Applause – Digital IT News

Applause Supports IDEMIA with Accessibility-Focused Mobile ID App

Taylor Graham — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 15:30:25 +0000

IDEMIA Public Security strengthens its dedication to making its technology accessible to all users, including people with disabilities (PWD), by introducing new features in its next-gen Mobile ID app. The app ensures equal access and usability, aligning with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). IDEMIA aims to exceed accessibility standards by incorporating inclusive design, delivering not just functional but outstanding experiences for people with disabilities.

To continue to raise the bar on its accessibility efforts, IDEMIA has partnered with U.S. state governments and companies like Applause, a world leader in testing and digital quality, to ensure comprehensive quality for all Mobile ID users. Applause experts collaborated with IDEMIA’s internal team of UX and UI designers to identify and correct accessibility issues prior to the launch of the application. Next, Applause and IDEMIA will enter the inclusive design phase of the project to gain deeper insights into app functionality and uncover usability improvements that can optimize experiences for the widest range of people, regardless of their abilities.

“We’re excited to be working with IDEMIA to support its inclusivity goals and ensure its Mobile ID application continues to conform to global accessibility standards,” said Bob Farrell, VP, Solution Delivery & CX, Applause. “We’re now entering the inclusive design phase of the project, where we’ll help optimize the UX so that the product is not just functional, but so it’s truly exceptional for all users. Our team provides accessibility audits as well as diverse testing data and deep insights from the world’s largest community of testing experts and end users, including people with disabilities who have access to different device and platform configurations for us to test. Their perspective is essential to developing a fully inclusive experience.”

Designing technology with accessibility in mind requires a thoughtful and inclusive approach. IDEMIA designed its Mobile ID app with advanced features that conform to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), ensuring an accessible user experience. These features and improvements include screen reader compatibility enhancements, adjustable text and size contrasts, voice recognition and keyboard navigation capabilities, alternative text for images, accessible form and controls, and a high contrast mode option.

Sixty-one million adults in the U.S. (one in four) have a disability, making the disability community the country’s largest minority. Although mobile apps have become integral in today’s ever-changing digital world, they are not always created to be accessible to everyone, and often contain usability barriers for PWD.

Mobile ID apps allow citizens to store their identification on a smartphone and use it in many instances or contexts where a person would normally use a physical driver’s license or other state-issued ID. It provides convenience while also promoting security and protecting citizen privacy, as Mobile ID holders are the only ones who can access the Mobile ID by unlocking the app using their biometrics or personal six-digit pin, and users can decide which information they want to share when verifying their identity and age. IDEMIA’s Mobile ID app ensures citizens, including individuals with disabilities, have access to these important benefits.

“IDEMIA is committed to creating technologies and solutions that help make the world safer, and ensuring those technologies are accessible by all people, including those with diverse abilities,” shared Donnie Scott, CEO, IDEMIA Public Security North America. “Our next-generation Mobile ID app reflects our dedication to ensuring an equitable experience for all users. Our team is looking forward to continuing to partner with states and innovative companies like Applause to ensure all individuals are able to use our app to create and verify their digital identities.”

IDEMIA’s efforts to build inclusive products and solutions are part of its long-term commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability. Through its IMPACT program, IDEMIA strives to create a positive impact to society and the communities in which it operates, whether it’s improving its product to bring about eco-friendly designs or energy savings, developing cutting-edge biometric solutions that prioritize privacy, fairness, respect for human rights and responsible use of technology, or fostering innovation that drives inclusivity and supports public safety.

To learn about IDEMIA Public Security its Mobile ID app with advanced features that conform to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, visit the website here.

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State of Digital Quality Report for 2024 Published by Applause

Taylor Graham — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 13:30:34 +0000

Applause released its third State of Digital Quality report, offering an in-depth analysis of real-world testing data. The report identifies common issues in digital experiences, including digital banking, streaming services, wearables, e-commerce, voice-activated devices, and enterprise software, while suggesting ways to improve.

One such pathway is adopting digital quality frameworks, which help organizations assess their progress toward achieving comprehensive digital quality. This year’s State of Digital Quality report adds new frameworks for artificial intelligence (AI) and user experience (UX) testing, detailing the core capabilities, practices and processes teams should consider as they navigate different levels of quality, from emergence through excellence.

Key report findings:

Operational oversights, like lack of attention to planning and measurement, span every testing area. In an attempt to speed up releases, resource-constrained development and QA teams often overlook the processes, documentation and measurement tools that are key to unlocking high-quality digital experiences. Fewer than one-third of organizations (28%) have comprehensive end-to-end testing processes and documentation that are used consistently. Many QA teams also have an incomplete picture of their performance, with only 55% tracking customer-centric KPIs.
Despite the fast-approaching European Accessibility Act (EAA) deadline, accessibility testing still lags behind. Issues could be remedied with a shift-left approach that tackles accessibility testing earlier in development. Today, over 60% of accessibility issues still come from poor development for screen readers – the most commonly used assistive device. Organizations need to move beyond simply conforming to standards like WCAG 2.2 and EAA to providing fully inclusive, high-quality experiences for all users.
Providing a seamless user experience is a vital differentiator, particularly when it comes to generative AI (Gen AI). 27% of Gen AI users have abandoned an AI service due to UX and performance issues. Organizations failing to recognize the UX imperative and invest in usability testing risk losing their competitive edge, especially in the ever-evolving AI sector. AI companies that excel in quality integrate UX testing into their QA process and adopt other best practices for AI quality, such as red teaming, real-time anomaly detection and continuous retraining programs.
Payment testing and localization go hand in hand and are essential to customer retention. Organizations need to test all aspects of the customer journey and consider regional differences like language, currency, preferred payment methods, cultural norms, local taxes and more. 41% of consumers encountered an issue that impacted their ability to make a payment recently and 52% of consumers have abandoned an app due to poor localization. In-market testing with real users and payment instruments can help mitigate these issues and ensure revenue collection.

“This year’s report uncovered a range of challenges that arise when development teams aren’t looking beyond basic bug fixes,” said Luke Damian, Chief Growth Officer at Applause. “Organizations need to ‘shift left to get it right’ and can leverage digital quality frameworks for areas like accessibility, AI, payments and UX to set attainable goals for achieving excellence. In markets like ecommerce – a trillion-dollar industry – organizations leave money on the table if they’re not embedding quality throughout the software development lifecycle.”

At a minimum, organizations must incorporate functional testing into their QA process. While automated functional testing continues to improve thanks to advancements in AI, there is no replacement for manual functional testing – the process by which testers verify digital experiences operate as intended by executing test cases. Companies that excel at digital quality also address the complexities of specialized testing areas (e.g., nuances of the customer journey, emerging payment methods, accessibility laws and assistive devices) to ensure apps, devices and experiences not only work, but work well for all users.

The 2024 State of Digital Quality report is created from a representative sample from the company’s testing data collected last year, spanning 748,000 test runs in 70 industries and 156 countries. It also draws on data from its 2024 Digital Quality Benchmarking Surveys, which look at levels of testing maturity across organizations from various industries globally.

Over the next few weeks, Applause will release content on the State of Digital Quality for key industry vertical segments, including retail, media and telecommunications, finance, travel and hospitality, health and fitness, and B2B software.

To review The 2024 State of Digital Quality report, visit the Applause website here.

Applause 2024 Generative AI Survey Released

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Applause 2024 Digital Payments and Localization Survey Released

Taylor Graham — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 15:00:03 +0000

Applause published the findings from its inaugural Digital Payments and Localization Survey, showing that the majority of users will abandon apps with poor localization or payment problems. This has a major impact on businesses, as 41% of respondents reported facing issues that hindered a recent purchase.

With global e-commerce sales estimated to exceed $6.3 trillion by year-end (Statista), organizations’ success depends on comprehensive digital quality. Yet, despite developers’ investment in localization and payment testing best practices, they are not meeting global expectations for facilitating transactions on apps and websites.

This was the conclusion drawn by the more than 6,700 software developers, QA professionals and independent consumers worldwide who participated in the survey, which explored digital payment and localization testing strategies as well as user behaviors and preferences.

Key findings:

41% of consumers encountered an issue that impacted their ability to make a payment recently. With high cart abandonment rates contributing to an estimated $111 billion to $136 billion in lost revenue for U.S. retailers each year (Retail TouchPoints), development teams must increase their focus on software testing and other quality assurance techniques to ensure seamless functionality.

76% of consumers are likely to abandon a transaction if their preferred payment method is not accepted. According to the survey, credit/debit cards continue to be the most popular method, preferred by 78% of U.S. consumers, with mobile/digital wallets a close second at 68%.

Despite growing consumer demand for mobile/digital wallets, providers are not keeping pace. 62% of software and QA professionals say customer preferences drive which payment methods to accept, but are misaligned with consumers as only 56% of them accept mobile/digital wallets.

Developers are focused on localization, but continue to test by “dogfooding” which limits coverage and introduces bias. While 66% of organizations surveyed are working to adapt their customer journeys and checkout processes to regional and cultural norms, more than half (59%) rely on in-house developers and QA staff who are native speakers to test apps for each language.

52% of consumers have abandoned an app due to poor localization, contributing to revenue loss from cart abandonment. Effective localization – particularly translation accuracy – is critical to retaining users. Respondents shared the top localization issues they have encountered: 48% of app responses used incorrect words or syntax, 40% assumed local knowledge with which they were unfamiliar, and 38% had misspellings.

“Choice and speed are top of mind for consumers. If they can’t quickly make a purchase with their preferred payment method, they’re not going to continue on with the experience,” said Luke Damian, Chief Growth Officer, Applause. “Digital payments is a complex landscape. Beyond transaction processing, developers need to think about returns, exchanges, receipts, rewards programs and more. Every aspect of the customer journey is an opportunity to drive customer satisfaction and retention, which is why expanding test coverage through crowdtesting is so critical.”

He added: “Innovators like Accor, one of the world’s largest hospitality brands, come to Applause for payments and localization expertise and experience high ROI. Community-based testing ensures the user experience is optimal, no matter where their customers are located or what payment instrument is used.”

“As an international business, Accor relies on Applause to ensure customers all over the world can seamlessly book and pay for hotels through our e-commerce platform,” said Rémi Lakmeche, VP E-Commerce Engineering, Accor. “Applause’s global community of digital experts enables us to perform live payments testing in real scenarios with real payment instruments, so we can identify and address potential issues quickly. It gives us a high level of confidence about the quality of our product to our customers.”

The Digital Payments and Localization Survey is part of the State of Digital Quality content series from Applause. Additional insights from the Digital Payments and Localization Survey can be found on today’s related survey blog. The third annual State of Digital Quality Report, which analyzes a representative sample of its testing data and reports on the most common flaws in digital experiences in several industries, will be available in September 2024.

Applause Leads the Way in AR/VR Testing Excellence

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The Next Evolution of Software Testing: Digital Quality as a Service

Adonis Celestine — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 15:00:12 +0000

The most successful brands in the world pride themselves on the high level of quality they hold themselves to. Quality is an essential component of any brand’s identity, customer loyalty, and continued success. In today’s increasingly digital world, digital product quality is just as important as that of a physical product.

That said, many organizations struggle with achieving a reliable and consistent level of quality for their digital applications and products. According to recent research, poor software quality cost organizations $2.41 trillion in the U.S. alone in 2022. There are a few reasons behind this digital quality pain point facing brands today, including a lack of both expertise and a consistently executed digital quality strategy. Additionally, because modern digital applications and platforms are often quite complex with multiple interfaces and technologies, it can be a challenge to manage and prioritize quality.

A dedicated focus on digital quality is necessary for companies to achieve the level of quality they have their sights set on for digital products. Quality needs to be built into and prioritized within the software development life cycle (SDLC), and expertise across all quality disciplines (functional, usability, localization, user experience, etc.) must be part of this approach. Unfortunately, the resources and talent required to build and add digital expertise in house can prove to be challenging for many companies. However, this growing demand for digital quality expertise has led to the rise of a new service model, Digital Quality as a Service (DQaaS).

Defining Digital Quality as a Service

Digital Quality as a Service (DQaaS) refers to a managed-service engagement in which a provider commits to achieve a pre-agreed upon level of quality outcomes for a client. The methodology for achieving that outcome is usually left up to the provider, and is likely to involve a mix of elements including exploratory testing, accessibility testing, usability testing, test case execution, and automation.

A provider will write and execute test cases, deliver feedback, and ensure alignment with the client’s roadmap of the product. Aligning and collaborating should provide a frictionless journey where the provider and client are on the same page for level of test coverage and where in the SDLC testing should take place.

Organizations leveraging DQaaS gain access to shared service teams that can support their own software development teams. The shared services team offers consultation, expertise on quality, and provides resources to specific product teams depending on priorities and goals.

Digital Quality as a Service Benefits

The benefits an organization receives from adopting a DQaaS approach to their product development and deployment include:

● Expertise: With a shared service team model, an organization isn’t just getting a group of testers to find bugs. These are experts who can assess and prioritize bugs, manage a team of testers and deeply understand different types of testing. They also know how to implement testing approaches and improve processes by adding elements like automation and customer journey testing.

● Holistic Approach: Conceptually, DQaaS approaches quality holistically. A shared services team provides experience and expertise across functional, usability, performance, payments, accessibility testing and more. The purpose of the team is to deliver end-to-end quality for organizations, ensuring features and entire products are built up to a certain quality standard and encompassing the entire customer journey.

● Broader Quality Perspective: Without being tied to a specific department, a shared services team can see the bigger picture after working with individuals and different teams. Learnings and best practices from one team can then be applied to others, leading to a more aligned, collaborative and educated overall team.

● Plug-In Service: Organizations often know they can be doing more when it comes to quality for their software, but they don’t have the resources to hire someone full time to fill in the gaps, or have the expertise to know exactly what needs fixing. A shared service team plugs right into current workflows, providing that expertise and those resources.

● Bespoke Strategy: The concept of digital quality is not the same for everyone. While there are frameworks and best practices, a variety of factors, including available resources, Agile teams, features and number of products, all weigh into the overall strategy that goes into quality. A shared services team can advise clients on what the approach to quality should look like for their specific organization.

Crowdtesting and Digital Quality as a Service

Crowdtesting digital applications and products can go hand-in-hand with the implementation of DQaaS. Crowdtesting provides real-world testing with real devices. When this is part of a DQaaS agreement, dedicated resources find and manage bugs across different software types, devices, and locations, while also consulting with QA on next steps and helping to drive testing maturity through the creation of automated regression suites.

Companies leveraging this approach benefit from having real user feedback and perspective during product development, while simultaneously having the ability to improve QA processes to meet the quality requirements they are looking for before a product is pushed live.

Building a Culture of Quality

Consistent product quality goes a long way toward defining a brand and building customer loyalty. Investing in the resources and expertise needed to make sure the highest level of quality is achieved for a product helps to build an overall culture of organizational quality. From individual developers, to QA teams, and business leaders, prioritizing quality and making it part of an organization’s culture is a worthwhile endeavor with the results speaking for themselves.

To learn more about how Applause uses Digital Quality as a Service, visit the website here.

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Applause 2024 Generative AI Survey Released

Taylor Graham — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 15:00:48 +0000

Applause unveiled findings from its second Generative AI Survey, which gathered responses from more than 6,300 individuals including consumers, software developers, and QA testers. The survey focused on their perspectives and utilization of Generative AI tools, such as chatbots, and Generative AI in software testing. While a significant portion of participants noted improvements in chatbot assistance, lingering apprehensions persist regarding issues like bias and effectiveness.

Generative AI Survey Key findings:

Respondents thought chatbots are managing toxic and inaccurate responses better, but many have still experienced biased or inaccurate results and have data privacy concerns.
Chatbots are mainly being used for research.
Multimodal capabilities are essential for chatbot adoption.
It’s not unusual for users to switch between chatbots, depending on the task.
Generative AI is increasingly being used in software development and testing.

Additional insights:

Not surprisingly, ChatGPT was the most used, and most popular, chatbot.

Being first to market, ChatGPT has been used the most (91%), followed by Gemini (63%) and Microsoft Copilot (55%).
Other chatbots have been used by under a third of users: Grok (32%), Pi (29%), Perplexity (24%), Claude (23%) and Poe (21%).
38% of respondents indicated that they use different chatbots depending on the specific task.
27% of respondents said they have replaced one chatbot with another due to performance.

Chatbots are being used for research on a daily basis, suggesting they deliver valuable results.

91% of respondents have used chatbots to conduct research, and 33% of those respondents use them for research daily.
81% of respondents have used chatbots for answering basic search queries in place of traditional search engines, and 32% of those respondents do so daily.

Multimodal capabilities are essential to getting value from chatbots.

A majority of respondents (62%) said that multimedia is essential for a large portion of their usage of a Generative AI tool.
A fourth of respondents have used both text and voice commands to interact with chatbots, with 5% stating they use voice as their main form of input.

Gen AI is increasingly being used in software development and testing.

Of the 1,539 respondents using Gen AI for software development and testing, the most common applications are writing or debugging code (51%), test reporting (48%), building test cases (46%) and building apps (42%).
GitHub Copilot is the most popular tool for coding assistance (41% of respondents), followed by OpenAI Codex (24% of respondents).

There is room to improve the experience.

Only 19% of users indicated that the chatbot understood their prompt and provided a helpful response every time.
Chatbot features users would like to see include better source attribution, more localized responses, support for more languages and deeper personalization.

Concerns still linger around data privacy, inaccurate responses and biased responses. However, respondents thought chatbots are managing toxic and inaccurate responses better.

89% of respondents were concerned about providing private information to chatbots, and 11% said they would never provide private information.
50% of the respondents have experienced biased responses, and 38% have seen examples of inaccurate responses.
75% of respondents felt that chatbots are getting better at managing toxic or inaccurate responses.

“It’s clear from the survey that consumers are keen to use Gen AI chatbots, and some have even integrated it into their daily lives for tasks like research and search. Chatbots are getting better at dealing with toxicity, bias and inaccuracy – however, concerns still remain. Not surprisingly, switching between chatbots to accomplish different tasks is common, while multimodal capabilities are now table stakes,” said Chris Sheehan, SVP Strategic Accounts and AI at Applause. “To gain further adoption, chatbots need to continue to train models on quality data in specific domains and thoroughly test across a diverse user base to drive down toxicity and inaccuracy.”

The Generative AI Survey is part of the State of Digital Quality content series from Applause. In May 2023, the company released its second annual State of Digital Quality Report, which analyzes a representative sample of its testing data and reports on the most common flaws in digital experiences in several industries, including retail, finance, media and telecommunications, and travel and hospitality.

AI Survey Reveals Concerns Over Bias, Copyright Issues, and Data Privacy

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Applause Leads the Way in AR/VR Testing Excellence

Taylor Graham — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 17:00:26 +0000

Applause has revamped its testing methodology for augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR). This involves integrating the Apple Vision Pro into its wide array of testing devices, totaling over 5 million connected devices. Additionally, they have improved their approaches to functionality, usability, and accessibility testing to align with the latest technological advancements.

In the era of rapidly evolving immersive technologies, Applause’s dedication to supporting major innovations like Apple Vision Pro, PlayStation VR and Meta Quest sets it apart. With a robust community of testing professionals equipped with the newest headsets and associated devices, Applause supports companies working at the cutting edge of AR/VR to release applications that meet the highest quality standards.

“Applause continues to build centers of excellence for emerging technologies. Our commitment to crowdtesting the most advanced applications across fields like generative AI and AR/VR showcases our forward-thinking approach. With thousands of devices including Meta Quest, PlayStation VR and Apple Vision Pro at our disposal, we are ready to help our clients navigate the complexities of immersive digital experiences,” said Leanne Orphanos, Senior Vice President, Customer Operations, Applause.

Applause’s AR/VR testing solution covers a comprehensive range of services, from functional and usability testing to accessibility and compatibility assessments, enabling flawless operation and engaging user experiences across devices.

For more information about Applause AR/VR testing capabilities, visit the website here.

AI Survey Reveals Concerns Over Bias, Copyright Issues, and Data Privacy

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AI Survey Reveals Concerns Over Bias, Copyright Issues, and Data Privacy

Taylor Graham — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 13:00:05 +0000

Applause released the results of its first ever Generative AI Survey. Deployed in August 2023, the survey gathered the insights of more than 3,100 digital quality testing professionals from around the globe about their experiences with generative AI services. The survey revealed that a majority of users are concerned about bias, copyright issues, and hallucinations in content generated by AI.

The August survey was conducted as a follow-up to an AI survey Applause issued in March of this year which centered on user sentiment around voice applications, chatbots, and ChatGPT.

As noted in numerous recent examples in the media, bias continues to be a problem with AI-fueled technologies. When survey participants were asked about their level of concern regarding bias in AI-generated content:

90% expressed concern, with 25% “very concerned” that bias may affect the accuracy, tone or relevance of the content produced, a 24% increase from the March survey.
47% said they have experienced responses or content they considered biased.
18% had experienced responses they considered offensive.

Other key findings:

Generative AI in the Workplace

Despite the numerous concerns, more than half (59%) of the respondents said their workplaces support the use of generative AI services.
23% of that group said there are restrictions in place for using the technology.
Of the remainder, 19% said their workplaces do not support use of the technology, and 21% were unsure.

Data Privacy

69% believe it is “very” (35%) or “extremely” (34%) important to consider data privacy when developing new AI technologies.
67% feel that most generative AI services currently infringe on data privacy.

Copyright Issues

91% expressed concern that content produced using generative AI could be in breach of copyright or intellectual property protections.
One-fourth of that group were “extremely concerned” about potential breach of copyright.

Satisfaction with chatbots

In a sign that generative AI is potentially having a positive impact on the interactions users are experiencing with chatbots, this survey saw a 30% reduction in dissatisfaction with chatbots versus the survey in March.
Only 21% said they were either “somewhat” or “extremely dissatisfied” with their use of chatbots, down from 30% in March.

“As the survey demonstrates, generative AI services are becoming more widely used, including in the workplace. While the technology can be extremely helpful and is being used to complete a variety of tasks – from evaluating job applications to writing business contracts, or, even as one of our survey respondents replied, to write electronic dance music, it is important to recognize that the technology is still evolving. Biased, incorrect, and harmful content is a big hurdle to surmount. To improve AI, we need to invest in strategies – in regard to data collection, training, and testing – to identify bad content and take steps toward rectifying the issues. Testing outputs with real people provides the feedback needed to understand these subtleties,” said Rob Mason, CTO for Applause.

The Generative AI Survey is one of a series of surveys Applause has conducted so far this year. In addition to the March Voice and Chatbots Survey, the company released its second annual State of Digital Quality Report in May 2023, which analyzes a representative sample of its testing data and reports on the most common flaws in digital experiences in several industries including retail, finance, media and telecommunications, and travel and hospitality. Later this year, they will conduct the fifth annual global survey on holiday shopping trends.

About Applause Generative AI Solutions

Applause offers comprehensive services designed to evaluate the effectiveness of large language models (LLMs) and generative AI models. By subjecting these algorithms to rigorous testing, Applause helps clients identify areas for improvement, enhance model performance, and ensure reliable and unbiased outputs. The testing process encompasses real-world scenarios and diverse user interactions, providing valuable insights into the algorithm’s capabilities and limitations.

Based on improvement guidelines, Applause uses generative AI to improve the quality of written test cases using the new Smart Suggestion feature within Applause Test Case Management (TCM). Smart Suggestion uses ChatGPT to optimize test cases and return suggestions to improve original test case content. Clear and well-written test cases provide faster time to testing, less time spent responding to questions, clearer reported bugs, lower costs and time overhead, and more efficient test cycle execution.

To learn more about Applause, visit the website HERE.

What’s Ahead for AI? A Steep Learning Curve

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What’s Ahead for AI? A Steep Learning Curve

Adonis Celestine — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 09:00:50 +0000

In the early months of 2023, ChatGPT rose in popularity out of nowhere and has instilled a mix of excitement and panic across classrooms and boardrooms. At the same time, Microsoft and Google formally kicked off the AI arms race with major strategic announcements leading many in the broader public to believe that we have achieved peak AI. While this may be true, these new applications didn’t happen by accident. Training a machine to learn, think, act and respond like a human takes massive amounts of data inputs across countless potential scenarios. A machine can’t validate a machine, and right now any machine learning algorithms are enabling these applications is only as good as its training data.

It’s (Still) All About The Data

The use cases for AI are getting more and more complex as organizations from retail, banking, automotive, healthcare and more look to implement AI. Many are finding these implementations much more difficult than expected because they underestimate the work that goes into proper data collection and training models properly. These organizations need different data sets and inputs, made up of authentic voices, documents, images and sounds, depending on the algorithms requirements. Essentially it’s source quality data at scale.

Foundation models (deep learning algorithms based on broad sets of unlabeled data) can help, but raise crucial questions about ethics and compliance. If the foundational data is flawed, or biased, so too will the outcomes be. It is difficult for algorithms to ‘unlearn’ patterns, so it is important that biases are not built into the algorithm from the earliest phases of implementation. For example, the most powerful language model ever created – the Generative Pre-Trained Transformers 4 (GPT-4) released in March this year does not reveal what data sets it is trained on citing competitive reasons. This raises serious ethical questions. Organizations will need to build governance and compliance into their development process and timelines to ensure that their machine learning models are not amplifying existing biases in datasets.

Test….and Test Again

While AI language models have been and will continue to be trained using large amounts of data, organizations continue to underestimate how much data they actually need. More training data means more learning for algorithms. Early or smaller sample sizes make it difficult to identify trends and make accurate correlations. Getting it right requires sufficiently representing all attributes of human nature, which means that organizations will still need people to test, develop and improve AI.

We’ve all witnessed how even the largest of tech companies have recognized the need for rigorous testing that combines real world external feedback with internal testing.

Avoid Costly Mistakes

Crowd-based testing can introduce a human element to help uncover issues that lab-based or structured test cases can miss, and can curate training data.

Crowdtesting allows companies to get feedback from a diverse group of users, which can help identify potential sources of bias in the model. By testing the model with a wide range of users in real-world scenarios, companies can identify issues that may have been missed during the development process and take steps to address them. This method also helps identify issues related to user experience and helps establish a feedback loop between companies and their users to ensure that the AI application continues to evolve and improve.

By leveraging the power of the crowd, companies can speed up the amount of time it takes to label large amounts of data, ensure quality control, and improve the diversity and relevance of their training data. By having multiple people label each data point, companies can identify discrepancies and errors, and take steps to address them. They can also have testers generate new examples of data that are relevant to the task at hand, improving the overall diversity and quality of their training data.

While the excitement and activity so far around AI is incredible, the remainder of 2023 will be a year of learning for AI teams and users. Incorporating and working with data from a broad variety of people with different backgrounds, experiences, and ways of thinking and behaving, will be time well spent toward eliminating bias and further advancing AI.

For more information visit the Applause website HERE.

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