AI and the Impact on Humanity

Tech and AI have advanced at a rapid pace in recent years and are posed to change the world as we know it. One company, IFM/One.trackAi is making waves in the industry with the development of a device for forklift drivers that monitors the speed, direction, location relative to the people around and how other forklift operators are maneuvering their vehicles. IFM’s software automatically detects safety violations (for example, cell phone use) and notifies warehouse managers so they can take immediate action. Another company founded by famous hacker George Hotz has made a $1,000 device that can connect to the operating system of nearly any car and make it semi-autonomous. AI is present in a variety of industries and is posed to play a more significant role in transportation (autonomous vehicles), manufacturing, healthcare, media (Bloomberg uses AI algorithms to quickly process financial data and natural language abilities of AI to produce earnings reports), and Customer Service. AI poses issues for job security - many estimate that it will eventually displace 40% of the workforce. 

To prepare for this shift, workers in repetitive task manufacturing jobs should be open to retraining so as to not to fall by the wayside. Amazon and other companies offer payment to help employees gain skills not easily learned by AI. Tech is set to have a substantial advancement on sustainability, climate change and environmental issues. Many prominent figures in the field including Elon Musk fear a singularity whereby super intelligent machines take over. This idea is far from mainstream but with great minds such as Musk's warning of the possibility, it may be something to consider as AI becomes increasingly omnipresent. 

Failed Senate Shut Down, Confirmation of Amy Barrett and Possible Trump Rejection of Election Results

The confirmation of Supreme Court justice Amy Barrett was strongly opposed by Democrats resulting in a close vote of 52-48. Barrett was sworn in just days before the Presidential Election. The Dems opposed Barrett due to speculation that she would further Trump’s (or simply the Republican party’s) agenda. This fear was supported by the President’s comments that the group of justices he appointed while in office would make overturning Roe v. Wade - the law that legalized abortion in the U.S. - possible. Further, Dems cite 2016 when Republican Senate majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked Obama’s supreme court nominee on the grounds that it was during an election cycle and the American people should have a voice. The choice to back Trump’s nominee is in clear contradiction to this reasoning. 

Further speculation leads to the possibility of Trump refusing to accept election results if he loses on the basis of mail-in voter fraud. If this occurs, the Supreme Court is likely to be called upon to decide the results and Trump’s nominees could be more inclined to support him. In a single term, Trump has appointed more than a quarter of all federal judges and a third of Supreme Court justices.

The Role of Technology and Machine Learning in the Fight Against COVID-19

The pandemic has impacted the lives of millions, caused markets to tumble, unemployment to spike and a general feeling of uncertainty concerning the future of the nation and the world. These issues have dominated headlines for the past few months overshadowing the advancements made in the private sector to fight the virus. Tremendous pressure was put on the healthcare sector as demand for ventilators, PPE and staff drastically increased while supply was slowly moving to match.

Approval of new drugs and advancements in a historically slow-moving, cautious and deliberate industry came swiftly. The use of AI, machine learning and general tech in the industry was perhaps the most notable of these advancements. This includes the use of Artificial intelligence in finding new drugs to defend against the virus and ways of identifying early-onset symptoms. Telehealth also played a significant role in fighting Covid-19 with remote doctor’s visits up 4,337% in March 2020 compared to that of 2019. The most interesting development occurred in DIY and open source to support front-line workers and hospitals including 3D printed face shield and designs for ventilators. Healthcare providers' post-coronavirus financial struggles will likely promote the model of frugal innovation and low-cost development to increase, according to Frost and Sullivan's Shah. 

Trust and Anti-trust: The Case against Google

On Tuesday, the Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google of historic significance. Many commentaries have noted that it marks the return of the U.S. government to a role that some have feared it had abandoned: to discipline powerful monopolies.

What complaints the antitrust lawsuit includes:

• Google stroke multibillion-dollar deals to make its search engine the default option on smartphones
• Google controls 88 percent of the U.S. search engine market, giving it unparalleled power which the company uses to effectively prevent alternative search engines from competing fairly
• Google monopolizes the search ad market

How Google’s monopolistic position may harm consumers:

• Google’s control over search means it can include hidden costs and charge marketers higher fees for ads
• Due to a lack of few alternatives, Google doesn’t have much incentive to optimize its search engine
• This centralization of power in Google has led to a weakened press, as the platform incentivizes virality and sensationalism over high-quality journalism
• Google is not free – users pay with their loss of privacy 

This lawsuit is likely to stretch on for years and it will be interesting to see how this plays out in court. Will Google be forced to sell off parts of the company? Will it be regulated more like a public utility, required to license out patents for its algorithms? Will anything happen at all? Only time will tell. In any case, the suit has already sent a powerful message. It may even send off a cascade of lawsuits against other big tech companies. 

Amazon Isn't Even Hiding Its Intentions Anymore

10/21/2020 – (gizmodo.com)

Today, Amazon rolled out the “Amazon Shopper Panel” which pays customers for information on where they shop when they’re not shopping on Amazon.com. Panelists submit photos of receipts through the app at least 10 times a month receive $10 in Amazon credit or donate to a charity of their choice. Additional credits will be issued for participating in occasional surveys about certain brands and products. Receipts must come from brick-and-mortar retailers like grocery stores and drug stores or entertainment outlets like movie theaters.

Information shared will be used to helping brands offer better products and making ads more relevant on Amazon. In addition, the data from receipts and surveys may be used to improve product selection in Amazon.com, Whole Foods, and Prime Video.

Amazon is under regulatory scrutiny over scandals tracking consumer purchase data. Wall Street Journal article found that Amazon spent years tracking performance of third-party sellers to use to its advantage by creating competing products under the Amazon private label.

Currently only 4% of US retail sales are transacted through Amazon. But it’s important to note, they are the leader in US retail e-commerce sales with 39% market share. The next closest competitor is Walmart at 5%. Leveraging purchase data through the new panel program will only help to improve this dominating e-commerce market share.

How VR makes advertising better?

Compared with traditional old-school marketers, the marketing professionals of the new era have a particularly strong desire to sell with new technologies, whether it is the PC era or the mobile era, or even the current VR and AR era. The gradual integration of virtual reality technology into the marketing and advertising industry is also a general trend.

The most important key success factor in advertising and marketing is to capture consumers’ "curiosity", and the trend-leading VR advertising and VR marketing developed in recent years have brought consumers unprecedented visual experience and freshness that is different from traditional advertising models. Do people like immersive freshness and immersive stimulating experience? Compared with flat 2D video advertisements, audiences wear special VR devices on their heads. The extremely real scenes, immersive atmosphere, and interactive content that can be deeply and flexibly customized will enable consumers to have a real connection with the brand. The creative means to convey various messages through VR also appeal to most advertisers. 

VR marketing and VR advertising can significantly increase the conversion rate of traditional marketing. At present, VR marketing and VR advertising are mainly concentrated in the fields of e-commerce, tourism, real estate, finance, education, automobiles, etc. It can be seen that the application prospects are still very broad. The below are a long list of key benefits of VR advertising:

1. Strong interaction: Compared with sliding a finger, the first thing that VR marketing content needs is that you turn to your phone. In this simple action, the interaction between you and the content has been established, and "participation" is undoubtedly the most core measure of the effect of online marketing. Imagine the situation where the "head-downers" raised their heads and shook their heads and turned their mobile phones. Is it very magical? It can be said that it is a VR version of eye exercises.
2. First mover advantage: Earlier, many people didn't understand AR and VR technology, or didn't believe that it can bring waves to marketing. When new trends emerge in the market, the first promoter will also be the winner of the greatest benefits.
3. Longer engagement: It is undeniable that 360°VR advertising can attract attention more easily, and this kind of continuous interactivity is unmatched by other media. People first entered the 360° world because of curiosity, and then stayed here because of the endless imagination.
4. Positive brand connection: Consumers will of course express a good impression of fresh and creative advertisements, which will also have a positive impression of the brand behind the advertisement, for consumers of any age.
5. Data analysis: In terms of data collection, 360° VR marketing has unprecedented advantages, such as eye-tracking information viewed by users. Later these analyses can also help brands better adjust marketing strategies to achieve a win-win situation.
6. Immersive customizable brand story experience: Storytelling is of course a pleasing marketing method, and instead of depicting various details to impress consumers, VR marketing, an unprecedented immersive platform, can more directly bring people into creative brand stories customized according to needs.
7. Better content awareness: The audience's awareness of 360° content VR marketing is 8 times higher than that of traditional advertising.
8. Stronger purchase intention: Compared with traditional advertising, 360-degree video content is extremely attractive, and consumers’ purchase intentions are three times higher than traditional advertising.

Here's an example of the leading luxury brand Dior

As a world-renowned fashion consumer brand, Dior has a keen sense of the marketing value of VR in the fashion field. Dior has launched its own brand of VR equipment Dior Eyes, and the workmanship also continues its brand's exquisite style. The screen has a pixel density of 515 PPI and the viewing angle is close to 100 degrees.

Through Dior Eyes, the wearer can experience the VIP-like treatment, go straight to the latest ready-to-wear clothing show, and even witness the interaction between the supermodels and makeup artists and stylists who will be on the stage in the background, which greatly satisfy users' fashion Curiosity.

Currently, Dior Eyes has been opened to the public in Dior's boutique. In fact, the biggest function of this device is to create an atmosphere for consumers, making them interested in products and increasing their desire to buy.

What’s up WhatsApp

Facebook recently laid out a new strategy for its messaging app WhatsApp, which has ~ 2 billion active users worldwide.

Facebook is one of the latest social media platforms that is making a push to integrate shopping/eCommerce directly into its app (see my blog post about YouTube from last week).

With the increasing use of WhatsApp for business activity, Facebook is planning on expanding in-app shopping options to allow for purchases right from a chat. This will give brands new tools for managing their interactions to maximize business potential. It is even planning to charge fees for some advanced functions. This could be a new way for Facebook to monetize WhatsApp, which it purchased a few years ago for $19Bn with the initial plan to push ads into WhatsApp Status, the stories-type feature of the app.

One of the reasons why Facebook had to rethink its original strategy to monetize WhatsApp relates to privacy issues. There were concerns that Facebook would weaken WhatsApp's privacy measures, including end-to-end encryption, but more recently, Facebook has backed away on this approach and enhanced privacy features are expected to stay.

The WhatsApp’s ecommerce platform is intended to work as follows. A user messages a business, which can reply with a link to a product catalog. The shopper can then add items to their cart and checkout from the app. Here is a promotional video that demonstrates how it works.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOKp7FmNJVE&feature=emb_title)

So far WhatsApp commerce has been a big focus in India, where Facebook is working to expand its presence including the use of WhatsApp Pay, which it can use to build on this strategy in other countries. It will be interesting to see if WhatsApp ecommerce approach really takes off and which off the social medial platform will turn out to capture most customer and business interest.