A week in retrospect…
Recently got a dog although you “don’t really have the time” for it?
Do not fret, irresponsible dog owners — AI’s got your back.
Now you can leave your pet unattended for hours, possibly days, and not have to deal with the slightest remorse. Go enjoy that weekend at a ski resort without leaving your apartment keys with a friend. When you return home, this AI-powered dog trainer will have your pet obedient and ready for a flawless Instagram photo session.
I guess the important question here is whose orders your pet will obey. Good news, Skynet — Now you have dogs on your side.
On a more serious note…
This week, the Swiss town of Davos hosted the annual World Economic Forum. This year’s edition put, again, much of its focus on technology.
As the meeting marked its 50th anniversary, the organisers wanted to reflect on how much technology has changed everything in the past half century. Experts at the Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution called for careful and ethical use of emerging technologies, while outlining 9 reasons to be optimistic about tech in 2020.
Taking advantage of the media spotlight ahead of the event, Microsoft made a pledge to remove all of the carbon it has emitted since the company was founded in 1975. All that by 2050. That goes way beyond Amazon’s pledge to be carbon neutral by 2040.
Ha! Take that, Jeff. The cloud wars keep raging — Ironically, this time the battle is over actual (CO2) clouds.
Meanwhile, in another part of Europe…
The EU is considering a 5-year ban on the use of facial recognition technology in public spaces, citing concerns over data privacy and the potential nefarious uses of a technology that’s not yet fully understood. Caution is good. At least as long as it is to allow for enough time for companies and governments to establish regulations and protocols that protect us citizens.
Google and Microsoft are already wrangling over the proposed ban. Microsoft, which happens to sell this technology to governments and state agencies, is, not surprisingly, against the ban. On the other side of the ring, Google is advocating for the ban, in a clear effort to get on the good side of the EU after growing signs of the Union’s mistrust of the Internet giant.
Taking a more subtle approach to AI, Apple has paid $200 million for the AI start-up Xnor.ai, a company specialising in on-device AI. The acquisition reinforces Apple’s strategy to build an AI that operates within the device, rather than in the cloud, to achieve greater levels of privacy and security.
All in all, this has been the week of AI. Even Davos jumped on the AI bandwagon by making available an AI toolkit for corporate boards.
Oh, and —
Remember last week’s service cut for Windows 7 and its potential security ramifications? Well, not even a week later, Microsoft is announcing a patch for an Internet Explorer security bug that is already being targeted by attackers.
The problem? You guessed it. MS doesn’t offer support for Windows 7 anymore, so the old OS won’t get the patch. Oopsie!
And so it begins….