A new viral tool that uses artificial intelligence to label people's selfies is demonstrating just how weird and biased AI can be. The ImageNet Roulette site was shared widely on Twitter on Monday, and was created by AI Now Institute cofounder Kate Crawford and artist Trevor Paglen. The pair are examining the dangers of using datasets with ingrained biases -- such as racial bias -- to train AI. ImageNet Roulette's AI was trained on ImageNet, a database compiled in 2009 of 14 million labelled images. ImageNet is one of the most important and comprehensive training datasets in the field of artificial intelligence, in part because it's free and available to anyone.

Interest in artificial intelligence is on the rise in Egypt as enterprises embrace emerging technology to expand into new markets, investors back AI startups and government initiatives support education and awareness of the technology. There is mounting evidence that private enterprise is embracing AI. Recently, for example, AI and anlytics vendor fonYou partnered with a mobile operator in Egypt to use its AI module to reach the unbanked, and Widebot just raised a six-figure (USD) Pre-Series A investment for its Arabic language chatbot. Meanwhile, the government is looking to develop AI capabilities in a number of ways, including launching its first AI faculty at Kafr El Sheikh University. Egypt is aiming to have 7.7 percent of its GDP derived through AI by 2030, a figure touted in the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report, The Potential Impact of AI in the Middle East.

US artificial intelligence firm Digital Reasoning has received investment from Standard Chartered Bank's innovation, investment and ventures arm, SC Ventures, that brings its Series D-1 funding round total to US$40 million. The artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning company will partner with Standard Chartered to expand its financial services product offerings in communications surveillance across Asia Pacific, the Middle East and other international markets. The fresh funds will help it to expand into use cases within financial institutions that are adjacent to its core business of e-communications and voice surveillance for compliance, the company said. It will also support the company's efforts to broaden its pre-trained model catalog, supporting growth in financial markets across Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Digital Reasoning's Series D-1 funding round had a first close last year, led by BNP Paribas with participation from Barclays, Square Capital, Goldman Sachs, Nasdaq, Lemhi Ventures, HCA, and the Partnership Fund for New York City.

Digital Reasoning, today announced a strategic investment from SC Ventures, the innovation, ventures and fintech investments unit of Standard Chartered Bank, bringing its Series D-1 funding round total to $40 million. In addition to this investment, Digital Reasoning will partner with Standard Chartered Bank to expand its financial services product offerings in Communications Surveillance across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and other international markets. "Digital Reasoning is the leader in communications analytics, identifying and finding key risks and insights from human language and behavior. Doing this requires an increased understanding of diverse languages and contexts across numerous cultures," "Standard Chartered is a leading global bank with a very diverse footprint. Through the partnership, we believe we can accelerate our solutions' applicability across Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Together we will further democratize using AI to understand the languages in markets where these new solutions can be used for good."

Spotted: Eddy Travels is an AI-enabled personal travel assistant that operates within popular chat applications, such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Viber, Slack and Telegram. Based on the user's chat conversations, Eddy uses a language processing system that makes tailored travel recommendations. This enables to unify all booking needs to one place, from flights to hotels. Eddy even recommends personalized activities. For example, if your friend mentions taking a trip to Tanzania, Eddy could recommend a safe area to stay in, accommodation, the best travel insurance, tours, etc.

Spotted: Eddy Travels is an AI-enabled personal travel assistant that operates within popular chat applications, such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Viber, Slack and Telegram. Based on the user's chat conversations, Eddy uses a language processing system that makes tailored travel recommendations. This enables to unify all booking needs to one place, from flights to hotels. Eddy even recommends personalized activities. For example, if your friend mentions taking a trip to Tanzania, Eddy could recommend a safe area to stay in, accommodation, the best travel insurance, tours, etc.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are forecast to add US$15 trillion to the global economy by 2030. According to the findings of our Index and as might be expected, the governments of countries in the Global North are better placed to take advantage of these gains than those in the Global South. There is a risk, therefore, that countries in the Global South could be left behind by the so-called fourth industrial revolution. Not only will they not reap the potential benefits of AI, but there is also the danger that unequal implementation widens global inequalities. AI has the power to transform the way that governments around the world deliver public services. In turn, this could greatly improve citizens' experiences of government. Governments are already implementing AI in their operations and service delivery, to improve efficiency, save time and money, and deliver better quality public services. In 2017, Oxford Insights created the world's first Government AI Readiness Index, to answer the question: how well placed are national governments to take advantage of the benefits of AI in their operations and delivery of public services? The results sought to capture the current capacity of governments to exploit the innovative potential of AI. The 2019 Government AI Readiness Index, produced with the support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), sees a development of our methodology, and an expansion of scope to cover all UN countries (from our previous group of OECD members). It scores the governments of 194 countries and territories according to their preparedness to use AI in the delivery of public services. The overall score is comprised of 11 input metrics, grouped under four high-level clusters: governance; infrastructure and data; skills and education; and government and public services. The data is derived from a variety of resources, ranging from our own desk research into AI strategies, to databases such as the number of registered AI startups on Crunchbase, to indices such as the UN eGovernment Development Index. We divided the countries by region, principally following UN groupings, with the chief exception of the Western European and Others Group, which we separated to allow more in-depth analysis of higher scoring governments.

CANBERRA – An Australian government minister on Wednesday expressed concern for three Australians arrested in Iran on suspicion of spying and separated their plight from a tense standoff in the Middle East over the weekend attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities. Trade Minister Simon Birmingham was responding after Iran on Tuesday acknowledged for the first time that it is holding three Australian citizens, including two British dual nationals, on suspicion of espionage. "The government continues to seek information and clarity around these matters," Birmingham told Australian Broadcasting Corp. "We are concerned for the welfare of these individuals and work to make sure their treatment is as fair as possible." Iran confirmed the arrests of Melbourne University Middle East expert Kylie Moore-Gilbert in October and travel blogging couple Mark Firkin and Jolie King in July as fallout continues from Saturday's fiery missile and drone attack on the heart of Saudi Arabia's oil industry. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was headed to Jiddah in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to discuss possible responses to what U.S. officials believe was an attack coming from Iranian soil.

The potential use of drones to cripple as much as half of Saudi national oil production this week highlights a growing threat in modern-day conflict. The attack has shown that Saudi Arabia -- the world's third largest defence spender -- is incapable of defending arguably its most protected non-military installation in Abqaiq. It is estimated to have halted around 5 per cent of international crude output, has shocked markets and spiked prices globally. Only a decade ago, such an attack by a low-cost, remote weapon systems was largely unthinkable. And players on the world stage have seized on the shift, with groups such as Islamic State and Mexican drug cartels creating their own improvised explosive vehicles from rudimentary hobby kits purchased online and in stores.

Poachers killed almost a third of the African elephant population between 2007 and 2014, a recent census found. Researchers hope artificial intelligence can help stop poachers and other threats, too.