Smart cities, popping up all around the world, are paving the way for the Fourth Industrial Revolution: a world of contemporary automation, rapid data exchange, and smart manufacturing technologies. Vibrant, modern cities such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai have embraced the smart city concept, using information and communication technologies to enhance performance, boost urban services, and empower artificial intelligence. Smart cities encompass broadband networks and e-services to sustain innovation ecosystems, growth, and inclusion; therefore blurring the lines between sci-fi and reality.

The advancement of multiple datasets and “free or inexpensive” software development tools for researchers to work with, has led to quick advancements in A.I. in recent years. This crucial class of learning technology, known as “neural networks” has gone from being prohibitively expensive to relatively cheap; thus leading to a rapid uptake by tech giants such as Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. Each operates its own A.I. lab that conducts important research in the field and then publishes much of it for the academic community to use for future reference.

According to scientists at the university, with further progress in robotics driven by technological improvements in silicon chips, sensors and computation, “physical social robots like Nadine are poised to become visible in offices and homes in the coming decades.” The emergence of artificial intelligence like Nadine tells us one thing: It won’t be long before the sci-fi films of the past depict our reality as opposed to a potential future.

In his article: My life with my robot secretary, author Mark Wilson writes about his experience using Clara: “A blob of algorithmic code assembled by the Y Combinator-funded startup Clara Labs.” Clara is an A.I. assistant residing within a users’ email whose support is activated by simply copying her into an email, thus introducing her to clients and schedules which are then analyzed. The information is used by Clara to schedule meetings and make life easier for busy professionals.“After the initial setup, where I listed my preferred location for coffee meetings and lunch meetings on Clara’s site, all other settings were handled via email,” says Wilson. “If I wanted Clara to give me a 15-minute buffer between meetings, I could just write her and tell her.”

The extent of this artificial intelligence might seem far-fetched or too incredible for today’s standards, and in a way that is the case. Because according to Wilson, an “unspecified” amount of people work at Clara Labs writing copy, checking every email that Clara drafts, and categorizing conversations repeatedly in order to teach Clara etiquette and the “nuance of conversation.” Therefore, Clara isn’t 100 percent A.I., but is still remarkably advanced.

Source: Zane Small
Telecome Review