40 days along with #500daysofAI

Writing one article about AI every day for 40 days

5 min readJul 14, 2019

Throughout the last 40 days I have touched upon a range of topics within the field of artificial intelligence (AI). It is of course challenging to sum up shortly the amount of words and topics that has been written over the course of this exploration. However I will try to give a general sense of the areas that I have explored during my time writing, as well as give you a link to all my articles towards the end of this piece.

It may be strange to say, however there is for me a growing confusion as to what the field of AI is. I started my journey defining it rather clearly, yet I have similarly come to learn that it goes into such a wide range of industries and areas that an easy definition could be misrepresentative. This can of course be said of many fields of research, and more so perhaps for my field of study Anthropology as well as my other connection point to this Computer Science.

My interest lies in the intersection of people and technology yet this boundary is increasingly blurred. Definitions and classification fail to capture the breadth of applications of AI, however this is naturally what fascinates me with the topic itself.

10 days (1–10)

Starting with definitions and the vagueness of AI and moving into specific challenges on a macro level. Zooming out to consider patents, AI governance and AI strategies. Ending up at a reflection on the role that social sciences may have within the field of AI.

20 days (11–21)

Exploring a specific case within property technology. Moving on from the growing wealth in this area and possibilities to inequalities related to AI. Taking a step sideways to look at AI and religion. Following up with AI Contextual Awareness a study of a specific offering by Foursquare based on GPS tracking. Asking further how can we critique algorithms? Jumping from this to a startup building an AI Assistant for scientific research. After focusing on this moving on to digital insecurity with AI and blockchain. Rounding of with a focus on Switzerland and then talking briefly of water and music.

30 days (21–31)

Started off with everyday life and introducing the notion of ‘microprediction’. Asking the day after, due to observation of many instances of calling AI ‘it’ or referring to algorithms as biased, whether things can be biased. Thereafter looking into the possible diversity in defining ‘intelligence’ with the theory of nine forms of artificial intelligence. Proceeding to interviews with two different AI researchers one working on healthcare and the other emergency efforts. Subsequently taking a closer look at the Centre for Artificial Intelligence (CAIR) in Norway. This led me to asking a question of qualitative methods in data science. The day after looking at how to consider AI in physical product design with possible risks in terms of bias. Lastly briefly trying my hand at poetry on the topic of artificial intelligence.

40 days (32–41)

More than 30 days had passed and my initial interest in developers led me to remembering a conversation of the imposter syndrome. I proceed to ask whether the pursuit of perfection or superintelligence can cause problems for developers and the field of AI. There are forms of expressions of interactions with the field of AI in homes such as with smart speakers, and I write about one new Chinese educational technology company. This raises the question of the Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT). After this I ask a critical question of data gathering by a multitude of companies proposing the term of ‘databaiting’ for designing fun customer-oriented activities to gather data to be sold commercially to other companies. I move back into talking about the rampant use of ‘as a service’ and the use of Artificial Intelligence as a Service (AIaaS). Transitioning into securitisation of the digital trough the concept of digital violence looking afterwards at a report on the AI in use within policing or security. The three next days I look specifically at why Google is a frontrunner in AI and the new developments in Semi-Supervised Learning (SSL).

Here is a list of my articles the last 40+ days:

Reflecting on the progress so far

Spending time trying to understand how AI is talked of in different industries has been a good start to #500daysofAI. I have been talking to friends of focusing in on a specific topic after I reach 50 days. The possibility within this can be particularly beneficial for pinpointing an area and linking information within this area.

Naturally continuing with a wide focus could be exciting, yet I feel ready to move from the surface and go deeper into one area. This does lead to a loss of overview, yet could be well worth trying out. After having focused on a wide topic such as ‘the field of AI’ for a while I will move into a more specific yet still relatively open topic. One topic that I have considered is ‘the city and AI’. As described previously this is still a rather wide and confusing area, however I believe it is more narrow than simply the field of AI.

I mentioned previously that I should focus more on programming alongside my writing — writing code as such would be a good complementary approach and I believe somewhat necessary to better understand the city and AI.

Thank you for staying with me or simply visiting my profile and this article. As always your thoughts are always appreciated and if you want to stick with me for this journey I would be very happy.

This is day 42 of #500daysofAI.

What is #500daysofAI?
I am challenging myself to write and think about the topic of artificial intelligence for the next 500 days with the #500daysofAI. Learning together is the greatest joy so please give me feedback if you feel an article resonates.