3 trends I felt for this year, 2023!

6/13/23 11:34PM

Here are the three trends I felt for this year, 2023:

A selector to the machine learning models

The hard-working machine learning(ML) teams have come up with high quality models in many subject domains. The question still remains, "Is general machine intelligence possible?" Before that question is answered, I think a model selector model(MSM) might emerge. Trained by the history data on which model performs the best for a given request, the model selector interfaces between people and other ML models and picks a model from repository to handle the incoming request. For instance, when a future car in the self-drive mode hears the word "Stop" from a passenger, the model selector would either hand over the request to the vehicle operation model to stop the car, or hand the request over the language model to continue a conversation between the car and the passenger, or seek further clarification from the passenger.

Response to high inflation from 2 sides

Currently, to fight high inflation above 2%, it's mainly the job of the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve hikes up the interest rates in varying intensities and intervals until the inflation is below 2%. I learned from news that some businesses were also looking closely at keeping the prices as low as possible for the consumers. This could be a good trend. The price on consumer goods and services is the main determing factor of the inflation rate. Keeping the prices low especially in the high inflation period could be better for some businesses in the long run as sustained high inflation eventually would hurt the economy and businesses' bottom lines. I shopped at Home Depot and Lowe's a few times in the past 2 years when inflation is high. I noticed that their lumber prices sometimes even went down. I think they are monitoring the wholesale prices and passing down the savings to consumers when possible. The question is "Is high inflation preventable in the future given the tools we have today?" or "Can we predict high inflation is coming in 3 or 6 months?" I don't have the answers. But if more businesses have the plans to fight high inflation in place, they can try and hold the prices low, have slightly lower margins in the high inflation period, and win more customers.

Towards yet more voting transparency

We have a robust vote counting system. Its accuracy is doubly ensured by having a paper trail and machine counting. Both trails are handled by diligent election workers and monitored by citizen election monitors. I learned from news that some of our government departments are looking at utilizing blockchain technology in the government sector. I think voting transparency could be one area enhanced by blockchain or other distributed ledger systems: people could voluntarily enter their election choices into a public blockchain for everybody to view. No one disputes the voting results at US Congress, members vote on the floor and each member's vote is known. If a blockchain of vote results voluntarily contributed by voters is available for browsing and searching by voters and candidates, it provides yet another dimension of transparency.

Wish everyone a strong finish of the second half of 2023! Congratulations to the Denver Nuggets for winning the 2023 NBA Finals!

Feng Zhou

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