Some Good Application for Intelligent System

In my previous hubs, I have been critical of some miss usage of technology. Now, I have a few suggestions for applications that may be a great benefit to the public. The internet is ubiquitous today. One of the most annoying problems with using the computers is the virus and malware that can infect the computer. This is a problem looking for an elegant solution. A solution that intelligent systems are well suited. Another great candidate is our tenuous financial system. The abuses of wall street is well known. It seems to me a better monitoring of financial transactions could add to the stability and fairness of the whole industry.

-January 2015

Intelligence systems is a new field of computer technology where by using data mining of vast databases to come up with better solutions to some common problems. It has been used in medical diagnosis, pattern recognition and computer gaming among others. I am not an expert in this field but I have some insight on how they can be used effectively to solve some serious problems. They are certainly worth the effort in my opinion. The two areas I have identified is computer viruses and insider trading. Both of these affect a large number of people and can make a dramatic difference. I hope companies like Google, IBM and Microsoft can devote some resources to focus on these solutions.

Anyone using a computer and connected to the internet has experienced at some point in their life a virus attack. These can appear in various forms such as a malware, a virus or just unwanted popups. Some are just annoying but some can be destructive in terms of losing data and identity theft. The term "computer virus" is actually a very good description of the problem. It is a term coined from our medical community where our body may be affected by pathogen such as a virus or disease. Once affected, the body becomes ill and will require our own auto immune system to combat and repair the damage. In many cases, the medical community has developed immunization shots to protect the host from being infected in the first place such as the flu vaccine.

In fact, in order to come up with a solution to deal with the computer virus, it is a good idea to study how the human body deals with viruses. We can learn a lot from this and perhaps come up with comparable solutions to the computer virus.

CThe current strategy to deal with computer virus is basically installing an anti-virus software at the end user terminal station to search and destroy any virus, worm or email attachments that may appear. It needs to be updated periodically with new profiles to catch newly created viruses. It works to some extent but in my opinion, it is not the most "intelligent" way to deal with this. It is inefficient and it relies on the individual to be diligent to install the software and keep it updated. It does not deal with the source of the virus. What is the better way? If you take the human body as the simple analogy for the whole internet system, each individual cell in our body is the end point connection to the whole system. How does our body fight diseases and viruses? We don't fight it at each cell. What the body does is use the circulatory system with white blood cells that search out diseases and with various immune system to attack and remove the threat. It is a fascinating subject and very complex. It really highlights the beauty and elegance of the human body and how it is able to keep itself healthy. How can we replicate this in our fight against the computer virus?

What we need is a systems that can search out the "virus" at the source, tag the problem sites and propagate the information to all ISP and email providers to block the offering sites. Luckily we already have pieces of the basic strategy. A search engine such as google uses a web crawler to seek out all websites and index the keywords so that it can be gathered into a huge database. This data is them processed using a sophisticated algorithm so that when you enter a search term - a list of most likely websites appear within a fraction of a second. We can harness the web crawler technology and extend its capability to search and tag potential web sites that contain "viruses". This information can be forwarded to all ISP providers to block them using filters. This way, the end users will be prevented from ever seeing the offending site thus avoiding getting infected. Where does "intelligence" come in play? The intelligent system sits on top of this basic structure. It looks for repeated patterns that tag offending websites. Where they originate, what IP addresses and so on. There are billions of computer users but only a small number of people who engage in these activity. The intelligent system looks to identify them and then block them. Over time, the system can become more efficient and therefore speed up the process. It can avoid checking "trusted" sites and go after the "unknowns" or "questionables" sites. That's my big picture view.

According to USA Today, the World Economic Council has listed the unstable Financial market as one of the top 10 threats facing our world in 2014. One key aspects of the problem is the abuses of wall street. The system seems to be rigged and the rules inadequate to prevent abuses.

The SEC is given the charge to oversee our financial system. Its' job is to make sure the system is fair and no laws are broken and to prosecute insider traders. The problem is the lack of resources on the part of SEC to deal with the millions of transactions that goes on every day. Here is where an intelligent system can play a major role. Without compromising security and privacy, the SEC can monitor all transactions in real time. What it does is to look for unusual patterns of trading. Once a target is identified, a deeper probe can be initiated to seek out a resolution. A simple analogy can be drawn from looking at the casino gaming business. The casinos have experienced security personnel monitoring the blackjack tables looking for card counters. This person looks at the winnings and loses of a player. By noting the pattern of bets a player places, he is able to identify over time if a person is using card counting techniques to increase his odds of winning. In a similar way, the "intelligent system" should be able to identify unusual trading patterns of individuals and flag them for further investigation.

Right after 9/11 happened, there was a story about some very unusual trades that were made just prior on American Airlines stock. In specific, they were shorting the stock and would profit greatly if the AA stock will drop significantly. Just think about it, if an intelligent system were in place, perhaps we could have had an early warning about the terrorist attack of 9/11 using commercial jets to bring down the World Trade Towers.

I truly belief that a solution to the insider trading problem is within the capabilities of modern technology. It is only a matter of will and commitment on the part of the SEC.

Here is my appeal to current AI researchers and developers. If you really want to make an impact on the most number of people, please focus your attention on solving the two problems I cited above. An intelligent system to rid the internet of viruses and an intelligent system to be the watchdog of wall street. These two applications will have lasting benefits on all our lives. It will not be an easy task but the rewards will be worth the effort.

Technology companies such as Google, IBM, Microsoft and Apple can lead the way. Are you listening?

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