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This week on TechRepublic’s Business Technology Weekly podcast, hosts Dan Patterson and Bill Detwiler discuss how swarm AI won the Kentucky derby, and the real world, practical impact of artificial intelligence.

Headlines:

  • Swarm AI predicts the 2016 Kentucky Derby | Hope Reese Big news in the AI world this week! Last week, prior to the race, TechRepublic’s Hope Reese reported on a software platform called UNU that used so-called swarm AI to predict the winner of the Kentucky Derby. Not only did swarm AI predict the winner, Nyquist, but the platform also predicted the second, third, and fourth place horses in the correct order. None of the human experts at the racetrack, Churchill Downs, predicted this outcome. We’ve heard from several readers who placed bets based on the TechRepublic story, and they’re probably glad they did, because the superfecta paid out $540 on just a $1 bet. Note that TechRepublic does not support or encourage gambling.
  • Viv wants to beat Siri at her own game | Lexy Savvides You’ve used Siri to create reminders, set alarms and timers, and check the weather. Siri hasn’t evolved much since it debuted in the iPhone 4S, and while Apple’s virtual assistant can be useful, it is also frequently frustrating. Siri’s creators have developed a new, more powerful AI companion called Viv. Using what the company calls “dynamic program generation,” Viv understands colloquial phrases and more natural speech andcan be used to send money and book hotel rooms. The AI adapts to individual users and “writes itself” based on what users want over time.
  • How artificial intelligence is changing the way illness is diagnosed and treated | Jo Best AI could be used as a resource for doctors. It can keep up with the latest research and new public health recommendations, something doctors don’t always have time to do. AI could also use huge volumes of data to make connections between specific symptoms or patients that humans might not see. A proposed project would create a system to transcribe conversations between doctors and patients, extract the relevant information, and enter the information into medical records. This would eliminate the need for doctors to enter notes into charts during a patient visit.
  • UN CITO: AI could be humanity’s final invention | Dan Patterson Artificial intelligence is more than a business tool. The technology is so powerful, said UN CITO Atefeh Riazi, that AI could be humanity’s final innovation. “The next innovations,” said the cabinet-level diplomat during a recent interview at her office at UN headquarters in New York, “will come through artificial intelligence.”From then on, Riazi said, “it will be the AI innovating. We need to think about our role as technologists and we need to think about the ramifications–positive and negative–and we need to transform ourselves as innovators.”
  • Research: 63% say business will benefit from AI | Teena Maddox 34 percent of business fears artificial intelligence will replace certain types of companies and undermine jobs. That sounds like a big number, until you consider that the remaining 63 percent of business is confident that, in the long run, AI will benefit SMBs and enterprise companies. From aviation to personal assistants like the Amazon Echo, a study conducted by Tech Pro Research illuminated the types of industries most likely to be hurt and helped by artificial intelligence.


    • Cover Story:

    • Why AI could destroy more jobs than it creates, and how to save them | Nick Heath Now that intelligent machines can perform most menial tasks, it’s time for humans to kick back and reap the benefits, right? Think again. AI could actually destroy more jobs than it creates. According to researchers Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael A. Osborne, “47 percent of total US employment is in the high risk category, meaning that associated occupations are potentially automatable.” The good news is that robots won’t dominate the economy for another 70 years, so you’ll likely be dead before your job is lost to AI. Phew!

    Special Report:

    Produced by Jason Hiner, Amy Talbot, and Dan Patterson.

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