Yesterday was IoT Day, and it has me thinking about the evolution of the IoT (Internet of Things)—something I chronicled in-depth on The Peggy Smedley Show yesterday. The day was first organized more than a decade ago in 2010 by the IoT Council. Much has changed since that time, with the rise of AI (artificial intelligence), ML (machine learning), and deep learning, just to name a few. And much will continue to change in the days ahead. Even before that when we first introduced the M2M (machine-to-machine) technology to push us forward to find our way forward to the IoT.
With the rise of machine learning and deep learning, we now have new opportunities right at our fingertips—but with all these advances comes a catch. We need to do it responsibly. This is precisely the theme for yesterday’s IoT Day—AI and IoT for good.
The IoT Council suggests that data from sensors and ledgers is not ‘the’ truth, but it is as close to having as unbiased as possible layers for decision making. That is a reason to call IoT doing good in the sense of being part of the solution, not the problem.
However, more important are the long-term goals. These can be sustainability, mitigating climate change, tackling inequality, and creating transparency in decision making, according to the council. Of course, these are just a few examples.
I would also argue we are at a precipice and at a precise moment in time where we must consider the responsibility we have with the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence. This is something we have long discussed here at Connected World, but with Open AI and ChatGPT, we must consider the responsibility we all have. We must consider the implications of responsible and ethical uses of technology now more than ever before.
This is precisely where we find ourselves today. With greater opportunities than ever before—and greater responsibilities than ever before.
As we move into this new era, we must consider the future of technology, but we must also consider the future of business, the future of work, and who the worker of tomorrow will be. This is one of the reasons we surveyed more than 4,000 people and compiled the research in our Worker of Tomorrow report.
The worker will be key to unleashing all of this innovation in our business, but first we must understand the worker and how they collaborate with technology.
If you want to unpack what is truly on the minds of today’s workers, make sure to check out our new Worker of Tomorrow study, which breaks down the information by generation and takes a deeper dive into different vertical markets. Ultimately, it will help pave the way for how man and machine will work together in the years ahead.
The Internet of Things—and M2M (machine-to-machine) before that—has long promised opportunities for industry. That opportunity will only continue to intensify in the months and years ahead, as businesses tap into even greater insights than ever before. Stay tuned. It is sure to be a wild ride.
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