Training Biometric Tech with Head of AI George Williams

EPISODE SUMMARY

George Williams, a silicon valley tech veteran who most recently served as Head of AI at SmileIdentity, shares his views on the growth of AI in Africa, what and how biometrics works, and the mathematical vulnerabilities in machine learning. Biometrics is substantially more complex than password authentication, and George explains why he believes this is the way of the future.

EPISODE NOTES

Goodbye Passwords, Hello Biometrics with George WilliamsEpisode 61: Show Notes.Is it really safer to have a system know your biometrics rather than your password? If so, who do you trust with this data? George Williams, a silicon valley tech veteran who most recently served as Head of AI at SmileIdentity, is passionate about machine learning, mathematics, and data science. In this episode, George shares his opinions on the dawn of AI, how long he believes AI has been around, and references the ancient Greeks to show the relationship between the current fifth big wave of AI and the genesis of it all. Focusing on the work done by SmileIdentity, you will understand the growth of AI in Africa, what and how biometrics works, and the mathematical vulnerabilities in machine learning. Biometrics is substantially more complex than password authentication, and George explains why he believes this is the way of the future.Key Points From This Episode:

• Georges's opinions on the genesis of AI.
• The link between robotics and AI.
• The technology and ideas of the Ancient Greeks, in the time of Aristotle.
• George’s career past: software engineer versus mathematics.
• What George’s role is within SmileIdentity.
• How Africa is skipping passwords and going into advanced biometrics.
• How George uses biometrics in his everyday life,
• Quantum supremacy: how it works and its implications.
• George’s opinions on conspiracy theories about the government having personal information.
• Why understanding the laws and regulations of technology is important.
• The challenges of data security and privacy.
• Some ethical, unbiased questions about biometrics, mass surveillance, and AI.
• George explains ‘garbage in, garbage out’ and how it relates to machine learning.
• How SmileIdentity is ensuring ethnic diversity and accuracy.
• How to measure an unbiased algorithm.
• Why machine learning is a life cycle.
• The fraud detection technology in SmileIdentity biometric security.
• The shift of focus in machine learning and cyber security.

Tweetables:“Robotics and artificial intelligence are very much intertwined.” — @georgewilliams “In my daily routine, I leverage biometrics as much as possible and I prefer this over passwords when I can do so.” — @georgewilliams “All of your data is already out there in one form or another.” — @georgewilliams “We don’t all need to be software developers or ML engineers, but we all have to understand the technology that is powering and we have to ask the right questions.” — @georgewilliams “ technology is imperfect in ways that make me uncomfortable and this technology is being deployed at massive scale in parts of the world and that should be a concern for all of us.” — @georgewilliams “In machine learning, once you train a model and deploy it you are not done. That is the start of the life cycle of activity that you have to maintain and sustain in order to have really good AI biometrics.” — @georgewilliams