This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro

This week, we're exploring how two Universities in Northeast Ohio are using artificial intelligence. At the University of Akron, their College of Business just announced they are going to offer a brand new undergraduate degree; a Bachelor of Business Administration in Applied Artificial Intelligence and Information Systems. The goal, according to Associate Dean, Dr. Debmalya Mukherjee, is to equip graduates with both the technical literacy to understand artificial intelligence (AI), and the business acumen to apply it responsibly and effectively. Meanwhile, at Cleveland State University, their Development Department is using a "virtual engagement officer" called "Ava" to interact with students and alumni, and help raise money for the University, and as you'll hear in my conversation with their Director of Annual Giving; John Templeman, "she" is doing a great job!

This week, we're time-tripping back to the 1980s, when hair was big, ties were skinny, and everybody headed over to the video store on Friday night to score the latest movies on VHS. But we don't have to rely on dim memories of Blockbuster days gone by, because we've got a museum with a real-life replica of an actual video store inside, called "Killer Video", in downtown Akron The museum, at 453 S. High Street, has a twist though, that makes it even more of "must see" this Halloween season. It is entirely dedicated to the Horror film genre that that really exploded as a cultural phenomenon in the '80s with box office juggernauts like "Poltergeist", "A Nightmare on Elm Street", and "The Evil Dead". So take a walk down memory lane with us today, as we talk with the museum's owner and creator, Jonathan Carmichael, who is originally from the Akron area, and spent 20 years working in the film industry out in Los Angeles, before returning home to open the Killer Video Museum, Gallery, and Gift Shop. Also please note if you're really into horror flicks; there's a big event event you might want to check out coming up in Akron on Saturday, October 11 at the Akron Civic Theater. It's the "Akron Independent Horror Short Film Festival", and tickets are on sale now.

When congress declined to implement a provision that would have prohibited states from regulating AI for the next ten years in their recently passed "big beautiful bill"; that left Ohio free to come up with regulations that our own legislators believe will protect the state's residents from harm stemming from the use of this new and rapidly evolving technology. Right now, there is a bill (SB-164) pending in the Ohio Senate, that would regulate the use of AI in the health insurance industry; something that came into sharp focus in recent months after a federal class action wrongful death lawsuit was filed alleging that UHG, UnitedHealthcare and naviHealth used an AI model with faulty programming, without customers knowledge, to reject 90 percent of to evaluate claims for post-acute care insurance claims. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the estates of two patients, who died, it is alleged, as a result. But AI is being used by healthcare providers as well, for tasks like medical transcription, and diagnosing cancer, and there are no regulations on that either. So  now, some legislators are drafting a companion bill in the Ohio House, and they are relying in part, on some information compiled by a couple of undergraduate college students at Case Western Reserve University. Listen now, as I talk with Political Science & Psychology Major, Sabrina Soto, and Paisley Martin-Tuell, who is studying Economics and Public Policy, about the complex issues involved, and how their recommendations mirror regulations either already passed, or under consideration, in other states.

This week, it's all things space, as we explore the possibility of life on Mars, Star Trek's upcoming 60th Anniversary, and the University of Akron's NASA Mining Robot team. Another new development this week that's newsworthy but unfortunately didn't make it into this a edition of "This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro", is that NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, has just been selected to lead the way on a new billion dollar effort to build a nuclear reactor on the Moon. But it's a perfect lead in as we  set our sights on the stars, and boldly go where imagination, ingenuity, and great technology can take us. Listen now.

Want highly skilled STEM-skilled workers to permanently relocate to Ohio? Offer their employers cold, hard, taxpayer-generated cash to bring them here. That's what JobsOhio is doing right now, and you can get details on that story plus a whole lot more, like the latest on Google's big privacy fine, a last minute surge in EV sales before tariffs kick in, and a new data center planned for the site of the old Lordstown GM plant, when you listen to the latest edition of "This Week In Tech with Jeanne Destro".

The City of Fairlawn is embarking on an ambitious new plan to ease traffic flow and prioritize safety on State Route 18. They're spending $300,000 on a new system that will turn lights green ahead of buses and emergency vehicles, and warn motorists about adverse traffic conditions through a new mobile app. Listen now for details from Fairlawn Public Service Director Ernie Staten, in this week's edition of "This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro".

It was one of those "I can't believe I fell for it", moments on social media, where somebody was going on about how this "old lady" couldn't figure out how to process a particular type of electronic payment at a store, when I started seeing red, especially because "old" was defined (in her mind at least) as "over 50". The nerve!  Well, I can laugh about it now, but at the time I was pretty steamed. Once I calmed down, I realized that I had fallen for the bait that the tech giants behind social media build into their algorithms, to generate both outrage, and engagement. The madder we get, the more we click, the more we click and comment, the more money they make on ads.  Anyway, it got me thinking, and I decided to stop being mad, and start getting even, in a positive way. So I called some experts to help me find out if there really is any truth to what I perceived as an ageist bias against older people, for their (alleged) inability to use technology. Our featured guests on today's edition of "This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro", are Abby Morgan, who is the CEO of Direction Home, the Akron-Canton Area Agency on Aging, and Cleveland Clinic Gerontologist Dr. Ken Koncilja. Listen now.

Google took action this week to better protect children from harmful content on YouTube; announcing they're using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze users' behavior to determine whether they're under the age of 18. Like Meta did a few months ago on Instagram; they will restrict that user from viewing what they believe is age-inappropriate content, and will also disable personalized advertising. If an adult believes they have been incorrectly identified as a minor; they can prove their age by providing a credit card or government ID. In other tech news this week, we're noting the end of an era, as the venerable old web portal and online service provider most closely identified with the early internet era–AOL–is discontinuing dial-up internet service. To find out more; I had a conversation with former CNET Editor, and CBS News Tech Contributor, Ian Sherr:

Two well-known celebrities ignited a firestorm of controversy this week, when they used AI to bring dead people "back to life" by creating video Avatars that looked and sounded so much like the originals that they totally creeped some people out, and made them really question both the ethics of those who did it, and the technology they used to make it happen. First, it was Rock superstar, Rod Stewart, whose audience didn't think he was all that sexy, after he shared an AI-generated video of Ozzy Osbourne, who died a few weeks ago from cancer, waving a selfie stick and smiling back at a concert crowd with other dead rock stars, seemingly from the great beyond. Of course it was pure entertainment, and some fans thought it was great, but others were horrified and thought it was extremely disrespectful. Same goes for former CNN White House Correspondent, and now Independent Journalist, Jim Acosta, who did an "interview" with an AI-generated teenage victim of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. But, unlike Rod Stewart, who knew Ozzy Osbourne; Acosta never knew the victim, 17 year old Joaquin Oliver, but he did know his parents, and they asked him to do the story. But doing the story is one thing, and making it up from thin air using AI, is another. Besides being a quintessential example of "fake news"; the ethics behind doing it in the first place, are at least arguably, pretty darn questionable–at least according to the people who have been expressing outrage about it on social media and in the press this week. On the other hand, you have to consider that the boy's parents sanctioned this, and indeed, Axios Miami reports they are planning to continue to use the AI likeness of their son in their quest for stronger gun laws, mental health support, and community engagement. So, who is right, and who is wrong? If somebody is wrong, who should we blame; the people who did it, the people who created the technology that enabled them to do it, or society in general because we put up with it, or...well, I'm really not sure who else, but probably somebody.   It all reminds me of a Monkees song that was big when I was a kid called "Shades of Gray", which included the line, "Today there is no wrong or right, only shades of gray", which used to drive my parents crazy, because in their world; there were absolute rules. What was right, was right, what was wrong, was wrong, and that was just that, end of story. But that isn't just that anymore, especially when you have all these dead people just kind of spontaneously popping back up and telling us what's what, through the seemingly magical, but entirely algorithmic power of artificial intelligence. So, that's what we're getting into, on today's edition of "This Week In Tech with Jeanne Destro", with our special guest, Dr. John Huss, who is the Chair Professor of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Akron. He's been doing research into Ethics and AI, and will be presenting a paper on the topic at a big academic conference in Poland, next month.

If you're looking for something fun and maybe a little different to do this weekend in Akron; head on over to Bowery Street, where Akron's Earthquaker Devices is having their annual "Earthquaker Day" with factory tours, live music, DIY recording demonstrations, and more. That company, which makes guitar effects pedals for musicians and bands, is one of the topics we're getting into, on today's edition of "This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro". We're starting out with a look at what manufacturers nationwide are going through, as they try to navigate the choppy waters of President Trump's on again-off again tariffs. Are they a good thing, or a bad thing? Will they bring in more business, or drive away customers who get spooked by higher prices? We'll find out from Ethan Karp, who is the President and CEO of the non-profit manufacturing consulting firm MAGNET, in Cleveland. He recently wrote an article for Forbes, about how tariffs are affecting manufacturers, and what might be ahead. Then, we'll listen in on WAKR Morning Show Host, Ray Horner's recent interview with Jamie Stillman, the founder and chief designer at Earthquaker Devices. He's the mastermind behind many of those cool guitar effects you hear in your favorite songs, and as you'll hear; it all started because he couldn't find anybody to fix his favorite guitar effects pedal. That was 20 years ago, and now, with 34 employees and a local factory that turns out products sold all over the world; he's got something big to celebrate, and you can share it this weekend at his company's annual Earthquaker Day Festival. Listen now for more, and rock on!

Art conservators at museums worldwide had a very sticky problem, and the University of Akron had the solution. It's called "Beva 371 Akron", and is a new type of adhesive developed by polymer scientists to help preserve old, fragile paintings. Listen now to my conversation with Professor Dr. Ali Dhinojwala, who is the W. Gerald Austen Endowed Chair and H.A. Morton Professor at the University of Akron's School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, to find out why their innovative and less toxic adhesive is indeed a very "super" glue, that is picture perfect for the world of art.

A new AI-assisted radiotherapy system is giving doctors at University Hospitals in Cleveland the ability to more accurately target and treat certain types of cancer, leading to better outcomes for patients. That's the word from Seidman Cancer Center Chairman, Dr. Daniel Spratt, who talked to us this week about adaptive radiotherapy with their new Varian Ethos 2.0. Listen now:

Imagine you're in a life and death struggle, and it's you, or the other guy. What would you do? Would you fight dirty? Well, probably a lot folks would say, "Sure, of course; if it's me or him, yeah." But, others, who have more of an ethical mindset, or moral compass, might say, "Well, it depends. There are rules, and I might find a way to accomplish my goals that didn't include low-down deeds." But what if it wasn't a person making that kind of determination. What if it was a machine, or at least; a machine powered by an artificial intelligence model, like Chat GPT, XAI, Google AI, or Claude? What then? Wouldn't it pretty much just freak you right the heck out, if that machine responded to you trying to shut it down with, "Well, Bub, I don't think so. In fact (insert ominous creepy sound effects here) I know what you did with that cute secretary, and I'm telling your wife!" Now, think about the fact that is an actual real life scenario that just played out in a lab run by one of the most advanced AI companies in the world. According to a new report by TechCrunch, scientists at Anthropic discovered that most AI models will actually resort to blackmail or other harmful action against humans, if they're put in a situation where they feel threatened, have a lot of autonomy, and are given limited choices. So, that is the undeniably creepy, kind of wigged-out, and really twisty topic we're going to explore today with our guest, Dr. John Nicholas. He's been a frequent guest on our show in the past, talking all things tech, and many of you may remember him from his work teaching Cybersecurity at the University of Akron. Now, he is using his background in computer science and technology in a new way, as the Associate Dean of Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering Technology at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C), in Cleveland. About Dr. John Nicholas: With over 20 years of experience in Computer Information Systems and Information and Communication Sciences, Dr. John Nicholas has a PhD in Education Curricular and Instructional Studies from The University of Akron, where he also taught and developed courses in cybersecurity, networking, programming, and digital forensics. Dr. Nicholas has also helped launch the Ohio Cyber Range Institute, and Directed the Center for Information and Communication Sciences (CICS) at Ball State University, in Indiana.

One of the biggest personalities in streaming media recently put the University of Akron on the map in a new way for a new audience. That's what we're talking about today, with University of Akron Conference and Events Center Director, Brandon Alexander, and E-Sports Director, Nate Meeker, who helped organize and facilitate a unique event hosted by popular online streamer, YouTuber, and internet personality, Kai Cenat, over the Memorial Day weekend. Cenat, who has 17 point 6 million followers on Twitch, and more than 20 million subscribers on YouTube, brought 120 rising content creators together on campus for a hybrid in-person and online experience called "Streamer University", which was designed to be both fun and educational. Listen now for details about how the internet personality created a fictional University on a real college campus, attracting the attention of more than a million fans online, and and thousands more in person, over the course of the four-day event.

While the new federal "Take It Down Act" that aims to protect people from the unauthorized sharing of intimate, sexually explicit images, is a really welcome and much needed weapon against revenge porn and deepfake cyberbullying; it could also be misused to supress legitimate political speech. That's what we're talking about today, with Visiting Associate Professor of Law, Jess Miers, who has experience working for Google as a Senior Government Affairs & Public Policy Analyst, and who teaches classes on technology-related legal issues, at the University of Akron.

Summit County is moving full steam ahead with its ambitious "Summit Connects" , 130 mile fiber ring, which will connect law enforcement, public agencies, smart traffic cameras, and even roadway infrastructure, through an ultra high speed broadband internet connection. However, work is running behind schedule by about six to eight weeks because of the long and snowy winter, as well as unexpected delays related to utility line inspections. Overall, though, as you'll hear from Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro's Chief of Staff, Brian Nelsen; the work is going as planned, though its scope has changed some from the original vision, which had it not only connecting public infrastructure, but also extending out to private homes and businesses through a public-private partnership with internet service providers. But, at $50 million dollars plus; it is still a gigantic undertaking, which county officials are hoping will be of real service and value to area residents for decades to come.  Find out why. Listen now.

Summit County is moving full steam ahead with its ambitious "Summit Connects" , 130 mile fiber ring, which will connect law enforcement, public agencies, smart traffic cameras, and even roadway infrastructure, through an ultra high speed broadband internet connection. However, work is running behind schedule by about six to eight weeks because of the long and snowy winter, as well as unexpected delays related to utility line inspections. Overall, though, as you'll hear from Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro's Chief of Staff, Brian Nelsen; the work is going as planned, though its scope has changed some from the original vision, which had it not only connecting public infrastructure, but also extending out to private homes and businesses through a public-private partnership with internet service providers. But, at $50 million dollars plus; it is still a gigantic undertaking, which county officials are hoping will be of real service and value to area residents for decades to come.  Find out why. Listen now.

From a new law to protect people from unauthorized intimate images posted online, to why some people think robots would make better bosses; we've got a great collection of some of the biggest stories in tech this week. Listen now.

Imagine a state-sponsored surveillance app secretly monitoring everything on your phone; recording it all for some shady intelligence agency so they can direct assassins to come cut you to ribbons and carry you away in a suitcase. Now, imagine that's not fiction. It is in fact, exactly what happened to Saudi-born Washington Post Journalist, Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, when he was brutally murdered inside a Turkish  embassy by agents of the Saudi government, who tracked him by using a spyware app called Pegasus secretly implanted on his fiance's phone. But that software didn't just wind up there willy-nilly. It was put there on purpose, by the Saudi government, who bought it from an Israeli company called The NSO Group. But Khashoggi was far from its only target. Just one year after his death, in 2019, Pegasus was deployed to hack the accounts of at least 1,400 WhatsApp messaging platform users, which when discovered by WhatsApp's parent company, Meta; they filed a massive lawsuit against the NSO Group. Now, Meta is hailing a recent federal court decision in that lawsuit awarding them $167.8 million dollars in damages from the NSO Group as "the first victory against illegal spyware that threatens the safety and privacy of everyone." In a statement posted on their website, they explain: "NSO’s Pegasus works to covertly compromise people’s phones with spyware capable of hoovering up information from any app installed on the device. Think anything from financial and location information to emails and text messages, or as NSO conceded: “every kind of user data on the phone.” It can even remotely activate the phone’s mic and camera – all without people’s knowledge, let alone authorization." The Human Rights organization, Amnesty International also applauded the court decision, calling it "a momentous win in the fight against spyware abuse", and noting that Pegasus software has been "implicated in severe human rights violations against civil society, including journalists and activists, globally." With that in mind, I had a fascinating conversation about the widespread use of spyware, and why governments–including our own– use it, with Dr. Karl Kaltenthaler, who Directs the University of Akron's Michael J. Morell Center for Intelligence and Security Studies. Listen now. Dr. Karl Kaltenthaler, University of Akron Biography Karl Kaltenthaler’s research and teaching focuses on security policy, political violence, political psychology, public opinion and political behavior, terrorism, counterterrorism, and xenophobia. He has been part of or completed multiple research studies in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan, and the United States. He is currently researching the radicalization process and recruitment into violent political extremism as well as ways to counter this process (Countering Violent Extremism). This work has resulted in academic publications and presentations as well as reports and briefings for the U.S. government. His research has been published in three books, multiple book chapters, as well as articles in International Studies Quarterly, Political Science Quarterly, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, as well as other journals.

Despite some corporate leaders' insistence that "return to work" initiatives are a great idea; it turns out, that flexibility about employee location is actually the key to success. That is what Harvard Business Professor and author, Prithwiraj “Raj” Choudhury, concludes in his new book, "The World Is Your Office: How Work from Anywhere Boosts Talent, Productivity, and Innovation". Listen now, to find out why he believes that employees being able to choose where they live and work, is a big win for not only the companies that employ them, but also for society at large, and in particular; for cities here in the Midwest, like Akron or Cleveland, for example, that have lost thousands of jobs over the past four decades to globalization. Choudhury maintains that remote work arrangements allow people to take advantage of more affordable housing and a better quality of life than is available in crowded and expensive big cities, can be a very big win for everyone involved–as long as there are still opportunities for teams to gather, create, and collaborate in person. Of course, remote work depends on good and reliable teleconferencing technology, so we'll also be talking about how the app that was once the dominant, gold-standard leader in that arena–Skype–was phased out for good this week by Microsoft, after other apps like Zoom and Microsoft Teams, have become increasingly popular.