Due to globalization, geographic boundaries no longer serve as effective shields for the spread of infectious diseases. In order to aid bio-surveillance analysts in disease tracking, recent research has been devoted to developing information retrieval and analysis methods utilizing the vast corpora of publicly available documents on the internet. In this work, we present methods for the automated retrieval and classification of documents related to active public health events. We demonstrate classification performance on an auto-generated corpus, using recurrent neural network, TF-IDF, and Naive Bayes log count ratio document representations. By jointly modeling the title and description of a document, we achieve 97% recall and 93.3% accuracy with our best performing bio-surveillance event classification model: logistic regression on the combined output from a pair of bidirectional recurrent neural networks.

Shanghai-based artificial intelligence company Yitu Technology announced this month that is launching its first R&D center outside of China in Singapore. The move is part of a larger trend among Chinese tech companies hoping to achieve two goals: Access top foreign engineering and scientific talent by setting up R&D centers in key global knowledge hubs, and embed themselves deeper in local ecosystems to spur new long-term growth engines -- most notably in Southeast Asia. The ultimate goal for many of China's leading tech companies is to become true multinationals. Their strategy is to build a significant presence in their huge home market and then leverage that to branch out internationally. However, they face a steep learning curve: The free-for-all ethos and Darwinian natural selection that guide their modus operandi in China often prove to be counter-productive in smaller, more insulated markets.

I have worked on the problem of open-sourcing Machine Learning versus sensitivity for a long time, especially in disaster response contexts: when is it right/wrong to release data or a model publicly? This article is a list of frequently asked questions, the answers that are best practice today, and some examples of where I have encountered them. The criticism of OpenAI's decision included how it limits the research community's ability to replicate the results, and how the action in itself contributes to media fear of AI that is hyperbolic right now. It was this tweet that first caught my eye. Anima Anankumar has a lot of experience bridging the gap between research and practical applications of Machine Learning.

Today I'm pleased to present to readers what's next up in our series featuring author Richard Abbott, whose space jaunts have so delighted me--and many others. Of course, I'd previously reviewed Abbott's debut sci-fi novel, Far from the Spaceports, followed up by another for its sequel, Timing. The audio excerpts below come from the second novel and, like our previous entry, utilize Amazon's Polly software, which is enabled for text-to-speech in multiple accents and intonations. This compares to Alexa, a single voice. Before moving forward, for those unfamiliar with the novels and their plots, I've linked the book covers to their respective Amazon blurbs.

The mention of the words Artificial Intelligence (AI) conjures up science fiction-like images in the minds of many people, but it is becoming a very real part of day to day life without us even realising it. AI is and has been making a lasting impression on a number of key industries, not only streamlining otherwise tedious processes but also changing the way business is conducted on a much larger scale. Elnur Amikishiyev via 123RF 1. Education AI will likely be used predominantly to take the labour out of admin during the early stages of implementation, taking over things like grading assignments, recording marks, and any other computational tasks where machines could surpass people. The human element, however, will remain a constant in the form of teachers who will have greater freedom to focus on students' individual needs and finding ways to fill gaps in learning. Most notably AI is used to mark multiple-choice tests, but advancements in machine learning could soon enable it to evaluate and efficiently mark written responses. The technology could also be utilised to make the enrollment and admissions processes at educational institutions more efficient.

At Callaway, the high-end golf-equipment stalwart, the process of making clubs has always been quite labor-intensive--from grinding and polishing clubheads to crafting wood-and-steel-shafted irons and wedges. The company has also long combined such artisanal handwork with technological innovation, even partnering with aerospace titan Boeing recently to codesign several aerodynamic clubs. So when the company set out about four years ago to make its latest club line, called Epic Flash, it took the next evolutionary technological step, turning to artificial intelligence and machine learning for help. A typical club-design process might involve five to seven physical prototypes; for Epic Flash, Callaway created 15,000 virtual ones. From those, an algorithm determined the best design, selecting for peak performance--i.e., ball speed--while also conforming to the rules set forth by the U.S. Golf Association.

The British-led mission to test techniques to clear up space junk has demonstrated a harpoon in orbit. The RemoveDebris satellite fired the projectile into a target board held at a distance on the end of a boom. Video of the event shows the miniature spear fly straight and true, and with such force that it actually breaks the target structure. But, importantly, the harpoon's barbs deploy and hold on to the board, preventing it from floating away. Prof Guglielmo Aglietti, from the University of Surrey in Guildford, is the principal investigator on the mission.

Killer robots are a'grave threat to humanity' and should be banned, the world's largest gathering of scientists was told. As yet, robot soldiers and security guards armed with lethal weapons are largely science fiction concepts. But advances in artificial intelligence mean it is only a matter of time before robots with the power to select and attack targets without human input become widespread. Killer robots, similar to the Terminator played by Arnold Schwarzenegger (pictured), are a'grave threat to humanity' and should be banned, the world's largest gathering of scientists was told (stock image) Scientists and human rights campaigners told the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Washington DC lethal droids able to select targets without human help represent the'third revolution' in warfare after gun powder and nuclear weapons. Just as international agreements greatly restricted the use of landmines, similar international agreements should be used to prevent robotic killers becoming established.

So read the T-shirt sported by Ben Recht, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, as he collected an award at the Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS) conference this week. Dr Recht, pictured above in lecture mode, was protesting against the flood of corporate money pouring into NIPS, aping the words Kurt Cobain wrote on a T-shirt when he appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone in 1992. "It's not an academic conference anymore," Dr Recht says wistfully, perched in the Californian sun on the steps of the Long Beach Convention Centre. He complains that folk would rather go to corporate-sponsored parties these days (Intel's featured Flo Rida, a rapper), than poster sessions. AI, it seems, is the new rock and roll.

The U.S. Department of Defense on Feb. 12 released its roadmap for artificial intelligence, and the most interesting thing about it might be what's missing from the report: The military is nowhere close to building a lethal weapon capable of thinking and acting on its own. As it turns out, the military applications of artificial intelligence today and in the foreseeable future are much more mundane. The Defense Department has several pilot projects in the works that focus on using AI to solve everyday problems such as floods, fires, and maintenance, said U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan, who heads up the Pentagon's new Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. "We are nowhere close to the full autonomy question that most people seem to leap to a conclusion on when they think about DoD and AI," Shanahan said during a briefing Tuesday. It's not that Department of Defense hasn't given the idea of fully autonomous weapons much thought.