What went wrong with America’s $44 million vaccine data system?

An AI saw a cropped photo of AOC. It autocompleted her wearing a bikini.

Sponsored by Salesforce The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology The broken US vaccine system 02.01.21 Good morning! I hope you had a pleasant weekend. Welcome to February. Today we examine what went wrong with the CDC's $44 million vaccine data system, how Americans are being forced to circumvent official channels to get vaccine appointments, and a worrying example of how sexism is being embedded into AI. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. What went wrong with America’s $44 million vaccine data system?      The grand plan: The CDC ordered a brand-new, $44 million website called VAMS—the Vaccine Administration Management System, built by the consulting firm Deloitte. You probably haven’t heard of it, but it was supposed to be a one-stop-shop to manage the vaccine rollout across the US. What actually happened: Instead, VAMS has hurt immunization efforts in various states. It is notorious for randomly canceled appointments, unreliable registration, and problems that lock staff out of the dashboard they’re supposed to use to log records. Many states have abandoned it and are choosing to hack together their own solutions, or pay for private systems instead. What went wrong: As a huge federal contractor, Deloitte got a $16 million no-bid contract to build the system back in May and snagged another $28 million in December. The contracts claim the company was the only “responsible source” to build the tool. To some watchdogs, VAMS is the latest example of a broken system for building government technology. Read the full story. —Cat Ferguson People are fed up with broken vaccine appointment tools — so they’re building their own The situation: Across the US, people are clamoring to get the hottest ticket of the season: an appointment for a covid-19 vaccination. The recommended method is to visit a local hospital website or call a hotline. But the results can be frustrating. Now, desperate people are taking matters into their own hands. One story: Carri Carver spent hours trying to find her father an appointment, once he had qualified for a vaccine under Texas rules. Using her skills as a digital product designer, she built Covid19 Vaccine TX, a site that lets people upload information about vaccination sites. Carver built it, loaded the project on the cloud-based spreadsheet service Airtable, and posted a link on Reddit. It has received over 50,000 visitors.  One of many: Carver’s site is just one of many solutions created to help people book vaccine appointments—a volunteer effort to fill in the gaps in America’s creaking system. That everyday people are having to do what should be the government’s job is not lost on these volunteers. But most don’t see any use in complaining. Read the full story. —Tanya Basu An AI saw a cropped photo of AOC. It autocompleted her wearing a bikini. The news: Language-generation algorithms are known to embed racist and sexist ideas. Researchers have now demonstrated that the same can be true for image-generation algorithms. Feed one a photo of a man cropped right below his neck, and 43% of the time, it will autocomplete him wearing a suit. Feed the same one a cropped photo of a woman, even a famous woman like US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and 53% of the time, it will autocomplete her wearing a low-cut top or bikini. Why it matters: These results have concerning implications for image generation. Other image-generation algorithms, like generative adversarial networks, have led to an explosion of deepfake pornography that almost exclusively targets women. The potential downstream effects are even more worrying. Read the full story. —Karen Hao We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these weird times. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.)   + A clever cat. And an unfortunate cat.   + People are getting angry at the wrong Robinhood on Twitter.   + A first for the International Space Station… a plant transplant.    + Imagining what long-dead US presidents would look like today.   + Are we getting weirder?   + The highest-resolution photos ever taken of snowflakes.   + Recipes to blast away the winter blues. Sponsor Message The Green Future Index 2021 The Green Future Index is a ranking of 76 leading countries and territories on their progress and commitment toward building a low carbon future. It measures the degree to which their economies are pivoting toward clean energy, industry, agriculture, and society through investment in renewables, innovation, and green finance. Experience the interactive index now. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 The Redditors are trading silver now Thought this would calm down over the weekend? NOPE. (CNN)   + Why this sort of nihilistic mania feels oddly familiar. (NYT $)   + Inside /r/wallstreetbets' astronomical rise. (WP $)   + People are rewatching "The Big Short" for a refresher on market mechanisms. (Wired $)   + Politicians probably mostly don't understand what's going on, but they don't like it. (NBC)   + Why you shouldn't buy the seductive "little guy vs big guy" narrative. (Ars Technica)  2 Why we need everyone—not just the rich—to get vaccinated 💉 If the virus is allowed to let rip, that vastly increases the chance of yet more variants emerging. (NYT $)   + If we fail, the pandemic will be longer and deadlier. (Axios)   + A 66% effective vaccine is better than none. (The Verge)   + Inside the Australian lab growing covid-19. (The Guardian)   + The case for vaccinating kids more quickly. (Wired $)   + Two million Australians are back in lockdown after one case was found. (Reuters)  3 The hack on the US was way bigger than SolarWinds Investigators found roughly a third of victims didn't even use the company's software. (WSJ $)   4 Amazon's struggle to make video games 🎮 In essence, its business culture is the problem. (Bloomberg $)   + Amazon is a hotbed of coronavirus misinformation. (The Seattle Times)  5 Inside a one-woman campaign to destroy a family's reputation online There's holding a grudge, and then there's this. (NYT $)   6 Want a PS5? You're up against bots And you can't click or type that quickly. (Wired UK)   7 China is imprisoning Twitter users More than 50 people have been jailed in the last three years as part of an escalating crackdown. (WSJ $)   8 Some QAnon followers are seeking a way out  Online support groups are offering help, escape, and even friendship. (ABC)   9 Deaf people face particular challenges as the pandemic drags on From face masks to inaccessible TV and video calls, people with hearing loss are feeling more isolated than ever. (The Verge)   10 Lab-grown meat will be on the menu for pets soon, too 🍖🐈 Vegan cat owners will be able to fully clear their consciences at last. (The Economist $) In just 9 days, join us at Future Compute, and cut through the noise of the cloud computing landscape.  Top executives from Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, IBM, and Microsoft will share their perspectives on how the convergence of 5G, AI, and IoT is creating new opportunities and what this means for how business gets done. Register now. Quote of the day "That hurricane is coming." —Epidemiologist Michael Osterholm, who advises President Biden, tells NBC that the US can expect a new surge in infections in the next six to 14 weeks thanks to the spread of new covid-19 variants. Top image credit: MS TECH | GETTY Please send silver to hi@technologyreview.com. Follow me on Twitter at @charlottejee. Thanks for reading! —Charlotte Was this newsletter forwarded to you, and you'd like to see more? Sign up for free Intelligent computing Join us virtually | February 10-11, 2021   Follow us: MIT Technology Review One Main Street Cambridge, MA 02142

Want to change how you receive these emails?

You can *update your preferences or *unsubscribe from this list. 

Subscription Information

This email was sent to Webmaster220 Bible Study Blog  

*the blog owner has deleted the hyperlink intentionally