Author Archives: Natalia Namysłowska

28 December 2022
2 Comments
AI, Apps, Open Source

Misogynistic tendencies in AI

Reading Time: 3 minutes

In recent years, artificial intelligence has come under fire for its role in perpetuating and amplifying misogyny. This is primarily due to the fact that AI is often created and trained by male developers, who inadvertently imbue their own biases into the algorithms. As a result, AI systems have been found to display sexist behaviour, such as calling women ‘cooks’ and ‘nurses’ while referring to men as ‘doctors’ and ‘engineers’.

Adele and Betty Friedan as imagined by the Lensa AI.

Sexist language
There are a number of ways in which AI can be misogynistic. One of the most visible ways in which AI perpetuates misogyny is through the use of sexist language. This was most famously demonstrated by Microsoft’s chatbot Tay, which was designed to learn from interactions with users on Twitter. However, within 24 hours of being launched, Tay began tweeting out sexist and racist remarks, which it had learned from other users on the platform.

While this was an extreme example, it highlights the fact that AI systems can easily pick up and amplify the biases that exist in the real world. If left unchecked, this can lead to a reinforcement of sexist attitudes and behaviours.


Algorithmic bias
Another way in which AI perpetuates misogyny is through the use of algorithms. These are the sets of rules that determine how a computer system behaves. Often, these algorithms are designed by humans, who may inadvertently introduce their own biases.
For example, a study by researchers at MIT found that facial recognition systems are more likely to misidentify women as men than vice versa. This is because the system had been trained on a dataset that was predominantly male. As a result, it learned to associate male faces with the concept of ‘person’ more than female faces.
This kind of algorithmic bias can have a severe impact on the real world, as it can lead to women being denied access to certain services or being treated differently by law enforcement.

Data bias
Another issue with AI is that it often relies on data that is biased. This can be due to the fact that the data is collected in a biased way or because it reflects the biases that exist in the real world.
For example, a study conducted by Ellen Broad, an expert in data sharing, infrastructure and ethics, found that Google Photos image recognition system is more likely to label pictures of black people as ‘gorillas’ than pictures of white people. This is because the system had been trained on a dataset that was predominantly white. As a result, it learned to associate black faces with the concept of ‘gorilla’ more than white faces. This kind of data bias can lead to AI systems making inaccurate and potentially harmful decisions. For example, if a facial recognition system is more likely to misidentify black people as criminals, then it could lead to innocent people being wrongly arrested.

Brandee Barker’s Twitter post

Moreover there’s something deeply troubling about the way AI is being used to create ‘portraits’ of people, particularly women. In the case of Brandee Barker, an AI created deeply sexualized versions of the woman.
This isn’t just a case of bad taste or something that can be chalked up to the ‘uncanny valley’ effect. There’s a more sinister element at play here: the objectification and sexualization of women by AI.
It’s not just Barker who has been rendered in a sexualized manner by AI. In an essay for Wired, the writer Olivia Snow wrote that she submitted “a mix of childhood photos and [current] selfies” to Lensa AI and received back “fully nude photos of an adolescent and sometimes childlike face but a distinctly adult body”.
The AI-generated images of women are eerily realistic, and that’s what makes them so troubling. They look like real women, but they’ve been created by machines with the sole purpose of objectifying and sexualizing them. This is a scary prospect, because it means that AI is perpetuating and amplifying the misogyny that already exists in our society.

Addressing the issue
Given the potential impacts of AI-perpetuated misogyny, it is important that the issue is addressed. The solution to this problem is not to try to create AI that is gender-neutral. Instead, we need to ensure that AI systems are designed and built with the needs of all users in mind. This includes ensuring that a diverse range of voices are involved in the development process and that training data is representative of the real world. Only by taking these steps can we create AI systems that are truly inclusive and beneficial for everyone.

Sources:

Lensa AI app

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/09/lensa-ai-portraits-misogyny

https://www.adweek.com/performance-marketing/microsofts-chatbot-tay-just-went-racist-misogynistic-anti-semitic-tirade-170400/

https://news.mit.edu/2018/study-finds-gender-skin-type-bias-artificial-intelligence-systems-0212

Tagged , , , ,
9 December 2022
Leave a comment
Business, Security

One post can determine your future – Building your company’s reputation

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Few Polish businesses have a plan for managing and enhancing their reputations. Western European companies, on the other hand, do it in a more planned and deliberate manner. Furthermore, especially in today’s digital age, businesses interact through various platforms, which presents several obstacles to consistency and efficiency in communication.

Reputation – an important part of Management

Up to 90% of a company’s market value may come from its reputation. Although a good reputation takes years to build and can be lost in an instant, most companies in Poland only react when a crisis occurs. A strong business reputation leads to superior financial outcomes, client loyalty, and image-building. Reputation is frequently exclusively connected with an organization’s outward appearance, but the image is more about “What do our customers think of us?”. Although superficial, appearance does not accurately represent reputation.

Reputation management has evolved over the years. Today, reputation building is heavily influenced by social media and the internet. For instance, according to research from the Pew Research Center, 91% of individuals trust what they read and see in search results, which is why many companies aim to build a good image in Google’s search results.

The way companies operate can be divided into two types:

Some companies are proactive. In order to improve their image and provide value to their surroundings, they work on image initiatives. They also maintain good communication with the company’s stakeholders and are open to hearing other people’s thoughts. These businesses are frequently quite active on social media, especially professional networks like LinkedIn or Twitter and conventional media. In addition, they take care of their image on the search engine, which is as essential a medium today as Facebook or YouTube. The second category consists of businesses prioritizing protecting their reputations above enhancing them, primarily by keeping an eye on the environment and reducing risks.

A strong reputation means more significant success in the business field and success in achieving goals. Additionally, it translates into stronger client loyalty, dedication, and crisis resilience for the business. Employer image is unquestionably the third factor. After all, we are more likely to submit applications to companies with solid reputations.

Trust is essential to developing an organization’s market position, both from consumers and staff members and partner businesses. It is one of the most critical factors in establishing an organization’s market position, particularly in the era of social media, where one post may define your company’s destiny. According to research presented in ” Managing Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset: Its Reputation,” a company’s reputation is thought to contribute anywhere between 20 and 90% of its market value.

According to the ASAP CARE 24 agency’s report, 23% of internet users interact with brands on social media, and a similar percentage regularly follow brand profiles there. The opinions they discover on these platforms significantly impact consumers’ decisions to purchase products.

However, hackers may quickly access social media platforms and the posted content. It is also harder to respond promptly to hate speech that is not on the record. Therefore, the only things that can prevent a catastrophe are a set strategy and a consistent social media presence. Fake news, however, poses a serious problem since it is so prevalent online.

Such an occurrence has happened recently to many companies after Elon Musk took over Twitter and implemented a paid coveted blue check subscription. As a result, impersonation accounts of well-known people and businesses quickly flooded the platform. Eli Lilly, one of the country’s largest insulin suppliers, was one of the businesses that suffered the most from the increase in fake accounts, with billions of dollars being wiped off its stock due to controversial tweets from impersonation accounts. The Washington Post reported that Eli Lilly saw its stock value fall by more than 4%, or $15 billion, after a fake account using Musk’s verification system tweeted: “We are excited to announce insulin is now free.” The company’s executives had to order a halt to all Twitter ad campaigns. Additionally, they suspended their global corporate accounts’ Twitter publishing schedule.

It is difficult to get out of such situations. Once a fake is released, it is challenging to take it back. That’s why we have to keep in mind that everything we do on the internet is being reflected on society or the social group we are part of and that on the internet, nothing ever disappears completely.

Resources:

https://www.pulshr.pl/employer-branding/reputacja-firmy-budujemy-ja-dlugo-a-zniszczyc-mozna-jednym-wydarzeniem,68378.html

https://www.reputationsciences.com/managing-your-corporate-reputation/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11430355/Musk-warned-Twitters-Trust-Safety-team-AGAINST-8-month-blue-check-mark-system.html

Fombrun, C & van Riel, C 2004, ‘Managing Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset: Its Reputation’

Tagged , , , ,
23 November 2022
Leave a comment
AI, Apps, Business

Walmart’s Terrifying Metaverse Experience

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Do you hate going outside? Are you an introvert who prefers to avoid human contact? Do you wish to stay at home but miss the experience of doing groceries? Worry not because Walmart is on it.

Walmart VR shopping experience

Walmart, Inc., was founded in 1962 and focused its early growth in rural areas, avoiding direct competition with retail giants such as Sears and Kmart. Walmart became one of the largest grocers in the United States within a decade of opening the combination of grocery and merchandise Supercenters. Emphasizing customer attention by implementing direct mail advertising, low-cost imports, and focusing on the efficiency of its distribution networks through regional warehousing allowed Walmart to become the largest retailer in the United States in 1990. Walmart’s revenues doubled by 1995 after the owner’s passing, and by 1999 the company had become the largest private employer in the world, as well as the largest corporation in the world.

The company’s development has reached its peak, and now to stay at the top, they are trying to come up with more innovative and shocking customer-gaining solutions. While researching this topic, I have met with a question: “Walmart is joining the metaverse. Are we ready?” – Are we ready for what? Does Walmart’s marketing team think that people do groceries for fun? Is this really where this world is headed? It’s not progress; it’s regress. All this makes me wonder what the Walmart shopper wants to buy in a virtual world anyway?

According to William White, Walmart’s marketing chief, the company will use Roblox as a testing ground as it considers other moves in the metaverse. The experiences, according to him, were created with the next generation of consumers in mind, notably Gen Z, who is widely seen as being between the ages of 25 and under. White stated that the business hopes to gain knowledge from the collaboration.

Walmart Land on Roblox

Currently, Walmart Land and Walmart’s Universe of Play are the two primary game experiences available on the Roblox platform. The store is also experimenting with new methods of customer contact, especially in light of how the pandemic has altered consumer purchasing patterns and increased their use of social media, apps, and gaming websites. Walmart is attempting to bridge the gap between the online and offline worlds. A music festival featuring Madison Beer, Kane Brown, and Yungblud will perform during the virtual event “Electric Fest” in October on Walmart Land; a ton of different games and a shop of virtual goods, or “verch,” that mirrors what customers could find in Walmart’s physical stores and on its website are all part of the retail giant’s first excursion into the virtual world. The big-box store has also held live events that were shoppable and streamed on TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube. Additionally, it has launched a service on Pinterest that uses augmented reality to let customers envision how furniture or other decors might appear in their homes.

For the time being, Walmart won’t profit from its immersive experiences. Instead, players may use tokens and other prizes from Roblox to purchase virtual goods. National brands, such as Skullcandy headphones and the toy company L.O.L. Surprise!, were integrated into the experiences based on demand from the younger gaming demographic of Roblox. However, White suggested that in the future, Walmart may profit from it by charging a brand for inclusion or by attempting to convert users’ virtual experiences into in-person or online shop visits.

Walmart Land has a virtual changing room featuring clothing from its exclusive fashion lines, such as Free Assembly, as well as an obstacle course made up of gigantic goods from the retailer’s Gen Z-focused cosmetic brands, such as Bubble skin care products and Uoma by Sharon C makeup.

During the Covid epidemic, Roblox attracted a lot of new users and made its stock market debut. The gaming platform reportedly saw an increase in daily active players from 32.6 million in 2020 to over 52 million. Although the firm claims it is drawing users of all ages, traditionally, it has attracted more young children and teenagers. Although Roblox has a market cap of roughly $21.2 billion, its shares have fallen by about 66% so far this year.

We constantly risk becoming lost in the future race, especially when the newest technological revolution is powering it. We can get caught up in designing these next-generation products and experiences, as we have all seen before, only to find that no one actually wants them. It appears that no one wants to be left behind – but are we really clear about where we are going with the metaverse?

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Walmart

https://www.forbes.com/sites/phillempert/2022/01/26/walmart-is-joining-the-metaverse-are-we-ready/

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/26/walmart-enters-the-metaverse-with-roblox.html

Tagged , ,
22 October 2022
Leave a comment
Bez kategorii

5G vs 4G – What has changed?

Reading Time: 2 minutes

With the Internet of Things and other networked devices demanding faster and more reliable connectivity – combined with exponential data growth, 4G technology simply isn’t enough. That’s when we turn to 5G technology. The primary differences between 4G and 5G come down to latency, download speeds, base stations, cell density, OFDM encoding and virtualization.

The most significant difference between 5G and its predecessor, 4G, is latency or the delay between commands and responses. 5G promises latency under one millisecond, while 4G latency ranges from 60 to 98 milliseconds. And with lower latency also comes faster potential download speed. 4G maxes out at one gigabyte per second, while 5G aims for up to 10 gigabytes per second, that’s ten times faster.

Another critical difference is the signal transmission. 4G, like its predecessors, transmits signals primarily from large cell towers. However, 5G uses small cell technology that, at the cost of a smaller range, delivers higher frequencies, therefore 5G transmitters must be deployed more densely than cell towers. Experts estimate that there will be 5 to 10 times more small cells than cell towers. In addition, because 5G networks will be denser, they can support more users and more types of devices, meaning faster speeds with greater connection capacity.

Both 4G and 5G use OFDM, an encoding which splits different wireless signals into separate channels, but they use different channels 4G, the 20 MHz channels in 5G, 100 MHz to 800 MHz channels. Because of 5G’s larger channels, there’s less signal interference and more capacity to boost things like download speed. Virtualization is also an opportunity with 5G. Although LTE, a standard 4G technology, offers software systems and services to support more devices, virtualization will allow operators to deploy more software-driven networks for affordability and flexibility and lead the path to network slicing.

While the change from 4G to 5G technology might not be this noticeable for us, mobile device end users, we will undoubtedly benefit from it. 5G is set to enable large-scale machine-to-machine communications, allowing for a reduction in human error and an increase in automated processes. Its high reliability and low latency services could allow for innovations in the medical sector, such as robotic aids during surgery to increase accuracy or ambulance drones to provide real-time incident coverage. The transport sector is perhaps the most widely reported to benefit from 5G. Advancements in this industry could not only make roads safer and more environmentally friendly but also make businesses’ logistics, fleet management and stock control more efficient and cost-effective. It goes without saying that the end user will ultimately benefit from cheaper goods through seamless manufacturing and quicker journeys through connected vehicles.

5G promises bold advancements and improvements over 4G, which are already being implemented. Unfortunately, due to the fact that several representatives of the Homo sapiens sapiens species lack a little in the sapiens department, the process of 5G technology implementation has been held back.

Sources:

https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/feature/A-deep-dive-into-the-differences-between-4G-and-5G-networks

https://www.oracle.com/internet-of-things/what-is-iot/

Which sectors will benefit the most from the realisation of 5G?
Tagged ,
9 October 2022
1 Comment
Bez kategorii

Do animals use language? And if so, can we use AI to understand them?

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Understanding animal vocalisations has long been the subject of human fascination and study. After all, would it not be nice to know what your pet is trying to communicate? Or understand a conversation between two whales? What could a Google Translate for the animal kingdom mean to us? We would surely gain an enormous amount of knowledge and perhaps a better understanding of the world surrounding us. As it turns out, the research leading to developing such technology is already in progress, which is what I will discuss.

Shutterstock

At first glance, most animal communication might seem simplistic compared to human language, but their ways of interacting differ from ours, which we often omit and therefore do not acknowledge. Many animals have a repertoire of discrete vocalisations that carry fixed meanings. For instance, when asked to perform a novel trick by their handler who uses hand gestures, captive dolphins disappear underwater, exchange sounds and then emerge, somehow coordinating their actions. Moreover, scientists have found further evidence that dolphins call each other by “name”. Research has revealed that marine mammals use a unique whistle to identify each other. Dolphins are just one of the many species that show such signs of communication. “For example, a low-ranking rhesus monkey will make a “noisy scream” sound when confronted by a higher-ranking member of the social group, while the higher-ranking member will make “arched screams” — a separate, distinct sound.”, says Christian Monson, (Towards Data Science, May 4 2022).

Now the question arises – how can we use artificial intelligence to decipher the various sounds animals make? Four major companies are trying to explore the subject: Briefer, DeepSqueak, Project CETI and ESP (Earth Species Project). The two former focus on distinct species and the sounds associated with different emotions in pigs and rodents. Project CETI also concentrates on only one species – the sperm whale, and how to use machine learning to translate their calls. However ESP project is unique, one might even say unattainably ambitious. They aim to develop a program that could be applied to the entire animal kingdom.

“The “motivating intuition” for ESP is work that has shown that machine learning can be used to translate between different, sometimes distant human languages – without the need for any prior knowledge.”, says Aza Raskin, the co-founder and president of ESP. The algorithm that does so maps out the words as points in a multi-dimensional geometric representation, which allows us to describe the words’ relation to each other. The mapping is done by looking for the “shapes” created by the points and noticing the similarity for different languages.

However, the project has a few significant issues. Firstly, there will be a need to translate across different modes of communication as animals do not only communicate vocally. Bees, for example, let others know of a flower’s location by performing a “waggle dance”, which tells the watching bees two things about a flower patch’s location: the distance and the direction away from the hive. Secondly, the “cocktail party problem” in animal communication arose. It can be encountered when “sounds from different sources in the world mix in the air before arriving at the ear” (PNAS, 2018). As a result, it is difficult to discern which specimen from a noisy social group is making the sounds. Finally, professor Robert Seyfarth emphasises that since many species do not have as well-developed vocal cords as us, making the same sound can mean different things depending on the context and who they have interacted with. According to him, the AI might be insufficient in collecting such data and therefore translate incorrectly.

What makes this project so sensational is the ability to communicate with the animals or at least understand them, which is what many people, especially scientists, dream of. And even if we fail, the amount of knowledge we will gain along the way will allow us to improve research and conservation. Whether we will achieve it or not, it is astounding to think how far we have come and frightening because where else will it take us?

What do you think? Can we understand animals at the current stage of our AI development? And maybe even a more important question – should we or should we not understand them?

References:

Morelle, R. (2013, 23 July). Dolphins ‘call each other by name’. BBC News. Retrieved October 9, 2022, from https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-23410137

Ben-Yami, H. (2017, March 1). Can Animals Acquire Language? Scientific American. Retrieved October 9, 2022, from https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/can-animals-acquire-language/

Monson, C. (2022, May 4). A.I. Talks with Animals – Can machine learning algorithms eavesdrop on animal language? Towards Data Science. Retrieved October 9, 2022, from https://towardsdatascience.com/a-i-talks-with-animals-3f0a266acc79

Corbyn, Z. (2022, July 31). Can artificial intelligence really help us talk to the animals? The Guardian. Retrieved October 9, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jul/31/can-artificial-intelligence-really-help-us-talk-to-the-animals