The roll-out of 5G across the entire world is going to largely affect how we connect and network with each other. In business, 5G will boost the stability and connectivity of existing Internet of Things (IoT) applications while bolstering new IoT systems. It won’t take long for our cities, homes, and ways of living to adapt to all of the benefits 5G will bring, not to mention the added communication abilities, like staying in touch while traveling or connecting to the car next to you in traffic.

Ultimately, 5G will effect change in society, digitalization, and economies in almost all aspects of life and business, but for now, 5G operators are working to ensure mobile connectivity is strong and stable before expanding their focus to other industries and fields. Once that’s done, work will pivot to optimizing connectivity across consumers, businesses, and supply chains.

The Growing Need for Connectivity

Every year, the world’s data volume increases, and with more Internet-enabled devices than ever, 5G has become crucial. Soon, existing technologies won’t be able to meet IoT’s requirements unless 5G is available everywhere. As an example, in 2017, Germany doubled its data volume from 2015, reaching 1 billion gigabytes in a single year.

Experts calculated the number of connected devices and sensors reached between 50 and 500 billion in 2020. With these numbers growing every year, 5G offers unlimited possibilities for our global economy and productivity. Once we reach a certain global data volume, we will need 5G to maintain and scale up business and consumer needs.

LTE Today, 5G Tomorrow

3G made it possible for us to use our phones on a mobile connection with relative ease and speed, and it catalyzed the popularity and manufacturing of smartphones. With the roll-out of 4G LTE, data transfer rates skyrocketed, and it remains the most popular and most-used network even today. 4G LTE offers speeds up to 100 megabits per second, although many of us will experience those speeds first-hand on and off.

It’s possible to boost LTE bandwidths for download speeds up to 4,000 megabits (4 gigabits) per second, and while this is super fast, LTE was designed for smartphone use. On the other hand, 5G will be optimized from the ground-up for IoT connectivity. 5G speeds are faster than much of the Wi-Fi connections available around the world: stable speeds up to 20 gigabits per second aren’t out of the question with 5G.

In comparison, the first smartphones with 1G were eight million times slower than phones will be with 5G. When you put it that way, it seems 5G opens up all kinds of new doors. Now we can dream of transmitting data in real-time with no quality loss. We can theoretically connect 100 billion mobile devices around the world and access them all at the same time. 5G offers stable connection quality and an obvious increase in speeds (moving up to 500 kilometers per hour). That’s like driving from New York City to Los Angeles in nine hours, rather than the 41 hours it would normally take by car.

And besides smartphones, in our increasingly digital world, 5G will be a major asset in applications to many areas and industries. As a result, 5G will become the key technology for connectivity in the near future.

Unlimited Potential

In addition to IoT, the Industrial IoT, a major consumer of mobile connectivity technology, will benefit immensely from 5G. 5G will offer continuous connectivity and data transmission between robots, systems, machines, and people. And analysis will be done on-demand using edge computing, which is an emerging technology that we won’t be able to utilize fully without 5G.

The number of connected sensors and devices is expected to grow at a massive rate, and problems will be pinpointed in real-time rather than after the fact. Optimization can be done in real-time (or close to it), minimizing downtime, revenue loss, and loss of productivity. 5G will enable humanless tasks, not just in driving, but for industrial tasks like picking up and delivering goods, machine-to-machine communication, and loading and unloading materials.

Connectivity in a Digital World

Digital transformation (thanks in part to the pandemic) is driving the growth and expansion of many emerging technologies. But in the field of network connectivity, digital transformation is leading the charge for what to focus on and for use cases. High-quality connectivity is the most important end goal of 5G, especially for both large and small IoT systems. A dropped connection could lead to the factory floor production getting halted.

IoT and 5G experts know that all of the possibilities are still unmapped and unknown. As we arm ourselves with more stable and scalable emerging technologies, we will uncover more ideas, innovations, and opportunities that were previously thought of as unfeasible. Smart farming, which involves keeping an eye on all animals at any given time, crop health, soil moisture, changing weather, and much more, will finally be possible and closer to real-time observation than ever before. Accordingly, we’ll see a large increase in sustainability and efficiency in food production.

5G’s Prospects

Although we don’t know when 5G will reach market maturity, it’s obvious that it will bring about more possibilities, efficiencies, and connectivity than we’ve ever experienced before. It’s unclear what new ideas will be unlocked by the power of 5G. But one thing is certain: The world will never be the same when this next level of network connectivity is fully realized.

In fact, lack of cybersecurity in IoT systems is actually hindering the field from reaching its full potential. To make matters worse, security features for IoT applications can vary from developer to developer. It, unfortunately, isn’t uncommon for security to take a backseat in the development process until the end, when there’s no budget or time left to implement a proper solution.

But this approach isn’t cutting it. In IoT applications, it’s not enough to create a set-it-and-forget-it security layer; IoT isn’t like a PC or any previous technology we’ve encountered before. Because there are so many sensors, devices, and a cloud component, it takes a lot of thought and planning to create a robust, secure IoT system.

Could AI help solve this conundrum before it’s too late? The short answer is yes and no. The long answer? Keep reading.

The Bright Side: Helpful AI

Right now, AI development within IoT applications is limited to data analysis, predictive analytics, and generating notifications for a human to take a closer look. It does very well in this area, and there’s still a lot to learn and apply. But even this application results in a lot of false positives for humans to sift through manually. In this case, applying AI to assist with IoT cybersecurity could cause more issues than it helps solve.

Is it possible for AI to train on known patterns of security attacks and breaches? Yes, but we would have to put the IoT system itself through the attacks multiple times so the AI can learn each nuance properly. And when hackers change up their methods and patterns, we’ll have to ensure our AI-enhanced cybersecurity protocols are trained on these changes immediately. Otherwise, this type of AI application can quickly make itself become obsolete and useless.

Whereas a company may have full-time dedicated cybersecurity and IT teams, it would also be imperative that they employ a full-time team of ethical hackers to constantly come up with new ways to breach their company’s security protocols. Even then, it’s not a 100% guarantee that an IoT system is fully secured against any type of hacking attempt.

One major hurdle is the lack of training data available for these breaches; companies who’ve been breached in the past are not likely to openly give out details of how and why their security systems were breached. Because of the nature of the Internet, anyone could use this information maliciously against other companies or against the same company again.

And more importantly, releasing information about a breach implicates personal and sensitive data that could upset customers.

The Dark Side: Malicious AI

AI is what you make it. If you’re developing AI with malicious intent, it can certainly be used to bring down a business’s operations for a few days or leak private data into the open waters of the Internet.

And as hackers get smarter and more creative with the increasing number of tools at their disposal, AI will be used to help breaches successfully occur, rather than help prevent them. This type of AI has already been lovingly named by experts as “enemy-AI”.

Enemy-AI is arguably easier to develop, train (it’ll take any training data it can get because any information can help it facilitate a security breach), and apply to attacks, especially when compared to using AI as a defense mechanism.

When we discussed companies not releasing breach information to the public, we see that with enemy-AI, there is no ethical standpoint. With hackers, we must assume that they have no morals or ethics that they follow; if something can yield losses for a company, we must assume that hackers find that information valuable as a result.

Which Will Take the Cake?

The cynic in us believes the malicious AI can easily win over the defense AI. But there is hope yet because it’s likely that neither “side” will ever truly win. There is a ton of value in using AI for IoT security. As far as what this value is used for depends on who gets to it first and who implements it best.

Ultimately, developers must prioritize security as a main part of IoT systems development. At our Los Angeles-based mobile app development studio, we’re planning for security layers in our applications from Day 1; we believe cybersecurity is so important to connected devices and systems that our own CTO is an ethical hacker!

Although AI has limitless potential for every industry today, we mustn’t expect it to do all of the heavy lifting, especially in the ever-evolving world of cybersecurity. AI is a tool that imperfectly does what we tell it to do, and we mustn’t expect anything more from it — at least for now.

As the years pass, IoT will become ubiquitous throughout all of our lives. We’re going to be interacting with IoT systems at home, at work, in retail, and even at the grocery store. Ultimately, many of our devices will become part of an IoT system, whether it’s a smart home set-up or smart office space. So it’s imperative that we all develop an understanding of how IoT functions.

IoT’s Rise in History

Many of us remember the late 90s and early 2000s when we had flip phones, paid per text message and calling minute, and lost reception quite often. Since then, our primary means of communication have markedly evolved and improved with stability, low latency, and the ability to connect our devices with other ones. If you’ve got your phone connected to an Alexa or Google speaker, you can even send a text message through that avenue now.

It has been nothing short of a meteoric rise for devices connecting with each other over Bluetooth, via QR code, or through a single-sign-on login system.

Although, even with this set-up, we’re limiting ourselves greatly. But with IoT, we can add more dimensions, types of devices, and connection methods to our systems. Imagine if you could connect to your car, fridge, local farmer, local city infrastructure, and more. Now imagine if this connection could enable these complex devices to talk with each other.

The fridge might alert your local farmer that you’ll likely pick up some tomatoes at this weekend’s farmer’s market. Your car could navigate red lights around town with efficiency and reroute you during rush hour as needed. These are rudimentary examples, but they point to a greater picture of what IoT bestows upon us in our daily lives.

The Foundation of IoT Systems

IoT connects devices, things, and spaces that are usually “outside” of the Internet to our Internet-connected devices. These remote and cloud-based connections will only stabilize with the implementation of 5G globally, allowing us to generate data, find insights, and even send the analysis back to the main device that needs optimizing.

How is this all possible? A mix of programming, hardware, security protocols, cloud integration, networking, data science, and AI combine seamlessly to produce robust IoT systems. Let’s take a closer look at each component.

Programming

IoT devices are programmed to work and communicate with each other using code that IoT developers often write in C++ or C. For bigger IoT systems or ones that need to scale up eventually, many developers are turning to Python and JavaScript. Even if a developer knows how to code, they must also have a deep knowledge of hardware, like circuit boards, microcontrollers, circuit design, and more.

Hardware

Hardware is one of the most important aspects because it is one of the only physical parts of an IoT system. Interconnected devices, sensors, and controllers help IoT systems understand (and sometimes even control) the world around them. Often, devices are computing on the device itself instead of the cloud (through the help of microcontrollers, system-on-a-chip (SoC), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc.), which brings more importance to choosing high-quality, secure, and sturdy devices.

Security Protocols

Security is the most overlooked aspect of any technology application or system. At our Los Angeles-based mobile app development studio, we place security as a high priority on all of our projects. In many IoT systems, security gets layered on top last, making it an afterthought for many developers. On the contrary, security must be developed and thought of at every step of the design and development of IoT systems. Millions of new devices connect to the Internet every day, and the number of viruses and malware is increasing rapidly. When you consider that many IoT systems also house sensitive information, like payment data, trade secrets, machine information, and more, multi-layered security is non-negotiable. And no, you cannot rely on the devices’ built-in security — these have been shown to be behind in industry standards.

Networking and The Cloud

Connecting to the Internet is of utmost importance for IoT devices. Without the connection, it wouldn’t be possible to include the device in an IoT system. Setting up a stable network from the get-go is important, but IoT systems developers need to constantly monitor the network load and bandwidth to ensure more optimization isn’t needed. Having a poor network can cost a company a lot of time and money. On a related note, cloud computing and cloud storage should be monitored closely and optimized accordingly constantly throughout an IoT system’s lifespan.

Data Science

Analyzing data for insights can help companies cut costs without infringing on employees. With the amount of data generated every day in IoT systems, the term “big data” suddenly doesn’t seem to encompass enough. But this data is multi-dimensional and valuable. A good data analyst or scientist can elucidate new insights, patterns, and optimizations out of tons of data. And a great analyst or scientist can help trim down data points that are useless to the company’s bottom line, thereby improving network bandwidth, cloud computing credits, and storage costs.

AI and Machine Learning

AI and ML can work together to automate data scientists’ manual work. They can also help watch for patterns constantly to alert analysts for deeper analysis. Over time, AI can produce predictive analytics and even make small decisions without human oversight.

IoT Is an Integral Part of Our Future

IoT will continue improving as it expands. As with any emerging technology, its complexities will only grow with so many moving parts within and outside of the system.

Yes, “The Internet of Things” sounds vague, complex, and all-encompassing. But it all breaks down to a handful of features working together seamlessly.

We hope you’ve gained a deeper understanding of how IoT works from this article! What aspects would you like to learn more about? Let us know in the comments below!

Cybersecurity affects every level of technology, from app developers and software architects to the end-user. That’s why we believe cybersecurity is one of the most important aspects of any project; without it, there is no peace of mind or guarantee to the user that their information is in safe hands.

When we joined the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, our Los Angeles-based innovation studio joined 99 other companies around the world. In case you don’t know about the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, it’s an organization focused on improving cybersecurity by bringing together a global group of committed companies like Microsoft, Oracle, Unisys, and Cisco to make cyberspace a safer place.

These companies must support their developers, users, and customers with transparency and education surrounding security protocols. They must also prioritize security in their products and services. Thirdly, by sharing information between companies about best practices, warning signs, and potential threats, we ultimately place the customer’s safety as the most important value.

Becoming a part of the Cybersecurity Tech Accord requires every company’s alignment with the accord’s objectives and goals. By giving everyone the same values to work towards, we believe that we will accelerate cybersecurity advancement, resiliency, stability, and quality over the years.

The Cybersecurity Tech Accord recently released an update about how they’re continuing their commitment. Here are some ways in which our partners in the Cybersecurity Tech Accord are doing so in their daily operations:

Tom Pendergast is the Chief Learning Officer at MediaPRO. He says, “We provide security and privacy awareness training for large employers, and our goal is to help employers reduce human risk in their employees’ lives, both at work and at home.”

Tenable’s VP of Global Government Affairs, James Hayes, says, “Tenable is a cyber exposure company. Our solutions help customers around the world manage, measure, and reduce their overall cybersecurity risk.”

And AnchorFree’s Strategy Operations Manager, Besart Copa, says his company is fighting for better cybersecurity globally. He says, “We are pro-security, pro-privacy, and pro-open Internet.”

To see more about what the Cybersecurity Tech Accord is doing to make cyberspace a safer place, check out the full video here.

We’re excited and honored to announce that Dogtown Media is one of 14 new members to join the Cybersecurity Tech Accord!

The Cybersecurity Tech Accord’s Objectives

Along with 90 other tech leaders like Microsoft, Oracle, and Cisco, each member is committed to improving the security, stability, and resilience of cyberspace through the following rules:

1. Each signatory must give their customers, users, and developers the necessary information and tools to help them understand current and future cybersecurity threats as well as how to protect themselves.
2. Secondly, each signatory must prioritize cybersecurity by designing and building products that put privacy, security, integrity, and reliability above everything else. This will help reduce cybersecurity attack likelihood, frequency, severity, and exploitability for customers and users everywhere.
3. Signatories will work with each other to improve best practices. By collaborating closely, we should be able to reduce the number of overall threats by increasing our technical partnerships, coordinated reports, and threat sharing.
4. Lastly, every signatory shall oppose any efforts to attack citizens and enterprises by building in exploitation protections from concept to distribution.

In our bustling Los Angeles-based design and development studio, we’ve always taken a prioritized approach to cybersecurity. We’re incredibly lucky to have Rob Pope as our Chief Technology Officer; he’s an ethical hacker turned mobile developer, and we’ve used his expertise since the beginning of Dogtown Media to inform our mobile app development process from start to finish.

With all of this being said, joining the Cybersecurity Tech Accord was a logical next step. We can’t wait to collaborate with the other 103 signatories in making cyberspace a safer place! Besides its objectives, the Cybersecurity Tech Accord’s values will also be instrumental in helping with this endeavor.

The Cybersecurity Tech Accord’s Values

All companies in the Cybersecurity Tech Accord must hold the following values closely:

1. Strong defense: Every consumer deserves equal protection online. It doesn’t matter whether they’re technically-inclined, where in the world they’re located, or what they believe.
2. No offense: We can not purposefully undermine the security of the Internet, and we should protect against cybersecurity attack efforts on our own products and services.
3. Capacity building: Cybersecurity isn’t a one-company job; it’s everyone’s responsibility. And we must improve consumers’ ability to securely and safely browse online as well as improve the diversity of cybersecurity experts.
4. Collective response: We will achieve better results if we work with others in the group.

Whether or not cybersecurity is important to you, it’s a growing issue that impacts every Internet user and consumer in the world. With these values in place, we can do a lot to decrease the risk of the most common and newest attacks known.

Moving Forward Together With You

The Cybersecurity Tech Accord has many initiatives planned for 2019, and we’ve joined at the perfect time to jump into collaboration and knowledge sharing with the other 103 companies.

We’re looking forward to participating in these endeavors, as well as delivering the latest news to you about cybersecurity updates in mobile app development as we hear about them.

We’re extremely excited for what the future holds. And we’re even more elated to play a part in making it safer for everybody around the world!

At Dogtown Media, we are a specialized team of dedicated and energized developers. We provide services from mobile app development to UX/UI design to Artificial Intelligence (AI). There is nothing we cannot help our clients accomplish — If you can dream it, we can build it.

In February 2019, Clutch issued a report on the leading App Developers in Los Angeles. Dogtown Media is featured as the fifth top firm in the development category out of almost 70 firms! With pride, we have been selected based on a comprehensive set of criteria, including our thought leadership, technical knowledge, work portfolio, and diverse clientele. We excel across Clutch given our diverse expertise, and are listed among the top AI companies in Los Angeles.

As a B2B services ratings and reviews agency, Clutch employs the typical reviews process with a personal touch. Their analysts often speak with a company’s clients directly, gathering feedback that is insightful and offers a true window into a partnership with that firm. Clutch uses this research to organize the thousands of companies on the site into a directory with multiple shortlists, guiding buyers in their decision-making process.

We’re proud of the reviews we’ve collected through Clutch. Here’s a quick glance at one of our most recent ones. The client, a FinTech company, was impressed with our efficient delivery and open communication throughout the engagement.

Recently, Clutch launched a new platform, Visual Objects, which shows Dogtown Media as one of the top Los Angeles app developers. Visual Objects is a portfolio website that showcases work from top firms around the world. This visual catalog makes it easy to find the right design partner for your specific project. Additionally, our high ranking on Clutch allowed us an additional feature on The Manifest. Here, our company is ranked one of the top 30 mobile app development companies in Los Angeles.

We’re grateful to be listed on multiple directories, showing our dedication to performing at the highest level, and our ability to deliver consistently without fail.

Dogtown Media’s Head of Marketing, Patrick Ward, commented on this local recognition and our relationship with Clutch:

“As a Los Angeles-based company since our inception, we are extremely grateful to have been recognized by Clutch for our contribution and commitment to the thriving tech community in Silicon Beach.”

Lastly, a special thank you to Clutch for this honorable recognition and to our wonderful clients for choosing to work and grow with Dogtown Media!

Dogtown Media is excited to announce that Marc Fischer, our CEO, has been accepted into the Forbes Technology Council! The invitation-only community is designed to help leaders in the tech industry reach their full potential.

It’s an amazing opportunity for Marc to connect with world-class CIOs, CTOs, and other tech pioneers making a big impact in the world.

Connecting Leaders Around the World

Forbes Technology Council is part of Forbes Councils, a collection of communities that bring business leaders together and connect them with the resources they need to thrive. Forbes Councils was created in partnership between Forbes and Scott Gerber, the founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC).

Like the Forbes Technology Council, all Forbes Councils communities are invitation-only. To join, potential members are selected and heavily vetted by a review committee. The committee examines both the depth and diversity of a candidate’s experience. Factors such as previous achievements, honors, and a history of positively impacting business growth in substantial ways are all taken into account as well.

Designed to Thrive

“We are honored to welcome Marc into the community,” says Gerber. “Our mission with Forbes Councils is to bring together proven leaders from every industry, creating a curated, social capital-driven network that helps every member grow professionally and make an even greater impact on the business world.”

Joining Forbes Technology Council brings an array of exclusive opportunities designed to help leaders reach their peak professional performance and influence. Marc will be able to connect and collaborate with other local leaders in the Los Angeles area anytime through a private forum. He’ll also get the chance to share his insights on mobile app development and technology through Q&A panels and original articles published by Forbes.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

Thank You!

Words can’t properly convey the excitement that everyone at Dogtown Media feels about Marc’s acceptance into the Forbes Technology Council. We couldn’t have imagined this happening in our wildest dreams when we first embarked on this journey to make people’s ideas into a mobile app reality!

Marc is extremely honored and would like to give a big thanks to the Forbes Technology Council committee for considering and accepting him. He’s eager to get started and excited to connect with pioneers around the world.

Stay tuned for updates. And remember — if you have an idea but don’t know where to begin, reach out anytime — if you can dream it, we can build it!

Started in 1982, the prestigious Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing companies in the United States has become the hallmark of entrepreneurial success. The illustrious Inc. 5000 ranks privately held and independent American companies based on their percentage revenue growth over a three-year period. To many of the nation’s top entrepreneurs, inclusion on the list is a milestone, a sign that they have made it. It is the kind of recognition that can push a thriving business even further ahead.

This year, Dogtown Media is honored to return to the Inc. 5000. Ranked at #547, it is a testament to the continued commitment and dedication of our team of app developers and designers with inclusion on a list that in the past has included such tech giants as Oracle and Microsoft. Our continued growth has been fueled by our passion and dedication to the art of app development. Innovation is the bedrock of our mission as we operate at the intersection of art and code to advance technological solutions for global problems. Our agile process brings bespoke app development with diligence from concept to design, coding to launch to service the complex problems of our Enterprise and VC-backed startup clients. Our reputation continues to flourish as we deliver precise and unique technological solutions that solve some our clients’ most difficult business challenges.

2018 has been another big year for us so far. We expanded our team across two continents. We visited Berlin to present our wearable solution to NATO. We performed a live IoT device hack at SXSW. We advocated for tech-friendly policies at AppCon, engaging with the D.C. power players. We continue to rank as one of the top app developers in Los Angeles by Clutch. We launched our first in-house Healthcare product, SwiftHealth, that is actively saving lives in the field. Returning to the Inc. 5000 is a honor that demonstrates we are going in the right direction. It shows our team produces ground-breaking work that leads both the tech industry and the future of innovation for this nation.

Called the Common Reference Model (CRM), the new product, revealed at Uber’s Elevate Summit in Los Angeles to nearly 700 industry leaders, is expected to be an all-electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) vehicle.

Cutting Down Commute Time

The airborne taxi would seat four people, back-to-back. The company hopes a two-hour ride will shorten down to 15 minutes, which would be a godsend for commuters in Los Angeles, New York City, DC, Atlanta, Dallas, and other large U.S. metropolitan cities.

Uber won’t manufacture the taxis themselves; because of this endeavor, they’ll need more than just mobile app developers to pull it off. Partnering companies will assemble the taxis. Calculations predict that the vehicle’s range is only 60 miles because of the battery, but the taxi can get up to 2,000 feet above the ground (about twice the height of the Empire State Building).

A Blueprint for Success

Uber contracted former NASA engineer Mark Moore to design and develop the flying taxi concept. Moore has extensive experience working on electric propulsion aircraft. The CRM has a series of propellers, some of which are backups that only deploy during emergency failures of the other propellers. You can only enter and exit on one side, which adds an additional layer of safety for passengers.

Uber doesn’t expect to build the CRM according to the current specifications; it intends to create this design as a master blueprint for other manufacturers and other car companies to build upon. By creating a blueprint that other companies can use, the designs of flying taxis in the future will be more consistent and thus easier to regulate and inspect. They’ll hopefully all use the same infrastructure, like landing pads, airspace, and maintenance mechanics.

It Takes a Team to Take Off

Several companies are aiding Uber in its effort to create one of the world’s most popular flying taxis. Among the team members is Embraer, an aircraft manufacturer from Brazil; the company has almost five decades of experience in commercial, military, and agricultural industries, making it one of the most knowledgeable companies out of the group.

Pipistrel Aircraft is another partner in the endeavor. The Slovenia-based aircraft manufacturer produces small, electric-powered aircraft. Another member, Karem is a smaller aircraft manufacturer based in California and founded by esteemed drone expert Abe Karem, called “the dronefather.”

Aurora Flight Sciences, another company partnering with Uber, is a Boeing subsidiary. The company’s flown more than 30 unpiloted flights since 1989, including a military helicopter. CEO John Langford believes autonomy is the key to creating innovation in on-demand transportation and reversing the downward trend of pilot jobs.

The last company, Bell Helicopter, is working on vertical flight alongside its usual bread-and-butter of commercial and military helicopters. The company recently revealed a VR experience inside its air taxi cabin prototype.

If you were thinking of getting into the game, Uber’s still looking for more partners that can meet a few requirements in experience and knowledge of aircraft designing, namely for these features: minimal noise, electric-powered, and VTOL capabilities.

Uber’s Contribution

The photo we presented above may not be the end result of the CRM when all is said and done. We expect more companies to join in the effort to add features and request changes too. The company hopes to start testing the UberAir service at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport within the next two years.

Uber has been under intense scrutiny in recent years due to controversies surrounding sexual harassment allegations and a tumultuous ousting of their previous CEO. Of course, it’s also impossible to forget its recent-self driving car tragedy that ended up with a pedestrian losing her life.

If Uber succeeds in making this flying taxi project a reality, it could not only help their reputation immensely, but set the company up for a future expanded outside of its usual scope of ridesharing.

Fortunately, if we never elevate AI to be in a position of such power that it can press the proverbial “red button”, it’s entirely possible that AI won’t ever cause nuclear war. But we are humans, and we do make mistakes. It’s important now more than ever to discuss ethics and morality as it relates to AI and the control we grant this technology.

How Much Should We Trust AI With?

The RAND Corporation recently hosted a conference with unnamed experts in the national security, nuclear weapon, and AI industries. The experts discussed and speculated about how AI will evolve and what it means for nuclear war. A lot of the discussion revolved around hyper-intelligent computers. The computers run on complex algorithms that can track inter-continental missiles and launch nuclear weapons in retaliation before the first bomb hits.

The military has seen an increasing use of and for computers to advance domestic and overseas capabilities. Computers are in charge of autonomous vehicles, nuclear arsenals, and detection systems. The RAND Corporation also released a paper with more insights. The Los Angeles-based non-profit think-tank researches national security. That naturally includes how AI applications will affect our world.

Roll the Dice

The paper talks about how AI can suggest when to launch missiles to human operators, but keeping a human between the AI and the “red button” isn’t a guarantee with future generations, who will fight about their own politics.

A strong case for keeping AI at least one degree away from the “red button” is the presence of inherent bugs and glitches that come with the development of software as it evolves. Undoubtedly, humans must continue refining the algorithm until it’s safe enough to put in a position of power. But should we even take that gamble? Sure, AI doesn’t have emotions driving its decisions as humans often do, but being emotionless isn’t ideal either (especially in the case of nuclear war).

Addressing the Problem Before It’s Reality

The researchers did mention, however, that AI excels at super-niche topics. So an AI in charge of something as complex as nuclear weapon release will take a lot longer to create than we assume. And then it’ll need more optimizing and refining to get to a place where it’s working well enough to deploy.

The thought of allowing a robot with “its own thoughts” to control the start of a nuclear war is terrifying. But, although scary, opening the floor for this conversation to occur now is better to do than confronting the problem when it’s too late. How much would you trust AI with?