Google AI and engineering teams have announced Google Duplex, a new technology for conducting natural conversations to carry out “real world” tasks over the phone. Google says:
The technology is directed towards completing specific tasks, such as scheduling certain types of appointments. For such tasks, the system makes the conversational experience as natural as possible, allowing people to speak normally, like they would to another person, without having to adapt to a machine.
Fully Autonomous
The engineers say that the Google Duplex system is capable of carrying out sophisticated conversations and it completes the majority of its tasks fully autonomously, without human involvement. The system has a self-monitoring capability, which allows it to recognize the tasks it cannot complete autonomously (e.g., scheduling an unusually complex appointment). In these cases, it signals to a human operator, who can complete the task.
Perhaps best defined by events that occurred ten years ago today.
A single decade, a BILLION + units, 13 models, 395 sold every minute, 101 million users in the US alone,
Still hard to fathom…
Steve Jobs and Apple launched the iPhone on January 9th 2007.
[ Steve Jobs iPhone Launch January 9th 207 ]As Apple says:
At Macworld 2007 in San Francisco, Steve Jobs introduced the world to iPhone as three products in one — “a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone and a breakthrough internet communications device.” In the ten years since, iPhone has enriched the lives of people around the world with over one billion units sold. It quickly grew into a revolutionary platform for hardware, software and services integration, and inspired new products, including iPad and Apple Watch, along with millions of apps that have become essential to people’s daily lives.
The Victorian Auditor- General has published the interim report examining strategies for delivering services online via digital devices.
Phase one of this audit specifically reviewed the Victorian Government ICT Governance Framework and the delivery of the Victorian Government Digital Strategy (Digital Strategy).
Phase two of this audit will be tabled at a later date and will examine service delivery implementation and monitoring and evaluation of service delivery at the department/agency level.
In a nut-shell, the interim report suggests a “Yeah…Nah”… moment.
We found that a coordinated and effective whole-of-public-sector approach to digital service delivery has yet to be achieved due to weak strategic leadership and ownership of whole-of-public-sector ICT governance. This issue was further exacerbated by the ineffective coordination and implementation of the Digital Strategy, weak monitoring and accountability mechanisms and ineffective digital engagement to drive digital readiness.
Without comprehensive and urgent actions to address these governance arrangements and ownership issues, this instability will continue to undermine the establishment of any well-coordinated and integrated approach to delivering public services online effectively and efficiently.
Of note is the summary of findings
Weak strategic leadership and ownership of the whole-of-public sector ICT governance
Ineffective coordination of digital strategy
and ineffective drive to engage digital readiness.
The ongoing debate on national infrastructure investment for telecommunications in Australia is mind-numbing. I was a teenager when the Snowy Mountains Scheme was completed. An inter-generational non-partisan development that strengthened the country. I am not sure we demonstrate the ability to replicate such developments?
Those concerned with the demographic challenges facing the country over the next generation and the implications for employment, productivity, investment and skills would suggest a National Broadband Network would be a “lay-down Misère”.
A long-term restructure of the infrastructure capabilities of our telecommunications network for an increasingly atomised, distributed and SMALLER workforce, would, one would think, be high on the agenda of public policy planners.
When one understands that 96% of Australian Businesses are SMALL businesses [less than 20 employed] and only 1% are large businesses, the disconnect in policy is very confusing to me.
“an extraordinary opportunity for businesses in Australia to “transform their innovation practice, in terms of realising cost-savings, productivity, extending market reach and introducing brand new types of products and services.” – [Source: Innovation 2010 AIG]
2013 – NBN
“The fact that a contest has developed to see who can offer the most credible high-speed broadband policy will ultimately be good for business and the economy….”
“Ai Group has long supported the need for a cost-benefit analysis to determine the best approach to the rollout and to answer broader questions about what this investment means for Australia’s future economic and social development. This analysis is particularly important where changes to the model are being debated and many claims and counter claims are made.”
“Over the coming months Ai Group will consult further with members to determine their views on the best way forward in terms of broadband infrastructure,” Mr Willox said.
2014 – NBN
“Our infrastructure is still lagging behind and that indicates that we do still need something like a National Broadband Network,” – AIG chief economist Julie Toth
The economics of access:
As a small [micro] business operator, working almost exclusively online, in a rural area of Victoria, with clients and colleagues across state and national/international borders, telecommunications infrastructure is fundamental. My business is severly hampered by this lack of infrastructure and I have no doubt also effects other “off-farm” enterprise developments in my region.
I rely exclusively on 3G Wireless internet and phone access.
I have gone to the additional expense [$1000.00 + incl installation ] of purchasing a Telstra Smart Antenna to boost and focus internal 3G coverage.
I pay over $300.00 dollars per month for a combined Mobile-phone and Wireless Internet service that only provides 12 Gigabyte of data download a month. This is the maximum I can receive. [Yes there is an additional 3GB per month for an additional 30+ dollars.- An insult] $120.00 dollars per month for 15GB?
In other parts of the SAME POSTCODE, users have access to a minimum of 50GB a month for $49.00 dollars. I regularly find myself driving around the district to get access to bandwidth.
As the Federal and State budgets loom large, let’s hope vision, foresight and long-term thinking find a place amongst the debates about expenses and investments………
Ravi Parikh, in his HEAP weblog, offers some advice on “How to Lie with Data Visualization”
The importance of “data-literacy” and the cautious, if not skeptical mind, cannot be over-stated in a world of 24 x7 news cycles. .
Parikh offers a number of telling examples of the mis-use or abuse of data visualisation to distort or deliberately add bias to a particular data “narrative”.
The significance of truncated Y-Axis caught my eye.
A real-world example whereby the “visual message” distorts that “numerical” or “actual” data message.
This Fox-Business graphic shows a distorted difference between the variables because the graph Y-Axis does not start at Zero…
It is very appropriate in Youth Week 2014 that a group in Gippsland, Victoria, the “Gippsland Youth Commitment“, has developed an online architecture and business model that is designed to get agencies and organisations to work collaboratively by sharing online resources.. for the sole purpose of improving outcomes for young-people.
Yes, there are many such initiatives.
What makes this different is that it has been led from the “ground-up” by the Baw Baw Latrobe Local Learning and Employment Network, staff within the DEECD in Gippsland and their partners across many service providers and organisations in Gippsland.
This is not a trivial thing.
The project has developed an online youth services directory that will function on any mobile device, designed particularly for young people looking for services and support within Gippsland.
This is really just the tip-of-the-iceberg.
The system also has as a “back-end” management system that is designed for detailed sharing between organisations working to provide youth services in Gippsland. The business model and architecture means it really is “sustainable”, [an often over-used and misrepresented term.]
This is the key, Combining local leadership and a budget model that understands the financial and technical constraints of rural and regional communities….
The most recent report by the Victorian Auditor-General on Access to Education for Rural Students highlights the glaring challenges when it comes to deploying Government Policy on a place-based or customised basis. Readers of this blog will know my views on evidence-based-planning.
This initiative is one of a few that I am aware of that can genuinely address the challenges in the Auditor-General’s report in a positive, meaningful and cost-effective way.
Caveat/Disclosure
I have assisted in the development and deployment of this project.
The ongoing debate on national infrastructure investment for telecommunications in Australia is mind-numbing. I was a teenager when the Snowy Mountains Scheme was completed. An inter-generational non-partisan development that strengthened the country. I am not sure we demonstrate the ability to replicate such developments?
The project has developed an online youth services directory that will function on any mobile device, designed particularly for young people looking for services and support within Gippsland.