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Don’t fear Intelligent Machines

Don’t fear Intelligent Machines: Work with Them…

With the popular works like ‘The Matrix’ or ‘The Terminator’, where the humans get replaced, enslaved or hunted to almost an extinction by their own creations, our deepest fears of technology taking over humans have time and again resurfaced. If you look back, from mythology to science fiction, human and machine have been often pitted against each other. This essay portrays that although technology can be intimidating and many of today’s skill sets, careers and business models will be challenged by the rise of the machines, there is no escaping them. As Gary Kasparov points out – “We must face our fears if we want to get the most out of our technology, and we must conquer those fears if we want to get the best out of our humanity.”

For eras, mankind has looked for ingenious ways to get rid of grueling manual labor and duties. We tamed animals, invented the wheel, crafted new tools and made novel machines. The successful inventions and adaptations have generated wealth, upgraded our lifestyle and constructed new opportunities. Machines can’t be separated from our daily lives. As a blogger and a self-claimed gadget freak, I have even forgotten the count of times I use Google or the Google translator for work. And what is it? “SMT” (Statistical Machine Translation)!  Those of you who use online translation to catch the gist of a news article from a foreign newspaper will know that it is far from perfect. But we use our judgment and make sense out of it.

A century ago, when elevators became automated, many people were scared to go inside without an operator on-board? Do you recall the first time you took an elevator? Or take an instance of a public railway. In 1825, people thought that human bodies were simply not capable to withstand the traveling at a speed of thirty miles per hour! It took humans to take some time to get used to the technology but here we are! At the point of using driver less cars and isn’t it saying something?

Today, when we are living in a world on the cusp of the next industrial revolution and are witness to breakthrough advances like Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT) or nanotechnology, wondering if robots or machines are coming to steal our jobs can’t be far from our imagination. But is our fear real or baseless? Are machines really so bad? The answer is NO. Let’s explore some facts that would throw light into our assumptions. Since old times, humans have feared technology expansion, afraid that it would put them out of work. But it hasn’t.

It all depends on perspective. While one can see these changes as a humanoid robot replacing our existence, one might choose to see it as a hand that can guide us move forward than where we are. With the advent of antibiotics, many had complained about putting grave diggers out of work, but the invention of antibiotics was a great boon for mankind. Hence it doesn’t serve to romanticize the loss of jobs due to the modernization.

History has shown time after the time that technology paves a path and creates far more than it destroys for new industries, jobs and prosperity. We are forgetting that if robots can take over our existing jobs, many new are getting created. As Kasparov proposed, some of these new jobs, like a drone pilot or robotic surgeon, still need the operator to work together closely with the machine. The productive and profitable collaboration of human and machine is here to stay.

Google engineer Ray Kurzweil says that intelligent machines will enhance humans, not replace us.

As a Chess grand-master who has played the game against the machine, Garry Kasparov has mentioned his observation that machines are really good at taking on board huge amounts of information and making sense of it in a way that humans simply can’t do. But they have no perception or mindfulness. Machines were created to reduce our workload.  They are mechanical and don’t have the capabilities to understand the situations and behave accordingly. They have a man-made intelligence. While humans can do anything original, machines can’t. They can’t think independently.  They are programmed by humans and do as instructed. They can’t question their duties and just follow the orders.

Nowadays Machines with artificial intelligence prepare coffee, play games, even diagnose patients, carry out medical surgery and drive cars. But humans are superior when it comes to reasoning, originality, creativity, evaluating risks and using resources beyond limits to name a few.

As Andrew Ng, chief scientist at Chinese e-commerce site Baidu, puts it: “There’s a big difference between intelligence and sentience. Our software is becoming more intelligent, but that does not imply it is about to become sentient.”

Science and technology advancements always come with pros & cons. Like two sides of a coin, the fire that cook food can also burn down the house. With more and more machines replacing the physical job and getting over unskilled jobs, we will get more time to focus on exploring and elevating activities that bring us joy and satisfaction.

As IBM’s head of research, Guru Banavar, mentions, “AI will work with humans to solve pressing problems such as disease and poverty.”

Being a human is more than playing a game of chess or developing a skill like putting a hammer to the metal. We humans will still have plenty to do: for an instance painting a masterpiece or composing soulful music.

While discussing the technology and its implications on human life as species, we have always feared automation and then eventually accepted it. Although technology advancement may seem turbulent, we are living at the best time in human history where wonderful things are happening. We as species possess the strong human spirit and collective ability to adapt and grow.

I completely agree with this view of Kasparov as he urges us to not to hinder progress or fear machines: “We must speed them up. We must give them, and ourselves, plenty of room to grow. We must go forward, outward and upward.”

“So, I want all the people reading this article here to think that whether you want to live the rest of your years fearing the machines or be a part of a new day that is on the horizon! We are at the door of this unique opportunity to grow and evolve and it will be because of a lot of magnificent people like you, and some pretty incredible men who take us to the time where humans have never been taken before. Are you ready?”

Facial Recognition Tech: A friend or a foe?

Understanding the Fight Against Facial Recognition

The growth of Clearview AI as a startup focusing on facial recognition is momentous. That could be largely linked to their alliance with law enforcement agents that are using the platform widely. While there exists little to no regulation around how this kind of tech is used, that has not stopped business from booming for all the parties involved.

There are outcries against the privacy invasion that comes in the way of facial recognition too. Recently, a hack of the company brought fresh debates to the fore about how safe facial data can be when with keepers like that – and how such data will also be used.

 

Facial Recognition Isn’t Your Friend

Surveillance has always been a touchy subject. So that the state does not go beyond reasonable means in surveilling an individual, certain laws and regulations were made. This requires that even law enforcement agents obtain permission from the judiciary arm of government before they can put anyone under surveillance.

Even at that, this surveillance has to be proportionate.

None of such moves has been placed around facial recognition. Not on a large scale, at least.

Before the Clearview AI hack was reported, the company admitted to having more than 3 billion faces on record. That is more than a third of everyone on the planet as of this moment. Seeing as many countries have not even heard of the company, that is shocking that they would have that many faces on file.

Official statements from the company claim that it mines data from social media networks and other open-source platforms for its database. In other words, they can collect picture you posted on the internet to populate a database of facial recognition technology. The important part of this business is remembering that all of this is done without your giving them any express permission to take such advantages of your image rights.

Social media platforms like YouTube, Google, and Facebook have already reached out to this company with a cease and desist. That is a laudable move to protect users, but we are just seeing one side of a bad coin. Facebook itself runs in-house facial recognition software which you have to manually turn off.

Recalling how many scandals Facebook has gotten into in the previous decade alone, we do not know if they would honor any privacy requests from the users. Thus, those pictures you removed facial recognition access from could still be in the system for all that we know.

If these systems were as good as they are claimed to be, we might not have much against them. Instead, there is a huge bias against races and women. This is not a basic fault of the technology itself but how it was trained. After all, it can only adapt to the models that it has been trained with, of which there is a gross under-representation of the negatively affected population density.

Such can lead to cases of false positives or negatives. Depending on how you look at it and the prevalent situation, it is never good news.

 

Where Do We Go from Here?

San Francisco has banned the widespread use of technology in the city. This is a huge move 

from the city that considers itself one of the biggest, if not the biggest, concentrated tech hub in the world. If they cannot make such brazen moves to defend how tech is used, they might as well be a serious part of the problem in the tech space.

Other states and cities are working on similar moves, but they are not working fast enough.

 The need for a widespread ban right now is not for the hate of facial tech systems but the lack of a regulatory framework within which it works. If we do not have that, it is just a matter of time before everyone has a facial recognition system of their own and takes stalking to a whole new level.

That is not something we are willing to take. Till things improve, the fight against facial recognition will remain.

NeoBank

With the COVID-19 pandemic, customers are wary of visiting branches. This has really given a booster to digital banking.

 

Neo banks, also known as Challenger banks or smart banks, are digital banks with no brick-and-mortar physical branches. The Fintech, which does not use legacy banking systems or pre-existing infrastructure, can be qualified as a bona fide Neo bank.

 

Since a decade, Neo banks are popular in Europe, Japan, the US, and Australia. They have started their operations in India for a few years. It will take some time before they become disruptive and transform the banking landscape. As of now, Neo banks, partner with existing banks because they do not have a banking license. 

 

With no backlogs of legacy systems and out-dated business processes, Neo banks are considered highly flexible and adaptive to new technologies.  Thanks to zero overheads of physical branches and manpower in those branches, they have an overall lower cost structure and are able to offer attractive interest rates for deposits and loans both.

 

Cloud-based Neo banks offer –

  • Omnichannel and Immersive customer experience
  • Contextual offerings
  • 24×7 Customer support using chatbots, AI and ML
  • Scalable infrastructure
  • Highly automated services like auto reconciliation, regulatory compliance-ready reporting.
  • Cash flow forecasting with AL and ML-based predictive alerts
  • Meaningful spending insights using AI
  • Open banking compliant API
  • Automated and digital workflow thereby reducing processing time to a few seconds/minutes
  • ML based risk Analyser
  • Innovative features like goals-based savings

 

Normally, Neo banks operate in targeted and un-served segments like

  • Tech-savvy millennial
  • SME and mass at the bottom of the pyramid who are ready to adapt to new technology to earn little more interest
  • Niche banking service like payments, budget, receivables and spend management
  • Provide Forex cards, credit cards, personal loans

 

Some notable Indian players are Open, NiYo, Yono, Kotak 811, PayZello, Instantpay, Yelo, India Post Payment Bank, EzoBank, and Zeta.

 

These Neo banks are here to stay and grow by leaps and bounds in the coming days. And they are going to disrupt conventional banking as Airbnb, Ola/Uber had disrupted the traditional models.

Project Management and AI/ML

Approximately $48 trillion is invested in projects annually, but only 35% of these projects are considered successful, according to the Standish Group.

The waste of resources and missed benefits of the remaining 65% are staggering. However, change is on the horizon, as Gartner predicts that by 2030, 80% of project management tasks will be run by AI and big data, machine learning, and natural language processing.

6 Ways AI/ML will Revolutionize Project Management as outlined by Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez:

1️⃣ More Efficient Project Selection and Prioritization
AI and ML can analyze data to determine which projects will bring the greatest value to the organization, exceeding human accuracy in prediction.

2️⃣ Streamlined Project Management Office
Data analytics and automation startups are already supporting organizations in optimizing the role of the project management office (PMO), as seen in President Emmanuel Macron’s use of technology for monitoring French public-sector projects.

3️⃣ Improved Project Planning and Reporting
Big data and ML can help leaders and project managers identify potential risks and suggest mitigating actions, and soon, they will be able to adjust plans automatically to avoid certain risks.

4️⃣ Virtual Project Assistance
In project management, “bots” or virtual assistants like ChatGPT will learn from past data to tailor interactions and capture critical information, such as PMOtto or Oracle’s new project management digital assistant.

5️⃣ Advanced Testing Systems
Advanced testing systems will soon become widely available, enabling early detection of defects and self-correcting processes, reducing the time spent on testing, and delivering bug-free solutions.

6️⃣Evolution of the Project Manager’s Role
With a shift from administrative work, the project manager of the future will need strong leadership skills, strategic thinking, and business acumen. Teams may soon comprise both humans and robots.

These new tools will transform not only the technology of project management but also the work itself.

Integrating artificial intelligence in project management will have a profound impact, not just by automating tedious tasks but more significantly by providing better selection and implementation of projects through AI and other innovative technologies.

Project managers must be ready to guide their teams in this transition by providing the necessary training and support.

#projectmanagers Are you ready to embrace this transformation?

The link for the full article is at https://lnkd.in/dWihDjeT

#business #leadership #technology #ai #work #data #training #digital #testing #future #projectmanagement #help #project #automation #ml #machinelearning #artificialintelligence #change #startups #transformation #leaders #projects #oracle #dataanalytics #robots #managers

Web3.0 Impact on Banking

Banks have always taken great care to remain competitive in the market despite the other stressors that come with this category of business. The latest one on top of their list is Web 3.0, otherwise known as Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Artificial Intelligence — all of which are just different flavors of the same thing: a much closer interaction between people and computers.

 

The main impact of Web 3.0 on the banking sector may not be as pronounced as expected, but it is more likely to be negative than positive. The banking sector has always been technology-driven and, with the help of Web 3.0, these banks may find it difficult to adapt to this environment.

 

Facts and studies done on the impact of Web 3.0 in banking sector

The recent BFA study was commissioned by the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) and the American Bankers Association. It studied how banks were preparing for Web 3.0, which they identified as a major area of concern among banks.

 

The study surveyed over 300 banks and gathered their perspectives on how they were planning to adapt to Web 3.0. They found that most banks had already taken a proactive approach in addressing the future needs of consumers, but some major upcoming challenges need to be considered.

 

This includes technological limitations, operating costs, and legal constraints. One of the biggest worries is that customers will naturally gravitate towards payment methods with better customer service and security, such as credit cards or electronic wallets, instead of using their bank accounts.

 

Blockchain can enhance this process and lower these costs. Using blockchain for KYC purposes could reduce personnel requirements for banks by 10%, equating to cost savings of up to $160 million annually.

 

Web 3.0 will largely be built on three new layers of emerging technologies – edge computing, decentralised data networks and AI.

 

There is a growing application of ML to analyse large data sets in security. As attackers use ML, we need machines that can respond in seconds.

 

The cycle of change is undoubtedly constant, but its speed has certainly sped up during the pandemic. Going forward, Web 3.0 and transition towards decentralization, digital currencies, ability to monetize data effectively and stronger ecosystem collaborations for customer-centric service will continue to drive the evolution of the financial services industry.   

 

Blockchain and crypto tokens can bring many potential benefits, such as faster and cheaper cross-border payments and trade finance, but they need to be more stable in value and have a credible backing. 

 

Decentralized finance (Defi) refers to digital assets and financial smart contracts, protocols, and decentralized applications (DApps). Also based on distributed ledger and blockchain technology, Defi challenges the centralized financial system by disempowering the middlemen and focusing on peer-to-peer networks. The ‘total value locked in Defi’, which shows how much money is currently working in different DeFi protocols, has increased significantly in the last two years. There are several use cases of DeFi and they are continuously growing. It lets one send money around the globe, stream money around the globe, access stable currencies, borrow funds with or without collateral, start crypto savings, trade tokens, buy insurance, and manage one’s complete financial portfolio under one system.

 

There are several benefits of even Defi Insurance as below:

  • Protection of Defi Deposits
  • Protection against crypto volatility and flash crash
  • Immediate redemption of tokenized crypto
  • Protection against the risk of theft and attack on crypto wallets
  • Protection of funds from hacks on exchange platform
  • Identify fraudulent claims
  • Increased reliability of medical history
  • Reduced overhead cost because of efficiency and speed in the claim processing

 

Disadvantages of Web 3.0 in the banking sector

 

Blockchain technology has many advantages, but one prominent disadvantage is that it’s inherently secure without specific third-party support, since the system relies on a “trusted” third party—a node—to make sure the ledger is secure and that no one tries to tamper with it.

 

Therefore, blockchain developers have been working on a method of maintaining security after the protocol itself has been implemented. This is called “consensus,” and it enables the system to be secure even when some nodes operate independently.

 

The problem arises when only one node can maintain consensus and therefore make sure that the ledger remains secure. If that node goes offline or is compromised by an attacker, then the entire system can fall apart.

 

On other side, thefts and frauds are rampant on Web3. In 2021, crypto scams and theft are totally to $14 billion losses. So, security is the biggest threat in the Web3 world for BFSI segment.

 

In an article about Web 3.0, when discussing the impact of augmented reality on society, The Economist also included that “banking would be affected too” (The Economist 2011). The writer said that this technology would allow people to peer into their bank accounts without even logging in. It could also authenticate people remotely and control their finances at the same time.

 

Ending words

 

To fully understand the present banking sector, it is necessary to acknowledge that its nature has always been technology-driven since banking was first formed. As a result, all banks have also invested in new technologies to facilitate the operations and services that they offer to their customers. They have developed faster processing systems, better internet banking platforms, more reliable ATMs, and quicker payment gateways.

 

Realization should temper the urge to dismiss Web 3.0 financial services as fringe efforts that many in banking missed the potential of PayPal and Chime until they became huge competitive threats

 

The future of banking lies in Web 3.0. Someone will felt soon the impact of these technologies on the industry, especially for banks that are still rooted in their traditional business model. Web 3.0 is transforming the financial landscape and will, most likely, affect how banks operate.

Biren Parekh