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Archive for the ‘economics’ category: Page 78

Aug 24, 2021

Meet the wealthy Indonesian scions giving the country a tech boost

Posted by in categories: economics, finance

Michael is also part of a group of wealthy Indonesian scions that have in the past decade dabbled in the country’s vibrant tech sector by investing in home-grown giants and start-ups, be it in the form of money, resources, know-how, or access.


Industry stakeholders say family-owned corporate venture capital firms have played an important role in growing the country’s US$44 billion digital economy.

Aug 23, 2021

Europe trails behind US, China in AI research & development | DW Business

Posted by in categories: business, economics, employment, robotics/AI, sustainability, transportation

From voice-controlled personal assistants to smart robots on factory floors, Artificial Intelligence is having a profound effect on our lives. No surprise then that countries all over the world are trying to stay ahead of the curve. But when it comes to investment, who’s putting their money where their mouth is?
Looking at private funding, the United States leads the way — with well over 23 billion dollars going into the sector last year.
Coming in second is China, with almost 10 billion dollars. That said, Chinese state investment is particularly significant.
And the European Union falls far behind, with investment of just over 2 billion dollars.
So why is the EU lagging? And does Germany — its largest economy — have any plans to play catch-up? An example of AI in action can be found at a Rolls Royce control room just outside Berlin.
Robots destroy jobs and artificial intelligence will soon make us all superfluous. We’ve all seen headlines like that. But the reality of the situation looks a little different. Artificial intelligence is nothing more than a system that processes large amounts of data and makes predictions about the future based on that data. Engine manufacturer Rolls Royce has been a fan of AI for a long time.
Even in emergencies, it keeps its cool. In the control room at Rolls Royce just south of Berlin, safety engineers monitor more than 9,000 airplane engines worldwide. Long before the owners of the commercial jets would even notice a defect, the systems here sound the alarm. Artificial intelligence at work.
The systems are fed massive amounts of data. Then the owners of the aircraft are informed. The plane can then be taken in for maintenance long before the problem becomes expensive or life-threatening.
In the adjacent building, engines are assembled. Many parts are custom-made, previously developed by the design engineers, who also use artificial intelligence. For example, how would it affect the engine if certain components are changed? AI helps to find the best method.
The Center for Artificial Intelligence opened at the Dahlewitz site near Berlin in 2019. People here aren’t afraid that artificial intelligence will take their jobs.
In fact, the mechanics will probably have to install even more sensors and cables in the future. After all, in about five years’ time, the plan is for the aircraft to fly here with hybrid drive systems — based on sustainable fuel and electricity.

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Aug 22, 2021

Prioritizing humanity ahead of profits through NFTs

Posted by in categories: cryptocurrencies, economics

Related: Ethereum’s London hard fork sets ETH on a more deflationary path

For some, it’s easier to burn money than to coordinate and fund public goods. As a confessed humanist, that’s massively disappointing to me. This fundamental shift would have been tremendous support for research and development and innovation that maximizes community benefit and the thriving (rather than survival) of more transparent nonprofits. Developments in this space would make unbelievable strides forward for Ethereum and broader society.

The building blocks are here for humans to coordinate and reward those who create a lasting impact. NFTs, DAOs and retroactive public funding make it easier to put humanity first. We’re at a monumental moment for pro-social organizations, where public goods like ending world hunger, championing human rights and economic empowerment can be designed for the long run.

Aug 21, 2021

Hydrogen lobbyist quits, slams oil companies’ “false claims” about blue hydrogen

Posted by in categories: economics, energy, government

Jackson continues by saying that blue hydrogen is “at best an expensive distraction, and at worst a lock-in for continued fossil fuel use” which would derail goals that the country and the world have set for decarbonizing the economy. He takes particular issue with the fact that oil and gas companies have asked the UK government for decades of subsidies while also claiming that blue hydrogen will be inexpensive to produce. “If the false claims made by oil companies about the cost of blue hydrogen were true, their projects would make a profit by 2030,” he told The Guardian.


Recent studies have questioned blue hydrogen’s low-carbon bona fides.

Aug 21, 2021

The U.S. could be on the verge of a productivity boom, a game-changer for the economy

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, economics, government, robotics/AI

Economists have learned that new technological breakthroughs usually don’t cause a jump in productivity right away. The technology needs time to marinate so companies can test how best to deploy it in their industry. Brynjolfsson argues artificial intelligence and machine learning have now simmered long enough to make a dramatic difference. Others are not as convinced.


Rapid adoption of robots and artificial intelligence during the pandemic combined with a rebound in government investment is making some economists optimistic about a return of a 1990s economy with widespread benefits.

Aug 18, 2021

## Center for Research on Foundation Models • Aug 16 2021

Posted by in categories: economics, education, law, robotics/AI, security

# On the Opportunities and.
Risks of Foundation Models.

AI is undergoing a paradigm shift with the rise of models (e.g., BERT, DALL-E, GPT-3) that are trained on broad data at scale and are adaptable to a wide range of downstream tasks. We call these models foundation models to underscore their critically central yet incomplete character.

This report provides a thorough account of the opportunities and risks of foundation models, ranging from their capabilities (e.g., language, vision, robotics, reasoning, human interaction) and technical principles (e.g., model architectures, training procedures, data, systems, security, evaluation, theory) to their applications (e.g., law, healthcare, education) and societal impact (e.g., inequity, misuse, economic and environmental impact, legal and ethical considerations).

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Aug 16, 2021

The New Supersonic Boom

Posted by in categories: economics, energy, transportation

Despite strong support from the FAA, the airline industry, and aerospace companies, the U.S. Senate ceased funding the development of a supersonic airliner in 1971. Two years later, the FAA banned supersonic flight over land, a prohibition that remains to this day.

The Concorde went on to serve various destinations, including some in the United States, flying at supersonic speeds only over water. That continued until 2,003 when British Airways and Air France retired their fleets, together amounting to just 12 aircraft. (Fourteen production aircraft were manufactured, but one was scrapped in 1,994 and another crashed in 2000.)

While the Concorde successfully overcame the technical hurdles standing in the way of supersonic passenger service, it succumbed to economics: The cost of fuel and maintenance was especially high for these planes. A new generation of aeronautical engineers and entrepreneurs are, however, keen to once again take on the technical, environmental, and economic challenges.

Aug 12, 2021

How China Is Using AI to Fuel the Next Industrial Revolution

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, economics, robotics/AI

For many years now, China has been the world’s factory. Even in 2,020 as other economies struggled with the effects of the pandemic, China’s manufacturing output was $3.854 trillion, up from the previous year, accounting for nearly a third of the global market.

But if you are still thinking of China’s factories as sweatshops, it’s probably time to change your perception. The Chinese economic recovery from its short-lived pandemic blip has been boosted by its world-beating adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). After overtaking the U.S. in 2,014 China now has a significant lead over the rest of the world in AI patent applications. In academia, China recently surpassed the U.S. in the number of both AI research publications and journal citations. Commercial applications are flourishing: a new wave of automation and AI infusion is crashing across a swath of sectors, combining software, hardware and robotics.

As a society, we have experienced three distinct industrial revolutions: steam power, electricity and information technology. I believe AI is the engine fueling the fourth industrial revolution globally, digitizing and automating everywhere. China is at the forefront in manifesting this unprecedented change.

Aug 11, 2021

China overtakes US in AI research

Posted by in categories: economics, internet, robotics/AI

Doubtful. But, i hope so, it will convince them to spend more money here to move AI research faster.


TOKYO — China is overtaking the U.S. in artificial intelligence research, setting off alarm bells on the other side of the Pacific as the world’s two largest economies jockey for AI supremacy.

In 2,020 China topped the U.S. for the first time in terms of the number of times an academic article on AI is cited by others, a measure of the quality of a study. Until recently, the U.S. had been far ahead of other countries in AI research.

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Aug 11, 2021

Big Tech’s Stranglehold on Artificial Intelligence Must Be Regulated

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, business, economics, policy, robotics/AI

In other words, the mix of positives and negatives puts this potent new suite of technologies on a knife-edge. Do we have confidence that a handful of companies that have already lost public trust can take AI in the right direction? We should have ample reason for worry considering the business models driving their motivations. To advertising-driven companies like Google and Facebook, it’s clearly beneficial to elevate content that travels faster and draws more attention—and misinformation usually does —while micro-targeting that content by harvesting user data. Consumer product companies, such as Apple, will be motivated to prioritize AI applications that help differentiate and sell their most profitable products—hardly a way to maximize the beneficial impact of AI.

Yet another challenge is the prioritization of innovation resources. The shift online during the pandemic has led to outsized profits for these companies, and concentrated even more power in their hands. They can be expected to try to maintain that momentum by prioritizing those AI investments that are most aligned with their narrow commercial objectives while ignoring the myriad other possibilities. In addition, Big Tech operates in markets with economies of scale, so there is a tendency towards big bets that can waste tremendous resources. Who remembers IBM’s Watson initiative? It aspired to become the universal, go-to digital decision tool, especially in healthcare—and failed to live up to the hype, as did the trendy driverless car initiatives of Amazon and Google parent Alphabet. While failures, false starts, and pivots are a natural part of innovation, expensive big failures driven by a few enormously wealthy companies divert resources away from more diversified investments across a range of socially productive applications.

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