Ethics in machine learning are what comes to mind when we imagine a worst case scenario in the context of artificial intelligence. As an example, we can think of HAL 9000 from ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ and Skynet from the ‘Terminator’ films or more recently Ultron from the ‘Avengers’. Sadly, the main thinking behind most of the depicted self aware artificial…

Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is a wide umbrella of emerging technologies which have the potential to completely transform business and society.

In its immense complexity, artificial intelligence is like human intelligence. Effective analytics teams in business interact in the same way as our nervous system does to enable human…

Since I am sometimes asked to explain phenomena in the absence of data, it becomes necessary to determine what data is required to explain phenomena.  Some would say the best approach is to develop and test a hypothesis - to start filling a void of space with pinholes of light - until there are enough lit pinholes to provide a working theory.  This is not to say that a few additional…

In the article, Data Science Should Monitor Big Brother by Arjan Haring, one important…

Summary:  Here are our 6 predictions for data science, machine learning, and AI for 2018.  Some are fast track and potentially disruptive, some take the hype off over blown claims and set realistic expectations for the coming year.

It’s that time of year again when we do a look back in order to offer a look forward.  What…

Summary:  We are approaching a time when we need to be concerned that our AI robots may indeed harm us.  The rapid increase in the conversation about what ethics should apply to AI is appropriate but needs to be focused on the real threats, not just the wild imaginings of the popular press.  Here are some data points to help you in thinking about this, what our concerns should be today, and what our concerns should be in the future.

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Summary:  In just the last 10 months based only on facial characteristics deep learning has been used to predict who is a criminal and who is gay.  These are rigorous, peer reviewed studies published in academic journals.  How should this knowledge be used and how will the public react?

Were you as freaked out as I was when earlier this…

Canada will soon be passing legislation to allow for physician-assisted suicide.  Sometime over the course of debate between our Parliament and Senate, I found what at the time seemed like a peculiar pattern of woodchips in the back of my pick-up.  It was such an interesting image, I thought I would share it here.  On closer inspection, I discovered that in fact I was looking at hundreds of tiny flower shafts and seeds.…

What do Target and the NSA have in common?

They both used Big Data and analytics in a way that inspired a major slap on the hand. Target was predicting which of their customers were pregnant and sending them targeted coupons for baby products, which prompted the ire of a father whose teenage daughter hadn’t told him yet. The NSA incurred the wrath of world leaders, the US Congress, and even a good portion of the American public when the…