Data Science Insider: August 13th, 2021

In This Week’s SuperDataScience Newsletter: AI Could Diagnose Dementia in a Day. How Data Science Can Help Novelists. OpenAI Can Translate English into Code with its New ML Software. AI Ethics Leaders to Look Up To. AI Gives Val Kilmer His Voice Back. Cheers, - The SuperDataScience Team P.S. Have friends and colleagues who could benefit from these weekly updates? Send them to [this link]( to subscribe to the Data Science Insider. --------------------------------------------------------------- [AI Could Diagnose Dementia in a Day]( brief: Brain scans powered by AI may soon allow doctors to diagnose dementia in a single day, a new study suggests. Preliminary findings from pre-clinical trials run by the University of Cambridge show that a new algorithm is able to rapidly spot signs from a scan. Currently, a person is diagnosed with dementia only after several scans and consultations with experts and the process can take several months. Those involved in the work said being able to intervene earlier could help with efforts to slow the disease’s progression and ensure patients had more information on their situation at an earlier stage. The AI compares the brain scans of people who think they may have dementia with brain images of people who have already been diagnosed with the condition. An algorithm is then used to detect subtle patterns in the scans that are often missed by even expert neurologists. Why this is important: In pre-clinical tests, the AI has been able to diagnose dementia, years before symptoms develop, even when there are no obvious signs of damage on the brain scan. Early diagnosis will enable treatment to start at such an early stage that symptoms may never develop. [Click here to find out!]( [How Data Science Can Help Novelists]( brief: Novelists are often seen as the kind of creative that stands a million miles removed from the practical results-driven approach of technologists. However, this BBC article highlights what can be achieved when the two spheres come together with the story of Michael Green, a US data scientist turned novelist, who saw the value in utilising technology to simplify and streamline the writing process when he was in the middle of writing his first book. When Green was in the midst of editing, he found that he had 500 pages, a lot of characters, multiple plots, and many notes for possible changes, alongside people’s feedback. In order to manage all his ideas in a structured way, Green realised that he needed to create a system based on his data science experience. After personal success Green expanded what is now called Lynit into a fully-fledged tool to help other writers. Why this is important: Although Green had left his career as a data scientist and professor behind, this story highlights how the skills we have can be applied to any profession or industry to streamline and make processes run more efficiently. [Click here to read on!]( [OpenAI Can Translate English into Code]( In brief: OpenAI has released OpenAI Codex, its AI system that translates natural language into code, through an API in private beta. Codex can interpret commands in plain English and execute them, making it possible to build an NL interface for existing apps. Codex powers Copilot, a GitHub service launched earlier this summer that provides suggestions for whole lines of code inside development environments like Microsoft Visual Studio. Codex is trained on billions of lines of public code and works with a broad set of frameworks and languages, adapting to the edits developers make to match their coding styles. According to OpenAI, the Codex model available via the API is most capable in Python but is also “proficient” in JavaScript, Go, Perl, PHP, Ruby, Swift, TypeScript, Shell, and others. Its memory — 14KB for Python — enables it to into account contextual information while performing programming tasks including translation, explaining code, and refactoring code. Why this is important: While highly capable, Codex isn’t without criticism. A recent paper published by OpenAI reveals that it might have significant limitations, including biases and sample inefficiencies. The company’s researchers found that the model proposes syntactically incorrect or undefined code, invoking variables and attributes that are undefined or outside the scope of a codebase. OpenAI has also faced criticism that it is profiting off of coders' free work. [Click here to discover more!]( [AI Ethics Leaders to Look Up To]( In brief: As we have explored many times here at SuperDataScience, with AI being used in diverse areas, there is a growing worry among researchers that bias in AI can threaten human rights and society. As such, the need for ethical, responsible, and transparent AI is obvious. In response to this, in 2019 the AI Ethicist role was established as a top 5 hires for companies that want to succeed in the digital domain. Since then, many organisations have come forward and expressed their need to hire for this role under different titles such as Chief AI Ethics Officer, Chief Trust Officer, and AI Ethics and Governance. A good AI Ethicist works across many disciples of the organisation towards having ethical and unbiased AI goals throughout the product life cycle. This article by Forbes highlights 15 such professionals who are doing sterling work implementing and scaling AI in an ethical fashion. Why this is important: These individuals should serve as an inspiration for all of us who are looking to weave good ethics into our data science work and become better professionals for the future. [Click here to see the full picture!]( [AI Gives Val Kilmer His Voice Back]( In brief: He was one of the biggest stars of the 1980s and 1990s, starring in blockbusters such as Top Gun and Batman Forever, but Val Kilmer’s voice was irreversibly changed by throat cancer five years ago. Now, A British start-up called Sonantic has used AI to recreate Kilmer’s voice based on recordings of the actor before his illness. The computer-generated voice can read any line of text with the subtleties in expression and tone that Kilmer himself would have used. Kilmer worked closely in the development of the AI prototype, supplying Sonantic with archival footage of his voice that was fed into the company’s algorithms and cleaned up to create the model. And there’s a chance that he could utilize it in the future both personally and professionally. Kilmer said that after listening to the AI model he felt that his voice had been restored “in a way I’ve never imagined possible.” Why this is important: You may recall that we covered the controversy that erupted around the use of an AI voice model of Anthony Bourdain in the documentary Roadrunner in a recent newsletter. But unlike the 45 seconds of audio footage of a digital Bourdain, Kilmer himself has worked with Sonantic to create an emotional and lifelike model of his old speaking voice, highlighting the positives of this technology and its potential to restore the voices of those affected by illness. [Click here to find out more!]( [Super Data Science podcast]( In this week's [Super Data Science Podcast](, Greg Coquillo joins us to discuss his work and strategies for helping startups make the most of AI as well as his interest in the possibilities of quantum computing. --------------------------------------------------------------- What is the Data Science Insider? 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