EVER LOST YOUR phone on a night out? Sure, you can just text your partner to let them know, or Google the closest garda station, or just hail and pay for a taxi home using the card on your account. Oh, wait…
We now live in an age in which technology has an almost seamless level of integration with our daily lives, and that is only set to get more so. “Our lives will massively change over the next 30 years, and we don’t yet know which direction it will go” says Dr Waseem Akhtar, Head of Computing at Griffith College.
So, how will technology and the world of computing shape our lives in that time? We gathered a few fascinating questions about it from readers and put them to Dr Akhtar.
Here’s what he said…
Ever had a weirdly specific advertisement pop up on Instagram a few hours after you mentioned it in conversation? Our understanding of the data we share with social media companies has evolved over time, explains Dr Akhtar:
If you go back ten years ago, people set up a Facebook page and thought this is only accessible to me and my friends. Now we know, whatever you post online can be accessed by other people and various search engines can copy, save and store it in their repositories.
Though Dr Akhtar is not aware of a study that has pinpointed that our devices actively listen to us and present targeted ads in response, his personal view is “in this interconnected world, anything is possible.” Dr Akhtar says this could be attributed to the strong possibility that keywords in emails and messages can be used to target ads.
Another part of living in this connected world is that “it’s possible for hackers to hack into your system and take control of your camera”. He references one case a few years ago in which hackers gained access to webcams and from there, attacked another 1.5 million devices.
More recently, some tech companies have admitted that conversations on voice-activated devices are recorded to improve the algorithms that recognise the rhythms of human speech. The question is – who has access to this information? It’s a complicated issue, explains Dr Akhtar:
It depends on the nature of the data shared and how you value your privacy. There’s a view that it’s almost impossible to make your information fully secure, so you need to be mindful that it could get out.
He adds: “The point is that we have to discuss and debate what privacy means to our society in 2019.”
Though you might laugh at this question, Dr Akhtar references Carl Benedikt Frey’s book The Technology Trap. Within it, Frey estimates how roughly more than 40% of jobs in the US might be lost to automation. “It’s a million dollar question – and it’s very hard to answer”, admits Dr Akhtar. While we may lose some jobs, new advances in technology may also balance that out by creating news jobs that haven’t yet been invented.
So what kind of jobs are at risk? “All those jobs with a huge element of repetition we may lose to automation”. For example, taxi-drivers and truck drivers may be replaced with self-driving cars. “Highly skilled jobs where there is a lot of intuition might be safe”, says Dr Akhtar, “so the likes of preachers and politicians might be safe”.
In some industries however, artificial intelligence and automation is actually likely to improve the level of service that you get, says Dr Akhtar. In the case of doctors, it may not replace them but change the way they engage with their patients:
For example, when you walk into a hospital, you might see an artificially intelligent system that takes your vital signs and gives the recommendation of which doctor should see you.
Another industry that might benefit from automation is the legal profession: “If you’re looking for legal advice, there may be a computer that gives you that initially before seeing a solicitor”. This information can then be passed onto a solicitor to guide you or to allow them to decide whether they will take up your case.
Artificial intelligence is something Dr Akhtar has been following closely for two years and intends to continue. “It has a huge potential to change the way we operate and our day-to-day activities.” One example is fully autonomous vehicles, which will have a huge impact on the way we get around:
We may stop buying cars and have a subscription so the nearest car will just pick you up and drop you off. The car can then keep moving and doing other things – maybe we won’t need parking spaces.
An example Dr Akhtar often uses in his lectures is how devices may develop a ‘personality’. Take the following scenario – you are driving back from your office and your car may receive a message from your fridge and suggest that you go and buy milk. Or it may say, ‘Why don’t you swing by the gym? You haven’t been in two months’. “AI will fundamentally change the way we engage with our devices” says Dr Akhtar.
Short answer here is that these powerful tools should be handled wisely, says Dr Akhtar: “Think about autonomous robots – if various nations start to equip drones with weapons, what will happen then?” It’s something that requires immediate discussion both with citizens and government, Dr Akhtar warns.
“The choices we make now are extremely important – media outlets need to inform citizens that they should raise these things.” Dr Akhtar says that the next time a politician knocks on your door, it’s worth discussing what they are doing about these developments: “It will have a huge impact, we need to start thinking about it now.”
If your kids are lucky enough, they may have been exposed to a coding module or organisation – for example, companies such as Microsoft run programmes whereby primary and secondary are invited in to learn how to code for the day, while volunteer-led organisations such as CoderDojo offer it for free.
Coding is what Dr Akhtar considers “an essential skill” to arm future generations with as they are the most likely to be affected by the impact of automation: “We need to understand how computers work and how programmes are written. It should be an important part of the curriculum.”
The answer to this kind of depends on who you’re talking to, says Dr Akhtar. A hacker looks for vulnerabilities within a system and to exploit them:
Some people will define hacking as the illegal use of other people’s computer systems. But do I think the fundamental approach and skills of trying to break in to find the weakness of a security system is important.
When a hacker infiltrates a security system, a number of things can happen. Sometimes they will engage with the company to offer their services to fix the issue. Sometimes that company will offer a reward to hackers that can break into their system. Other times there is little or no engagement with the ‘hacked party’ – this is the darker side of hacking.
We rely hugely on these interconnected systems and digital devices. Just setting up a security system and assuming it will always work is not the right approach. It’s the equivalent of locking the door and assuming there might not be a window a burglar could get in.
Our current method of testing this security is just not as efficient as it could be, says Dr Akhtar: “Basically the way that it is happening is a little bizarre. With a little more structure and formality, I think ethical hacking could be very useful.”
Sound like something you’d love to learn more about? Griffith College offer a total of 17 fantastic computing courses including degrees in Computing, Applied Digital Media, Big Data Management, Web Development, and Computing Science. Take a look at exactly what they have on offer here.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say