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Job candidates rarely know when hidden artificial intelligence tools are rejecting their resumes or analyzing their video interviews. But New York City residents could soon get more say over the computers making behind-the-scenes decisions about their careers.

A bill passed by the city council in early November would ban employers from using automated hiring tools unless a yearly bias audit can show they wont discriminate based on an applicant's race or gender. It would also force makers of those AI tools to disclose more about their opaque workings and give candidates the option of choosing an alternative process such as a human to review their application.

Proponents liken it to another pioneering New York City rule that became a national standard-bearer earlier this century one that required chain restaurants to slap a calorie count on their menu items.

Instead of measuring hamburger health, though, this measure aims to open a window into the complex algorithms that rank the skills and personalities of job applicants based on how they speak or what they write. More employers, from fast food chains to Wall Street banks, are relying on such tools to speed up recruitment, hiring and workplace evaluations.

I believe this technology is incredibly positive but it can produce a lot of harms if there isnt more transparency, said Frida Polli, co-founder and CEO of New York startup Pymetrics, which uses AI to assess job skills through game-like online assessments. Her company lobbied for the legislation, which favors firms like Pymetrics that already publish fairness audits.

But some AI experts and digital rights activists are concerned that it doesnt go far enough to curb bias, and say it could set a weak standard for federal regulators and lawmakers to ponder as they examine ways to rein in harmful AI applications that exacerbate inequities in society.

The approach of auditing for bias is a good one. The problem is New York City took a very weak and vague standard for what that looks like, said Alexandra Givens, president of the Center for Democracy & Technology. She said the audits could end up giving AI vendors a fig leaf for building risky products with the city's imprimatur.

Givens said it's also a problem that the proposal only aims to protect against racial or gender bias, leaving out the trickier-to-detect bias against disabilities or age. She said the bill was recently watered down so that it effectively just asks employers to meet existing requirements under U.S. civil rights laws prohibiting hiring practices that have a disparate impact based on race, ethnicity or gender. The legislation would impose fines on employers or employment agencies of up to $1,500 per violation though it will be left up to the vendors to conduct the audits and show employers that their tools meet the city's requirements.

The City Council voted 38-4 to pass the bill on Nov. 10, giving a month for outgoing Mayor Bill De Blasio to sign or veto it or let it go into law unsigned. De Blasio's office says he supports the bill but hasn't said if he will sign it. If enacted, it would take effect in 2023 under the administration of Mayor-elect Eric Adams.

Julia Stoyanovich, an associate professor of computer science who directs New York University's Center for Responsible AI, said the best parts of the proposal are its disclosure requirements to let people know they're being evaluated by a computer and where their data is going.

This will shine a light on the features that these tools are using, she said.

But Stoyanovich said she was also concerned about the effectiveness of bias audits of high-risk AI tools a concept that's also being examined by the White House, federal agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and lawmakers in Congress and the European Parliament.

The burden of these audits falls on the vendors of the tools to show that they comply with some rudimentary set of requirements that are very easy to meet, she said.

The audits wont likely affect in-house hiring tools used by tech giants like Amazon. The company several years ago abandoned its use of a resume-scanning tool after finding it favored men for technical roles in part because it was comparing job candidates against the companys own male-dominated tech workforce.

There's been little vocal opposition to the bill from the AI hiring vendors most commonly used by employers. One of those, HireVue, a platform for video-based job interviews, said in a statement this week that it welcomed legislation that demands that all vendors meet the high standards that HireVue has supported since the beginning.

The Greater New York Chamber of Commerce said the city's employers are also unlikely to see the new rules as a burden.

Its all about transparency and employers should know that hiring firms are using these algorithms and software, and employees should also be aware of it, said Helana Natt, the chamber's executive director.

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NYC Aims to Be First to Rein in Artificial Intelligence Hiring Tools - NBC New York

Piscataway, N.J. - 18 November 2021 -IEEE, the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for humanity, today released the results of "The Impact of Technology in 2022 and Beyond: an IEEE Global Study," a new survey of global technology leaders from the U.S., U.K., China, India, and Brazil. The study, which included 350 chief technology officers, chief information officers, and IT directors, covers the most important technologies in 2022, industries most impacted by technology in the year ahead, and technology trends through the next decade.Learn moreabout the study and the impact of technology in 2022 and beyond.

The most important technologies, innovation, sustainability, and the future

Which technologies will be the most important in 2022? Among total respondents, more than one in five (21%) say AI and machine learning, cloud computing (20%), and 5G (17%) will be the most important technologies next year. Because of the global pandemic, technology leaders surveyed said in 2021 they accelerated adoption of cloud computing (60%), AI and machine learning (51%), and 5G (46%), among others.

Its not surprising, therefore, that 95% agreeincluding 66% who strongly agreethat AI will drive the majority of innovation across nearly every industry sector in the next one to five years.

When asked which of the following areas 5G will most benefit in the next year, technology leaders surveyed said:

As for industry sectors most impacted by technology in 2022, technology leaders surveyed cited manufacturing (25%), financial services (19%), healthcare (16%), and energy (13%). As compared to the beginning of 2021, 92% of respondents agree, including 60% who strongly agree, that implementing smart building technologies that benefit sustainability, decarbonization, and energy savings has become a top priority for their organization.

Workplace technologies, human resources collaboration, and COVID-19

As the impact of COVID-19 varies globally and hybrid work continues, technology leaders nearly universally agree (97% agree, including 69% who strongly agree) that their team is working more closely than ever before with human resources leaders to implement workplace technologies and apps for office check-in, space usage data and analytics, COVID and health protocols, employee productivity, engagement, and mental health.

Among challenges technology leaders see in 2022, maintaining strong cybersecurity for a hybrid workforce of remote and in-office workers is viewed by those surveyed as challenging by 83% of respondents (40% very, 43% somewhat) while managing return-to-office health and safety protocols, software, apps, and data is seen as challenging by 73% of those surveyed (29% very, 44% somewhat). Determining what technologies are needed for their company in the post-pandemic future is anticipated to be challenging for 68% of technology leaders (29% very, 39% somewhat). Recruiting technologists and filling open tech positions in the year ahead is also seen as challenging by 73% of respondents.

Robots rise over the next decade

Looking ahead, 81% agree that in the next five years, one quarter of what they do will be enhanced by robots, and 77% agree that in the same time frame, robots will be deployed across their organization to enhance nearly every business function from sales and human resources to marketing and IT. A majority of respondents agree (78%) that in the next ten years, half or more of what they do will be enhanced by robots. As for the deployments of robots that will most benefit humanity, according to the survey, those are manufacturing and assembly (33%), hospital and patient care (26%), and earth and space exploration (13%).

Connected devices continue to proliferate

As a result of the shift to hybrid work and the pandemic, more than half (51%) of technology leaders surveyed believe the number of devices connected to their businesses that they need to track and managesuch as smartphones, tablets, sensors, robots, vehicles, drones, etc.increased as much as 1.5 times, while for 42% of those surveyed the number of devices increased in excess of 1.5 times.

However, the perspectives of technology leaders globally diverge when asked about managing even more connected devices in 2022. When asked if the number of devices connected to their companys business will grow so significantly and rapidly in 2022 that it will be unmanageable, over half of technology leaders disagree (51%), but 49% agree. Those differences can also be seen across regions78% in India, 64% in Brazil, and 63% in the U.S. agree device growth will be unmanageable, while a strong majority in China (87%) and just over half (52%) in the U.K disagree.

Cyber and physical security, preparedness, and deployment of technologies

The cybersecurity concerns most likely to be in technology leaders top two are issues related to the mobile and hybrid workforce including employees using their own devices (39%) and cloud vulnerability (35%). Additional concerns include data center vulnerability (27%), a coordinated attack on their network (26%), and a ransomware attack (25%). Notably, 59% of all technology leaders surveyed currently use or in the next five years plan to use drones for security, surveillance, or threat prevention as part of their business model. There are regional disparities though. Current drone use for security or plans to do so in the next five years are strongest in Brazil (78%), China (71%), India (60%), and the U.S. (52%) compared to only (32%) in the U.K., where 48% of respondents say they have no plans to use drones in their business.

An open-source distributed database that uses cryptography through a distributed ledger, blockchain enables trust among individuals and third parties. The four uses in the next year respondents were most likely to cite in their own top three most important uses for blockchain technology are:

The vast majority of those surveyed (92%) believe that compared to a year ago, their company is better prepared to respond to a potentially catastrophic interruption such as a data breach or natural disaster. Of that majority, 65% strongly agree that COVID-19 accelerated their preparedness.

About the Survey

"The Impact of Technology in 2022 and Beyond: an IEEE Global Study" surveyed 350 CIOs, CTOs, IT directors, and other technology leaders in the U.S., China, U.K., India, and Brazil at organizations with more than 1,000 employees across multiple industry sectors, including banking and financial services, consumer goods, education, electronics, engineering, energy, government, healthcare, insurance, retail, technology, and telecommunications. The surveys were conducted 8-20 October 2021.

About IEEE

IEEE is the worlds largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. Through its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities, IEEE is the trusted voice in a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers, and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power, and consumer electronics.Learn more

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Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, and 5G Will Be the Most Important Technologies in 2022, Says New IEEE Study - Dark...

138 new HD cameras installed in 2021 and 487 cameras are now in operation: 46 with AI test software

Eyes in the sky across most of High Fire-Threat Districts in Northern and Central California improve situational awareness and intelligence

SAN FRANCISCO, November 18, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--During extremely dry, hot, and windy weather, being able to differentiate wildfire smoke from fog and other false indicators is invaluable to analysts in Pacific Gas and Electric Companys (PG&E) Wildfire Safety Operations Center and fire agencies. Thats why PG&E is testing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning capabilities in the growing network of high-definition cameras across Northern and Central California to see how it can enhance fire-watch and response capabilities.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211118006094/en/

HD smoke-spotting cameras on top of Mount Tamalpais are included in PG&Es artificial intelligence pilot program. (Photo: Business Wire)

This year, PG&E, in collaboration with ALERTWildfire, has installed 138 new HD cameras across High Fire-Threat Districts, in accordance with its 2021 Wildfire Mitigation Plan. Of those 138 cameras, 46 of them are included in the new AI testing program in partnership with Alchera and ALERTWildfire. A similar pilot was conducted with Pano through participation in EPRIs 2021 Incubatenergy Labs Challenge. PG&E began installing HD cameras in 2018, as part of its Community Wildfire Safety Program. As of October 31, 487 cameras are now in operation.

"Even with the two significant rainstorms in October and November, we are still in a historic drought and California, along with other western states, continue to experience an increase in wildfire risk and a longer wildfire season. We are using every new tool and technology at our disposal to improve situational awareness and intelligence to help mitigate and prevent wildfires, including this new AI capability," said Sumeet Singh, PG&E Chief Risk Officer. "Every bit of data and intelligence that comes to us could potentially save a life."

Story continues

The pilot program is already demonstrating the AIs potential to reduce fire size expansion. On August 4, 2021, PG&Es Howell Mountain 1 camera located in Placer County and equipped with Alcheras AI software, spotted smoke one minute before the actual fire dispatch and several minutes sooner than the manual movement of the camera. That smoke ended up becoming the River Fire. This is one example of many noted during both pilots confirming the value of early fire detection technology.

The expert staff in the companys Wildfire Safety Operations Center (WSOC), outside agencies and first responders use the fire-watch cameras to monitor, detect, assess for threats, and respond to wildfires. The AI test programs include PG&E determining a way to get the new data to the right people quickly and effectively. The quicker the data is received, the more rapidly first responders and PG&E can confirm fires and move the right resources to the right place.

"The software analyzes the video feed and if it thinks it sees smoke, we receive an alert via email and text, telling us it just detected smoke. Our analysts then pinpoint where the smoke is coming from and determine if its a car fire, dumpster fire, or even a vegetation fire. Based on the location, we can assess for threat to the public or PG&E facilities," said Eric Sutphin, Supervisor at PG&Es WSOC whos in charge of the camera installations. "The AI filters out a significant number of false positives, for example, ruling out dust, fog or haze."

Sutphin explained that the recent installation of the AI test software with its machine-learning capabilities means the WSOC team is getting smarter over time with more experience and more data gathered.

"We know the cameras are doing well at spotting wisps of smoke from long distances. We plan to assess our initial implementation, continue to gather the data, and develop a plan for using this leading-edge technology on a more expanded basis," he said.

The cameras provide 360-degree views with pan, tilt and zoom capabilities and can be viewed by anyone through the ALERTWildfire Network at http://www.alertwildfire.org. By the end of 2022, the company plans to have approximately 600 cameras installed, providing an ability to see in real-time more than 90% of the high fire-risk areas it serves.

About PG&E

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric utility serving more than 16 million people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit http://www.pge.com/ and http://www.pge.com/about/newsroom/.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211118006094/en/

Contacts

MEDIA RELATIONS:415-973-5930

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PG&E Testing Artificial Intelligence Which Could Expand Wildfire Detection Capabilities to Growing Network of High-Definition Cameras - Yahoo Finance

On September 23 and 24 2021, The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), along with the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Artificial Intelligence and the Computing Community Consortium, launched a new virtual workshop focusing on improving collaboration between the fields of artificial intelligence and operations research, as part of the INFORMS AI Initiative.

The workshop was organized by a team of seven researchers from universities across the United States, including Assistant Professor in the Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Phebe Vayanos, and USC Viterbi Professor of Computer Science, Sven Koenig.

The workshop included over 60 participants from academia, industry and government, all working within the fields of AI and operations research.

The event was the first of a three-part series focused on how AI and operations research can aid decision-making and maximize societal impact in the face of a world that is being transformed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and technological change, as well as the need to address widening inequalities and sustainable solutions for our food, water and energy needs into the future.

Participants in the September workshop reviewed the current state of research across both fields and discussed where research and education opportunities could be harnessed. The participants also identified the grand societal problems for which operations and AI research could present promising solutions covering societal challenges such as supply chains, sustainable energy, health care and crisis management, equitable transportation, and the modeling of human behavior on digital and physical platforms.

The next two workshops are expected to be held in the first half of 2022.

For more information about the event, read the full reporthere.

Published on November 17th, 2021

Last updated on November 17th, 2021

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Workshop Series Explores the Future of Artificial Intelligence and Operations Research - USC Viterbi | School of Engineering - USC Viterbi School of...

Sanofi invests $180 million equity in Owkins artificial intelligence and federated learning to advance oncology pipeline

PARIS November 18, 2021 Sanofi announced today an equity investment of $180 million and a new strategic collaboration with Owkin comprised of discovery and development programmes in four exclusive types of cancer, witha total payment of $90 million for three years plus additional research milestone-based payments. Owkin, an artificial intelligence (AI) and precision medicine company, builds best-in-class predictive biomedical AI models and robust data sets. With the ambition to optimize clinical trial design and detect predictive biomarkers for diseases and treatment outcomes, this collaboration will support Sanofis growing oncology portfolio in core areas such as lung cancer, breast cancer and multiple myeloma.

To accelerate medical research with AI in a privacy-preserving way, Owkin has assembled a global research network powered by federated learning, which allows data scientists to securely connect to decentralized, multi-party data sets and train AI models without having to pool data. This approach will complement Sanofis emerging strength in oncology, as the companys scientists apply cutting-edge technology platforms to design potentially life-transforming medicines for cancer patients worldwide.

"Owkins unique methodology, which applies AI on patient data from partnerships with multiple academic medical centers, supports our ambition to leverage data in innovative ways in R&D, said Arnaud Robert, Executive Vice President, Chief Digital Officer, Sanofi. We are striving to advance precision medicine to the next level and to discover innovative treatment methods with the greatest benefits for patients.

Sanofi will leverage the comprehensive Owkin Platform, in order to find new biomarkers and therapeutic targets, building prognostic models, and predicting response to treatment from multimodal patient data. Sanofis investment will support Owkins development and goal to grow the worlds leading histology and genomic cancer database from top oncology centers.

Owkins mission is to improve patients lives by using our platform to discover and develop the right treatment for every patient, said Thomas Clozel, M.D., Co-Founder and CEO at Owkin. We believe that the future of precision medicine lies in technologies that can unlock insights from the vast amount of patient data in hospitals and research centers in a privacy-preserving and secure way. This landmark partnership with Sanofi will see federated learning used to create research collaborations at a truly unprecedented scale. The future of AI to transform how we develop treatments is incredibly bright, and we are proud to partner with Sanofi on this mission.

This collaboration agreement will allow Sanofi to work closely with Owkin in identifying new oncology treatments across four cancers.

We look forward to working with our colleagues at Owkin to analyze data from hundreds of thousands of patients, said John Reed, M.D., Ph.D., Global Head of Research and Development, Sanofi. Sanofi's investment in the company includes a three-year agreement that will help discover and develop new treatments for non-small cell lung cancer, triple negative breast cancer, mesothelioma and multiple myeloma. This partnership will help accelerate our ambitious oncology program as we advance a rich pipeline of medicines to address unmet patient needs.

About Owkin

Owkin is a French American startup that specializes in AI and federated learning for medical research. It was co-founded in 2016 by Dr Thomas Clozel M.D., a clinical research doctor and former assistant professor in clinical hematology, and Dr Gilles Wainrib, Ph.D., a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence in biology. Owkin has recently published groundbreaking research at the frontier of AI and medicine in Nature Medicine, Nature Communications and Hepatology. The Owkin Platform connects life science companies with world-class academic researchers and hospitals to share deep medical insights for drug discovery and development. Using federated learning and breakthrough collaborative AI technology, Owkin enables its partners to unlock siloed datasets while protecting patient privacy and securing proprietary data. Through sharing high-value insights, the company powers unprecedented collaboration to improve patient outcomes. Owkin works with the most prominent cancer centers and pharmaceutical companies in Europe and the US. Key achievements to date include HealthChain and MELLODDY; two Owkin led federated learning consortia fuelling unprecedented collaboration in academic research and drug discovery, respectively. For more information, please visit Owkin.com and follow @OWKINscience on Twitter.

About SanofiSanofi is dedicated to supporting people through their health challenges. We are a global biopharmaceutical company focused on human health. We prevent illness with vaccines, provide innovative treatments to fight pain and ease suffering. We stand by the few who suffer from rare diseases and the millions with long-term chronic conditions. With more than 100,000 people in 100 countries, Sanofi is transforming scientific innovation into healthcare solutions around the globe.

Media Relations ContactsSally BainTel: +1 (781) 264-1091Sally.Bain@sanofi.com

Nicolas Obrist Tel: + 33 6 77 21 27 55Nicolas.Obrist@sanofi.com

Investor Relations Contacts ParisEva Schaefer-JansenArnaud DelepineNathalie Pham

Investor Relations Contacts North AmericaFelix Lauscher

Tel.: +33 (0)1 53 77 45 45investor.relations@sanofi.comhttps://www.sanofi.com/en/investors/contact

Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. These statements include projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements regarding plans, objectives, intentions and expectations with respect to future financial results, events, operations, services, product development and potential, and statements regarding future performance. Forward-looking statements are generally identified by the words expects, anticipates, believes, intends, estimates, plans and similar expressions. Although Sanofis management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, investors are cautioned that forward-looking information and statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of Sanofi, that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements. These risks and uncertainties include among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, future clinical data and analysis, including post marketing, decisions by regulatory authorities, such as the FDA or the EMA, regarding whether and when to approve any drug, device or biological application that may be filed for any such product candidates as well as their decisions regarding labelling and other matters that could affect the availability or commercial potential of such product candidates, the fact that product candidates if approved may not be commercially successful, the future approval and commercial success of therapeutic alternatives, Sanofis ability to benefit from external growth opportunities, to complete related transactions and/or obtain regulatory clearances, risks associated with intellectual property and any related pending or future litigation and the ultimate outcome of such litigation, trends in exchange rates and prevailing interest rates, volatile economic and market conditions, cost containment initiatives and subsequent changes thereto, and the impact that COVID-19 will have on us, our customers, suppliers, vendors, and other business partners, and the financial condition of any one of them, as well as on our employees and on the global economy as a whole. Any material effect of COVID-19 on any of the foregoing could also adversely impact us. This situation is changing rapidly and additional impacts may arise of which we are not currently aware and may exacerbate other previously identified risks. The risks and uncertainties also include the uncertainties discussed or identified in the public filings with the SEC and the AMF made by Sanofi, including those listed under Risk Factors and Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements in Sanofis annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2020. Other than as required by applicable law, Sanofi does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information or statements.

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Sanofi invests $180 million equity in Owkin's artificial intelligence and federated learning to advance oncology pipeline - GlobeNewswire