Artificial Intelligence, Future of Work

AI Weekly Update

AI Adoption, AI Regulation, and Applied AI

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Artificial intelligence continues to transform our lives in many ways by providing value and making everything around us convenient. From business management, healthcare, warfare and education, AI is creating new opportunities. Critics question the adoption rate of AI and there is nothing wrong with such assessments since they help us understand how this technology is evolving.

AI is a different ball game from quant-based models, however, because it has to be self-learning and not formulaic. Since it is a #blackbox, pretenders can claim something is AI-based, but genuine adoption is hard, requiring a disruption of existing processes.

Photo by Franck V.

Technological innovation comes with its own hype and controversies and AI faces a similar fate. When you look at everything around you, it is evident that AI is closer to us more than ever. However, there is a sore lack of understanding of what AI really is, how it is shaping our future and why it is likely to alter our very psyche sooner or later.

There are misinformation and disinformation, of course. Either media coverage of AI is exaggerated or too specific and technical, creating further confusion and fueling sci-fi-inspired imaginations of computers smarter than human beings.

Does AI need to be Regulated?

Regulation of AI is another interesting topic as industry experts weigh in on the direction of this technology with Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai pointing to the immense benefits of oversight. For example, Pichai does not suggest any measure that will limit AI, but something that will enable the technology to offer benefits to billions of people.

Unlocking the potential of AI is critical, at this point and caution should be taken on risk management and understanding how AI will become integrated with all aspects of our society.

AI Regulation

How AI has transformed

Artificial intelligence has evolved since its inception at the Stanford Research Institute. The architecture design of the first AI model and its navigation capabilities better explains the transformation of AI. In the modern day, applications such as computer vision have made it possible for AI to raise standards as society becomes technology-laden. As intelligence of machine intelligence increases, it is evident that AI commands so much influence as automation kicks in across industries.

The development of speech recognition will facilitate captioning of videos that will further address disinformation and bullying. Thanks to efforts by Facebook’s AI research lab, there is an expectation of developing speech recognition into something that will create value such as taming hate speech and safeguarding social media users. The push for super-intelligent systems is evident from Facebook’s investments in AI as the social media giant comes under pressure from fake news and deepfakes that undermine user privacy.

Facebook’s AI Research

OpenAI is a step in the right direction as seen from researchers in San Francisco who developed algorithms, which learn, based on trial and error. Training data sets and learning are challenging areas in AI for most data scientists and this research has reached a new milestone.

#Artificialintelligence routinely produces startling achievements, as computers learn to recognize images, converse, beat humans at sophisticated games, and drive vehicles. But all those advances require staggering amounts of computing power — and electricity — to devise and train algorithms. And as the damage caused by climate change becomes more apparent, #AIexperts are increasingly troubled by those energy demands.

Applications of AI: Drug Abuse, Biology and Energy

With the opioid crisis soaring in the United States, Artificial intelligence has been determined potentially as the best solution for tracking digital drug dealers and illegal internet pharmacies alongside online marketplaces. AI is being used to examine internet data and social media information by offering intelligent reviews about people behind these crimes.

Investments by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and US Department of Health illustrate the traction towards AI in solving the drugs problem. Despite concerns about the safety of these tools, there is hope, as AI will address problem areas such as gun sales, counterfeit goods and illegal wildlife trackers.

Drugs: The Opioid crisis

The combination of AI and Biology is another remarkable achievement paving way for new technology frontiers as computer programming enables creation of the first world’s living robots. These configurable machines hold vast potential such as improving environmental and human health that is much needed in the world today.

Can we expect more of these innovations from programming AI with algorithms?

The benefits of AI cannot be exhausted without mentioning its influence on renewable energy such as improving the reliability of solar and wind power. Utility companies have a powerful technology at their disposal thanks to AI; they can better serve customers by removing the guesswork from the process of gathering, storing and distributing green energy.

AI Reinvention of Workflows and Technology

Artificial Intelligence is known for driving the reinvention of workflows and technology. It is rightly said that AI can enable humans to focus on parts of their roles that add the most value. A plethora of applications has permeated into every fabric of an organization, determining an enterprises’ digital maturity over time.

Therefore, AI has proven itself capable of unlocking hidden value from unstructured data and monitor trends, which strengthens strategic decision-making. While we haven’t quite reached that phase where we would blindly trust a smart machine’s intelligence over human judgment, an organization’s human resource department can still benefit from getting in on the action.

Reinvention of Workflows and Technology

Closing Remarks

Here is my take: AI is not replacing the human workforce. Rather, #AI collaborates with the workforce and in the process saves a considerable amount of time and effort by offering a smart and useful tool for better judgment.

Are you ready for the AI revolution? Share your comments below to contribute to the discussion.

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Towards Data Science

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Thanks to Ludovic Benistant

David Yakobovitch

Written by

Principal Data Scientist @Galvanize. Host of HumAIn Podcast. www.podfollow.com/humain. Subscribe for updates at www.humainpodcast.com/subscribe

Towards Data Science

A Medium publication sharing concepts, ideas, and codes.

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