[Miscellany] Star Wars in Fortnite, the Simpsons, and a maths book

Star Wars on Fortnite Are you a Star Wars fan? And do you play Fortnite? If you answered yes to these two questions you were in for a treat, last week, when the Star Wars franchise teamed up with Epic Games for a special feature in the very popular multi-player game, Fortnite. Fortnite players … Continue reading [Miscellany] Star Wars in Fortnite, the Simpsons, and a maths book

[Miscellany] Automated news, Deepfake Christmas video, and Innocent newsletter

Automated news It has emerged that, last week, the BBC used computers to compose nearly 700 news articles relating to the election’s results. The news corporation is describing it as "machine-generated journalism", and justifying it as thus: "Using machine assistance, we generated a story for every single constituency that declared last night with the exception … Continue reading [Miscellany] Automated news, Deepfake Christmas video, and Innocent newsletter

Peloton’s growth plan will annoy its loyal customers

Twenty-three years ago, Fred Reichheld wrote in the book “The Loyalty Effect: The Hidden Force Behind Growth, Profits, and Lasting Value” (no affiliate link) that firms should be wary of aggressive customer acquisition initiatives. He warned firms that: “Winning more and more new customers could slowly put you out of business” (page 89). This is … Continue reading Peloton’s growth plan will annoy its loyal customers

[Miscellany] Not smart; not oil; not AI

The connected home is not smart I only noticed this now; but, it seems that, when Google merged the Home and Nest divisions, it rebranded the connected home from ‘smart’ to ‘helpful’. The announcement said: Today, we’re committing to that goal by bringing the Home products under the Nest brand. Our first step as Google … Continue reading [Miscellany] Not smart; not oil; not AI

The suspected use of AI makes people trust others less

With Artificial Intelligence (AI) promising to bring analytical power and cost savings to many customer facing functions, it is pertinent to ask how the deployment of AI impacts on the image of people / brands. For instance, if consumers believe that your online profile was developed by AI, does that impact on how they see … Continue reading The suspected use of AI makes people trust others less

[Miscellany] Social media photos as speech; designing chatbot conversations; shout out to ‪@BoE_Research

The changing nature of photographs in the age of social media When I was growing up, photos were something that we staged carefully; that we took in small numbers; and that we had to wait a long term to see. They marked specific moments. Nowadays, we take lots of photos that we can see … Continue reading [Miscellany] Social media photos as speech; designing chatbot conversations; shout out to ‪@BoE_Research

What’s the problem with personalisation, anyway?

Recently, Google announced that it is buying Fitbit, the fitness tracker company which, not long ago, was the leader of the fitness wearable devices market. This acquisition gives Google a foothold in the large, growing and lucrative smartwatches / fitness band arena, which was lacking from their product portfolio. Most importantly, for Google, it gives … Continue reading What’s the problem with personalisation, anyway?

[Miscellany] Gender bias‬‬‬; lack of imagination in algorithms’ design; wanted Professor of Foresight

Possible gender discrimination in Apple Card Did you read about that story, that went viral on Twitter, about Apple credit cards offering a much higher credit limit to men than women, even when the latter have demonstrably the same or even better financial situations? [If not, read this or this] The person who posted … Continue reading [Miscellany] Gender bias‬‬‬; lack of imagination in algorithms’ design; wanted Professor of Foresight

Customer satisfaction with chatbots: the surprising role of speed

Modern life demands speed, right? We eat, speak and walk faster than we used to. We are disappointed if our favourite online store does not offer next day delivery (even if, pragmatically, we could very well wait). And we want 24/7 customer service so that we can get instant replies to our queries. However, … Continue reading Customer satisfaction with chatbots: the surprising role of speed

Day in the Life of an Academic #9: All sorts of meetings

It’s time to offer you a peak into yet another facet of an academic’s life, with another “Day in the Life” post. This time, a post looking at Wednesday, October 30th: a day that was full of meetings. I woke up at 5ish, and got ready to go to work: I have a meeting in … Continue reading Day in the Life of an Academic #9: All sorts of meetings