The AI Pulse

Issue #12 — 9th December 2024

Editor: Alan Brown

Welcome to the latest edition of The AI Pulse for Digital Leaders. An expertly curated collection of essential articles, commentaries, and news stories from reputable sources. Do you know anyone who might be interested in AI Pulse. Have some news or looking to partner? Just get in touch at: [email protected]

Highlights in this edition include:

Martha Lane Fox discusses ways the civil service can modernise for the AI age

How does the public feel about increased use of health tech and digital data ?

AI promises to bring a new golden age of discovery to science

Will billions of AI-robots and humanoids soon be among us ?

AI for Good

The World Economic Forum has produced a white paper describing connections between water and world food supplies, the impacts of aggregated data, and the role of AI.

A report in The Guardian discusses how AI monitoring is cutting stillbirths and neonatal deaths in a clinic in Malawi .

Bias and Ethics

Wired considers if the economics of AI will mean that only the wealthy will have access to human connection and the rest will have to make do with AI.

The Verge believes that GenAI’s unreliability means that you should stop using generative AI as a search engine.

Issues ask who should be liable when a GenAI system creates a copyright-infringing output?

The Guardian reports that an AI system used by the UK government to detect welfare fraud is showing bias according to people’s age, disability, marital status and nationality.

Cyber Security

The Verge considers how to stop the AI you’re using from collecting and training with your data.

According to The Register, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) annual review is warning that the severity of the AI risk facing the UK is widely underestimated and AI is “transforming the cyber threat” facing the western world.

Wired reports that MLCommons provides new benchmarks that test the abilities of AI systems .

Data & Decision Making

InformationWeek looks at how AI drives results for data-mature organizations.

EY believes that AI-ready data is a key to help drive AI strategy success .

MIT Technology Review reports on Arati Prabhakar, the departing US Chief Science and Technology Advisor, reflections on President Biden’s AI accomplishments, and how the approach to AI risks could change under Trump .

A new policy brief from The Bennett Institute considers the UK’s AI strategy and presents 6 case studies which show innovative uses of data for research in areas that are critically important to science and society.

Innovation & Collaboration

With the release of OpenAI’s latest “o1” model, The Atlantic wonders if we are coming to the end of the GPT era.

Wired reports that Apple’s leaders claim the company wasn’t late to GenAI, but is instead following a “try to be the best, not the first” strategy.

Will billions of AI-robots and humanoids soon be among us? A new Citi GPS report suggests there will be 1.3 billion AI-robots by 2035 and 4 billion by 2050.

A new report from Google DeepMind looks at scientists’ use of AI and considers whether it ushers a new golden age for science.

Productivity & Efficiency

Nobel laureate Daron Acemoglu has long studied technology-driven growth. This MIT News asks him what are AI’s effect on the economy.

McKinsey believes that how tech leaders organize and manage teams, talent, IT architecture, and costs will dramatically shift in the next decade as a result of generative AI.

A McKinsey report concludes that to unlock the full potential of GenAI, companies need to learn how to build and manage large-scale AI agent systems.

Microsoft describes 6 trends you’ll see more of in 2025 to change the shape of work.

Regulation and Compliance

KPMG examines the 10 key regulatory challenges organizations will face in 2025.

An article from Martha Lane-Fox considers why the civil service needs to modernise for the AI age and it faces threats to its neutrality.

A new report from EY concludes that lack of upskilling and regulatory preparedness is holding back GenAI adoption within UK financial services firms.

An article in The Conversation describes a Canadian survey on AI that finds most people want AI regulated, but trust in government remains low.

Sustainability

Semafor reports that Amazon has signed a new partnership to turn data centers into carbon capture machines, offsetting the harmful effects of the massive amounts of energy required to run them.

A report from the World Economic Forum describes how AI can benefit humanity and sustainable development , but warns that prioritizing local AI ecosystems and building robust safety measures that are inclusive and adaptable to diverse contexts is crucial.

An article from IMD reviews GenAI to consider its competitive advantage versus its environmental costs.

User Experience

A new survey from The Health Foundation asks over 7,000 people how they feel about health technologies and data.

Workforce & Skills

With AI likely to have a significant impact on careers, Deloitte asks: How can organizations help build a resilient early career workforce?

A newly published report from think tank the Social Market Foundation has recommended a wider AI guidance remit for DSIT, and identified how AI could save HMRC and DWP staff 4,300 years of work.

Issues considers workers rights in the age of AI and why including union perspectives in research and development is essential to building effective, equitable technology and public trust.

InfoWorld describes 5 ways that AI will change the role of software developers.

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