Algorithm-XLab – March 2019

Franz CEO Dr. Jans Aasman Explains how to manage AI Modelling Risks.

AI model risk management has moved to the forefront of contemporary concerns for statistical Artificial Intelligence, perhaps even displacing the notion of ethics in this regard because of the immediate, undesirable repercussions of tenuous machine learning and deep learning models.

AI model risk management requires taking steps to ensure that the models used in artificial applications produce results that are unbiased, equitable, and repeatable.

The objective is to ensure that given the same inputs, they produce the same outputs.

If organizations cannot prove how they got the results of AI risk models, or have results that are discriminatory, they are subject to regulatory scrutiny and penalties.

Strict regulations throughout the financial services industry in the United Statesand Europe require governing, validating, re-validating, and demonstrating the transparency of models for financial products.

There’s a growing cry for these standards in other heavily regulated industries such as healthcare, while the burgeoning Fair, Accountable, Transparent movementtypifies the horizontal demand to account for machine learning models’ results.

AI model risk management is particularly critical in finance.

Financial organizations must be able to demonstrate how they derived the offering of any financial product or service for specific customers.

When deploying AI risk models for these purposes, they must ensure they can explain (to customers and regulators) the results that determined those offers.

Read the full article at Algorithm-XLab.

Forbes – February 2019

Although you may not have heard of JavaScript Object Notation Linked Data (JSON-LD), it is already affecting your business. Search engine giant Google has mentioned JSON-LD as a preferred means of adding structured data to webpages to make them considerably easier to parse for more accurate search engine results. The Google use case is indicative of the larger capacity for JSON-LD to increase web traffic for sites and better guide users to the results they want.

Expectations are high for JSON-LD, and with good reason. It effectively delivers the many benefits of JSON, a lightweight data interchange format, into the linked data world. Linked data is the technological approach supporting the World Wide Web and one of the most effective means of sharing data ever devised.

In addition, the growing number of enterprise knowledge graphs fully exploit the potential of JSON-LD as it enables organizations to readily access data stored in document formats and a variety of semi-structured and unstructured data as well. By using this technology to link internal and external data, knowledge graphs exemplify the linked data approach underpinning the growing adoption of JSON-LD — and the demonstrable, recurring business value that linked data consistently provides.

Read the full article at Forbes.

InfoSecurity – February 2019

Dr. Jans Aasman was quoted in this article about how AllegroGraph’s Triple Attributes provide Storage Layer Security.

With horizontal standards such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and vertical mandates like the Fair Credit Reporting Act increasing in scope and number, information security is impacted by regulatory compliance more than ever.

Organizations frequently decide between concentrating protection at the access layer via role-based security filtering, or at the storage layer with methods like encryption, masking, and tokenization.

The argument is that the former underpins data governance policy and regulatory compliance by restricting data access according to department or organizational role. However, the latter’s perceived as providing more granular security implemented at the data layer.

A hybrid of access based security and security at the data layer—implemented by triple attributes—can counteract the weakness of each approach with the other’s strength, resulting in information security that Franz CEO Jans Aasman characterized as “fine-grained and flexible enough” for any regulatory requirements or security model.

 

The security provided by this semantic technology is considerably enhanced by the addition of key-value pairs as JSON objects, which can be arbitrarily assigned to triples within databases. These key-value pairs provide a second security mechanism “embedded in the storage, so you cannot cheat,” Aasman remarked.

 

When implementing HIPPA standards with triple attributes, “even if you’re a doctor, you can only see a patient record if all your other attributes are okay,” Aasman mentioned.

 

“We’re talking about a very flexible mechanism where we can add any combination of key-value pairs to any triples, and have a very flexible language to specify how to use that to create flexible security models,” Aasman said.

Read the full article at InfoSecurity.

Dataversity – January 2019

Noam Chomsky, the philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and father of modern linguistics, has authored over 1,000 articles and 130 books. The 89-year-old intellectual also has written films and appeared in many documentaries. The substantial work he has done in linguistics and politics has earned him the title of “most cited living author.”

Now his work is the subject of the Noam Chomsky Knowledge Graph, the first Semantic Knowledge Graph for a public figure. “Doing a Semantic Project of all he has written or said is a fabulous tribute to a man who has made a big contribution to the study of language and its meaning,” says Fred Davis, Executive Director of the Chomsky Knowledge Graph project.

Dr. Jans Aasman was quoted:

“A good thing about Semantic Technology is that it’s easier to add new information than if you have a highly structured database. That’s because of the way things are stored in triples — where you have a subject, predicate, and object relationship—so you can bring in new information that instantly connects to other information,” says Dr. Jans Aasman, CEO of Franz.

Read the full article at Dataversity

Dataversity – January 2019

What to expect of Semantic Web and other Semantic Technologies in 2019? Quite a bit. DATAVERSITY engaged with leaders in the space to get their thoughts on how Semantic Technologies will have an impact on multiple areas.

Dr. Jans Aasman, CEO of Franz Inc. was quoted several times in the article:

Among the semantic-driven AI ventures next year will be those that relate to the healthcare space, says Dr. Jans Aasman, CEO of Semantic Web technology company Franz, Inc:

“In the last two years some of the technologies were starting to get used in production,” he says. “In 2019 we will see a ramp-up of the number of AI applications that will help save lives by providing early warning signs for impending diseases. Some diseases will be predicted years in advance by using genetic patient data to understand future biological issues, like the likelihood of cancerous mutations — and start preventive therapies before the disease takes hold.”

If that’s not enough, how about digital immortality via AI Knowledge Graphs, where an interactive voice system will bring public figures in contact with anyone in the real world? “We’ll see the first examples of Digital Immortality in 2019 in the form of AI Digital Personas for public figures,” says Aasman, whose company is a partner in the Noam Chomsky Knowledge Graph:

“The combination of Artificial Intelligence and Semantic Knowledge Graphs will be used to transform the works of scientists, technologists, politicians, and scholars like Noam Chomsky into an interactive response system that uses the person’s actual voice to answer questions,” he comments.

“AI Digital Personas will dynamically link information from various sources — such as books, research papers, notes and media interviews — and turn the disparate information into a knowledge system that people can interact with digitally.” These AI Digital Personas could also be used while the person is still alive to broaden the accessibility of their expertise.

On the point of the future of graph visualization apps, Aasman notes that:

“Most graph visualization applications show network diagrams in only two dimensions, but it is unnatural to manipulate graphs on a flat computer screen in 2D. Modern R virtual reality will add at least two dimensions to graph visualization, which will create a more natural way to manipulate complex graphs by incorporating more depth and temporal unfolding to understand information within a time perspective.”

Read the full article at Dataversity.

Dataversity –  December 2018

There’s a general consensus throughout the data ecosystem that Data Preparation is the most substantial barrier to capitalizing on data-driven processes. Whether organizations are embarking on Data Science initiatives or simply feeding any assortment of enterprise applications, the cleansing, classifying, mapping, modeling, transforming, and integrating of data is the most time honored (and time consuming) aspect of this process.

Approximately 80 percent of the work of data scientists is mired in Data Preparation, leaving roughly 20 percent of their jobs to actually exploiting data. Moreover, the contemporary focus on external sources, Big Data, social and mobile technologies has exploded the presence of semi-structured and unstructured data, which accounts for nearly 80 percent of today’s data and further slows the preparation processes.

Read the full article at Dataversity.

Database Trends and Applications –  December 2018

You can call it the new oil, or even the new electricity, but however it is described, it’s clear that data is now recognized as an essential fuel flowing through organizations and enabling never before seen opportunities. However, data cannot simply be collected; it must be handled with care in order to fulfill the promise of faster, smarter decision making.

More than ever, it is critical to have the right tools for the job. Leading IT vendors are coming forward to help customers address the data-driven possibilities by improving self-service access, real-time insights, governance and security, collaboration, high availability, and more.

To help showcase these innovative products and services each year, Database Trends and Applications magazine looks for offerings that promise to help organizations derive greater benefit from their data, make decisions faster, and work smarter and more securely.

This year our list includes newer approaches leveraging artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation as well as products in more established categories such as relational and NoSQL database management, MultiValue, performance management, analytics, and data governance.

Read the AllegroGraph Spotlight

Published in SD Times – December, 2018

Knowledge is the foundation of intelligence— whether artificial intelligence or conventional human intellect. The understanding implicit in intelligence, its application towards business problems or personal ones, requires knowledge of these problems (and potential solutions) to effectively overcome them.

The knowledge underpinning AI has traditionally come from two distinct methods: statistical reasoning, or machine learning, and symbolic reasoning based on rules and logic. The former approach learns by correlating inputs with outputs for increasingly progressive pattern identification; the latter approach uses expert, human-crafted rules to apply to particular real-world domains.

Read the full article at SD Times.

OAKLAND, Calif. and VIENNA, Austria — Franz Inc., an early innovator in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and leading supplier of Semantic Graph Database technology, AllegroGraph, for Knowledge Graphs, and Semantic Web Company, developers of the PoolParty Semantic Suite and leading provider of Semantic AI solutions, today announced a partnership to develop the Noam Chomsky Knowledge Graph. This project is the first aimed at connecting all the works from a public figure and turning the linked information into a searchable and retrievable resource for the public.

The Noam Chomsky Knowledge Graph project will organize and semantically link the vast knowledge domain surrounding Noam Chomsky, the founder of modern linguistics, a founder of cognitive science, and a major figure in analytic philosophy as well as an American linguist, philosopher, historian and social critic. Chomsky is currently an Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and laureate professor at the University of Arizona. He has received many awards including Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the American Psychological Association, the Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences, the Helmholtz Medal, the Dorothy Eldridge Peacemaker Award, and the Ben Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science.

“Noam Chomsky is one of the most brilliant minds of our generation,” said Fred Davis. Executive Director of the Chomsky Knowledge Graph project, “His body of work is tremendously valuable to people across many disciplines. Our goal is to make Chomsky’s work searchable in the context of topics and concepts, readable in excerpts, and easily available to journalists, scientists, technologists, students, philosophers, and historians as well as the general public.”

The Noam Chomsky Knowledge Graph will link to over 1,000 articles and over 100 books that Chomsky has authored about linguistics, mass media, politics and war. Hundreds of Chomsky’s media interviews, which aired on television, print and online will be part of the Knowledge Graph as well as more than a dozen Chomsky movies including:  Is the Man who is Tall Happy?, Manufacturing Consent, Programming the Nation? Hijacking Catastrophe:  911 Fear and the Selling of American Empire. The content will be made available by searching the Knowledge Graph for specific titles, related topics and concepts.

Since the project is based on the latest and most advanced technologies, the data will be also available as machine-readable data (Linked Data) in order to be fed into smart applications, intelligent chatbots, and question/ answering machines – as well as other AI and data systems.

The Internet Archive, the world’s largest digital lending library, will host Noam Chomsky’s books, movies, and other content – enabling public access to his works and marking the first integration between the Internet Archive and a public Knowledge Graph.

“We are thrilled to be working on this momentous project,” said Dr. Jans Aasman, CEO of Franz Inc. “Noam Chomsky is the ideal person to fulfill the vision of a Public Figure Knowledge Graph. We are looking forward to collaborating with the Semantic Web Company and Fred Davis on this exciting project.”

“Knowledge Graphs are becoming increasingly important for addressing various data management challenges in industries such as financial services, life sciences, healthcare or energy,” said Andreas Blumauer, CEO and founder of Semantic Web Company. “The application of Knowledge Graphs to public figures, such as Noam Chomsky, will offer a unique opportunity to link concepts and ideas to form new ideas and possible solutions.”

About Knowledge Graphs

A Knowledge Graph represents a knowledge domain and connects things of different types in a systematic way. Knowledge Graphs encode knowledge arranged in a network of nodes and links rather than tables of rows and columns. People and machines can benefit from Knowledge Graphs by dynamically growing a semantic network of facts about things and use it for data integration, knowledge discovery, and in-depth analyses.

Gartner recently identified Knowledge Graphs as a key new technology in both their Hype Cycle for Artificial Intelligence and Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies. Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Artificial Intelligence, 2018 states, “The rising role of content and context for delivering insights with AI technologies, as well as recent knowledge graph offerings for AI applications have pulled knowledge graphs to the surface.”

Knowledge Graphs are the Foundation for Artificial Intelligence

The foundation for AI lies in the facets Knowledge Graphs and semantic technology provided by Franz and Semantic Web Company. The Franz AllegroGraph Semantic Graph database provides the core technology environment to enrich and contextualized the understanding of data. The ability to rapidly integrate new knowledge is the crux of the Knowledge Graph and depends entirely on semantic technologies.

About Franz Inc.

Franz Inc. is an early innovator in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and leading supplier of Semantic Graph Database technology with expert knowledge in developing and deploying Knowledge Graph solutions. The foundation for Knowledge Graphs and AI lies in the facets of semantic technology provided by AllegroGraph and Allegro CL.  The ability to rapidly integrate new knowledge is the crux of the Knowledge Graph and Franz Inc. provides the key technologies and services to address your complex challenges.  Franz Inc. is your Knowledge Graph technology partner. For more information, visit www.franz.com.

About Semantic Web Company

Semantic Web Company is the leading provider of graph-based metadata, search and analytic solutions. The company is the vendor of PoolParty Semantic Suite, one of the most renowned semantic software platforms on the global market. Among many other customers, The World Bank, AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, and Pearson benefit from linking structured and unstructured data. In 2018, the Semantic Web Company has been named to KMWorld’s “100 companies that matter in Knowledge Management.” For more information about PoolParty Semantic Suite, please visit https://ww.poolparty.biz

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