Plot

The film The Cricle by James Ponsoldt, based on Dave Eggers‘ novel of the same title, introduces Mae Holland (Emma Watson) as a young intern who joins The Circle company. A Big-Tech headed by Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks) that develops everything from hardware to social media (any resemblance to big tech is purely accidental).

Dazzled by the company’s apparent modernity and openness, Mae attends the corporate event at which an innovative technology is unveiled to place, everywhere, cameras that broadcast in real time to social networks. From this point the plot descends hand in hand with the main character into the darker side of the loss of privacy and unregulated corporate practices.

The cult of IA technology

Somehow reminiscent of 1984, the main theme of the film’s plot is clearly that of privacy, which in the real world has been greatly affected, and even challenged, in the last decade, mainly due to social media.

If we have included this film in our section on Artificial Intelligence, it is not because the film is specifically about Artificial Intelligence (AI), but because of the cult of technology that underpins the plot.

Technology serves in the film, in an obvious way, as a lever for The Circle to gain power. But this would not be possible if it were not for the mass of users who support it wholeheartedly. Technology for technology’s sake. Technology as belonging to a group. The unquestioning defence of developments. And this is where it connects with AI.

There is a tendency to rely on Artificial Intelligence, particularly if they reinforce one’s previous opinion on a subject.

AI is difficult to develop, and it is even more difficult to understand why it makes the decisions it does, especially the new developments in Deep Learning.

That is why there is a tendency to rely on AI uncritically and assume the correctness of the results, particularly if they reinforce one’s previous opinion on a subject.

I believe it is necessary to put any technological development into perspective, no matter how modern, trendy, attractive and cool it may seem, because the basis of technology is to make people’s lives better. If it does not meet this objective, the technology is worthless. We should not develop for development’s sake. This is one of the clearest messages that the film sends us.

It is pointless to develop technology if it does not improve people’s lives.

Collective Intelligence as Artificial Intelligence

The technology presented in the film basically works by collective intelligence, i.e. many people looking at the images emitted by the cameras, such as the identification of people using all the cameras in the world that occurs in (spoiler alert!) one of the scenes.

It is a logical step that this work would end up being done by an AI, which the film does not address. In a sense, the mass of users performs the function of an artificial intelligence by not judging what it is doing and delivering results. This way of working, doing small jobs manually and aggregating the results, already exists in the real world and is offered by several platforms, which pay small amounts of money to many people who do small tasks and then aggregate the results.

Thus, collective intelligence becomes the source of data that AI drinks from, with users tagging the data for AI to do its work. The users working for the AI, so that the AI can then work for the users. A curious circle that in the film remains a semicircle, addressing only the first part.

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Rating

The Circle is a dystopia that is not too far from our current reality. The film falls short of estimating the use of AI in technology, resorting to collective intelligence instead. In that sense it has been less ambitious than similar offerings such as Person of Interest.

Instead, it offers a stark view of why companies push technologies that dilute people’s privacy.

In order to be able to make a ranking of future films and series, we will rate the degree of realism of each technology presented, using a scale (out of 5):

• Artificial intelligence: 1/5 (it underestimates its use)
• Other technologies: 5/5 (social media and cameras everywhere)

Result: 3/5 technological realism

Availability: The Circle is available through Prime Video.

They say that passion for a profession is forged at an early age. Our parents are our first and most important role models. So, it is not surprising that Carmen Alonso, Head of Financial Services, Leisure & Education at Telefónica Tech IoT& Big Data, is so passionate about what she does. Since she was a child, she has always been privileged to have technology close to her.

“You could feel a change taking place, it was something innovative that transformed people’s lives” she confesses, remembering her father and how, because of his work, she was lucky enough to have technology present early in her life.

Did you ever imagine when you were a child that you would be working in what you do today?

“I wanted to be so many things when I was a kid. I loved the woman on the news, but I also wanted to be an astronomer, a dancer…”, she laughs. Now, as she tells us, she does all sorts of things: many customers, different industries, different problems to solve… “In this aspirational desire to be many things, I have a lot of fun in my job because every day I am a different person”.

And it is this joy for what she does that leads her to speak with real passion when we ask her about her job. Something that makes her a genuine lady hacker.

What does it mean to you to be a lady hacker?

“To be a hacker in life is a way of being, of being passionate about transforming the world around us into something different, fairer, simpler and more humane, but at the same time sophisticated,” she says after shyly telling us that she has given this answer a lot of thought.

“My tool for changing society is technology and data, that’s my field.” A technological field where there is an increasing number of women and where Carmen has not noticed any inequality in her professional career.

Is the tech world becoming more inclusive?

She answers with a quick “I think so” because “nowadays in technology we need profiles of all kinds, multidisciplinary: sociologists, linguists, architects…” A series of very diverse profiles that, as Carmen assures us, “will equalise the quotas” of women and men who choose technological careers.

Technology and humanities are progressively going hand in hand, contributing joint value to society, something that will make a difference for our interviewee who, she is also sure that women “right now we have visibility, and we want to be there”.

A thought that she expresses with confidence, as well as another reality that for her is of great value: her colleagues. “There are excellent managers at Telefónica who value work and effort and are committed to giving it visibility. They see the value and promote it”.

When asked about inequality in technology careers, Carmen assures us that she has only felt it in terms of her age, but not in terms of gender. “In the end, meritocracy and effort must prevail, and in certain positions of responsibility you have to be willing to make certain sacrifices. Now women are free to choose and decide their priorities. It is the circumstances of life that allow your choices to be one way or another, but there is a great deal of female talent…”

Who has been or is your female technological reference?

She tells us that, for her, having just one point of reference is very complicated, because throughout her career she has met people who have influenced her a lot, but if she has to choose a point of reference in her life, she has no doubts. “For me, the person who has given me the values that need to be reflected in technology has been my mother: a transparent, fair, responsible, ethical woman…”, she describes proudly.

At this point, Carmen also reflects on the importance of knowing how to be in the background, contributing so much to society and transforming the world from behind, as many women have done throughout history. “Albert Einstein’s wife comes to mind”, creator of the mathematical basis used by her husband.

On this 8th March, International Women’s Day, we are also looking at future generations. Students who are passionate about technology and who find in profiles like Carmen Alonso’s an example to follow.

On Women’s Day, what advice would you give to girls and young women thinking of going into the world of technology?

“You have to dedicate yourself to what you consider to be different and, at the same time, what you are passionate about. If you are not having fun, you are not going to be good”, she assures us first of all.

Carmen believes that “the professional world is going to be completely transformed, new models of much more collaborative relationships where technology will be an essential part”, so, as a piece of advice, she considers that it is necessary to know it in its broadest scope and, above all, “learn a lot about a specific discipline and do not forget to understand the business”, always keeping your mind ready to continue learning.

“In the end it’s all about passion, instinct, going for what you like, selecting and having a broad mind. You have to learn and relearn a lot. You have to be able to adapt to whatever comes your way.”

Artificial Intelligence allows machines to learn, both supervised and autonomously. The proliferation of Cloud technologies, the digitalisation of images, texts and audios and the development of IoT (Internet of Things) have made it possible to gather the large volumes of information that machines need to learn.

In this way, machines, through Artificial Intelligence, acquire the ability to find patterns and relate data, events or variations even imperceptible to the human eye; calculate what is going to happen in a certain area and even provide answers to questions thanks to data analytics, with the potential that this has to help us find solutions to some of the problems of our society.

Artificial Intelligence is already present in our lives much more than we realise.

Some everyday of Artificial Intelligence examples are the algorithms that recommend content on video-on-demand platforms, those that prevent and detect fraud by identifying anomalous use of bank cards, or those that recalculate the route in the car’s GPS based on traffic conditions.

Artificial Intelligence has also demonstrated its capacity in areas such as industry, where it prevents failures and breakdowns in machines and systems to avoid incidents or unforeseen stoppages; health, where it has numerous applications in both the diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as Alzheimer’s or cancer; or education, where it can anticipate school dropouts, detect talent, or personalise study plans based on the abilities and individual needs of each student.

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Towards a responsible Artificial Intelligence

The benefits of Artificial Intelligence are therefore enormous. It allows us to reach far beyond what our human analytical capacity makes possible and opens up great opportunities in the use of data by companies and organisations.

The growing importance and influence of data in our lives makes it necessary to develop responsible Artificial Intelligence in which algorithms pivot around three essential principles: ethics, transparency and explainability.

• Ethics: as algorithms acquire the ability to make or influence decisions, they need to respect social norms so that they are fair, inclusive, diverse and respectful of privacy.
• Transparency: to avoid algorithms being “black boxes” in which we do not know what happens, we need to know how they are applied and how they work, being able to access the data sources used and the mathematical formulae employed.
• Explainability: we need to be able to understand the “behaviour” of the algorithm, what results it is generating and why it is generating them, or why it makes a decision or arrives at a particular deduction and not another.

Ensuring that the data that will be used to train and teach the algorithm are free of bias and are shaped in a fair manner, aligned with human rights and in line with the rule of law, especially when dealing with personal data, is critical for an algorithm to be ethical.

Principles of ethics and transparency

In this sense, the European Union’s regulatory model is oriented in this direction and public bodies and large companies are focusing their efforts in this direction. One example is Telefónica, which published its Ethical Principles on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in 2018.

Children need to be taught about computational thinking, algorithms and Artificial Intelligence.

The key to complying with the aforementioned principles is to improve the population’s level of knowledge about Artificial Intelligence by investing in education in this area. Children need to be taught about computational thinking, algorithms and Artificial Intelligence, just as they are increasingly trained in programming and computer science.

These principles of ethics and transparency are critical to building a responsible and inclusive Artificial Intelligence that fosters equal opportunities and drives economic and social progress. In short, Artificial Intelligence at the service of people, which contributes to building a better society.

We recently decided to renew our car at home by switching to a new one that is safer and more efficient. After the purchase process came the long awaited day of picking up our new car. When I sat in the car that afternoon and fiddled with the car’s settings, the section that caught my attention was the “Connected Services” section.

After activating them, which involved installing an app on my phone and giving permission several times in the car to share my data… BAM! I was in control of my car from my phone. I could see where I was, check my tyre pressures, check mechanical alerts and even unlock and lock the doors, all remotely.

This may seem like just another optional extra among the many accessories, but let me tell you, this changes the game. And it’s a reality.

What is telematics for or why should I connect my vehicle?

Fleet management services use telematics to monitor the use and status of fleet vehicles and optimise their use by improving fleet utilisation, safety and efficiency. This allows companies that market or use fleets to have better control of their fleets and greatly reduce operating costs.

Let’s take a practical case of a vehicle that is initially purchased by a renting or leasing company to rent it to other companies for 2-3 years and then resell it to a vehicle dealer who will sell it to the “end” customer for private use.

Telematics will give us confidence in the whole process. As the data is synchronised on the network, the possibilities of fraud or rogue traders are eliminated. It allows the leasing company to control that the use of the vehicle is in accordance with the contract. It allows the end customer to know that the vehicle he is buying really has the kilometres that it has.

Some other examples of how connected car generated data can be used to your benefit:

• To contact emergency services in the event of an accident;
• To “predict” when your vehicle will need maintenance or repair to avoid breakdowns;
• To enable insurance companies to offer you tailored, or even lower, premiums (e.g. based on distance travelled, driving style and routes);
• To provide “smart parking” information;
• To automatically pay for parking or tolls;
• To provide reliability on the condition and use of second-hand vehicles.
• To advise you on the easiest and safest routes, avoiding traffic jams and road hazards;

Affordable fleet management for Spanish SMEs

The shift: from aftermarket device to OEM solutions

These services, which are many years old, have been based on “aftermarket” devices, which are purchased and installed in the vehicle using the OBD ports. The solution itself was part of the problem. The logistics of designing, manufacturing, installing and maintaining devices that work with the myriad of vehicles and manufacturers on the market are not insignificant.

As we discussed at the beginning of the article, vehicle manufacturers, known as OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) are now starting to include telematics capabilities in their vehicles as standard from the factory, without the need to install any additional devices. This opens up a huge opportunity to deploy telematics services in both business (B2B) and consumer (B2C) environments that will allow us to improve all aspects of road communicatio.

The challenges: homogenisation and securitisation.

But it is not all so simple. While previously we had the challenge of integrating a hardware device with the different models and manufacturers of our fleet, we now have the challenge of integrating with the OEM telematics services that each of the different manufacturers provide, with different data, access and activation models. And at the same time it is critical to ensure that this information is shared in a secure, informed and authorised manner in line with data protection regulations.

As we can imagine this presents exciting challenges for the automotive industry, with two clear lines of work:

• The first is to make data easily accessible, standardising both the platforms and the data itself and the quality of the data so that an application or service works the same on a SEAT, Renault or PSA vehicle.
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• The second is to generate trust, both in users (data generators and holders) and consumers (companies or services that want to access them).

Let’s imagine a case of “Telematics Insurance” where “You pay as you drive”. Only if I, as a user, make an informed and active decision to share my data with my insurance company, they will have access to it in order to be able to discount my policy.

And on the insurance company’s side they need the assurance that other competing companies (including manufacturers) do not know they are accessing this data and cannot analyse how it is used to compete unfairly.

The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) has published a position paper will be of interest to anyone who wants to go deeper into this issue and which introduces a concept that aims to solve this problem.

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The “Neutral Server” concept

The Neutral Server initiative, which was announced at the end of 2016, is sponsored by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) with support from the European Union and other relevant industry players, proposes a solution that makes vehicle data securely available to service providers:

What is a Vehicle Data Neutral Server?

A Neutral server is an infrastructure that allows service providers to access vehicle data without having to sign a contract with vehicle manufacturers.

These servers are completely “neutral”, meaning that they are not operated or funded by the manufacturers, but by an independent party. Of course, these neutral server operators are obliged to apply state-of-the-art security and data protection measures.

Neutral servers also guarantee customer choice. With a neutral server, vehicle users are free to obtain services from the vehicle manufacturer, its network of authorised repair shops or any other service provider of their choice.

Similarly, the neutral server facilitates access to data, particularly for small and medium-sized companies, by offering them access to multi-brand data on a single server, rather than forcing them to use multiple servers from different manufacturers.

Given the potential of this type of infrastructure, there are multiple companies and initiatives working to capture a part of the business: IBM, Otonomo, Wejo are some of the contenders in a market that is opening up right now.

A doorway to the future of connected car

Once these aspects have been solved, in the medium term, the OEM means the democratisation and standardisation of telematic data and the services that rely on them. An explosion of these services is expected in the coming years, both in business (B2B) and consumer (B2C) environments. 

The most obvious area is autonomous driving. Higher levels of vehicle autonomy, covering autonomous driving, depend on more vehicles becoming increasingly connected, exchanging real-time information wirelessly with other vehicles, with road users, with infrastructure and with third-party service providers.

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Telefónica Tech and the OEM

Telefonica Tech has been working for some time with our vehicle solution partners to incorporate OEM telematics into our service portfolio. Some of our customers are already starting to deploy Fleet Management solutions more quickly and cost-effectively by eliminating the need to purchase and install a third party device. 

We are also working with some of the major players in the industry to develop and exploit the server-neutral concept.

And of course on our side we are developing and deploying the critical infrastructure that, like 5G networks with their lower latency, are critical to enable the advanced use cases we have discussed.

🔵 More content on IoT and Artificial Intelligence can be found in other articles in our series – the first article of which can be found here,

AI of Things (II): Water, a sea of data