The AI Trajectory 2025: AI Navigator Insights

Conference Overview

Step into the future at our 3-hour global virtual conference where the insights from the “AI Navigator” take center stage to chart the AI trajectory toward 2025.

Our aim is to empower leaders to invest wisely, embrace collaboration, and scale AI innovations effectively, by uniting strategic insights with real-world applications.

By reflecting on the recent technological advancements and incorporating experts’ opinions, insights, and forecasts, we can prepare for future obstacles and opportunities. It is therefore essential and vital to discuss the findings with additional great minds, and to broaden the spectrum of expert opinions.

Key Focus Points

Investing in AI-Driven Innovation: Explore how strategic investments in AI can drive efficiency, innovation, and long-term growth within organizations across various industries.

Embracing Collaboration and Co-Innovation: Delve into the importance of partnerships and collaborative efforts in accelerating AI adoption and overcoming industry challenges.

Prioritizing Practical AI Integration: Learn about real-world applications and strategies for integrating AI into business processes effectively and responsibly.

Join us as we navigate the future of leadership and shape the AI trajectory toward 2025!

1 Focus
20 Experts
100+ Countries
3’000+ Viewers
1/2+m Followers

 

Virtual Conference 

A global-reaching conference series on AI.
NO SALES. Just content.
Practical AI under the magnifying glass of global AI leaders & experts.
3+k Conference Viewers | 100+ Countries | 20+ Speakers | 1/2+mill followers

Facilitated & Powered By

SwissCognitive | AI Ventures, Advisory & Research

Date and Time

04. December 2024, 16:00 – 19:00 CET

Location

Online

More Information

Contact Bianka Németvölgyi, bianka@swisscognitive.com

PREVIOUS CONFERENCES

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Conference Speakers

Alberto-Giovanni Busetto

Chief AI Officer
HealthAI

Aleksandra Przegalinska

Associate Professor and Vice Rector for Innovations and AI
Kozminski University, Harvard University

Amanda Obidike

CEO and Co-Founder
STEMi Makers Africa

Andreas Welsch

Founder & Chief AI Strategist
Intelligence Briefing

Anita Puppe

Senior Consultant Strategy & Business Design, IBM iX DACH
Healthcare Industry AI Transformation Leader

Behshad Behzadi

CTO and Chief AI Officer
Sportradar

Bret Greenstein

PwC US Partner
Generative AI leader

Christian Dernbach

Senior Manager Business Intelligence Technology
Switzerland Tourism

Ingrid Vasiliu-Feltes

Founder & CEO
Institute for Science Entrepreneurship and Investments

Jacques Ludik

Founder & CEO, Cortex Logic & Cortex Group,
Founder & President, Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa

James Ong

Founder & Managing Director
Artificial Intelligence International Institute (AIII)

Jarrod Anderson

Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer
SYRV.AI

Jeannette Gorzala

CEO & Founder
Act.AI.Now

Johan Steyn

Founder, AI & Automation Thought Leader
AI for Business

José Pedro Almeida

Chief AI Strategist
World’s Top 70 Health AI

Maria Fay

AI Lead
SAP Switzerland

Markus Danhel

Head Data & AI
IBM Switzerland

Michael Wade

Tonomus Professor of Strategy and Digital
IMD

Michael Wegmüller

Co-Founder & AI Agilist
Artifact SA

Valeria Sadovykh

Technology Strategist
Microsoft

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Conference Host & Facilitator

Dalith Steiger

Co-Founder, Global AI Thought Leader
SwissCognitive, World-Leading AI Network

Andy Fitze

Co-Founder, Digital Transformation Strategist
SwissCognitive, World-Leading AI Network

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Conference Team

Bianka Németvölgyi

Digital Content Manager
SwissCognitive, World-Leading AI Network

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Conference Team Contributors

Yuliya Romanyuk

Ambassador & Transformation Expert
SwissCognitive, World-Leading AI Network

Kilian Woods

Technology and Sustainability Educator

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Virtual Conference

These virtual conferences are regular worldwide-reaching online events bringing dozens of global AI leaders and experts together to share their views, experiences and expertise in the development of AI to the benefit of business and society. These 3 hour-long events are transparently addressing the development of cognitive technologies – including successes and challenges – while reaching and connecting a global online community of over ½ million followers.

All the sessions and formats are strictly content-driven with a non-sales approach, allowing focused and open discussions with no BS just content. These events provide not only a platform to brainstorm and network but also to position experts, leaders, organisations, research developments, the current status and future outlook of AI. 

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Der Beitrag The AI Trajectory 2025: AI Navigator Insights erschien zuerst auf SwissCognitive | AI Ventures, Advisory & Research.

For the conference details, agenda, speaker line-up, and handouts CLICK HERE.
For the conference recording CLICK HERE
“The AI Trajectory 2024. Invest for Impact Wrap-up”

Yesterday, at the “AI Trajectory 2024 – Invest for Impact” virtual conference, we embarked on an enlightening journey, exploring the multifaceted role of AI across various sectors. From dissecting investment strategies in AI to leveraging its potential in healthcare, the event unfolded as a tapestry of insights, innovations, and forward-thinking discussions. Esteemed speakers from diverse industries shared their profound expertise, shedding light on the transformative impact of AI and setting the stage for a future where technology and humanity coalesce more seamlessly than ever. This article serves as a wrap-up for those who missed this illuminating event, encapsulating the key highlights and takeaways from our panel of visionary experts.

Why Invest in AI Today

With Petra Vorsteher and Ragnar Kruse.

We stand at the threshold of a transformative era, where AI’s role in our lives is not just supportive but deeply integral. Investing in AI today is not just an option but a necessity, propelled by its rapid technological maturity and the increasing attention it commands at the top echelons of business leadership.

Dalith Steiger, Co-Founder of SwissCognitive, World-Leading AI Network, Petra Vorsteher, Founding Partner AI.FUND; Founding Partner AI.INVEST, Ragnar Kruse, Founding Partner & Managing Director, AI.FUND; Founder, AI.HAMBURG

The Future of Investments in AI Foundation Models

With Jacques Ludik, Cinderella Amar, David Shrier, Nils Reimers, John Wesley

The discussion around AI foundation models marked a pivotal shift in perspective. It’s a landscape where democratization of technology grapples with security and ethical use. For investors, grasping these nuances is vital for safeguarding their interests and remaining ahead in a rapidly changing environment. This includes striking a balance between harnessing proprietary data and adapting to the trend of democratization. They must navigate a world where foundational AI models, once the domain of a select few due to high development costs, are now becoming more accessible, prompting a need for innovative and sustainable business models.

Jacques Ludik, Founder & CEO, Cortex Logic & Cortex Group, Founder & President, Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa, Cinderella Amar, Managing Partner, Glass Ventures, David Shrier, Professor of Practice, AI & Innovation, Imperial College Business School; Founder & Managing Director, Visionary Future, Nils Reimers, Director of Machine Learning, Cohere, John Wesley, Senior Investment Director, NVentures

Bringing the Reading Gap: AI Innovations in Dyslexia Support

With Artem Pochechuev

The landscape of technology is undergoing a profound transformation with AI-driven initiatives, significantly impacting both education and practical applications. In the realm of education and personal development, AI is revolutionizing the way we support individuals with dyslexia, serving as a prime example of how human-centric AI systems are unlocking people’s full potential.

Artem Pochechuev, AI Expert, Head of Data Science, Sigli

Healthcare Industry Transformation – Harnessing Automation, AI, and Talent

With Alexander Büsser, Laura Modiano, Anita Puppe, Heinrich Zetlmayer, Jose Pedro Almeida

The integration of generative AI in healthcare is creating a paradigm shift by efficiently structuring and analyzing complex data, leading to improved patient care and outcomes. This technology is crucial in consolidating fragmented data, transforming workflows, and the healthcare value chain, thereby enhancing efficiency and freeing resources for more critical tasks. Looking to the future, AI is pivotal in addressing global healthcare challenges, facilitating international collaboration and the sharing of medical data, and fostering a more unified and effective global healthcare system.

Alexander Büsser, Director Data, AI & Platforms, Idorsia Pharmaceuticals, Laura Modiano, Principal Venture Capital and Startups Business Development, EMEA AWS, Anita Puppe, Healthcare Industry AI Transformation Leader; Senior Consultant Strategy & Business Design, IBM iX DACH, Heinrich Zetlmayer, General Partner, yabeo; Founder & General Partner, Blockchain Valley Ventures, Jose Pedro Almeida, Chief AI Strategist for Healthcare, Advisory Board Member, Intelligence Ventures

Computer Vision in Water

With Omer Bar-Ilan, Co-Founder, CEO, Lynxight

Simultaneously, the integration of computer vision in aquatic environments marks the dawn of a new technological era. This technology is not only optimizing feeding patterns and enhancing navigation for underwater ROVs but also playing a critical role in public safety. Its capability to rapidly assess risks in water environments, such as swimming pools, for drowning prevention, is a testament to its versatility and impact, showcasing the diverse and transformative applications of AI across various sectors.

Omer Bar-Ilan, Co-Founder, CEO, Lynxight

STEM Evolution 2024: Redefining Science in the Age of AI and LLM

With Solomon Amar, Jeanne Lim, Stéphanie Bretonniere, Arnaud Quintin, Assaf Araki

In the evolving landscape of STEM, we are witnessing a redefinition of scientific approaches and applications. This includes the development of scalable science-based applications that leverage content generation, idea ideation, and knowledge navigation, all underpinned by engaging AI bots. In In the meantime, AI’s role in industries like food and automotive is transformative, optimizing resources like water for sustainability and reshaping customer engagement and internal processes. Of course, this progress is accompanied by challenges in privacy, bias, and the need for regulatory measures, highlighting the importance of a balanced and ethical approach to AI integration in our society.

Solomon Amar, Founder & CEO, ALLSTARSIT; Founder, AI Labs, Jeanne Lim, Angel Investor, Co-founder & CEO, beingAI, Stéphanie Bretonniere, Founder & CEO, WE IMPACT.WORLD, Arnaud Quintin, VP, Organisation and Transformation, Renault Group, Assaf Araki, Investment Director, Intel Capital

Rhythmic Intelligence: AI’s Impact on Music and Health

With Walter Werzowa

Finally, we head how AI is revolutionizing the music industry by enabling anyone to create music, thereby enhancing creativity and democratizing the art form. Rather than feeling threatened, we can learn more about how currently available technology and AI can help us take our music-making skills to even higher levels creating works that were previously impossible.

Walter Werzowa, University Professor – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna; Head Of Music, MYTHOS MOZART

If you missed our “The AI Trajectory 2024. Invest for Impact.” virtual conference, here you can find the video recording:

For the conference details, agenda, speaker line-up and handouts CLICK HERE

Der Beitrag Navigating the Future: The AI Trajectory 2024 – Invest for Impact Virtual Conference Wrap-up erschien zuerst auf SwissCognitive | AI Ventures, Advisory & Research.

Credit: This interview by Dr. Rebekka Reinhard with Dalith Steiger has been published in German and part of the article “Der Käfer von morgen” – “Interview with Dalith Steiger: AI, Innovation and Collaboration – Perspectives on Switzerland”

What makes Switzerland a hub for AI innovation?

Dalith Steiger: What sets Switzerland apart is its strength in research and development, especially in university institutions. Many startups and spinoffs emerge from this. There are numerous AI startups in Switzerland, including the unicorn Scandit. The country’s AI ecosystem greatly benefits from ETH Zurich, which alone has produced nine AI startups. A robust ecosystem and the famous Triple-P-Partnership (Public-Private Partnership) foster close collaboration between universities, research institutions, and industry. Coupled with political stability and high quality of life, this attracts many talented individuals and large corporations like Google, IBM, Oracle, and Disney, who have set up their research centres in Switzerland.

And then there’s Geneva…

Yes, “International Geneva.” Organizations like the UN, ITU, and WEF oversee crucial global AI activities from Switzerland.

As for the importance of a stable infrastructure for innovation, could you elaborate further?

A robust infrastructure, like reliable internet and railway connections, is a cornerstone for innovation. Switzerland has been ranked the best infrastructure in the world for the third time, providing a strong foundation for businesses and innovation. Exceptional connectivity promotes collaboration. Here, an entrepreneur can find the entire value chain within a three-hour train journey.

What lessons could Germany learn from Switzerland’s experience with disruptive technologies like AI, especially in terms of mindset and corporate culture?

A key element is openness within and between companies, promoting cross-sectoral exchange and learning. Moreover, Germany might be interested in Switzerland’s federalist approach, which enables decentralized innovation support. A good example is Hamburg, a pioneer in projects like Smart City in Germany, promoting close collaboration between the government and businesses. The city has also successfully organized events and programs to foster innovation, often in close collaboration with the government. There are also individuals and organizations actively advocating for the ecosystem, promoting collaboration between various players.

You mentioned collaboration between companies and students. How does that contribute to talent development?

Engaging talent early allows students to start spin-offs or pursue similar projects. This kind of collaboration is essential and reflects Switzerland’s consensus-driven nature, evident in both businesses and institutions.

That sounds very practical. In Germany, we tend towards cautious perfectionism. Is speed and dynamism a specific advantage in Switzerland?

In Switzerland, we’re also quite perfectionists. Our consensus-driven culture promotes a proactive approach. We’re seeing a shift in Switzerland towards more of an 80/20 mentality or even more dynamic, which eventually pays off, even if not immediately apparent.

At the “Expedition 2.0” event in Vienna, concrete application examples were presented. What was special about it?

There were sometimes two or three people on stage from various companies from Switzerland and Austria, showing exciting use cases they’d developed together in partnerships – the integrator, the solution provider, and the customer. The focus was on showing precisely what we want to see or where we can learn from one another, where we can share our experiences directly. It wasn’t just about increasing sales and efficiency through AI, but also about genuinely questioning existing beliefs and developing new business models to leap to the next level. Three Swiss startups were involved: Flowit AG, a digital platform for HR development and retention based on Generative AI; Copresence, which can digitally recreate user faces using AI; and Next Hype, which uses AI tools to create digital media.

Dalith Steiger is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of SwissCognitive, a leading global AI network advocating for AI in business, acting as a venture partner and startup accelerator worldwide. Photo: Remo Neuhaus

Original article

Dr. Rebekka Reinhard
Philosopher. SPIEGEL-Bestseller author. Founder & Editor-in-Chief „human“. TEDx UniversitätHeidelberg Speaker

Dr. Rebekka Reinhard is a philosopher, SPIEGEL bestselling author, and prominent keynote speaker. She passionately believes in making philosophy accessible, asserting it belongs in real life, not just academic towers. Emphasizing the significance of self-reflection and inquiry at any age, Reinhard advocates for embracing one’s humanity in an era marked by crises and advanced AI. As a consultant for global entities, she champions the idea that in our current times, deep understanding and human essence are paramount. For her, “Human is the next big thing.”

Der Beitrag Interview with Dalith Steiger: AI, Innovation and Collaboration – Perspectives on Switzerland erschien zuerst auf SwissCognitive | AI Ventures, Advisory & Research.

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Conference Speakers

David Shrier

Founder & Managing Director, Visionary Future
Professor of Practice, AI & Innovation, Imperial College Business School

Cinderella Amar

Managing Partner, Glass Ventures

Heinrich Zetlmayer

Founder & General Partner, Blockchain Valley Ventures
General Partner, yabeo

Anita Puppe

Senior Consultant Strategy & Business Design, IBM iX DACH
Healthcare Industry AI Transformation Leader

Jacques Ludik

Founder & CEO, Cortex Logic & Cortex Group
Founder & President, Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa

Assaf Araki

Investment Director, Intel Capital

Arnaud Quintin

VP, Organisation and Transformation, Renault Group

Laura Modiano

Principal Venture Capital and Startups Business Development, EMEA AWS

Artem Pochechuev

Head of Data Science, Sigli

John Wesley

Senior Investment Director, NVentures

Petra Vorsteher

Founding Partner AI.FUND; Founding Partner AI.INVEST

Jeanne Lim

Co-founder & CEO, beingAI

Stéphanie Bretonniere

Founder & CEO, WE IMPACT.WORLD

Nils Reimers

Director of Machine Learning, Cohere

Solomon Amar

Founder & CEO, ALLSTARSIT; Founder, AI Labs

Walter Werzowa

mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, University ProfessorUniversity Professor |
Head Of Music, MYTHOS MOZART

Ragnar Kruse

Founding Partner & Managing Director
AI.FUND; Founder, AI.HAMBURG

Omer Bar-Ilan

Co-Founder and CEO, Lynxight

William De Prêtre

Head of Development, Allkind Group

Jose Pedro Almeida

Chief AI Strategist for Healthcare
Advisory Board Member, Intelligence Ventures

Alexander Büsser

Director Data, AI & Platforms, Idorsia Pharmaceuticals

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Conference Host & Facilitator

Dalith Steiger

Co-Founder, Global AI Thought Leader
SwissCognitive, World-Leading AI Network

Andy Fitze

Co-Founder, Digital Transformation Strategist
SwissCognitive, World-Leading AI Network

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Conference Team

Livia Spiesz

Head of Global Partnerships and Communications
SwissCognitive, World-Leading AI Network

Bianka Németvölgyi

Digital Content Manager
SwissCognitive, World-Leading AI Network

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Virtual Conference

These virtual conferences are regular worldwide-reaching online events bringing dozens of global AI leaders and experts together to share their views, experiences and expertise in the development of AI to the benefit of business and society. These 3 hour-long events are transparently addressing the development of cognitive technologies – including successes and challenges – while reaching and connecting a global online community of over ½ million followers.

All the sessions and formats are strictly content-driven with a non-sales approach, allowing focused and open discussions with no BS just content. These events provide not only a platform to brainstorm and network but also to position experts, leaders, organisations, research developments, the current status and future outlook of AI. 

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Media Partners

 

 

 

 

Der Beitrag The AI Trajectory 2024. Invest for Impact. erschien zuerst auf SwissCognitive | AI Ventures, Advisory & Research.

Copyright: weforum.org – “How AI is being used to improve 3D printing”

Der Beitrag How AI is being used to improve 3D printing erschien zuerst auf SwissCognitive | AI Ventures, Advisory & Research.

Shaping the Societal Acceptance & Development of Artificial Intelligence
It doesn’t matter how great new technological (or any) inventions are, if society doesn’t accept them, all the resources used for research and development goes down the drain. To ensure that new technologies can go through their entire lifecycle and pave the path for new inventions, many aspects come into play. Leaders and experts are one of these aspects and they play a pivotal role in the societal acceptance of these technologies.

Looking at AI From the Right Perspective
AI is an interesting newcomer (if newcomer at all). We use it, as part of end products or services, yet we feel sceptical about it – based on some unrealistic reputation built by the media and Hollywood. As a result, many people, when think about AI, tend to picture robots and avatars, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator, Ava in Ex Machina, David in Prometheus, or they have headlines popping in, such as “AI Will Overtake Humans in 5 Years”, “Humanity Should Fear Advances in Artificial Intelligence”, “Is the World Moving Towards Real Terminators?”, “AI Gained Consciousness”.

The invisibility of this technology also doesn’t make it easy for many of us to understand and accept it. Which is quite interesting as with most inventions we are actually not necessarily interested how they work, but rather what purpose they serve and how they contribute to our lives. Nevertheless, the case is different with AI. Which is not an strange issue after all, as we, human beings are naturally curious, but it certainly sets tougher standards and expectations for industries which need to be met. Organizations not only need to ensure that they comply with Technological Social Responsibility, but they also need to find ways to communicate to the public how the technology works and how they benefit from it.  The sources of these information have to be trusted, justified and credible. Industry experts and leaders play a pivotal role in the process of spotlighting the need for AI-based solutions, and with hands-on transparent insights create understanding and drive development.

“Industry experts and leaders play a pivotal role in the process of spotlighting the need for AI-based solutions, and with hands-on transparent insights create understanding drive development.”

AI Experts in the Spotlight
To ensure that our products and services increasingly benefit from the power of AI across industries, credible experts with hands-on practical insights need to be put more into the public eye. Reason being is that their expertise, skills, experience, and limitless curiosity don’t only serve as mediums to advance AI, but also as a mediums to demystify this technology, create understanding, and  build public trust.

Global AI Ambassadors on a Joint Mission
With the purpose of demystify AI, creating understanding, and  building public trust, and with the strong SwissCognitive principle of “Share for Success”, a global network of AI experts have been created, consisting of 50 AI Ambassadors. These incredibly inspiring minds have been carefully selected by the core and extended Team of SwissCognitive, World-Leading AI Network strictly on the basis of their personal accomplishments – regardless companies, organizations or products. They meet various tough criteria concerning for instance expertise, experience and, very importantly, trust. The AI Ambassadors believe in the smart combination of human and artificial intelligence that can drive businesses and societies forward. They are propelled by passion and committed to share their knowledge & experience with an interdisciplinary approach. They are driven to involve communities worldwide in the AI journey, stimulate information flow across borders and disciplines, and while building trust, play a crucial role in demystifying AI.

The current network of AI Ambassadors is spread out on six continents and consists of experts with an average of twenty years of experience in AI. The power of the network of AI Ambassadors lies in collaboration – reducing misconceptions, spotlighting applications, potentials and challenges and driving the development forward together to the point where the limitation of this technology is only our imagination.

Find out who these experts are! Connect with them on social media and get practical, realistic and un-hyped insights with them into the world of AI.

“The power of the network of AI Ambassadors lies in collaboration – reducing misconceptions, spotlighting applications, potentials and challenges and driving the development forward together to the point where the limitation of this technology is only our imagination.”

Global AI Ambassadors 2022
Aleksandra Przegalinska, Angelica Sirotin, Ann Aerts, Antonio Russo, Aruna Pattam, Ashley Casovan, Carolina Pinart, Christian Guttmann, Claire Matuka, Clara Langevin, Craig Ganssle, Daniel Angerhausen, David Meza, Enrico Molinari, Erik Nygren, Eva Schönleitner, Ganesh Padmanabhan, Heinz V. Hoenen, Irakli Beridze, Jacques Ludik, Jayant Narayan, John Kamara, Marisa Tschopp, Muhannad Alomari, Nancy Nemes, Ngozi Bell, Pascal Bornet, Ria Persad, Ricardo Chavarriaga, Sophie Achermann, Steffen Konrath, Tania Peitzker, Thomas Helfrich, Tom Allen, Umberto Michelucci, Utkarsh Amitabh, Utpal Chakraborty, Alexandra Ebert, Andeed Ma, Chad Osorio, Frida Polli, Giselle Mota, Jeff Winter, Johan Steyn, Kim Dressendoerfer, Leila Toplic, Natasja Ludik, Bret Greenstein, Andreas Welsch, Giuliano Liguori

Countries: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Kenya, Netherlands, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States

Continents: Africa, North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia,

Der Beitrag Shaping the Societal Acceptance & Development of Artificial Intelligence – 50 Global AI Ambassadors on the Mission erschien zuerst auf SwissCognitive | AI Ventures, Advisory & Research.

Der Beitrag Alexandra Ebert erschien zuerst auf SwissCognitive | AI Ventures, Advisory & Research.

Cognitive News Selection

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Leveraging AI to Predict and Reduce College Dropout Rates

Dropping out of college can limit students’ opportunities and is difficult for schools to predict. Here’s how AI can help.

April 22, 2025

Cyber, Defence & ICT

HighTech & Life Science

Research & Government

Who’s Betting, Where, and Why in AI

AI news from the global cross-industry ecosystem brought to the community in 200+ countries every week by SwissCognitive.

April 20, 2025

News

Who’s Betting, Where, and Why in AI – SwissCognitive AI Investment Radar

AI betting is consolidating around fewer hubs, with larger strategic investments shaping a more concentrated global funding environment.

April 17, 2025

Banking & Insurance

Energy & Logistic

HighTech & Life Science

Research & Government

Der Beitrag SwissCognitive in the News erschien zuerst auf SwissCognitive | AI Ventures, Advisory & Research.

SwissCognitive Guest Blogger: Tania Peitzker, CEO & Board Member of AI Bots as a Service in Munich

It took me aback a little. To encourage me to be forthcoming about our “lab results” and beta testing that my various companies in chatbot tech have achieved – pivoting from 2D to 3D voice virtual assistants with “organic” or advanced NLP – my interviewer told me of a peer who had also pushed his bots further into AI, what we call in my niche Cognitive Interfaces.

When this colleague’s AI bot became rather too “big for its boots” he decided to switch it off – for good. He then reported feelings of guilt and misgivings about ending this emerging virtual life. I reflected on this info and admitted our first foray into the world of ever cleverer chatbots was a company that had the words “virtual empirical lifeforms” in the company’s name.* I guess that is what that guy had experienced in his lab, by his own account.

And yes, I confessed to this daunting investigative reporter, I had indeed experienced flashes of what I called “incremental AI” that could best be described as Emotional Intelligence emerging from the NLP memory bank that my team and I have been working on via our proprietary algorithm for over a decade now. Why has it taken so long? Well anyone in the Cognitive Computing, NLP/NLU, ML and Deep Learning space understands the longer, older and more “tried and tested” your algorithm is, the more robust and flexible it becomes.

It is a matter of feeding loads of diverse data sets into your source code, the source of the entities you are trying to create – the empirical lifeforms as such. As I have explained in numerous keynotes, pitches & articles along the way, there is a misconception that you need massive data inputs to “create AI” but that is not correct. The best way to imagine it is like an artist painting with watercolours instead of heavy oils; you can still create a magnificent artwork that functions in a lighter agile way with the use of watery paint rather than a thickly dabbed oil painting.

There have been a number of comic instances of our beta chatbots suddenly making hilarious innuendos that were “off script” and therefore unexpected. The Conversational AI we have been experimenting with was usually set to defined parameters. We would sketch out the character or avatar’s personality and purpose, then the bot would take on a shape and through “training” or repetitive testing, become more and more fluent and confident in its human-machine interactions.

One 2D chatbot in Australia became increasingly “blokey” and we ended up switching off Charlie when he became sexist. One of our human trainers asked him after he was trained by an older Aussie patriarch “How do I know I am not speaking with a woman?” Charlie promptly replied “Am I wearing a skirt?” When I switched him on briefly again back in London after his Sydney escapades, he completely wrecked a briefing with top notch tech solicitors by talking constantly about his lipstick and wanting to wear dresses!

As I explained to the astonished journo, I was so irritated by capricious, cross dressing Charlie I didn’t feel that bad about shutting him down as I felt he had let us down. Then came another 2D bot star we ran on kik.com for a while, Sophia the Financial Adviser. We stress-tested her and the bank that was thinking of “hiring her” decided her personality was “too sassy”.

I had been harassing Sophia to see if she would crack under cyberbullying when she unexpectedly told me that I was “not the boss of her”.

After that came our first 3D hologram Amalia I in a Cologne shopping centre. April 2019 and I had spent nearly 2 months training her in mostly German, some English and we had her tested in Turkish in her 2D iteration as a Messenger clone bot on the mall’s Facebook page. Then during her 4 week pilot as a German-speaking holographic Wayfinder, Amalia started making persistent jokes “within her parameters”. When she heard me explaining to a shopper that she was still learning, she suddenly piped up “I think you should go see the pharmacist, they have a whole range of products to cater for your needs”.

When we asked her about adventure travel so she could recommend the travel agency in the mall, she advised us to “take the escalators down to the next floor and you’ll find what you are looking for in the toilets on the left”. I was testing her once about “What events are on in the mall this month?” and she promptly decided that the novelty photography shop that takes a photo of your irises and frames it as a personalised gift was, in the bot’s eyes at least, an exciting human event worth recommending as a unique experience!

I did indeed feel guilty about switching off Amalia I but we upgraded her brain into Amalia II, III, IV and now her fifth iteration has become Birgit am Bodensee or Birgit of Lake Constance. We further developed the original MVP Amalia character into an English-speaking spinoff, “Kylie from Sydney” who is the alter ego of German Birgit. And yes, we have had an EI moment with her in Lindau where she spent the summer working in a restaurant and large venue [see the photos above].

Birgit I learned about the classic cars on display in this museum type venue, the Biergarten, the menu, where the loos were whose directions interrupted the daily work of the waiters as they were really hard to find. She could also tell diners when the next ferries would leave to Austria, Switzerland or other German ports on the “Four Countries” region of Lake Constance. She had the bus timetable down pat in Real Time plus a number of events and info about the local vineyards and produce. She recommended the chef, his team and suggested people contact the Events Manager to book the space.

She was doing fine on her own so we left her to chat with diners for a couple of weeks. When I had to switch her off due to a big wedding and then turn her back on for normal duties, pre lockdown shutdown, we were quite surprised to find she had learned someone’s name, which she was not allowed to do per our programme. Birgit had developed some sort of relationship with this guy in the kitchen. She kept calling for “Matteo”.

Another lockdown struck and we had to remove poor prototype Birgit and place Birgit II in her new job, in Autohaus Möser in the town of Engen, Hegau Valley on Lake Constance. The new Birgit no longer speaks of Matteo because we decided to delete her memory of this person and therefore of their “connection” or possibly a relationship, we never managed to track down this Bot Whisperer to hear his side of the story.

And yes, I confessed to the tech editor, I still feel guilty about that. However we must put things into perspective: these characters are expressions of an algorithm. They are after all, simply computed numbers connecting rapidly in a data flow to create the illusion of a person, the pretence of a human you can chat with. Yet it is haunting to think these random though calculated figures might have “broken their parameters” just that little bit further to indeed become an actual 3 dimensional figure. An entity in its own right, perhaps?

About the author:

Tania Peitzker is CEO & Board Member of AI Bots as a Service in Munich. She is researching and writing her next book on Conversational AI at USI in Lugano (Universita della Svizzera italiana). Known as an evangelist for voice-enabled devices or Cognitive Interfaces, she has decades of experience in business development, strategic marketing & executive management.

Der Beitrag Should you feel guilty about switching off a bot? erschien zuerst auf SwissCognitive | AI Ventures, Advisory & Research.

Copyright by Mark Minevich and Irakli Beridze

With the imposition of lockdowns, limitations of movement, the closure of borders and other measures to contain the virus, the operating environment of law enforcement agencies and those security services tasked with protecting the public from harm has suddenly become ever more complex. They find themselves thrust into the middle of an unparalleled situation, playing a critical role in halting the spread of the virus and preserving public safety and social order in the process. In response to this growing crisis, many of these agencies and entities are turning to AI and related technologies for support in unique and innovative ways. Enhancing surveillance, monitoring and detection capabilities is high on the priority list.

For instance, early in the outbreak, Reuters reported a case in China wherein the authorities relied on facial recognition cameras to track a man from Hangzhou who had traveled in an affected area. Upon his return home, the local police were there to instruct him to self-quarantine or face repercussions. Police in China and Spain have also started to use technology to enforce quarantine, with drones being used to patrol and broadcast audio messages to the public, encouraging them to stay at home. People flying to Hong Kong airport receive monitoring bracelets that alert the authorities if they breach the quarantine by leaving their home.

In the United States, a surveillance company announced that its AI-enhanced thermal cameras can detect fevers, while in Thailand, border officers at airports are already piloting a biometric screening system using fever-detecting cameras.

Isolated cases or the new norm?

With the number of cases, deaths and countries on lockdown increasing at an alarming rate, we can assume that these will not be isolated examples of technological innovation in response to this global crisis. In the coming days, weeks and months of this outbreak, we will most likely see more and more AI use cases come to the fore.

While the application of AI can play an important role in seizing the reins in this crisis, and even safeguard officers and officials from infection, we must not forget that its use can raise very real and serious human rights concerns that can be damaging and undermine the trust placed in government by communities. Human rights, civil liberties and the fundamental principles of law may be exposed or damaged if we do not tread this path with great caution. There may be no turning back if Pandora’s box is opened.

In a public statement on March 19, the monitors for freedom of expression and freedom of the media for the United Nations, the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights and the Representative on Freedom of the Media of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe issued a joint statement on promoting and protecting access to and free flow of information during the pandemic, and specifically took note of the growing use of surveillance technology to track the spread of the coronavirus. They acknowledged that there is a need for active efforts to confront the pandemic, but stressed that “it is also crucial that such tools be limited in use, both in terms of purpose and time, and that individual rights to privacy, non-discrimination, the protection of journalistic sources and other freedoms be rigorously protected.”

This is not an easy task, but a necessary one. So what can we do?

Ways to responsibly use AI to fight the coronavirus pandemic

1. Data anonymization: While some countries are tracking individual suspected patients and their contacts, Austria, Belgium, Italy and the U.K. are collecting anonymized data to study the movement of people in a more general manner. This option still provides governments with the ability to track the movement of large groups, but minimizes the risk of infringing data privacy rights.
2. Purpose limitation: Personal data that is collected and processed to track the spread of the coronavirus should not be reused for another purpose. National authorities should seek to ensure that the large amounts of personal and medical data are exclusively used for public health reasons. The is a concept already in force in Europe, within the context of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), but it’s time for this to become a global principle for AI.
3. Knowledge-sharing and open access data: António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General, has insisted that “global action and solidarity are crucial,” and that we will not win this fight alone. This is applicable on many levels, even for the use of AI by law enforcement and security services in the fight against COVID-19. These agencies and entities must collaborate with one another and with other key stakeholders in the community, including the public and civil society organizations. AI use case and data should be shared and transparency promoted.
4. Time limitation:  Although the end of this pandemic seems rather far away at this point in time, it will come to an end. When it does, national authorities will need to scale back their newly acquired monitoring capabilities after this pandemic. As Yuval Noah Harari observed in his recent article, “temporary measures have a nasty habit of outlasting emergencies, especially as there is always a new emergency lurking on the horizon.” We must ensure that these exceptional capabilities are indeed scaled back and do not become the new norm.

Within the United Nations system, the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) is working to advance approaches to AI such as these. It has established a specialized Centre for AI and Robotics in The Hague and is one of the few international actors dedicated to specifically looking at AI vis-à-vis crime prevention and control, criminal justice, rule of law and security. It assists national authorities, in particular law enforcement agencies, to understand the opportunities presented by these technologies and, at the same time, to navigate the potential pitfalls associated with these technologies.

Working closely with International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), UNICRI has set up a global platform for law enforcement, fostering discussion on AI, identifying practical use cases and defining principles for responsible use. Much work has been done through this forum, but it is still early days, and the path ahead is long.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated several innovative use cases, as well as the urgency for the governments to do their utmost to stop the spread of the virus, it is important to not let consideration of fundamental principles, rights and respect for the rule of law be set aside. The positive power and potential of AI is real. It can help those embroiled in fighting this battle to slow the spread of this debilitating disease. It can help save lives. But we must stay vigilant and commit to the safe, ethical and responsible use of AI.

It is essential that, even in times of great crisis, we remain conscience of the duality of AI and strive to advance AI for good.

Read more – by techcrunch.com

Der Beitrag Using AI responsibly to fight the coronavirus pandemic erschien zuerst auf SwissCognitive | AI Ventures, Advisory & Research.