Archive for the 'Rise of the Machines' Category
Calling Your Bank? Be Prepared to Have Your Voice Biometrics Collected
February 19th, 2019Via: FastCompany: In Chase’s case, the biometric program was announced back in April, but there’s a good chance many customers missed the announcement. (I missed it, and I actually write about these topics for a living.) Now, when you call Chase, an automated recording informs you that your voice is being used to identify you […]
The New Totalitarianism
February 17th, 2019Via: Richard Dolan:
Most Americans Don’t Realize What Companies Can Predict from Their Data
February 16th, 2019Via: The Conversation: For example, data about a mobile phone’s past location and movement patterns can be used to predict where a person lives, who their employer is, where they attend religious services and the age range of their children based on where they drop them off for school. These predictions label who you are […]
New AI Fake Text Generator May Be Too Dangerous To Release
February 14th, 2019In other news: AI Generates Faces of People Who Don’t Exist Via: Guardian: The creators of a revolutionary AI system that can write news stories and works of fiction – dubbed “deepfakes for text” – have taken the unusual step of not releasing their research publicly, for fear of potential misuse. OpenAI, an nonprofit research […]
Amazon Is Hauling Cargo in Self-Driving Trucks Developed by Embark
January 30th, 2019Via: CNBC: Amazon is using self-driving trucks developed by Embark to haul some cargo on the I-10 interstate highway, CNBC has learned. The trucks were previously noticed by a Reddit user, who photographed and shared images this week showing tractors emblazoned with the Embark logo and trailers painted with the Amazon Prime logo.
Chefs and Truck Drivers Beware: AI Is Coming for Your Jobs
January 24th, 2019Via: Newsweek / AP: Robots aren’t replacing everyone, but a quarter of U.S. jobs will be severely disrupted as artificial intelligence accelerates the automation of existing work, according to a new Brookings Institution report. The report, published Thursday, says roughly 36 million Americans hold jobs with “high exposure” to automation — meaning at least 70 […]
Amazon Starts Testing ‘Scout’ Delivery Robots Near Seattle
January 24th, 2019Via: Bloomberg: Amazon.com Inc. will use robots to deliver packages in the suburbs north of Seattle, its latest experiment to automate the last-mile of delivery that’s a labor-intensive and costly component of buying products online. The e-commerce giant on Wednesday announced a trial of “Amazon Scout,” autonomous delivery devices the size of a cooler that […]
‘The Goal Is to Automate Us’: Welcome to the Age of Surveillance Capitalism
January 20th, 2019Via: Guardian: The headline story is that it’s not so much about the nature of digital technology as about a new mutant form of capitalism that has found a way to use tech for its purposes. The name Zuboff has given to the new variant is “surveillance capitalism”. It works by providing free services that […]
China Turns to Driverless Tractors, Combines to Overhaul Agriculture
January 16th, 2019Via: Reuters: A brand new combine harvester buzzes up and down a field in eastern China without a driver on board, chopping golden rice stalks and offering a glimpse of what authorities say is the automated future of the nation’s mammoth agricultural sector. The bright green prototype was operating last autumn during a trial of […]
Real Headline: “Firm Led by Google Veterans Uses A.I. to ‘Nudge’ Workers Toward Happiness”
December 31st, 2018The New York Times, where cringe inducing meets comedy gold. I think that Foxconn should run this software. Maybe there’s a suicide prevention net plugin for it. Sensing that an employee has landed in one of those nets, the employee’s RFID badge could be read and the system could send them a coupon for lunch […]
