MarketScale Software & Technology 02/01/2019: Can AI Tell Naughty from Nice?

 

In the futuristic movie Minority Report starring Tom Cruise, the protagonist (played by Cruise) is able to see actions before they happen through a complex system of dreams and technology. This obviously leans strongly towards the fiction side of the science fiction genre, but the movie raises the question of what you would do if you could see a person’s actions before they committed them.

What Ben Taylor at ZIFF is trying to accomplish is to utilize AI to determine a person’s motives. Essentially, can AI tell naughty from nice? We asked him on this week’s episode of the MarketScale Software & Technology podcast.

Who Spilled the Milk?

Can AI learn to determine the intention behind actions? That’s what Ben Taylor, Co-Founder and Chief AI Officer for ZIFF Inc., was interested in finding out. He utilized cameras to help him capture the actions of his particularly mischievous child and used AI to try to determine the intent behind their actions.

This might sound like a humorous endeavor, but the ramifications could be wide-reaching. “The main crux of this is actionable review of video data and you need AI to do that,” Taylor says. Imagine having a system of security cameras that could utilize AI to evaluate the actions of those captured on film to determine which ones had nefarious intentions and which ones were innocent. It’s an interesting concept.

One of the biggest challenges facing the project according to Taylor is eliminating false positives. He says he wants people to be able to trust the results they’re getting from the program.

The Crisis Facing Cybersecurity

As more and more of our lives exist online and in the IoT, the need has grown for qualified workers in the cybersecurity field. Unfortunately, those needs are going unmet due to a lack of well-trained potential employees. In MarketScale’s recent article on the topic, it is projected that there will be 3.5 million cybersecurity jobs left unfilled by the year 2021.

Joining this week’s episode of the podcast is MarketScale’s Chief Digital Editor Geoff Short to expound on the topic. “You would expect to see an emphasis across universities to increase cybersecurity programs,” says Short. However, this isn’t happening as universities struggle to market these programs as attractive for incoming students.

For the latest news, videos, and podcasts in the Software & Technology Industry, be sure to subscribe to our industry publication.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!
Twitter – @TechMKSL
Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale
LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

medicine
The Art of Recovery: Where Music and Medicine Meet in Patient Care
May 14, 2026

Healthcare today can feel overwhelming—not just for patients, but for the teams caring for them. After a major illness or injury, recovery isn’t handled by one doctor alone; it often involves a whole network of specialists, from physical therapists to nurses to social workers, all trying to help someone regain their independence and quality…

Read More
infant health
From Monitoring to Knowing: How Owlet Is Redefining Infant Health at Retail
May 14, 2026

Baby monitors have long promised parents the ability to see and hear their child from another room. But as connected health devices become more normalized in everyday life, from smartwatches to sleep trackers, parents are beginning to expect more than visibility. They want insight. For Owlet, that shift matters because its wearable monitors track…

Read More
SPD
Unlocking CensisAI²: The Metrics That Matter for Smarter SPD Decisions
May 13, 2026

Sterile processing departments are swimming in data, from workflow automation and supply data to patient outcome and quality metrics. But the real challenge is not collecting more information; it is knowing which metrics actually improve SPD performance, technician education, OR readiness and patient safety. For Censis, a leader in surgical asset management, the focus…

Read More
User-generated content
The New Rules of Discoverability: How User-Generated Content Is Reshaping Search, Trust, and Brand Visibility
May 12, 2026

User-generated content (UGC) is moving from marketing side dish to main course as large language models change how people discover brands, products, creators, and ideas. Customer reviews, forum posts, videos, and community conversations increasingly carry more influence than polished brand copy because they feel more specific, lived-in, and trustworthy. As AI systems learn from…

Read More