It seems like everyone is talking about artificial intelligence at the moment, and there’s good reason for that. We are seeing its revolutionary impact across just about every industry:
· In healthcare, where it’s used to track pandemics and develop vaccines.
· In banking and finance, where it detects fraudulent transactions and enables more accurate assessments of lending risks.
· In security, where it prevents cyberattacks and data breaches.
· In biotechnology, where it augments advances made in fields such as gene editing, promising to help eradicate diseases and put an end to food shortages.
· In retail, where it predicts what customers are likely to buy, and puts them in front of them at the time they’re ready to pull the trigger.
I firmly believe that the true value of AI – estimated to be worth $13 trillion to the global economy by 2030 – will be realized due to it being accessible to businesses of all shapes and sizes, not just multinational corporations. A vast and eclectic ecosystem of cloud-based, “as-a-service” platforms reduces the need for expensive infrastructure investments and also means that niche solutions exist to help automate solutions in every industry.
But whether you’re simply looking to use AI-augmented marketing tools or to implement machine learning and real-time data analytics from top to bottom of your organization, there are some important points to consider first. The cost of deploying AI may have fallen dramatically in the last decade, but it still requires an investment of time and money, and going into it half-cocked – simply because it seems like everyone else is doing it, and you have a fear of missing out – can be a recipe for an expensive disaster.
Strategy First
The first principle is to start with a strategy. Simply put, this means understanding what you are trying to achieve. AI technologies are tools that are deployed tactically to achieve strategic objectives. Your strategy should be in line with your business objectives – are you aiming for growth? Improving customer retention or lifetime value? Or to reduce overheads involved with design, manufacturing, distribution, or after-sales service? Once you know what you want to achieve, then you can start looking for AI technologies – such as machine learning, computer vision, or natural language processing - that can help you get the job done. I like to start by thinking of the key questions a business needs to answer to be able to hit its targets. Who wants to buy our products or services, or how can we improve the value customers get from dealing with us? Remember, always fit technology to a problem, rather than problems to the technology!
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2022/05/03/what-you-need-to-know-before-you-start-working-with-artificial-intelligence/?sh=6dd1cc257705

When artificial intelligence (AI) technologies first debuted, they didn’t live up to the hype — not even close — and left many early adopters disappointed. But that was then and this is now, and AI is finally striking a pose that’s catching the attention of myriad more end users and changing the core value proposition of physical and electronic security.
“Many early AI video solutions did disappoint customers with perspective limitations and false alarms,” says Jason Burrows, sales director, IDIS America. “But today, a single camera can provide highly accurate analysis from more angles than ever before and deliver high-performance, even in challenging light conditions.”
He points out that, initially, most AI was offered as software or modules within VMS, which oftentimes entailed expensive integration services, software licenses and maintenance agreements. Now, customers can choose from highly cost-effective AI plug-in appliances that even smaller businesses can benefit from.
“AI video is giving customers additional value in terms of enhancing security and safety, reducing operating costs, and providing actionable intelligence,” he adds. “AI reduces human error and streamlines and automates monotonous tasks, while increasing overall safety and security across single or multiple sites and perimeters.”
Quang Trinh, manager, professional services, Axis Communications, concurs that AI technologies are indeed changing the core value proposition of physical and electronic security.
Continue reading: https://www.securitysales.com/in-depth/ai-realistic-implementations-security/

Just a few years ago, artificial intelligence (AI) seemed cold and distant, reserved for Silicon Valley tech startups, if not sci-fi thrillers. But that’s no longer the case. AI is very much here and now, applicable across industries and in everyday circumstances.
“AI involves the ability to take large sets of data and analyze them to make predictions,” said Forj CTO Mark Unak, an accomplished veteran in enterprise software, data analytics, and AI, whose work includes the architecture of AT&T U-verse. “Today, every company is a technology company in some form—they just specialize in different types of data. State Farm, for example, specializes in auto insurance data.”
In the past, a single insurance company could require thousands of actuaries to estimate the financial consequences of risk. With AI, machines analyze loss patterns and provide predictive outcomes at scale for insurers. The result is a streamlined customer experience, from the application process to claims processing.
The technology’s impact is not limited to the insurance space. In fact, it’s so impactful across industries that “84% of C-suite executives believe they must leverage AI to achieve their growth objectives,” according to Accenture.
The association world is no different, and it’s ripe for the type of transformation that AI enables. By leveraging AI-powered platforms, associations can simplify the user experience, identify unmet needs, and boost personalization, in turn attracting and retaining members and sponsors.
Continue reading: https://associationsnow.com/2022/05/ai-for-associations-how-to-supercharge-your-member-strategy/

Zohra Ladha is a senior analytics professional with over 18 years of progressive, multi-geography experience in the analytics industry, with expertise in customer analytics, marketing ROI optimization, AI, machine learning, and big data. She has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in science from University of Mumbai, and is now Senior Director, Data Science, at Tredence Inc, a leading data science and AI engineering firm with vertical-first solutions that help firms bridge the last mile gap in data analytics. The company has more than 1,500 employees with offices in Foster City, Chicago, Toronto, and Bengaluru.
Prior to Tredence, Zohra served as Director at Fractal Analytics and worked in the Data Science team at Accenture. Her expertise includes data science, machine learning, AI consumer and business banking, travel, retail and loyalty analytics, analytics consulting, client management, and business development.
HerStory (HS): Tell us a little about yourself and any incidents/experiences that shaped your career/interests? Zohra Ladha (ZL): I grew up in Mumbai, India, but now call Toronto, Canada, home. I have a degree in statistics and a passion for data. My mother was a teacher, and my father was a small business entrepreneur. Ours was a modest upbringing, and like any typical middle-class family, our parents placed a high value on education for my brother and me.
Continue reading: https://yourstory.com/herstory/2022/05/women-tech-educate-early-zahra-ladha-tredence

Already, many Africans have been leveraging their idle funds for yields, earning passive income with new blockchain-based protocols. But some are still figuring out ways to make money with digital currencies. If you are one of them, here are some proven ways Africans can make money from blockchain technology. These recommendations are based on insightful analysis from reliable sources such as Investopedia, CoinDesk, etc.
Mining
According to Investopedia, crypto mining is one of the most profitable ways to earn a decent income with blockchain without putting money down. Skilled Africans can make money and earn rewards in this industry for completing blocks. Mining involves verifying and validating bitcoin transactions for tokens and other prizes.
These transactions ensure the bitcoin network security and compensate miners with digital currencies. If you're skilled at crypto mining, you can earn digital currencies as a passive income without staking money. The most exciting part of digital currency rewards is that the price appreciates every time bitcoin prices exceed the mining cost.
Many Africans don't mine crypto due to the high-end equipment involved in setting up a rig at the beginning stage. But that's not the case anymore. Africans with access to the internet can download mining applications to smartphones or PC.
Continue reading: https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/careers/5-ways-africans-can-make-money-with-blockchain/2ylp9zb

Various kinds of technology have emerged in recent times seeking to transform operations in the energy sector. Some of these include smart metering and rooftop solar installation. The most recent form of emerging technology is the blockchain, which presents itself as the next big thing to revolutionize operations of the energy sector through system interoperability and smart contracts.
With the complexities surrounding operations within the energy sector, and the fast-paced growth of commercialization, transportation, and industrialization, the sector needs structural and operational amends via technology.
In 2019, Deloitte made a forecast blockchain will serve as the central processing unit of the energy sector in the coming years. Blockchain will also serve as a network that would guarantee the independence of operations and the transfer of data from one end to the other without any interferences from third parties. The system by default will eliminate the concept of third-party operations.
What is blockchain technology? In simple terms, it is an autonomous network designed for disseminating and storing information in a more secure way. Blockchain technology eliminates third-party engagements during operations.
Benefits of adopting blockchain technology. Transparency: Every set of data that is entered into the blockchain network is recorded sequentially, thus, making it easily accessible to users.
Continue reading: https://www.modernghana.com/news/1155132/revolutionizing-the-energy-sector-with-blockchain.html

When you think about Tennessee, you’re more likely to be thinking country music, barbecue and bourbon than crypto, blockchain and Web3. The state legislature has plans to change that.
Tennessee just passed a bill that could help it become a leader in states providing a home to entrepreneurs who want to set up a unique kind of company that uses the blockchain to automate its decision-making. It’s called a DAO.
More of that in a moment. First, a few definitions.
The “blockchain” is a distributed database that is shared among the nodes of a computer network and stores its information in a digital format and in such a way that changes can be made only once approvals from multiple parties are made in “the chain”. The blockchain is the foundation for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum, which use the unique identifiers of the blockchain to create their value. It’s all part of the new, distributed iteration of the internet, called web 3.0 or Web3.
Continue reading: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/may/01/tennessee-next-tech-hub-blockchain-web3

Today’s Woman in Tech: Alexandra Matthiesen, Vice President of Marketing, CodeSee
Alexandra Matthiesen is vice president of marketing at CodeSee. Matthiesen has 15 years of experience developing compelling brands and marketing the results. Her career has centered on technology and she has had the opportunity to do work for Intellectual Ventures, Microsoft, and Veritas Technologies, among others.
When did you become interested in technology? What first got you interested in tech?
I was not someone who entered my academic career believing I would focus professionally in tech. I came from a background where technology and science were simply not something women did. But in my first year of college, I found a group of friends who were personally and professionally invested in technology, and began exploring the potential in hardware and software. It sparked an insatiable curiosity in me.
From there, I knew I wanted to spend my career making technology accessible to people. The best way I can do that is helping take products to market in different ways—ways that move beyond traditional tech-focused audiences and instead inspire everyone to question how technology applies to their lives.
Let’s talk about your background. How did you end up in your career path?
I was one of the first women in my family to graduate from university. That alone felt like an incredible accomplishment at the time. Now, I look back and realize the biggest accomplishment was my ability to focus my path in technology marketing; to hone my capacity to work with language to convey the value of tech.
I was fortunate to land an internship with a company called Haute Secure. It was an incredibly cool security offering. The software was designed to detect malicious URLs and prevent users from navigating to them in real time, without requiring a logged roster of previously-identified malicious URLs. Writing technical marketing copy for Haute Secure and interacting with the engineering team taught me how invaluable that relationship could be.
Continue reading: https://jaxenter.com/women-in-tech-matthiesen-177237.html

Ten out of the top 30 web3 cities around the world are based in Europe and this proves that the region is quickly becoming dominant in web3 tech. Massive funding inflow to European-based web3 startups is also a major factor in this dominance according to a European venture capital firm Rockaway Blockchain Fund in recent statements ahead of their Gateway to Cosmos Conference and Hackathon web3 event in Prague.
Among the web3 fields expected to experience massive expansion in the region include cryptocurrency, DeFi, and NFTs in addition to artificial intelligence, IoT, and machine learning. 
“A range of countries are competing to offer the most friendly operational environment for crypto enterprises, with a Q1 report from Coinclub ranking Germany as top of the list of operators to set up shop,” read the statement.
According to statistics from the Web3.career, London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Zurich, and Tallinn cities are ranked among the best web3 cities in terms of job listing counts. London is number 4 with 992 job listings, Berlin number 6 with 737 job listings, Amsterdam number 18 with 130, and Zurich number 22 with 96 job listings.
Europe is experiencing growth in the web3 industry not only with regards to job listing alone but also in startup funding. The EU-Startups website has documented tens of EU-based web3 startups that have successfully raised venture capital funding rounds since the start of this year. Examples include Staex, Creandum, Kleoverse, Klima, and Aisti. Other factors include a regulatory framework that is set to encourage the growth of this tech although that could slow specific crypto developments.
Continue reading: https://zycrypto.com/why-europe-will-continue-to-lead-in-global-webb3-development/

Web3 and the metaverse are two of the hottest buzzwords in tech circles right now. The appetite among investors has precipitated a “cascade” of investment into blockchain platforms, according to Crunchbase, which cites recent funding rounds for Polygon Technologies and Alchemy worth a combined $650 million. One vertical attracting more attention than most is gaming. In early March, a group of heavyweight investors, including billionaire Bill Ackman and gaming giant Animoca Brands announced a new Web3 venture fund focusing on the metaverse, gaming, and social applications. Around the same time, Griffin Gaming Partners, a gaming-focused VC fund, announced it had successfully raised $750 million. 
However, this wave of investment isn’t simply about making more, bigger, better games. Web3 is changing the way that games are designed and built, incentivizing and engaging users and developers with the promise of token-based rewards. The shift from the established gaming model is so fundamental that within only a few short years, we’ll no longer refer to gaming as an industry but as an economy. 
Crowdsourcing game development
This change is already underway, as we can see in the way game studios are evolving their development process. In the established industry model, a small handful of game studios are responsible for the lion’s share of revenue through the carefully managed release of big-name game titles like Call of Duty or Player Unknown: Battlegrounds.
Continue reading: https://venturebeat.com/2022/05/01/from-industry-to-economy-how-web3-is-transforming-gaming/

Lately, there’s been no shortage of talk about the transition to Web3, a new digital frontier powered by blockchain and accessible via decentralized applications (dapps). But while many of the products created thus far are groundbreaking — offering verifiable digital ownership and access to new financial instruments — they still haven’t managed to galvanize mainstream adoption yet. 
To reach critical mass, the blockchain industry needs to ensure that platforms and services are easy to use as their current-gen counterparts.
We aren’t there yet
The current landscape of the internet is still very much grounded in Web2 architecture. While users can access a range of services, each requires its own unique username and password and third-party platforms are typically still needed to process payments. While this model has ostensibly worked well enough for the past two decades, it’s been mired by the centralized control of big tech companies, which thrive on selling user data. 
In Web3, services will all be interconnected and interoperable. Users will be able to transfer assets and value across virtually any platform. Often, they’ll even own these platforms and, importantly, their data. 
Some of the groundwork for this future has already been laid down with the rise of smart contract platforms and, by extension, dapps. But, issues remain. 
Take Ethereum, for example; despite its popularity, the network is struggling with some severe limitations. For one, current levels of throughput, around 15 transactions per second, simply aren’t enough to support the type of traffic that worldwide adoption would bring about. 
Continue reading: https://venturebeat.com/2022/05/01/what-it-will-take-to-implement-web3/

According to a McKinsey Global Survey of Executives, companies have accelerated digitization by three to four years during the pandemic, while the share of digitally enabled products accelerated by seven years. This leap is even greater in Asia Pacific, where the change has accelerated by 10 years.
The dispersion of people away from the office accelerated this digital transformation, which made simple tasks such as signing documents suddenly more challenging. As such, many organizations have turned to digital document signing solutions, but it is important to have a solution that not only enables document signing but does so in a safe and secure way — blockchain-enabled solutions are key to this.
The blockchain market is one of the burgeoning technologies with the global market expected to hit US$15.88 billion by 2023. The adoption of blockchain has emerged to provide solutions to threats of fraud and digital counterfeiting placed on businesses as they adapt to a new technology-centric workplace.
The question is, how does blockchain play a role in digital document signing? And what are the myths IT leaders should be aware of in the industry?
Continue reading: https://www.technologydecisions.com.au/content/cloud-and-virtualisation/article/how-blockchain-is-reshaping-digital-documents-341347652

Artificial Intelligence and machine learning … [are] foundational to the future of cybersecurity. We have got to work our way through how we’re going to deal with this. It is not the if, it’s only the when to me,” Adm. Mike Rogers, former chief of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, remarked in an interview. During his presidency, Barack Obama shared his concerns about an attacker using artificial intelligence (AI) to access launch codes for nuclear weapons. “If that’s its only job, if it’s self-teaching and it’s just a really effective algorithm, then you’ve got problems,” Obama said.
AI opens up a set of new risks and opportunities for the military and intelligence community. It is, however, important to be more precise about how AI applications impact different types of military and intelligence activities. Discussing the use of AI in cyber operations is not about whether technology or humans will be more important in the future. It is about how AI can make sure developers, operators, administrators, and other personnel of cyber organizations or hacking groups do a better job. It is essential to understand some of the key applications of AI in future cyber conflicts—from both the offensive and defensive perspectives.
How AI Can Help the Attacker
There are several ways in which hackers can benefit from AI techniques to conduct cyber operations more effectively. First, AI technology might help in finding exploitable vulnerabilities. Finding unknown vulnerabilities is often done through a dynamic process called “fuzzing”  in which an operator automatically inputs massive amounts of data, called fuzz, to uncover “response exceptions,” or potential signs of vulnerabilities. AI will improve these fuzzing techniques. Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have already demonstrated that AI-based fuzzing, complemented with conventional fuzzing techniques, is faster and more effective than conventional fuzzing alone.
Continue reading: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/techland-when-great-power-competition-meets-digital-world/ai-will-be-double-edged-sword-future

The fourth technological revolution is associated with the era of AI applications. Providing corporations with multiple opportunities to distinguish themselves within a competitive business environment by allowing companies to utilize data they accumulate to improve business processes, products, and services. However, media coverage of the AI revolution has been characterized by a wealth of contradictory information and inflated expectations regarding how, and where, AI can be applied. 
Managers and business stakeholders largely believe that AI will soon replace most professionals, instead of supporting them with specific tasks in which the machine has an advantage over the human. Moreover, AI applications are probabilistic in contrast to traditional software development where scope and deliverables are predefined. It is therefore essential for business managers to embrace uncertainty and support AI development with a hands-on approach in an experimental setting. 
As of today, the AI technology stack has yet to evolve into a solid framework that incorporates standard design and development patterns, like with traditional software. Therefore, randomly selecting from the numerous options in this rapidly growing AI field without proper ownership, ill equipped decisions can lead to a heavy financial burden and a technical debt. A lack of leadership and human capital, specifically data scientists, makes it difficult to develop core competencies in this area. Many solutions may appear to make sense, but when tightly linked to a clear strategy, the better solutions quickly begin to rise to the top. In a comprehensive market review, leading American venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz stated, that AI presents a new economic model, combining software and services in a way that is different from the familiar market economy of software and SaaS applications.
Continue reading: https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/opinion/article-705622

In the race to implement AI and digital twin technologies, there are critical questions and processes that enterprises need to consider when evaluating products.
Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and digital twins -- why are we hearing so much about them and why do they suddenly seem critical? The simplest explanation is this: When something is too complex for a human to easily process or there is too little time for a human to make a critical decision, the only choice is to remove the human. That requires the ability to replicate the thought process a human might go through, which requires a lot of data and a deep understanding of the decision environment.
So why now? For decades, we saw huge advancements come primarily from the integration and shrinking of electronics. Smaller products, consuming less power, and offering dramatic increases in functionality per square inch were the hallmarks of technology progress.
Software applications also have evolved over the decades, one of the most notable ways being the dramatic acceleration of the application adoption cycle. In the past two decades alone, users have shifted at alarmingly fast rates from treating applications as novelties, to using them as a convenience, and then to expecting them to work flawlessly all the time. At each adoption stage, a user’s expectation rises, meaning the product must evolve and mature at very fast, scalable rates.
Continue reading: https://www.informationweek.com/big-data/the-genesis-of-artificial-intelligence-and-digital-twins

An intelligent AI drone has become the latest innovative tool employed by Polish cities to help combat illegal billboard advertising while also helping to improve urban road safety.
Produced by SkySnap, in cooperation with ZDG TOR and the Krakow University of Technology, the pioneering drone which combines machine learning technology, can take aerial photographs and collect a wide variety of data and measurements such as the width of roads and height of signs and lighting poles.
It can also determine the precise location and dimensions of billboard adverts.
The technology has recently been trailed in Wrocław where it was used as part of a pilot flight.
Alongside measuring road safety, one of the drone’s key applications will also be to help officials to accurately locate and measure the dimensions of billboard adverts in order to check if they are legal.
In so doing, Wrocław becomes the latest city to employ innovative technologies in the fight against illegal billboards, after Poznań deployed a special car fitted with several cameras, scanners and sensors on its roof to drive through the streets of the city in March.
Continue reading: https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/intelligent-drone-joins-fight-against-illegal-billboards-and-road-accidents-30008

Police in North Texas are using drone-enabled video technology to help them clear buildings of potential threats, reducing the potential of harm coming to either officers or civilians.
The Dallas Police Department Unmanned Aircraft Systems unit was the first to deploy the Drone Clear program, which utilizes technology developed by video and audio software developer Cytta Corp. Under the program, a single UAS or multiple drones can be flown into a building in which there is a perceived threat, such as an armed suspect.
The drones act as sentries, sending video data to multiple actors, including remotely located incident commanders as well as officers on the scene. The data helps responders map out the structure, identifying potential threats before the decision is made to send officers into the building.
“We’re trying to find a way to reduce or eliminate the unplanned use of force,” said Dallas Police Sergeant Ross Stinson, who heads Dallas PD’s UAS squad.
“The UAS goes in first and develops the situational awareness, so that when officers do wind up making entry or moving into a confined space, they have all the information necessary to gain compliance or find other ways to go in rather than having a planned use of force,” Stinson said.
The Drone Clear protocol was developed using Cytta’s propriety Incident Global Area Network (IGAN) technology, which allows real-time video streaming to be shared by multiple parties, who can also use the platform to communicate with one another.
“Cytta specializes in video-compression technology that provides low-bandwidth, mission-critical video streaming,” said Cytta CEO Gary Campbell. The IGAN technology is device-agnostic, which means that police officers don’t need to have special devices, but can get the video feeds and talk to one another using their cell phones.
Continue reading: https://dronelife.com/2022/04/28/police-in-north-texas-us-drones-to-save-lives-deploying-drone-clear/

Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is one of the fastest-growing markets with a 54% growth rate annually, and is quickly becoming a huge part of people’s everyday life. From video games to phone applications, many people use A.I. more than they may think. 
A.I. is some of the most cutting-edge technology, but it’s the people behind it that are the driving force of this field. A.I. is a male-dominated industry, with women making up only 26% of the A.I. workforce. 
Locally, there are many women involved in A.I., making great strides in the industry. 
Dr. Karen Doty is a part of the GIMM (Games, Interactive Media and Mobile Technology) faculty at Boise State.
Because A.I. is a male-dominated field, Doty said that being a woman pursuing or experiencing this career can be challenging but also incredibly rewarding. 
“In my experience, being a woman in a male-dominated field has proven to be a driving factor to continue to aim to exceed expectations,” Doty said. “One of my proudest moments of recent was when a student exclaimed to me that she felt she, too, could achieve her career while also being a mother. She said seeing that I could do it helped her in realizing it was possible for her as well. This can also be said for working parents of all genders. It is possible to achieve both goals in life.”
Continue reading: https://arbiteronline.com/2022/04/28/local-women-in-tech-are-making-strides-in-artificial-intelligence/

The International Girls in ICT Day is observed annually during the last week of April, and this year the focus is on ‘Access and Safety’ as key elements to engage the next generation with information and communication technology (ICT).
According to the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU), this year’s theme “reflects the world’s shared interest in empowering youth and girls to safely benefit from an active digital life.
Fair and equal
The UN agency recognizes the need to ensure girls and women enjoy equal access to digital learning opportunities, particularly in least developed countries.
Furthermore, if women are unable to access the Internet and do not feel safe online, they are unable to develop the necessary digital skills and engage in digital spaces, which diminishes their opportunities to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related fields, ITU continued.
Inspire the next generation
“Girls in ICT Day is a call to action to inspire the next generation of young women and girls to enter STEM careers,” said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao.
Calling on all government, business, university leaders and others, to do their utmost to support young women and girls, Mr. Zhao said that is essential to “give them the chance to achieve their dreams.”
Continue reading: https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/04/1117162

Who knew the internet gets sequels? If you read about cryptocurrency, NFTs and the metaverse at all, you'll inevitably come across the nebulous term "Web3." A term coined by ethereum's co-founder, Web3 is what crypto enthusiasts call the next phase of the internet.
There are two ways to define Web3. The quick, easy description is a blockchain-integrated internet or an internet where cryptocurrencies and NFTs are built into the platforms you use. The more complicated but more specific way to think about Web3 is an internet owned by users. That's the dream of crypto boosters, who say the integration of blockchain technology will lead to an egalitarian internet.
Here's the argument: The current internet is owned by just a few companies -- Facebook, Amazon and Google chief among them -- which creates e-feudalism, in which internet users toil on the properties owned by a handful of giant corporations. The fix is Web3, which uses decentralized technology to cut out the middleman.
Continue reading: https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/crypto/what-is-web3-the-confusing-term-explained/

If its advocates are to be believed, web3 is freedom, democracy, and ownership — an idealistic version of the web built for users. Theoretically, they're not wrong. Web3 is still in development, a few years away from being usable. Web3 could be this massive overhaul of how we engage with the web and each other. It could just as easily be an overhyped platform for decentralized finance and trading NFTs.  
We won't know exactly what web3 will turn out to be for a few years. However, we can take a look at the principles that drive web3 development to piece together an understanding of what web3 might look like. 
What is web3?
The term web3, also written out as web 3.0, was originally conceived of in 2014 by computer scientist and ethereum co-creator Gavin Wood in a post on his blog, "Insights into a Modern World." He dubbed it a "post-Snowden" web — Edward Snowden and data privacy had hit headlines the previous year. It is a new, decentralized iteration of the web that runs on blockchain technology.
As we were reexamining our assumptions about the privacy of our personal information and our online activity, Wood writes that "we engineer the system to mathematically enforce our prior assumptions, since no government or organization [sic] can reasonably be trusted." Essentially, under web3, we know exactly what's happening with our data.
Continue reading: https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/what-is-web3

As a business consultant for a number of brands, I have a prediction about cryptocurrency. In 2022, any company accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment will have a significant competitive advantage over the rest of its industry.
I don't work for Bitcoin and I have no stake in this game. I am just a business consultant who has worked to help save around 1,800 small businesses since the start of the pandemic in 2020. I have seen, however, the growth in the popularity of cryptocurrency and read the research on consumer payment preferences when it comes to digital wallets.
Now, I know you might be hesitant to tell customers "Put your wallet away and transfer me some Bitcoin, Ethereum or Ripple!" Let's look at five reasons you might want to accept cryptocurrency payments this year.
1. Lower transaction fees.
One advantage that cryptocurrency has over traditional money is that it requires very low or even no processing fees. This can help business owners keep more of their profit. The lower processing fees can also allow the exchange of cryptocurrencies to happen, well, faster. Each cryptocurrency is connected to different blockchains, which will lower transaction fees even more if you are trading the same cryptocurrency.
Continue reading: 
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcouncil/2022/04/29/five-reasons-small-businesses-should-consider-accepting-cryptocurrency/?sh=7994a77f5742

The notion of crypto being a tool for money laundering is often propagated by naysayers that include policymakers with a stake in the traditional financial system.
Governments around the globe have also become more aware of the crypto market and the various ways in which it can be regulated. 
Despite a growing adoption rate and involvement of mainstream financial giants, however, naysayers continue to portray crypto as a tool for miscreants and criminals. Several crypto platforms and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols have been compromised over the years, owing to various code vulnerabilities or centralization problems. However, stealing of money is the easiest part, while moving that money and cashing it out is nearly impossible.
This is primarily because most crypto transactions are recorded on a public ledger, which acts as a permanent trail, and even if the hacker uses various coin mixing services to hide its origins, powerful transaction monitoring tools can eventually identify such illicit trails.
Even coin mixing services themselves have started to block transactions associated or flagged as illicit.
Through rigorous study, crypto forensic firms such as Chainalysis and Elliptic have further debunked the notion that cryptocurrency provides an ideal tool for financial crimes and masking illicit activity.
A recent report by Chainalysis shows that the percentage of crypto transactions associated with illicit activities in 2021 was a mere 0.15%.
Continue reading: https://cointelegraph.com/news/blockchain-and-crypto-can-be-a-boon-for-tracking-financial-crimes

As companies grow and evolve, they are always looking for new efficiencies to improve their bottom line. In many cases, this means finding ways to automate business processes and reduce the need for intermediaries.  One technology that is quickly gaining traction among businesses of all sizes is blockchain. Unlike traditional databases, blockchain is a distributed ledger that allows for secure, transparent, and tamper-proof transactions. This makes it an ideal solution for businesses that want to streamline operations and cut costs.
Advantages of blockchain for enterprises
When it comes to blockchain technology, there is a lot of talk about its potential use in the financial sector. However, blockchain technology can be used by businesses in a variety of ways. Here are some key benefits of using enterprise blockchain for businesses:

1. Increased Security and Transparency – One of the key benefits of using blockchain technology in business is that it increases security and transparency. With traditional databases, there is a risk that sensitive data can be hacked or leaked. However, with blockchain technology, all data is stored in a secure ledger that can be accessed by authorized users only. With blockchain, there is no central point of vulnerability. Every transaction is verified by multiple nodes on the network, making it virtually impossible to hack. This helps to ensure that confidential information is not compromised.
2. Faster Transactions – Another advantage of using blockchain technology for businesses is that it speeds up transactions. With traditional databases, transactions can take days or even weeks to process. This is one of the reasons why enterprises are falling back on the reliable blockchain infrastructure company to build, deploy and manage nodes.
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   Continue reading: https://techbullion.com/why-businesses-are-moving-towards-blockchain/

Artificial intelligence has evolved rapidly during the last few years and is being applied across industries for endless use cases as a powerful and innovative tool. However, great responsibility comes with great power. Thanks to AI and machine learning (ML), fraud prevention is now more accurate and evolving faster than ever. Real-time scoring technology allows business leaders to detect fraud instantly; however, the use of AI- and ML-driven decision-making has also drawn transparency concerns. Further, the need for explainability arises when ML models appear in high-risk environments.
Explainability and interpretability are getting more important, as the number of crucial decisions made by machines is increasing. "Interpretability is the degree to which a human can understand the cause of a decision," said tech researcher Tim Miller. Thus, evolving interpretability of ML models is crucial and leads to well-trusted automated solutions.
Developers, consumers, and leaders should be aware of the meaning and process of fraud prevention decision-making. Any ML model that exceeds a handful of parameters is complex for most people to understand. However, the explainable AI research community has repeatedly stated that black-box models are not black box anymore due to the development of interpretation tools. With the help of such tools, users are able to understand, and trust ML models more that make important decisions.
Continue reading: https://www.darkreading.com/analytics/explainable-ai-for-fraud-prevention