Artificial Intelligence is what we all imagined of the future to be – not even just the robots aspect of this division of technology, but, technology that can do things for you. That sounds great, right?! Who wouldn’t want technology to be able to do the mindless things for them throughout their day? This is exactly where AI steps in. However, when AI goes wrong – it goes horribly wrong. One of the first examples of this is when AI was introduced in cars to allow for self-driving cars. In March of 2018, according to an article titled Self-Driving Uber Car Kills Pedestrian in Arizona, Where Robots Roam written by Daisuke Wakabayshi, a pedestrian was killed by a self-driven Uber. There was even an actual driver behind the wheel, in case of emergency. Unfortunately, the Uber had a mind of its own with the self-driving technology installed, and thus, failed. Of course, the company responded swiftly and appropriately and there was to be much more testing on AI in these cars before they could be released to the public again. AI is a game of trial and error, and because AI is being implemented into such large parts of our daily lives, it can often lead to errors with insurmountable consequences.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/technology/uber-driverless-fatality.html
Written by Julia Riccio – jmr17e
Social Media and Body Image in Young Women
Social media was created for people to be able to network more efficiently and conveniently, but nowadays, young women obsess over their impression on social media platforms. Most users, especially young women, admit to obsessing over the number of likes they receive on a post, as well as being highly selective of their appearance in photos they post. The research conducted from this article shows that Facebook and Instagram are the two main proponents of young women’s negative emotions of their bodies and appearance. Girls who follow fitness pages also reported having higher rates of unhealthy eating habits. The recent rise in Photoshop and editing apps only intensifies these emotions, since females can reshape their bodies, or smooth over blemishes or fine lines with just a tap of their finger. The accounts that these young girls follow also has a large effect on their view of themselves. The study reports “[…]I mean, young girls can now follow Victoria’s Secret models and see what they look like in the ‘every day.’” This is obviously an issue that stems from many different places, with many different factors influencing it.
Sophie Rhoads, ser18b
Microsoft beats out Amazon for cloud computing contract.
Microsoft and Amazon were competing for a government contract with the pentagon worth over $10 billion. Amazon was Favorited to win the contract considering it has a $600 million cloud computing contract with the CIA and is the clear leader when it comes to cloud computing. Some believe Amazon wasn’t chosen for the contract because president Donald Trump doesn’t like Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon and the Washington Post.
Mental Health Applications for College Students causes privacy concerns
Three out of 5 U.S. college students experience overwhelming anxiety, and 2 in 5 students reported debilitating depression, according to a 2018 survey. Although only about 15% make an effort to seek help at a university counseling center. More than 150 Universities are licensing the various softwares, which offers hundreds of videos, interactive exercises, a mindfulness library, self assessments and logs to gain new skills. The problem with this is that students may be giving up personal information to these type of applications. The privacy policies are open to change without notifying the user at all, these applications also request permissions to other applications and some personal information.
US firm gives free cybersecurity for campaigns
It was announced that a cybersecurity company would volunteer their services to those running for presidency this year. According to the article, the company known as Cloudflare will give candidates free access to several of the security services that they provide. The idea of helping those running for office is also shared with a nonprofit organization called Defending Digital Campaigns. Together the two companies want to prevent any tampering with the election and do not want a repeat of the supposed Russian involvement in 2016.
Those running for the House of Representatives and Senate are also able to receive the support of these companies. Candidates must meet a couple requirements in order to qualify for such services. A candidate from the House needs to have received fifty thousand dollars in donations while a candidate for the Senate must have a minimum of one hundred thousand dollars. As of right now Cloudflare claims to be helping 8 presidential candidates already. Learn more about the cybersecurity company’s involvement here.
Industry Leaders look for Government Support around AI
As Artificial Intelligence becomes a more prominent technology used throughout several industries, many industry leaders are looking for the governments support in regards to regulating AI. 44% of companies who have AI in their workplace have already implemented a code of ethics and 30% of companies with AI are working on one, but would like to have the governments support to make AI regulations universal across all companies. Another downfall of companies creating their own ethics code in regards to AI, is the lack of training. Making training and regulations universal will make it easier for companies, industry leaders and the users of AI to use and benefit their companies.
AI and Airlines: A customer’s worst nightmare
The cost of an airline ticket no longer considers the cost of fuel, the distance of the trip, or even the number of passengers fighting for the last seat on a flight. Rather, airlines have started to use artificial intelligence to create dynamic pricing models that maximize the returns airlines can receive from each ticket based on time until departure and factors about the customer purchasing the ticket. Learn more about how airlines maximize their profits here.
Data Analytics in Sports
Data analytics have taken over the sports industry over the last couple of years and year after year is seeing an increase in the usage and the different amount of statistics being applied. There is different analytics being used for different sports and each and every sport is unique and the analysis performed for each sport will vary in terms of methodology. The common theme in every sport though is that more data will lead to better results. If you would like to read more about data analytics you can follow the link below. https://dataconomy.com/2018/08/here-is-everything-you-want-to-know-about-sports-analytics/
The base of ICT
Information, communication and technology a college major that isn’t an option at many schools. To learn more about what the major of study has been based off information and communication technologies. Too many people link the study of ICT and IT as they are closely related the communication aspect really does take the study to a new level. This article gives a good inside look from where ICT began and how it has developed into what it is today. Check out the article here!
Social Media as a Marketing Tool
Figuring out the social media strategy for your business should be the first thing a company does when wanting to use social media as a marketing tool for their business or company. There are many steps that need to be taken to find the right strategy for the company, to achieve what they looking to get out of taking this step into the social media market.
Growing the business is an important step in a companies growth and the right strategy is essential, but the company needs to know what their goals are. Increasing brand awareness, generate leads and sales, grow your audience, increasing your community engagement, and increase web traffic are some of the goals a company could have. Knowing what your goals are is what is going to help when choosing what are the platforms to engage on that will give you the best return.
Once a company knows their social media marketing plan, it is not over. The company needs to continue to further their plan by keeping an eye on competitors and constantly working to make their social media engagement better. Interacting with your customers and creating a constant theme is what consumers want to see in a brand, it draws them in and keeps them engaged with the company.
All of these things and more are important when a company wants to enter the social media market, it does not stop once they come up with a plan. Working in this market is a constant work because it is evolving and changing so fast. Keeping up with what is going on is the only way a company will succeed when using social media as a marketing tool.
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-marketing-strategy/
LIS 4022 Spring 2020 