Accenture Keynote: AI Benefit to Business and Society

Well put.

Raising AI to benefit business and society

Kishore Durg explains why deploying AI requires raising it to act as a responsible representative of the business and a contributing member of society.

This is a keynote from the Artificial Intelligence Conference in San Francisco 2018. See other highlights from the event at the link. 

This keynote was sponsored by Accenture.

Kishore Durg is the growth and strategy lead for Accenture Technology Services, where he helps in ventures and acquisitions, technology strategy, and strategic growth initiatives. Kishore also leads the global Accenture Testing Services Group, focusing on testing business strategy, sales, automation, AI, alliances, and platforms. .... "

AI Now Institute to Research Impact of AI on Society

The Field of AI Research Is About to Get Way Bigger Than Code 
in NextGov.com   by Dave Gershgorn
November 16, 2017

Microsoft Research's Kate Crawford and Open Research at Google founder Meredith Whittaker on Thursday announced the launch of the AI Now Institute, a cross-disciplinary initiative that will research the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on society. Fields AI Now plans to bring together include data science, law, economics, and sociology. "The amount of money and industrial energy that has been put into accelerating AI code has meant that there hasn't been as much energy put into thinking about social, economic, ethical frameworks for these systems," Crawford says. "We think there's a very urgent need for this to happen faster." AI Now will focus on four core themes, including AI's ramifications for bias and inclusion, labor and automation, rights and liberties, and safety and critical infrastructure. Crawford and Whittaker want their efforts to yield a shared vernacular between AI creators and those who study its effects so societal solutions can be invented.   .... " 

Cooperation of Humans and AI

A key element of neear future tech.   How do we work with AI?   Will it be able to solve 'societal' issues?    Or is that something we have to do ourselves?

The Partnership of the Future
Microsoft’s CEO explores how humans and A.I. can work together to solve society’s greatest challenges. By Satya Nadella

Advanced machine learning, also known as artificial intelligence or just A.I., holds far greater promise than unsettling headlines about computers beating humans at games like Jeopardy!, chess, checkers, and Go. Ultimately, humans and machines will work together—not against one another. Computers may win at games, but imagine what’s possible when human and machine work together to solve society’s greatest challenges like beating disease, ignorance, and poverty.

Doing so, however, requires a bold and ambitious approach that goes beyond anything that can be achieved through incremental improvements to current technology. Now is the time for greater coordination and collaboration on A.I. ... " 

Making Smarter Long term Decisions

In K@W:   A classic issue.  And with the rocking of the market lately, an important one.

If we were rational, we would make choices based on our long-term goals, not our short-term desires. Spoiler alert: We’re not, and we don’t — which can present real dangers to us as individuals and as a society. But recent research from Wharton operations and information management professor Howard Kunreuther and Elke Weber of Columbia University suggests that it’s possible to hack our decision-making processes for the better. Their working paper is titled, “Aiding Decision Making to Reduce the Impacts of Climate Change.”

In an interview with Knowledge@Wharton, Kunreuther talks about the flaws in our thinking that lead us to ignore major long-range problems until they become imminent disasters, and how, with the right incentives and strategies, we could be nudged into wiser behaviors.  ... " 

Kindness is Contagious

Steve Omohundro on the Kindness is Contagious meme in film and articles.  This was recommended to me some time ago, but I had not followed up on what Steve mentions.   Seen relatively little of this lately.  Good place to go:   " Bill Fenwick, founding partner of the great Silicon Valley law firm Fenwick & West, has had a lifelong practice of doing at least 10 kind things for people every day without expectation of reciprocation. He attributes many of the positive things in his life to this practice. ... Recent research shows that even small kindnesses have a ripple effect through society. The excellent film “Kindness is Contagious” explores this idea: ... " .  Read the whole thing, many good additional links.

Innovation in a Consumer Society

Today's ISSIP talk:

" ... This week’s presenters for the ISSIP Service Innovation Weekly Speaker Series are Drs. Peder Inge Furseth and Richard Cuthbertson. They will present “Innovation in a consumer society and The Service Innovation Triangle”. .... 

Background

Sides and talk.

Design Key to the Connected Home

How very true,   Even in small tests we did the complexity rose quickly.  I am now testing several home systems.   Design exists at the high level aesthetic level, and at the detailed standards level.  Good thoughtful challenge piece in Wired,

When Our Homes Become Connected, Designers Will Save Us
" ... Designers have a crucial role in how this shakes out. As opposed to merely looking at products in terms of efficiency or profit, designers are trained, at least theoretically, to be sensitive to a broader spectrum of issues. They’re the ones who are supposed to think about how products fit into our lives and society at large. And more and more, they’re in a position to bring those considerations to bear on how a product is developed. In territory as vast, lucrative, and unknown as the Internet of Things (IoT), that’s a hugely important responsibility. Thankfully, some designers already are thinking hard about the job and the potential pitfalls of designing for our newly connected world. ... " 

Frontiers in Service Science Conference

Service science is an area where advisory cognitive systems are of particular and immediate value. Several of my newer colleagues will be presenting at this upcoming conference.  More to follow, will provide some additional news from the conference. :

The 24th Annual Frontiers in Service Conference
The 24th Annual Frontiers in Service Conference will be held July 9-12, 2015 in San Jose, California, USA. The event, hosted and sponsored by IBM, Cisco Systems, the Lucas Graduate School of Business at San José State University and the International Society of Service Innovation Professionals, is the world's leading annual conference on service research and management. Annually, Frontiers is sponsored by INFORMS, the AMA SERVSIG, and the Center for Excellence in Service at the University of Maryland. The AMA's SERVSIG doctoral consortium is held in conjunction each year. ..... 

Curriculum Redesign and Math Thinking for Decision Makers

Today's ISSIP ( International Society For Service Innovation Professionals) talk, by Charles Fadel on Curriculum design.    Discussion has been started there.   He is part of the Center for Curriculum ReDesign.  Good thoughts on how mathematics could be taught to the non mathematical, an area we addressed in working with executives.  Will restart that topic at the talk link above.   Also, more about ISSIP.

Data Science and Journalism

Good CACM overview of the increasing use of advanced data science in journalism

" .. The key attributes journalists must have—the ability to separate fact from opinion, a willingness to find and develop strong sources, and the curiosity to ask probing, intelligent questions—are still relevant in today's 140-character-or-less, ADHD-esque society. Yet increasingly, journalists dealing with technical topics often found in science or technology are turning to tools that were once solely the province of data analysts and computer scientists. ,,, " 

General Morphological Analysis for the Wicked

Just received, points to excellent resources and examples of morphological, or 'structural' analysis. This should see much more application,  consider applying it before detailed quant data is acquired for a complex problem.  It can show you rich opportunities of structure for particularly wicked problems.

 ....  via Tom Ritchey, SweMorph | Swedish Morphological Society ... 

For those who are interested in the numerous and varied applications of general morphological analysis (GMA), the following article is now available at AMG:  

Álvarez, A. & Ritchey T. (2015) “Applications of General Morphological Analysis: From Engineering Design to Policy Analysis”, Acta Morph Gen, 4(1). 

Abstract: Since its conception and development in the late 1940’s by Fritz Zwicky at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the “morphological approach” – or General Morphological Analysis (GMA) – has been applied to many diverse areas of study, from engineering design and technological forecasting to policy analysis, organisational development and creative writing. This article outlines the numerous applications of GMA since the 1950’s and gives examples from some 80+ published articles. Early examples of Zwicky’s work are also described and an overview of modern, computer-aided GMA is presented. 

The applications are divided up into the following categories: 

• Engineering and product design 
• General design theory and architecture 
• Futures studies and scenario development 
• Technology foresight/technological forecasting (a subset futures studies) 
• Management science, policy analysis and organisational design 
• Security, safety and defence studies 
• Creativity, innovation and knowledge management 
• Modelling theory, OR methods and GMA itself     ..... 

Streetlights Watch Residents

Not a new thing,  ten years ago was approached by a company that was planning similar, multi functional devices.  We are in a surveillance society.

SNCR Spring Newsletter

Had a long time fellow connection to SNCR.  @SNCR  The Society for New Communications Research.  They also have interesting research going on.  This latest newsletter includes statistics on the changing use of blogs and other social media.  I had mentioned their finding that Linkedin continues to surge strongly as a broadly used social media.

Multi Sensory Computer

In Forbes, on the IBM Chip:

Meet The Brain-Inspired Computer Chip That Can Smell, Feel And Hear
By Dharmendra S. Modha, Ph.D., IBM Research

Building a computer that could match the power of the human brain has long been a goal of scientists. In August, we made a breakthrough, published in Science in collaboration with Cornell Tech, which is a significant step toward bringing cognitive computers to society. We announced that we’ve built a computer chip that functions like a brain does with the ability to sense, taste, feel, smell, hear and understand its surroundings.

The SyNAPSE chip is a neurosynaptic computer chip that is a size of a postage stamp and runs on the energy equivalent of a hearing-aid battery. This technology could transform science, technology, business, government, and society by enabling vision, audition, and multi-sensory applications ... " 

CogSketch

Very interesting project.  We examined a number of ways to make people more visually creative, including training groups to improve their ability to sketch.   Many conversations with graphics recording artist David Sibbet, who worked with us for years on this. In general this is difficult to do:

Ken Forbus has been developing a system called CogSketch - here is a recent paper about learning hierarchical concepts.  Slideshow tutorial.

Overview: 

Liang, C., & Forbus, K. D. (2014). Constructing Hierarchical Concepts via Analogical Generalization. In Proceedings of the Cognitive Science Society.

A short description of CogSketch is:

"Sketching is a powerful means of working out and communicating ideas. Sketch understanding involves a combination of visual, spatial, and conceptual knowledge and reasoning, which makes it both challenging to model and potentially illuminating for cognitive science. This paper describes CogSketch, an ongoing effort of the NSF-funded Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center, which is being developed both as a research instrument for cognitive science and as a platform for sketch-based educational software. We describe the idea of open-domain sketch understanding, the scientific hypotheses underlying CogSketch, and provide an overview of the models it employs, illustrated by simulation studies and ongoing experiments in creating sketch-based educational software."
From:

Forbus, K., Usher, J., Lovett, A., Lockwood, K., & Wetzel, J. (2011). Cogsketch: Sketch understanding for cognitive science research and for education. Topics in Cognitive Science, 3(4), 648-666.  .... " 

Cognitive Computing Book

Cognitive Computing, A Brief Guide for Game Changers  by Peter Fingar,  just received.  I commented on early versions.   They write:

" ... This book is a concise report on the most noteworthy developments in artificial intelligence having a transformational impact on work and society as a whole. Leaders in government and business can ill afford to miss this early-warning book. A lot of effort went into making the book concise so that very busy people will have time to grab the essence of this hugely important subject —and act! 

This book is a concise report on the most noteworthy developments in artificial intelligence, a field of endeavor that's been around since the 1950s. But now, with a breakthrough called "deep learning," artificial intelligence is finally getting human-like intelligence. The AI redux, Cognitive Computing, is having a transformational impact on work and society as a whole. This quantum leap requires a whole new way of thinking and acting if we are to reap the benefits and understand the potentially catastrophic downsides. The book uses a unique multimedia format with QR codes and tiny URL links that let readers drill down on many of the topics. Leaders in government and business can ill afford to miss this early-warning book. A lot of effort went into making the book concise so that very busy people who have little time to read, the game changers, will have time to grab the essence of this hugely important subject -and act!   ... " 

Internet of Services

In ComputingNow:   (The original article is missing, will seek to replace)  Thinking about the concept of an Internet of Services.  Look at ISSIP, The International Society of Service Innovation Professionals group for pointers on how innovation is evolving.  I have given a talk to that group.    A combination of technology, data, people and delivered intelligence.  The internet connects things, but it also modifies how these things interact with services. That interaction is key to understand and innovate in.  A frequent topic here.

Big Data Value

A favorite topic of mine, the current and forecast value of data, Big or otherwise.  I gave a talk on it today to the ISSIP.  International Society of Service Innovation Professionals .... with a mission to promote Service Innovation for our interconnected world.  Our purpose is to help institutions and individuals to grow and be successful in our global service economy.   .. " More here in this Linkedin piece.

Age of Context: Sensors, Data and Privacy

Starting to read, very good so far, more coverage later.

Age of Context: Mobile, Sensors, Data and the Future of Privacy Paperback
by Robert Scoble  and Shel Israel:

 " ... They report what they have learned from interviewing more than a hundred pioneers of the new technology and by examining hundreds of contextual products. What does it all mean? How will it change society in the future? The authors are unabashed tech enthusiasts, but as they write, an elephant sits in the living room of our book and it is called privacy. We are entering a time when our technology serves us best because it watches us; collecting data on what we do, who we speak with, what we look at. There is no doubt about it: Big Data is watching you. The time to lament the loss of privacy is over. The authors argue that the time is right to demand options that enable people to reclaim some portions of that privacy. ... "

Careers in Statistics Evolve and Expand

In Science Magazine:

" ... Workers with statistics backgrounds have long been in healthy demand for academic, actuarial, pharmaceutical, or government jobs. Those traditional statistics jobs aren't going away anytime soon, as long as society continues to need workers who can advance statistics theory, assess drugs' risks and efficacy, or do any of the other things statisticians have done for years.

But, as several statisticians and analysts tell Science Careers, the range of statistics jobs is expanding, and many traditional jobs are changing. As technology proliferates, the mathematical methods at the heart of the discipline are reaching into new fields. Personal electronics, the Internet, scientific instruments (notably in genomics), and e-business are spitting out troves of data that are crying out for analysis, spawning a "big data" revolution. All that new data has the potential to provide new insights for businesses, new research possibilities for scholars, and new information that policymakers can draw on, among many other possibilities. It also means new jobs.... "