The AIM Aboitiz School of Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship (ASITE), in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), hosted a webinar titled Mind Hackers: How Technology and AI are Influencing your Mind on 25 November 2021 in honor of Science and Technology Week. The event covered a breadth of topics, including clickbait, e-commerce, distance education, and news and information. Several students from the Ph.D. in Data Science classes covered these topics throughout the webinar. The event opened with a discussion on clickbait and its effect on the consumption of information online by Gilbert Chua, President of the Master of Science in Data Science Class of 2020 and currently a Ph.D. in Data Science student. He explains that technology and information’s massive influence on human behavior and psychology is closely linked to media and advertising. In the past year, Google and Facebook alone invested over $200B in advertising.
“We want to look at the benefits and the side effects of technology and AI,” Chua said. “What we want to do is argue, to understand how technology is influencing your mind.” Eloi Ventura, President of the Ph.D. in Data Science Class of 2023, cited some of the tangible benefits technology provides. “Given the loads of information that are available out there, one of the benefits that these platforms give us is that they organize information for us,” she says. E-commerce is a pertinent technology platform that helps many consumers discover new products. The use of technology organizes information so that consumers can make informed purchasing decisions. Crisis management is one other area that has primarily benefited from the integration of AI and technology. Organizations like the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), and The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) have been able to send alerts and spread information to the public.
The Aboitiz School of Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship is committed to developing future-ready leaders who will change the data science landscape in the country and in Asia. To learn more about the Ph.D. in Data Science program, visit https://asite.aim.edu/programs/phd-in-data-science/.