Tech Talk with Toni

Fun Fact: 2023 was the hottest year on record. When you think of the Caribbean, images of pristine beaches, crystal-clear waters, and endless sunshine likely come to mind.  However, behind the Instagrammable scenery, the Caribbean faces significant challenges due to climate change. Just a one-degree Celsius increase in global temperatures can supercharge extreme weather, turning up the intensity on hurricanes and exacerbating droughts. It's no surprise that the UNDP has prioritized the majority of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030 around environmental sustainability: SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production SDG 13: Climate Action SDG 14: Life Below Water SDG 15: Life on Land As Hurricane Beryl approaches Barbados, I believe there are incredible opportunities for innovation and resilience.  Here are four ways individuals in the Caribbean can use technology to ad...

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." - Alvin Toffler Today's post is inspired by my personal continuous learning journey. Though some of my interests have changed over time, one thing remains constant: my hunger for knowledge. In a previous post, I highlighted ways to figure out your next steps for professional development.  (You can read it here .) However, today's post is for those of us who want a list of relevant skills to start acquiring right away. Thankfully, in most instances, once you have a bachelor's degree, you can pursue certifications or self-paced courses to strengthen your resume. Setting aside at least 15 minutes a day to learn something new is equivalent to over 90 hours of learning in a year! As James Clear said in his book Atomic Habits: "The effects of small habits compound over time. If you can get 1 percent better each day for one year, you’ll...

We know that AI increases productivity, but at what cost?    With Nvidia's market cap soaring into the trillions and Apple partnering up with OpenAI to embed ChatGPT into their latest iPhones, it’s safe to say AI is taking over the world. But amidst this technological gold rush, I can’t help but notice that the ethics of developing these models often get shoved onto the back burner. Take Amazon, for example: They had a hiring tool powered by an AI model designed to select the best candidates.  Sounds highly productive, right?  Well, it favored male applicants due to the skewed dataset it was trained on. Sure, these models can learn and improve over time with reinforcement, but here’s my question:  how long will that take? The output of these models are only as good as their inputs.  I’m no AI expert, but I am a pretty sharp observer and I believe that big tech companies need to strike a balance between raking in the profits and ensuring fairness. Especially...

A skull and crossbones is never a good sign—unless you're a pirate.   Today's post is inspired by a video I saw about a customer (let's call her Sally) who purchased a beef pie from a bakery that went bad. Sally took a bite and, to her dismay, discovered creepy crawlies inside. She was understandably upset, but I think this is a great metaphor for what it is like using outdated data.  In both cases, you consume something (be it the pie or the dataset) expecting good results, only to find out later that there's a problem.   Now, just one bad experience could make Sally stop buying from that bakery and lose trust in all store-bought meat pastries. Similarly, you might stop using a dataset and start relying solely on your gut instinct for decisions. Wouldn't it be great if pastries could indicate when they're nearing their expiration date, allowing bakery owners to sell them faster or remove them from the shelves altogether? While that might be ideal, mistakes happ...

A diverse group of friends that you can talk to. Did you know that OpenAI recently launched a feature within their free ChatGPT service called "Explore GPTs" ? I want you to imagine that these GPTs as your clique of AI friends that you can chat with about anything.  Need to speak with a financial advisor? There's a GPT for that! This is exciting news for anyone interested in the potential of generative AI. I have always heard about the possibility of training generative AI models on specific datasets to solve specific problems. And I am honestly amazed that this is now available for free! While building your own Custom GPT is still a perk of Open AI's paid memberships, the free tier lets you explore a universe of possibilities (though there is a limit to the number of messages you send per day).  With that being said, here's some of the ways you can start integrating these AI friends into your daily routine: Research Meet Scholar GPT, your buddy with access to ove...