An (expected) evolution of computing from 1960–2010
In computing, ambient intelligence (AmI) refers to electronic environments that are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people. Ambient intelligence is a vision on the future of consumer electronics, telecommunications and computing that was originally developed in the late 1990s by Eli Zelkha and his team at Palo Alto Ventures for the time frame 2010–2020.
In an ambient intelligence world, devices work in concert to support
people in carrying out their everyday life activities, tasks and rituals
in an easy, natural way using information and intelligence that is
hidden in the network connecting these devices (for example: The Internet of Things).
As these devices grow smaller, more connected and more integrated into
our environment, the technology disappears into our surroundings until
only the user interface remains perceivable by users.
The ambient intelligence paradigm builds upon pervasive computing, ubiquitous computing, profiling, context awareness, and human-centric computer interaction design, of which, is characterized by systems and technologies that are:
- embedded: many networked devices are integrated into the environment
- context aware: these devices can recognize you and your situational context
- personalized: they can be tailored to your needs
- adaptive: they can change in response to you
- anticipatory: they can anticipate your desires without conscious mediation.
A typical context of ambient intelligence environment is home, but may also be extended to work spaces (offices, coworking), public spaces (based on technologies such as smart street lights), and hospital environments.
Overview
More and more people make decisions based on the effect their actions will have on their own inner, mental world.
This experience-driven way of acting is a change from the past when
people were primarily concerned about the use value of products and
services, and is the basis for the experience economy. Ambient intelligence addresses this shift in existential view by emphasizing people and user experience.
The interest in user experience also grew in importance in the
late 1990s because of the overload of products and services in the
information society that were difficult to understand and hard to use.
An urge emerged to design things from a user's point of view. Ambient
intelligence is influenced by user-centered design where the user is placed in the center of the design activity and asked to give feedback through specific user evaluations and tests to improve the design or even co-create the design with the designer (participatory design) or with other users (end-user development).
In order for AmI to become a reality a number of key technologies are required:
- Unobtrusive hardware (miniaturization, nanotechnology, smart devices, sensors etc.)
- Seamless mobile/fixed communication and computing infrastructure (interoperability, wired and wireless networks, service-oriented architecture, semantic web etc.)
- Dynamic and massively distributed device networks, which are easy to control and program (e.g. service discovery, auto-configuration, end-user programmable devices and systems etc.)
- Human-centric computer interfaces (intelligent agents, multimodal interaction, context awareness etc.)
- Dependable and secure systems and devices (self-testing and self repairing software, privacy ensuring technology etc.)
History and invention
In 1998, the board of management of Philips commissioned a series of presentations and internal workshops, organized by Eli Zelkha and Brian Epstein of Palo Alto Ventures (who, with Simon Birrell,
coined the term 'ambient intelligence') to investigate different
scenarios that would transform the high-volume consumer electronic
industry from the current "fragmented with features" world into a world
in 2020 where user-friendly devices support ubiquitous information,
communication and entertainment.
While developing the ambient intelligence concept, Palo Alto Ventures
created the keynote address for Roel Pieper of Philips for the Digital
Living Room Conference, 1998.
The group included Eli Zelkha, Brian Epstein, Simon Birrell, Doug
Randall, and Clark Dodsworth. In the years after, these developments
grew more mature. In 2005, Philips joined the Oxygen alliance, an
international consortium of industrial partners within the context of
the MIT Oxygen project,
aimed at developing technology for the computer of the 21st century. In
2000, plans were made to construct a feasibility and usability facility
dedicated to ambient intelligence. This HomeLab officially opened on 24
April 2002.
Along with the development of the vision at Philips, a number of
parallel initiatives started to explore ambient intelligence in more
detail. Following the advice of the Information Society and Technology
Advisory Group (ISTAG), the European Commission
used the vision for the launch of their sixth framework (FP6) in
Information, Society and Technology (IST), with a subsidiary budget of
3.7 billion euros. The European Commission played a crucial role in the
further development of the AmI vision. As a result of many initiatives
the AmI vision gained traction. During the past few years several major
initiatives have been started. Fraunhofer Society started several activities in a variety of domains including multimedia, microsystems design and augmented spaces. MIT started an ambient intelligence research group at their Media Lab.
Several more research projects started in a variety of countries such
as the US, Canada, Spain, France and the Netherlands. Since 2004, the
European Symposium on Ambient Intelligence (EUSAI) and many other
conferences have been held that address special topics in AmI.
Criticism
As
far as dissemination of information on personal presence is out of
control, ambient intelligence vision is subject of criticism (e.g. David
Wright, Serge Gutwirth, Michael Friedewald et al., Safeguards in a
World of Ambient Intelligence, Springer, Dordrecht, 2008).
Any immersive, personalized, context-aware and anticipatory
characteristics brings up societal, political and cultural concerns
about the loss of privacy.
The example scenario above shows both the positive and negative
possibilities offered by ambient intelligence. Applications of ambient
intelligence do not necessarily have to reduce privacy in order to work.
Power concentration in large organizations, a fragmented, decreasingly private society and hyperreal environments where the virtual is indistinguishable from the real are the main topics of critics.
Several research groups and communities are investigating the
socioeconomic, political and cultural aspects of ambient intelligence.
New thinking on AmI distances itself therefore from some of the original
characteristics such as adaptive and anticipatory behaviour and
emphasizes empowerment and participation to place control in the hands
of people instead of organizations.
Social and political aspects
The ISTAG advisory group suggests that the following characteristics will permit the societal acceptance of ambient intelligence.
AmI should...
- facilitate human contact.
- be oriented towards community and cultural enhancement.
- help to build knowledge and skills for work, better quality of work, citizenship and consumer choice.
- inspire trust and confidence.
- be consistent with long term sustainability—personal, societal and environmental—and with lifelong learning.
- be made easy to live with and controllable by ordinary people.
Business models
The ISTAG group acknowledges the following entry points to AmI business landscape:
- Initial premium value niche markets in industrial, commercial or public applications where enhanced interfaces are needed to support human performance in fast moving or delicate situations.
- Start-up and spin-off opportunities from identifying potential service requirements and putting the services together that meet these new needs.
- High access-low entry cost based on a loss leadership model in order to create economies of scale (mass customization).
- Audience or customer's attention economy as a basis for 'free' end-user services paid for by advertising or complementary services or goods.
- Self-provision—based upon the network economies of very large user communities providing information as a gift or at near zero cost (e.g. social networking applications).
- The combination of multiple and diverse datasets in a platform for sense-making and understanding consumer behaviour (e.g. Near).
Technologies
A variety of technologies can be used to enable Ambient intelligence environments such as (Gasson & Warwick 2007):
- Bluetooth Low Energy
- RFID
- Microchip implant
- Sensors: Ambient light sensor (photodetector), thermometers, proximity sensors and motion detectors
- Software agents
- Affective computing
- Nanotechnology
- Biometrics
Computing
This
means of computing links all pieces of technology together. This also
allows the device to have the capability to remember past requests.
Uses in fiction
- Minority Report (2002 film). One scene illustrates adaptive advertising in the future: consumers are identified via retinal scans, and receive targeted ads (Parker 2002).
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. The doors have emotion, and express this when people use them.
- The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson, depicts a world completely changed by the full development of nanotechnology that is present everywhere.
- Her (2013 film). The opening scene depicts the protagonist commuting home, upon arriving the various lights throughout the apartment are turned on as the character moves through the rooms (automated lighting control). A later scene shows that an artificial entity can also control these systems, changing a song being played in the background to lighten a situation, and for humorous effect.
