Alphabet's DeepMind lost $572 million last year. DeepMind, likely the world's largest research-focused artificial intelligence operation, is losing a lot of money fast, more than $1 billion in the past three years. DeepMind also has more than $1 billion in debt due in the next 12 months. Does this mean that AI is falling apart? Gary Marcus is founder and CEO of Robust.AI and a professor of psychology and neural science at NYU.

The two companies have butted heads for years, and it's likely they'll continue to do so--Spotify's protest web page (in which Spotify details accusations that Apple engages in anticompetitive behavior) is just one example of hurt feelings. But despite the mutual dislike, Apple and Spotify are reportedly in talks to integrate Spotify more tightly with Siri, Apple's digital assistant. The companies are "discussing a plan" that would let iPhone users ask Siri to play music with Spotify, instead of requiring them to manually navigate to whatever song, album, or playlist they want to hear via the third-party app. The Information's report on this handy potential change cites three anonymous sources who are "familiar with the discussions." Neither company confirmed the report when contacted by Fast Company.

A robotic ship from the University of New Hampshire's Marine School that can map the ocean floor is part of the latest effort to find out what happened to famed pilot Amelia Earhart, who disappeared over the Pacific Ocean eight decades ago. The autonomous vessel, known as BEN, the Bathymetric Explorer and Navigator, will be mapping the seafloor near the island where Earhart sent her last radio transmission. The area is too deep for divers and too shallow for safe navigation by deep-water sonar systems. Maps produced by BEN will be used to target later dives by remotely operated vehicles, searching for remnants of Earhart's plane. The work is part of the mission led by oceanographer Robert Ballard, best known for finding the wreck of the Titanic, to look into the disappearance of Earhart in 1937.

On paper, it's a great time to be on a dating app. In the seven years since Tinder's entrance on to the dating scene in 2012, it has gone from fringe novelty to romantic ubiquity; within two years of launching, it was seeing 1bn swipes a day. Other apps have similarly impressive stats: in 2018, Bumble's global brand director revealed it had more than 26 million users and a confirmed 20,000 marriages. It's a far cry from the considerably less optimistic response Tinder received when it launched. Many hailed it as the end of romance itself.

Researchers at Microsoft and Case Western Reserve University researchers developed an algorithm for a future quantum computer that served to enhance the speed and quality of medical imaging. Microsoft and Case Western Reserve University researchers have enhanced the speed and quality of medical imaging with an algorithm designed to work on a future quantum computer. The researchers focused on a type of medical imaging called magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF). While running the quantum algorithm on a conventional computer resulted in a significant increase in the speed and precision of the MRF scans, the results would have been even more impressive on a large-enough quantum computer. The development is the latest in a series of projects in which researchers have used algorithms designed for future quantum computers to improve calculations running on today's existing hardware.

Along with sustainable electric transportation, he views autonomy as a core element of Tesla Inc.'s "fundamental goodness." Humans will be freed of the tedium of driving, he told Wall Street last year. Millions of lives will be saved. There is another incentive for Musk to put driverless cars on the road, though. The day he does that, hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of stored-up revenue become eligible for a trip straight to Tesla's perpetually stressed bottom line.

Complex algorithms utilized in data analytics are called unsupervised machine learning, but image recognition or besting the Go champion utilizes supervised machine learning; technology that utilizes neural networks. "The new platform is expected to test algorithms that use an advanced form of AI called deep learning, a technique that has the potential to identify more complex patterns than traditional machine-learning algorithms. "It's a massive breakthrough for us," Mr. Taneja said. Visa currently uses machine-learning algorithms to sift through data to identify anomalies, an effort that prevents billions of dollars in fraudulent transactions annually, Mr. Taneja said. One such Visa fraud-detection system, Advanced Authorization, prevented about $25 billion in fraud in the year ended April 30, according to the company. But the current models have limitations. Researchers must know the signals that might indicate fraud--such as a purchase taking place at an unusual time of day--and write the rules to tell the model what to do when it identifies suspicious activity. Criminal activity sometimes slips by unnoticed because hackers are getting more sophisticated at evading the warning signs that current machine-learning models are trying to detect. Deep-learning models can automatically identify more complex patterns by themselves. For example, if a customer uses his or her card in another country for the first time, deep-learning algorithms will be able to tell, with more accuracy and fewer false positives than traditional machine learning, whether it's a legitimate transaction. The algorithms will be able to take into account previous transactions at airlines and hotels, as long as they are made with Visa cards."

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Thursday that Facebook users in Illinois can sue the company over its use of facial recognition technology. The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Thursday that Facebook users in Illinois can sue the company over its use of facial recognition technology. A U.S. court has ruled that Facebook users in Illinois can sue the company over face recognition technology, meaning a class action can move forward. The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued its ruling on Thursday. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, it's the first decision by a U.S. appellate court to directly address privacy concerns posed by facial recognition technology.

When it comes to pure, cutting the cord TVs, Amazon's Fire TV Edition paved new ground in 2018. It was low-priced and aimed at folks who were happy ditching cable, plugging in an antenna and using the set to watch Internet programming. Vizio's new V436-61, just out, goes even further. It does all of that, and more. Instead of just being able to use voice commands via the Amazon Alexa assistant, Vizio lets you use Apple's Siri and the Google Assistant as well.

South Wales police are to have a facial recognition app installed on their phones to identify suspects without having to take them to a police station. The force intends to test the app over the next three months with 50 officers using the technology to confirm the names of people of interest who are stopped on routine patrols. The app will allow officers to run a snapshot of a person through a database of suspects called a watchlist, and find potential matches even if the individual gives false or misleading information. The move is the latest sign that police forces in Britain are eager to embrace the controversial technology which has been criticised for infringing privacy and increasing state powers of surveillance. Liberty, the campaign group, called the announcement "chilling", adding that it was "shameful" that South Wales police had chosen to press ahead with handheld facial recognition systems even as it faced a court challenge over the technology.