#automate microsoft

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Supervised AI isn't

It wasn't just Ottawa: Microsoft Travel published a whole bushel of absurd articles, including the notorious Ottawa guide recommending that tourists dine at the Ottawa Food Bank ("go on an empty stomach"):

https://twitter.com/parismarx/status/1692233111260582161

After Paris Marx pointed out the Ottawa article, Business Insider's Nathan McAlone found several more howlers:

https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-removes-embarrassing-offensive-ai-assisted-travel-articles-2023-8

There was the article recommending that visitors to Montreal try "a hamburger" and went on to explain that a hamburger was a "sandwich comprised of a ground beef patty, a sliced bun of some kind, and toppings such as lettuce, tomato, cheese, etc" and that some of the best hamburgers in Montreal could be had at McDonald's.

For Anchorage, Microsoft recommended trying the local delicacy known as "seafood," which it defined as "basically any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish," going on to say, "seafood is a versatile ingredient, so it makes sense that we eat it worldwide."

In Tokyo, visitors seeking "photo-worthy spots" were advised to "eat Wagyu beef."

There were more.

Microsoft insisted that this wasn't an issue of "unsupervised AI," but rather "human error." On its face, this presents a head-scratcher: is Microsoft saying that a human being erroneously decided to recommend the dining at Ottawa's food bank?

But a close parsing of the mealy-mouthed disclaimer reveals the truth. The unnamed Microsoft spokesdroid only appears to be claiming that this wasn't written by an AI, but they're actually just saying that the AI that wrote it wasn't "unsupervised." It was a supervised AI, overseen by a human. Who made an error. Thus: the problem was human error.

This deliberate misdirection actually reveals a deep truth about AI: that the story of AI being managed by a "human in the loop" is a fantasy, because humans are neurologically incapable of maintaining vigilance in watching for rare occurrences.

Our brains wire together neurons that we recruit when we practice a task. When we don't practice a task, the parts of our brain that we optimized for it get reused. Our brains are finite and so don't have the luxury of reserving precious cells for things we don't do.

That's why the TSA sucks so hard at its job – why they are the world's most skilled water-bottle-detecting X-ray readers, but consistently fail to spot the bombs and guns that red teams successfully smuggle past their checkpoints:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/investigation-breaches-us-airports-allowed-weapons-through-n367851

TSA agents (not "officers," please – they're bureaucrats, not cops) spend all day spotting water bottles that we forget in our carry-ons, but almost no one tries to smuggle a weapons through a checkpoint – 99.999999% of the guns and knives they do seize are the result of flier forgetfulness, not a planned hijacking.

In other words, they train all day to spot water bottles, and the only training they get in spotting knives, guns and bombs is in exercises, or the odd time someone forgets about the hand-cannon they shlep around in their day-pack. Of course they're excellent at spotting water bottles and shit at spotting weapons.

This is an inescapable, biological aspect of human cognition: we can't maintain vigilance for rare outcomes. This has long been understood in automation circles, where it is called "automation blindness" or "automation inattention":

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29939767/

Here's the thing: if nearly all of the time the machine does the right thing, the human "supervisor" who oversees it becomes incapable of spotting its error. The job of "review every machine decision and press the green button if it's correct" inevitably becomes "just press the green button," assuming that the machine is usually right.

This is a huge problem. It's why people just click "OK" when they get a bad certificate error in their browsers. 99.99% of the time, the error was caused by someone forgetting to replace an expired certificate, but the problem is, the other 0.01% of the time, it's because criminals are waiting for you to click "OK" so they can steal all your money:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ema-report-finds-nearly-80-130300983.html

Automation blindness can't be automated away. From interpreting radiographic scans:

https://healthitanalytics.com/news/ai-could-safely-automate-some-x-ray-interpretation

to autonomous vehicles:

https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/automated-vehicles-may-encourage-new-breed-distracted-drivers

The "human in the loop" is a figleaf. The whole point of automation is to create a system that operates at superhuman scale – you don't buy an LLM to write one Microsoft Travel article, you get it to write a million of them, to flood the zone, top the search engines, and dominate the space.

As I wrote earlier: "There's no market for a machine-learning autopilot, or content moderation algorithm, or loan officer, if all it does is cough up a recommendation for a human to evaluate. Either that system will work so poorly that it gets thrown away, or it works so well that the inattentive human just button-mashes 'OK' every time a dialog box appears":

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/21/let-me-summarize/#i-read-the-abstract

Microsoft – like every corporation – is insatiably horny for firing workers. It has spent the past three years cutting its writing staff to the bone, with the express intention of having AI fill its pages, with humans relegated to skimming the output of the plausible sentence-generators and clicking "OK":

https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-news-cuts-dozens-of-staffers-in-shift-to-ai-2020-5

We know about the howlers and the clunkers that Microsoft published, but what about all the other travel articles that don't contain any (obvious) mistakes? These were very likely written by a stochastic parrot, and they comprised training data for a human intelligence, the poor schmucks who are supposed to remain vigilant for the "hallucinations" (that is, the habitual, confidently told lies that are the hallmark of AI) in the torrent of "content" that scrolled past their screens:

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3442188.3445922

Like the TSA agents who are fed a steady stream of training data to hone their water-bottle-detection skills, Microsoft's humans in the loop are being asked to pluck atoms of difference out of a raging river of otherwise characterless slurry. They are expected to remain vigilant for something that almost never happens – all while they are racing the clock, charged with preventing a slurry backlog at all costs.

Automation blindness is inescapable – and it's the inconvenient truth that AI boosters conspicuously fail to mention when they are discussing how they will justify the trillion-dollar valuations they ascribe to super-advanced autocomplete systems. Instead, they wave around "humans in the loop," using low-waged workers as props in a Big Store con, just a way to (temporarily) cool the marks.

And what of the people who lose their (vital) jobs to (terminally unsuitable) AI in the course of this long-running, high-stakes infomercial?

Well, there's always the food bank.

"Go on an empty stomach."

Going to Burning Man? Catch me on Tuesday at 2:40pm on the Center Camp Stage for a talk about enshittification and how to reverse it; on Wednesday at noon, I'm hosting Dr Patrick Ball at Liminal Labs (6:15/F) for a talk on using statistics to prove high-level culpability in the recruitment of child soldiers.

On September 6 at 7pm, I'll be hosting Naomi Klein at the LA Public Library for the launch of Doppelganger.

On September 12 at 7pm, I'll be at Toronto's Another Story Bookshop with my new book The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/23/automation-blindness/#humans-in-the-loop

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

--

West Midlands Police (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/westmidlandspolice/8705128684/

CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

[benotafraid111]

[techadventuress]

Sachin Dev Duggal's Builder.ai Secures Massive Funding from QIA to Pioneer AI-Driven Software Development

QIA also known as Qatar Investment Authority in its expanded form, has invested a significant fund of $250 million in a Series D funding round in the British-Indian serial entrepreneur Sachin Dev Duggal’s Builder. ai.

Sachin Dev Duggal is the founder and CEO of Builder. ai, also known as Chief Wizard of Builder. ai, a human-assisted AI platform that makes building and running software as easy as ordering pizza. In 2012, he started Builder. ai to enable anyone to build or construct any concept, without the requirement for coding knowledge and without wasting time, money, and resources.

According to Sachin Dev Duggal, his company has already started investing in AI and automation, which will subsequently improve the ongoing work with more advancements and efficiency, empowering customers more and at the same time responsibly using new frontier technology.

[techalertr]

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[haripriya2002]

Azure’s Evolution: What Every IT Pro Should Know About Microsoft’s Cloud

IT professionals need to keep ahead of the curve in the ever changing world of technology today. The cloud has become an integral part of modern IT infrastructure, and one of the leading players in this domain is Microsoft Azure. Azure’s evolution over the years has been nothing short of remarkable, making it essential for IT pros to understand its journey and keep pace with its innovations. In this blog, we’ll take you on a journey through Azure’s transformation, exploring its history, service portfolio, global reach, security measures, and much more. By the end of this article, you’ll have a comprehensive understanding of what every IT pro should know about Microsoft’s cloud platform.

Historical Overview

Azure’s Humble Beginnings

Microsoft Azure was officially launched in February 2010 as “Windows Azure.” It began as a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offering primarily focused on providing Windows-based cloud services.

The Azure Branding Shift

In 2014, Microsoft rebranded Windows Azure to Microsoft Azure to reflect its broader support for various operating systems, programming languages, and frameworks. This rebranding marked a significant shift in Azure’s identity and capabilities.

Key Milestones

Over the years, Azure has achieved numerous milestones, including the introduction of Azure Virtual Machines, Azure App Service, and the Azure Marketplace. These milestones have expanded its capabilities and made it a go-to choice for businesses of all sizes.

Expanding Service Portfolio

Azure’s service portfolio has grown exponentially since its inception. Today, it offers a vast array of services catering to diverse needs:

Compute Services: Azure provides a range of options, from virtual machines (VMs) to serverless computing with Azure Functions.

Data Services: Azure offers data storage solutions like Azure SQL Database, Cosmos DB, and Azure Data Lake Storage.

AI and Machine Learning: With Azure Machine Learning and Cognitive Services, IT pros can harness the power of AI for their applications.

IoT Solutions: Azure IoT Hub and IoT Central simplify the development and management of IoT solutions.

Azure Regions and Global Reach

Azure boasts an extensive network of data centers spread across the globe. This global presence offers several advantages:

Scalability: IT pros can easily scale their applications by deploying resources in multiple regions.

Redundancy: Azure’s global datacenter presence ensures high availability and data redundancy.

Data Sovereignty: Choosing the right Azure region is crucial for data compliance and sovereignty.

Integration and Hybrid Solutions

Azure’s integration capabilities are a boon for businesses with hybrid cloud needs. Azure Arc, for instance, allows you to manage on-premises, multi-cloud, and edge environments through a unified interface. Azure’s compatibility with other cloud providers simplifies multi-cloud management.

Security and Compliance

Azure has made significant strides in security and compliance. It offers features like Azure Security Center, Azure Active Directory, and extensive compliance certifications. IT pros can leverage these tools to meet stringent security and regulatory requirements.

Azure Marketplace and Third-Party Offerings

Azure Marketplace is a treasure trove of third-party solutions that complement Azure services. IT pros can explore a wide range of offerings, from monitoring tools to cybersecurity solutions, to enhance their Azure deployments.

Azure DevOps and Automation

Automation is key to efficiently managing Azure resources. Azure DevOps services and tools facilitate continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), ensuring faster and more reliable application deployments.

Monitoring and Management

Azure offers robust monitoring and management tools to help IT pros optimize resource usage, troubleshoot issues, and gain insights into their Azure deployments. Best practices for resource management can help reduce costs and improve performance.

Future Trends and Innovations

As the technology landscape continues to evolve, Azure remains at the forefront of innovation. Keep an eye on trends like edge computing and quantum computing, as Azure is likely to play a significant role in these domains.

Training and Certification

To excel in your IT career, consider pursuing Azure certifications. ACTE Institute offers a range of certifications, such as the Microsoft Azure course to validate your expertise in Azure technologies.

In conclusion, Azure’s evolution is a testament to Microsoft’s commitment to cloud innovation. As an IT professional, understanding Azure’s history, service offerings, global reach, security measures, and future trends is paramount. Azure’s versatility and comprehensive toolset make it a top choice for organizations worldwide. By staying informed and adapting to Azure’s evolving landscape, IT pros can remain at the forefront of cloud technology, delivering value to their organizations and clients in an ever-changing digital world. Embrace Azure’s evolution, and empower yourself for a successful future in the cloud.

[pl-tournament]

Match 1B[6]

The difference between Forth and Microsoft Power Automate, is that before this, I knew nothing about Forth, and now I want to know more, but before this I knew too much about Microsoft Power Automate, and now I want to forgetti spaghetti.

Forth

I've never heard of it before this, and you probably haven't either, so here, I've saved you a google search: Forth (programming language) - Wikipedia

Microsoft Power Automate

Remember what I said in Match 1B[1] about no-code/low-code products frequently being buzzword filled empty promises of lowering your operational overhead, that actually increase development burden? Yeah, this is why.

[daisystuff]

Try ConversioBot

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[lord-radish]

Tens of thousands of people have been fired in the tech sector in the last six months alone. With the economy the way it is, and with people who are already unable to get a job, I wonder how an extra 20,000+ jobseekers are going to have any luck finding work.

[asteamtechnosolutions]

Applications of PLC

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✅Wind Turbine System

✅Robotic Automation System

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[mbrainspaz]

currently dying of laughter over the way the automated reader in my judiciously acquired non-subscription model edition of Microsoft Word pronounces the word "Yeah." He's so stale and robotic for every other word but woe should a 'yeah' appear because suddenly he's got attitude. I can't even describe how funny it sounds. Imagine a wall of text being read by a robot and suddenly a 90's punk teenager jumps in to read the word 'YEAH' and then vanishes again. Totally inappropriate for almost every instance of the word so far. I love it.

[sablevictor]

The notes on this post explain why I keep getting hired to work in offices despite my whole Look And Feel

[toppowerappstraining]

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[vbeyound]

Automate Like a Pro: Hidden Power Automate Features You Should Know 

Microsoft Power Automate is a powerful tool for automating repetitive tasks and optimizing workflows. While most users are familiar with its basic automation capabilities, several advanced features remain underutilized. These hidden capabilities can take efficiency to the next level, saving time and improving accuracy. 

1. Adaptive Cards for Interactive Workflows 

Instead of relying on static notifications, Adaptive Cards bring interactivity directly into Microsoft Teams, Outlook, and other platforms. Users can approve requests, input data, or trigger actions within a message, reducing unnecessary emails and delays. 

2. AI Builder for Intelligent Automation 

Power Automate’s AI Builder integrates artificial intelligence into workflows. From recognizing text in images to predicting outcomes, this feature allows automation of document processing, sentiment analysis, and form recognition, making data management more efficient. 

3. Parallel Branching for Faster Execution 

Workflows often require multiple actions to be performed independently. Parallel branching enables tasks to run simultaneously rather than sequentially, reducing processing time. This is useful for approvals, report generation, and multi-step processes that don't rely on one another. 

4. HTTP Actions for External Integrations 

Power Automate offers many pre-built connectors, but its HTTP actions allow integration with external applications and services. This feature is essential for businesses needing automation beyond Microsoft applications, enabling seamless data exchange with third-party APIs. 

5. Desktop Flows for Robotic Process Automation (RPA) 

Some workflows involve legacy applications without API support. Desktop Flows simulate user interactions like mouse clicks, keystrokes, and data entry, making it possible to automate manual processes that rely on traditional software. 

6. Scheduled Flows for Time-Based Automation 

Not all automation needs to be triggered by an event. Scheduled flows allow businesses to run processes at specific intervals, such as generating reports, sending reminders, or performing database updates without manual intervention. 

7. Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Policies for Security 

Security is critical when automating workflows. Power Automate includes DLP policies that restrict data sharing between systems, preventing sensitive information from being exposed to unauthorized applications or services. 

8. Approval Workflows with Custom Responses 

Instead of basic “approve” or “reject” options, Power Automate allows for custom responses in approval workflows. This feature enables more detailed feedback, improving decision-making in automated processes. 

9. Expressions and Variables for Dynamic Workflows 

Power Automate supports expressions and variables, enabling dynamic content manipulation. This makes it easier to format dates, perform calculations, or customize messages without external tools. 

10. Trigger Conditions for Smart Automation 

Not every trigger should start a workflow. Trigger conditions ensure automation only runs when specific criteria are met, preventing unnecessary executions and saving system resources. 

Why These Features Matter 

Using these advanced features allows businesses to optimize processes, reduce manual intervention, and improve accuracy. Whether automating approvals, managing data, or integrating external applications, these capabilities make workflows more effective and reliable. 

About VBeyond Digital 

VBeyond Digital specializes in digital transformation solutions, helping organizations implement automation strategies that drive efficiency and growth. Their expertise in Power Automate ensures businesses can maximize the benefits of workflow automation. 

[technorucs]

Understanding Workflow Automation: A Technical Deep Dive

Today, it has become common to see more and more firms engage workflow automation to manage business operations more efficiently and minimize mistakes in their operations. Workflow automation refers to the execution of tasks, forwarding of information, or carrying out processes without human interaction with the use of technology. In addition to speeding up task completion, the automation approach assists in the delivery of consistent and accurate outcomes in a multitude of business functions.

Defining Workflow Automation:

Workflow automation is the software mechanism of using the automatic flow of tasks, documents, and information across work-related activities based on defined business rules. It aims to perform these tasks independently, improving everyday productivity. 

Key Components of Workflow Automation Systems:

Process Mapping and Modeling: Before being automated, such workflows need to be mapped as a way to identify areas to improve. Each step, each decision point, and the way information flows would be depicted by detailed diagrams created for this very purpose. A standardized method that tools like BPMN provide includes modeling these processes.

Automation Software: As the heart of workflow automation software, this represents the actual running of predefined actions. The latter can be rather simple task scheduling tools or are complex systems to integrate with an array of different applications and database systems. Two examples include the open-source, Java-based jBPM which is a workflow engine that reads business processes represented in BPMN 2.0.

Integration capabilities: This refers to how smoothly the data moves across the applications, especially to automate data retrieval, update, and synchronize between platforms. These integrations usually come preinstalled in many of the latest workflow automation tools or can be used through connectors and APIs.

User Interface and Experience: The use of a non-technical, user-friendly interface means that end users can easily design, monitor, and manage their workflows. Users will intuitively be able to interact with the automation system by drag-and-drop builders, visual flowcharts, and dashboards without reliance on IT.

Technical Mechanisms Behind Workflow Automation:

Workflow automation functions using a mix of pre-configured rules, triggers, and actions:

Triggers:  It means an event or set of circumstances that sets the workflow running. An example might be getting a new email, form submission, or reaching a certain hour in the day.

Conditions: Logical statements that determine the path of the workflow. For instance, if a purchase order is more than a specific amount, then it may need managerial approval.

Actions: The activities carried out in the process. This could include sending notifications, updating databases, or generating reports.

All these components ensure that processes are carried out with precision and efficiency.

Workflow Automation Advanced Concepts

RPA is the use of software to replicate human-like activities within automated systems. While RPA would directly interact at the user level because it works outside of any APIs, using the traditional type of automation depends on APIs.

Artificial Intelligence Integration: Integration of AI in the workflow automation would enable systems to handle unstructured data, take decisions, and learn from patterns. For example, AI may be used in routing incoming emails based on the content analysis for routing them into appropriate departments.

Event-Driven Architecture: This is a design paradigm that handles the production, detection, and reaction to events. The workflow automation event-driven approach ensures systems respond to change in real time, such as changes in the stock level or customer inquiry. This increases agility and responsiveness.

Challenges and Considerations:

While workflow automation offers numerous benefits, it's essential to approach implementation thoughtfully:

Process Optimization: Automating an inefficient process can amplify existing issues. It is very important to optimize workflows before automating them for maximum benefit.

Scalability: With an increase in organizations, the workflow can get complicated. Choosing the right automation tool that scales up with the needs of the organization is necessary to avoid future bottlenecks.

Security: Automated workflows often handle sensitive data. Information will be secure through the means of strong access controls and encryption for the confidentiality and integrity.

Future Trends in Workflow Automation

Workflow automation is changing rapidly:

Hyperautomation is the amalgamation of multiple technologies including RPA, AI, ML, aiming for total automation of the complex business process.

Low Code/No-Code Platforms. Such platforms are empowered to create workflows by end-users with minimum programming skills and therefore democratize automation across an organization.

Intelligent Process Automation: IPA combines the capabilities of AI with RPA to execute even more complex business processes that include decision-making capacities, like fraud detection or handling customer service conversations.

Conclusion:

Workflow automation is basically in the top of technological progress, giving the organization the tool to better its efficiency, accuracy, and adaptability. Based on its technical foundations, businesses will find a way to keep up with the stream of the advance that workflow automation dictates to compete with a fast-changing digital environment.