A bombshell dropped earlier today from IBM who announced that they are getting out of the facial recognition business. This news came via IBM CEO Arvind Krishna in a letter to Congress today. Here’s the reasons why:
IBM no longer offers general purpose IBM facial recognition or analysis software. IBM firmly opposes and will not condone uses of any technology, including facial recognition technology offered by other vendors, for mass surveillance, racial profiling, violations of basic human rights and freedoms, or any purpose which is not consistent with our values and Principles of Trust and Transparency. We believe now is the time to begin a national dialogue on whether and how facial recognition technology should be employed by domestic law enforcement agencies.
Artificial Intelligence is a powerful tool that can help law enforcement keep citizens safe. But vendors and users of Al systems have a shared responsibility to ensure that Al is tested for bias, particularity when used in law enforcement, and that such bias testing is audited and reported.
Finally, national policy also should encourage and advance uses of technology that bring greater transparency and accountability to policing, such as body cameras and modern data analytics techniques.
Clearly this is related to the protests tied to the death of George Floyd at the hands of police. Companies like IBM are clearly re-evaluating their relationships with police agencies and making adjustments. However, I would say that into this void other companies will step in. Clearview AI who appear not to have the same moral standards as IBM is likely to fill this void. Which means that this tech will still be out there.
Report Claims That Apple Is About To Announce A Shift Away From Intel Processors At WWDC
Posted in Commentary with tags Apple, Intel on June 9, 2020 by itnerdBloomberg is reporting that Apple is going to announce at their World Wide Developers Conference in two weeks that they will be shifting away from using Intel processors in Macs to their own processors. Here’s the details:
The company is holding WWDC the week of June 22. Unveiling the initiative, codenamed Kalamata, at the event would give outside developers time to adjust before new Macs roll out in 2021, the people said. Since the hardware transition is still months away, the timing of the announcement could change, they added, while asking not to be identified discussing private plans.
The new processors will be based on the same technology used in Apple-designed iPhone and iPad chips. However, future Macs will still run the macOS operating system rather than the iOS software on mobile devices from the company. Bloomberg News reported on Apple’s effort to move away from Intel earlier this year, and in 2018. Apple shares were up less than 1% Tuesday while Intel was down less than 1%.
This sounds similar to Apple’s move from IBM’s PowerPC to Intel in the 2000’s. Except that the move to Intel was a bit of a surprise. However this move to Apple’s own processors has been rumored for years. Even Intel expected this move. And that’s because of Intel’s inability to meet it’s own ship targets when it comes to getting their processors out the door. That part is kind of similar to Steve Jobs dumping IBM when they could not get the processors that Apple expected at the speeds that Apple required from IBM on time. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in a couple of weeks.
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