The new web series by Dataiku explores how AI is changing our everyday lives: from how we dress, to insurance, perceptions or the gender pay gap
Dataiku, the platform for Everyday AI, has announced the first season of its AI & Us series, which looks at how increasingly accessible AI is transforming industries. Following the journeys of experts and beginners alike, Dataiku takes a deep dive to explore how Everyday AI is being used creatively for better, and smarter impact.
The series is hosted by Dataiku EMEA RVP of AI Strategy Shaun McGirr, who is also the co-host of the Half Stack Data Science podcast and a data scientist with more than 15 years of experience working across multiple industries, including consulting, automotive, and doctorate-level training in applied statistics. In AI & Us, McGirr discusses with his guests the issues facing both businesses and wider society surrounding the implementation of machine learning-driven processes.
The series debuts on September 7 with Episode 1, Dressed by Machines, which follows the impact AI has had on one of the biggest industries in the world: fashion. With low-cost, disposable clothing tainting the image of this $2.2 trillion industry, the lifetime of the average garment is a mere five weeks. In this episode, we learn how AI can be used to help better predict fashion choices to suit our needs so that we keep our clothes for longer. Costas Kazantzis, Emily Cies, and Lisa Chatterton of the Fashion Innovation Agency provide a unique perspective on how AI and digital transformation may be able to better influence fashion choices, showing how AI can shape a more sustainable, inclusive industry, with less waste. From avatars to virtual fashion imagery and a hackable silicon suit, this episode is at the cutting edge of the international fashion landscape.
The series will air weekly, and viewers can subscribe for updates on new episodes:
Episode 2, ‘A Matter of Perception’ questions our perceptions of AI: have we moved beyond the evil machine Terminator perception of AI? How do we avoid filling AI with all of our own faults and failures? In this episode, Shaun McGirr speaks to senior AI journalist Jeremy Khan (Fortune) as well as Kings College Ethicist and Research Fellow Dr. Gabrielle Samuel, University of Exeter Business School Computer Scientist and Lecturer Dr. Edmond Awad, and Alex Fefegha, Creative Technologist and co-founder of Comuzi. The group discusses how AI may help or hinder social justice and addresses a fundamental question: what society do we want in 35 years, and how will AI help us get there?
Episode 3, ‘Insuring the Future’ looks at the $6.1 billion insurance industry, investigating how insurance companies cope with so much data, and how AI is helping Zurich Insurance make insurance more intelligent, and better for consumers. In this episode, the Zurich insurance team, including Matthias Pulver, explain how they are using AI in insurance processes to drive new insight and improve and speed up operational processes such as claims processes. Dataiku’s John McCambridge, PSI Lab’s Carl Norman, and Shaun McGirr also discuss the black box recording device he had installed in his car and how it has reduced his insurance premiums.
Episode 4, ‘The Gender Pay Gap’ is a deep dive into a big question: can machines fix the gender pay gap? With the last decade showing the slowest change of pace in fixing the gender pay gap since 1979, it’s time to ask, could AI work to surpass humans’ own biases and help to make the world a fairer place? Host Shaun McGirr speaks to Dr. Zara Nanu, Sian Webb, and Syirah Ami of Gapsquare (now XpertHR) a pioneer company incorporating machine learning into gender pay disparity. The group discusses how AI can help to close the gender pay gap by focusing on specific decisions determined to have the most impact.
According to McGirr, the new series shines a light on Everyday AI beyond the most frequent use cases and shows how AI is becoming a commonplace tool across businesses – not just in the data science lab: “In AI & Us, we looked beyond obvious use cases to show how the ever-lowering entry barrier to AI is transforming whole industries. It was a privilege to learn from people with truly diverse perspectives, whether seasoned AI experts, relative novices making an outsized impact, or those taking a wider perspective on how changes in society are driving AI adoption. Throughout the series, we strove to puncture hype, demystify buzzwords, and remind everyone building AI of their obligations to act responsibly with an eye on the future.”
Episode 1, Dressed by Machines, is available now, and will be followed by episode 2, ‘‘A Matter of Perception.’
