Our lecture in 2017 about Artificial Intelligence generated much interest and discussion. Amongst the issues raised was the whole question of remotely controlled or even autonomous weapons. We are delighted to welcome two retired senior officers to help us explore this further. Lt Gen Sir Robert Fry KCB RM is a former commandant of the Royal Marines and served as coalition deputy commanding General in Iraq in 2006 before retiring to head Hewlett Packard's Enterprise Services, Defence & Security UK. Air Marshal Sir Christopher Coville KCB was Deputy CinC Allied Forces Northern Europe and Air Member for Personnel before his retirement following which he served as the chairman of Augusta Westland.

Vivifi India Finance Private Limited (Vivifi), a FinTech NBFC (non-banking finance company), has transformed the consumer credit landscape in India with its artificial intelligence (AI) driven loan management system used by its flagship lending product – FlexSalary. FlexSalary is a reusable line-of-credit with flexible repayment options which enables access to credit to the sub-prime population of India. FlexSalary's AI powered underwriting algorithm plays a crucial role on two fronts – first, eliminate fraud, and second, by minimizing human intervention, reduce the loan approval process by a fourth. "Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning minimize human intervention in the loan approval process. So, not only does FlexSalary enable credit availability anytime, anywhere provided one has an internet connection and a bank account, but with its revolutionary Electronic Income and Bank Verification option, it allows an individual to receive the loan on the very same day whereas traditional avenues take much longer," said Anil Pinapala, Founder & CEO, Vivifi India.

Artificial intelligence researcher Chen Xiaoping is leading a new AI ethics committee established in China to develop guidelines which address the potential risks associated with large-scale applications of the technology, the South China Morning Post reports. Chen is a professor and the director of the University of Science and Technology of China's Robotics Laboratory, and the inventor of AI robot Jia Jia. He led the new group, which is scheduled to meet in May, through its first conference last year. China has moved aggressively to take a global leadership position in AI technology, with investments and an open source platform in development, but the SCMP reports it is playing catch-up in the development of ethical guidelines for the field. With deployments increasing for both state and business applications, Chen says the technology has reached the point where dialogue about risks is necessary.

Microsoft India on Wednesday announced to set up Artificial Intelligence (AI) labs in 10 universities and train five lakh youth across the country in disrupting technologies. The company also said it will upskill over 10,000 developers over the next three years. "We believe AI will enable Indian businesses and more for India's progress, especially in education, skilling, healthcare and agriculture," said Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India. Microsoft AI today is fuelling digital transformation for over 700 customers and 60 per cent customers are large manufacturing and financial services enterprises. Over 700 partners have geared up to support the AI ecosystem, said the company.

Artificial intelligence, energy diversification and the transformation of the workforce will be amongst the major talking points at SPE Offshore Europe 2019. Senior international industry figures will co-chair the keynote sessions which also includes late life and decommissioning, underwater innovation, transformative technologies to lower the carbon footprint, digital security, integrated technologies, digitalisation, standardisation and finance. The event will take place from 3-6 September at the new £333million The Event Complex Aberdeen (TECA), under the theme: 'Breakthrough to Excellence – Our license to operate'. Michael Borrell, SPE Offshore Europe 2019 Conference Chair & Senior Vice President, North Sea and Russia at Total said: "Our committee is full of international oil and gas industry leaders and they have developed an excellent programme which gets to the heart of the main opportunities and challenges facing the region. "Offshore Europe 2019 is a great opportunity for us to challenge ourselves in the North Sea basin.

In an attempt to skill Indian youths in Artificial Intelligence, Microsoft India has taken an initiative to train five lakh youths. The company aims to train five lakh youths in AI across the country and would set up AI labs in 10 universities. Additionally, the company plans to upskill 10,000 developers in emerging technology areas like AI, IoT, etc. Microsoft also started Intelligent Cloud Hub Program to equip research and higher education institutions with AI infrastructure, build curriculum and help both faculty and students to build their skills and expertise in cloud computing, data sciences, AI and IoT. Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India shares, "We believe AI will enable Indian businesses and more for India's progress, especially in education, skilling, healthcare, and agriculture. Microsoft also believes that it is imperative to build higher awareness and capabilities on security, privacy, trust, and accountability. The power of AI is just beginning to be realized and can be a game-changer for India."

SHANGHAI (Xinhua) – US tech giant Microsoft yesterday signed a memorandum of strategic cooperation to locate its new artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) Insider Lab, the first of its kind in Asian-Pacific Region, in Shanghai. The memorandum was signed between the company and Shanghai's Pudong New Area. The lab is expected to open in April. It will be Microsoft's third and largest AI & IoT Insider Lab in the world, after the company set up the first two in Seattle and Munich. The lab is set to enhance deep integration of AI and IoT, and help digital transformation across industries including manufacturing, retail, healthcare, and the public sector.

Germany Market Analysis Table 35: German Recent Past, Current & Future Analysis for Artificial Intelligence Analyzed with Annual Revenue Figures in US$ Million for Years 2015 through 2024 (includes corresponding Graph/Chart) 9.4.3 Italy Market Analysis Table 36: Italian Recent Past, Current & Future Analysis for Artificial Intelligence Analyzed with Annual Revenue Figures in US$ Million for Years 2015 through 2024 (includes corresponding Graph/Chart) 9.4.4

Amazon, Microsoft and Google are the forerunners among tech giants to leverage artificial intelligence to tackle cybersecurity threats and keep hackers at bay, who often pose as a real user to gain crucial data. Speaking to an international news agency, the chief security officers from each of the company unanimously agreed that AI and ML plays a crucial role in protecting their company'' multi-million dollar infrastructure by crunching large pool of data on a daily basis. While acknowledging that it is impossible to stop every intruder, Stephen Schmidt, Amazon CISO, maintained that the new tech remains largely beneficial for companies like that of Amazon which has to ensure online safety of millions of people across the world. Speaking about the ability of AI and ML in identifying hacker he said, "We will see an improved ability to identify threats earlier in the attack cycle and thereby reduce the total amount of damage and more quickly restore systems to a desirable state." Speaking on the large set of data that needs to be processed for monitoring unauthorised activities, Mark Risher, product management director at Google said,"The amount of data we need to look at to make sure whether this is you or an impostor keeps growing at a rate that is too large for humans to write rules one by one."

WASHINGTON - U.S. authorities are in the "advanced" stages of a criminal probe that could result in an indictment of Chinese technology giant Huawei, a report said Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources, said the Justice Department is looking into allegations of theft involving trade secrets from Huawei's U.S. business partners, including a T-Mobile robotic device used to test smartphones. The Justice Department declined to comment on the report and Huawei did not respond to a request for comment. The move would further escalate tensions between the U.S. and China after the arrest last year in Canada of Huawei's chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, who is the daughter of the company's founder and remains under house arrest, awaiting proceedings. The Meng case has inflamed U.S.-China and Canada-China relations.