Intelligent Machine Post and
Ellis's Endangered Employment Katalog (EEEK)
 
Dateline: March 15, 1998

OUR theme this week is more: More AI-driven applications making it in the front lines of the real world.

More Telemedicine
Australia’s biggest research body, CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation), has teamed with St. Vincent’s Hospital and Polartechnics (I couldn't find a Web site for them) to exploit the medical and the business opportunities offered by AI-driven telemedical technologies. CSIRO scientists are developing a way to make VR models of a patient’s internal organs, so surgeons can "fly" through them and plan the least-invasive form of treatment. They are also working on "haptic" or artificial touch technology to enable surgeons to rehearse a difficult operation using tactile feedback to simulate the feel of the organs they will operate on.

Polartechnics has already developed a "doctor in a box," a computerized device for detecting cervical cancer, similar in function to PAPNET which I reported on earlier. Polartechnics points out that such a device enables a virtually untrained operator (my emphasis) to detect early signs of cervical cancer.

Working with CSIRO and St Vincent’s, Polartechnics is also developing a detector for skin melanoma. A hospital spokesman noted that "The average general practitioner sees only a few melanomas a year, and identifying them from other skin blemishes is not so simple. It can mean that up to half of all melanomas are missed, to begin with." The Skin Polar Probe will enable GPs to diagnose melanomas on-the-spot, enabling swift treatment if they are malignant and avoiding needless surgery if they are not. It will also keep track of a patient’s moles, in case they develop into melanomas.

In addition, an expert system already in trials will increase the speed and accuracy of diagnosis of lung diseases from chest x-rays and report abnormalities to supplement doctors' own observations. The system will provide on-the-spot expert advice for junior doctors working on their own at night, for nursing staff working in remote areas, and a "second opinion" for skilled doctors in their daily work. Ultimately, the doctor can be dispensed with, at least for diagnosis.

EEEK! Doctors. These technologies promise quicker and surer diagnosis for patients, and less and less need for humans in the diagnostic loop.

More Neural Net Prediction Software
According to the Rocky Mountain News of March 9, 1998, Athene Software Inc. in Boulder, Colorado has introduced a new platform of neural network-based products to provide wireless carriers with software applications designed to predict profitability, decrease customer churn, predict credit risk and provide Internet-based activation. I could not find a Web site for Athene in Boulder.

EEEK! Business consultants and assorted managers in the wireless carrier industry.

More Network Security Software
BusinessWire of March 10, 1998 reported that Centrax Corporation has begun marketing network security software based on Adaptive Network Security technologies, for Microsoft Windows NT networks. The new approach complements static, barrier-based security techniques such as firewalls, encryption, virtual private networks, and access control lists, all of which are designed to prevent outsiders getting in, by continually scanning an enterprise’s activities and information flow to detect and assess threatening or unusual events related to computer misuse inside the firewall. The vast majority of network security breaches come from employees or associates of an enterprise.

The new software uses intelligent agents to monitor the network for deviations from the normal process flow. A company spokesman said: "The simple analogy would be securing a warehouse full of valuable inventory. While it is essential to put locks on the doors and windows, it is also necessary to employ a security officer and cameras to proactively watch for suspicious activity, broken boxes, holes in walls—anything that suggests a security breach."

Centrax was founded in June 1997 by former employees of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), the mysterious, large, and seemingly quasi-governmental outfit no-one knows about.

EEEK! Network administrators, traitors, corporate defector-wannabes.

Games Galore
MicroProse, Inc. has announced a game which provides a realistic military battle environment with multiplayer capability and 3-D simulation. It's called M1 Tank Platoon II.

The first version of M1 Tank Platoon set the standard for PC-based military simulation games. The new version has an all-encompassing 3-D environment which features photorealistic cockpits, detailed texture-mapped terrain, realistic battlefield environments, and advanced artificial intelligence.

Sierra and Papyrus have combined to produce NASCAR Racing 2, a simulation game with accurate car physics, talking crew chiefs and customizing shops where you can paint your own machine.

When things start to get this realistic, it's not surprising that real auto manufacturers would want a piece of the action, and Honda's motorbike division has done just that. When Honda (and Castrol)'s new game is released in April, anyone with a PC can ride a Honda RC45750cc motorcycle at 200 mph. Honda and Castrol didn't create the game—Intense Entertainment Interactive did. It's called Castrol Honda Superbike World Champions.

Developed with technical assistance from Honda North America and the World Champion Castrol Honda racing team, the virtual bike’s mechanics and handling have been exactly simulated, ensuring that the game matches the real bike’s feel, handling and maneuvering capabilities. Up to 23 computer-controlled opponents, driven by artificial intelligence, force the gamer to race tactically and not just with raw speed.

The game also has engineers on hand to tinker with the bike’s mechanics to ensure peak performance at all times. Users can change the setup of their bike prior to any race, to suit personal tastes and the peculiarities of individual courses. Up to five players can compete bike-to-bike over a LAN.

EEEK! Soldiers, armies, racers, race track operators and ancillaries, racing car/bike manufacturers.

More on Neural Nets for Credit Underwriting
The U.S. Federal Housing Administration has announced that its processing of homebuyer’s loan applications will be cut from four weeks to two minutes by using Loan Prospector, a computerized system for evaluating loan requests. Because there are still some humans in the loop, however, the two minutes will still stretch into a two-week wait for lenders and loan applicants. (FHA does not make home loans directly—it provides insurance for mortgage loans to expand home ownership opportunities for low- and middle-income buyers.)

Although Loan Prospector has reportedly been working well for about a year, some lenders remain cautious. One reason for the caution is that there are competing and uncooperating proprietary AI-based loan underwriting programs in the market.

EEEK: Credit underwriters.

More Members of MCC
Texas Instruments has become a shareholder member of the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC), one of the nation’s foremost technology research and development consortia, that began life as America's answer to Japan's Fifth Generation Project.. TI joins 17 other MCC shareholders including Motorola, Hewlett Packard, 3M, Eastman Kodak, and Lockheed-Martin.

TI is participating in two specific MCC projects, InfoSleuth II and Intuitive Interfaces to Information Systems (I3S). We met InfoSleuth II in an earlier article. It is being deployed to link U.S. and European environmental databases. It employs intelligent agent technology to provide for concept-based searches of the diverse and unstructured information in distributed, dynamically changing corporate databases and the World Wide Web. This technology will help organizations retrieve relevant information that currently is not easily accessed, filtered, and retrieved by Web browsers, and will be of tremendous value (assuming it works as advertised) to every industry (e.g., medicine) seeking to link disparate databases and networks.

The I3S project is developing models and tools for creating easy-to-use spoken language interfaces for accessing information.

EEEK! Anyone who now makes a living off the mess of disparate databases.

More Intelligent Stock Pickers
Stockpoint, a unit of Neural Applications Corporation, has announced the addition of two new Java applets, the Stockpoint Stock Screener and the Active Chart, to its financial Web site. These tools enable users to customize and view financial data in a way unique to the Internet.

Neural's software extracts knowledge from complex data to make real-time intelligent decisions. The stock screening tool analyzes Stockpoint’s database of nearly 10,000 publicly traded companies and searches multiple data sources including Market Guide, which the company claims has the best fundamental and price data available for screening. The Stock Screener then presents the user with a list of up to 100 stocks that match his or her search criteria, whci can include price, volume, price/earnings ratio, four-week price change percentage and industry sectors.

Results are presented in a spreadsheet format and because Stock Screener is Java-based, users can interact with the results and re-order columns according to their personal preference without conducting another search. All search results are tightly integrated into the Stockpoint Web site, allowing users to click on a particular stock to easily access company quotes, Active Charts, analyst summaries and research reports.

Stockpoint’s Active Charts provide up-close perspectives on specific stocks in comparison with major market indexes, including Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite, as well as other stocks or funds. The charts automatically update throughout the day. Therefore, the user can track market trends minute-to-minute without having to refresh the data.

Neural serves the financial, industrial, and other data-intensive markets with its core technology, Aegis, which combines neural networks, fuzzy logic, genetic algorithms, and expert systems technologies.

In a separate but related announcement, SURETRADE, Inc., an Internet-based broker for independent investors, says it has integrated WiseWire Corporation’s intelligent agent technology to find, prioritize, and deliver customized online content to its members. WiseWire now provides SURETRADE members with breaking news and information on five topics, or Wires, including Mutual Funds, Stocks, Investment References & Guides, Finance & Investments, and Market Information & Research.

WiseWire is basically a news-clipping service. It finds, filters, and organizes content on the Internet using intelligent agent technology while building online communities with features like e-commerce transactions and content personalization. Customers can create almost any topic imaginable and WiseWire will filter content from a broad variety of sources including the Web, newsgroups, premium sources, and even a site’s own proprietary content. In addition to SURETRADE, WiseWire is powering the Lycos Web Guides, The Black World Today, and SmithKline Beecham’s intranet, among other sites.

EEEK! Stockbrokers, editors, publishers.

Shock/Horror: A Dissenting Voice
Ben Shneiderman, professor of computer science and head of the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory at the University of Maryland, is reported to insist that the best use of computers is to enhance human abilities, and that the goal of making computer user interfaces intelligent or anthropomorphic is misguided. I'm not sure what the issue is, exactly, but Shneiderman will be presenting at the forthcoming (April) CHI98 conference on computer–human interaction, and I'll get back to you after checking it out.

EEEK! Me, if Shneiderman is (a) correctly reported and (b) right.

If I'm not here next week, you'll know why.
 

  Until next week, 

NEXT WEEK: With luck, a review of Neuroshell Easy. Without it, more IMP and EEEK.

Help Wanted: Got questions or comments on this article or on any other AI-related subject under the sun? Post it in the AIBB!

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