Industry Statistics

(a subtopic of Reference Shelf & Resources)

AI generally Career/Employment E-Commerce, Marketing & Customer Relations Robotics Notices & Disclaimers (Just because we mention something on this page, you should not infer that....)

AI generally

The Coming Wave of Gadgets That Listen and Obey. By Michael Fitzgerald. The New York Times (January 27, 2008). "Over all, speech recognition was a $1.6 billion market in 2007, according to Opus Research, which predicts an annual growth rate of 14.5 percent over the next three years."

Gaming industry sales grow by 43% in 2007. By Mike Snider. USA Today (January 17, 2008). "The Wii's success helped drive the video game industry to a record-setting $17.9 billion in sales, about 43% higher than 2006's $12.5 billion, which was also a record. ... Not surprisingly, Halo 3 emerged as the year's best-selling game, selling 4.8 million units. 'This performance certainly puts it among the elite in gaming history with performance similar to that of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City in 2002, and GTA: San Andreas and Halo 2 in 2004,' [Anita] Frazier said."

Not Exactly the Jetsons, but Getting Closer. By Dylan McClain. The New York Times (January 3, 2008). "Robots are still far from being the chatty companions seen in science-fiction movies. But some toy robots are becoming more than just conversation pieces. According to the NPD Group, a market research firm, sales of robotic and interactive playmates in the United States were $284 million in the 12 months ended in October, up from $213 million in the previous 12 months."

Personal robot market expected to balloon to $15B by 2015 - People will spend as much on a multitasking robot as on a new car, researcher predicts. By Sharon Gaudin. Computerworld (December 31, 2007). "The personal robot may not just be for vacuuming much longer. A report from ABI Research is predicting that by the year 2015, people will probably be willing to spend as much for a multitasking humanoid robot as they would for a new car. Within seven years, the personal robot market will likely balloon to $15 billion, said Philip Solis, an analyst at the New York-based research firm. As the price of robots increases, so will consumers' expectations, Solis said. ... Meanwhile, the South Korean government hopes to build two robot theme parks as part of an effort to boost that country's robotics industry. The parks, estimated to cost 1.48 trillion won ($1.6 billion U.S.), will be developed as meccas for the country's robot industry. Each is slated to include amusement park areas, exhibition halls and stadiums where robots can compete in various events."

Gaming's Year of the Boom. By Scott Colbourne. The Globe and Mail (December 28, 2007). "If you were going to choose a year to camp out in a cabin and survey the video-game scene, it would be hard to beat 2007. ... Through November, according to the industry-tracking firm NPD Group, Canadians spent more than $1.1-billion on game software, hardware and accessories, with sales up 65 per cent compared to 2006 and the December rush still to be tallied. ... Another change hit the interactive development scene in Canada in 2007: This country has been making a lot of games for a while now, but this year, with its Montreal and Vancouver hot spots adding more studios and projects, Canada firmly established itself in the top tier of game producers."

Video-game developer follows his passions. By Derek Abma. CanWest News Service | Edmonton Journal (December 28, 2007). "Meet Scott McGillivray, a 30-year-old software developer in the red-hot video-game industry. ... The video-game industry generates about $1.4 billion in revenue annually in British Columbia. [Electronic Arts Inc.] is the biggest player, accounting for $1.1 billion of this revenue and employing 1,900 people in the Vancouver area."

Software firm moves into breast-cancer screening market. Byy Greg Avery. Denver Business Journal / available from East Bay Business Times (December 7, 2007). " A company built on making artificial intelligence software to improve postal mail sorting and check processing for banks is branching out to save lives and create a new market for its technology. Boulder-based Parascript LLC has unveiled its new software, called AccuDetect, that's designed to improve computer-aided breast-cancer screening and reduce rampant, costly false-positive results. At first blush, breast-cancer screening technology seems like a far cry from Parascript's other products, built to rapidly find and read address labels on packages or verify a person's signature. But the image- and pattern-recognition algorithms the software is based on are common to all three areas, said Yuri Prizemin, director of product marketing at Parascript. ... Parascript estimates there's at least a $160 million domestic market for breast-cancer detection software. ... Parascript's roots stretch to post-Soviet era Moscow, when artificial intelligence and programming experts from Russian science academies began developing software."

Imagining a bionic future - Research has yielded thought-controlled arms and hands that grasp. By Rebecca Ruiz. msnbc.com (November 26, 2007). "When Paul Selmer lost his right leg below the knee in a hunting accident, a doctor fitted him with a standard prosthesis that required a waist belt to swing the wooden foot with each step. Selmer remembers it feeling like a 'sandbag.' That was 28 years ago. The gallery owner and small-aircraft pilot is now a devotee of a high-tech device called a PROPRIO foot, which utilizes sensors, artificial intelligence and microprocessors. ... According to the Amputee Coalition of America, Selmer is one of 1.9 million people living with limb loss in the country, many of whom have benefited from breakthrough technological advancements in the past few years. ... The American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association estimates that businesses provide $3.5 billion worth of services to orthotic and prosthetic patients annually. Increased government spending and research, triggered by the number of amputee soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, has played a significant role in helping to allocate resources for bold new projects."

Robotic aids for the disabled and elderly - Pitt, CMU researchers are seeking innovative ways to help people remain independent. By Gary Rotstein. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (November 14, 2007). "Jim Osborn, executive director of the Quality of Life Technology Center, recently told a gathering of long-term care providers that if such advances could delay all nursing home admissions by a month, societal savings could be $1 billion monthly. Artificial assistance is necessary because a shortage of both paid personal attendants and available family caregivers is anticipated as the elderly population doubles over the next 30 years."

Where combat is really mortal - Midway Games chief finds real-life competition as dangerous as screen game. By Ted Pincus. Chicago Sun-Times (July 10, 2007). "[G]ame software almost tripled in the last 10 years to $10 billion (almost $20 billion worldwide), the average player age crept up to an amazing 33 years. Whether hypnotized by computer or console, players age 8 to 34 spend more time at this today than watching TV, according to Nielsen. [David] Zucker points out that 69 percent of American heads of household now are players."

Web sites help toys come to life - From Pleo the robotic dinosaur, right, to stuffed animals, companies are trying to revive the industry by infusing traditional toys with the latest technologies and linking them to the Internet. By Mary Ellen Podmolik. Chicago Tribune (July 5, 2007). "Can playthings along the lines of Rosie the Robot be far behind? Not at all, say companies that are trying to breathe new life into the industry by taking traditional toys -- stuffed animals, dolls and action figures -- and infusing them with the latest robotic and Internet technologies. ... Toy sales totaled $22.3 billion last year, but the only industry segment to record a gain of more than 5 percent was youth electronics, where sales rose 22 percent, according to research by the Toy Industry Association Inc...."

Trinity to introduce MA in video games. RTÉ News (July 4, 2007). "The first Masters degree in video games to be offered by an Irish university will begin at Trinity College in October. ... The global video game software industry is estimated to be worth about €15 billion a year and is growing by 25% annually."

In Web 3.0, no humans required - Nova Spivack is racing to bring meaning and order to the chaos of the Internet. And he's not alone. By Michael V. Copeland. Business 2.0 Magazine via CNN Money (July 1, 2007). "For Spivack, however, the semantic Web begins now with the data engine and user applications he and his team are prepping for launch -- and ends somewhere in the future with artificially intelligent software agents handling all the online drudgery of your business and professional life. ... One estimate pegs the market for products and services stemming from semantic Web technologies at $50 billion by 2010, up from about $7 billion today."

Algorithmic trading - Ahead of the tape. The best newsreaders may soon be computers. The Economist (June 21, 2007). "Algorithmic trading accounts for a third of all share trades in America and the Aite Group, a consultancy, reckons it will make up more than half the share volumes and a fifth of options trades by 2010. ... According to TowerGroup, a research firm, $480m is likely to be spent in America this year on developing technology for algorithmic trading."

Are you talking to me? Speech recognition: Technology that understands human speech could be about to enter the mainstream. The Economist Technology Quarterly (June 7, 2007). "The market for speech recognition is dominated by server-based systems used in call centres, directory-assistance services and voice portals (speech-driven data services that supply news, weather forecasts, share prices, travel information and so on). Companies spent $1.2 billion on such systems in 2005, and this is forecast to grow by 22% a year to reach $3.2 billion by 2010, according to Datamonitor, a consultancy. The market for embedded speech-recognition technology, which goes into mobile phones, car-navigation systems and so on, will grow from $46m in 2006 to $239m in 2011, says Dan Miller of Opus Research, a consultancy based in San Francisco."

HAL 9000-Style Machines, Kubrick's Fantasy, Outwit Traders. By Jason Kelly. Bloomberg.com (May 3, 2007). "A third of all U.S. stock trades in 2006 were driven by automatic programs, or algorithms, according to Boston-based consulting firm Aite Group LLC. By 2010, that figure will reach 50 percent, according to Aite. AI proponents say their time is at hand."

IBM, Intel, And Microsoft Tout Technology Future - Though each company is working on something different, together they paint a picture of life with faster and more ubiquitous computing technology. By Thomas Claburn. InformationWeek (April 25, 2007). "Microsoft's Eric Horvitz predicted "the rise of the intention machine," which describes computers enlisted to predict user intentions and deliver useful information. Think of it as just-in-time manufacturing for your brain. Microsoft, Horvitz said, was spending about 25% of its research budget on artificial intelligence-related projects."

Virtual tutor adapts to student's limitations - Integrates artificial intelligence and advanced learning techniques. By Andy Blatchford. The Gazette (April 23, 2007). "[Orly] Benchetrit predicts that by 2011, American companies will have spent $38 billion on eLearning, a growth rate of 82 per cent a year."

The Subprime Loan Machine. By Lynnley Browning. The New York Times (March 23, 2007). "Automated underwriting is now used to generate as much as 40 percent of all subprime loans, according to Pat McCoy, a law professor at the University of Connecticut who has written on real estate lending. ... A 2001 Fannie Mae survey found that automated underwriting reduced the average cost to lenders of closing a loan by $916."

Feds test new data mining program. By John Yaukey. Gannett News Service & USATODAY.com (March 7, 2007). "Data mining is a powerful technology used across the government and in business. Credit card companies routinely use it to look for suspicious patterns in customer spending. The GAO used data mining technology to uncover an estimated $1 billion in improper federal relief payments after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. At least 52 different federal agencies use data mining technology, and there are at least 199 different data mining programs in use, according to the GAO."

Digital world isn't so infinite - About 161 exabytes of data was created in 2006 and storage space is running low. By Brian Bergstein. The Associated Press / available from IndyStar.com (March 6, 2007). "A new study that estimates how much digital information the world is generating (hint: a lot) finds that for the first time, there's not enough storage space to hold it all. ... Add it all up and the world generated 161 billion gigabytes -- 161 exabytes -- of digital information last year, IDC [a technology research firm] estimates. That's like 12 stacks of books that each reach from the Earth to the sun. Or you might think of it as 3 million times the information in all the books ever written, according to IDC.

With Acquisition, Microsoft Pushes Further Into Online Health Care. By Antone Gonsalves. InformationWeek (February 26, 2007). " Microsoft has agreed to acquire Medstory Inc., a move that provides the software maker with an online search engine for delivering health information on the Web. ... Medstory differentiates itself from competitors by using artificial intelligence techniques in searching government documents, medical journals, and the Web. A search on 'lowering cholesterol,' for example, would return related information on drugs, nutrition, and clinical research. Fully, 8 million people every day last year in the United States went online to find health information, according to the non-profit Pew Internet and American Life Project."

• Also see: Microsoft to Buy Health Information Search Engine. By Steve Lohr. The New York Times (February 27, 2007).

You are wasting time. Find out why. The cost of ineffective search. By Jon Brodkin. Network World (January 23, 2007). "A company that employs 1,000 information workers can expect more than $5 million in annual salary costs to go down the drain because of the time wasted looking for information and not finding it, IDC research found last year. Think that’s bad? A survey this month of 1,000 middle managers found that more than half of the information they find during searches is useless. There seem to be no shortage of enterprise search applications that help companies find information hidden within their networks. So why are searches so ineffective? It turns out, analysts say, that most enterprises are not using the most up-to-date search applications. Not only that, enterprises aren’t using the applications they have as effectively as they should."

Factories of the Future - Machines that "see" parts on assembly lines, 3-D printers that prototype products in hours -- let's take a look at adaptive manufacturing. Editorial by Fred Hapgood. CIO (January 1, 2007). "[M]achine vision is a real industry. The consultancy Vision Systems International pegs the total value of the North American market at around $1.5 billion."

U.S. turns to tech for translators - Government seeks to bolster thin ranks of language specialists. By Richard Willing. USA Today (December 20, 2006). "Intelligence agencies and the military are turning to technology developed for call centers, sporting events and television shopping channels to compensate for an ongoing shortage of qualified translators, interviews and public documents show. In Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, the Defense Department's research arm is testing portable translation devices that allow English-speaking soldiers to hold conversations with Iraqis. ... Much of the spending is classified, but available public contracting and budget documents show that the Pentagon has at least $22 million to spend this year on research. In November 2005, the Pentagon announced $26 million worth of contracts for translation software."

Artificial intelligence applied heavily to picking stocks. By Charles Duhigg. The New York Times / available from The International Herald Tribune (November 23, 2006); appeared in The New York Times on November 24, 2006 (A Smarter Computer to Pick Stock). "Studies estimate that a third of all stock trades in the United States were driven by automatic algorithms last year, contributing to an explosion in stock market activity. Between 1995 and 2005, the average daily volume of shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange increased to 1.6 billion from 346 million. ... [I]nvestment firms have increasingly begun exploring mathematics' furthest edges and turning to people like [Ray] Kurzweil, who became an expert in pattern recognition while he was building a reading machine for the blind. ... Wall Street has rushed to mimic the techniques. Because arbitrage opportunities disappear so quickly now, neural networks have emerged that can consider thousands of scenarios at once."

Computer programs help flag insurance fraud before payment. By Julie Appleby. USA Today (November 7, 2006). "Computer sleuths trying to stop health care fraud say they have a new weapon: computer programs that can flag potential fraud even before medical claims are paid. ... Insurer Aetna says its new computer software helped it stop $89 million in payments before they reached medical providers last year. That compares with the $15 million in fraud repayments it was able to collect after the fact. ... While the software systems may differ, their main effort is to spot medical providers who vary from the norm. 'Pattern recognition is a growing field in health fraud detection,' says Malcolm Sparrow, a professor at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and author of License to Steal: How Fraud Bleeds America's Health Care System."

Best-kept secret agent revealed - No longer just the province of specialist sectors, agent-based computing is changing the way systems interact and how they are managed. By Boris Sedacca. ComputerWeekly.com (October 12, 2006). "Agent-based computing has already transformed processes such as automated financial markets trading, logistics, and industrial robotics. Now it is moving into the mainstream commercial sector as more complex systems with many different components are used by a wider range of businesses. Organisations that have successfully implemented agent technologies include DaimlerChrysler, IBM and the Ministry of Defence. ... The notion of agent-based computing has been adopted enthusiastically in the financial trading community, where autonomous market trading agents are said to outperform human commodity traders by 7%. ... In the manufacturing sector, Daimler­Chrysler implemented an agent-based system on one factory floor to allow individual work pieces to be directed dynamically around the production area. The intention was to implement flexible manufacturing to meet rapidly changing operations targets. The result was claimed to be a 20% increase in productivity."

Chinese Academy of Sciences to aid game development. By Sumner Lemon. Computerworld Hong Kong (September 8, 2006). "The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), a government-backed research institute, has teamed up with private industry to set up a lab that will develop technologies for online games. ... Online gaming has exploded in popularity in China during recent years, initially led by offerings from Shanda. ... Online gaming is expected to generate 9.7 billion renminbi (US$1.2 billion) in revenue next year, market analyst iResearch Inc. said last month. ... The Digital Interactive Entertainment Lab will focus on the development of several technologies, including video-based interactive game engines, artificial intelligence, and motion detection and tracking."

Data miners dig a little deeper - Companies may know a lot more about you than you think - or want. By Michelle Kessler and Byron Acohido. USA Today (July 12, 2006; also available here). "The flood of new information is helping spawn a sister industry: data-mining software. These powerful programs sort through massive databases, looking for patterns that would take a human years to spot. Sales of data-crunching software have jumped more than 30% since 2000 and are expected to keep growing, says tech analyst Dan Vesset with researcher IDC. 'Most large companies are doing it in one area or another,' says tech analyst Gareth Herschel with researcher Gartner."

Keeping players in the game - Re-energizing the gaming industry: E3 trade show takes on added significance with the introduction of next generation of video game consoles and a looming DVD format battle. By Ryan Kim. San Francisco Chronicle & SFGate.com (May 8, 2006). "For an industry built upon carefree, escapist fun, the video game sector faces a number of crucial real-world concerns. To be sure, the $25.5 billion worldwide interactive entertainment industry has grown by leaps and bounds since the early days of video games. But domestic sales growth has slowed to a trickle in the last four years. There are growing concerns about spiraling game development costs, few new revenue streams, a lack of creativity in video games and a user market limited to young boys and men. ... Developers are struggling with rising development costs. The cost of developing current-generation games has increased from about $4 million to $8 million, and for next-generation titles, from $10 million to $20 million. ... The industry is looking at streamlining development costs using new animation technology that can handle some of the work through artificial intelligence. ... While new ideas will be necessary to expand the market, many developers say they are confident many of the technological breakthroughs made possible through the marriage of next-generation hardware and software will also be a powerful draw for customers. Not only are the graphics and sound in next-generation games extremely realistic, they also sport advanced game play and in some cases artificial intelligence that creates truly unique experiences for gamers."

Big Brother's Big Business - In a world of fear, American cities and corporations are spending billions on high-tech surveillance equipment. A look at the economic engine and privacy concerns surrounding 'smart cameras' and other devices. By Jessica Bennett. Newsweek Web Exclusive (March 15, 2006). "Video surveillance has become the fastest-growing industry within the major categories of electronic security -- with nearly one in four major cities in America investing in new technology, analysts say. It has more than doubled in the last five years, becoming an estimated $9.2 billion business in 2005 and expected to grow to $21 billion by 2010, says Joe Freeman, a columnist for Security Technology & Design Magazine and founder and president of J.P. Freeman, a market research and consulting firm. ... The future of video surveillance, using so-called 'intelligent cameras' and software, is designed to function far beyond what is humanly possible."

All human life is indexed on the web - Search engines are changing the face of business forever. By Tony Glover. The Business Online (October 9, 2005). "According to Battelle, search is the fastest growing business in the history of media. From its inception in the late 1990s to 2004, it grew as an industry from a base in the low millions to $4bn (£2.28bn, E3.32bn) in revenues. According to researcher Piper Jaffray, it is estimated to hit $23bn by 2010."

Devices help the blind cross tech divide. By Michael Singer. CNET News.com (October 5, 2005). "... is part of a $5.4 billion assistive technology industry, according to the Smithsonian Institution. That's nearly double market estimates six years ago. The market itself is broad. Some of the devices that are becoming increasingly common include Braille-based handheld devices with text-to-speech technology, tactile keyboards with oversize characters, and pointing devices that control PCs with a movement of an eyebrow. An aging population in industrialized countries combined with a government effort to satisfy more special needs groups is lighting a fire under this industry, which adds 10 to 20 new companies every year, Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) executive director David Dikter said."

Microsoft, Japanese universities bolster ties. Reuters / available from ZDNet (June 28, 2005). "Microsoft is bolstering its joint research with Japanese universities, targeting such areas as security and natural language processing, the world's largest software maker said Tuesday. The company will set up a collaboration network on July 1, hoping to promote exchange with researchers at top schools including the University of Tokyo, which is often called the Harvard of Japan. ... Gates, in Japan this week to meet academics and business partners, said he hoped the joint research will yield results in the areas of security, natural language understanding, speech recognition and user interface software. ... Microsoft expects to spend $6.7 billion globally on research and development this year."

New Computer Language Taps into AI Technology. By Jennifer LeClaire. TechNewsWorld (June 20, 2005). "The developers said the ISO 18629 language is especially suited for the exchange of process planning, validation, production scheduling and control information for guiding manufacturing processes. Researchers have incorporated approximately 300 concepts, such as 'duration' and 'sequence,' into its software structure. ... Analysts said this Artificial Intelligence technology looks promising for both manufacturers and business management processes. ISO 18629 becomes part of what Business Communication Company (BCC) predicts will be at least a US$21 billion market by 2007."

Video-game industry mulls over the future beyond shoot-'em-ups. By Gloria Goodale. The Christian Science Monitor (June 3, 2005). "Video games are no longer the geeky stepchild of popular entertainment. Last year, US sales of what is now called 'interactive entertainment' topped $7 billion, closing in on the $9 billion film industry."

Gains in Translation - Software Aims to Cut Through the Babble Better. By David Colke. Los Angeles Times (May 15, 2005). "IDC, a research firm that specializes in technology matters, estimates that computer language-translation sales will be $187 million this year."

Will machines ever understand us? By Justin Mullins. New Scientist (April 9, 2005, Issue 2494; subscription req'd.). "According to the New York-based business information company Datamonitor, the North American market for speech-recognition software will grow by more than 25 per cent each year between 2005 and 2008."

New face of mining. By Kristy Dorsey. The Herald (March 16, 2005). "ITI Life Sciences is backing the launch of a £5.3m research and development programme that will spend the next three years creating a software system that specialises in digging out relevant information from the large and growing body of scientific data available from journals, online systems, databases and so forth. This process, known as text mining, is expected to lead to quicker and less expensive discovery and development of new drugs. ... The market for text mining in life sciences is currently worth between £5m and £10m annually, but is expected to grow to more than £200m by 2014.&quot

Fraud Fighters - Fair Isaac Corp. products protect consumers, companies. By Kathryn Balint. Union-Tribune & SignOnSanDiego.com (February 18, 2005). "[Ted] Crooks, the vice president of fraud solutions for Fair Isaac, credits Falcon with cutting credit card fraud by two-thirds since its adoption by the financial services industry 13 years ago. Now, with Falcon protecting so many of the world's Visa, MasterCard and retail charge cards, about one-tenth of 1 percent of credit card charges are fraudulent, representing between $1 billion and $2 billion worth of fraud annually, said Michael Chiappetta, Fair Isaac's vice president of product development in San Diego."

Fingerprinting Plays Key Role in Biometrics Boom. By Paul Korzeniowski. TechNewsWorld (January 18, 2005). "In 2004, fingerprinting accounted for US$367 million of the $1.2 billion biometric companies generated in worldwide revenue, according to market research firm International Biometric Group."

In the shadow of Google. By Robert Weisman. The Boston Globe (January 17, 2005). "While [Bob Alperin, EasyAsk's president and chief executive] estimates the market for e-commerce search software at less than $100 million a year, Alperin thinks the market for enterprise search tools is closer to $1 billion annually, and growing. [International Data Corp.] estimates knowledge workers spend 15 to 30 percent of their office hours seeking information."

Ernestine, Meet Julie - Natural language speech recognition is markedly improving voice-activated self-service. By Karen Bannan. CFO Magazine (January 1, 2005). "A new technology, called natural language speech recognition, is markedly improving voice-activated self-service. Powered by artificial intelligence, these speech-recognition systems are altering consumer perceptions about phone self-service, as calls for help no longer elicit calls for help. That, in turn, is spurring renewed corporate interest in the concept of phone self-service. In 2004, sales of voice self-service systems topped $1.2 billion. 'We've seen voice systems move from emerging technology to applied technology over the last few years,' says Steve Cramoysan, principal analyst at Stamford, Connecticut-based research firm Gartner. 'It's still fairly immature. But it's proven and moving toward the mainstream.'"

Nanotechnology: Small wonders. By Mike Toner. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (December 5, 2004). "The National Science Foundation predicts that within a decade nanotechnology will be a $1 trillion market --- and provide as many as 2 million new jobs. An estimated 15.4 million people currently work in all U.S. industries that perform some research and development. To spur things along, the National Nanotechnology Initiative, with roots in 18 federal agencies, is providing one of the largest infusions of research money, $3.7 billion over four years, since the heyday of the space program. More than 30 states have spending initiatives to spur nanotech development."

High-tech tools help with FCAT - Students can access online tutors and test aids that monitor individual progress. By Beth Kormanik. The Times-Union & Jacksonville.com (September 20, 2004)." Effective personal tutors can raise student scores by two grade levels, [Ken Koedinger, professor of human-computer interaction and psychology at Carnegie Mellon University] said, but the average human tutor helps raise grade level only by one-half. His computer-based system falls in between, raising students' scores by one grade level."

Mimicking fraudsters - If your card use has been queried, it's probably because more banks are now using artificial intelligence software to try to detect fraud. By Ken Young. The Guardian (September 9, 2004). "Credit card fraud losses in the UK fell for the first time in nearly a decade last year, by more than 5% to £402.4m, according to research by the Association of Payment Clearing Services (Apacs). The fall has put a spotlight on the increasing use of neural networks that have the ability to detect fraudulent behaviour by analysing transactions and alerting staff to suspicious activity."

Smart systems will erase jobs, report warns. CNET News (June 25, 2004). "So-called smart applications will soon cause more job losses than outsourcing, and policymakers will need to tread cautiously to minimize the effect of this new trend, a new report warns. In the coming years, a large number of first-level jobs in service industries related to customer service, help desk and directory assistance will be lost due to the advent of intelligent systems, research firm Strategy Analytics said in the report. ... In the United States alone, there was an erosion of 50 percent blue-collar jobs due to automation, robotics and information technology between 1969 and 1999."

The Futurist - The Intelligent Internet. The Promise of Smart Computers and E-Commerce. By William E. Halal. Government Computer News Daily News (June 23, 2004). "BCC Corporation estimates total AI sales to grow from $12 billion in 2002 to $21 billion in 2007."

Speech impediment. By Tyler Chin. American Medical News (June 14, 2004). "In 2003, the speech-recognition software market for dictation was about $300 million worldwide, including about $100 million for just the software and $200 million for value-added services such as training and integration, [Bill] DeStefanis estimated. Health care, which makes up about 60% of that market, has been growing about 12% annually for the past three years, he estimated."

A golden vein - Computing: Analysis of customer information, better known as “data mining”, is finally delivering on its promises—and expanding into some promising new areas. The Economist Technology Quarterly (June 10, 2004). "Forrester predicts that sales of BI [business intelligence] software, currently around $2 billion a year, will grow by 8.5% a year over the next three years. If new tricks like predictive analytics and unstructured-data analysis catch on, that could prove to be a conservative figure."

A PhD in Mortal Kombat - A pioneering USC group tries to get into the heads of players to learn if the pastime harms or can help. By Mary McNamara. The Los Angeles Times (June 6, 2004; no fee reg. req'd.). "Here is what is known about computer games: They are the fastest-growing area of the entertainment market; last year, when games sales reached $11.4 billion, which surpassed U.S. box office figures, studios all over town began opening or gearing up their interactive divisions. The median age of gamers has risen to 27, and almost half are women. Men prefer violent, combat-heavy games, women are more into role-playing. The Sims, in which players create virtual families and homes and lives, is the most popular computer game of all time with 6.3 million units sold."

UK game makers look to thrill. By Darren Waters. BBC News (June 2, 2004). "The video games industry is one of the fastest-growing businesses in the UK, with the export value of UK developed games for 2003 likely to exceed £200m ($357m). ... Mr [Mike] Rawlinson said: "In terms of development there is going to be a transition, but UK developers will find their strength. "It will be like Hollywood where companies will come to the UK for certain core skills. 'UK development will end up providing those core skills such as games engines, or artificial intelligence, as well as creativity.'"

Women are players, too. By Misha Davenport. Chicago Sun-Times (June 2, 2004). "According to a study recently released by the Entertainment Software Association, computer and video game sales topped $7 billion in the United States alone last year and 39 percent of all gamers are women

Technology Strains to Find Menace in the Crowd. By Barnaby J. Feder. The New York Times (May 31, 2004; no fee reg. req'd.). "Analysts and many industry officials say that too much is being expected from the technology, which is still one of the newest methods in biometrics, a field that includes analysis of fingerprints, voices, hand shapes, gait and patterns of the iris. The total biometrics market this year will reach about $1.2 billion, with face-recognition systems accounting for $144 million, according to projections by the International Biometric Group, a research company in New York. ace-recognition revenues should double next year and climb to more than $800 million by 2008, according to International Biometric."

Seniors Need Robots And New Technology To Help At Home. By Ellen Beck. United Press International / available from SpaceDaily (April 27, 2004). "Elder advocates from academia and industry urged Congress on Tuesday to fund research and nudge reluctant companies to re-imagine existing technologies to help seniors live high-quality, independent lives. ... [Joseph] Coughlin said assistive technology is crucial for baby boomers who are searching for solutions to help them care for aging parents. There is a $29-billion-a-year loss in productivity to business and industry because of time away from the job needed by workers to care for aging parents, he said."

Search For Tomorrow - We Wanted Answers, And Google Really Clicked. What's Next? By Joel Achenbach. Washington Post (February 15, 2004: page D01; no fee reg. req'd). "The transition into the Google Era has not occurred without some anguish. The stacks of a university library can be a rather lonely place these days. Library circulation dropped about 20 percent at major universities in the first five years after Internet search engines became popular."

Making High-Tech Play Less Work. By Michel Marriott. The New York Times (February 12, 2004; no fee reg. req'd.). "This year, toymakers are increasingly seizing on a strategy embraced already by their consumer electronics counterparts: use smarter technology to make products as simple and easy to enjoy as marbles and jump ropes. This shift in the $31.9 billion toy industry (including the $11.2 billion video-game sector) will be evident at the 101st Annual American International Toy Fair, which opens on Sunday in New York."

Technology can make computers speak; humans have to decide if that's a good thing. Tech column by Stanley Miller II. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (February 9, 2004). " In the fall, the research firm Gartner Inc. released a report predicting that the global market for speech-recognition products would reach $130 million in 2003, up from $128 million in 2002, after two previous years of declines."

A "New Buzz" Infects Health Care Management - Health care managers now use sophisticated software to predict who is most likely to become ill. By Cyril Tuohy. Risk & Insurance (January 2004). "[Stan] Hochberg, a former vice president with McKesson Corp., where he developed artificial intelligence systems for predictive models, estimates that predictive modeling techniques have saved his clients about 1.5 percent in medical costs. The number is small in percentage terms but the dollar amount saved is in the millions."

AI in the news column. AI Magazine (Winter 2003). It's all about $$$.

Ministry vows to nurture embedded-software market. By Yang Sung-jin. The Korea Herald (November 10, 2003). "Embedded software is widely used for mobile phones, robots and other high-tech digital appliances. The key function of embedded software is to provide multimedia, Internet, games and artificial intelligence to digital gadgets. ... The global embedded-software market, estimated at $99 billion, is expected to reach $138.4 billion in 2007, registering on average 9.25 percent annualized growth, according to research firm Gartner."

Money laundering to fuel $4.8bn bank IT bonanza. By Andy McCue. silicon.com (October 2, 2003) . "A big chunk of IT investment will go on the Basel capital accord, known as Basel II, which will require banks to implement a range of new processes for managing credit and operational risk by 2006. ... Anti-money laundering guidelines from regulators such as the UK's Financial Services Authority will also push financial institutions to spend on automated artificial intelligence and analytics mechanisms to detect and prevent fraud, with investment in this area alone predicted to reach $420m by 2006."

Speech Industry Making Minor, Steady Gains. By Matt Hicks. eWeek News (September 30, 2003). "This year's SpeechTEK comes as analysts predict a rebound in the speech recognition market. Gartner Dataquest predicts that after declining in 2002, the market will grow worldwide from about $130 million in revenue this year to $258 million in 2007. Use in call centers and in business portals will account for 76 percent of all speech recognition product shipments, according to Gartner."

Microsoft to develop self-updating protection against viruses - In the wake of cyber-attack havoc, Gates aims to take onus of safeguarding software off end-users. Business Day (South Africa / September 25, 2003). "Giving 1500 customers a technology briefing, [Bill] Gates said the company was committed to easier computing and to developing software that was easier to manage. 'We are very optimistic about the years ahead and we are growing our research and development budget faster than ever because there are some very important advances that need to be made.' This year Microsoft will spend 6,9bn on research and development, which is more than the research budget of the 10 next largest software companies put together. Some of the cash will be pumped into technology that may prove beneficial for businesses, including speech recognition, artificial intelligence and biometric identification to eliminate insecure passwords."

Compliance laws vex IT - The USA Patriot Act is keeping financial firms busy. By Lucas Mearian. Computerworld (September 8, 2003). "TowerGroup in Needham, Mass., estimates that by 2007, the global financial services industry will have spent $523 billion on operational resiliency -- technology upgrades for disaster recovery, business continuity and security. U.S. retail banks alone will spend $1.1 billion, or 4.4% of their IT budgets, in response to 9/11 between 2003 and 2007, TowerGroup predicts. Artificial intelligence systems for tracking customer activity will carry the highest price tags."

Computer fear factor in Hollywood. By Julie Moran Alterio. The Journal News (July 4, 2003). "Here's a quick quiz: As technology advances and computers get smarter, is it possible machines could one day take over the world? Pick an answer: • I think it is likely. • It could happen. • No way. If you're like 46 percent of the people who were asked this question at Blockbuster's Web site, you'll respond, 'It could happen.'" Also see: Blockbuster's news release - 61 Percent of Survey Respondents Say Machines Could Take Over the World, According to Survey by Blockbuster (May 15, 2003).

Computers That Speak Your Language - Voice recognition that finally holds up its end of a conversation is revolutionizing customer service. Now the goal is to make natural language the way to find any type of information, anywhere. By Wade Roush. Technology Review (June 2003). "Such improvements have set up natural-language systems for explosive growth: 43 percent of North American companies have either purchased interactive voice response software for their call centers or are conducting pilot studies, according to Forrester Research, a technology analysis firm. As more companies replace their old touch-tone phone menus, today’s $500 million market for telephone-based speech applications will grow -- reaching $3.5 billion by 2007, according to Steve McClure, a vice president in the software research group at market analysis firm IDC."

New breed of robots, gizmos take war to next level. By Jon Swartz. USA Today (May 12, 2003). "Encouraged by the success of satellite-guided bombs and unmanned spy planes in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. military plans to spend $10 billion between now and 2010 on unmanned vehicles such as the X-45. In all, the Pentagon spends more than $100 billion a year developing and buying weapons."

Let's Talk - The software is capable, but dictating to your PC is harder than it looks. By Janet Rae-Dupree. U.S. News & World Report(May 12, 2003). "Sales of speech recognition software and hardware--from natural-voice dictation systems for PCs to commercial telephone systems--are expected to rise from $680 million last year to $2.2 billion in 2006."

Brokers Will Spend Big on Anti-Money Laundering. By Jessica Pallay. Wall Street & Technology (May 1, 2003). "The brokerage industry will spend almost $700 million in the next three years on anti-money-laundering technologies, according to a recent report by Massachusetts-based consultants, TowerGroup. The 2001 USA Patriot Act requires financial institutions to establish anti-money laundering programs. ... Complex solutions include technology systems that offer artificial intelligence, [Robert Iati] says, using rules-based analysis, such as Mantas or Searchspace. For example, if an investor suddenly changes investing behavior, and that investor uses a bank that has been known to transact terrorist funds, the technology would post an alert for the situation to be investigated."

Worldwide Artificial Intelligence Market to Cross $21 Billion by 2007. Press release (2/20/03) from Business Communications Company about a report to be published in April 2003. "The field of artificial intelligence (AI) has undergone a series of direction changes in its relatively young history, from an initial promise of computers that could think and converse like human beings, to a bust and general devaluation of the field in the mid to late 1990's, to a now re-emerging focus on practical applications that can benefit a wide range of industrial and commercial applications. The focus of the AI market is on how specific technologies can be used to enhance existing applications. These applications are analyzed and discussed in relation to specific sectors of industry and commerce, including financial, manufacturing automation, transportation guidance systems, defense and domestic security, medical/biotech, entertainment and education. According to a soon-to-be-released report from Business Communications Company, Inc. RG-275 Artificial Intelligence: Burgeoning Applications in Industry, the total worldwide AI market was estimated at $11.9 billion in 2002. Expected to grow at an AAGR (average annual growth rate) of 12.2%, this market will reach $21.2 billion by 2007."

Artificial intelligence: past and future. By Hugh McKellar. KMWorld (April 2003 / Volume 12, Issue 4). "Nearly 10 years ago, the Department of Commerce issued a technology assessment of the U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) market. ... The report estimated the 1993 global AI market -- including technologies such as expert systems, neural networks fuzzy logic, robotics, speech recognition, search, etc. -- at about $900 million -- and the United States was clearly ahead of the rest of the world in the development of those systems. ... What a difference a decade makes, as we point out in our Industry Snapshot on p. 1. In April, Business Communication Company (BCC) will release a thorough new study of the worldwide artificial intelligence market, which it predicts will reach more than $21 billion by 2007 with an average annual growth rate from 2002 to 2007 of 12.2%. In 2002 alone, BCC calculates the worldwide market was $11.9 billion, with the growth strongest in the United States, although the European and Asia Pacific regions will see a greater AAGR due to growth in the financial services and transportation sectors, say the BCC researchers. The report ... targets five AI technologies: expert systems, belief networks, decision support systems, neural networks and agents."

Smart Tools - Companies in health care, finance, and retailing are using artificial-intelligence systems to filter huge amounts of data and identify suspicious transactions. By Otis Port, with Michael Arndt and John Carey. Business Week's 2003 edition of The BusinessWeek50 (Spring/March 2003). "Banks, brokerages, and insurance companies have been relying on various AI tools for two decades. One variety, called a neural network, has become the standard for detecting credit-card fraud. Since 1992, neural nets have slashed such incidents by 70% or more...."

Check that phone bill before you pay - Telkom says frauds are losing the company millions of rand as more consumers dispute inflated bills. By Lesley Stones. Business Day (South Africa; March 20, 2003). "Globally, telecommunication fraud is a bigger business than international drug trafficking, with operators losing $55bn a year. It is the single biggest cause of revenue loss for operators, costing them between 3% and 5% of their annual revenue. In financial 2002, Telkom said its network fraud had 'successfully been reduced' to R174m from a massive R274m in 2001, as a result of enhanced systems and proactive management. ... One way the operators can fight back is by installing fraud prevention software to quickly detect usage anomalies. Such a system has helped Telkom cut the fraud inflicted on its network to below the international average. But the crime has become so rife that Telkom has a team of investigators proactively monitoring network abuse, says [Andrew] Weldrick. They rely on a computerised fraud management system which uses artificial intelligence to create a profile of each customer's ordinary usage patterns. 'If there is a sudden deviation, like a series of international calls, it generates an alarm which our investigators will pick up. Chances are we will phone you before you get your bill,' he says. The system also has a self-learning capability so it can adapt to new methods of fraud."

Educators go high-tech to check essay exams. By Rhea R. Borja. USA Today (January 15, 2003). "[T]he essays were graded by a high-tech artificial-intelligence system -- a computer that notes misspellings, assesses sentence structure and reviews writing style. Mr. Chips, meet 'Hal.' ... Compared with humans, computers grade essays faster, more efficiently and more accurately, say some education officials and testing companies such as Vantage Learning, which created the IntelliMetric essay-scoring technology, and Educational Testing Service, which developed the E-Rater, another scoring system. ... Educators like the relatively low cost and speed of essay-scoring technology: Prices vary, but it costs about $1 per computer-scored essay compared with about $5 for a human-graded essay. Also, essays are scored in five to 10 minutes by humans, in less than two seconds by computer, says [Scott] Elliot."

Playing to Win - Computer and video games are a bigger business than the movies, and the biggest force in games is Electronic Arts...." By Chuck Salter. FastCompany (December 2002: Issue 65, page 80). "Welcome to the entertainment industry of the 21st century, where video games are serious business. Last year, U.S. computer- and video-game revenue surpassed domestic box-office receipts, and this year, the game industry is expected to widen that gap with more than $10 billion in sales."

Terror fears boost new security gadgets. By Kevin Anderson. BBC (November 20, 2002). "It is a nascent industry, worth between $240m to $400m, according to Brian Ruttenbur, senior vice president and equity research analyst with Morgan Keegan & Company. But stocks in biometric companies have risen 130% after the 11 September attacks, he said."

Intel, Microsoft Dip into Speech with SALT. By Thor Olavsrud. siliconvalley.internet.com. (October 14, 2002)."The partners believe the value proposition of such technology is clear: it stands to reduce costs associated with call center agents. A typical customer service call costs $5 to $10 to support, while an automated voice recognition system can lower that to 10 cents to 30 cents per call. Additionally, voice recognition technology can be used to give employees access to critical information while on the move. Earlier this year, market research firm the Kelsey Group projected worldwide spending on voice recognition will reach $41 billion by 2005. But Intel and Microsoft are by no means alone in the space."

Balancing the risk against the risque. By Douglas Hayward. Financial Times (October 2, 2002). "Web filtering software is a young but fast-growing market, worth just under $202m in 2001 and expected to grow at an annual compound rate of around 29 per cent until 2006, according to IDC, the IT industry researcher. E-mail scanning is growing even faster, at about 37 per cent a year, IDC reckons."

Consumers gain voice power. BBC (September 18, 2002). "Voice-enabled software will be worth $452m by 2004 according to research firm Datamonitor."

Survey finds upstate pessimistic on economy. Barbara Pinckney The Business Review (September 18, 2002). "The first Sawchuk Brown Associates Upstate Report indicates that residents of upstate New York are still a bit pessimistic about the economy, but see possible solutions in high technology and the health/medical fields. ... When asked what industries the state should concentrate on attracting to upstate, 26 percent of respondents said biotechnology or medical research, 12 percent said health care/medical and 12 percent said computers/artificial intelligence/robotics."

Banks step up war on e-fraud. By Andy McCue. Vnunet (July 25, 2002). "AI technology to root out criminals and terrorists Barclays and the Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBoS) are to use artificial intelligence technology as part of an industry-wide crackdown on financial fraud and terrorist funding. ... The National Criminal Intelligence Service received 18,571 reports from banks of money laundering between January and May this year, double last year's total and expected to reach 60,000 by the end of the year."

Signs of Fraud Go Beyond Signature - Credit Card Companies Use Artificial Intelligence to Thwart Thieves. By Margaret Webb Pressler. The Washington Post (July 21, 2002; Page H05). "With billions of dollars at stake, and ever more clever crooks, the credit card companies have become very, very smart about protecting themselves by using astonishingly sophisticated network computers and software programs. 'We're at a level whereby we can understand with artificial intelligence . . . the potentially fraudulent transactions,' said Raf Sorrentino, vice president of risk management for First Data Corp., one of the country's biggest providers of credit card processing and payment services. Credit card fraud costs the industry about a billion dollars a year, or 7 cents out of every $100 dollars spent on plastic. But that is down significantly from its peak about a decade ago, Sorrentino says, in large part because of the powerful technology that can recognize unusual spending patterns."

Where Lech Does Tech. By Desa Philadelphia. Time (July 1, 2002 issue). "AMR Research, a technology research company based in Boston, estimates that 40% of all new manufacturing-related software already incorporates some form of AI."

Computers reach one billion mark. BBC (July 1, 2002). "One billion personal computers have been sold across the world, according to hi-tech consultancy Gartner Dataquest."

AI Software Puts Tutors in Computers. By Jay Wrolstad. NewsFactor (May 10, 2002). "Quantum Simulations founder Benny Johnson told NewsFactor he is confident that there is substantial demand for artificial-intelligence tutor programs. He cited reports compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau that indicate educational software represents a $21.5 billion market."

AI helps in fraud fight. By Eric Doyle. Computer Weekly CW360 (May 9, 2002). "Alliance & Leicester says it has saved millions of pounds of potential losses from credit card frauds with the introduction of an artificial intelligence-based detection system."

Silicon super-agents. By Barbara Gengler. Australian IT (April 30, 2002). "Autonomous software agents are rapidly moving from the development stage to providing industrial-strength help in everyday environments. Gartner forecasts that enterprise automation, which includes autonomous software agents and artificial intelligence software, will account for almost 50 per cent of total IT spending in 10 years. By 2010, it will be worth $US250 billion ($463 billion)."

CTO Forum - Will artificial intelligence surpass the human variety? By Paul Krill. InfoWorld (April 11, 2002). "Panelist Henry McDonald, director of the NASA Ames Research Center, cited artificial intelligence, which he said is in the same long-term development process as the Internet. McDonald stressed that funding issues are critical to the development of new technologies. The government used to fund two-thirds of development and one-third came from private industry, he said. 'Today, only one-third comes from government and two-thirds comes from industry, and industry is a short-term commitment,' McDonald said."

Game-Design Courses Gain Favor. By Claudia H. Deutsch. The New York Times (April 1, 2002; no-fee reg. req'd). "'Games are interactive.' They are also a hot growth area. The Rochester Institute, whose department of information technology just started the first master's program in computer game design, estimates that the $20 billion computer game industry will grow to a $100 billion-a-year business within a decade."

The next step in human evolution. The Independent - London (March 26, 2002) ."More than 10 per cent of trades in the City of London are performed on the orders of intelligent machines. The military's Echelon system intelligently analyses every e-mail, fax and telephone call in Europe. Tea bag manufacturers use AI to fill the bags with the perfect amount of tea after taking into account moisture content, leaf size and air turbulence around the packaging machines."

Voice Recognition Leaps Into Appliances. By Neil McManus. The New York Times (March 21, 2002; no fee reg. req'd). "It is a feature that could find its way into many more living rooms and kitchens. Todd Mozer, chief executive of Sensory, a company based in Santa Clara, Calif., that makes specialized speech recognition chips for appliances, said that more than 15 million such devices had been sold worldwide. If you include cellphones with voice-dialing, the estimate rises to 100 million. ... Other voice-activated appliances were sold in the 1980's and 90's, but until recently the digital signal processors remained expensive, about $20 a unit. Today a general-purpose chip like the RSC-364 from Sensory costs as little as $1."

'Text mining' software business grows. By Emery P. Dalesio. The Associated Press / available from the Sun-Sentinel (March 4, 2002). "The products are part of a growing inventory of so-called 'text mining' software that seeks patterns hidden in vast data collections. Revenue from sales of all types of data mining software -- of which text mining is a subgenre -- will grow from about $540 million this year to about $1.5 billion in 2005, according to market research firm IDC."

A Summary of the 2001 North American Machine Vision Market Study. By Nello Zuech. AIA's Machine Vision Online, March 2002. " "Examining the sales of 320 companies selling machine vision products into the North American market, the North American machine vision market only declined 6.8% in terms of revenues and 17.5% in terms of units in 2001 in spite of the terrible economy."

Robotrading 101 - Sophisticated computer programs take the human element out of picking winners on Wall Street. By James M. Pethokoukis. U.S. News & World Report (January 28, 2002). Wall Street's AI can't yet match Hollywood's version of thinking, self-aware computers,as much as $250 billion is currently being managed using sophisticated computer tools. These include neural nets, expert systems (investment acumen distilled into rules of thumb), and genetic algorithms (stock strategies digitally converted into cyberspace creatures that mutate and evolve like human DNA)."

5 Technologies You Need to Know. By Dan Miller. The Industry Standard Magazine. (May 21, 2001 issue date) Also available from CNN.com. "Today's business intelligence systems improve on these predecessors by presenting their findings in more useful formats - using advanced data visualization tools - and by deploying artificial intelligence to look for patterns human users might not look for. ... Business-intelligence technology has already spawned some fierce competition. Established software companies ... along with younger competitors ... are vying for their share of a market that's expected to grow from $3.5 billion this year to $8.8 billion in 2004."

Smart Highway Idea Advances, but at Only a Rush-Hour Pace. By Ralph Vartabedian. The Los Angeles Times (May 30, 2001). "In congressional testimony on May 10, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said the Bush administration proposes to increase funding for intelligent highway systems by 32% to $253 million for fiscal year 2002."

Phone Friend. Software agents can use your pattern of mobile phone use to foil thieves. By Duncan Graham-Rowe. New Scientist Magazine (January 31, 2001). ""More than 15,000 mobile phones are stolen each month in Britain alone. According to Swedish cellphone maker Ericsson, the fraudulent use of stolen mobiles means a loss of between two and five per cent of revenue for the network operators."

High-Tech Answers to Customers Queries. Web Technology Helps Consumers Find Own Solutions to Save Firms Time, Money. By Neil Irwin. The Washington Post (June 20, 2001). "According to Forrester Research, a technology research group in Cambridge, Mass., when an existing or potential customer calls a company and a person answers a question, it costs the firm $33 in labor, rent, equipment and other expenses. Even an e-mail question answered by someone costs $10, Forrester found. But if a customer or constituent can get the information through the Web without one-on-one help, as with the Ask George feature, it costs only $1.17 per question."

In the Face of Terror Recognition Technology Spreads Quickly. By Robert O'Harrow Jr.. Washington Post (November 1, 2001). "The biometrics industry is expected to grow from about $200 million in revenue this year to about $2 billion in 2004, said Brian Ruttenbur, an equity analyst at Morgan Keegan & Co. Face-recognition systems could sell for as much as $2 million each at scores of airports, said Richard Ryan, an analyst at Dougherty & Co.."

Fraud Levels Reach All-Time Low. From Visa U.S.A.(2/22/00): Visa U.S.A., the nation's leading payment card system, today announced that overall card fraud losses have dropped to an all-time low of 0.06% of total transaction volume - or just 6 cents for every $100 in transactions. That's down from 0.07% in 1998 and 0.18% in 1992. ... Pascarella [president and chief executive officer of Visa U.S.A] cited several reasons for the steady drop in card fraud, including Visa's implementation of neural networks, which use artificial intelligence to recognize potential fraudulent transactions. These networks are capable of alerting member banks to potential fraudulent activity as often as every 10 minutes."

The Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence Conference . By Bruce Buchanan and Sam Uthurusamy. (1999). AI Magazine 20(1): 11-12. "One measure of the growth of practical applications is the number of U.S. patents mentioning the term artificial intelligence and related terms (knowledge based, fuzzy logic, expert system, genetic algorithm). According to the primary examiner for AI in the U.S. Patent Office, Robert Downs, a decade ago only about 100 patents mentioned AI specifically; last year, about 1700 mentioned artificial intelligence, with another 3900 or so mentioning related terms. About 2200 patents are specifically classified in the Patent Office's class for artificial intelligence, which means that the invention or technique is specifically directed to something new in knowledge-based systems, machine learning, fuzzy logic, or neural networks. Other patents using AI techniques might be classified in an area of application such as medicine. These numbers confirm another important trend, which was noted by Reid Smith and others in the context of earlier IAAI conferences: AI technology is more likely to be embedded in some larger system than embodied in a stand-alone system. The difference between the 5600 patents mentioning AI and the 2200 specifically classified as AI is about 3400 patents in which AI contributes something in a larger context. ... Successful applications of AI are part of, and buried in, larger systems that probably do not carry the label AI inside." [Emphasis added.] Also available from Find Articles.

• For more about the "AI effect", click here!

Career/Employment

Occupational Outlook Handbook (2006-2007), from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Information about jobs in the computer industry, the employment outlook, salary ranges, related careers, and much more. Video-game developer follows his passions. By Derek Abma. CanWest News Service | Edmonton Journal (December 28, 2007). "Meet Scott McGillivray, a 30-year-old software developer in the red-hot video-game industry. ... The video-game industry generates about $1.4 billion in revenue annually in British Columbia. [Electronic Arts Inc.] is the biggest player, accounting for $1.1 billion of this revenue and employing 1,900 people in the Vancouver area."

Parents blamed for low IT enrolment levels. By Charles Mandel, CanWest News | Edmonton Journal (October 25, 2007). "Enrolment in information technology (IT) programs is declining at universities across Canada and parents are to blame, says one of Canada's leading computer scientists. 'I fundamentally blame the parents, because the parents are the ones who survived the dot-com bust with the perception that there are no jobs in IT,' said Jonathan Schaeffer, a Canada Research Chair in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Alberta. ... He is one of about 100 computer scientists, academics, industry leaders and government officials gathered at a Toronto conference aimed at understanding why interest in computer science and computer engineering programs is dropping across Canada. Research shows 89,000 new IT jobs will be required in Canada in the next three to five years...."

Wooing interns to Silicon Valley. By Stefanie Olsen. CNET News.com (July 3, 2007). "Recent statistics indicate the number of computer science majors in colleges may be shrinking. ... However, the number of students graduating with a doctorate was up more than 25 percent, to 1,499 in June 2006. CRA also reported that, as was true during the dot-com heyday, a high percentage--nearly 50 percent--of doctoral students in computer science went to work in industry, rather than academia, from 2005 to 2006."

Girls learn to love high tech. By Melanie Carroll. MediaNews / available from San Jose Mercury News (June 29, 2007). "At NASA/Ames' aeronautics institute, 16 percent of the employees are women. According to the National Science Foundation, women represent 46 percent of the total workforce; however, women represent only 25 percent of the technology workforce and hold only 10 percent of the nation's top technological jobs."

A sunny hiring season for job seekers. By Miriam Olsson. CNET News.com (June 25, 2007). "It's recruiting season and the forecast looks sunny for job seekers, so long as they're talented and willing to work at landing employment. That's the consensus among analysts, students and big company recruiters who are struggling to find enough qualified applicants to fill their posts. The overall unemployment rate for the computer industry at the end of last quarter was 2.1 percent, which is even lower than the 2.3 percent rate during the same quarter in 2000, the peak of the dot-com boom. Things are particularly bright for software engineers, whose unemployment rate was down to 0.9 percent last quarter, compared to 1.9 percent during the same period in 2000, according to the U.S. Department of Labor."

Colleges pushing computing profession - S.C. enrollment falling, although field is lucrative, high in demand. By James T. Hammond. The State (May 15, 2007). "Nationwide, newly declared computer science majors plummeted to 8,000 in the fall of 2006, from 16,000 in 2000, according to the Computing Research Association. Meanwhile, demand for computer science graduates has been soaring nationwide. The American Electronics Association says the U.S. technology industry added 150,000 jobs in 2006, in a field where a new college graduate with a degree in computing can earn $52,000 a year."

Computer Science Takes Steps to Bring Women to the Fold. By Cornelia Dean. The New York Times (April 17, 2007). "For decades, undergraduate women have been moving in ever greater numbers into science and engineering departments at American universities. Yet even as they approach or exceed enrollment parity in mathematics, biology and other fields, there is one area in which their presence relative to men is static or even shrinking: computer science. Women received about 38 percent of the computer science bachelor’s degrees awarded in the United States in 1985, the peak year, but in 2003, the figure was only about 28 percent, according to the National Science Foundation. At universities that also offer graduate degrees in computer science, only 17 percent of the field’s bachelor’s degrees in the 2003-4 academic year went to women, according to the Taulbee Survey, conducted annually by an organization for computer science research.... These experts play down the two explanations most often offered for flagging enrollment: the dot-com bust and the movement of high-tech jobs offshore. ... According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, demand for computer scientists in the United States will only increase in coming years, Dr. [Jan] Cuny said."

Women in I.T. - Where the Girls Aren't. The number of women going into technology careers is slipping -- and no one is quite sure why. By Edward Cone. CIO Insight (April 3, 2007).

Computer majors down to bits - Cornell sees decline after dot-com bust. By Topher Sanders. The Ithaca Journal (February 24, 2007). "The number of students pursuing computer science careers has greatly diminished since the dot-com implosion. Professors at Cornell University hope a crop of new classes will entice students and display the varied opportunities in computer science. Lingering attitudes about the dot-com meltdown and outsourcing are chiefly to blame for why students have been migrating to other disciplines, Cornell professors said. ... 'There is a tremendous hiring boom occurring,' said Ken Birman, computer science professor at Cornell. 'The problem is that the students haven't understood that yet. The growth and job opportunities are as strong as it was in the dot-com period. The students haven't yet figured out what is going to happen next.' While outsourcing is a very real fact, Birman said, the more exciting and creative positions are staying stateside. ... The U.S. Bureau of Labor estimates that there will be nearly 1 million computer science related positions in the U.S. between now and 2014."

The global war for talent. By Steve Schifferes. BBC News (January 30, 2007). "India's global leadership in the IT services industry, centred on Bangalore, is based on its rich human resources. The country's 400,000 graduates in science and engineering each year - more than any other country in the world - give India a competitive advantage. But with the global outsourcing industry still growing at breakneck speed, the Indian industry is worried about whether there will be enough skilled Indian software engineers in the future."

Computer Educators Get Their Game On. By Julie Vallone. Investor's Business Daily (October 20, 2006). "When thinking about the field of computer science, chances are the word 'fun' doesn't come to mind, at least not for most people. Educators are trying to change that, and for good reason. Demand for information technology professionals will grow nearly 50% from now to 2012, a recent study by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said. Other research indicates the U.S. work force probably won't have the skills to meet this demand. ... From 1975 to 1999, U.S. students dropped from No. 3 to No. 14 in its study of 19 participating countries. Moreover, U.S. performance in math and science at the K-12 level lags. ... Help is on the way."

Girls have the geek gene, too. By Jen Gerson. TheStar.com (October 17, 2006). "On Thursday, women will take over Markham's Cascon 2006, one of the largest computer conferences in Canada to discuss the challenges of being wanted for your big, beautiful, techie-competent grey matter. I.D. chatted with one of the key speakers, Dr. Telle Whitney, president of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, about why young women are frightened by the prospect of joining a field dominated by intelligent men who have no idea how to please them. Q So, women and technology. Why do they need their own symposium? A At one point in computer science, women were almost 40 per cent of the bachelors degrees in the United States and right now and now they're closer to 27 per cent. I think many of the research institutions, it's less than 20 per cent in computer science and in engineering, it's probably closer to 11 per cent graduating. And so there's not that many women. ... Q Should we bring more women in? Aren't there few enough jobs in technology that we need to bring women too, into it? A These companies are hiring. There are not enough engineers to fill the jobs that they have. According to the department of labour, eight out of 10 of the fastest-growing industries in the U.S. have an I.T. component. ..."

The robot revolution - As a roboticist you could help build a team of C-3POs and change how we all live forever. By Kate Hilpern. Careers Adviser Magazine / The Independent Online (September 11, 2006). "Whether their business cards describe them as mechanical designers, robotics consultants or perhaps design, software or hardware engineers, today's roboticist can expect to earn a starting salary of £23,000, with employers as diverse as British Gas, Dyson and Microsoft. Projects may include working on anything from the development of underwater robots to help in oil exploration, the creation of 'intelligent' vacuum cleaners or speech-recognition computer software."

RIT training developers of video games - "By the numbers" sidebar. By Matthew Daneman. Democrat & Chronicle (September 11, 2006) "41,652: In dollars, the average annual salary for a video game designer with two years or less of experience, according to a 2003 salary survey. 64,248: The average video game designer salary for someone with six or more years of experience."

Program works to build diverse new generation of computer scientists. By Brian Mattmiller. UW-Madison News (August 16, 2006). "A novel freshman-level program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison called Wisconsin Emerging Scholars in Computer Science (WES-CS) is working to counter a remarkable absence of women and underrepresented groups in the field. ... The program is combining two core strategies -- direct recruitment of new freshman students from underrepresented groups, and parallel team-learning techniques -- to the department's introductory-level course. [Professor Susan] Horwitz says those two proven techniques had never been combined in a first-year computer sciences course, and the strategy is helping increase the pipeline of under-represented students and improve their quality of experience once enrolled. ... Diversity is a tough challenge for computer science. Although science and engineering fields across the board struggle to attract a true cross-section of students, the problem is most pronounced in computer science. At U.S. research universities, typically only about one in 10 computer science bachelor's degree graduates are women, and the number drops closer to 5 percent at the doctoral level. 'The numbers are terrible for computer science, and they have been trending downward so far this decade,' says Horwitz, noting that UW-Madison women computer science undergraduates have gone from 11 percent in 2000 to 9 percent in 2005. 'No one completely understands the trend,' she adds. 'Some of it may stem from the dot.com bust and a sense that outsourcing may be threatening future jobs. But we're actually looking at a huge pending shortage in the computing workforce.' Indeed, the U.S. Department of Labor projects that four of the five main computer science employment categories -- computer and database specialists, software engineers, support specialists and computer systems analysts -- will experience job growth 'much faster than the average' through 2014. Only computer programming is expected to be 'slower than average.' ... Horwitz says the freshman-level infusion of practical computer science ideas will help students 'gain a better understanding of the breadth of the field, the positive ways in which computer science can affect people's lives, and the range of interesting career opportunities."

Games degrees 'not a soft option.' By Aled Blake. Western Mail & icWales (April 20, 2006). "Computer games students at a Welsh university are hoping the launch of the latest adventure of Lara Croft ... will propel their future careers to more prominence. The Games Development and Artificial Intelligence degree at the University of Wales, Newport, is all about creating new characters and smarter computer opponents. Dr Mike Reddy, a senior lecturer on the course, is hoping to support and develop local involvement in this expanding market. He said, 'The release of the latest Tomb Raider game has focused attention on a multi-million-dollar industry, which is crying out for people with the skills and imagination to create the next generation of computer games. 'Computer games degrees can be a passport to big salaries and great career prospects. ... A degree in computer games is not the soft option that many might think, and certainly not a blind alley as far as career prospects are concerned. Dedicated, hardworking graduates can expect a starting salary of over £30,000 and the chance to be whisked away to the USA for even higher salaries."

A Phony Science Gap? Op-Ed piece by Robert J. Samuelson. The Washington Post & washingtonpost.com (February 22, 2006). "But it's emphatically not true, as much of the alarmist commentary on America's 'competitiveness' implies, that the United States now faces crippling shortages in its technological elites. Here are some facts: ... Computer science degrees have doubled since 1990, to 57,405. Other fields have stagnated. ... Computer science graduate students have increased 60 percent, to 56,678, since their low point in 1995, and engineering graduate students are up 27 percent, to 127,375, since their low in 1998. It's true that for these higher degrees, especially doctorates, foreign-born students have represented a growing share of the total. But that's also changing because -- after years of declines -- enrollment of native-born Americans and permanent residents for graduate work has increased 13 percent since 2000. ... [A] country's capacity for scientific and commercial innovation does not correlate directly with its number of scientists and engineers. Hard work, imagination and business practices also matter. ... [T]he main solution is obvious. 'If we want more [scientists and engineers], we have to pay them better and give them better careers,' argues Harvard economist Richard Freeman. The high-tech executives who wail about scarcities are part of the problem. They "would love to have more S&E workers at lower wages," he says. The good news is that they may not have the last word. From 1993 to 2003, the median salary of engineers with bachelor's degrees and one to five years' experience rose 34 percent (after inflation), to $58,000, the NSF's Regets says. Among math and computer science graduates, the increase was 28 percent, to $50,000."

In computer science, a growing gender gap - Women shunning a field once seen as welcoming. By Marcella Bombardieri. The Boston Globe (December 18, 2005). "The shortage of new computer scientists threatens American leadership in technological innovation just as countries such as China and India are gearing up for the kind of competition the United States has never before faced. The US economy is expected to add 1.5 million computer- and information-related jobs by 2012, while this country will have only half that many qualified graduates, according to one analysis of federal data. Meanwhile, the subject is becoming increasingly intertwined with fields ranging from homeland security to linguistics to biology and medicine. ... A Globe review shows that the proportion of women among bachelor's degree recipients in computer science peaked at 37 percent in 1985 and then went on the decline."

Women are 'put off' hi-tech jobs. BBC News (September 8, 2005). "The UK's technology industry must do more to keep women within its folds if it wants long-term success, according to a report by Intellect. The research, by the hi-tech trade group and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), said there was an 'old boys club' in parts of the industry. Action was needed to ensure that all was being done to recruit, motivate and retain women in hi-tech work. It concluded there should be more equality and support in the workplace. ... Office of National Statistics (ONS) figures show that the number of women employed in technology industries fell from 27% in 1997 to 21% in 2005. ... The British Computer Society (BCS) also reported that 28% of UK organisations do not employ women technologists."

Minorities make small gains in science jobs. By Alorie Gilbert. CNET News.com (June 16, 2005). "The proportion of minorities in science occupations has inched up over the past 10 years, but progress is slow-going, according to a new study released this week."

What Women Want - Equality remains an ideal in science and technology. Experience and the numbers suggest it is still a dream. Red Herring (June 6, 2005). "The female presence is stronger when you step down from the executive suite to the lab and the computer center. In 2003, women accounted for 10.4 percent of all computer hardware engineers and 7.1 percent of electrical and electronics engineers in the United States. They fared better as computer and information systems managers, making up 30 percent of the work force in this category. The best news about new technology talent is at the undergraduate level, where U.S. women now outnumber men in earning engineering and science degrees. If you look at the nearly 27,000 engineering graduates in the same year, 21.4 percent are women."

Grad shooting for stars. By Sally Mesarosh. The Gilbert Republic / azcentral.com (June 2, 2005). "A few decades ago, Steffanie Kuehn's career choice of electrical engineering might have been considered unusual. In today's workplace, stereotypes are no longer as likely to influence a student's career goals. Kuehn, 18, a recently graduated senior at Gilbert High School, will be pursuing a degree in electrical engineering at Brigham Young University with an eye toward a doctorate in astrophysics. 'I want to go into artificial intelligence,' said Kuehn, who scored a perfect 1600 on her SAT. 'I'm interested in helping build technology that goes into space, like probes that make decisions on their own.' ... Non-traditional career paths such as Kuehn's can offer both men and women broader opportunities and greater job satisfaction. The U.S. Department of Labor defines non-traditional careers as occupations where at least 75 percent of the workers are of one gender. For women, jobs traditionally held by men offer wages 50 to 75 percent higher than traditional female-dominated jobs. But Department of Labor statistics show that 15 percent of the 58 million women in the workforce are employed in non-traditional occupations such as auto mechanics, firefighting or engineering."

UCSC adds new track for computer science majors - Game design. By Jondi Gumz. Santa Cruz Sentinel (March 24, 2005). "If you thought computer games were just a hobby, think again. Next fall, UC Santa Cruz will offer a track in game design for computer science majors, preparing graduates for jobs in a $7-billion industry. 'By the end of their four years, they will create a computer game,' said Ira Pohl, UCSC’s chairman of computer science."

Microsoft aims for video game heights. Wanted: Programmer 'with severe god-complex.' By Dina Bass. Bloomberg News / available from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (March 5, 2005). "Microsoft Corp., already the biggest software company, is looking for a video-game programmer to help 'in our quest for world domination.' The ideal candidate: a 'megalomaniac genius with severe god-complex,' the company says on its Bungie Studios Web site. The artificial-intelligence engineer Microsoft seeks is one of about 60 people the Redmond company is hiring to create the next generation of 'Halo'.... Companies such as Microsoft, Electronic Arts Inc. and Sony Corp. are boosting payrolls to sharpen animation, music and story lines to capture a bigger share of the more than $20 billion a year spent on video games. ... The video-game industry now employs about 100,000 people in North America, according to the International Game Developers Association in San Francisco. Experienced programmers can make $86,000 a year; artists and animators can receive $64,000, and game designers get $64,000, according to a Game Developer magazine survey."

Better times for techies? By Ed Frauenheim. CNET News. August 19, 2004. "The unemployment rate for computer and mathematical occupations--a category that includes computer programmers, computer software engineers and computer scientists and systems analysts--fell from 5.7 percent in the first half of 2003 to 5 percent in the first half of this year, according to the Labor Department."

Help wanted, say Canada's booming game developers - Edmonton's Bioware plans 20 new hires in 2004. By Steve Makris. The Edmonton Journal (April 2, 2004). "'Game writers are different from other computer programmers,' said Ubisoft's spokesman Martin Carrier. 'They work with sound, artificial intelligence and need to have a very wide cultural scope.' An estimated 3,000 people are actively working in about 90 gaming studios across Canada. EA is the top employer with 1,250; Ubisoft's next with 750."

Next Frontiers: Careers & Technology: A Solution to Flight Risk - The military gives a starring role to unmanned aircraft. By Kevin Peraino. Newsweek.MSNBC (September 23, 2002 issue). "It's hard to imagine that there are hot jobs in aerospace and aviation, considering the financial woes of the airlines. But research on all types of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) - from reconnaissance drones that fly at 65,000 feet to low-flying, fully armed fighters - is one of the industry's bright spots. Consulting firm Frost &Sullivan estimates that the U.S. military market for UAVs will reach almost $1 billion by 2007, up 25 percent from today."

The Next Hot Jobs. By Chris Taylor. SmartMoney.com (posted May 14, 2002: from the June 2002 issue of SmartMoney Magazine). "This being our 10th anniversary year, we thought it was a good time to look ahead to the next decade and figure out which fields are destined for growth. ... A.I. Programmer - Artificial intelligence used to be the stuff of sci-fi novels. Now it has spread from androids into all sorts of everyday fields, each of which is booming. ... Salaries start at $50,000 and climb to $70,000 to $80,000 after a few years."

Game-Design Courses Gain Favor. By Claudia H. Deutsch. The New York Times (April 1, 2002; no-fee reg. req'd). "Mr. Hinrichs said Microsoft would pay a designer with a degree $70,000 to start, but Microsoft may be an anomaly. Students, recruiters and other game executives say that entry-level game designers rarely get more than $45,000, and experienced designers rarely earn more than $120,000."

The name of this game is resumes -- and fun. New UW program on thinking inside the Xbox and GameCube fills fast. By Ruth Schubert. Seattle Post-Intelligencer (December 31, 2001). "Many expect the introduction of the GameCube and Xbox to create more jobs in an industry that last year employed nearly 125,000 people, according to the Interactive Digital Software Association. And wages in the field average $61,403, according to an industry survey."

ALSO SEE > Careers in AI

Robotics:

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), The International Federation of Robotics and The Robotic Industries Association offer an assortment of very helpful resources including Robotics Industry Statistics.

Japan experiments with robots as part of daily life. AP Digital via The Sydney Morning Herald (February 29, 2008). "In the past several years, the government has funded a plethora of robotics-related efforts, including some 4.6 billion yen (US$42.7 million;euro28.7 million) for the first phase of a humanoid robotics project, and 1.1 billion yen (US$10.2 million;euro6.8 million) a year between 2006 and 2010 to develop key robot technologies. The government estimates the industry could surge from about 558 billion yen (US$5.2 billion;euro3.5 billion) in 2006 to 3 trillion yen (US$26 billion;euro17.5 billion) in 2010 and nearly 7.5 trillion yen (US$70 billion;euro47 billion) by 2025."

Sales of components for personal robots may hit $12B by 2015 - Market will be driven by people looking to make their lives easier and find new companions. By Sharon Gaudin. Computerworld (February 6, 2008). "They're becoming such a reality, actually, that by the year 2015, the market for personal robotics components will reach $12 billion, according to ABI Research. The demand for components such as processors, microcontrollers and sensors will grow dramatically, creating 'significant revenue opportunities,' the Oyster Bay, N.Y.-based research firm said. What's driving this seemingly futuristic market? Consumers looking to spend less time and effort doing routine chores. Philip Solis, an ABI analyst, also noted that people looking for new entertainment venues, as well as companionship, are expected to spend heavily in the market. ... The ABI report noted that about 48% of component revenue will be linked to task robotics, and 51% will come from the entertainment robotics segment. The other 1% to 2% is attributed to security and educational segments."

Head over heels for tomorrow's personal robots - Our future appears to be full of empathetic, human-like, companion robots at relatively low prices. By Daniel Terdiman. CNET News.com (January 11, 2008). "'Pretty soon, they're not going to be called "toys" anymore, or they'll redefine what "toys" mean,' said David Hanson, the founder and chief scientist of Hanson Robotics. His Richardson, Texas-based company specializes in what it calls 'conversation character robots,' and its Zeno robot-boy can recognize, understand, and respond to human facial features. 'These devices are changing toys into a much more flexible information-processing medium…a revolutionary character medium (that is) becoming increasingly aware of humans,' Hanson said. Personal robotics is a wide-open field, and one that ABI Research analyst Philip Solis recently estimated will be worth $15 billion annually by 2015."

Not Exactly the Jetsons, but Getting Closer. By Dylan McClain. The New York Times (January 3, 2008). "Robots are still far from being the chatty companions seen in science-fiction movies. But some toy robots are becoming more than just conversation pieces. According to the NPD Group, a market research firm, sales of robotic and interactive playmates in the United States were $284 million in the 12 months ended in October, up from $213 million in the previous 12 months."