Lecture: Emerging technologies in the fashion industry
Blog 1:
I found this lecture the most interesting. I’ve always been astonished by technology and everything that comes with it. It’s safe to say that modern technology has taken over the world. The internet is something that I can’t get my head around. It is on such a massive scale that lets us have access to so much information and technologies that we have ever had before.
Thirteen years ago, in the year 2007, Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone to the world. Since then, modern technology has evolved at a rapid speed to the point where it has changed the world to its new digital culture that we know today. The digital age has its positive and negative aspects, but first of all, it is a profound change to the world that we used to know in the 20th century. With the new age came social media which has made quite the difference in the world.
The most fascinating thing about the new modern technology is the innovations in Artificial Intelligence. It is kind of scary in fact. AI is not just another technology project. It marks the beginning of the future and what scares me the most are the robots. Is it possible that robots will reach a stage of self-realization? How can we rely on that they do what they are programmed to do? And how do we know what is real?
Deepfake is a branch of machine learning that applies neural net simulation to massive data sets, to create something that is fake by using deep learning technology. The AI effectively learns the source of a face and how it looks like at different angles. It is then transposed onto a target as if it were a mask. It is scary how real this can be and it is difficult to know for sure what is real and what is fake. In 2016 Adobe previewed Adobe Voco, a prototype that showcases software that takes approximately 20 minutes of the desired target’s speech and then generated sound-alike voice with even phonemes that were not present in the target example material. After many concerns about this software getting into the wrong hands, Adobe decided not to release it to the public. But one the positive side, Blockchain is an example of a public network that is already changing the face of a supply chain in the fashion industry, which will impact many businesses in years to come.
In conclusion, the new modern technology has its negative sides, but there are also many positive sides to it. It has given us the opportunity to connect with people all over the world and in the easiest way possible. It has given people countless ways to create a career for themselves. Technology has changed the way we see the world and the way we live our lives. So we have to accept that this is the future and everything is changing. Based on the technology that has evolved this last decade, who knows what the future holds.