Google Street View Gives a Glimpse into Power of A.I.
The power of A.I. can reach deeper than just recommending which show to binge on Netflix. It can also be used to analyze millions of images to predict things like income, political leanings, and buying habits. Steve Lohr, Technology and Economics Reporter at The New York Times, joined us to discuss artificial intelligence's full potential when it comes to predictive analytics.
Lohr's recent piece in The New York Times highlights a Stanford study that used 50 million images from Google Street View to give a glimpse of A.I.'s ability to gather data. He explains that researchers identified 22 million cars to draw conclusions about information such as which political candidate a particular zip code favored. The project took just 2 weeks to classify all the cars. In his piece, Lohr points out that without the help of AI, it would take human experts over 15 years to accomplish that task.
This type of data collection raises concerns over privacy and issues of data access. He says most of predictive analysis has been used for commercial purposes and selling products. The use of data becomes scary when it becomes integrated into decisions such as hiring, he says, because the mistakes become more costly.
A deal was reached as the COP26 Summit in Glasgow came to a close. Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, Chief Scientist at the Nature Conservancy and Author of 'Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World,' joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss the deal.
The popular online gaming platform for kids, Roblox, is reportedly expanding its offerings into the educational space. Ayal Shmilovich, managing partner at Gerber Kawasaki Wealth Investment Management, joined Cheddar to provide some insight into the report from the Wall Street Journal and how Roblox plans to incorporate the metaverse concept into schools. "I definitely think it helps them expand their market to a much broader audience," Shmilovich added. He also noted that Minecraft has 35 million users on its educational platform and was even more optimistic about Roblox's prospects.
President Biden is under some pressure from members of his own party over rising gas prices. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has called for the president to utilize oil reserves to lower gas prices ahead of the holiday season, as gas prices are currently at a seven-year high. Energy Workforce & Technology Council CEO Leslie Beyer joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Roblox is getting into education. The gaming platform is investing $10 million into developing educational video games for middle schools, high schools, and colleges across the country. This marks the first time Roblox is putting money into developing games for the platform, and it comes as Roblox also plans to build a stake in the metaverse. Sarah Needleman, technology reporter for The Wall Street Journal, breaks it all down for Cheddar.
Russia is being blamed for putting the International Space Station and its crew at risk after it fired a missile during a weapons test at a non-functional satellite. NASA has said that the debris from the explosion could potentially orbit the Earth for decades.
The collaboration platform Slack is launching a massive revamp at its annual customer conference, aimed at creating a more flexible and connected work experience. CEO and co-founder Stewart Butterfield joined Cheddar to provide some additional details about the digital HQ upgrade.
