TECHNOLOGY • BUSINESS • CULTURE 07.24.19
UPDATED 01.24; 01/25; 01.26
In the coming decades, our interactions with devices will be ambient and omnipresent. As devices gather and use more of our data to "deliver personalized services automatically in anticipation" of our needs, IoT for all wrote.
Making it all work with less effort.
It's true that computers have become easier to use, but they have been "too unnatural, an add-on to life, for 40 years." Ambient technology "has the promise to change that," wrote veteran tech journalist Walt Mossberg, The Verge.
AI; machine learning; augmented and virtual reality; robotics; drones; smart homes; self-driving cars; digital health and wearables are the "new major building blocks of the future" that will make all the tech "fade into the background," ready to be activated by voice command, motion, changes in blood chemistry, shifts in temperature.
Tectonic transformation that takes IoT to logical conclusion.
Fast Company wrote "it's one of the tectonic transformations in the human/computer user interface."
We will be interacting with "embedded, connected computers and sensors that vanish" and "feed AI that acts in a very individually tailored way on our behalf for our comfort, convenience, and safety."
It will be"unobtrusive and often invisible...embedded into everyday objects such as furniture, clothes, vehicles, roads and smart materials," IGI Global wrote.
Technology recast as ambient music, always on, measuring every metric.
Always on. It will be powered by an "intelligent computing platform based on the billions of devices that are part of the IoT, " Windows Central wrote.
Ambient computing envisions a different path, where technology integrates seamlessly into our surroundings and activities. Instead of demanding attention, it recedes into the background and interacts with us intuitively through senses like sight, sound, and touch." Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Cloud Computing.
Nearly all-encompassing intelligent computing environment.
IoT devices like smartphones, smart appliances, smart home hubs and speakers, and wearables are already "an 'invisible' and supportive backdrop to our daily lives," Windows Central.
By 2020, it's estimated there will be "five times more intelligent machines engulfing and supporting human communities than there will be people." This "nearly all-encompassing, intelligent computing environment" is the foundation and framework of ambient computing, Windows Central.
There will more than "26 billion IoT units worldwide" by 2020. "Ambient applications will generate more than 8 billion downloads in applications such as personal assistants, social communication, health and fitness, augmented reality and local search," Forbes wrote.
Application areas for Ambient intelligence (AmI).
Application areas for ambient intelligence include personal care and safety; smart transport, cities, homes, work places, schools and public spaces, according to the Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments.
Customers expect curated CX® "Bots can be trained on your brand's knowledge base to intuit customer sentiment and derive what customers want," Karl A. Walder, Oigo CX, said.
The pace of population aging is increasing faster than ever, and this demographic wants to live at home and be independent. This has the potential to provide "ambient-assisted-living systems," according to the Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments.
According to Fast Company, it will "almost certainly" first be used in cars because it's seen as having potential to save lives from accident-related deaths, even leading to regulation in Europe, where beginning in 2022, cars will use "emotion and activity detection, combined with AI" to "detect drowsiness, attention, and distraction." Plus, the driver is a "captive audience," with a seatbelt around them and facing a dashboard, providing opportunities for biometric data.
Google's vision and Amazon's focus.
Rick Osterloh, who's heading up "Google’s newly named 'Devices and Services' division," told The Verge,
the "larger vision is to move beyond mobile into 'ambient computing'...so many things are becoming computers that we think the users should be able to seamlessly get help wherever they need it from a variety of different devices.”
It would appear that "Google products are forming an ecosystem," where Pixels, Nest products and Chrome books "all work better together than they do apart."
Dave Limp, Amazon's senior SVP of devices told The Verge, they are building a foundation for an ambient platform, focusing on
"building out tools and APIs" for third party developers to "get as many devices to use Alexa as possible."
Grand challenges with security, privacy, ethical AI, algorithm automation. Working on interoperability.
Security and privacy problems will "not be trivial," particularly in public spaces in urban environments, where "different properties and permissions might overlap due to undefined boundaries between them." People will need to know they're being monitored, what information is being collected about them, in which context, and given the option to opt in or opt out, according to the Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments.
Americans see data privacy and security as a top priority. There will likely be increased surveillance in private and public, and diminishing privacy.
.An increasing number of older Americans are using smart speakers for everyday help. They are beginning to see them as companions and electronic relatives, but they are also more concerned about privacy and security than any other demographic.
If ambient tech is built into our lives "we need to subject it to the digital equivalent of enforceable building codes and auto safety standards," The Verge.
