Well, we all knew it was coming. Computers already easily overwhelm the best humans at chess and Go. Now they have done something far harder: achieved parity with David Brooks at writing. OpenAI's ChatGPT, released as a research beta two days ago, has done to the standard high-school essay what cameras did to photorealistic painting and pocket calculators did to basic arithmetic. It is open sign-up and free for now, but I suspect not for much longer, so go try it; and make sure to trawl social media for interesting and revealing examples being posted by people. As an open-world, real-ish (I'll define real-ish in a minute) domain, the correct standard for judging an AI on writing is not beating the "best" humans1 in a stylized closed-world competition (the existence of such competitions is a mark of a certain kind of simplicity), but achieving indistinguishability from mediocre humans. And when it comes to writing, nobody does mediocre more mediocrely than David Brooks.

Researchers from University of Minnesota, New York University, University of Pennsylvania, BI Norwegian Business School, University of Michigan, National Bureau of Economic Research, and University of North Carolina published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that examines how advances in machine learning (ML) and blockchain can address inherent frictions in omnichannel marketing and raises many questions for practice and research. The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing, is titled "Informational Challenges in Omnichannel Marketing Remedies and Future Research" and is authored by Koen Pauwels, Haitao (Tony) Cui, Catherine Tucker, Raghu Iyengar, S. Sriram, Anindya Ghose, Sriraman Venkataraman, and Hanna Halaburda. In this new study in the Journal of Marketing, researchers define omnichannel marketing as the "synergistic management of all customer touch points and channels both internal and external to the firm that ensures that the customer experience across channels and firm-side marketing activity, including marketing-mix and marketing communication (owned, paid, and earned), is optimized." Often viewed as the panacea for one-to-one marketing, omnichannel experiences data, marketing attribution, and consumer privacy frictions. The research team demonstrates that advances in machine learning (ML) and blockchain can address these frictions.

Solutions come after problems but exceptionally blockchain is a solution looking for its problems. We cannot find a completely solution except bitcoin based on blockchain. There are all around proof of concept studies just aiming to use blockchain. They wouldn't solve real world problems. Herein, meeting of blockchain and machine learning might become a remarkable revolution.

The General Services Administration is looking to speed up acquisition by harnessing innovative machine learning and blockchain technologies. The administration released a request for quotes June 19 to improve its Multiple Award Schedules FASt Lane program. FASt Lane was implemented in 2016 to give government agencies timely access to new technology innovation by shortening processing times. Now, GSA says it has up to $149,999 to offer to contractors for a proof of concept that can further improve FASt Lane processing and proposal review times with distributed ledger technology -- the foundation of blockchain technology, which also forms the basis of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin -- automated machine learning, artificial intelligence based technologies and electronic interchange technology. "The mission is to reduce the amount of human interaction required to review new proposal documents, improve offeror experience during the new offer proposal process, and reduce the review time for new proposal reviews to award," the RFQ reads.

The opportunity for fintech companies to disrupt traditional financial institutions is best observed today in millennials' habits. Millennials have a clear preference for accomplishing tasks through digital applications and services -- something fintech companies are better at providing than banks in terms of speed and personalization. More disturbing, Gen Y customers are far less loyal to their banks: only 45% of North American millennials said they plan to stick with their current bank, compared to 85% of North American respondents from all other age groups. While banks have steadily built up their online and mobile channels -- in part to appeal to millennials -- the products and services they offer in those channels are built on top of legacy systems and fail to provide the level of speed and personalization millennials expect. A customer might be able to deposit a check from anywhere with their mobile device, but it can take several days for that deposit to post to the user's account.