===================

A world without IT and AI today, no computer, no handphone, nothing….

Is IT bad and cause humans to suffer?

Does AI make humans stupid?

Will IT and AI control humans?

Please learn how to pull out the plug. Make a robot to do it when the time comes to pull out the electric cable and plug. Can we?

What is Astral Particle Information System?

Who will research into APIS for the sake of all mankind able to communicate the the Unseen realm where out data in iCloud is transmitted at 186,000 miles per second, not per minute.

=======

The coming creative destruction from AI

Artificial intelligence’s impact could be bigger than that of China joining the WTO, but will pose challenges for policymakers

Vikram Khanna
Associate Editor & Senior Columnist

The interesting question is not whether AI can replicate the human brain but what outcomes it can produce. PHOTO: AFP
UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO on 30th Mar 2023 in Straits Times.
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On my prompt, artificial intelligence (AI) – aka “machine learning“ – created a film script on the life of Singapore’s first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, which it then translated into Chinese. It generated an impressionistic image of Singapore’s skyline, and then another one of a frog dancing on Changi Beach. It also provided the content for a PowerPoint presentation. In a recent demonstration, it turned a hand-drawn sketch of a webpage into an actual website by generating code that matched the sketch. It did each of the above in less than a minute.

The capabilities of AI – of which the popular ChatGPT is but one manifestation – are now mind-boggling. And they keep getting better. ChatGPT-4, which was released on March 14, is a dramatic upgrade on the earlier version, ChatGPT-3.5.

It scored in the top 10 per cent of the United States bar exam, whereas its predecessor scored in the bottom 10 per cent. It did even better on the Biology Olympiad, the top biology competition for high school students, rating in the top 1 per cent, compared with the bottom 31 per cent for ChatGPT-3.5. It has been found to be 40 per cent more likely to give factually correct responses.

Google has also launched Bard, a rival conversational AI chatbot to ChatGPT. Meta, Amazon and Baidu are among other big-tech companies that have similar chatbots.

Like humans, chatbots can make mistakes and have biases, but they are improving. Besides the general variety, there are several specialised chatbots catering to a variety of industries. The AI wars will get more intense – which would be good for users.

AI is not just about text, but also images. There are platforms like Dall-E2, Playground and Midjourney that can convert text to images in seconds in multiple styles, which can be edited and downloaded. Anybody can now create images of just about anything. AI can also interpret images. You can, for instance, upload a photo of various food ingredients and AI can suggest recipes based on those.

Anybody can also become a creator of games online: ChatGPT-4 can give step-by-step instructions on the code needed to produce a game.

What are the implications of these and other awesome capabilities of AI?

Disruptive power

One is their disruptive power, on industries and jobs. Even with earlier versions of AI, any job that involves routine and repetitive work is at risk.

Think, for instance, data entry, customer service for simple inquiries, invoice processing and other accounting and administrative tasks, scanning resumes, managing inventories and sorting and inspecting products. AI is already being used for many of these tasks.

But now, more complex tasks that previously needed human intelligence or other talents can be upended. Even outside robotics, which is already disrupting jobs in manufacturing, millions of services jobs will be affected, a process that has already started.

To cite some examples: The ability of AI to generate computer code – as in the example of ChatGPT creating a website from a paper sketch – will displace software programmers. AI can provide medical diagnosis by accurately analysing images such as X-rays and CT scans as well as medical history records, and recommend treatments. It can also help manage mental health conditions. There are companies already offering such services. It can speed up drug development by analysing genomic data and clinical trial results.

AI can scan environmental data at scale and help improve responses to climate change. Financial analysts would be disrupted by AI, which can analyse vast amounts of economic and financial data and make forecasts, in many cases superior to what humans can do.

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How AI could upend the world even more than electricity or the Internet
What is ChatGPT-4 and how to use it now: Everything you need to know
In financial institutions, AI can help in fraud detection, by analysing unusual patterns in payments. It can assess the validity of insurance claims, jeopardising the jobs of claims examiners. It can analyse legal documents and identify precedents in cases, aiding the work of legal researchers.

In education, AI can create personalised curricula for individual students based on their abilities and interests. Translators of both speech and text can be displaced by AI.

Even creative professions are vulnerable to disruption: AI can create original art and music – famously, it has completed Schubert’s unfinished symphony – and write articles, novels and film scripts. Anybody with imagination but no other artistic skill can access the tools to become a writer or artist. For production houses, AI can analyse audience data and make predictions and recommendations. Ditto for anybody selling anything digitally.

And we’re still in a relatively early stage of the AI revolution. Many capabilities that AI now has were considered impossible even just a decade ago, such as its ability to beat the world champion at the complex board game Go, which it did in 2016.

ST ILLUSTRATION: CEL GULAPA
What is considered impossible today may well be a reality in the future. The mathematician and computer scientist John von Neumann, who is considered one of the founding fathers of the AI revolution in the 1940s, once said: “You insist that there is something a machine cannot do. If you tell me precisely what it is a machine cannot do, then I can always make a machine which will do just that.”

The interesting question for practical purposes is not whether AI can replicate the human brain – which it cannot – but what outcomes it can produce.

As companies integrate AI into their processes and use it routinely, many of their workers will find their jobs transformed. Sometimes this will be to their benefit and that of their companies, but it is also likely that hundreds of industries and millions of jobs will be at risk of being disrupted or displaced.

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Bar exam score shows AI can keep up with ‘human lawyers’: Study
The race of the AI labs heats up
Scaling services and the knowledge economy

Mr Emad Mostaque, founder and chief executive of Stability AI, which produces open-source AI platforms, predicts that overall, these changes will be more impactful for economies than China joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which massively scaled up manufacturing.

But unlike manufacturing, which takes time, raw materials, physical infrastructure, logistics and expertise to scale up, AI-induced transformations, which are based on software that can be deployed instantly, will be rapid, and will scale services and the knowledge economy. And although likely to be more pronounced in some countries than others, the transformations will be global, especially with open-source AI being made available. Mr Mostaque suggests AI will have the fastest adoption of any technology in history.

The payoffs will be immense, but so will the challenges.

One of the biggest economic benefits will come in the form of lower costs and higher productivity. AI-powered robots are already reducing production costs in manufacturing. The same will happen with services, and more quickly.

As it spreads, AI will be a deflationary force. In many areas, companies that use AI will be able to boost efficiencies and lower prices compared with competitors that do not. The more competitive the industry, the greater and faster will be the cost reductions. The wide deployment of AI will also be equivalent to new additions to the workforce, making worsening demographics a less serious issue.

But while companies will become more productive, they will hire fewer workers – and there will be more job losses. New jobs will be created too, which will require new skills that involve working with AI, but whether they will be created fast enough and in sufficiently large numbers to absorb the workers who will be displaced is unknown.

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High growth with high unemployment

Some more pessimistic analysts such as the economist Nouriel Roubini – known as “Dr Doom” – suggest that countries which use AI on a large scale could achieve dramatic productivity gains and high rates of gross domestic product growth, but at the same time face high levels of unemployment – which seems paradoxical but is logical.

This may call for new forms of social protection, such as job guarantees or even a universal basic income, whereby all citizens are paid a minimum amount per month.

It will also call for retraining on a large scale and creating new jobs that AI cannot do, or will disrupt less – for example, in the areas of social and human services, particularly health, education and entertainment; jobs that involve hands-on work such as plumbing and mechanical work; and professions that require complex decision-making and problem-solving such as lawyers, scientists and engineers. But even parts of these jobs may be disrupted in the future as AI and robotics get more sophisticated.

Governments will also need to put in place safeguards to ensure that AI is used appropriately, ethically and not abused. At a national level, AI systems will need to be transparent in terms of their decision processes, subject to regular audits and as free from bias as possible. They must adhere to strict data privacy and security standards and be prohibited from being used for harmful purposes, such as generating “deep fakes” – for which detection mechanisms should be put in place – or unwarranted forms of surveillance.

And they must ensure that everybody has access to AI, which should not be the preserve of large corporations. One way to do this would be to support the use of open-source AI systems and encourage developers to build applications on top of them.

Besides having to comply with national laws, companies would need to develop their own customised AI applications which they can integrate into their processes and to preserve the sanctity of their data – AI cannot be “a one-type-fits-all” solution. Indeed, governments, too, would have to customise AI to fit the needs of their societies.

Harnessing the power of AI and minimising its downsides will thus involve both technological and governance challenges and require an overhaul of economic and social policies. The work on this must begin now, because the revolution is already upon us.

MORE ON THIS TOPIC
Why did I take the AI job? I thought it meant ‘All In’
The safest and most endangered jobs in a ChatGPT world.

================

Now, wireless technology is used to charge handphones. Who will research into transmitting electricity from outer space to earth using wireless technology?

==============

—– Forwarded message —–

From: tan kok tim <tankoktim@yahoo.co.uk>

To: Bill Gates (via the Gates Notes) <billg@gatesnotes.com>

Sent: Sunday, 26 March 2023, 14:46:34 GMT+8

Subject: Re: The Age of AI has begun

Tyvm for your Gates Notes.

Who will research into the Astral Particle Information System for the sake of all mankind?

Data is now in iCloud, unseen, and is transmitted at 186,000 miles per second.

The Astral Realm is unseen too.

When will the APIS be made available for mankind to share data, and able to communicate with the Astral Realm?

==========

When will software engineers, programmers, and coders be made obsolete by robots and AI?

Fast super computers need softwares that will not take months or years to be designed, coded and tested.

https://tankoktim.wordpress.com/…/www-ai-and-it…/

=================

Now there is no need to wait for months or years to get a software done because you no longer need to know how to code to generate new software programs.

Thanks to artificial intelligence, there is now “no-code software”.

You just instruct the software to design some code for the application that you have imagined or need and, presto, it will spit out the software in a matter of days.

For example, the chessboard and the pieces, can one give the criterion and the rules of the game, press a few buttons, and the software for the game will be done within a few days?

“We’re seeing the democratisation of software – the consumers can now be the creators,” Mr Kumar explained. It shows you how artificial intelligence will take away jobs of the past, while it creates jobs of the future.

=============

Who will research into Astral Particle Information System to lift the IT and AI technologies into the next lap and great heights for the sake of all mankind’s survival, growth, development, and happiness?

Robotics in AI is child play.

=======

How Singapore intends to harness AI for the public good

The Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo spells out how the Government plans to tap the vast potential of artificial intelligence while setting up guardrails for its use. Here is the edited text of her speech to the Asia Tech x Artificial Intelligence conference on June 7.

Josephine Teo

Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo spells out how the Government plans to tap AI’s potential. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO on 8th June 2023 in Straits Times.

If asked a year ago what ChatGPT was, people may have guessed it was a dating app! Generative AI and its potential, multiplied by the scale and speed of change, have been nothing short of stunning.

Last month, in San Francisco, I visited a Hacker House at Alamo Square. This area is now referred to as “Cerebral Valley”, reflecting the concentration of AI activity. There were start-up founders, along with researchers and investors. Academic papers published on a Friday were being prototyped over the weekend.

Happily for me, there were also passionate Singaporeans in the Bay Area, who are themselves at the forefront of this tech revolution. Everyone has come alive to the transformative potential of generative AI (artificial intelligence). Thankfully, not all were chasing the hype.

Thoughtful leaders are still exploring alternative AI architectures and approaches. They cautioned me about AI’s dangers.

What does all of this mean for Singapore and where do we go from here? In discussions with non-tech communities, I have found it useful to draw the comparison of AI and electricity.

Electricity itself brings us little benefit. But when used to power appliances and equipment, we get so much more in convenience, productivity and capabilities.

What AI delivers is a different kind of power. It is the power of human-like intelligence, potentially a very high form of it, at far reduced cost. This is especially valuable for Singapore where human capital makes all the difference.

If as Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat put it, we can harness this power to make it “Augmented Intelligence”, to support rather than replace people, our citizens will have a lot to gain.

At the same time, just as the improper use of appliances and equipment can cause electrocution, inappropriate use of AI can also do great harm.

Guardrails are therefore necessary to guide people to use it responsibly, and for AI products to be “safe for all of us” by design.

Harnessing the power of AI

This is why in Singapore, we believe we must do all we can to harness AI for the public good.

Fortunately, we are not starting from scratch. Innovators in our public service are already building AI products to improve governance and service delivery.

Allow me to share a few examples:

Since 2015, we have used machine learning to process citizen feedback on repairs needed in their neighbourhoods, such as when someone sees a broken swing at the playground, or a lamp post that is not working. Citizens benefit from faster responses, by the right people.

Last year, close to 10 million containers and consignments crossed our shores. Another 50 million parcels came through air shipment. We need cargo clearance to be fast but also safe. These twin objectives are better achieved by the use of AI to detect anomalies in scanned images of these shipments.

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Govt agencies exploring use of AI to block scam websites faster: Josephine Teo.

More recently, we have started using AI-enabled image and text comparisons to detect scams. Our phishing detection tool combs through 120,000 websites daily to take down spoof sites used for fraudulent purposes.

Without such AI in its arsenal, law enforcement agents will hardly have the capacity to focus on scam prevention or to recover the assets of victims.

These are a few of the obvious uses of AI for the public good.

AI can also help address the bigger challenges of our time.

By 2030, one in four Singaporeans are expected to be over 65 years old. For an ageing population with growing chronic disease burden, AI will be a vital tool for Singapore to improve clinical diagnosis and patient well-being. It can also reduce costs for families as well as hospitals.

There’s more. In cancer preventive care, our AI platform can already prescribe the optimal drug doses based on data about a patient’s condition. We are mapping the DNA of 100,000 Singaporeans and sequencing whole genomes. AI can be used to better understand genomic-clinical data linkages, for the practice of precision medicine.

Another big challenge is sustainability. Singapore has committed to becoming net-zero by the mid-century. Singapore is also a city in a garden. But as with all cities, buildings are an issue. Globally, they contribute 40 per cent to energy consumption.

There are many ways AI can improve their energy efficiency, from building design and simulation to energy monitoring and optimisation. At the broader level, there are already AI solutions and applications that balance electricity supply and demand in real time. This can optimise energy load deployment and storage.

The irony of course, is that AI itself must become more energy efficient. This is a collective challenge for us all.

Beyond healthcare and sustainability, we see opportunities for AI in education.

What if teachers’ time can be freed up from tasks like grading assignments and managing student records?

How about individualised learning plans and tutoring support for children from disadvantaged backgrounds? Imagine how this can moderate inequality and uplift everyone in our next generation!

MORE ON THIS TOPIC
Elon Musk says China detailed plans to regulate AI
EU, US to draft voluntary AI code of conduct.

Enhancing Singapore’s AI ecosystem

These opportunities are why Singapore is making a rallying call for all of us to harness AI for the public good. Allow me to share some thoughts about how we may proceed.

First, we believe the Government can lead the way in widespread AI experimentation and adoption, as well as scaling. One could even argue that the Government is uniquely positioned to have oversight on both the scale of the problems, and the resources to make such experimentation impactful.

Second, we believe AI proficiency can be built through a combination of deep skills development as well as ground-up learning. These are important foundations, akin to enriching the soil conditions for a thousand flowers to bloom.

Third, we believe in responsible AI deployment for public good. We will encourage experimentation and adoption. But we will also strive to shield society from the most serious AI risks.

To make progress on all that I have just mentioned, the Government cannot do it alone.

The private sector and the research ecosystem have rich expertise. They can and must be encouraged to participate meaningfully to advance AI for the public good.

Innovations and opportunities within the ecosystem

Companies here are playing an active role in growing our ecosystem. SAP, Cisco, Sea and Grab have anchored AI labs in Singapore. They have created thousands of good jobs and enabled Singaporeans to be tech leaders in their fields.

There is even a partnership between AI Singapore, our national AI programme, and the World Wildlife Fund to use AI-enabled tools to combat illegal wildlife trade.

One challenge is that the breadth and depth of talent cannot keep up with demand. We will continue to grow our training capacity. But even as the training curriculum is updated, it risks becoming outdated all too soon.

It is a plus therefore that skills acquisition in AI does not always need to come through formal education. In fact, many people have succeeded through independent experimentation and learning-by-doing.

We therefore encourage employers to take this wider aperture for spotting talent. With AI, neither age nor academic qualifications are barriers.

If we embrace this, we come closer to realising AI as “Augmented Intelligence”. AI that broadens the pathways for success must surely be more inclusive and a force for good.

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The tech giants have an interest in AI regulation
Women possess skills to succeed in AI and cyber security: Josephine Teo.

Singapore’s AI governance road map

Let me now turn to the topic of responsible AI use. A strong desire for AI safety need not mean pulling the drawbridge to innovation and adoption. As we have seen in transportation, brakes, speed limits, seatbelts and airbags can promote confidence among road users.

In AI, safety mechanisms and shared standards will equally instil confidence in its use. But effective safeguards will take time and good research to discover.

Meanwhile, we have developed several frameworks to promote accountability and trust.

Some of you may recall that Singapore published our Model AI Governance Framework in 2019. It was and remains the first of its kind in Asia.

Last year, we introduced AI Verify, a governance testing framework and toolkit. This minimum viable product has since attracted interest from over 50 companies.

Partnerships to strengthen AI governance

In support of AI for the public good, Singapore has decided to opensource AI Verify and launch the AI Verify Foundation.

We believe that system developers, solution providers and the research community can all use and contribute to AI Verify. Crowding-in their expertise will also promote the growth of new and better testing tools.

The foundation will set the strategic directions and development road map of AI Verify. Current members include IBM, Google, Microsoft, Red Hat, Salesforce and Aicadium. They will be our ambassadors to gather the community to develop better frameworks, standards and best practices. And we welcome more interested partners to join in.

We will also enhance our suite of governance tools. IMDA (Infocomm Media Development Authority) and Aicadium are releasing a joint discussion paper highlighting key areas of concerns in generative AI. We hope it will spark many conversations and build awareness on the guardrails needed.

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Building an AI-ready Singapore

We believe AI is the next big shift since the Internet and mobile.

Amidst very real fears and concerns about its development, we will need to actively steer AI towards beneficial uses and away from bad ones. This is core to how Singapore thinks about AI.

In doing so, we hope to make Singapore an outstanding place for talent, ideas and experimentation.

We also aim to be a vibrant node within a global network where efforts are directed towards trusted AI systems and responsible use.

This will be where AI for the public good will truly come alive.

==========

$24 million laboratory launched for advanced robotics research.

Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan checking out a robot gripper at the lab launch on June 7, 2023. With him is Dr Cindy Tang, a research fellow at NTU. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
Anne Chan Min
UPDATED 26 MINS AGO on 8th June 2023 in Straits Times.

SINGAPORE – A robot with two arms that can hold odd-shaped objects – a human-like quality with applications in industries such as logistics and healthcare – is among the highlights of a tie-up between Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Taiwan-based tech company Delta Electronics.

Boasting a significantly wider range of motion and functionality than existing devices on the market, the two-armed robot will continue its development at the Delta-NTU Corporate Lab for Advanced Robotics, a $24 million laboratory to drive research and development into next-generation robotics technology.

The lab was launched on Wednesday at a ceremony attended by Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan, NTU president Ho Teck Hua and Delta Electronics chairman Yancey Hai.

The joint venture, which is currently in its second phase, is supported by the Government as part of Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2025 plan. Announced in 2020, the plan sets the direction for Singapore’s research and development priorities to focus on renewing the country’s commitment to research while scaling up tech innovation capabilities for businesses.

The Phase 1 Delta-NTU partnership yielded impressive results that led to 15 patents and innovative solutions, such as a universal smart navigation system for automated guided vehicles used to transport goods in factories, said Professor Lam Khin Yong, vice-president for industry at NTU.

The second phase of research aims to refine and redefine existing robotic capabilities.

One area of focus will be to improve the dexterity and flexibility of robots, so that they mimic human movements, and integrate this into each part of the robotic system.

This could significantly improve automation within the warehousing, healthcare and service industries.

For example, one of the robot grippers integrates touch and force sensors that are flexible, which allows the robot to pick up small and delicate objects, something conventional grippers are still unable to do.

Another new device is a robot arm that can be controlled remotely, which could prove useful in unpredictable events with severe consequences, such as the Covid-19 pandemic.

It could also increase workplace safety, with workers packing heavy goods by controlling the robot arm from a distance.

Such improvements are made possible with novel machine learning methods.

Nanyang Technological University and Delta Electronics have set up a $24 million corporate laboratory for advanced robotic technologies PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO.

Instead of relying on images to train robots in how to precisely position their machine extensions, robots are trained by a user demonstrating natural arm movements. In turn, the model generated allows other robots to imitate the human gestures with ease.

Investors are hopeful their nascent technology can make its debut in commercial warehouses within the next two years.

Mr Tan expressed support for the research partnership, which could bring benefits to the country.

“They contribute to Singapore’s competitiveness as a global hub for business, innovation and talent – and also generate scientific outcomes that could meet our national needs and also improve our lives,” he said.

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=============

On Wednesday, 22 March 2023, 04:06:36 GMT+8, Bill Gates (via the Gates Notes) <billg@gatesnotes.com> wrote:

The Age of AI has begun

By Bill Gates | March 21, 2023

The development of amazing artificial intelligence models like GPT might seem sudden, but it’s not. It’s just the latest step in computer scientists’ decades-long quest to develop machines that can see, read, and at least appear to think. It’s not the last step, either: AI will only get better with time.

AI is going to empower people in incredible ways, but I’m especially excited about its potential to make the world a more equitable place. AI can help expand access to health care in underserved communities, improve education in the United States and around the world, and even help us avoid a climate disaster. Making sure that it benefits everyone—and not just people who are well-off—is the priority for my work on AI.

As with any new technology, there are legitimate concerns that need to be addressed—and I believe they can be. We need to mitigate the risks so we can make the most of AI’s incredible potential to make people’s lives better.

In my latest (long!) Gates Notes post, “The Age of AI has begun,” I share some thoughts about how to deal with these risks while also using AI to advance the cause of equity. And stay tuned for more on this topic—the Gates Foundation will have much more to say about AI’s impact on inequity in the coming months. I hope you’ll take a look.

Thanks for being an Insider!

=================

Computers, Robots, IT…

I recall how I spent long hours with the PSA Information Technology staff to discuss the logical flow for the designing of a computer-based programme to track containers in the Tanjong Pagar Container Wharf in the 1970s.

We spent more than a year over many meetings to gather the basic information flow of container movement from ship-to shore-to ship for the IT analysts and programmers to painstakingly craft and design the programmes.

It was nascent hardwork and it tested our patience to the limit to see the birth of probably the first container-tracking programme in the world and the repeated attempts to make it work.

Today, the technology at ports around the world is so well advanced with bar-code, scanner systems probably with drones too to assist the computers to do that much more and faster.

Without computers and modern-day robotics technology, we can easily say that port operations would be a nightmare, and would have required many more manpower to make the port operate 24/7 and efficiently. It is the same for airport operations that could handle millions of passengers, all made possible with automation, computers and robots.

This modern world cannot function without IT and robots, but I hope mankind will not be held hostage by it that we become paralysed when it shuts down and fails on us. It is a scary thought.

I used to say it to the IT professionals that when man could make it to the moon with the help of a primitive computer, or design programmes able to beat the chess grandmasters, the present IT and robotic age must be able to do many more things and faster.

Sadly, for me IT is still like at an elementary stage.

I wrote in the 1970s expressing the wish that the IT industry will transform to a stage where there is no need for IT analysts and programmers. Why is that so and is it attainable?

Humans can write IT programmes but eventually every program written by man must be translated into a machine language that the computers can understand. This translation is performed by compilers, interpreters, and assemblers. [please see google link on this.]

I believe super computers can do the job of both the analysts and the programmers to replace man.

Hardware is getting faster but IT programmes continue to take many man-hours for it to be designed by man for it to be tested to run in computers.

The day must come where computers will have to take over, and IT programmes will take only a few hours to complete not months and weeks.

I am still waiting and hopefully not in vain for man to be replaced by computers to write IT programmes that run computers and robots without sweat, tears and agonising hours testing everyone’s patience.

======

Robotics set to make it harder task to support employment

FROM

JACK AHERN

PUBLISHED: JANUARY 5, 2017 in Today Voices

I refer to the article “The rise of a robotic dawn in services industry” (Jan 3).

It seems ironic that in the Institute for Employment and Employability, whose function is to support employment, a robot is serving coffee to employees because the cafe has “no manpower to deliver, and it is difficult to hire people”.

It begs a thought as to setting behaviour by example. On the other hand, perhaps the number of people employed to build and service the robot outweighs the number required to do its work.

Here is another thought: The report “Healthy New Year’s resolution: Take a 5-min walk each hour” (Dec 30) advises office workers to get up off their seats for five minutes every hour.

If this advice were heeded, folks could make the trip themselves rather than rely on another person or machine to perform this mundane task. Either way, the institute has its work cut out for itself.

==============

AI must evolve to take over coding for maximum benefits

MY LETTER PUBLISHED

AUG 30, 2017, in Straits Times’ Forum Page [JPEG format below].

Artificial intelligence and IT must evolve to a stage where powerful computers can take over the analytical work and coding and writing of computer programs (Don’t rush blindly to embrace technology, by Ms Wendy Yuen Woon Yoke, Aug 24; and We decide on how to use technology wisely, by Mr Heng Cho Choon, Aug 26).

I worked with the PSA staff to design a container tracking system in the 1970s. They had the IBM 370 computer system, which utilised a painfully slow process using the 80-column punch-card mechanical machines for coding.

I remember wondering when mankind would have automation to do this laborious task.

The mundane, tedious part of designing and coding computer programs must end. It has to be done by pressing a few buttons and having powerful robots design the program at the speed of light.

Until this can be done, we will be a long way from being able to use more advanced AI technology and IT to serve mankind at a higher speed.

Fast computers must be matched by fast coding.

I hope the day will come soon when AI takes over and makes the jobs of analysts, programmers and coders obsolete.

======

Now there is no need to wait for months or years to get a software done because you no longer need to know how to code to generate new software programs.

Thanks to artificial intelligence, there is now “no-code software”.

You just instruct the software to design some code for the application that you have imagined or need and, presto, it will spit out the software in a matter of days.

For example, the chessboard and the different chess pieces, can one give the criterion and the rules of the game, press a few buttons, and the software for the game will be done within a few days?

=============

When will software engineers, programmers, and coders be made obsolete by robots and AI?

Fast super computers need softwares that will not take months or years to be designed, coded and tested.

https://tankoktim.wordpress.com/…/www-ai-and-it…/

=================

Tech jobs that saw significant pay bumps in Singapore last year include mobile engineers, blockchain engineers and data engineers. PHOTO: REUTERS

Krist Boo

Senior Correspondent

UPDATED 15 MINS AGO in Straits Times on 7th March 2023.

SINGAPORE – The guys often depicted as gawky geeks in movies got the last laugh in recent years – and probably all the way to the bank.

Competition for tech talent drove up salaries in the sector in Singapore last year, though the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) may reshape the types of skills in demand.

In 2022, salaries of software engineers in Singapore surged 7.6 per cent to an all-time high, according to an annual tech salary report released on Tuesday.

Median base salaries were $5,000 for junior engineers, $8,000 for senior engineers and $13,750 for engineering managers, according to the report by tech talent platform NodeFlair and technology accelerator Iterative.

At the 90th percentile, pay cheques reached $8,500, $12,000 and $19,000, respectively – triple the earnings of those in the bottom 10 per cent.

Other tech jobs that saw significant pay bumps in Singapore in 2022 include mobile engineers, blockchain engineers and data engineers.

Six out of the top 15 most-searched companies – topped by TikTok’s parent company ByteDance – paid employees at least 20 per cent more than the market median, said NodeFlair.

Most of the rest pay at least 10 per cent more, it added.

Mr Ethan Ang, chief executive and co-founder of NodeFlair, said the unprecedented demand for highly skilled tech professionals is “driving up salaries to record highs”.

“As companies across various industries increasingly rely on technology to drive growth, the value of tech talent has never been higher.”

But the “jaw-dropping salary offers” thrown at tech workers in previous years are likely to taper off, said NodeFlair.

Since November, more than 100,000 tech workers have been laid off globally amid concerns about an economic slowdown.

Mr Ang said the tech industry will continue to face challenges in attracting, compensating and retaining top talent.

The hiring landscape is also set to shift, as employers deal with the latest technological disruption of generative AI tools sparked by the public release of ChatGPT in November 2022.

Since ChatGPT’s launch, companies including Tesla, Meta and TikTok have set up high-level AI teams to compete with the Microsoft-linked bot, which can automate tasks from filling spreadsheets to preparing e-mails, itineraries and CEO speeches. It even writes code.

With not enough AI experts to go round, “we will see companies being open to hiring software engineers with an interest in AI, similar to what we observed in previous years during the cryptocurrencies and Web 3.0 boom”, said NodeFlair co-founder Adrian Goh.

Problem finders, not solvers, needed

by Thomas FriedmanWhen the world emerges from the Covid-19 crisis, people will see some amazing stuff emerge, find that some long-established institutions disappear, and realise that the nature of work, workplaces and the workforce have been transformed, says the author.PHOTO: AFP

PUBLISHEDOCT 22, 2020, 5:00 AM SGT in Straits Times

(NYTIMES) The good Lord works in mysterious ways. He (She?) threw a pandemic at us at the exact same time as a tectonic shift in the way we will learn, work and employ. Fasten your seat belt.

When we emerge from this corona crisis, we are going to be greeted with one of the most profound eras of Schumpeterian creative destruction ever – which this pandemic is both accelerating and disguising.

No job, no school, no university, no factory, no office will be spared. And it will touch both white-collar and blue-collar workers, which is why this presidential election matters so much.

The reason the post-pandemic era will be so destructive and creative is that never have more people had access to so many cheap tools of innovation, never have more people had access to high-powered, inexpensive computing, never have more people had access to such cheap credit – virtually free money – to invent new products and services, all as so many big health, social, environmental and economic problems need solving.

Put all of that together and KABOOM! You are going to see some amazing stuff emerge, some long-established institutions, like universities, disappear – and the nature of work, workplaces and the workforce transformed.

I have been discussing this moment with Mr Ravi Kumar, president of the Indian tech services company Infosys, whose headquarters is in Bangalore.

Because Infosys helps companies prepare for a digital world, Ihave always found it a source of great insight on global employment/education trends. I started my book The World Is Flat there in 2004.

Back then, Infosys’ main business was doing work that American companies would outsource to India.

Today, Mr Kumar operates from New York City, where he is creating thousands of jobs in America.

How could that be? It starts with the fact, explained Mr Kumar, that the Industrial Revolution produced a world in which there were sharp distinctions between employers and employees, between educators and employers, and between governments and employers and educators, “but now you’re going to see a blurring of all these lines”.

Because the pace of technological change, digitisation and globalisation just keeps accelerating, two things are happening at once: The world is being knit together more tightly than ever – sure, the globalisation of goods and people has been slowed by the pandemic and politics, but the globalisation of services has soared – and “the half-life of skills is steadily shrinking”, said Mr Kumar, meaning that whatever skill you possess today is being made obsolete faster and faster.

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The reason Mr Kumar now operates from New York is that he sees a huge new market in helping companies in the United States to prepare for this world by identifying potential new employees with skills – whether or not they have college degrees – then pairing them with new pathways of online training and pairing companies with these new talent pools.

Every big company is going through this now – or will. Even The New York Times. Look at the list of online opinion writers for The Times: It is radically different from when I became a columnist in 1995, when you had to be a staff employee.

Today we have full-time staff columnists; columnists who are not on the staff but contribute regularly from all over the world, and on many days, one-time contributors.

The people who moderate the comments on our columns are workers who plug in from all over the world, and much of the art is provided by freelancers. My long-time copy editor is working from home. Welcome to the Times orchestra.

This is already having a big impact on education. “We have started hiring many people with no degrees,” explained Mr Kumar.

“If you know stuff and can demonstrate that you know stuff and have been upskilling yourself with online training to do the task that we need, you’re hired. We think this structural shift – from degrees to skills – could bridge the digital divide as the cost of undergraduate education has increased by 150 per cent over the last 20 years.”

Infosys still hires lots of engineers. But today Mr Kumar is not looking just for “problem solvers”, he says, but “problem finders”, people with diverse interests – art, literature, science, anthropology – who can identify things that people want before people even know they want them. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was the ultimate problem finder.

Now so many more people can play at that, because you no longer need to know how to code to generate new software programs. Thanks to artificial intelligence, there is now “no-code software”. You just instruct the software to design some code for the application that you have imagined or need and, presto, it will spit it out.

Finally, he argues, in the future, post-secondary education will be a hybrid ecosystem of company platforms, colleges and local schools, whose goal will be to create the opportunity for lifelong “radical reskilling”.

“Radical reskilling means I can take a front-desk hotel clerk and turn him into a cyber-security technician. I can take an airline counter agent and turn her into a data consultant.”

Just-in-time learning

Today, companies like Infosys, IBM or AT&T are all creating cutting-edge in-house universities: Infosys is building a 40ha campus in Indianapolis designed to provide its employees and customers not “just-in-case learning” – material you might or might not need to master the job at hand – but “just-in-time learning”, offering the precise skills needed for the latest task, explained Mr Kumar.

In the future, lifelong learning will be done by what I call “complex adaptive coalitions”.

An Infosys, Microsoft or IBM will partner with different universities and even high schools, argues Mr Kumar.

The universities’ students will be able to take just-in-time learning courses – or do internships – at the corporations’ in-house universities, and company employees will be able to take just-in-case humanities courses at the outside universities. Both will be able to “learn, earn and work”, all at the same time.

It is already beginning. There is great potential here – if it is done right. The students get exposed to what is most new by way of innovation technologies and techniques.

And the company engineers and executives get exposed to what is most enduring – civics, ethics, theories of justice, principles of democracy, notions of the public good, environmentalism and how to lead a life of purpose.

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Literate…digitally?

A consumer does not need to know how a TV, computer, car, etc. works, or how electricity is generated at a power station.

However to be an engineer or technician in making these products, the person has to be knowledgeable to get the products made and for the consumers to have the satisfaction in using it.

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IT, robots, AI, etc., what will replace the mouse and the keyboard, and when?

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Are you digitally literate?

by Duan Jin-Chuan For The Straits Times

PUBLISHED3 HOURS AGO on 1st Oct 2020 in ST

It’s not just being able to code and use applications

“I’m an illiterate” would be an awkward admission in any society. Admitting one’s innumeracy, however, very much depends on the culture.

My many encounters while living in North America suggest that quite a substantial segment of the population wouldn’t hesitate to say: “I’m not good at mathematics.” I am inclined to believe that many people today wouldn’t be embarrassed to say out loud: “I’m not good at those digital things.”

But are we really clear about what digital literacy means?In thinking about this issue, are we in a way repeating the parable of the blind men and the elephant, mistaking the part for the whole? We need to zoom out to get a broader view of digital literacy. It is not simply a matter of semantics because of the real-life implications that follow from our understanding of the concept.

With practically everything digitally connected these days, we are often bombarded with comments and advice on what it takes to survive the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

It was with this thought in mind that I asked myself the other day: “Am I digitally literate?”

Compared with my students and younger staff, I am clumsy when it comes to using mobile devices and still feel uncomfortable with multitasking on a computer. Young people have no such problems.

But their ease with coding and gadgetry is not sufficient for them to thrive in a world that demands digital literacy.

Digital literacy, like many things in life, has several facets and different shades.

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Coding sparks initial interest in tech

First, a positive and embracing attitude towards digital technology is a necessary first step towards digital literacy. Subjective feeling determines how we humans frame and deal with a matter. “I’m not good at maths” reflects an attitude that can by itself be an impediment to acquiring the necessary skills in that field. The same applies to digital literacy.

It does not take high intelligence to acquire basic reading and writing skills. By extension, it won’t take too much effort to be in a position to appreciate and apply digital technology at the elementary level if the mental barrier can be crossed.

Most seniors today have gone from relying on snail mail to e-mail to text messaging to voice/video chats. In a way, we have already become digitally literate consumers even though some of us may still be clumsy in using electronic devices.

CONSUMERS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS

And yet being able to read, write and speak a language does not guarantee that one can make a living as an editor, writer or stand-up comedian. Why should we then expect that mastering the use of common digital gadgets can enhance one’s job prospects in this digital era?

We can be clumsy as consumers of goods and services involving digital technology but still be tolerated because our money, not skills, gives us that privilege.

On the supply side though, only value-added propositions can attract interest.

Must-have digital literacy in order to do well in the new economy is far more complex and dependent on a number of contingent factors.

For instance, a young person proficient in coding blockchains but lacking knowledge in data analytics is digitally literate but limited in the same way a monolingual person is less adaptive than one who is multilingual.

Yes, there will be a coding job waiting for this young person if blockchains remain a hot area. But bear in mind we are talking about a rapidly evolving sector.

Furthermore, a person’s job prospects and the level of digital literacy required of him depend very much on which part of the value chain he intends to occupy.

A super coder will get many good job offers but one able to effectively manage a project involving digital products or services will land a better job. The ability to conceptualise successful digital products/services brings even greater rewards. Having an eye to spot a great venture early on can make you rich in this digital era even if you are not the most adept at using digital gadgets.

Digital technology evolves at a quick pace. Narrow digital skills may prove to have a short shelf life. One can be digitally literate in a narrow sense but still lack the marketable digital skills that appeal to potential employers. Continual learning is required as individuals strive to move on from being a digital technician to a manager of digital applications.

It is in a broader sense that I consider myself digitally literate even though I have never coded a blockchain algorithm. But I have read up enough to understand how blockchains work and know their potential and limitations. That has enabled me to better assess issues such as the future of digital currencies and offer advice accordingly.

STRUCTURAL DIGITAL KNOWLEDGE

I will go beyond the cliche “information does not equal knowledge” to say that knowledge isn’t equivalent to structural knowledge.

Why so? Watching a couple of episodes of marine mammals on Discovery Channel won’t turn us into trained marine biologists.

Knowledge is useful but structural knowledge makes one an expert. Real coding skills in the Python language can’t, for example, be learnt by just watching a few YouTube videos. Coding skills can be developed only by learning the principles, practising often and receiving feedback/guidance in a structured way.

Having structural knowledge also makes it easier for a person to acquire another set of connected structural knowledge. If Python falls out of favour, one can quickly learn the new language of the day to still possess the wanted digital literacy in this fast-changing world.

HOPE FOR US ALL

Technology can be a wonderful thing but may also unleash tremendously disruptive forces. The moving train of digital revolution is obviously unstoppable, and many conventional jobs will in time disappear.

A government, no matter how willing and capable, can only help ease the transitional pain of digital transformation being experienced by a significant segment of the population.

The spectrum of digital literacy is wide. Understanding the implications of digital technology on one’s line of work is as important as having some level of technical proficiency in working with existing digital technology.

Not everyone can be a gifted coder or an applications visionary, but every individual of working age can and will need to enhance digital literacy skills to the best of his or her ability. With some retooling and a positive attitude, many of us will be able to find a digital niche that suits our individual circumstances; that is the key to riding the wave of whatever changes that come our way.

Duan Jin-Chuan is Jardine Cycle & Carriage Professor of Finance, National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School, and executive director designate, Asian Institute of Digital Finance, NUS.

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Going fully digital… how?

First step to show the way… First, learn from NYC to install FOC wifi kiosk in public. NYC has them at street corners in the CBD.

When will the Govt install FOC wifi kiosks in HDB heartlands and HDB town centres for the poor and elderly?

We have FOC wifi at MRT stations, libraries and the airport.

Will the Govt move forward to make the society’s social compact truly compact and cohesive leaving no one behind in going digital?

In China, the mum and pop shops use the QR card. The buskers and even the beggars there use the card too. Truly going cashless. Red dot is far behind and time to catch up. Please visit China to see their use of QR cards.

China will make the ATM machines become obsolete soon. Learn from China to go truly cashless, and there will be no more pickpockets in PRC, obsolete out of business fast.

Time to make the ATM history like the 10c-coin public phone, pager, thumb drive, photocopier, fax machine, Kodak film-type camera, etc.

Going digital and fast but how? What will replace the mouse and keyboard, how and when?

Do the IT experts know what is the next level of upgrading the AI, robotic and automation industry, and be truly digital beyond imagination?

Do they know what is “Astral particle information systems’ in this century?

Who will make the breakthroughs? Singapore? We wait.

Will the new S$20b [announced on Sat, 20th June 2020 on TV by the Deputy PM and MOF Heng Swee Keat] govt funds for R&D be in this too?

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Digitisation and the IT world of the future…

Particle Information System of the 21st Century.. or by 2054? Why 2054? Please see the link below.

Solution lies in Astral Particle Information System. We are already using it, in it, when we press the button on our computers to send messages into the Unseen on wifi to reach our contact at 186,000 miles per second [not per minute].

IT experts should research into the unseen using APIS for mankind able to use wifi transmission to make contact with the Astral realm.

It is a matter of time to make this breakthrough.

It is very important for the Unseen realm and the Seen physical world able to communicate on the wifi wavelengths as the world is a world of electronic unseen vibrations, some call it the digital world of positive and negative impulses or electronically generated vibrations.

This century will be one of the greatest transformation and advancement for all mankind.

The Industrial Revolution of the 18th Century will pale in comparison.

Are human beings ready for the 21st?

Are Singaporeans and the Sinapore Govt ready for it?

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A future in digitalisation beckons us

China seems unlikely to become mired in a long recession, not least because of its rapid digital transformation.PHOTO: AFP

PUBLISHED2 HOURS AGO on 27th Sept 2020 in Sunday Times

Asia News Network writers discuss digital innovation endeavours across Asia. Here are excerpts:

SPEED UP DIGITISATION OF PUBLIC SERVICE

Editorial

The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan

It is important to digitise public administration and make it more user-friendly for the people. The government should clearly present its outlook for the future and a road map.Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has announced his administration’s intention to establish a digital agency as one of its key policies. The government plans to submit a related Bill to the ordinary Diet session next year.

Unifying digital policies that have straddled multiple ministries and agencies to establish a structure to promote digitisation is highly significant. It must be tackled in a speedy manner.

What should be taken up first is digitising the administrative services of central government ministries and agencies and local governments.

In measures to respond to coronavirus infections, confusion arose over the online application for the cash benefit of 100,000 yen (S$1,300) per person.

The sharing of information on the infectious disease between the central and local governments stalled, and schools were notoriously unprepared, such that they were unable to offer remote classes. Teleconferences between ministries and agencies did not go as smoothly as had been intended.

Such incidents occurred because each ministry and agency has its own computer system and there is no government-wide strategy.

The digital agency is envisioned as serving as a control tower to improve such situations. The challenge will be to create an effective structure that enables a unified response that transcends the vertical divisions of ministries and agencies.

Act now to digitalise, or Singapore risks losing competitive edge: Chan Chun Sing

Nearly 75% of Singapore firms accelerating digitalisation due to Covid-19

In addition to the internal government systems, the government must also promote digitisation in various areas of society, including the economy, medical care and welfare, and education.

It must not be forgotten that the essential purpose of digitisation is to increase convenience for people.

DIGITAL REASONS FOR CHINA’S ECONOMY

Zhang Jun

China Daily, China

Despite taking a serious hit from Covid-19 lockdowns, China’s economy has proved resilient, although it has not fully bounced back, as some activities, especially in the service sector, cannot be revived.

Yet unlike most of the world, China seems unlikely to become mired in a long recession, not least because of its rapid digital transformation.

China’s digital economy was growing strongly before the pandemic. In 2018, it already accounted for 31.3 trillion yuan (S$6.3 trillion), or 34 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). While this is only about one-third the size of the United States’ digital economy, it represents years of growth that outpaced that of nominal GDP. The Covid-19 crisis is set to reinforce this trend.

The pandemic has destroyed some businesses and industries, but it has also greatly accelerated the uptake of digital technologies.

Unable to leave their homes, people embraced shopping and catering platforms such as JD .com, Meituan, Pinduoduo and Eleme, which enabled them to purchase food, oil, vegetables and other daily necessities online.

Moreover, within a month of closing their classrooms and evacuating their campuses, schools and universities moved online – a shift that spurred the rapid development of online conferencing and learning platforms. Likewise, companies took advantage of digital tools – from communication platforms like Enterprise WeChat and DingTalk to e-contracts – to keep their businesses running. More than 20 million online meetings, with more than 100 million total participants, have been initiated on DingTalk in a single day.

Issues with digitalisation and jobs are main concerns of people at Reach dialogue

More businesses taking digital plunge

Just as technology helped life go on during lockdowns, it has enabled China to roll back restrictions without risking public health.

A growing number of local governments are implementing health code – a mobile-phone app that assigns users a colour code indicating their health status.

But the health apps of new digital technologies extend much further, and are transforming China’s entire healthcare industry. Beyond the rise of online medication purchases, 5G-based remote medical consultation platforms, such as Ping An Good Doctor, have been flourishing, laying the groundwork for a new industrial model.

Technology is also propelling research and development in health.

A similar digital transformation is sweeping China’s financial industry. With 562 million users, China’s mobile banking apps were the third-largest category of apps by customer base – after short-video and shopping apps – at the end of March. Chinese mobile banking apps now average 50 million monthly active users.

The growth of China’s digital economy has been a boon for employment as well. The China Information and Communications Technology Academy reports that in 2018, the digital economy created 191 million jobs and accounted for one-quarter of overall employment – an 11.5 per cent year-on-year increase.

China may well be the only major economy to realise positive growth this year. It owes this, in no small measure, to a decade of commitment to heavy investment in tech-driven structural transformation.

DATA AT THE HEART OF CHANGE

Syafri Bahar

The Jakarta Post, Indonesia

Covid-19 has put technology at the heart of many companies. Consumer behaviour has shifted dramatically over the past few months, and ever more transactions are taking place online. While the pandemic has brought financial and operational challenges to all markets, technology, especially artificial intelligence (AI), proves that growth is still possible during times of crisis.

Indonesia, with its large population and deep smartphone penetration, presents a huge opportunity for data-intensive technology.

At the core of AI lies machine learning, which allows machines to learn from a set of examples.

Imagine that instead of thinking about what rules to tell a machine, we can show examples for the machine to learn how to make scalable decisions. This is a great advantage as it allows businesses to be more efficient and to scale their operations faster.

Through data-driven/informed decision making, you can predict future trends, identify new opportunities, optimise your current efforts and produce actionable insight more efficiently.

A big technological change is happening. Brace yourselves and be the first ones to be prepared for the changes.

• The View From Asia is a compilation of articles from The Straits Times’ media partner Asia News Network, a grouping of 24 news media titles.

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Limits of digital upskilling, reskilling

by Andreas Deppeler For The Straits Times

PUBLISHEDSEP 24, 2020, 5:00 AM SGT in ST

No amount of reskilling can prepare workers sufficiently for the new knowledge economy. Governments need to help workers move to growing sectors, including hybrid high-tech and high-touch options.

While nobody knows how long it will take for the global economy to recover from the impact of the pandemic, many observers predict that firms will accelerate their efforts to digitalise, automate and downsize, thereby hampering a job market that was already showing signs of weakness before the crisis.

In an attempt to assist mid-career job seekers in an increasingly tight and contested labour market, some countries have made digital upskilling and reskilling a core part of their Covid-19 relief packages.

Singapore, as part of four supplementary Budgets worth almost $100 billion (20 per cent of gross domestic product) in total, is subsidising six to 12 months of full-time training for 30,000 local workers. Curricula are designed in partnership with industry and include Python programming, data analytics, Web and mobile application development, and data protection.============The European Commission, through its “Skills Agenda” for “green and digital transitions”, aims to increase the share of adults in the European Union having at least basic digital skills from 56 per cent currently to 70 per cent by 2025, and has said it will prioritise investment in skills as part of its budget and recovery plan.

But how effective are such attempts to reskill the workforce?

THE RACE BETWEEN TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION

To be sure, there are merits to having a higher-skilled workforce. It allows firms to improve levels and quality of production, which in turn sustains national economic growth. As high-skill jobs are usually better paid, individuals can recover the tuition and opportunity cost of tertiary education through increased lifetime earnings. In other words, there is a positive “return to education”.

One reason why higher skills command a premium in the labour market is that technological change is biased towards high-skill workers. New technologies in the workplace (for example, office productivity software or “big data” architecture) increase the demand for more educated workers whose skills enable them to use and apply those tools.

The concept of a “race between technology and education” (as described in a 2008 book by Dr Claudia Goldin and Dr Lawrence Katz), in which technological change shapes the demand for skills, which then have to be supplied by education, has been influential in policymaking and curriculum design.

Skills training is thus viewed as a relatively simple, inexpensive and uncontroversial policy tool to satisfy the demand for high-skill labour. But how effective is it in preparing the local workforce for the wider structural changes of digitalisation and datafication, especially in a world reshaped by the Covid-19 pandemic?

THE GLOBAL AUCTION

One effect of digitalisation is that jobs can be performed globally, exposing domestic workers to global competition that can drive wages down.

In their book The Global Auction, social scientists Phillip Brown, Hugh Lauder and David Ashton show how the rise of a highly educated and low-wage workforce in emerging markets has allowed transnational firms to exert greater pressure on the salaries of domestic employees. In addition, helped by advances in information and communications technology, firms have gone to great lengths to standardise and codify knowledge work, laying the basis for offshoring.

Mindset shift needed in upskilling and digitalisation for workers

High-rise industrial facilities, agri-tech park feature in revamped Sungei Kadut industrial estate

While offshoring was initially limited to the back office, it has since moved up the value chain to include functions like research, marketing and design.

According to the authors, this is to be expected: “If knowledge is a key source of company profit, then the task of business is not to pay more for it but to pay less.”

In a global economy in which knowledge work has been translated into working knowledge, skills no longer matter that much. Even high-skill jobs are sold to the lowest bidder in a “reverse auction”.

As they did after the 2007-2008 global financial crisis, large transnational companies are once again responding to a crisis by squeezing wages, dropping benefits and downgrading working conditions through labour arbitrage (moving jobs to lower-cost countries) and automation. Artificial intelligence (AI) technology, which has made substantial improvements in the 10 years since the last crisis, will play an important role in these efforts.

Unlike previous tools, which digitalised manual workflows and paper trails, AI aspires to automate cognitive tasks. It is already showing promising results in narrow fields such as image and speech recognition, translation and forecasting.

What impact will AI have on work in the 21st century? Research suggests that between 10 per cent and 50 per cent of jobs are at risk of being displaced by AI.

In a recent Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development study, the estimated mean probability of automation ranged from 28 per cent (for teaching professionals) to 64 per cent (for food preparation assistants). Managers and executives were at the lower end (30 per cent to 32 per cent).

Just to be clear, this does not imply that 30 per cent of managers will be out of work. It means that 30 per cent of the tasks that constitute the job of a typical manager are in principle automatable, given current state-of-the-art technology.

A robot at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai in July. The writer says it is unlikely improved digital skills will help those confronted with standardisation of knowledge work, labour arbitrage, deskilling and automation through AI. PHOTO: REUTERS

Workers will of course adjust to this new environment. Some will have to retrain or switch careers. Some will be forced into low-paid and precarious employment, or be out of work altogether. Others will capture opportunities from newly created job roles, augmented by AI.

While the net impact of AI is difficult to estimate, the threat of rising technical unemployment and underemployment is concerning.

DECLINING ROLE OF CREDENTIALS

Will digital upskilling and reskilling help to cushion the blow of further downsizing and automation?

As professors Brown, Lauder and Ashton write, we are witnessing “a fundamental shift of power in the global economy that cannot be resolved through the job market no matter how much money is pumped into developing the skills of the… workforce”.

In other words, it is highly unlikely that improved digital skills will be of help to the individual who is confronted with standardisation of knowledge work, labour arbitrage, deskilling and finally automation through AI.

What is more, a recent analysis of the British labour market suggests that, for most jobs, credentials now play a relatively minor role in differentiating candidates.

Employers instead demand “job readiness”. They expect new hires to be productive from day one, with minimal training. This in turn increases the pressure on educational institutions to develop not just degree holders but “marketable skills”.

Whether technical certificates in areas such as data analytics or machine learning, obtained in a day or in a few months from one of the many accredited training providers that have sprung up in recent years, will be considered “marketable” enough by potential employers remains to be seen.

One silver lining is that experts in data engineering, machine learning, cyber security, privacy, robotics and other emerging fields continue to be in high demand. In the EU alone, there is a gap of almost 300,000 cyber security professionals.

However, getting into these jobs and acquiring the requisite work experience takes years. Besides, some students are simply not interested in becoming data specialists or computer programmers, even though some countries, including Singapore, have made coding classes mandatory in primary school.

POLICY OPTIONS

Digital skills are not just about mastering the latest office tools, but also about social inclusion.

Private- and public-sector investments in upskilling and reskilling should thus be applauded. At the same time, they are unlikely to protect workers from the effects of automation, standardisation and downgrading through technology.

The so-called “gig economy”, in which human workers are essentially managed and controlled by algorithms, portends a particularly extreme and bleak future for the service economy as a whole.

Even in a world that is increasingly mediated and experienced through digital channels, humans still crave offline communication, social interaction and the freedom to think and create. As employees, they are drawn to firms that use technology to remove the drudgery of repetitive tasks while giving them permission to think and solve complex problems. As consumers, they seek experiences that are personal and authentic.

New jobs and training initiative by Google, govt agencies will benefit around 3,000 job seekers

Nearly 75% of Singapore firms accelerating digitalisation due to Covid-19

Companies that are nimble and perceptive enough to recognise these needs can build a strategic advantage over the behemoths that simply go down the path of further automation.

A similar opportunity presents itself to governments, especially those with limited natural resources like Singapore.

Rather than capitulating to the slow decline of low-productivity service jobs, they should demonstrate leadership and foresight by identifying and supporting research clusters that represent future sources of high-skill employment: nanotechnology, biomedical engineering, renewable energy, vertical farming and others.

Furthermore, through digitally transforming the human health and residential care sectors, which will grow as the population ages, the Government can create new types of jobs that are both high-tech and high-touch.

Investing in research, health and care, along with a solid educational curriculum in science and engineering, seems the best strategy to restore competitiveness in the global knowledge economy.

• Andreas Deppeler is adjunct associate professor and deputy director of the Centre on AI Technology for Humankind at the National University of Singapore’s Business School. He has worked in strategy consulting, banking and risk management in Europe and the United States, and was director of data and analytics at PwC Singapore.

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Don’ let working from home become digital piecework for the poor

by Sarah O’Connor

PUBLISHEDSEP 17, 2020, 5:00 AM SGT in Straits Times

Low rates of pay, opacity and powerlessness built into crowd-work platforms should be policed

FINANCIAL TIMES – A spare shilling in your pocket in May 1906 would have got you into London’s hit attraction that season: an exhibition hall filled with haggard “home workers” bent over their trades.

Placards next to each person explained to onlookers their hours, their pay and a few biographical details. No. 15, for instance, made bonnets to support herself and “two weakly children” after she “lost her husband in a very tragical manner”.

The exhibition was organised to highlight the plight of “sweated workers”: Factories would subdivide work and parcel it out via middlemen to people (often women) working at home for miserly piece rates.Working from home is no longer usually associated with poverty and desperation.

In fact, as this year’s pandemic has underlined, to “WFH” in 2020 is a privilege confined mostly to the well paid. European data suggests three-quarters of jobs in the highest-paying quintile can be done remotely, compared with just 3 per cent of those in the lowest quintile.

But there is a seemingly futuristic way to earn money from home without a professional job. It’s called crowd-work and people are flocking to it because of Covid-19.

Strip away the 21st-century gloss, and it wouldn’t look out of place in that exhibition hall.

Crowd-work platforms enable companies to split virtual jobs into small tasks, then offer them to home workers to complete anywhere in the world.

Like Uber drivers and other gig economy participants, crowd-workers are classed as independent contractors and paid by the task. But they are virtually invisible and no one knows how many there are.

Crowd-work platforms enable companies to split virtual jobs into small tasks, then offer them to home workers to complete anywhere in the world. And the Covid-19 pandemic has created the perfect conditions for huge growth in crowd-work. ST PHOTO: GIN TAY

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Janey, from a small former mining town in the United States, became a crowd-worker after the father of their three children died of an opioid overdose. “If I work 12 to 16 hours a day, I’ll make maybe US$5 (S$6.80) an hour,” she said in an interview in a research paper by University of California Hastings law school professor Veena Dubal.

Janey works on crowd-work site Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT), where there is no minimum wage and many “requesters” pay only a cent or two per task.

“There are so many of us now and fewer quality jobs. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night just to see if I can grab some good requests.”

The “good requests” are available only to workers who have already completed a vast number of tasks and who maintain a high acceptance rate. If your work is rejected (fairly or unfairly), you don’t get paid.

Many tasks involve cleaning or labelling data for companies developing artificial intelligence. Academics also use crowd platforms to recruit participants cheaply and quickly for surveys.

In 2017, researchers recorded 2,676 workers performing 3.8 million tasks on AMT, and found the median hourly wage was US$2 an hour. Only 4 per cent earned more than US$7.25 an hour.

The competition is global: Workers in the US earn US$3.01 per hour on average, while those in India earn US$1.41. Prolific, a United Kingdom-based crowd-work platform for surveys and market research, imposes an hourly pay floor by calculating the average time it takes workers to complete each task.

But while the UK’s legal minimum wage for over-25s is £8.72 (S$15.30) an hour, Prolific’s is £5 an hour.

Why do people do it? Just as with the home workers at the turn of the 20th century, some dabble for pocket money to fill their spare hours, while others depend on it because they live in an employment black spot, have disabilities, want to stay at home with their children or cannot afford childcare.

This year, the pandemic has created the perfect conditions for huge growth in crowd-work: There is mass unemployment, a shortage of childcare and a higher risk of dying of Covid-19 if you do a more traditional low-paid job such as social care.

“You deserve to be safe too,” urged a recent advert for Arise, a virtual call centre platform where people have to pay for their own equipment and training, and can then work from home.

As historian Helen McCarthy details in her book Double Lives, some Edwardian reformists wanted to drive home work into factories and “set (women) free for domestic duties”. In the US, some types of home work were banned altogether.

Patronising paternalism would be the wrong response today. People are choosing to work on these platforms because they want, or need, to work from home.

If only the rich are to be allowed that privilege, it will open another fault line in a divided society.

But that doesn’t mean the opportunistically low rates of pay, opacity and powerlessness built into these platforms should be allowed to continue unchecked.

Improvements will require regulation, unionisation and, in countries like the US, a better social safety net so people are less desperate.

German crowd-workers rely less on the platforms than US ones, a difference researchers attribute to Germany’s superior social protections. In July, one in five Americans with children at home couldn’t afford to feed them enough, according to census data.

For many, working from home now feels like the future. But if we aren’t careful, for some, it will mean a return to the past – one that our forebears fought hard to leave behind.

=======

Jobs for many Singaporeans in growing infocomm sector

Singaporeans can secure these well-paying jobs if they are prepared to train and reskill, said Dr Vivian Balakrishnan.ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
PUBLISHED5 HOURS AGO on 22nd June 2020 in Straits Times

Huge opportunities over next three years, but people must be ready to train, reskill: Vivian
by Irene ThamTech Editor

.
Jobs are available for Singaporeans in the infocommunications space over the next three years, with the Republic facing a huge shortage of professionals, said Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation Initiative Vivian Balakrishnan.

Singaporeans can secure these well-paying jobs if they are prepared to train and reskill, said Dr Balakrishnan, who is also Foreign Minister, in an interview with The Straits Times.

He said digitalisation and disruption had already taken root when the current crisis struck. Covid-19 accelerated these trends.

While Singapore’s immediate priority is to save jobs, that is not enough because “jobs are going to change”, he added.

That is why the bulk of the Covid-19 support measures totalling almost $100 billion in the four Budget announcements had focused on getting companies to re-engineer their processes and workers to learn new skills “so that they are ready for the new opportunities when the crisis recedes”.

Citing the infocomm space, he said it currently employs around 200,000 professionals in Singapore and would require another 60,000 over the next three years. But the education system is producing only 2,800 infocomm graduates each year.

“You do the math… If you are graduating 2,800 (a year) and I tell you that over the next three years we need 60,000, can you see there’s an obvious shortage?”

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This is why the Government is also encouraging mid-career switches, he said. “That is why we are also trying to persuade thousands of people willing to learn to come into this sector.”

Meanwhile, Dr Balakrishnan said, the Government is looking into subsidising opportunities for Singaporeans to take up temporary assignments, attachments and traineeships during this down period, while waiting for permanent jobs to open up. It also wants training institutions to step up and for employers to change their mindsets.

“We should not have to apologise that we are tilting the playing field in favour of our own citizens,” said Dr Balakrishnan. “We may need foreigners to supplement us or to help us expand the overall pie, but the core and the bulk of the opportunities must come to our people.”

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Even now, Dr Balakrishnan said, there is a shortage of engineers and it is not a matter of paper qualifications. “I don’t really need to look at your degree. I just need to look at your code. I just need to know what projects you’ve worked on,” he said. “The shortage will become more acute as the economy recovers.”

More broadly speaking, Dr Balakrishnan said he saw job opportunities springing up in what he called “high-tech, high-touch and high-art” areas.

“If you’re a programmer, a UX (user experience) designer or an expert in Python, artificial intelligence and machine learning… or better still, you create robots, you have no shortage of jobs,” he said.

There would also continue to be a demand for workers in the “high-touch” areas that require face-to-face interactions with other human beings – such as the healthcare, education and social service sectors.

Nor did he see machines taking over “high-art” jobs such as painting, writing, video recording, directing, scripting, and sound and light engineering.

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But he was less sanguine about sectors such as food and beverage, and retail. “The answer to when (they) will recover depends on when we will be rid of Covid-19… You speak to doctors. Nobody is in a position to give you that warranty yet.”

The Government will help ease the short-term pain, said Dr Balakrishnan. “But remember, we have a medium-to longer-term agenda to transform ourselves… upskill humans, transform our enterprises, restructure our economy – and that has to be our focus, going forward.”

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Ministerial Committee set up to guide digital adoption, create jobs in digital economy

PUBLISHED 2 HOURS AGO on 13th June 2020 in Straits Times

by Tham Yuen-CSenior Political Correspondent
SINGAPORE – A high-level committee has been set up to create jobs for Singaporeans in the digital economy, help small businesses go online and ensure no citizen is left behind by technology.

The Ministerial Committee for Digital Transformation will guide efforts to accelerate Singapore’s adoption of digital technology, which has taken on greater urgency as Covid-19 forces huge changes to how people work and live and how businesses operate.

Its key focus is to work with companies and the labour movement to create jobs in the info-communications and technology (ICT) sector and to place Singaporeans in these jobs, Communications and Information Minister S. Iswaran said in an interview.

And with small and medium enterprises employing some 65 per cent of the workforce here, one of the committee’s prime aims is to help them survive and thrive through the use of technology.

The badly hit retail and food and beverage sectors will get special attention, for a start.

Another area of focus is to ensure all segments of the population benefit from the digitalisation push, starting with hawkers and seniors.

Setting out these priorities, Mr Iswaran, who chairs the committee with Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing, said the current situation has presented an opportunity for Singapore to double down on its push towards a digital future.

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The committee will oversee the execution of policies, and coordinate the work of the many agencies and groups involved.

“We have very clear plans and targets in place, but execution is going to be key – how we get this done,” he said, adding the committee has begun its work.

Singapore’s economy could suffer its worst contraction since independence with the economy forecast to shrink by as much as 7 per cent this year. The ICT sector has been a bright spot, expanding by 3.5 per cent from January to March and creating 1,100 jobs, though companies are more cautious on hiring.

Mr Iswaran pledged the Government will not “spare any effort”, and will work closely with employers and unions to create new openings, and provide the training mid-career professionals and fresh graduates need to take on these roles.

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“It is going to be a challenging task because of the environment that we are in, and I think we have to be realistic about it,” he said.

The Government has set a goal of creating 5,500 ICT jobs over the next two to three years through its TechSkills Accelerator programmes, which train workers and match them to ICT jobs. Not all of the jobs will require deep technical skills such as coding or data analytics, and there will also be “tech lite” roles, said Mr Iswaran.

He added: “Every sector will need a digital dimension brought into it… that trend was already happening even before Covid-19.”

To encourage high-growth deep tech companies, such as those in cyber security, artificial intelligence and big data, to set up shop here, the Government has allowed them to hire skilled foreigners to take on roles that Singaporeans cannot fill.

They will continue to be allowed to have a “judicious component of the foreign talent” to complement the local talent base, while Singaporeans are being trained to bridge the skills gap, said Mr Iswaran.

Mr Iswaran said the current situation has presented an opportunity for Singapore to double down on its push towards a digital future. PHOTO: MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION
“If we can do that, then it is beneficial for all of us overall, because it enables a company to pursue more opportunities, and that in turn is going to aggregate more opportunities for all of us,” he added.

The Government’s focus is to create jobs for Singaporeans, he said.

“Where we can, we will do our utmost to place Singaporeans in these jobs. That has to be the priority, that is the priority, and that will be the priority going forward,” he said.

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Observers said the committee could give digitalisation efforts a push and ensure that different segments of society are included.

Institute of Policy Studies senior research fellow Carol Soon said Covid-19 has highlighted the gaps in people’s competencies in harnessing technology fully, and suggested the committee could develop a comprehensive framework to address the different levels of needs among different segments of the population.

Added media professor and Nominated MP Lim Sun Sun: “Efforts that could otherwise run independently of each other can potentially be more well integrated.”

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Post COVID-19 world…
Digital world, how big the scope, how big the pie, and what will be red dot’s share? Planning for it?.

When will humans have satellites around the globe where everyone can have wifi connections, even in the wide oceans, in the desert, in deep mountainous regions, in the jungles, in the wilderness, etc?

Digital applications and connections worldwide post COVID-19. Will our Economic Task Force and the National Jobs Committee look into this for red dot’s future for us to be in it or have a share in the big worldwide pie of a fully digitised world?

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Good…A new committee, Ministerial Committee for Digital Transformation has been formed. It has been long overdue.

Down to earth first..What should it be to walk the talk?

Some people have voiced the concern that the poor and the elderly might find the costs of wifi unaffordable, and will be left behind when Singapore increases the use of digital technology post COVID-19.

Although we have free wifi at the MRT stations, airport, and the libraries, I hope more will be done when we learn from NYC, which has free wifi standing kiosks at street corners in their CBD.

I hope the post COVID-19 Economic Restructuring Committee will recommend the government to provide free wifi kiosks in the HDB heartlands especially in the central areas for the less privileged.

This should be done the sooner the better.

=======

Look at China, learn from them. The mum and pop shops have QR code for payment by customers.

The buskers and the beggars use QR codes. The ATM will be obsolete like the 10-cent phone coin machines, photostating machines, pagers, thumb drives, Kodak film-type cameras, etc.

In China, the pickpockets are out of business when more people pay with the QR code.

Singapore is far behind China in using the QR for making payment.

====

What will replace the mouse and the keyboard, and when?

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Who are the IT and AI expert/advisors to or members of the Economic Task Force, and the National Jobs Committee?

Going digital, but at what pace, and direction?

What is “Astral particle information system”?

To those in the IT and AI industries, do they know what is: “Astral particle information system”?

Who will be the first to make the breakthrough in this new field in AI in the 21st century?

====

When will humans able to communicate with the fourth dimension, and what does it mean?

When we can communicate with the 4th dimension, what will it entail and how will it transform this physical world of humans? It will be mind blogging indeed even for the impossible.

I have to re-watch TV series, West World; and The Fringe.

In the holy 21st century, will humans proclaim the advent of a new society [New Holy Civilisation of humans] of an “astral particle information system’?

Astral realm is the 4th dimension, not the the 3rd dimension, and the 4th dimension is the Unseen realm.

Modern science will be a completely new, true science [Not fake, pseudo science] [Not of the old, not pseudo science], that is sacred science [spiritual wisdom].

COVID-19, this Virus is unseen to the naked eye. This virus exists. Is this virus in the 3rd or 4th dimension?

Will humans know more about the 1 to 7 realms while we are living in the 3rd dimension, the 3D world of humans?

Will humans communicating with the 4D begin soon as we humans are ‘at the door’ about to enter the Unseen, 4th dimension?

Transmitting digital information is sending data via the unseen mode at 186,000 miles per second [not per minute]. IT is using the unseen in transmitting data in binary, digital format. The Unseen exists. The Unseen is not the 3rd Dimension. It is the 4th.

Will IT, AI and science make it possible for humans to ‘Enter’ the 4th dimension in this century?

========

The Straits Times’ Editorial says

A digital future for work is already here

PUBLISHED on APR 9, 2020 in ST

A DIGITAL FUTURE FOR WORK IS ALREADY HERE
THE CIRCUIT BREAKER MEASURES TAKING EFFECT THIS WEEK AIM TO REDUCE THE SPREAD OF THE DREADED COVID-19 DISEASE. A…

The circuit breaker measures taking effect this week aim to reduce the spread of the dreaded Covid-19 disease. At the heart of these measures is the closure of schools and workplaces, once unthinkable in a country whose business is business. Essential services aside, businesses must shift their operations from their office premises to telecommuting, with their employees working from home. That telecommuting has gained ascendancy in business continuity plans highlights how contingencies can turn previously soft options into hard choices that must be made so that enterprises can continue to function. More broadly, digital technology has moved from being a platform championed largely by the authorities to being recognised by businesses as a tool for survival in critical times. It is unfortunate that the Covid-19 pandemic has forced and led to this realisation. But the hope is that this safe distancing necessity in the short term will create economic virtue in the long term. That way, some lasting good will come from today’s travails.

At the heart of enforced digitalisation is the idea of working from home. Long before the arrival of the pandemic, observers were already noting how digitalisation facilitates work-life integration. Telecommuting makes life easier for employees in far-flung suburbs of sprawling cities who can save time travelling to and from their offices. On the corporate side, flexible arrangements lead to less hierarchical and more adaptive organisational structures, values and cultures. Working remotely softens old-school attitudes prevalent among some managers which make them think instinctively that staff are not being productive unless they are seen physically to be working. Instead, remote work encourages an honour system that makes employers trust their staff and reminds workers that such trust must be earned and kept. International teams drawn from different time zones, including employees who work from home, erase the impediment of national distance in favour of economic inclusivity. Globalisation requires just this kind of openness, and digitalisation provides a key to it.

The increased use of digital technology will be critical to Singapore’s continued evolution as a globalised city after the pandemic has passed. It is clear that the long economic aftermath of this crisis will be as punishing as its immediate health and social impact. Indeed, far more than the 2008 global financial crisis did, the pandemic will test the very sinews of economy and society. Instead of responding to this calamity with despair, employers and employees would serve themselves well by learning from it and using the fruits of adversity to equip themselves for the eventual upturn. Digital technology will influence the future of work in the worst of times and the best of them. It is up to Singaporeans to make the most of both.

Mr Iswaran said the current situation has presented an opportunity for Singapore to double down on its push towards a digital future.. Read more at straitstimes.com.

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Apple Watch…smart watch..

.
What are the functions of the Apple Watch, and what can it do?

What else is missing?

What are the three things that will transform the whole world?

Will TH, A*Star, etc. able to research and design three important AI things?
What are the three things that Apple Watch does not have?

Health is the most important to a human being as without health there will be no true harmony, or true material well being for the person to benefit to the fullest in joy and happiness.

The three technologies are related to health and hopefully it can be included in the Apple Watch or Huawei Watch:

1] the Watch will react when the person has eaten or drunk something or applied something that the body detects as allergic or has signs of intolerant reaction;

2] the Watch will react when the person has gone above the accepted stress level [emotional/mental stress, and physical stress] and need to calm down and take things slowly;

3] the Watch will react to alert the person of cells malfunctioning and signs of debilitating illnesses.

========

Going digital, at what pace and when?

What is “Astral particle information system”?

To those in the IT and AI industries, do they know what is: “Astral particle information system”?

Who will be the first to make the breakthrough in this new field in AI?

====

When will humans able to communicate with the fourth dimension, and what does it mean?

When we can communicate with the 4th dimension, what will it entail and how will it transform this physical world of humans? It will be mind blogging indeed even for the impossible.

I have to re-watch TV series, West World; and The Fringe.

In the holy 21st century, will humans proclaim the advent of a new society [New Holy Civilisation of humans] of an “astral particle information system’?

Astral realm is the 4th dimension, not the the 3rd dimension, and the 4th dimension is the Unseen realm.

Modern science will be a completely new, true science [Not fake, pseudo science] [Not of the old, not pseudo science], that is sacred science [spiritual wisdom].

COVID-19, this Virus is unseen to the naked eye. This virus exists. Is this virus in the 3rd or 4th dimension?

Will humans know more about the 1 to 7 realms while we are living in the 3rd dimension, the 3D world of humans?

Will humans communicating with the 4D begin soon as we humans are ‘at the door’ about to enter the Unseen, 4th dimension?

Will IT, AI and science make it possible for humans to ‘Enter’ the 4th dimension in this century?

========

Down to earth…

Although we have free wifi at the MRT stations, airport, and the libraries, I hope more will be done when we learn from NYC, which has free wifi standing kiosks at street corners in their CBD.

I hope the post COVID-19 Economic Restructuring Committee will recommend the government to provide free wifi kiosks in the HDB heartlands especially in the central areas for the less privileged.

This should be done the sooner the better.

========

The Straits Times’ Editorial says

A digital future for work is already here

PUBLISHED on APR 9, 2020 in ST

A DIGITAL FUTURE FOR WORK IS ALREADY HERE
THE CIRCUIT BREAKER MEASURES TAKING EFFECT THIS WEEK AIM TO REDUCE THE SPREAD OF THE DREADED COVID-19 DISEASE. A…

======

What is “Astral particle information system”?

What is 4-D of the Astral Realm? What is 3-D Printing in comparison?

[ref: Page 5, Dec 1995 MAAJ]

Are we ready for 4-D science in the 21st century?

“Only when the light of modern science is brought to bear upon the invisible, unknown realm, will a new, true science be created – a completely new sacred science [of spiritual wisdom].”

To those in the IT and AI industries, do they know what is: “Astral particle information system”?

Who will be the first to make the breakthrough in this new field in AI in this century, the 21st?

====

Page 5 – Dec 1994 MAAJ:

“Long ago Holy Founder revealed to us, “In the depth of these minute elementary particles there are astral particles of the fourth dimension.” – Human beings are leaving the third dimension and are now being made to stand at the entrance [the door] to the fourth dimension.”

[i.e. …….. Humans will be able to communicate with the fourth dimension; and what does this mean? When mankind can communicate with the 4th dimension, what will it entail and how will it transform this physical world of humans? It will be mind blogging indeed to grasp the impossibilities].

This is the holy 21st century [we are in 2020 now, and right in it, just on the 20th year of this century, early days yet as there are 80 more years to go] when humans will proclaim the advent of a new society [New Holy Civilisation of humans] of an “astral particle information system’.

[Astral realm is the 4th dimension, not the the 3rd dimension, and the 4th dimension is the Unseen realm].

Only when the light of modern science is brought to bear upon this invisible, unknown realm, will a new, true science [Not fake, pseudo science] be created – completely new [Not of the old, not pseudo science], sacred science [spiritual wisdom].

[ ……what is sacred science, holy science? Not fake, pseudo science].

COVID-19, this Virus is unseen to the naked eye. This virus exists. Is this virus in the 3rd or 4th dimension?

I googled 4th dimension…and click on image and video…. some interesting information and views are there…

Will more be made known about the 4th dimension, the Astral Realm?

Will humans know more about the 1 to 7 realms while we are living in the 3rd Dimension, the 3D world of humans?

Will humans communicating with the 4D begin soon as we humans are ‘at the door’ about to enter the Unseen, 4th dimension?

Will IT, AI and science make it possible for humans to ‘Enter’ the 4th dimension in this century, when and how?

======

Smart cities…and smart IT…..

Faster computers will need to be matched by faster programming.

When will AI and robots take over the job of programming?

What will replace the keyboard and the mouse, and when?

Analysts, programmers and coders must not be the cause holding back the speed of computers, and the progress of the IT industry.

=====

Automation is nice to hear but do humans know that we are still at a primitive stage of the computerisation revolution?

Fast super computers must be matched by equally fast programming.

The long delays to upgrade the onboard computer programmes to make the Boeing 737 MAX fly again is a classic example. The deadline was 30 June, and clearly Boeing is facing tremendous pressures not able to fix it.

Every hour delay in programming counts dearly when compared with the speed of super computers, which can compute in seconds what took 1000 years.

Should the world of IT, AI and robots be held to ransom by the inadequacy, lacking and incompetence of the analysts, the programers and the coders?

When will the IT industry make all three obsolete by replacing them with AI and robots to do the programming works otherwise IT will continue to remain at a primitive stage?

Also, when and what will replace the mouse and the keyboard?

==========

Exclusive: Inside Singapore’s GovTech Rapid Deployment Unit

Li Hongyi, Director of Open Government Products at GovTech Singapore, shares lessons learned from the big tech giants.

By Yun Xuan Poon

22 NOV 2019, Source:

Exclusive: Inside Singapore’s GovTech Rapid Deployment Unit

https://govinsider.asia/innovation/singapore-govtech-li-hongyi-open-government-products-parkingsg/embed/#?secret=nKx5QHGwoQ

INNOVATION

Amazon uses AI to sell books; Tinder uses GPS to set dates; Snapchat uses facial recognition to put virtual rabbit ears on tweens. What if governments use this tech to improve their services?

Li Hongyi, the Director of Open Government Products at Singapore’s Government Technology Agency (GovTech), believes there is much to learn from the way that big tech companies have innovated so quickly. “We know how to have good technology, and we know we have big problems,” Li said.

So he founded a unit – Open Government Products – in the heart of Singapore’s GovTech Agency. It rapidly builds new services, and spreads them far and wide across government. Li spoke last month at the GovInsider Live summit at the United Nations Asia HQ, sharing how his team has built cutting-edge services – and changed the way that government operates for good.

The tech

Much like the Commandos come from a bigger Army; Li’s Open Government Products unit operates out of GovTech. It pools tools, troops, and ethos, but has its own website, branding, and it punches ahead with smaller services that quickly get scaled up. GovTech, meanwhile, mobilises battalions for bigger-scale systems like the national digital identity programme or the cloud-first policy.

Here are four examples of OGP’s services, which can now be used by governments right across the world.

1. A simpler way of building websites

If a government website is hard to use, someone may miss crucial information like a tax deadline; a benefit payment; a flood warning; or a new training opportunity.

Some governments tackle this by creating common standards for all agencies to follow when building their sites. Open Government Products took this one step further: building an easy tool that lets anyone quickly publish a standardised government website.

The tool, known as Isomer, gives a user-tested template, ensuring “all government websites for citizens will have a minimum standard of usability”, Li said. Not only are they fast and secure; they’re mobile-friendly and support users with visual impairments.

“It’s 2019. We shouldn’t have to [build government websites] over and over again,” he remarked. One less thing for a policy officer to worry about.

2. Creating secure forms

The writer Michel Houllebecq wrote that “point of bureaucracy is to reduce the possibilities of your life to the greatest possible degree” – tying people up through forms, processes and complications.

Li’s team has busted through this by building FormSG, a system that will save thousands of man hours. No longer does government have to send paper forms for anything at all. A single online tool allows for a standardised, secure approach across government.

This system saved $65m in IT costs, he said, and means that an agency now takes less than 30 minutes to put a form onto a website – a drastic improvement on the previous 3 months. Combined with government’s bigger MyInfo system, it means that citizens can be remembered when they visit a new government website and apply for a permit online. They’ll only need to complete the new information, and not keep repeating themselves.

3. Parking.sg

For decades, Singaporeans would pay for parking with a paper coupon on the dashboard of their car. Wasteful, expensive, and inefficient, this had to change in the digital era. But how could government do this simply?

The answer was Parking.sg. While a smart roads system would have cost tens of millions, a simple app costs government just $5,000 a month in hosting fees and a few smaller costs for software subscriptions.

The app was launched in 2017 and is now used for 1.5 million parking sessions each month – for a population of only 5.6 million people.

This means that drivers only pay for the parking sessions they need, rather than booklets of coupons that would expire. “We’ve actually lost money doing this – because we’ve now given back $5 million worth of parking fees that we otherwise would have unethically collected from people for time that they actually didn’t end up using,” joked Li.

“We’ve actually lost money doing this.”

4. Digital Identity

Authorities have long struggled to pin down the criminal rings behind internet scams. “Online, if you are detected to have committed fraud or some kind of scam, it’s very, very, very easy to just delete your account and create a new one,” explained Li.

The solution, said Li, is to ensure websites can accurately verify each user’s identity, so nobody can hide behind several fake accounts. His team is experimenting with a new method of identifying citizens online. This system, called sgID, gives each citizen one set of log-in details for government services online, much like how everyone has a unique national ID number.

Citizens can use these details to sign in to multiple websites – be it the banks, the tax office, or even the doctor. “There are a few organisations in the world which can have a strong verification method for a person, and those are governments,” he pointed out.

How they build them

These systems are not just available in Singapore, but are for use across the world. “There’s no benefit to us keeping this a trade secret of how we managed to go paperless in Singapore,” Li said.

Li’s team has made its product ‘open source’, meaning that the code is available and adaptable. “A big reason why the technology sector in California and around the world has moved forward so quickly in the last decade is because of the explosion of open source code and open source communities,” Li noted.

In practice, other governments can use the code to build their own parking apps, and may adapt the system to their needs. “They can take a look at our code, reuse it as far as possible, and hopefully in the long run, contribute back,” Li said. It could improve the original version of the parking app.

“You’re going to encounter problems, you might as well try to learn from them.”

The team has also adopted big tech’s culture of embracing failure. “Instead of treating [failures] like a big point of shame, we try to treat this in good faith – that all officers on the team are trying their best to build a good product,” Li said. “The idea is that you’re going to encounter problems, so you might as well try to learn from them the best you can”.

Allowing space for innovation

Every January, the Open Government Products team hits pause on all non-urgent work to come together for a hackathon. This gives employees time and space to explore new ideas.

Officials often “generate a lot of ideas that you would never have found if you just waited for instructions from what is traditionally senior leadership,” Li said.

Li aims to include as many team members in the creative process as possible. “A leader has to support and facilitate as many of the good people you hire as possible to spend time thinking about the problem, so you maximise the amount of creative brain power,” he said.

There is no place for laborious reports, however, or seemingly-endless slide decks. Instead every team member spends just five minutes a week writing bullet points on what they achieved.

The United States Joint Special Forces Operations Command advocates an approach called the ‘team of teams’, where crack troops avoid a hierarchy to organise around specific missions. Li’s Open Government Products team seems to operate in the same way.

But one key difference between real Commandos and their GovTech equivalents? With open source coding, Li’s team shares all of its intelligence.

===================

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The original text of my letter:

I refer to “Don’t rush blindly to embrace technology” and “We decide on how to use technology wisely’ in ST Forum.

Humankind’s AI and IT technology must evolve further to a higher stage where powerful computers could take over the analytical work, coding and the writing of computer programmes.

The computer industry will have more computing power and capacities but the users must not remain as slaves to the computer analysts and coders, who are unable to match with the demands for faster and more computer programmes.

I have first-hand personal experience working with the PSA IT staff discussing the logical flow and design of their first container tracking system for the Tanjong Pagar Container Port in the 1970s. They had the IBM 370 computer systems, which utilised a painfully slow 80-column punch-card mechanical machines for coding.

I remember asking when mankind will have automation to do this laborious task. I hope my wait will not continue to be in vain.

I believe the tedious part of doing the fundamental work by humans to design and code computer programmes must end. It has to be done by pressing a few buttons not by man but by robots to design the programmes at the speed of light.

For example, in the case of computer programmes for board and chess, the Japanese Go, and the animated games, etc., I hope the day will come when a person can speak to the computers directly, and provide the rules of the game, press a few buttons and wait for the coding to be done by a powerful computer without the help of humans.

Unless the mundane coding work could be replaced by robots completely, there will still be a long way for man able to use more advanced AI and IT technology to serve mankind at a higher speed.

Fast computers must be matched by fast coding.

I hope the day will come soon for AI to take over and make the jobs of analysts, programmers and coders obsolete.

Unless this can be achieved, mankind cannot claim that the IT industry is now in an advanced stage. We are far from it.

=========

The Straits Times/ Editorial says

Technology can be the great equaliser

PUBLISHED on 11th July 2018 in ST

The joint opening ceremony on Monday of three sustainability events – the World Cities Summit, Singapore International Water Week and the CleanEnviro Summit Singapore – provided an opportunity for delegates to take stock of global problems in these fields. They are acute particularly in the developing world, which carries the historical burden of uneven development while having to keep pace with global changes unleashed in the developed world. However, it is also in the nature of globalisation that it weakens the protective barriers of knowledge and power which insulate developed countries from less developed nations. Yet globalisation also provides the best opportunities for rich and poor to act together.

Technology can be the great equaliser here. Technological solutions to problems of climate change and rapid urbanisation, for example, can be applied across the world, keeping in mind their cost and relevance to local topography. A new plant in Tuas, which will utilise waste to expand Singapore’s water supply and extend the lifespan of its only landfill on offshore Semakau Island, is an instance of an innovative solution to water scarcity in an island city-state. Given that contending claims to the commodity could spark water wars between and even within nations in the developing world, the spectacular use of technology to increase water generation is an idea that could be applied elsewhere.

But urbanisation poses a special challenge. In Asean, 90 million more people are expected to urbanise by 2030, with “middle-weight” cities of between 200,000 and two million residents expected to drive 40 per cent of the region’s growth. This expansion promises rich dividends by way of greater economic opportunities and access to better education and healthcare. Indeed, as with regions elsewhere, Asean cannot enter the next phase of its collective growth without urbanisation. But that trend will continue to generate problems such as congestion, water and air quality, and security and safety. Unless resolved, those issues will result in giant urban sprawls vitiated by the poor quality of everyday life.

It is reassuring, therefore, that several Asean cities signed agreements with corporate partners here on Sunday to gear up to become smart cities. The signings took place at the Asean Smart Cities Network, an initiative spearheaded by Singapore as this year’s Asean chair. Smart cities are at the forefront of efforts to deploy technological advancements, such as robotics, artificial intelligence and Big Data, to transform the economy and society. Using technology to improve delivery of public services is a crucial area of action. As with sustainability issues generally, here, again, technology allows cities to move in tandem to implement best practices elsewhere. And Singapore is very much a part of that Asean endeavour.

=======

Hacking and spying will not end.

All will be exposed in this WWW age at 186,000 miles per second, not per minute.

Who will have super softwares that could detect within hours whenever illegal penetration has been detected?

Fast computers must be matched by faster software programming.

When will faster software programming be taken over by AI and robots replacing humans to catch up with the speed of the super computers?

The Straits Times’ Editorial says

Taking the war to keyboard warriors

PUBLISHED on 9th Oct 2018 in ST

A rash of allegations targeting Russian computer hacking agents has surfaced recently. In quick succession, Britain, the United States, Canada and the Netherlands fingered agents sent by the GRU, the military intelligence outfit that works in close collaboration with the FSB – as the KGB is currently known – for a variety of audacious attempts to lift intelligence electronically. These included attempts to hack the Wi-Fi of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) – the body investigating the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy given refuge in Britain; the hacking of the Democratic campaign during the 2016 US election; the infiltration of a UK television network; and others.

The clear signs that the Western nations have coordinated their pushback suggest that this is a warning to Russia’s intelligence apparatus that while it may seek to hide, it ultimately has nowhere to run – and will be outed. The Dutch disclosed that their counter-intelligence tracked the Russians from the moment they entered the country, while covertly surveying the targets, and while setting up the close access hack system with which they hoped to steal passwords of key OPCW staff. They also revealed that the laptop seized from the suspects was used earlier in Switzerland and Malaysia – suggesting the Russians were looking for what other governments knew of the downing of Malaysia Airlines MH17.

Since the suspects had diplomatic passports, the Dutch did not arrest them but put them on a plane to Moscow. There may be those in Russia who hail these keyboard warriors as heroes. But the fact that they were detected is evidence that Russian intelligence and security agencies do fumble, and frequently, as do their Western counterparts. While the motives for espionage vary, some of the recent episodes possibly stem from regime insecurities. Mr Vladimir Putin’s grasp on Russia and Mr Kim Jong Un’s on North Korea may seem complete and frightening on the outside, but who knows what domestic pressures they are under.

The recent revelations are a window into the spying game played by all major powers. The US National Security Agency sweeps up vast quantities of information on a daily basis. But as it is unable to assess it all, it farms the task out to allies like Britain, Canada and Australia under the Echelon programme. Israelis are expert hackers, as are North Koreans. Indians, adept in information technology, presumably have their hacking skills. And then there are the Chinese. While the operations of keyboard spies are offensive, especially to those who are targets, governments often engage in them for purposes that can well be justified. Information and data play a variety of vital roles: in law enforcement; detection and tracking of money laundering and financial fraud; preventing people smuggling; and in detecting major crimes and terror attacks.

========

Five ways governments are using data analytics to serve the people

Interview with Charlie Farah, Director, Industry Solutions, Healthcare and Public Sector, APAC, Qlik.

By GovInsider

21 NOV 2019, Source:

Exclusive: Inside Singapore’s GovTech Rapid Deployment Unit

https://govinsider.asia/innovation/singapore-govtech-li-hongyi-open-government-products-parkingsg/embed/#?secret=nKx5QHGwoQ

INNOVATION
PARTNER

In 2010, the Swedish town of Malmo was terrorised by a serial shooter who opened fire on people waiting at bus stops and in their cars. The police arrested the perpetrator, Peter Mangs, within three hours.

Police officers ran ten years’ worth of crime documents through a data visualisation tool, shortening 43 years’ worth of work analysing and generating reports into hours. Data analytics doesn’t just save time; it draws out key insights that might have remained buried in the vast amounts of data governments collect each day. “Looking at data in an isolated fashion is all good and well, but the most value comes when you’re able to combine the different data sets,” says Charlie Farah, Director of Industry Solutions, Healthcare and Public Sector, APAC at Qlik.

Here are five ways governments around the world are using data analytics to improve citizens’ lives.

1. Improving neighbourhood healthcare services

As populations around the world age, governments must think about how to make healthcare services more accessible. Farah explains how data analytics can provide deeper insights to the healthcare needs of each neighbourhood.

Governments can start with demographic mapping to look at the population density of a neighbourhood, the number of people who have bought health insurance and the number of residents with a particular health condition, like diabetes. Officials can even do a route analysis to see which hospitals patients are accessing and calculate the drive time to reach them. “We may find that some patients are not attending appointments because it’s too far for them,” says Farah.

With this data, officials may consider ways to improve healthcare services, such as providing hospital vans to bring patients in for treatment. “It might cost more in the short-term, but if patients miss their appointments and get sicker, they spend longer in hospitals which eventually costs more for a public healthcare system,” Farah explains.

2. Keeping crime rates low

If data can nab a serial killer, what else can it do for the police? The officers at the Avon and Somerset Constabulary in the UK are using data analytics to look out for the top 20 most risky offenders every day so they can deploy early intervention measures if necessary. This has helped them to make arrests more accurately – police officers managed to make 40 accurate arrests between January and February 2018.

The police force at Avon and Somerset are also using data to better understand emergency call demands at each point of the day. Becky Tipper, Communications Centre Manager at the force, shared that officers have to respond to 90 per cent of the calls they receive within ten seconds. Having a broader view of their call demands has helped them to allocate manpower more efficiently.

The El Paso Intelligence Center, a border security team co-funded by the Mexican and United States governments along with the local government of Texas, is using data analytics to clamp down on drug trafficking. The Center is using data visualisation tools to map out the routes that drug traffickers use to cross the US-Mexican border, so they know which hotspots to tighten security for. Police officers are also analysing the networks of caught suspects to identify other potential suspects.

3. Sustainability

Big issues call for big data solutions. C40 Cities, a global city network dedicated to fighting climate change, is making the data it collects on water quality, air quality and vehicle emissions publicly available on the C40 Knowledge Hub. Policymakers, public servants and citizens alike can easily find out their city’s impact on the environment.

The public data explorer dashboards, which are already available, show a variety of interesting insights. For instance, users can find out which cities in Asia have the worst air quality and which countries around the world are managing waste relatively well. You can even drill down into specific detail to find information such as “58% of commuting within Sydney and 63% in Melbourne are done with sustainable transport modes like mass transit, walking or cycling”.

“If people aren’t aware of what the results are, they don’t know to take any action upon themselves,” says Farah. This public data platform encourages citizens to take ownership of the environment, and adjust their lifestyle to minimise damage on the environment.

4. Faster processes for asylum seekers

The Swedish Migration Board is using data visualisation to cope with the large number of refugees arriving at their borders each day. This means coordinating refugee data from all over the country and predicting where refugees will arrive so the Board can target its resources to the places that most need them.

This has led to shorter waiting times for asylum seekers and better management of manpower resources across Sweden. The importance of using data in this process lies in this – “we help people who are in a difficult, vulnerable situation, and it is absolutely vital that we do so quickly and in the best way possible,” said Andres Delgado, Head of Statistical Process Control at the Migration Board.

Similarly, in Lebanon, international humanitarian organisation Medair is leading a project to map informal settlements of Syrian refugees across the country to facilitate and coordinate the distribution of aid. Digitising the data entry and verification process has enabled the field to collect a lot more information in less time and with fewer staff. While it used to take 55 minutes to register each household, the figure has now dropped to eight minutes – including collecting, recording and analysing the data.

Armed with this data, the NGO is able to analyse and create targeted assistance for shelter, healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene. It can now cover 300 households a week, rather than the previous 36, with the same team strength.

5. Identifying domestic violence early

Big data can also help to identify cases where children are at risk of domestic violence. Bristol, a city in the UK, is combining datasets across agencies to look out for muted cries for help through its Office of Data Analytics (ODA).

Data analytics can identify alarming patterns in families. For example, if a string of events occur such as (1) a child has been absent from school for three days, (2) the parent turns up at the emergency department with several bruises, and (3) the police receives a call from residents about domestic abuse, officials will know to investigate further. “Unless you combine these three datasets, you don’t actually know there’s an issue,” says Farah.

Sharing data across agencies means governments can take action before anybody gets severely hurt. “It points to a more proactive management support around those needs. Officials can start seeing where the highest risk is and take direct action instead of waiting for someone to get harmed,” says Farah.

How Qlik can help

“Only 60 to 70 per cent of the public sector are data literate,” shares Farah – a low figure when compared to industries like finance and telecommunications. But it’s especially important for governments to get data right – the potential for helping citizens and the consequences of improper data use in government far outweigh those of any other sector.

Qlik makes things easier with an interactive interface that suggests trends that users can take a closer look at. “Because the data is so vast, people often don’t know what questions they want to ask of it, so our cognitive engine helps make some sense out of it,” says Farah. “A lot of people want to have conversations just like they would do on their mobile phone with Siri, or Alexa,” he adds.

“One of the biggest challenges with any data environment is the time it takes you to get access to it,” says Farah. Qlik process data as it is being collected, reducing the time needed to gain important insights from half a day to within a split second. Qlik’s platform is also secure – all data is stored and protected on one server, so no one can make changes to it as they would on desktop or local versions.

There is undeniable value in combining different datasets to get the big picture – governments have used it to improve accessibility to healthcare services, predict and reduce crime, and fight against climate change, amongst other things. “Data allows governments to draw smarter insights and be more proactive in management in response to things, rather than always doing things retrospectively when it’s often too late,” says Farah.

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Problem finders, not solvers, needed

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Towards a fair and just Singapore in brave new post-Covid-19 world

New economy will emerge from new normal after pandemic

Learning – The new pension

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Fresh pastures in the Covid-19 economy: From supermarkets to remote-working tools

World’s back office scrambles to stay online as India locks down amid coronavirus outbreak

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