Due to the virus, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube all announced that thousands of content moderators are being sent home, leaving our information in the hands of machines. Since now machines are handing our posts, many posts are being removed because they go against community standards, people have complained of not being able to share news articles and information about the pandemic because everything is being handled by machines.

https://www.wired.com/story/coronavirus-social-media-automated-content-moderation/

There is always some argument about who is “authentic” enough to a certain group, whether it is racially, age wise, ethnicity wise, etc. there are requirements to being “authentic” and sticking to the way our ancestors lived.

Activism is no stranger to this type of bickering. We love the “Traditional”, but the traditional is not always the best way to go. In order for politics to advance, we must be open and using every single way there is to reach voters.

Don’t knock the hustle of others. If digital organizing is not in your ballpark (folks 40+) then stick with traditional methods such as phone-banking, canvassing, or registering people to vote. Our election processes across the board from local to federal should not be taken lightly. Folks should not be shamed for being comfortable with or only having the option to organize digitally.

The truth of the matter is we need to stop dividing each other based on authenticity and just hit the ground running with solidarity.

ksr.hkspublications.org : Political Organizing in the Digital Age

While many schools are facing the challenge of celebrating the class of 2020’s graduates, MIT is taking an interesting approach by deciding to give students the option to participate in a digital graduation commencement ceremony. Per the university’s letter to students, MIT will be taking precautions to help prevent the spreading of coronavirus by holding both an online event, and an in person event to be scheduled in the near future.

This approach is one that schools nation-wide are being recommended to take, as to not put students, faculty, or family and friends in danger at these large gatherings.

https://time.com/5797258/china-school-censorship-coronavirus/

As students all across the globe prepare to transition from in-person classes to online classes as a result of the deadly coronavirus, students in China are beginning to face some pretty strict internet censorship. Many students and teachers in China are finding that video lectures, pictures, and even whole courses are beginning to be censored, or outright removed, from online platforms. The Chinese government claims that online content for classes are being censored for “violating internet regulations”. This has left students and teachers in China clueless about what they can and cannot discuss in their classes online. How are teachers going to educate their students through these online classes if the content is just going to be deleted?

I don’t understand how the Chinese government expects students to get a quality education in their online classes if they continue to censor the material and content that students are allowed to see. For example, how is a human anatomy teacher suppose to teach their students if they can’t show them images of human anatomy online? Considering the unique situation that the world is in right now in the face of the coronavirus, I would think that the Chinese government would implement some kind of law that would make internet censorship less strict especially for the purpose of education. By heavily censorsing online content being used to teach students in China, the Chinese government is unfairly depriving students of a quality education.

With the corona virus sweeping the world by storm, we are in a economic crisis. Even before the coronavirus the markets were on a steady decline. Companies had already been consulting regarding expense reductions rather than expansions. The wise companies will be taking advantage of these unfortunate circumstances in order to set themselves up for rebuilding as well as intergrading to new technology in the process. This would be intergrading to Artificial Intelligence.

By shifting to a AI focus, companies will be able to deliver significant economic value long term as well as help get the economy out of this crisis. AI will automatize much of production of products and capture and apply knowledge to help grow the company and production/revenue. Companies may cut costs during this economic crisis by automating as many jobs as possible with AI, unfortunately this may be the case in this point in time.

AI will most likely not become a driver for substantial job loss, however during this time in the world it may be seen as that. But with population growth leveling off in many parts of the world it is hard to not improve economic performance without converting to AI. In other words as the article explains it is best to implement AI now until waiting for a full-fledged recession to begin considering how much lower costs and improved productivity will be with AI in the economy.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomdavenport/2020/03/12/winter-is-coming-for-the-economy-and-ai/#51fc0663449b

The recent coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread around the world at a steady rate and there is still no proven treatment for it. Scientists are using artificial intelligence to find a treatment for the virus. Using deep learning, scientists are able to test different combinations of drugs that might be effective against the virus. Instead of testing existing drugs, some companies are using AI to develop new drugs that might also fight the virus.

Without artificial intelligence, this process would be extremely time consuming. To read more about which companies are embracing AI and what they are doing specifically, follow this link: https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/artificial-intelligence/medical-ai/companies-ai-coronavirus

Artificial intelligence has revolutionized the health care industry. It is now being used to help treat patients to serve as their personal doctors. For example, a robot named Mabu is being used to help a man who has type 2 diabetes and congestive heart failure.

This man would need a doctor regularly checking in on him, making sure he is breathing okay and is taking his numerous amounts of medications at the times he should be. He would also need the doctor there to make sure his condition doesn’t worsen within the day, which could be very likely for someone with the severity of his conditions.

To stay healthy, he takes four medications a day and needs to exercise regularly. To make sure his heart is still pumping effectively, his doctor needs to stay on top of whether the man gets short of breath.

With the implementation of the AI bot to help checking in on the man or any patient with demanding health conditions, many people’s lives could be saved. The bot also helps to keep these patients safe and to aid in their hardships throughout their health issues.

https://time.com/5556339/artificial-intelligence-robots-medicine/ – Julia Riccio – jmr17e

Well this is exciting! I have always been curious about how long it will take us to get to a point where AI is indistinguishable from humans. This is a big step in that direction! It has 2.6 billion parameters? That’s a huge amount of coding.