Tech Bytes: 01.06.2017

January 6th, 2017

Topics: AI & Machine Learning Apps Big Data / Analytics Cloud Computing Future of Work Global Internet of Things Mobile Privacy Risk Management Talent & Workforce

Tech Bytes

In Japan, the Future of Insurance is Artificial Intelligence – When we talk about the future of work and technology eliminating jobs, the common belief is that manual labor will be the biggest loser. However, many decision-making jobs are likely to disappear, such as determining insurance payouts based on claim information. That’s exactly what one Japanese insurance firm did this week as they let go 30+ employees in favor of IBM Watson’s AI platform. Expect a lot more stories like these in the coming months and years.

Washington is Unified in Support of US Intelligence Community – At a Senate committee hearing this week intelligence officials and Senators from both parties universally agreed that Russia was directly involved with hacking of the 2016 Presidential election, despite repeated skepticism by the President Elect. The incoming administration has been highly critical of the intelligence community’s claim that Russia interfered with the election, despite reportedly overwhelming evidence supporting the claim. The big question for businesses moving forward is to whether or not Trump’s skepticism is isolated to election hacking or will be widespread in nature. Will the US government protect and/or retaliate when state-sponsored cyber-attacks occur (similar to the Sony hack perpetrated by North Korea). Only time will tell.

At CES, It’s Alexa, Alexa, Alexa – The word out of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is Alexa was everywhere. The Amazon voice assistant will soon show up in phones, in cars, in TVs, in washing machines and just about anywhere Amazon can put it. The open platform is a big win for Amazon, but can also be a huge win for companies looking to build out products and services on the platform. Think of Alexa as an early (more limited) Apple App Store, where developers can build on top of its current functionality, much the way they developed apps for the iPhone a decade ago.

Amazon Echo Alexa | Cyber Governance & Security Read More: Alexa Just Conquered CES. The World Is Next
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Personal Assistants are the Next Legal Frontier for Privacy and Self-Incrimination – A case in Bentonville, Arkansas is causing headaches for privacy advocates and Amazon as one of its Echo devices is a playing a key role in a murder case in that city. The falls into the same category as the San Bernardino iPhone case last year in that police hope to find data that can be used against a murder suspect, but access and finding usable data is not that simple. When a warrant must be obtained for data on digital devices (or the cloud) and what can be constituted self-incrimination will remain a question in our legal system for the foreseeable future, and the Echo murder case is likely just the beginning.

Featured CXOTalk Video of the Week: Interview with Tim Baum, VP and CIO, Harford Mutual Insurance