What does artificial intelligence look like? How do we perceive the forms of machine-based intelligence that are all around us: the algorithms that determine social-media newsfeeds, Netflix series recommendations, or Siri's responses to our smartphone queries?
Attempting to understand technological processes is often equated with being able to see them – this is perhaps one reason why Kyle Williams’ images of Google Street View glitches are so beloved: glimpses of the algorithm by where it fails.
'I am not a robot'
Another reaction to AI is to anthropomorphise it – the way robots are spoken about as human or animal-like, such as the "dog-like" robot who can open a door, or Alexa, patiently reading out train times from inside a little box. Gender also plays an important role. It is not insignificant that the two most popular digital assistants, Alexa and Siri, are female.
Though technology is now ubiquitous, the precise nature of its effects are often hard to grasp. Exactly how we think, both technically and culturally, about automation and artificial intelligence is the subject of this year’s Global Art Forum, the highly acclaimed series of talks and panel discussions that runs alongside Art Dubai in March. Under the theme “I Am Not a Robot,” it looks at the way that artificial intelligence wields power in our lives – and also at how artists differ from robotic life. “We are embodied,” says Marlies Wirth, one of the co-commissioners alongside Shumon Basar and Noah Raford. “We are not just brains.”
Cinema is a particularly important place where cultural anxieties over automation and artificial intelligence are played out, argues Basar, a theorist of technology (and other things).
The biases and anxieties
"Throughout the 20th century. Cinema has been the main space in which we have come to both know and fear the oncoming threat of automation, AI and the singularity," he says. (Technological singularity is the idea that at a certain point, robots, or other forms of AI, will achieve an intelligence that, amplified by neural networks and other forms of information sharing and computation, definitively surpasses human intelligence.)
Shumon sees the way that culture interacts with technology as symptomatic of broader biases and anxieties. “There’s an important aspect of gender and patriarchal power that’s smuggled into the rendering of female robots, and the role that they play in simultaneously evoking desire and fear.”
Talks in Dubai on the subject
The series of talks kicks off this evening in Design District Dubai with Basar (on the subject of female robots), Wirth and Raford, as well as the British artist and technology critic James Bridle, investigating artificial intelligence as both a technological and a cultural phenomenon.
Bridle, for example, looks at weather prediction, which is one of the first uses of computation as a form of prediction. “Predicting the weather is when computation moves from solving a problem in the present to having a future forward sense,” explains Bridle. “That’s always been a matter of control. The only reason you’re going to predict the future is so you can control it.”
In the late 2000s, Bridle began collecting images on his Tumblr blog that captured what he called the "New Aesthetic," or images that managed to capture, whether by style or subject, digital technologies in everyday lives. His writing has been adept at crossing over between the specialised field of technology and its wider implications – he wrote that story on children's consumption of YouTube videos that went viral last spring, for example. "Technology," he says, "is an expression of culture."
Waking up from the long AI winter
When he did a master’s in artificial intelligence, in 2004, he says, “it was deeply unfashionable and going nowhere. It was the beginning of what they call an AI winter – of which there have been several since the 1950s. Research gets really hyped up and excited, and everyone goes, oh my god, this is the future. And then it doesn’t achieve what’s it was meant to do, and it falls into abeyance.”
However, in the last few years, there has been a resurgence of interest in the field, which Bridle explains is due as much to scientific and theoretical advances as it is to the fact that mass usage of internet platforms has generated enormous troves of data about human behaviour.
“There was a critical mass from the internet, which was the take-up of research into AI by Google and Facebook, who had access to both vast processing power and vast data sets. It turns out that this iteration of AI is about having this extraordinary and surveillant view of the world that gives AI something to build upon.”
The more invisible, the more influential
Bridle presses that the typical anthropomorphising tendency is misguided: what is particular about this resurgence of AI is its sheer invisibility.
“This is not the AI that people thought we’d get or that people imagined,” Bridle says. “This has nothing to do with human intelligence. It’s something deeply machinic and deeply mathematical.”
Basar concurs.
“As the process of automation become more and more invisible, and less and less looking like us, they become ubiquitous and influence our lives even more. There are very few corners of our social, personal, political lives that seem unaffected by these processes.”
Global Art Forum’s 2018 programme, I Am Not a Robot, begins Wednesday February 14, at Dubai Design District, between Building 8 and 9, from 6.30pm to 8.30pm, and will also be available as a podcast. It continues during Art Dubai at Madinat Jumeirah, Wednesday March 21 to Friday March 23, 3018.
ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
India cancels school-leaving examinations
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.6-litre V6
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 285bhp
Torque: 353Nm
Price: TBA
On sale: Q2, 2020
SPECS
Nissan 370z Nismo
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Power: 363hp
Torque: 560Nm
Price: Dh184,500
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Spider-Man: No Way Home
Director: Jon Watts
Stars: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon
Rating:*****
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
'Shakuntala Devi'
Starring: Vidya Balan, Sanya Malhotra
Director: Anu Menon
Rating: Three out of five stars
Maestro
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Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
Panipat
Director Ashutosh Gowariker
Produced Ashutosh Gowariker, Rohit Shelatkar, Reliance Entertainment
Cast Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Kriti Sanon, Mohnish Behl, Padmini Kolhapure, Zeenat Aman
Rating 3 /5 stars
more from Janine di Giovanni
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The Book of Collateral Damage
Sinan Antoon
(Yale University Press)
ASSASSIN'S%20CREED%20MIRAGE
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
INDIA SQUADS
India squad for third Test against Sri Lanka
Virat Kohli (capt), Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Vijay Shankar
India squad for ODI series against Sri Lanka
Rohit Sharma (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
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2021 World Triathlon Championship Series
May 15: Yokohama, Japan
June 5: Leeds, UK
June 24: Montreal, Canada
July 10: Hamburg, Germany
Aug 17-22: Edmonton, Canada (World Triathlon Championship Final)
Nov 5-6 : Abu Dhabi, UAE
Date TBC: Chengdu, China
Important questions to consider
1. Where on the plane does my pet travel?
There are different types of travel available for pets:
- Manifest cargo
- Excess luggage in the hold
- Excess luggage in the cabin
Each option is safe. The feasibility of each option is based on the size and breed of your pet, the airline they are traveling on and country they are travelling to.
2. What is the difference between my pet traveling as manifest cargo or as excess luggage?
If traveling as manifest cargo, your pet is traveling in the front hold of the plane and can travel with or without you being on the same plane. The cost of your pets travel is based on volumetric weight, in other words, the size of their travel crate.
If traveling as excess luggage, your pet will be in the rear hold of the plane and must be traveling under the ticket of a human passenger. The cost of your pets travel is based on the actual (combined) weight of your pet in their crate.
3. What happens when my pet arrives in the country they are traveling to?
As soon as the flight arrives, your pet will be taken from the plane straight to the airport terminal.
If your pet is traveling as excess luggage, they will taken to the oversized luggage area in the arrival hall. Once you clear passport control, you will be able to collect them at the same time as your normal luggage. As you exit the airport via the ‘something to declare’ customs channel you will be asked to present your pets travel paperwork to the customs official and / or the vet on duty.
If your pet is traveling as manifest cargo, they will be taken to the Animal Reception Centre. There, their documentation will be reviewed by the staff of the ARC to ensure all is in order. At the same time, relevant customs formalities will be completed by staff based at the arriving airport.
4. How long does the travel paperwork and other travel preparations take?
This depends entirely on the location that your pet is traveling to. Your pet relocation compnay will provide you with an accurate timeline of how long the relevant preparations will take and at what point in the process the various steps must be taken.
In some cases they can get your pet ‘travel ready’ in a few days. In others it can be up to six months or more.
5. What vaccinations does my pet need to travel?
Regardless of where your pet is traveling, they will need certain vaccinations. The exact vaccinations they need are entirely dependent on the location they are traveling to. The one vaccination that is mandatory for every country your pet may travel to is a rabies vaccination.
Other vaccinations may also be necessary. These will be advised to you as relevant. In every situation, it is essential to keep your vaccinations current and to not miss a due date, even by one day. To do so could severely hinder your pets travel plans.
Source: Pawsome Pets UAE
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
Duminy's Test career in numbers
Tests 46; Runs 2,103; Best 166; Average 32.85; 100s 6; 50s 8; Wickets 42; Best 4-47
Karwaan
Producer: Ronnie Screwvala
Director: Akarsh Khurana
Starring: Irrfan Khan, Dulquer Salmaan, Mithila Palkar
Rating: 4/5