The Future of IoT Through Machine Learning: Google at IoT Evolution Expo

In his Wednesday keynote at the IoT Evolution Expo this week, Ricardo Prada, designer and principal UX researcher, AIUX team at Google, talked about how AI and machine learning are driving toward a future of IoT that builds better, more usable lives for people.

He began with three key messages: 1) The future of machine learning is a return to experimentalism and the science of learning; 2) machine learning should be transparent and show ingredients like food; and 3) IoT devices can learn. How are developers and users learning with them?

Following these three goals can lead to the kinds of projects Prada is working on with Google and Alphabet, Google’s parent company. For instance, Google research is democratizing micro processing AI tech through several initiatives, including one that Prada described: cardboard devices. "There's an appetite for DIY solutions with these chipsets," he said. Also, he talked about a project in which Google partnered with Autodesk and Kidmob to help kids with unusual limbs by working with them to help them make devices that can give the kids their own "superpowers" through technology.

In talking about being more experimental, he said that Alphabet sometimes goes so far as to use institutional review boards, where appropriate. “The real question is what is the impact you're trying to have,” Prada said. “Everything is an experiment, so the requirement to think about the impacts should effect all of us [who are] developing products.”

There was a lot more, of course, in Prada’s keynote. Look for the video to go live on IoT Evolution World very soon.