Most companies recognize the potential for data insights to improve customer experience, better direct marketing strategies, create new products and services, and optimize operations, among myriad compelling use cases. "If you need outsiders to tell you your data is valuable, you're living in the wrong century," says Wayne Sadin, an independent advisor and former CIO/CTO/CDO. Data is even more valuable during this pandemic period, when economies are volatile, markets are uncertain, and businesses face unprecedented challenges that underscore the need for intelligent insights to guide strategic decision-making. "The pandemic has already accelerated many organizations' digital transformation programs, and in many cases, data has emerged as an invaluable component of the successes of the modern-day enterprise," notes Sridhar Iyengar, managing director at Zoho. "Those businesses which are not already leaning on data insights risk being left behind." Defining and seeking clarity on how to value data as an asset.

Advances in computer vision and machine learning have made it possible for a wide range of technologies to perform sophisticated tasks with little or no human supervision. From autonomous drones and self-driving cars to medical imaging and product manufacturing, many computer applications and robots use visual information to make critical decisions. Cities increasingly rely on these automated technologies for public safety and infrastructure maintenance. However, compared to humans, computers see with a kind of tunnel vision that leaves them vulnerable to attacks with potentially catastrophic results. For example, a human driver, seeing graffiti covering a stop sign, will still recognize it and stop the car at an intersection.

The U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force are working on a new generation of training technologies to prepare their fighter aircraft for new Russian and Chinese air threats posed by the Su-57 fighter and J-20 fifth-generation stealth aircraft, respectively. Over the next two years, the U.S. Air Force plans to use a cutting-edge computer technology called the P5 Combat Training System (P5CTS), made by a firm called Cubic Mission and Performance Solutions. Information from Cubic describes the P5 as an encryption solution intended to improve U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy pilot training for advanced, high-threat combat scenarios using advanced computer simulations, wireless networks, and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled data organization. Interestingly, the P5 pod can be seen in the now-famous Top Gun Maverick movie on a F/A-18 fighter. "Over the course of the last 13 years, we've learned some critical lessons about integrating fast movers with virtual environments to provide a realistic presentation to the aircrew in their cockpits. Having a wireless network that allows you to sustain that environment without interruptions. In other words, a low, flat latency is a very important feature," said Cubic's training expert, Paul Averna.

Many of us are familiar with Intuit's (NASDAQ:INTU) industry-leading products in personal taxes (Turbo Tax) and small business accounting (QuickBooks). However, the company has expanded well beyond these two areas and assembled a portfolio of products that have improved and will continue to improve the financial lives of its customers. On Intuit's website, CEO Sasan Goodarzi described their mission statement as follows: We are a purpose-driven, values-driven company. Our mission to power prosperity around the world is why we show up to work every single day to do incredible things for our customers. Our values guide us and define what we stand for as a company.

The conflict between Ukraine and Russia has demonstrated how technology may play a significant role in modern warfare. While Ukraine’s military force isn’t as strong as Russia’s, it does employ cutting-edge technology to its advantage.  It has been observed that Kyiv is aggressively utilizing social media to weaken Putin’s forces’ morale. However, it does not […]

"I just found what I was looking for in the recommendations section. How exactly did they know though?" There is one answer to this simple question: machine learning. Machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming more utilized in our transition into the future age of technology, from predicting if one has cancer depending on various health factors, to identifying a person's handwriting and translating it into words. As innovative as it seems, there is no clear line drawn in what can be predicted from algorithms and what can not, but there are criteria and conditions to what machine learning models are considered successful.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is truly a revolutionary feat of computer science, set to become a core component of all modern software over the coming years and decades. This presents a threat but also an opportunity. AI will be deployed to augment both defensive and offensive cyber operations. Additionally, new means of cyber attack will be invented to take advantage of the particular weaknesses of AI technology. Finally, the importance of data will be amplified by AI's appetite for large amounts of training data, redefining how we must think about data protection. Prudent governance at the global level will be essential to ensure that this era-defining technology will bring about broadly shared safety and prosperity.

Deep learning[133] uses several layers of neurons between the network's inputs and outputs. The multiple layers can progressively extract higher-level features from the raw input. For example, in image processing, lower layers may identify edges, while higher layers may identify the concepts relevant to a human such as digits or letters or faces.[134] Deep learning has drastically improved the performance of programs in many important subfields of artificial intelligence, including computer vision, speech recognition, image classification[135] and others. Deep learning often uses convolutional neural networks for many or all of its layers.

On June 16, 2022, the federal government introduced Bill C-27, the Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2022 (Bill C-27 or Bill). If passed, the Bill would significantly reform federal private-sector privacy law. It would also introduce rules to regulate "high-impact" artificial intelligence (AI) systems under a new Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA). Like the EU's recent proposal, the AIDA would take a harm-based approach to regulating AI by creating new obligations for yet-to-be-defined "high-impact systems." Below we provide an overview of the new proposal to regulate AI systems. Be sure to read our companion Blakes Bulletin on Bill C-27's proposals to reform private-sector privacy laws.

Originally intended as a rescue robot for emergencies, humanoid robot Fedor, or "Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research," was instead co-opted by Roscomos, the Russian space agency, in 2019. Its mission: to test a new emergency rescue system aboard a Soyuz 2.1a rocket, a dicey setting that's better for Fedor to handle than a human being. It would learn how to connect and disconnect electric cables using "standard items from a screwdriver and a spanner to a fire extinguisher," according to Alexander Bloshenko, the Russian space agency's director. Fedor was to fly to the International Space Station, where it would be an astronaut assistant, especially on risky spacewalks. Once it got to the International Space Station, however, it quickly became clear that Fedor's long legs and clumsy hands were not suitable for space walks or grabbing handrails in zero gravity. So its mission was aborted, but Roscomos plans to improve on Fedor's design for a potential future mission.