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    17Jun, 2023
    IBM says it will pause hiring as CEO says around 7,800 non-customer facing roles could be replaced

    Computing giant IBM has said it plans to pause hiring for roles that could be replaced with artificial intelligence in the next five years.

    CEO Arvind Krishna  said that up to 30% of non-customer-facing roles – tallying a figure of roughly 7,800 jobs – could be replaced by AI and automation in the near future. 

    These ‘back-office functions’, which include human resources, amount to a total of roughly 26,000 workers within the company, Krishna added. 

    From January to March, companies announced 270,416 job cuts – with the technology sector accounting for more than a third of the cuts in the first quarter at 102,391 layoffs, including cuts at Amazon and Google parent company, Alphabet – a 396 percent increase from the same period last year, according to a report on April 4 from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

    Tasks which can be replaced involve providing employment verification letters or moving employees between departments.

    Computing giant, International Business Machines Corp (IBM) has said it plans to pause hiring for roles that could be replaced with artificial intelligence in the next five years

    Computing giant, International Business Machines Corp (IBM) has said it plans to pause hiring for roles that could be replaced with artificial intelligence in the next five years

    Arvind Krishna, CEO of IBM, said that up to 30% of non-customer-facing roles - tallying a figure of roughly 7,800 jobs - could be replaced by AI and automation in the near future

    Arvind Krishna, CEO of IBM, said that up to 30% of non-customer-facing roles – tallying a figure of roughly 7,800 jobs – could be replaced by AI and automation in the near future

    Other HR functions, however, such as evaluating workforce composition and productivity, won’t be replaced within the decade, he explained.

    IBM’s plan is one of the most drastic workforce strategies announced in response to rapidly advancing automation technology. 

    Job advice platform Resumebuilder.com surveyed 1,000 business leaders who either use or plan to use Microsoft AI breakthrough, ChatGPT.

    It found that about half of their companies have implemented chatbots. And nearly half of this group say that ‘ChatGPT has already converted employees at their companies’.

    ‘As

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    16Jun, 2023
    Specialist Firms Synthetik Applied Technologies LLC and Saleria LLC Announce Merger

    AUSTIN, HOUSTON and LONDON, May 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — synthetik-technologies.com%2F&a=Synthetik+Applied+Technologies”Synthetik Applied Technologies and Saleria today announced the successful conclusion of negotiations to merge the two companies. The transaction creates a global research and development capability that will offer risk mitigation solutions across numerous sectors including defense, security, insurance and energy.

    The new entity will trade under the name Synthetik Applied Technologies, maintaining the Saleria brand for its line of physical products.

    Underpinning the merger are the synergies obtainable by combining Synthetik’s skills in computational risk analysis, insurance analytics and artificial intelligence with Saleria’s material testing capabilities and physical protection products. They will allow the integrated firm to design a wider and better range of risk mitigation more quickly in response to expanding global threats.

    CEO of Saleria, Brian Watson, who takes over as CEO of the new company commented:

    ‘We are delighted to bring the Saleria product line and our materials expertise to enhance the success of Synthetik Applied Technologies. Together we will be better able to develop technology, products, and services that meet the challenges of today and tomorrow. We look forward to working with our private and public sector clients and partners to help build a safer world.’

    Peter Vonk, co-founder of Synthetik, who moves into a new role as Chief Technology Officer, commented:

    “It makes perfect sense for the two organizations with a history of successful collaboration to combine into a world-class R&D company. The partnership will accelerate technology development in modelling and simulation, machine learning, artificial intelligence and physical protection, leveraging returns from existing offerings and speeding the identification and exploitation of new ones.”

    Vonk is joined on the executive team by Chief Science Officer, Dr. Jim Warren PhD, who brings extensive blast engineering expertise to Synthetik’s portfolio. Tim Brewer

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    8Jun, 2023
    An inside look at one company’s data collection protocols, user ‘consent’ details

    CerebrumX Labs, which describes itself as an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven automotive data services and product provider, uses “a highly secure, AI-based Augmented Deep Learning Platform (ADLP)” and, so far, has collected more than 100 million miles of data from vehicles. The data collected, with consent from automakers and drivers, includes personally identifiable information (PII) but what does “consent,” in this case, mean?

    Companies and unauthorized third parties collecting and/or selling data that many users may think is private is now commonplace not only in the automotive and collision repair space but in just about any cloud-connected or online-based service.

    Collision repair shops and consumers need to be aware of what’s collected and how to ensure their data is safe. It’s been previously suggested by the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS), the Database Enhancement Gateway (DEG), and Mike Anderson’s Collision Advice for shops to get authorization from their customers to reset or clear PII data for total loss vehicles or vehicles they intend to sell and have them sign a release to avoid any liability associated with the procedure.

    A new data privacy concern regarding scan tool end-user license agreements (EULAs) was brought to the attention of the collision repair industry earlier this month during the Collision Industry Conference (CIC)’s meeting in Richmond, Virginia. An Autel Technology Corp. EULA states a broad array of customer data can be collected from its diagnostic scan tools can be shared, and governed by the People’s Republic of China.

    CerebrumX CEO and co-founder Sandip Ranjhan told Repairer Driven News there are multiple levels of consent that end users agree to beginning with consent to collect from the company’s partners, including OEMs, media companies, insurers, fleet companies, and smart cities/municipalities. Then, the user must give consent for the data to be shared with

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    2Apr, 2023
    AI’s Learning Curve Clashes With Proprietary Data: Processing Originality Raises Legal, Ethical Questions

    Originality is often talked about but difficult to attain. An equation that adds effort and time with patience attempting to battle any final calculation. The marketing of new artificial intelligence (AI) learning technologies promises a spectacular increase in productivity, challenging the limiting factors of effort and time, but perhaps also with a cost to human creativity and innovation. News reports have again highlighted how AI is producing art by using algorithms to study, i.e., arguably copy to some legal analysts, the long-practiced techniques of thousands of artists in order to then generate art of its “own.” Fundamentally, AI is racing to process all of this individual creative work, and yet using this type of technology could also put it on a fast-track collision course with copyright infringement and intellectual property laws.

    These large reams of data, whether it be the styles of different artists, the unique voices of writers, the complex nuances of computer code, or even the scientific reasoning of researchers, are being processed at a stunning rate to essentially achieve what could conceivably be termed synthesized productivity and ultimately one might argue synthesized creativity. No longer a wholly human construct but rather manufactured and then authenticated by a machine, or at least a fenced in or potentially undisciplined notion of what that means to the artificial intelligence. In short, synthesizing data to deliberately produce a result may someday altogether alter the definition of what is now understood to be authentic and previously uncharted human innovation.

    Digital Life Imitates Art

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    18Mar, 2023
    Robot lawyers? Maybe not, but don’t discount AI in legal field yet, experts say

    Estimated read time: 7-8
    minutes

    Editor’s note: This is part of a KSL.com series looking at the rise of artificial intelligence technology tools such as ChatGPT, the opportunities and risks they pose and what impacts they could have on various aspects of our daily lives.

    SALT LAKE CITY — Imagine you’re in court contesting a traffic ticket. You put on a pair of smart glasses that records the proceedings. And instead of a lawyer giving you counsel, an artificial intelligence program tells you through an earpiece how to respond to the judge.

    It’s not quite a reality — this very scenario was set to play out in a California courtroom in February, until the British man behind the idea began receiving angry letters, NPR reported. Joshua Browder, the CEO of the New York-based startup DoNotPay, told NPR multiple states sent him threats of possible prosecution and jail time, with one state bar official even saying the unauthorized practice of law is a misdemeanor in some states punishable with up to six months in county jail.

    Though “robot lawyers” may not be a reality anytime soon, AI already has a role in Utah’s legal field.

    In August 2020, the Utah Supreme Court issued something called Standing Order No. 15, which launched a legal regulatory sandbox. The order established a pilot sandbox to assist with monitoring the practice of law by nontraditional legal service providers or by traditional providers offering nontraditional legal services.

    “A regulatory sandbox is a policy tool through which new models or services can be offered and tested to assess marketability and impact and inform future policymaking,” according to the Office of Legal Services Innovation. “In the sandbox, regulations can be relaxed, data gathered and policy improved.”

    The sandbox tool was first put to use in the

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