But the big data industry has significant inertia moving into 2021. In order to give our valued readers a pulse on important new trends leading into next year, we here at insideBIGDATA heard from all our friends across the vendor ecosystem to get their insights, reflections and predictions for what may be coming. We were very encouraged to hear such exciting perspectives. Even if only half actually come true, Big Data in the next year is destined to be quite an exciting ride. The "analytic divide" is going to get worse. Like the much-publicized "digital divide" we're also seeing the emergence of an "analytic divide." Many companies were driven to invest in analytics due to the pandemic, while others have been forced to cut anything they didn't view as critical to keep the lights on – and a proper investment in analytics was, for these organizations, analytics was on the chopping block. This means that the analytic divide will further widen in 2021, and this trend will continue for ...

LA JOLLA--(March 8, 2021) Deep learning is a potential tool for scientists to glean more detail from low-resolution images in microscopy, but it's often difficult to gather enough baseline data to train computers in the process. Now, a new method developed by scientists at the Salk Institute could make the technology more accessible--by taking high-resolution images, and artificially degrading them. The new tool, which the researchers call a "crappifier," could make it significantly easier for scientists to get detailed images of cells or cellular structures that have previously been difficult to observe because they require low-light conditions, such as mitochondria, which can divide when stressed by the lasers used to illuminate them. It could also help democratize microscopy, allowing scientists to capture high-resolution images even if they don't have access to powerful microscopes. The findings were published March 8, 2021, in the journal Nature Methods.

The United Nations Agencies are tackling natural disaster management using artificial intelligence (AI) with a new 2021 Focus Group on AI for Natural Disaster Management (FG-AI4NDM). The ITU focuses on information and communications technologies (ICT) and their support of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As noted by ITU, "facilitate international connectivity in communications networks, we allocate global radio spectrum and satellite orbits, develop the technical standards that ensure networks and technologies seamlessly interconnect, and strive to improve access to ICTs to underserved communities worldwide. Every time you make a phone call via the mobile, access the Internet or send an email, you are benefitting from the work of ITU." Relatable standards work would be in video compression (H26X series), phone area codes, performance standards in AI for healthcare, the phonetic alphabet used in radio communications, and the term "Internet of Things (IoT)" was originally coined by the ITU. As noted by WMO, "behaviour of the Earth's atmosphere, its interaction with the land and oceans, the weather and climate it produces, and the resulting distribution of water resources."

From the very earliest times in recorded human history, new technologies have been used for both positive and negative reasons. Scientists such as Robert Oppenheimer, whose work ultimately led to the development of nuclear weapons, have been only too aware of how technology can be harnessed by society in ways that raise ethical challenges. Our experience with computers is no different. New technologies have made life easier in many ways, yet we can see that when controls are lacking it can lead to unforeseen societal outcomes. We are now on the threshold of a new computer technology era more powerful than anything that preceded it: the age of quantum computing.

An academic and a lawyer have teamed up to develop a robot lawyer, which, if successful, will make legal advice affordable to people from all backgrounds, while revolutionizing the legal sector. Robots could take on significant parts of a lawyer's work, reducing the costs and barriers to access to legal services for everyone, rather than just those who can afford the high costs. The project, at the University of Bradford, is initially working on a machine learning-based application to provide immigration-related legal advice, but if successful, it could be replicated across the legal sector. The project was devised by Yash Dubal, immigration lawyer and director at AY&J, and Dhaval Thakker, associate professor at the faculty of engineering and informatics at the University of Bradford. It will harness complex knowledge graph technology and deep learning algorithms to analyse case law and learn from it.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt on Sunday urged lawmakers to ramp up funding for research and development in the artificial intelligence space in order to prevent China from becoming the biggest player in the global AI market–a development Schmidt warned would spark national security and privacy concerns that could ultimately constitute a national emergency. Speaking to CNN's Fareed Zakaria on Sunday, 65-year-old Schmidt said the United States may lose its lead in AI "fairly quickly" over the next decade given the Chinese government's progress on a 2017 plan to lead the global market for AI by 2030. A former Google CEO and current chair of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, Schmidt notes the U.S. is also falling behind China in additive, or 3D, manufacturing and robotics, as well as facial recognition technology and supercomputers–both of which pose risks on the national security front. "The government is not today prepared for this new technology," Schmidt said Sunday, noting that the use of AI to produce and spread harmful information poses a "threat to democracy" and could ultimately be used as a weapon of war. In order for the U.S. to be competitive, Schmidt suggests increasing the nation's budget for research and development in AI from $1.5 billion this year to $2 billion in 2022, and then doubling it each year until it hits $32 billion in 2026.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a beautiful piece of technology made to seamlessly augment our everyday experience. It is widely utilized in everything starting from marketing to even traffic light moderation in cities like Pittsburg. However, swords have two edges and the AI is no different. There are a fair number of upsides as well as downsides that follow such technological advancements. One way or another, the technology is moving too quickly while the education about the risks and safeguards that are in place are falling behind for the vast majority of the population. The whole situation is as much of a blessing for humankind as it is a curse.

London's world-renowned Science Museum reopens as a Covid-19 vaccination centre on Thursday (March 11). The museum on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, which was founded in 1857, will serve north-west London as part of the NHS's vaccination programme. Vaccinations will take place in Special Exhibition Gallery 1, a vast temporary exhibition space where thousands of artefacts have been displayed. These include a nuclear fusion reactor, historic robots and the spacecraft flown by the first woman in space, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova. Preparations are now also underway for a coronavirus-focused exhibit to go on display once the museum reopens.

Researchers have developed a method based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) that rapidly identifies currently available medications that may treat Alzheimer's disease. The method could represent a rapid and inexpensive way to repurpose existing therapies into new treatments for this progressive, debilitating neurodegenerative condition. Importantly, it could also help reveal new, unexplored targets for therapy by pointing to mechanisms of drug action. "Repurposing FDA-approved drugs for Alzheimer's disease is an attractive idea that can help accelerate the arrival of effective treatment -- but unfortunately, even for previously approved drugs, clinical trials require substantial resources, making it impossible to evaluate every drug in patients with Alzheimer's disease," said researcher Artem Sokolov from Harvard Medical School. "We, therefore, built a framework for prioritising drugs, helping clinical studies to focus on the most promising ones," Sokolov added.

Former Secretary of the Navy J. William Middendorf II, of Little Compton, lays out the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party in his recent book, "The Great Nightfall." With the emerging priority of artificial intelligence (AI), China is shifting away from a strategy of neutralizing or destroying an enemy's conventional military assets -- its planes, ships and army units. AI strategy is now evolving into dominating what are termed adversaries' "systems-of-systems" -- the combinations of all their intelligence and conventional military assets. What China would attempt first is to disable all of its adversaries' information networks that bind their military systems and assets. It would destroy individual elements of these now-disaggregated forces, probably with missiles and naval strikes.