Founded in 2000, the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) bills itself as “the largest and most comprehensive global information privacy community and resource.” It is more than just a certification body. It is a full-fledged not-for-profit membership association with a focus on information privacy concerns and topics. Its membership includes both individuals and organizations, in the tens of thousands for the former and the hundreds for the latter (including many Fortune 500 outfits).

Its mandate is to help privacy practitioners develop and advance in their careers, and help organizations manage and protect their data. To that end, the IAPP seeks to create a forum where privacy pros can track news and trends, share best practices and processes, and better articulate privacy management issues and concerns.

By 2012, the organization included 10,000 members. By the end of 2015, membership had more than doubled to 23,000 members. According to a Forbes story published that same year, approximately half of the IAPP’s membership is women (which makes it pretty special, based on our understanding of the gender composition for most IT associations and certification programs). Current membership must be between 30,000 and 40,000 as growth rates from 2012 to 2015 have continued, if not accelerated in the face of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which went into full effect on May 25, 2018. The IAPP also claims to have certified “thousands of professionals around the world.”

IAPP certification program overview

The IAPP has developed a globally recognized certification program around information privacy. Its current certification offerings include the following credentials:

• Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP): seeks to identify professionals who work primarily with privacy laws, regulations and frameworks
• Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM): seeks to identify professionals who manage day-to-day privacy operations for businesses and organizations
• Certified Information Privacy Technologist (CIPT): seeks to identify IT professionals who work regularly (if not primarily) with privacy policies, tools and technologies on the job

All these certifications comply with the ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024 standard, which means they have been developed to meet stringent requirements for analyzing the subject matter and the fields of work to which they apply, along with formal psychometric analysis of test items to make sure that exams truly differentiate those who possess the required skills and knowledge to do the related jobs from those who do not.

All the IAPP exams follow the same cost structure, though charges vary by location. In the U.S., each first-time exam costs $550, with a $375 charge for any subsequent retake of the same exam. Those who already hold any IAPP certification pay just $375 for each additional certification exam they take. IAPP certification holders can either pay an annual maintenance fee of $125 to keep their certifications current (and meet continuing education requirements of 20 CPE credits every two years) or they must join the IAPP.

If a person joins, they’ll pay an annual membership fee. Currently, that’s $250 for professional members, $50 for student members, and $100 for all other membership categories (government, higher education, retired and not-for-profit). Those who elect to pay the certification maintenance fee need pay only once a year, no matter how many IAPP certifications they earn.

IAPP exams are available at Kryterion testing centers, which may be identified with its test center locator. Exams consist of 90 question items. Candidates may take up to 150 minutes (2.5 hours) to complete any IAPP exam. Payment is handled through the IAPP website, but Kryterion handles date and time windows for exams at its test centers.

Certified Information Privacy Technologist (CIPT)

This credential is the most likely place for a person working in IT to start their IAPP efforts. The CIPT validates skills and knowledge about the components and technical controls involved in establishing, ensuring and maintaining data privacy. To be more specific, the body of knowledge (BoK) for the CIPT stresses important privacy concepts and practices that impact IT, and makes sure that practitioners understand consumer privacy expectations and responsibilities.

It also addresses how to bake privacy into early stages of IT products or services to control costs and ensure data accuracy and integrity without impacting time to market. CIPTs understand how to establish privacy policies for data collection and transfer, and how to manage privacy on the internet of things. They also know how to factor privacy into data classification, and how it impacts emerging technologies such as biometrics, surveillance and cloud computing. Finally, CIPTs understand how to communicate on privacy issues with other parts of their organizations, including management, development staff, marketing and legal.

Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP)

IAPP describes this certification as just right for “the go-to person for privacy laws, regulations and frameworks” in an organization. This audience may include more senior privacy or security professionals with IT backgrounds, but it may also involve people from management, legal or governance organizations whose responsibilities include data privacy and protection concerns. This goes double for those involved with legal and compliance requirements, information management, data governance, and even human resources (as privacy is a personal matter at its core, involving personal information).

Because managing privacy and protecting private information is often highly regulated and subject to legal systems and frameworks, the IAPP offers versions of the CIPP certification where such content and coverage has been “localized” for prevailing rules, regulations, laws and best practices.

There are five such versions available: Asia (CIPP/A), Canada (CIPP/C), Europe (CIPP/E), U.S. Government (CIPP/G) and U.S. Private Sector (CIPP/US). As of this writing, the CIPP/E perforce offers the most direct and focused coverage of GDPR topics. That said, given that GDPR applies to companies and online presences globally, such material will no doubt soon make its way into other CIPP versions in the next 6-12 months. The U.S.-focused exams are already scheduled for a refresh in August 2018, as per the IAPP website’s certification pages.

For example, the CIPP/US page includes the following materials:

Each of the other regional versions of the CIPP has a similarly large, detailed and helpful collection of resources available to interested readers and would-be certified professionals.

Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM)

The CIPM is a more senior credential in the IAPP collection. It seeks to identify persons who can manage an information privacy program. Thus, the focus is on privacy law and regulations and how those things must guide the formulation of workable and defensible privacy policies, practices and procedures for organizational use. The CIPM BoK covers the following topics:

• Privacy program governance: organizational vision, program definition and creating a privacy team; developing a privacy program framework; implementing a privacy policy framework; and identifying and using metrics to report on privacy for governance, auditing, and regulatory purposes
• Privacy operational lifecycle: assess organizational and third-party partner and processor privacy posture, including physical and business assessments; establish privacy protections over the data lifecycle, following best cybersecurity practices and Privacy by Design; sustain privacy protections by measuring, aligning, auditing and monitoring privacy data; respond to requests for information about personal data; and respond to privacy incidents as they occur

In general, CIPMs play a lead role in defining and maintaining data privacy policies for their organizations. They will usually be responsible for operating the privacy apparatus necessary to demonstrate compliance with all applicable privacy rules, regulations and laws for the organization as well.

Other IAPP certifications

The IAPP also offers two other elements in its certification programs. One is the Privacy Law Specialist, which aims at attorneys or other licensed legal professionals who wish to focus on privacy Topics in a legal context. The other, called the Fellow of Information Privacy (FIP), aims at those at the top of the privacy profession and is available only to those who’ve completed two or more IAPP credentials, including either a CIPM or a CIPT, and one or more of the CIPP credentials. It requires three professional peer referrals and completion of a detailed application form. We won’t discuss these credentials much more in this article, except to note here that the Privacy Law Specialist garnered a surprising 200 hits in our job board search (see below for other details gleaned thereby).

Finally, the IAPP website recommends the combination of CIPP/E and CIPM as the possible credentialing for those wishing to focus on GDPR, shown in this screenshot from its Certify pop-up menu:

IAPP employment: Job board stats and example jobs

We visit four job posting sites to check on demand for specific credentials: Simply Hired, Indeed, LinkedIn and LinkUp. Here’s what we learned.

The breakdown for CIPP fell out like this: CIPP/A 27, CIPP/C 287, CIPP/E 351, CIPP/G 154 and CIPP/US 401. As you’d expect, the U.S. categories combine for a majority, with Europe a surprising second ahead of third-place Canada.

Salary information appears in the next table. We collected low, median and high values for each credential, finding surprisingly little difference between the CIPM and the CIPP. Given that a CIPM is likely to hold a management position, this shows that the CIPP holds considerable value in employers’ estimations. It’s also interesting that the median values show the CIPT and the CIPP are close to one another too. This bodes well for IT professionals interested in pursuing the CIPT.

Typical positions for privacy professionals are very much one-offs. We found a risk management and compliance manager position at a South Carolina government agency charged with defining and implementing security and privacy policies for the department of corrections. That position paid $120,000 per year and involved security and audit compliance, business continuity and disaster recovery planning, and risk and incident management. By itself, the requested CIPM would not be enough to qualify for that job.

The next position was for a healthcare services director position in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which involved auditing, risk management, and contract and vendor negotiation. Its pay range was $140,000 to $190,000 per year, and it required serious management chops, along with IT governance and risk and compliance experience, with calls for knowledge of tools like Archer and Clearwell. The third position was for a senior data privacy associate at a Washington law firm, which sought a person with a CIPP/E, CIPP/US and CIPT, with pay in the $120K-$150K range.

Thus, it appears there are plenty of opportunities – some with high rates of pay – for those willing to climb the IAPP certification ladder. Both the job boards and the individual postings speak directly to strong and urgent need in the field for qualified privacy professionals at all levels.

Training resources

IAPP courses are available through many channels, including classroom training through the IAPP and its partner network. Online training classes are also available, for lesser charges. The IAPP provides ample references and resources, with authoritative and supplemental texts, websites, legal references and statutes, and more for each of its credentials. There’s also plenty of self-study material for those who prefer that route.

The IAPP also offers practice exams (which it calls demo questions) to help candidates prepare for exams. Surprisingly, there is even something of an aftermarket for IAPP books and materials, as a quick trip to Amazon will attest.

• Database technology is crucial in multiple applications and computing tasks, and certifications help demonstrate job readiness and core competencies. 
• Before pursuing a database platform certification, you should have a solid background in relational database management systems and the SQL language. 
• Valuable certifications are typically tied to specific technology companies and their platforms, such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP.
• This article is for IT professionals considering database certifications to further their careers. 

While database platforms have come and gone through the decades, database technology is still critical for multiple applications and computing tasks. IT professionals often seek database certifications to demonstrate their knowledge and expertise as they navigate their career paths and pursue professional growth. 

While database certifications may not be as bleeding edge as Google cloud certifications, cybersecurity certifications, storage certifications or digital forensics certifications, database professionals at all levels possess in-demand career skills — and a plethora of database-related jobs are waiting to be filled.

We’ll look at some of the most in-demand certifications for database administrators, database developers and anyone else who works with databases.

What to know about database roles and certifications

To get a better grasp of available database certifications, it’s helpful to group these certs around job responsibilities. This reflects the maturity of database technology and its integration into most aspects of commercial, scientific and academic computing. As you read about the various database certification programs, keep these job roles in mind: 

• Database administrator (DBA). A DBA is responsible for installing, configuring and maintaining a database management system (DBMS). The job is often tied to a specific platform, such as Oracle, MySQL, DB2 or SQL Server.
• Database developer. A database developer works with generic and proprietary application programming interfaces (APIs) to build applications that interact with a DBMS. Like DBA roles, database developer positions are also often platform-specific.
• Database designer or database architect. A database designer or architect researches data requirements for specific applications or users and designs database structures and application capabilities to match.
• Data analyst or data scientist. A data analyst or scientist is responsible for analyzing data from multiple disparate sources to discover previously hidden insights, determine the meaning behind data, and make business-specific recommendations.
• Data mining or business intelligence (BI) specialist. A data mining or BI specialist focuses on dissecting, analyzing and reporting important data streams, such as customer, supply chain and transaction data and histories.
• Data warehousing specialist. A data warehousing specialist assembles and analyzes data from multiple operational systems (such as orders, transactions, supply chain information and customer data) to establish data history, analyze trends, generate reports and forecasts, and support general ad hoc queries. 

These database job roles highlight two critical issues to consider if you want to be a database professional:

1. You need a solid general background. First, a background in relational database management systems, including an understanding of Structured Query Language (SQL), is a fundamental prerequisite for database professionals of all stripes. 
2. There’s a focus on proprietary technologies. Second, although various efforts to standardize database technology exist, much of the whiz-bang capability that databases and database applications deliver comes from proprietary, vendor-specific technologies. Serious, heavy-duty database skills and knowledge are tied to specific platforms, including various Oracle products (such as the open-source MySQL environment and Oracle itself,) Microsoft SQL Server and IBM DB2. Most of these certifications relate directly to those enormously popular platforms. 

Did you know? NoSQL databases — called “not only SQL” or “non-relational” databases — are increasingly used in big data applications associated with some of the best big data certifications for data scientists, data mining and warehousing, and business intelligence.

Best database certifications

Here are details on our five best database certification picks for 2022.

1. IBM Certified Database Administrator — DB2 12

IBM is one of the leaders in the worldwide database market by any objective measure. The company’s database portfolio includes industry-standard DB2, as well as the following:

• IBM Compose
• Information Management System (IMS)
• Informix
• Cloudant
• IBM Open Platform with Apache Hadoop

IBM also has a long-standing and well-populated IT certification program that has been around for more than 30 years and encompasses hundreds of individual credentials. 

After redesigning its certification programs and categories, IBM now has a primary data-centric certification category called IBM Data and AI. It includes a range of database credentials: 

• Database Associate
• Database Administrator
• System Administrator
• Application Developer 

IBM’s is a big and complex certification space, but one where particular platform allegiances are likely to guide readers toward the handful of items most relevant to their interests and needs. 

Database professionals who support DB2 (or aspire to) on IBM’s z/OS should check out the IBM Associate Certified DBA — Db2 12 certification. It’s an entry-level exam that addresses routine planning, working with SQL and XML, security, operations, data concurrency, application design, and concepts around database objects.

This certification requires candidates to pass one exam. Pre-exam training and familiarity with concepts, or hands-on experience, are recommended but not required. 

IBM Certified Database Administrator — DB2 facts and figures

Did you know? IBM’s certification offerings are among the best system administrator certifications IT professionals can achieve.

2. Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Azure offers a broad range of tools and add-ons for business intelligence. Azure is a cloud computing platform for application management and Microsoft-managed data centers. Microsoft certifications include various Azure offerings based on job role and experience level.

Microsoft’s certification program is role-centric, centered on the skills you need to succeed in specific technology jobs. Because Azure has such a broad scope, Azure certifications span multiple job roles. However, specific certifications exist for the following positions:

• Data Analysts
• Data Engineers
• Data Scientists
• Database Administrators 

There are also certifications for learners at different experience levels. 

For those looking to take their Azure knowledge to the next level, the Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Fundamentals certification is the perfect place to start. This certification is for beginner database administrators interested in using Azure and mastering data in the cloud. It offers foundational knowledge of core concepts while reinforcing concepts for later use in other Azure role-based certifications, such as those listed below: 

• Azure Database Administrator Associate
• Azure Data Engineer Associate
• Data Analyst Associate 

Azure Data Fundamentals certification facts and figures

3. Oracle Certified Professional, MySQL 5.7 Database Administrator 

Oracle runs its certifications under the auspices of Oracle University. The Oracle Database Certifications page lists separate tracks depending on job role and product. MySQL is perhaps the leading open-source relational database management system (RDBMS). Since acquiring Sun Microsystems in 2010 (which had previously acquired MySQL AB), Oracle has rolled out a paid version of MySQL and developed certifications to support the product. 

If you’re interested in pursuing an Oracle MySQL certification, you can choose between MySQL Database Administration and MySQL Developer. 

The Oracle Certified Professional, MySQL 5.7 Database Administrator (OCP) credential recognizes professionals who can accomplish the following tasks:

• Install, optimize and monitor MySQL Server.
• Configure replication.
• Apply security.
• Schedule and validate database backups. 

The certification requires candidates to pass a single exam (the same exam can be taken to upgrade a prior certification). Oracle recommends training and on-the-job experience before taking the exam.

Oracle Certified Professional, MySQL 5.7 Database Administrator facts and figures

Did you know? According to Oracle, approximately 1.8 million Oracle Certified professionals globally hold certifications to advance their networking careers and professions to validate their IT expertise. 

4. Oracle Database SQL Certified Associate Certification

For individuals interested in working in the Oracle environment who have the necessary experience to become a database administrator, Oracle’s Database SQL Certified Associate Certification is another top Oracle certification and an excellent starting point. This exam encompasses an understanding of fundamental SQL concepts that individuals must grasp for database projects. 

By earning the certification, individuals demonstrate that they have a range of knowledge in core SQL concepts:

• Familiarity with queries, data modeling, and normalization
• Strong base understanding of the underlying SQL language
• An ability to create and manipulate Oracle Database tables 

This certification also requires candidates to pass a single exam. While Oracle does not specify any prerequisites, the company does state candidates should have familiarity working with the command line. 

Oracle Database SQL Certified Associate Certification facts and figures

5. SAP HANA: SAP Certified Technology Associate — SAP HANA 2.0 SPS05

SAP SE has an extensive portfolio of business applications and analytics software, including cloud infrastructure, applications and storage. The SAP HANA platform’s foundation is an enterprise-grade relational database management system that can be run as an appliance on-premises or in the cloud. The cloud platform lets customers build and run applications and services based on SAP HANA. 

SAP offers a comprehensive certification program built to support its various platforms and products. We’re featuring the SAP Certified Technology Associate — SAP HANA cert because it aligns closely with other certifications we’ve highlighted and is in high demand among employers, according to job board surveys. 

This certification ensures database professionals can install, manage, monitor, migrate and troubleshoot SAP HANA systems. It covers the following skills:

• Managing users and authorizations
• Applying security
• Ensuring high availability 
• Effective disaster-recovery techniques 

SAP recommends that certification candidates get hands-on practice through formal training or on-the-job experience before attempting this exam. The SAP Learning Hub is a subscription service that gives certification candidates access to a library of learning materials, including e-learning courses and course handbooks. 

The annual subscription rate for individual users on the Professional certification track is $2,760. This online training program is designed for those who run, support, or implement SAP software solutions. Though this may seem like a steep price for online training, you will likely be able to pass any SAP certification exams you put your mind to by leveraging all the learning resources available to SAP Learning Hub Professional subscribers. 

Typically, SAP certifications achieved on one of the two most exact SAP solutions are considered current and valid. SAP contacts professionals whose certifications are nearing end-of-life status and provides information on maintaining their credentials.

SAP Certified Technology Associate facts and figures

Tip: To broaden your skill set, consider pursuing the best sales certifications to better sell and implement various IT solutions, including databases.

Beyond the top 5 database certifications

Additional database certification programs can further the careers of IT professionals who work with database management systems. 

While most colleges with computer science programs offer database tracks at the undergraduate, master and Ph.D. levels, well-known vendor-neutral database certifications exist, including the following: 

• ICCP certifications. The Institute for the Certification of Computing Professionals (ICCP) offers its unique Certified Data Professional and Certified Data Scientist credentials. Learn more about ICCP certifications from the ICCP website.
• Enterprise DB certifications. EnterpriseDB administers a small but effective certification program with two primary certs: the EDB Certified Associate and the EDB Certified Professional. 

These are some additional certifications: 

These credentials represent opportunities for database professionals to expand their skill sets — and salaries. However, such niches in the database certification arena are generally only worth pursuing if you already work with these platforms or plan to work for an organization that uses them.

Key takeaway: Pursuing additional database certifications can be helpful for professional development if you already work with these platforms or plan to work with them in the future. 

Job board search results

Before pursuing certifications, consider their popularity with employers to gain a helpful perspective on current database certification demand. Here’s a job board snapshot to give you an idea of what’s trending.

If the sheer number of available database-related positions isn’t enough motivation to pursue a certification, consider average salaries for database administrators. SimplyHired reports $91,949 as the national average in the U.S., ranging from $64,171 to over $131,753. Glassdoor’s reported average is somewhat lower at $84,161, with a top rung for experienced senior DBAs right around $134,000.

Choosing the right certification

Choosing the best IT certifications to enhance your skills and boost your career can be overwhelming, especially as many available certifications are for proprietary technologies. While picking a database certification can feel like locking yourself into a single technology family, it is worth remembering that many database skills are transferable. Additionally, pursuing any certification shows your willingness to learn and demonstrates competence to current and future employers. 

Ultimately, choosing which certification to pursue depends on the technologies you use at work or would like to use at a future employer.

Jeremy Bender contributed to the reporting and writing in this article. 

Key takeaways

• Artificial intelligence (AI) is hitting the mainstream, though the first form of AI was invented in England, way back in 1951.
• Nowadays AI is used in a wide range of applications, from our personal assistants like Alexa and Siri, to cars, factories and healthcare.
• AI has the power to make massive improvements to our quality of life, but it’s not perfect.

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is everywhere right now. In truth, the fundamentals of AI and machine learning have been around for a long time. The first primitive form of AI was an automated checkers bot which was created by Cristopher Strachey from the University of Manchester, England, back in 1951.

It’s come a long way since then, and we’re starting to see a large number of high profile use cases for the technology being thrust into the mainstream.

Some of the hottest applications of AI include the development of autonomous vehicles, facial recognition software, virtual assistants like Amazon’s AMZN Alexa and Apple’s AAPL Siri and a huge array of industrial applications in all industries from farming to gaming to healthcare.

And of course, there’s our AI-powered investing app, Q.ai.

But with this massive increase in the use of AI in our everyday lives, and algorithms that are constantly improving, what are the pros and cons of this powerful technology? Is it a force for good, for evil or somewhere in between?

Download Q.ai today for access to AI-powered investment strategies.

The Pros of AI

There’s no denying there are a lot of benefits to using AI. There’s a reason it’s becoming so popular, and that’s because the technology in many ways makes our lives better and/or easier.

Fewer errors

Humans are great. Really, we’re awesome. But we’re not perfect. After a few hours in front of a computer screen, we can get a little tired, a little sloppy. It’s nothing that some lunch, a coffee and a lap around the block won’t fix, but it happens.

Even if we’re fresh at the start of the day, we might be a bit distracted by what’s going on at home. Maybe we’re going through a bad breakup, or our football team lost last night, or someone cut us off in traffic on the way into work.

Whatever the reason, it’s common and normal for human attention to move in and out.

These lapses of attention can lead to mistakes. Typing the wrong number in a mathematical equation, missing out a line of code or in the case of heavy duty workplaces like factories, bigger mistakes which can lead to injury, or even death.

24/7 Uptime

Speaking of tiredness, AI doesn’t suffer from sugar crashes or need a caffeine pick-me-up to get through the 3pm slump. As long as the power is turned on, algorithms can run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week without needing a break.

Not only can an AI program run constantly, but it also runs consistently. It will do the same tasks, to the same standard, forever.

For repetitive tasks this makes them a far better employee than a human. It leads to fewer errors, less downtime and a higher level of safety. They’re all big pros in our book.

Analyze large sets of data - fast

This is a big one for us here at Q.ai. Humans simply can’t match AI when it comes to analyzing large datasets. For a human to go through 10,000 lines of data on a spreadsheet would take days, if not weeks.

AI can do it in a matter of minutes.

A properly trained machine learning algorithm can analyze massive amounts of data in a shockingly small amount of time. We use this capability extensively in our Investment Kits, with our AI looking at a wide range of historical stock and market performance and volatility data, and comparing this to other data such as interest rates, oil prices and more.

AI can then pick up patterns in the data and offer predictions for what might happen in the future. It’s a powerful application that has huge real world implications. From an investment management standpoint, it’s a game-changer.

The Cons of AI

But it’s not all roses. Obviously there are certain downsides to using AI and machine learning to complete tasks. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look to use AI, but it’s important that we understand its limitations so that we can implement it in the right way.

Lacks creativity

AI bases its decisions on what has happened in the past. By definition then, it's not well suited to coming up with new or innovative ways to look at problems or situations. Now in many ways, the past is a very good guide as to what might happen in the future, but it isn’t going to be perfect.

There’s always the potential for a never-before-seen variable which sits outside the range of expected outcomes.

Because of this, AI works very well for doing the ‘grunt work’ while keeping the overall strategy decisions and ideas to the human mind.

From an investment perspective, the way we implement this is by having our financial analysts come up with an investment thesis and strategy, and then have our AI take care of the implementation of that strategy.

We still need to tell our AI which datasets to look at in order to get the desired outcome for our clients. We can’t simply say “go generate returns.” We need to provide an investment universe for the AI to look at, and then give parameters on which data points make a ‘good’ investment within the given strategy.

Reduces employment

We’re on the fence about this one, but it’s probably fair to include it because it’s a common argument against the use of AI.

Some uses of AI are unlikely to impact human jobs. For example, the image processing AI in new cars which allows for automatic braking in the event of a potential crash. That’s not replacing a job.

An AI-powered robot assembling those cars in the factory, that probably is taking the place of a human.

The important point to keep in mind is that AI in its current iteration is aiming to replace dangerous and repetitive work. That frees up human workers to do work which offers more ability for creative thinking, which is likely to be more fulfilling.

AI technology is also going to allow for the invention and many aids which will help workers be more efficient in the work that they do. All in all, we believe that AI is a positive for the human workforce in the long run, but that’s not to say there won’t be some growing pains in between.

Ethical dilemmas

AI is purely logical. It makes decisions based on preset parameters that leave little room for nuance and emotion. In many cases this is a positive, as these fixed rules are part of what allows it to analyze and predict huge amounts of data.

In turn though, it makes it very difficult to incorporate areas such as ethics and morality into the algorithm. The output of the algorithm is only as good as the parameters which its creators set, meaning there is room for potential bias within the AI itself.

Imagine, for example, the case of an autonomous vehicle, which gets into a potential road traffic accident situation, where it must choose between driving off a cliff or hitting a pedestrian. As a human driver in that situation, our instincts will take over. Those instincts will be based on our own personal background and history, with no time for conscious thought on the best course of action.

For AI, that decision will be a logical one based on what the algorithm has been programmed to do in an emergency situation. It’s easy to see how this can become a very challenging problem to address.

How to use AI for your personal wealth creation

We use AI in all of our Investment Kits, to analyze, predict and rebalance on a regular basis. A great example is our Global Trends Kit, which uses AI and machine learning to predict the risk-adjusted performance of a range of different asset classes over the coming week.

These asset classes include stocks and bonds, emerging markets, forex, oil, gold and even the volatility index (VIX).

Our algorithm makes the predictions each week and then automatically rebalances the portfolio on what it believes to be the best mix of risk and return based on a huge amount of historical data.

Investors can take the AI a step further by implementing Portfolio Protection. This uses a different machine learning algorithm to analyze the sensitivity of the portfolio to various forms of risk, such as oil risk, interest rate risk and overall market risk. It then automatically implements sophisticated hedging strategies which aim to reduce the downside risk of the portfolio.

If you believe in the power of AI and want to harness it for your financial future, Q.ai has got you covered.

Download Q.ai today for access to AI-powered investment strategies.

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The course contains videos from industry experts, readings, discussions, knowledge checks, and short assignments. It is self-paced and flexible and should take approximately 32 hours to complete. Outdoor guide employers can use this course to supplement or enhance any internal training program already offered. Competency areas include 1) becoming a more effective outdoor educator, 2) improving naturalist skills, and 3) developing professional skills. 

Key takeaways

• AI has well and truly hit the mainstream, with startups touting its potential to disrupt almost every industry imaginable.
• There’s no doubting the power of machine learning, particularly combined with robotics, and we’re looking at some of the jobs which are more likely than others to be taken over by AI.
• AI investing apps are a particularly exciting use of machine learning, allowing regular investors to gain access to sophisticated trading strategies usually reserved for only the most wealthy.

AI is everywhere right now. It’s been slowly growing in popularity and importance, but recently it’s burst into the mainstream with a number of high profile (and very cool) projections and applications.

One of the most talked about has been the AI image generation technology such as Dall-E 2, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion. These programs use text prompts to create incredible pictures of scenes and characters which are only limited by the imagination.

One guy from Colorado even won a prize for digital art at the State Fair, with an artwork that he created using Midjourney. While there was a cash prize of $300 on offer for the win, the odd art prize here and there probably isn’t going to see AI have a major impact on the economy.

The thing is though, the uses of AI go much, much further than making pretty pictures.

We’re seeing the use of artificial intelligence grow all the time, across all different sectors of the economy. This is likely to end up with many jobs as we know them ceasing to exist. That sounds a bit doom and gloom, but the reality is that the use of AI tools and technology is likely to help free humans up to focus on more rewarding and fulfilling work.

So let’s take a look at some of the jobs that could be rendered obsolete by artificial intelligence.

Download Q.ai today for access to AI-powered investment strategies.

Factory Worker

In reality, this has already been happening for quite some time. The use of robotics in the manufacturing sector has a much longer history than you might have guessed. General Motors GM are credited with being the first major manufacturer to introduce robotics into their assembly line, installing the UNIMATE machine in their New Jersey factory in 1962.

Yes that's right, the same year that Lawrence of Arabia won the Oscar for Best Picture and Elvis Presely was in the pop charts, and there were robots building cars.

Things have obviously progressed since then, with many manufacturers of all types operating factories housed with hundreds of robots. Some are now even fully automated.

But there’s a big difference between robotics and artificial intelligence. A robot is designed to perform a set task in a set way, over and over again. This is useful for tightening bolts or moving heavy objects, but not as useful for situations where decision making is needed.

That’s where AI comes in.

This is one of the key roles outlined by Elon Musk at this years’ Tesla AI with the introduction of Optimus, their humanoid robot. The idea behind this technology is that it will enable a combination of both robotics and artificial intelligence, to eliminate the need for humans to do repetitive or dangerous tasks.

In a factory setting, one of the examples used by Musk was grabbing and installing a hose.

Sounds simple, but because a hose is flexible and moves around, a fixed robot would struggle to do the task consistently. By using AI, Optimus will be able to predict the movement of the house and adjust its grip in order to catch it, just like a human can.

Over time we’re likely to see fewer and fewer humans working in factories, though there is likely to always need to be some level of human oversight.

Couriers

Amazon has been another company eager to push the envelope on automation. In Jeff Bezos’ never ending pursuit of scale and efficiency, the use of robotics and artificial intelligence is a no brainer.

The delivery of packages is a sector of the economy which has boomed in line with the ongoing increase in online retail, and it’s very well studied for automation.

Routes from a factory to a large number of delivery addresses are easily done by AI. Route planning software like Google Maps is everywhere already, and even human drivers rely on this technology in order to deliver our packages and UberEats.

The challenge comes from being able to drive and deliver without human input. This is something that is being actively worked on by many companies, with billions of dollars being flooded into the problem.

Tesla has been testing self driving technology for a number of years, as have other large companies such as General Motors and Alphabet.

The expectation is that in time, a combination of these technologies will mean delivery drivers and couriers could be out of a job.

Investment Analyst

This one might surprise you, but it’s one we know best. An enormous amount of work and labor in the financial industry is used on gathering, categorizing and analyzing data. Not only is this tedious and time consuming, but there are limits to how much information a human can process and always the possibility of errors.

A simple mistyped number on a spreadsheet can throw a detailed analysis out the window.

That’s why at Q.ai, our AI investing app harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to look at more data, more quickly and make decisions based on massive amounts of historical data.

As with most of the jobs on this list, it’s not going to mean there are no real jobs anymore.

The AI still needs to set parameters to work within and strategies for it to implement. For example, our AI can be set to predict the best expected weekly performance for stocks in the US market, but it needs to be told which stocks to include in the universe and which pieces of data to base these predictions on.

Some examples could be the oil price, interest rates, unemployment rate, overall stock market performance and volatility and more.

Even so, we’re likely to see more and more junior investment analyst roles replaced by complex algorithms and sophisticated machine learning programs.

Customer Service

By now we’ve all used chatbots somewhere or other. Most websites will offer a friendly pop up in the bottom right corner asking if we need some help, and in many cases they work very well.

For simple requests these bots are already proving to be very successful in fixing customers problems quickly. More complex queries will still inevitably end up with redirection to a real person.

Over time though, we can expect AI and natural language processing to allow more and more of these conversations to happen without the need for human interaction. At the moment, these chatbots are programmed to identify specific keywords and provide a limited range of solutions based on those keywords.

Over time, AI will allow this technology to interpret what we’re saying and provide real, natural responses to those queries. I’m sure many customer service workers would be happy to let a machine take customer complaints on their behalf!

Security Guards

Security is always going to be important, and many homes and businesses will continue to want protection to ensure their safety. However, we’re likely to see more of the roles of the traditional security personnel replaced by AI.

Technology such as facial recognition and human pattern recognition allows AI to keep track of potential threats and even predict their movements.

This information can then be used to trigger automated protective devices such as shutters or bollards, and alert human guards or police.

We’re already seeing this type of technology with widespread use by law enforcement, particularly in major cities with a high population density.

With no need to pay overtime or find cover for guards who call in sick, it’s likely to see more and more businesses and families opt for technological solutions to their protection needs.

Exploring AI investing

As you’d expect, we’re all about AI at Q.ai. While some are thinking about what the AI future might hold, we believe it has the power to give humans access to technology and opportunities they never had before.

In our realm of investing, that means giving regular people access to sophisticated trading strategies which are usually reserved for high flying hedge fund clients.

Strategies like complex pair trades which go long on one asset while simultaneously shorting another, like in our U.S. Outperformance Kit. Or our Global Trends Kit which uses AI to predict whether oil, stocks, gold, US stocks or international stocks are likely to perform better in the coming week and then automatically rebalances accordingly.

The possibilities are almost endless, and they unlock exciting opportunities for investors.

Download Q.ai today for access to AI-powered investment strategies.

• The RIAA gives diamond certifications to songs that have gone platinum 10 times.

• "Psycho" and "White Iverson" by Post Malone are the most exact songs to receive the rare award.

• Listen to the complete playlist on Insider's Spotify.

1. "Something About The Way You Look Tonight / Candle in the Wind" by Elton John

"Something About the Way You Look Tonight / Candle in the Wind" became the first-ever song to be certified diamond on October 9, 1997.

In fact, it received the certification two years before the official diamond award was unveiled by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In the years since, it has been bestowed sparingly — if a song has moved at least 10 million equivalent units by combining sales and streaming numbers, and if an artist or label requests certification.

2. "Baby" by Justin Bieber featuring Ludacris

"Baby" was certified diamond on May 9, 2013.

3. "Not Afraid" by Eminem

"Not Afraid" was certified diamond on June 10, 2014.

4. "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga

"Bad Romance" was certified diamond on May 29, 2015.

5. "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons

"Radioactive" was certified diamond on July 6, 2015.

6. "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz

"Thrift Shop" was certified diamond on November 19, 2015.

7. "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga

"Poker Face" was certified diamond on November 30, 2015.

8. "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen

"Call Me Maybe" was certified diamond on September 28, 2016.

9. "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars

"Uptown Funk" was certified diamond on October 18, 2016.

10. "Roar" by Katy Perry

"Roar" was certified diamond on June 22, 2017.

11. "Royals" by Lorde

"Royals" was certified diamond on December 8, 2017.

12. "All About That Bass" by Meghan Trainor

"All About That Bass" was certified diamond on January 23, 2018.

13. "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber

"Despacito" was certified diamond on January 27, 2018.

14. "Firework" by Katy Perry

"Firework" was certified diamond on February 13, 2018.

Story continues

15. "Lose Yourself" by Eminem

"Lose Yourself" was certified diamond on February 28, 2018.

16. "Love the Way You Lie" by Eminem featuring Rihanna

"Love the Way You Lie" was certified diamond on February 28, 2018.

17. "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke featuring Pharrell and T.I.

"Blurred Lines" was certified diamond on June 6, 2018.

18. "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas

"I Gotta Feeling" was certified diamond on June 6, 2018.

19. "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett and GoonRock

"Party Rock Anthem" was certified diamond on June 6, 2018.

20. "Counting Stars" by OneRepublic

"Counting Stars" was certified diamond on August 20, 2018.

21. "Closer" by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey

"Closer" was certified diamond on September 17, 2018.

22. "Cruise" by Florida Georgia Line

"Cruise" was certified diamond on October 10, 2018.

23. "Dark Horse" by Katy Perry featuring Juicy J

"Dark Horse" was certified diamond on December 12, 2018.

24. "Just the Way You Are" by Bruno Mars

"Just the Way You Are" was certified diamond on January 11, 2019.

25. "Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran

"Shape of You" was certified diamond on January 24, 2019.

26. "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran

"Thinking Out Loud" was certified diamond on February 8, 2019.

27. "We Are Young" by Fun. featuring Janelle Monáe

"We Are Young" was certified diamond on June 13, 2019.

28. "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz

"I'm Yours" was certified diamond on June 24, 2019.

29. "The Hills" by The Weeknd

"The Hills" was certified diamond on June 28, 2019.

30. "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth

"See You Again" was certified diamond on September 24, 2019.

31. "God's Plan" by Drake

"God's Plan" was certified diamond on September 25, 2019.

32. "Congratulations" by Post Malone featuring Quavo

"Congratulations" was certified diamond on October 8, 2019.

33. "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus

"Old Town Road" is the fastest song in history to be certified diamond. It received the honor on October 22, 2019, less than one year after its original release.

34. "Trap Queen" by Fetty Wap

"Trap Queen" was certified diamond on November 8, 2019.

35. "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran

"Perfect" was certified diamond on December 20, 2019.

36. "Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift

"Shake It Off" was certified diamond on March 13, 2020, making Swift the first female artist in US history to have both a diamond-certified single and album (2008's "Fearless").

37. "Happy" by Pharrell

"Happy" was certified diamond on May 6, 2020.

38. "Meant to Be" by Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line

"Meant to Be" was certified diamond on August 17, 2020.

39. "Grenade" by Bruno Mars

"Grenade" was certified diamond on October 2, 2020.

40. "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People

"Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People was certified diamond on October 13, 2020.

41. "All of Me" by John Legend

"All of Me" was certified diamond on October 13, 2020.

42. "Baby Shark" by Pinkfong

"Baby Shark" was certified diamond on November 5, 2020.

43. "Rockstar" by Post Malone featuring 21 Savage

"Rockstar" was certified diamond on November 9, 2020.

44. "Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)" by Post Malone and Swae Lee

"Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)" was certified diamond on November 9, 2020.

45. "Stay With Me" by Sam Smith

"Stay With Me" was certified diamond on November 12, 2020.

46. "Party in the U.S.A." by Miley Cyrus

"Party in the U.S.A." was certified diamond on December 7, 2020.

47. "Sicko Mode" by Travis Scott featuring Drake

"Sicko Mode" was certified diamond on December 9, 2020.

48. "Bodak Yellow" by Cardi B

"Bodak Yellow" was certified diamond on March 8, 2021, making Cardi B the first female rapper in history to have a diamond-certified single.

49. "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen

"Bohemian Rhapsody" was certified diamond on March 25, 2021.

50. "Sorry" by Justin Bieber

"Sorry" was certified diamond on March 29, 2021.

51. "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train

"Hey, Soul Sister" was certified diamond on April 7, 2021.

52. "Low" by Flo Rida featuring T-Pain

"Low" was certified diamond on April 22, 2021.

53. "Stressed Out" by Twenty One Pilots

"Stressed Out" was certified diamond on April 30, 2021.

54. "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye featuring Kimbra

"Somebody That I Used to Know" was certified diamond on May 6, 2021.

55. "That's What I Like" by Bruno Mars

"That's What I Like" was certified diamond on May 21, 2021.

56. "When I Was Your Man" by Bruno Mars

"When I Was Your Man" was certified diamond on May 21, 2021, making Mars the first artist in history with five diamond-certified songs.

57. "Sail" by AWOLNATION

"Sail" was certified diamond on June 14, 2021.

58. "Moves Like Jagger" by Maroon 5

"Moves Like Jagger" was certified diamond on July 1, 2021.

59. "Sad!" by XXXTentacion

"Sad!" was certified diamond on August 13, 2021.

60. "Demons" by Imagine Dragons

"Demons" was certified diamond on August 31, 2021.

61. "Believer" by Imagine Dragons

"Believer" was certified diamond on August 31, 2021.

62. "Lean On" by Major Lazer and DJ Snake featuring MØ

"Lean On" was certified diamond on September 17, 2021.

63. "Havana" by Camila Cabello featuring Young Thug

"Havana" was certified diamond on October 4, 2021.

64. "Stronger" by Kanye West

"Stronger" was certified diamond on October 6, 2021.

65. "Super Bass" by Nicki Minaj

"Super Bass" was certified diamond on November 9, 2021.

66. "Life Is Good" by Future featuring Drake

"Life Is Good" was certified diamond on November 22, 2021.

67. "Girls Like You" by Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B

"Girls Like You" was certified diamond on November 29, 2021.

68. "All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey

"All I Want for Christmas Is You" was certified diamond on December 3, 2021.

69. "The Box" by Roddy Ricch

"The Box" was certified diamond on December 6, 2021.

70. "I Like It" by Cardi B featuring J Balvin and Bad Bunny

"I Like It" was certified diamond on December 13, 2021.

71. "Tennessee Whiskey" by Chris Stapleton

"Tennessee Whiskey" was certified diamond on December 14, 2021.

72. "Sugar" by Maroon 5

"Sugar" was certified diamond on January 11, 2022.

73. "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston

"I Will Always Love You" was certified diamond on January 12, 2022.

74. "Lucid Dreams" by Juice Wrld

"Lucid Dreams" was certified diamond on February 4, 2022.

75. "Location" by Khalid

"Location" was certified diamond on March 3, 2022.

76. "A Thousand Years" by Christina Perri

"A Thousand Years" was certified diamond on March 3, 2022.

77. "Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd

"Blinding Lights" was certified diamond on April 5, 2022.

78. "Starboy" by The Weeknd

"Starboy" was certified diamond on April 5, 2022.

It marks The Weeknd's third diamond-certified song, putting him on equal footing with Eminem, Katy Perry, Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber, Drake, Cardi B, and Maroon 5.

79. "Timber" by Pitbull featuring Kesha

"Timber" was certified diamond on June 23, 2022.

80. "Thunder" by Imagine Dragons

"Thunder" was certified diamond on July 7, 2022.

It marks Imagine Dragon's fourth diamond-certified song, the third-most of any artist in history.

81. "Don't Let Me Down" by The Chainsmokers featuring Daya

"Don't Let Me Down" was certified diamond on July 11, 2022.

82. "Heathens" by Twenty One Pilots

"Heathens" was certified diamond on July 22, 2022.

83. "Unforgettable" by French Montana featuring Swae Lee

"Unforgettable" was certified diamond on August 25, 2022.

84. "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson

"Billie Jean" was certified diamond on August 29, 2022.

85. "Thriller" by Michael Jackson

"Thriller" was certified diamond on August 29, 2022.

86. "Drip Too Hard" by Lil Baby and Gunna

"Drip Too Hard" was certified diamond on September 12, 2022.

87. "Locked Out of Heaven" by Bruno Mars

"Locked Out of Heaven" was certified diamond on October 1, 2022, extending Mars' record as the artist with the most diamond-certified songs (six).

88. "Can't Hold Us" by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Ray Dalton

"Can't Hold Us" was certified diamond on October 14, 2022.

89. "Wagon Wheel" by Darius Rucker

"Wagon Wheel" was certified diamond on October 27, 2022.

90. "Something Just Like This" by The Chainsmokers and Coldplay

"Something Just Like This" was certified diamond on November 2, 2022.

91. "Psycho" by Post Malone featuring Ty Dolla $ign

"Psycho" was certified diamond on November 14, 2022.

92. "White Iverson" by Post Malone

"White Iverson" was certified diamond on November 14, 2022.

It marks Post Malone's fifth diamond-certified single, making him the artist with the second-most of all time, trailing Bruno Mars' six.

Read the original article on Insider

Nov. 15—The Family Drug Court specialized docket, part of the Ashtabula County Juvenile Court, has been re-certified by the Ohio Supreme Court, according to a press release.

The re-certification process involved an application, site visit, and a review of program literature, according to the release.

On Monday, Court Administrator Andrew Misiak said staff submitted the re-certification information in August.

The specialized docket was first certified in 2017, then re-certified again in 2019 and again this year, he said.

"So it's every three years from here on out," Misiak said.

Misiak said court staff are happy that the docket has been re-certified. "It's a great program," he said.

The program is for parents who have children in the court and children's service system, Misiak said.

"It's kind of like almost your last chance, before you lose your kids, in some regards," he said. "So this really gets people what they need to do to get back on track."

There are more than 210 specialized dockets in Ohio Courts, including ones that deal with drugs and alcohol, mental health, domestic violence, and human trafficking, according to the press release.

"Specialized dockets divert offenders toward criminal justice initiatives that employ tools and tailored services to treat and rehabilitate the offender so they can become productive members of society," Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor said in the press release. "Studies have shown this approach works by reducing recidivism while saving tax dollars."

State standards create uniform practices for specialized dockets across the state, according to the press release.

"We are proud that The Ohio Supreme Court has recently re-certified our county's Juvenile Court Family Drug Court Specialized Docket," Judge Albert Camplese said in the release. "Re-certification is validation of the time and efforts of so many persons and agencies. Over the past five years, we have witnessed so much success—participants and living a healthier lifestyle, they have attained stability and employment, they are remaining abstinent, and most importantly, families are being reunified. Our program is truly flourishing and the citizens of Ashtabula County are reaping the benefits."