Technology has emerged as a significant force for driving growth and productivity in the Asia Pacific in the past decade. Women represent nearly half the labor force in the region, yet they only hold a small percentage of jobs in tech.
The tech industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors globally.  This is seen in the growth of the digital economy across the region, from e-Commerce to fintech and digital media to logistics.
However, despite these changes created by digital technologies, an undeniable gender gap remains that needs to be addressed. 
Representation of women as founders, employees and investors is low in Southeast Asia, but they are participating more in tech than most of their global counterparts. 
According to a study by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), women now make up 32% of the region’s tech sector. In comparison, the global average is 28%.
Women in the technology sector in the Asia Pacific are still a minority, but they are becoming more visible due to social media and networking events. Thailand has the highest percentage of women in tech at 42 %, followed by Singapore.
Continue reading: https://techwireasia.com/2021/12/australia-seeks-to-empower-women-in-tech/

It’s almost 2022, and companies still aren’t getting it right for women in tech. Sure, they’re dangling high pay and remote work. And those are important. But they simply aren’t enough. 
With peak hiring and job hunting season right around the corner, here’s how to stand out from the crowd and solve one of the top challenges companies continue to come to my company, InHerSight, with—attracting and winning over women in tech through the competitive interview process. 
USE WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT WOMEN’S EXPERIENCES AT WORK TO CREATE SYSTEMS THAT FOSTER BELONGING 
The number of women in tech remains remarkably low—about 29% in 2020, according to the AnitaB.org Institute. Within teams and departments, women in tech are often “the only”—a shorthand term used to refer to a person who is the sole representative of one aspect of identity in their workplace. It also can refer to being the only person of color, person with disabilities, person who identifies as LGBTQ, and so on. As “inclusive” as offices might seem, the experience of “the only” demonstrates how differently employees navigate workplaces, simply because of who they are.
To make matters worse, bro culture is rife in tech companies, according to the 2021 Women in Tech Report by TrustRadius. Some 72% of women in tech reported having “worked at a company where bro culture is pervasive,” manifesting in a variety of ways from an uncomfortable work environment to sexual harassment and assault, the report found.
Continue reading: https://www.fastcompany.com/90703484/3-things-leaders-need-to-do-to-hire-more-women-in-tech

Securities tokenization is a blockchain technology that has been growing strongly in conjunction with the real world lately. The tokenization of real assets is now actively gaining momentum.
On April 20, 2021, Venmo announced that it added crypto support to its platform, joining a long list of companies that recently began recognizing and accepting virtual currencies.
One of the fundamental characteristics of cryptocurrencies is decentralization. Tokens are not controlled by states or large companies, which minimizes the influence of personal interests on the currency. D. In addition, by tokenizing your business, issuing your cryptocurrency the business will have access to the global capital market and customers (in case the business is online).
Blockchain technology allows an opportunity to create an open market, liquidity, and opportunities for ordinary users to grow. In the next 5-10 years, I am sure that the blockchain market will overtake the conventional market because of openness and decentralization. Companies and users don’t need licenses and permissions to conduct transactions. Blockchain has a promising future because anyone can participate – from a schoolboy to an entire country. There are no borders, no regulators. That’s why companies of any size should already think about launching their own token or working around tokenization around some of their assets to support their future growth.
As every business owner would like to increase their income without additional efforts, cryptocurrency could be just the tool you are looking for. You’ve probably heard about companies launching their own cryptocurrencies.
Why? It’s very simple. Launching your token has several benefits that will allow you to achieve your business goals even faster and more efficiently.
So, how and why implement your own cryptocurrency into your business?
Continue reading: https://www.coinspeaker.com/business-launch-own-crypto/

It’s wonderful to be able to celebrate a culture week in crypto. As they have a penchant for throwing themselves off a cliff to see if they survive, Bitcoin and Ethereum and blockchain in general have many times looked like they wouldn’t get back up. For a few weeks after I got a deal to write my book in early 2019, I convinced myself it would be Ethereum’s obituary.
Matt Leising is co-founder of DeCential Media, which is dedicated to telling stories of the founders, builders and visionaries of the new decentralized world. This post is part of Culture Week, which explores how crypto is changing media and entertainment.
It’s interesting that the same can be said of the traditional financial world so much of this industry wants to replace; it just won’t die. Money has always been needed and always will, whether in shell form or packed into a 60-kilobyte block. What’s also always been needed are stories about money and power and all the fun stuff that comes along with it.
Crypto – I’ll refer to it broadly here as such, though I know many people loathe the term – is a particularly challenging and interesting and frustrating topic to cover. At this early stage in any industry or endeavor, stories are fantastically important. Think of how settling the western United States has been basically invented for our consumption and how, for the most part, we love it.
Continue reading: https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/crypto-is-people-and-culture.-its-time-the-media-saw-it-that-way

As eager investors jump into cryptocurrency to partake in wealth creation or avoid missing out, learning about how to safeguard their digital assets is paramount.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies live on the blockchain, a form of digital transaction ledger. Cryptos are decentralized digital currency, meaning they do not have a central authority such as a bank that can monitor transactions. Rather, they operate on a peer-to-peer exchange network where transactions are validated by members in the decentralized network, also known as miners. Even though blockchain has a good reputation for security, blockchain is not free from vulnerabilities.
For example, Badger DAO, a decentralized finance app, suffered a hack where users lost $120 million worth of funds from its platform. This crypto hack was a result of a phishing incident where the front end of the platform was compromised, resulting in malicious transactions.
Novice crypto investors who are still learning best practices to manage their digital assets need to understand that they have some of the responsibility in managing the threat of a crypto hack. Actions crypto investors can take include choosing a crypto exchange that works best for their investing or trading needs, selecting a crypto wallet that properly secures digital assets, and taking security measures when interacting on exchanges.
Addressing these many considerations can be a difficult task, but here are the key items you need to know to be a successful – and safe – crypto investor:

• Can the blockchain be hacked?
• How to safely store crypto.
• Cold versus hot wallets.
• Tips to prevent cryptocurrency theft.

Continue reading: https://money.usnews.com/investing/cryptocurrency/articles/how-to-protect-your-crypto-investment-from-hacks

Don’t know what an NFT—aka “nonfungible token”—is either? You better find out. Why? Because someone as crazy as me might give you one. Or a better reason: They’re everywhere.
Macy’s auctioned digital floats as NFTs at the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Robert Mondavi Winery is selling a limited run of wine in fancy Limoges porcelain bottles tied to NFTs. Reese Witherspoon is crazy about NFTs, especially ones made by women. Snoop Dogg is building a virtual NFT house—and people are spending as much as they would on a real house to “live” next to him.
Underlying this vast and wild assortment of digital tokens is the same idea: People are buying and selling—primarily with cryptocurrency—unique, verifiable, irreplaceable online things.
Again, why? Well, why do people do most things? Money! But that’s not the only reason: Many believe these digital items will be the keys to the internet’s future.
I know. You’re so confused you want to hide under your real bed in your real house, clutching your real teddy bear. I’ve been there. This world of mystical items was baffling to me: Why would I pay for a goofy GIF I can already text to a friend? And why do some of these cost more than a Fabergé egg?
I realized the best way to understand this—and to explain it—was to roll up my sleeves and make an NFT. In other words, I turned my son’s pretty fungible construction-paper-and-googly-eyes unicorn into a nonfungible token of my esteem for my mom. I’m not suggesting you try this at home. But I am encouraging you to read the five steps I took, so you too can make sense of NFT fever.
Continue reading: https://www.wsj.com/articles/i-gave-my-mom-a-crypto-wallet-a-simple-guide-to-nfts-blockchain-and-more-11639404001

For the past six years, Francesca Rossi has led the development of an ethical framework for IBM’s artificial intelligence technology—but she doesn’t like to use the term “ethical A.I.” Sitting at a well-appointed desk in her home office in Mount Kisco, N.Y., a pink orchid bowing over her shoulder, the research scientist explains the term’s limitations.  “Technology is not ethical or unethical, it’s the whole ecosystem around it,” she says, referring to the ethics guiding its multiple stakeholders, from researchers and developers to economists, policymakers, and consumers. “The goal is obvious—to take the best out of A.I., to make it as beneficial as possible, and to avoid the negative impacts.” As companies around the world expand their use of A.I.—more than half of companies have accelerated their A.I. adoption plans—they are taking a careful look at ethics and responsible innovation. And global spending on A.I. systems is only expected to increase from $85.3 billion in 2021 to over $204 billion in 2025, according to market research firm IDC. 
When Rossi joined IBM in 2015 as its A.I. ethics global leader, she gathered 40 colleagues to start the process, eventually establishing an internal A.I. board to guide the ethical development and deployment of A.I. systems and then training IBM’s more than 345,000 employees working in over 175 countries in “ethics by design,” a methodology governed by several principles and values. 
Continue reading: https://fortune.com/2021/12/13/ibm-artificial-intelligence-ethics-regulation-francesca-rossi/

Decades ago, artificial intelligence arrived with huge expectations for significant increases in efficiency and productivity. However, despite billions spent on technology, project after project stalled—mainly because challenges with company strategies, technical hurdles, and cultures kept the potential power of AI unrealized.  
Over the last decade, enterprises have migrated en masse to online platforms and cloud providers. This evolution has paved the way for computing capabilities to handle much more data while simultaneously generating troves of new data that these systems can now analyze. 
This migration has laid the foundation for a new generation of automation and analytics—the shift from enterprise AI 1.0 to 2.0. This created the capacity for more sophisticated insights. This includes end-to-end process intelligence powered by focused solutions and machine reasoning that drives exponential gains in operational efficiency and productivity. Enterprise AI 2.0 is overtaking the shallow learning approaches and simple task automation of enterprise AI 1.0.
The organizational shifts underway to embrace these changes from the top down—starting with leaders who understand that future growth is rooted in digital transformation—have driven this transition more than anything. 
Let’s take a look at how companies move toward enterprise AI 2.0.
Continue reading: https://www.eweek.com/big-data-and-analytics/growth-of-artificial-intelligence/

Artificial intelligence helps determine which products are advertised to which consumers, who receives a job interview, who qualifies for certain credit products and a host of other decisions, according to Mitigating Bias in Artificial Intelligence: An Equity Fluent Leadership Playbook.
However, the publication adds that, "use of AI in predictions and decision-making can reduce human subjectivity, but it can also embed biases resulting in inaccurate and/or discriminatory predictions and outputs for certain subsets of the population."
While marketers and others rely on AI to help target the best prospects for a company's products and services, and to target potential employees, they also need to take steps to eliminate any unintentional bias from the AI algorithms, not just because it's the right thing to do, but also because any underlying bias can keep their marketing messages from going to good potential customers.
Technology and marketing experts recommend the following four ways to eliminate or at least minimize bias in AI.
Continue reading: https://www.cmswire.com/customer-experience/4-tips-for-taming-the-bias-in-artificial-intelligence/

Here is the list of the top 5 AI-Enabled tools to streamline your business processes
Are you stressed with your daily, mundane (not to mention costly) business tasks?
If so, you need the best technologies, e.g., artificial intelligence (AI), to simplify those workflows and save time and effort. These solutions can also skyrocket data accuracy, operational productivity, and profitability.
Here are some AI-enabled tools to use for streamlining your business processes:
1. AI SEO software
Building an SEO strategy for your business entails several repetitive tasks. These include searching for the right keywords, creating topic strategies, backlink monitoring, and more.
Manually performing them takes time and effort, so let AI lighten that workload. Use this technology to:
• Discover new focus keywords to target for increased traffic
• Uncover profitable link-building strategies to get fresh backlinks
• Produce content that aligns with user intent, customer journey stage, and Google Core Web Vitals
• Create topic clusters and pillar pages
• Obtain suggested ranking strategies for existing content
• Update your local business listings across voice assistants and search engines
• Automate technical audits, tag management, internal linking, and others
• Study and compare your performance data with those of your competitors and industry benchmarks, etc.
Continue reading: https://www.analyticsinsight.net/5-ai-enabled-tools-to-streamline-your-business-processes/

Here’s how the advanced implications of AI/ML can drive innovation for your small business in 2022
The 21st century has brought a new business perspective that was once dreamed about in old sci-fi epics and even some technologies people never saw coming. However, artificial intelligence — sometimes called machine intelligence or just AI — is proving to be one of the most disruptive technologies of all time. The corporate world envisions AI as the core factor for the next generation of innovations. The importance and uses of artificial intelligence in businesses are well-perceived by modern industry leaders. There are many applications for AI/ML systems across industries and sectors, and this article features the top 10 ways AI/ML will transform your small business in 2022.
AI/ML Driving Sales
At present, the corporate world is going through a huge change with sales automation. For small businesses, sales AI can help representatives make smarter data-driven choices for long-haul business activities and develop the income through customized deals cycles that fit the specific need of the end clients. Machine learning driven sales can likewise work with hyper-personalization, which is an urgent advance in tweaking the business cycles for the clients.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the most remarkable advertising strategies that is widely utilized by organizations. Advertisers should take out the mystery while exceeding clients or putting resources into B2B promoting techniques. Fusing artificial intelligence into email promoting will boost the capability of the email and get positive results.
Continue reading: https://www.analyticsinsight.net/10-ways-ai-ml-will-transform-small-business-in-2022/

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a term that describes the increasingly sophisticated ecosystems of online, connected devices we share our world with. The slightly odd name refers to the fact that the first iteration of the internet was simply a network of connected computers. As the internet grew, phones, office equipment like printers and scanners, and industrial machinery were added to the internet. Today, just about any device we use in our homes, offices, factories, or simply wear on our bodies can be online and connected, hence the internet of "things."
IoT is a trend that is driving the ongoing digitization and datafication of society in many new and amazing ways. Self-driving cars, autonomous manufacturing robots, and remote medical devices that let doctors diagnose patients and even carry out surgery are all possible due to these networks of connected things. In fact, Ericsson predicts that by 2022, there will be around 29 billion of these devices connected to the internet globally. So let’s take a look at what are likely to be some of the most important drivers and innovations in this field during 2022:
IoT in healthcare
With everything that’s been going on in the world for the last two years, it isn’t surprising that healthcare has been one of the most active areas of IoT development. Of course, it’s a broad use case – covering everything from the use of cameras in public areas to monitor social distancing, fitness bands and trackers to monitor lifestyles and the increase in adoption of telemedicine and remote healthcare. Specialized medical equipment, including blood pressure and heart rate monitors, insulin pumps, wheelchairs, defibrillators, and oxygen pumps, are all frequently connected now, allowing them to collect data to help doctors understand conditions and patient lifestyles better, as well as work autonomously to improve user quality-of-life.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2021/12/13/the-5-biggest-internet-of-things-iot-trends-in-2022/?sh=5924d5f65aba

South Korea will soon roll out a pilot project to use artificial intelligence, facial recognition and thousands of CCTV cameras to track the movement of people infected with the coronavirus, despite concerns about the invasion of privacy.
The nationally funded project in Bucheon, one of the country's most densely populated cities on the outskirts of Seoul, is due to become operational in January, a city official told Reuters.
The system uses an AI algorithms and facial recognition technology to analyse footage gathered by more than 10,820 CCTV cameras and track an infected person’s movements, anyone they had close contact with, and whether they were wearing a mask, according to a 110-page business plan from the city submitted to the Ministry of Science and ICT (Information and Communications Technology), and provided to Reuters by a parliamentary lawmaker critical of the project.
Governments around the world have turned to new technologies and expanded legal powers to try to stem the tide of COVID-19 infections. China, Russia, India, Poland and Japan as well as several U.S. states are among the governments to have rolled out or at least experimented with facial recognition systems for tracking COVID-19 patients, according to a March report by Columbia Law School in New York.
Continue reading: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/skorea-test-ai-powered-facial-recognition-track-covid-19-cases-2021-12-13/

DePauw is ranked #5 among private universities for the most women to graduate in computer science, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. However, STEM is not only about computer science but many areas of science, technology, engineering and math. The DePauw community provides several opportunities for women interested in STEM. 
Jade Karas, a first-year student at DePauw whose intended majors are psychology and biochemistry, said, “People always mention gender equality in the science field in which female students are not confident that they are not as intelligent as male students. I appreciate the help of DePauw for women in the science field.” 
Continue reading: https://thedepauw.com/women-in-stem/

Top executive Sheree Atcheson is determined to help other women excel in tech careers.
The Irish computer scientist is considered one of the UK’s most influential women in technology, but to suggest she managed to break the glass ceiling would be both an insult and an understatement.
“The problem with that expression is that it does not take into consideration that not all women are equal and do not have the same battles. Some women never get the chance at having a glass ceiling to break.”
Her multiple award wins, involvement in the global expansion of a non-profit organization, which tackles gender inequality and works promoting diversity, have all helped her rise up the ranks of the tech sector. The life she now lives, which she describes as “privileged”, is very different to the one she experienced growing up.
When she was just three weeks old, Ms Atcheson was adopted from Sri Lanka by a Tyrone couple. She was raised in the rural town of Coalisland, where she and her brother David – who was also adopted – were the only people of color.
“We faced a lot of racism growing up. After you get past the cute baby stage, that’s when it starts. Some of it was quite aggressive. We were often called the N-word word and the P- Word.
Continue reading: https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/glass-ceilings-exist-for-some-women-concrete-roofs-exist-for-others-41143500.html

There’s been a lot of discussion about how we see few women of color in tech because there are few of them in the STEM pipeline. But a forthcoming study my team conducted as part of the Kapor Center’s Women of Color in Computing Collaborative shows that the pipeline is only part of the problem. We found robust evidence of bias, which was associated with women of color in tech being the equivalent of 37.6 percentage points less likely than white women to see a long-term future for themselves at their companies. Women of color in tech were also 16.4 percentage points more likely than white women to report that they have left or considered leaving a company because of its culture.
Here’s the bottom line: Tech is less of a meritocracy than we like to think. Women of color were dramatically more likely than white women to report bias in hiring, assignments, promotions and compensation, performance evaluations, and access to sponsorship network. Our prior study found that white women engineers were dramatically more likely to report bias in workplace systems than white men.
Before I dip deeper into the study’s findings, an important note on the study itself: We had 216 responses to our 10-minute survey that used Likert-scale and open-ended questions designed to pick up how bias plays out in the workplace. It ran from December 2019 to May 2020 and was supplemented by qualitative data from 11 one-on-one interviews. The survey was open to all women in tech, and we promoted it via affinity groups, alumni groups, and employee ERGS, and our team’s personal networks. The racial/ethnic breakdown was: 10.6% white, 28% Black or African American, 40% Latinx or Hispanic, 28% East, South, or Southeast Asian, 21% Multiracial, 12% Native American, Alaska Native, and other underrepresented groups. (Note that this adds up to more than 100% — individuals who selected “multiracial” and also specified racial/ethnic groups are counted more than once as are some individuals who selected a racial group and indicated their ethnicity.) 68% were individual contributors, 23% were managers, and 9% held other tech roles. While the sample sizes for this survey were small, our group has previously collected data using the Workplace Experiences Survey from approximately 18,000 individuals in different industries. This existing data gave us a useful baseline to understand how the experiences of women of color in computing compare on average to women of color in other industries (letting us know that women of color in computing are reporting high baseline levels). At the same time, we were able to compare the effect sizes of the differences between white women and women of color, and among women of color in different racial/ethnic groups, in the current study to the average effect sizes of the differences we find in other industries. This approach allows us to understand what the data for this study are saying, even if we are unable to conduct null hypothesis significance testing.
Continue reading: https://venturebeat.com/2021/12/12/new-study-women-of-color-in-tech-arent-just-underrepresented-theyre-also-undervalued/

Today the first authorized NFT series of world chess champions has been minted! World chess champions, NFT and blockchain? What is that supposed to mean? You may have heard that NFTs can establish ownership of digital art: In March 2021, an NFT by digital artist Beeple fetched the auction value of $69 million at Christie's. However the NFTs of the world chess champions are not about crazy auctions, but about honoring outstanding chess achievement. In a series that currently consists of 14 entries, the classic world champions are now immortalized with selected games. The unique thing about this series is that many players participate through their authorization. This makes it the first of its kind in history.


NFTs and the Blockchain
NFTs are more than just a technically exciting twist of contemporary art. Their significance is much more fundamental. NFTs are about to become the essential form of ownership in the digital world. There are those who say that the explosive development of NFTs may become more important than the Internet.
The acronym NFT stands for "Non Fungible Token." NFTs can forever record ownership of things as diverse as artwork, real estate, music, or even used cars. They are stored in a blockchain.


Why are NFTs written into a "blockchain"? The blockchain is one of the greatest technical innovations of our time because it establishes indestructible and unforgeable accounting. Deeds can be stolen, lost or burned. Databases on servers can be attacked and manipulated by hackers. A blockchain, on the other hand, is distributed worldwide on thousands of computers that monitor each other, making it the most secure storage of information ever. One can confidently say: What is once written in a recognized blockchain like "Ethereum" will be valid for eternity.
Continue reading: https://en.chessbase.com/post/the-champions-in-the-blockchain

Cryptocurrency and Blockchain are two related concepts that work hand-in-hand. Many of the successes recorded in the cryptocurrency market are due to its reliance on a major technology- Blockchain.
Blockchain: Technology behind Cryptocurrency
For those who have been in the cryptocurrency market for a long time, blockchain technology is no news to them. As a result, many crypto enthusiasts know as much about blockchain technology as they do about cryptocurrencies. For others, it isn't easy differentiating between cryptocurrency and Blockchain.
While these two terms may seem alike because they often appear in the same sentence, they mean different things, especially for those who buy Dogecoin. For example, cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that have a unified value globally. Unlike conventional fiat currencies, digital currencies are not controlled or regulated by any central authority.
On the other hand, Blockchain is a database of information upon which transactions in digital currencies take place. Understanding what blockchain technology is and how it functions is essential for the beginner who wants to get into the cryptocurrency market. With this understanding, you can make the most of your cryptocurrency investments.
What Is Blockchain and How Does It Function?
The best way to understand what blockchain technology is to see it as a database. A database is a platform or system that stores data till they are needed for further processing. However, unlike the many other databases, Blockchain works uniquely.
Continue reading:
https://www.baltictimes.com/the_impact_of_blockchain_on_the_cryptocurrency_market/

Over the summer, an anonymous hacker stole roughly $600 million in cryptocurrency from Poly Network, a decentralized finance network many outside the crypto world had likely never heard of. Then the hacker gave it back.
Four months later, hackers stole at least $150 million from crypto exchange Bitmart. According to one analysis, unidentified hackers used a stolen private key to open two "hot wallets" and extract funds.
Security incidents like these are not new in the crypto world, but the size of these hacks appears to be growing as cryptocurrency prices have surged over the past year, drawing more mainstream attention.
Five of the 10 largest crypto thefts of all time have happened this year, according to data compiled by consumer website Comparitech. And these incidents may only continue due to increased cryptocurrency usage, according to financial tech experts.
Here's what you should know about what's happening -- and how to keep your digital assets safe.
What is happening?
The two main targets of crypto hacks currently are centralized exchanges and decentralized finance (DeFi) services, according to Tom Robinson, chief scientist at London-based crypto compliance firm Elliptic.
Continue reading: https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/12/tech/crypto-exchange-hacks-explainer/index.html

This article is the second in my series about consensus algorithms, in which I leverage my unique perspective to help the reader gain a deeper understanding of this often misunderstood concept. In the first article in the series, I explored proof-of-work (the OG consensus algorithm) and, in this article, I’ll be exploring proof-of-stake.
As I explained in the last article, from a game theoretical perspective, blockchains are a game in which players compete to validate transactions by grouping them into blocks that match the blocks of transactions being created by other players. Cryptography is used to hide the data that would allow these people to cheat, and then a random process is used to distribute digital tokens to people who play by the rules and produce blocks that match the blocks submitted by other people. These blocks are then chained together to create a verifiable record of all the transactions that were ever performed on the network.
When people produce new blocks with different transactions in them, we call this a “fork,” because the chain is now forking off into two different directions, and what ensures that everyone updates their database to match one another is how they are punished when they do not.
Continue reading: https://cointelegraph.com/news/inside-the-blockchain-developer-s-mind-proof-of-stake-blockchain-consensus

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) models hold the potential to identify customer trends and patterns, to quickly adjust at scale to improve business insights and processes, and to generate new revenue streams. However, the promise of AI and ML models to make things easier by computerizing human cognition has seen its challenges and will surely see more as the industry matures.
It's critical to keep a finger on the pulse of AI developments because it helps to learn from others' mistakes as well as their victories. It also helps you envision new possibilities, which is a key component of AI's appeal for businesses. With that in mind, here are three trends that those involved in creating successful AI and ML models need to pay attention to as we move into 2022.
Trend #1: The need for localized AI/ML models will significantly increase
AI and ML models are only as "intelligent" as the data they are fed. When you rely on these models to grow your business, they need to respond to the myriad external factors that will affect your desired outcome. That's why experimenting with localized AI/ML models is becoming necessary for businesses to have a clear understanding of their demographics.
Continue reading: https://tdwi.org/articles/2021/12/13/adv-all-three-things-to-watch-in-ai-in-2022.aspx

Artificial intelligence and machine learning have the potential to contribute to the resolution of some of the most intractable problems of our time. Examples include climate change and pandemics. But they have the capacity to cause harm too. And they can, if not used properly, perpetuate historical injustices and structural inequalities.
To mitigate against their potential harms, the world needs frameworks for the governance of data that are economically enabling and that preserve rights.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning operate on the basis of massive datasets from which algorithms are programmed to discern patterns.
These patterns can be used to infer new insights and also predict behavior and outcomes. Increasingly, artificial intelligence and machine learning are being used to substitute human decisions with automated decision-making on behalf of humans. This is often in areas that can have a significant impact on peoples’ lives. Take access to loans or even access into a country.
Yet it all happens in a black box that even the designer the algorithm may not have access to, so deciding what goes into the box is important.
Social networks
The biggest datasets and algorithmic activity are generated by the global social networks that surveil our every action online. These datasets can be used to anticipate and mold our needs and desires.
Big technology firms, multilateral agencies and development banks have made much of the potential of artificial intelligence to advance economic growth and national development. And they’re increasingly being used in social and economic applications as well as public decision-making, planning and resource allocation. These include guiding court judgments, selecting job applicants and assigning scholars to schooling systems.
Continue reading: https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/opinion-analysis/columnists/managing-potential-harms-ai-machine-learning-3650500

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is making our everyday lives more efficient in multiple ways that are used behind the scenes of our daily life. It helps us assist in everything we do from the suggestive text on emails to self-driving cars, from digital assistants to Online shopping.
One of the perfect examples of AI is Alexa and Siri that are becoming more and more humorous, evolving and becoming more humane. The power of AI has a big influence on human activities and has become an inescapable part of our lives just like digital marketing for brands.
As per one of the global surveys by McKinsey Digital, digital marketing tactics powered by AI capabilities have vaulted the world five years forward in consumer and business digital adoption. Everything has shifted to online including banks that have launched digital outreach to customers, grocery stores, education, doctor visits, etc. Amidst the digital transformation, the adoption of AI in digital marketing has built a system that works with intelligence to automate processes that were once dependent on the human workforce.
Continue reading: 
https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/marketing/role-of-artificial-intelligence-in-the-evolution-of-digital-marketing/88247822

Is artificial intelligence inherently good, inherently bad, or does it all depends on the specifics?
Students at Oxford’s Said Business School who are studying ethics in AI attempted to answer that question by hosting a debate with an actual AI.
An essay by a pair of Oxford scholars in the Conversation describers an eyebrow-raising anecdote in which the researchers hosted a debate about the ethics of automated AI stock trading and facial recognition software — and allowed an AI to participate.
“AI will never be ethical,” the AI said during the debate. “It is a tool, and like any tool, it is used for good and bad. There is no such thing as a good AI, only good and bad humans.”
Continue reading: https://futurism.com/the-byte/ai-ethics-debate-oxford

Researchers have long tried to mimic the accuracy and speed with which birds can maneuver in the air, attempting to recreate it in various types of flying robots, i.e., quadcopters and bio-inspired drones. It turns out that this is easier said than done because agile flight is difficult to simulate and control.
To make the problem more manageable, researchers have broken down the capabilities of birds into smaller parts and addressed each one individually. Thanks to this approach, scientists have already developed drones with morphing wings and tails that increase their agility, drones with grippers that mimic the claws birds to grasp objects, and swarming algorithms that help drones synchronize their flights. 
However, one skill in particular has remained difficult to mimic. Birds can land effortlessly on different objects thanks to their ability to adjust their tail and wing flapping to quickly and precisely slow down during perching. But when it comes to drones, achieving the same speed adjustments is a big challenge because it requires combining many different technologies into a single robot.
To solve this problem, researchers are developing new speed control algorithms and robotic legs. In this vein, a team from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, have created a novel, claw-like mechanism that is placed on the front of the drone to perch onto different tubular structures, such as powerlines, bridges, cranes, and trees.
In their study, published in Advanced Intelligent Systems, a simple mechanical approach to perching was proposed as an alternative to existing control-based strategies that complicate and increase the computational load of the drone.
Perching with this claw is simple because the robot does not necessarily need to emulate the grace and elegance of a bird’s landing. Instead of slowing down before impact, the drone just crashes head on into the structure. At the moment of impact, the kinetic energy of the drone dissipates through an array of springs integrated into the claw. These springs bleed off the kinetic energy and store a portion of it. Then, during takeoff, this recuperated energy can be used to re-open the claw.
This mechanism will allow for perching at higher speeds than has been previously possible. Because this principle passively stores kinetic energy, it has the added advantage of not requiring additional energy expenditure during perching. Thus, this approach reduces the energy consumption of the drones during the flight and, on the large scale, can be used to decrease the environmental footprint. In the future, energy from the impact could even be used to charge the drone’s battery or to manipulate objects.
Continue reading: https://www.advancedsciencenews.com/new-drone-claw-prefers-crash-landing/