Which areas of business can we expect AI to transform in the next decade? Almost all of them, experts say. Here’s half a dozen to start the revolution
Artificial intelligence (AI) has secured its ‘must-have’ technology status, enabling companies to move faster and further than rivals to sharpen predictions, boost efficiencies, and optimize real-time pricing or stock control.
But as we wrote in the November issue of Technology Magazine, most boardrooms and bosses don’t yet fully understand the potential use-cases for AI and machine learning (ML). “Stakeholders often don’t know what to ask for in order to get the right benefits out of the technology,” says Elliott Young, CTO, Dell Technologies UK. “This means they don’t really know what their business could be missing out on.”
Overhyped AI scares people and masks the real benefits these technologies can offer, says Anthony J. Bradley, Gartner’s Group Vice President of Emerging Technologies and Trends Research. “This can lead to slower adoption, and even sociopolitical fear and government regulation that will stifle progress.”
We take a closer look at six sectors that will attract a lot of future attention.
Predictions and forecasting
AI is migrating from its position as a technology identifying relationships in data and predicting existing trends more accurately to a technology that spots future shifts in everything – from leisure spending and travel patterns to company creditworthiness – by analyzing preferences and sentiments, says Sian Townson, Partner, Oliver Wyman.
Continue reading: https://technologymagazine.com/articles/six-of-the-best-future-uses-for-artificial-intelligence

When we think of customer service, what usually comes to mind are polite and helpful people. But what if technology could do that job? Welcome to the era of artificial intelligence and its impact on customer service.
The progression of artificial intelligence offers the potential for major improvements in customer service for businesses worldwide. It can be applied to various elements of customer support operations such as automated communication, problem resolution, and personalization.
Through implementing technology such as AI-powered call intelligence into existing systems, organizations have seen a rise in efficiency and customer satisfaction.
The Benefits of AI in Customer Service
The implementation of artificial intelligence in customer service can have a substantial impact, leading to improved customer experiences through enhanced personalization and efficient problem resolution. There are numerous potential benefits for businesses that utilize AI in customer service, including:

• Automation: It can automate tasks such as basic inquiries. This enables businesses to answer common customer inquiries which can help to improve the overall customer experience.
• Personalization: AI-powered chatbots and other tools are capable of personalizing experiences by being able to automate responses based on individual consumer preferences. This enables businesses to provide more tailored experiences which leads to increased consumer satisfaction.

Continue reading: https://roboticsandautomationnews.com/2023/01/20/how-artificial-intelligence-will-impact-customer-service-5-benefits-ai-has-to-offer/59191/

Artificial intelligence empowers increasingly complex interactions between humans and machines. This technology, currently popularized by ChatGPT, provides a potentially enormous opportunity for business professionals, for business students, and for business educators. However, these same technologies pose similarly enormous challenges for teachers attempting to illustrate, explain, and apply these ideas to students. How can teachers intentionally and openly incorporate AI into our classrooms while reducing the risk of students substituting AI output for their own (also known as “cheating”)?
The term “metaverse” was first popularized in 2003 by Neal Stephenson in a science fiction novel entitled “Snow Crash.” It is fiction no longer. The idea gained momentum for online multi-player games like World of Warcraft. It has now evolved to allow all kinds of human interactions, including commerce, in two and three dimensions. Perhaps the “person” you are talking to is not actually a person but instead a machine. When combined with artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and decentralized autonomous (i.e. human-less) organizations – collectively known as Web3 – we are at the next frontier for our students to find business opportunities.
This is also a new frontier for education, improving upon the online and hybrid experiences that were employed during the pandemic to reach students in remote areas with immersive, practical experiences. This could be the dawn of the “death of distance,” where learning can occur anyway with internet access.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tedladd/2023/01/21/teaching-in-the-age-of-artificial-intelligence-and-chatgpt/?sh=135f1fff788e

Many business leaders are enthusiastic about artificial intelligence, but when it comes to investing in the technology, they may be bewitched, bothered, and bewildered. It doesn’t have to be this way. We canvassed people who work closely with AI solutions and asked them to share their experiences on the best approaches to sell AI 00 the right AI, at the right time, to business leaders.
For starters, it’s imperative to “show ‘cognitive courtesy,’” advises Bjorn Austraat, senior vice president and head of AI acceleration at Truist. “Invest time and effort up front to translate difficult technical concepts into plain English. Likewise, create a compelling, properly framed vision for all project participants to ensure alignment and productive collaboration.”
Austraat explains that he uses a “simple phrase” to advance the vision of AI. Ask: “’Whose life is going to get better, by how much and how do we know that?’” he says. “If you can truly answer that question, you have covered all the bases from framing, to deployment, to value proposition, to political air cover.”
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2023/01/21/selling-artificial-intelligence-to-the-business-keep-it-clear-keep-it-simple/?sh=17de5c783f55

How prepared are businesses to take full advantage of the insights that artificial intelligence affords? The tools may be ready, and talented people may have come onboard, but it’s likely there’s a gap in the data. Yes, there is plenty of data flowing through enterprises, but harnessing it in a productive and unbiased way is another story.
At this point, only 24% of organizations consider themselves to be data-driven, and only 21% have what can be considered “data cultures,” a new survey of senior data and analytics executives out of Wavestone NewVantage Partners finds. In addition, only 24% of companies report they are doing enough to ensure responsible and ethical use of data within their organizations and the industry. “Becoming data-driven is a long and difficult journey that organizations increasingly recognize playing out over years or decades,” the study’s authors, Tom Davenport and Randy Bean, point out. “Companies continue to fall short in attention and commitment to data ethics policies and practices.”
The data gap is likely the most pressing issue affecting AI success, agrees Mona Chadha, director of category management at Amazon Web Services. “There are issues that companies need to be aware of, such as poor data quality, unfair bias, and lax security to name a few,” she states. “Quality of predictions of AI models depends strongly on the data used to train the models. Poor data quality can result in inaccurate results and inconsistent model behavior, leading to lack of trust from customers and internal stakeholders.”
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2023/01/22/a-data-gap-continues-to-inhibit-artificial-intelligence/?sh=23d1cb445a84

In ways both obvious and subtle, technology is transforming the way we live, work and play. While some innovations have become so familiar to us — asking Siri about the weather, clicking on ads based on previous purchases — that we no longer remember a time when they weren’t part of our reality, we’re still learning about the value and influence of others.
By Alaa Bawab, GM of Lenovo Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG), Middle East & Africa
Welcome to the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Internet of Senses (IoS). They’ve been around for a while, yes, but it’s possible you’re only just starting to realise how much potential they have to change your world.
IoT and IoS in practice
As a network of connected devices that communicate between one another and with the cloud, IoT is all about bringing people, places and skills closer together. Combine this with immersive feedback mechanisms that engage our senses, and you enter the realm of IoS.
Looking for an example of IoT? Digital twins demonstrate its benefits.
Digital twins use sophisticated networks of sensors to create astonishingly detailed replicas of real-world ecosystems. They can be found in anything from transport and utility infrastructure to entire cities, individual machines to full facilities, and specific human organs to the whole human body.
Urban planners use digital twins to model the impact of internal and external changes on infrastructure and communities, and to help with development planning and optimisations. In the medical world, they help doctors to accurately assess the impact of diseases and other stressors on the body. And in businesses that use complex machinery, they’re used to identify when components need replacing, which helps to reduce risks and unplanned downtime.
In terms of IoS, one of its best applications is the tactile internet. This allows experiences to be transmitted through touch, either for the benefit of a remote human operator, or to enable automated machinery to understand and respond to its surroundings better. The tactile internet equips doctors performing remote surgery, or engineers carrying out remote repairs, to wear gloves that transmit their actions to the robots performing the work and give them tactile feedback in real time.
What does this mean for you?
Looking ahead, it’s likely that IoT and IoS will depend more and more on high-speed connectivity; virtual, augmented and mixed reality; robotics; haptics; and increasingly sophisticated sensors. All of this headline-grabbing tech, of course, must be underpinned by robust foundations, including high-end servers, storage, networks and virtualisation technology.
If you’re looking for opportunities to leverage IoT and IoS, here are some issues to bear in mind as you build or implement your chosen technology.
* Edge computing – Ultra-fast connectivity isn’t available everywhere — and South Africa is a prime example. Outside of the country’s main cities, many areas are beset by poor infrastructure and weak connectivity. Given how important low latency is in certain IoT and IoS applications, you will likely need to provide computing and storage infrastructure very close to your users. This means either on-site, or at the network edge. When developing or choosing your platform, consider whether it offers the flexibility to deploy in different places. How versatile are these options? Do you need a rack, or will a shelf or even a wall suffice? Could it be attached to a mast or a tree? Will your tech be used in harsh environments (think of the South African sun, sand and storms), and if so, are there rugged versions, capable of withstanding extreme conditions?
* Freedom to scale on-demand – The generation of vast amounts of data is inextricably linked to IoT, and means that you’ll need large amounts of computing and storage space. This is partly to hold and use the data your business produces and gathers on a business-as-usual basis, and to enable new initiatives to be trialled and scaled up quickly in response to emerging opportunities. Make sure the technology you use is easily scalable and flexible, wherever in the world you need it.
* Essential simplicity – You’ve hired bright people, and you want them focussed on innovating, not on managing ever-more complex technological ecosystems. It’s therefore essential that your future tech platforms are simple to deploy and straightforward to manage. Can your fully distributed ecosystem be managed centrally, without relying on on-site expertise at every location? This is an important feature to bear in mind.
Continue reading: https://it-online.co.za/2022/11/28/start-unlocking-tomorrows-iot-today/

A situation called Crypto can be scary when one speaks about it. Most people think that’s due to a bad press. A lack of education on the blockchain already places people no longer familiar with the space for entry.
While blockchain gaming has become a trend, many are still not engaging in this space. Rethinking the traditional game web 2 as it has been on consoles like Xbox and PlayStation.
Education is low. We need to improve our ability to design phony projects. A recent survey by Coda Labs showed some interesting findings about the tyrants in the augmented reality marketplace.
Let’s examine this in more detail below.
WHAT DID THE RESEARCH SAY ABOUT CODA LABS?
The Coda Labs paper has highlighted some concerns from gamers. These papers were written in conjunction with DappRadar, covering an entire number of countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, Japan and South Africa. They’re the leading researcher on the blockchain.
At a time when six 921 people asked for help, 41 % of those who responded complained that they were involved in Crypto gambling scams. As for the same percentage of people, the most commonly used crypto gaming is the lack of education we mentioned earlier.
Just of respondents believe the cost of entering in blockchain gaming is a matter. The fact that you continue to create these games by observing the rigorous set-up process is no surprise even the most experienced gamers do not want to take this new hobby seriously.
It must be noted that those who participated in the study had to fulfill a specific criteria. Either play two games or more per month, or complete a crypto related activity. The studies could be done so, as it is able to buy cryptocurrencies or even trade NFTs within the last 30 days before the study started.
Therefore, the findings of this study make the results even more interesting, there is the fact that the person involved is quite savvy.
Continue reading: https://game-news24.com/2022/11/28/an-attack-on-a-website-and-a-problem-with-a-web-3-what-they-mean-for-the-space/

Edge computing has taken on immense significance in recent years, with its market size expected to reach 87.3 billion USD by 2026. It’s a staggering figure in isolation, but if you’ve been paying attention to tech developments in the business world, it’s not surprising.
Clearly, the demands associated with the recent pandemic accelerated the growth of Edge computing delivery models – however it would be a mistake to believe this was the only driver.
For example, Edge-adjacent tech like IoT has seen a similar explosion, with more than 10 billion IoT devices currently in use worldwide. These devices generate a tremendous amount of data, and Edge computing is far more effective at sorting through it than more traditional, centralized models.
Rather than risk latency and elevated bandwidth costs by using traditional remote data centers, Edge computing offers a localized storage source.
But how can it best be harnessed for your business? For Gavin Dudley, head of portfolio – Data Centers, at Fujitsu, Edge computing represents significant present and future opportunities. “What is Edge computing?” is no longer the main question, Dudley notes.
“We’ve already seen significant adoption of Edge computing across a huge range of industries,” says Dudley.
“Manufacturing, industrial and agriculture have all been traditional strongholds, but as Edge computing continues to develop, smart businesses are finding new ways to utilize it. For example, Edge computing is increasingly being used for smart retail purposes, in healthcare facilities, smart homes and cities.”
Edge computing: Advantages and disadvantages
Dudley points to several key advantages of adopting computing applications. When implemented effectively, Edge computing can present a considerable advantage for businesses – cutting response times and allowing easy access to software and data for employees all over the world.
Importantly, it also ensures that you can continue delivery even if there’s an outage or other problem while in the field. And, although individual Edge platforms might be less reliable, distributed compute and storage does lessen the likelihood of widespread outages.
Edge computing applications also offer attractive cost savings compared to other options, such as the cloud. Organizations can save money by using nearby data storage rather than centers that are geographically farther away or the cloud, which may have high bandwidth expenses.
Continue reading: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/marketwatch/edge-computing-why-it-matters-and-how-it-impacts-your-business/

The internet of things (IoT) is fast becoming a reality.
The combination of the UK’s developing edge computing platforms and high-speed, high bandwidth 5G and full fibre connectivity brings advanced artificial intelligence (AI) driven applications and services within reach of almost every business in the country. We now live in a world where machines interact with each other more than humans do.
IoT growth depends on edge expansion because it requires a platform with great network connectivity, regionalised compute capability, and cloud access. Without these edge capabilities, businesses will not be able to use IoT applications at scale in the way they already use cloud applications. These need to process the masses of data from the multiple sensors and devices that comprise the IoT.
Shipping all data to be processed at the main public cloud providers’ data centres will become unsustainable due to latency and cost considerations.  To mitigate this, IoT needs gateway hubs to aggregate the data, operate actuators and translate between sensor protocols used to connect to a network. This is best suited to the edge data centre where the gateway will filter out unnecessary data and pass on critical information to proprietary applications hosted in public cloud.
Industry adoption of edge is currently led by early-adopter use of MECs (multi-access edge computing environments) providing IT services, compute, and cloud access. This, however, will soon give way to shared services at the metropolitan level. There are already live use cases within the smart city, transport and energy sectors, but large-scale adoption will only follow once edge infrastructure platforms have fully developed their low latency connectivity, high-speed backhaul to the public cloud and local computing capabilities.
Nevertheless, at enterprise level three challenges commonly stand in the way of IoT adoption, beginning with the need to gain a full understanding of the benefits it can deliver in pure business terms. Then there is the challenge of integrating the multiplicity of IoT devices, gateways, and the data that these generate into an enterprise’s current architecture. The growth of AI applications also means that architectures will have to facilitate more data being transferred back to the edge for decision-making in intelligent IoT systems.
The third challenge is the more long-standing problem of acquiring staff with the requisite skills in data architecture aligned with process business transformation. Organisations can only overcome this endemic difficulty by selecting the right partners with deep expertise in the developing relationship between edge platforms and IoT implementations.
For IoT to accelerate, access to reliable and low latency connectivity is becoming essential. The primary markets for hardware devices will be dwarfed by the market for applications based on continuous streams of sensor data. Applications focused on real-time and aggregated data analytics need connectivity that has either low jitter, loss and lag or has dedicated high bandwidth.
Continue reading: https://technative.io/iot-and-the-edge-an-evolving-relationship/

Cloud software is becoming increasingly complex, making it more and more difficult to monitor, backup and secure. 
Considering that the average cost of a data breach in the public cloud is $5 million, organizations are rethinking their cloud data protection strategies. 
This has given rise to the backup-as-a-service (BaaS) model, which allows organizations to store data in the cloud, with providers offering and managing the necessary infrastructure, software and support services. 
To help companies back up and protect their data specific to AWS, BaaS platform Clumio today released new data protection and backup capabilities for Amazon S3. AWS and Clumio will jointly demonstrate the new features at AWS re:Invent this week. 
“Amazon S3 is becoming increasingly critical to organizations, and its resident data needs to be protected,” said Chadd Kenney, VP of product at Clumio. 
However, S3 — an object storage service allowing AWS cloud customers to store data from anywhere — is a shared responsibility model that is not backed up by AWS. 
“They guarantee the availability of the platform and deal with issues like hardware failures,” said Kenney, “but you are responsible for backing up your data.”
The growth of BaaS
The global BaaS market is expected to grow by nearly $18 billion between 2022 and 2026, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 33%. 
For its part, Amazon has its own built-in backup capabilities that help counter overwriting or accidental data deletion. These include versioning (maintaining multiple object versions in the same bucket), replication (copying objects across S3 buckets) and object locking (object storing through a write-once-read-many model). 
However, organizations aren’t able to restore S3 objects or an entire bucket to a specific point in time; they can only revert objects to one of their last versions, said Kenney. 
Clumio’s platform seeks to address four challenges with S3, he said: protection from accidental deletions; recovery from ransomware and cyberthreats; adherence to compliance and SLA requirements (ISO 2700X, HIPAA, SOC 2); and reduction of AWS backup costs (storage spend or lack of visibility of costs across data services and apps). 
The platform protects data lakes on Amazon S3, databases such as Amazon RDS and DynamoDB, and application data infrastructure such as Amazon EC2 and EBS. 
Continue reading: https://venturebeat.com/security/why-cloud-data-protection-calls-for-a-back-up-as-a-service-model/

What is Dataops (Data Operations)?
During an analytics project, companies spend 80% of their time on tasks like data preparation rather than data analysis. Businesses, therefore, focus on gaining the agility to improve the data processing speed and increase the data quality to derive key insights. This focus requires an agile data management approach like DataOps.
DataOps is a process-oriented data management practice focused on improving communication, integration and automation of the data flowing between data managers and consumers within an organization. DataOps combines DevOps, agile management, personnel, and data management technology, providing a flexible data framework that delivers the right data to stakeholders at the right time.
DataOps uses technology to automate the design, delivery, and management of data delivery with the right level of governance and metadata to improve data value in today’s dynamic environment. It creates predictable delivery and changes the management of data, data models, etc., to deliver value faster.
Why do you need DataOps?

                  Source: https://www.devopsschool.com/blog/why-do-we-need-dataops/ 

• DataOps promotes agile development, without which data projects may take years, rendering any collected insights useless. Multiple levels of management cause delays and create bad data. DataOps ensures that the code gets into production quickly, delivering value continuously. Agile methodology promotes short, sharp sprints, resulting in faster business insights.

• In this complex data landscape, understanding the data can be tough. DataOps unlocks value from the data by integrating testing into the data analytics pipeline and providing quality control. It enables clear measurement and transparency of results to help make competitive business decisions.

• Numerous building blocks are involved in the data lifecycle, and automation can cut down on manual, time-consuming tasks like data reporting and quality checks. DataOps is the science of automating the data analytics lifecycle to minimize errors, improve data quality and promote agility.

• A Properly designed DataOps process streamlines the data process and creates harmony between the different pockets of innovation. It makes the process adaptable and easy to maintain.

 
Continue reading: https://www.marktechpost.com/2022/11/27/what-is-dataops-data-operations-difference-between-dataops-and-devops/

Gaganyaan is ISRO and Indian Government’s first project, demonstrating the human space flight capability, scheduled to launch in 2024. This ambitious project has been entrusted to V R Lalithambika , a veteran of more than 100 space missions.
In another case, during the pandemic, the ICMR was able to isolate the SARS-CoV-2 virus, thus building the foundation for Covaxin. This was a feat that was achieved by Dr Priya Abraham, Director, National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune and her team.
The common denominator between these two high-scale achievements is them being spearheaded by women. This is a huge boost for the upcoming generation of women who want to make an impact in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields.
However, we are just scratching the surface of gender inclusivity in STEM. More than 40% of the STEM graduates are women but only 14% of them make their careers in the field. The stark difference highlights the lack of inclusivity that continues to overshadow the hard sciences.
So, how can one change the paradigm and bring in more inclusivity in the STEM fields? Current scenario and challenges India is performing better than most developed countries when it comes to including more women in STEM. Moreover, the financial and infrastructural initiative offered by the Government further encourages women representation in STEM. However, there is a lot of work that needs to be done.
A common issue that affects women in STEM is the broken ladder to higher positions. Imagine a missing rung or starting at the bottom, which affects the chances of women occupying leadership positions and being change makers. Most women workers in these fields majorly occupy junior positions while only a portion of these members get to join the senior ranks. The drop rate is also a matter of concern because of archaic gender roles like childcare and other domestic responsibilities.
While there is a change in the said perception, the change is slow, which often accounts for high drop rates among women in STEM. Steps being taken to improve the number of women in STEM Like a coin, the STEM sector too has a flipside to it. Things are now looking up because of Government and Non-Government initiatives of integrating STEM programs right from grassroot levels to inculcate passion for these subjects at a tender age. It is noted that girl students start to lose interest in the STEM subjects from middle school onwards. In order to counter that, Initiatives like Fellowship for Women in STEM, KIRAN, and SERB-POWER are working independently as well as in collaboration with the Government to increase the female students’ interest in the STEM fields early on.
Interestingly, the new Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy (STIP) is also bringing in policies that hope to educate as well as retain women in STEM. Some of these policies include incorporating a grading system based on merit and performance, allowing 30% quota for women in decision-making positions and offering gender neutral rules & recommendations to make daily workaday easier. This is especially visible in the IT industry where women are slowly climbing up the ranks of CTOs, Product Heads and other core-tech roles. Read more at: https://yourstory.com/herstory/2022/11/women-stem-more-inclusivity

Business leader Theresa Gattung is Damien Venuto’s guest on today’s equal pay focused edition of The Front Page podcast.
In a country with so many global firsts, we are still lagging behind on our gender pay gap.
Unless we have genuine equity in our workplaces, Aotearoa New Zealand will not be able to create a true sense of belonging where people are valued, remunerated, and represented equally.
New Zealand is getting close to equal gender workforce participation, with women now making up 47 per cent of our workforce. A trend is emerging towards more gender-equitable board appointments, and we now have a majority female parliament.
However, while we appear to be moving in the right direction with diversity and inclusion in our workforces, gender and ethnic pay parity still has a long way to go. The gender pay gap is stagnant, sitting at 9.2 per cent and has barely moved in the past five years.
This means that from today, women in New Zealand are effectively working for free.
The current 9.2 per cent gender pay gap means that for every 365 days the average Kiwi man is paid for, the average Kiwi woman is only paid for 331*. From today (Monday 28 November) with 9.2 per cent of the year remaining, women throughout New Zealand are effectively working for free for the rest of the year.
Continue reading and listen in: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/the-front-page-theresa-gattung-from-today-kiwi-women-are-working-for-free/R7IPJMVRMFHQXOD5K7UGECZBWY/

It’s no secret that Europe’s post-pandemic economy is facing a growing skills shortage. Nearly half of European employers are already having trouble attracting candidates. If left unresolved, it could lead to a global talent shortage of more than 85 million people by 2030. Little wonder, then, that companies are more interested than ever in how they can stand out from their competitors and attract the best employees. Our new study suggests that salary transparency is the way to do it. 
Findings show that only 20% of jobs posted on Talent.com currently include salary information. This shows a clear misalignment between employers and job seekers, considering 98% of those surveyed said they want to know the salary of a job before applying and would be put off if salary wasn’t clearly stated. Furthermore, 79% would even support a law obligating employers to disclose salary ranges in job postings.
Openness attracts
While organisations may be fearful that including salary information in job adverts could cause them to lose out on applicants, the result is actually positive. It filters out unsuitable candidates while potentially attracting skilled ones who may have otherwise not bothered. The bonus: this saves companies time and money. Although some might expect pay transparency to put increased financial pressure on a business, when you factor in the cost of unfilled positions for important roles and of turnover when unsuitable employees leave, it’s often a more economical choice. 
Salary transparency could also attract a wider range of applicants, such as women and those from minority backgrounds, as it presents a company as progressive and inclusive. Some 71% agreed that wage transparency would help to close the gender pay gap, and 66% agreed this would also be the case for ethnic minorities. Disclosing pay from the start and continuing to be open about it means employees know whether they’re being compensated fairly and allows them to call it out if they’re not. 
This is particularly pertinent when one considers that almost one-third of those surveyed reported they’d experienced pay discrimination and some even cited it as a cause for leaving their previous organisation. 
Laying down the law
In a study we conducted in New York, 98% of job seekers indicated that it was important to know salary before applying. It’s no surprise then, that in parts of the US, that pay disclosure is now being enforced through litigation. It’s already a requirement across several states and cities, with New York City being the latest addition with its pay transparency law. Both Washington and California will follow suit with tighter legislation in January 2023. 
It’s arguable that we’ll see a similar approach across Europe in the coming years, foreshadowed by the EU Pay Transparency Directive. Although this likely won’t be implemented until 2024, among other things it will require companies with at least 50 employees in member states to publish or provide wage details from the outset. It will also prohibit pay secrecy within an organisation and give workers the right to annually request information about their pay level and average pay levels, broken down by sex, for employees doing the same or equal work to them. 
Continue reading: https://www.europeanbusinessreview.com/why-companies-keeping-hush-about-money-is-actually-a-disadvantage/

For organizations to realize value from artificial intelligence, individual employees must embrace AI and clearly see its benefits.
That’s the conclusion of a new study from MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group, which found that 85% of people who reported that their organization obtains value from AI said they also personally obtain value from AI.
The report, “Achieving Individual — and Organizational — Value With AI,” is based on a survey of 1,741 managers and interviews with 17 executives; it outlines four types of AI companies are using. One finding was that AI can help individuals feel “more competent in their roles, more autonomous in their actions, and more connected to their work, colleagues, partners, and customers,” the researchers write. 
Key takeaways from the report include:
Most people use AI without realizing it
 
Realizing the value of AI starts by appreciating what it can do. The survey found that people tend to underreport how much they use AI in their work, and therefore discount the value they are gaining from the technology.
Without any prompts, about 66% of survey respondents said they do not use AI in their jobs, or they only use AI minimally. When the respondents were prompted with examples of AI applications, 43% of these respondents said they do regularly or sometimes use AI at work.
Continue reading: https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/report-finds-employees-embrace-ai-when-they-see-its-value

In recent months, we've marveled at the quality of computer-generated faces, cat pictures, videos, essays, and even art. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have also quietly slipped into software development, with tools like GitHub Copilot, Tabnine, Polycode, and others taking the logical next step of putting existing code autocomplete functionality on AI steroids. Unlike cat pics, though, the origin, quality, and security of application code can have wide-reaching implications — and at least for security, research shows that the risk is real.
Prior academic research has already shown that GitHub Copilot often generates code with security vulnerabilities. More recently, hands-on analysis from Invicti security engineer Kadir Arslan showed that insecure code suggestions are still the rule rather than the exception with Copilot. Arslan found that suggestions for many common tasks included only the absolute bare bones, often taking the most basic and least secure route, and that accepting them without modification could result in functional but vulnerable applications.
A tool like Copilot is (by design) autocompletion turned up a notch, trained on open source code to suggest snippets that could be relevant in a similar context. This makes the quality and security of suggestions closely tied to the quality and security of the training set. So the bigger questions are not about Copilot or any other specific tool but about AI-generated software code in general.
It's reasonable to assume Copilot is only the tip of the spear and that similar generators will become commonplace in the years ahead. This means we, the technology industry, need to start asking how such code is being generated, how it's used, and who will take responsibility when things go wrong.
Continue reading: https://www.darkreading.com/edge-articles/ai-generated-code-is-coming-are-you-ready-

We may be on our way to a greater economic downturn as we look to 2023. Automation software and technologies that increase companies’ insights and efficiencies tend to be contra-cyclical (doing better in down markets) as companies look to do more with less.
AI-driven companies can exploit differences in time to action relative to competitors—even ones that have already created a strong business intelligence (BI) framework, according to a McKinsey Global Institute analysis. According to another McKinsey report, AI’s impact on the bottom line is growing, with the share of respondents reporting at least 5% of earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) that’s attributable to AI increasing from 22% to 27% year over year.
Companies are already struggling to anticipate the movement of several economic drivers, which are hitting levels not seen in a decade or more. It will be crucial for companies to move beyond what has happened to predict what comes next. To this extent, companies are shifting their focus to more accurate predictions as the economy heads into new territory. That need, combined with increased access to data-driven insights, may increase the overall need for AI.
As I expect to see significant developments in artificial intelligence in 2023, here are five potential applications for AI and steps that companies can take to transition toward this technology.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/11/17/big-challenges-that-ai-can-help-overcome-and-steps-companies-can-take-to-embrace-it/?sh=5684bfb25ec9

Artificial intelligence researchers and industry leaders explored what it means to center individuals, communities and society in areas like healthcare and hospitality during a Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) conference on Tuesday. 
The human-in-the-loop model, unlike autonomous or semi-autonomous AI, is an AI approach that involves human feedback and decision-making across several stages. HAI aims to center people beyond just being “in-the-loop.”
Computer science professor and faculty director of research at HAI James Landay emphasized in the introduction that noticing and critiquing “the potential and real harms of AI” is vital to improving AI but “recognizing the negative impacts of AI is not enough.”
Some AI technologists have focused on tackling problems within high impact areas by leveraging their technical expertise. However, as Landay explained, gaps and failures within AI have widespread consequences as they can lead to negative social impacts or unsolved problems. 
As COVID-19 overwhelmed healthcare systems worldwide, AI experts created hundreds of predictive models to diagnose COVID and predict patient risk in 2020, Landay said. 
A scientific review in 2021 revealed these models often missed the mark. A research team at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, led by epidemiologist Laure Wynants, assessed 232 algorithms and found zero to be viable for clinical use. Only two showed potential for future development. 
Negative social impacts are often tied to algorithmic bias, such as when datasets reproduce systemic biases against women and gender marginalized people. 
Continue reading: https://stanforddaily.com/2022/11/16/humans-as-the-keystone-an-emerging-approach-to-artificial-intelligence/

The killer app for Web1 and Web2 was so fundamental that today we take it for granted: email.
It’s how we identify ourselves to do nearly everything a user can do online: sign up for social media accounts, subscribe to content, make online purchases and more.
Similarly, consumers’ Web3 wallet enables them to have a presence in the metaverse and do everything from accumulating digital tokens or NFTs (non-fungible tokens) from their favorite artists or brands to doing all kinds of things. This is the nature of all killer apps in technology: They’re never about hype. They’re always about a basic utility that unlocks a new type of user behavior.
Blockchain wallets have the potential to be the killer app for Web3 and are fundamental to the future of identity. Your wallet keeps your user behavior and most valuable digital assets safe. And just as digital tokens can be used as currency for an exchange of value, users will be able to receive value in exchange for the consent to access their behavioral data.
To scale, wallet adoption must be fast, safe and easy.
Identity matters even more in Web3 because Web3 promises to give consumers real control over which businesses can access their data. Instead of intermediaries and walled gardens like Facebook or Google capturing that data and selling it to marketers, individual consumers can decide where, when and with what companies they are willing to share their data.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/11/09/are-blockchain-wallets-the-killer-app-of-web3/?sh=692bb943d287

Global interdependence isn’t a new concept, but companies are just beginning to realize the importance of building diverse teams. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are at the forefront of hiring conversations these days. Industry innovation requires a variety of perspectives from both leaders and employees—and you can achieve that by committing to an open-minded and inclusive hiring process and workplace culture that welcomes new opinions, experiences and cultural backgrounds.
While many businesses are working toward equity and inclusion, minorities continue to face challenges in the tech industry. Although companies spend about $8 billion a year on DEI training, 68% of business leaders recognize a lack of diversity in their tech workforce.
Women and people of color remain underrepresented in tech—and those in the industry are getting paid less than their Caucasian male counterparts. In 2020, Hired reported that 63% of the time, men were offered higher salaries than women with the same job titles and at the same companies. While wage gaps have improved, Hired’s 2021 study found that Black and Hispanic women continue to see the widest wage gap in tech.
These numbers are disappointing, but they are forcing the industry to take action. For example, in response to recent negative press, companies like Google are working to improve their employee representation for women and people of color.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/11/15/the-importance-of-dei-initiatives-in-tech/?sh=7afa3cf150cb

Erin Gray, Scrum Master at Tecknuovo, explores why education will help us shatter the glass ceiling.
Let's talk about the elephant in the room. The tech industry has a diversity problem. Particularly when it comes to female representation.
According to recent research from PwC, only 15% of people in STEM roles are women and worse still, only 5% of leadership positions are held by women. This has to change. The gender gap starts in schools and continues through every stage of education, with male students making up the majority in all STEM subjects with the exception of biology.
There are many different factors that contribute to the gender disparity, but perhaps the biggest and easiest to remedy is a lack of information about what careers in tech involve, which contributes to a staggering 61% of women not pursuing careers in the industry. We need to act now to prevent the gender gap from widening.
Continue reading: https://www.computing.co.uk/sponsored/4060211/shattering-glass-ceiling-ground

Seeing the gap in access to education and jobs in the field of technology between young men and women, a group of high school students have formed a program to help young women gain gender equality in this essential field.
Ladies in Tech was formed by three high school students from different schools under UNICEF’s Generation Future 2022 program.
Kao Menghorng, one of the founders, is studying in the 11th grade at Hun Sen Peam Chi Kang High School in Kampong Cham province’s Kang Meas district.
“The number of women involved in technology is still small compared to men,” she said.
Her two co-founders are Preap Somanit, a grade 11 student at Samdech Akka Moha Thomma Pothisal Chea Sim Prek Anchanh High School, in Kandal province’s Ponhea Leu district and Chhum Samnang, a grade 11 student at Chbar Ampov High School in Phnom Penh.
They say there are many volunteers involved in the program, including Emcee Team presenters, graphic designers, content writers, and technical and communications consultants.
To date, the project has trained 30 girls and 10 volunteers from Phnom Penh and other provinces.
“We set up a seven-week online workshop where we train in new topics related to technology, such as in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), networking, web development and the difference between Computer Science and ICT (CS Vs ICT),” Menghorng told The Post.
“We invited speakers who are studying technology at university to share their experiences. In addition to online workshops, we have also established a discussion forum where we have invited speakers to share opportunities in the field of technology,” she added.
Continue reading: https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national-post-depth/ladies-tech-helping-female-students-reach-gender-equality

November marks exactly a decade since Girls Who Code started with a mission of closing the gender gap in the tech industry. Since its 2012 launch, the organization has served 500,000 girls, women and nonbinary young people globally — half of whom come from Black, Latinx,  low-income or other underrepresented groups — via clubs, summer programs and college and career programs in which they meet tech leaders, explore coding and build professional skills. 
But the percentage of these individuals entering into the technology profession has dropped steadily over the past several decades. Girls Who Code and the software manufacturer Logitech set out to discover why, issuing a report to identify “What (and Who) Is Holding Women Back in Tech?”
“The problem often is that bias can be both conscious and unconscious,” said Delphine Donné, general manager of personal workspace solutions at Logitech. “Whether it is a parent, a teacher, a coworker or a leader, we need to help them become aware and overcome their unconscious bias, for example, through training. This is important for both men and women.”
The “What Is Holding Women Back?” report, based on a survey of 400 early-career tech and IT workers, found that the perception persists that these careers are for men, noting that only one in five people who earned computer science degrees in 2019 were women. Moreover, 63 percent of women surveyed said their college classes were gender imbalanced. 
Continue reading: https://19thnews.org/2022/11/girls-who-code-tech-gender-gap/

Blockchain technology is a decentralized, distributed ledger that stores the record of ownership of digital assets. Any data stored on blockchain is unable to be…


Blockchain technology is a decentralized, distributed ledger that stores the record of ownership of digital assets. Any data stored on blockchain is unable to be modified, making the technology a legitimate disruptor for industries like payments, cybersecurity and healthcare. 
Writing in www.builtin.com, a tech expert, Sam Daley, says a simple analogy for how blockchain technology operates can be compared to how a Google Docs document works. “When you create a Google Doc and share it with a group of people, the document is simply distributed instead of copied or transferred. This creates a decentralized distribution chain that gives everyone access to the base document at the same time. No one is locked out awaiting changes from another party, while all modifications to the document are being recorded in real-time, making changes completely transparent. A significant gap to note however is that unlike Google Docs, original content and data on the blockchain cannot be modified once written, adding to its level of security”, Daley said.
Of course, blockchain is more complicated than a Google Doc, but the analogy is apt because it illustrates critical ideas of the technology.
Why is blockchain important?
Blockchain is an especially promising and revolutionary technology because it helps to reduce security risks, stamp out fraud and bring transparency in a scalable way. 
Continue reading: https://dailytrust.com/understanding-blockchain-technology

Web3’s ideas like metaverse and tokenization are solving some major problems in education.
Education in developing countries like India is rife with issues. Poor infrastructure, teacher absenteeism and high dropouts are some of the major issues plaguing our education system. The government has been trying different ways to improve things for many decades now, but the struggle remains ongoing. 
Meanwhile, the development of blockchain technology has put forth various solutions and claims to solve all the problems – in one go. 
Web3 shows the way
Experts believe that Web3’s metaverse is the answer to most of the problems in the education sector in India. “If you look at the issues in the education system from a macro perspective – there is a lack of schools, teachers and quality education. Besides, there are school dropouts, falling number of girls students in STEM and an overall lack of inclusive education. There are various issues which can be solved through Metaverse. It can play a role in the inclusiveness of education,” said Manav Subodh, Founder and MD, 1M1B, a skilling and education platform.  
Subodh added that in a country grappling with physical infrastructure issues, VR and AR technology can play a bigger role in solving its problem. Schools and science labs could all be simulated using the AR and VR technology. 
“So, if you’re talking about a virtual reality lab, the same science labs in education can be made available to students even in the villages. The innovation lies in making the AR/VR devices smaller or cheaper,” he said.
Continue reading: https://analyticsindiamag.com/when-education-goes-on-blockchain-it-achieves-true-democratisation/