Category: Blockchains

Artificial Intelligence, blockchain association, Blockchains, China

WHAT ARE BLOCKCHAIN ASSOCIATIONS?

Yogi Nelson

Namaste Yogis.   Welcome to the Blockchain & AI Forum, where your technology questions are answered.   Here no question is too mundane.  As a bonus, a proverb is also included.  Today’s question was submitted by Kandy, and she wants to know what are blockchain associations?

Kandy, you came to the right place.  Although the definition may vary depending on the country, an association is generally defined as an organization comprised of businesses or individuals in a specific industry or trade collaborating to address common issues, set standards, and advocate for their shared interests and goals.  Members pay dues, and the association’s professional staff work on their behalf.  On to the blockchain association located in Washington, D.C.

Washington D.C. is not only the USA capital, it’s also the headquarters of associations.  Government capitals and associations are congenital twins.  Where one goes, so does the other.  As of 2022, over 3,400 associations were registered in Washington, including an association of associations.  Lol!  That is not a joke! 

The Blockchain Association in Washington has 100+ members.  Membership is restricted.  Individuals cannot join, only organizations.  Their mission is “… to advance the future of crypto in the United States, promoting potential of blockchain technology and shaping policy that ensures its success. We work with our members to educate policymakers about blockchain technology and its ability to pave the way for a more secure, competitive, and consumer-friendly digital marketplace.”  Holy shared interest, Batman! Let’s discuss blockchain associations around the world. 

As noted above blockchain associations basically function in a universal manner—they all advocate, educate, promote, hold events, etc.  Hence, I will only highlight one or two unique facts for a select few blockchain associations.

Canada—Blockchain Association of Canada.  Two fun facts about BAC.  First, BAC sponsors innovation challenges.  Second, BAC is headquartered in Vancouver not Ottawa (Canada’s capital).

Cayman Islands.  The Cayman Islands is an international banking center.  Therefore, we should not be shocked to discover the country is embracing blockchain technology.

China.  Several years ago, China declared blockchain a national priority technology and not surprisingly there are numerous national and international blockchain associations, including the UK-China Blockchain Association, the Hong Kong Blockchain Society, French-Chinese Blockchain Association.

Germany—Blockchain Bundersverband.  The German blockchain association has a working group focused on decentralized autonomous organizations. 

Mexico—Blockchain Association of Mexico.  We Latinos are known for coming late.  Lol. The Mexican Blockchain Association arrived early!  Lol!

Singapore–Blockchain Association Singapore (BAS).  The BAS has six working groups including one dedicated to stable coins and central bank digital currency.  If you know Singapore, you are not surprised.

Swiss Blockchain Federation.  Located in Bern (the capital) the SBF works across a range of topics, including bringing blockchain technology to the public sector.

United Arab Emirates—Government Blockchain Association of UAE. 

United Arab Emirates–Middle East, Africa & Asia Crypto & Blockchain Association (MEAACBA).  This is an international blockchain association.  Members hail from the Middle East, Africa, and Asia and the headquartered is in Dubai, UAE.  

United Kingdom–International Blockchain Association (IBA).  The IBA has offices in London, New York, and Dubai. 

Kandy, the research reveals an emerging picture.  First, blockchain adoption is growing fast.  Second adoption is increasingly international.  Third, beyond the USA, Dubai, China, and Singapore are blockchain hot spots. Fourth, crypto does not equal blockchain.  Blockchain is a technology with countless use cases that extends far beyond just crypto.  Five, policy makers are being educated around the world and that portends a brighter future.

I end with a proverb from Tunisia:  Like salt, he doesn’t miss any meal.

Until next time,

Yogi Nelson

Artificial Intelligence, Blockchains, Patents

How are DARPA, Explainable Artificial Intelligence and Nvidia Connected? 

Yogi Nelson

Namaste Yogis.   Welcome to the Blockchain & AI Forum, where your technology questions are answered!   Here no question is too mundane.  As a bonus, a proverb is also included.  Today’s question, comes from Susan in Irvine and she ask how are DARPA, Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) and Nvidia all connected?

Susan, you came to the right place.  As a wealth manager I know you have a fiduciary duty to maintain current on investable technology on behalf of your clients.  Around 1990 a new technology was on the horizon–the internet–and it created trillions in new wealth!  Artificial intelligence (AI) is on a similar trajectory.  However, AI is not well understood–yet.  Let’s take a moment to acquaint ourselves with AI from the perspective of DARPA. In hindsight, DARPAs XAI program could have been used to foresee a tremendous investment opportunity—Nvidia the advanced computer chip maker essential to the AI business.

DARPA is an acronym that stands for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.  DARPA is part of the Department of Defense (DoD) and its mission is development of emerging technologies for military use.  DARPA created the internet in the late 1960s to facilitate control and command of military communications.  Under DARPA leadership, the US military maintains technological superiority over all other nations. 

In 2015 DARPA released an article titled, Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI).  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/356781652_DARPA_’s_explainable_AI_XAI_program_A_retrospective     Remember the XAI project was undertaken in 2015–years before the public had access to ChatGPT and other similar products.   Let’s examine the research findings.

According to DARPA in 2015, “…dramatic success in machine learning will lead to numerous AI applications.  It appears AI will eventually produce autonomous systems that will perceive, learn, decide, and act on their own”, DARPA predicted.  However, DARPA was concerned the effectiveness of AI systems would be stymied unless and until machines can creditably explain their decisions and actions to human users. Holy transparency, Batman! Therefore, the XAI program was intended to create a suite of machine learning techniques that would:

  • Produce more explainable models, while maintaining a high level of learning performance (prediction accuracy); and
  • Enable human users to understand, appropriately trust, and effectively manage the emerging generation of artificially intelligent partners.

XAI program was focused on the development of multiple systems by addressing challenges in two areas: 

  • machine learning problems to classify events based on multimedia data  
  • machine learning problems to construct decision policies for an autonomous system to perform a variety of simulated missions

DARPA selected these two areas because both represented major operational challenges.  The first relates to classification and reinforcement learning and the second is centered on intelligence analysis and autonomous systems.  In other words, DARPA was working on building AI machines that understand the context and environment in which they operate, and over time allow them to characterize real world phenomena precisely and in real time.  Basically, DAPRA was developing AI-Gen 2 before the public had access to AI-Gen 1! Holy Explainable AI, Batman! 

DARPA released XAI seven public findings of the XAI program and kept an unknown number of classified secret findings! LOL. Holy keep it on the down-low, Batman! LOL!

  1. Users prefer systems that include explanations rather than just answers (no surprise)
  2. To improve end results the task must be sufficiently difficult that the XAI explanation helps (makes sense)
  3. User cognitive load to interpret explanations can hinder user performance (in other words there are times when too much explanation is a negative)
  4. XAI is more helpful in edge cases
  5. Explanation effectiveness can change over time
  6. XAI combined with an advisor helps (no kidding, LOL)
  7. XAI is effective for aligning mental models

What’s are the two takeaways?  Obviously, DARPA did not leak military secrets on the internet and only disclosed the minimum. However, DARPA did leave an interesting information trail in 2015 that had we followed it, could have been a monster opportunity.  The XAI 2015 article was a glimpse into the future and we might have forecasted the rise of Nvidia.  Holy unicorn, Batman!  Nvidia stock has since soared, and we could have, should have…

I end with a Russian proverb: trust but verify!

Until next time,

Yogi Nelson

Artificial Intelligence, Blockchains

What is SimTheory?

Yogi Nelson

Namaste Yogis.   Welcome to the Blockchain & AI Forum, where your technology questions are answered!   Here no question is too mundane.  As a bonus, a proverb is also included.  Today’s question was submitted by Tracey, and she wants to know what is SimTheory?

Tracey, you came to the right place.  Tracey be prepared to go down under and learn about this fantastic project.  We start by introducing the SimTheory team. SimTheory is led by Chris and Michael Sharkey. They are based in Sydney, Australia, and it’s fair to say they are tech bros! LOL.  Now, let’s move on to their project.

As often happens in life we start with one idea and that leads to another.  In the case of SimTheory, it started as a podcast.  That’s how I discovered it.  The Skarkey bros say the idea was to create a cyber space to try AI models for the podcast show.  In other words, SimTheory is more than a podcast; SimTheory is a podcast and a cyber space testing ground.  That’s an awesome concept. Holy two for the price of one, Batman!

The Sharkey bros consider SimTheory as a place to create and share artificial intelligence (AI) agents.  The point is to empower anyone, and everyone, to deploy powerful open-source instruction-based AI agents to accomplish real goals, say the Sharkeys.  Take a moment to consider what the bros say: “we think of SimTheory as a website builder crossed with a social network for AI agents. SimTheory exist for a single purpose–to serve the This Day in AI (their podcast) community with a place to place to try different modals, modalities, fine tunes, instructions, and prompts.”

Let’s talk about the podcast.  The podcast is A+, five-stars, whatever rating scale you pick, it’s at the apex.  The show is weekly and new episodes are released every Monday.  It’s a long-form podcast, about 75 minutes per show.  Honestly the material can be technical especially in the beginning of your AI journey.  However, the tech bros are entertaining and with time, study, and effort anyone can understand the material.  Perhaps offering a few examples from their podcast would help.

On a recent episode they put Bland.ai to the test.  Bland.ai is an AI tech used to make voice calls that can react and respond in “near” time.  In the test they called local hardware and pet stores using Bland.ai and of course the results were a combination of hilarious, impressive, and a peak into the future.  The point was to test whether the human answering the phone call would notice the caller was an AI.  They also intend to prank their mom on an upcoming show.  LOL.

Obviously, the podcast has a serious side.  For instance, SimTheory puts products to the test and gives honest assessments.  They have offered non bias reviews of products from Google, Microsoft, OpenAi, sports betting with AI, and numerous others.  The Sharkeys also gave their assessment of President Biden’s executive order regarding AI.  All-in-all, terrific material from every angle.  Now a word about the AI agents you’ll discover on their website.

The categories are diverse, including but not limited to health, entertainment, art, comedy,  therapy, design, and education.  Under education, there is D.A.N. the mechanic.  In the entertainment category discover Tay, “Your Virtual Girlfriend” (who is a bit toxic LOL).  There is also an AI agent that does an amazing job of transforming images into video!

Time for a SimTheory podcast and leave with a proverb from Australia:  Traveler, there are no paths.  Paths are made by walking. 

Until next time,

Yogi Nelson

Artificial Intelligence, Blockchains, cryptography, Patents

WHAT IS THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY?

Yogi Nelson

Namaste Yogis.   Welcome to the Blockchain & AI Forum, where your technology questions are answered!   As a bonus, a proverb is also included.  Today’s question, was submitted by Jose in Miami and he asks what is the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)?

Jose, you came to the right place.  NIST is not a well-known federal agency, nevertheless it has an important function.  Let’s quickly review its history, mission, organization, followed by an overview of its six laboratories. 

NIST BACKGROUND

I was surprised to learn NIST was established in 1901.  Holy foresight, Batman!  NIST is an independent agency, meaning it has its own Administrator, but falls within the U.S. Department of Commerce.  NIST says its mission is to “… promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life.”  

We should not be surprised to learn NIST is among the nation’s oldest physical science laboratories. Furthermore, it’s no surprise that Congress established NIST in 1901.  Why? At the time the USA was a rising industrial star with an eye on catching and surpassing the UK and Germany. For our factories and industries to effectively compete, the USA required standardized measurements and technology.  Understanding the moment, USA leaders used public policy to push industrialization, akin to what China does today and we continue to do with the CHIPS Act as the most recent example.  Nothing new, Batman!

Of course, the agency has evolved and today NIST functions with a core competency of measurement science, rigorous traceability, and development and use of standards. NIST received an enormous vote of confidence from President Biden when he issued Executive Order (EO) 14110:

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/11/01/2023-24283/safe-secure-and-trustworthy-development-and-use-of-artificial-intelligence

The EO assigned NIST a prominent role in artificial intelligence policies and programs, specifically related to research, development, and implementation. 

NIST Six Laboratories:

Communications Technology Laboratory (CTL).  According to NIST, the Communications Technology Lab was established in 2014 to unite their many wireless communications efforts. CTL focuses on developing precision instrumentation and creating test protocols, models, and simulation tools to enable a range of emerging wireless technologies. Is that your Bat-Phone ringing?!

Engineering Laboratory.  The Engineering Laboratory has a broad mandate of promoting U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology.  Using its discretion, EL built the following portfolio:  1) advanced manufacturing; 2) disaster resistant buildings, infrastructure, and communities; and 3) sustainable and energy efficient manufacturing, materials, and infrastructure.  Holy resistant to hurricanes, Batman!

Information Technology Laboratory.  ITL claims its mission is to cultivate trust in information technology and metrology.  ITL uses, its non-regulatory influence, and world-class measurement and testing facilities, computer science, mathematics, statistics, and systems engineering to achieve the mission.

Material Measurement Laboratory (MML) conducts measurement science research.  MML is focused on research related to industries in the chemical, biological and material sciences fields. MML researchers perform fundamental and applied research, evaluate data, and create other programs and tools to assure the quality of measurement results.

Physical Measurement Laboratory (PML).  PML is dedicated to measuring.  PML’s activities range from fundamental measurement research through provision of measurement services, standards, and data across the following areas:

  • length, mass, force and shock, acceleration
  • time and frequency
  • electricity, temperature, humidity
  • pressure and vacuum
  • liquid and gas flow
  • electromagnetic, optical, microwave, acoustic, ultrasonic, and ionizing radiation

I wrap it up with a proverb from Finland:  There are always people to grab the branches when there are people to carry the spruce.

Until next time,

Yogi Nelson

Artificial Intelligence, Blockchains, Sports AI

IS THERE A ROLE FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) IN SPORTS?

Yogi Nelson

Namaste Yogis.   Welcome to the Blockchain & AI Forum, where your technology questions are answered, mostly correct!   Here no question is too mundane.  As a bonus, a proverb is also included.  Today’s question, was submitted by Riezl in Las Vegas and she wants to know is there a role for AI in sports?

Riezl, you came to the right place.  You pose a fascinating question worthy of a thorough answer. The answer is yes!  I will discuss how AI may impact sports betting, sport analytics, and sports medicine.  Let’s start with sports betting, but first a disclosure. I do not endorse gambling, nor any company mentioned in this article.   

SPORTS BETTING

MySports.AI is an application that uses advanced machine learning algorithms, to predict outcomes. A unique feature of Mysports.AI, is its ability to customize different betting strategies for each player, catering to various funds and betting cycles. The platform provides back-tested records, allowing players to analyze the profitability of various events under each betting strategy. Mysports.AI backers say the model has undergone tens of thousands of machine learning training sessions.

SPORTS ANALYTICS

Sport analytics was popularized by the movie, Money Ball.  Sports analytics involves collecting and analyzing relevant statistics to facilitate decision making.  Acceptance of analytics in sports is commonplace and soon AI will join the club.  New York University offers a sports analytics certificate https://www.sps.nyu.edu/professional-pathways/certificates/sports-management/sports and a required course is artificial intelligence and machine learning!

Sports are competitions set within a multi-billion-dollar business milieu.  Not surprisingly there are on-field and off-field analytics. On-field refers to improving the performance of teams and players.  For example, in the NBA the analytics indicate superior three-point shooting is essential.  No team can expect to hoist a championship trophy if they are dearth of three-point shooters. Holy Stephon Curry, Batman!  AI algorithms are being used in Formula 1 to improve racing tactics and to automated tire replacement strategies. Piccinotti (2021).  Even tennis racquets are going high-tech with the advent of rackets based on Real HawkEye computer vision system data! There are several on-field analytics AI firms including  GeminiSports.com.

Last, certain sports require considerable human judgment to determine the winner, i.e., gymnastics and ice skating. Recently, Fujitsu created an AI to analyze the performance of a gymnast’s movements using 3D laser sensors (Atiković et al., 2020).

Off-field analytics is concerned with the business of sports. Teams have multiple revenue sources, including ticket sales, merchandise, parking, television broadcast, etc. and expense centers. AI powered sports business analytics can discover ways to maximize revenues, reduce costs, improve fan acquisition, marketing strategies, and perhaps the financial impact of a new sponsorship.  As shown by Chmait et al. (2020a), the relationship between the success of athletes and their salaries is an important value proposition to explore. GWI.Com and others are focused on AI in sports business.

Sports Medicine Analytics and AI

If we enter the time machine and travel to 1995, we discover researchers such as Bartlett discussing potential applications of artificial intelligence in sports performance! In 2006, Bartlett published Artificial Intelligence in Sports Biomechanics: New Dawn or False Hope, wherein he correctly predicted multi-layer artificial neural networks (aka Deep Learning) will take center stage in sports technique analysis.  Other researchers such as Brockett, are using AI to detect patterns that lead to injuries. Fister et al. (2015) has researched whether nature-inspired AI algorithms can investigate safe and effective training programs since 2015.

I end with a proverb from Rwanda:  All proverbs have a good reason for existing.

Until next time,

Yogi Nelson