AI is Unlocking New Avenues in the World of Prosthetics

Story by John Edwards

Key Points:

• AI's role in prosthetics is nothing short of revolutionary, says Neil Sahota , an IBM master inventor and United Nations artificial intelligence advisor. "By analyzing vast amounts of data, AI can tailor prosthetic devices to the unique needs of each individual, ensuring a perfect fit and unparalleled functionality," he observes in an email interview.
• AI-powered prosthetics can learn and adapt. "Through machine learning algorithms, these devices can anticipate a user's movements and adjust accordingly," Sahota says.
• Imagine a prosthetic hand, for instance, that can sense the delicate nature of holding a child's hand or the firm grip needed for a handshake. "This level of responsiveness doesn’t just restore function; it restores dignity and independence."?
• Perhaps most important is AI's role in creating and refining brain-machine interfaces, which connect a prosthesis directly to its user's nervous system. "These interfaces can interpret neural signals and translate them into prosthetic movements closely mimicking natural limb functions," says Jonas Torr?ng , co-founder of IsBrave.com, a website dedicated to empowering prosthetics users.
• A notable example of an advanced AI-supported prosthetic is the LUKE Arm, developed by DEKA Research and Development. The LUKE Arm can sense and adapt to the user's intentions, making it a potentially groundbreaking innovation in upper limb prosthetics.?
• Torrang believes that AI prosthetics research will advance rapidly over the next few years, with neural interfaces getting smarter, allowing prosthetics to interpret brain signals more accurately. The goal is creating prosthetics that function and feel close to natural limbs.

Welcome to InformationWeek's Big Picture!

You already know that every day at InformationWeek brings expert insights and advice to help today’s IT leaders identify the best strategies and tools to drive their organizations forward.

That means original reporting from our team of journalists and unique commentary you won’t see anywhere else! But in case you missed them, here are some of our other must-read favorites from this week:

Critical Infrastructure Disruption Continues Trending

Story by Carrie Pallardy

Key Points:

• 哈里伯顿 , a big player in the oil and energy sector, is one of the latest high-profile companies to report a cyberattack. Halliburton filed an 8-K with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), acknowledging that an unauthorized third party accessed some of its systems.??
• As a part of its response, Halliburton took certain systems offline, according to the 8-K.?“Taking systems offline is, to me, one of the last-resort kind of things you do. It's not what you do upfront,” James W. Doggett , CISO at Semperis, an active directory protection company, tells InformationWeek.
• Shutting down systems, while disruptive to operations, is not uncommon. In the past year, approximately 70% of industrial organizations have been hit with a cyberattack. A quarter of those organizations had to shut down their OT operations, according to The State of OT Security report from cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks .??
• Halliburton has not confirmed the exact nature of the attack, but ransomware is among the possibilities. As a major player in the energy industry, Halliburton could be the target of nation state activity. The more prepared organizations are to respond and continue operations, the more likely they will be able to contain the impact.?

High Stakes Cyber Chase

Story by Shane Snider

Key Points:

• The State Department says Volodymyr Kadariya used a scheme to transmit the Angler Exploit Kit (AEK), other malware, and online scams to web users internationally. The AEK was a leading vehicle used by cybercriminals to deliver malware to devices.
• Kadariya was indicted in New Jersey in June 2023 with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit computer fraud, and two counts of substantive wire fraud. The $2.5 million reward offer comes just two weeks after the arrest and extradition of accused Polish hacker Maksim Silnikau in relation to several cybercriminal operations since 2011.
• The State Department began using its Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program -- which was established in 1984 to combat terrorism -- to target cybercriminals in 2021. The program offers rewards of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of any person acting in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
• Offering up bounties for cybercriminals may be an effective tactic to pit cybercriminal operations against one another, but may come with some drawbacks, says Ilia Kolochenko, PhD , CEO at AI security firm ImmuniWeb and an adjunct professor of cybersecurity at Capitol Technology University .

AGI in '25? Its Complicated

Story by Lisa Morgan, CeM, J.D.

Key Points:

• “We can’t presume that we’re close to AGI because we really don’t understand current AI, which is a far cry from the dreamed-of AGI. We don’t know how current AIs arrive at their conclusions, nor can current AIs even explain to us the processes by which that happens,” says HP Newquist, author of The BrainMakers and executive director of The Relayer Group, a consulting firm that tracks the development of practical AI.
• OpenAI is currently alpha testing advanced voice mode, which is designed to sound human (such as pausing occasionally when one speaks to draw a breath). It can also detect emotion and non-verbal clues. This advancement will help AI seem more human-like, which is important, but there’s more work to do.?
• “Given how long it took to build current AI models, which suffer from inconsistent outputs, flawed data sources, and unexplainable biases, it would likely make sense to perfect what already exists rather than start working on even more complex models,” says Max (Chong) Li , CEO of decentralized AI data provider Oort and an adjunct associate professor in the department of electrical engineering at Columbia University.
• Adnan Masood, PhD. , chief AI architect at digital transformation services company UST, says AGI will need to be able to do several things that aren’t possible just yet. Specifically:?The ability to generalize, Open-ended learning, Causal reasoning, and Sensory input and processing.

Understanding Business Outcomes Better

Story by Nathan Eddy

Key Points:

• Setting up a business operations center of excellence (CoE) can help businesses streamline operations, foster innovation, and standardize processes. They are a great way for companies to capitalize on niche areas of expertise, and provide focused, proven solutions to their clients.?
• “By building core competencies and expertise in specific functions, CoEs help businesses stay ahead of the curve and implement initiatives that drive ROI,” says Boobesh R. , vice president of marketing analytics CoE at LatentView Analytics .??
• Sarah Dugan , global IT journey and change management director at 埃森哲 , explains that aligning the CoE operating model with the IT and business structure is important so leaders are partnered, and to consider processes and users across groups and functions.?
• This strategy allows employees to more easily see how new applications and tools fit into their current workflow, rather than learning a new system without understanding its benefits.?She adds that one area that isn’t talked about often enough is making sure that a CoE is also investing in its own people.?
• Dugan adds that today, all leaders need to understand how CoEs can drive change and optimization by linking change to purpose. “The adage ‘the only constant is change’ has become an absolute truth,” she says. “Driving excellence requires change. This means shifting mindsets, behaviors, and skills to work in new ways or achieve new outcomes.”?

Commentary of the Week

Story by Helena Almeida

Key Points:

• There are common themes in much of the legislation passed or proposals in process in the US or abroad. Some principles underlying the recently passed Artificial Intelligence Act (a.k.a., the EU AI Act), for example, include: protect privacy, mitigate bias, provide transparency and explainability, ensure human oversight, and monitor results after the product is in use.?
• The European Parliament approved the final text of the European Union’s AI Act earlier this year and it just went into effect in August. Similar to the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) privacy legislation, the EU has taken the lead and may likely greatly influence future AI legislation across the globe.?
• Last October, President Biden issued an Executive Order concerning AI to establish guidance for AI safety and security, privacy, equity and civil rights, consumer and worker protection, and innovation and competition. Many states are considering legislation on how to regulate AI as well.??
• AI has become a significant, competitive factor in product development. As businesses develop their AI program, they should continue to abide by responsible and ethical guidelines to help them stay compliant with current and emerging legislation.

Podcast of the Week

Podcast and Story by Joao-Pierre Ruth

Key Points:

• Quantum computing is expected to change the cryptography and security landscape -- once the technology is in the field.
• Will NIST’s standards require heavy lifting by security experts to get up to speed? Government agencies have a history of being a bit out of step with the real world -- was the private sector heard in the development of these standards?
• Since the technology is still in development, will the standards need to be updated in short order? Could this make life easier or more challenging for CISOs and other security practitioners?
• In this episode of DOS Won’t Hunt, Anand Kashyap , founder and CEO of Fortanix (bottom center in video); Kristin Milchanowski, Ph.D. , 安永 ’s global innovation quantum leader (upper right); Michael Osborne , CTO for IBM Quantum Safe (bottom right); Omar Santos , distinguished engineer with 思科 (upper left); and Volker Krummel , post-quantum cryptography chapter lead for Utimaco (bottom left) discuss what enterprises should know to get their arms around NIST’s post-quantum cryptography standards.

Latest Major Tech Layoff Announcements

Original Story by Jessica C. Davis, Updated by Brandon Taylor

Key Points:

• As COVID drove everyone online, tech companies hired like crazy. Now, we are hitting the COVID tech bust as tech giants shed jobs by the thousands.
• Updated August 28, 2024 with layoff announcements from Brave, Scale AI, Apple, IBM, and Tome Biosciences.
• Check back regularly for updates to our IT job layoffs tracker.

Previewing Forrester’s

Technology and Innovation Summit North America 2024

Forrester’s upcoming Technology and Innovation Summit North America 2024 is all about unleashing the power of tech, talent, and AI.

In these two video interviews below, we connected with Forrester's Brandon Purcell , VP and Principal Analyst, and Principal Analyst Julie L. Mohr to preview some of the topics they’ll cover at the summit.

Story and Interview by Brandon Taylor

Story and Interview by Brandon Taylor

Subscribe to our YouTube channel here and make sure to check out these video interviews and more on our official InformationWeek channel!

WATCH ON-DEMAND!

“Generative AI: From Bleeding Edge to Mainstream, How It's Shaping Enterprise IT”

An archived LIVE virtual event from August 22:

Presented by InformationWeek and ITPro Today

The next wave of AI is here and if your machine isn’t learning, it’s already behind.

This virtual event looks at how generative AI will help us reinvent our businesses and organizations in a safe and sane – and profitable – manner.

In this event we’ll discuss:

? Potential for Generative AI

? Key preparations to building and incorporate AI

? How to be prepared to use AI responsibly

Our featured keynote speakers were:

• Sidney Madison Prescott, MBA - Artificial Intelligence Executive, Z Labs, Founder & CEO, Mirror, Founder & CEO, Moonshot Productions
• Allison Bergamo - Founder and CEO, Bergamo Marketing Group

Our featured panelists were:

• Pamela Gupta - CEO, Trusted AI?
• Benjamin Bohman - Founder, Stratishield AI
• Dan Van Dyke - Head of Generative AI, EMARKETER

This virtual event was moderated by:

• Steven Hill - Independent Analyst - Data Center Technologies at ToneCurve Technology, LLC

This is just a taste of what’s going on. If you want the whole scoop, then register for one of our email newsletters,?but only if you’re going to read it.?We want to improve the sustainability of editorial operations, so we don’t want to send you newsletters that are just going to sit there unopened. If you're a subscriber already, please make sure Mimecast and other inbox bouncers know that we’re cool and they should let us through.

And if you’re thinking about subscribing, then maybe start with the InformationWeek in Review; it only arrives on our new look Saturdays.