Facebook backs Institute for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence with $7.5 million

~ Brandon McGee ~ Leave a comment

“Facebook will donate $7.5 million for the creation of The Institute for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence, a research center being made to explore topics such as transparency and accountability in medical treatment and human rights in human-AI interaction.

The announcement was made today during a speech by COO Sheryl Sandberg at the Digital Life Design (DLD) conference in Munich, Germany and is Facebook’s first investment in an independent center to study ethics in AI, a company spokesperson told VentureBeat in an email.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/venturebeat.com/2019/01/20/facebook-backs-institute-for-ethics-in-artificial-intelligence-with-7-5-million/amp/

AI Weekly: 2018 in machine learning

~ Brandon McGee ~ Leave a comment

“In a recent conversation, I heard someone argue that AI is basically the same as previous tech paradigm shifts, like mobile and social, which have gone from being nascent interests to permeating our daily lives.

But artificial intelligence differs from such previous leaps in that it may end up infiltrating society on a level previously unimagined, extending from business to government to education and national defense.

That means it’s going to require understanding from and possible action by lawmakers, business leaders, military leaders, civil leaders, and the citizenry of democratic societies.

That’s probably why the AI Index 2018 report found a sharp rise in the number of mentions of AI by members of the U.S. Congress and British members of Parliament this year.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/venturebeat.com/2018/12/28/ai-weekly-2018-in-machine-learning/amp/

BankThink Don’t underestimate AI’s risks

~ Brandon McGee ~ Leave a comment

  • “At the end of 2017, 52% of banks reported making substantial investments in AI and 66% said they planned to do so by the end of 2020.
  • The stakes are enormous — one study found that banks that invest in AI could see their revenue increase by 34% by 2022, while another suggests that AI could cut costs and increase productivity across the industry to the tune of $1 trillion by 2030.
  • Citi notably drew attention to the potential of job losses in the sector as a result of AI adoption when it publicly announced in 2018 that it could cut 10,000 jobs by 2023 because of AI automation
  • Any massive force of change comes with both risks and opportunities. Banks are right to increase their investment and experimentation in AI technologies.”

https://www.americanbanker.com/opinion/adopting-ai-isnt-without-risk

Get the AI insights you need to drive results in your business.

~ Brandon McGee ~ Leave a comment

“Get the AI insights you need to drive results in your business.

As AI industrializes beyond research, production quality implementation becomes increasingly important. Business leaders now deploy AI models at scale, and software applications with inference capabilities are accelerating at an unprecedented rate. Find out how early adopters are gaining an edge—at the expense of slower moving competitors—at the AI Conference in New York.

You’ll get an insider’s look at the latest developments in AI, including:

• Faster, specialized hardware for sensing, model training, and model inference

• Cloud and on-premise tools for building AI applications online and on the edge (including mobile)

• AI Business Summit, with executive briefings on the most impactful AI implementations for your business

• New architectures and pipelines

• Proven best practices and detailed case studies

• Ethics and security guidelines

• Deep-dive training courses

• And an amazing lineup of speakers

It’s a rare opportunity to bypass the hype and discover how emerging developments can be applied into practical and profitable AI you can implement in your business today.”

https://conferences.oreilly.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-ny

How Shopgoodwill.com Authenticates Luxury Goods With AI Tech

~ Brandon McGee ~ Leave a comment

“Goodwill uses a device that includes a high-powered magnification lens, which can be used on an iOS device to take a picture of a handbag’s material. That photo is sent to the company’s service, which does an analysis of the material using machine learning technology and gives an opinion of whether the product is authentic or not. “The whole process in general takes about a minute or so,” Smith said, adding that the technology is “exceptionally easy” to use.

Entrupy said in a press release that its computer vision technology uses algorithms that can verify items with an accuracy rate of 99.1 percent, which Smith noted is in line with what Goodwill has seen so far.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2019/goodwill-ecommerce-luxury-goods-ai-authentication/%3famp

Salesforce wants you to get some AI and visual search into your eCommerce game

~ Brandon McGee ~ Leave a comment

“The move includes adding artificial intelligence and visual search capability into APIs and developer services with the goal of giving an insightful experience across various customer touchpoints.

‘Digital commerce no longer starts with just a shopping cart,” said Mike Micucci, CEO of Commerce Cloud at Salesforce in a statement. “With Salesforce Commerce Cloud, companies have a trusted partner who can help them meet their customers wherever they are and deliver commerce everywhere through a platform full of AI-powered commerce services, APIs and a robust partner ecosystem.'”

https://www.marketingtechnews.net/news/2019/jan/15/salesforce-wants-you-get-some-ai-and-visual-search-your-ecommerce-game/

The Church to weigh in on AI

~ Brandon McGee ~ Leave a comment

Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock/EAST NEWS

“Along with robotics, the question of artificial intelligence (AI) raises just as many questions, said Fr. Paolo Benanti, T.O.R., a lecturer in moral theology and ethics of technology at the Pontifical Gregorian University and academician of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

AI and related technologies are pervasive, “inserting themselves in every area of our existence,” he said. At the same time, “the presentation of the successes obtained by these machines has always been conducted according to a competitive model compared to man,” he added.

This has created “extremely complex challenges” for our society, he explained, especially on an ethical level. “The greatest danger,” he warns, “does not come from AI in itself, but from not knowing these technologies and leaving decisions on their use to a ruling class that is not fully prepared to manage the issue.”

That’s why AI will be at the center of the assembly of the Academy in February 2020, he said. And since these are particularly “forward-looking” issues, 14 young researchers under the age of 35 will be actively involved in the debates.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/aleteia.org/2019/01/19/ethics-of-robotics-and-ai-the-church-is-diving-in/amp/

Explore the future of retail at Digital Retail Forum 2019

~ Brandon McGee ~ Leave a comment

“JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – Media OutReach – 18 January 2019 – There is so much more in store for the African retail industry. According to research conducted by PWC, many sub-Saharan African countries have emerged among the world’s fastest-growing economies. This kind of development is due, in part, to a great deal of economic and social change, but also because of the rapid advancement in technology and changing consumer trends.

Key topics to be discussed:

• Leveraging data to understand customer segments, manage risks and enhance decision making.

• Mapping your journey from brick-and-mortar to eCommerce.

• Leveraging mobile technology to enhance your in-store experience.

• Making Mobile Payment for Everything a reality.

• Leveraging AI to impact your bottom line and CX.

• Real-World retail digital transformation stories.

• Order Fulfillment: Improving efficiency and speed of delivery.

• Understanding the key drivers within the South African retail sector.

• Understanding the digital customer’s journey.

• Utilizing technology to identify customer pain-points.

• Optimizing inventory management and supply chains with technology.

• Closing the gap between technology and personalization.

• Customer engagement with interactive digital signage and point-of-sale (POS) solutions.

• Delivering a technology platform that empowers the business and delights customers.

• Assessing emerging retail models and technologies that will define 2019 and beyond.

• Adapting to Generation Z — “the digital shopper”.

• The store of the future.”

https://vietnamnews.vn/media-outreach/484095/explore-the-future-of-retail-at-digital-retail-forum-2019.html#D2ipJMFejHe0FELU.97

Amazon sets conference on robotics, artificial intelligence

~ Brandon McGee ~ Leave a comment

“The re:MARS conference in Las Vegas will include “visionary talks, interactive workshops, technical deep dives, roundtables, hands-on demos, and more,” an Amazon statement said.

The conference called Machine learning, Automation, Robotics and Space on June 4-7 grew out of a private, invite-only event hosted by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in recent years.

“We’re at the beginning of a golden age of AI,” Bezos said in the statement.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/phys.org/news/2019-01-amazon-conference-robotics-artificial-intelligence.amp

AI has a bias problem. This is how we can solve it

~ Brandon McGee ~ Leave a comment

Rethinking AI

“I would argue that the problems in our AI systems are not simply limitations of data or developers’ blind spots, but rather stem from our entire approach to how these systems are built. We have approached AI development from the top-down, largely dictated by the viewpoints of developed nations and first-world cultures. No surprise then that the biases we see in the output of these systems reflect the unconscious biases of these perspectives.

Rather than top-down approaches that seek to impose a model on data that may be beyond its contexts, we should approach AI as an iterative, evolutionary system. If we flip the current model to be built-up from data rather than imposing upon it, then we can develop an evidence-based, idea-rich approach to building scalable AI-systems. The results could provide insights and understanding beyond our current modes of thinking.

The global problems we face today are unprecedented. They require recognition of new types of data, new methods of understanding information and new modes of thinking. AI is one of the best potential tools humanity has to confront these present and future challenges, but only if we don’t reinforce the mistakes of our past.”

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/to-eliminate-human-bias-from-ai-we-need-to-rethink-our-approach/