Last week I went to the Imperial Theater to see Aint Too Proud, a biography in song and dance of the ultimate Motown supergroup, The Temptations. It was one of the many Broadway shows that are often overlooked in favor of heavy hitters like Cats or Wicked, but is still entertaining nonetheless.

The performance reminded me of why people go to Broadway in the first place. The music, the dancing, the acting, and the story, surprisingly, are all secondary.

The real reason we go to the theater is to experience the energy and joy of the performers who are right in front of us, operating on that tightrope where there are no second chances, no explanations or forgiveness for forgetting ones lines or moves, and instead the excitement and thrill of watching individuals living their dreams and demonstrating the greatness of the human spirit, just for us, right before our very eyes.

Theres nothing necessarily easy about getting to Broadway. First, youve got to get tickets, and two tickets to any Broadway show costs about the same as a year of Netflix or Disney Plus. Next, youve got to make your way to Midtown Manhattan, an increasingly difficult chore, since Mayor de Blasio has all but outlawed private vehicles and, somehow, made traffic even worse than ever.

Then theres the experience of being in the theater at Broadway shows, which is not how most people consume their entertainment these days. When youre at home, nobody glares at you if you leave your phone on and it beeps, buzzes, or trills. You can get up and go to the bathroom anytime, not just before or after the show, in a line of fifty strangers equally desperate to pee.

At home, on the couch, you dont have to wrestle a stranger for control of an armrest. You can sprawl as much as you like, with no one to lean on you, breathe on you, or block your view.

And yet.

When we think about the term virtual, as in virtual reality, we tend to forget that the real meaning of virtue comes from the Latin word for truth. Virtual reality is, in fact, a bit of a dirty lie. Its neither virtual (truthful) nor is it real. The performers arent sharing the same space with you.

They had countless takes in order to get their songs, dances, or emoting exactly the way they want it. If a note, or a dance step, or an entrance, or anything gets flubbed, no problem.

Take two.

Producers on Broadway shows are a smart lot. They understand that their mission in life is to give the people what they want, and above all, thats a rollicking good time. Even if you cannot pee on-demand or check your phone without experiencing the opprobrium of those around you. And if you dont like what youre watching, theres nothing else on.

Youre stuckliterally in the middle of the row and figuratively, as theres no other channel, website, or video to which you can turn. So its easy to make the case for what really shouldnt be called virtual reality and should actually be referred to as a bunch of stuff caught on video.

That said, Im hoping youll do what I did: Make your way into trafficky, crowded Midtown, pay too much for dinner, pay just enough to get good seats, and wedge yourself in between a couple of strangers and arm wrestle with them for dominance on the seat dividers, and enjoy the show.

As for The Temptations itself, if youre going to see one Broadway show, as the expression goes, you really ought to get out more often. But if you are going to see one, make it this one.

The perfection of the performance, the awesome quality of the music, the thrill of the dancing, mic tosses, and splitsyou cant get that on YouTube. Okay, yeah, you can, but you wont breathe the same air as the performers.

And if there are any performers with whom youshould share air and space, its the men and women of the cast and band of Aint Too Proud.

You can always pick up your device again afterthe show.

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The Temptations: Will Artificial Intelligence Ever Replace Broadway Shows? - Grit Daily

AL-BAHA:Ever wondered what it would be like to spend a night in a cave surrounded with nothing but the sounds of wilderness? For adventurous Saudis, its now possible and they dont even have to travel far.

In the striking Al-Baha region in the Kingdoms southwest, Saudi architect Mohammed Nasser Al-Shadwee has carved out eye-catching architectural structures in the caves that make up part of dramatic mountain terrain.

Shada Mountain, along with its caves and grottoes engraved with drawings and inscriptions dating back more than 3,000 years, is a favorite destination for Saudis who enjoy the outdoors.

Al-Shadwee told Arab News that he studied the geography, geology and topography of the mountains before designing the unique tourist accommodation, working on the project for years until his vision was realized.

Architectural structures, each with its own individual style, were carved out of the terrain, and provided with proper lighting and water.

The mountains of Al-Baha have some of the most wonderful rock formations. They are a geological and topographical masterpiece, Al-Shadwee said. Shada Mountain should be added to the list of historical geological heritage sites.

Saudi Arabias mountains are among the most beautiful in the Middle East with geological features rarely found in other mountainous areas. Shada Mountain, for example, reveals rocks in the shape of wildlife, birds and sometimes humans.

The caves were used for shelter thousands of years ago. Today, some people still use the caves as dwellings, while others have become tourist attractions.

That is why I decided to use the ancient caves, carving inns into them and trying to create more space inside, Al-Shadwee said. The process is difficult because the granite rocks are hard and make my job extremely difficult, he explained.

Al-Shadwee said that he hopes this new form of geological tourism will attract visitors from around the world.

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Artificial Intelligence to add more than $133bn to Saudi Arabia's GDP - Arabnews

Distinguished technology leader and AI expert Dr. Harry Shum becomes an angel investor in Asensys, a novel blockchain system designed to empower the decentralized web

SEATTLE, March 5, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ --Asensys, a next-generation, high-performance system that brings throughput and capacity to a new, scalable level, is pleased to announce former Executive Vice President of Artificial Intelligence & Research at Microsoft Dr. Harry Shum as an angel investor.

Dr. Shum is a famous AI researcher, who is an IEEE Fellow and an ACM Fellow for his contributions to computer vision and computer graphics. In 2017, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering of the United States and elected an International Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in the UK in 2018.

Dr. Harry Shum expressed, "Brendon and the Asensys team have developed a system to support the scaled throughput and capacity necessary to realize the promise of the decentralized Web, based on solid peer-reviewed research work on NSDI. I very much look forward to working hand-in-hand with the Asensys team to bring this solution to the forefront of internet technology innovation and ensure that our digital lives empowered by AI are secure and trustworthy."

Dr. Shum's expertise in AI will provide Asensys with an advantage in building a system that works for an increasingly AI-powered economy. AI algorithms are already deployed across finance, e-commerce, and media verticals, but the possibilities enabled by combining forces with blockchain are mostly untapped. Blockchain technology and AI together will drive the evolution of digital society with blockchain allowing for the effective application of AI without weakening data security or privacy.

Asensys Founder Dr. Brendon Wang boasts an impressive background himself, having published dozens of papers in such highly-reputed journals as ACM/TOG and USENIX/NSDI and been granted many US patents for his work. Dr. Wang formerly was a lead researcher at Microsoft Research where he focused on distributed computing systems for high-performance GPU computing and blockchain systems. He earned his PhD from the Institute of Computing Technology Chinese Academy of Sciences focusing on parallel computing and computer graphics.

"I'm honored to announce Harry Shum, as an angel investor in Asensys," said Asensys Founder Dr. Wang. "Involvement by such an acclaimed computer scientist is an unbelievable endorsement of the system we have created to address blockchain's scalability problem and provide a solid infrastructure for the decentralized Web that benefits everyone in the future."

By introducing the novel concept of Asynchronous Consensus Zones, Asensys is able to reduce redundancy of network tasks and process transactions much faster than legacy blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum. When Asensys performed a test including 1,200 virtual machines worldwide to support 48,000 nodes, the Asensys system delivered 1,000 times the throughput and 2,000 times the capacity of the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks, as reported in the NSDI research paper.

As the Asensys team continues to develop its novel infrastructure for the decentralized Web, the involvement of Dr. Shum as an eminent technology leader and the former Executive Vice President of Artificial Intelligence & Research at Microsoft represents an important milestone in the project's rollout and build-up of institutional credibility.

To stay up-to-date on Asensys news and updates, visit the website: https://asensys.com/

For media inquiries, please contact Kili Wall at (310) 260-7901 or media(at)asensys(dot)com.

About Asensys Asensys is a new-generation, high-performance system that brings throughput and capacity to a new, scalable level. Asensys aims to meet the needs of the modern digital economy with its novel blockchain infrastructure that will enable web users to realize the full potential of the internet by providing the foundation upon which decentralized applications can be built.

Headquartered in Seattle, WA with a global team, Asensys was founded by Dr. Brendon (JiaPing) Wang, whose research has been published in highly-reputed journals, such as ACM/TOG, and who also has been granted many US patents for his work on distributed computing and blockchain systems. At the prestigious NSDI'19 conference, Dr. Wang and the Asensys team demonstrated how to conquer the Blockchain Trilemmathe idea that decentralization or security must be sacrificed to achieve high performance.

SOURCE Asensys

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Asensys Announces Former Executive Vice President of Artificial Intelligence & Research at Microsoft Dr. Harry Shum as an Angel Investor - Yahoo...

When applying for a new job, candidates may well find that the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools is involved at some point in the recruitment process. New recruitment businesses and technology are entering the market, setting up entirely automated initial conversations with candidates to help them find the right vacancy for their skill set, saving time for applicant and recruiter alike.

CV screening is also becoming more prevalent, with AI screening and tracking tools being used to quickly analyse CVs to ascertain whether the individual has the qualifications and experience necessary for the role for example, burger chain Five Guys is said to be utilising such technology.

Unilever recently hit the headlines when it announced that, instead of human recruiters, it uses an AI system to analyse video interviews. Candidates record interviews on their phone or laptop, and the system scans candidates language, tone and facial expressions from the videos, assessing their performance against traits that are considered to indicate job success at Unilever.

But it is not just the recruitment stage where AI and people analytics are being used by businesses performance management is another targeted area. Amazon is leading this charge the company was issued with two patents in the US for a wristband for tracking the performance of workers in their warehouse, which would mean that staff receive a little buzz if they place a product near or in the wrong inventory location.

It is also alleged that Amazon uses a computer system to automatically generate warnings or terminations to employees, when their productivity (or lack of) warrants it.

The benefits of such technology for employers are countless and clear, including costs savings, efficiency, and the purported removal of human unconscious bias and prejudice. However, the use of AI in the workplace has come under scrutiny and has posed serious ethical and legal questions, including whether AI itself could in fact be biased.

Another important aspect when implementing AI in the workplace is its relationship with data protection laws such as the EUs General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). So, what data protection considerations should an employer make when considering the introduction of AI technology?

The use of AI for processing personal data will usually meet the legal requirement for completing a DPIA.

A DPIA enables the business to analyse how the AI plans will affect individuals privacy, and ensures the company can assess the necessity and proportionality of its technology.

As the UK Information Commissioners guidance confirms, the deployment of an AI system to process personal data needs to be driven by the proven ability of that system to fulfil a specific and legitimate purpose, not just by the availability of the technology.

The DPIA should demonstrate that the applicable purposes the AI is being used for could not be accomplished in another reasonable way. In doing so, organisations need to think about and document any detriment to data subjects that could follow from bias or inaccuracy in the algorithms and data sets being used.

A business cannot simply process personal data because it wishes to do so data can only be processed where one of the legitimate grounds or conditions of processing has been met. There are various bases, including performance of a contract, compliance with a legal obligation, consent and legitimate business interests. For the processing of sensitive personal data (such as health data), the bases are even more limited.

Before using AI or people analytics in the workplace, employers will first need to consider what data is being processed by such activity and second what legal basis can be relied upon in processing the data in that way. If they do not have a legal basis, the data cannot be processed.

One of the key principles of GDPR is transparency, requiring businesses to provide individuals with mandatory information about the processing of their personal data, including the reason why it is being processed, the legal basis, who it will be shared with and how long it will be retained. Employers will need to update their privacy notices to ensure anyone subject to the AI technology is made aware of its use.

The privacy notice needs to be concise and intelligible, using clear and plain language this will be particularly difficult when including a complex AI system, as businesses will need to provide a meaningful explanation of the technology to meet the transparency principle of GDPR. Opaque or complex descriptions of the tech may result in contention or pushback from the employees and candidates affected.

GDPR prohibits instances of computer says no and contains the right for data subjects not to be subjected to a decision based solely on automated processing, which has a legal or similarly significant impact on them. Its aim is to protect individuals against the risk that a potentially damaging decision is taken without human intervention, and will therefore likely capture a recruitment result made without any human input.

There are specific exceptions when automated decision-making is permitted, including where explicit consent was given, contractual necessity, or where authorised by law. Where such an exception is being relied upon, such as with the consent of a candidate, the business must still implement further safeguarding measures, including permitting the individual to request human intervention or to contest the decision.

Employers will need to ensure that their automated technology is being lawfully used, before relying on its output.

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Dont forget to consider GDPR when using artificial intelligence in the workplace - ComputerWeekly.com

CARY The ongoing spread of the coronavirus is sparking urgent searches for a vaccine to counteract it. Several Triangle firms such as Lenovo and Heat Biologics have joined the fight. Also bringing powerful and emerging technology to the battle is software and data analytics giantSAS, a heavy investor in artificial intelligence and a world leader of tools to extract information from so-called big data information gathered from many sources.

In an exclusive Q&A with WRAL TechWire,Theresa Do, Support Manager for Federal Healthcare at SAS, talks about the potential uses of AI, machine learning and analytics to combat the corornavirus and future health threats. Do also is a Professor ofEpidemiology & Biostatistics at George Washington Univ. in Washington, DC.

Developing new treatments and creating vaccines and antiviral medications for newly discovered viruses is a difficult and time-consuming process, traditionally involving lots of trial and error. AI and advanced analytics can help improve the application of current treatments and speed up the development of new ones.

Theresa Do

For example, AI specifically deep learning is currently being used to help radiologists make better treatment decisions based on medical imaging. Chest x-rays of patients infected with the new coronavirus may serve as input into AI models that can help physicians make faster diagnoses as the outbreak continues. AI can also help here by examining data from similar viral diseases and using that data to predict what types of vaccines and medicines might be more effective.

Data and analytics are the lifeblood for decision-making during infectious-disease outbreaks.Analytics can provide insights about the spread of a disease and the effectiveness of public health action, which can improve the response.The more information people have about case counts, mortality rates, how a disease spreads and how contagious it is, the better decisions they can make to limit, prevent and treat the disease. Public health and scientific data must be shared freely and rapidly with stakeholders and key decision makers so they can take action.

For decades, SAS has provided analytics software to public health and government agencies in the United States and around the world, helping them improve the health and well-being of their citizens. Governments hold much of the critical data needed to understand current conditions during an outbreak, but analytics companies like SAS offer an ability to synthesize this data with other non-government data and specialized tools to get the most insights from this unified data. These data-driven insights support better, faster government and public health decision-making. Events like the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak require public and private sectors to work closely together to limit disease spread and save lives.

Collaboration, integration and rapid information sharing are essentialto improve response and recovery for infectious disease outbreaks.Gone are the days when only governments and public health organizations had valuable data to fight epidemics. Disparate, non-traditional data setscan serve as sentinel sources everything from travel and census data, to demographic information and animal migration patternscan be applied to the public health threats. But the key is how to take advantage of all this data and emerging new data like genetic sequences.

Advanced analytics and AI (particularly machine learning) are essential tools to put data to work and save lives. With more and diverse data sets, the challenge is to synthesize everything to derive the insights needed to make decisions. Asolid data management ecosystem and platform where the data can be stored, cleaned, scaled and shared among key stakeholders and decision makers is essential. So, its not just about the data, but also how that data can be used effectively in global collaboration to fight the emergence and spread of disease.

Finally, having enough good data is a challenge when a new, or novel virus is causing a disease outbreak. Advanced analytics are only as good as the data they can explore, analyze and sift through. For COVID-19, collaboration will continue to improve as more data is shared.

Analytics has an important and growing role to play in the detection and monitoring of all viral-disease outbreaks. Critical insights about disease spread and the effectiveness of public health action can be derived from analytical approaches, which helps decision-makers adjust and adapt their strategies and responses.

AI and machine learning in particular are valuable tools for healthcare professionals and policymakers to reduce or better manage the impact of emerging infectious diseases like COVID-19. Machine learning is designed to consider large amounts of data, find patterns in that data and detect anomalies, and in many cases offer predictions.

AI can help health authorities better detect infectious disease outbreaks by analyzing sentinel data sources for early warning of potential threats.AI can be applied to models on common themes or topics to help identify common symptoms among new and evolving public health threats. Moreover, AI can help to automate data analysis, identify patterns and build models of risk factors to help in scenario analysis of transmission. And when it comes to identifying paths of transmission, AI can aid in the search for a host and/or index case, as well as tracking possible contacts.

When SARS emerged, there were fewer data sources that could be leveraged, such as social media, Internet of Things (IoT) devices and technologies to help with diagnostics. Phone apps for tracking of health data and diagnostics were not yet present. (The iPhone came out in 2007, four years after SARS broke out). With the advent of the iPhone and new types of apps and technologies, scientists can leverage a lot more data for analysis in addition to the available sentinel sources.

Today there are more ways that people can communicate to quickly distribute public health prevention efforts and quell misinformation regarding public health threats such as the some of the misinformation around COVID-19. Providers have more information at their fingertips via technology versus when SARS first broke out during the early stages, as well as the availability of the internet. However, with COVID-19, there is still a lot more to be uncovered and learned.

For any infectious disease outbreak, good responses need good data that can be shared readily and acted upon quickly. That was true then for SARS, and its true today for COVID-19.

Lenovo, Intel team up to accelerate analysis of coronavirus genome in vaccine search

Morrisville-based Heat Biologics joins global effort to discover coronavirus vaccine

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High tech vs. coronavirus: Using artificial intelligence, analytics are weapons SAS brings to the fight - WRAL Tech Wire