Editorial
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No. 48 — 2020
Artificial Intelligence for Pandemics
Let’s begin with the full acknowledgement that the COVID-19 pandemic is an evolving situation with numerous externalities and effects. Let’s also acknowledge the vast amount of thought-provoking pieces already available that address the gaps, the wins and the unknowns facing humanity’s future re-emergence from this pandemic. Lastly, let’s acknowledge that there will be a re-emergence. As Arundthi Roy so eloquently wrote in her recent Financial Times op-ed, “Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.” Heeding…
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No. 48 — 2020
The Open Data Strategy of the Government of Catalonia
Today, now just over two decades into the twenty-first century, the importance and potential of data is a well-acknowledged fact. Data, and the information that can be extracted from it, is a precious resource that can be used to generate social and economic value: data enables us to start new businesses, analyse patterns and trends, make data-driven decisions and solve complex problems. Public administrations, therefore, have a responsibility to ensure all citizens, all people and all businesses and organisations have the opportunity to harness this potential. It’s what is known as open data. The Directorate General for Transparency and Open…
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No. 48 — 2020
Open Data: a Public Resource for Digital Transformation
Open data represents an advancement for democracy, owing to the fact that, by making such data truly public, all citizens are afforded access to information that is both useful and usable. At the same time, open data serves as an excellent resource for the development of applications and services with a high level of social value. The concept of open data refers to making data public, in such a way that they can be openly accessed and freely re-used. Open data is one of the three spheres of activity of open government. The positive impact of open data on society…
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No. 48 — 2020
The dark side of Artificial Intelligence
The opening decades of the 21st century have been shaped by a process of technological acceleration that can only be compared to other historical milestones, such as the industrial revolution. They have ushered in a series of systemic changes that are difficult to value and understand in their entirety. Myths and Realities of AI As an example of the magnitude of this transformation, we need to keep in mind that, for the first time in the history of our species, we live in a context where critical decisions affecting the lives of individuals are made (partially or entirely) by non-human…
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No. 48 — 2020
Science-Fiction: A Mirror for the Future of Humankind
Digital technologies have become part of our everyday lives and are increasingly acting as intermediaries in our workplaces and personal relationships or even substituting them. The Internet of things, social networks, programs that learn by interacting with humans, assistive and companion robots, computer games with a purpose, serious games for social impact, roboadvisors, webs that offer digital immortality… These tools can, in a short time, modify the job market, flip someone’s reputation, transform a district, change our relationships —not just at work, but also within our families and close contacts— or extend what a person leaves behind after dying, which…
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No. 48 — 2020
Israel: (AI) Startup Nation?
Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies enhance machines with the ability to “think”, to improve operational efficiency, to streamline processes, and to solve complex problems. Nowadays, AI captures the imagination and interest of entrepreneurs, investors, businesses, and consumers alike. However, the term AI is not new. In fact, it was coined by John McCarthy in 1956, at a conference at Dartmouth College, NH, USA. For decades AI was merely an academic discipline, and research was performed in labs by a modest community of devoted scientists. However, in the last decade, AI has arisen as a leading transformational technology and a prominent factor…
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No. 48 — 2020
Catalonia.AI
In today’s society, digital technologies are part of our everyday lives. We have fully embraced devices like the internet and smartphones; indeed, imagining our lives without them proves next to impossible. We live in a globalised environment that changes at exponential speeds, and the setting is competitive, complex and demanding. In this playing field, digital technologies are a strategic lever to kick-start the country and attain both sustained economic growth and a unique positioning with great added value. The societies with the most advanced economic development models are also the ones leading the way towards the digital society, with their…
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Feminism is not a numbers game, it’s about inclusion
Feminist leadership is not about the number of women in top jobs. It’s not about symbols and tokenism. It’s about the quality of women in leadership positions, the power they wield and the way they use it. It’s about the policies women leaders are willing and able to enact, their approach to the world, their ability to do things differently and their capacity to grab opportunities and face up to challenges. Women leaders aren’t credible when they focus solely on gender equality. Their impact and their relevance are strongest when they adopt and implement actions and policies which are inclusive,…
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The European Union: in the vanguard on equality policy?
The European Union (EU) thinks of itself as in the vanguard of gender equality policies worldwide. The EU’s view of itself as a leader has a conspicuous ethnocentric bias, even though comparisons do put most of the members of the bloc at the head of global rankings for various economic, social and political indicators. To assess the extent to which gender equality is a priority for the EU, we looked at the main actions it has taken in equal treatment, affirmative action and gender transversality. Our assessment took account of various reports issued by the Committee on Women’s Rights and…
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No. 48 — 2020
The (apparently) disobedient machine
I must have been about 15 the first time I saw Blade Runner. It was in philosophy class, in high school. Until then, like many kids, I had fantasised with constructing my own machines. I remember especially how, a few years before, after seeing an episode of Doctor Who in which some extraterrestrial robots appeared (the Daleks), I turned the house upside down looking for shoe boxes, sewing thread and cardboard egg-boxes to make my own contraptions that I moved myself, imitating the robots on the TV. But what occurred to me after seeing Blade Runner was different. I didn’t…
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No. 48 — 2020
The Redefinition of Power
The European Commission refers to artificial intelligence as ‘systems that display intelligent behaviour […] — with some degree of autonomy — to achieve specific goals’ . Together with robotics and big data analytics, it represents a key line of research, with billions invested in it . ‘Big data analytics’ is not a technical term. It refers to data that can be aggregated, added to and managed by algorithms, and which feed artificial intelligence systems. The six Vs: value, volume, velocity, variety, veracity and variability, are sometimes used to define the concept. I prefer to talk about structured, semi-structured and unstructured…
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No. 48 — 2020
Forms of intelligence? We need them all!
Rational intelligence – the exclusively human capacity of thinking, speculating, knowing – has been, since the start of the Modern Era, the keystone of our place in the world: “More than nature, different from machines”. While we have intelligence, animals only have instincts and machines are simply mechanical. But today, these principles are being questioned. For one thing, the climatic and social emergency obliges us to put the superiority of rational intelligence on stand-by, at least as regards conservation and continuation of life. For another thing, artificial intelligence is better than human beings at resolving certain “rational” problems, leading us…