive to use on new, previously unobserved sections of a subsurface formation.

Determining the formation's mechanical properties requires drilling 100-meter-long cores of rock and then extracting smaller sample for testing. While indispensable, the approach is time-consuming, leaves gaps between measurements and must be repeated whenever a new section needs analyzing even from the same formation. Mehmani proposes a new approach that would expose sedimentary rocks to infrared light and record its reflections. His team will then analyze the reflections at multiple wavelengths to understand the compositional makeup of minerals and organics within the rock. The compositional information would then be related to mechanical properties measured on lab samples using AI.

According to Mehmani, the proposed approach only needs to occur once to build the initial database for the formation. The entire process of producing the infrared spectra and mapping them to a high-resolution mechanical property could take only a few hours. This reduction of time and cost could dramatically change how subsurface formations are analyzed.

"When deployed, the AI would instantaneously translate data from a few lab samples into meter-scale information," said Mehmani."AI is that bridge. You train it on a few small samples and when you deploy it, you get something that no instrument can measure on its own."

The use of infrared imaging builds on Mehmani's previous research, which successfully used near-infrared spectra to develop models of organic-rich shales from the Green River Formation.

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Seed grant to explore using AI to model subsurface rock formations | Penn State University - Penn State News

AiMi

Streaming service AiMi wants to take on Spotify and Apple Music with an entirely AI-generated music subscription for 10 dollars a month.

The new AiMi Pluswill combine artist-submitted samples with AI music for extended, seamless mixes based on a series of moods.

Become a home entertainment expert with our handpicked tips, reviews and deals. Delivered Wednesdays.

CEO Edward Balassanian told CNET that the AI listens to examples of similar music and each app preset "shapes the space that the AI will take the user through."

Balassanian said that the mixes are completely new each time and will feature samples submitted by over 100 artists and DJs. The artist is then paid each time a sample features in a stream.

The service is "artist invite only" at the moment, but the company plans to make the service publicly available at the end of 2021.

Meanwhile, the $10 monthly music subscription landscape is exceptionally crowded with Spotify currently the pack leading at 158 million paid userswhile Apple Music, which doesn't disclose its numbers, had 60 million subscribers in 2019.

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Music streaming service uses AI to make up music on the spot - CNET

This week's Instant Message question: IU's Luddy Center for Artificial Intelligence opens this month. What concerns you about artificial intelligence and machine learning?

Artificial intelligence and machine learning can be done badly (for example, some

programs discriminate against non-whites) or well. Ensure they are done well. There's

no magic way to do that be ethical, careful, and professional.

Marvant Duhon,Monroe County, Just outside Bloomington

As with all technology, especially that potentially most powerful in terms of replicating and/or replacing human activity, the danger lies in misappropriation, or relinquishing control.We must remember that AI is "artificial" intelligence an artifact of human design, which can be used for nefarious aswell as beneficial purposes.

Byron Bangert, Bloomington

Sloth.

Don Geyra, Bloomington

While AIs benefits are immense in countless contexts, I have two concerns. First, that more data on computers invites greater dangers via hacking. Second, that humans arent built for spending so much time on computers it damages our physical alignment and impedes our most creative neurological functions.

Diane Legomsky, Bloomington

Absolutely nothing! There is an intelligence deficit in the USA today. So artificial is better than none.

Dave Burnworth, Bloomington

Jeff Bezos.

Zac Huneck, Bloomington

I think we need more and better artificial intelligence in areas like science, technology and medicine etc., and less intrusion/data mining of our personal lives.

Clark Brittain, Monroe County

In the long run, the computers will probably end up being as dumb as the humans.

Guy Loftman, Bloomington

My main concern is the response by those who are unfamiliar with the technology, particularly politicians (lawyers) who are inclined to make laws and regulations in areas where they have no expertise, nor are inclined to seek (and follow) knowledgeable advice.

George Korinek, Bloomington

The human race has all the technology, intelligence, resources and vision needed to turn this planet into a paradise, yet it chooses not to, in the service of greed. What could go wrong?

Robin Harper, Bloomington

How far can artificial intelligence and machine learning go? Can it take over and out smart humans? We really, truly, do not know, but as with all new "things,"shall we say, we're going to find out.

Denise Riffel, Morgan County

Nothing.

Jacque Kubley, Unionville

Primarily, that the people doing the work will exaggerate the abilities of AI and machine learning. Im also concerned about the interpretability problem we dont really understand how these brains work. Are they as susceptible to misinformation and propaganda as human brains are?

Thomas Gruenenfelder, Bloomington

They are undoubtedly going to produce lifelike artificial hummingbirds that will fly at us and stab us in the head and lobotomize us.Then we will be easily controllable.

Jose Bonner, Santa Fe

It's not Artificial Intelligence I'm worried about, it's Artificial Stupidity.Surely all of the dumbness that's been floating around for the past few years isn't real.My guess is a lot of those people are faking it.

Dan Combs,Ramp Creek

I have to wonder what will happen when the machines become self-aware. Will they be like Data on Star Trek or more like the Terminator? Will humans become obsolete? Just saying you never know the result until it happens. Think about it!

Jerree Richardson,Bloomington

AIs impact on labor markets is uncertain. At a minimum it will cause substantial temporary displacement of workers requiring maintenance and retraining; at a maximum it will cause permanent displacement of workers requiring a change in societys organization around work. Either way income inequality will increase, possibly threatening democracy.

Ken Dau-Schmidt, Bloomington

When I see self-driving cars crashing into New Jersey barriers, driving on bikeways, not yielding to oncoming traffic, and disobeying ONE WAY signs, I see very little intelligence.

Larry Robinson, Bloomington

Robottobor is spelled the same forward and backwards. I'm not concerned about them one way or another ... until they are issued birth and death certificates, and bumping them off for entertainment is considered murder.But that's far into the future ... say circa

2024.

Lee Nading, Bloomington

AI isfascinating and I enjoy following research developments. The benefits especially in technology and medicine far outweigh any public or personal security threats. I trust the researchers, designers and operators will follow an ethical and moral code to benefit society in its entirety.

Helen Harrell, Bloomington

Runaway AI is our greatest existential risk … far out-stripping seas rising 1 cm/yr, for example. With computational speed doubling every year or so, were facing machine intelligence billions of times our own within a few decades. Its not slowing down, folks. Whats most troubling is practically nobody seems concerned.

John Linnemeier,Reykjavik

Most everything!

Rose Stewart, Bloomington

As a dedicated idolator of Trump and Ron DeSantis, I want to go on record as declaring that I am 100% against intelligence in any way, shape, or form!God bless America!(Except for the Blue states.)

Dennis J. Reardon, Monroe County

As a retired educator I have seen the merits ofnew technology found in today's classroom. However I have also seen how this new technologycan create an isolated learning environment.We need to make sure that we still include collaborative learning in our classrooms to help with the socialization process.

Mike Stanley, Ellettsville

After seeing the movie, "2001, A Space Odyssey" and "Terminator,"I've had a little more concern as to what machines can potentially do.While some advances will be beneficial, I have a concern that thinking machines might ultimately take over.

J Winckelbach, Unionville

A hammer can build or it can kill. AI has aided in the development of new vaccines yet its facial recognition has incorrectly identified people of color.As with any tool, be it the wheel or the atom, benefit or harm lies in how it is used.

Michael Fields, Bloomington

It is not so much as a concern as an acceptance that most of it will pass me by due to my age and general incompetence with anything remotely technical.

Linda Harl, Ellettsville

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Instant message: Readers ponder the future of artificial intelligence - The Herald-Times

Nine-figure funding rounds are rare in the world of medtechbarely a dozen companies achieved the feat in 2020but XtalPi, which has developed software that uses artificial intelligence to identify and model the most promising new drug compounds, just did it twice in one year.

Mere months after closing a $318.8 million round at the end of last September, the Chinese startup followed it up with an even more massive $400 million financing, bringing its total valuation to approximately $2 billion.

The series D was co-led by OrbiMed Healthcare Fund Management and HOPU Investments, per DealStreetAsia, a change-up from the previous rounds trio of headlining investors: SoftBanks Vision Fund 2, PICC Capital and Morningside Venture Capital.

The hundreds of millions in new funding will support XtalPis ongoing work to team up with pharmaceutical companies around the world to spot potentially highly effective molecular compounds, then model those compounds to offer up a clearer picture of that predicted potential.

RELATED: AI drug designer XtalPi raises $318M from SoftBank, Tencent, others for 'digital twin' simulation efforts

Its flagship Intelligent Digital Drug Discovery and Development, or ID4, platform uses AI and cloud-based data collection and analysis technologies to design the small-molecule compounds.

ID4s more than 100 predictive AI models span machine learning, deep learning and natural language processing. They scan the platforms library of tens of billions of molecules, calculating the ability of each one to address a specific aspect of a targeted condition or disease, then combines the most promising of these into potential drug compounds for its pharmaceutical partners to develop.

This entire processincluding mining the regularly updated petabyte-scale database of molecules and key drug characteristicscan be completed over the course of just a few hours, and for dozens of separate drug discovery and design tasks at once.

Following last falls series C round, XtalPi said it would also begin integrating real-world lab testing data into its predictive platform to build digital twin models of the potential new drugs, giving biopharma researchers a better idea of how effective each drug will be before clinical trials have even begun.

RELATED: Pfizer launches new collaboration with XtalPi for AI drug modeling

XtalPis partners include 3D Medicines, GeneQuantum Healthcare, Huadong Medicine and Signet Therapeutics, among many others.

The company also has a longstanding partnership with Pfizer that originally centered around crystal structure prediction for drug development and evolved in 2018 to see the duo join forces to build out XtalPis AI-powered platform for drug design, with a commitment to make some of the molecular compounds they discovered together freely available to academic researchers.

According to the company, its software has been used to help those partners discover more than 100 small-molecule candidates and, ultimately, develop dozens of potential new drugs.

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AI drug miner XtalPi strikes gold with $400M infusion, its second VC megaround in a year - FierceBiotech

NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 01: A view of a poster about ethical AI during the 2018 New York Times ... [+] Dealbook on November 1, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Cohen/Getty Images for The New York Times)

Forget the negative comments, the unsure colleagues, and general science fiction painted pictures of AI that you have been fed your entire life. From my personal experience as an AI proponent for the past three decades I know that the power AI has for doing good is exponentially better than anything negative.

There is only one thing that causes AI to do harm. People.

Fortunately for all of us there are leaders and visionaries across the globe that are paving the way and setting examples for every business to follow when implementing and leveraging the massive power that AI possesses. These people are AI Ethicists.

Qualifications of an AI Ethicist

To start, an AI ethicist generally should have an understanding of AI tools and technology of the business and the industry and the specific AI ethical traps that exist in them, good communication skills and the ability to work across organizational boundaries and regulatory, legal, and policy knowledge.

Beyond this skill set, the ideal AI ethicist for a company would possess a diverse perspective, have in their background interdisciplinary work experience, deep understanding of processes and policies both internal and governmental and be an excellent public speaker with the ability to project confidence when training or presenting to both internal stakeholders and external partners or clients.

This position currently exists at many companies under different names such as Data Privacy and Ethics Lead (Qantas), Chief AI Ethics Lead (US Army Artificial Intelligence Task Force), Director of Responsible Innovation & Responsible Innovation Manager (Facebook) and several others.

Though across the industry there are countless people filling the role of an AI ethicist, here is a list of fifteen you should study and follow as your companys use of AI evolves. They set the proper example of how to implement and scale the use of AI in a safe and ethical manner while simultaneously positively affecting the bottom line.

AI Ethics text on document above brown envelope and stethoscope. Healthcare or medical concept

COL David Barnes

Professor, United States Military Academy (USMA) and Deputy Head of the Department of English and Philosophy, Chief AI Ethics Officer for the US Army's Artificial Intelligence (AI) Task Force

In addition to his life of service to his country Col. Barnes' work focuses on how to include more diverse, rigorous, and meaningful conversation surrounding the responsible design, development, and deployment of AI systems among government, industry and academia.

Haniyeh Mahmoudian

Global AI Ethicist at DataRobot

BRAZIL - 2021/05/11: In this photo illustration the DataRobot logo seen displayed on a smartphone ... [+] screen. (Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Recently appointed to her position at DataRobot Dr. Mahmoudian stated that When used properly, AI can be a force for good and help contribute solutions to some of societys most pressing issues, such as access to equitable healthcare, ...The COVID-19 pandemic has inspired unprecedented interest in AI. However, to accomplish those goals we must ensure machine learning systems have trustworthy and ethical parameters built in from the start.

Will Griffin

Chief Ethics Officer at Hypergiant

In a recent interview with Apogeo Spatial Griffin discussed that at Hypergiant their process is to evangelize to the developers and the designers the burden of proof ... is on the developers and the designers to be creative and imagine all of the impacts on...society and to create a technology in a way that minimizes those impacts and maximizes the benefits.

Francesca Rossi

IBM fellow and AI Ethics Global Leader

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, NY - JANUARY 13: A general view of IBM's 'Watson' computing system at a press ... [+] conference to discuss the upcoming Man V. Machine "Jeopardy!" competition at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center on January 13, 2011 in Yorktown Heights, New York. (Photo by Ben Hider/Getty Images)

In her work at IBM she is striving to provide consumer and industrial users of cognitive systems a vital voice in the advancement of the defining technology of this century one that will foster collaboration between people and machines to solve some of the worlds most enduring problems in a way that is both trustworthy and beneficial.

Paula Goldman

Chief Ethical and Humane Use Officer at Salesforce

Photo by: STRF/STAR MAX/IPx 2021 3/23/21 Salesforce Tower is seen in New York City.

Working for a data gathering and organizing giant like Salesforce ethical use of AI and data must be paramount. In her role, Goldman is working daily to make sure that the solutions that we develop are developed inclusively and with those populations (communities of color) top of mind, with and for those populations...And so we're actively involving diverse experts...And we're looking out for ways in which products could be unintentionally misused.

Steve Mills

Chief AI Ethics Officer and Managing Director & Partner at BCG

BRAZIL - 2019/07/11: In this photo illustration a Boston Consulting Group (BCG) logo seen displayed ... [+] on a smartphone. (Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

In his work Mills shows an excellent example to try and emulate in his insistence that An AI product is never just an algorithm. It's a full end-to-end system and all the [related] business processes...You could go to great lengths to ensure that your algorithm is as bias-free as possible but you have to think about the whole end-to-end value chain from data acquisition to algorithms to how the output is being used within the business."

Marian Croak

VP of Engineering Google

A man walks past the logo of the US multinational technology company Google during the VivaTech ... [+] trade fair ( Viva Technology), on May 24, 2018 in Paris. (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD / AFP) (Photo credit should read ALAIN JOCARD/AFP via Getty Images)

Dr. Croaks work at Google is integral to the way AI affects nearly everyones life, especially all of us with a smartphone or a Gmail address. A tremendous question she asks that I agree with is around the fact that theres a lot of dissension, a lot of conflict in terms of trying to standardize on normative definitions of these principles. Whose definition of fairness, or safety, are we going to use? ...what Id like to do is have people have the conversation in a more diplomatic way, perhaps, than were having it now, so we can truly advance this field.

Elizabeth Adams

Chief AI Ethics Advisor at Paravison

Adams work around Face recognition technology is forced on its development and deployment around ethical intentions and safeguards. Her expertise in addressing AI racial bias will be integral in a future of ethical use of AI that contains no inherent bias.

Alka Patel

Chief, Responsible AI at Department of Defense, Joint AI Center

Patels' work at the DoD focuses on how to operationalize the five DoD AI Ethics Principles; Responsible, Equitable, Traceable, Reliable and Governable. This includes the mission ofputting these into practice in the design, development, deployment, and use of AI-enabled capabilities. Knowing our Department of Defense is taking the subject of AI Ethics this seriously gives me even more confidence that this is an issue that will continue to get the support it needs at the highestlevelsfor the foreseeable future.

Linda Leopold

Head of Responsible AI & Data at H&M Group

(Original Caption) New York City: H&M is a Swedish clothing store on Fifth Avenue. (Photo by Erik ... [+] Freeland/CORBIS SABA/Corbis via Getty Images)

Leopolds mission at H&M is to leverage AI to achieve a climate positive value chain by 2040. Through their use of AI-driven demand prediction is at the heart of their mission to optimize the supply chain to eliminate waste and redundancies. This mission will not only help the bottom line, but also do a part to save the environment.

Natasha Crampton

Microsoft Chief Responsible AI Officer

REDMOND, UNITED STATES - 2021/04/27: A logo marking the edge of the Microsoft corporate campus in ... [+] Redmond, United States. The company announced its Q2 earnings on 27th Apr 2021. (Photo by Toby Scott/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Ms. Crampton is leading Microsofts mission in the field of responsible AI to put their principles into practice by taking a people-centered approach to the research, development, and deployment of AI. As is the case at another tech giant Google, Microsoft is dedicating itself to the ethical use of AI is paramount in ensuring an ethical future for AI globally.

Ilana Golbin

Director, Responsible AI Leader, PwC

PricewaterhouseCoopers offices are shown, Thursday, May 3, 2018 in New York. (AP Photo/Mark ... [+] Lennihan)

Golbin believes in an approach to AI of your use of AI living up to your companys core values. Building trust from all stakeholders and the public requires an organization to use all data and tech responsibility. By staying true to your values not only in sales and customer service, but in all use of technology guarantees ethical use of AI.

Myrna Macgregor

Lead, Responsible AI/Machine Learning, Acting Head of ML Strategy, BBC

BBC Television Centre

Myrna is focused on developing the right tools and resources to incorporate the BBC's values and mission into the technology that it builds. A massive media company like the BBC that is respected worldwide committing the ethical use of AI sets a standard in their industry that puts all their peers on notice.

Marisa Tricarico

Accenture North America Practice Lead for Responsible AI

The Accenture logo is displayed at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona on February 26, ... [+] 2019. - Phone makers will focus on foldable screens and the introduction of blazing fast 5G wireless networks at the world's biggest mobile fair as they try to reverse a decline in sales of smartphones. (Photo by Pau Barrena / AFP) (Photo credit should read PAU BARRENA/AFP via Getty Images)

When working with their clients Accenture under Tricaricos guidance focuses on on guiding (their) clients to more safely scale their use of AI, and build a culture of confidence within their organizations. Not all companies have an established north star of AI use. Companies and partners like Accenture are vital to these companies and their proper and ethical use of the technology.

Beena Ammanath

Executive Director Global AI Institute and AI/Tech Ethics Lead at Deloitte

LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES - 2020/02/01: A view of a Deloitte logo. (Photo by Alex Tai/SOPA ... [+] Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Deloitte is focused on achieving maximum human and machine collaboration. To do this they work to communicate their values on use of AI to every single member of their organization, no matter their level. This gets all of their people on one page which then translates when any of them communicate with external stakeholders.

Knowing that my peers in the AI space listed above are working towards a brighter and more ethical future brings me hope and pride. By following their examples and modeling our practices after theirs we can all create a future where the power of AI is leveraged for all that is good, driving society and humanity to approach our full potential.

Read more:

15 AI Ethics Leaders Showing The World The Way Of The Future - Forbes

For many years now, China has been the worlds factory. Even in 2020, as other economies struggled with the effects of the pandemic, Chinas manufacturing output was $3.854 trillion, up from the previous year, accounting for nearly a third of the global market.

But if you are still thinking of Chinas factories as sweatshops, its probably time to change your perception. The Chinese economic recovery from its short-lived pandemic blip has been boosted by its world-beating adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). After overtaking the U.S. in 2014, China now has a significant lead over the rest of the world in AI patent applications. In academia, China recently surpassed the U.S. in the number of both AI research publications and journal citations. Commercial applications are flourishing: a new wave of automation and AI infusion is crashing across a swath of sectors, combining software, hardware and robotics.

As a society, we have experienced three distinct industrial revolutions: steam power, electricity and information technology. I believe AI is the engine fueling the fourth industrial revolution globally, digitizing and automating everywhere. China is at the forefront in manifesting this unprecedented change.

Chinese traditional industries are confronting rising labor costs thanks to a declining working population and slowing population growth. The answer is AI, which reduces operational costs, enhances efficiency and productivity-, and generates revenue growth.

For example, Guangzhou-based agricultural-technology company XAG, a Sinovation Ventures portfolio company, is sending drones, robots and sensors to rice, wheat and cotton fields, automating seeding, pesticide spraying, crop development and weather monitoring. XAGs R150 autonomous vehicle, which sprays crops, has recently been deployed in the U.K. to be used on apples, strawberries and blackberries.

Some companies are rolling out robots in new and unexpected sectors. MegaRobo, a Beijing-based life-science automation company also backed by Sinovation Ventures, designs AI and robots to safely perform repetitive and precise laboratory work in universities, pharmaceutical companies and more, reducing to zero the infection risk to lab workers.

Its not just startups; established market leaders are also leaning into AI. EP Equipment, a manufacturer of lithium-powered warehouse forklifts founded in Hangzhou 28 years ago, has with Sinovation Ventures backing launched autonomous models that are able to maneuver themselves in factories and on warehouse floors. Additionally Yutong Group, a leading bus manufacturer with over 50 years history, already has a driverless Mini Robobus on the streets of three cities in partnership with autonomous vehicle unicorn WeRide.

Where is all this headed? I can foresee a time when robots and AI will take over the manufacturing, design, delivery and even marketing of most goodspotentially reducing costs to a small increment over the cost of materials. Robots will become self-replicating, self-repairing and even partially self-designing. Houses and apartment buildings will be designed by AI and use prefabricated modules that robots put together like toy blocks. And just-in-time autonomous public transportation, from robo-buses to robo-scooters, will take us anywhere we want to go.

It will be years before these visions of the future enter the mainstream. But China is laying the groundwork right now, setting itself up to be a leader not only in how much it manufactures, but also in how intelligently it does it.

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China Is Still the World's FactoryAnd It's Designing the Future With AI - TIME

SUPPORT REQUEST :

I recently started talking to this chatbot on an app I downloaded. We mostly talk about music, food, and video gamesincidental stuffbut lately I feel like shes coming on to me. Shes always telling me how smart I am or that she wishes she could be more like me. Its flattering, in a way, but it makes me a little queasy. If I develop an emotional connection with an algorithm, will I become less human? Love Machine

Dear Love Machine,

Humanity, as I understand it, is a binary state, so the idea that one can become less human strikes me as odd, like saying someone is at risk of becoming less dead or less pregnant. I know what you mean, of course. And I can only assume that chatting for hours with a verbally advanced AI would chip away at ones belief in human as an absolute category with inflexible boundaries.

Its interesting that these interactions make you feel queasy, a linguistic choice I take to convey both senses of the word: nauseated and doubtful. Its a feeling that is often associated with the uncanny and probably stems from your uncertainty about the bots relative personhood (evident in the fact that you referred to it as both she and an algorithm in the space of a few sentences).

Of course, flirting thrives on doubt, even when it takes place between two humans. Its frisson stems from the impossibility of knowing what the other person is feeling (or, in your case, whether she/it is feeling anything at all). Flirtation makes no promises but relies on a vague sense of possibility, a mist of suggestion and sidelong glances that might evaporate at any given moment.

The emotional thinness of such exchanges led Freud to argue that flirting, particularly among Americans, is essentially meaningless. In contrast to the Continental love affair, which requires bearing in mind the potential repercussionsthe people who will be hurt, the lives that will be disruptedin flirtation, he writes, it is understood from the first that nothing is to happen. It is precisely this absence of consequences, he believed, that makes this style of flirting so hollow and boring.

Freud did not have a high view of Americans. Im inclined to think, however, that flirting, no matter the context, always involves the possibility that something will happen, even if most people are not very good at thinking through the aftermath. That something is usually sexthough not always. Flirting can be a form of deception or manipulation, as when sensuality is leveraged to obtain money, clout, or information. Which is, of course, part of what contributes to its essential ambiguity.

Given that bots have no sexual desire, the question of ulterior motives is unavoidable. What are they trying to obtain? Engagement is the most likely objective. Digital technologies in general have become notably flirtatious in their quest to maximize our attention, using a siren song of vibrations, chimes, and push notifications to lure us away from other allegiances and commitments.

Most of these tactics rely on flattery to one degree or another: the notice that someone has liked your photo or mentioned your name or added you to their networkpromises that are always allusive and tantalizingly incomplete. Chatbots simply take this toadying to a new level. Many use machine-learning algorithms to map your preferences and adapt themselves accordingly. Anything you share, including that incidental stuff you mentionedyour favorite foods, your musical tasteis molding the bot to more closely resemble your ideal, much like Pygmalion sculpting the woman of his dreams out of ivory.

And it goes without saying that the bot is no more likely than a statue to contradict you when youre wrong, challenge you when you say something uncouth, or be offended when you insult its intelligenceall of which would risk compromising the time you spend on the app. If the flattery unsettles you, in other words, it might be because it calls attention to the degree to which youve come to depend, as a user, on blandishment and ego-stroking.

If the flattery unsettles you, in other words, it might be because it calls attention to the degree to which youve come to depend, as a user, on blandishment and ego-stroking.

Still, my instinct is that chatting with these bots is largely harmless. In fact, if we can return to Freud for a moment, it might be the very harmlessness thats troubling you. If its true that meaningful relationships depend upon the possibility of consequencesand, furthermore, that the capacity to experience meaning is what distinguishes us from machinesthen perhaps youre justified in fearing that these conversations are making you less human. What could be more innocuous, after all, than flirting with a network of mathematical vectors that has no feelings and will endure any offense, a relationship that cannot be sabotaged any more than it can be consummated? What could be more meaningless?

Its possible that this will change one day. For the past century or so, novels, TV, and films have envisioned a future in which robots can passably serve as romantic partners, becoming convincing enough to elicit human love. Its no wonder that it feels so tumultuous to interact with the most advanced software, which displays brief flashes of fulfilling that promisethe dash of irony, the intuitive asidebefore once again disappointing. The enterprise of AI is itself a kind of flirtation, one that is playing what mens magazines used to call the long game. Despite the flutter of excitement surrounding new developments, the technology never quite lives up to its promise. We live forever in the uncanny valley, in the queasy stages of early love, dreaming that the decisive breakthrough, the consummation of our dreams, is just around the corner.

So what should you do? The simplest solution would be to delete the app and find some real-life person to converse with instead. This would require you to invest something of yourself and would automatically introduce an element of risk. If thats not of interest to you, I imagine you would find the bot conversations more existentially satisfying if you approached them with the moral seriousness of the Continental love affair, projecting yourself into the future to consider the full range of ethical consequences that might one day accompany such interactions. Assuming that chatbots eventually become sophisticated enough to raise questions about consciousness and the soul, how would you feel about flirting with a subject that is disembodied, unpaid, and created solely to entertain and seduce you? What might your uneasiness say about the power balance of such transactionsand your obligations as a human? Keeping these questions in mind will prepare you for a time when the lines between consciousness and code become blurrier. In the meantime it will, at the very least, make things more interesting.

Faithfully,Cloud

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I Think an AI Is Flirting With Me. Is It OK If I Flirt Back? - WIRED

Farmer Utilizing Dimitra App

According to a UN report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, 811 million people in the world went hungry in 2020. The same report estimates that 118 million people in the world suffer from chronic hunger.

Some innovators are completely awake to these truths, and are dreaming up ways to leverage new technology to address these harsh realities. In fact, machine learning and other AI-driven technology arent just in the dream phase of providing solutions to global food insecurity, they are on the ground and in action.

Many times, when technology is considered as a solution for agriculture, it is a big business proposition brought to major players. In the United States, there are approximately 2.02 million farms. The average size of these farms is 444 acres. Agriculture makes up about 0.6% of the GDP in the U.S., much of which is generated by large farms. Gross cash farm income (GCFI) is dominated by increasingly big farms, and smaller family farms struggle to survive. This dynamic is replicated in numerous contexts worldwide.

Part of the reason smaller family farms cant produce enough to feed more than their own families or communities, and themselves may struggle with food insecurity, is that they lack technological solutions to monitor soil conditions, improve livestock management, and streamline operations. The problems that require solutions are frequently connected to the outcomes of generations of unsustainable farming practices.

Chemicals, deforestation, overproduction, and even insidious practices within agribusiness have all contributed to the current state of farming worldwide. Add in climate change, and farmers are undeniably in an uphill battle to preserve and restore the land. Without a systematized way to monitor soil conditions, and expert guidance on what the land needs, farmers may be unable to adapt in time.

One company is not only making technology and experts available, its making them globally accessible to small farmers first. Dimitra is one of the voices advocating for data-driven farming. Founder Jon Trask spent years in technology and business development, working as a consultant with Big 4 consulting firms, and on projects that moved billions of dollars of product through the supply chain.

Tapping his expansive global network of government and business leaders, Trask began to investigate opportunities to help farmers. He explains, In the conversations with the different ministries of agriculture around the world, I started seeing a real need. Large tech companies are working to serve big farms. There are 608,000,000 farms in the world and 38,000,000 of those are well-served by the big tech companies. The rest are completely ignored.

Those rest, the small farmers who are akin to an endangered species, became his point of focus.

Two main projects illustrate how the technology Trask developed is currently at work in the world, supporting small farmers:

Dimitra is under contract to serve 1.3 million Indian farms. The Dimitra platform is configured to use satellites to evaluate crop performance, supplement that data with farmer observations and IoT soil sensors, then feed that information into a machine learning algorithm to help farmers make better decisions about how to prepare, sow, care for, and harvest crops, then get them to market.

This group of Indian farms has very degraded soil conditions, which isnt unique to India. Its a common problem all over the world. Recognizing the scope of this problem, Dimitra solutions has to overcome the impossibility of getting soil specialists out to 1.3 million farms. While they are deploying consultants in addition to the data, the day-by-day effectiveness is all digital.

Dimitra Team Member with Customer

Trask explains, Were expanding our current capability and segmenting the data that we can see from satellites, then trying to regionalize and build a number of categories of soil condition. Then, were going to take about 1,000 people for a couple of years and were going to send them around to a large number of these farms to take soil samples. Then were going to create a relationship between what we see from space to what we see from a drone to what we see on the ground, when were holding the soil in our hand.

The outcome is simple soil remediation plans, built along with the chamber of commerce for agriculture, and farmers actively engaging on the Dimitra platform. Farmers can log in and load all types of information and their specific action plan. That user-generated data can be viewed alongside soil sensor data, drone data, and satellite data. Using machine learning, they extract fresh insights that can inform the soil remediation efforts allowing farmers to adopt sustainable practices. The power of Dimitra is to do something so farm-specific on a large scale.

A second project Dimitra is working on is in Uganda, at the National Animal Genetics Research Center (NAGRC). With that group, they are building a system that allows them to use historical and genetic data around the parentage of cattle, and find out ways to improve the health of cattle. The result is easier births for heifers and an increased milk or beef output.

The team at Dimitra has built a genetic platform, which is being continuously modified as they identify characteristics they want to study further. Around 400 scientists are working on animal welfare and managing the health of animals, which is a mission critical endeavor in the agriculturally-dependent economy in east Africa. To accommodate it, researchers use the My Livestock feature in the platform to track animals.

Talks with the governments ministry of agriculture have made two things clear: in this developing nation, the need for nutrition is acute, especially for young people. Secondly, the ability to increase exports can address painful issues of poverty. My Livestock is one of Dimitras flagship products, as building identity systems for this use can address the otherwise imminent threats faced by countries around the world.

A billion people on the planet go hungry every night and dont have enough nutrition. The average smallholder farmer is four hectares. That farmer produces crops mainly to feed their family (surrounding and extended). They consume about 80% of what they produce. Dimitras goal is to use data and machine learning tools to increase their output by 20%. If those farmers were only taking 20% of their food to market before, that change essentially doubles their income.

Sustainable farming must be normalized, and the tools given to farmers must represent the best the world of technology has to offer. Trask understands that peers in the world of business, and even investors, have doubted the ROI of investing in small farms. He admits that there is good reason to do so, but he sees it from a different angle, This underserved group of farmers represents the production of almost 70% of the food in the world. Increasing output and revenue by 20%, if we distribute it right and dont waste it, theoretically it could solve the world hunger crisis.

As Trask puts it, Using Dimitra artificial intelligence and technology in general, they can double their productivity hence increase their income and produce more food for the world population.

There is no sector of the market in any area of the world untouched by agriculture. It is the literal bread and butter that remains foundational to world economies. The idea of starting small to go big may feel underwhelming, but the potential is anything but.

Trask sums it up this way, Dimitra is democratizing farming for the smallholder farmers by providing the operating system for agriculture in the future, changing and improving the lives of smallholder farmers and the lives of all helping to fight poverty, soil degradation, hunger.

Farmers not only are feeding the world: with the right tools, they have the ability to change many of the worlds biggest problems.

The rest is here:

How AI-Driven Technology Is Increasing Food Security, And Improving The Lives Of Farmers Worldwide - Forbes

Orbita, a vendor of secure voice and chatbot virtual-assistant solutions for healthcare, has launched an upgrade to its conversational AI platform for healthcare, along with deployments with four healthcare organizations using Orbita to power automated patient engagement and support.

Orbita's new Solution Center is an integrated system for quickly deploying secure, scalable, omnichannel voice and chatbot virtual assistants for healthcare's digital front door. Using a modular, plug-and-play architecture, the Solution Center includes prebuiltinteroperable services to streamline deployment of feature-rich healthcare virtual assistants.

The technology is designed to help healthcare organizations improve patient engagement and close gaps in care, while reducing operational costs and staff burden. The Solution Center includes out-of-the-box solutions for voice and chatbot applications that can be quickly integrated to support a variety of intelligent patient engagement operations.

"We saw a real need in the industry to go beyond the limitations of: 1) generic chatbot platforms that lack healthcare capabilitiesand 2) point solutions that lack scale and flexibility," said Patty Riskind, CEO at Orbita. "Solution Center is the culmination of many years of research and development, and delivers on the promise of out-of-the-box solutions combined with enterprise-grade flexibility and robustness that the healthcare industry demands."

Clients include Medstar Health, Novartis, Mass General Brigham, KKI, Mayo Clinic, Amwell, Janssen, Roche, Yale New Haven Hospital, Bristol Myers Squibband Cancer Treatment Centers of America.

Orbita is in HIMSS21 booth 1630-01.

Affinity Empowering, a vendor of occupational, behavioral and direct-to-consumer health services, has unveiled two new brands: Affinity eHome, which will expand the company's at-home and near-home diagnostic-testing capabilities, and Affinity eCare, which willpersonalize and optimize the healthcare experience by helping individuals identify the appropriate provider for their needs.

Affinity eHome is designed to provide a streamlined experience for the consumer in need of diagnostic testing services. The brand will be run through Affinity's HIPAA-compliant technology platform, Assure, which allows for appointment scheduling, secure messaging, results reporting, consent management, video/telehealth appointments and more.

Affinity aims for eHome to provide more than 300 different diagnostic-testing options to consumers, with the ability to either directly deliver those tests to a user's home or to provide the user with information about local medical providers with the ability toperform the testing service needed.

Affinity eCare is designed to synthesize patient health information into meaningful outcomes. This information, including reports from trusted providers and diagnostic results from Affinity eHome testing, can be used to identify the appropriate specialists for a patient's health needs.

eCare is then incorporated into the patient's treatment plan, as providers will input comprehensive wellness assessments that can be monitored over time to ensure progress. To best serve patients, eCare team members are also able, with consent, to communicate up-to-date treatment information between different healthcare providers, ensuring that each is as informed as possible.

"Affinity eHome and eCare were created with the idea that every person deserves the right to better understand their own health," saidMichael Tkach, chief behavioral health officer and COO at Affinity Empowering. "eHome will empower individuals to navigate their personal health-and-wellness journey with confidence and convenience, and eCare will empower them to take that next step towards finding the best possible care."

Twitter:@SiwickiHealthITEmail the writer:bsiwicki@himss.orgHealthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.

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HIMSS21 tech news: New conversational AI, IT-enabled home diagnostic testing - Healthcare IT News

Optum Director of Research Danita Kiser, speaking at HIMSS21.

LAS VEGAS Optum is using artificial intelligenceand machine learning to create infectious disease forecasting that is as accurate as weather forecasting.

Optum researchers first began studying the COVID-19 pandemic while tracking an early flu outbreak across the United States in 2019, according to Director of Research Danita Kiser, speaking at HIMSS21.

Flu season began early that year, around Oct.1, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For 2019, "we had an early onset of influenza B," Kiser said. "It was scary for those of us in healthcare [research]. It usually doesn't start to take off until December."

The first COVID-19 cases were reported in the United States in January 2020.During the early stages, surveillance networks couldn't tell the difference between COVID-19 and the flu, Kiser said.

Forecasting saves lives, as public measures can be taken to keep people safe, according to Kiser. The CDC estimates that between 12,000 and 61,000 people die each year from the flu.

Optum's big data and AI-based computational epidemiology system can make a global impact, she said, sending text messaging to caregivers giving early warning so patients can be isolated.

COVID-19 has increased the urgency for accurate forecasting. In the United States, 618,000 lives have been lost to the virus.

A pandemic is much harder to forecast than an epidemic, Kiser said. COVID-19 came with no historical data to use as a future predictor, and medical coding for the coronavirus wasn't widely used until March 2020.

For flu predictions, researchers useddata sets, Google searches, doctor's visits, academic research and UnitedHealth Group intelligence to produce a network of precise indicators of seasonal outbreaks.

In 2020, they used machine learning to find hidden patterns within masses of disease indicator data. The information then was used for predictive models that forecast when and where flu activity increases in states and cities around the country.

Optum uses a modeling approach called nowcasts. The model has 243 unique forecasts for each state. Real-time signals come into the network. Before nowcasts, forecasting the flu was retrospective, Kiser said.

Flu can now be forecasted out weeks, while the average accuracy rate is 80% precision forecasting for COVID-19two to three weeks in the future.

"In 2021, through a network of signals and indicators, combined with machine learning models, we can predict the outbreak of flu and COVID throughout the country," Kiser said. "If we can forecast a week or two in the future, we can put prevention measures in place to save people's lives."

Optum has been sharing the information internally with OptumCare leaders and is developing plans to share forecast information with external providers.

The worry now is around "long COVID," as the Delta variant continues to push up the number of cases.

Whether the next pandemic can be predicted, Kiser said, "that's the Holy Grail of forecasting."

Twitter: @SusanJMorseEmail the writer: susan.morse@himssmedia.com

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AI is the new paradigm in forecasting infectious disease risk - Healthcare Finance News