Tuesday, November 05, 2019


They keep getting bigger!
Nikkei worker tricked into transferring $29 million into scammer’s bank account
In a press release, the largest independent business media group in Asia which lends its name to Japan’s leading stock index, revealed that an employee of its American subsidiary had been fooled into transferring the money into a bank account after a fraudster posed as a Nikkei management executive.




Because my students missed this one. (Would I get rich if I developed an “Alexa, create an alabi” skill?)
Police turn to Alexa in murder case
In brief: Not for the first time, police are turning to Amazon’s digital assistant Alexa in the hope of solving a murder.
The victim in question was 32-year-old Silvia Galva. Her boyfriend, 43-year-old Reechard Crespo, claims the death was an accident that occurred as the two engaged in a physical altercation. He says the pair were having an argument, and Crespo was trying to drag her off his bed. Galva grabbed a spear with a 12-inch blade in an attempt to stop herself being pulled, but the spear broke and impaled her in her chest. Crespo pulled the blade out in an alleged attempt to save her, but Galva died.
According to the Sun Sentinel, police obtained a search warrant for anything recorded on the two Alexa-powered devices found in the apartment.


(Related)
Amazon wants Alexa to run your life. First, it must know everything about you


(Related) Not to be outdone, Microsoft is pushing Cortana to new tools.
Microsoft is building Cortana into Outlook as an AI that helps you stay productive




This seems obvious to us computer auditors.
Why Audits Are the Way Forward for AI Governance
When organizations use algorithms to make decisions, biases built into the underlying data create not just challenges but also engender enormous risk. What should companies do to manage such risks? The way forward is to conduct artificial intelligence (AI) audits, according to this opinion piece by Kartik Hosanagar, a Wharton professor of operations, information and decisions who studies technology and the digital economy. This column is based on ideas from his book, A Human’s Guide to Machine Intelligence.
An audit process would begin with the creation of an inventory of all machine learning models being employed at a company, the specific uses of such models, names of the developers and business owners of models, and risk ratings — measuring, for example, the social or financial risks that would come into play should a model fail — which, in turn, might help determine the need for an audit. Were a model audit to go forward, it would evaluate the inputs (training data), model, and the outputs of the model. Training data would need to be evaluated for data quality as well as for potential biases hidden in the data.




Important changes, but not revolutionary?
Microsoft beefs up Word, Excel, and Outlook with machine learning
A preview of Ideas in Word for the web is rolling out for Office 365 commercial users. It’s an AI-powered proofreader that taps natural language processing and machine learning to deliver intelligent, contextually aware suggestions that could improve a document’s readability. For instance, Ideas in Word will recommend ways to make phrases more concise, clear, and inclusive. And when Ideas in Word comes across a particularly tricky snippet, it will put forward synonyms and alternative phrasings, like “society” as a substitute for “society as a whole.”




For the Reference Shelf.
Blockchain: What Information Professionals Need to Know
Via LLRX – Blockchain: What Information Professionals Need to Know – Anna Irvin, Ph.D. and Janice E. Henderson, Esq. presented this comprehensive 64 page guide at the LLAGNY Education Committee Program on October 15, 2019. The guide is an multidisciplinary resource that includes: articles from law, business and finance journals, CLE programs/materials, smart contracts, Westlaw and Practical Law citations, sources on the impact of blockchain on the U.S. government and the international regulatory landscape, as well as all states with blockchain and cybersecurity laws (introduced, pending and failed).



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