Reading & Resources Roundup - January 2023

Here's our monthly recap of the news and resources that were shared in the community over the last month!

​​​​​2023

• 100 trend reports for 2023 - A group of strategists have added almost 100 trend reports for 2023 (in PDF form) into a public Google Drive, with a range of companies from Accenture to Tiktok covering everything from data & tech, through to cocktail trends. 🍹
• AI, Data and ML in 2023 - Data Lab CEO, Brian Hills outlined his 2023 predictions.
• Data trends for 2023 – As predicted by ChatGPT - The Data Lab team asked ChatGPT to write us a blog post about the top trends in data for 2023, How do you think it did? 

AI

• Microsoft is looking at OpenAI’s ChatGPT for Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint - ChatGPT could become part of your daily life sooner than you might have thought, with Microsoft's investment in OpenAI.
• Is Microsoft about to get the deal of the century? Or is Sam Altman unloading OpenAI at just the right time? - great blog from Gary Marcus on the Microsoft / OpenAI deal, questioning which side is getting the better end of the bargain.
• Australian universities to return to ‘pen and paper’ exams after students caught using AI to write essays - more on ChatGPT, as Australia reacts to fears that students are using AI software to write essays.
• OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 Per Hour to Make ChatGPT Less Toxic - a TIME investigation revealed that OpenAI used outsourced Kenyan labourers earning less than $2 per hour to remove toxic data from the tool's training datasets.
• ‘This song sucks’: Nick Cave responds to ChatGPT song written in style of Nick Cave
• 'What Happens When AI Has Read Everything? - experts have begun to ask what AI programmes like ChatGP will do once they run out of quality reading material, which is schedule to happen by 2027,
• ChatGPT list as co-author for several scientific papers
• Microsoft’s new AI can simulate anyone’s voice with 3 seconds of audio - Microsoft have announced a new text-to-speech AI model called VALL-E that can closely simulate a person's voice when given a three-second audio sample. Once it learns a specific voice, VALL-E can synthesise audio of that person saying anything—and do it in a way that attempts to preserve the speaker's emotional tone.
• OpenAI releases Point-E, an AI that generates 3D models - will 3D model generators be the next breakthrough to take the AI world by storm?
• Can AI invent? - some more on the debate around whether AI can invent and whether their inventions are patentable .
• AI-powered "robot" lawyer won't argue in court after jail threats 
• Machine Learning Could Create the Perfect Game Bosses - The next generation of video game characters could be powered by AI, making them more engaging and challenging.
• Self-driving stroller aims to reduce parents’ stress - anyone for an AI buggy that can drive itself (when empty)? Yours for just $3,300 💰

Jobs, Skills & Work

• What we look for in a resume - wondering what recruiters look for in a resume / CV? This is a super interesting and detailed article from Chip Huyen (founder of Claypot AI, former Netflix, NVIDIA, Snorkel AI, Primer) what she looks for when hiring in ML & infra roles, and offers input on how to improve your CV. 
• The Inequality in the Data Science Industry - a good overview of industrial data science implementation problems. The author talks about how the rules of the world in the past shape the future and how dangerous this is. She also links this well with the problem of bias in datasets and the lack of representation in workplaces and promotes the idea of Data Feminism as a solution.
• How Lego plays with data: An interview with chief data officer Orlando Machado - interesting article on the use of data science, AI and data ethics at Lego 🧱
• The rise of the data officer and data use in manufacturing - our Principal Data Scientist, Saleh Seyedzadeh, was interviewed by Manufacturing Digital on the role of Data Officers in manufacturing and how AI can find and develop data.
• Shopify Tells Employees to Just Say No to Meetings - is your new year's resolution to have less meetings? Shopify is taking that statement to the next level  “calendar purge,” removing all recurring meetings with more than two people “in perpetuity"

Open Data

• Pouria Hadjibagheri and the UK’s abandoned open data revolution - Pouria Hadjibagheri, the architect of the UK's Covid dashboard has just won an MBE. But instead of this signalling a new dawn for transparent, accessible, government data, his team are instead being disbanded.
• Big tech companies come together to develop interoperable open map data - Google Maps is getting some competition.The Linux Foundation, working with big tech players like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Meta, and Microsoft, has announced Overture Maps, a "new collaborative effort to develop interoperable open map data as a shared asset that can strengthen mapping services worldwide."

Ethics

•  How soon will M3gan become reality? Robot ethicists weigh in - the horror movie’s hi-tech star may be fiction, but concerns over the human relationship with AI are real.

Privacy 

• Meta dealt blow by EU ruling that could result in data use ‘opt-in’ - Meta's business model might be in a spot of bother after a ruling from the EU which could result in Facebook and Instagram users having to “opt in” to having their data used for targeted ads.

 Everything else!

• From a ‘deranged’ provocateur to IBM’s failed AI superproject: the controversial story of how data has transformed healthcare - interesting article which explores the role that data has played in transforming health care over the last 200 years.  
• Fingerspelling uses AI and machine vision to help people learn the ASL Alphabet. Beautiful design using your webcam and machine learning to analyse your hand shapes. 
• What do we mean when we talk about Natural Language Processing (NLP)? - The latest Dictionary entry from the Data for Children Collaborative with UNICEF focuses on Natural Language Processing, and it is a great short read for a non-specialist audience interested in the subject. 
• What do we mean when we talk about multi/inter/trans disciplinary? - in the latest instalment of The Data for Children Collaborative with UNICEF's always excellent dictionary series, Director Alex Hutchison dusted off her Latin to explore 
• More from the DCC, as Head of Delivery and Innovation Fraser Macdonald explained the concept of 'Challenge Questions', and the central role they play in the DCC's unique Impact Collaboration process, which helps improve outcomes for children around the globe.
• Scientists steer lightning bolts with lasers for the first time
• Scientists Made a Liquid Metal Robot That Can Escape a Cage Like a Terminator - one to fuel your nightmares. 
• How the periodic table survived a war to secure chemistry’s future

That's all - again, a massive thanks to everyone who contributed, and sorry if we missed anything! If you've got a resource that you found valuable - make sure to share it with the community!