Show Me Your Best Robot Dance

19

October

2018

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A robot is defined as a machine capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically, especially one programmable by a computer (Oxford Dictionaries, 2018). This definition is rather broad and do not match the common idea that comes to the general public when we talk about robots.

In fact, in the common language, the word better refers to the definition of humanoids, a human-like robot, or life-like robot, imitating characteristics of living organisms on earth. These robots are currently being designed by technology companies, and extensive research is in progress to further expand their limited current capabilities. In fact, the poor set of skills that most of these humanoids have (or life-like robots) differentiate them from the organisms that they are supposed to be representing. Just a quick look at Sophia the robot interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWlL4KjIP4M) and some of you might be quite reluctant to their development.

Such reaction can make us ask the following question: Given all the benefits AI systems and robots in general can bring to our society, in which ways can developers and promoters improve the general public opinion about these human-like machines?

One of the biggest criticisms made is their lack of empathy, meaning their poor skills to understand emotions, and to communicate emotions in return. Such case is hardly defendable: the current technological progress do not allow us to give emotions to machines made of cables and electronic systems, and it might never happen.

However, even though they cannot connect to us as much as we would like, it is conceivable to be able to connect to them. One way to ensure that it happens is to give those humanoids functionalities that satisfy the entertainment of us, funny humans.

Just watch this robot dance on the Bruno Mars’ song Uptown Funk and you’ll understand what I mean:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHBcVlqpvZ8

Even though such functionalities might not be productive in their core, they will help the integration of robots in our society, and improve their impact by convincing the most reluctant ones among us.

 

 

 

Oxford Dictionaries. (2018). Definition of robot in English by Oxford Dictionaries. [online] Available at: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/robot [Accessed 19 Oct. 2018].

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How to Become Rich Using EU’s GDPR

9

October

2018

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As we all know by now, the business landscape has drastically changed over the last years. New forms of business models and value propositions have emerged from new digital players, disrupting both industries and customers habits. One of the key elements of their success is the effortless access to their customers’ personal data, which helps them to improve their products or to personalize their services. At the time of their implementation, those practices were not suspected by users, and companies could benefit from the wide of applications it offered. Until recently..

In April 2016, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union agreed on a new regulation aiming to help citizens to gain back control over their personal data, the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation, 2016). Before this unprecedented regulation, big digital corporations had almost no barriers to use the data provided by users, as most of the laws in place at the time were vague and outdated. Everything changed in May 2018, when the GDPR came into action in the European Union (EU).

From now on, internet users have an exclusive right to access, rectify, erase and share their personal data. A British start-up, Yo-Da (short for Your Data), is now proposing a new way for users to benefit from the data that is being collected about them (Yo-Da, 2018). Precisely, the company is enabling every citizen to take actions regarding those rights:

  1. Right to Access: Yo-Da makes the necessary requests to companies to gather personal information stored in their database and allows the user to know which companies are selling his or her data without knowing.
  2. Right to Rectify: the application allows the user to modify data that is not accurate, enabling him/her to better control and understand his/her data.
  3. Right to Erase: it even allows the user to delete sensitive data that could put him/her at risk. Yo-Do will in return ask any company operating in Europe to delete the information.
  4. Right of Data Portability: the application presents to the user the data in an understandable manner and allow him/her to share his or her data to external parties.

The last one, the right to data portability, represents the core of their business model. As Yo-Da connects itself to an array of databases, it is able to gather all sorts of data in one unique system. The crossing of different types of data can yield further insights that both companies and users could benefit from. (Take a look at the video to have an example)

On one side, by monetizing the access to his or her data, the user could have a better control over the information being shared, as well as finally being rewarded for the extremely useful information he/she’s been providing companies for decades.

On the other side, Yo-Da could enable businesses to gain greater insights about their customers and better target their services, by building on data that they wouldn’t have necessarily access before. Another outcome could be more trust among customers regarding their favorite companies and the way they use their data. Even though companies might be reluctant towards such initiative, the recent data protection scandals might force them to adjust their view on the subject.

 

Sources:

General Data Protection Regulation. (2016). Official Journal of the European Union, [online] 59(1). Available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L:2016:119:FULL&from=EN [Accessed 9 Oct. 2018].

YouTube. (2018). Yo-Da – EUR10 Demo Day. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQKy6zc1FDk&t=0s&index=19&list=PLaDjE1VTVKMRwbyOKOYBpQRBXLPmdCIZi [Accessed 9 Oct. 2018].

Yo-Da. (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.yo-da.co/ [Accessed 9 Oct. 2018].

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