These days, a blockchain startup founder should expect to navigate challenging waters. Even in the best of times, founders must both prepare for a bull market and be ready for possibly bearish territory.
Having a solid roadmap, real-world use cases and a war chest are only a small part of a blockchain startup’s survival strategy. Founders also need to be aware that while non-crypto startups can offer useful and transferrable launch strategies, the road to achieving success in the blockchain industry is paved differently.
Here are tips every blockchain founder should consider before launching.
Bear the market conditions in mind
Bear markets appear more attractive to blockchain businesses looking to launch. But before suiting up for winter, founders must assess whether it’s worth waiting to launch until market conditions are better.
Evaluate your startup with the same criteria investors use during a bear market. Investors want to see a strong roadmap with deadlines and benchmarks that don’t simply come and go with no activity, as this is a signal to investors that a slow rug pull is underway.
Continue reading: https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/12/6-tips-for-launching-a-blockchain-startup/

Latinas are doing incredible things in technology. They are founding companies, creating new products, and leading innovation. They stand at the forefront of the future of tech, and they do this despite only holding 2% of technology jobs, with that representation dropping by an additional 28% just one step up the management ladder.
32% of women of Latin heritage say they feel stalled at work, and technology has the lowest rate of Latine participants out of all of STEM areas. We have an opportunity to improve Latina representation in the tech industry. The challenge is overcoming a feeling like they don’t have a path to leadership or a chance to grow in their professions. This barrier leads to over half leaving their positions by mid-career. By creating a sense of belonging, helping to map their career path, and ultimately retaining these talented individuals in the industry their lifetime earning average increases by $1.7 million.
We need to celebrate the incredible Latina women already changing the world and shine a spotlight on their work so that we can show others that they have a path to success. We need to inspire both this and the next generation and transform the oft-perceived face of tech to be more inclusive of the many that contribute to it.
Founder, Innovator, and Technologist
Maria is an industry leader with broad recognition for her efforts to develop digital business in Mexico. She’s the Founder of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in Mexico, the Co-Founder and a member of the Academic Council of the Higher Institute for Internet Development (ISDI) in Mexico, and the President of the board of the Mexican chapter of the World Internet Project.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alainapercival/2022/10/12/celebrating-latina-founders-innovators-and-technologists/?sh=28a2d7db1816

The onset of the pandemic revealed long-simmering restlessness in the job market. For Rachel Michele it was time to join a start-up. An authority in forensic data science, she became Chief Technology Officer at Arjuna Solutions, the leading provider of Behavioral Economics Modeling powered by patented A.I. Services. Arjuna’s services are designed to optimize lifetime giving while lowering the cost per dollar raised for nonprofit fundraising.
"Growing up, I was a quiet kid who loved to solve problems — I would later discover that those traits are strengths in managing teams. Eventually, I pursued a career in coding and technology, earning my MBA at the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business.
I felt fortunate to kickstart my career at PwC, where I advanced to leading teams focused on solving data crises for Fortune 500 companies and government entities. I had the unique opportunity in the role to uncover the evidence needed for the prosecution of global digital crimes. There were very few women in this field, and I saw it as an opportunity to stand out and lead with an open mind. I took every opportunity to mentor incoming team members — women and men. It was a pleasure to see the growth of all the individuals on my team.
Continue reading: https://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/news/latest-news/2022/10/in-her-own-words-rachel-michele-combines-technolo.html?page=all

Artificial Intelligence is the process of analyzing millions of patterns through machine learning. By studying these patterns, AI can make well-thought-out decisions that humans simply can’t.
AI and data science are used in every sector to automate and ease processes. Marketing is no different. The use of data science in digital marketing plays a critical role in any campaign. And organizations making proper use of it are getting huge advantages over their competitors, including:

• Dynamic audience segmentation
• Personalized product recommendations
• Consumer journey optimization

These tasks are all done with AI. Sure, you and your team could do these things manually. But leveraging AI allows you to use your time more effectively. Let’s see how AI is transforming conventional marketing:
Targeted Marketing
Since the rise of the internet, people spend nearly all their time online. Be it through social media, browsing, or work. Because of this, consumer data is becoming more and more accessible — and the days of mass-targeted marketing are gone.
AI can analyze mountains of data, assigning people tags based on what they are interested in at the moment, what their income is, where they are located, etc. Using these data points, you can market your product or service more accurately to the right audience, without extra friction and waste.
Continue reading: https://www.unite.ai/how-ai-is-changing-the-future-of-digital-marketing/

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are ubiquitous in consumers’ lives, from the “up next” suggestions from your streaming service to routes suggested by your GPS when you plug an address into your phone for directions. Less visible impacts of AI and ML include the use of AI to control data center efficiency and cooling or the management of restaurant wait times, as some companies use AI to make decisions about how many burgers to cook for the day’s lunch rush.
Whereas AI refers to the ability of a computer to emulate human decision-making, ML is the algorithm-driven foundation that enables AI. We can think of automation as the application of AI to develop a series of repeatable tasks or actions designed to accomplish a certain task or execute a process. Companies use automation for transporting products to warehouse workers for packing, processing invoices, and assisting with many other repetitive business tasks that humans have historically performed. Likewise, most people who have worked in an office have probably seen automation show up in the form of the “recognize text” feature in a PDF program.
Although automation isn’t yet as commonplace as AI and ML, current economic conditions could boost its prevalence. With inflation at 9.1 percent in June, labor costs rising, and the Federal Reserve further hiking interest rates, businesses across all sectors need to explore AI, ML, and automation applications as they search for ways to improve speed and efficiency while reducing costs.
Continue reading: https://builtin.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-ml-enterprise-technology

Artificial intelligence is giving finance a boost — through robo advising, its ability to improve fraud detection and claims processing, and more. 
Despite the upsides, there are risks and public policy challenges that must be considered, said Gary Gensler, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission and a former professor at MIT Sloan.
“I think that we’re living in a truly transformational time,” said Gensler, who spoke at the recent  AI Policy Forum summit at MIT. Artificial intelligence is “every bit as transformational as the internet,” especially when it comes to predictive data analytics, “but it comes with some risks.”
During the conversation, Gensler shared his thoughts on how artificial intelligence is changing finance. Here are four of his takeaways:
AI in finance is especially complex
Having solid predictive models is crucial in AI, whether it’s in social media or in driverless cars. The difference with finance is that “the robustness of the network itself” matters just as much as the model.
Continue reading: https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/secs-gary-gensler-how-artificial-intelligence-changing-finance

Americans aren’t sold on artificial intelligence.
Studies and surveys from the last five years or so indicate general distrust in technologies like facial recognition, targeted ads, smart home devices and banking apps, even as many consumers have come to rely on such services for convenience reasons. (It’s easier for Americans to express their skepticism for those “moonshot” A.I. projects that haven’t hit the mainstream yet…like self-driving cars.)
Why are we all so suspicious? Well, you might blame those viral clips of Boston Dynamics dogs, or that McKinsey report that predicted A.I. will take 800 million jobs from the global workforce by the year 2030. Many of us are hard-wired to associate robotics with destruction and displacement.
But consider the flip side: Boston Dynamics (and five other leading firms) recently signed a pact pledging to never “arm” its robots, while the World Economic Forum has estimated that A.I. will actually create more jobs than it replaces over the next several decades — with a capacity to generate 100 million new jobs by 2025.
Continue reading: https://www.insidehook.com/daily_brief/health-and-fitness/artificial-intelligence-trust-americans

As artificial intelligence continues to gain traction, there has been a rising level of discussion about “responsible AI” (and, closely related, ethical AI). While AI is entrusted to carry more decision-making workloads, it’s still based on algorithms that respond to models and data, as I and my co-author Andy Thurai explain in a recent Harvard Business Review article. As a result, AI and often misses the big picture and most times can’t analyze the decision with reasoning behind it. It certainly isn’t ready to assume human qualities that emphasize empathy, ethics, and morality.
Is this a concern that is shared within the executive suites of companies deploying AI? Yes, a recent study of 1,000 executives published by MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group confirms. However, the study finds, while most executives agree that “responsible AI is instrumental to mitigating technology’s risks — including issues of safety, bias, fairness, and privacy — they acknowledged a failure to prioritize it.” In other words, when it comes to AI, it’s damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead. However, more attention needs to paid to those torpedoes, which may take the form of lawsuits, regulations, and damaging decisions. At the same time, more adherence to responsible AI may deliver tangible business benefits.
“While AI initiatives are surging, responsible AI is lagging,” the MIT-BCG survey report’s authors, Elizabeth M. Renieris, David Kiron, and Steven Mills, report. “The gap increases the possibility of failure and exposes companies to regulatory, financial, and customer satisfaction risks.”
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2022/10/12/everyone-wants-responsible-artificial-intelligence-few-have-it-yet/?sh=46395b8f10c5

From spy plane to package delivery, drones are making their way from the battlefield to the boardroom. The information age has been in full swing for over four decades with access to real-time information becoming in higher and higher demand. Discussions of edge computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning are dominating the airwaves. At the intersection of all three is a new technology to the business scene that leverages decades of military and intelligence development: unmanned systems technology, commonly called drones. These range from big box toy products to capable enterprise solutions.
Attempting to fly remote control airplanes in the past was a great father-son bonding activity that often ended in a phenomenal display of poor airmanship and resulted in a pile of balsa wood and engine parts. With the advent of the quadcopter, aspiring aviators are now able to have top-tier data at their fingertips without putting thousands of dollars of products at risk.
Commercial entities have rapidly been adopting airborne technology as an intelligence provider because of three critical advancements:
1. Reduction in cost due to the miniaturization of hardware components and advancements in capability.
2. Autonomous flight modes that reduce risk and require very little pilot experience.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/10/11/eye-in-the-sky-drones-make-their-way-to-business/?sh=5a3dd9135f70

Overview
Manufacturing isn’t what it used to be. Increasingly, manufacturers are leveraging industrial internet of things (IIoT) technology to drive production efficiencies and improve quality control. One of the most common IIoT use cases is industrial monitoring, which employs data capture, analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the management and operations of production equipment, lower power consumption, and reduce costs wherever products are made, packed and shipped.
Khali Henderson, senior partner at BuzzTheory and vice chair of CompTIA’s Emerging Technology Community, and Jonathan Weiss, principal specialist at AWS for industrial and member of CompTIA’s IoT Advisory Council, discussed how manufacturers are successfully implementing IIoT-based industrial monitoring solutions in this episode of CompTIA’s From Promise to Profit series.
Challenge
The drive for improvement in manufacturing never stops: Increase production efficiency; reduce power consumption; ensure quality assurance. That’s on top of getting the basics right—keeping equipment in top running condition and meeting production quotas. Metrics such as OTIF (shipping on time and in full) and OEE (overall equipment effectiveness) are tracked constantly. Traditionally, plant operators have managed these tasks with laborious manual processes.
“Folks were running around with stopwatches and clipboards with pen and paper trying to calculate on the fly: Am I going to meet today's plan? Right of goods? And more importantly: How are my machines performing?” said Weiss. Errors were inevitable. “You don't really want to do that stuff with pen and paper, especially in a stressful environment when you're running around trying to make sure that all of these things are working correctly.”
Solution
There is a better way. Industrial monitoring provides continuous streams of data collected by sensors on production equipment as well as for power consumption. Sensors transmit machine health and performance data to improve maintenance processes. The data is analyzed in real time, enabling prompt corrective action when needed.
Predictive maintenance is a common outcome of industrial monitoring, said Weiss. “What predictive maintenance means is, basically, can I fix problems before they cause an outage or actually stop my production process? Can I repair a machine before it needs repair vs. the machine actually breaking?” For instance, if a machine starts to pull an irregular amount of power, it may be about to fail and halt production. Monitoring can prevent the interruption and keep operations running smoothly.
Outcome
IIoT and industrial monitoring help manufacturers achieve important goals. Insights from captured data can help them reduce energy consumption. Predictive maintenance optimizes equipment uses, improves lifecycles and lower maintenance costs. And the potential for error associated with manual processes is minimized.
Continue reading: https://connect.comptia.org/content/use-cases/how-to-leverage-industrial-iot-to-improve-manufacturing-processes

Overview
Cybercriminals and bad actors can create and launch new threats into the market in what seems like the blink of an eye. Therefore, solution providers and managed services providers must be just as fast to prevent, or at least minimize, the damage they can cause. To meet that challenge, artificial intelligence (AI) technology is increasingly becoming a critical component of cybersecurity solutions. The more that MSPs—and other tech companies—understand how AI is changing the way networks and data are protected, the better they’re able to protect customers.
In the episode of CompTIA’s From Promise to Profit series below, Greg Plum, senior vice president of strategic alliances at Markee and chair of CompTIA’s Emerging Technology Community, and Joseph Steinberg, cybersecurity expert and a member of CompTIA’s Cybersecurity Advisory Council, discuss how cybersecurity solutions are leveraging AI technology to keep the bad guys at bay.
Challenge
The number of security threats has increased dramatically in recent years, so the ability to detect threats before they create havoc is of utmost importance. However, humans have a brain-power limit: There’s only so much material they can analyze at any given time. An organization that frequently deploys technology may find numerous threats and be the target of many attacks.
“What do you do with that knowledge? If you don’t have AI to start analyzing threats, you need armies of humans. And most organizations don’t have enough as it is to handle their existing load,” Steinberg said.
Adding advanced technologies such as AI can improve computer-based analysis to determine what is a critical threat and how that should be addressed. It’s a task that every business is really wrestling right now, Steinberg said.
Solution
In this video, Steinberg explains how companies are being dealt a double blow: a shortage of qualified personnel coupled with an increased volume of attacks. To make up for the lack of staff, organizations are investing in more cybersecurity technology and automated systems. As a result, more alerts are being identified. However, while these are real threats and attacks being identified, if you don’t have enough staff to review, prioritize and decide which alerts are likely to be vulnerabilities, an organization can quickly become overwhelmed.
A second component of a cybersecurity solution incorporates AI systems to help look at alerts that come in from different systems, threat intelligence, the current status of networks, and the current status of data. The AI solution can analyze the threats, make predictions and prioritize what should be handled, in what order by human staff. In some cases, the AI can handle the requests. “That can dramatically improve the security of an organization,” said Steinberg, “because remember, if one attack gets through because somebody prioritized [incorrectly]… that can lead to a catastrophe.”
Continue reading: https://connect.comptia.org/content/use-cases/how-to-leverage-ai-to-better-detect-analyze-cyber-threats

Overview
Marketing historically has been an imperfect science. Trying to figure out whether a promotion or ad placement produced the desired results wasn’t easy. But thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics, that is changing. Businesses now can learn lots of information about customers, their preferences and habits, and leverage that knowledge to refine and customize their marketing efforts.
Greg Plum, senior vice president of strategic alliances at Markee and chair of the CompTIA Emerging Technology Community, discusses the application and outcome of AI-driven marketing automation with Jason Juliano, director of digital transformation at EisnerAmper Digital and a member of CompTIA’s Artificial Intelligence Advisory Council, in this episode of CompTIA’s From Promise to Profit series.
Challenge
When looking for a service provider such as an MSP, a customer is often are spoiled for choice. Capturing that customer is a challenge. An MSP needs meaningful, actionable insights into the customer’s needs, preferences and priorities in order to engage them for the long term. It requires sifting through first-party, third-party and zero-party data (through interactions such as online surveys), said Juliano.
“There's a lot of information out there in terms of information overflow,” Juliano said. “So you want to make sure that you're providing them the information they're looking for as part of their pipeline.” MSPs have “limited resources, so they want to make sure they can automate their marketing programs to make sure that they're getting more qualified leads and book more qualified appointments.”
Solution
To automate marketing programs, EisnerAmper leverages multiple AI tools and capabilities such as natural language processing in IBM Watson to gather data from online chatbots and phone systems. That information is used to build buyer personas, determine client types, personalize customer engagement and build leads. Use of a digital assistant, Juliano said, makes it possible to get insights from various sources, including interactions by phone, Slack, Facebook and text.
Gamification plays a role. For instance, when users take an online survey, they can win badges for completing different stages of that survey, Juliano said. As another example, when interacting with a digital chatbot, users have “the option to change a digital assistant into a female or male, depending on their preference.”
Continue reading: https://connect.comptia.org/content/use-cases/get-to-know-your-customer-through-marketing-automation

As artificial intelligence technology becomes more widely adopted by businesses—integrated in everything from chatbots to threat detection (and so much more), it’s hard not to wonder “what’s next?” We posed that question to members of CompTIA’s AI Advisory Council and received some enlightening and eye-opening responses. Here’s look at what the AI leaders said to expect in 2022. Note: These predictions are the personal opinions of the individual council members and do not represent the views of the AI Advisory Council as a whole or the members’ respective employers.
Increased Fairness and Transparency Awareness to Pervade AI Initiatives
“We expect organizations to adopt an AI-first approach to platforms, processes and digital transformation, with embedded AI at the core of operations optimization. In addition, Responsible and trustworthy AI is something that will grow substantially in the next year. This will be led by organizations in regulated industries driving fairness and transparency as persistent initiatives within their operational AI systems.” – Mechie Nkengla, CEO and chief data strategist, Data Products LLC
Recommendation Engines Take Centerstage with Consumers
“ML-powered recommendation engines will play an increasingly large role in consumer technology as behavioral data is leveraged to minimize decision fatigue and optimize user experiences.” – Lloyd Danzig, chairman and founder, International Consortium for the Ethical Development of Artificial Intelligence
Better, More Accessible Language Models
“This year, large language models (foundation models), commonly used in enterprise applications like chatbots and language translation, will be made more accessible through SaaS and APIs. Even as the models get bigger and bigger, moving from billions of parameters to trillions of parameters, open-source research efforts will help enterprises build better services by providing them tools to easily train, deploy, and scale these language models.” – Uday Tatiraju, vice chair, CompTIA AI Advisory Council
Multimodal Architectures Integrating Video, Audio, Text
“I'm looking forward to the advancements in multimodal AI architectures that can efficiently integrate video, audio, and text. We will begin to see these multimodal models embedded in many real-world applications apart from digital art and marketing.” – Uday Tatiraju, vice chair, CompTIA AI Advisory Council
Continue reading: https://connect.comptia.org/blog/10-ai-predictions-for-2022-from-automation-to-robots-that-clean

Overview
Conversational artificial intelligence (AI) technology is rapidly becoming an important communications tool between computers and humans. A company’s ability to use conversational AI in chatbots and other digital assistance solutions can have a significant impact on customer satisfaction and other metrics.
Greg Plum, senior vice president of strategic alliances at Markee and chair of the CompTIA Emerging Technology Community, and Mady Mantha, senior evangelist, conversational AI and NLU, at Rasa and member of CompTIA’s AI Advisory Council, discuss the benefits and challenges of developing conversational AI solutions in this episode of CompTIA’s From Promise to Profit series.
Challenge
Who doesn’t enjoy wading through a maze of corporate customer service options to get help for a problem? The answer, presumably, is almost nobody. Customer service can be a frustrating experience for both the user who needs assistance and the business trying to help. Organizations today want to rely on more automated features to help customers in order to save time, money, and theoretically help customers more quickly.
Today, even chatbots are viewed with some skepticism, in part because initial expectations were too high when they were first introduced years ago, according to Mantha.
“There are certain things chatbots are very good at. It takes a lot of training data and improvements to get where you want to be,” she said. “Overall, conversational AI is a great way to offer superior customer experiences. Customers want to be immediately understood and heard. That kind of customer satisfaction is a key differentiator in today’s digital world.”
Solution
Innovations in AI technology have helped to transform the way companies interact with customers. Digital assistance solutions today are capable of providing a seamless, successful experience. Chatbots now are capable of advanced search capabilities within a conversation, which means users no longer have to navigate through a database or website for the answer they need. That allows companies to transition some HR or IT resources to perform higher-value tasks and to automate repeatable and simple tasks.
Read more: https://connect.comptia.org/content/use-cases/implement-ai-into-chatbots-and-digital-assistance-solutions

With companies in every industry leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), or at least wanting to, it has never been more important for technical practitioners and non-technical decision makers to understand how AI can benefit their business as well as the associated risks of implementing AI. It is critical for key stakeholders to articulate the business value of utilizing AI for solving their business problems, and to understand the associated costs and benefits of deploying AI-infused applications, the time to value of implementing AI and what success will look like over time.
In this guide, the CompTIA Artificial Intelligence Advisory Council leverages the diverse and expansive domain expertise of its members to provide curated insights on pain points and best practices associated with infusing AI solutions within an organization. To provide effective guidance, the information presented here is organized into best practices for two personas that are frequently involved in the adoption and integration of AI technologies: the practitioner and the decision maker.
DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE
Part 1: Decision Makers
Decision makers are focused on the macro-level goals and challenges of the business. They explore ways modern technologies can assist them in addressing current and future challenges in the most cost-effective manner that offers a generous ROI. They have job titles such as founder, CXO, CRO, line of business (LOB) leader, chief data officer, vice president of business intelligence, or vice president/director of engineering/IT. They are tasked with performing cost-benefit analyses and data visualizations that allow non-technical stakeholders to understand the business case for implementing AI solutions. They are also keen to ensure compliance and data standards utilized across the business.
Read more: https://connect.comptia.org/content/guides/ai-best-practices-for-business-decision-makers-and-practitioners/

ATLANTA – A Mercer University Ph.D. student’s work outside the classroom has landed her as a finalist for the Woman of the Year in STEAM Education award, presented by Women in Technology (WIT).
Atlanta-based Women in Technology is an organization that supports women in science, technology, engineering, arts and math, as well as girls who aspire to enter those fields. The organization has various mentorship and STEAM programs and provides further assistance to marginalized women who come from impoverished communities.
Melissa Waller was recognized by WIT in large part for her work with Change the Game, a nonprofit organization for which she serves as executive director. A data analytics organization that provides training for those who want to work on campaigns, Change the Game welcomes individuals who have no experience or are at the novice level to participate in its trainings.
“For individuals who would like to come in and receive professional development in data analytics, we provide that as well,” Waller said.
As the mother of a young woman who wishes to major in biomedical engineering and become a doctor, Waller believes it is essential for women to support each other in their pursuit of STEAM careers.
Waller believes that for every woman who excels in the STEAM fields, there is another woman behind her, encouraging and supporting her.
Continue reading: https://den.mercer.edu/copa-ph-d-student-a-finalist-for-woman-of-the-year-in-steam-award/

Today we celebrate the 10th anniversary of International Day of the Girl, which recognizes girls’ rights and the unique challenges they face in reaching their potential.
Tech has the power to drive progress for all, so an imbalance in opportunities closes possibilities for girls and women – and can inhibit innovation that can benefit  everyone. But women comprise only 28% of the workforce in STEM fields, and men vastly outnumber women in STEM majors in college.
That’s why Mastercard launched Girls4Tech, its hands-on STEM education program for girls ages 8 to 16, with employees as role models and mentors. Eight years later, Girls4Tech has reached 2.5 million girls in 56 countries, and a new partnership with the online media company We Are Teachers will bring its cyber and AI curriculum to an additional 450,000 third- to seventh-graders in the U.S. by the end of 2023.
But building a more inclusive future only starts with STEM. We asked women across Mastercard and female founders from Mastercard Start Path, the startup engagement program, to share a piece of guidance they wish they could tell their 12-year-old self as she started thinking about ways she could impact the world. (Says Girls4Tech founder Susan Warner, “Girl, pay more attention in algebra and take that physics class, because you’re going to run one of the world’s largest STEM programs one day.”)
Here’s what they had to say:
Continue reading: https://www.mastercard.com/news/perspectives/2022/international-day-of-the-girl-2022/

Our lives are being transformed every day for the better by intelligent machine systems. The more capable these systems become, the more efficient our world becomes.
Some of today’s tech giants believe that artificial intelligence (AI) should be more widely utilized. However, there are many ethical and risk assessment issues to be considered before this can become reality. We discuss these below.
1. How Do We Deal With Unemployment?
The majority of people sell most of their waking time just to have enough income to keep themselves and their families alive. The success of AI, because of the amount of time it saves, will provide people the opportunity to spend more time caring for their families, become involved in their communities and experience new ways of contributing to human society.
Let’s take, for example, the trucking industry, where millions of people are employed in the United States alone. If Tesla’s Elon Musk delivers on his promise of offering true self-driving cars (and by extension, delivery trucks) and they become widely available within the next decade, then what’s going to happen to those millions of people? But self-driving trucks do seem like an ethical option when we consider their ability to lower our accident rates.
2. How Can We Equitably Distribute The Wealth Created By Machines?
AI, if it becomes widely used, can reduce a company’s reliance on the human workforce, which means that revenues will go primarily to people who own AI-driven companies.
Already, we are seeing startup founders take home the majority of the economic surplus they generate. So how do we equitably distribute the wealth created by machines?
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/10/11/top-nine-ethical-issues-in-artificial-intelligence/?sh=6db43ccb5bc8

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated” – Maya Angelou
Perhaps no field, no industry, no pursuit of excellence has perpetuated quite as many barriers for women—and especially women of color—as STEM has in the past four decades. Despite myriad calls for more inclusion, their representation remains paltry at best.
Women of color have only a 4% stake in positions in tech fields. Men are still the dominant force, and often an intimidating one that continues to distance females from even considering a future in those realms, let alone pursuing them with vigor. Without them, however, has U.S. tech lost its way? In some fields, it has completely struggled to keep pace with demand, wherein cybersecurity job openings alone have risen above 500,000. It also has been oft-criticized for not being more open to diverse pools of thought, which can deeply impact innovation.
What the field needs is an upheaval, or as one higher education academic leader notes, a “virtuous cycle” where consistent financial support and messaging support adult women and young girls of all races to jump in and embrace tech. Marni Baker-Stein, Chief Academic Officer and Provost at the highly creative, highly flexible Western Governors University, says until now that has been difficult to achieve.
“In both credentialing programs as well as in the workforce, they have been prevented from rising,” she says. “There are some systemic challenges around women and girls as early as elementary school moving into pathways that are math- and science-based, just because they are not encouraged to. We lack an infrastructure of encouragement for girls to move into STEM pathways from those earliest grades.”
But if that push continues to happen in K-12, where there has been a more cognizant embrace from school leaders, state and local agencies and philanthropy, higher education can level those barriers. WGU, for one, is putting an increased emphasis on supporting women who pursue STEM from the moment they sign on with abundant resources.
“There are some areas where we can really bear down in higher education,” Baker-Stein says. “Girls and women need context, training and development so they truly understand business and industry and the job role they’re interested in. And they need as much financial and wraparound aid and support services that allow, especially adult women.”
Continue reading: https://universitybusiness.com/can-higher-ed-rally-to-boost-the-number-of-women-of-color-in-tech-fields/

Almost two centuries ago, British mathematician Ada Lovelace designed the world’s first programmable computing machine. While so much has changed since then, today’s female tech leaders are still in the minority – making up just 31% of Australia’s technology workforce. Gender equality in the C-suite generally is also lagging on our shores, with women in just 28% of all senior roles. As the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Thoughtworks Australia, I know how important it is to accelerate female leadership representation. I recently sat down with MYOB’s CFO, Caroline Rawlinson, to reflect on her experience, and where she sees opportunities for positive change.
Embracing a female style of leadership
Having worked in male-dominated sectors – from fishing and construction to manufacturing and now tech – Caroline says she has enjoyed every one of those environments.
“I enjoyed the cut and thrust of it. I was fairly outspoken and confident given how young I was in my career,” she tells me. “Providing a female perspective was beneficial, at a time when gender diversity was just starting to get some focus.” 
However, Caroline acknowledges this wasn’t the experience for all women at the time, and many found it hard to be heard. 
“I think societal shifts have occurred such that you can show up more authentically now as a female. We’re getting better at embracing the true sense of diversity.
“Now I’m working in technology, I have found MYOB’s culture much more diverse, inclusive and welcoming. There’s a much larger variety of backgrounds, and everyone is invited to provide input,” she says.
Caroline notes she experienced a lot of visible female leadership when working in Asia, and in particular China, as CFO for Formica Asia. “I found there was more gender equality, in the visible leadership sense, than I had experienced before.” 
Pressed on why this might be so, she observes, “I think it could have been societal. There was very much a normalization of women working and being equally valued in both public and private enterprise.” 
Continue reading: https://womenlovetech.com/ada-lovelace-day-why-gender-diversity-matters-in-tech/

Serial entrepreneur Theresia Le Battistini is our Web3 woman of the moment. Having successfully built a prosperous toy brand aimed at girls called I’M A GIRLY following a flourishing career in finance, Theresia has turned her talents to supporting women in Web3 as CEO and founder of Fashion League, the first Web3 female-centered play-and-earn mobile game.
“With Fashion League it is not only play-and-earn anymore, but design fashion-and-own,” says Theresia, adding that the mission is to be “the fashion game of Web3 – where gamers, fashion enthusiasts and brands can meet to define and own the next major metaverse centered around fashion and their own brand identities.”
Practicing DAO-focused governance, co-creation and community are important focal points for Theresia. “Community is one of the fundamental pillars of Web3. Harnessing this power is key to success for any Web3 fashion project, and for traditional fashion brands they are crucial to reaching novel revenue streams.“
Continue reading: https://cryptomode.com/web3-woman-to-watch-theresia-le-battistini/

The growth of cryptocurrency use in Africa has conflicting and compelling stories. Of the conflicting stories, we have scams, government bans, and general distrust of new technologies. Among the positive stories, I write this piece to highlight four reasons why it's essential for women in Africa to own cryptocurrencies.
Convenience
Crypto services offer the convenience of moving significant amounts of money in minutes and with fewer transaction costs. In contrast, remittance costs in Africa range from 3% to as high as 20%. This transaction cost burden couples up with transaction times ranging from minutes to weeks for settlement. For cross-border trade to grow significantly, payment options need to be seamless.
There are plenty of fintech services on the continent addressing challenges in payment, remittances, and lending. Crypto is an additional solution to cross-border remittances by offering linkage through email addresses and fewer KYC (know your customer) requirements. Crypto transaction fees are largely under 3%. The amount limit per transaction using crypto is often unlimited, although some services place it at $50,000 for withdrawals. Contrast this with a conventional 5,000 to $10,000 per transaction for most banking services.
Additionally, for bundling up transactions, it's easier to have the simplicity of a QR code to scan or a few steps to make a payment instead of handling large volumes of cash. Safe to say, that comes with safety, privacy, and traceability.
Privacy
It's incredible how simple it is to set up a crypto wallet. In less than five minutes of using your email address, you will have access to crypto services. Conventional financial services often require a lot of personal information before granting access to their financial services. With a crypto wallet, an email address is about nine times out of ten enough to get started.
KYC requirements in some instances limit access to credit for women who don't own assets such as land. This extends to other types of collateral that can count in creditworthiness. By comparison, it's easier to start with less and observe medium-term growth investing in crypto assets. Additionally, it's possible to be an individual lender in crypto, not only a borrower. Since your private information such as phone, home address, and marital or parental status isn't required in setting up a crypto wallet, that kind of privacy wins in financial access as well as options.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/roselynewanjiru/2022/10/11/four-reasons-why-its-essential-for-women-in-africa-to-own-crypto-assets/?sh=6c8cac994786

Cryptocurrency has become a phenomenon in the global financial market in the past few years as Bitcoin reached a market capitalization value of US$380 billion. Moreover, cryptocurrencies have had more real-life applications and have become increasingly accepted by global governments and organizations as payments for various purposes such as investment, operations, and transactions.
Venture capital organizations have also invested over US$25 billion in the market with over 12,000 big projects, leading to the formation of dozens of Web3 unicorns. Consequently, there is no surprise that crypto will be here to stay, creating exciting disruptions in the financial market and transforming other aspects of society. 
Challenges with cryptocurrency transactions
Despite the hype towards the security of blockchain technologies that power cryptocurrency development, transactions still pose some vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit unless users take precautionary actions. While blockchain technology produces a tamper-proof ledger of transactions, blockchain networks are not immune to cyberattacks and fraud.
As the values of such cryptocurrencies have increased exponentially, attacks against such transactions have also proliferated. As pointed out by Financial Express, crypto theft reached an all-time high record in 2021 with brazen attempts to breach the crypto-exchange security systems, and hackers stole approximately US$12 billion worth of cryptocurrency. Moreover, many crypto-mining malware attacks have been aimed at Internet users, hijacking the users’ devices and associated resources for cryptocurrency mining.
Continue reading: https://e27.co/how-this-cutting-edge-technology-helps-fortify-your-crypto-security-20221010/

Culture is the new currency. For the first decade of cryptocurrency’s existence, investing in the space was relatively simple: You could buy bitcoin, ether, XRP, ADA or any of the thousands of more exotic alt-coins. Prices soared, prices flopped.
Then, something changed. In the last two years, ever since the awkward acronym “NFT” [for non-fungible token] went mainstream, crypto has seeped into every corner of our culture. Sports: NBA Top Shot racked up 1 million users. Art: Crypto was such a juggernaut that even Sotheby’s, founded in 1744, began auctioning NFTs. Pop culture: Celebrities like Jimmy Fallon, Madonna and Kevin Hart changed their Twitter avatars to cartoon apes.
“We’re seeing this convergence of culture, finance and technology,” says Jamie Burke, CEO of Outlier Ventures, a VC fund and accelerator. “It’s no longer just a technological paradigm shift. It’s no longer just a new financial system. It’s also a new way in which culture is made, consumed and distributed.”
For potential investors this represents an opportunity. An investment in crypto “culture” is a bet on the passions, hobbies and obsessions that regular people actually care about. “The average person doesn’t care about the underlying technology. They care about what it can do for them,” says Magdalena Kala, founder of venture fund Double Down. “When you look at the growing awareness of Web3,” says Kala, “it’s always tied to consumer culture.”
To find alpha, hunt for the passion. That’s essentially the investment thesis for Jarrod Dicker, partner at The Chernin Group (TCG) and a former vice president at The Washington Post. “When we look at investments we look at passion first and then say, how is this uniquely unlocked by crypto?”
He gives the example of music. “I have a ton of passion for music,” says Dicker. “Would I love to be a record label exec? Sure. But do I have any skills for that? No. I’m never going to get hired by Warner.” In today’s world of Web2, Dicker’s passion is just a wispy fantasy. But with Web3? He points to projects like Hume, a decentralized record label, that lets the community (through NFT ownership) find and grow musical talent.
Continue reading: https://www.yahoo.com/video/investing-web3-culture-entertainment-124402911.html

For many Web3 application developers, there is a perceived tradeoff between ease of development and application customization. Web3 developers have long been forced to choose between the expensive process of setting up their own chains or settling for costly and burdensome off-the-shelf infrastructure. Ultimately the disadvantages associated with both options create barriers for both developers and end users, which hinders Web3 adoption.
However, there is a third option. On-demand appchains — or application-specific blockchains — that are built with pay-as-you-go scalability offer the affordability of base layer protocols but with the flexibility of purpose-built chains. If these types of chains proliferate, previously idealized Web3 utility may lie just around the corner.  
Examining tradeoffs
 The dichotomy between the “fat protocol” and “fat application” theses is a prerequisite for understanding the advantages and disadvantages of base-layer protocols and purpose-built applications. The “fat protocol” thesis posits that most of the value in Web3 will be captured at the protocol layer. At the moment, this is broadly true, as most activity and transactions — as well as monetary value — in the blockchain ecosystem are captured on base layers, such as Solana and Ethereum. Proponents of this thesis argue that storing user data across an open and decentralized network — rather than allowing individual applications to control access to disparate silos of information — inherently lowers the barriers to entry for new entrants and fosters a more vibrant and competitive ecosystem of products and services on top of a protocol.
Nevertheless, “fat protocols” have their drawbacks. Most layer-1s struggle to effectively manage network congestion. To alleviate this congestion, these protocols levy “gas fees” on users in the same way that tolls and traffic lights can be leveraged to reduce traffic. Applications operating atop the base layer will then pass these fees off to their end users. 
Continue reading: https://forkast.news/why-appchains-are-critical-to-web3s-future/