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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 jun 2026

Agentic AI is enhancing performance marketing capabilities and there is a visible shift from automation to autonomy, even though trust, transparency and governance continue to be essential. Recently experts got together in ADWEEK House Cannes Lions 2026 panel discussion to exchange views on how agentic AI is transforming performance marketing and how the future will evolve. Krishan Bhatia of Taboola, says, 'The autonomy is probably the most important aspect of delivering on the promise of AI. The whole point is that AI routinizes, or basically autonomizes, routinized tasks of RFPs and plan building and optimization in flight, and it's working...I think next year I want to be sitting here and having proved it to all of those, plus some, and be operating at scale throughout our entire platform.' Matt Groshong of NVIDIA, says, 'Where we go with that depends on how advanced your data is that sits behind it. It depends on how comfortable you are with that transaction. But more importantly, it has to be able to describe why it made a decision. Maybe you have the ability to undo that decision, and proper transparency, so that you can get to a point where you actually trust it.' Jarrod Martin of Acxiom and Omnicom Media, says, 'We think about traditional automation being very prescriptive about the steps we take in the hope that we get the outcome that we want. And an agent is where we're being very prescriptive about the outcome we want, and hoping that they can go through the right steps to get to that outcome.' Steve Ellis of Paramount Advertising, says, 'It is very helpful if you have your process documented as it exists today, and that your data is in great shape. Those things make all of this go much, much faster, but also end up much, much better.' Ami Palan of Accenture Song Americas, says, 'There are different roles that so many of these agents are playing, and so you're seeing naturally in the marketplace so many of these partners actually come together and launch something unique that hasn't existed in the past. It's very unique to the architecture of the particular client and what they're trying to accomplish, so very outcome-focused, and that oftentimes means multiple ecosystems...The way that is going to be successful is when these agents can build trust with the customer, and that's going to be the way the customer feels confident that what's being done - not just recommended - but transacted on their behalf, is something they actually want.' Imran Khan of Proem, says, 'All of the companies are investing pretty significantly in AI. We all see the promise of AI, and I think the next question is for that dollar that you are spending, are you getting the return that it promised?' Read on...

ADWEEK: A More Intelligent Advertising Ecosystem Is on the Horizon
Author: Dawn Papandrea

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 31 may 2026

The online education frenzy is dissipating and the sector is normalizing in post-COVID scenario. According to Traxn, that tracks startup funding, global education technology funding rose to US$ 16.7 billion in 2021, while in 2025 venture capital to the sector reduced to less than US$ 3 billion. US has been the main source of this funding and it was mostly directed towards K-12 (US$ 12.3 billion in 2020 out of US$ 15.9 billion total & US$ 9 billion in 2021) with some investments going into pre-K, test prep, higher education, language learning, gamification etc. Writing about 2025 situation, HolonIQ (education consultancy firm), says, 'Venture capital flows reflected a shift from volume to intention. Investors concentrated capital in AI-enabled products, workforce-aligned platforms, and K-12 operations solutions that address cost or operational pressures, staffing challenges, and learning support at scale.' Moreover, the number of startups founded has also reduced substantially, from 10500 (2020) to 645 (2025). Nonprofits such as Khan Academy and other local innovators, instead of for-profit venture-backed firms, are filling the gap in places where there is scarcity of educational infrastructure. Loot Drop, a curated database of 1700+ closed startups, finds the following reasons for this disaster - lack of differentiation among competitors, inability to fix unit economics, high customer acquisision costs, long institutional sales cycles and low retention rates. Loot Drop explains the future scenario - 'The winners will likely be vertical-specific tools that integrate into existing workflows rather than platforms trying to replace entire educational institutions.' Read on...

Rest of World: The global edtech boom is fading as investors look elsewhere
Author: Ananya Bhattacharya

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 29 may 2026

Rise of the AI-driven content is bringing catastrophic consequences to human-developed content. Human creativity may be at stake in such a scenario, but it will find ways to take the challenge and mitigate the risk and overcome severity of the disaster. Joe Pulizzi, founder of The Tilt and author of books such as 'Content Inc.' & 'Epic Content Marketing', explore ways in which human-created content will stand side-by-side of the synthetic AI-generated content and will continue to stay relevant, if not in scale or quantity but in quality. Mr. Pulizzi says, 'Human content is becoming scarce. Everyone is worried about this, and no one knows quite what to do...human-created content is about to become the minority...Synthetic content can be created faster than human content. It can be personalized. It can be translated. It can be remixed. It can be changed in a second. It can be produced at a scale that human beings cannot match...Humans and companies created content. Google, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, TikTok and the rest organized or distributed that content. We got attention. They got data, advertising, and a business model...Every major platform has historically needed our content. They needed creators. They needed publishers. They needed all of us posting, sharing, recording, writing, and reacting.' Describing the changing scenario and recommending ways for human content creators to survive the AI challenge, he says, 'We have a limited window to build something that lives outside the algorithm...in a world where synthetic content is everywhere, another person trusting you becomes the moat...If you are a marketer inside a company, this means identifying the trusted humans in your organization...If you are an independent creator, this means you cannot keep renting all your attention from platforms. Build the direct connection...If you are a writer, speaker, consultant, coach, teacher, or leader, stop waiting until your idea is perfect. Pick the thing you want to be known for and start repeating it...The goal is to become known, trusted, and needed by a specific group of people. Now.' Read on...

The Tilt: How Human Content Can Beat Synthetic
Author: Joe Pulizzi

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 apr 2026

According to the 2024 Nonprofit Standards Benchmarking Survey, 82% of nonprofits are already leveraging the artificial intelligence (AI) technology in at least one use case. But, rushing to the AI's implementation without sufficient research and determined goals can be costly for nonprofits that are generally struggling for funds. Experts suggest the following best practices for effective AI integrations - (1) Invest in Training and Education: AI complements human workers and this can be explained to nonprofit employees through training and education. (2) Stay Human-Centered: Beth Kanter, Allison Fine and Phillip Deng in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, say, 'Before adopting AI, nonprofits should create a written pledge explaining that AI will be used only in human-centered ways.' Moreover, Amy Sample Ward, CEO of the Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network, says it's important to clarify that AI 'should not make decisions.' Allison Fine, President of Every.org, says, '...If we use AI badly and we make people feel less connected to other human beings, it will be a tragedy.' (3) Avoid Unfair Risks and Bias: Joe Carcedo, philanthropy leader and consultant, says, 'If AI is to be adopted widely in the nonprofit sector, the problem of AI bias must be addressed, as it is of paramount importance given that nonprofits enjoy a greater level of trust from their constituents than most other sectors - trust that can easily erode if their decisions are premised on skewed or biased data. (4) Prioritize Data Privacy and Security: Use sufficient guardrails to ensure that compliance and security protecions are in place and follow general data protection regulations. (5) Seek the Help of a Tech Partner: About 70% of nonprofit leaders report difficulty in filling staff vacancies with lack of technological skills as one of the main challenge. Tech partner can help overcome this challenge for effective AI use. Read on...

BizTech Magazine: 5 Steps Nonprofits Can Take To Adopt AI Responsibly
Author: J. P. Pressley

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 26 mar 2026

Engineering design is an essential component of society's advancement and better future. Engineers utilize their expertise and knowledge to provide solutions. But, over the years the available knowledge has expanded enormously and being expert in all aspects is challenging and difficult for engineers and their teams. Design engineers can possess core knowledge in design process tasks such as design specification, ideation and design detail, but successful design implementation requires knowledge beyond it such as sustainability, materials, manufacturing, consumer behavior etc. According to the Concept-Knowledge (C-K) theory, creative design emerges when new concepts are matched with appropriate knowledge. Moreover, advancements in computational technologies has provided paradigm shift from computers as tools to computers as collaborators. Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a substantial contributor to this shift. The study, 'A framework of AI collaboration in engineering design (AICED)' [Authors: Chijioke C. Obieke of Queen's University (Belfast, UK); John Bridgeman of University of Liverpool (UK); Ji Han of University of Exeter (UK)], published by University of Cambridge Press in the journal Proceedings of the Design Society (August, 2025), introduces the AICED (AI Collaboration in Engineering Design) framework to bridge the knowledge space expansion gap in engineering design by creating a web tool Pro-Explora, that leverages advanced multi-agent LLM technology and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) among others, to accelerate early-stage design tasks. Authors explain, 'Specifically, we examine large language models (LLMs), particularly multi-agent LLMs...LLMs' ability to mimic human cognitive behaviour is unprecedented, supporting complex activities across various fields...Many AI systems and tools are available but often segregated and not specifically adapted to support engineering design activities. Aggregating these tools to support engineering design practice specifically is explored in this study, highlighting its novelty and contribution...this study proposes an approach that minimises privacy risks when using multi-agent LLMs as collaborators in engineering design.' The theoretical framework for AICED facilitates effective collaboration between designers and AI during engineering design activities, primarily focusing on early-stage design (problem definition, design specification, and concept generation) while also considering later stages. The AICED framework benefits student design engineers, freelancers, and individual practitioners. It lets them quickly expand or enrich their conceptual knowledge of an idea or design problem, facilitating more informed discussions with other professionals. The AICED framework is designed as an adaptable, open framework that can be tailored to meet specific organisational needs. Read on...

Cambridge University Press: A framework of AI collaboration in engineering design (AICED)
Authors: Chijioke C. Obieke, John Bridgeman, Ji Han

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 14 feb 2026

Effective personal finance decisions require substantial knowledge and understanding of various financial instruments and investment options. With artificial intelligence (AI) getting firmly embedded in our lives, the question arises can Gemini, Grok, ChatGPT etc also make correct financial decisions for individuals. Financial experts suggest more cautious approach that includes using AI just as an assistant to understand financial concepts but for real decision making they advice financial professional's help. In India financial literacy is estimated to be only around 27%. Moreover, studies find that behavioral biases such as panick selling, seeking short-term financial gains, interia etc lead to about 60-70% unsuccessful financial outcomes. Amol Joshi, founder of PlanRupee Investment Services, says, 'Managing personal finance is not a one-time or 'fill it, shut it, forget it' activity. It needs careful product selection, keeping in mind your investment horizon and risk profile. You need to manage asset allocation at portfolio level and also be mindful of tax considerations. AI cannot practically take care of all these aspects end-to-end.' Nehal Mota, co-founder and CEO of Finnovate, says, 'Relying on AI for personal finance can be a good starting point but it isn't the solution in itself... personal finance decisions are very contextual and depend on variables such as income stability, family obligations, risk tolerance, tax residency, and long-term life goals.' Read on...

Moneycontrol: Should you turn to Gemini, ChatGPT or Grok AI to make personal finance decisions?
Author: Navneet Dubey

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 31 dec 2025

The shopping experience is being redefined due to the adoption of AI, analytics and integrated signage systems by European retailers. According to Sony Retail Index 2025, there are still three key challenges to full scale digitalization - (1) Lack of Evidence: Retailers struggle to demonstrate measurable benefits from retail tech investments. (2) Skills Shortage: There is insufficient focus on hiring and developing talent to manage and evolve retail technology. (3) Trust Deficit: Stakeholders remain sceptical about AI-driven processes. Moreover, it also recommends some strategic priorities that will lead to full potential of digital transformation - (1) Start Where It Matters: Address pain points like long queues, stock availability, and inventory loss. (2) Test Fast, Scale Fast: Expand successful pilots quickly. (2) Integrate, Don't Replace: Connect new technologies with existing systems. (3) Integrate, Don't Replace: Connect new technologies with existing systems. (4) Position Compliance as Value: Communicate robust privacy protections to customers. Chris Mullins, Head of Product Marketing, Professional Solutions and Displays at Sony Europe, says, 'Retailers don't lack innovation – they lack visible progress. Customers want proof that technology improves their shopping experience today, not promises for tomorrow...' Read on...

Invidis: AI Must Deliver on Its Promise
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 21 oct 2025

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI/Gen AI) is impacting businesses and its application in marketing is transforming. Prof. Mohanbir Sawhney of Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, considers GenAI as a natural fit for marketing as both are centered around human interactions - conversations, content and engagement. He says, 'When you look at the customer experience lifecycle - from insights and segmentation to offer creation, campaign execution, and performance analysis - generative AI enhances productivity and quality at every stage.' Some of the AI applications in industry are - AI-powered wealth advisors in financial services; Use of digital twins in retail leading to 'bot-to-bot commerce'; Image recognition tools to diagnose equipment malfunctions to reduce costly technician visits; Contract lifecycle management tools to streamline proceses; Transcription tools to auto-populate electronic health records to streamline doctor-patient interactions; Drones with image analysis tools can assess soil health, detect pests, and optimize harvesting schedules. Prof. Sawhney emphasized that these AI applications are not standalone solutions but are part of a broader AI ecosystem, that combines traditional machine learning, deep learning and generative AI to deliver optimal results. For startups he advises, 'Instead of investing in an array of specialized tools, startups should choose a platform-based approach - leveraging AI capabilities within robust ecosystems like Salesforce, Adobe, or Microsoft Dynamics.' He also raises concerns about the ethical and security aspects of AI technologies, and cautions, 'The more AI knows about you, the greater the privacy risks. If a digital twin is hacked, it's not just data theft - it's identity theft at an unprecedented level.' Key legal and ethical issues arising in AI age - intellectual property and copyright; perpetuation of biases present in training data; inaccurate or misleading content can have serious consequences in fields such as healthcare and finance. Prof. Sawhney suggests three key aspects to consider for students and early-career professionals in AI - (1) Understand core disciplines like linear algebra, statistics, and computer science; Active use of AI tools will provide hands-on experience and practical knowledge; Critical thinking, inquiry skills and curiosity are more valuable for learning and growth. Read on...

Forbes: The AI Revolution In Business: Insights From Kellogg Professor Sawhney
Author: Taarini Kaur Dang

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 20 oct 2025

Marketing function of businesses is already seeing evolution with the advent of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI or Gen AI). Customer service and content development saw the early impact, but now, market research is headed for major transformtion. Researchers Jeremy Korst of GBK Collective, Prof. Stefano Puntoni of The Wharton School at the University of Pensylvania and Prof. Olivier Toubia of Columbia Business School at Columbia University, explore the role of GenAI in revolutionizing market research, how organizations can make the best use of the technology, what it can and can't do and the ethical considerations. Researchers say, 'When properly deployed, the technology offers firms unprecedented opportunities to understand and engage with customers, better assess the competitive environment, and extend data-driven decision-making deep into their organizations.' SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS - According to the survey of 170 market research and practitioners and users, researchers found: 45% were already employing gen AI in their current data and insights activities; Another 45% were planning to do so in the future; More than 70% of respondents reported concerns about the possible side effects and challenges of gen AI; More than 70% had concerns about gen AI's potential to create skill gaps and even replace human data and insights professionals; 62% of those currently employing gen AI in their work were using it to synthesize lengthy interview transcripts and other documents; 58% were using it to analyze data; 54% were using it to write reports; More than 80% agreed that it has the potential to significantly enhance personal productivity and efficiency and that integrating it into their work processes is critical for staying competitive; More than 80% believed that it will positively affect their industry overall by improving their jobs and driving significant innovation; 81% of the respondents already use or plan to use gen AI to create synthetic data; Only 31% rated the value of data produced by gen AI as "great"; 30% of respondents said that their company had used gen AI to guide decision-making that previously wouldn't have leveraged external data and insights; 81% of respondents reported using or planning to use gen AI to "listen to the market" and keep their organizations informed about the competitive environment; More than 40% are already experimenting with digital twins; 42% said that they planned to experiment with digital twins in the future; 77% have concerns about the potential for biased results Researchers identified the following four distinct classes of opportunities - (1) Supporting Current Practices: Apply the four core capabilities of gen AI - synthesis, coding (computer programming), human interaction, and writing - to each stage of the market research process; Makes the process faster, cheaper, or easier to scale up. (2) Replacing Current Practices: Leveraging synthetic data (data about people's preferences or behavior that's created by AI and not gathered through surveys or interviews). (3) Filling Existing Gaps in Market Understanding: Obtaining insights and evidence that aren't available in conventional data.(4) Creating New Types of Data and Insights: Creating "digital twins"; Gen AI can conduct insightful interviews of the synthetic respondents it has created. Read on...

Columbia Business School: How Gen AI Is Transforming Market Research
Authors: Jeremy Korst, Stefano Puntoni, Olivier Toubia

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 18 oct 2025

Artificial intelligence (AI) is bringing shift in interior design and architecture practice. Industry associations and organizations are observing and evaluating all aspects of AI use and providing advisories and directives for effective adoption and adaption of this technology. In June this year, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) passed industry policies on AI use at its Annual Business Meeting emphasizing - 'A formal establishment of AI Usage Policies, an AI Education & Exchange Platform, an AI Ethical Framework (AI's Integration into the Code of Ethics) and incorporating AI into the next AIA 5-Year Strategic Plan.' In July, Houzz released its inaugural report '2025 U.S. Houzz State of AI in Construction & Design' that mentions - Nearly 1/3rd of design businesses use AI tools; Firms using AI regularly report saving more than 3 hours of time per week. But, the U.S. State of AI in Construction and Design report noted that 94% of designers who participated stated they have no training or guidance in AI tools. Maria Marting, founder of Design Appy, voices her concern and cautions, 'How private is what you're doing and those platforms that you're using? It's the idea of what's your creative value, and then what's the privacy policy of the platform. Do those two things align?' But she also says in positive tone, 'When we're looking at AI and how it works for designers, it's really just a super powerhouse for them for the business side of things.' Dawn Haynie, Research Fellow at American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), says, 'Firm principals tend to use AI for streamlining communications, scheduling, and project management. More tech-savvy designers are more likely to use AI for concept development, renderings, and drafting specifications - tasks where efficiency and speed can significantly enhance output.' Rob Bischoff of Gensler says, 'We're also exploring how AI can deepen the storytelling behind our designs by bringing them to life quickly, and in more immersive formats that help convey the full design approach and human-centered experiences.' Robin Anderson, ASID's Director of Education, says, 'The profession should proactively learn from other industries that have already navigated AI's impacts. Often, best practices originate outside the design field.' Read on...

I+S Design: Navigating AI Opportunities, Risks, and Strategies for Interior Design
Author: Valerie Dennis Craven

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 27 sep 2025

Just like in many other professional fields, technology is a catalyst of change, and architecture is not an exception. Technologies and processes such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), 3D Printing, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) etc are bringing this technology-driven shift in architectural practice. Architectural education is similarly going through the similar transformation to prepare students for this highly competitive technology oriented marketplace to find their place and space. Prof. Anand Achari, Principal at VES College of Architecture (VESCOA, Mumbai), explains his views on how immersive technologies such as VR and AR are changing the architectue education landscape and how the future architects would think, feel and create. He emphasises the need of adaptability and empathy as essential skills for design practice. He says, 'What excites me is the shift from imagination to immersion. In traditional architecture education, students relied heavily on drawings, physical models, and their ability to mentally visualise a space. AR and VR remove those limitations. Now, students can step inside their designs, exploring scale, proportions, and light in real time. That kind of spatial understanding, especially early in their journey, is transformative.' He further explains, 'These tools are blurring the old separation between form and function. In VR, you can feel how people might move through a space before it's even built...the biggest impact is empathy. AR and VR allow you to experience your design from different perspectives...leads to more inclusive, people-centred design...Architecture no longer exists in a silo. If you understand coding, you can develop your own simulation tools or responsive designs. Environmental science deepens your approach to sustainability...Behavioural psychology helps you design for how people feel in a space...The most innovative ideas often come from these cross-disciplinary conversations.' Read on...

The Hans India: How AR and VR are changing architecture education
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 25 sep 2025

Prof. Linwan Wu of the University of South Carolina researches on advertising psychology and communication technology. More recently his interests are focused on artificial intelligence (AI) in advertising. In his latest research he tries to find out consumer reactions to the integration of AI in advertising and strategic communication. He says, 'Through my research, I have learned that consumers’ stereotypes of machines and robots, positive and negative, significantly influence their reactions to applications such as AI-created ads, AI-driven chatbots, and AI influencers. On one hand, people believe AI is more objective and accurate; on the other hand, they think AI cannot handle emotions and subjective tasks well.' He explains the important trends that people should understand about the interplay between advertising, technology and AI - Role of automation facilitated by AI in the areas of ad creation and ad placement; Use of Generative AI to create a large volume of advertising messages in the digital environment; Use of AI in programmatic advertising to achieve hyper-personalized delivery of messages. AI Global Public Opinion Tracker at USC tracks the shifts in public trust, use, and perceptions of AI. The findings are published as AI Index reports. Three reports have come out till now - Volune 1 in Summer 2024 (This survey explores the awareness, usage, and perception of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, specifically focusing on large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI's ChatGPT within the United States' communication landscape. HIGHLIGHTS - Generational divide in AI knowledge with younger people are more aware of AI; 38% of respondents use AI for work or study; AI tools are perceived to enhance productivity; Significant ethical and privacy concerns exist; 46% believe AI has a positive impact on journalism, while 36% view it negatively; 52% of Americans fear job losses due to AI, while 29% expect job transformation requiring new skills); Volume 2 in Winter 2024 (This is a survey focused on measuring the use and perception of AI tools within the United States. The survey explores various aspects of AI, including its impact on news consumption, social media engagement, and professional tasks related to communication. HIGHLIGHTS - Rising public interest in AI with 57% acquainted with AI tools to various degrees; AI tools are used by 35% of the population for communication content creation; Half of those in communication-related roles and 75% in IT and technical fields report regular use; Concerns about AI displacing jobs have dropped by 10% since June 2024, from over half to 42%; Mixed sentiments over AI's overall impact; Only one-third of the public surveyed is aware of ethical concerns related to AI tools; Mixed impact on journalism; Mis/disinformation fears persist); Wave 3 in August 2025 (This survey deepens earlier findings. The data are gaining consistency, pointing to clear directions for the future of communication, journalism and the use of AI tools in the workplace. HIGHLIGHTS - Nearly half of Americans now say they've heard "a lot" or "a great deal" about AI, up from just over a third last year; AI use for creating communication content jumped from 35% to 42% in eight months, driven by idea generation and summarizing; Half of U.S. adults have used ChatGPT or similar tools for work or study, up from 43% in late 2024; AI tool confidence ranked higher than political parties and media outlets; ChatGPT is the most used AI assistant (83% of AI users); Half see AI's overall impact as positive, but negative views are up (28%, from 22%); 57% believe AI will widen the gap between tech-skilled and non-tech workers; Mis/disinformation concerns persist. 44% think AI will increase mis/disinformation, and only one-third believe it will reduce it). Read on...

University of South Carolina News: Professor explores intersection of AI, advertising and public perception
Author: Brandon Pugh

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 29 aug 2025

DD News website (ddnews.gov.in) mentioned on 17 feb 2025 the launch of 'AI for Entrepreneurship' program that aims to empower 1 lakh youth by 2025 by equipping them with essential skills to thrive in a technology-driven economy. The micro-learning module is developed by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), and Intel India. The program is open to both urban and rural learners. Now another initiative by the government as part of IndiaAI Mission led by Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY) in collaboration with CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd framework with rural-focused artificial intelligence (AI) push is aimed towards providing knowledge and skills to entrepreneurs in rural India related to emerging technologies and empower them for future success. The initiative aims to provide free training to 5.5 lakh Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), data nalytics, cybersecurity, cloud computing, internet of things (IoT) etc. The program will enable hyperlocal problem-solving through creation of tech solutions for local communities. Moreover, the CSC network with over 5 lakh active centres across India will become local innovation hubs. The broader aim of IndiaAI Mission is to skill 10 lakh Indian citizens in next two years in emerging technologies. Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, said during the launch, 'This is not just a skilling initiative. It's a mission to empower our rural entrepreneurs with tools to participate in India's digital economy with dignity and autonomy. AI should not be a metro-city privilege. We are ensuring it becomes a village strength.' Read on...

Elets eGov Magazine: IndiaAI Mission Offers Free AI Training to 5.5 Lakh Village Entrepreneurs
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 28 jun 2025

Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) are creating challenges for public relations (PR) professionals even though their focus is on storytelling, human relationships and creativity. Those with adaptive skills and embrace change effectively will take on this tech challenge and succeed. Scott Bardell, a PR and marketing expert and founder & CEO of Idea Grove and Trust Signals Marketing, explains how PR professionals can prepare for the road ahead in the PR industry and overcome challenges posed by AI - (1) Embrace collaboration, not competition: AI is going to augment their skills and can handle repetitive tasts. While they should focus on valuable tasks such as building human relationships and creative strategy. (2) Become a storytelling specialist: AI can struggle with emotional and sensitive aspects of storytelling that creative humans can do best. Mix AI generated ideas with emotional storytelling that touches human hearts and minds. (3) Focus on relationship building: AI can scour through data effectively to find connections but to achieve trust and relationship building will require human skills. Hone these human skills to succeed. (4) Master media analysis and strategy: AI tools can analyze media sentiment, track campaign performance and identify trends, but they can't make strategic decisions. Having analytical, interpretative and execution skills will help. (5) Innovate with new formats: AI is providing new formats and platforms such as virtual events, AI-driven influencer partnership, personalized video pitches. Use them with a strategic and creative mindset. (6) Diversify your skills: Learn new skills such as data analysis, SEO, digital advertising etc to broaden horizon. (7) Advocate for ethics and transparency: Stay informed about ethical guidelines and best practices for AI in PR and be a champion for them. Read on...

Entrepreneur: Yes, AI Might Take Your PR Job. Here's What You Can Do About It.
Authors: Scott Baradell, Chelsea Brown

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 27 jun 2025

Product design is important for product perception and consumption by customers, and influences user experience, enhances functionality and drives customer engagement. 5 key benefits of product design are - (1) Enhances the User Experience (Ensures effortless usability; Enhance visual appeal and engagement; Enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty). Key UX principles to enhance usability and accessibility include: Usability heuristics; Accessibility guidelines; Hick's Law; Fitts's Law; Gestalt's Principles. (2) Establishes Strong Brand Recognition (Conistency; Brand elements; Innovation; Quality). (3) Improves Product Efficiency (Streamlining processes; Reducing materials; Improving durability; Increasing automation). (4) Drives Innovation and Creativity (Integration of new technologies; Exploring new materials and production methods; Prioritizing user-centric design). (5) Reduce Costs (Reducing production costs; Minimizing delivery costs; Reducing support requests; Increasing customer retention). Production design processes for physical products and digital products can be quite different with respect to medium and materials (tangible vs digital), tools and techniques(physical-3D, CNC etc vs virtual-AdobeXD, Figma etc), user considerations (ergonomics, safety etc vs UX, UI etc), development and iteration (longer time cycles and limited iterations vs rapid iterations and frequent updates), distribution and scalability (limited and costly vs quick, cheap and easily expandable). Product design team often includes UX designer, UI designer, prototype designer, design strategist and design manager. Product design process include following key steps - Research (Gathering insights through market analysis and user studies); Ideation (Generating and refining creative ideas through brainstorming); Prototyping (Creating tangible models to outline core functionalities); Testing (Validating design with user feedback to identify issues); Iteration (Refining design based on testing feedback for optimization). Business success can be effectively achieved by leveraging product design and aesthetics - Learn about the target market; Create a unique selling proposition; Optimize packaging; Focus on the details. Once product design is applied it is also important to measure its success through applying metrics - Usability Metrics (Task success and time on task; Error tates; Standardized scores). A/B testing for Design Elements (Controlled comparisons; Behavioral analytics). User Feedback Focused on Design (Surveys and interviews; Direct observations). Design Consistency and Brand Impact (Brand recall; Support and error reduction). Following are six key product design trends in 2025 - (1) AI Integration Is Making Products Smarter and More Intuitive. (2) Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Materials Are Driving Innovation. (3) Modular and Customizable Designs Enhance Longevity. (4) Augmented Reality Is Reshaping User Interactions. (5) Human-Centered and Inclusive Design Prioritizes Accessibility. (6) Smart Wearables Are Becoming Lifestyle Companions. Read on...

DesignRush: Why Effective Product Design Is Important to Business Success: Insights for 2025
Author: Mladen Milosevic

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 23 may 2025

Digitalization is a continuously evolving process for businesses and keeping pace with it can be overwhelming and challenging. Use of artificial intelligence (AI) in business processes is becoming a norm. Latest AI-based applications in sales forces are streamlining processes, improving customer engagement and and making organizations more agile and data-driven. But there are challenges and all organizations are not able to get the best out of this digitalization. There are three key obstacles that sales leaders encounter but they can be addressed with proven solutions - (1) Knowledge gaps: Tap into the power of external expertise; Learn from those who have recently navigated the journey; Recruit 'boundary spanners.' (2) Perceived complexity and risks: Personalize and coordinate customer engagement for fast impact; Start small and scale over time (3) Intertia: Use catalysts and champion an effort that motivates the sales team and overall organization. Shift towards digitalization requires balanced focus both on technologies and people. Create win-win for customers and the company together with use of technology to enhance relationships and eventually boost growth and profitablity. Sales team requires special attention and investments are needed in change management, training, and support. Have open communication, celebrate success and have a committed leadership to drive change. Read on...

Harvard Business Review: How Your Sales Team Can Catch Up on Digital and AI Tools
Authors: Prabhakant Sinha, Arun Shastri, Sally Lorimer

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 22 may 2025

Graphic design is a tool that showcases brand strategy through visual elements. It shapes perception, builds trust and drives engagement. Rise in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping design process, giving new meaning to human creativity and emotional storytelling. 14 Forbes Council members suggest ways for brands to stand out and connect more deeply with audiences in 2025 - (1) Oksana Matviichuk, OM Strategic Forecasting: Embrace Natural And Consistent Brand Aesthetics. (2) Datari Ladejo, Fernhill Digital Consulting: Bring Back Retro Fonts And Color Palettes. (3) Tyler Back, Mitosis: Design With Authenticity And Intention. (4) Bernard May, National Positions: Use Simple, Direct Graphics To Stand Out. (5) Austin Irabor, NETFLY: Play With 'Fake' Hyperrealism And Visual Escapism. (6) Katie Meyer, MoonLab Productions: Highlight The Human Touch With Handcrafted Elements. (7) Goran Paun, ArtVersion: Use Typography To Express Your Brand Voice. (8) Shane Savage, PATHOS: Embrace Raw, Imperfect Aesthetics. (9) Shanna Apitz, Hunt Adkins: Design To Provoke Deep, Powerful Emotion. (10) Christy Saia-Owenby, MOXY Company: Tap Into Culture With Story-Driven Visuals. (11) Boris Dzhingarov, ESBO Ltd: Align Bold Minimalism With SEO Best Practices. (12) Amy Packard Berry, Sparkpr: Combine Collage With AI For Modern Nostalgia. (13) Robert Nikic, Why Unified: Dive Into Color Psychology To Drive Deeper Engagement. (14) Vaibhav Kakkar, Digital Web Solutions: Enhance User Experience With Microinteractions. Read on...

Forbes: How To Stand Out: 14 Ways Brands Can Use Current Graphic Design Trends
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 21 may 2025

Indian healthcare continues to adopt technologies for equity, access and efficiency. In recent times, Artificial intelligence (AI) is in focus in areas such as drug discovery, digital patient records, improving diagnostic accuracy etc. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), AI has transformed the pharmaceutical research industry, driving 30% of new drug discoveries by 2025. While Global Outlook and Forecast 2025-2030 points out that AI in the drug discovery market was valued at $1.72 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $8.53 billion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.59%. Dr. Rajan Kashyap, assistant professor at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), says, 'Government initiatives such as increasing the number of seats in medical and paramedical courses, implementing mandatory rural health services, and developing Indigenous low-cost MRI machines are contributing significantly to hardware development in the AI innovation cycle.' But, technological advancements also bring challenges and issues such as privacy and data protection. According to Netskope Threat Labs, doctors have been consistently uploading sensitive patient information to unauthorised websites and cloud services. Dr. Kashyap says, 'Patient confidentiality is often overlooked in the healthcare industry. During my professional experience at AI labs abroad, I observed that organisations enforced strict data protection regulations and mandatory training programs…The use of public AI tools like ChatGPT or Gemini was strictly prohibited, with no exceptions or shortcuts allowed.' AI systems are vulnerable to data breaches, hacking, and the potential for re-identification even with anonymised data. Dr. Kashyap suggests, 'I strongly advocate for strict adherence to protected data-sharing protocols when handling clinical information...government must prioritise developing interdisciplinary med-tech programs, particularly those integrating AI with medical education,,,Misinformation and fake news pose a significant threat to progress...It's crucial that legal mechanisms are in place to counteract such disruptions, ensuring that innovation is not undermined by false narratives.' Read on...

Analytics India Magazine: AI is Changing Healthcare, But Can India Protect Patient Privacy?
Author: Smruthi Nadig

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 24 apr 2025

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies can assist social enterprises to enhance operational efficiency, improve decision-making processes and, expand and amplify their reach and impact. Utilizing vast data and developing valuable insights is now attainable through AI and ML tools. Some of the ways in which AI and ML can be applied in social sector includes - (1) Provides advanced tools for data analysis and decision-making. (2) Streamline operations and processes to optimize resource allocation and improve efficiency. (3) Identify patterns and trends through analyzing large amount of data and make better decisions and predictions. (4) Personalize and customize services to improve engagement and better serve beneficiaries and stakeholders. (5) Improve impact measurement and reporting by providing more accurate and real-time data, thus building close relations and enhance trust with funders and stakeholders. Social enterprises should also understand ethical considerations such as privacy, algorithmic bias, fairness and inclusivity etc while implementing AI and ML technologies for better and balanced outcomes. Read on...

fundsforNGOs: How can AI and machine learning support social enterprises?
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 20 feb 2025

The research study, 'Leveraging Big Data Analytics for Understanding Consumer Behavior in Digital Marketing: A Systematic Review', by Prof. Leonidas Theodorakopoulos and Prof. Alexandra Theodoropoulou from Department of Management Science and Technology at University of Patras (Greece), explores the potential of big data to offer deep insights into consumer preferences and behaviors. Extracting insights from huge datasets allow businesses to personalize marketing strategies that result in better customer satisfaction and engagement. Researchers utilized the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) methodology to synthesize existing literature to evaluate the benefits of big data in digital marketing. Researchers say, 'The integration of big data analytics in digital marketing fundamentally enhances organizations' ability to understand and influence consumer behavior. This analysis focuses on metrics such as page visits, time spent on pages, clicks, navigation patterns, and search queries, which allow marketers to tailor strategies effectively to meet consumer needs. This comprehensive data collection facilitates the creation of highly personalized marketing strategies that resonate with individual consumer preferences and behaviors. Moreover, user engagement, defined as the degree of interaction and involvement a user has with a website or digital platform, is a crucial variable. High levels of user engagement indicate that the content and design of a website effectively capture and retain user interest. By measuring metrics such as average time spent on a page, the number of pages visited per session, and click-through rates, marketers can gain valuable insights into user preferences and optimize their digital content accordingly. This detailed understanding of user interaction helps improve user experience and boosts engagement rates.' The practical applications for businesses and marketers from the insights gained by this systematic review are - Enhanced personalization; Optimized user experience; Predictive analytics; Customer journey mapping. Read on...

Wiley Online Library: Leveraging Big Data Analytics for Understanding Consumer Behavior in Digital Marketing: A Systematic Review
Authors: Leonidas Theodorakopoulos, Alexandra Theodoropoulou, Alhamzah Alnoor

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 31 jan 2025

India's focus on technology aligns with global technological advancements as more students and professionals pursue careers in digital subjects like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), data science, data analytics, cloud computing, cyber security etc. According to College Vidya research study, there is a 25-30% increase in quarter-over-quarter enrollment for bachelors and masters programs that offer specializations in AI and data science. Moreover, there is a significant growth in doctorate program with a specialization in generative AI. Online masters programs are popular with working professionals with 1-2 years experience to seeking to upskill, while online doctorate programs seem more appealing to senior professionals with 5-6 years of experience for career advencement to high level leadership positions. Geographically, majority of those seeking doctorates come from South Indian states while bachelors and masters programs are attracting students from Tear I, Teier II and Tier III cities with most of them coming from Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and West Bengal. Rohit Gupta, COO of College Vidya, says, '...rising demand for AI and Data Science courses is a clear indication of how education is transforming to meet the demands of a digital-first economy...skills that not only enhance their individual capabilities but also contribute to larger technological advancements and industrial growth.' Read on...

The Hans India: Online tech programmes see 25-30% quarterly growth, highlights a study
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 jan 2025

There has been an overall rise in internet-based learning in European Union (EU) countries, even though some are lagging behind. According to an annual survey on the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in households and by individuals in 2024, 33% of EU internet users reported that they had done an online course or used online learning material in the 3 months prior to the survey. This shows an increase of 3 percentage points (pp) from 30% in 2023. Countries that show the highest share of internat users involved in online learning are - Ireleand (61%), Netherlands (59%) and Finland (53%). While countries with least share are - Romania (10%), Cyprus (11%) and Bulgaria (17%). Read on...

European Union - Eurostat: More internet users turn to online learning in 2024
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 29 dec 2024

Original content vs generative artificial intelligence (AI) produced content is a debate that is consistently brewing. There are some who believe in the disruption through AI while there are some who prefer old style human generated content, and there are those that intend to strike a balance between AI and human skills. There has already been an information overload on the internet and AI rush is only exacerbating it. According to the report 'Generative AI Market' by MarketsandMarkets, generative AI is set to reach a staggering US$ 136.7 billion market size by 2030. Another report 'The State of GenAI Chatbots in Marketing' by Botco.ai points out that 58% of marketers have adopted generative AI for text creation. Sean Shea, founder and CEO of ViB, a company that generates quality leads for B2B companies globally, considers indiscriminate use of AI in B2B content creation as a major problem and provides the following reasons - (1) AI lacks new insight (2) Search engines apply penalties (3) Limitations and errors are common. This content can have negative impact on the brand and business leading to loss of brand trust, customer issues with a product or service and legal repercussions. Companies have to stay ahead and find ways to deliver original and valuable content. They can get this done by applying following strategies - (1) Publish new research/data (2) Compile thought leader opinions (3) Become a key source for industry news (4) Invent and innovate. The challenge for B2B marketers is to stand out and get attention within the huge sea of content. They should make sure, with or without AI, that there content is valuable, meaningful, aligns with the brand and constributes to the industry in a positive way. Read on...

Forbes: Why Originality Is The New Golden Rule In B2B Content Marketing
Author: Sean Shea

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 29 dec 2024

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to make an impact in various industries and regions around the world, the question arises regarding their readines to adopt, adapt and manage the change for maximum benefit. About 73% of Indian internet users are already exposed to AI in some form. Some sectors are fast adopters while others are slow. Nonprofit/social sector in India is at an early stage of AI transformation and an informed and intentional approach to building AI can provide nonprofits leverage data-driven decision-making or enhance efficiency through process automation. GivingTuesday's 'AI Readiness Survey Report India 2024' is based on a survey of 251 organizations across six regions and brings about how nonprofits in India are utilising AI, their comfort levels with various AI tools, and the challenges they experience. 55% of the organizations surveyed had used generative AI to write text or create images, while 30% had never used any form of AI. HIGHLIGHTS OF THE REPORT - (1) AI readiness of organizations is weakly dependent on capacity. High-capacity organisations are better positioned to improve their AI readiness and would benefit more from such improvements. (2) Early vs late adoption determines AI usage behaviour. Early adopters tended to be larger organizations with greater resources and infrastructure and are mostly located in urban areas. Late adopters of AI were smaller organizations with fewer staff members and constrained budgets and are located in rural areas. Only 10% of late adopters expressed interest in using AI in the future for applications beyond generative AI, and 40% did not know what they would like to use AI for. Early adopters were more experimental - approximately 60-80% wanted to use AI for features such as virtual assistants, data interpretation, prediction, chatbots, transcription, and more. (3) Indian organizations hold a mix of optimism and apprehension regarding AI. Nonprofits were hopeful that AI can bring efficiency and productivity to their work, but they also fear that it could lead to dependency, skill gaps, and job displacement. Organizations had different hopes and fears based on their area of expertise. Education nonprofits expressed confidence that AI could enhance opportunities through personalised teaching and by automating administrative tasks that overburden staff. Nonprofits working in community development saw AI as an opportunity to optimize resource allocation and identify needs. But they were aware that AI could perpetuate existing regional inequities. (4) Indian organisations were twice as likely than the global sample to have technology or data staff. (5) Compared to the global average, Indian organisations were more comfortable using AI at work - 29% gave it a score of 10 on a scale of 0-10. (6) Indian organisations focused more on the benefits of AI and had fewer concerns about data protection/privacy issues. Therefore, they are more likely to share data without having data-use or sharing agreements in place compared to the global average. The study suggests that nonprofits should first explore AI's relevance and potential use cases for their own organization. It is important to provide targeted support to smaller, resource-constrained nonprofits that wish to adopt AI. Moreover, it is necessary to establish safeguards as the vast majority of those using AI are using technology products managed by others. Understanding the nuances in current AI adoption and knowledge is integral to achieving equitable and beneficial AI adoption for the social sector. Read on...

India Development Review: Are Indian nonprofits ready for AI?
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 nov 2024

Public relations (PR) is a dynamic sector with continuously evolving landscape. Thinking beyond the basics, what is relevant now may become obsolete in future. Rise of artifical intelligence (AI) and automation has already started shifting the competitive advantage. Fake news and misinformation has become a nuisance and continues to hurt the PR ecosystem. Moreover, the ever challenging rising costs have made the task of PR founders difficult. To look into the coming 2025, there is always silver lining and brightness for those who keep their focus and adaptively strategizee with modern and forward looking mindset. Here are the views of PR founders aiming for success in the coming year - (1) Caroline MacDonald, founder and CEO at PR firm OggaDoon PR and Digital Media: 'As you strategise your planning, media engagement and press worthy stories for the coming year, keep these factors in mind - (i) Content is king, but don't forget your brand values. (ii) Embrace Artificial Intelligence...Enhancing productivity and creativity while fostering innovation, AI will unlock possibilities for growth and efficiency. (iii) Gen-Alpha are beginning to enter the conversation...Values like plant-based products, eco-friendliness, and sustainability resonate not just with them but also strongly influence Generation Z. (iv) Bluesky (social media platform) is poised to remain an influential player in the social media landscape.' (2) Rachel Royall, founder and MD at comms firm Blue Lozenge: 'Public relations like many sectors is in for a stormy 2025. As an agency founder I think there are four major factors that will disrupt our industry - (i) The golden thread that cuts through the obvious disruptors of AI, digital and social media channel shift is truth. (ii) Human connection in our work and with our teams will be increasingly important. (iii) Optimistically I think PR professionals who can find and promote joy will go far next year. (iv) Integration across disciplines will be vital for agency growth and impact. (3) Olugbeminiyi Idowu, founder and MD at PR firm Talking Drum: 'Increased emphasis on owned media as a channel...Advancements in digital analytics and content management tools will further enhance the appeal of owned media by enabling organizations to measure impact, refine messaging, and target audiences with greater precision...I also foresee synthetic PR redefining how brands engage audiences and manage their reputations. By leveraging advancements in artificial intelligence and synthetic data, PR professionals will be able to simulate audience reactions, test crisis scenarios and personalize campaigns with unprecedented precision...Predictive modelling powered by synthetic data will also help brands stay ahead of emerging trends, navigate reputational risks, and refine their strategies in real-time.' (4) Nick Baines, CEO and co-founder at PR firm Nara Communications: 'Aside from just saying 'AI will be big' ad nauseam, a trend I see that could be significant is the increasingly blurred lines between 'earned' and 'paid' media...There are more and more examples of sponsored placements that seem journalistic and meritocratic but have actually just been bought by companies who want to be seen in the press...I'm especially worried about this as it applies to mediums such as podcasts and individual newsletters...I predict 2025 will see a cozier media, when we in fact need more antagonism and challenging of interviewees. This is a problem - journalism is designed to ruffle feathers not just amplify corporate messaging.' (5) Lynsey Barry, CEO and co-founder at PR firm Five not 10: 'There's going to be more onus on clients and agencies doing a better job of linking PR with business outcomes...As budgets start to pick up in 2025...creative alone won't be enough to get PR the traction it needs and deserves in board rooms...it's going to be an interesting year for recruitment and retention.' (6) Nikki Collins, founder at Earnies: 'It's quite interesting to consider what will be the biggest disruptors in office culture and in turn employee happiness in 2025. Return-to-office has kicked back up a gear...I'd love to see the 'classic' mobile phone call become 2025's biggest disruptor.' (7) Jazz Gandhi, founder at comms firm Duet London: 'B2B and B2C will merge more becoming B2B2C...Insurance companies will need to see a more direct link to embedded sustainability practices...Larger companies will work with smaller outfits with lean overheads...A breed of versatile, talented 'big agency' experts will join as partners to greater a more fluid approach to delivering good comms.' (8) Courtney Glymph, founder and MD at PR firm, YourStoryPR: 'The PR landscape in 2025 will be shaped by shifts in how we build relationships and craft narratives across fragmented channels...As newsrooms shrink and AI content floods digital channels, there's clear appetite for researched, context-rich stories...The disruption lies in the changing nature of influence...Measurement is evolving too. Rather than vanity metrics, we'll track how stories move through professional communities and influence business decisions...Success will come from understanding how communities consume and share information, building campaigns that resonate while ensuring strong digital positioning for AI-driven discovery.' (9) Lydia Oakes, co-founder and COO of PR firm, Bluestripe Group: 'Of course AI will be having an impact in PR like any other industry, but it is just a tool...In fact the human relationship will always be one of the most important in the PR industry’s toolbox...In 2025 the use of AI will continue to grow but it will not replace industry expertise, great relationships and excellent storytelling.' Read on...

PRmoment: What's next for PR in 2025? Founders make their predictions
Author: Elizabeth Howlett

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 29 oct 2024

Artifical Intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform the solutions for social issues such as poverty, healthcare, education and environment. Nonprofit accelerator Fast Forward, under its AI for Humanity initiative, is supporting startups to develop AI-based solutions for global issues. Kevin Barenblat, co-founder of Fast Forward, says, 'Apart from early tech nonprofits like Wikipedia, Khan Academy or Mozilla, it didn't feel like there were enough examples of people who were using tech to make the world better. So our vision for the AI for Humanity initiative is to support entrepreneurs who are building and using AI to make the world better.' Startups in the Fast Forward accelerator include those that are empowering scientists in low-income countries to cure neglected diseases, reducing backlogs in Indian courts to ensure fair and speedy trials, bridging the global digital divide by bringing online learning offline, addressing early childhood education disparities in India, and providing free, virtual mental health interventions to people who need them. AI's use also bring about ethical considerations. Mr. Barenblat says, 'We often see in the for-profit world that people build these cool tools and then they try to figure out what problem they solve. But in the nonprofit space, the entrepreneurs are typically fixated on the problem - be it education, health inequity, or the climate problem - and they're slotting in AI to make their solution better. Because they're using AI for a specific use case, they can set guardrails that are appropriate for the way that they're using the AI.' He mentions challenges that nonprofit tech startups face, 'Tech startup challenges include things like getting product-market fit right, competing for resources and funding, and usually they focus on marginalized customers who are not easy to reach. So I think AI helps, but at the end of the day, they're still trying to help humans.' Read on...

Triple Pundit: How a Tech Accelerator is Leveraging Artificial Intelligence for Good
Author: Abha Malpani Naismith

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 17 sep 2024

Ecommerce is a necessity for global businesses. Studies show that there will be 2.71 billion online shoppers in 2024. Global ecommerce has its own challenges and strategic requirements that need to be addressed by businesses to succeed in diverse markets. According to estimates B2B ecommerce will reach US$ 36 trillion by 2026 and B2C ecommerce will reach US$ 5.5 trillion by 2027. Global ecommerce reached US$ 4.8 trillion in 2023 and by 2027, about 23% of total retail sales will happen online. SOME TOP GLOBAL ECOMMERCE STATISTICS - Latin American countries (LATAM) will continue to adopt ecommerce in coming years and will see a 22% growth between 2023 and 2026 - accumulating more than $700 billion in total combined online retail sales; Philippines' ecommerce market is the fastest-growing in the world, with a 24.1% growth in sales in 2023; Almost half of US shoppers plan to spend more online in 2024; As of January 2024, the average conversion rate across ecommerce sites was 1.88%, a 0.14% increase from the previous year; The global B2C ecommerce is expected to reach US$ 9 trillion by 2032; Social commerce is poised to grow at a CAGR of 30% from 2023 to 2030; 89% of retailers foresee an increase in revenue between 1% and 9% for 2024; 47% of leaders indicated ecommerce profitability is a primary driver of operating margin increases in 2024; 97% of companies globally reconfigured their supply chains in 2023; Shipping rates saw a 193% rate increase since October 2023; 46% of retail respondents expect AI to enhance end-to-end supply chain visibility; Foreign direct investment in North America has grown by 134% since 2020. GLOBAL ECOMMERCE TRENDS TO WATCH - Global inflation pressures (57% of consumers are worried about inflation); More consumers will shop on their smartphones (Some forecasts mobile commerce to reach US$ 558 billion in 2024, accounting for 7.6% of total retail sales and global mobile commerce market was worth US$ 2.2 trillion in 2023); A new mix of marketing channels (Social commerce, live shopping/livestreaming commerce, connected TV advertising); A slowly stabilizing supply chain; Faster deliveries for everyone, no matter where the customer is; Online returns are growing with ecommerce; Improving workforce management with AI (41% of retailers aim to improve workforce management using AI in 2024); Growing sales in China (market s estimated to be worth US$ 1.43 trillion in 2024), APAC (estimated market size of US $4.2 trillion in 2024) and India (market size will reach US$ 111 billion by 2024). Read on...

Shopify: Global Ecommerce Statistics: Trends to Guide Your Store in 2025
Author: Michael Keenan

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 27 aug 2024

Changes in cultural environment, consumer's needs and wants, and advancements in technologies, all play a role in the evolving field of graphic design. Fads and trends are short-term blips in the graphic design industry. But the things that last define the future. Max Ottignon, co-founder of Ragged Edge, says, 'We spend our whole time trying to figure out how to avoid such 'trends'...trends have a beginning and an end. Something that feels 'on trend' will probably feel 'off trend' in the near future. And as brand people, we're trying to build something that lasts...following trends means that you're making stuff that looks like everything else. But with branding, the primary objectiveness is distinctiveness.' More graphic design experts share their views on the future of the industry below - AI CAN'T BE IGNORED AS IT SHORTENS THE DESIGN PROCESS: Simon Case, founding partner of Chromatic Brands, says, 'We've been using AI for a while now. We started to use it just for production, basically for resizing ads....There are now platforms where you can put in one image and just type in all the different versions, sizes, and file types you need...Next, we started using it for visualisation.' THE NEED TO BE DIFFERENT: Mr. Ottignon, says, 'We live in an age of convergence. Designing for algorithms, not people, means that everything is starting to look the same...those who can create work that looks, sounds and behaves differently are becoming rarer and ever more valuable.' Mr. Case adds, 'without the strategic and creative ability to generate new thinking, designers won't get far in the future. Design has to become more about ideas and less about 'decorating'.' THE RISE OF AUTHENTICITY: Tebo Mpanza, co-founder and client director at Unfound, says, 'At Unfound, we spend a lot of time trying to uncover the clients' unique territory and the space they occupy...We want to encourage our clients and the brands we're working with to pursue difference - to challenge the norm, to challenge what's already been, and to push and go further...we're going to continue to see a rise in authentic storytelling...It's all about experience now.' PERSONALIZATION AND EXPERIENCE: Mr. Mpanza says, 'Personalisation is becoming huge now. It's hugely driven by AI and machine learning, which is increasingly sophisticated...I think the future of branding and design lies in authentic storytelling, personalisation, brands just becoming real and tangible, and creating memorable experiences.' SMALLER TEAMS: Barrington Reeves, founder and creative director at Too Gallus, says, 'In general, everyone has become much more professional in what we do...Access to learning is so much higher...we're seeing designers who are much more capable. That's why smaller agencies can deliver the same quality of work for global brands as much bigger agencies...That traditional agency model, that big-adland approach, is quite transactional...we really become part of the team, really integrated into the company culture of the people we work with.' Mr. Case goes even further, envisioning a world of 'single-person, full-service agencies', all leveraging AI for tasks ranging from copywriting to 3D modelling. He adds, 'We want our partners to see us as just an extension of their own team.' IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA: Mr. Reeves says, 'If you don't understand how to articulate a brand on social media, then you're sunk. That's almost the first place any new company rebrand is going to go out in practice.' Mr. Mpanza says, 'Our creatives are in the culture. They can bring their collective expression and experience to help us deliver world-beating creativity across disciplines for our clients.' MORE DIVERSE FUTURE: Mr. Reeves believes that even though 'cultural fluency' is requisite to the success of any brand, but is often sorely lacking, and points to a lack of diversity in the creative industries as a major contributing factor. But he is noticing a change now and says, 'I do think in the last couple of years, we've seen things starting to move, and you can instantly tell the creative work that has come from that. It's more vibrant, it's more natural to whatever culture that's being talked about. So I am optimistic that we're closing the gap.' Read on...

Creative Boom: What's next for graphic design, according to industry insiders?
Author: Tom May

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 24 jul 2024

Online privacy, online advertising, user data analytics and online regulatory policies are issues that continue to be debated regarding internet and online users. Big technology companies, consumer organizations, government regulators and various industry lobbies continue to push their conflicting agendas to influence the internet and its future. Convergence of interests that keep the internet free from manipulation by any particular group or groups is a challenging task. The paramount concern of all parties should ba a focus on keeping the internet safe, free, open and friendly, while at the same time bringing economic benefits to all. The socio-economic balance on the internet with consideration of the needs of all concerned groups should remain paramount while deciding the future. Recent backing out by Google from deprecating cookies from Chrome again brought the influence of big tech, user data privacy and online advertising issues on the forefront. Patrick Roman Gut, senior vice president and head of new business at Adstra, explains these issues and suggests options for the post-cookie internet. He says, '...there will eventually come a day when the Chrome browser no longer supports third-party cookies. Other major browsers like Safari and Firefox already default to cookies off, so no matter when Google finally makes the change, it's clear that the world has entered a post-cookie era. Another way to think about this is as a multi-identifier era, where brands must use multiple tools and tactics to find and understand their customers across online environments.' As advertising landscape continues to be more omnichannel and entrenched in multi-ID world, brands must be prepared to effectively handle the paradigm shift. Mr. Gut says - Advertising still largely relies on cookies, but the open market is a multi-ID space; Effective targeting requires a combination of methodologies (deterministic, probabilistic or contextual); Crosswalk solutions provide effective data management in a multi-ID landscape (Crosswalk solution involves mapping anonymous digital identifiers to personally identifiable information to unify online and offline data for a comprehensive view of customer behaviors); AI enables additional insights and predictions for extended reach and future success. Read on...

DIGIDAY: How advertisers are moving from cookies to a multi-ID landscape
Author: Patrick Roman Gut

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 22 jul 2024

Generative AI (artifical intelligence) has potential to transform education practices and will bring new challenges to the traditional pedagogy in many fields of learning. Architecture and design education is no exception. The already fast changing world of architecture with climate change, environmental issues, natural disasters, shifting human needs and requirements etc and speedy technological innovations and advancements like AI, makes adapting to the present and predicting the future a humongous task for all those in the field - academics, researchers, educators, professionals, students, policy makes etc. Teaching an architect is a responsible task. Eric J. Cesal, Design Educator and Author, explains how the AI will impact architecture and design education and profession, and what practices in the design teaching and learning process would no longer be needed in the future. He says, 'The conversation about what and how to teach is already contentious, and it must necessarily evolve with technology...However, there's another, easier conversation to have: what not to teach...in my own teaching and conversations with colleagues, there seems to be a consensus among design faculty that certain things should no longer be taught in architecture school. These anachronisms remain fixtures in most schools due to institutional and cultural inertia...AI will change that calculus. It gives us new arguments for purging some of the more ossified practices of design culture.' He further specifies following three things that are inherent to the educational process that AI will assist in getting rid of - (1) Masochism: All-nighters, self-neglect, exhaustion etc are problems that are part of architecture and design schools. Educators want to curb them and it seems difficult to bring a culture change. Ideas need to be executed, they are tested, proven and demonstrated through drawings and models. This requires efforst and hard work with strict deadlines. Mr. Cesal says, 'This may seem reasonable—at least to anyone who's been to architecture school - as long as you ignore the downstream effects. As you stay up for several nights in a row to test and prove that one brilliant idea, your creative faculties steadily decline, compromising what might have been that second or third brilliant idea...Research consistently shows that a well-rested brain is better able to generate novel ideas, solve complex problems, and think critically...As AI rapidly takes over the rote, mechanical aspects of design, humans must focus their efforts on only those things that a human can do...So tell your students to leave the studio at a reasonable hour and go home. Insist on it. Insist that they do their designs, do their best, and then go home, or go out.' (2) Fetishization of the Image: Mass media brought an image-based culture in the architecture profession. Mr. Cesal says, 'This shift can be attributed to the way mass media fragmented different types of professional success: commercial success (making money), professional success (being esteemed by one’s peers), and cultural success (being esteemed by the wider culture)...these three types of success typically follow a sequential path. However, architecture has an alternative route, which I’ll call Path B. This route subverts the conventional sequence...Through Path B, an architect can achieve cultural success by earning the esteem of their peers, even if they have limited commercial success or built projects. With sufficient professional and cultural success, one can then achieve commercial succes...some architects can win the Pritzker Prize...with a very shallow portfolio of built works, principally on the strength of their publications and theoretical work...The existence of Path B in architecture enables and encourages a fetishization of image-making...The rise of AI in architecture fundamentally challenges the viability of pursuing Path B. With AI-powered tools capable of generating stunning, novel renderings based on text prompts, the mere production of impressive architectural images no longer signifies the same level of creativity and innovation that it once did. As a result, achieving early acclaim primarily through image-making will become increasingly difficult...As image-production becomes easier, the true test of an architect’s creativity and skill will likely shift toward her or his ability to navigate the complex realities of bringing designs to life, and to navigate the changing realities of practice...AI has made making images of our ideas simpler. Let's adapt to this change by ending our collective fetishization of image-making and focusing instead on the higher-order problems of the future.' (3) Design School as Rite of Passage: The old English model of education in American universities focused on broad range of subjects and students were not particularly trained in particular field. Medicine and law became first specializations in mid-18th century. Archiecture became an educational specialization about a century later. Mr. Cesal says, 'It wasn't really until the late 19th century that American institutions, influenced by German models, began to adopt the graduate and research models we know today, along with the concept of electives and majors. In contrast to the old English model, it was designed to train individuals for a lifetime of continuous work in a specific field, beginning at the age of 18...Going through a major program does more than just teach you the technical skills necessary to execute a specific type of work: it inducts you into a tribe. You undergo shared experiences that then bond you with others in your eventual profession. However, with the rapid advancements in AI, this model may no longer be suitable for the future. As AI accelerates the pace of technological change, it becomes increasingly challenging to predict the skills and capacities that will be necessary for professional work in the coming decades. The idea of fully training someone for a profession by their early 20s, with the expectation that this education will suffice for a lifetime, seems anachronistic in a world where entire professions may become obsolete within a matter of years. To adapt to this new reality, we must restructure learning to be a continuous, lifelong process rather than a one-time experience...This new paradigm could take many forms, such as having professionals return to school for a semester every few years...The key is to recognize that the current specialization model, which was developed in an era when America still ran on steam power, may no longer be adequate for a future characterized by rapid technological change. In the field of architecture, this means re-evaluating the notion of design school as a singular rite of passage. In the future, design school won't be something you went through. It will be a process that lasts a lifetime.' Read on...

ArchDaily: How AI Can Help Us End Design Education Anachronisms
Author: Eric J. Cesal

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 19 jul 2024

HR experts got together in Bengaluru on 27 June 2024 at India Today HR Insights to discuss around the theme 'The Future of Work' in the Indian context. Rapid technological advancements bring the continuous need for skilled and trained human resources. India's target to grow to US$ 1 trillion digital economy by 2028 and government's Rs 10000 crore artificial inteligence (AI) mission would add to the HR challenges. Following are what the experts think on the future of work in India - Richard Lobo, Chief People Officer at Tech Mahindra, says, 'Many of our processes are some 20-30 years old and we hang on to them for various reasons...So I think we have to now rethink...the only way to go forward is to break some of these things. If we don't consciously break them, we won't move forward.' Dr. John Bruce, Dean of Placements and Corporate Affairs at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, says, 'To fill the skill gap, we look for companies to set up their centres of excellence...We find out from companies what they look for and train (students)...and design our own curriculum to match corporate expectations.' Ashutosh Anshu, CHRO at Hitachi India, says, 'We always cultivate a culture of learning in the organisation. It's very important for us. That's how we mobilise and retain talent.' Asit Kumar, CHRO at Lendingkart, says, 'We look at ‘hunger’. An employee can always be upskilled. If a person has willingness, he or she will learn. (While hiring) we try to look at a level junior...if we are looking at X level, we try to find a person operating at X minus one level.' Prem Anand K., Head of Talent Acquisition at Narayana Health, says, 'When it comes to technology intervention and skills required for the job, there have been a lot of strides in the last couple of years...we have our own app for doctors and nurses...we are technologically far ahead in the game and have upskilled our people.' Shakshar Guha, Senior General Manager HR and Head of Employee Relations at Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, says, 'Money is not the only pull for the new generation. Their aspirations are changing. They also see the brand's purpose...purposeful brands have a lot of meaning for today's generation.' Deepa Ravinder, Client Service at Cisco, says, 'We enabled all our people with technology, with the opportunity of going into different workplaces within the same location or a different location that probably was closer to where they lived.' Aditya Mishra, MD and CEO at CIEL HR, says, 'We see that a lot of people today are valuing flexibility as a clear expectation from their employers...Employers who are not able to provide flexibility tend to score a little less on the attractiveness index.' Anil Kumar Ethanur, Co-founder at Xpheno, says, 'Now, most of the companies are moving to hybrid. It is a reality; we can't avoid it.' Shilpa Vaid, CHRO at Diageo India, says, 'After the pandemic...it just compelled us to think systematically about what flexibility means. We tried to make sure that employees retained the flexibility in a consistent manner to do their best work, while at the same time ensuring that the sense of corporate community that we built over the years was not diluted.' Read on...

India Today: India Today HR Insights - 'Reimagining the way we work'
Author: Ajay Sukumaran

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 13 jul 2024

cOAlition S, launched on 04 September 2018 by a group of national research funding organisations, with the support of the European Commission and the European Research Council (ERC), is an initiative to make full and immediate Open Access to research publications a reality. On its website (coalition-s.org), cOAlition S signals the commitment to implement the necessary measures to fulfil its main principle - 'With effect from 2021, all scholarly publications on the results from research funded by public or private grants provided by national, regional and international research councils and funding bodies, must be published in Open Access Journals, on Open Access Platforms, or made immediately available through Open Access Repositories without embargo.' cOAlition S is build around Plan S that is a set of principles that ensure open and immediate access to funded research publications. It was born from the cooperation between the Heads of the participating Research Funding Organisations, Marc Schiltz, the President of Science Europe, and Robert-Jan Smits, previously the Open Access Envoy of the European Commission. It also drew on significant input from the Scientific Council of the ERC. cOAlition S presented a proposal 'Towards Responsible Publishing (TRP)', that includes a vision for a community-based scholarly communication system fit for open science in the 21st century, where scholars can rapidly and transparently share the full range of their research outputs and participate in new quality control mechanisms and evaluation standard. According to the proposal, the main challenges that a future scholarly communication system should address include that - The dominant publishing models are highly inequitable; The sharing of research outputs is needlessly delayed; The full potential of peer review is not realised; The coupling of editorial gatekeeping with academic career incentives is damaging science. To address these challenges, cOAlition S proposed a set of five guiding principles - (1) Authors are responsible for the dissemination of their findings, (2) All scholarly outputs are shared immediately and openly. (3) Quality control processes are community-based and open, to ensure trustworthiness of research findings. (4) All scholarly outputs are eligible for consideration in research assessment. (5) Stakeholders commit to support the sustainability and diversity of the scholarled publishing ecosystem. The report, 'Towards Responsible Publishing': Findings from a global stakeholder consultation, presents the findings of a global multi-stakeholder consultation conducted between November 2023 and May 2024 by Research Consulting Limited (UK) and Leiden University's Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) (Netherlands) on behalf of cOAlition S. Johan Rooryck, Executive Director of cOAlition S and Bodo Stern, Chief of Strategic Initiatives, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Chair of the TRP Steering Group at cOAlition S, in the foreword of the report write, 'Research funders have the responsibility to make sure that their funding is used in ways that improve the scholarly publishing landscape for the benefit of the research community and society. The 'Towards Responsible Publishing' proposal is therefore a logical next step for cOAlition S funders to help make the publishing system fit for the 21st century. It builds on Plan S and goes further in proposing a way to disseminate research that is not only more open, but also more trusted, equitable, efficient, and sustainable...This report presents the findings of that consultation: it shows an insightful picture of researchers' attitudes towards innovative research practices, such as open access publishing, preprint posting, open peer review and the incentives needed to embrace these behaviours.' For the report, authors collected 11145 responses from researchers via a global survey, reached 440 respondents through an initial feedback survey, engaged 72 participants via focus groups, and attracted a total of 10 organisational feedback letters from low- and middle-income countries that were underrepresented in the data. HIGHLIGHTS OF THE REPORT - When deciding how to reach their target audiences, researchers continue to rely on the current journals ecosystem; When deciding what to read, researchers once again prioritise the reputation of a journal; The consultation revealed support among researchers for some of the practices encouraged in the TRP proposal, such as preprint posting and the open sharing of peer review reports; Across the most represented disciplines in our data (medical and health sciences, life sciences, social sciences, engineering and arts and humanities), views regarding preprint posting are broadly aligned; Views are slightly more positive for respondents who have posted a preprint in the last three years; The highest resistance to the publication of open peer review reports was in the field of Law (39%), followed by Arts and Humanities (36%). In this context, consultation participants highlighted that existing recognition and reward mechanisms are inadequate for incentivising adoption of these practices, which will highly affect their uptake by researchers; The consultation found that, on balance, researchers would support the integration of practices like preprint posting (48% would support the practice vs 27% who would be opposed) and open peer review (47% would support the practice vs 29% who would be opposed) into journal publication workflows; Lack of clear implementation guidance emerged as a significant concern during the consultation; The need for a gradual, collaborative implementation approach involving pilots and engagement with existing initiatives was emphasised; Without broader engagement, cOAlition S' efforts risk being viewed by low- and middle-income countries as an imposition by wealthier nations; Shifting more publication responsibilities to individual authors could disproportionately overburden under-resourced researchers with limited institutional support services; Consultation participants highlighted the perceived importance of peer review and dedicated editorial roles in scholarly communication; Consultation participants saw a significant increase in preprint posting as potentially risking the proliferation of poor-quality, unvetted research outputs that may flood the public domain unchecked; The problem of subpar research making it through the peer review and publication process, while undesirable, already exists to some extent in the current system; The complexity of the proposed system may make it challenging for nonexperts like journalists, policymakers and the public to navigate the research landscape effectively. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS - Based on the findings from this global multi-stakeholder consultation, we conclude that there is support for some of the principles and practices encouraged in the TRP proposal. This highlights opportunities for cOAlition S to make progress in their desired direction of travel, building on select parts of the proposal; cOAlition S is well-placed to pursue the preprint posting and open licensing activities in the near term; In the medium-term, cOAlition S could focus on encouraging and promoting open peer review across the publishing landscape, including both preprints and journal articles; Realising the full vision of the TRP proposal will require longer-term efforts and cooperation with other stakeholders to update recognition and reward mechanisms at a global scale and ransition funding and infrastructures to support a globally inclusive, scholar-led publishing ecosystem. Read on...

Zenodo: 'Towards Responsible Publishing': Findings from a global stakeholder consultation
Authors: Andrea Chiarelli, Ellie Cox, Rob Johnson, Ludo Waltman, Wolfgang Kaltenbrunner, André Brasil, Andrea Reyes Elizondo, Stephen Pinfield

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 21 jun 2024

Prof. Fadel M. Megahed of Farmer School Information Systems and Analytics (ISA) at Miami University (USA), is the lead author of two papers on artificial intelligence (AI), 'Introducing ChatSQC: Enhancing Statistical Quality Control with Augmented AI' (aug 2023, arxiv.org) (Authors: Fadel M. Megahed of Miami University; Ying-Ju Chen of University of Dayton; Inez Zwetsloot of University of Amsterdam; Sven Knoth of Helmut Schmidt University; Douglas C. Montgomery of Arizona State University; L. Allison Jones-Farmer of Miami University) and 'How generative AI models such as ChatGPT can be (mis)used in SPC practice, education, and research? An exploratory study' (jun 2023, tandfonline.com) (Authors: Fadel M. Megahed of Miami University; Ying-Ju Chen of University of Dayton; Joshua A. Ferris of Miami University; Sven Knoth of Helmut Schmidt University; L. Allison Jones-Farmer of Miami University). He has brought AI into his classroom teaching for business analytics students. He says, 'There was a lot of research that talked about how AI could be used in education, that AI can play many roles in the classroom...As an ISA student, learning to use AI is an emerging skill that would benefit your career. That being said, you should be aware of the limits of such tools: (a) the use of AI tools may not be useful in all applications, so use them with caution; (b) prompt engineering matters, so you will need to craft a good prompt to get higher quality answers; (c) the answers you get may be wrong, e.g., ChatGPT is often confident but wrong; and (d) if you use such a tool in an assignment/exam, you will need to provide your prompt and the AI's answer (which may require tweaking to work correctly).' Regarding the ChatISA tool, Prof. Megahed says, 'I wanted to provide a free tool for students to be more inclusive, a tool where the students' prompts and responses are not used for model training. And I wanted to incorporate state-of-the-art recommendations about context setting and prompt engineering to enhance the outputs our students would get from the same request...Students in my class have mentioned that depending on the instructor, when they have the option to use these AI tools, they use it also for other classes.' Read on...

Miami University FSB News: FSB professor creates AI chatbot to assist business analytics students
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 22 may 2024

Artificial intelligence (AI) is making inroads into many fields and so it is in architecture and related areas like interior design, urban planning, landscape etc. As it is in early stages of adoption there is excetement, experimentation, uncertainty and concerns. A recent survey of 1200 architectural profesionals throws light on what the industry really thinks about AI and asked how it impacts design processes and workflows, and human resources in the industry. HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SURVEY - (1) The Use of AI Is Being Propelled by Experimentation and Self-Driven Learning: 60% of the respondents are using AI without formal training; Integration issues, lack of testing time, and insufficient training resources are challenges faced in adopting AI tools for architectural projects; More than 2/3rd of respondents already use AI or intend to do so soon. (2) The Highest Satisfaction With AI Is When It's Used During the Early Design Stages: More than 67% of respondents feel so; Only about 30% deemed AI renderings suitable for design development and beyond due to concerns regarding precision and control. (3) AI Technology Will Soon Become Standard in Architectural Design but Needs to Evolve: 52% expressed concerns about AI's potential to disrupt job security within the architectural visualization field; 74% agreed that there should be ethical guidelines governing AI's use. Read on...

ArchDaily: What 1,200+ Architects and Designers Really Think About AI in Architecture
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 28 apr 2024

In the technology-enhanced world, information and news consumption has become more fluid and dynamic. The audience and consumers are no more captive. Opinions and views are established and shared at lightening speed on multiple devices and platforms. Reaching out to the world has barriers removed. Everyone has the power to speak out and get heard. The generation that grew up in this environment knows how to handle the fast paced world of information and communication. Public relations as an industry has been hugely impacted. Deepa Nagraj, Global Head of Communications & Sparkle Innovation Ecosystem at Mphasis, explains how the PR industry has changed in the digital era and how it can adapt to stay effective. According to Statista research analysis, 'Reading news on social is fast becoming the norm for younger generations, and this form of news consumption will likely increase further regardless of whether consumers fully trust their chosen network or not.' Ms. Nagraj provides the following changes that are happening around the PR industry - Workers Are Dispersed And Remote; News Is Digested In New Ways; Attention Spans Are Minimal; Anybody Can Be A Spokesperson; Everyone Is Watching; Noise Is A Constant. She has following suggestions for the PR professionals - Listen to what is happening around on various platforms and channels; Cut through the chase and formulate an appropriate, meaningful and engaging response; Be clear and direct in your communication and share it quickly; Communication should be directed towards a human being and should include all the elements so that it can reach the heart and mind of the consumer and should be open-ended and interactive. Read on...

Forbes: Future Proofing Public Relations In The Age Of Digital Media
Author: Deepa Nagraj

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 26 mar 2024

India has a thriving entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem. Traditionally India has always been an enterprising economy with sizeable individuals involved in small and medium enterprises. But, last decade has seen a significant rise in tech-driven new age entrepreneurship and startup culture. Mr. Shri Sanjiv, Joint Secretary (Startup India) at the DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, GOI) provides the detailed explanation of India's evolving entreprenurial landscape, government policies and programs such as Startup India Initiative and involvement of sizeable young minds that are a large demographic of India. He says, 'Eight years ago, on January 16, 2016, India embarked on an ambitious journey, one that would transform the face of the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem...The number of recognised startups in the country has gone from around 400 in 2016 to more than 115000...The unprecedented success of India's startup ecosystem is a positive indicator of the nation's ability to be self-sustaining and to provide prosperity to all segments of society...the launch of the Startup India initiative in 2016 with a simple goal: to create an environment that would empower the people of India to become entrepreneurs and create world-class startups...the systemic approach followed by DPIIT to drive the Startup Indian Initiative: Ideate, Implement, and Innovate. A consistent and comprehensive approach has led to the ideation of targeted flagship programs under the Startup India initiative. The three flagship schemes,i.e., the Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS), the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme(SISFS), and the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups (CGSS), demonstrate this philosophy clearly. They were designed keeping in mind that it was neither practical nor ideal to have a one-size-fits-all approach to funding due to the nature of a startup's lifecycle...India is a large country, both in terms of geography and demography, with multiple different factors at play at any given point in time. This was a major consideration under the Startup India initiative and led to the conceptualization of programs such as the National Startup Awards (NSA) in 2020 and the States' Startup Ranking Framework (SRF) in 2018. Both of these programs aim to promote innovationacross the length and breadth of the country...With the notification of the National Startup Advisory Council, policymakers from the government and startup ecosystem stalwarts have worked tirelessly to guide the initiative and suggest practical steps, leading to the development of national initiatives such as the Startup India Investor Connect Portal, the National Mentorship Portal (MAARG) (Mentorship, Advisory, Assistance, Resilience, and Growth), and Startup Champions 2.0, amongst others...visit the Startup India Hub portal, and find all the resources they need to set up a startup...The ideation and institutionalization of Startup20 Engagement Group under India's G20 Presidency in 2023 is a testimony to the government's bringing startups to mainstream policy making agendas and the impact of our startup ecosystem on a global scale...Reaching the goal of Viksit Bharat@2047, the 100th year of independence, represents multiple new possibilities for both the government and India's startups...As we celebrated National Startup Day on January 16th and Startup India Innovation through the month of January 2024, the efforts of all stakeholders...are indispensable to transforming India into a global startup hub.' Read on...

Times Now: India's Startup Revolution: Exploring the Rise of Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Author: Shri Sanjiv

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 19 mar 2024

Design of new part, component, or assembly requires consideration of fit, form and function and also innovation and aesthetic. Design reuse is an important aspect where existing designs are utilized. Computer aided design (CAD) and product data management (PDM) enabled use of existing similar designs available within the engineering organization, while engineering design search engines enabled finding them in broader internet ecosystem. Moreover, software driven engineering design optimization tools that proved optimal and efficient designs. One such tool was Topology Optimization in which the algorithm reduced the maerial in a design object. These processed and tools evolved into Generative Design that utilizes AI technologies like Deep Generative Models (DGMs) a form of Machine Learning and Neuro-Symbolic AI. The algorithms now create innovative designs with many options and possibilities that satisfy specified fit, form, and functional requirements including manufacturability. AI-Driven Generative Design develops, optimizes, and assesses design possibilities, and reduces repetitive tasks, multiple calculations, optimal design search etc for designers and helps them focus on problem-solving and innovation. Traditional design process includes ideation and conceptualization, creation, redefining and ehhancing the design, validating and building. This process is linear and even the use of CAD and CAE tools are not sufficient and require high level of expertise. AI-driven generative design improves on this process and significantly shortens the product design lifecycle. Generative design enables the designer to set performance and prioritize parameters and the algorithm generates a menu of alternatives to consider. In terms of the product development lifecycle, generative design is a combination of AI, CAD, simulation and test (CAE), and topology optimization, all working in conjunction, Additive manufacturing (AM) is an area where generative design is having an impact. In this process 3D printing is utilized to provide ouput parts that meets very specific functional requirements. The each phase of AM lifecycle process can be driven and enhanced by AI technology. Read on...

ARC Advisory Group: Understanding the Role of AI in Generative Engineering Design
Author: Dick Slansky

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 21 feb 2024

Healthcare sector challenges such as workforce shortages, financial pressures, health disparities, environmental challenges etc are forcing healthcare organizations to find innovative ways to deliver health services effectively and sustain their operations. Following are the healthcare trends for 2024 - (1) AI-powered workflow automation and optimization: Generative AI in healthcare will boost automation. Bain & Company survey showed that healthcare leaders see the biggest short-term opportunities of generative AI in reducing administrative burden on staff and enhancing operational efficiencies. Applications would include automated documentation and summarization of patient visits - enabling physicians to focus on higher-value tasks. (2) Virtual collaboration addressing staff and expertise shortages: In addition to mitigating staff and expert shortages, virtual collaboration trend will improve access to care in remote and rural areas. Examples include radiology operations command centers, virtual collaboration in ultrasound, Tele-intensive (or tele-ICU) programs, mentoring and guiding by experts etc. (3) Integrated diagnostics supporting multi-disciplinary collaboration: Bringing diagnostic data together that is collected from various sources such as imaging to digital pathology and genomics, will help physicians to deliver precise diagnosis and customize treatment to patients. Moreover, integrated diagnostics will enable different healthcare specialists to exchange patient data more easily, helping them work together more efficiently and effectively. (4) Improved interoperability for better monitoring and care coordination: Healthcare leaders in the Philips Future Health Index 2023 report identified interoperability as one of the top four success factors for providing new ways of delivering care that integrate in-person and virtual care across settings. Healthcare technology providers would require an open ecosystem approach. New interoperability capabilities can bring together disparate medical devices and systems into one interface to create a comprehensive overview of a patient's condition. Visual patient avatar is a recent innovation in this regard. (5) Early risk detection and intervention based on predictive analytics: The Philips Future Health Index 2023 report showed how 39% of healthcare leaders plan to invest in AI to predict outcomes, up from 30% in 2021. Predictive analytics, by deriving operational and clinical insights from real-time and historical data can help healthcare providers improve efficiencies and act preemptively. Predictive analytics is utilized to forecast and manage patient flow, manage medical equipment hardware parts maintenance or replacement, early detection of patient health risks based on vital signs and other patient data, keep a caring eye on patients at home, through remote monitoring etc. (6) Using technology to tackle health disparities: There is need for more equitable and sustainable healthcare. Partnerships aimed at advancing health equity will be key to leveraging technology innovations. (7) Smart technology that helps establish - and maintain - healthy routines: Wearable, customizable technologies such as smart-watches, sophiticated smart health devices etc with continue to help individuals pursue healthier behaviors and lifestyles. Smart technolgoies can assist to maintain better oral health, to monitor children's growth and development etc. (8) Addressing healthcare IT's environmental impact: Even though research indicates that the resource savings unlocked by IT outweigh the increase in footprint caused by the deployment of that technology, but to continue realizing these savings, the healthcare industry needs to focus on building sustainable digital infrastructure, including carbon-free cloud solutions, using circular hardware, and developing sustainable software. (9) Green procurement transforming the healthcare supply landscape: The adoption of sustainable procurement criteria will be necessary strategies for health systems and governments hoping to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss while safeguarding human health and advancing health equity. (10) Teaming up to reduce healthcare's impact on the planet: Healthcare systems will actively adopt strategies to reduce their environmental footprint. There will be increasing trend towards the adoption of 'natural capital accounting' to support better decision-making around resource use management, and more companies committing to science-based targets for nature. Read on...

PHILIPS News: 10 healthcare technology trends for 2024
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 14 jan 2024

According to Wikipedia, 'Generative artificial intelligence (generative AI, GAI, or GenAI) is artificial intelligence capable of generating text, images, or other media, using generative models. Generative AI models learn the patterns and structure of their input training data and then generate new data that has similar characteristics.' Positive aspects of generative AI systems include accelerative creativity, egalitarian tech for general public etc, while negative aspects include political propaganda through biased data, human resource displacement challenges etc. Commenting on transformative power of generative AI, Rich Palmer of Launchpad Venture Group, says, 'It's the new electricity.' Jonathan Griffiths, director of Babson College's Weissman Foundry, says, 'Much like a cell phone, AI is going to change how we interact with our computers and with each other in meaningful ways - and, if you don't have an understanding of what generative AI can do and what its limitations are, you're going to be left in the dust.' Joshua Herzig-Marx, a coach for early stage founders, says, 'At this point, if you have a startup and you don’t have a generative AI strategy, your board will be really unhappy with you, because that’s what everybody expects—in the same way that, if you didn't have a social strategy 15 years ago, it was a bad thing.' Prof. Ruth Gilleran and Prof. Clare Gillan of Babson College have designed a compulsory course for all undergraduates, 'Digital Technologies for Entrepreneurs'. Prof. Gillan says, 'We live in a time of tremendous disruption, and the pace of change has only accelerated. I want (students) to land on the right side of that continuous change.' Experts from Babson College provide insights and guidance on generative AI to entrepreneurs - (1) It will enable non-engineers to innovate in new ways: Prof. Gillaran says, 'It further democratizes the entrepreneurial process.' Prof. Thomas Davenport says, 'From an entrepreneurship standpoint, it lowers the barriers for tech expertise to design new products. It's a good thing for entrepreneurs.' (2) It should only be used in certain instances: Mr. Herzig-Marx says, 'Judgment is the big challenge (with generative AI), which is always one of the hardest things for any businessperson. There's no reason to think that whatever pops out of ChatGPT or a text-to-image service is going to be something you would actually want to use.' (3) Knowledge and content management will be transformed: Prof. Davenport says, 'Generative AI will rejuvenate the job of a knowledge manager...I think there are a lot of advantages to doing it for educating your frontline people and customer service applications.' (4) It will generate instant feedback, allowing entrepreneurs to assess viability quickly: Mr. Griffiths says, 'I could see (entrepreneurs) working with generative AI to solve the problems that they may not necessarily have the skills to solve right now.' Prof. Erik Noyes, who teaches Entrepreneurial Opportunities in AI, says, 'Generative AI enables the rapid prototyping of entrepreneurial ideas: literally a visualization and expression of an entrepreneurial idea that you can show to a target customer. You can get feedback on whether you're on a compelling path and creating value, or whether your idea is a dud.' (5) Beware of bias: Prof. Davit Khachatryan, who specializes in machine learning and data science, says, 'Generative AI is merely a means to an end, not an end in itself...Taking the results of generative AI at face value is like the blind following the blind. Today's entrepreneur, or any user of generative AI, needs to have an above-average understanding of how these tools work—and I think that’s where we analytics and data-science educators have a crucial role to play.' Prof. Noyes says, 'If the existing data is biased, there’s a strong likelihood that what’s generated can also be biased. You have to look at anything you’re doing in generative AI through the critical lens of 'How could this just be re-expressing bias?'' (6) Regulatory concerns could constrain creativity: Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT creator OpenAI, has urged international regulation of generative AI. Mr. Palmer says, 'When the front-runner (OpenAI) pushes for regulation, it opens up a question of whether anyone else can swim in the wake or not, and if anybody else can catch up again.' (7) Humans still matter: Prof. Khachatryan says, 'Overly relying on the seeming 'magic' that is provided by generative AI is not going to work. To have your leg up, you still need to put your creative hat on and keep it on at all times...it currently has no mechanism in place to evaluate the quality, meaningfulness, or effectiveness of these responses. I don’t think that one should get overexcited about how human-like the responses are because human-like, at the end of the day, doesn’t translate necessarily into meaningful.' Read on...

Babson Magazine: The Age of AI: Seven Things Entrepreneurs Need to Know
Author: Kara Baskin

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 23 dec 2023

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platforms are integrating artificial intelligence (AI) to understand customer sentiment and behavior, make product recommendations, enrich data, train employees and also auto-generating targeted campaigns. According to the September 2023 Gartner survey of 1400 executive leaders, there's been a threefold increase in organizations piloting generative AI in the past year and about 47% of organizations are using AI to help them with sales, marketing and customer service, with marketing operations at the top. Frances Karamouzis of Gartner says, 'Organizations are not just talking about generative AI, they’re investing time, money and resources to move it forward and drive business outcomes.' Marketing leaders should focus on the following areas to fully exploit the potential of AI - (1) To understand customer sentiment and behavior by analyzing customer interactions and communications regarding products and services. (2) To train marketing professionals as AI systems can closely monitor employee performance and recommend best practices in real time. (3) AI can enhance and elevate product and services recommentations to customer by closely analyzing their interactions with sales and service personnels and their purchasing behavior. (4) AI tools are capable to enrich and update prospect databases with accurate information in real-time improving efficiency in sales and marketing efforts. (5) AI can auto-develop more targeted campaigns with more personalization. In future, generative AI will evolve into artificial general intelligence (AGI) that would provide a fully-functional assistant that would think like a human. To be fully aware of what AI can currently accomplish and enhance CRM systems, marketers should ensure database accuracy and completeness, formulate an AI policy, and stay close to software vendors to fully understand current and future AI technologies and their value to business. Read on...

MARTECH: 5 ways CRMs are leveraging AI to automate marketing today
Author: Gene Marks

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 11 nov 2023

There is a continuous debate regarding AI (Artifical Intelligence) and its impact on jobs that humans perform. Neil Patel, author and co-founder of Neil Patel Digital, provides insights on how AI will influence marketing human resources and what marketers should do to make themselves irreplaceable. According to a survey of 1000 digital marketers conducted by NeilPatel.com in the US, 56.7% of 229 freelancers think that AI will replace human marketers in the near future while 56.1% of 394 in-house digital marketers and 54.1% of 377 running a digital marketing agency think the same. This significantly shows that AI is perceived as a threat to marketing jobs. Other findings from the survey show - 44% feel that AI will have a positive impact on their career; 30% feel there will be a negative impact; almost 30% predict no impact on their career; 20% felt AI's biggest advantage is that it saves money on staffing and tool costs. Overall survey shows that digital marketers have mixed feelings of concern and optimism regarding AI. Mr. Patel suggests to make AI as an assistant and not consider it as a threat, and to do that marketers have to learn AI tools and master them for workflow efficiency. He recommends the use of AI to become a better marketer - analyze vast data quickly and accurately and provide valuable insights into consumer behavior and market trends; develop more effective marketing strategies and campaigns tailored to the needs and interests of specific audiences; create content that resonates with consumers; speed up content creation; workflow automation. AI has the potenetial to replace repetitive tasks, enhance and speed up decision making and routine customer service. But what will make human marketers irreplaceable is their ability to make judgement, be creative and power of empathy. Mr. Patel says, 'Skilled marketers have the ability to create compelling, human-centric content, analyze data to identify trends and insights, and develop effective strategies for promoting brands and products across various digital channels...AI can't develop customized solutions that meet their unique needs. AI may have the insights, but human expertise can materialize actionable steps to achieve them.' Read on...

NeilPatel.com: Will AI Replace Marketing Jobs?
Author: Neil Patel

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 25 sep 2023

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the digital advertising space. Those involved in ad-ops are still trying to optimize AI applications and their use for maximum leverage. Eric Mayhew, co-founder, president, and chief product officer at Fluency, a leading innovator of digital advertising management and automation solutions, suggests that for maximum benefits AI should be combined with automation and need to be harmonized with human supervision. He says, 'Today's advertisers face a variety of challenges to growth. Escalating execution complexity, increasing margin erosion and mounting time constraints at all levels consistently rank among the top concerns for ad-ops leaders. Conventional operational approaches, manual campaign implementation and increased talent investment often only compound the problem...automation creates a vast improvement in the productivity and overall engagement of existing ad-ops and strategist teams.' Substantial part of digital advertising is repetitive and delegating tasks to automation gives more time for strategic aspects of marketing and advertising and have the potential to significantly enhance service levels, thus elevating the customer experience and overall satisfaction. On combining AI with automation, Mr. Mayhew says, 'When managed appropriately, AI is in many ways a perfect complement to automation. While automation drives execution efficiency by addressing the processes, settings and nonhuman-to-human interactions, AI can streamline and accelerate more cognitive work, transforming potentially cold messages into compelling interactions.' He also cautions ad-ops leaders regarding compliance and data-usage rights while executing Ai and automation processes. He mentions about emergence of rule systems for self-auditing of AI usage and alleviation of concerns about compliance through RPA4A (Robotic Process Automation for Advertising). Mr. Mayhew suggests, 'To succeed with automation, ad-ops teams must consider brand compliance, the need for advanced experimentation and customization, consistent business data hygiene, organizational inertia and a willingness to embrace new technologies and approaches. The journey toward unlocking the potential of AI in digital advertising requires seamlessly blending AI and automation under the guidance of human insight. Recognizing the nuanced interplay between these technologies, and addressing potential challenges, pave the way for an era of streamlined operations, heightened creativity and unmatched scalability.' Read on...

AdAge: HOW TO UNITE AI AND AUTOMATION TO UNLOCK ADVERTISING SUCCESS AT SCALE
Author: Eric Mayhew

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 21 sep 2023

According to the survey by Xealth, conducted between May and June 2023, 90.5% of College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) members have adopted digital health strategies, despite 47.6% citing financial pressures and 19.1% staff resource constraints as barriers to adoption. Mike McSherry, CEO and co-founder of Xealth, says, 'In an industry that is notoriously slow to change, digital health has been relatively fast at reaching a tipping point...It is gratifying to see widespread C-level support and health systems beginning to tie bottom-line growth and reduced readmissions to digital health...' HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SURVEY - 81% of respondents have integrated digital health applications into their EHR workflows; 81% define digital health as downloadable apps and programs with a connected device, 71.4% as patient education, pdfs and videos (not clinical references), while 66.7% define it as remote patient monitoring device data integration; 76.2% respondents stated their health systems have experienced increased patient engagement due to increased digital health adoption and 47.6% of respondents noted clinician ease of use due to this increase; Top motivators in health systems expanding digital health include more payor or employer funded programs (80%), patient demand (71.4%), improved interoperability and ease of integration (66.7%). Read on...

Healthcare Innovation: Survey Finds Majority of Healthcare Organizations Adopting Digital Health
Author: Brenda Silva

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 31 aug 2023

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, in 2022 India ranked 4th most popular destination for startups and attracted 4.2% of global venture capital (USA - 41%, China - 18%, UK - 6%). Moreover, it is estimated that the global venture capital share of India will double by 2030. Sampath Sharma Nariyanuri, CFA Fintech Research Analyst at S&P Global Intelligence and Shankar Krishnamurthy, Head of Essential Tech Center of Excellence & Innovation at S&P Global, looking forward into 2030 answer 3 questions regarding Indian startups and their impact on the economy - (1) Will venture capital (VC) interest in Indian startups continue?: As India is expected to be 3rd largest economy there is huge scope of growth in startup ecosystem. In 2022, starup funding surpassed amount raised by public companies. Growth in mobile internet and government supported digital stack will give a boost to startups. India saw a record 26542 startup registrations in 2022, even amid a global funding slowdown. India had more than 92000 startups recognized by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) as of 28 feb 2023. (2) Which startup sectors will be resilient in India?: The fintech sector has topped the funding charts in India in recent years, attracting a cumulative US$ 9.7 billion in 2021 and 2022. ndia's digital commerce and on-demand services space won more than US$ 10 billion of VC investments over the last two years. Online B2B marketplaces in manufacturing and retail raised US$ 2.76 billion in aggregate in the last two years. Government sponsored initiatives like Account Aggregator (AA) network and the Open Credit Enablement Network (OCEN), will boost and streamline online lending workflows and can be integrated with e-commerce, fintech and marketplace apps. While Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) will bring interoperability across the widely fragmented digital commerce space. Other main sectors that attracted substantial VC funding include E-commerce (US$ 7.320 billion), Edtech (US$ 4.256 billion), Food and Grocery Delivery (US$ 3.462 billion), Media and Entertainment Tech (US$ 3.013 billion), Healthcare Tech (US$ 2.206 billion) etc. (3) What are the emerging sectors for startups in India?: Emerging sectors that got VC funding in 2021 and 2022 combined include AgTech (US$ 1.112 billion), Electric Vehicles (US$ 1.065 billion), Automation (US$ 0.591 billion), Clean Technology (US$ 0.193 billion). Artifical Intelligence, Space Technology and Drones are other significant emerging sectors. Electric vehicles sector will need about US$ 266 billion of investment this decade to meet government targets. In the long-term, India's open APIs and public digital stack will likely act as enablers for new startups. Read on...

S&P Global: Startups Riding Digital Infrastructure Could Transform Indian Economy
Authors: Sampath Sharma Nariyanuri, Shankar Krishnamurthy

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 27 apr 2023

ChatGPT and Generative AI has already started making inroads in media and advertising industry. At present Generative AI has taken over low-risk functions like mockups and copyrighting but doubts still remain regarding strategically important channels like search ad spending etc. According to Morning Consult, just 30% of US adults have heard or read anything about ChatGPT, and only 10% regard its output as 'very trustworthy.' Moreover, 52% of consumers believe that generative AI will stick around. As Generative AI becomes more trustworthy it is capable to disrupt media and advertising, like for example, the need for intermediate agencies would diminish as platforms could use Generative AI technology to create business ads themselves. Moreover, as the technology can summarize reporting and synthesize press releases, the relatshionship between publishers and search engines has the potential to end. Generative AI could also reshape the economics of search advertising with its definitive responses to search queries. Generative AI could provide raw material, eliminate the need for advertiser A/B tests, help new brands increase output, and keep those in the industry abreast of all the notable developments. But a lot is needed for full scale adoption of Generative AI and its reaching a disruptive stage in the media and advertising industry. Read on...

Business Insider: ChatGPT and Generative AI in Media and Advertising: With Use Cases Set, the Battle for Hearts and Minds Begins
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 25 jan 2023

India continues to face many challenges in its agricultural sector. As the population continues to grow, food security becomes a prominent issue. In addition to this India has to take care of risks like climate change, supply chain inefficiencies etc. India has to make effective use of technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) among others to mitigate risks in agricultural sector. World Economic Forum has an initiative called Artificial Intelligence for Agriculture Innovation (AI4AI) that is directed to do just that. The initiative led by Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) India and the Platform for Shaping the Future of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, encourages collaboration between government, academia and businesses to develop and implement innovative technological solutions. 'Saagu Bagu' pilot was launched with Government of the Indian state of Telangana to implement a framework for scaling up emerging technologies to improve productivity, efficiency and sustainability in the agriculture sector. The C4IR India developed the AI for Agriculture framework for public-private partnership in 2021. The framework includes Intelligent Crop Planning, Smart Farming, Farm-gate to Fork, Data-driven Agriculture. About 7000 farmers are now using the technologies to monitor the health of their crops, perform quality control and test soil. Read on...

World Economic Forum: AI for agriculture: How Indian farmers are harnessing emerging technologies to sustainably increase productivity
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 22 mar 2022

Just like in most businesses, digital in business-to-business (B2B) is transforming customer relationships. Digital transformation is the way forward to succeed in B2B space. According to Michiel Schipperus, CEO of Sana Commerce, mentioned in ITProPortal article 'Why should e-commerce sit at the heart of a business’ digital transformation?' (25 may 2018), 'In a recent survey that we conducted with 300 global B2B organisations, 75% of respondents said that their customers had demanded to buy online, and three quarters of those gave 'ease of online purchasing' as the reason...Our survey found that over half of companies believe that web stores are the most important route to market...our survey found that 63% of organisations have a digital transformation strategy in place...According to our research nearly 70% of companies will use the Internet of Things (IoT) or machine to machine technology to enable automated and/or predictive ordering for customers. While 67% believe that virtual reality will help personalise the B2B buying experience.' Chris Shalchi, President and CEO of Mavecca Group, explains the benefits of digital transformation for B2B businesses and what is required to provide value and meet customer expectations in the highly competitive B2B ecosystem. He provides 4 benefits of transforming to digital-native ecosystem - (1) Managing buyer expectations is easier through digital as more and more customers prefer purchasing online and find it comfortable for subsequent buying. (2) Through right B2B e-commerce software businesses can provide enhanced buyer experience with improved processes and automation. With data and analytics, the knowledge about consumers can help organizations customize buyer experience for better relationships. (3) With digital B2B businesses can develop an automatic cross-sell and up-sell suggestion program to reach existing customers and expand customer base, thus increasing sales. (4) Using data and analytics to enhance decision making is one of the key benefits of digital. With the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) that would provide predictive analytics, organizations have better control and enhanced decision-making, resulting in improved processes. As substantial decision-making in B2B purchases happens before a sales person is contacted, B2B businesses can create and deliver engaging content and have an elaborate communications strategy through digital channels for initiating purchase. B2B organizations have to fully understand what their customers want. Aligning of marketing and sales functions, and efficiently using data is important for overall customer-focused digital strategy. Read on...

Forbes: Make Your B2B Business A Digital Business
Author: Chris Shalchi

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 27 oct 2021

Continuous innovation and improvement in strategies is the key for success with rapidly changing market dynamics. Business-to-business (B2B) marketing is no different. Even though basics of B2B marketing are same as for B2C (Business-to-consumer) but it requires some special considerations as business customers are bulk buyers and B2B is the largest market transaction-wise. Marketing strategies in this case need to be fine-tuned for effectiveness. Here are few time-tested and latest B2B focused marketing strategies that should be part of companies dealing with B2B customers - (1) Account-Based Marketing: It has one of the highest conversion rates. It is a targeted marketing strategy with customized and curated campaign specifically designed for select clients. (2) Live Chat Strategy: Live chat is capable of converting a prospective lead into a client through answering queries effectively. Webchat platform reports that it has seen 2.8% more conversions than the business that doesn't use live chat support. It has also reported a 60% increment in B2B sales due to provision of live support to customer during entire purchase journey. (3) Word-of-Mouth: McKinsey reports that 20-50% of all purchasing decisions are based solely on word-of-mouth. (4) Long Content Pieces: Long-form content strategy generates more leads and requires engaging and highly curated content to target the specific business profile. (5) Podcast Marketing: COVID-19 pandemic has increased the listener base for podcasts. According to a survey, 155 million people listen to Podcasts in the US. Considering this curated podcast content is an opportunity to be tapped for reaching out to broader prospective clients. (6) AI Marketing Strategy: AI-based strategy would require product recommendations to prospective customers based on prior purchase data and behavior. (7) E-mail Marketing Strategy: It has over 122% lead generation. Targeted emails with specific content suited to prospective clients is key to the effectiveness. (8) Influencer Marketing: With rise of video-sharing platforms, influencer marketing has become an effective tool to reach clients. (9) Virtual Events: COVID-19 has exacerbated the use of virtual events for targeted marketing. It has expanded the audience reach with less efforts as compared to physical events. (10) Omnichannel Marketing: This strategy helps in reaching out to target audience through multiple channels with a unified marketing approach and helps reduce buyer friction and generate more leads. Read on...

UNB: B2B Marketing: Effective Strategies in 2021
Author: Shahriar Rabab

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 26 sep 2021

Consumer packaged goods (CPG) marketers are looking to boost above-average growth in the COVID-19 pandemic era. The challenges are real and according to McKinsey's latest research 78% of CEOs are now banking on marketing leaders to drive growth. The research study looked at how 860 global executives are prioritizing investments and capabilities that help accelerate growth. The study finds that three elements - creativity, analytics, and purpose - that constitute a 'growth triple play' that provides at least two times the growth of peers who don't invest in all three in tandem. Another McKinsey research based on interviews of CPG marketing and growth executives seeking answers about the new reality found that - to attain extraordinary growth requires more sophisticated, predictive, and customized marketing strategies. New approaches and tools are the need of the times. Even though some basics like broad reach, powerful, resonant storytelling, and creativity are critical, but marketers have to utilize data and analytics at scale to crack the code that enables more targeted and engaging interactions to shape consumer behavior. 2/3rd of CPG companies say they have put data-driven marketing at the top of their agenda [Consumer Analyst Group of New York (CAGNY) 2021 Virtual Conference]. Large number of CPG companies are still not able to fulfil the promise for delivering impact at scale from data-driven marketing. Accoring to another McKinsey research, truly sustainable, marketing-led growth has to be granular, focused, and scaled across the entire marketing organization, delivering the right message to the right consumer, at the right moment, at the right place - all the time. To thrive in this new ara of CPG marketing, companies have to - build a continuously updating, AI-powered consumer-intelligence engine that ingests enough signals and data points to not only identify demand but to predict it; use advanced analytics and marketing technology to recommend high-value actions; learnings from hundreds of tests per week need to feed back into this engine, helping drive rapid decision making and informing adjustments to brand plans, spend allocation, tent-pole campaigns, and always-on activation. This new marketing model will require new kind of talent, new organizational capabilities and midsets and adoption of new technologies. CPGs that would succeed and utilize next-level AI (Artifical Intelligence) consumer-intelligence need to have five essential ingredients to unlock data-driven marketing impact at scale - (1) Opportunity/Demand Identification: A 360-degree view of consumers and pockets of growth, supported by predictive and prescriptive insights. (2) Rapid Activation: Delivering the right message at the right time in moments that matter - and measuring the impact. (3) Martech/Data Enablement: Activating a fit-for-purpose data and tech-enabling customer-centric strategy. (4) Agile Operating Model: The new ways of working needed for an agile, modern, marketing organization. (5) Capacity-building: The talent, culture, and infrastructure required to scale impact. Read on...

McKinsey: The new marketing model for growth: How CPGs can crack the code
Authors: Tiffany Chen, Michele Choi, Jeff Jacobs, Brian Henstorf, Ed See

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 22 sep 2021

Healthcare infrastructure, both public and private, in small towns and rural areas of India is still rudimentary and lacks quality and efficiency. COVID-19 pandemic has further demonstrated the sorry state of healthcare delivery. Moreover, during pandemic times healthcare facilities became out of reach for non-COVID patients with other diseases and healthcare issues. Fear of COVID infection was one of the major factor that made healthcare delivery situation worse. Most OPD's and in-patient treatment in big hospitals, both public and private, was restricted. Technology-enabled healthcare and telemedicine came to the rescue during this time. Many healthcare facilities even tested advanced digital technologies to fill the gap and to keep themselves afloat businesswise and manage revenue streams. Technology also helped healthcare to expand reach to rural and remote areas. Keeping this in mind, last year the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), NITI Aayog, and the Board of Governors (BoG) Medical Council of India (MCI) released the initial formal guidelines to regulate practices across India leading to democratization of healthcare delivery, especially telemedicine. Remote healthcare delivery also hastened during this time. Concept of remote or smart ICUs also became prevalent considering the shortage of critical care staff in hospitals. Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices came handy in remote and digital healthcare. With AI, predictive analytics, electronic health records etc medical consultation has become more efficient. This particularly helped during pandemic and is very relevant for areas where physical healthcare delivery is limited or unavailable. The scope of remote healthcare in India is promising. According to the latest McKinsey report telehealth is projected as a quarter trillion-dollar industry post-COVID. The report states that telehealth use has increased 38 times from the pre-COVID-19 baseline. The industry is projected to reach a size of US$ 10.6 billion by 2025 in India. The healthcare delivery for rural and remote areas has to combine both digital and physical modes, the evolved 'Phygital Model'. As India's rural population is sizeable, about 65% of total population, the healthcare efforts would require contribution from both public and private sectors. Currently, patients from rural areas and small towns have to travel to larger cities to avail better healthcare facilities, increasing the load on already burdened healthcare infrastructure there. Moreover, it also increases the cost of healthcare for those who travel. Use of phygital model will reduce the cost of healthcare and lessen the burden on large cities. Innovative startups and entrepreneurial spirit of India's youth can help bring this healthcare transformation with support from government and investors. Read on...

Businessworld: How Are Advances In Digital Technology Making Healthcare Delivery In Rural India More Efficient?
Author: Col Hemraj Singh Parmar

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 17 apr 2021

COVID-19 pandemic has brought numerous changes in how businesses go about their processes to create and deliver products and services to their customers. New trends are emerging in digital marketing too. While experts suggest to better what already exists in terms of digital marketing but they also hint at technology enabled shifts particularly with advancements in artificial intelligence. Having elaborate content strategy combined with data will remain a major trend along with focus on omni-channel marketing. Digital customer strategy will continue to be a must in the post-pandemic scenario. Here is what digital marketing experts recommend - (1) Martin Luenendonk (Co-Founder of FounderJar): Companies need to be everywhere. More businesses are focusing on omnichannel marketing and becoming less dependent on one single traffic and revenue driver. (2) Denise Langenegger (Outreach Strategist at Instasize): Focus on stories. Make use of all features of stories options on various social media platforms. The stories format allows brands and marketers to be more candid and post as much as they want. (3) Sandra Chung (Sr. Content Marketing and Partnerships Manager at PlayPlay): Repurpose existing video content for social media. Empower internal teams to create video content. Customer case studies and product tutorials can be transformed into engaging video stories. (4) Olena Zherebetska (Content Manager at Pics.io): Invest in digital asset management software. This will help you access, organize, and distribute assets easily. Some features include meta-tagging, AI-powered technology, advanced search capabilities, shareable public websites etc. (5) Lukas Mehnert (CMO at Smartlook): Focus on your own unique data for content marketing. Choose the unique content produced by the company or hire specialists who will help master this process. Make it properly distributed in the appropriate channels. Utilize industry influencers to spread the content through win-win relationships. (6) David Cacik (Head of Marketing at CloudTalk): High quality content enriched with structure data will rule search engines. Follow Google's guidelines for creating a website structure and creating content. Google assesses content according to the E-A-T methodology (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). (7) Kristina Ziauke (Content Manager at sixads): Voice search, AI and personalization will be key. Optimize written content for voice searches, implement more and more AI features on the websites like chatbots, product and content recommendations, e-commerce transactions etc. (8) George Mathews (Founder at Kamayobloggers): Artificial Intelligence will change digital marketing forever in 2021. Communication, product recommendations and personalization are all going to be more targeted thanks to AI. (9) Raul Galera (Partner Manager at CandyBar): Focus on retention. Three main risks that online merchants will have to face in 2021 are - (i) the continued growth of online marketplaces (ii) the rise of ad costs (iii) the massive competition in the ecommerce space. Explore areas like subscription options and loyalty points to keep your clients engaged with your brand. Create an omnichannel approach to connect with customers who have found about brand in marketplace. (10) Andrzej Bieda (CMO at Landingi): Continue to nurture and educate your customers. Develop well-functioning marketing funnels, lead magnets, webinars, and sales processes. (11) Maciej Biegajewski (Digital Marketing Specialist at LiveWebinar): Predefined personalization in all digital engagement. Create various patterns (they can be service patterns, advertisements, messages, or even the appearance of the entire online store) that seem to suit this one customer, but have been defined earlier, and now only substitute the collected data and present the recipient. (12) Olga Petrik (CMO at NetHunt CRM): Trust and credibility are more important than ever. Pay more attention to loyalty and retention by developing customer success program. Utilize influencers. Create offers and run campaigns for micro-segments. Address highly-targeted pain points to trigger more responses. Neal Schaffer, founder of the digital marketing consultancy PDCA Social and teaches executives digital marketing at Rutgers Business School and the Irish Management Institute, says, 'Use social media for customer and influencer collaboration, not promotion...reimagine your digital relationships with your customers and celebrate them in social media...over time companies should try their best to source the type of user-generated content from their fans and nano influencers that generates trust and credibility with the public.' Read on...

ClickZ: 2021 digital marketing trends you need to know from 13 marketing experts
Author: Neal Schaffer

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 29 mar 2021

India's healthcare ecosystem is continuously evolving with changes in health policies, advancement in technologies, financial innovations etc. But, what is most critical is patient centricity, that should be at the core of all products and services development. Digital transformation is enabling this patient focus in healthcare. According to the World Economic Forum Report 2016 (weforum.org) titled 'Building the Healthcare System of the Future', the future of healthcare will be 'consumer-centric' and there are four digital themes that will be critical for digital transformation of healthcare over the next decade - (1) Smart Care (2) Care Anywhere (3) Empowered Care (4) Intelligent Healthcare Enterprise. The new structure for the healthcare system will include - Continuous Monitoring; Retail Clinics; Connected Home; Auto Paitent Access; Virtual Care Circles; Omni-channel Experience; Intelligent Treatments; Me, My Data and I; Augmented Wayfinding; Seamless Financing; Intelligent Machines; Virtual Care Team; Connected Care; Coordinated Ecosystem. Rehan A. Khan, Managing Director of MSD (India Region), explains how the patient-centered digitally-led healthcare ecosystem is developing in India driven by disease management, prevention and focus on wellness. He says, 'By leveraging disruptive innovations, we are personalizing patient and physician experience, and transforming healthcare access. We are around a close corner from a future where personalized medicines, curative therapies, digital therapeutics and precision intervention through robotic surgery, nanotechnology, 3D printing etc. will redefine healthcare across the globe and in our country.' Healthcare policies focused on digitalization are already in place and the initiatives are beginning to shape the future. There are now over 1 million registered Health IDs, 2900 verified 'digi doctors', a robust Health Facility Registry with over 1400 approved health facilities and a Live NDHM (National Digital Health Mission) application available on Android store. National Policy on Security of Health Systems and Privacy of Personal Health Records developed in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019, will enable swift implementation of big data analytics. Mr. Khan suggests, 'Developing innovation hubs, forging strong Public Private Partnerships and driving patientcare digitally are critical pillars for driving Health For All.' Read on...

The Economic Times: Reimagining healthcare in India
Author: Rehan A. Khan

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 29 jan 2021

According to the World Bank's most recent statistics - India's rural population is 66% of the total population (2019); 41% of the total employment is involved in agriculture and farming (2020); Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added, contribute 16% to India's GDP (2019). Moreover, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (fao.org) says , 'Agriculture, with its allied sectors, is the largest source of livelihoods in India. 70% of its rural households still depend primarily on agriculture for their livelihood, with 82% of farmers being small and marginal.' Considering these statistics it is evident that India is substantially dependant on agrarian economy. The sector is looking for transition from an inefficient, unorganized and archaic one, that pushes farmers to commit suicide, to more modern with incorporation of technology and scientific methodologies, to make it profitable and sustainable to the agricultural community. The recent protest of the farmers at such a large scale has also brought the need of handling any transformation in the sector with caution and is to be carried out in a peaceful and democratic way by taking into confidence those who are affected the most with any policy change. The need for consultation and understanding is the only way to bring the needed evolution of the agricultural sector and make it thrive. Digitization and varied use of technology is a step that pushes agricultural economy towards this goal. NITI Aayog's report on Artificial Intelligence (AI) says that to maintain annual growth rate of 8-10%, agriculture must grow at 4% or higher. Technologies that can be applied include those on the farming side like sensor-assisted soil assessment, automated monitoring of free-ranging animals on pastures, targeted control of agricultural machinery, use of high quality seeds, optimum and measured use of fertilizers and pesticides, modern farming equipment and methods, scientific approach to agriculture etc, and there are technologies that need to be applied post-production, from farm to the market, like digitization in farm product management, supply chain management, logistics, Mandis and retail selling etc. This will lead to better produce with agri-waste reduction and efficiency in cost optimization. The three most essential elements that would lay the foundation of digitization in agriculture would include - Internet of Things (IoT); Nanotechnology; Digital Education. There are two most important technology related concepts in farming - 'Precision Farming' involves creating new production and management techniques that make intensive and efficient use of data regarding a specific location and crop; 'Smart Farming' or 'Farming 4.0' is the application of information and data technologies for optimising complex farming systems. To implement these concepts at a large scale in India's massive agriculture sector comes up with many challenges that need to be overcome - Digital divide; Lack of farmer literacy; Lack of financial resources particularly in case of small and medium farmers; Interruptions in rural power supply. Even though government and private sector knows the potential of digitization and technological transformation, major challenge is to involve farmers in the process by creating proper awareness and showcasing the benefits of technology-enabled agriculture. Government and private sector have already initiated the various projects in this regard like for example Microsoft has developed an 'AI-Sowing App', in collaboration with International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT), that sends advisory to the farmers regarding the optimal date of seed-sowing; NITI Aayog has partnered with IBM to develop a crop yield prediction model backed by AI to provide real-time data and communicate the required advisory to farmers; 'Blue River' project has designed and integrated computer vision with machine learning technology that will help cultivators to reduce the use of fertilisers and herbicides by spraying only where and when needed. Government projects in digitization include - Kisan Suvidha, Pusa Krishi, Farm-o-pedia App, Crop Insurance Android App, Agri-Market, M-Kisan Application, Shetkari Masik Android App etc. Read on...

Businessworld: Digitisation In Agriculture: A Necessity For India
Author: Urvi Shrivastav

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 28 dec 2020

Logos are a brief visual representaion of the organizational identity and help differentiate them from each other. They assist to instantly recognize brands and over a period of time can become one of the most important component of their identity. Traditionally, organizations utilize the services of graphic designers to get their logos and the process has artistic and creative orientation. But now powered with technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), there are online logo design software tools that can design logos instantly once some specifications are submitted. These tools also provide editing and customization features. Technology is transforming the creative field of logo design into a more scientific one. Research paper, 'Letting Logos Speak: Leveraging Multiview Representation Learning for Data-Driven Logo Design' (SSRN, 25 nov 2019) (Authors: Ryan Dew of Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Asim M. Ansari of Columbia Business School at the Columbia University, Olivier Toubia of Columbia Business School at the Columbia University), proposes a more data-driven approach to logo design in which the authors developed a 'logo feature extraction algorithm' that uses modern image processing tools to break a company's logo into many visual constituent parts like font, color scheme, and many other meaningful features, and a multiview representation learning framework that links the visual components to text that describes the company like industry, value propositions etc. Researchers then applied this framework to a large amount of data available on companies to predict their logo features. Prof. Ryan Dew explains, 'There are things that data and models can say about the design process that can help firms develop brand identities - visual brand identities that are doing the right things for them...we looked at hundreds of different logos, and we also looked at a bunch of textual data describing these firms - taken mostly from the firms' websites. And we also got consumers to react to these logos and the textual descriptions by rating these firms according to what's called a 'brand personality scale'...we developed an algorithm that lets us work with logos as a source of data. We call this our 'logo feature extraction algorithm'...and then we also have all this text, which can be anything...It conveys what the firm does and what their brand is...The idea is, we want to link these two domains to try to get the words to describe what the logo is trying to say. Let the logo speak. Conversely, this is actually how the design process works. You start with a textual blurb describing - 'This is what my brand is. This is what my firm does'. And then you go from that to a logo — to a logo template. This is where the concept of data-driven design comes in. We both, in the first sense, are able to use text to understand logos, but in the second sense, we're able to go from text to new logo templates that will let firms develop logos that are consistent with their brand identities...a more fundamental thing that the current paper can address is this idea of coming up with the 'right template' to convey what you want to convey visually. That is, in some sense, firms should be a little cautious when they're designing logos...understanding these templates and having this model of data-driven design can help with the creative process, to come up with new redesigns or new logos that will excel.' Read on...

Knowledge@Wharton: Why a Data-driven Approach Can Enhance the Art of Logo Design
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 28 aug 2020

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been around in its various forms for many years. But now it is reaching a level of disruption in many industries and has potential to influence many more. There are major investments in AI with tech giants leading the pack. Businesses are seeing value in AI to make process improvements, enhance efficiencies etc to improve bottom line and at the same time there are concerns related to job losses. Even creative industries like graphic design, that require exceptional human skills to thrive are being significantly influenced by AI. Graphic design softwares are now AI-powered and can mimic human designers by understanding client requirements effectively. These may not not be emotion-powered like humans, but can provide outputs that are fast, affordable and customizable. Moreover, these softwares have their own limitations at this time and the role of designers is not becoming obsolete. In fact, on one side these tools are designed and developed by incorporating inputs from designers and on the other they are complementing and enhancing the capabilities of designers and assisting them to achieve even better outcomes. Following are some limitations of AI in graphic design - Understanding nuances that come naturally to humans; Originality of humans that is derived from being highly imaginative; Human touch that is needed as part of a personalized interactive experience. Read on...

ClickZ: The rise of AI in graphics design
Author: Carl Dean

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 14 may 2020

Covid-19 pandemic is affecting all aspects of human life, and even when the immediate severity of the crisis has subsided and nations start to ease lockdowns in hope of bringing their economies and people's lives back on track, the world will continue to see the after effects for a long time ahead. Experts share their views on pandemic's impact on future of design and how it will change the built environment in healthcare, hospitality, residential living etc - (1) Impact on Healthcare (Rahul Kadri, partner and principal Architect, IMK Architects): New generation of hospitals will be designed; Integrate tech-driven solutions; Better natural ventilation to minimize cross-infection; Segregation of general, semi-sterile and sterile zones; Net zero designing; Demarcation and separation of service and maintenance areas from the procedure areas; Rapid time to build and construct; Medical hub model. (2) Impact on Hospitality (Amit Khanna, design principal, Amit Khanna Design Associates): Screenings will become a part of entrance design in hotels; Use of automation to avoid human contact; Automated sliding or revolving glass door; Rethink on facilities like swimming pools, salons and health clubs; Top-end hospitality projects may prefer to redesign their communal facilities. (3) Impact on Urban Design (Mitu Mathur, director, GPM Architects and Planners): Towns need to be designed for all classes of society; Ensure housing-for-all; Promote affordable housing; Special design focus on migrant workers. (4) Using AI for Construction (Anand Sharma, founder partner, Design Forum International): Architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry will have more use of artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing etc; Building Information Management (BIM) Development promotes workers of industry to be collaborative, connected and transparent; Future of construction will innovate like utilising the Internet of Things and leveraging 3D imaging to replicate the experience of a site. (5) Impact on Housing Design (L. C. Mittal, director, Motia Group): Adoption of advanced technology in elevators and entrances, like voice-enabled elevators and key card entry systems respectively, to eliminate human contact; Sanitisation of common areas would become a mandatory exercise for societies; Daily needs shopping store will become an integral part of housing societies. Read on...

India Today: A post-pandemic design revolution
Author: Ridhi Kale

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 19 jan 2020

Father of Artificial Intelligence, John McCarthy, said, 'Artificial intelligence is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs.' AI is a growing field of technology globally and India is also making strides to stay ahead in this space. According to the 2018 PwC report, 'Artificial Intelligence in India - Hype or Reality' (Authors: Sudipta Ghosh, Indranil Mitra, Prasun Nandy, Udayan Bhattacharya, Deboprio Dutta, Shruti Kakar), 71% of respondents (business decision-makers and employees) believe AI will help humans solve complex problems & live richer lives; 67% would prefer AI assistance over humans as office assistants; 43% agree that the government will apply AI to improve global climate, health and education; 60% would prefer AI assistance over humans as financial advisors or tax preparers; 72% believe that AI can provide a better experience of one-to-one personalisation. The report also finds out that nearly all (93%) have major concerns regarding data privacy. Indian researchers are also influencing and contributing to the development of AI field. Here is the list of top AI researchers and influencers in India - (1) Sankar Kumar Pal (Scientist and former Director of the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata): Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning; Image/Video Processing; Data Mining; Soft Computing; Granular Computing; Fuzzy-Rough Computing; Neural Nets; Web Intelligence; Bioinformatics; Social Networks; Machine-Mind Development. (2) Krothapalli Sreenivasa Rao (Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur): Signal Processing and Machine Learning in Speech Applications; Robust speech interfaces in the context of Indian languages; Signal processing and machine learning paradigms for automatic processing of Hindustani music; Big Data Analytics for speech, music, audio and video document representation, indexing, and retrieval tasks. (3) Bidyut Baran Chaudhari (Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata): Digital Document Processing; Optical Character Recognition; Natural Language Processing; Statistical and Fuzzy Pattern Recognition; Computer Vision and Image Processing; Cognitive Science. (4) Pushpak Bhattacharyya (IIT Bombay): Natural Language Processing; Machine Learning; AI. (5) Sriparna Saha (IIT Patna): Text Mining Pattern Recognition; Natural Language Processing; Multi-Objective Optimization; Biomedical Information Extraction. (6) Sunita Sarawagi (IIT Bombay): Neural Models for Sequence Prediction with applications to dialog generation, translation, grammar correction, and time series forecasting; Domain Adaptation and Domain Generalization; Continuous, Reusable, Human intervenable and Modular Learning; Machine Learning models for reliable aggregate statistics over predicted variables; Graphical models for selective node labeling in social networks; Structure extraction from tables and lists on the web; Inference algorithms for graphical models in information extraction task. (7) Anush Sankaran (IBM Research): Applications of Machine Learning and Deep Learning with applications to computer vision and natural language processing. (8) Anuprriya Gogna (GE Healthcare): Optimization algorithms and learning architectures for various applications in the domain of healthcare, recommendation engines, and signal/image processing; Sparse Recovery; Matrix Factorization/Completion; Deep Learning; Recommender System Design. (9) Balaraman Ravindran (IIT Madras): Machine Learning; Spatio-temporal Abstractions in Reinforcement Learning; Social Network Analysis; Data Mining. (10) VP Subramanyam Rallabandi (National Brain Research Centre, Gurgaon): Mathematical Modeling; Neuroimaging; Machine Learning; Computational Biology; Knowledge-based Image Retrieval; Artificial Neural Networks; Fuzzy Logic; Soft Computing. Read on...

Analytics Insight: THE 10 REMARKABLE AI INFLUENCERS AND RESEARCHERS IN INDIA
Author: Smriti Srivastava

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 17 jan 2020

Team of researchers led by Prof. Saptarshi Ghosh of Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur have developed an AI-based (Artificial Intelligence) system to automate reading of legal case judgements. Although in countries like US, Britain, Japan, Singapore and Australia, AI is utlilized for legal research, review documents during litigation and conduct due diligence, analyse contracts to determine whether they meet pre-determined criteria, and to even predict case outcomes. But this research can become pioneering in Indian context as AI use in legal field is just taking off. India follows a Common Law system that prioritises the doctrine of legal precedent over statutory law, and where legal documents are often written in an unstructured way. The paper, 'Identification of Rhetorical Roles of Sentences in Indian Legal Judgments', based on the research received 'Best Paper Award' at JURIX 2019, the International Conference on Legal Knowledge and Information Systems, at Madrid. Other researchers in the project are - Paheli Bhattacharya (IIT Kharagpur), Kripabandhu Ghosh (Tata Research Development and Design Centre, Pune), Shounak Paul (IIT Kharagpur), Adam Wyner (Swansea University, UK). Prof. Ghosh says, 'Taking 50 judgments from the Supreme Court of India, we segmented these by first labelling sentences...then performing extensive analysis of the human-assigned labels and developing a high quality gold standard corpus to train the machine to carry out the task. We are trying to build an AI system which can give guidance to the common man about which laws are being violated in a given situation, or if there is merit in taking a particular situation to court, so that legal costs can be minimised.' The neural methods used by the team enables automatic learning of the features, given sufficient amount of data, and can be used across multiple legal domains. This method can help in several downstream tasks such as summarization of legal judgments, legal search, case law analysis, and other functions. Read on...

Outlook: IIT Kharagpur develops AI-powered tech for reading legal cases
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 11 jan 2020

Food security problem is a global concern. Everyone should become a part of the solution. Technologies like drones, data analytics, blockchain etc can assist in solving some of the issues related to farming and agriculture. This is what Agriculture 4.0 is all about. It is a new age of food production that leverages digital technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) to cater more precisely to the needs of crops, farmers and consumers. The coming together of - farming communities, researchers and policy makers; farm equipment and machinery, biotechnology, computer and telecommunication companies - can bring agriculture to a new state of success. Multinational agriculture and biotech companies are competing in the race to achieve the technological breakthroughs and expand their businesses and profits. Advocates of Agriculture 4.0 believe that it will solve the food security problems of the future. While critics on the other hand caution that without proper regulation few big companies will attain huge monopolistic power in global agricultural decision-making that will adversely affect small producers. According to the 2018 report Agriculture 4.0 by World Government Summit, approximately 800 million people currently suffer from hunger and by 2050 we will have to produce 70% more food to feed the world. Juanita Rodríguez, Vice-Chancellor of Innovation at Ean University (Colombia), says, 'Even though it's still not widely known, this fourth revolution in agriculture has been agile and its benefits are beginning to show, helping farmers maximise crop yields and developing ways to stop the epidemic of waste that destroys 45% of our supply.' In Mexico, Mexican engineer Julio López and German economist Manuel Richter, have created a platform helping producers to manage their crops using drone and satellite technology. Mr. Richter says, 'There is a huge potential to make the work more efficient, reduce agro-inputs, improve water use, lower environmental impact and create more economic sustainability for the farmer.' Big data use and privacy are other areas that are part of Agriculture 4.0. In 2018, North American companies spent almost US$ 20 billion on third-party data, 17.5% more than in 2017. Silvia Ribeiro, Latin America director of the Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration (ETC), says, 'Companies have a huge amount of data at their disposal. They can convert it into another business. What lies behind this is the generation of new profits.' Gabriel Cuéllar, an AI researcher, says, 'Data is the new oil. Companies today need data to make their systems more powerful.' Big data and analytics has positive side in agriculture and can assist farmers in effectively detecting pests, spotting failures in agricultural processes, or understanding market demands. The question with data is not only who is collecting it, but who can analyse it, and who wins or loses as a result. In the report 'The Unsustainable Agriculture 4.0 - Digitization and Corporate Power in the Food Chain', Pat Mooney of ETC explains his concerns on big data in agriculture. He believes that the concentration of power in agricultural data collection could result in a few companies controlling seed patenting data, pesticides, fertilisers and machinery, leaving little or no option for farmers and workers to choose what they buy. In recent times many multinationals have been drawn into controversy regarding Agriculture 4.0. According to Ms. Rodríguez, there is also a significant hacking risk associated with Internet of Things devices. Dennis Escudero from UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says, 'The profile of the farmer is changing. It is more digital. You have to understand the new tools. They don't threaten farmers, they empower them.' Read on...

Diálogo Chino: Agriculture 4.0 promises to transform food production
Authors: Emilio Godoy, Alejandra Cuéllar

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 25 oct 2019

Even though AI (artificial intelligence) and big data are enabling automation in marketing and customer interactions, enhancing consumer experience, saving cost and improving ROI, but customers still seem to prefer the great old human touch. According to the report by Calabrio titled 'Are You Listening? The Truth About What Customers Want in a Digital World', three out of four consumers in the US and UK are more loyal to businesses that give them the option to interact to human as opposed to only chatbots or digital channels. Morever, 37% even question the legitimacy of the company itself, if not given the option. Michael Brenner, CEO of Marketing Insider Group and author of 'Mean People Suck', explains how organizational empathy is the key to benefit from marketing automation along with becoming more human at the same time. He mentions limitations of AI, automation and martech - Complexity of implementation; Robotic customer service; Uncertainties in decision-making. He explains, 'When businesses use technology such as AI and automation to boost efficiencies, the outcomes will scale quickly. Managing the consequences calls for not just empathy, but alignment of "purpose" between the brand and its consumers. But while humans survive on meaning and a sense of fulfillment, machines thrive on clear instructions...By clarifying their strategic purpose, organizations can not only provide better customer experiences, but also increase brand loyalty, build a community, as well as foster a meaningful and productive work culture.' Kate O'Neill, author of 'Tech Humanist', says, 'Businesses that transform themselves digitally need to do so in a human-centric way and communicate their purpose to their customers.' Mentioning empathy as the missing link between AI and humans, Mr. Brenner says, 'Empathetic Marketing connects companies, brands, employees and customers in a harmonious, productive and win-win way. You might be forgiven for thinking that ROI and the bottom line is all that matters to companies. While authoring my first book 'The Content Formula', I stumbled on the counter-intuitive secret to selling: Don't talk about the stuff you sell. Then what should we talk about? I hear you asking. Show, don't talk. Show empathy towards your customers. Help, don't sell. Help them solve a problem.' Empathy is the only antidote for the phenomenon termed by Google's Noah Fenn as 'collective amnesia of marketers', where marketers begin to see 'people' as users, leads, personas, prospects, audience, cohorts or whatever label is the flavor of the day. Mr. Brenner suggests 'be human, do human' and in order to fix the brand-customer empathy gap, you need to ask (and honestly answer) yourself - Do you understand the core emotional motivators of your customers? Does your messaging resonate with these motivators?; Do you build a connection before you attempt a conversion?; Do you test your assumptions and biases for every marketing campaign?; Does your AI-driven revenue model incorporate the nuances of empathetic marketing? Read on...

Chief Marketer: The AI Paradox: Why More Automation Means We Need More Humanity
Author: Michael Brenner

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 20 oct 2019

Personalization and customization of education is becoming a possibility with use of latest technologies. Traditional education systems with 'one-size-fits-all' approach are facing challenges and their ineffectiveness is becoming visible. Every learner has individual capabilities and traits, and educational delivery that caters to his specific needs would work best. Lasse Rouhiainen, author of 'Artificial Intelligence: 101 Things You Must Know Today About Our Future' and an international expert on artificial intelligence (AI) and disruptive technologies, explains that personalization is future of higher education and how correct implementation of AI and big data analytics will help in creating personalized learning experiences that can overcome some of the challenges that educational institutions face like disengaged students, high dropout rates, skills mismatch etc. He says, 'With a personalized learning experience, every student would enjoy a completely unique educational approach that's fully tailored to his or her individual abilities and needs. This could directly increase students' motivation and reduce their likelihood of dropping out. It could also offer professors a better understanding of each student's learning process, which could enable them to teach more effectively. Here's what this might look like: AI-based learning systems would be able to give professors useful information about their students' learning styles, abilities, and progress, and provide suggestions for how to customize their teaching methods to students' individual needs.' One of the key ingredient of this learning approach is the access to large amount of student data. Privacy is the challenge in this regard. But if student data could be collected and processed in a way that is ethical, secure, and transparent, it would allow AI to be used to effectively improve various areas of study. Use of chatbots and virtual assistants can assist in handling routine questions and tasks and will also provide data that represents students' concerns and requirements. This will benefit in designing education that responds to their needs. Moreover, as AI-enabled systems takeover routine tasks, teachers will have more quality time for students and engage them to pursue higher learning. Their role would be to guide, support, and mentor students, assist them to understand their learning, it's value, and it's application in the real world. To some extent chatbots can also be used to assist sudents to manage their mental well-being - to reduce stress and improve motivation to study. This will be beneficial, atleast for immediate relief, as many university health systems are struggling to handle large population of students in their on-campus mental health counseling programs. The outcome of education and learning is to finally prepare students for the world of work and be productive in whatever career they pursue. As the work environment is becoming more technology intensive and routine tasks are automated with AI-enabled systems and robots, it is essential for education systems to provide skills and train students to effectively adapt to such work environment and become successful. There is no substitute for humans. Technology is an enabler. Right mix of AI technology and human abilities can help evolve the education and learning systems for better outcomes. Read on...

Harvard Business Review: How AI and Data Could Personalize Higher Education
Author: Lasse Rouhiainen

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 05 sep 2019

Healthcare technologies enhance efficiencies, improve access and create informed patient-doctor relationships. Around the globe there is fast-paced adoption of these technologies. India too is undergoing health-tech transformation. According to a 15-country Future Health Index (FHI) 2019 report by Royal Philips, about 76% of healthcare professionals in India are already using digital health records (DHRs) in their practice. Moreover, 80% of healthcare professionals have shared patient information with other professionals inside their health facility, which is equal to 15-country average. India also meets the 15-country average when it comes to the usage of artificial intelligence (AI) within healthcare at 46%. Report also finds that a majority of Indian healthcare professionals who use DHRs in their practice report that DHRs have a positive impact on quality of care (90%), healthcare professional satisfaction (89%), and patient outcomes (70%) when compared to the 15-country average of 69%, 64% and 59% respectively. Rohit Sathe, President of Philips Healthcare (Indian Subcontinent), says, 'The report confirms that digital health technology is a pivotal pillar in delivering value-based care across the healthcare continuum in India. Tools including telehealth and adaptive intelligence solutions can help lower the barriers between hospitals and patients, thereby improving access to care and enhancing overall patient satisfaction, particularity in tier II & III cities in India.' Read on...

Livemint: Digital Health Technology can revolutionise healthcare in India: Report
Author: Nandita Mathur

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 29 aug 2019

Technology innovations are often associated with taking up jobs from humans. Consider some experts predicting that Artificial Intelligence (AI) could take over 40% of jobs by 2035. But, there is a brighter side to it. The tasks that are taken away by AI are generally those that are repetitive and monotonous, requiring less human creativity. This would infact provide more opportunities for people to be innovative and creative, making their jobs more fulfilling. Charities too have to take advantage of AI to improve efficiencies and let their workforce focus on doing good better and impact lives. Rhodri Davies of Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), the author of Public Good by Private Means' and an expert on philanthropy and technology for giving, says, 'There are plenty of new jobs that will be actually created in the wake of the AI revolution.' Here are some of the charity jobs that artificial intelligence and machine learning can enhance - (1) Fundraiser: Chatbots can support in fundraising tasks. Organizations are already making use of online platforms to do so effectively and reach out to far-flung donors. (2) Support Services Assistant: Charity chatbots can help in guiding people towards the general information they require. This will help human staff to focus on more complex and sensitive queries. (3) Translator: AI-driven language translation can assist charity workers to communicate effectively with populations they serve and have language barrier with. (4) Conservation Scientist: Data science and machine learning is used in sustainability studies. AI can be used by wildlife and conservation charities to understand patterns such as habitat loss, climate change, water use, poaching etc. This will help better understand human impact on natural world and plan ahead. (5) Medical Researcher: AI and robotics are used in diagnostics and patient care. AI-driven data analysis helps spot patterns in behvior, symptoms and treatment effects. Thus providing effective treatment. Read on...

Charity Digital News: The charity jobs that could soon be enhanced by AI
Author: Chloe Green

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 17 dec 2018

India is adopting emerging technologies and its future progress will be defined by their effective utilization. A recent study by Cisco and IDC suggests that globally the net job addition in new technologies will be more than 5.9 million by 2027 out of which 1.4 million will be in India. India is building its capacities in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT). Government has special focus on AI, as between mid 2017 and early 2018, the government constituted two AI Task Forces, first under the Ministry of Commerce and the second under the Ministry of Defence. The Ministry of Information Technology has also set up four committees to encourage research in the field. Niti Aayog has also published the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence. Similarly, efforts have been underway by goverment to promote the development and adoption of IoT since 2016 with the release of a draft policy on IOT by MeitY. Private sector too has made massive investments in IoT. Another technology that India has to focus on is Data Science as it has enormous potential in promoting development and humanitarian efforts. Data Science has the capability to provide effective solutions to problems faced by the developing world. It can significantly make an impact in decision and policy making. India has to understand the advantages of using Data Science to complement policy efforts and exploit its potential accordingly. Read on...

The Economic Times: India cannot afford to ignore Data Science
Author: Deepakshi Rawat

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 22 may 2018

Artificial Intelligence's (AI) potential for healthcare transformation is becoming visible. AI health market is expected to increase exponentially from US$ 600 million in 2014 to US$ 6.6 billion by 2021. Rana Kapoor, MD & CEO of YES Bank and Chairman of YES Global Institute, explains how AI can redefine and revolutionize healthcare and transform existing healthcare sytems into 'smart wellness' delivery mechanisms. In the context of India, he says, 'With the Indian healthcare market estimated to grow to US$ 372 billion by 2022, coupled with growing healthcare needs of a 1.3 billion strong population, successfully leveraging AI, is vital to catapulting the 'healthcare of today' into the 'health-tech of tomorrow'.' He provides four ways AI can catalyze change in healthcare - (1) Economising healthcare costs through machine learning and big data. Integrating big data with wellness could potentially save the healthcare industry up to US$ 100 billion per year. (2) Merging cognitive computing and healthcare can potentially mitigate estimated global shortage of 12.9 million healthcare professionals by 2035. AI-powered applications can augment the services of physicians and expand healthcare outreach at affordable costs. (3) Enhanced diagnosis and identification of diseases. Through algorithms and analysis of big data patterns, AI can detect trends to enhance disease diagnosis and create treatment plans in order to efficiently streamline the healthcare needs of a patient. (4) AI and Internet of Things (IoT) can lead to personalization and more patient-centric approach to healthcare. Wearable gadgets powered by AI can capture and store health data of individuals and play an important role in preventive treatment. Mr. Rana further suggests, 'In India, where we rank a lowly 154th in the Healthcare Access and Quality Index, we must make collaborative efforts to unlock the potential of AI to create an enabling health technology ecosystem to match demand, optimise costs, and demonstrate value.' Read on...

The Indian Express: The health-tech of tomorrow
Author: Rana Kapoor

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 18 mar 2019

According to the recent NASSCOM CEO survey of 100 participants from IT and ITES sector, majority agreed that 2019 will have large digital deals and to gain part of this they consider making investments into products and platforms and intend to co-innovate with start-ups to build digital capabilities as a priority. In 2018, 40 global capability centers were opened in India and the number of digitally skilled workers has increased to 6 lakh. Industry leaders discussed the emergence of India as a preferred hub of new age innovation in the digital era at NASSCOM's Technology and Leadership Forum. Whether it is creation, storage or analytics, data is the big thing along with artifical intelligence or machine learning. Nivruti Rai, Country Head of Intel India, says, 'The two most important technologies which are critical from Intel's perspective are artificial technology and 5G transmission technology.' Sashikumar Sreedharan, Managing Director of Microsoft India, says, 'The fundamentals of technology, like services innovation and supportability in an automatic and self sustainable manner over the full lifecycle are some of the areas where innovation is happening at Microsoft.' Chetan Garga, Managing Director and Country Head of All State Insurance India, says, 'Business is driving innovation but also technology is driving businesses to do things differently, it's a two-way flow.' Innovation is critical and most business leaders agree that meeting the expectations of customers in the real world and understanding their needs is where the convergence lies. India with 1 billion population, large data size along with its complexity can become a test lab for the world. Pankaj Phatarphod, Managing Director & Country Head of Services at Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), says, 'If it works in India It can work anywhere...I wish we had more applied research and smarter talent.' Read on...

Business Today: India emerges as a preferred hub of new-age innovation
Author: Rukmini Rao

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 25 feb 2019

According to the most recent 'State of the Nonprofit Cloud Report' by NTEN and Microsoft, cloud technology has become routine enough that many organizations have adopted new services during the past year or are considering adding new services. Three of four respondents indicated current use of cloud services for at least three purposes. The average number of services used is about six. Nonprofits are using cloud not just to store data, but in many other ways. Emily Dalton, VP of product management at Omatic Software, says, 'The thing that people are abuzz about is AI (artificial intelligence), machine learning and how can we take all the data being generated and harness that into intelligence. It's applying more of the science of fundraising...There are patterns and insights that could be found in the data, pointing to a segment that's ripe for a major giving ask. Having your database and CRM system in the cloud, allows fundraisers to do some pretty incredible stuff. They have access to all their donor data in real time when going to a meeting or on a road trip. Instead of setting up a meeting with a donor, running a report and printing out a donor profile to bring along, fundraiser instead walks into a meeting with the most relevant data possible. They access it quicker and it's not duplicated because the cloud is faster.' Nathan Chappell, CFRE, SVP philanthropy at City of Hope, says, 'We send fundraisers to lunch with people we know have wealth...The data can help determine how best to deploy the workforce in the best way possible...We're very diligent about testing models...The starting point for any nonprofit, even a small one, is ensuring they're capturing all the data possible. The model will be only as good as the quality and consistency of data.' Rodney M. Grabowski, CFRE, VP for university advancement at the University of Buffalo, says, 'In reality, I've been using forms of AI throughout my entire career. Twenty years ago we were calling it data analytics, then machine learning, now it's AI.' Steve MacLaughlin, VP of data and analytics at Blackbaud, says, 'The technology is largely invisible. If your organization is taking online donations, then you're using the cloud. There's no way to take donations without using some cloud. For fundraising and donor management, a larger percentage of nonprofits are using the cloud than not...We're well past the tipping point. Now, it's going to be about what happens next, how does the cloud enable more effectiveness.' Eric Okimoto, COO at boodleAI, says, 'AI and cloud computing are buzz words. But at the end of the day, cloud computing is just the ability to rent capabilities rather than spend heavily on capital, people and security.' Amy Sample Ward, CEO of NTEN, says, 'Fundraisers can benefit from the same elements of efficiency and access as program or communications staff...Let the robots do the work to tell you that someone just made a donation...instead of running a report to check. Nonprofits still must use the cloud in whatever way makes strategic sense for them...What's likely to become more of an issue this year and beyond is data access, security and privacy. It's going to happen anyhow but things like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and data breaches accelerate it...What nonprofits value about cloud tools is that staff can access data and systems to do their jobs from wherever, but security is important when they evaluate such tools. When we talk to nonprofits about security, it's usually an amorphous, shadowy fear. It's not a specific security concern...Often, it's probably safer to work with a cloud vendor or partner on security than for a nonprofit to try to maintain that security on its own.' Read on...

The NonProfit Times: Cloud Is Raining Data, Flooding Fundraising With Information
Author: Mark Hrywna

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 apr 2018

Artificial Intelligence is one of the fields that's getting most attention from technology companies. AI researchers specialize in neural networks, complex algorithms that learn tasks by analyzing vast amounts of data. They are used in everything from digital assistants in smartphones to self-driving cars. Those with AI skills are in high demand. But, the salary data related to AI hires hasn't been in public domain. Now OpenAI, a nonprofit AI research organization, had made the salaries of their AI researchers public as their nonprofit setup requires them to do so. Top OpenAI researchers were paid as follows - Ilya Sutskever (more than US$ 1.9 million in 2016); Ian Goodfellow (more than US$ 800000 after getting hired in March 2016); Prof. Pieter Abbeel of University of California at Berkeley (US$ 425000 after joining in June 2016). OpenAI was founded by Elon Musk (CEO of Tesla) and other well-known names in technology. Element AI, an independent lab in Canada, estimates that 22000 people worldwide have the skills needed to do serious AI research - about double from a year ago. Chris Nicholson, Founder & CEO of AI startup Skymind, says, 'There is a mountain of demand and a trickle of supply.' There is scarcity of AI talent. Governments and universities are also seeking AI researchers, even though they may not match the salaries paid by private enterprises. OpenAI too cannot compensate equivalent to private tech companies as stock options are major attraction there. But OpenAI shares its research with the world, considered a positive approach in responsibile tech development. Mr. Sutskever says, 'I turned down offers for multiple times the dollar amount I accepted at OpenAI. Others did the same.' He expects salaries at OpenAI to increase as the organization pursued its 'mission of ensuring powerful AI benefits all of humanity.' AI specialists with little or no industry experience can make between US$ 300000 and US$ 500000 a year in salary and stock. Wojciech Zaremba, a researcher who joined OpenAI after internships at Google and Facebook, says, 'The amount of money was borderline crazy.' He says that tech companies offered 2 or 3 times what he believed his real market value was. At a London AI lab now owned by Google, costs for 400 employees totaled US$ 138 million in 2016. Top researchers are paid higher. Mr. Nicholson says, 'When you hire a star, you are not just hiring a star. You are hiring everyone they attract. And you are paying for all the publicity they will attract.' Other top researchers at OpenAI included Greg Brockman and Andrej Karpathy. In a growing and competitive tech field like AI it becomes challenging for organizations to retain talent. Read on...

The New York Times: A.I. Researchers Are Making More Than $1 Million, Even at a Nonprofit
Author: Cade Metz

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 22 apr 2018

According to a report by The Times of India, engineers in India are now showing more interest in the automobile industry as compared to the usual IT industry, signalling a boom time for the more traditional manufacturing sector. Tightening of US visa rules, streamlining of staff by big IT companies and increasing importance of big data and artificial intelligence in automobile industry are some factors promoting this shift. NASSCOM says that IT sector will see single-digit growth for the third-consecutive year and jobless growth for the second year. Gopal Mahadevan, CFO of Ashok Leyland, says, 'Earlier mechanical engineers were going to the IT industry but now they're coming back. There appears a reverse brain drain happening and suddenly we're getting lots of applications from this segment, much more than in the last 3 years.' According to the Naukri Jobspeak data for March 2018, there has been significant hiring growth for the auto industry. The sector has witnessed a 33% growth in March 2018 compared to March 2017. Rajan Wadhera, President of Automotive Division at Mahindra & Mahindra, says, 'The IT allure is beginning to wear off as that segment has almost reached a saturation point. The pay growth is also not as good as it once was. So the attraction to join the auto industry is back.' Thammaiah B. N., MD of Kelly Services, says, 'Product specialists are in demand and their experience levels are in the tune of 8 to 10 years or higher. The auto industry itself has stepped up its hiring by 30% and IT has been a major contributor.' Read on...

The Economic Times: Automobile industry is the new IT for India's engineers
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 28 feb 2018

Measurement and analysis of marketing data is becoming critical for understanding the effectiveness of marketing initiatives. The insights help in focusing efforts and money in the right direction. Marketing analytics tools and technologies continue to advance. David Sanderson, CEO of Nugit, explains what will be driving marketing analytics in 2018 and how marketers can keep pace with them - (1) Marketing analysts will need to use many new data sources: Combining data from internal data repositories with other sources like Google Analytics, SEO platform, CRM, Email, Social Media, Chat applications etc will provide better insights that will help to drive consumer interest, optimize pricing, and deliver an improved customer experience. Now analysts must also identify where important data resides, determine what needs to be extracted and devise a strategy for using new data sources to drive business decisions. (2) Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be essential for analytics: Speed of incoming data in large volumes make it difficult for human data analysts to process it effectively. In such a scenario, machine learning and AI tools come to the rescue and help analysts find patterns in customer data, elicit recommendations for optimizing performance, and allow non-professionals to access complicated analytics using simple language. (3) Analysts will become storytellers: Usual data analyst skill like SQL, Excel, business analysis etc, crunching data and making reports will not suffice now. Analysts have to do more - Obtain data from non-traditional sources; Clean data with programming languages such as Python; 'Polish' the data using data visualization tools and create attractive charts and graphs; Transform data into easy-to-understand stories which help non-analysts understand emerging trends and opportunities. Read on...

Econsultancy: The three trends driving marketing analytics in 2018
Author: Jeff Rajeck

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 17 jan 2018

Design evolves with time and new trends become visible accordingly. Here are 5 design trends that are expected to make a mark in 2018: (1) Explained Algorithms: For the last couple of years artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning have been most talked about in technology. Tech companies often kept the algorithms secret as protected IP. But now, considering the role of AI in serious decision-making situations, the need for openness and transparency in algorithms is becoming necessary. In this regard, AI community initiated the field of computer science termed as 'Explainable AI (XAI)'. David Gunning of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is building a system on XAI. This new field commits itself to make algorithms more accountable as their use involves sensitive user data. XAI expects to ensure that the relationship between technology and users is built on trust by explaining the working of AI and machine learning in critical decision-making. (2) Less Minimalism: Anti-consumerist in principle and aesthetically pleasing in practice approach to design, called minimalism, that has been at the forefront of design through lifestyle tidying guru Marie Kondo's life-changing concepts, will see a shift. More color and bolder concepts will bring new freshness. In home decor world, companies have replaced cleaned-lined Scandinavian design with chunky, gilded, colourful pieces. Online, people are celebrating ugly design with Tumblrs and Instagrams dedicated to a glittering and gaudy aesthetic. (3) Optimal Use of Technology: Excessive use of technology, specifically social media, has started taking its toll. User well-being is the new technology design mantra, as compared to the user time-spent. The idea is to build apps and technology that quietly augment our lives, not commander it. Some people who are propagating this 'Calm Tech' movement are former Xerox Parc employees Mark Weiser, Rich Gold, and John Seely Brown, who literally wrote the book on calm tech. Tristan Harris, an ex-Google ethicist, is also attempting to loosen technology's excessive grip on our attention spans through technology and app re-design. (4) No More Boring Hardware: New trends are beginning to surface in technology product design hardware, as compared to the typical - cold glass, shiny plastic, blunt shapes. Gadgets are now an inherent part of our living spaces and how they are designed influences the look and feel of our living environment. Some examples in this direction include Google's new smart speakers that were covered in a layer of soft polyester that came in white, grey, and a warm salmon hue and Microsoft Surface Pro tablet with a keyboard covered in teal and maroon Alcantara, the stain-resistant fabric that's used in luxury vehicles. (5) More Inclusive Design: Earlier products were often designed for an average user with a concept - 'If you design for everyone, you'll exclude no one.' But it is now changing and 'Inclusive' design ideas are becoming prominent. Companies like Microsoft and Google are developing a new design process that considers the problems of underserved populations as a lens for designing more thoughtful products and experiences for everyone. The idea is that by building products that are accessible to people with special needs, you're building better products. Read on...

GIZMODO: 5 Design Trends We'd Like To See More Of This Year
Author: Liz Stinson

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 25 jul 2017

Technology is taking away traditional jobs from many industries. Even the workers in technology intensive graphic design sector face challenges from online artifical intelligence (AI) platforms that provide graphic design services. Canada-based Logojoy is one such platform providing personalized graphic services for small businesses, startups and entrepreneurs. It's AI platform is intuitive and mimics the process of working with human graphic designer. Dawson Whitfield, founder of Logojoy, says, 'The magic of Logojoy is the groundbreaking algorithm, user-friendly interface, and premium design ingredients. Logojoy has close to 1000 design rules built into its algorithm.' According to EY's recent 'Millennial Economy Report', 72% of new businesses do not have the funding for graphic design services. Mr. Whitfield adds, 'As a graphic designer, many of my clients were looking for budget solutions for their businesses, so this is when I realized I could help a lot of people in the start-up and SMB spaces with this software.' Read on...

ITBusiness.ca: The next job being eaten by AI: Graphic Design
Author: Mandy Kovacs

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 12 jul 2017

India's share of the US$ 54 billion global HR technology market is about US$ 600-700 million. Traditional human resource practices are undergoing tech-driven transformation. According to experts, use of modern HRTech can help India Inc improve productivity and save millions of dollars by optimal use of human resources. Recent study by PeopleStrong predicts that India Inc can save at least US$ 600 million annually by 2021 using HRTech. Jagjit Singh, Chief People Officer at PwC India, says, 'The shift to HR applications in the cloud and artificial intelligence to use predictive data analytics has the potential to transform the entire HR landscape by taking away transactional roles and replacing them with strategic partnering roles...' Anshul Bhargava, Chief People Officer at PNB Housing Finance, says, 'Backed by concrete information and more efficient processes, the hiring process and employee efficiency have improved with the application of analytics.' Dinesh R. of OYO says, 'HR function is increasingly relying on technology to drive results and more predictable outcomes.' Pankaj Bansal, Co-founder and CEO at PeopleStrong, says, 'The new world of work will see employees taking control of their digital landscape of work and will be the decision makers of what gets used by organisations...' Read on...

The Economic Times: India Inc can save millions by using HR technologies - Experts
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 16 may 2017

The way technology is applied and the transformations it brings, can be analyzed by viewing technology as a complement or a replacement to humans. Every industry is impacted by technological advancements. Gartner predicted in 2011 that 85% of all customer interactions with the enterprise won't involve another human. Artificial intelligence (AI) software is now capable of helping employees from both a people standpoint and a hard data standpoint, a combination of culture with productivity. Mario Martinez Jr., CEO of M3Jr Growth Strategies, interacts with Rob Käll, creator of Cien, an app that helps sales teams use AI to fix productivity, improve motivation, and increase sales effectiveness, and explores how AI can successfully help sales teams. Mr. Käll believes that AI can also solve one of the greatest challenges to sales - Motivation. He says, 'Productivity goes down as you grow your sales team. As you grow, it's hard to keep the passion.' Following are three factors that AI can assist to create successful sales team - (1) LEADS: According to Gleanster Research, only 25% of all leads are legitimate and deserve further attention. AI can help sort leads quickly and look out for good leads. Loren Baker, member of Forbes Agency Council, 'AI bots and other AI solutions will better prequalify inbound leads and assist with customer retention. Chatbots and messenger bots can lead the lead or concerned user down a path that lets the sales team know exactly what they need from a lead (qualification) perspective.' (2) PEOPLE: AI doesn't remove people from the process, it assists them to do better. AI helps select good leads and opportunities, offer personal advice, provide daily reminders, lead prioritization performance measurement comparison etc. AI can help to monitor and evaluate team members. (3) MACRO: In sales, macro factors are to be kept in mind - economic growth, competition, seasonality etc. AI can gauge macro factors and help plan accordingly. It can assist in predicting and calculating things. Mr. Käll says, 'How do you incorporate human behavior into a quantitative model? There are plenty of learning algorithms out there, but very few take human behavior into account...We give them the ability to see and understand how and why they achieve their goals.' Read on...

Business 2 Community: 3 Ways Sales Managers Can Use AI to Increase Sales Effectiveness
Author: Mario Martinez Jr.

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 20 feb 2017

According to India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), the Indian healthcare industry is currently pegged at around US$ 158 billion and is expected to hit US$ 280 billion by 2020. Alpna Doshi, CIO at Philips, while recently speaking on 'Digitalization of Healthcare' at NASSCOM India Leadership Forum, says, 'Unequal access, poor quality and rising costs are three key challenges faced by the healthcare industry.' She adds that these challenges are bringing new opportunities, particularly in the area where technology and healthcare converge. Predictive analytics, home-based healthcare, remote health monitoring with mobile devices and applications, are some prominent areas. Som Mittal, former President and Chairman of NASSCOM, says, 'While access to all will be there as connectivity improves, how can we make healthcare affordable?' And for this, he comments that technology needs to be responsible, citing high margins that are charged for medical devices. Ms. Doshi adds that healthcare companies cannot survive on lower margins, unless the volumes justify those margins. Tie ups with NGOs she said, was one way to increase volumes and thereby bring down costs. Automation in healthcare industry will become more prevalent. She points out that augmented reality and artificial intelligence will further disrupt the healthcare industry. Read on...

Forbes: The three key challenges faced by India's healthcare industry
Author: Varsha Meghani

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 09 jan 2017

According to eMarketer's Sept'2016 ad spending forecast, digital will overtake TV ad spending this year for the first time (Digital - US$ 72.09 billion; TV - US$ 71.29 billion), and will represent 36.8% of US total media ad spending. Scott Symonds, MD of media at AKQA, 'In 2017, digital will become the single largest media investment channel, passing television for the first time...digital is no longer just a test or an innovation budget. It needs to be expected to work as hard or harder vs. every other investment channel.' Experts from across the industry suggest ways digital marketing will evolve in 2017 - (1) Artificial intelligence gets smarter: Tom Edwards, Chief Digital Officer at the agency within Epsilon, says, 'From leveraging machine learning to accelerate sentiment analysis and domain-specific insights to cognitive computing solutions that automate experiences without human intervention to the rise of voice-based user experiences that will continue to expand in 2017 to deep learning that will fundamentally change how brands approach SEO to predictive API's that will expose access to predictive models to further create seamless experiences for consumers, cognitive and intelligent systems will play a key role in how we approach marketing in 2017.' (2) Measurement takes priority: Brigitte Majewski, an analyst at Forrester Research, says, 'The fundamentals have to take priority. Measurement and data are the only way for marketers to get control of a situation they have completely lost control of. They have to understand what part of the mix is truly working and that takes measurement...Once marketers get control of their measurement and connect the dots with the data, they can really start to do orchestrated branded experiences told in a sequence that makes sense.' (3) Turning up the volume: Audio-driven experiences will become mainstream in 2017. Trevor Guthrie, Co-founder of Giant Spoon, says, 'Giant Spoon believes the rise of voice-based AI - Google Home, Amazon Echo, etc. - will have a profound impact on computing and how consumers interact with technology. The next wave of computing will be driven by voice, and clients need to begin to build a voice strategy for their brands.' (4) Reestablishing trust: Forrester's Majewski says, 'The biggest difference in 2017 is going to be a focus on transparency. But now marketers have gotten much smarter and they can legitimately ask hard questions that they might have let pass before. They will really dig into the numbers from agencies and platforms - they are not going to let things slide.' (5) A clearer picture for digital video: AKQA's Symonds says, 'As video becomes untethered from television in terms of its primary investment opportunity or most likely viewing occasion, we believe it will continue to have exciting emerging opportunities in and around the space including augmented and virtual reality, 360 video, live video, programmatic innovations, etc.' (6) Social pivots back to sharing: David Song, MD at Barker, says, 'It will no longer be about paid, earned, and owned social but rather, how a consumer engages with a brand through its social channels. Social channels are and will continue to become more important than client websites.' Epsilon's Edwards says, 'Marketers will need to shift their strategy from one of personification of the brand to a seamless experience that is about simplifying and predicting needs while also empowering consumers to create their own stories.' (7) Cleaning up the landscape: Anna Bager, SVP and GM of mobile and video at Interactive Advertising Bureau, says, 'The days of static display banners are numbered. Consumer expectations for rich, relevant ad and content experiences are growing.' Gabe Weiss, digital experience and transformation leader at SapientNitro, says, 'I feel like there's been a significant maturation of understanding within leadership that the old-normal approaches no longer work. They have bought into designing approaches that work for their brand and for their customers. They will be more committed to delivering their messaging in all forms of content and fragmented channels to make an impact. They will offer engaging and unique experiences and not just yell at their audiences.' (8) Getting the message: IAB's Bager says, 'In the U.S., the rapidly evolving messaging space represents a tremendous opportunity beyond social media platforms to engage with consumers in a native way.' (9) Mobile evolves into people-based marketing: Kurt Hawks, SVP of cross-device and video, at Conversant, says, 'Additionally, as the digital and physical worlds continue to converge, a focus will be placed on the intelligent and responsible use of location data to better understand and anticipate consumer needs and track in-store visits. Mobile will finally evolve from a device to a set of behaviors that inform people-based marketing.' Giant Spoon's Guthrie says, 'We're finally starting to see UIs truly built for mobile instead of just converting what we're used to on desktop. I don't simply mean 'make it vertical' or 'make it short and snackable.' A few companies are completely reworking the structure - not just the details of the content pieces.' (10) Looking towards a post-broadcast, post-digital future: Giant Spoon's Guthrie says, ' The digital media bubble will pop this year. Media will bifurcate into massive networks that roll up many properties for scale and synergy or niche publications charging premium prices based on the strength of their brand. Media's middle class of independent venture-backed digital publishers will either get acquired or fold.' Jeff Liang, Chief Digital Officer at Assembly, says, 'Digital marketers can no longer think inside the box to reach and engage with digital consumers effectively. They must quickly adapt to how audiences are using new forms of digital media to avoid getting lost in the sea of change.' Read on...

Marketing Dive: 10 ways digital marketing will evolve in 2017
Author: Chantal Tode

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 22 apr 2016

To build human-like machines that can demonstrate ingenuity and creativity, the race is on to develop next generation of advanced AI (Artifical Intelligence). AI is already tackling complex tasks like stock market predictions, research synthesis etc, and 'smart manufacturing' is becoming a reality where deep learning is paired with new robotics and digital manufacturing tools. Prof. Hod Lipson, director of Creative Machines Lab at Columbia University, has embarked upon exploring a higher level of AI and develop biology-inspired machines that can evolve, self-model, and self-reflect - where machines will generate new ideas, and then build them. To build self-aware robots is the ultimate goal. Prof. Lipson explains, 'Biology-inspired engineering is about learning from nature, and then using it to try to solve the hardest problems. It happens at all scales. It's not just copying nature at the surface level. It could be copying the learning at a deeper level, such as learning how nature uses materials or learning about the adaptation processes that evolution uses...We are looking at what I think is the ultimate challenge in artificial intelligence and robotics-creating machines that are creative; machines that can invent new things; machines that can come up with new ideas and then make those very things. Creativity is one of these last frontiers of AI. People still think that humans are superior to machines in their ability to create things, and we are looking at that challenge.' He is working on a new AI termed as 'divergent AI', that is exploratory and involves creating many new ideas from original idea, and is different from 'convergent AI' that involves taking data and distilling it into a decision. ON SELF-AWARENESS IN AI: He says, 'Creativity is a big challenge, but even greater than that is self-awareness. For a long time, in robotics and AI, we sometimes called it the "C" word-consciousness.' ON AI IN MANUFACTURING: He comments, 'When it comes to manufacturing, there are two angles. One is the simple automation, where we're seeing robots that can work side-by-side with humans...The other side of manufacturing, which is disrupted by AI, is the side of design. Manufacturing and design always go hand-in-hand...When AI creeps into the design world through these new types of creative AI, you suddenly expand what you can manufacture because the AI on the design side can take advantage of your manufacturing tools in new ways.' ON TWO COMPETING SCHOOLS OF THOUGHTS IN AI: He explains, 'There's the school of thought that is top-down, logic, programming, and search approach, and then there is the machine learning approach. The machine learning approach says, "Forget about programming robots, forget about programming AI, you just make it learn, and it will figure out everything on its own from data"...I think the machine learning approach has played out perfectly, and we're just at the beginning. It's going to accelerate.' Read on...

Singularity Hub: The Last Frontiers of AI - Can Scientists Design Creativity and Self-Awareness?
Author: Alison E. Berman

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 13 dec 2015

It has been observed in many cases that science fiction writers have talked about products that became reality later on. For example earbud headphones were first mentioned by Ray Bradbury in his classic novel 'Fahrenheit 451'. Emphasis on technological development and advancement is also part of economic agendas of many nations. Japan is one country that gives siginificant importance to merging technology with social and economic development. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his economic roadmap, often termed as 'Abenomics', puts technologies like Internet of Things (IoT), big data, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) at the core of his revitilization strategy. Japan leads the world with its strength in robotics by bringing out the first personal robot 'Pepper'. But the robot lacks the expected intelligence as it couldn't pass the Turing Test which is a benchmark in AI to determine how close the machine thinks like humans. Although Japan's strength in industrial robotics is visible but it lags the advancements in IoT, big data and AI. According to Prof. Mitsuru Ishizuka of Waseda University and University of Tokyo, 'Japan is considerably behind the United States in 'deep learning', a central technology in AI, although the country is working hard to catch up...These companies (Google, Facebook, IBM etc) can invest big money in AI and add the resulting new values to their services. In Japan, there are much smaller companies with specific AI technologies.' IBM developed Watson, an AI computer, and over the years it has evolved into multiple applications. The computer's core framework reflects human decision-making (observe, interpret, evaluate, decide) but its data crunching abilities are incomparable. William Saito, Japanese entrepreneur and professional cook, utilized Watson to prepare some unique recipes. Citing Watson's strengths in IoT, big data and AI, Mr. Saito comments, 'Combine Watson with a refrigerator, for instance. You go to your refrigerator and it gives you a recipe based on the food in the fridge prioritized by expiration date.' Japan's focus on creating cyborgs (humans with mechanical parts) is also understandable considering its ageing population and growing need for assisted living. Toyota is collaborating with Stanford and MIT on technologies with emphasis on creating automobiles that assist the driver for safer travel, contrary to the approaches of Google and Tesla Motors that are working on driverless cars. Mr. Saito believes that Japan has to come out of its 'Galápagos Syndrome' and strike a balance between logic and creative thinking and move from electro-mechanical robotics to thinking and self-learning machines. Prof. Masakazu Hirokawa, AI researcher at University of Tsukuba, expresses similar views on Japanese model that focuses more on technology that addresses social issues and is less about creating global solutions. He comments, 'We have the hardware to be able to do it, but the important thing is developing the software...I'm trying to create algorithms that help robots learn and predictively determine what and how humans want them to act through experience-based inferences.' Read on...

JapanToday: Artificial Intelligence - Can Japan lead the way?
Author: Richard Jolley

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 12 dec 2015

Experts suggest that computers have to think more like humans to make artificial intelligence and smart machines more successful. Scientists are now able to create an algorithm that captures the unique human ability to grasp new concepts from a single example in a study involving learning unfamiliar handwritten alphabet characters. Cognitive and data scientist Brenden Lake of New York University says, 'We aimed to reverse-engineer how people learn about these simple visual concepts.' According to Prof. Joshua Tenenbaum of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 'Standard algorithms in machine-learning require tens, hundreds or even thousands of training examples to yield similar results.' Prof. Ruslan Salakhutdinov of University of Toronto says, 'This new work would help guide progress in artificial intelligence by leading to next-generation intelligent machines that hopefully will come close to displaying human-like intelligence.' Prof. Lake suggests that the approach used in the study might also be applicable to machine learning for many other tasks like speech and object recognition. Read on...

The Japan Times: Scientists coax computers to think more like people
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 25 aug 2015

As technology continues to pervade every aspect of human life, businesses that provide technology products and solutions will grow and expand. Moreover as the pace of technological innovation increases alongwith competitive race for quality and price, the industry will require workforce that has newer skills and competencies, giving rise to career options that were not available earlier. Siddarth Bharwani, Director of Brand and Marketing at Jetking Infotrain Ltd, provides 10 career paths that would be in demand in the technology and IT space in future in India - (1) Wearable Experts (2) Tech Experts for Artificial Intelligence/Robotics (3) Digital Artisans (4) App Developers (5) Information Security Analysts (6) Computer Systems Analysts (7) IT Project Managers (8) Computer Forensics Experts (9) Big Data Analysts (10) 3D Printing Designers. Read on...

Huffington Post: 10 Promising Tech Careers For The Future
Author: Siddarth Bharwani

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 25 may 2015

The value of big data lies in extracting insights and its meaningful use in solving business problems. In recent times organizations have made big investments in technologies associated with it to store, analyze, report and visualize data. Stuart Frankel, CEO and co-founder of Narrative Science, provide his perspective on why these investments haven't got expected returns, limitations of human-powered data science as it is not a scalable solution, unaffordable data scientists and, opportunities and prospects of scalable automated solutions to analyze and interpret data, and obtain hidden insights for business value. According to him, 'Artificial intelligence (AI) is beginning to transform data and analysis into relevant plain English communication. AI is shortening employees' data comprehension-to-action time through comprehensive, intuitive narratives.' Following are some examples which he shares regarding use of AI in data analysis - Some mutual funds are using advanced natural language generation (Advanced NLG) platforms, powered by AI, to automatically write fund performance reports in mere seconds; In medical billing, AI scours thousands of billing records across hundreds of hospitals and generates narrative reports that immediately provide the desired analysis; AI solutions are improving customer experience. AI is the first technology to make personalized, "audience of one" communication a reality; Wealth management is beginning to use "Robo-advisors", the automated financial advisor that can offer a low-cost alternative to expensive, human advisor. Moreover AI is being embedded into existing advisory platforms, delivering personalized portfolio reviews and recommendations in natural language to customers. He further explains, 'The commonality across all of these new technologies is that they offer something additional humans cannot provide: the power of scale...In the near-term, the adoption of AI within business intelligence platforms and customer-facing applications will accelerate...The key to all of this is the intersection of AI and advanced natural language generation. We're at the beginning of the next phase of big data, a phase that will have very little to do with data capture and storage and everything to do with making data more useful, more understandable and more impactful.' Read on...

Harvard Business Review: Data Scientists Don't Scale
Author: Stuart Frankel

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 03 mar 2015

In addition to just aesthetics, architects are now applying neuroscience, by studying how brain reacts to various environments through brain scanners, to design schools, hospitals, community spaces etc. Eve Edelstein, president of consulting firm Innovative Design Science, says 'Understanding the power and significance of design is not a luxury. It has a direct impact on wellness issues and a direct influence on activity within that space.' According to Betsey Olenick Dougherty of Dougherty + Dougherty Architects, 'Visual access to sky, trees and landscape stimulates brain function. Providing vistas throughout the facility and particularly in classrooms has been a major strategy in the design of this building (Corona del Mar High School, Newport Beach, California).' Justin Hollander, co-author of the book 'Cognitive Architecture' and urban planning professor at Tufts University, says 'Patterns matter. And edges matter. The research argues that not only do we need order but our brain likes hearing stories...When you go to Times Square, you're told a story. You go to Disneyland, it's a story.' He further adds, 'Humans have a clear bias for curves over straight or sharp lines. Studies have shown that curves elicit feelings of happiness and elation, while jagged and sharp forms tend to connect to feelings of pain and sadness.' Hospitals and care centers are now being designed based on how brains of Alzheimer's patients reacts or how lighting affects patient's sleep cycle. Neuroscience shows light triggers brain reactions far beyond vision. 'It has an impact on heart rate.' says Edelstein. Michael Arbib of University of Southern California Brain Project and the vice president of the Academy of Architecture and Neuroscience, says 'Smart architecture can learn from brain science. To use artificial intelligence to build buildings that can better interact with people...is going to be very applicable to a home.' Read on...

Al Jazeera: Smart buildings- Architects using brain science for design guidance
Author: Haya El Nasser

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 06 nov 2014

There are varied perspectives regarding the age at which entrepreneurs are most effective regarding their capabilities to generate breakthrough ideas and found successful companies. Famous Silicon Valley investor, Vinod Khosla says, 'People under 35 are the people who make change happen; people over 45 basically die in terms of new ideas.' Referring to the age of entrepreneurs whom venture capitalists fund, investor Paul Graham commented, 'The cutoff in investors' heads is 32; after 32, they start to be a little skeptical.' Considering the power of youth in entrepreneurship, Peter Thiel (Co-founder of PayPal), in 2010 even announced that he would pay US$ 100000 to college students to drop out and develop new technologies and pursue entrepreneurship. But Professor Vivek Wadhwa of Stanford University, based on his research argues that the younger age bias in entrepreneurship most often results in older entrepreneurs not getting much attention and funding, and consequently it is hurting venture-capital system as well as Silicon Valley. According to his research conducted in 2008 regarding successful technology firms that started in garage and reached a revenue of US$ 1 million, it was found that average and median age of their founders was 39. Twice as many were older than 50 as were younger than 25. And twice as many were older than 60 as were younger than 20. Dane Stangler, vice president of research and policy at the Kauffman Foundation, built on Dr. Wadhwa's research findings and found in every year from 1996 to 2013, Americans in the 55-to-64 age group started new businesses at a higher rate than those in their twenties and thirties. Dr. Wadhwa and his team's research further revealed that, work and industry experience, and management ability, are what makes entrepreneurs successful. These come with age and therefore immaturity & inexperience of youth is one reason venture capitalist's record of success is so dismal. There are numerous technology companies whose innovators, founders & executives disprove the notion that only young can effect change. Consider for example the case of Qualcomm that was founded by Irwin Jacobs when he was 52 and Andrew Viterbi, who was 50. Professor Benjamin F. Jones, an economist at Northwestern University, analyzed the backgrounds of Nobel Prize winners and other great achievers of the 20th century. He found that the average age at which Nobel laureates performed their prizewinning work and the average age at which inventors had their great achievement was 39. Young entrepreneurs do have an advantage regarding newer technologies like social media and app developing but the technology shifts that are happening will alter the entire entrepreneurial landscape in the coming years. Dr. Wadhwa concludes,'Several technologies - involving medicine, robotics, artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, 3D printing and nanomaterials - are advancing at exponential rates and are converging. These advances are making it possible to solve the global problems of health, energy, education and hunger. These technologies will make it possible to create the next trillion-dollar industries and to better our lives. But they require knowledge of fields such as medicine, biotechnology, engineering and nanotechnology. They require experience, an understanding of the problems people face and cross-disciplinary skills. All of these come with age and experience, which the baby boomers have in abundance. That is why we need to get beyond the stereotypes and realize that baby boomers are going to better the world.' Read on...

The Washington Post: Why baby boomers are an important part of technology's future
Author: Vivek Wadhwa

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