AI

Disruptive Technology

/ Dave Eberwein / 2 Comments

An innovation that significantly alters the way that consumers or systems like K-12 education operate. Disruptive technologies sweep away the processes they replace because they have attributes that are significantly superior.

We live in a world where changes are the norm — and they are happening at a pace that is often mind-boggling.

Some changes are thrust upon us:

  • Inflation / Consumer Price Index changes
  • New Taxes
  • Daylight Savings Time
When a Pumpkin Spice Latte was all the rage

… while other changes may be optional:

  • EVs (Electric vehicles)
  • Seasonal coffee flavours at Starbucks (still have to try the pumpkin spice latte)
  • New slip-on shoes without shoelaces (these seem like a great new idea, but are they cool?)

When its technology we’re talking about, change typically occurs because the new tech is faster, more user friendly or perhaps even cheaper:

  • LIGHT BULBS … replaced candles
  • AUTOMOBILES … replaced the horse & buggy
  • CALCULATORS … replaced the slide rule
  • The INTERNET … replaced encyclopedias

In all of these cases the technology change was DISRUPTIVE — the new tech replacing, or disrupting, the existing technology. Transition to the new tech was slow and somewhat predictable over time.

Today, there is a new disruptive tech that is sweeping the planet — and it has been an overnight sensation. Hundreds of millions of users ‘signed on’ in just a couple of months. It has both captivated the world and at the same time created a bit of fear with its insurgence.

Welcome to ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.

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Social Media and Reality

/ Dave Eberwein / 2 Comments

This blog is about Social Media. But, before I delve into that topic I’d like to start by talking about something else — PERCEPTION and it’s incredible importance in our daily lives and our reality.

Perception overrules Facts every time. Facts represent the truth, but perception represents our actual reality. We remember facts because we process them through our senses (touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing). We filter them through these senses and, by doing so, actually interpret them from our past experiences — every time. And while we may want to believe that we are not being judgmental — that we are always being objective in our thinking and conversation — we are not. Our ‘objectivity’ is actually subjective in nature because we have created meaning out of what we have observed. This meaning is created when we link our present experiences to the previous — our past understandings, emotions and feelings.

Personal lens: The filter that we all use that interprets our environment. It shapes our perception of events through our own experiences, emotions and beliefs.

It is our personal lens that creates our unique reality — our perception of the world around us. It is why two people can ‘see’ the same thing yet come away with two completely different understandings of what they ‘saw’. For example, courts rely less on eye witnesses than they do on things like DNA evidence, because DNA doesn’t require a filter to exist.

People are shaped by their perceptions and are frankly not that reliable in their objectivity.

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Artificial Intelligence Is Here – Time to Buckle up!

/ Dave Eberwein / 2 Comments

Fair warning — this blog is a little long, especially with the embedded videos.  You don’t need to actually watch the videos to understand the content, but they really do help to bring the information home.   I suggest setting aside about 10-15 minutes for this blog.  It’s long because I find this topic extremely fascinating.  You’ve been warned!

Artificial intelligence 3I entered the incredible world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at a recent educational leadership event.  I heard from and interacted with a number of highly respected researchers, thinkers, and leaders in the world of AI.  It was a truly exhilarating learning experience.

As part of the presentation, the history of computers, the Web 1.0 and 2.0, AI and a number of other computer-centric advances were graphed for us as a function of their capabilities over time.

As you can see from the graph below, the capability of individual PCs and mainframe computers are well past their prime.  However, the relatively recent presence of smart machines, analytics and big data have been gaining in strength, but are now slowly starting to level off.  Look at the purple AI line.  It’s becoming vertical — more so every year.  AI is literally exploding into our world unlike any other computer-based technology — EVER!Computers AI History graph

At times, I felt uncomfortable hearing about AI and it’s influence on our world, but I was also excited at the possibilities that lie ahead.

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