GENEVA (Reuters) - China and the United States are ahead of the global competition to dominate artificial intelligence (AI), according to a study by the U.N. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) published on Thursday. The study found U.S. tech giant IBM had by far the biggest AI patent portfolio, with 8,920 patents, ahead of Microsoft with 5,930 and a group of mainly Japanese tech conglomerates. China accounted for 17 of the top 20 academic institutions involved in patenting AI and was particularly strong in the fast growing area of "deep learning" - a machine-learning technique that includes speech recognition systems. "The U.S. and China obviously have stolen a lead. They're out in front in this area, in terms of numbers of applications, and in scientific publications," WIPO Director-General Francis Gurry told a news conference.

You are definitely not in a science-fiction movie with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robots, but it feels exactly like one as AI and robots serve guests at Alibaba-owned FlyZoo Hotel in Hangzhou, some 170 km southwest of Shanghai, China. Flyzoo Hotel, the first futuristic hotel of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., employs black disc-shaped robots about a meter in height to deliver food and drop off fresh towels, along with their human hotel staff. The 290-room hotel was formally opened to the public in December last year. It serves as an incubator for the technology that Alibaba wants to sell to the hotel industry in the future. This first high-tech, futuristic feature hotel also showcases the power of artificial intelligence as it operates without a receptionist and a concierge.

Apple's next software update for iPhones and iPads will bring a whole host of changes, including substantial alterations to how the devices look. The company is set to unveil specific changes for the iPad as well as a dark mode that makes it easier to see at nighttime, according to a report in Bloomberg. The company has long been expected to add bigger changes to this year's release, after a relatively muted update last time around. Apple is thought to have delayed some of the biggest features it was working on for last year's iOS 12, instead spending time to improve performance and tweak the operating system so it would run well on older phones. This time around, the phones will finally get a specific dark mode, allowing the white parts of the software to turn black.

In the 506 Apple Stores around the world, there is a varied schedule of free events. From today, these are changing significantly, in the biggest development since they were first introduced. Apple Stores have always had areas like the Genius Bar where you can take an Apple gadget that needs a new screen, for instance, and a dedicated set-up area means you're given help with a new iPhone, say, before you leave the store. But it's the live sessions which are changing, the ones which fall into the category called Today at Apple. I visited the company's remarkable Apple Park campus in Cupertino, to try the new events first hand and talk to Angela Ahrendts, Apple's head of retail and Karl Heiselman, senior director of retail.

It is one of the marvels of human innovation but artificial intelligence (AI) offers tough competition to us. The days of speculating rain and sunshine may soon fade with artificial intelligence's capability to predict right conditions with precision to an extent. It comprises one of the basic aspects of precision agriculture (PA) promoted even by the government to boost productivity and in turn, farmers' income. AI-based sowing advisories lead to 30% higher yields as Microsoft, in collaboration with ICRISAT, developed an AI Sowing App powered by Microsoft Cortana Intelligence Suite including Machine Learning and Power BI. The app sends sowing advisories to participating farmers on the optimal date to sow without them installing any sensors in their fields or any additional cost; all they need is a phone capable of receiving text messages.

YITU Technology today announced the launch of the YITU Singapore Research & Development Center. This is the company's first R&D center in Southeast Asia and it will play an important role in supporting innovation-led growth in Singapore and the region, reaffirming the company's commitment to deepen partnerships within the local AI ecosystem. According to the announcement, YITU sees Singapore as a critical hub for AI innovation as its advanced digital infrastructure, government support and talented STEM workforce have created a thriving AI ecosystem that promotes public, private and academic sector collaboration. In the initial phase, the focus of the YITU Singapore R&D Centre will be on developing AI solutions for smart buildings, enhancing natural language and speech processing technologies for commercial applications, and optimizing computer vision methods for medical diagnostics. An essential component of the center's activities will also include customizing AI applications to address specific local needs.

According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Technology Trends report, 50 per cent of all patents for AI – the replication of human intelligence by machines for use in industries such as transport and healthcare, for instance – have been published since 2013, adding up to more than 170,000 different patented ideas. This followed on from an initial boom in AI scientific publications, which began in 2001. WIPO Director General Francis Gurry told journalists in Geneva the surge in patenting was "striking", noting that AI research began in the 1950s. "But there has been a quantum leap since about 2013, so we're dealing with what is happening right now in a very fast-moving field," he insisted. By number, patent applications for machine learning, indicate that this is currently the dominant application of AI; think of apps that include ride-sharing services to minimize detours.

As fraudsters become more brazen in their efforts, banks are realizing they need to do more than simply respond to suspicious activities as they find them. Instead, a deeper understanding of fraud -- down to its genetic outline -- is needed to be truly effective in fighting it. The new Digital Banking Tracker highlights how banks are adopting new approaches to protect their customers and clients from nefarious actors. Fighting fraud is often a group effort, as can be seen in several global markets. In the UAE, for instance, a group of banks recently banded together to crack down on acts of check-related fraud.

Apple's new iPhones are set to include a laser-powered camera for 3D images, according to a new report. The new imaging system is likely to be the flagship feature on the flagship phone that will be released in 2020, which will replace the iPhone XS Max. And it is just one of a range of updates and new products that are set to be released over the coming years, according to Bloomberg. First, a new 2019 phone will include three cameras on its back, allowing for vastly improved photographs, according to the same report. It will allow Apple to take more detailed photos as well as potentially allow for them to be edited after they have been taken.

China and the United States are ahead of the global competition to dominate artificial intelligence (AI), according to a study by the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) published on Thursday. The research found tech giant IBM had by far the biggest AI patent portfolio with 8,920 patents, ahead of Microsoft with 5,930, and a group of mainly Japanese tech conglomerates. China accounted for 17 of the top 20 academic institutions involved in patenting AI and was particularly strong in the fast-growing area of "deep learning" - a machine-learning technique that includes speech recognition systems. "The US and China obviously have stolen a lead. They're out in front in this area in terms of numbers of applications and in scientific publications," WIPO Director-General Francis Gurry told a news conference.