Category Archives: Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence | Strictly Opinion | richmondregister.com – Richmond Register
If youre like me, you have your favorite authors and cant wait to read their new releases.
You know what to expect based on their original style and characters.
Likewise, we gravitate toward a favorite poet, playwright, scriptwriter and lyricist.
But, what if you dont know who wrote the book? The poem? The play? The movie? The song?
What if it wasnt created by a human at all? But by an artificial intelligence tapping away on the keyboard and spewing out in minutes what it might take a person hours, days, weeks, or years to produce?
This isnt some futuristic sci-fi concept.
Its real.
And its happening right now.
OpenAI, a San Francisco-based company, launched ChatGPT last November.
GPT stands for generated pre-trained transformer. Using an LLM, or large language model, it can draw on countless databases to produce a coherent story, essay, or other artform.
Its capable of creating new works of literature. Imitating someone elses style like Shakespeare, Dickinson and Whitman. Or cranking out its own unique work to comply with any theme thats requested.
All someone has to do is give the AI an assignment. Set some rules. and in mere minutes it can spit out material on demand.
It can crank out a sonnet.
A haiku.
A scene.
All by analyzing and mimicking human writing and simply stringing together words, phrases, and sentences that seem to follow a logical progression.
The AI doesnt understand what its written. These are just random words pieced together.
Maybe it makes sense.
Maybe its nonsense.
But it probably wont replace human writers.
At least any time soon.
Actor Alan Alda decided to put an AI to the test.
Alda played Hawkeye Pierce, the smart-aleck surgeon serving during the Korean War in the hit TV series, MASH, which aired from 1972 to 1983. He asked the AI to write a humorous scene for him and his series buddy, B.J. Hunnicutt, played by Mike Farrell.
Alda instructed the AI to focus on an argument between the two surgeons where Pierce accuses fellow prankster Hunnicutt of stealing his lucky boxers.
In a March New York Times article by Julia Jacobs, Alda said he asked for snappy humor and lively dialogue. Alda complained that although he requested funny, he actually received really stupid stuff. Even sappy and sentimental where the AI goes off book and says something silly about Pierces grandmother. It has a terrible sense of humor, Alda concluded.
A Washington Post article by Seth Perlow agrees that AIs dont pick up on jokes and puns and their writing has been criticized as being soulless, barren, cliched, and predictable.
Scott Simon, host of NPRs Weekend Edition aired a show last December that focused on machine-made poetry. Poet/critic Katha Pollitt studied some AIs writing and concluded it was cliched and tiresome.
She added that this was to be expected since AIs do not have experience, emotion or imagination.
Calum Chase, an expert on artificial intelligence, told Simon that the appeal of AIs is they can write fast and dont have problems that human writers face, like writers block, anxiety, fatigue and distractions.
Chase says AIs may not be human, but their software is evolving.
So, who knows what the future has in store.
For now, one million people have reportedly tried ChatGPT, which is advertised as a free service. I started to sign up for one of the free accounts, but stopped when I was asked to submit a credit card. They swore it was for legal reasons and promised they would never charge anything to my account.
Still, I chose not to continue with a personal experiment.
As with many technological advances, there is the potential for abuse with AI writing. A major concern is how easy it is for students to cheat on various assignments. They could ask the AI to write their term papers. Or their college application essays.
Who would know, since admittedly it would be difficult to detect.
Even harder to prove.
And once something like this starts, its tough to stop. Especially since the service is so easy to access.
The question is who should regulate this?
Who should be the watchdog?
Its really not the governments business. and legally its not breaking any current laws unless the process stumbles into the plagiarizing zone.
Theres also little incentive for the industry to regulate itself. Or establish an ethical code of behavior.
One proposed solution is to set up an independent review board to police the new technology. and to collect text generated by commercially available LLM and place it in an independent repository, making it easier to detect plagiarism.
Another precaution mentioned is to put age restrictions on who can access the software. That forces students to write their own essays and term papers and not rely on AI to do the work for them.
Interestingly, instead of considering AIs as competition, some writers have actually partnered with them on projects.
Who knows, the AIs might even develop a funny bone based on those collaborations.
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Artificial intelligence | Strictly Opinion | richmondregister.com - Richmond Register
Role of artificial intelligence on construction sites expected to surge … – Archinect
A new report predictsthat the global market for artificial intelligence in construction will experience significant growth in the next decade. The analysis by Research Dive reports that the market will grow by 34.1% by 2031 fuelled by AI-driven solutions and services, both on-site and remote.
According to the report, the implementation of artificial intelligence in the construction sector will be driven by a desire to improve worker safety on building sites and lessen health risks in the construction industry. The report cites data from OSHA that since 2020, one in five worker deaths per year were recorded from the construction sector. Research Dive, therefore, expects that the safety infrastructure on construction sites, such as cameras, sensors, and IoT devices detecting construction activity, will serve as foundations for increased integration of AI.
Advances in AI on the construction site will come in the form of both solutions and services, according to the report. Among the AI solutions expected to dominate the market in the coming decade are applications to support supply chain management, project planning, and risk management. Meanwhile, AI services expected to dominate include companies that will monitor interactions between personnel, equipment, and materials in real-time to identify safety hazards, design flaws, or productivity programs. Such advances will also lead to an increased demand for worker training services, the report notes.
The report estimates that while all global regions will see a surge in the adoption of AI in construction, North America will continue to hold the highest market size. A large population base with high purchasing power, strong investment in automation, and government initiatives in AI in the construction sector will all contribute to the regions dominance.
Despite the expected growth of AI in construction, the report warns that a lack of skilled labor may be limiting such advances. The work that needs to be done in the construction industry with the aid of artificial intelligence requires both technical and domain knowledge to produce the desired results, the report notes. If the worker does not have a solid understanding of it, the entire project prediction and off-site construction work fail, which can result in a significant loss for the business and subject the business to a number of project-related challenges. This factor restrains the market growth.
The report also suggests that the market size will be constrained by the cost of integrating AI systems in construction. With robotics and autonomous systems expensive to acquire and maintain, the report notes that only large businesses will be able to afford the systems adoption.
The reports publication comes at a time of several advances in autonomous construction. Last month, a Pennsylvania companylaunched an autonomous construction robot to reduce rebar installation times, while a San Francisco companyannounced the developmentof the worlds first fully autonomous solar piling system.
Last month, meanwhile, Boston Dynamicsreleased a new video of their humanoid robot Atlas assisting on a mock construction site.
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Role of artificial intelligence on construction sites expected to surge ... - Archinect
St. Luke’s deploys artificial intelligence to detect early signs of colon … – The Bucks County Herald
One in 24 people will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer in their lifetime, and in just one recent year, 2021, there were 149,000 new cases in the country, leading to 52,980 deaths.
These sobering statistics explain why St. Lukes University Health Network recently enhanced its capacity to detect colorectal cancer through the acquisition of the GI Genius endoscopy module the first-to-market, computer-aided polyp detection system powered by artificial intelligence.
Early detection of adenomas or pre-cancerous polyps gives us the chance to catch colon polyps before they develop into colon cancer, and to diagnose and treat colon cancer before it spreads, said Dr. Noel Martins, division chief of gastroenterology and fellowship clinical professor. Early detection is the best way to avoid bad outcomes, particularly because symptoms such as bleeding, abdominal pain and weight loss may not appear until it is too late.
Scott Siegfried, division administrator for gastroenterology at St. Lukes, concurs. I cannot underscore enough how important it is to be screened as soon as you are eligible, which is now 45 years old, he said. Having undergone one colonoscopy, which helped to identify and remove some adenomas, I can attest that it is so worth the effort. The prep is easy, and the procedure itself is quick and painless. The value you get in return for such a short-term inconvenience is immeasurable.
Martins and Siegfried provide the day-to-day medical and operational oversight for gastroenterology and hepatology inpatient and outpatient services for the entire St. Lukes network. With an Adenoma Detection Rate (ADR) of 42% exceeding the national benchmark rate of 25% the gastroenterology team has been consistently successful with the most important measure of colonoscopy quality that we have, Martins said.
St. Lukes new GI Genius endoscopy module is composed of hardware and software designed to highlight portions of the colon where the device detects a potential lesion, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Through the use of artificial intelligence algorithm techniques that identify regions of interest, the GI Genius system generates markers, which look like green squares and are accompanied by a short, low-volume sound. During the colonoscopy, the GI Genius tool superimposes these images on the video from the endoscope camera, signaling to the clinician that further assessment may be needed. This could involve closer visual inspection, tissue sampling, testing or removal, or ablation of (burning) the lesion.
Patient access to quality care has also been enhanced through the incorporation of the Eyvazzadeh and Reilly Colon & Rectal Center into St. Lukes earlier this year. The center, now named St. Lukes Colon & Rectal Surgery, has three board-certified physicians: Dr. Daniel J. Eyvazzadeh, Dr. Daniel J. Bowers, and Dr. W. Terence Reilly, MD. The practice will continue to provide state-of-the-art surgical methods and endoscopy techniques to patients throughout the network.
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St. Luke's deploys artificial intelligence to detect early signs of colon ... - The Bucks County Herald
BLOG: Artificial Intelligence Provides Radiologists with Solutions for … – Imaging Technology News
Radiology plays a crucial role in diagnosing from guiding patients into the right treatment plans through follow-up, yet radiology departments continue to face many challenges in a post-pandemic world.
Among those challenges are the rise in staff shortages and increasing workloads that contribute to radiologists struggles, such as managing and interpreting the huge volume of data captured to provide quality care for each patient.
To mitigate the increasing volume of radiology data that compound these staff shortages and burnout, Philips AI enabled solutions empower radiologists to efficiently leverage AI in their daily clinical routine.
According to a recent survey of almost 3,000 healthcare leaders in 15 countries, there is a growing trust in AI and predictive analytics. Radiology leaders are the true early adopters of advanced analytics technologies. Philips AI is helping forward thinking radiologists take advantage of these advanced analytics technologies, including artificial intelligence.
According to Tanuj Gupta, Business Category Leader for Philips AI, Philips believes there are at least three ways AI can create value for healthcare.
One is in the machines themselves, Gupta explained. Can we use AI to increase the speed and efficiency of the scanner? Can I process the image faster and have better turnaround times? Then, theres a patient safety aspect to it. Could I reconstruct an image with less radiation to the patient?
Second is leveraging AI for clinical uses like cancer screening or for diagnostic assistance. An end-to-end AI enablement solution can be integrated into existing IT and picture archiving and communication system (PACS) infrastructures to deliver clinical diagnostic assistance directly into the radiology workflow at the point of care.
According to Gupta, a third way AI is also helping is to ease the burden of increased workloads due to staff shortages. He said radiologists are asking, Can you reduce the task burden for me in some fashion? Along the workflow, can you automate steps for me? Can you predict what steps I might take and tee up the right information? Can you predict what I'm going to put in my report, for radiologists and prefill it out. All of these steps can save time, money and stress while enhancing productivity.
The Philips Advanced Visualization platform has more than 70 multimodality applications many of which leverage artificial intelligence to deliver quantitative insights, drive diagnostic confidence, or help reduce time-to-report. Using Advanced Workflow Orchestration, AI-enabled image interpretation helps prioritize patient worklists based on clinical outcomes, with enhanced features to automate reporting and help drive earlier and more definitive diagnosis.
AI enabled applications from a broad ecosystem of multiple vendors are easy to implement into the workflow using a common cloud-based platform like AI Manager. Having a fully scalable solution to host and execute the most appropriate AI application for your study helps provide a more comprehensive assessment and deeper clinical insights.
By leveraging Philips AI solutions, healthcare organizations will benefit from increased productivity, reducing time-consuming, manual tasks such as segmentation and quantification, enabling radiologists to focus on higher-level interpretation and patient care. AI CAD also can act as an adjunct to the radiologists decision making by identifying areas of interest or incidental findings, supporting greater confidence and consistency in diagnosis.
Streamlining AI adoption to an all-in-one platform, including an ecosystem of AI applications, generates deep clinical Insights. It also effortlessly generates relevant AI results, harmonizing AI result presentation, and can screen to detect incidental findings.
Lastly, healthcare organizations can rely on Philips AI as a trusted partner, with a flexible business model and SaaS offering, and data processing in a single trusted environment.
For more information, please visit http://www.usa.philips.com/healthcare/
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BLOG: Artificial Intelligence Provides Radiologists with Solutions for ... - Imaging Technology News
Chat GPT, artificial intelligence challenging education sector – 1News
Not all New Zealand universities have turned on plagiarism tool Turnitins new artificial intelligence capability; as they say, risks remain.
The University of Auckland has decided against the technology for now.
"Detection is at best a short-term, partial solution and should not be relied upon, as detection methods are not 100% accurate and will be constantly evolving in the arms race between ChatGPT and emerging detection tools," a spokesperson for the university said in a statement.
Like most universities in Aotearoa, Auckland University said staff need to consider how AI technology can be used as part of student learning.
"Staff are looking at modifying assessment questions and structure, so it is more difficult and complex for AI tools like ChatGPT to produce acceptable responses.
"They are also encouraged to consider using more low-stakes, in-person assessments that place importance on the process of producing work, not the product, and a range of in-person assessment opportunities, such as presentations, podcasts, interviews, group work, etc," the spokesperson stated.
Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Otago are also not using Turnitins AI capability as university evaluation of the technology has not taken place.
The University of Canterbury and Massey University are using the tool, calling it just one part of their academic integrity process, while the University of Waikato is using the technology while testing it. Auckland University of Technology isnt using the tool but is considering it.
Turnitin has developed the tool to detect 98% of writing created by artificial intelligence such as Chat GPT, the business says.
Turnitin Asia Pacific Regional President James Thorley said artificially-created content is here to stay for the foreseeable future, but so is the need for ensuring honesty in learning institutes.
I don't ever see a place where people are not wanting to uphold academic integrity, and that will incorporate many aspects, including detection and potentially other matters, he said.
Victoria University of Wellington software engineering senior lecturer Dr Simon McCallum said detection is a challenge as artificial intelligence developments are making writing more "human-like".
The new systems are coming along so quickly that any detection you come up with is almost obsolete once you release it.
McCallum is urging academics and the Government to equip themselves with an understanding of AI developments and consider how the technology will change multiple sectors and day-to-day life.
I think there is a role for the Government to take this change very seriously and use it as part of an assessment of what we are trying to do with our education system, what is the objective of our education system, and start funding that transition because if we are going to keep up we need to have that resource, we need to spend that time, he said.
McCallum said hes never seen this rate of improvement in AI before.
The challenge it presents universities is enormous, and I mean, its something that we are struggling with, he said.
He thinks universities and high schools should close temporarily so educators have time to workshop how their lessons and assignments should change as a result of AI development.
The students are racing ahead of them, and if you're in an arms race, being behind and falling further behind is just going to make things much, much worse.
Massey University's decided to counter cheating during online exams through a webcam monitoring system called Remote Proctor Now.
The majority of exams at the university are now held online.
"Due to the emergence of COVID-19 and the resulting lockdown periods, it was necessary to utilise RPNow on a large scale sooner than planned in order to meet student needs, a spokesperson for the university said in a statement."
Some students have concerns about the rollout of the technology, and student association leaders are running a student survey to hear more from them.
Our students have raised lots of concerns about not actually knowing where their data and information is getting sent to since the only information we have is that it's getting sent offshore, Te Tira Ahu Pae Pasifika President Aniva-Storm Feau said.
Other issues raised include accessibility to laptops, webcams and quiet spaces to sit exams and concern for how neurodiverse students may be penalised by the software which alerts the university when a student looks away from the screen.
The university stated several small trials of Remote Proctor Now since 2014 were responded to with positive feedback from students.
"Notably, students liked being able to sit an exam in their own environment," the spokesperson said.
"In most cases, a student will be flagged for looking away from the screen or if another person is heard or visible during the exam. It is highly unlikely this would be the only activity taken into consideration."
The statement also said trained reviewers oversee recordings and are "professionally handled".
The university stated it will provide alternatives for students who require equipment, and financial hardship grants may also be available to students.
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Chat GPT, artificial intelligence challenging education sector - 1News
Artificial Intelligence Is Making Inroads Into Airline Operations In India – Simple Flying
Digitization and artificial intelligence are not mere buzzwords today. Businesses across industries are realizing the growing importance of AI and how its only a matter of time before AI chatbots like ChatGPT would feature in everyday operations. The Indian aviation sector also seems keen on the tech, with Air India already announcing its plans to use ChatGPT and IndiGos Chief Digital and Information Officer, too, realizing its potential.
The aviation sector is increasingly relying on digital technology and artificial intelligence to optimize everyday operations. In India, Air India seems to be the torchbearer at the moment when it comes to embracing AI, at least when it comes to publicly announcing the use of ChatGPT.
Photo: Nicolas Economou | Shutterstock
Recently, the carriers CEO, Campbell Wilson, said that Air India would use the latest GPT4 to improve the customer experience on its website and not just feature it as a gimmicky tool. A source also disclosed to the Economic Times that AI technology could soon be implemented to power the websites FAQ section. Air Indias Chief Digital and Technology Officer Satya Ramaswamy also explained how AI could feature extensively in the running of the airline, saying,
We do see the promise of generative AI primarily because as an airline, we are swamped with data and information. Before pilots embark on one of their long-range journeys such as going from say Mumbai to San Francisco, which takes about 14-15 hours or so, they are given a briefing document which is about 150 pages long. And this is given a few hours before the flight to depart. We are looking at using generative AI to summarise the pilot briefing to extract the most important elements and point it out to the pilots.
Air Indias bet on AI is not surprising, considering it has committed to spending around $200 million in upgrading its IT system as well as making other processes digitally advanced, a huge departure from when the airline was run as a state-owned entity.
Photo: Sundry Photography |Shutterstock
At a recent interview at the Asia Aviation Festival, IndiGos Chief Digital and Information Officer Neetan Chopra also gave his perspective on the potential of AI and digital technology within the aviation space and how India and the APAC region, in particular, are well-placed for AI revolution. He said,
I see a level youthfulness in the workplace and country, a level of optimism for the future potential, the economy itself is high growth, and inherently there seems to be an adoption of these digital technologies. And I feel all of these are great ingredients which enable a transformation journey to occur.
Chopra said that theres plenty of scope within airline operations where AI could be of tremendous use, such as forecasting and predicting capability in core areas of aviation best price, demand patterns, number of meals to be loaded onto an aircraft, etc. These are some of the areas that could benefit initially before AI reaches other areas of running the airline.
Photo: Phuong D. Nguyen/Shutterstock
Chopra is a huge advocate of technology and is bullish about ChatGPT and AI in general. He said that innovations like ChatGPT, despite there being issues (ethics, ability to risk manage these algorithms), create that excitement in enterprises to take note and then see the potential and try things out.
And, if the chief tech officer of the biggest airline in India feels this way, more mainstream use of AI could be expected within the aviation space in the country sooner rather than later.
What are your views on this? Please leave a comment below.
Source: The Economic Times, World Aviation Festival
Originally posted here:
Artificial Intelligence Is Making Inroads Into Airline Operations In India - Simple Flying
Artificial Intelligence: 3 Things Travel Executives Should Know Now – Skift Travel News
Skift Take
FLYR
Its the Year of AI, and artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere including in a growing number of products and solutions for the travel industry. But AI isnt a monolith. For all the promises attributed to the concept, its not always easy for executives and other decision-makers to understand what they should be deploying, how it affects their current systems and processes, and how it will ultimately benefit the bottom line.
By exploring how AI works, its varying practical applications, and how it can exponentially scale data intake and analysis, travel companies can better understand where they should take their AI roadmaps in 2023. Here are three things every travel executive should be thinking about as they embark upon that journey.
The news has been abuzz about ChatGPT, DALL-E, and other so-called generative AI programs that can create new, unique outputs based on specific prompts theyre given. Its an exciting space that has deep relevance for the travel industry, but generative uses are still in the early developmental stages. Today, its important for executives to understand that AI comes in many different forms.
[Generative AI] is an interesting space, but we are not there yet for airlines, said Kartik Yellepeddi, vice president of ML and AI strategy for FLYR Labs. You cant expect to generate new pricing strategies out of the blue yet.
In the travel industry, supervised uses of AI are much more controlled than the generative applications that have been popular in the news, Yellepeddi said.
So how does a supervised learning model work? Using airline revenue management as an example, an AI model will label historical outcomes for pricing as good or bad based on how given actions contributed to the ultimate goal of maximizing revenue. The AI can then assess new variables and suggest pricing modifications consistent with those good decisions. Through thousands of inputs and repetitions of this action daily, it trains to do more of the good and less of the bad and becomes smarter as time progresses. And at some point, its learning from itself.
AI is data hungry, but the advantage is that its highly scalable, said Yellepeddi. The art is in how you design it, and it can theoretically learn any task you give it. If there is a pattern out there, its able to learn that pattern and recommend what action to take to maximize the reward its trained to seek.
To understand this better, take the case of optimizing the price for any given flight, which typically opens for sale 300 days before departure. Every day, thousands of variables, such as new bookings, changes in search volume, competitor sales, and pricing changes, affect the flights potential price and final outcome. AI can analyze this constantly shifting context in a way thats impossible for a human to do independently, providing pricing analysts with a depth of information that was not previously available.
How to offer ancillary products, when to overbook, how to price cargo space, and how to deploy marketing dollars are other ways that airlines and travel companies can take advantage of AI models to improve their decision-making.
We realized that airline pricing and forecasting was a generic use case and that you can apply the same machine learning technology to a number of other important commercial functions, said Yellepeddi.
These types of practical, day-to-day uses allow companies to dip their toes in the water and deploy AI capabilities while operating in relatively low-risk scenarios.
As travel companies look to take advantage of AI opportunities on a long-term, organization-wide basis, they must be ready to invest time and technology into shifting how they operate.
For example, revenue management systems have been historically built on fixed-growth scenarios, looking broadly at year-over-year changes.
Historic revenue management systems were tasked to do one thing price the flight and now there are 10 or 15 transactions occurring with the same customers during the same trip, from ancillaries to other offers, Yellepeddi said.
The rate of change has significantly accelerated in todays travel environment, and AI can become an asset by being far more dynamic and reactive than humans. Cloud technology allows companies to be more flexible in their data storage, analysis, and application, while legacy systems with fixed servers arent built to scale in this way. Because fixed servers have fixed costs and fixed capacity, that means companies are unable to allow the AI the freedom to use all the available data, because they have to make predetermined decisions about how much information they can reasonably manage. That, in effect, hinders their ability to scale and take full advantage of running sophisticated AI models.
Cloud has really changed the landscape, said Yellepeddi. Most importantly, it allows you to use all the data in the decision-making process.
One of the most important things for executives to consider when using AI is that theyll have to relinquish some level of control and trust the technology.
If there are thousands of data points related to pricing generated every day, analysts might be reasonably able to look at a few hundred of them. Its the responsibility of the AI not only to look at all of those data points but also to flag which ones require human attention to drive meaningful outcomes. Building a deeper level of trust enhances analysts abilities to use the information to optimize their recommendations.
The strength of AI is not necessarily the ability to be right all the time but rather its ability to react to situations quickly, continuously explore and exploit market opportunities, and learn from its mistakes faster on a larger scale than humans.
From that perspective, an important recent evolution of AI has been improved explainability that is, being able to show its work. AI models arent just spitting out decisions, theyre now also able to provide information on how they came to those decisions.
If the good decisions outweigh the bad ones in the end, how it makes the revenue should matter less as long as you have visibility into the decision-making process when needed, Yellepeddi said. Its important to build that trust to drive adoption of any advanced AI technology.
AIs effect on productivity, its ability to exponentially scale data analysis and decision-making, as well as learn on the job, show its work, and escalate to humans when required will drive automation, efficiency, and profitability across the travel industry, from revenue management and marketing to cargo, maintenance, and more. By taking advantage of practical commercial opportunities today, executives will also set themselves up to understand and integrate cutting-edge AI applications as they come online in the near future.
For more information about FLYR and its commercial intelligence and optimization platform that leverages AI and deep learning, visit http://www.flyrlabs.com.
This content was created collaboratively by FLYR and Skifts branded content studio, SkiftX.
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Artificial Intelligence: 3 Things Travel Executives Should Know Now - Skift Travel News
Why this Des Moines startup is bringing AI to insurance companies – Des Moines Register
Computers are going to know about customers life changes before the customers themselves do, if Colby Tunick gets his way.
Tunick, the co-founder of artificial intelligence startup ReFocus AI, moved to Des Moines from San Diego because he believes hes found fertile ground for his product. The company bills itself as a retention tool for clients, using an artificial intelligence algorithm to alert businesses about customers who are likely leave for a competitor.
Tunick wants to sell the product to a range of companies. But for now, he is focused on insurance, an industry that collects millions of records looking at hundreds of data points, he said.
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This information is fuel for a company like ReFocus AI, where staff can input the reams of data into the algorithm to predict future customer behavior. That means there are few places better to roll out ReFocus AI than the Des Moines metro, where about 25,000 employees work at about 850 insurance firms.
And likewise, Tunick said, there are few business clusters in the United States better positioned to quickly add AI tools than Des Moines dominant industry.
Who else knows you more than the insurance company? he recently told the Des Moines Register. When you sign up for an insurance policy, youre turning over basically everything.
Tunick and his co-founder, Nisar Hundewale, acclimated themselves to Des Moines last year when they enrolled in the Global Insurance Accelerator, a startup program at 321 E. Walnut St. Though he still lives in California, Tunick keeps a desk at the accelerators office and said he wants to continue to work in town at least once a week. (Hundewale still works mostly in Alexandria, Virginia.)
Tunick said the company wants to hire three software engineers, preferably in Des Moines. The company deepened its local roots April 4, when it became one of 12 businesses to form the latest cohort at BrokerTech Ventures, the citys other insurance technology accelerator.
More: ChatGPT is poised to upend medical information. For better and worse.
Dan Israel, managing director of the Global Insurance Accelerator, said he has seen several good AI pitches in recent years. Companies sell products like image recognition software, which tells insurers whether homes have looming problems.
But Israel believes Tunick and Hundewale offer a product that will appeal to even the least cutting-edge customers.
(Tunick has) a good passion for what theyre trying to sell and what theyre trying to build, Israel said. One of the key things were looking at is, Are the founders really trying to solve something? Instead of just, Were a solution to a problem.
Tunick said he began mulling how to launch an AI company while working as an associate governmental program analyst at the California Earthquake Authority, a publicly managed firm that sells earthquake insurance policies through other companies.
Tunick said he helped executives and computer programs communicate, speaking both sides language. He also sat in on high-level meetings, watching as board members grilled executives about how customers would react to premiums and new product lines.
He said the executives didnt have confident answers, but he believed they would be able to present precise projections if they analyzed several decades worth of past customer information.
They didnt know they had the data, he said.
More: 'AI, what's for dinner?' 5 cool things to ask ChatGPT, from business names to recipes
Tunick launched ReFocus AI with a couple of friends while still at the earthquake authority in 2019. While insurance companies have a roster of well-trained actuaries who know how to project profits and risk for their customers, Tunick believed only the largest firms knew how to use that information for other parts of their business, such as sales and customer services.
Advanced analytics are essentially limited to the Top 10 (U.S. insurance companies), he said. That leaves a huge playing field of customers who want this technology. But essentially, because of their size, they cant afford it.
After his friends dropped out of the business, Tunick posted on Angelist, an online job board for startups and investors. There, he received a solicitation from Hundewale.
Holding a doctorate in computer science, Hundewale had worked at a consultant for companies like Walmart and Johnson & Johnson. He said he used customer data to help retailers create targeted ads. He also used computer models to help them determine prices for their products and how much inventory to order at a given time.
But Hundewale said he wanted to be part of a startup, where he could help build a business. When he learned about ReFocus AI, he said he understood how he could take advantage of the deep reams of data that insurers collect.
More: Does homeowners'insurance cover tornado damage? How to prepare before a disaster
In Tunick, he also found a good match.
I wanted another half who knew the business side, would know how to sell the product, he said. I dont know to sell it.
Said Tunick: It could have gone either way, for both of us. When you meet somebody online, you dont know who they are. But we both just jumped in feet first.
Israel, the Global Insurance Accelerator director, said he learned of ReFocus AI from someone else who works in insurance technology. He reached out to Tunick, and the two metat InsureTech Connect, a trade show.
He said he could see the companys potential and badgered Tunick to apply for the accelerator. (Tunick also remained at the earthquake authority until last August.)
Its not so much that theres a lack of data, Israel said when asked why companies cant build AI tools in-house. And its not so much that theres very, very smart people in insurance companies that can use the data. Sometimes, you just dont know what youve got. Or you cant access it the right way.
Tunick said the company has tried to help businesses several different ways. ReFocus AI has suggested which customers might be most likely to buy extra insurance plans from a company. The company also suggested which customers might be open to spending more for a more generous plan.
More: Every claim you make, insurers are watching you
But he said that a company he worked with suggested ReFocus AI should dedicate its time to building algorithms that identify customers who are likely to leave. This is the area where smaller and mid-sized companies need the most help, Tunick said he learned.
Theyre already doing that work anyway, he said. Were just helping them do it smarter and faster.
Chad Combs, a vice president of personal lines underwriting at Ohio Mutual Insurance Group, said his company began working with ReFocus AI to improve Ohio Mutual's customer retention tool about a year ago. The new program, which agents will begin using in April, should tell them which customers to focus on.
Combs said ReFocus AI built an "enhanced" version of the tool that the company previously used. He added that, unlike bigger and established AI companies, Tunick and Hundewale built an algorithm to Ohio Mutuals specific requests.
Theyre smart people, he said. But theyre nimble. Theyre small. They can be creative.
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Why this Des Moines startup is bringing AI to insurance companies - Des Moines Register
Paper Acquires Readlee To Boost Literacy Features With Artificial … – T.H.E. Journal
Reading Supports
Educational support platform and tutoring providerPaperhas acquiredReadlee, whose software uses artificial intelligence and speech-recognition technology to help students improve their reading skills, according to a recent announcement by Paper.
Readlee, founded by two educators in collaboration with Harvard researchers, said current users will continue to have access through the current school year, in a letter announcing the acquisition. Readlee, which has offered educators an always free plan and a premium plan with more features, said more information about changes to pricing and plans will be announced in the near future.
Readlee will become Paper Reading, will be fully integrated into Papers so-called educational support system platform, where it will be available to over 3 million students across the United States, according to Papers news release.
Readlee listens to students as they read aloud and provides immediate feedback, individualized support, and measurable success using the latest in AI, speech recognition, and learning research, particularly capitalizing on scientific research showing that reading aloud improves memory, vocabulary, and confidence.
Statistics show that students who engage in reading-aloud exercises 20 minutes a day are likely to score better than 90% of their peers on standardized tests. Paper Reading will allow students to practice reading aloud from any content in any subject, the company said.
Learn more atPaper.co.
About the Author
Kristal Kuykendall is editor, 1105 Media Education Group. She canbe reached at [emailprotected].
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Paper Acquires Readlee To Boost Literacy Features With Artificial ... - T.H.E. Journal
Study sheds light on the dark side of artificial intelligence – Troy Media
Reading Time: 4 minutes
To understand how to get artificial intelligence right, we need to know how it can go wrong
Artificial intelligence is touted as a panacea for almost every computational problem these days, from medical diagnostics to driverless cars to fraud prevention.Vern Glaser
But when AI fails, it does so quite spectacularly, says Vern Glaser of the Alberta School of Business. In his recent study, When Algorithms Rule, Values Can Wither, Glaser explains how human values are often subsumed by AIs efficiency imperative, and why the costs can be high.
If you dont actively try to think through the value implications, its going to end up creating bad outcomes, he says.
Glaser cites Microsofts Tay as one example of bad outcomes. When the chatbot was introduced on Twitter in 2016, it was revoked within 24 hours after trolls taught it to spew racist language.
Then there was the robodebt scandal of 2015, when the Australian government used AI to identify overpayments of unemployment and disability benefits. But the algorithm presumed every discrepancy reflected an overpayment and automatically sent notification letters demanding repayment. If someone didnt respond, the case was forwarded to a debt collector.
By 2019, the program identified more than 734,000 overpayments worth two billion Australian dollars (C$1.8 billion).
The idea was that by eliminating human judgment, which is shaped by biases and personal values, the automated program would make better, fairer and more rational decisions at much lower cost, says Glaser.
But the human consequences were dire, he says. Parliamentary reviews found a fundamental lack of procedural fairness and called the program incredibly disempowering to those people who had been affected, causing significant emotional trauma, stress and shame, including at least two suicides.
While AI promises to bring enormous benefits to society, we are now also beginning to see its dark underbelly, says Glaser. In a recent Globe and Mail column, Lawrence Martin points out AIs dystopian possibilities, including autonomous weapons that can fire without human supervision, cyberattacks, deepfakes (a type of artificial intelligence used to create convincing images, audio and video hoaxes) and disinformation campaigns. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has warned that AI could easily be used to construct killer biological weapons.
Glaser roots his analysis in French philosopher Jacques Ellulsnotion of technique, offered in his 1954 book The Technological Society, by which the imperatives of efficiency and productivity determine every field of human activity.
Ellul was very prescient, says Glaser. His argument is that when youre going through this process of technique, you are inherently stripping away values and creating this mechanistic world where your values essentially get reduced to efficiency.
It doesnt matter whether its AI or not. AI, in many ways, is perhaps only the ultimate example of it.
Glaser suggests adherence to three principles to guard against the tyranny of technique in AI. First, recognize that because algorithms are mathematical, they rely on proxies, or digital representations of real phenomena.
One way Facebook gauges friendship, for example, is by how many friends a user has, or by the number of likes received on posts from friends.
Is that really a measure of friendship? Its a measure of something, but whether its actually friendship is another matter, says Glaser, adding that the intensity, nature, nuance and complexity of human relationships can easily be overlooked.
When youre digitizing phenomena, youre essentially representing something as a number. And when you get this kind of operationalization, its easy to forget its a stripped-down version of whatever the broader concept is.
For AI designers, Glaser recommends strategically inserting human interventions into algorithmic decision-making and creating evaluative systems that account for multiple values.
Theres a tendency when people implement algorithmic decision-making to do it once and then let it go, he says, but AI that embodies human values requires vigilant and continuous oversight to prevent its ugly potential from emerging.
In other words, AI is simply a reflection of who we are at our best and our worst. Without a good, hard look in the mirror, the latter could take over.
We want to make sure we understand whats going on so the AI doesnt manage us, he says. Its important to keep the dark side in mind. If we can do that, it can be a force for social good.
| By Geoff McMaster
This article was submitted by the University of Albertas Folio online magazine, a Troy Media Editorial Content Provider Partner.
The opinions expressed by our columnists and contributors are theirs alone and do not inherently or expressly reflect the views of our publication.
Troy MediaTroy Media is an editorial content provider to media outlets and its own hosted community news outlets across Canada.
Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, Machine learning
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Study sheds light on the dark side of artificial intelligence - Troy Media