Would you ever buy a virtual hat? While it may seem silly, virtual fashion is one of the ways brands have been cashing in on the metaverse. Some examples are relatively tame, like Forever 21’s clothing collection on Roblox where there are items that cost around a dollar each. Other companies have sold digital items for thousands of USD. For example, Gucci sold a virtual copy of its Dionysus bag for $4,115—around $800 more than the physical bag costs in the real world. Read full article here
Societal Issues
AI Predicts Crime A Week In Advance With 90 Per Cent Accuracy
An artificial intelligence model built by Ishanu Chattopadhyay and his colleagues analysed crime data in Chicago from 2014 to 2016 and managed to predict future levels of crime down to the nearest 300 metres, a week before they actually happened. While extremely useful, this artificial intelligence has been shown to expose racial prejudice in law enforcement. Hopefully, as the study’s data and methodology have been made available for others to evaluate, these prejudices can be avoided in the next iteration. Read full article here
Merv
August 15, 2022
