Nine Gartner Technology Predictions

Gartner has released its technology predictions for the year.

By 2018, twenty percent of all business content, one in five of the documents you read, will be authored by a machine. "Robowriters" are already producing budget reports, sports, and business reports, and this trend is sneaking in without notice.

By 2018, six billion connected things will be requesting support. These non-human “things” are customers requesting services and data, and other methods of support.

By 2020, autonomous software agents outside of human control will participate in 5% of all economic transactions. Smart algorithms are already beginning to perform transactions without human help.

By 2018, more than three million workers globally will be supervised by a roboboss. "The problem with this is that robot bosses don't have human reactions," it said. "The reality is we have to see if robots can get human mannerisms right."

By 2018, twenty percent of smart buildings will have experienced digital vandalism. As buildings, both commercial and residential, get smarter and more connected, there is greater potential that these buildings can be attacked. We need to develop a way to detect and correct these intrusions.

By 2018, fifty percent of the fastest-growing companies will have less smart employees and more smart machines. Smart systems will be analyzing how a factory is being run, or deciding whether people are completing a task at an appropriate speed.

By 2018, digital assistants will recognize individuals by face and voice. Passwords are unworkable and good ones are hard to memorize. Biometrics have been around for a long time, but will get stronger.

By 2018, two million employees will be required to wear health and fitness tracking devices as a condition of employment. One benefit is that insurance costs may be lower for those companies with healthy employees. The use of such devices also raises significant issues about whether an employee keeps a job based on fitness level.

By 2020, smart agents will facilitate forty percent of mobile interactions. This is based on the belief that the world is moving to a post-app era, where assistants such as Cortana, Siri, and Google Now act as a type of universal interface.

Text-to-911

By the end of 2014, US carriers will be required to route all of our emergency texts to 911. The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to require all mobile carriers to route text messages sent to 911, to local emergency response centers, just like phone calls.

The problem is most emergency services agencies are not yet equipped to receive them.

The big four operators have already implemented text-to-911 voluntarily, but many smaller operators have not. In fact, only about 2 percent of 911 response centers are capable of receiving SMS, so most emergency messages just get sent into the cloud.

The FCC also now requires messaging apps linked to phone numbers must all support 911. That means an app that works within the phone’s SMS client must be able to send 911 texts, but a social messaging app like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp does not. Am having difficulty understanding how someone with a phone finds it easier to text than to call, especially when 911 usually requires a series of questions and answers. Thumbs may not be faster than lips, but apps like EVA, SIRI, Skyvi, and Jeannie, etc. might be more linguistically understandable.

SIRI

The new voice application for the iPhone that was just announced is very cool, but do you remember that Feb 26, 2010 Friday Thoughts, I told you it was coming. Wow, what a long gestation. Also, Android phones have had voice response for a long time.

Siri

Talk into your iPhone and tell Siri what you want. Tickets for a show, reservations at a restaurant, a taxi to pick you up. Siri can arrange to get you what you need. Best of all, Siri learns what you want, and gets better at understanding your commands, just like a human assistant.

It was originally developed as part of DARPA’s CALO project and represents more than five years of research and refinement. The App is sophisticated enough to filter through a sentence and identify the relevant key words and know what to do. It understands to use GPS to determine what “in your area” means. It can handle most any command for six broad categories of interest: restaurants, movies, events, taxis, local information, and weather. Oh, did I mention it is free?
It can understand complicated commands that use unspecific key words. “I’d like a PG-13 movie near my house that’s funny and romantic.” Siri can handle that by using its patented algorithm to learn how to translate words and phrases into commands.

The Siri company has more than $24 million in funding and has plans to expand to include reminders, flight stats, reference questions, and many more tasks. It is currently only available for iPhone 3GS with OS 3.1, but it will eventually be offered for iPod Touch, iPhone 3G, and other smart phones.  I love technology.