Thoughts on the privacy threats and personalisation opportunities of qualitative inference with large language models

I have come across the paper entitled “Beyond Memorization: Violating Privacy Via Inference with Large Language Models”, authored by Robin Staab, Mark Vero, Mislav Balunović and Martin Vechev. Staab and his team investigated “whether current LLMs could violate individuals' privacy by inferring personal attributes from text”. Using prompts and techniques that, to me, seem quite … Continue reading Thoughts on the privacy threats and personalisation opportunities of qualitative inference with large language models

[Miscellany]: Failing to foresee the current state of AI; AI replacing vs augmenting jobs; and regulation of AI in the EU

Failing to foresee the current state of AI The last 14 months or so have seen incredible change in AI technology. AI has progressed beyond a level that many analysts thought it would take many years – or, indeed, many decades – to achieve. In this blog post, Scott Aaronson, who is a computer scientist at … Continue reading [Miscellany]: Failing to foresee the current state of AI; AI replacing vs augmenting jobs; and regulation of AI in the EU

The trend for yearly recaps

At this time of the year, digital services “gift” to their users personalised statistics about the previous 12 or so months of engagement with their services. From Spotify's Wrapped to Duolingo’s Year in Review, Fitbit’s Year in Review to Goodreads’ Your Year in Books, these yearly recaps offer users a reflective view of their experiences … Continue reading The trend for yearly recaps

Leveraging AI in Customer Interfaces: Insights from Consumer Perception Research

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing customer interface through chatbots, voice assistants, and other conversational agents. As these technologies become more human-like in how they respond to our queries, even adapting to specific speaking styles, it becomes even more important to understand consumer perceptions and responses to these interactions. I want to share with your three papers … Continue reading Leveraging AI in Customer Interfaces: Insights from Consumer Perception Research

Science backed guide to gift-giving

The world seems to be disintegrating around us. And, for some, this festive season is marked by worrying personal news, or the loss of loved ones. Frankly, in the middle of all of this, it may feel frivolous to be talking about gifts. But for those of us who feel that they have to exchange … Continue reading Science backed guide to gift-giving

The opposite of trust?

According to the Oxford Languages dictionary, the opposite of trust is distrust. The two concepts are like two sides of the same coin. However, according to the paper “What Does the Brain Tell Us About Trust and Distrust? Evidence from a Functional Neuroimaging Study”, authored by Angelika Dimoka, trust and distrust are two very different … Continue reading The opposite of trust?

[Miscellany] How Norway disrupted sushi, and Americans disrupted pasta and pizza

Two examples of phenomena that we (or, at least, I) think are linked to tradition, but are, actually, manufactured and quite recent. How Norway disrupted sushi The most popular sushi topping in Japan and, probably, around the world is salmon. Yet, this is not an option grounded on tradition. According to this article by Ida Eikvag Groth … Continue reading [Miscellany] How Norway disrupted sushi, and Americans disrupted pasta and pizza

New paper: On your marks, headset, go! Understanding the building blocks of metaverse realms

The hype around the Metaverse may have subsided, but that doesn’t mean that the belief in the potential of this technology for business has decreased. On the contrary, technology research and consulting firm, Gartner, believes that the combination of Metaverse, Web3 and AI (and especially generative AI) technologies offers numerous possibilities for firms. Nevertheless, there is no … Continue reading New paper: On your marks, headset, go! Understanding the building blocks of metaverse realms

Some reflections on the importance of awareness of algorithmic decision making

You could probably name half a dozen or so instances where you come across algorithmic decision making in your interactions with commercial organisations. There’s the news displayed on your phone, the adverts shown while you are browsing, the content recommendations in your streaming service, or the product suggestions on your online shopping platform, whether your … Continue reading Some reflections on the importance of awareness of algorithmic decision making

If the (self-service) technology broke it, the (self-service) technology should fix it

I have recently come across an interesting paper examining under what conditions customers preferred to interact with a human vs a non-human agent, after a failure with self-service technology (SST). That is, if a customer is using technology to perform a task (say, ordering something online), and something goes wrong, would customers prefer to be … Continue reading If the (self-service) technology broke it, the (self-service) technology should fix it