Artificial intelligence obtains tons of press – and for a good reason. But the upward expertise of AI does not only reside in the matrix of its own clever algorithms, but also in its wider connections.
It is “intelligent connectivity” which is based on raw data – a lot, a lot – and on the communication networks that carry them.
This mixture of technologies can surround you in a department store like Walmart. The retailers are fighting for their target audience using sensors in Gogo, parked in their aisles and their cash lines. When AI sees the models in customer interactions and inventory flow, the result can be a successful sale argument.
Why we wrote this
Artificial intelligence often works in concert with 5G wireless networks and internet connected devices. As the influence of this technological trio develops, calls increase for better public awareness of its impact on daily life and global dynamics.
AI also finds its way on the real battlefields. It can stimulate awareness of the situation of a soldier, simplify communication and improve decision -making.
The technology emerges quickly – perhaps too quickly, according to many cybersecurity analysts. They warn that the public must know much more about the operation of these systems and the ways in which their personal data is used.
“There are a lot of advantages of these technologies, but unfortunately, things are still coming with their own side effects,” said Abdul Yarali, professor of cybersecurity and network management at the Murray State University in Kentucky.
What is “intelligent connectivity”?
Intelligent connectivity is the term for the way artificial intelligence, 5G networks and devices connected to the Internet (“the Internet of Objects” or IoT) all work together. Everyone is an integral part of this technological system. The promises of what this transformative technology can give in is the legion: driver -free cars to hyperficial intelligent cities. The concerns about privacy, security and equity involved by this three league are also numerous.
- The IoT refers to the sensors in about 18.8 billion web devices connected to date in the world, from radiators to air purifiers through the lights. All “detect” what is happening, like the temperatures that change or the people who descend into an alley of the store.
- 5G is the fifth generation of wireless technologies. It is a very rapid mobile transmission network that sucks the IoT data and sends them to be used.
- AI computers can increasingly take this data and “decide” what to do with it. AI is based on algorithms that detect models and simulate human learning.
Since AI needs data before they can decide anything, the more data they can get and the more they get it quickly, the more intelligent it can be. And 5G can transmit data to feed voracious appetite with minimal delay.
5G is in a district on the electromagnetic spectrum which was used in trade for the first time in 2019. It is at a frequency higher than, but not far from, the radar on the spectrum, and it can respond to more bandwidth requests than 4G.
If 4G is like a small room with a festive crowd and a lonely DJ, 5G is like a major place with a scene, a group of lists A and a lot of space on the dance floor. The 5G bandwidth has been developed to make more space for the party.
The company now depends on “connectivity – anywhere, at any time”, explains Alexander Wyglinski, director of the Wireless Innovation Laboratory of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. But following this request, the bandwidth shortages are problematic, he said. Hence the need for 5G, and possibly 6G, which is in development.
Who uses this technology and how often?
On the battlefield, these sensors already offer soldiers an awareness of the situation and a strategic advantage to help them win.
In retail, these same sensors offer CEOs the possibility of increasing their profits. The sensors connected to the Internet, for example, collect data on buyers, including the way they buy, what they like and where they go first in the store. This data can be used to restore stocks in a more strategic way or for marketing with customers.
Most large -scale retailers, such as Walmart, have a sensor regiment ready to greet buyers, from the front door. In some of its Whole Foods locations, Amazon has introduced “dashboard carts”, which use sensors to scan items. This allows buyers to skip the traditional cash register.
Walmart is a good example of intelligent connectivity hard at work, explains Bruce Schneier, lecturer at Harvard University and author of “Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to collect your data and control your world”.
“There are sensors everywhere in the store – 5G moves this data; I interpret this data. ” said Mr. Schneier. Walmart “will take this data; They will go to a data broker and say: “Hey, I got this data. Tell me more about this person. »»
And then, adds Mr. Schneier, the buyers will be treated differently, for example, a jewelry, based on the data collected about them.
Walmart says he uses his sensors to guide inventory decisions. A comment request remained unanswered.
What are confidentiality and ethical considerations?
Analysts report several concerns about intelligent connectivity.
On the one hand, the sensors collect information in all buyers, but they can also identify the names of people and the history of shopping, explains Zygmunt Haas, a computer scientist from the University of Texas in Dallas who research on sensor networks.
He says that the sensors transmit their information on customers to a 5G network, which then transmits it to an AI processor. And here, in the field of decision -making of AI, this is the place where many experts concentrate their concerns.
People can afford to buy what they did not necessarily plan, on the basis of AI suggestions, explains Dr. Yarali, author of “Intelligent Connectivity: AI, IoT and 5G”. He compares it to a restaurant server that could recommend a soup on a rainy day. The suggestion seems logical and the customer takes it. When AI multiplies similar references, is it useful or manipulative?
Another concern about AI's recommendations is from the moment when “predictions become self-realizing prophecies”, explains Mark Coeckelbergh, professor of media technology at the University of Vienna who studies AI ethics. “People are starting to feel dangerous … when there is a problem.”
And then, of course, sometimes, “hallucinous” or do things. “We cannot count 100% on AI,” says Dr. Haas.
And according to a recent report by Nieman Lab, “the search engines have failed[ed] To produce specific quotes in more than 60% of tests. »»
Ethical problems become more numerous and urgent in military uses, in which human life and the future of nations can be at stake.
What actions can consumers take?
Many experts in the field of intelligent connectivity support technological progress, while emphasizing the need for consumer awareness. Some would like to see more public outcry, if necessary, on the collection of too zealous data.
“You have to do something as an elector,” says Schneier, “the problems are money in politics; Problems are lobbyists. “
The public can move their own attitudes to technology and pressure decision -makers for more surveillance, explains Dr Coeckelbergh. People “control the place where we give technology in our lives,” he says, and can, for example, use less intense phones.
Asking the biggest questions of what constitutes a happy life and a real sense of the community is the key, he says – a step that encourages the exercise of this kind of moderation.
“In the era of technology, we must again ask these questions and see what we can use from our traditions, secular and religious, to face what is happening and also to find advice,” he said. “We can help each other.”
