For the past decade, Arthur Goldstuck has had a front-row seat to witness the remarkable rise of AI across all sectors of business and society. As generative AI becomes a household phrase and sparks hopes and fears of machines augmenting or replacing human beings, this guide offers an invaluable overview of the past, present and future of AI.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to AI is aimed at both beginners and those who consider themselves experienced or skilled at using AI. It draws on many years of direct access to global and regional leaders in using AI, from Africa to the Middle East to North America to Europe and Asia, and it provides unique perspectives on generative AI, as well as practical advice for using it.

It is useful for consumers, academics, professionals and anyone in business who wants to get up to speed quickly and practically. It also entertains and inspires anyone who is curious about AI or already engaged in its possibilities.

Need to understand or refine prompting? You’re in the right place. Need to prepare for the coming impact of AI on health, travel, education and business? This is the book for you.

This volume comprises select proceedings of the International Conference on Humanizing Work and Work Environment organized by the Indian Society of Ergonomics (HWWE2019). The book presents research findings on different areas of ergonomics for developing appropriate tools and work environment considering capabilities and limitations of working people for maximum effectiveness on their performance. This volume will be of interest to academics, professionals and practitioners in the field of ergonomics.

Written in an accessible, conversational style, this comprehensive introduction to usability engineering takes a project-based approach to the development process. Provides detailed coverage of the fundamentals without unnecessary depth or breadth, focusing readers on understanding the goals and process of usability engineering. Covers the entire usability engineering lifecycle, emphasizing select techniques and methodologies. Illustrates the user interface development process with examples from a medium-scale development example. For anyone interested in learning more about usability and user interfaces in computer systems and software.

The Handbook on Socially Interactive Agents provides a comprehensive overview of the research fields of Embodied Conversational Agents Intelligent Virtual Agents and Social Robotics. Socially Interactive Agents (SIAs) whether virtually or physically embodied are autonomous agents that are able to perceive an environment including people or other agents reason decide how to interact and express attitudes such as emotions engagement or empathy. They are capable of interacting with people and one another in a socially intelligent manner using multimodal communicative behaviors with the goal to support humans in various domains.Written by international experts in their respective fields the book summarizes research in the many important research communities pertinent for SIAs while discussing current challenges and future directions. The handbook provides easy access to modeling and studying SIAs for researchers and students and aims at further bridging the gap between the research communities involved. In two volumes the book clearly structures the vast body of research. The first volume starts by introducing what is involved in SIAs research in particular research methodologies and ethical implications of developing SIAs. It further examines research on appearance and behavior focusing on multimodality. Finally social cognition for SIAs is investigated using different theoretical models and phenomena such as theory of mind or pro-sociality. The second volume starts with perspectives on interaction examined from different angles such as interaction in social space group interaction or long-term interaction. It also includes an extensive overview summarizing research and systems of human-agent platforms and of some of the major application areas of SIAs such as education aging support autism and games.

Designing User Experience presents a comprehensive introduction to the practical issue of creating interactive systems, services and products from a human-centred perspective. It develops the principles and methods of human-computer interaction (HCI) and Interaction Design (ID) to deal with the design of twenty-first-century computing and the demands for improved user experience (UX). It brings together the key theoretical foundations of human experiences when people interact with and through technologies. It explores UX in a wide variety of environments and contexts.

Gamification is being used everywhere; despite its apparent plethora of benefits, the unbalanced use of its main mechanics can end up in catastrophic results for a company or institution. Currently, there is a lack of knowledge of what it is, leading to its unregulated and ad hoc use without any prior planning. This unbalanced use prejudices the achievement of the initial goals and impairs the user's evolution, bringing potential negative reflections. Currently, there are few specifications and modeling languages that allow the creation of a system of rules to serve as the basis for a gamification engine. Consequently, programmers implement gamification in a variety of ways, undermining any attempt at reuse and negatively affecting interoperability. Next-Generation Applications and Implementations of Gamification Systems synthesizes all the trends, best practices, methodologies, languages, and tools that are used to implement gamification. It also discusses how to put gamification in action by linking academic and informatics researchers with professionals who use gamification in their daily work to disseminate and exchange the knowledge, information, and technology provided by the international communities in the area of gamification throughout the 21st century. Covering topics such as applied and cloud gamification, chatbots, deep learning, and certifications and frameworks, this book is ideal for programmers, computer scientists, software engineers, practitioners of technological companies, managers, academicians, researchers, and students.

This book investigates multiple facets of the emerging discipline of Tangible, Embodied, and Embedded Interaction (TEI). This is a story of atoms and bits. We explore the interweaving of the physical and digital, toward understanding some of their wildly varying hybrid forms and behaviors. Spanning conceptual, philosophical, cognitive, design, and technical aspects of interaction, this book charts both history and aspirations for the future of TEI. We examine and celebrate diverse trailblazing works, and provide wide-ranging conceptual and pragmatic tools toward weaving the animating fires of computation and technology into evocative tangible forms. We also chart a path forward for TEI engagement with broader societal and sustainability challenges that will profoundly (re)shape our children's and grandchildren's futures. We invite you all to join this quest.

Do you feel overwhelmed by the AI wave? Worried that it could cost you your job, harm your business, or even take over? AI has pervaded our lives and is aggressively disrupting business. No person today can afford to ignore AI.

Age of Agency is your companion, helping you leverage AI's capabilities to power your productivity and success. By understanding AI, you will learn to use it as a tool for personal career growth and business success.

Former Microsoft executive Kerushan Govender demystifies AI, emphasising the importance of human agency. Reconnect with the needs of humanity and learn the importance of care as a differentiator in an AI world. Avoid the potential pitfalls of excessive reliance on the technology.

Age of Agency is a blueprint for ensuring human agency outpaces computer agency. It boldly pits the limits of machine learning against the infinity of human ability. With this survival guide, you’ll uncover ways to connect with humanity on a deeper level, going beyond anything AI can do.

Ready to become AI-savvy, with your humanity as your differentiator? Dive into the future with the confidence to ride the wave of today’s AI revolution.

This book highlights recent research advances on biometrics using new methods such as deep learning, nonlinear graph embedding, fuzzy approaches, and ensemble learning. Included are special biometric technologies related to privacy and security issues, such as cancellable biometrics and soft biometrics. The book also focuses on several emerging topics such as big data issues, internet of things, medical biometrics, healthcare, and robot-human interactions. The authors show how these new applications have triggered a number of new biometric approaches. They show, as an example, how fuzzy extractor has become a useful tool for key generation in biometric banking, and vein/heart rates from medical records can also be used to identify patients. The contributors cover the topics, their methods, and their applications in depth.

As technology continues to advance in today's global market, practitioners are targeting systems with significant levels of applicability and variance. Instrumentation is a multidisciplinary subject that provides a wide range of usage in several professional fields, specifically engineering. Instrumentation plays a key role in numerous daily processes and has seen substantial advancement in recent years. It is of utmost importance for engineering professionals to understand the modern developments of instruments and how they affect everyday life. Advancements in Instrumentation and Control in Applied System Applications is a collection of innovative research on the methods and implementations of instrumentation in real-world practices including communication, transportation, and biomedical systems. While highlighting topics including smart sensor design, medical image processing, and atrial fibrillation, this book is ideally designed for researchers, software engineers, technologists, developers, scientists, designers, IT professionals, academicians, and post-graduate students seeking current research on recent developments within instrumentation systems and their applicability in daily life.

The representation of abstract data and ideas can be a difficult and tedious task to handle when learning new concepts; however, the advances in emerging technology have allowed for new methods of representing such conceptual data. Information Visualization Techniques in the Social Sciences and Humanities is a critical scholarly resource that examines the application of information visualization in the social sciences and humanities. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as social network analysis, complex systems, and visualization aesthetics, this book is geared towards professionals, students, and researchers seeking current research on information visualization.

Present day sophisticated, adaptive, and autonomous (to a certain degree) robotic technology is a radically new stimulus for the cognitive system of the human learner from the earliest to the oldest age. It deserves extensive, thorough, and systematic research based on novel frameworks for analysis, modelling, synthesis, and implementation of CPSs for social applications. Cyber-Physical Systems for Social Applications is a critical scholarly book that examines the latest empirical findings for designing cyber-physical systems for social applications and aims at forwarding the symbolic human-robot perspective in areas that include education, social communication, entertainment, and artistic performance. Highlighting topics such as evolinguistics, human-robot interaction, and neuroinformatics, this book is ideally designed for social network developers, cognitive scientists, education science experts, evolutionary linguists, researchers, and academicians.

Translation and communication between cultures can sometimes be a difficult process. Image-based assessments can offer a way for large populations to be tested on different subjects without having to create multiple testing programs. Cross-Cultural Analysis of Image-Based Assessments: Emerging Research and Opportunities is an innovative resource that offers insight into the application of visual assessments across a global and intercultural context. Highlighting applicable topics which include visual literacy, psychological assessments, assessment development, and equivalency measurements, this publication is ideal for psychologists, therapists, and researchers who would like to stay current on the most efficient way to test multi-cultural populations in various fields of knowledge.

Human computer interaction is constantly evolving in many areas and facets of modern society. Analyzing these interactions can provide a more balanced understanding of these technological advances as they pertain to people's lives. Experience-Based Human-Computer Interactions: Emerging Research and Opportunities is a pivotal reference source that provides in-depth discussions on the progression and contemporary applications of human computer interaction. Highlighting relevant topic areas such as semantic support, software intensive systems, ontology applications, and conceptual objects, this publication is ideal for engineers, academicians, students, and researchers that would like to attain more information on recent advances being made to bridge the gap between human and computer interactions.

Though humans have been communicating through virtual mediators since the invention of the telephone, new technologies make the use of virtual communications even more immediate and pervasive than ever before. By understanding the theories and models behind virtual communication, one can understand the way society has been changed and how it will continue to do so. Analyzing Digital Discourse and Human Behavior in Modern Virtual Environments examines the implications of virtual communication and online interaction and the theories and trends associated with them. It will discuss and address the differences and challenges that develop when communicating virtually and explore the various influences virtual communication plays in work, education, and quotidian life. This title provides a foundation of emerging trends from which new theories and models of communication can grow. This book will become a cherished resource for academics, researchers, technology developers, students, and government or institutional leaders.

Human factors are the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data, and other methods to design to optimize human well-being and overall system performance. Human factor issues and the impact of technology on society is a topic that is only growing, and it is essential that it is considered as technology becomes more present in our daily lives. This not only impacts society now but is something to be considered for the future. It is also incredibly important for those in the human factors profession to consider the impact of technology for their work and for the users they are helping design for. Therefore, this topic has immense impact and is important to study from a research perspective to advance the understanding of how technology works, how we work, and how we as humans work within the context of the technology we use. Human Factors Issues and the Impact of Technology on Society examines the role of technology on society with a specific focus on human factors issues and how they are associated with and related to technology use in society. A few highlighted topics within this book are digital health technologies, learning technologies, ethics in social technology, ICT use in businesses, and sustainability. These topics are only a few of examples of how this book analyzes technology in all different facets of society, making it ideal for a wide audience including human factors practitioners, technologists, sociologists, policy makers, teachers, technology developers and designers, business professionals, ethicists, researchers, academicians, students, and anyone else seeking more information on how technology is impacting society through the viewpoint of human factors.