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Nasdaq CEO Bob Greifeld talks David-and-Goliath battles, making computers work harder, and the future of trading

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When Bob Greifeld became Nasdaq's CEO in 2003, he was presented with outdated tools and a company that was bleeding cash and rapidly losing market share. Thirteen years later, Nasdaq has the largest market share for options and equities of any exchange in the US. Through acquisitions and partnerships, Greifeld has shaped Nasdaq into what he primarily views as a cutting-edge technology company. During a recent interview with Business Insider, Greifeld discussed his vision for the future of Nasdaq and how it fits into the exchange industry. What follows is that portion of our interview, edited for length and clarity.


Google hints at a non-ad business model for its AI assistant

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"We think of the Assistant as a fundamentally different product than search and we think it's going to be used in a different way," John Giannandrea, Google's new search and artificial intelligence chief, said onstage at the I/O developer conference. He didn't delve into specifics, beyond noting that the Assistant is built more around conversations -- tech that talks, nudges and prompts you, not just gives answers. Still, the Google SVP cautioned, dialogue and language are "the big unsolved problems in computer science." One difference could come in the business model. Instead of ads, which support search, Google may dole out its upcoming AI tech to companies and devices that want it.


A New Challenge Surfaces for Alphabet Inc: Bloomberg

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Alphabet Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) advertising "profit engine" has been significantly overturned by the smartphone boom, and it has taken quite some time for the company to adapt to the "new world order." The next upcoming wave of computing poses an even greater challenge. At the Google I/O developer conference this week, the Internet search giant announced new technology that will depend "less and less" on screen gadgets to provide information and services to users. A company executive explained that Google aspires for these steps to attract the human attention its revenues rely on, and strategize to make profits later on. Google Home will reside in living rooms, extract voice queries, and provide verbal responses from virtually-designed "Google assistant."


Machine Consciousness Experiment

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Your computer must have Flash Player capability to view the Experiment. Most PC computers will have this ability. Smart Phone users will have to find an appropriate Flash Player App. The Photon Browser App is usually a good free choice. Please be patient with this Live Screen Stream. If you are not getting Experiment results at the moment please try again another time. If the White Ball is stationary in the center of the screen it means that the software has been restarted and is calibrating.


Why people like Edward Snowden say they will boycott Google's newest messaging app

Washington Post - Technology News

Google this week announced a new messaging app with strong encryption, meaning that your communications can't be wiretapped. But there's a catch: You have to turn on that feature yourself. The tech titan's plan to launch Allo this summer without encryption by default has drawn withering criticism from some quarters. Google's decision to disable end-to-end encryption by default in its new #Allo chat app is dangerous, and makes it unsafe. "I, too, would prefer that Allo be encrypted by default," said Kevin Bankston, director of New America's Open Technology Institute.



Digital Smarts Everywhere: The Emergence of Ambient Intelligence

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The Troggs were a legendary rock and roll band who were part of the British Invasion in the late 1960's. They have always been best known for their iconic rocker Wild Thing. This was also the only Top 10 hit that ever had an ocarina solo. The band went on to have two other major hits, With a Girl Like You and Love is All Around.¹ The third of the band's classic singles can be stretched a bit to be used as a helpful metaphor to describe an emerging form pervasive "all around"-edness, this time in a more technological context.


The Future of Digital Music...Maybe

#artificialintelligence

I've quickly grown accustomed to having instantaneous access to the entirety of human knowledge pretty much anywhere and at any time (otherwise known as googling from a smartphone). But you know what feature of the magical unfolding digital future really blows me away? The fact that, in my house, I can say "Alexa, play Led Zeppelin," and start irritating my children within seconds. Alexa is the pleasant personality baked into Amazon's Echo Bluetooth speaker; she's staring at me right now from the kitchen table, breathlessly listening for her name. Google just announced a similar product called Home, and Apple's Siri can pull this off, as well.


What science fiction tells us about our trouble with artificial intelligence

#artificialintelligence

Given that the reality of AI may be fast approaching, it's of the utmost importance that we work out what might a future with artificial intelligence might look like. Last year, an open letter with signatories including Stephen Hawking and Nick Bostrom called for AI to be of demonstrable benefit to humanity, or risk something that exceeds our ability to control it. AI, as conceived of in popular culture, does not yet exist, even if autonomous and expert systems do. Smartphones might not be supercomputers, but they are called "smartphones" for good reason, in terms of how their operating systems function. Equally, we are happy to talk about a computer game's "AI", but gamers quickly learn to take advantage of its limitations and inability to "think" creatively.


New research paper explains how to create a malevolent AI

#artificialintelligence

Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming one of the most powerful tools in the tech industry, and while AI can be used for harmless tasks like defeating world Go champions, it also has the potential for misuse. A malevolent AI would be like a computer virus on steroids, and while there are currently no known cases, researchers Federico Pistono and Roman Yampolskiy from the University of Louisville in Kentucky believe that we should already be preparing for them. Pistono and Yampolskiy have published a research paper called "Unethical Research: How to Create a Malevolent Artificial Intelligence." In it, they explain that it is entirely possible for a malevolent AI to be created in the right environment, and they lay out what sort of warning signs the cyber security industry should be looking out for. First and foremost, Pistono and Yampolskiy say that any organization interested in creating a malevolent AI would resist any form of oversight on their research.