There seems to be a trend in developed countries where citizens prefer white-collar positions rather than manually intensive jobs. The reasons are various; such people aspire for better wages, work in a comfortable environment and improve one’s social status. While these choices are understandable, this situation creates a gap in the national job supply, thus negatively affecting those industries dependent on these workers. A sector that has been grossly affected is the foodservice industry. This problem was accentuated further in countries where the dependency on tourism is relatively high. In some cases, these countries even had to import workers from…

The football frenzy is with us; people follow their favourite teams religiously, sipping all sorts of unhealthy beverages and munching truckloads of yummy snacks. TV stations bombard us with all kinds of analyses about what’s happening in the various international competitions and keep us informed about the odds of seeing our favourite team raise that much-desired cup. But did you ever ask yourself if Artificial Intelligence (AI) has any role in all this?

Of course, we know some of these technologies, such as the Goal Line Technology (GLT) and Video Assistant Referee (VAR). These systems help referees to make the…

A few weeks ago, we celebrated Public Service Week. A period dedicated to all those people who every day provide us with a myriad of essential services. These range from cleaning our towns or cities to sustaining our health infrastructure. All of them are important for a country to advance. Their work was particularly felt during the pandemic when these unsung heroes woke up daily, irrespective of their challenges, to keep the different aspects of our country functioning. Just for this, they deserve our gratitude.

But the Public Service Week was not about reminiscing on the past. It was more…

Owning and driving a car is an important milestone for most people. Many fantasise about driving a dream car, sun rays reflecting on the bonnet and their hair flowing in the wind. But in the coming decades, this image might be relegated to the old Hollywood movies since it is very different from what the future has in store for us. A few years back, people considered the car a precious possession, but today, it is becoming a service thanks to the rise of the self-driving car. …

Choosing a future career is always a daunting task. Young students try to evaluate their strengths or weaknesses together with their dislikes and likings towards various jobs. They spend months pondering about the pros and cons of one career path against the other with the support of their parents. In the end, they have to make a choice.

This is probably one of the most critical decisions in their life which will mark their future journey. Even though it is not cast in stone, very few then dare to switch jobs. The reasons are various; the availability of time, the…

April 22nd is Girls in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) day, but there isn’t much to celebrate since women only make up around 25% of the tech industry. Women are 45% more likely to quit within a year of taking a job, and they lack support to climb the corporate ladder. If we zoom on Europe, only 16.7% of the nearly 8.2 million ICT specialists are women, and on average, they earn 18.9% less than their male counterparts to do the same job. …

Did you ever realise that your next lawyer might be an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system, debating at the speed of light with an AI judge? Well, we’re not quite there yet, so you won’t get legal counsel from your robotic vacuum cleaner any time soon, but things are moving relatively fast.

A few years back, an AI lawyer called LawGeex challenged 20 top US corporate lawyers with decades of experience. The task was relatively simple. They were each given five Non-Disclosure Agreements (standard contracts used in most business deals to establish a confidential relationship). …

To err is human and mechanical.

It’s a cold winter day in Detroit, but the sun is shining bright. Robert Williams decided to spend some quality time rolling on his house’s front loan with his two daughters. His wife and mother-in-law lingered in a corner, sipping a warm drink while chatting away. Suddenly, police officers appeared from nowhere and brought to an abrupt halt a perfect family day. Robert was ripped from the arms of his crying daughters without an explanation, and cold handcuffs now gripped his hands. The police took him away in no time! His family were left shaken in disbelief at the scene…