Short & Sweet AI

By Dr. PeperNews Technology Tech News

Short & Sweet AI episodes

February 15, 2021What is AI Bias?
The ethics surrounding AI are complicated yet fascinating to discuss. One issue that sits front and center is AI bias, but what is it?
AI is based on algorithms, fed by data and experiences. The problem is when that data is incorrect, biased or based on stereotypes. Unfortunately, this means that machines, just like humans, are guided by potentially biased information.
This means that your daily threat from AI is not from the machines themselves, but their bias. In this episode of Short and Sweet AI, I talk about this further and discuss a very serious problem: artificial intelligence bias.
In this episode, find out:
What AI bias is?
The effects of AI bias
The three different types of bias and how they affect AI
How AI contributes to selection bias

Important Links & Mentions:
Amazon scraps secret AI recruiting tool that showed bias against women
Google Hired Timnit Gebru to be an outspoken critic of unethical AI
Biased Algorithms Learn from Biased Data: 3 Kinds Biases Found In AI Datasets
Biased Programmers? Or Biased Data? A Field Experiment in Operationalizing AI Ethics

Resources:
Venture Beat – Study finds diversity in data science teams is key in reducing algorithmic bias
The New York Times - We Teach A.I. Systems Everything, Including Our Biases

Episode Transcript:
Today I’m talking about a very serious problem: artificial intelligence bias.
AI Ethics
The ethics of AI are complicated. Every time I go to review this area, I’m dazed by all the issues. There are groups in the AI community who wrestle with robot ethics, the threat to human dignity, transparency ethics, self-driving car liability, AI accountability, the ethics of weaponizing AI, machine ethics, and even the existential risk from superintelligence. But of all these hidden terrors, one is front and center. Artificial intelligence bias. What is it?
Machines Built with Bias
AI is based on algorithms in the form of computer software. Algorithms power computers to make decisions through something called machine learning. Machine learning algorithms are all around us. They supply the Netflix suggestions we receive, the posts appearing at the top of our social media feeds, they drive the results of our google searches. Algorithms are fed on data. If you want to teach a machine to recognize a cat, you feed the algorithm thousands of cat images until it can recognize a cat better than you can.
The problem is machine learning algorithms are used to make decisions in our daily lives that can have extreme consequences. A computer program may help police decide where to send resources, or who’s approved for a mortgage, who’s accepted to a university or who gets the job.
More and more experts in the field are sounding the alarm. Machines, just...
7 min
February 08, 2021AI + Covid-19 Vaccine
How fast can you develop a vaccine? Never has this challenge been put to the test quite so intensely as in 2020.
In fact, Jason Moore, who heads Bioinformatics at UPenn thinks that if the virus had hit 20 years ago, the world might have been doomed. It’s only thanks to modern technology that we now have a safe vaccine. He said, “I think we have a fighting chance today because of AI and machine learning.”
So, how did AI help to make the Covid-19 vaccine a reality? The short answer is a combination of computational analysis and the system of AlphaFold. I talk more about how researchers developed the vaccine so fast in this episode of Short and Sweet AI.
In this episode find out:
How AI was used to learn more about Covid-19 through data analysis
How AI helped researchers develop the vaccine so quickly
Where we would be without AI and machine learning

Important Links & Mentions
Deep Mind, Gaming, + the Nobel Prize
AlphaFold: Using AI for Scientific Discovery
Alpha Fold: the making of a scientific breakthrough

Resources:
IEEE Spectrum - What AI Can–and Can’t–Do in the Race for a Coronavirus Vaccine
Wired.com - AI Can Help Scientists Find a Covid-19 Vaccine
Washington Post - Artificial Intelligence and Covid-19: Can the Machines Save Us?

Episode Transcript:
Friends tease me because I’m so fascinated with artificial intelligence that I will claim AI is the reason we have a safe Covid-19 vaccine so quickly. And they’re right, it is one of the reasons. In fact, Jason Moore, who heads Bioinformatics at U Penn thinks if this virus had hit 20 years ago, the world might have been doomed. He said “I think we have a fighting chance today because of AI and machine learning.
How did AI help to make the Covid-19 vaccine a reality? The short answer is through computational analysis and Alpha Fold.
But first, a little background on vaccines. A vaccine provokes the body into producing defensive white blood cells and antibodies by imitating the infection. In order to imitate an infection, you need to find a target on the virus. Once you find the target you need to understand its 3D shape to make the vaccine against it. But it’s really hard to figure out all the possible shapes before you find the one, unique 3D shape of the target, unless…unless of course you use AI.

In the case of the Covid-19 vaccine, Google’s machine learning neural network called Alpha Fold saved the day. Alpha Fold predicted the 3D shape of the virus spike protein based on its genetic sequence. And did it really fast, as early as March 2020, three months after the pandemic started. Without AI, it would have taken months and months to come up with what the best possible target protein could be, and it might have been wrong. But with AI, researchers were able to race ahead to ultimately develop the mRNA vaccine.
7 min
February 01, 2021What is the 4th Industrial Revolution?
Technology breakthroughs are disrupting every industry at a rapid rate. In fact, advances in technology are massively transforming every industry exponentially faster than ever before in history.
What do you call exponentially fast disruption and massive transformation in worldwide industries?
It’s called the 4th Industrial Revolution, which I talk about in more detail in this episode of Short and Sweet AI.
In this episode find out:
What the 4th Industrial Revolution is
A brief overview of the previous industrial revolutions
Whether the 4th Industrial Revolution should be considered a part of the Third Industrial Revolution
Pros and cons of the new Industry 4.0
Why inequality may become the greatest threat of the 4th IR

Important Links & Mentions
What Is Edge AI or Edge Computing?
5G: Fifth Generation Wireless, What Is It?
What is IOT and Why Does it Matter?
XR: What is Extended Reality?

Resources:
CNBC - Everything you need to know about the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Salesforce - What Is the Fourth Industrial Revolution?
World Economic Forum - The Fourth Industrial Revolution: what it means, how to respond
What is the Fourth Industrial Revolution?
What is the Fourth Industrial Revolution? | CNBC Explains
The Fourth Industrial Revolution by Klaus Schwab

Episode Transcript:
Welcome to those who are curious about AI. From Short and Sweet AI, I’m Dr. Peper.
Right here, right now, technology breakthroughs are disrupting every industry and massively transforming every industry, exponentially faster than ever before in history. What do you call exponentially fast disruption and massive transformation in world-wide industries? It’s called the 4th industrial revolution.
The 4th industrial revolution is also known as 4 IR or Industry 4.0. But what does it mean? Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, coined the term and wrote a book of the same title. He details how we are now living during a 4th industrial revolution characterized by the fusion of AI, robotics, 3D printing, IOT, quantum computing, blockchain, autonomous vehicles, 5G, synthetic biology, virtual reality, and countless other...
8 min
January 25, 2021Personal Data as Private Property
Is it time we regained control of our data and found new and better ways to protect it?
You and I know that the social media platforms and internet sites we visit collect data on us. In many ways, they monetize our data and use it as a product that can be purchased.
In this episode of Short and Sweet AI, I talk about personal data as private property and whether there is a way for us to choose who gets to use our data.
In this episode find out:
The true value of data
Whether we should get paid for our data
Who Professor Song is
How Professor Song and her company “Oasis Labs” are working on a system that could potentially help users protect their data and even get paid for it
How you could potentially make your data your private property
Professor Song’s vision for the future and why she believes that we should get revenue by sharing our data

Important Links & Mentions
Oasis Labs
Are Machine Learning and Deep learning the Same as AI?

Resources:
Oasis Labs' Dawn Song on a Safer Way to Protect Your Data
Building a World Where Data Privacy Exists Online
Get Paid for Your Data, Reap the Data Dividend
Giving Users Control of their Genomic Data
Oasis Labs' Dawn Song in Conversation with Tom Simonite
deeplearning.ai's Heroes of Deep Learning: Dawn Song
Computer Scientists Work To Fix Easily Fooled AI

Episode Transcript:
From Short and Sweet AI, I’m Dr. Peper, and today I want to talk with you about personal data as private property.
You and I know that social media platforms and internet sites we visit are collecting data on us. We know they’re selling our data to advertisers. I mean, that’s their business model. They provide a platform for us to connect with each other and we give them our personal data as payment. Data is valuable. Data is the new oil. It brings in billions of dollars of income for Google, Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, and countless other companies. When we’re online and we click on a pop-up that says “accept”, we’re essentially giving away our personal information to that company. And do we really have a choice? You either have to accept the terms or you’re not allowed to use that site.
Well, what if we could be paid for our data, what if we could determine who gets data about what sites we visit, what apps we use on our phones, what physical locations we go to, what conversations we have, basically what if we could be paid for all the information companies are gathering on us now on a daily basis. And what if we had a...
6 min
January 18, 2021Neuralink Update
In this exciting episode of Short and Sweet AI, I talk about the recent update that Elon Musk gave on his company Neuralink – including how and why his team implanted a coin-sized computer chip in a pig’s brain to create a brain-to-machine interface.
In this episode find out:
What Neuralink is
How the Neuralink chip device works
How Neuralink works when implanted in a pig’s brain
What the future holds for Neuralink and how it may be able to help cure serious health conditions

Important Links & Mentions:
Cyborgs Among Us

Resources:
Neuralink Is Impressive Tech, Wrapped In Musk Hype
Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface company Neuralink has money and buzz, but hurdles too
How Neuralink Works
Neuralink Update (2020) - Highlights in 7 minutes
6 min
January 11, 2021The Godfather of AI
What does it take to be the godfather of AI? And, how does someone come to obtain such a legendary title?
In this episode of Short and Sweet AI, I talk about Geoffrey Hinton, a neuroscientist, computer scientist, and the man Google hired to make AI a reality. In many ways, we have Geoffrey Hinton to thank for developing modern AI and deep learning. It is thanks to him that deep learning has become mainstream in the field of artificial intelligence.
So, how did Geoffrey Hinton rise to become the godfather of AI? Watch this video to find out!
In this episode find out:
How Geoffrey Hinton became the godfather of AI
Why Geoffrey Hinton believes machines need to think the way humans do
Understanding how deep neural networks replicate how the brain processes information
How deep learning became mainstream after 30 years in the wilderness
How deep learning became AI's "lunatic core"

Important Links & Mentions
Are Machine Learning and Deep Learning the same as AI?
ImageNet

Resources:
Geoffrey Hinton: The Foundations of Deep Learning
Geoffrey Hinton: “Probably machines will get smarter than people in almost everything”
Meet the Man Google Hired to Make AI a Reality
Turing Award Won by 3 Pioneers in Artificial Intelligence
7 min
January 04, 2021The End of Moore’s Law and Why It’s Important
Moore's Law is coming to an end, and many people don't know how to feel about it. In fairness, the end of Moore's Law is not something that crept up on us out of nowhere. Industry experts predicted the termination of Moore's Law years ago. They observed its gradual decline and forecasted a grim future for Moore's Law that has since proved to be an accurate calculation.
But the question remains… why is Moore's Law ending? And why should you care?
I'm kicking off the start of the year with a Short and Sweet AI podcast episode that focuses on endings. That is, the end of Moore's Law and why it matters. As always, I focus on AI in simple terms so that whether you're new to AI or a seasoned pro, you can follow along fully immersed!
In this episode find out:
What Moore’s Law is, who created it, and why it is so important
How Google's big "OMG" moment led to the end of Moore’s Law
What a Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) is
Why TPU is the “Helen of Troy” of AI
What could replace Moore’s Law in the future

Important Links & Mentions
Intel
5G: Fifth Generation Wireless. What is it?
What is Edge AI or Edge Computing?
What is Quantum Computing?

Resources:
Eye on AI: The Podcast
What is Moore's Law? WIRED explains the theory that defined the tech industry
How Moore’s Law Works
Microprocessor Transistor Counts 1971-2011 & Moore's Law
8 min
May 05, 2020 What is Quantum Computing? part 2
From Short and Sweet AI, I’m Dr. Peper and today I’m discussing more about quantum computing.
Regular computers use a binary system of ones and zeros or bits. Quantum computers use quantum bits or qubits which exist in superposition and make them very powerful. Quantum computing is a very different technology from anything we’ve seen because qubits can exist in two states at once. They can be like a coin that is spinning and is both heads and tails at once. In order to explain how this could exist, quantum computing which is based on quantum physics has created theories of the existence of parallel universes. In a parallel universe you could have a coin be heads and in a separate parallel universe, it could be tails. Yeah, this stuff gets pretty crazy, very fast.
In the previous podcast I talked about the super powerful state of superposition. And I talked about entanglements where multiple qubits are physically separated but act like they’re entangled and give similar results. Added to that is this is all taking place in a computer which looks like a fantastic chandelier, made that way in order to create very cold conditions similar to outer space. Absolute zero, outerspace.
But are quantum computers a reality? There are many groups all over the world working on this technology: IBM, Google, Intel, the Chinese government, the US government, private start up groups such as Rigetti Computing and more. All these groups have been working feverishly for the ultimate breakthrough. Then in 2019 Google announced its’ quantum computer had solved a mathematical problem in 3 minutes 32 seconds. It would have taken the most powerful, existing supercomputer more than 10,000 years to solve the problem. That’s the difference in magnitude and power between a regular supercomputer and a quantum computer.
As the scientists explained, the answer to the problem wasn’t important, it really didn’t do anything. But what the Google quantum computer accomplished was the same as the Wright brothers first plane flight. It showed that quantum computing was really possible even though its true potential is years in the future.
What’s holding the technology back? Well, quantum type problems. Qubits are very sensitive and must be shielded from heat, electrical interference, and other metals, and cooled down to just above absolute zero in order to complete their calculations. And you need at least 50 qubits to have a quantum computer but groups of qubits are very fragile and can fall apart or de-cohere. This leads to errors in the calculations.
Scientists are confident they will solve these problems in the next decade and then we will really see what these computers can do. That goes back to how qubits work. They’re very powerful because they can deal with uncertainty. And that’s how the laws of atoms and subatomic particles called quantum physics work. In nature, things smaller than the atom are not always on or off. They don’t follow the laws of larger things in nature such as gravity, relativity or E equals MC squared. With regular computers if you want to solve a maze, it will go down every single path, one after the other, until it finds the right one. A quantum computer works by the laws of subatomic particles and goes down every path at once because it can operate with uncertainty; it can hold each alternative path as a possibility.
Technology this powerful can be used to simulate large complicated problems with uncertainty such as forecast financial markets, find better products such as batteries for self-driving cars, new drugs for medications, or even using quantum computing to understand quantum physics. And cryptography will be saved by quantum computing. New quantum encryption uses the uncertainty principle where everything influences th...
6 min
April 29, 2020 What is Quantum Computing?
From Short and Sweet AI, I’m Dr. Peper and today I’m talking about one of the most challenging ideas I’ve ever discussed, quantum computing.
Quantum computing excites and perplexes me. It has all these strange, science fiction parts to it such as superposition, entanglement, parallel universes, yes, I said parallel universes, temperatures as cold a deep space, well, just above absolute zero really, and of course qubits. And quantum computers have been described as looking like steampunk chandeliers.
Quantum Bits = Qubits
Let’s start with qubits. In traditional computers, information is coded as binary units which are either ones or zeros and referred to as bits. They’re like tiny switches that can be either in the off position, represented by a zero, or in the on position, represented by a one. Computers are made up of millions of these bits in some combination of ones and zeros. This binary system is how our phones, apps, websites and the internet work. Quantum computing is completely different. It involves a philosophical leap really. It involves the idea that a single object can be in two states at the same time, so it can be a one and a zero at the same time, or it can be on and off at the same time. I know, it sounds crazy.
Superposition
Take a coin for example, if you flip a coin, it can be either heads or tails. But during the flip, the coin is spinning and is in both states at once, heads and tails at the same time. This is called superposition. Quantum computing stores a combination of one and zeros in both states, on and off, at once, in the form of qubits. Quantum computers are powered by collections of qubits in superposition and that’s what makes them so powerful.
Entanglements
The other thing qubits do is called entanglement. When two particles are linked together in quantum computing it’s called entanglement even if they’re physically separate. Normally when you flip a coin, tossing one coin won’t affect the next coin toss. But in quantum computing, two spinning coins can be linked together and if one comes up heads, the other one will also come up heads.Then if you can string together multiple qubits you can tackle the problems that even our best computers can’t solve.
But quantum computers are not really just about doing things faster or more efficiently. They can do things we can’t even dream of, things our everyday supercomputers can’t possibly do.
Light Bulb, Not Candle
A quantum physicist, Shohini Ghose, says a quantum computer is not just a more powerful supercomputer just as a light bulb is not a more powerful version of a candle. You cannot build a light bulb by building better and better candles. A light bulb is a different technology just as quantum computing is a different technology. Having a lot more candles won’t achieve the same effect of what a light bulb can do because they’re two different technologies. And just like a light bulb transformed society, quantum computers have the potential to impact many, many different aspects of our lives.
Magic
Quantum computing is so strange, so futuristic, so exuberant, really, I love it. To me it’s what the science fiction guru, Arthur C. Clarke, was thinking about when he said, “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
There’s so much more to discuss about qubits, quantum computing, and the space race to quantum supremacy in my next episode.
Until then, from Short and Sweet AI, I’m Dr. Peper.
5 min
April 22, 2020 A Physician during COVID
From short and sweet AI, I’m Dr Peper.
I’ve interrupted my podcasts in the last few weeks in order to do what my first passion is, be a physician and care for patients as we’ve experienced a COVID surge in my area. I’ve had to be available 24/7 to provide care to my patients, discuss things with nursing staff and facility staff and speak with families about their loved ones.
The families, they are very worried, scared, not being able to see their mother or father who are living in these facilities but are on lockdown. Patients are in their rooms eating, meals in their rooms, not able to come out to participate in activities in order to protect them and keep them safe from the COVID virus.
It’s been a very humbling and sad few weeks as many of my patients have died. My team and I at these facilities have worked to make sure that in these, that in unwanted and really complicated situations, they have the best death possible and are able to pass away in what is essentially their homes being taken care of by caregivers who know them with hospice services available to them.
But despite all these efforts, they do end up dying without their families being present. They die separated from their families. They don’t die alone. The caregivers and nursing staff are there which um brings some comfort to know. And there are many, many people working very bravely and very difficult jobs to ensure the safety and try keep these frail, vulnerable residents safe. So all my time and attention has been my patients in the past few weeks but before all this crescendoed in just a short time, I was working on a podcast about an AI researcher known as, um, called Geoffrey Hinton. He’s someone in the field of artificial intelligence who is known as the godfather of AI. And there were similar resonating themes from what I was learning about him and his life and what we’re experiencing now.
Things such well, mainly perseverance and dedication and believing in what we’re doing. And this will become more clear when I’m able to record and release that podcast. But it does, um, help to know that at all times people have had to deal with difficulties and we are defined not by our successes, but how we deal with the difficulties and the fortitude we’re able to find within ourselves when things aren’t going well.
And I would say even more so, I’ve been thinking day after day of a scene in the Hamilton musical called Valley Forge and there’s a song where Alexander Hamilton is getting so frustrated trying to help the army and the revolution and George Washington and not receiving any aid from the Continental Congress or other merchants and George Washington tries to counsel Hamilton to be calm but the song ends on a very somber note, which I think is very applicable and plays over in my head on these days when I’m signing so many death certificates and the song lyrics say that we’re gonna fly a lot of flags half-mast, and that’s what we, in this country, are doing now. It’s a battle.
It’s a fight against an invisible, um, enemy. But what I’ve seen of the people dedicated to doing what they have been trained to do and what they’ve dedicated their lives to do. I, I see it that we will pull through to the other side of this. And I know we will learn from this and be more vigilant and more ready the next time, so that so many people do not die.From short and sweet AI. I’m Dr Peper sending you all my best thoughts, be well and stay safe.
6 min

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What is Artificial Intelligence? It's a big part of our daily lives and you want to know. You need to know. But the explanations are so long and boring. Let me give you something short and sweet.

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