Emerging AI and Non-Branding
My particular interests revolve around architecture, design, museums, history, home, and learning. So, I searched for ways that AI was being used in these areas. I was actually surprised to find several promising projects including: a new project at a museum in Brazil, a math tutor, the latest Nest thermostat is working toward, and image processing that can help museums or libraries.
‘A Voz de Arte’ is a preliminary project in place at the Pinacoteca in São Paulo. It has been taught information about 7 pieces of artwork in the museum and can answer a variety of questions in a human like way. The video shows how human-like and non-sterile the answers can be. I think this has a lot of potential because it seems to be about answering questions in a broad and varied way, rather than anticipating/limiting/deciding ‘for the patron’ what to offer. https://www.museumnext.com/2017/04/artificial-intelligence-audio-guide/
Several different tutoring projects are being developed. One in particular sounds like a promising help to students and teachers alike. In the works over the past five years, Third Space acts as an assistant to the teacher, helping to find gaps in the lessons and misunderstandings. https://www.raconteur.net/technology/artificial-intelligence-is-the-next-giant-leap-in-education
The ever-popular Nest thermostat is going to be working to improve its current AI and expand, potentially joining with Google and improving its voice interface. http://www.businessinsider.com/nest-looks-to-enhance-ai-machine-learning-2017-1
Microsoft Azure is an image processing software that can be used in museums or libraries to help registrars create records for a variety of photographs and paintings in the collections. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/cognitive-services/computer-vision/
Completely opposite of these cutting-edge applications, the topic for my favorite brand is a non-branded restaurant — one of the reasons it’s a favorite. Julio’s is a small, family-run restaurant that has been in operation for over 30 years. It’s relocated only once in all that time and even though it’s in a very popular location, it has stayed true to its origins, not succumbing to pressure to create a brand/branding for itself. It’s authenticity and dependable quality are the only “branding” it needs.
