Let’s Talk Tech #9: Timing AI launches, Hardware biases, Video games, EdTech and AI’s impact on translation

Let’s Talk Tech, the Orange newsletter for in-depth reporting on scientific innovations that will shape tomorrow’s world.

#EVENT: Orange OpenTech: Ready for an immersion at the heart of innovation?

From November 26 to 28, 2024, Orange invites you to explore together the latest technologies and discover networks in the era of AI.

Orange OpenTech's ambition can be summed up in 3 words:

- Further, because it's all about exploring, imagining and inventing tomorrow's innovations.

- Faster, because innovation, in addition to being continuous, is accelerating at an unprecedented pace.

- Together, because Tech ecosystem players, decision-makers, partners, start-ups, researchers and experts connect to innovate together.

Follow the highlights of this key event on the Hello Future website and on the LinkedIn accounts of Orange, Orange Business and X Hello Future.

Further, Faster, Together 🚀

#PRODUCT – When is the right time to bring innovative new technology to market?

Is there a magic recipe for the successful launch of new technology? This is the question posed by researchers Ela Veresiu and Thomas Derek Robinson , who have modelled four scenarios to better understand market dynamics and the choice of the right moment for a product launch. They warn against rushing ahead, which may not be the best option: companies who launch technology too early run the risk of being upstaged by competitors a few years down the line. With regard to AI, the researchers argue that launches for generalist AIs benefit from flexible scheduling, while specialist AIs, particularly in healthcare, require stricter preparation and precise timing to avoid market rejection

#HARDWARE – Components in AI systems can affect their results and even create biases.

Algorithms are usually held to blame for biases in artificial intelligence models. However, a research team led by Yiyu Shi at the University of Notre Dame (Indiana) has now demonstrated that AI fairness can also be affected by hardware. In particular, variations in components have been found to introduce demographic biases which are highly problematic, notably for healthcare applications. At the same time, the team also reports that model compression, which often plays a key role in the deployment of neural networks on peripheral and mobile devices with limited hardware resources, can also help to mitigate some biases.

#GAMING – Video games are beneficial to mental health.

Japanese researchers have demonstrated that video games have a positive impact on mental health. When lotteries for the distribution of Nintendo and Sony consoles were organised during the Covid-19 pandemic, behavioural scientist Hiroyuki Egami and his team took advantage of a natural opportunity to investigate the psychological effects of gaming outside of a laboratory setting. They found that console ownership, along with increased gameplay, significantly improved levels of mental well-being, which varied depending on gender and age: “For example, Switch consoles had a far more beneficial impact on adolescents than on other groups, while PS5s showed smaller benefits, but were associated with greater well-being among those in their thirties.”

#EDTECH – How AI can help children to learn?

For Catherine de Vulpillières , the co-founder of Evidence B , there is more to AI than ChatGPT, especially in schools where it can help pupils to develop their knowledge with customized learning paths. “Not only can AIs recommend exercises, which are not too easy or too difficult, they can also give hints, personalized feedback, and motivational messages to encourage students or help them in the event of difficulty.” At the same time, AI can also be of assistance to teachers when they need to conduct assessments or identify difficulties and stumbling blocks faced by their pupils.

AI – The impact of AI on translation professions

They are viewed as being on the front line when it comes to disruption caused by large language models, but are translation professions really under threat from AI? Hello Future spoke to representatives of the French Association of audio-visual translators/adapters (ATAA), the Association of literary translators in France (ATLF) and the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC). Among the concerns they express are questions about the potential impoverishment of language, distortion of the original versions and, worse still, cultural impoverishment. As Peggy Rolland of the ATLF explains, the technology “could pave the way for the effacement of distinct cultural characteristics and literary content that tends to satisfy standard expectations.”