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VANCOUVER IMAGING TO IMPLEMENT REALTIME MEDICAL AI
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN CHT MAGAZINE VANCOUVER – Vancouver Imaging, a group of over 70 radiologists, has signed on to use RealTime Medical’s smart workload-balancing, physician skills development and error-avoidance platform. Vancouver Imaging, which provides reading services for hospital and out-of-hospital imaging centres, will implement the system in the first half of 2020 at its non-hospital clinics. Vancouver Imaging offers a wide variety of sub-specialty readings across all disciplines, including specialized expertise in emergency trauma radiology. The organization is the only group of radiologists in Canada offering around-the-clock, on-site, sub-specialty emergency reading services. “Emergency radiology is itself a sub-specialty and requires a unique set of skills,” said Dr. Savvas Nicolaou (pictured), the CEO of Vancouver Imaging and director of Emergency & Trauma Imaging at Vancouver General Hospital. “It’s unpredictable, with frequent interruptions. You often have to work with a limited amount of information from clinicians, and it can include everything from head-to-toe, including mass casualty situations that require proactive decision-making.” He added, “You’re always on, and never off.” The Emergency & Trauma sub-specialty requires “appropriate, patient-centered judgement in a matter of seconds.” Vancouver Imaging will deploy RealTime Medical’s AICloudWorks and AICloudQA platforms within their clinics. Collectively, the offerings encompass several AI applications, including high throughput workload balancing. RealTime Medical holds the U.S. and Canadian patents for its workload balancing algorithms and is one of only two patent holders for diagnostic workload balancing, along with the U.S. company, Virtual Radiologic. The cases are assigned to the appropriate radiologists based on sub-specialty, current workload and other parameters, creating an intelligent, diagnostic operations platform that is “context-aware,” a term originally coined by RealTime Medical to describe the capabilities of the platform. For example, radiologists with expertise in neurology will be the first to receive neuro cases, while thoracic or pediatric experts will be the first to receive cases of that type. The system also “balances” the work, to ensure that radiologists are receiving equal caseloads, subject to the case-specific service levels and business parameters established by the group. “The AI additions to this proven platform make it even more advantageous for us as a group as we pursue the delivery of Emergency Radiology services globally,” said Dr. Nicolaou, a world-renowned expert in Emergency & Trauma radiology, often referred to as the Founder and Pioneer of Emergency/Trauma Radiology in Canada. Dr. Nicolaou noted that AICloudWorks is vendor-neutral and can work with any HL7 and DICOM-based HIS, RIS and PACS solutions. “PACS integration can be very problematic,” said Dr. Nicolaou. “Being vendor-neutral is important to our flexibility as a group.” Vendor neutrality is important to Vancouver Imaging as their current environment includes workflows across multiple PACS solutions. Download CHT Reprint of Full Article
5 Ways Expertise Marketing Supports Digital Transformation
Digital transformation is much more than merely redesigning your website or moving your files to the cloud. It’s about harnessing digital technologies to elevate your business. Specifically, digital transformation is strategically adapting your business processes to change company culture, empower your staff and keep up with rising consumer demands. Organizations of all sizes are taking on transformative initiatives to meet today’s expectations in the digital space, but research by IDG has concluded that we still have some growing to do: “IT leaders are making steady and sequential progress to becoming digital-first organizations – though not at the same breakneck speed that the technologies themselves are proliferating. For many organizations, the foundational pieces are in place, and they’re actively working on adopting newer technologies like AI and IoT. But successful digital transformation will also require equal attention to change management and workforce strategy for the entire organization.” Supporting the Bigger Picture It’s easy to get hung up on the technology but successfully transforming your business means thinking about everyone involved – including your experts. Here are five ways expertise marketing supports digital transformation: It aligns people. Most companies aren’t particularly good at telling their people that their expertise is valued and many employees don’t understand the role they play as brand ambassadors. On top of that, outdated biographies on the company website fail to share the work that these experts with the audiences who are looking for it. A well-constructed expertise marketing program helps get experts and executives aligned on how they can help the brand – and it helps marketing teams feed the content beast. It tracks data. Metrics on visitor behaviour are critical to calculating ROI and ensuring your content is working. That said, most organizations don’t have an intuitive way of tracking internal contributions to the corresponding engagement data – making it difficult to determine which people and topics are driving results. Expertise marketing programs are designed to capture essential metrics on employee contributions and ensure that leads are captured and routed to appropriate individuals and departments for prompt follow up and reporting. It enhances search and SEO. Part of digital transformation is creating a sustained online presence. By harnessing your collective expertise, you can quickly publish a large volume of quality, searchable content that boosts your owned content footprint. It also provides a way to capitalize on earned media opportunities related to breaking news and emerging trends. It drives collaboration. Many organizations corporate policies and standards tend to lack guidelines for generating and promoting individual experts. As a result, individual groups within the organization are forced to fill the void and essentially, do their own thing. This leads to a disconnected set of expensive, custom projects. Organizations with structured expertise marketing programs consistently report an increase in collaboration and organizational alignment. It minimizes risk. It’s becoming more and more important to ensure adherence to corporate brand standards and editorial guidelines, as well as regulatory standards such as accessibility compliance. By centralizing your content and utilizing a federated content management structure, you’re not only providing your employees with a common source for branded assets and templates, but you’re empowering them to get things done in the simplest way possible. This approach mitigates risk, speeds time to market and dramatically lowers costs to implement a program. Filling the Gaps with Expertise As mentioned above, digital transformation is a comprehensive business strategy with many moving parts. While expertise marketing is one component of this organizational change, it works in tandem with your other programs and complements any initiative aimed at boosts your digital presence. In fact, it’s proven to support many of the activities that organizations have yet to complete. IDG’s 2018 State of Digital Transformation Expertise marketing is a powerful tool for enabling and elevating digital transformation. By encouraging company-wide participation, it’s shown to increase internal uptake, generate higher-quality content and ultimately, drive better results in terms of ROI. If digital transformation is in your future, then you need to start thinking about your experts today. Download the Complete Guide to Expertise Marketing For a comprehensive look at how expertise marketing benefits the entire organization and drives measurable return on investment, follow the link below to download a copy of ExpertFile’s Complete Guide to Expertise Marketing: The Next Wave in Digital Strategy or download one of our tailored Guides for Corporate & Professional Services, Higher Education Institutions, Healthcare Institutions or Association & Not-for-Profits.
State-sponsored computational propaganda is a potential threat during the 2022 Winter Olympics
Sagar Samtani, assistant professor and Grant Thornton Scholar, whose research centers on AI for cybersecurity and cyber threat intelligence, is particularly watching two major cybersecurity issues during the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing Feb. 4-20. “The Olympics are an international, global event. As such, there are often political undertones and agendas that may drive how countries present themselves. Disinformation, misinformation, and computational propaganda that are state-sponsored or provided by individual threat actors could pose a significant threat,” Samtani said. Samtani noted that this will be biggest Olympics for streaming services. For example, NBC Universal will present Winter Olympics record of over 2,800 hours of coverage. But this move away from network reliance on broadcast channels could present a tantalizing target for hackers. “The Olympics are a widely covered, highly publicized TV event. In recent years, streaming services have grown in popularity, while conventional satellite and cable services have declined. As such, the concerns around denial-of-service attacks against prevailing streaming services as it pertains to viewing the Olympics is a very real concern,” he said. Samtani can be reached at ssamtani@iu.edu
On Rethink What’s Possible, a podcast by Milwaukee School of Engineering, MSOE students, faculty, staff, alumni and community partners share their inventions, research, industry trends, projects, experiences and how they’re rethinking what's possible. Artificial intelligence. Machine learning. High performance computing. Super computers. These terms have been around for quite a while now, but only in recent years the research has been put into practice and there are no signs of it slowing down. Episode Three, 'Humanizing Machine Learning,' Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming prominent in more and more industries each day, including health care. Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming prominent in more and more industries each day, including health care. Join Dr. Sheila Ross and Dr. John Bukowy, AI faculty experts from Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) and student Ethan Hindes as they discuss the advancements of AI in “Humanizing Machine Learning,” part of the MSOE podcast, “Rethink What’s Possible.” They talk about its impact on their research with the Medical College of Wisconsin to identify and assess the severity of damage to blood vessels in kidneys. Hindes also discusses how he found his way to major in computer science. The podcast is available for download and well worth listening to. And, if you are a journalist interested in learning more or arranging an interview with Dr. Ross or Bukowy – simply click on either expert's icon now to arrange an interview today.
IDC Quarterly Tech Brief: Your Guide For The Digital-First World
September 2021 Editor's Comments Happy September! We hope you got a chance to recharge and enjoy the summer. Now that we’re looking into the last half of 2021, our experts agree that we’re not going back to the pre-pandemic normal, but we can’t help but be optimistic with recent news on vaccinations, lifting of restrictions, kids going back to school, and some of us returning to the office. As the world slowly moves from a pandemic to a digital-first state, we will see permanent shifts in the way we live, work, play and learn. IDC expects the next 3 years to remain highly fluid due to the growing range of global challenges. And now, more than ever, business and government leaders will need to operate and invest in increasingly digital-first markets, while building digital infrastructures, enabled by an intelligent, empowered, and a well-connected workforce. In this edition of IDC Canada's Quarterly Tech Brief, we’ll explore insights on the digital-first world, best practices, and digital transformation stories from Canadian tech leaders at our upcoming IDC CIO Series webinar on September 22, and as usual, we also reveal the latest research, survey results and market forecasts. And last but not least, we're happy to announce IDC Canada's biggest technology event of the year, IDC Connections 2021 is coming up on November 4th. Save your seat today! FEATURED IDC CIO Panel Series – Part 2: Building Resiliency & Innovation into Your Canadian Journey Join us on Wednesday, September 22 at 2 p.m. ET for the latest session of our IDC CIO Panel webinar series where we will dive into what digital resiliency means for you, and how to leverage the latest Digital Infrastructure and Digital Innovation trends to your advantage. Hear from industry-leading tech executives, Antoine Haroun, CIO at the Peel District School Board, Irene Zaguskin, CTO at The Printing House, and Michael Kurek, VP of Sales & Operations, Data Center Solutions at Dell Technologies as they unpack how the pandemic accelerated their digital transformation journey, and their best practices for planning and managing IT during uncertain times. Our experts will also host 3 sessions around how the Future Enterprise operates in a Digital-First World, a look ahead at the forces of change heading into 2022, the Future of Digital Infrastructure, and the need to strive for a balance between digital innovation and resiliency to remain relevant and competitive. Your Canadian Research Checklist Here are some of our most popular Canadian reports of the quarter to help you understand changing market conditions and succeed in 2021. ✓ IDC Market Glance: Service Providers in Canada, 2Q21 ✓ The Rise of Canadian Cloud Ecosystems ✓ Canadian Cybersecurity Market Snapshot, 2Q21 ✓ Canadian Cybersecurity Buyer Persona: Managed Security Services Benefits ✓ Canadian Managed Cloud Services Adoption, 2021 Forecast Highlights ✓ Canadian Wireless Services Forecast, 2021–2025: Wireless Wars 18 ✓ Canadian Internet of Things Forecast, 2021–2025 ✓ Outlook for Canadian SaaS Applications, 2021 ✓ Worldwide Managed Cloud Services Forecast, 2021-2025 ✓ IDC's Forecast Scenario Assumptions for the Canadian ICT Market, April 2021 IDC THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: DIGITAL RESILIENCY SCORECARD Explore IDC's new Digital Resiliency Scorecard Does resiliency still matter in a "post-pandemic" world? Quite simply, it does. In IDC's recent Digital Resiliency Benchmark Survey, we found that 65% of U.S. buyers and 55% of Worldwide buyers have plans to invest in resiliency over the April 2021-April 2022 timeframe. Watch The Digital Resiliency Scorecard webinar to learn more ICYMI: BLOG HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS QUARTER Future of Customer - More Human Experience - Over 34% of executives point to transforming the customer experience as the top business function. Learn more about the Future of Customer framework with IDC’s Keyoor Adavani. Read More → Major Smartwatch Market Consolidation: A Canadian Take - In May Google announced a new unified smartwatch platform in partnership with Samsung. Learn how this partnership is expected to shake up the market dynamics in Canada with Shahd ElAshri. Read More → Telesat Vying For LEO Constellation Leadership - A new commercial space race has begun and among the entrants for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations, Telesat is an emerging leader in this multi-billion-dollar market. Learn more from IDC's Lawrence Surtees. Read More → Federal Budget Innovation Goals and What’s Next for Recovery - COVID-19 fast-tracked innovation and digitization. See how the federal budget plans to support digital transformation, and learn how customer centricity and AI can set you apart from the competition with IDC's Mark Schrutt. Read More → UPCOMING VIRTUAL EVENT IDC Connections 2021 Canada: Accelerating Your Path to a Digital-First Enterprise Mark your calendars! IDC Connections is back this year and we can't wait for you to take a front-row seat. Don't miss an afternoon full of IDC experts' insights, special guests, networking, and hear from the tech leaders who are driving this new era of rapid transformation. This year's highlights include: A special closing keynote on the Future of Sports and Entertainment with Humza Teherany, Chief Technology & Digital Officer at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Creating digital innovation & experiences at your organization, with IDC's Chief Research Officer, Meredith Whalen Embracing digital infrastructure, with IDC Canada's Dave Pearson Leveraging new industry ecosystems, with IDC Canada's Nigel Wallis Guidance from our popular CIO Best Practices Panelists PODCASTS WORTH A LISTEN Find out why clients are raving about our new podcast series! In an era seemingly filled with uncertainty, the Future Enterprise podcast is a must-listen. It's a podcast for business and tech executives, aimed at helping you leverage technology to achieve innovative, disruptive, and productive business outcomes. Listen in as IDC host, Joseph Pucciarelli, Group Vice President & IT Executive Advisor interviews C-level executives from around the world on their digital transformation initiatives touching on each of the "Future of X" digital initiatives. Senior IDC research leaders often join in the conversation. Listen Now → Thanks for being a part of our IDC Quarterly Tech Brief Newsletter community! Don’t forget to subscribe to be notified quarterly when the next issue comes out.
Climate Change-Related Natural Disasters Impact Short-Lived Assets and Interest Rates
For decades, scientists across the globe have warned about the effects of climate change. Given that these changes—global warming, rising sea levels—happen over time and that their disastrous results may not be obvious for decades, studying the effects of climate change on financial markets has posed a problem. According to Christoph Herpfer, assistant professor of finance, Goizueta Business School, most of the existing literature that deals with the effect of climate change on financial markets considers “indefinitely lived assets,” such as owning stock or owning a home—assets that “don’t have an expiration date,” explained Herpfer. To evaluate the effect of climate change in the long run on these assets then requires discount models—ways to value something today based on what it could be worth decades from now. Herpfer, a banking and corporate finance specialist, studies short-lived assets that, on average, expire after 4.5 years. Herpfer wondered if there could be “an alternative channel in which climate change already impacts companies today,” he explained. One that didn’t have to deal with all the “challenges associated with long run discount rates,” he added. In “The rising tide lifts some interest rates: climate change, natural disasters, and loan pricing,” Herpfer and his colleagues—Ricardo Correa, deputy associate director, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Ai He, assistant professor of finance, University of South Carolina, and Ugur Lel, associate professor, Nalley Distinguished Chair in Finance, University of Georgia, Terry College of Business—consider this question by studying corporate borrowing costs. In 2020, the paper received the best paper award at the Boca Corporate Finance and Governance Conference. The foursome had a novel idea: In recent years, there has been scientific consensus that climate change fuels natural disasters. So Herpfer and his fellow authors wondered if financial institutions took climate change-amplified natural disasters into account when pricing short-term loans. Their answer was, unequivocally, “yes.” Their work and research is captured in a recent article in Emory Business - it's attached and well worth the read. If you're a journalist looking to know more - then let us help. Christoph Herpfer is an assistant professor of finance at Goizueta Business School. He is also a financial economist working at the intersection of banking, law, and accounting. Christoph is available to speak with media about this research - simply click on his icon now to arrange an interview today.
Do Wholesalers Discriminate Against AI in Procurement Practices?
If we deploy automation without thinking strategically about intelligence, too, isn’t AI likely to backfire on us? Airplane manufacturer, Boeing, made headlines in 2019 for all the wrong reasons. Its 737 Max aircraft was indefinitely grounded after two fatal crashes in the space of just six months had claimed the lives of 346 people. Investigation into the accidents revealed that updates to an automated system – the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, known as MACS – had failed to integrate one of two intelligent sensors, meaning the system lacked a critical security backstop. As the aircrafts switched into autopilot mode shortly after takeoff, the error sent them both into fatal nosedives within minutes. These tragedies highlight an issue with automation that needs more focused attention says Goizueta’s Ruomeng Cui, assistant professor of information systems and operation management. And it’s this: if we deploy automation without thinking strategically about intelligence too, is AI likely to backfire on us? Cui is an expert in operations strategies in digital retail and platform markets. To better understand the challenges surrounding automation and intelligence in operational processes, she teamed with Shichen Zhang of Tianjin University and Rutgers’ Meng Li to explore how AI brings value in the procurement space. With Deloitte reporting that almost 45% of Chief Procurement Officers globally are now using, piloting, or planning to integrate AI into their operations, these insights should provide interesting food for thought, says Cui. “AI isn’t just about being quicker, it’s also about being smarter. It can deliver automation but can also deliver predictive intelligence; and while these two dimensions might be correlated, one doesn’t necessarily imply the other – as the Boeing example demonstrates,” says Cui. From the tech perspective, there’s a lot of buzz about how AI is helping to drive decision-making, she adds. But there is still plenty that we don’t know about the operational dimensions to using artificial intelligence. “With international procurement, you’re basically talking about big retailers going in and requesting prices for goods or products from wholesale suppliers. And that’s a process that could, in theory, lend itself very well to AI, since it can automate simple (and tedious) tasks over and over again. So there’s a significant potential gain in companies outsourcing this kind of task to the machine.” But although the potential might be clear, Cui and her colleagues believe that simply automating these processes might not in fact yield optimal results; and could in fact work against buyers by encouraging suppliers to quote higher prices than they might in personalized, human transactions. A full article detailing Cui’s research is attached, within it – several theories were explored. Who Comes Out Ahead on Price? Humans or AI Chat Bots? “We speculated about the possibility of wholesalers discriminating against the AI,” says Cui. “Specifically, we wanted to know if the sellers would quote higher prices to AI bots than they would to human buyers, because at the end of the day these bots are just machines; they don’t bring the authenticity or sincerity of human beings.” When Machines are Smart, Discounts Rise “When wholesalers are just asked over and over for their prices, they know that they are dealing with a machine and the intuition is that the machine is not intelligent, that it doesn’t have market expertise, and that it isn’t capable of decision-making. There’s no incentive to build relationships or to engage in any kind of negotiating dynamic here.” The topic is fascinating, and given the increase of AI in the workplace – a timely one. And, if you are a journalist looking to cover this research or speak with Professor Ciu about the subjects of telework and productivity, simply click on her icon now to arrange an interview today.
Maple Report - May 2021 Edition
May 2021 Welcome to our second edition of The Maple Report. This quarterly newsletter is designed to keep Canadian technology executives updated on the latest trends, market research, events and valuable resources from IDC Canada's expert analysts. In this edition, we want to show you how IDC can help Canadian executives like yourself make important technology decisions. We also want to invite you to our upcoming events and give you a sample of some of our thought leadership through our IDC blog. We hope you find these insights practical to help propel your business into a more resilient digital enterprise. Trust IDC to be your research partner in 2021. We welcome your thoughts about this newsletter. Please send them to askIDC@idccanada.com. HOW CAN IDC HELP YOU? IDC PeerScapes – Helping You Find Technology Best Practices An IDC PeerScape minimizes your missteps by identifying peer business practices worthy of emulating or avoiding, increasing the likelihood of positive impacts from a technology initiative. To assist your organization finding technology best practices, IDC publishes dozens of IDC PeerScape reports. Similar to IDC MarketScapes that we explored in the last edition of The Maple Report, IDC PeerScapes sit on the Engage part of our IDC DecisionScape framework , and include reports to help you launch, evaluate and optimize new technology initiatives. The report outlines key challenges your peers encountered when implementing a specific technology initiative, as well as key insights your peers learned along the way. IDC PeerScapes help you to increase the likelihood of a tech initiative’s success by giving you insight into best practices (and practices to avoid) through specific use case examples implemented by your peers who have already led a similar technology initiative. These documents can help your organization recreate successful implementations of technology and help you mitigate risk. To help you understand the value of these reports, we have included here our IDC PeerScape: Practices for Including Cloud Services into Outsourcing Contracts in Canada report. In it, you'll find Best practices from three areas of cloud adoption are discussed in the document: security, cost management, and skills gap. Companies created security checklists to mitigate security risks and retain control of security when working with external vendors. They also filled the skills gap and minimized cost unpredictability by collaborating with their outsourcing service providers. VIRTUAL EVENTS FOR IT EXECUTIVES IDC Fireside Chat | Content Cloud as a Critical Component of Virtual Work May 19, 2021 | 2:00 pm ET Does your organization have a holistic view of your customers when they contact you for assistance? Are your security protocols on your content systems up to snuff with your virtual workforce? Is your content customized for the different employee roles? If any of these content challenges sound familiar to your organization, then you need to attend this webinar to provide a seamless content experience for your customers and your employees. On our next webinar for Canadian technology executives on May 19th at 2pm ET, we'll hear how ATB Financial's Barry Hensch conquered multiple content management challenges to provide seamless experiences in its virtual workplace during a fireside chat with IDC's Megha Kumar. Walk away with a better understanding of what Cloud Content Management entails, why it's important to manage your content effectively and how you can leverage it to prosper in the digital future. Confirmed Speakers: Megha Kumar: Director, Software & Cloud Services, IDC Canada Barry Hensch: SVP & Head of Technology Enablement, ATB Financial Varun Parmar: SVP & Chief Product Officer, Box IDC CIO Panel Series | Accelerate & Simplify Your Canadian Digital Transformation Journey June 16, 2021 | 2:00pm ET Our IDC Canada research indicates that many Canadian organizations are not where they need to be yet to thrive in the digital economy. If you think your organization could benefit from simplifying and accelerating your digital transformation efforts, then you need to attend this upcoming webinar on June 16 at 2pm ET. Join this virtual webinar to understand where Canadian organizations are on their respective digital transformation journeys, what types of projects were accelerated as a result of the pandemic and what impact it had on Canadian industries. Then hear from our all-Canadian CIO panel on how they've stickhandled the impact of the pandemic at their organizations to set themselves up for future success in the digital economy. Learn what you need from your peers to get your organization moving in the right direction. Confirmed Speakers: Tony Olvet: Group VP, Research, IDC Canada Nigel Wallis: Research VP, IoT & Industries, IDC Canada Catherine Chick: SVP, IT, Canada Goose Pamela Pelletier: Canada Country Manager, Dell Technologies IDC THOUGHT LEADERSHIP HIGHLIGHTS DID YOU KNOW? You Can Get Actionable Research, KPIs, Benchmarks & Best Practices with IDC IDC Canada's IT Executive Programs (IEP) make it easy to access the relevant technology research and advice you need to make data-driven decisions as you lead your organization into the digital future. Get in touch today to learn more or visit our IT Executive Portal to learn more. IT EXECUTIVE RESOURCES Set Your Future IT Roadmap with IDC IT leaders need to rethink what is critical and evaluate where the organization stands as they manage complex changes. For strategies on transforming your organization's IT, read the new eBook from IDC: Future IT: Operating System of the Future Enterprise.
The Facebook Oversight Board’s ruling temporarily upholding the social media giant’s ban on former President Donald J. Trump, which they instructed the company to reassess within six months, noted that the parameters for an indefinite suspension are not defined in Facebook's policies. The non-decision in this high-profile case illustrates the difficulties stemming from the lack of clear frameworks for regulating social media. For starters, says web science pioneer James Hendler, social media companies need a better definition of the misinformation they seek curb. Absent a set of societally agreed upon rules, like those that define slander and libel, companies currently create and enforce their own policies — and the results have been mixed at best. “If Trump wants to sue to get his Facebook or Twitter account back, there’s no obvious legal framework. There’s nothing to say of the platform, ‘If it does X, Y, or Z, then it is violating the law,’” said Hendler, director of the Institute for Data Exploration and Applications at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. “If there were, Trump would have to prove in court that it doesn’t do X, Y, or Z, or Twitter would have to prove that it does, and we would have a way to adjudicate it.” As exemplified in disputes over the 2020 presidential election results, political polarization is inflamed by a proliferation of online misinformation. A co-author of the seminal 2006 Science article that established the concept of web science, Hendler said that “as society wrestles with the social, ethical, and legal questions surrounding misinformation and social media regulation, it needs technologist to help inform this debate.” “People are claiming artificial intelligence will handle this, but computers and AI are very bad at ‘I’ll know it when I see it,’” said Hendler, who’s most recent book is titled Social Machines: The Coming Collision of Artificial Intelligence, Social Networking, and Humanity. “What we need is a framework that makes it much clearer: What are we looking for? What happens when we find it? And who’s responsible?” The legal restrictions on social media companies are largely dictated by a single sentence in the Communications Decency Act of 1996, known as Section 230, which establishes that internet providers and services will not be treated as traditional publishers, and thus are not legally responsible for much of the content they link to. According to Hendler, this clause no longer adequately addresses the scale and scope of power these companies currently wield. “Social media companies provide a podium with an international reach of hundreds of millions of people. Just because social media companies are legally considered content providers rather than publishers, it doesn’t mean they’re not responsible for anything on their site,” Hendler said. “What counts as damaging misinformation? With individuals and publishers, we answer that question all the time with libel and slander laws. But what we don’t have is a corresponding set of principles to adjudicate harm through social media.” Hendler has extensive experience in policy and advisory positions that consider aspects of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and internet and web technologies as they impact issues such as regulation of social media, and powerful technologies including facial recognition and artificial intelligence. Hendler is available to speak to diverse aspects of policies related to social media, information technologies, and AI.
Autonomous cars expert: Dr Siddartha Khastgir
For stories on autonomous vehicles, Dr Siddartha Khastgir from WMG at the University of Warwick is one of the leading experts in the UK, and is available for comment. His recent notable research includes developing the world’s largest public database for testing driverless cars: If you would like to interview him, contact press@warwick.ac.uk or L.Walton.1@warwick.ac.uk
