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Off on a Comet! a Journey through Planetary Space by Jules Verne, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . A SLEDGE-RIDE here CHAPTER XXIV. A SLEDGE-RIDE Formentera was at once recognized by Servadac and the count as the name of one of the smallest of the Balearic Islands. It was more than probable that the unknown writer had thence sent out the mysterious documents, and from the message just come to hand by the carrier-pigeon, it appeared all but certain that at the beginning of April, a fortnight back, he had still been there. In one important particular the present communication differed from those that had preceded it: it was written entirely in French, and exhibited none of the ecstatic exclamations in other languages that had been remarkable in the two former papers. The concluding line, with its intimation of failing provisions, amounted almost to an appeal for help. Captain Servadac briefly drew attention to these points, and concluded by saying, “My friends, we must, without delay, hasten to the assistance of this unfortunate man.” “For my part,” said the count, “I am quite ready to accompany you; it is not unlikely that he is not alone in his distress.” Lieutenant Procope expressed much surprise. “We must have passed close to Formentera,” he said, “when we explored the site of the Balearic Isles; this fragment must be very small; it must be smaller than the remaining splinter of Gibraltar or Ceuta; otherwise, surely it would never have escaped our observation.” “However small it may be,” replied Servadac, “we must find it. How far off do you suppose it is?” “It must be a hundred and twenty leagues away,” said the lieutenant, thoughtfully; “and I do not quite understand how you would propose to get there.” “Why, on skates of course; no difficulty in that, I should imagine,” answered Servadac, and he appealed to the count for confirmation of his opinion. The count assented, but Procope looked doubtful. “Your enterprise is generous,” he said, “and I should be most unwilling to throw any unnecessary obstacle in the way of its execution; but, pardon me, if I submit to you a few considerations which to my mind are very important. First of all, the thermometer is already down to 22 degrees below zero, and the keen wind from the south is making the temperature absolutely unendurable; in the second place, supposing you travel at the rate of twenty leagues a day, you would be exposed for at least six consecutive days; and thirdly, your expedition will be of small avail unless you convey provisions not only for yourselves, but for those whom you hope to relieve.” “We can carry our own provisions on our backs in knapsacks,” interposed Servadac, quickly, unwilling to recognize any difficulty in the way. “Granted that you can,” answered the lieutenant, quietly; “but where, on this level ice-field, will you find shelter in your periods of rest? You must perish with cold; you will not have the chance of digging out ice-huts like the Esquimaux.” “As to rest,” said Servadac, “we shall take none; we shall keep on our way continuously; by traveling day and night without intermission, we shall not be more than three days in reaching Formentera.” “Believe me,” persisted the lieutenant, calmly, “your enthusiasm is carrying you too far; the feat you propose is impossible; but even conceding the possibility of your success in reaching your destination, what service do you imagine that you, half-starved and half-frozen yourself, could render to those who are already perishing by want and exposure? you would only bring them away to die.” The obvious and dispassionate reasoning of the lieutenant could not fail to impress the minds of those who listened to him; the impracticability of the journey became more and more apparent; unprotected on that drear expanse, any traveler must assuredly succumb to the snow-drifts that were continually being whirled across it. But Hector Servadac, animated by the generous desire of rescuing a suffering fellow-creature, could scarcely be brought within the bounds of common sense. Against his better judgment he was still bent upon the expedition, and Ben Zoof declared himself ready to accompany his master in the event of Count Timascheff hesitating to encounter the peril which the undertaking involved. But the count entirely repudiated all idea of shrinking from what, quite as much as the captain, he regarded as a sacred duty, and turning to Lieutenant Procope, told him that unless some better plan could be devised, he was prepared to start off at once and make the attempt to skate across to Formentera. The lieutenant, who was lost in thought, made no immediate reply. “I wish we had a sledge,” said Ben Zoof. “I dare say that a sledge of some sort could be contrived,” said the count; “but then we should have no dogs or reindeers to draw it.” “Why not rough-shoe the two horses?” “They would never be able to endure the cold,” objected the count. “Never mind,” said Servadac, “let us get our sledge and put them to the test. Something must be done!” “I think,” said Lieutenant Procope, breaking his thoughtful silence, “that I can tell you of a sledge already provided for your hand, and I can suggest a motive power surer and swifter than horses.” “What do you mean?” was the eager inquiry. “I mean the ’s yawl,” answered the lieutenant; “and I have no doubt that the wind would carry her rapidly along the ice.” Dobryna The idea seemed admirable. Lieutenant Procope was well aware to what marvelous perfection the Americans had brought their sail-sledges, and had heard how in the vast prairies of the United States they had been known to outvie the speed of an express train, occasionally attaining a rate of more than a hundred miles an hour. The wind was still blowing hard from the south, and assuming that the yawl could be propelled with a velocity of about fifteen or at least twelve leagues an hour, he reckoned that it was quite possible to reach Formentera within twelve hours, that is to say, in a single day between the intervals of sunrise and sunrise. The yawl was about twelve feet long, and capable of holding five or six people. The addition of a couple of iron runners would be all that was requisite to convert it into an excellent sledge, which, if a sail were hoisted, might be deemed certain to make a rapid progress over the smooth surface of the ice. For the protection of the passengers it was proposed to erect a kind of wooden roof lined with strong cloth; beneath this could be packed a supply of provisions, some warm furs, some cordials, and a portable stove to be heated by spirits of wine. For the outward journey the wind was as favorable as could be desired; but it was to be apprehended that, unless the direction of the wind should change, the return would be a matter of some difficulty; a system of tacking might be carried out to a certain degree, but it was not likely that the yawl would answer her helm in any way corresponding to what would occur in the open sea. Captain Servadac, however, would not listen to any representation of probable difficulties; the future, he said, must provide for itself. The engineer and several of the sailors set vigorously to work, and before the close of the day the yawl was furnished with a pair of stout iron runners, curved upwards in front, and fitted with a metal scull designed to assist in maintaining the directness of her course; the roof was put on, and beneath it were stored the provisions, the wraps, and the cooking utensils. A strong desire was expressed by Lieutenant Procope that he should be allowed to accompany Captain Servadac instead of Count Timascheff. It was unadvisable for all three of them to go, as, in case of there being several persons to be rescued, the space at their command would be quite inadequate. The lieutenant urged that he was the most experienced seaman, and as such was best qualified to take command of the sledge and the management of the sails; and as it was not to be expected that Servadac would resign his intention of going in person to relieve his fellow-countryman, Procope submitted his own wishes to the count. The count was himself very anxious to have his share in the philanthropic enterprise, and demurred considerably to the proposal; he yielded, however, after a time, to Servadac’s representations that in the event of the expedition proving disastrous, the little colony would need his services alike as governor and protector, and overcoming his reluctance to be left out of the perilous adventure, was prevailed upon to remain behind for the general good of the community at Nina’s Hive. At sunrise on the following morning, the 16th of April, Captain Servadac and the lieutenant took their places in the yawl. The thermometer was more than 20 degrees below zero, and it was with deep emotion that their companions beheld them thus embarking upon the vast white plain. Ben Zoof’s heart was too full for words; Count Timascheff could not forbear pressing his two brave friends to his bosom; the Spaniards and the Russian sailors crowded round for a farewell shake of the hand, and little Nina, her great eyes flooded with tears, held up her face for a parting kiss. The sad scene was not permitted to be long. The sail was quickly hoisted, and the sledge, just as if it had expanded a huge white wing, was in a little while carried far away beyond the horizon. Light and unimpeded, the yawl scudded on with incredible speed. Two sails, a brigantine and a jib, were arranged to catch the wind to the greatest advantage, and the travelers estimated that their progress would be little under the rate of twelve leagues an hour. The motion of their novel vehicle was singularly gentle, the oscillation being less than that of an ordinary railway-carriage, while the diminished force of gravity contributed to the swiftness. Except that the clouds of ice-dust raised by the metal runners were an evidence that they had not actually left the level surface of the ice, the captain and lieutenant might again and again have imagined that they were being conveyed through the air in a balloon. Lieutenant Procope, with his head all muffled up for fear of frost-bite, took an occasional peep through an aperture that had been intentionally left in the roof, and by the help of a compass, maintained a proper and straight course for Formentera. Nothing could be more dejected than the aspect of that frozen sea; not a single living creature relieved the solitude; both the travelers, Procope from a scientific point of view, Servadac from an aesthetic, were alike impressed by the solemnity of the scene, and where the lengthened shadow of the sail cast upon the ice by the oblique rays of the setting sun had disappeared, and day had given place to night, the two men, drawn together as by an involuntary impulse, mutually held each other’s hands in silence. There had been a new moon on the previous evening; but, in the absence of moonlight, the constellations shone with remarkable brilliancy. The new pole-star close upon the horizon was resplendent, and even had Lieutenant Procope been destitute of a compass, he would have had no difficulty in holding his course by the guidance of that alone. However great was the distance that separated Gallia from the sun, it was after all manifestly insignificant in comparison with the remoteness of the nearest of the fixed stars. Observing that Servadac was completely absorbed in his own thoughts, Lieutenant Procope had leisure to contemplate some of the present perplexing problems, and to ponder over the true astronomical position. The last of the three mysterious documents had represented that Gallia, in conformity with Kepler’s second law, had traveled along her orbit during the month of March twenty millions of leagues less than she had done in the previous month; yet, in the same time, her distance from the sun had nevertheless been increased by thirty-two millions of leagues. She was now, therefore, in the center of the zone of telescopic planets that revolve between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and had captured for herself a satellite which, according to the document, was Nerina, one of the asteroids most recently identified. If thus, then, it was within the power of the unknown writer to estimate with such apparent certainty Gallia’s exact position, was it not likely that his mathematical calculations would enable him to arrive at some definite conclusion as to the date at which she would begin again to approach the sun? Nay, was it not to be expected that he had already estimated, with sufficient approximation to truth, what was to be the true length of the Gallian year? So intently had they each separately been following their own train of thought, that daylight reappeared almost before the travelers were aware of it. On consulting their instruments, they found that they must have traveled close upon a hundred leagues since they started, and they resolved to slacken their speed. The sails were accordingly taken in a little, and in spite of the intensity of the cold, the explorers ventured out of their shelter, in order that they might reconnoiter the plain, which was apparently as boundless as ever. It was completely desert; not so much as a single point of rock relieved the bare uniformity of its surface. “Are we not considerably to the west of Formentera?” asked Servadac, after examining the chart. “Most likely,” replied Procope. “I have taken the same course as I should have done at sea, and I have kept some distance to windward of the island; we can bear straight down upon it whenever we like.” “Bear down then, now; and as quickly as you can.” The yawl was at once put with her head to the northeast and Captain Servadac, in defiance of the icy blast, remained standing at the bow, his gaze fixed on the horizon. All at once his eye brightened. “Look! look!” he exclaimed, pointing to a faint outline that broke the monotony of the circle that divided the plain from the sky. In an instant the lieutenant had seized his telescope. “I see what you mean,” said he; “it is a pylone that has been used for some geodesic survey.” The next moment the sail was filled, and the yawl was bearing down upon the object with inconceivable swiftness, both Captain Servadac and the lieutenant too excited to utter a word. Mile after mile the distance rapidly grew less, and as they drew nearer the pylone they could see that it was erected on a low mass of rocks that was the sole interruption to the dull level of the field of ice. No wreath of smoke rose above the little island; it was manifestly impossible, they conceived, that any human being could there have survived the cold; the sad presentiment forced itself upon their minds that it was a mere cairn to which they had been hurrying. Ten minutes later, and they were so near the rock that the lieutenant took in his sail, convinced that the impetus already attained would be sufficient to carry him to the land. Servadac’s heart bounded as he caught sight of a fragment of blue canvas fluttering in the wind from the top of the pylone: it was all that now remained of the French national standard. At the foot of the pylone stood a miserable shed, its shutters tightly closed. No other habitation was to be seen; the entire island was less than a quarter of a mile in circumference; and the conclusion was irresistible that it was the sole surviving remnant of Formentera, once a member of the Balearic Archipelago. To leap on shore, to clamber over the slippery stones, and to reach the cabin was but the work of a few moments. The worm-eaten door was bolted on the inside. Servadac began to knock with all his might. No answer. Neither shouting nor knocking could draw forth a reply. “Let us force it open, Procope!” he said. The two men put their shoulders to the door, which soon yielded to their vigorous efforts, and they found themselves inside the shed, and in almost total darkness. By opening a shutter they admitted what daylight they could. At first sight the wretched place seemed to be deserted; the little grate contained the ashes of a fire long since extinguished; all looked black and desolate. Another instant’s investigation, however, revealed a bed in the extreme corner, and extended on the bed a human form. “Dead!” sighed Servadac; “dead of cold and hunger!” Lieutenant Procope bent down and anxiously contemplated the body. “No; he is alive!” he said, and drawing a small flask from his pocket he poured a few drops of brandy between the lips of the senseless man. There was a faint sigh, followed by a feeble voice, which uttered the one word, “Gallia?” “Yes, yes! Gallia!” echoed Servadac, eagerly. “My comet, my comet!” said the voice, so low as to be almost inaudible, and the unfortunate man relapsed again into unconsciousness. “Where have I seen this man?” thought Servadac to himself; “his face is strangely familiar to me.” But it was no time for deliberation. Not a moment was to be lost in getting the unconscious astronomer away from his desolate quarters. He was soon conveyed to the yawl; his books, his scanty wardrobe, his papers, his instruments, and the blackboard which had served for his calculations, were quickly collected; the wind, by a fortuitous Providence, had shifted into a favorable quarter; they set their sail with all speed, and ere long were on their journey back from Formentera. Thirty-six hours later, the brave travelers were greeted by the acclamations of their fellow-colonists, who had been most anxiously awaiting their reappearance, and the still senseless , who had neither opened his eyes nor spoken a word throughout the journey, was safely deposited in the warmth and security of the great hall of Nina’s Hive. savant END OF FIRST BOOK About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Jules Verne (1998). Off on a Comet! a Journey through Planetary Space. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1353/pg1353-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

A SLEDGE-RIDE

THE OLD WEEVILS

A science fiction story about multisensory technologies, artificial intelligence, and the quest for authentic experiences I found the best coffee in the world while flying to the city of Cartagena. It popped up on page # 7 of the travel magazine tucked into the rear seat pocket. My taste piercing unveiled a rich flavor with medium acidity and notes of chocolate and ripe fruits. My olfactory piercing wafted out a nutty-caramel aroma. The ad managed to shake me out of the discomfort of being sandwiched between two overweight executives, and just for one moment, I had a sense of inner peace. When you get used to multisensory advertising (the coconut-scented beaches, the vanilla-smelling cars, the champagne-fragranced jewelry) you just want to leave them behind by turning the pages until you reach the juicy content. Skillfully designed advertising claims to have accomplished the amazing feat of capturing people’s attention. With the certification of Authentic In-Person Experience—the kind you couldn’t translate to a multisensory digital format —Café Castillo, located in the walled city, promised to be one of the remaining places in the world that are worth traveling to. As part of my job in the multisensory marketing industry, I’ve grown skeptical of such statements. If it hadn’t been for my psychbot, who squared away everything related to my vacation (restricting access to my inbox and IMs, picking up the destination, booking the tickets and hotel), I wouldn’t have been so keen on visiting an in-person coffee shop. I would have allowed my budgetbot to turn on the coffee machine I used at home. I doubt he would have shown up, though: my priority for happiness was higher than accumulating wealth. My psychbot would have probably blocked him out of the system. Again and again, my psychbot had proven that her decisions were more sensible than mine. Increasing her monthly budget (which is why she was able to buy the tickets without consulting me) had had a noteworthy effect on my mood, something that was verified by the decreased blood cortisol levels found in my medical record. My psychbot had increased the frequency of the samples my gloves sensors sent, so she was able to analyze the chemicals in my sweat with more accuracy. One of the best decisions my psychbot had taken was purchasing a clonebot, a simulation that smelled like me, moved like me, and thought almost like me, thanks to the computer modeling of my behavioral patterns. According to my psychbot, the relationship I had with my mother was directly related to my emotional issues. My mom expected at least five minutes of remote interaction, , which was more than enough time to lose my job. No matter how hard I’d try to explain, my mom didn’t understand the challenges of living in a hyperconnected 24–7 availability world. five minutes Clonebot was programmed to establish a connection with my mom every other day, greet her with a warm hug, and listen carefully to her monologue of health issues. The simulation, through generic conversation, made my mom think that she was talking with me when in reality she was talking to a digital copy of me. Clonebot simulated liking the food she cooked by telling her it was delicious in multiple, software-generated ways. Sometimes he’d even ask her for the 3D version of the recipe and pretend he’d print it for dinner. Although I suspected it was a win-win situation, I got solid confirmation when my mom’s doctorbot notified my psychbot that after installing my clonebot my mom’s cortisol levels were back to normal. Finding sexual partners was one of the few activities I decided to invest my time on. I had refined the search algorithm of my wingbot to only find women who were as busy as me, with no emotional attachments and sexually liberated. The interface highlighted a woman sitting four rows ahead of me. I swirled my index finger to look at every angle of her 3D representation. She was definitely in the attractive range, calculated by my wingbot based on pupil dilation, heart rate variability, and breathing patterns. While I was checking her out, I accessed the options that were available only to users who matched her attractiveness settings, including personality traits and sensory information: body odor, skin texture, and kissing style. I took my Kissenger device out of my carry-on bag and selected the last option by staring and blinking at it. Right next to me, one of the obese executives was kissing her lover goodbye, so I activated the “customize environment” option to conceal my fellow passengers. The seats looked empty as if I were alone in the plane. I joined my lips with the silicone lips of the Kissenger, but instead of the slow, sizzling kiss I was expecting from her, I felt her slurpy tongue flopping around my mouth like a fish out of water. I removed the Kissenger, stared at wingbot’s exit button, and clicked with a blink. “Do you want to add this kissing style to the list of unwanted features?” asked my wingbot before shutting down. I clicked yes with a blink. Disappointed, I looked down at the magazine on my lap. Once again, the marvelous flavor took over my tongue and nose. A Chemex coffeemaker popped-up on the page, a visual representation of the entire stock that was being advertised. The pour-over coffee accurately decreased every time someone took a sip of their cup at the coffee shop. You could see their profile images like stubborn bubbles submerged in the black liquid, and if you stared at them, you could see their reviews and pictures on social networks. I didn’t want to be biased by their opinions, so I just stared at the ad’s sharing button, clicked with a blink, and sent it to my co-workers, who were finishing their daily stand-up meeting. I wanted to see their reaction, so I decided to join the call and entered the conference room. “Aren’t you on vacation?” my boss said. “Going offline soon,” I said. “Just wanted to share this with you really quick.” At the center of the table, the Café Castillo ad popped-up. My co-workers smelled and tasted the coffee and gave themselves time to process the experience. “It’s a masterpiece!” my boss said, mesmerized by the Chemex coffeemaker, the real-time visualization, the bubble-clients. “I’ve never experienced such an engaging advertisement.” “Me neither. Actually, I’ll go visit in person to understand how they managed to simulate the flavor,” I said, right before my psychbot disconnected the call. “You’ll have a cup of coffee and that’s it,” my psychbot said, using her higher access level to intrude without my authorization. “You’re such a workaholic! It’s been six years since your last vacation.” “Help me, then,” I said. “Teach me the lost art of taking time off.” “That’s easy,” she said. “Just focus on anything other than marketing.” “Nothing comes to mind.” “Why don’t you feed Truffle?” Although the feeding process was automated by default, my psychbot set the holoprojector to interactive mode. A bell alerted Truffle it was mealtime. She went running and wagging her tail until she placed her front paws on my holo’s chest. I felt the weight of her paws in my jacket and she found support in the holo’s magnetic interface. Through my gloves, I felt the fur in her back while I petted her. After the excited greeting, Truffle sat down to wait for her food. I stared at the feeding option, clicked with a blink and the holoprojector’s hatch opened. A bowl of dog food was pushed out by the magnetic interface. Truffle ate the bowl clean before it was pulled back inside. The magnetic interface tossed a ball following the direction and strength I indicated with my gloves and Truffle caught it, brought it back to my holo, and dropped it on the floor to play again. We continued playing fetch until we got interrupted by a high-priority landing notification sent by the plane. Before getting off, I stared at the coffee ad’s ‘directions’ button and clicked with a blink. A driverless cab waited for me at the airport to take me to the Movich hotel, located in the walled city. I dropped the bags in my room and walked through narrow streets, following the blue line guiding me towards Café Castillo. I walked past striking colonial houses with flower-decorated balconies, many of them transformed into commercial properties. Given the unusual location, my touristbot came up with restaurant recommendations, tourist attractions, and beach reviews by social media friends. ID tags all over Santo Domingo plaza helped me learn more about the place: the 16th-century church at the center, the Fernando Botero statue Gertrudis (whose ass you’re supposed to touch for good luck, or so my boss said in a geonote) and the long-awaited Café Castillo, surrounded by an outdoor seating option that reminded me of classic European cafés. While waiting in line, I made my order through the interface, paid with bitcoins and a barista read the information that was displayed over my head; I guess she was looking at a 3D Chemex animation with a huge number on top indicating how many cups I requested. The barista served the order on a cup that had been previously used by 35 people, none of them in my social network. The cup asked me if I wanted to check-in. I stared at the yes option, clicked with a blink, and sat outside. I took a sip of coffee. If my coworkers were still looking at the advertising, they may have noticed my disgusted face in one of the bubbles, realizing that the experience didn’t match the one they promised me. It was just another company that had invested a large amount of money in a multisensory design that didn’t represent the reality of the product. While my taste piercing sweetened the burnt, ashy, sour notes according to my flavor settings, I thought we were living in a strange world where in-person experiences were surpassed by the digital. That gloomy realization brought me down to a daunting state that was detected and interrupted by my psychbot. “You’re thinking about marketing again,” she said. “Here’s what you have to do: inhale this salty Caribbean air, run into the ocean fully clothed, drink a cocktail in the pool. Have authentic experiences, things you can only do on vacation.” My psychbot was right, as always, but she had forgotten something on her list. I accessed the menu to kill unnecessary processes, especially the one that belonged to my clonebot. I called my mom. When was the last time I heard her voice? I didn’t recognize that senile tremor. And her face… Jesus, why was her face so dry? Why did she have so many wrinkles? I felt the flaccid arms of an old lady through my jacket, a stranger who had stopped smiling because she was unsure if I was really her son. I sipped artificially sweetened coffee and got ready to listen to her never-ending monologue about health issues, but this time she was brief: her doctorbot had given her an estimate. She tried to change the subject by sharing the flavor and recipe of the soup she was cooking. I tried to make conversation about it, but the estimate was swirling around my head. I couldn’t stand to be there with my mom. I hugged her goodbye and tried to activate my clonebot, but I couldn’t. My psychbot had already removed it from the system. Originally published as the epilog of (Springer-Verlag London, 2017). Hyperconnectivity

The Challenging Quest for Authentic Experiences 

প্রামাণিক অভিজ্ঞতার জন্য চ্যালেঞ্জিং কোয়েস্ট

Die herausfordernde Suche nach authentischen Erlebnissen

La desafiante búsqueda de experiencias auténticas

La quête difficile d'expériences authentiques

प्रामाणिक अनुभवों के लिए चुनौतीपूर्ण खोज

本物の体験への挑戦的な探求

진정한 경험을 위한 도전적인 탐구

A desafiadora busca por experiências autênticas

Otantik Deneyimler İçin Zorlu Arayış

Nhiệm vụ đầy thử thách cho trải nghiệm đích thực

对真实体验的挑战

Earlier this month, the European Union Parliament aimed at limiting how companies and websites can track people online to target them with advertisements. Targeted advertising based on people’s online behavior has long been the business model that underwrites the internet. passed sweeping new rules It allows advertisers to use the mass of personal data collected by Meta, Google, and other tech companies as people browse the web to serve ads to users by sorting them into tens of thousands of hyperspecific categories. But behavioral advertising is also controversial. Critics argue that the practice enables discrimination, potentially only . They also say serving people ads based on what big tech companies assume they’re interested in potentially leaves people vulnerable to , , and . offering certain groups of people economic opportunities scams fraud disinformation Notoriously, the consulting firm Cambridge Analytica to target certain Americans with pro-Trump messages and certain Britons with pro-Brexit ads. used personal data gleaned from Facebook profiles The 2016 U.S. presidential election and the Brexit vote, according to Jan Penfrat, a senior policy adviser at European digital rights group EDRi, were “wake-up calls” to the Europe Union to crack down. Lawmakers in the U.S. are also looking into ways to regulate behavioral advertising. ↩︎ link What Will the European Parliament’s New Regulations Do? There’s been a long back and forth about how much to crack down on targeted advertising in the Digital Services Act (DSA), the EU’s big legislative package aimed at regulating Big Tech. Everything from a total ban on behavioral advertising to more modest changes around ad transparency has at some point been on the table. On Jan. 19, the Parliament . Included is a ban on targeted advertising to minors, a ban on tracking sensitive categories like religion, political affiliation, or sexual orientation, and ” for access if users opt-out of their data being tracked for targeted advertising. approved its final position on the bill a requirement for websites to provide “other fair and reasonable options The bill also includes a ban on so-called —“design choices that steer people into decisions they may not have made under normal conditions—such as the endless clicks it takes to opt out of being tracked by cookies on many websites.” dark patterns That measure is critical, according to Alexandre de Streel, the academic director of the think tank Centre on Regulation in Europe, because of how tech companies responded to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the EU’s 2016 tech regulation. In a study on online advertising for the Parliament’s crucial Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, de Streel and nearly a dozen other experts ” had become a major tool used by websites and platforms to persuade users to provide consent for sharing their data. documented how “dark patterns Their recommendations for the DSA—which included more robust enforcement of the GDPR, stricter rules about obtaining consent, and the dark patterns ban—were included in the final bill. “We are going in the right direction if we better enforce the GDPR and add these amendments on ‘dark patterns,’ ” De Streel told The Markup. German member of European Parliament Patrick Breyer joined with more than 20 other MEPs and more than 50 public and private organizations last year to form the . Though its push for a total ban on targeted advertising failed, the coalition was behind many of the more stringent restrictions. Breyer told The Markup the new rules were “a major achievement.” Tracking Free Ads Coalition “The Parliament stopped short of prohibiting surveillance advertising, but giving people a true choice [of whether to be targeted] is a major step forward, and I think the vast majority of people will use this option,” he said. The EU that could potentially be more stringent around targeting and using personal data. will address digital political advertising in a separate bill Despite passing the European Parliament, the DSA is far from settled. Due to the EU’s unique law-making process, the legislation must now be negotiated with the European Commission and the bloc’s 27 countries. The member states, as represented by the European Council, have adopted an official position considerably less aggressive— —and, according to Breyer, are “traditionally very open to [industry] lobbying.” opting for only improved transparency on targeted advertising Whether the DSA’s wins against targeted advertising survive this process “will depend to a large degree on public pressure,” said Breyer. How Has Big Tech Responded? So far, Big Tech companies have publicly tread lightly in response to the European push to limit targeted advertising. In response to The Markup’s request for comment, Google spokesperson Karl Ryan said that Google supports the DSA and that it shares “the goal of MEPs to continue to make the internet safer for everyone….” “We will now take some time to analyze the final Parliament text to understand how it could impact us and our different users,” he said. Meta did not respond to a request for comment. But privately, over the last two years, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft in Brussels, spending more than $20 million in 2020. have ramped up lobbying efforts The advertising industry, meanwhile, has been public in its opposition. In , Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe director of public policy Greg Mroczkowski urged policymakers to reconsider. a statement on the recent vote “The use of personal data in advertising is already tightly regulated by existing legislation,” Mroczkowski said, apparently referencing the GDPR, which regulates data privacy in the EU generally. He further noted that the new rules “risk undermining” existing law and “the entire ad-supported digital economy.” On Wednesday, the Belgian Data Protection Authority found IAB Europe–which developed and administered the system for companies to obtain consent for behavioral advertising while complying with GDPR—in violation of that law. In particular, the authority found that the pop-ups that ask for people’s consent to process their data as they visit websites failed to meet . GDPR’s standards for transparency and consent The pop-up posed “ ” of Europeans, the ruling said. The authority ordered IAB to delete data collected under its Transparency and Consent Framework and has six months to comply. great risks to the fundamental rights “This decision is momentous,” Johnny Ryan, a senior fellow at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, told The Markup. “It means that digital rights are real. And there is a significance for the United States, too, because the IAB has introduced the same consent spam for the CCPA and CPRA [California Consumer Privacy Act and California Privacy Rights Act].” , IAB Europe said it “reject[s] the finding that we are a data controller” in the context of its consent framework and is “considering all options with respect to a legal challenge.” Further, it said it is working on an “action plan to be executed within the prescribed six months” to bring it within GDPR compliance. In a statement to Tech Crunch Google and Meta may be preparing for whichever way the wind is blowing. Google is , which stores general topics of interest in a user’s browser while excluding sensitive categories like race. Meta a protocol to target users without using tracking cookies. developing a supposedly less-invasive targeted advertising system is testing A handful of European companies like internet security company Avast, search engine DuckDuckGo (which is a contributor to The Markup), and publisher Axel Springer see tighter rules around data privacy or tech that matches ads based on a website’s content, and to therefore break the Google-Meta duopoly over online advertising. as a means to push the industry toward contextual ads What’s Happening in the U.S.? On Jan. 18, Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) to prohibit advertisers from using personal data to target advertisements—particularly using data about a person’s race, gender, and religion. Exceptions would be made for “broad” location information and contextual advertising. introduced legislation to Congress “The hoarding of people’s personal data not only abuses privacy, but also drives the spread of misinformation, domestic extremism, racial division, and violence,” Booker in January. said in a statement announcing the bill While there is a bipartisan desire to rein in Big Tech, there is no consensus on how to do it. The bill is designed to stop Amazon, Apple, Google, and other tech giants from . Congressional action on targeted advertising does not appear likely. most likely to pass the divided Congress privileging their own products Still, it is possible the Federal Trade Commission will take action. Last summer, President Biden issued an directing the FTC to use its rulemaking authority to curtail “unfair data collection and surveillance practices.” In December, the FTC for a petition by nonprofit Accountable Tech to develop new data privacy rules. executive order sought public comment Meanwhile, many U.S. digital rights activists, , are hopeful that new rules in Europe , as occurred after the GDPR. such as the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation will force changes globally “The EU Parliament’s position, if it becomes law, could change the rules of the game for all platforms,” wrote EFF’s international policy director Christopher Schmon. It’s still early days, but many see the tide turning against targeted advertising. These types of conversations, according to Penfrat at EDRi, were unthinkable a few years ago. “The fact that a ban on surveillance-based advertising has been brought into the mainstream is a huge success,” he said. Written by: Harrison Jacobs Photo by on Tânia Mousinho Unsplash Also published here

Could There Eventually Be a Ban on Behavioral Advertising?

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) is part of HackerNoon’s Book Blog Post series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . here CHAPTER XL. We was feeling pretty good after breakfast, and took my canoe and went over the river a-fishing, with a lunch, and had a good time, and took a look at the raft and found her all right, and got home late to supper, and found them in such a sweat and worry they didn’t know which end they was standing on, and made us go right off to bed the minute we was done supper, and wouldn’t tell us what the trouble was, and never let on a word about the new letter, but didn’t need to, because we knowed as much about it as anybody did, and as soon as we was half up stairs and her back was turned we slid for the cellar cupboard and loaded up a good lunch and took it up to our room and went to bed, and got up about half-past eleven, and Tom put on Aunt Sally’s dress that he stole and was going to start with the lunch, but says: “Where’s the butter?” “I laid out a hunk of it,” I says, “on a piece of a corn-pone.” “Well, you left it laid out, then—it ain’t here.” “We can get along without it,” I says. “We can get along with it, too,” he says; “just you slide down cellar and fetch it. And then mosey right down the lightning-rod and come along. I’ll go and stuff the straw into Jim’s clothes to represent his mother in disguise, and be ready to baa like a sheep and shove soon as you get there.” So out he went, and down cellar went I. The hunk of butter, big as a person’s fist, was where I had left it, so I took up the slab of corn-pone with it on, and blowed out my light, and started up stairs very stealthy, and got up to the main floor all right, but here comes Aunt Sally with a candle, and I clapped the truck in my hat, and clapped my hat on my head, and the next second she see me; and she says: “You been down cellar?” “Yes’m.” “What you been doing down there?” “Noth’n.” “Noth’n!” “No’m.” “Well, then, what possessed you to go down there this time of night?” “I don’t know ’m.” “You don’t know? Don’t answer me that way. Tom, I want to know what you been doing down there.” “I hain’t been doing a single thing, Aunt Sally, I hope to gracious if I have.” I reckoned she’d let me go now, and as a generl thing she would; but I s’pose there was so many strange things going on she was just in a sweat about every little thing that warn’t yard-stick straight; so she says, very decided: “You just march into that setting-room and stay there till I come. You been up to something you no business to, and I lay I’ll find out what it is before I’M done with you.” So she went away as I opened the door and walked into the setting-room. My, but there was a crowd there! Fifteen farmers, and every one of them had a gun. I was most powerful sick, and slunk to a chair and set down. They was setting around, some of them talking a little, in a low voice, and all of them fidgety and uneasy, but trying to look like they warn’t; but I knowed they was, because they was always taking off their hats, and putting them on, and scratching their heads, and changing their seats, and fumbling with their buttons. I warn’t easy myself, but I didn’t take my hat off, all the same. I did wish Aunt Sally would come, and get done with me, and lick me, if she wanted to, and let me get away and tell Tom how we’d overdone this thing, and what a thundering hornet’s-nest we’d got ourselves into, so we could stop fooling around straight off, and clear out with Jim before these rips got out of patience and come for us. At last she come and begun to ask me questions, but I couldn’t answer them straight, I didn’t know which end of me was up; because these men was in such a fidget now that some was wanting to start right NOW and lay for them desperadoes, and saying it warn’t but a few minutes to midnight; and others was trying to get them to hold on and wait for the sheep-signal; and here was Aunty pegging away at the questions, and me a-shaking all over and ready to sink down in my tracks I was that scared; and the place getting hotter and hotter, and the butter beginning to melt and run down my neck and behind my ears; and pretty soon, when one of them says, “I’M for going and getting in the cabin first and right now, and catching them when they come,” I most dropped; and a streak of butter come a-trickling down my forehead, and Aunt Sally she see it, and turns white as a sheet, and says: “For the land’s sake, what is the matter with the child? He’s got the brain-fever as shore as you’re born, and they’re oozing out!” And everybody runs to see, and she snatches off my hat, and out comes the bread and what was left of the butter, and she grabbed me, and hugged me, and says: “Oh, what a turn you did give me! and how glad and grateful I am it ain’t no worse; for luck’s against us, and it never rains but it pours, and when I see that truck I thought we’d lost you, for I knowed by the color and all it was just like your brains would be if—Dear, dear, whyd’nt you tell me that was what you’d been down there for, I wouldn’t a cared. Now cler out to bed, and don’t lemme see no more of you till morning!” I was up stairs in a second, and down the lightning-rod in another one, and shinning through the dark for the lean-to. I couldn’t hardly get my words out, I was so anxious; but I told Tom as quick as I could we must jump for it now, and not a minute to lose—the house full of men, yonder, with guns! His eyes just blazed; and he says: “No!—is that so? ain’t it bully! Why, Huck, if it was to do over again, I bet I could fetch two hundred! If we could put it off till—” “Hurry! Hurry!” I says. “Where’s Jim?” “Right at your elbow; if you reach out your arm you can touch him. He’s dressed, and everything’s ready. Now we’ll slide out and give the sheep-signal.” But then we heard the tramp of men coming to the door, and heard them begin to fumble with the pad-lock, and heard a man say: “I told you we’d be too soon; they haven’t come—the door is locked. Here, I’ll lock some of you into the cabin, and you lay for ’em in the dark and kill ’em when they come; and the rest scatter around a piece, and listen if you can hear ’em coming.” So in they come, but couldn’t see us in the dark, and most trod on us whilst we was hustling to get under the bed. But we got under all right, and out through the hole, swift but soft—Jim first, me next, and Tom last, which was according to Tom’s orders. Now we was in the lean-to, and heard trampings close by outside. So we crept to the door, and Tom stopped us there and put his eye to the crack, but couldn’t make out nothing, it was so dark; and whispered and said he would listen for the steps to get further, and when he nudged us Jim must glide out first, and him last. So he set his ear to the crack and listened, and listened, and listened, and the steps a-scraping around out there all the time; and at last he nudged us, and we slid out, and stooped down, not breathing, and not making the least noise, and slipped stealthy towards the fence in Injun file, and got to it all right, and me and Jim over it; but Tom’s britches catched fast on a splinter on the top rail, and then he hear the steps coming, so he had to pull loose, which snapped the splinter and made a noise; and as he dropped in our tracks and started somebody sings out: “Who’s that? Answer, or I’ll shoot!” But we didn’t answer; we just unfurled our heels and shoved. Then there was a rush, and a Bang, Bang, Bang! and the bullets fairly whizzed around us! We heard them sing out: “Here they are! They’ve broke for the river! After ’em, boys, and turn loose the dogs!” So here they come, full tilt. We could hear them because they wore boots and yelled, but we didn’t wear no boots and didn’t yell. We was in the path to the mill; and when they got pretty close on to us we dodged into the bush and let them go by, and then dropped in behind them. They’d had all the dogs shut up, so they wouldn’t scare off the robbers; but by this time somebody had let them loose, and here they come, making powwow enough for a million; but they was our dogs; so we stopped in our tracks till they catched up; and when they see it warn’t nobody but us, and no excitement to offer them, they only just said howdy, and tore right ahead towards the shouting and clattering; and then we up-steam again, and whizzed along after them till we was nearly to the mill, and then struck up through the bush to where my canoe was tied, and hopped in and pulled for dear life towards the middle of the river, but didn’t make no more noise than we was obleeged to. Then we struck out, easy and comfortable, for the island where my raft was; and we could hear them yelling and barking at each other all up and down the bank, till we was so far away the sounds got dim and died out. And when we stepped on to the raft I says: “Now, old Jim, you’re a free man again, and I bet you won’t ever be a slave no more.” “En a mighty good job it wuz, too, Huck. It ’uz planned beautiful, en it ’uz done beautiful; en dey ain’t nobody kin git up a plan dat’s mo’ mixed-up en splendid den what dat one wuz.” We was all glad as we could be, but Tom was the gladdest of all because he had a bullet in the calf of his leg. When me and Jim heard that we didn’t feel so brash as what we did before. It was hurting him considerable, and bleeding; so we laid him in the wigwam and tore up one of the duke’s shirts for to bandage him, but he says: “Gimme the rags; I can do it myself. Don’t stop now; don’t fool around here, and the evasion booming along so handsome; man the sweeps, and set her loose! Boys, we done it elegant!—’deed we did. I wish we’d a had the handling of Louis XVI., there wouldn’t a been no ‘Son of Saint Louis, ascend to heaven!’ wrote down in his biography; no, sir, we’d a whooped him over the border—that’s what we’d a done with him—and done it just as slick as nothing at all, too. Man the sweeps—man the sweeps!” But me and Jim was consulting—and thinking. And after we’d thought a minute, I says: “Say it, Jim.” So he says: “Well, den, dis is de way it look to me, Huck. Ef it wuz him dat ’uz bein’ sot free, en one er de boys wuz to git shot, would he say, ‘Go on en save me, nemmine ’bout a doctor f’r to save dis one?’ Is dat like Mars Tom Sawyer? Would he say dat? You bet he wouldn’t! well, den, is Jim gywne to say it? No, sah—I doan’ budge a step out’n dis place ’dout a doctor, not if it’s forty year!” I knowed he was white inside, and I reckoned he’d say what he did say—so it was all right now, and I told Tom I was a-going for a doctor. He raised considerable row about it, but me and Jim stuck to it and wouldn’t budge; so he was for crawling out and setting the raft loose himself; but we wouldn’t let him. Then he give us a piece of his mind, but it didn’t do no good. So when he sees me getting the canoe ready, he says: “Well, then, if you’re bound to go, I’ll tell you the way to do when you get to the village. Shut the door and blindfold the doctor tight and fast, and make him swear to be silent as the grave, and put a purse full of gold in his hand, and then take and lead him all around the back alleys and everywheres in the dark, and then fetch him here in the canoe, in a roundabout way amongst the islands, and search him and take his chalk away from him, and don’t give it back to him till you get him back to the village, or else he will chalk this raft so he can find it again. It’s the way they all do.” So I said I would, and left, and Jim was to hide in the woods when he see the doctor coming till he was gone again. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved April 2022 from Twain, Mark,1993. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/76/76-h/76-h.htm#c40 This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html Photo by on Sorin Gheorghita Unsplash

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Chapter XL

To weather the COVID-19 storm and navigate the rapidly changing digital world, businesses are adopting at a faster pace. To help our clients sail through digital transformation and that deliver on their promise, we took up the challenge to identify AI trends and innovations that will define 2022. Here’s what we found. artificial intelligence create artificial intelligence solutions Factors Shaping AI Trends for 2022 Economy growth drives enterprise IT spending. Nearly two years after the onset of the pandemic, the global economy . The United States, China, Germany, and South Korea to pre-pandemic GDP levels per capita by the end of this year. Subsequently, worldwide IT spending this year (an 8.4% increase from 2020). Regarding AI spending trends, half of the businesses surveyed by Appen anything between $500,000 and $5 million in AI projects (34% up from 2020). The global AI spending, meanwhile, $83.5 billion. could accelerate 5.6% in 2021 are expected to recover is projected to reach $4.072 trillion are planning to invest could soon reach The global labor market sees a rapid change. Since Q4 2019, job openings in the United States , while the official number of last August. The paradox could be explained by the fact that COVID-19 has changed multiple industries, such as travel, hospitality, education, and healthcare. The pandemic-related health risks and policy rearrangements have only aggravated the unemployment crisis. In the meantime, the demand for skilled IT workers , reaching 26,800 new tech jobs in August in the USA alone (up from 10,500 jobs in July 2021). These factors could have a profound impact on artificial intelligence trends for the upcoming year. have surged 33% unemployed Americans reached 8.38 million has skyrocketed Cybercrime hits record high. Last year marked a drastic shift to online everything. Global eCommerce sales, for example, in 2020. The number of employees who use personal devices for work purposes . And before the pandemic, only 45% of executives security as an integral part of their companies’ strategy. As a result, the FBI last year than in 2019. The USA officials estimated the damage caused by different types of cyberattacks, including malware, distributed denial of service (DDoS), and phishing events, at a whopping $4.2 billion. Could artificial intelligence innovations possibly help enterprises lead through the cybersecurity crisis? grew by 27.6% has now reached 67% had regarded received 69% more cybersecurity complaints Enterprise struggle to implement AI at scale. Globally, businesses on artificial intelligence projects in 2020. Yet, just 11% of AI adopters on their AI investments. One of the common reasons for such lackluster results is a failure to get a buy-in from the C-Suite and scale AI innovations across the enterprise. According to a survey conducted by Alegion and Dimensional Research, 78% of all AI/ML projects between proof of concept (POC) and full-scale deployment. spent $50 billion saw a sizeable return come to a halt The environmental crisis is worsening. Recent reports indicate that Earth compared to preindustrial times. The temperatures could further rise by up to 2℃ in the next 30 years, causing irreversible damage to agricultural land, forests, and biological systems. By 2050, climate change could of the global economy’s total GDP. It’s high time enterprises leveraged AI advances to address climate change. has already warmed by 1.1℃ wipe off up to 18% National AI strategies emerge. As more economies recognize AI’s potential to boost growth, resilience, and productivity across public and private sectors, national artificial strategies are beginning to take shape. A total of 50 countries, including the United States, China, and the United Kingdom, in the works. The , for example, will focus on fostering and attracting AI talent, addressing the semiconductor shortage, battling cybercrime, and ensuring the country’s leadership in the artificial intelligence race. Through 2021, the Biden administration could pour $6 billion into artificial intelligence projects and initiatives, influencing AI trends for decades on end. have national AI strategies US artificial intelligence strategy Business AI Innovations and Trends to Watch in 2022 ROI-driven AI implementation AI-augmented automation Rise of responsible AI Use of AI in cybersecurity Environmental AI innovations AI Trend #1: More Companies Could Adopt an ROI-Driven Approach to AI Development “Launching pilots is deceptively easy but deploying them into production is notoriously challenging… Although the potential for success is enormous, delivering business impact from AI initiatives takes much longer than anticipated.” — Chirag Dekate, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner Some of the common reasons for AI projects’ unclear financial outcomes include: Limited access to quality training data A lack of resources and skills to implement artificial intelligence at scale A tendency to overcomplicate things — for instance, by using deep neural networks where simpler yet highly effective machine learning techniques could produce similar results A failure to gain buy-in at the executive level and proceed to a full-blown project Here at ITRex, we believe that one of the biggest artificial intelligence trends for 2022 (and the years after!) will be taking an incremental, ROI-driven approach to AI development. The concept of ROI-driven AI engineering and deployment pivots on: Fostering collaboration between business and IT teams, which could help companies decide on the business outcomes of deploying AI innovations beforehand and ensure C-Suite support Selecting a limited number of use cases for an AI pilot while devising a broader implementation plan early on Upskilling existing IT teams and enlisting the help of experienced artificial intelligence companies — either for turnkey AI system engineering or , such as discovery, cleansing, and labeling data preparation tasks Utilizing a powerful combo of SaaS, open-source, and custom-made AI solution components to speed up development cycles Ditching vast piles of historical data, which has become less relevant since the COVID-19 outbreak, in favor of wide and small data; the former is aggregated from a variety of sources, while the latter is easier to interpret and delivers instant insights Learning from failures, retraining algorithms on new data, and creating a continuous loop for machine learning model redeployment AI Trend #2: Enterprises Will Aim for AI-Augmented Automation “Last year, IT spending took the form of a knee-jerk reaction to enable a remote workforce in a matter of weeks. As hybrid work takes hold, CIOs will focus on spending that enables innovation, not just task completion.” — John-David Lovelock, Research Vice President at Gartner In the pandemic-ridden world, the role of information technology has shifted from supporting business operations to delivering business value. This change has had a profound impact on AI innovations and trends. A breakdown of AI use cases in business. Source Fueled by 5G rollouts, more powerful computer chips, the diminishing sensor prices, and flexible , the convergence of , artificial intelligence, and the technologies has become a viable reality. This powerful trio brings companies one step closer to and pervasive intelligence. cloud services robotic process automation (RPA) Internet of Things (IoT) AI-augmented automation From lightweight RPA robots that to self-checkout solutions that , recent advances in artificial intelligence will help enterprises achieve resilience and significant cost reductions. Here are some stats to prove it: take over payment processing tasks in healthcare know precisely which items a customer has put in the basket 80% of executives are their business process automation efforts (World Economic Forum) currently accelerating 25% of companies in workflow automation, while 51% of enterprises are planning to do so shortly (Salesforce) already use AI By 2023, 40% of infrastructure and operations (I&O) teams will use in large enterprises, freeing up IT personnel’s time for strategic work (Gartner) AI-augmented automation 66% of businesses by deploying artificial intelligence systems (McKinsey) have increased their revenue Through 2021, enterprise AI budgets have increased, with 74% of companies or more for their artificial intelligence projects, which marks a 55% increase from 2020 (Appen) allocating $500,000 AI Trend #3: Responsible AI Takes Center Stage “Responsible AI helps achieve fairness, even though biases are baked into the data; gain trust, although transparency and explainability methods are evolving; and ensure regulatory compliance, while grappling with AI’s probabilistic nature.” — Svetlana Sicular, Research VP at Gartner In their recent , David De Cremer and Garry Kasparov described AI-based machines as “fast, more accurate, and consistently rational,” noting, however, that present-day AI innovations often lack intuition, emotional intelligence, and cultural sensitivity. article for Harvard Business Review While end-to-end automation and subsequent workforce reductions are not yet among the artificial intelligence trends for 2022, governments will need to address the moral implications of artificial intelligence adoption in their national AI strategies, ensuring positive automation outcomes for all parties involved. When it comes to business AI, companies should focus on creating intelligent systems that and based on their ethnicity, age, gender, religion, or place of residence. Additionally, stakeholders need to clearly communicate automation benefits to get employees on board and encourage them to participate in AI deployment and training. explain the rationale behind their decisions do not discriminate against people These numbers indicate that ethical, responsible artificial intelligence usage will be one of the defining AI trends for the upcoming year: Through 2022, every company could have in development (CIO, Gartner) 35 AI projects 65% of companies how their AI systems make decisions and predictions (FICO, Corinium) cannot explain 78% of enterprises are poorly equipped to consider the ethical implications of using artificial intelligence (FICO, Corinium) Only 45% of businesses engage in ethical AI monitoring (FICO, Corinium) By 2023, all AI professionals a good grasp of responsible AI principles to secure a job (Gartner) will have to demonstrate AI Trend #4: Artificial Intelligence Will Lead the Cybersecurity Revolution “We’ve seen a lot of the ransomware attacks and what it’s done. And in particular, it has impacted business resiliency. It’s no longer the case of encrypted computer and, you know, Reimage, and carry on. It’s impacting massive amounts of business and costing hundreds of millions of dollars.” — George Kurtz, CEO at CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. Using intelligent algorithms for cyberattack prevention became one of the most significant AI innovations of the past years. Forward-thinking enterprises leverage artificial intelligence to detect suspicious traffic within corporate IT networks, identify malicious software programs, spot infected links in employees’ emails, and even model cyberattack scenarios based on vulnerability assessments. The trouble is, the other side (i.e., cybercriminals) can do the magic too. For example, hackers can now manipulate the data used for AI model training, causing adversarial attacks. Other AI breakthroughs in the cybercrime field include inference, which allows attackers to access sensitive data by reversing AI engineer systems, and advanced social engineering techniques driven by behavior analytics. Additionally, hackers may employ AI to pinpoint security vulnerabilities in corporate IT systems. To address these looming threats, companies looking to deploy AI innovations should closely monitor all the data presented to AI models, review real-world data used for model training, and build the elements of randomness into their artificial intelligence models. Below you will find several statistics shedding light on artificial intelligence trends in the cybersecurity domain: Over use artificial intelligence to detect cybersecurity threats (Capgemini) 51% of enterprises Through 2021, 30% of organizations have already fallen victim to adversarial attacks — compared to just 12% in 2020 (FICO, Corinium) Hacking, customer fraud, and data breaches have grown in 2021 (FICO, Corinium) by 5–12% Automated cybersecurity solutions could increase the global revenue opportunities in the next five years (Accenture) by $5.2 trillion Between 2020 and 2027, the global AI cybersecurity market could be growing at a , topping $46 billion by the end of the given period (Meticulous Market Research) CAGR of 23.6% AI Trend #5: Artificial Intelligence Will Drive Sustainability in Enterprises “We cannot reduce what we cannot measure. Corporations ‘ climate action does not match our ambitions: one of the main reasons is that corporations don’t accurately measure their climate impact and track it enough over time. Fortunately, tools and techniques to help us exist, one of the most powerful ones is artificial intelligence.” — Charlotte Degot, Managing Director and Partner at BCG GAMMA Through 2022 and beyond, governments and businesses alike could turn to artificial intelligence to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, combat deforestation, and cut CO2 emissions. And while green AI innovations are still scarce at national levels, we’ve seen several commercial AI deployments that assist businesses in achieving their sustainability goals. Google, for instance, coupled their data center cooling technology with deep learning and reduced energy consumption . And CO2 AI, a novel sustainable artificial intelligence solution by Boston Consulting Group, helps enterprises by accurately measuring their carbon footprint and making intelligent recommendations. by 40% cut CO2 emissions by 30–40% These numbers prove that environmental sustainability is one of the hottest business AI trends for 2022: Artificial intelligence helps companies by up to 10% (BCG) reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions The use of AI for GHG emission monitoring could result in $208–424 billion savings for global companies in the coming years (BCG) Artificial intelligence could in achieving 93% of the environmental sustainability goals defined by the United Nations (Springer Nature Sustainability Community) aid the world The growing adoption of sustainable AI systems could create up to globally (PwC) 38.2 million jobs The economic impact of AI-driven environmental solutions could reach $5.1 trillion by 2030 (PwC) If you need help navigating the emerging artificial intelligence trends or implementing AI innovations, please ! Together you’ll build a brighter, safer, and greener future! contact the ITRex team Also published . here

Top 5 Business AI Innovations and Trends to Watch in 2022

At Hacker Noon, the first version of . we released on demand video calls with tech experts A big thank you to this first wave of tech experts! Anyone can learn something new today by ! booking a call with one of these smart people below Also, if you'd like to join the marketplace, invites are rolling, . here is the form Here is the first group of : Hacker Noon Experts Aazar Ali Shad Growth Marketing. I help startups with their growth marketing with all channels. Adrian Goins I connect dots. I comprehend data quickly and can explain complex subjects in common language. Adrian Raudaschl Product Manager, Physician, Academia, Healthcare, and Medicine. Alex Berke MIT Media Lab PhD student. Work experience: Google Search software engineer on news credibility projects, maker of election tech;  and publisher of "Beautiful Symmetry: A Coloring Book About Math." Afroz Chakure Final year B.Tech - Computer Science and Engineering @ MIT-WPU, Pune Akash Joshi Building, Writing, Programming. React, JS and Python expertise along with early-stage startup experience. Al Chen Taught Excel to 30,000+ people. I blog and podcast about spreadsheets and data analysis. Have been teaching Excel for 8+ years. Amanda McGlothlin User Experience Expert. 15 years+ experience working with startups and brands including Nike, Belkin, Audi, Google, Pearson, Allstate, and Cisco. Anthony Watson Dinosaurs Can Code! I have been a brain for hire for over three decades mostly without any degree, so I must be able to code to get paid! Ax Sharma Security Researcher. Open source software, vulnerability assessment and disclosure, reverse engineering, threat hunting. Branislav Đalić Philosopher of code. CTO of ML startup, open-source contributor, threat analyst, educator. Bernard Moon Global VC Investor. Experienced startup entrepreneur and tech trend writer. Carlo Occhiena Product Manager, Founder. Former Digital Ops Manager in a corporation, Founder of Martech startup. Christopher Luc . Software Engineer. Full-time at WhatsApp; internships at Uber, Snap and Yelp Cynthia Huang Female hackathon ninja. I can advise on personal branding, public speaking, content marketing, strategy, operations, startups, product, crypto, cannabis, short term rentals and insurance. Daniel Chae Business Analyst. I run Course to Hire, a place to help people learn how to code and land jobs in tech, and write for StackOverflow as well! Daniel Wu Housing Innovation & Data Strategy. I'm a Harvard JD/PhD and product manager, and advocate for inclusive smart cities and data ethics. Also published in Bloomberg, TechCrunch, etc. Dave Mangot Successful DevOps Transformation. We coach web operations and adjacent teams at mid-sized companies to service delivery maturity through the broad application of DevOps principles and decades of experience leading change. David Smooke Yours truly. Founder and CEO of Hacker Noon. Doc Norton Agile/Leadership Coach. 35+ years continually learning in the software field as a consultant, Director, VP, and CTO. Emil Koutanov Winner of 2020 Microservices Thinker of the Year. Software architecture and engineering. Eugenia Kuzmenko Internet? What is Internet? Google certificated marketer, Facebook certificated adman, Hubspot certificated SEO-specialist. Fabio Manganiello Software engineer. Automation, IoT, machine learning and programming geek. Geshan Manandhar Lead Software EngineerIn addition to my full time tech work, I have been blogging for 14 years and mentoring people in the past years Jackson Kelley Software Engineer at Amazon. I also worked as a consultant for block.one during the launch of EOSIO. Jai Paul Blockchain DeveloperAn experienced programmer with a computer science background, I have been involved in cryptocurrency since the very beginning, in the early 2010s, and would call myself an expert. Jonathan Harel Funny techie! Data Science, Building websites, getting your idea out there - quick! Kahlil Crawford Content Strategist | Theorist. Content professional in the hi-tech sector using design, creativity, and collaboration to innovate. Kevin Davey Champion Algo Trader. Proven futures trader and 4 time best selling trading book author. Matt Klein Cyberpsychology Strategy Director. Cultural Strategy Consultant for Fortune 50 Brands, Acclaimed Writer & Startup Advisor. Monica Hernandez Moni Mission Control. I have the uncanny ability to be a human router and rally the troops for increased impact. My areas of expertise include the space industry and high tech sectors. Limarc Ambalina Hacker Noon Editor. I am well-versed in SEO, backlink strategy, and writing content that ranks on Google. Linh Dao Smooke Hacker Noon COO. Helped raise millions, and 2x sales for Hacker Noon 3 years in a row. Founded a nonprofit. Mother of Norah. Liyas Thomas Author of Hoppscotch. Helped build Buy Me a Coffee (YC W19), currently building one-stop solution for open source monetization. Madalin Valceleanu Mobile Software Developer. Enthusiast on clean, modular and components architecture, focused on make software design more understandable, maintainable, scalable, robust, and last and not least testable. Applying design patterns, SOLID principles and good practices, making the code not only to compile. Mahbod Moghadam Founder of Genius. I started two major companies and I am currently writing a book about how startups work, in addition to being a top angel investor with an excellent portfolio. Mark Meyerson Director of Agency. Marketing strategy and execution. Maxim Salnikov PWA Expert. Developer Relations. Michiel Mulders Allround Growth Consultant. I help (tech) startups with all aspects of growth: UX, marketing, content, startup processes, and tech. Miroslav Nikolov Remain human. Process management and app architecture. Nebojsa Todorovic Freelancing Uncensored & Uncut. 10+ years pro remote work on all major freelance platforms. Nicholas Resendez Let's Grow Together. I focus on relationships and communication to understand the needs of those looking to build for the future. Oloo Moses Full Stack Developer. Bsc Information Technology. Paul Bailey Systems Architect. 20 years of experience in full stack development and engineering. Pavel Pekanov I Imagine Things. Full-stack dev, product research, creative direction and all things design. Peter Thomas Creator: Karate Framework. Open Source and Java veteran, has been invited to speak at the Ministry of Testing Dallas, DevConf.IN, GIDS, Test Talks, Test Automation Guild, GraphQL Asia and Selenium Conf Tokyo. Also appears in the TechBeacon list of Test Automation Leaders to follow in 2019. Jean Machuca Creator of QCObjects. Software Developer with more than 20 years now experience working for large-scale projects in private and public sector. Ricardo Lopes Front End Engineer. Amusing article writer who also makes VR stuff. Rekt Capital Cryptocurrency Analyst. Four years full-time in the crypto markets. Sergey Golubev Project management, marketing & business consulting. ICO/STO/IEO projects (white papers, applications for grants, business plans, compliance documents drafts, tokenomica). Sergi Garcia Tech Product Marketer. I help tech startups find product-market fit. I have helped 100+ entrepreneurs with their Go-to-market strategy, Website UX and copy, Pricing & Packaging, and Customer acquisition. Sandesh Suvarna $1.4M App in 4 Minutes. Masters in Engineering Management. Sergey Baloyan Make crypto-projects popular. I can support projects with building overall concept, tokenomics, marketing and PR strategy and implementation Stanley Nguyen Software Principles Commentary. Computer Science Degree. Tanay Pant Author, Speaker, Evangelist. I have experience in leading Developer Advocacy teams in scaling startups, and creating developer marketing strategy for sustained growth of developer communities. Tian-Yuan Zhao Digital product designer focused on Web3.0 work through my boutique design firm called Round Sky Studios. I've been doing this type of work ever since 2015 when I first met Vitalik Buterin, the founder of the Ethereum blockchain and have worked with companies such as ConsenSys, Kleros, Raise, Filecoin, Celo, and much more. 2nd Place Noonie Awardee in the Product Design Category for having written only 1 article on the intersection of digital product strategy/design + distributed computing + systems-level change. Usama Ashraf Software engineer, writer. Designing application architecture, Postgres, Node. Utsav Jaiswal Retired Dentist. Blockchain underworld expert who leads BD at Hacker Noon. Vaibhav Saini Physicist turned Entrepreneur. Springer Nature Book Author, IIT Delhi Undergrad. Yoram Kornatzky 20 years industry experience. Ph.D. Computer Science Find the up to date list of . Hacker Noon Experts at Experts.HackerNoon.com

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