The Boundless Podcast

🎙️ Ivana supports businesses in their privacy by design programmes, especially in relation to Artificial Intelligence and blockchain technology.

She was awarded Woman of the Year in 2019 in the Cyber Security Awards in recognition to her growing reputation as an advocate of equality, privacy and ethics at the heart of tech and AI.
Ivana’s first book, An Artificial Revolution, was released this year and focuses on how technology is reshaping the world, and the global geopolitical forces underpinning this process. As countries respond to the COVID crisis, the book demonstrates how important it is to ensure we do not sleepwalk into technosolutionism, algorithms replacing policy and computing replacing the law.

🎧 In this episode, Ivana asks if rather than technology adapting to us, are we being forced to adapt to technology.

She makes the case that despite the weight of pressure on AI to be explainable, that this wouldn’t be a desirable outcome for individuals.

We talk about how corporates are inviting legislation for data and AI, so they can innovate more freely, but some governments in the West are failing to establish trust themselves as to what data they are collecting and how it may be used in the future. Ivana says that whilst AI explainability may not be what we desire, product and service transparency is. We have a right to know the environmental and social impact connected to the supply chain of a product, even down to the environmental footprint of large data centres running AI models.

Finally, she says companies can and will adapt successfully to new AI legislation, we have seen this over and over again in other industries that offer blueprints for how to transform and change.

Ivana's book 'An Artificial Revolution: On Power, Politics and AI' is out now at https://amzn.to/39NXyGu

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“The true value of AI is not just automation. Automation is a starting point, but the true value of AI comes in being able to leverage AI in order to amplify and augment. By amplify, what I mean is supplementing humans and by augmentation, what I mean is complimenting humans.”

This is a conversation with Prashant Natarajan, Prashant strives to demystify technology & make it accessible, understandable, and usable by everyone in business contexts. He’s worked for organisations including Unum, Deloitte, H2O.ai, Oracle and McKesson and is the best-selling author of books that demystify data, analytics and applied Machine learning.

🎧 In this episode, Prashant explains why companies have reacted and responded so differently to the challenges of COVID-19, some thriving, some not surviving. He examines the correlations being how effectively a corporation responded to COVID to how capable they are of delivering and scaling an AI project. Prashant goes on to explain that the largest benefits of AI in companies are beyond automation, when they can think about augmenting and amplifying human intelligence and activities.

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“I'm a cheerleader for the Apple AR products, they’re going to be pretty awesome. When they come out they will deliver a new ecosystem for other companies to build into and around. And with increased machine learning and millions of people using it, it'll get better and better.”

This is a conversation with Irena Cronin and Robert Scoble.

🎙️ Irena and Robert the authors of the new book Infinite Retina. Irena is the CEO of Infinite Retina, a company based in Pasadena, California that helps businesses enter and succeed in Spatial Computing. She has advised many decision-makers on business strategies related to Spatial Computing which includes AR/VR, Artificial Intelligence, Facial Recognition, Robotics, Autonomous Vehicles, and other related technologies.

Robert is a technology journalist and advisor. Over the course of his career, he has interviewed thousands of entrepreneurs and has been the first to see the creation of many new technology companies, from Siri to Tesla.

🎧 In this episode, Irena and Robert talk about what it’s going to take to bring spatial computing into the mainstream and which tech company they believe could make this future possible. We explore the challenges that Magic Leap faced, a virtual reality headset company that raised nearly $3bn and hasn’t yet managed to release a fully saleable, scalable product. We talk about how and what AI devices like Alexa are learning, what data will be collected by spatial computers and the privacy challenges associated to this.

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“Automation will displace all bureaucracies, all cognitive work, all routine labour that's not creative. This idea that management jobs are protected because there'll be referring to AI and data is just silly. AI is going to be much more effective at guiding and leading than any manager's ever been in a Fortune 500 company.” Dr. Daniel Araya.

🎙️ Daniel is a consultant and advisor with a special interest in technological innovation, public policy, and governance. He is co-founder of Ay-en Advisors and a Senior Fellow with the Centre for International Governance Innovation. He is a regular contributor to Forbes, The Brookings Institution, Futurithmic, and Singularity Hub. His newest books include Augmented Intelligence from 2018 and Smart Cities as Democratic Ecologies from 2015. Daniel has a doctorate from the University of Illinois and is an alumnus of Singularity University’s graduate program in Silicon Valley.

🎧 In this episode, Daniel shares his views on the intersection of technology, geo-politics and sustainability at this moment in history. He talks about a burning desire for new economic and societal models that will replace the maximisation era and move companies and nations beyond a pursuit of growth at all costs to something new. Rather than being a reasoned and logical progression to something better, in fact Daniel says this is cyclical and the end of this cycle is beginning. This tallies to John Maynard Keynes who predicted in 1930 that after 100 years we would have fully benefited from the economic models that lifted nations into prosperity. At this time those who chose to use these models for growth would no longer need to exploit and destroy our fellow humans or nature to escape poverty. 90 years has passed, and certainly it seems like change is the air this decade and beyond.

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This is Boundless. Insights and Observations Week 30 with your host Richard Foster-Fletcher
This week was about mostly about synching up with MKAI – the Milton Keynes Artificial Intelligence hub as we explored themes around ethical use of data and corporate mindset on responsible AI.
I didn’t think these interviews would change my mind about data, but there was some moments that made me stop and question my views. More on that in just a moment.
Before that I interviewed Dr Vijak Hadaddi. I really enjoyed the chat with him, he’s got a special energy about him. I will be following his work. The things I remember from our chat; I felt that he was saying we’ve got to stop calling this industry 4.0, it’s not another step in industry. It’s a revolution. A seismic shift in the business, economics and societies. Vijak is another person telling me we are coming to the end of a cycle. Ade McCormack also says this, as does Daniel Araya.
We’re still waiting to learn on this show exactly what work checkout assistants and truck drivers are meant to be transitioning to. Vijak says unless we figure this out, we may lose a whole generation of workers.
Vijak also talked about Europe, since we don’t have a massive AI company here. The US has Facebook, Microsoft, IBM, Apple, Nvidia, Alphabet, these companies dominate AI innovation across the Western world and represent the most powerful lobby for AI regulation within the world's liberal democracies. By comparison, AI innovation and regulation in the East, specifically China, is dominated by Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba. Europe does not have a major technology player and Vijak says this may give Europe has a chance to do something differently and try to turn this defeat into a virtue. Europe can decentralise data and create platforms where everybody will share their data together and this could lead to some very progressive ‘next level’ type of models that could become viable alternatives for the rest of the world. That said, none of the US or Chinese companies that I reference started out as AI companies. Maybe BP can become a trillion-dollar Greentech company?
Coming back to the MKAI synch ups, we talked about the role of the DPO and the CDO and whether either could fully succeed in any organisation that doesn’t have a data champion on the main board. We reflected on what lessons data leaders could take from their colleagues in cybersecurity, ways of convincing senior business leaders that protecting data and using it ethically offer strategic advantage and business growth.
One thing that Ashley Mason talked about how the health industry is geared up to keep 80% of people healthy 80% of the time. Getting to 90% carries exponential cost
Always been unknowns in the long tail of the data. We can idealise to have explainable, ethical AI from ideation to implementation, but we also have real-world problems to solve and if it takes years to refine models to a level that is completely acceptable, we may lose years of benefits. Perhaps this is akin to how we are pushing ahead with Covid-19 vaccine trials, necessity is the mother of all inventions, not just for innovation, but for flexing regulation and legalisation where needed for the greater good.
But what is the greater good? What is good? What is AI for good? We still can’t agree.
But it doesn’t stop us trying to do our best.
I’ll leave you with the insightful words of David W Orr “The planet does not need more successful people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every kind.”
Hope you enjoyed this week's episodes. Thanks to my amazing guests. Have a fantastic weekend and we’ll be back next week to learn more about how we can design a digital future that is inclusive, sustainable and equitable.
Stay positive. Stay well.
Thanks to
Peter Fleming, Head of Strategic Consulting, Aiimi
Dr. Richard Benjamins, Chief AI & Data Strategist, Telefonica.
Professor Christoph Lütge, Director of the TUM Institute for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence
Ashley Mason, Data Scientist at Data Reply UK.
Adi Manjunath, AI & Innovation Consultant at Data Reply UK,
Joaquin López Herraiz, Associate Professor at UCM
Dr. Vijak Haddadi, Visioneer & Advisor:

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💬 “When a retailer recommended toys to children, what we saw in the past is that they were tending to recommend pink toys to girls and blue toys to boys. But are we thinking about the wider implications of recommendations like this? Yes, you've got a responsibility to your stakeholders to make money. But at the same time, we all have a responsibility to society to try and do things in the best way we can and make things ethical and fair."

This is a conversation with Ashley Mason & Adi Manjunath.

🎙️Ashley is a Data Scientist and Adi is an AI & Innovation Consultant, they are both at Data Reply UK, part of the Reply Group.

🎧 In this episode, we discuss the efforts that businesses are going to, to reflect on how their AI work can be fairer and explainable, without losing sight of the performance of the models. Ashley and Adi share their thoughts on current trends in data and levels of diversity in AI teams.

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With: Dr. Richard Benjamins, Chief AI & Data Strategist, Telefonica. Professor Christoph Lütge, Director of the TUM Institute for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence at the Technical University of Munich. Ashley Mason, Data Scientist at Data Reply UK. Adi Manjunath, AI & Innovation Consultant at Data Reply UK, Joaquin López Herraiz, Associate Professor at Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Director of Engineering-International Mentor Program (IMFAHE).

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“The Chief Data Officer (CDO) has the ability to understand how information and data should be embedded within the business strategies, values and vision. Data drives successful customer outcomes, and I see no reason why today’s CDOs could not be tomorrow’s CEOs.”

🎙️Peter is a Principal Management Consultant at Aiimi, with experience leading consultancy teams and establishing and growing consultancy practices. He specialises in the development of Data and Digital Strategy and the management of Strategic Change Programmes.

🎧 In this episode, Peter talks about how good Data Governance is about finding the balance between both supporting innovation and maintaining the integrity of the data being used. He says that if we can get this right, data engineers, scientists and analysts will see governance as a positive thing and contribute further to making data trustworthy, accurate, timely and relevant, so that we can rely on the results whether that’s from a report or the output of an AI model.

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💬 “With having giant AI corporations, Europe has lost out to China and the US. But I think Europe has a chance to do something differently and try to turn this defeat into a virtue. Europe can decentralise data and create platforms where everybody will share their data together and this could lead to some very progressive ‘next level’ type of models that could become viable alternatives for the rest of the world”

🎙️ This is a conversation with Dr. Vijak Haddadi. Vijak’s passion is contributing to the beneficial emergence of what has been called Meta-Intelligence: a planetary scale integration of human, artificial, and meta-systemic intelligences. He takes an active interest in the fields of humanistic intelligence, decentralized AI, human enhancement, and eventually full-fledged human-AI symbiosis. His PhD thesis in Philosophy, obtained at the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy was on the systematic relation of consciousness and logic. He is currently the Lead Visioneer for 1SOCIETY.

🎧 In this episode, Vijak talks about how big the challenges are to transform corporates and workers to the new digital economy. A transformation so seismic in impact that he is calling it a revolution. He contemplates whether a generation of workers, that are most vulnerable to change, will be able to make the leap into the new economy and how decentralised web and blockchain platforms could be a partial answer to a more inclusive future.

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Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-boundless-podcast--4077400/support.