Data Science Insider: August 27th, 2021

In This Week’s SuperDataScience Newsletter: Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Data Scientist. Humanoid ‘Tesla Bot’ likely to launch next year, says Elon Musk. Dorset Council Pilot AI for Social Care Teams. Deep Learning Predicts Arctic Sea Ice Loss. Young Vic Creates a New Play Using AI. 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. --------------------------------------------------------------- [Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Data Scientist]( brief: Back in 2001, the term ‘data science’ was first used in a publication by statistician William Cleveland, entitled ‘Data Science: An Action Plan for Expanding the Technical Areas of the Field of Statistics,’ where he stated: “This document describes a plan to enlarge the major areas of technical work of the field of statistics. Because the plan is ambitious and implies substantial change, the altered field will be called ‘data science.’” Since then, the term has become widely used with Harvard Business Review hailing data science as ‘the sexiest job of the 21st century’ in 2012. As we are now reaching the 20th anniversary of the term it is a good time to reflect on where our industry began, how it has evolved into its current position, and what the future is likely to bring. This article from SVP EMEA at Alteryx, Richard Timperlake, in ITProPortal does just that. Why this is important: The article places into context the impact that our industry has had on the world at large, arguing that without data science huge conglomerates such as Amazon, Netflix, or Gymshark would not exist. [Click here to find out!]( [Humanoid ‘Tesla Bot’ likely to launch next year]( brief: Tesla’s AI day was in full swing as last week’s newsletter was written, with the ‘Tesla Bot’ just having begun to be announced. We now know the details, which are that they are looking to launch a humanoid robot prototype next year, which is designed to do “boring, repetitious, and dangerous” work. The chief executive said the robot, which would be about 1.7m tall and weigh 56kg, would be able to handle tasks such as attaching bolts to cars with a spanner or picking up groceries at stores. Speaking at the event, Musk said the robot could have “profound implications for the economy” by plugging gaps in the workforce created by labour shortages. He said it was important that the new machine was not “super expensive”. He described it as an extension of Tesla’s work on self-driving cars, and the robot would use the same computer chip and navigation system. Why this is important: Companies on the cutting edge of robotics have produced bipedal robots. But the clunky, heavy machines they have demonstrated bear little resemblance to the svelte designs Musk claims Tesla can build. However, he gave no indication of having made concrete progress on actually building such a machine. At the point when a normal tech launch might feature a demonstration of a prototype model, the entrepreneur instead brought out an actor in a bodysuit, who proceeded to breakdance to a soundtrack of electronic dance music. [Click here to read on!]( [Dorset Council Pilot AI for Social Care Teams]( In brief: Dorset Council is piloting AI technology from Lilli to monitor recently discharged patients in their own homes and spot early signs of deterioration. The three-month pilot covers five social care teams who collectively care for 100 people in their homes. It is hoped the AI technology will enable people to live independently at home for longer and delay entry to residential care. ML is being deployed to analyse a range of data sources such as temperature and motion to help determine an expectation of each individual based on their usual patterns of behaviour. If a change in pattern indicates a deterioration in health or wellbeing, care teams can be alerted promptly and interventions with healthcare professionals put in place. The initial pilot estimates indicate that the technology will save 780 hours of occupational therapy time and £250,000 a year. Why this is important: Technology that monitors people’s health remotely, also known as telecare, is typically inexpensive to implement and can help individuals who want more freedom to accomplish it. However, it can also increase people’s loneliness if care visits are being replaced by AI. Therefore, it’s important that these kinds of technologies are supplementary to other forms of care when service users are relying on home care agency staff to provide social interaction. [Click here to discover more!]( [Deep Learning Predicts Arctic Sea Ice Loss]( In brief: Scientists have built an AI tool that forecasts Arctic Sea ice conditions, which could help protect local wildlife and people from changes caused by global warming. The DL system, named IceNet, was developed by a research team led by British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and The Alan Turing Institute. The model was trained on climate simulations and observational data to forecast the next six months of sea ice concentration maps. In tests, the system was almost 95% accurate in predicting whether sea ice will be present two months ahead. Study lead author Tom Andersson said IceNet outperforms the leading physics-based models — and runs thousands of times faster: “IceNet could run on a laptop, while previous physics-based methods would have to run for hours on a supercomputer to produce the same forecasts.” The researchers are now investigating whether adding ice thickness to IceNet’s inputs will improve its accuracy. Why this is important: The Arctic has warmed at around two to three times the rate of the global average. As a result, the size of sea ice in the summer is half of what it was just 40 years ago.The decline is having a huge impact on local people and wildlife. IceNet could help them adapt to future changes by providing early warnings about the timing and locations of sea ice loss. [Click here to see the full picture!]( [Young Vic Creates a New Play Using AI]( In brief: London’s the Young Vic Theatre is set to put on a play, entitled AI, which is a collaboration between humans and the system GPT-3. The production is rehearsal and workshop all in one and contains a metadrama: a play is constructed over multiple evenings, culminating in a short show that combines human direction and performance with machine imagination and stagecraft, such as using algorithms to create its soundtrack. The process lays bare the potential in machine creativity as well as the theatrical process. The AI system remains faceless, with its thoughts appearing as typed-out text on stage. As artists and intelligent systems collide, AI asks us to consider the algorithms at work in the world around us, and what technology can teach us about ourselves. Each evening can be seen as a standalone performance, but audiences can also book into multiple evenings to see the play progress. Why this is important: Last year in this newsletter we featured an article from The Guardian, which was written by GPT-3 and argued that humans had nothing to fear from robots. That article was read by Kwame Kwei-Armah, artistic director of the Young Vic, who was inspired by the idea of collaboration between AI and humans. This play is the culmination of this and reflects the real-life impact that the stories we cover here at SuperDataScience have. [Click here to find out more!]( [Super Data Science podcast]( In this week's [Super Data Science Podcast](, Barr Moses joins us to discuss the important work her company is doing in the work of data reliability for company pipelines and how to achieve data mesh. --------------------------------------------------------------- What is the Data Science Insider? This email is a briefing of the week's most disruptive, interesting, and useful resources curated by the SuperDataScience team for Data Scientists who want to take their careers to the next level. Want more conversations like this? In July we held DSGO Virtual Conferences, where more than 1,000 data scientists gathered to learn, grow, and connect! If you missed them or want to repeat this fantastic experience, stay tuned to our upcoming events that will take your DS career to the next level. DSGO is your go-to place to elevate your technical skills, gain life-long career lessons from industry experts, and build lasting connections with data-driven peers. If you want to learn more and register for our future events, [Find out more here!]( Know someone who would benefit from getting The Data Science Insider? Send them [this link to sign up.]( # # If you wish to stop receiving our emails or change your subscription options, please [Manage Your Subscription]( SuperDataScience Pty Ltd (ABN 91 617 928 131), 15 Macleay Crescent, Pacific Paradise, QLD 4564, Australia