Google Smart Software: Bert and Ernie Subbed for Joe Fourier
May 24, 2021
The story “Google Replaces Bert Self Attention with Fourier Transform: 92% Accuracy, 7 Times Faster on GPUs” may be more smart software hog wash. Against the colorful background of Google’s artificial intelligence melodrama, now Bert (shorthand for the wonderfully named Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) has some flaws. It seems accuracy and performance are among the ones which caught someone’s attention at the Google.
What’s up next?
The 19th century methods of Joe Fourier, who dabbled in fancy math in the 18th and 19th century until his vibrations petered out in 1830. Joe may be gone, but this math has new life. Why? Bert, it appears, was not exactly a high performer in the 100 meter sprints needed to make ad centric smart software work.
The write up is filled with jargon. That’s okay since anyone who reads about Fourier transforms knows something about the methods. However, what’s left out is an explanation of how the DeepMind research team has reacted to the Sesame Street infused acronym.
My hunch is that there are some sharp differences of opinion because, well, Google, smart software, algorithmic issues, and management methods.
Stephen E Arnold, May 24, 2021
Marketers Assert AI Perfect for eDiscovery
May 24, 2021
Automated eDiscovery firm ZyLab makes a case for AI in the law firm with its post, “A Chief Legal Officer’s Guide to AI-Based eDiscovery and Analytics,” shared at JDSupra. Writer Jeffrey Wolff begins by outlining the job of a CLO. He notes lawyers in that position tend to be most comfortable with the “traditional” duties of risk mitigation, monitoring legal matters, and minding laws and regulations. According to a Deloitte study, however, executives would like to see their CLOs work more on guiding the company culture and squaring legal concerns with company goals. Wolff suggests outsourcing this part of the CLO role. (We observe his company happens to offer such expert professional services.)
After that pitch, we learn why CLOs should consider AI. We’re told:
“AI excels at sifting through massive quantities of data to identify specific terms or concepts, even when those concepts are expressed in different terms. Because an AI system can scan data faster than any human and doesn’t get tired or distracted, it can evaluate data sets faster and more easily than a human while maintaining accuracy. A machine can also manage repetitive, laborious tasks quickly and effectively without falling prey to boredom or wandering attention. Legal departments can therefore use AI to streamline processes, reduce costs, and increase their productivity. Given that ‘nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of [legal department] respondents say recurring tasks and data management constraints prevent their legal teams from creating value at their organization,’ AI offers a way for CLOs to offload those time-consuming responsibilities and focus on the strategy and growth priorities that matter to the company’s future.”
A good place to start is with ZyLab’s specialty, eDiscovery. That area does involve a mind-boggling amount of data and AI can be quite valuable, even indispensable for larger firms. Wolff describes six ways AI tools can help with corporate eDiscovery: completing early case assessment, structuring data through concept clustering, using Technology-Assisted Review, redacting personal information, generating eDiscovery analytics, and managing eDiscovery costs. See the write-up for more on each of these tasks.
The company’s technology dates from 1983 (38 years ago). Today’s ZyLab supplies eDiscovery and Information Governance tech to large corporations, government organizations, regulatory agencies, and law firms around the world. The company launched with its release of the first full-text retrieval software for the PC. It’s eDiscovery/ Information Management platform was introduced in 2010. ZyLab is based in Amsterdam and has embraced the lingo of smart software like other eDiscovery firms.
Cynthia Murrell, May 24, 2021
Facial Recognition: Use It or Diffuse It?
May 24, 2021
Facial recognition technology is an important application. Doors can unlock when the technology “recognizes” a person. Investigators can take a zero leads situation and generate a list of possible matches for a surveillance photo. Google can “look” at an image and offer similar pictures. Perfect? What smart software is? Figure 30 to 85 percent accuracy in my experience. Why the wide variance. There are individuals who wear Cyberdazze shields like this:
Not many smart software programs can ID the person in this high-resolution image.
I spotted two interesting takes on facial recognition.
The first is explicated in “Time Magazine Lauds Clearview AI Despite Its Sketchy Facial Recognition Tech.” The article about the Time Magazine endorsement of Clearview AI states:
Time Magazine released its inaugural list of the 100 Most Influential Companies, featuring an array of large and small corporations that “are helping to chart an essential path forward.” Disturbingly, among its choices of “disruptors” is Clearview AI, the controversial facial recognition start-up known for illicitly scraping Americans’ images and demographic information from social media and selling the data to law enforcement. By celebrating a company that engages in illegal mass surveillance, Time is complicit in the degradation of our privacy and our civil liberties.
The idea is that Time Magazine is cheerleading for an outfit which is not benefiting those in the US.
The second is expressed in “Amazon Pauses Sales of Facial Recognition Software to Police Indefinitely.” This write up indicates that Amazon’s self-imposed ban on the sale of its facial recognition software will continue.
What’s interesting is that technology is linked with an application of pattern recognition methods. The topic is fraught because it is an intensely subjective discussion flavored with some technical information.
In my experience, technology diffuses and does so inexorably. “Knowing” is often sufficient to allow a third party to replicate a technology and apply it. Laws and rules can be imposed to prevent this technology diffusion. The only way to prevent this dispersal is via secrecy; that is, the “information wants to be free” truism makes clear that communication from one who knows to one who doesn’t initiates an often irreversible process.
Facial recognition is propagating and quickly. Apple and Google are using privacy as a marketing tactic. Neither firm is going to turn down the dollars that come from the information those firms gather. Unlock a phone with your face. Yep, facial recognition linked to specific data about location, time, and actions. Wander through the airport in Quito and a quite efficient system developed outside the US records, analyzes, and stores those data for reference. Those weird images on the GOES card. Absolutely a useful image.
My point is that talk about facial recognition is interesting, but it is unlikely to alter the use of the technology. Time Magazine may be right in IDing Clearview AI as an important company. It is. Amazon may be doing marketing when it won’t sell its facial recognition to law enforcement. But what about Amazon’s partners?
The good ship facial recognition has sailed.
Stephen E Arnold, May 24, 2021
iBabyRainbow Next: Another Amazon Twitch Pace Setter?
May 24, 2021
I read “Twitch Launches a Dedicated Hot Tubes’ Category after Advertiser Pushback.” The write up states:
Twitch says its policies on what is and isn’t allowed on the platform aren’t changing. The company is not going to prevent people from streaming in hot tubs or swimwear. While sexually suggestive content remains banned, context-appropriate clothing — like bathing suits in a pool — is allowed. “Being found to be sexy by others is not against our rules, and Twitch will not take enforcement action against women, or anyone on our service, for their perceived attractiveness,” the company wrote, in bold, in a blog post this afternoon.
The creator innovation of people in bathing attire sitting in kiddie pools is fascinating. The segregation of these creators based on advertiser feedback makes clear that Amazon’s live streaming platform is moving downstream.
In our preparation for our lecture at the 2021 National Cyber Crime Conference and an upcoming talk at the Connecticut IAFCI Spotlight on Fraud event in June, we revisited the Amazon Twitch stream for iBabyRainbow. This talented performer offers content on other Web sites under the clever name of BabyRainbow. With a bit of clicking and posting, one can find fascinating content available for a fee.
Parents of young persons are, based on our research, are essentially behind a curtain of cascading data flows. Awareness of these talented performers’ contributions to video art is low, vanishingly small.
Will there be advertisers who want to deliver messages to the viewers of the inflate-a-pool streams and the even more roiled data streams from iBabyRainbow’s pool?
It seems as if there will be advertisers eager to dive in and bat the colorful floating animals in glee. If my references to these creators’ content seem murky like a mine drainage pond, do some exploring in the digital Amazon. You might be surprised at what you find at the end of the rainbow. A new channel tailored to certain advertisers behind a dam of salaciousness.
May we suggest the curious run queries for “iBabyRainbow” on Amazon Twitch and then query the phrase “BabyRainbow” on other general purpose Web search services. Better yet, give TikTok or Twitter search a whirl.
And check out the function of Twitch tags to segregate users and content.
Stephen E Arnold, May 24, 2021
Microsoft: China Fingers Data Collectors
May 21, 2021
I read “China Says ByteDance, Baidu, and Microsoft Improperly Collected User Data.” The story reports:
China Cyberspace Administration also named American tech giant Microsoft and its two products Bing and LinkedIn in a statement.
Bing and LinkedIn. What about Windows 10, the nifty Office system, and the ever Bob Windows Defender and its file monitoring and remembering capability?
The story pointed out nothing more.
“China’s Internet Watchdog Says ByteDance, TikTok, Microsoft Collected User Data” noted that Kuaishou (a social media platform) was snagged in the monitoring sweep. Apparently about 100 other applications and vendors were identified. This story said:
The authorities reportedly said that the apps violated several laws and had even infringed personal information through illegal access, over-collection and excessive information. The notice, reportedly, was shared to a notice on its WeChat official account. Earlier in April, Chinese regulators had called on 13 online platforms to adhere to stricter regulations in their financial divisions as a push to rein in China’s tech giants.
More information (maybe disinformation) will appear, but it seems as if China wants to send a message to technology companies. Executive changes, financial penalties, and mind games are likely to be fellow travelers for this government move. My take is that China will focus on the senior management of certain firms. High technology companies’ senior managers operate without fear of government action in the US and elsewhere. If China flexes its muscles, those relaxing cruises up the Yangtze River may provides some passengers with unexpected destinations. Fancy Qincheng Prison, anyone?
Stephen E Arnold, May 21, 2021
What the Colonial Pipeline Affair Has Disclosed
May 21, 2021
I worked through some of the analyses of the Colonial Pipeline event. You can get the “predictive analytics” view in Recorded Future’s marketing-centric blog post “DarkSide Ransomware Gang Says It Lost Control of Its Servers & Money a Day after Biden Threat.” You can get the digital currency can be deanonymized view in the marketing-oriented “Elliptic Follows the Bitcoin Ransoms Paid by Colonial Pipeline and Other Dark Side Ransomware Victims.” You can get the marketing-oriented “Colonial Pipeline Ransomware Attack: What We Know So Far.” Please, read these after-action reports, pull out nuggets of information, and learn how well hindsight works. What’s hindsight? Here’s a definition:
the ability to understand an event or situation only after it has happened (Cambridge.org)
The definition edges close to the situation in which cyber security (not Colonial) finds itself; namely, I have seen no names of the individuals responsible. I have seen no identification of the sources of funding and support for the group responsible. I have seen no print outs illustrating the formation of the attack plan or of the log data making explicit an attack was underway.
The cyber security industry is a club, and the members of the club know their in-crowd has a license to send invoices. Not even IBM in its FUD days could have created a more effective way to sell products and services. These range from real time threat intelligence, to predictive reports explaining that lighting is about to strike, or smart autonomous cyber nervous systems sounding alarms.
Nope, not that I have heard.
Here are some issues which Colonial raised when I participated in a conference call with a couple of LE and intel types less than 24 hours ago:
- The existing threat intelligence, Dark Web scanners, and super AI infused whiz bang systems don’t work. They missed SolarWinds, Exchange Server, and now the Colonial Pipeline affair. Yikes. Don’t work? Right. Don’t work. If even one of the cyber security systems “worked”, then none of these breaches would have be possible. What did I hear in Harrod’s Creek? Crickets.
- In the case of Colonial, how much of the problem was related to business matters, not the unknown, undetected wizards of Dark Side? Who knows if the bad actors were the problem or if Colonial found the unpleasantness and opportunity for some breathing room for other activities? Where are the real journalists from Bloomberg, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, et al? Yep, sources produced nothing and now the after action analyses will flow for a while.
- What about the specialist firms clustered in Herliya? What about the monitoring and alerting systems among Cambridge, Cheltenham, and London? What about the outfits clustered near government centers in Brussels, Berlin, and Prague? I have not heard or seen anything in the feeds I monitor. Zippo.
Let’s step back.
The current cyber security set up is almost entirely reactive. Any breach is explained in terms of China, Iran, and Russia. Some toss in Iran and North Korea. Okay, add them to the list of malefactors. That does not change the calculus of these escalating cyber breaches.
The math looks like this: 1 + 0 = 32
Let me explain:
The “1” represents a cyber breach
The “0” represents the failure of existing cyber security systems to notice and/or block the bad actor’s method
The 32 means the impact is exponential—in favor of the bad actors.
With no meaningful proactive measures working in a reliable function, the cyber security systems now in place are sitting ducks.
Some body said, “Our reaction to a situation literally has the power to change the situation itself.” Too bad this aphorism is dead wrong.
When the reactions are twisted into marketing opportunities and the fix does not work, where are we? I would suggest in a place that warrants more than sales lingo, jargon, and hand waving.
The talk about cyber security and threat intelligence sounds similar to the phrase, “Please, take off your shoes.”
Stephen E Arnold, May 21, 2021
IBM and Watson: A More Focused Journey to Rediscover Relevance and Find More Revenue
May 21, 2021
Nope, this is not an episode of “Star Trek.” Think of “IBM’s CEO Says It’s Leaving Consumer AI Like Facial Recognition to Other Companies, As It Doubles Down on Pitching Watson to Business” as a new version of the 1904 film “Le Voyage à travers l’impossible.” Here’s the idea: A vendor of services, mainframes, and intellectual property like a two nanometer chip concept blasts off to a new world. The mission is:
enterprise AI. Watson will be “learning from small amounts of data” and utilizing natural language processing to answer specific business questions for
customers.”
IBM will continue to embrace Watson. Granted Watson has an interesting track record. The write up states:
IBM shut down its AI tool for drug discovery in 2019 after sluggish sales, and reportedly encountered hesitancy from banks when trying to sell into the financial sector.
Learn from one’s mistakes, my grandmother used to say.
The article points out:
Using natural language processing to understand communications like chat and email, building an AI that is trustworthy and free from bias, and automating business
functions like customer service and IT operations.
With the cloud propelling Watson to the Land of Enchanted Revenues, Big Blue will rely on innovations like Turbonomic and Instana. If you don’t know, Turbonomic is one of the leaders in AIOps. You don’t need to wait for Forrester or Gartner to explain this very advanced concept of Artificial Intelligence Operations. Turbonomic is one of the leaders in this nova like market, and IBM acquired the company. Instana, now swallowed by a Big Blue gulp delivers APM. Okay, I will clue to you in: APM means Application Performance Monitoring. The idea is that when smart software behaves in a stupid way and the cloud centric app won’t work, IBM can help you out. The idea makes sense for the IBM cloud, but I am not sure how some of IBM’s cloud competitors will perceive this change. Thunderstorms perhaps?
When will the revenues be discovered? Yeah, probably in a Rometty (that’s a unit of time used by a former Big Blue pure bred to describe Watson’s earlier pursuit of revenues in Houston, pardner. No tar and feathers from the cancer docs in them there parts, but it was suggested that some of the IBM Watson leave town before sundown. And what about using IBM Watson to discover drugs applicable to the Covid pandemic? (Cough, cough.) Is there a metaphor to describe the bold new direction in which the IBM Watson starship is headed? Yes, there it. Electrification, specifically “at the turn of the last century” electrification.
Will stakeholders wait for 19th century time to mark what has to happen in the zip zip real time world of the 21st century? Sure. Keep in mind the plot of the 1904 film which told the story of a journey through mountains to the sun and ended up under water. Yikes. Underwater! This is not a good word for shareholders and stakeholders to hear in a metaphorical context.
Stephen E Arnold, May 21, 2021
Where Can One Learn about Surveillance Capitalism and Behavioral Data?
May 21, 2021
I read “Shoshana Zuboff: We Must Confront Extraction of Behavioral Data Head On.” Dr. Zuboff is the heralded academic who explained in Surveillance Capitalism the how, what, and why of big technology business tactics. The write up reports about several themes addressed in her book; for example, the destruction of privacy. The article quotes Dr. Zuboff as saying:
On the demand side, markets that commodify human behavior and trade in human behavior should be “outlawed”, says Zuboff. … “We never agreed to it. And there is almost no law to contain it, and yet if you fundamentally described this process to any child you say ahey [sic], somebody took from me without asking, now they’re selling it and they’re using it to make money for themselves, what should I do?’, that child will say they stole something from you. You should call the police.”
Interesting. What’s not clear, however, is the emphasis on behavioral data. I did a little online research and learned that one of the Edward Snowden documents includes a presentation called “The Art of Deception: Training for a New Generation of Online Covert Operations.” This particular document appears to have been produced by the British government, but it carries neither a date nor an author. The document does appear in the Snowden Archive. A bit of searching is required to locate the once classified PowerPoint. I tried the acronym “HSOC”, and it seemed to work. Your mileage may vary.
Once you have the document, you will learn that the core idea is to use behavioral data so that some non-US government agencies can build cyber magicians. The idea is deception. Magic tricks. In order to develop this craft, an entity needs human intelligence (data), operations that influence, and outputs that yield results. There are some interesting visuals; for example, the figure for masking, repackaging, and dazzling shown below (page 18):
The discussion of behavioral data in the news article is sketchy. Dr. Zuboff’s Surveillance Capitalism does not, to my recollection, cite this open source document. To me it sure seems germane to the business tactics of some of the high technology firms. The clickstream data plus metadata gathered from individual user’s actions across other online services makes clear the importance of “behavioral data.” What most discussions of tracking overlook is the notion of sensemaking. It’s quite important in my opinion. Sensemaking “intermediates” a number of other processes; for example actions and how to think.
The cited news article and Dr. Zuboff might be more enlightening if public documents were reviewed and discussed.
Stephen E Arnold, May 21, 2021
Google: Technology Which Some Day Will Be Error Corrected But In the Meantime?
May 20, 2021
I read “Can Google Really Build a Practical Quantum Computer by 2029?” which is based on the Google announcements at its developers’ conference. The article reports:
… the most interesting news we heard at I/O has to be the announcement that Google intends to build a new quantum AI center in Santa Barbara where the company says it will produce a “useful, error-corrected quantum computer” by 2029.
Didn’t Google announce “quantum supremacy” some time ago? This is an assertion which China appears to dispute. See “Google and China Duke It Out over Quantum Supremacy.” Let’s assume Google is the supremo of quantumness. It stands to reason that the technology would be tamed by Googlers. With smart software and quantum supremacy, what’s with the 96-month timelines for “a useful” quantum computer?
Then I came across a news item from Fox10 in Arizona. The TV station’s story “Driverless Waymo Taxi Gets Stuck in Chandler Traffic, Runs from Support Crew” suggests that a Google infused smart auto got confused and then tried to get away from the Googlers who were providing “support.” That’s a very non-Google word “support.” The write up asserts:
A driverless Waymo taxi was caught on camera going rogue on a Chandler intersection near a construction site last week. The company told the passenger at the time that the vehicle was confused with cones blocking a lane.
The Google support team lifted off. Upon arrival, the smart taxi with a humanoid in the vehicle “decided to make for a quick getaway.”
According to Business Insider, “Waymo issued a statement that it has assessed the event and used it to improve future rides.” If you want to watch smart software and the incident, you can navigate to this YouTube link (YouTube videos can be disappeared, so no guarantees that the video will remain on the Googley service.)
Amusing. Independent, easily confused smart Google vehicles and error-corrected quantum computers. Soon. Perhaps both the Waymo capabilities and the quantum supremacy are expensive high school science club experiments which may not work in way that the hapless rider in the errant Waymo taxi would describe as “error corrected”?
Stephen E Arnold, May 20, 2021
Microsoft: Adding Audio to an Otherwise Lackluster Day
May 20, 2021
I don’t know if the information in “Horrible New Windows 10 Bug Sounds Like the Most Annoying Glitch Ever” is accurate. I find it amusing, particularly for a sophisticated, user centric software company like Microsoft. The write up reports:
According to Microsoft, some Windows users have suddenly been hit by an error that leaves their devices making a highly irritating squeaking sound… After installing KB5000842 or later updates, 5.1 Dolby Digital audio may play containing a high-pitched noise or squeak in certain apps when using certain audio devices and Windows settings.
Squeaking. Like a dog toy, like a rusty hinge, like a criminal explaining who his or her accomplices were, where these individuals live, and their modus operandi? Like the sound of a programmer who gets away with flawed code do he or she could do a Teams call?
Amusing just like the toothless Defender.
Stephen E Arnold, May 20, 2021
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