The 4,500-year-old secrets of the Great Pyramid of Giza's maze of hidden chambers are set to be revealed by an inflatable robot. Researchers are building a blimp-like probe that enters ancient monuments via a 3.5-centimetre (1.4-inch) 'keyhole' drilled through a wall. Once inflated inside the chamber, the drone flies like a blimp to explore inaccessible areas with minimal damage to artefacts or structures hidden within. Last month, a mysterious 30-metre (100ft) void nestled above the pyramid's Grand Gallery deep within the monument was discovered by an international team of researchers. The 4,500-year-old secrets of the Great Pyramid of Giza's hidden chambers are set to be revealed by an inflatable robot (artist's impression). Researchers are building a blimp-like probe that enters ancient monuments via a 3.5-centimetre (1.4-inch) 'keyhole' drilled through a wall (left) The device enters rooms and chambers through a 3.5 centimetre hole drilled through a wall by researchers outside. It is made up of two robots, a tubular machine equipped with a high definition camera and a probe that explores the structure via a small, inflatable blimp.

The tech is increasingly becoming ubiquitous across all industries from the automotive industry, fintech, social media, ecommerce to even entertainment. We are living in the age of big data, as increasingly more enterprises invest in AI and machine learning -- a branch of AI which is in its simplest definition is a form of data analysis -- startups are taking notice and disrupting whole industries by employing that tech. With that in mind, here's everything you need to know about the artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tech ecosystem in South Africa. There are a large number of South African startups using AI-related technologies in their software solutions. Here below is a list of some of the more well-known startups -- some of which have developed cutting AI solutions, or potentially disruptive technologies using AI.

I had the pleasure of meeting Shing Tao, the CEO of Remark Holdings (NASDAQ:MARK), on Monday night. He had just flown into San Francisco from Beijing and I was meant to be his first meeting before dinner and some shut eye; he had a big Tuesday in front of him with Roth Capital (whose analyst loves MARK, although they haven't been their bankers) taking him on a Non-Deal Roadshow and introducing him to several institutional investors. Remark has been very hot lately, jumping almost 200% in value since the company reported Q3 earnings in mid-November. The move came on the back of 2018 revenue guidance for their Artificial Intelligence operating subsidiary, KanKan. They guided to $30M in KanKan AI revenues for next year, which would be a 500% increase over 2017.

Despite the recent successes in the use of machine learning (ML) to perform tasks more accurately than humans such as in cancer detection and hand-writing recognition, moving beyond a demo to roll out a live commercial product requires much more than a fancy algorithm. There's no doubt that the technology will re-define most industries, but it's worth keeping in mind that we are just at the beginning of a multi-decade cycle and so entrepreneurs should be cognisant of this when implementing ML in a commercial environment with clients. What follows are some lessons learnt from being in the trenches. It's worth clarifying that most problems in ML follow a similar pattern, loosely called "predictive analytics": Building these models requires huge datasets of labeled historical records. For example: loan applications with tags stating whether a loan repayment event occurred in order to make a prediction whether an applicant will repay a loan. The dataset requirement may not sound problematic (even assuming the requisite datasets are available), but the reality is that these datasets are often residing in different areas of the business, in different formats with different labels and with different decision-makers for each dataset.

Last month, the ScanPyramids project, led by a team of researchers from the University of Cairo's Faculty of Engineering in Egypt and the HIP Institute in France, announced that they'd used muon imaging to discover a large void hidden deep inside the Khufu's Pyramid (also known as the Great Pyramid of Giza, since it's the big one). Nobody knows what's inside, or if there's anything inside at all, or even if maybe that's where the Stargate is stashed. Obviously there's a lot of interest in what may or may not be hiding out in here, and it could help solve mysteries like how and why exactly the pyramids were built. The problem is that (understandably) we're not going to just start blowing holes in the Great Pyramid to see what's going on. In 2002, Egyptologists used a custom exploration robot (made by iRobot, in fact) to explore a small shaft leading out of the Queen's Chamber in the Great Pyramid that was sealed by a door. Rather than try to open the door, likely destroying it in the process, the robot drilled a tiny hole just large enough to poke a camera through in an effort to do the minimum amount of irreversible damage to the only wonder of the ancient world that we've got left.

The U.S. military has carried out 32 airstrikes this year against the Somalia-based al-Shabab and a small but growing presence of fighters linked to the Islamic State group. The Trump administration early this year approved expanded military operations against extremists in the Horn of Africa nation, as the Trump administration puts counterterrorism at the top of its foreign policy agenda for Africa.

Algorithms drive more efficient investment decisions, says co-founder of South Africa's first machine-learning-powered unit trust fund.

Accenture Nigeria said its investments in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), robotics and blockchain technology capabilities will help businesses across various sectors boost their productivity and efficiency through innovations. The management consulting and professional services giant said technology will continue to evolve. Speaking with reporters after a demo at its Lagos office at the weekend, its Managing Director Mr. Niyi Tayo, said earlier in the year, the firm had predicted that many consumers and enterprise clients will depend on AI to select products. He said: "Early this year, we predicted that in five years, more than half of consumers and enterprise clients will select products and services based on a company's AI, instead of the company's traditional brand. And in seven years, most interfaces will not have a screen and will be integrated into daily tasks. These two predictions alone strongly suggest that companies must act now on developing their AI Journey. "We want businesses in Nigeria – from banking to manufacturing, health, construction, education, retail, security, and other sectors to take advantage of the innovations we have created to improve their businesses.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies have turned the IT industry on its head, offering enterprises the ability to transform their approach to business strategy and customer insights, and research institutions to pursue humanity's biggest challenges. Once considered an abstract technology that was primarily championed by hyperscale companies (like Google, Microsoft, Baidu etc), it is encouraging to now see startups and larger enterprises alike across a variety of industries explore unique AI applications to solve business problems and scientific challenges. From assisting in healthcare diagnoses, to predicting when things like a jet engine is in need of maintenance, and assisting in crime prevention, the potential for innovation with AI is nearly endless. It's even touching the average consumer's daily life, as well: Facebook's suggested photo tagging feature, for example, uses AI to recognize who's who in your pictures. Of course, AI does have its pain points and a key challenge for businesses today is the ability to differentiate between what's hype and what's reality.

Shares of AeroVironment Inc., a drone manufacturer based in Monrovia, soared Wednesday after the company reported strong second-quarter earnings, boosted by a growth in sales of unmanned aircraft systems. AeroVironment stock was up as much as 34% on Wednesday morning before losing some of its gains. It was up 26% at $54.49 around noon Pacific time. The company held its second-quarter earnings call with analysts Tuesday afternoon and reported revenue of $73.8 million, a 47% increase compared with the same period last year. AeroVironment attributed the gain to increased sales of unmanned aircraft systems, which includes drones, on-board cameras and sensors and ground control stations.