1. Artificial Intelligence

Category Archives: Artificial Intelligence

Why artificial intelligence excites me, then worries me

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Ramon Llamas

In a recent Washington Post: Express was a piece titled, Look, D.C., no hands! Yes, the driverless car made it to the streets of DC for a test run. I can only imagine how entertaining it must have been to witness the experiment in person. How exciting is it that we are finally at the point where the science-fiction futuristic movies are finally turning into reality? Remember TimeCop back in the 90s? I know someone else saw that movie, so save the eye rolling for policy debates and all the inaction happening in Congress.

Heres where my excitement stalls. The authors describe that computers can detect certain things that happen in this case a police officer managing the flow of traffic but it cannot (at least at this point) detect the context of any situation at least not as of this round of testing. If you have ever driven in Washington, you know how completely nuts it is out there. If you have not driven in Washington, please save yourself the road rage and stress and stay on public transit, taxi, Uber, Capital BikeShare or just walk it out.

I have complete faith and trust that Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology will continue to progress towards the sophistication and understanding that human beings possess. I am excited to see the next generation of technology. Heck, I would probably ride in a driverless car in the near future if given the opportunity. But on two conditions: 1) the AI technology has to be sophisticated enough to understand and react to contextual factors (e.g. road rage) and 2) it would have to be in a less dense setting. Innovation has come so far and we have that much further to go

Which brings us into my favorite topic: healthcare. How can we innovate in this field to deliver our patients friends, family members and ourselves quality health care that leverages technology to automate a variety of time-intensive, laborious things? Twitter is one example of innovative, disruptive technology. It not only delivers consumable pieces of information in real-time, but its technology also recommends connecting with other individuals based on similar interests. Maneesh Juneja and I were matched via this Twitter algorithm and I could not be more grateful to the Twitterverse for this. Maneesh is a digital health guru and is well-versed in future technologies to improve health. He is constantly tweeting and in a sense, teaching a virtual class on health innovation. I feel privileged enough to be in the front row and enjoy reading many of the articles he links to from his handle @maneeshjuneja. Another teacher of mine in the Twitterverse is Dr. Kevin Pho of KevinMD. Dr. Pho curates the most relevant articles in the field and tweets them to his 100,000+ followers. The topic of robots in healthcare triggered in my mind when reading the driverless car article. There are a few articles on the site that are worth reviewing: Robot Caregivers; How Robots Will Teach Us Who We Are As Humans; and Will Robots Reduce the Need for Doctors? All three feed into a dialogue that we should be having on a larger scale. Are certain technologies capable of easing the burden on healthcare professionals in a way that it does not jeopardize health outcomes?

Lets circle back to the points I brought up about AI and context. Imagine a robot with its sophisticated computer systems having to understand the contextual nuances as it relates to a healthcare setting. Healthcare providers are already facing overwhelming demands when it comes to delivering quality healthcare to their patients all while balancing the needs of the business side of things reimbursement claims, proper and secure patient records and malpractice, among other pressing issues. The million dollar question is how can we integrate appropriate AI technology to ease the burden on health care providers?

As I stated earlier, in order to have me ride in a driverless car, the situation would need to address my aforementioned conditions. In the healthcare world, I cannot even imagine how many more conditions are necessary before I could trust my own health and well-being in the hands of a robot, regardless of how sophisticated their AI technology might be.

Now is the time to PANIC. I throw that word out there not to panic for the technology itself, but because the discussions we are having on healthcare at this point are simply useless. The most talked about topic in healthcare is on reforming, repealing or strengthening the Affordable Care Act. I completely understand that this is an important piece of legislation that needs to be handled appropriately and I also understand that it is not perfect. But all the divisive rhetoric being slung from both sides are not productive. The worries flowing from my mind have to do with the lack of focus, vision and discussion on innovative solutions to move our country, collectively, forward.

Lets not forget that health knows no party line. And neither does compassion.

Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way. General George Patton

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Why artificial intelligence excites me, then worries me

Robot Journalists: Science Fiction or Something to Expect?

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MOSCOW, September 5 (RIA Novosti) - For years, scientists have been developing artificial intelligence, attempting to replicate the power of the human brain and create a machine with the ability to make its own decisions.

Some have gone even further and tried to make use of intelligent machines in writing and reporting, creating a new phenomenon called robotic journalism.

However, Dr. Noam Latar, the Founding Dean of the Sammy Ofer School of Communications and Chair of the Daniel Pearl International Journalism Institute at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya in Israel, argues that the human brain is far more complicated than any of its possible artificial copies.

Dr. Latar, the man who predicted the appearance of the touch screen, told Radio VR that he had entered into the study of this particular phenomenon because a lot of robots now tend to replace human journalists.

In America there are at least three companies which develop robots that can not only collect the facts but write stories in narratives, he said. So, what brought me into studying this - is how the future of journalism will look like. My study shows that no Artificial Intelligence (AI) research so far has been able to develop a computer that would have a subconscious and imagination.

Computers cannot imagine things because they dont have a subconscious, he added. It was Albert Einstein who said that imagination is much more important than knowledge.

What is very human, Dr. Latar said, is our ability to create and to innovate. And creation and innovation really stem from our ability to connect the subconscious with the conscious: with rational thinking.

What is happening now and what has been a big financial success, he said, is that companies in the US like Narrative Science and Automated Insights use data mining to analyze huge databases, what the scientists call big data, and to write the stories: they have interviewed and simulated the best journalists in the US, and they have studied possibilities for their narration.

They implemented the data they collected and now the computers are able to write good stories, beautiful stories, Dr. Latar says, even using metaphors.

If you use what we call a Turing Machine, he said, you would not be able to tell if the story was written by a human or by a robot. But they cant imagine, they cant ask questions. He considers these to be important for human survival.

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Robot Journalists: Science Fiction or Something to Expect?

My Virtual Comic Girl – Ineractive mobile game with artificial intelligence – Video

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My Virtual Comic Girl - Ineractive mobile game with artificial intelligence
Interactive pocket game with artificial intelligence engine Valentina is much more than a simple virtual girl, she has a real sophisticated artificial intell...

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My Virtual Comic Girl - Ineractive mobile game with artificial intelligence - Video

Computer scientist and Watson co-creator David Ferrucci – ScienceLives – Video

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Computer scientist and Watson co-creator David Ferrucci - ScienceLives
When David Ferrucci was introduced to computer programming as a high school student questions flooded his mind Where does it stop? What can I get the computer to do? "My mind immediately...

By: National Science Foundation

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Computer scientist and Watson co-creator David Ferrucci - ScienceLives - Video

More Freaky Mindreading – Artificial Intelligence in Video Games – Carmageddon II – Video

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More Freaky Mindreading - Artificial Intelligence in Video Games - Carmageddon II
Weird! In this clip, the A.I. demonstrates that it knows WHY the player has stopped moving, and it hatches a scheme to goad the player into following it!

By: AmazingArends

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More Freaky Mindreading - Artificial Intelligence in Video Games - Carmageddon II - Video

Using Artificial Intelligence to Uncover Non-Public Company Data

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Startup DataFox aims to use artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and big data to provide data on 100,000 private technology companies to financial analysts.

Its relatively easy to find information on public companies. Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, and Dun & Bradstreet, for example, all have in-depth information that is accessible to anyone with a subscription. But where do investment bankers, venture capitalists, and other investors find reliable information about private companies?

If you talk to investment bankers, or other investors who are looking for information on non-public companies, it quickly becomes apparent there is no easy answer. Investment bankers rely mostly on Google searches and a combination of information gathered from Hoovers, S&P Capital IQ, Dun & Bradstreet, and others. But it is a laborious manual process to do due diligence on private companies.

DataFox, a Silicon Valley-based startup, is aiming to streamline the research process on private technology companies by using big data, natural language processing, and artificial intelligence technology. To date, DataFox has data on most private technology companies, according to the company. Today, the company has moved from its public alpha phase to a beta phase, along with three functionality enhancements.

DataFox co-founders Ben Trombley, Mike Dorsey, Bastiaan Janmaat, and Alden Timme.

The enhancements to DataFox include a real-time events feed. According to DataFox, its algorithms can mine millions of pieces of open-ended content (news articles, press releases, company websites, and more) and recognize -- as a human analyst would -- key pieces of company information such as a headcount, financials, personnel changes, funding, M&A, and more. The company's data quality team verifies the accuracy of the data points as well.

Another enhancement is a new taxonomy that does a better job of categorizing over 400,000 companies. According to DataFox, the new taxonomy will make it easier for users to prospect for companies.

Lastly, users will be able to work on lists and data together through a shared list that is available on DataFox.

[Do you aspire to the C-suite, or some other spot in upper IT management? Then bulk up your credentials around today's most pressing IT movement, digital business, at the InformationWeek IT Leadership Summit.]

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Using Artificial Intelligence to Uncover Non-Public Company Data

Time for: Wargame: Red Dragon – Part 3: Intelligent Artificial Intelligence – Video

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Time for: Wargame: Red Dragon - Part 3: Intelligent Artificial Intelligence
It #39;s happening (insert gif here). The ai finally can do something relatively smart! But is it too much for our heroes Kris, Binford, and Josh to handle?

By: HalfbodiedJish

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Time for: Wargame: Red Dragon - Part 3: Intelligent Artificial Intelligence - Video

Artificial Intelligence and the benefits of narrow AI for businesses

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The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is often associated with maverick visions of hover cars, living on the moon, and robots with a tendency towards acquiring life threatening attitudes. But like the paperless office and three-day working week, it seems AI is a remote possibility for most people and most companies.

But actually it isn't. The chances are you will be using it a lot in the near future, and Narrow AI will be the format that predominates. The most recognised current use is in Apple's voice command product Siri.

Narrow AI is not a sophisticated technology, but it does offer a wide range of benefits for individuals and companies. For example, to a very great degree of accuracy it can scan and collate specific required information from the entire contents of the web in a fraction of a second. Not only that, narrow AI can be programmed to send selected information to specific third parties, and automatically update any changes to information.

Narrow AI uses a logic driven process that replicates human actions. Typically it sifts through massive amounts of information and accurately extracts only what is needed. However, the real benefits occur when used to contextually layer searches and reporting to build accurate scenarios. It becomes the perfect example of the three Cs context, context, context.

For example, Siri is actually quite a poor performer in narrow AI. You ask it a question such as: where is the nearest coffee shop? It will give you a list, and by tapping on a particular option you get a map with an accompanying pinpoint. This is a lightweight response compared to what the technology can do.

Narrow AI can be programmed to not only identify the nearest coffee shops, but also different forms of travel to them, travel time, how to access those forms of travel nearest bus stops, train stations etc. There could also be a map, but with specific driving, walking, skateboarding or bicycling directions, and the journey times for each. In addition, you could be informed what the weather will be like at the destination, nearby attractions, and also alert friends via email or social media that you will be at the coffee shop (and at what time).

A good illustration of how narrow AI is currently being used contextually in multi-layered form is a mobile first business service for iPhone that my company built.

Lowdown works simply by the user creating or accepting a calendar invitation using any calendar service (Google, Outlook etc). The app then generates information around a meeting. It displays travel options, when to leave for meetings, the time it will take to get there, a map, profiles of individuals and companies that will be present, tweets by them, shared company and personal connections, and recent email exchanges. This happens instantly on an app without spending time searching the web, diaries, timetables, maps or asking for directions. All emails or tweet updates by meeting attendees can easily be monitored, and responded to.

It is perfectly feasible to extend the Lowdown principle to corporate-level diary based systems that include access to internal documentation. This would enable business managers to know exactly how to get to meetings, who will be present, and also to receive any documents needed for meetings.

There will also be apps for information searches. This could include the researching of interview candidates, or for personal use finding out about teachers and schools, babysitters, or for just learning about the neighbours.

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Artificial Intelligence and the benefits of narrow AI for businesses

Terminate The Terminator: Hack Your Emotional Intelligence And Control Your Future

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Want to leave your number one business rival lying in a crumpled pile of rubble? Then put down your Android for a minute so you can size up exactly who that opponent is.

The assassin most likely to destroy your business isnt the guy down the street. Its not a brilliant 19-year-old coder lying in wait in a ranch house in Palo Alto.

Its a bot that does what you doeven better.

The singularity may sound like science fiction, but robots already write articles for newspapers sports sections, do surgery, fly jets and drones in the military, drive cars and answer phone calls for hotels and service firms. Bots beat our best chess champions on strategy. And theyre better managers than some leaders.One recent study at MIT found that people would rather work for a robot boss who gave out tasks than a person.

If robots can be encoded with artificial, emotional intelligence and it is greater than what you and your team have to offer to guests, you will be out of work. And emotional intelligence in robots is closer than youd think.

Want to keep a brainy, rolling hunk of metal from flattening you? Prep yourself to steal gigs from the terminators of the future by doing these five things:

Get Emotionally-Sharp. Smart leaders defend their businesses from the borgs by developing specialized knowledge, charged with super-talented human skills and emotional intelligence. They know that customers want to go where they feel like theyre being seen and heard. If you dont get customers better than a bot, theyll choose the bot.

Train yourself and your people with the latest research on the uses of emotional intelligence. And look for talent that is strong in this area. When I interview people, I ask: If you were to build a robot right now to replicate you, what 10 things would it need to have? I get all different types of answers. What I look for are qualities like integrity, tenacity, creativity, emotional maturity, leadership talent, conscientiousness, and perseverance.

Kick Off The SWAT Suit. You cant get a good read on customers feelings if your own are buried under 20 layers of scar tissue. Let your emotions rise before the machines do.

Sharpen your self-awareness by grilling yourself in challenging situations: How am I feeling about this? What internal and external resources can I bring to the table to help me solve this problem? How can I tap into what Im most passionate about to achieve my goal? How am I feeling relative to what I want to accomplish?

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Terminate The Terminator: Hack Your Emotional Intelligence And Control Your Future

SmartAction Reports 28% Employee Growth in 2014

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El Segundo, CA (PRWEB) September 15, 2014

SmartAction, the leading provider of artificial intelligence voice self-service systems, today announced a 28 percent increase in staff since the beginning of the year. The additional employees will support the growing demand for its Intelligence Voice Automation (IVA) in customer service.

In 2014, SmartAction hired several team members for senior positions in engineering, sales and finance. Most recently, SmartAction named three new Vice Presidents of Sales: Charles Aeh, Klint Carmickle, and Lee Tucker. Each brings more than 15 years of professional sales management experience from top companies in the call center solutions space, such as NICE Systems, Interactions Corporation, and LiveVox, an affiliate partner of Aspect Software, Inc.

SmartAction also welcomed back Kirill Katsnelson, a Senior Software Engineer who joined the company in its start-up phase, then left to pursue an opportunity at Google, Inc. Impressed with SmartActions persistent growth and direction, Kirill returned to his research and development role, and will be working to build out the voice recognition features and applications of SmartActions artificial intelligence technology.

SmartAction has also recently drawn talent from large, well-known brands such as Deloitte, Empathica (a Mindshare Technologies Company), and Toyota Motors.

Im excited by the growth of the SmartAction team over the past few months, said Tom Lewis, CEO of SmartAction. These talented new team members bring a wealth of experience to our company and have a passion for artificial intelligence that we feel will drive the next generation of our AI applications, helping SmartAction achieve our ultimate goal of providing the best services to our clients, and to end users.

About SmartAction

SmartAction offers one-of-a-kind Artificial Intelligence (AI) voice self-service for medium to large businesses. We use a cloud-based technology grounded in purpose-driven Artificial Intelligence that utilizes Natural Language speech capabilities as a means to complete self-service calls. Commonly used for providing customer service, our Intelligent Voice Automation technology allows companies to handle complex customer interactions with an intuitive, resourceful, and cognizant AI agent.

Learn more at http://www.smartaction.com or call 888-882-9520.

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SmartAction Reports 28% Employee Growth in 2014

Hill Climbing Algorithm & Artificial Intelligence – Computerphile – Video

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Hill Climbing Algorithm Artificial Intelligence - Computerphile
Audible free book: http://www.audible.com/computerphile Artificial Intelligence can be thought of in terms of optimization. Robert Miles explains using the evolution #39;s algorithm. http://www.faceb...

By: Computerphile

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Hill Climbing Algorithm & Artificial Intelligence - Computerphile - Video

Business benefits of Artificial Intelligence | Interview with Steve Mason, Click Software – Video

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Business benefits of Artificial Intelligence | Interview with Steve Mason, Click Software
For more related content visit: http://www.itproportal.com In this video Steve Mason from Click Software talks about the real world benefits and applications...

By: ITProPortal

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Business benefits of Artificial Intelligence | Interview with Steve Mason, Click Software - Video


  1. Artificial Intelligence