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Constructing moral AI merchandise can put companies at aggressive benefit

Building ethical AI products can put businesses at competitive advantage

An Ubtech Walker X Robot plays Chinese chess during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) 2021 at the Shanghai World Expo Center on July 8, 2021 in Shanghai, China.

VCG | VCG via Getty Images

SINGAPORE – Ensuring that AI-powered services and products are ethical and trustworthy could become a competitive strength for businesses, experts said on Wednesday.

Artificial intelligence systems are already changing companies. You’ll be able to automate repetitive tasks, analyze large amounts of data, recommend content, translate languages, and even play games.

But the current scope of things AI can do is relatively narrow. Some experts say the technology is far from becoming what is known as artificial general intelligence, or AGI – which indicates the AI’s hypothetical ability to understand or learn any human intellectual task.

However, others have pointed out that despite its current limited capabilities, AI raises a number of ethical questions – such as whether the data fed into AI programs is unbiased and whether AI can be held responsible if something goes wrong.

To build trustworthy AI systems, countries and various stakeholders need to work together, said Wonki Min, a former vice minister in South Korea’s science and technology ministry who spearheaded the country’s national AI strategy.

That means working with neighboring countries as well as industry experts, academics and ordinary people who use these technologies, Min said during a panel discussion on AI governance at the Asia Tech x Singapore conference.

Requirements for building trust

Experts previously warned that inherently biased AI programs can create serious problems and compromise people’s trust in these systems. For example, facial recognition software can contain accidental racial and gender biases that can pose a threat to a specific group of people.

Trust is fundamental to getting a technology up and running to its fullest, said Andrew Wyckoff, director of the science, technology and innovation directorate at OECD who was part of the panel.

Artificial intelligence creates competitive strength for industry.

Ieva Martinkenaite

Vice President at Telenor Research

He pointed out that there are several “essential” elements to building trust in AI systems. These include: being able to transparently explain how a program works, ensuring that the program is robust, secure, secure and accountable.

Regulators are faced with the daunting task of finding a balance to encourage further AI developments and manage the risks involved. Some researchers say it is too early for politics to impose new strict rules on technology.

For their part, the OECD Principles on AI promote artificial intelligence that is “innovative, trustworthy and respects human rights and democratic values” and makes recommendations to policy makers and other stakeholders.

A competitive advantage

According to Hiroaki Kitano, President and CEO of Sony Computer Science Laboratories, building trustworthy and ethical AI systems and the governance that surrounds them could potentially become a competitive strength for companies.

The Japanese conglomerate uses AI in a variety of its products, including cameras.

For Norwegian telecommunications giant Telenor, ethical AI is “a responsible business emerging” according to Ieva Martinkenaite, Vice President at Telenor Research. She pointed out that many of the next generation telecommunications networks will be powered by AI-embedded software and that technology will be critical to new growth opportunities.

According to Martinkenaite, this requires a set of global rules and trust principles built on top of AI that are followed not only by telecommunications companies but also by global providers to whom they outsource parts of their operations. Vendors can include stakeholders such as device vendors, software companies and service companies, he added.

“Artificial intelligence creates competitive strength for the industry,” she said.

Wonki Min, currently president of the State University of New York, Korea, added that if companies fail to meet ethical standards surrounding AI, they will not survive in the marketplace. Unless governments can create a trustworthy AI environment, they would not be maximizing the benefits of the technology.

“This is why building trustworthy AI is important in order to maximize the potential benefits of AI technology, and the way we should be doing this is a global, multi-stakeholder approach,” said Min.

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Business

Costco is seeing inflation abound, impacting a slew of client merchandise

Costco is seeing inflation abound, impacting a slew of consumer products

A butcher stores a display case of steaks at a Costco store in Novato, California on May 24, 2021.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Don’t tell Costco executives that inflation is low.

The big box club chain announced that prices for a number of products, including shipping containers, aluminum foil, and a 20% increase in meat prices over the past month, have increased.

“Inflation factors abound,” said CFO Richard Galanti in the company’s earnings forecast for the third quarter on Thursday.

“These include higher labor costs, higher freight costs, higher transport demand as well as the shortage of containers and delays in the port … increased demand in various product categories, some bottlenecks, various bottlenecks from chips to oils to chemical supplies by facilities affected by the Gulf Frost and Storms and in some cases higher commodity prices, “he added.

Costco reported earnings of $ 2.75 per share for the period, well above Wall Street estimates. It also generated $ 45.3 billion in revenue, which also topped the road that looked for $ 43.6 billion.

However, beneath those numbers was a story about how higher prices across the board affected the chain.

On the upside, gas inflation spiked as pump prices rose about 30% across the country this year. In other cases it wasn’t that easy.

Like other companies, Costco struggled to pass the cost on to customers. The company assumes that there could be some margin pressure, although the degree remains to be seen and no material impact has occurred so far.

Economists view the current rate of inflation – a closely tracked measure released Friday – as temporary. They list many of the same factors as the Costco executives, mainly a series of supply chain issues that have led to a surge in products central to the US economy and household consumption.

Galanti cited price increases of up to 8% and cited goods such as pulp and paper, an assortment of plastic products, and soda and cheese. For some clothes, prices rose by 3% to 10%.

Overall, he said the company cut inflation from 1% to 1.5% in March to 2.5% to 3.5% today.

“Some items are higher and some items, the retail prices haven’t changed. And some items have even gone down a little,” said Galanti. “Again we think we’ve done pretty well to control this as best we can, but the inflationary pressures are great.”

Costco has worked with its supplies to keep price pressures under control. But Galanti admitted that “some of [inflation] went through. “

Going forward, items like the warehouse’s $ 4.99 fried chicken and the $ 2.99 40-pack water container could be affected.

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Business

Client merchandise gross sales jumped 9.4% to $1.53 trillion final yr

Consumer products sales jumped 9.4% to $1.53 trillion last year

People buy toilet paper at a Costco store in Novato, California on March 14, 2020.

Josh Edelson | AFP | Getty Images

Soaring demand from the coronavirus pandemic saw sales of packaged consumer goods, which include everything from toilet paper to canned soup, surge 9.4% to $ 1.53 trillion last year, according to a new report from the Consumer Brands Association -Dollar.

But the boom in demand hasn’t let up, and the trading group said manufacturers are still struggling to catch up on their stocks. To meet this challenge, companies are hiring more workers, adding new factory lines, and raising wages in light of the continued surge in demand.

“This was the greatest test the system has ever seen,” said Geoff Freeman, chief executive officer of the CBA. “Our wildest imaginations may not have been able to imagine the 12 month climb we just went through.”

Even if the pandemic subsides, the CBA predicts that industry revenue will still increase 7.4% to 8.5% in 2021 from 2019 onwards. Sales in January are up 16% year over year which is the biggest change from last year last March. Revenue growth slowed slightly in February but was still in double digits. Prior to the pandemic, strong growth for a CPG company meant an increase in the low single digits.

“This industry is still sprinting a marathon,” said Katie Denis, CBA’s vice president of research and industry storytelling.

The surge in demand over the past year means manufacturers are still trying to catch up, and any obstacle can result in millions in lost sales. Freeman cited a conversation with a business executive who saw that more than a quarter of its manufacturing facilities were closed for a week in February because of the Texas winter storm. The blockade of the Suez Canal in March caused even more headaches.

General Mills and Clorox are among the companies that have reached out to third-party manufacturers for a temporary fix to the skyrocketing demand. The situation has led some CPG companies to rethink inventory targets and how close products are to retailers. Freeman said some manufacturers won’t be able to catch up on inventory until new investments go online.

The current stress on the supply chain is making some bottlenecks, such as the ongoing shortage of ketchup packages first reported by the Wall Street Journal, harder to predict.

“We should see something like this six to twelve months in advance,” Freeman said.

The rise in demand has resulted in higher wages for CPG manufacturing workers. PepsiCo and Hormel were among those who gave rewards to their frontline employees last year. From July to September, wages for food processing workers rose 3.4% from the same period last year, according to the CBA report. Nationwide non-farm wages fell 0.8% over the same period.

“I do not know if [wages] will rise higher than 2020 but there is no reason to believe there will be a decline, according to the companies we surveyed with McKinsey, “said Denis.

CPG companies have also increased their recruitment. After initially losing jobs in the industry, particularly among food service providers, other manufacturers of food, beverages and household products sought to attract more workers. Some companies hired 10 to 20% more workers than they actually needed to account for employees who quarantined or cared for sick loved ones, Freeman said.

Current manufacturing employment in the industry is only 2% down from January 2020, while the total employment rate in the US was 6% in March, according to the CBA report.

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Business

Okta expects annual income to leap by 30% with addition of latest merchandise

Okta expects annual revenue to jump by 30% with addition of new products

Okta sees great growth ahead as it expands its service offering.

The cybersecurity company announced on Wednesday that it expects 30% revenue growth for the fiscal year as it introduced two new products, one in Privileged Access Management and one in Identity Governance and Administration.

Privileged access is designed to protect data from hacker attacks within a company, while identity management and management is designed to optimize a company’s decision as to what information users can access on their servers.

The addition of these new tools will also increase Okta’s business opportunities by more than 20%, CEO Todd McKinnon told CNBC’s Jim Cramer.

“We have a massive addressable market,” McKinnon said in a Mad Money interview. “With everything moving to the cloud and businesses needing to connect with their customers through digital channels and everyone worrying about security, this massive $ 80 billion TAM (total addressable market) is the foundation for sustainable growth across the world a long period of time. “

Okta offers security tools to authenticate users, e. B. Password permissions and access to online networks.

In terms of privileged access management and identity management and administration, Cramer determined that the company will enter markets dominated by CyberArk and SailPoint Technologies. Okta also works with both companies.

McKinnon suggested the identity governance and privileged access services market opportunity is $ 15 billion.

“There’s enough space for many vendors to strive for. We’re taking it from a very cloud-centric approach,” he said. “We will continue to work with these partners while doing what our customers ask us to do. That covers all use cases of their identity.”

Okta forecasts total sales of up to $ 1.09 billion for the current fiscal year. The company had sales of $ 835.4 million for the previous fiscal year ended January 31.

The growth has steadily slowed down in recent years. Okta posted revenue growth of 42.5% in fiscal 2021, compared to 53.6% in fiscal 2019.

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World News

Tesla buys $1.5 billion in bitcoin and plans to begin accepting it as fee for merchandise

Tesla buys $1.5 billion in bitcoin and plans to start accepting it as payment for products

Tesla announced Monday that it had purchased $ 1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin, according to a report with the SEC.

The company said it bought the bitcoin in order to “have more flexibility to further diversify and maximize the returns on our cash.” In addition to the purchase, Tesla announced that it would accept payments in Bitcoin in exchange for its products. This would make Tesla the first major automaker to accept Bitcoin as a means of payment.

The move immediately raised questions about CEO Elon Musk’s behavior on Twitter over the past few weeks, where he has been credited with raising the prices of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Dogecoin by posting positive news about them and bringing more people to buy has encouraged.

Bitcoin prices soared to new highs on the Monday after Tesla’s announcement, hitting a price of at least $ 43,200. The Tesla share rose in premarket trading by more than 2%. Tesla warned investors about the volatility in Bitcoin price in its SEC filing.

Tesla’s move on Monday means investing a significant percentage of his money in the investment. The company had more than $ 19 billion in cash at the end of 2020. This is evident from the most recent submission.

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