The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) and the European Center for International Political Economy (ECIPE) hosted a stimulating June 19, 2018  panel discussion on “The Future of AI” in Brussels at ECIPE’s offices.   European Commission Policy Officer Andrea Glorioso, Delft University Professor Jeroen van den Hoven, Elsevier Senior Vice President  for Analytics for Research Products Elisabeth Ling, and Thomson Reuters Global Head of Risk Technology Management Solutions Alex Cesar provided perspectives on what it will take for the European Union to achieve the ambitious public and private and investment objectives it has set for itself in its April 25, 2018 Communication on Artificial Intelligence.  It was a privilege to moderate this event, and I thank ECIPE and the panelists for their participation.     Synopsis of Panelist Views Andrea Glorioso noted that the Commission has specifically opted not to pr ...

SIIA’s TechChats provides a look into some of the most successful executives in our industry. Hear how many of them got to where they are today, what is shaping their businesses and the industry today, and special advice they would give to others trying to grow a successful company.

Last week, Google released a blog of seven ethical principles to guide their work in artificial intelligence.  The principles are:

In recent days, the Trump Administration has homed in on the promises of artificial intelligence (AI).  On Thursday, the White House issued an AI fact sheet titled, “Artificial Intelligence for the American People.” The fact outlines the Administration’s commitment to investing in AI research and development, creating a regulatory environment that fosters innovation pertaining to AI, and providing workers with 21st Century job skills.  In addition, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) chartered the National Science and Technology Council Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence, with the goal of sustaining and enhancing U.S. leadership in AI.  The stated purpose of this Select Committee is “to advise and assist the NSTC to improve the overall effectiveness and productivity of Federal research and development (R&D) efforts related to artificial intelligence.”  It will also “address significant national and ...

Yesterday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s Subcommittee on Information Technology held a hearing titled, “Game Changers: Artificial Intelligence Part III, Artificial Intelligence and Public Policy.”  The purpose of this hearing was to hear from experts in the artificial intelligence (AI) space to examine the potential role for the government and private sector in addressing challenges posed by AI technology as well to consider the merits and costs of government solutions to some of these challenges.  Overall, the hearing was very insightful and many of the panelists expressed similar views to SIIA. While AI technology presents incredible potential, there are certain challenges that come along with its implementation.  These challenges, such as ethical considerations, global competitiveness, privacy, and the future of work, have been examined many times by stakeholders.  SIIA has also highlighted many areas in which the gove ...

Twenty years ago, Hal Varian and Carl Shapiro published what has become the classic introduction to network economics.  Called Information Rules it described and illustrated key economic concepts like network effects, positive feedback loops, standards wars, market tipping points and switching costs, using examples that are now so dated that would not be recognizable to today’s digital natives.  But the text drilled into a generation of entrepreneurs and policymakers the importance of understanding the basic economics of network industries before starting a network business or trying to throw a regulatory net around a network industry.   Today Hal Varian works as Google’s chief economist. In his personal capacity he delivered a crash course on AI and data to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s TecGlobal 2018 meeting on April 4. He illustrated the familiar advances in machine learning through pattern recognition in voice and images, noting that it was t ...

Randall-Reilly’s acquisition last week of Smart Rhino Labs, which offers recruiting services for the trucking industry and provides its new parent with a deeper level of lead gen and data capabilities, could be the first of several deals as Randall-Reilly looks to build out its portfolio thanks to a full war chest courtesy of private equity firm Aurora Capital, which purchased the publisher last year for a reported $230 million. “Last summer we went through a quick version of strategic planning and started lining up priority acquisitions,” Prescott Shibles, Senior Vice President of Data at Randall-Reilly, told Connectiv. “That’s why we didn’t buy anything right out of the gate with Aurora. Now, we’re open for businesses.” Randall Reilly is looking for four key elements from an acquisition according to Shibles: assets that provide complementary data sets; new capabilities that solve client pain points; businesses that bring in new cl ...

After honoring our veterans this past Veteran’s Day, it is also important to shed light on various ways to help ensure that Veterans and others with mental illnesses can receive the care that they may need for scars both visible and invisible.  Sadly, one of the most affected groups of suicide are veterans with an average of 20 Veterans passing away each day due to suicide, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. As written in a previous SIIA AI Spotlight, in the United States, suicide is ranked as the third leading cause of death among people ages 10 to 14, second among people ages 15 to 24, fourth among people ages 35-54, and tenth overall according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.  One such tool that may aid in the field of suicide prevention is, unsurprisingly, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and Harvard University developed a machine learning algorithm that, when paired ...

On November 7, 2017 I made a short presentation to the AI Caucus event on AI and ethics, which is summarized in this blog.

SIIA has done many artificial intelligence (AI) spotlights this year where we have featured impressive, boundary-breaking technology in the space.  We have also released a handful of issue briefs, culminating in the most recent brief that we’ve released on Algorithms and Ethics.  What we have not done until this point, is feature how different countries and regions across the globe are prepared to handle AI, will benefit from AI, and how they plan to use AI in the future.  In an effort to compare these regions to each other, we will begin publishing the AI Landscape series as an accessory to the AI Spotlight series where we will do just these things.  We begin this series with a feature on China. China According to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), global GDP will receive a boost by $16 trillion by 2030 as a result of AI technology.  Nearly half of all that growth will come from China with AI increasing GDP in China by an estimated 1% each year.  C ...