Everyday UX and Product Inspirations

I came across an interesting article recently on Gizmono ( Link ) titled “when superintelligent AI arrives, will religions try to convert it”,  The key question seems to be simple at the first glance. The commonality among all different interviewees suggest that there is some kind of criteria the Strong AI has to pass to be qualify as human to be relevant to the religion.  The complication comes in that different party seems to have different criteria, to summarize: If Strong AI has a soul? If Strong AI has a soul an spirit? And for the very fact that it is about AI and religion, let’s refer to Bible for the definition of spirit.  What is the definition of Soul:   the   spiritual   part   of   humans   regarded   in   its   moral  aspect ,   or   as   believed   to   survive   death   and   be subject  to   ha...

Machine learning is under the spot light for investors, strategic, tactic or commercial. While at the same time, you may not feel so empowered to make an investment decision because it is an early-stage industry with many changes and risks involved. And especially if you are an angel investor, maybe the guys in the garage will create the next Facebook or Google, maybe not, but how can i tell? So what are the questions I need to figure out when investing in machine learning and what tips I can use to evaluate a company? The first key question you need to figure out is really what do you want to use the investment for.  Are you m aking the investment so you can  Use its product in your company and/or serve your clients Eliminate a competitor and improve your  competitiveness Obtain a constant cash flow for a certain period Exit with a good return later on Acquire other benefits you want If the investment is fundamentally f...

Machine learning utilizes big data to understand users' needs and to provide them relevant information. To a retailer, how will machine learning improve the way they interact with their consumes? In this article, I will talk about 3 pioneers that has already been using AI to provide a better user experience and what are 5 areas you, as a consumer, can leverage on the AI power to improve your shopping experience. In terms of machine learning, currently, most of the implementation is focusing on the awareness/discover stage. Understand your need and suggest the right products:  The North Face shopping assistant powered by Watson through agency Fuild, then you go on the website to search for the perfect garment, all you need to do is to answer from simple questions, and the shopping assistant will find a list of results base on your needs. Give directions when shopping in store: Macy’s On Call powered by Satisfi and Watson help consum...

Machine Learning is undoubtedly one of keywords for 2016 and will continue to be in 2017 and onwards. 3 familiar cases that anybody will be able to associate with:  Case 1: search engine such as Google Case 2: social media feed such as Facebook Case 3: mobile keyboard text suggestions You can find thousands of links on machine learning definition but knowing the meaning is not helpful. What I found valuable is to know what enabled machine learning, or in other words, what machine learns from, and how it is used now and in the future in different industries.  Throughout this year, I aim to understand how machine learning works and how it will impact us in different industries. First, let us understand what are the fundamentals that enabled machine learning, or in other words, why now? To summarize, 4 elements are essential: Cost to Store Data: I will credit this as the No 1 element for Machine learning, throughout the past decade, Cost of...

Machine learning to the employment has been a topic in debate.  Darrell West, in his paper titled " What happens if robots take the jobs? The impact of emerging technologies on employment and public policy” suggested a list of actions government should take to ensure people whose job has been replaced by machines can live a decent live. The general sentiment seems to suggest a turbulent era as work force transform. Growing up in China during the time of State owned enterprise reform, I had real experience living through the time of large group of people being laid off because the jobs were suddenly gone.  My parent’s generation had to learn new skills for a completely new industry at their 40s and 50s. Few of them made it and even became millionaire, many of them didn’t and the family suffered a lot. I followed the news of Detroit Car manufacturing industry lapse and it shows familiar traits. The fact is, jobs come and go...

Form the employer’s perspective, machine learning is just something to be “employed” to meet their objective, more efficient in reaching out to potential consumers, less costly in manufacturing and employee management, and better serve existing customers. This article looks at how machine learning can be helpful in the corresponding aspects: Identify and Engage with Matching Talents Matching algorithms is among the most development area in Machine Learning. Today, its implementation an be found everywhere:  from the type of content shown on our Facebook news feeds to the suggested TV shows that come up on Netflix, and even to the matches suggested on dating sites/apps like Match.com  and Tinder.  At the moment, most of the matching algorithms use strings and keywords in resume to filter candidates. It makes finding potential candidates faster and more accurate. Soon, it should be able to match candidates based on ...