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FITNESS

Stay In Shape, Get Fit and Stay Healthy

For the women, with fewer commutes to the office and less time spent going out, we are moving less and people are looking for ways to fend off joint tightness and pain from sitting.

“Because you’re sitting all day, you might feel your back or your hips tightening up. I’ve had a lot of clients come to me and say, ‘I really want to work on my mobility. I’m just sitting down all day and not really moving. How can we incorporate that?’" says therapist Nakhlawi.

Mobility work, think stretches not only helps relieve tightness in your joints, but it also enhances your workouts because you’re able to move through exercises with a full range of motion. McCall, another fitness trainer, recommends multi-planar lunges for improving hip mobility, for example, especially for those who sit for hours in front of a computer. Cat-cows and good mornings are great for the spine. Aim to do one to three mobility exercises as part of your warm-up before a workout, or one to two mobility workouts a week.

McCall also foresees that the use of mobility sticks and massage guns, like Hyperice and Theragun, to help reduce muscle tightness and soreness.

“There is also a growing understanding of the importance of adding active recovery into workouts. It can be a simple activity like foam rolling or more sophisticated approaches to joint mobility and strength, along with reduction of pain and injury prevention. If you love working out and understand the value of it, you want to do it forever.”

In terms of building strength, few people make time to improve their pelvic floor, the group of muscles that runs from your pubic bone to your tailbone and from sit bone to sit bone. But paying more attention to these muscles is important because they control your bladder and bowel movements, and play a vital role in breathing and sexual function, says Renee Settle, a P.volve trainer, where they’ve created workouts specially designed for strengthening the pelvic floor muscles. It’s also an integral part of core recovery for postpartum women.

“Some of the muscles of the pelvic floor are the coccygeus muscle, pubococcygeus muscle, deep transverse perineal muscle, and the levator ani muscle,” she says. “There are many more muscles that compile the pelvic floor, but beginning with these muscles, activation is important to help support the uterus, bladder, and intestines.”

You can train your pelvic floor with exercises, like glute bridges, marches, heel drags, and squats, that incorporate diaphragmatic breathing. Roup, who created a pre- and post-natal pelvic floor program on The Sculpt Society, includes diaphragmatic breathing exercises in her program to help you contract and relax your pelvic floor, which is essential in keeping it functional.

“The foundation to all exercises and how we move stems from our core and how it connects to your pelvic floor and breathing,” Roup says.

Settle says that incorporating pelvic floor exercises into your routine should be done on a personal basis, as some people need to focus more on strengthening the muscles while others should prioritize releasing the muscles.

Women who have pelvic floor dysfunction after childbirth, for example, might need to focus more on strengthening the muscles and should aim to do pelvic floor exercises twice a week, she explains. On the other hand, some people have a hypertonic pelvic floor, which means that their muscles are too tight and need to be released. These people tend to have pain during sex, pelvic pain, and constipation.

“The best way to know what your body needs is to work with a physical therapist who specializes in the pelvic floor to get a proper diagnosis and then you can incorporate strengthening or release as needed,” Settle says.

E xh I b ITI o N o N INTIM aC y a N d qu EERNESS by married

artists and longtime collaborators

Dutes Miller and Stan Shellabarger

Steve Reinke, and a fifty-five-foot long cut-paper garland. This is the first time for the artists to create a painted mural, which will occupy the entire large wall of the gallery.

The renowned non-profit hub hyde Park art Center, for contemporary art located on Chicago’s South Side, will be showing a free exhibition by Miller & Shellabarger. Married artists and longtime collaborators dutes Miller and Stan Shellabarger, premieres their largest multimedia installation to date, which went on view April 10 and will go through September 3, 2022.

Named Loving Repeating, addresses the presence and absence of human touch experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, in an immersive installation incorporating the artists’ signature style featuring silhouettes of each other’s bodies.

Since 1993, the two Chicago-based artists have been creating works on paper, performances, and installations that draw attention to the human condition experienced through the queer perspective. Their artworks focus on the underlying concept of the infinite feeling of connection, loneliness and loss felt throughout long-term relationships over time.

Loving Repeating will include three new major works created in response to the Art Center’s gallery space, a twenty foot tall by eighty-foot wide handpainted mural, a multi-channel video projection made in collaboration with

The artists will also present a participatory performance for the first time, as art imitates life, the end of the exhibition will be celebrated with a bonfire to burn the paper artwork. The ashes will be placed and sealed in a pine box and added to the artists’ series of work titled burnt, which will also be on display.

The free public programs ranging from performances, art-making workshops, to artist talks can be found online at HydeParkArt.org:

Indianapolis is a vibrant city full of pleasant surprises, it’s the capital of the Hoosier state and one of the Midwest’s most underrated destinations.

Surrounding the iconic 284-foot-tall Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Monument Circle is an iconic spot and is the beating heart of Downtown Indy, regularly hosting festivals and never shy of a vibrant and lively atmosphere. Standing tall in the middle of a traffic circle, the limestone memorial offers striking views from its observation deck and acts as the center point for the city’s biggest events, with no shortage of local food trucks and occasional light shows after sunset.

If you’ve got a bike or are in the mood to rent one (or don’t mind a decent walk), then look no further than Indy’s very own Cultural Trail, it’s an eight-mile paved route that takes visitors seamlessly past some of the city’s most famous attractions! Whether your taste is for art galleries, parks, monuments, museums, or gardens, a trip down this tourist-friendly route, which passes through no loess than six quirky neighborhoods: Mass Ave, Fountain Square, The Canal & White River State Park, Indiana Avenue, the Wholesale District and Market East, is sure something to do in Indianapolis.

For a comprehensive exploration of the Hoosier state’s history and heritage, look no further than the Indiana State Museum, formerly housed inside the old Indianapolis City Hall, the Museum (with over 500,000 objects) became too big and too popular in recent years and has found its new home among the greenery of White River State Park. With 40,000 feet and three levels of exhibition space, dedicated to everything from prehistoric times through to modern art and natural sciences.

The Indianapolis Zoo, in White River State Park is an Indy attraction and is regularly atop traveler’s list of things to do in Indianapolis and has had over a million visitors per year and acting as the home of more than 3,800 cute and cuddly animals (and a few odd). Spread across 64 acres of land and with twice as many exhibits as any other zoo in the state, you’ll find everything from the rare and endangered, including white rhinos, Amur tigers, Guinea baboons, red pandas, and Komodo dragons, to the most common of cheeky monkeys and slithery snakes!

Perhaps best known for its spot on the NASCAR calendar with the Indy 500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, the home of racing in Indianapolis, is also a must-see for lovers of all things fast and furious! Sitting inside the middle of the famous 2.5-mile oval track, the Museum covers two whole floors with dozens of historic cars (including those that won the coveted rave), motorcycles, engines and memorabilia dating back to the late 1800s. While the rotating exhibits come and go, the undisputed highlight is the permanent fixture of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame. After learning all about racing history, it’s time to get behind the wheel of an open-wheel chassis Indycar yourself! At the hair-raising Indy Racing Experience, you’ll be taken for a ride in one of their two-seaters with an expert driver teaching you how to handle it on the track. Prepare yourself for speeds up to 180mph and feel what it’s like to race around the famous Oval.

Whether you want to cut through Downtown with a ride along the White River in the center of the action or head out into the suburbs for a peaceful day on the Geist Reservoir instead, it’s hard to go wrong with an Indy boat tour, especially on those sizzling summer days. With several different options available (including historical trips, dinner cruises full of live entertainment, and after-dark fireworks cruises.)

Yes, Indianapolis has a roller rink, called the Fun Factory (formerly Wheels of Wonder), you can enjoy a night out on the rink with friends, turn the nostalgia into overdrive. In addition to all-ages skating sessions, there are a handful of arcade games, all-you-can-eat pizza nights (typically on Sundays and Wednesdays), and skating lessons.

Co VER STo Ry Dallas Choice

master at writing and so is Quatro Dollaz.

Our friend NoLuvDaPoet was great too and we all spent time together. Paul, Quatro, and I all left for a trip to Cali to meet with Stay Strap. He runs Mansion of Mayhem in California. Things eventually went south so I headed to Hollywood and later found myself living on 2nd Street San Pedro, CA. I met Morgan Choice along the way, a professional dancer who has danced for many famous artists.

I was born in Elgin, IL and have lived all around the Chicago area through most of my life. I began playing guitar and singing around 12 years old and picked it up very quickly. As the years went by, I fell out of love with guitar and quit playing and focused on school. Time went and I ended up living with my cousins. My cousin Paul, aka Yung Paul, had started rapping and I fell in love with the art. The first time I watched 8 Mile I got inspired and had it in my mind that I wanted to rap but never pursued the art until I met up with my cousin. I started as a manager for my cousin Yung Paul and began to hone the craft of writing rap. I worked around the best in Chicagoland. My cousin Paul is a

One day I asked her if she would dance if I got the chance to provide for her as an artist. She said yes. Soon after separating I made the choice to make my name Dallas Choice. She has inspired me in many ways and her father Leonard Choice, who’s also a dancer, has been a support to me the whole way. I have dedicated myself to my work and passion with the mindset of never giving up.

When sleeping on the streets of Hollywood, living in the freezing cold streets of Elgin and Rockford, staying 7 months in a tent in Elgin, I never let my heart get lost and kept pushing through. To the streets of Hollywood, San Pedro, Rockford, and my hometown Elgin (the streets that made me who I am today...) “We Will Win!”

by: Dr. Charla Waxman BS, MBA, EdD

Chillax……come on, you can do it!

Keep calm, calm down, chill out, don’t panic……these phrases are printed on coffee cups, journals, T-shirts and we hear them from friends and families whenever they sense we are about to “lose it”. Part of the reason for this is because frantic produces frantic.

No one wants to be in a state of panic, and no one wants to be a bystander of a panic episode. A panic attack can be a debilitating experience capable of rendering someone incapable of making a decision, even a life-saving one. People experiencing panic have described it as a range of emotions and physical reactions at the highest level, all at the same time. Worst of all these panic outbreaks can occur without warning. So much of the worry about these events is the fact that the panic can return anytime, anywhere. This can cause us to become avoidant of people, places, and situations sometimes, irrationally. Panic disorders can control us in a multitude of unhealthy ways, stealing the potential for comfortable, happy and healthy lives and lifestyles.

A relative of anxiety is panic disorders, according to the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, nearly 22% of adults in the U.S. experience anxiety in any given year. That said, many of us will experience a panic attack at some point in our lives. If we don’t have a panic attack, it is certain that we will know someone who has.

The “hEaRT” of a panic attack, to really understand the symptoms, includes:

h: Hot or feelings of heat in your body or your face.

E: Extreme disorientation, distortion of feelings, vision or control and exhaustion

a: Anxiety and fear, feelings of impending doom

R: Racing thoughts, racing breathing, racing heart and heart attack symptoms

T: Thinking about frightening things, feeling like death is imminent, being out of control and overall emotional turmoil

Keep in mind, that many panic attack symptoms do mimic heart attack symptoms, and sometimes it is difficult to identify one from the other. If there is any doubt, a trip to the ER is the best move. Let medical professionals sort it out. Better safe than sorry!

Here are some ways to manage panic attacks and the symptoms for those attacks:

don’t be an island: Panic attacks affect a large portion of the population. Don’t be afraid to share that you have them, and, in fact, find a partner you can call who can settle you down and talk you through it.

breathe your way through it: A panic attack can literally take your breath away. Breathe in like you’re smelling flowers, deep and through your nose.

Blow it out through your mouth like you are blowing out candles. If you can change your breathing, it is said that you can change your feelings.

use refocusing techniques related to your senses: Cognitive, mindful sensory techniques that make a difference can include things like, think of 5 things you can touch, 4 things you can smell, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can taste, and 1 thing you can see. This technique can help you focus away from the panic and fear and help the feelings subside.

If you have other mental health conditions and are challenged by some physical health issues, you may be more prone to develop panic attacks. Watch for physical conditions like asthma, thyroid diseases, and even diabetes. Substance use disorders, depression, anxiety disorders, and eating disorders may have some links to panic episodes.

Treatment works. There are many therapy styles, so you will be able to pick and choose what works for you. Be a consumer, ask questions, do some reading and if a therapy or therapy practice doesn’t feel like a match, try something or someone else.

Some talk therapies to consider could be Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, both of these well researched and proven to have value. Many therapy programs rely on these to create impact for their clients. Sensory therapies can include: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and some types of ExposureRelated Therapies. These are also solidly researched and can make a real difference. Some consider medication and find good results, too. Some therapies work well together, don’t be surprised if this is a suggestion by your counselor. Again, find what works best for you.

You deserve to live panic-free with skills in your tool belt to manage what comes your way.

PRI d E J ou RNE y Texas

by: Joey Amato

I had a trip to Texas planned prior to the introduction of the anti-transgender bills in state Congress. I considered cancelling the trip completely, however I realized that there are thousands of LGBTQ people living in the state who would be negatively affected by boycotts and travel cancellations, so I decided to forge ahead. Texas is a red state with multiple blue dots including Austin, Houston, Dallas, and others.

I started my road trip in dallas, a place I have visited multiple times before for business. Dallas is a fun city with a thriving LGBTQ culture. The city’s nightlife is centered around the oak Lawn neighborhood and its main thoroughfare Cedar Springs Road. Dozens of LGBTQ-owned shops, restaurants, salons, and bars line the street giving locals and tourists a variety of options to choose from.

Don’t party too hard because we are about to hit the road and venture to Palestine, Texas, a town located about 2-hours away. Upon arrival, it doesn’t seem like much but as you explore the East Texas town you begin to notice its charm and appeal. Many coupled LGBTQ families are relocating from Dallas, or buying second homes here, because of its proximity to lakes and natural wonders.

One such park is davey dogwood Park. The 254-acre park is open year-round and offers eight miles of hiking trails. I was a bit early to see the bloom of the beautiful dogwood trees, but I heard it is quite a remarkable sight. I was visiting during the Texas Dogwood Trails Celebration and Davey Dogwood Park was the centerpiece for one of the key components of the festival, the Fairy Garden Trails. Dozens of locals recreate miniature fairy lands throughout the park for guests to view. I can honestly say this is the first time I’ve ever seen such a display.

After your morning hike, head to Shep’s barb-q, a favorite among the Palestine locals. The family owned business has created quite a name in the town, so expect a long line when you arrive to the restaurant. It doesn’t look like much from the outside but once you taste the food, you’ll realize why it has become so popular.

Spend the night at the historic Redlands hotel, located in the heart of Palestine. The property was built in 1914 and features 20 unique suites. I stayed in a fabulous corner suite which reminded me of boutique hotels in South Beach. The modern room featured white linens with pops of color. There is also an art gallery located in the lobby which features works from East Texas artists including Stacy Campbell and Cecilia bramhall. I acquired works from both of those artists during my stay.

After breakfast head to oxbow bakery for a slice of their world-famous pies. It’s never too early for pie, especially when they have been voted one of the ‘South’s Best Pies’ by Southern Living Magazine.

Walk off your pie during a visit to the East Texas arboretum & botanical Society, about a 20 minute drive from Palestine. Enjoy two miles of hiking trails, live (enclosed) honeybees and the historic Wofford house Museum, the oldest home in Henderson County, built in 1850. The arboretum is dedicated to the preservation of the natural environment and the creation of formal and informal plant collections.

Not too far away is oh My Goat, a family owned farm offering goat yoga. I had been anxiously awaiting this the entire trip as I had never done goat yoga before. I was expecting two, maybe three goats interacting with me as I performed yoga poses, but as we settled on our mats, the owners opened the gates, a herd of goats swarmed the pen. They were so cute and curious, each with a unique personality. The baby goats were my favorite of course. They were so inquisitive and friendly. At one point, I had four goats laying on my mat.

It made it difficult to focus on my yoga form, but I didn’t care. Oh My Goat also features a cute shop where people can purchase T-shirts to remember this memorable experience.

Head back to the Redlands hotel for a quick wardrobe change before dinner. You can visit any one of numerous restaurants located throughout the town, or if you are tired from playing with the goats, try the hotel’s restaurant, queen St Grille. The causal fine dining restaurant has been voted one of the best in the city and features a variety of southern favorites at a moderate price point. Most of the entrees are under $30 so feel free to indulge!

Palestine is also famous for its railroad history. Train enthusiasts will love taking a ride on the Texas State Railroad. Book your adventure well in advance because this experience is typically sold out during the spring when the dogwood trees are in full bloom.

Don’t expect to see many rainbow flags in this part of Texas as it is quite conservative. However, the people are friendly and welcoming, so if you like exploring small towns, then a weekend visit to Palestine should be on your radar.

Enjoy the Journey!

by: Dr. Charla Waxman BS, MBA, EdD,

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), one in 5 of us will experience a mental health condition in our lifetime. Only about 40% of those needing treatment, seek help. The National Council for Mental Wellbeing adds that many people wait up to a decade before getting a start on the mental health support they need. The leading cause for not seeking treatment or delaying help? If you guessed stigma, you are absolutely correct.

You may be thinking that with issues related to mental health being so front and center, how is it possible that stigma can be alive and well? Mental illness may be front and center, but it is still misunderstood. We still blame ourselves and see ourselves as weak when we are stressed, depressed, or anxious. “Buck up”, we think, “Pull yourself together!”. NAMI has been known to call mental illness the “No Casserole Disease”. That is to say, if you break a leg and are off of work, people send cards and letters and show up at your house with casseroles and other meals. If you are hospitalized for depression, the same people might not show up with those casseroles because they may be thinking, “Depression is a private matter.” or “What drama!” or they feel sorry for you, and just don’t know what to say. Stigma is definitely a barrier to health. It is a barrier to the support that we all need to feel better. Support is a key factor to resilience and is one of the protective factors for overall wellness. Stigma stops support.

Stigmatizing mental health has been around for a while. Earlier times demonized mental illness, some beliefs even holding demons responsible for the challenge of mental illness. Now we know that a number of factors like genetics, life experiences, and living conditions, can make mental health tenuous. The very real information that it is not our fault to have a mental health condition, does not seem to stop stigma. Fear of people with mental illness and portrayals of danger, violence and instability are often perpetuated in films and in reporting of the news.

Seems like we have forgotten that mental illness is, just that, an illness. Anyone can become ill. It is not “us” and “them”. It is “us”. As a means of reducing stigma and being increasingly more responsible about supporting health in a positive manner, “person first language”, a way to identify mental health and other issues, has come to light. People are no longer “schizophrenics”, they are persons living with schizophrenia. People are not “addicts”, they have a substance use disorder. We know that there are many layers of us. We are not just a mental illness or even a medical one. We are so much more and referring to us as a disease, is no longer how we need (or certainly, want) to be known.

There's always hope. There are ways to beat stigma, but we all have to do our part. Person first vs illness first language is just one way to show how supportive you are. Self-care and seeking help when you need it may help reduce fear of seeking help for someone else. Be a role model. Tell your story. Speak up when there are insensitive jokes or language about mental illness. Don’t be complacent. Mental health and how we treat people living with it and refer to it is very important.

RIVER N o RT h LIVE Chicago Festival Happening On June 24-26

The annual festival River North Live Festival, formerly Taste of River North, will be at new venue, with a new concept for 2022. The event, produced by River North Residents Association, will take place from June 24 through 26.

River North Live, now a new riverfront music festival produced by Duff Entertainment, will feature world-class artists including The Calling, best known for their hit “Wherever You Will Go”, emo and pop punk dJ Emo Night brooklyn, Kalamazoo-based indie rocker Michigander, baysik featuring brendan bayliss and Ryan Stasik of umphrey’s McGee, and of course there'll be lots more.

During this three-day music festival, guests will enjoy a variety of top musical acts throughout the weekend, while taking advantage of food and drink offerings from River North and beyond, all against a backdrop of Chicago’s wonderful architecture and great river views.

“After a two-year pandemic hiatus, we are thrilled to bring a festival celebrating River North back to our community this summer in

an exciting new venue. We invite our neighbors, and all of Chicagoland to come together again to enjoy all we have to offer,” said brian Israel, President, River North Residents Association. “From the incredible location at theMART’s River Park to world-class on-stage entertainment, great food and more, we’ve created an unforgettable experience and can’t wait to mark this new beginning for our neighborhood and our city.”

River North Live will take place at theMaRT’s River Park, located adjacent to the landmark building’s South entrance. Set against the iconic façade of theMART along the Chicago River, with scenic city views and lush greenery, River Park is the ideal location for the festival.

For more information, including the full performance lineup and more, please visit www.rivernorthlive.com. River North Live is sponsored by Q101 Chicago, East Bank Club, Lagunitas Disorderly Teahouse, Beatbox, NRG and Beam Suntory’s On the Rocks.

ChaK a K ahaN

A New Chapter, A New Collaboration

After six albums with Rufus nearly all of which went Gold or Platinum, in 1978

Chaka Khan started her solo career releasing the all-time classic “I’m Every Woman” (Ashford and Simpson). Produced by iconic songwriter, arranger, producer, and executive Arif Mardin, the single and the album, Chaka, cemented Chaka Kahn as a force that was about to take over popular music.

A singer, songwriter, actor, and activist, Chaka Khan is one of the world’s most gifted and celebrated musicians the world has ever known, we are happy to say is now with the SRG/ILS group for a new collaboration.

Chaka Khan has influenced generations of recording artists. Impacting almost every popular musical genre and having sold an estimated 70 million records.

“Chaka Khan is a beacon of light in our industry. Her spirit and her vocals soar. It is a pleasure working with her on this next chapter and we got a hot record here.” said Claude Villani, Founder and CEO of The SRG/ILS Group.

“I am very proud to be with The SRG/ILS Group, a company that is run by a real musician who understands the needs of artists that have been overlooked for years.” Chaka said.

Her legendary career jump started when Stevie Wonder penned the now classic “Tell Me Something Good” for Chaka when she was lead singer of the R&B, Funk band Rufus in 1974. Both the song and the album, Rags To Rufus, topped the charts, were certified Gold and won the Grammy that year for Best R&B Vocal Performance.

After incredible success both solo and collaborative, in 1984 Chaka released the iconic album I Feel For You. The title track, a cover of a Prince song, was a gigantic pop hit on the radio and MTV and earned Chaka her second Grammy Award as a solo artist for Best R&B Vocal Performance. Alongside being a top selling chart topper, the song made history by being the first R&B song to feature a rap which was performed by Grand Master Melle Mel. That kind of forward thinking always kept Chaka Khan one step ahead of and praised by her peers. The late, great Miles Davis often said, “She [Chaka] sings like my horn.” And the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin said, “[Chaka] is a one- of- a -kind, premier vocalist.”

Alongside the hit albums and singles, Chaka Khan has appeared on stage and screen in such standout productions as The Blue Brothers movie, The Color Purple on Broadway, and Signed, Sealed, and Delivered a musical based on the music of her friend Stevie Wonder.

In 2022 the 10-time Grammy Award winner is about to chart a new path on all fronts of her record-breaking career. Chaka is continuing her hit making and charttopping ways as she wraps up production of new music that is both contemporary and every bit classic Chaka Khan. We look forward to hearing the new collaboration! https://chakakahan

by Jack Santo

In 2022, we are seeing artificial intelligence continue along the path to becoming the most transformative technology humanity has ever developed. According to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, its impact will be even greater than that of fire or electricity on our development as a species. This may seem like a very ambitious claim, but considering it is already being used to help us tackle climate change, explore space, and develop treatments for cancer, the potential is clearly there.

The full scale of the impact that giving machines the ability to make decisions, and therefore enable decision-making to take place far more quickly and accurately than could ever be done by humans, is very difficult to conceive right now. But one thing we can be certain of is that in 2022 breakthroughs and new developments will continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible.

There have always been fears that machines or robots will replace human workers and maybe even make some roles redundant. However, as companies navigate the process of creating data and AI-literate cultures within their teams, we will increasingly find ourselves working with or alongside machines that use smart and cognitive functionality to boost our own abilities and skills. In some functions, such as marketing, we’re already used to using tools that help us determine which leads are worth pursuing and what value we can expect from potential customers.

In engineering roles, AI tools help us by providing predictive maintenance, letting us know ahead of time when machines will need servicing or repairing. In knowledge industries, such as law, we will increasingly use tools that help us sort through the evergrowing amount of data that’s available to find the nuggets of information that we need for a particular task. In just about every occupation, smart tools and services are emerging that can help us do our jobs more efficiently, and in 2022 more of us will find that they are a part of our everyday working lives.

Language modeling is a process that allows machines to understand and communicate with us in language we understand, or even take natural human languages and turn them into computer code that can run programs and applications. We have recently seen the release of GPT-3 by OpenAI, the most advanced (and largest) language model ever created, consisting of around 175 billion “parameters”- variables and datapoints that machines can use to process language. OpenAI is known to be working on a successor, GPT-4, that will be even more powerful. Although details haven’t been confirmed, some estimate that it may contain up to 100 trillion parameters, making it 500 times larger than GPT-3, and in theory taking a big step closer to being able to create language and hold conversations that are indistinguishable from those of a human. It will also become much better at creating computer code.

TECH TRENDS CONTINUED

This year the World Economic Forum identified cybercrime as potentially posing a more significant risk to society than terrorism. As machines take over more of our lives, hacking and cybercrime inevitably become more of a problem, as every connected device you add to a network is inevitably a potential point-of-failure that an attacker could use against you.

The concept has become a hot topic since Mark Zuckerberg spoke about creating it by combing virtual reality technology with the social foundations of his Facebook platform.

AI will undoubtedly be a lynchpin of the metaverse. It will help to create online environments where humans will feel at home at having their creative impulses nurtured. We will also most likely become used to sharing our metaverse environments with AI beings that will help us with tasks we’re there to do, or just be our partner for a game of tennis or chess when we want to relax and unwind.

As networks of connected devices become more complex, identifying those points of failure becomes more complex. This is where AI can play a role, though. By analyzing network traffic and learning to recognize patterns that suggest nefarious intentions, smart algorithms are increasingly playing a role in keeping us safe from 21st century crime. Some of the most significant applications of AI that we will see develop in 2022 are likely to be in this area.

The metaverse is the name given for a unified persistent digital environment, where users can work and play together. It’s a virtual world, like the internet, but with the emphasis on enabling immersive experiences, often created by the users themselves.

A big barrier to the adoption of AI-driven efficiency in many companies is the scarcity of skilled AI engineers who can create the necessary tools and algorithms. No-code and lowcode solutions aim to overcome this by offering simple interfaces that can be used, in theory, to construct increasingly complex AI systems. Much like the way web design and no-code UI tools now let users create web pages and other interactive systems simply by dragging and dropping graphical elements together, no-code AI systems will let us create smart programs by plugging together different, pre-made modules and feeding them with our own domain-specific data. Technologies such as natural language processing and language modeling, like mentioned above, mean that soon it may be possible to use nothing more than our voice or written instructions. All of this will play a key role in the ongoing “democratization” of AI and data technology.