Hi!
I am Francesco from Amethix and Data Science at Home podcast.
Here we are after another crazy year!
All in all, 2021 has been another important year for many people and of course for me too. Overall I am happy with how things have been going and - as there's always room for improvement - I hope they go even better in the next year.
Podcast has been growing at a pace I didn't expect, getting the attention of innovative companies that found the show an attractive place to share their projects and let practitioners and the listeners know what boils on their plates.
I cannot be more proud!
My company Amethix has attracted very important organizations in sectors like insurance and defense, who have chosen us as technology partners to validate their vision and develop their products.
So many cool ideas there. An incredible year indeed!
To be fair, there have been also many situations, not ideal especially when it comes to communication with other engineers and developers and more generally with people.
I am sure I am not alone in this. There have been, not days, but entire weeks in which 100% of our communications happened via a screen and a keyboard.
Reason for which I invest a lot in digital equipment and more specifically keyboards. Those who know me are always surprised by the number of keyboards in my house :)
In this other year of transition, many unexpected events have occurred. The world is spinning faster and faster. And our life is being affected in ways that nobody could have ever predicted.
Not even data scientists...
At the end of the year, it is always a good idea to take some time to slow down and think about those events and learn from what happened.
We all believed 2021 would have been the year of change to finally turn that ugly page of the pandemic that has characterized our lives in such a traumatic way. Unfortunately, what was supposed to be the year of change, turned out to be more the year of transition. The new variants of the virus are still hitting the news and filling our stories of percentages, number of deaths, or infections.
I am confident this will all pass. We have good reasons to believe the virus will become endemic and less aggressive, as long as we keep to stay united and protect ourselves in the most effective and altruistic ways. Our society and cohesion are being put to the test. As this is not a single-person problem. But enough about pandemics and viruses.
Let me tell you what I think about the other good stuff.
Much more attention is being paid to climate change and the environment. Honestly, except for the pantomime of COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, I think there is much more awareness about the environment and the way we use energy.
Recently, my energy provider has sent me a brochure reminding me that lowering the temperature of only 1 degree in the house, would save about 150 euro per year. And shortening my showers by 5 minutes would add another 40 euro. When an energy provider is advising how to cut their profit, something is going on. Which I call awareness and responsibility.
All in all, there is more and more innovation that is targeting issues like climate change, clean energy, and the environment. Which is a great thing. It's just the beginning but it's a good start. Ideally, clean energy and environment-friendly solutions have to become not only affordable but overall more convenient for people to adopt. I think we are in front of a social phenomenon rather than a technological one. As always the contribution from people is paramount to reaching such ambitious objectives.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning also need to change and become more environmentally friendly.
Green AI is another important step - we have been speaking on the podcast too. Massive deep learning models are expensive, not democratic due to the massive resources they require and only a few have at their disposal, and after all, they burn a lot of electricity. Changing the metrics we use to evaluate them and focusing on efficiency rather than merely their accuracy is another fundamental step that researchers have to consider for their models.
For sure the pandemic has changed the habits of many with the result of "forcing" everyone to move less, to consume less, and to be more efficient. Office life has changed. The way people work has changed. Commuting habits have changed. The way people communicate has changed.
Surely those changes have been imposed on us. But many of them have a positive impact on society and the environment as well.
I found that researchers and practitioners, not to mention the effort of big players are dedicating to Explainable AI. As artificial intelligence is more and more integrated into the objects and workflows of everyday life, it is necessary to understand how it works, why a model predicts in a certain way. Knowing how to explain the reasons something happens characterizes the so-called critical sectors such as healthcare, pharmaceuticals, but also finance, insurance, energy and many more.
Finally, we all agree we should pay attention to ethics. And ethical AI is another major topic we have given space on the podcast because we believe there cannot be adoption and trust without ethics. Ethical AI is AI that "thinks" - and let me quote that, to be good with humans in direct and indirect ways. Certain outcomes that might hurt human beings even indirectly should be detected and addressed.
This is not happening today, especially in the social media sector, where AI is adopted to manipulate information, opinions, and masses to purchase something or, even worse, to believe something.
I thank all my collaborators for this incredible year, all the listeners of the podcast who keep motivating me, the sponsors, and whoever believes in us and the quality of our work.
Thousands of years ago, Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher, said that "change is the only constant in life". That quote has never been so modern. We should definitely learn how to embrace that. In the meantime, I wish you a very happy holiday season.
Francesco & the team at Data Science at Home
About this Podcast
Data Science at Home is a podcast about machine learning, artificial intelligence and algorithms. The show is hosted by Dr. Francesco Gadaleta on solo episodes and interviews with some of the most influential figures in the field.
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