SINGAPORE: In a first, scientists have used a powerful artificial intelligence (AI) platform, to successfully treat a patient with advanced cancer, completely halting disease progression. The research team successfully utilised a platform called CURATE.AI to continuously identify the optimal doses of each drug to result in a durable response, allowing the patient to resume a completely normal and active lifestyle. The patient with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (MCRPC) was given a novel drug combination consisting of investigational drug ZEN-3694 and enzalutamide, an approved prostate cancer drug. "Dynamic dosing in cancer therapy is not commonly used. In fact, drug dosing changes in oncology are typically performed only to reduce toxicity," said Dean Ho, from National University of Singapore (NUS).

Credit institutions are poised to use a combination of artificial intelligence and facial recognition to instantly read the facial expressions of applicants to assess their likelihood of loan repayment. The South China Morning Post reports that Ping An Puhui, a Chinese micro lending unit of China's second-largest life insurer, has developed a digitalized loan process that can "analyse facial expressions of applicants to determine their willingness to repay the loans." The company contends that as a result of using new technologies, including facial recognition and big data, it has seen its customers "more than doubling to 5.5 million from 2 million a year ago," and its loan default rate drop, without the necessity of expanding its staffing. Facial recognition for identity verification and mobile payments just got a big boost with the latest iPhone launch. Thanks to Apple, consumers will become far more accustomed to the use of facial recognition for identity verification and digital payments.

In response to a shortage of AI engineers in the country, the Korean government plans to to create at least six new AI schools by 2020, and educate more than 5,000 high quality Korean engineers. It also plans to invest in AI on a national level. An R&D challenge similar to those developed by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as well as funding AI projects related to areas such as public safety, medicine, national defense are also in the plans. Many in the country see the creation and development of AI startups and businesses is also vital to building a strong AI ecosystem, and as a result the government is supporting the creation of an AI-oriented startup incubator to help develop emerging AI businesses and funding for the creation of AI semiconductors by 2029. Clearly, the government and Korean companies alike think that AI is an important technology for the country.

That the modern world is a complex place will not have escaped your notice. We are all dimly, unsettlingly aware that our lives are enmeshed in systems we can't fully comprehend. The last meal you ate probably contained produce grown in another country that was harvested, processed, packaged, shipped, then sold to you. The phone in your hand is the end-product of an even more convoluted chain; one that relies on human labor from mines in Africa, assembly lines in China, and standing desks in San Francisco. Explaining how these systems connect and the effect they have on the world is not an easy task.

In the weeks and months following a major earthquake, the surrounding area is often wracked by powerful aftershocks that can leave an already damaged community reeling and can significantly hamper recovery efforts. While scientists have developed empirical laws to describe the likely size and timing of those aftershocks, such as Bath's Law and Ohmori's Law, forecasting their location has been harder. But sparked by a suggestion from researchers at Google, Brendan Meade, professor of earth and planetary sciences, and Phoebe DeVries, a postdoctoral fellow working in his lab, are using artificial intelligence technology to try to get a handle on the problem. Using deep-learning algorithms, the pair analyzed a database of earthquakes from around the world to try to predict where aftershocks might occur, and developed a system that, while still imprecise, was able make significantly better forecasts than random assignment. The work is described in an Aug. 30 paper published in the journal Nature.

To understand the benefits that artificial intelligence can bring to the world of human medicine, consider the case of Ayako Yamashita, a 60-year-old Japanese woman, whose condition befuddled doctors in 2015. Yamashita was thought to be suffering from acute myeloid leukemia. But after several unsuccessful treatment attempts, her doctors decided to search for another answer to her condition. They turned to IBM's Watson, an AI system capable of analyzing vast amounts of data. The computer reviewed nearly 20 million previously-published oncological research studies and cross-referenced data points. Watson's analysis suggested the woman had a rare form of leukemia not detected through conventional methods.

A world renowned pioneer in social robotics, Cynthia Breazeal splits her time as an Associate Professor at MIT, where she received her PhD and founded the Personal Robots Group, and Founder and Chief Scientist of Jibo, a personal robotics company with over $85 million in funding. While Breazeal's work has won numerous academic awards, industry accolades, and media attention, she had to fight early skepticism in the 1990s from other experts in robotics and AI. At the time, robots were seen as physical and industrial tools, not social or emotional companions. Her first social robot, Kismet, was unfairly called out in popular press as "useless". Breazeal bucked the trend with a very different vision: "I wanted to create robots with social and emotional intelligence that could work in collaborative partnership with people. In 2-5 years, I see social robots helping families with things that really matter, like education, health, eldercare, entertainment, and companionship." She hopes her work and influence will inspire others to create robots "not only with smarts, but with heart, too."

Google employees reviewing the company appreciate the company's benefits and perks, which include free food and coffee made by baristas in every building. Other benefits include onsite gyms, free workout classes, and shuttles for free and easy commuting. Employees also appear confident in the company's leadership. Google CEO Sundar Pichai has a near-perfect 95% approval rating on Glassdoor. LONDON – Google is going to Europe's top court in its legal fight against an order requiring it to extend "right to be forgotten" rules to its search engines globally.

The NFL is back in action, and along with it we have a slew of fall TV shows returning. That includes bingeable (it's a word) options on Netflix, Amazon and Hulu like Bojack Horseman season five, The First, Forever and American Vandal season two. For gamers, the standard edition of NBA 2K19 is here, plus the latest Tomb Raider game, while Blu-ray fans can get Oceans 8 or Batman: The Killing Joke on 4K Blu-ray. Look after the break to check out each day's highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed). Richard's been tech-obsessed since first laying hands on an Atari joystick.

There used to be only three ways off of a kidney transplant waiting list. The first was to find a healthy person from within one's own pool of friends and family, who perfectly matched both the recipient's blood and tissue types, and possessed a spare kidney he or she was willing to part with. The second was to wait for the unexpected death of a stranger who was a suitable physical match and happened to have the organ-donor box checked on their driver's license. The third was to die. But then it occurred to doctors: given enough kidney patients, and enough healthy, willing donors, they could form a pool big enough to facilitate far more matches than the one-to-one system of the past. As long as patients could procure a donor--any donor, even one that wasn't a fit with the patient themselves--they could get a matching kidney. At first, this required doctors to spend brain-searing hours poring over the details of blood types and tissue variations in patients' and potential donors' charts. Then computer scientists and economists got involved. They built algorithms that performed these complicated matches more elegantly than human brains ever could.