NITI Aayog has identified five sectors that includes healthcare, agriculture, education, infrastructure and transportation that can benefit from adoption of artificial intelligence. In its discussion paper on national strategy for artificial intelligence (AI) released on Monday, the Aayog has proposed a two-tier structure to address research in India. According to the Aayog, application of AI to healthcare could increase access and affordability of quality healthcare while it can enhance farmers income, increase productivity and reduce wastage when used in agriculture. "In areas of education AI can improve access and quality of education while improving connectivity and safer modes of transportation when put to infrastructure and transportation sectors," the Aayog said. Aiming to put AI to use for all and across sectors, the Aayog has identified barriers that needs to be addressed to achieve success in the use of AI.

In this year's Financial Budget, Finance Minister had mandated NITI Aayog, a policy think tank of the Government of India, to establish the National Program on AI to guide R&D in frontier technologies. In a result of this mandate, NITI Aayog today presented its discussion paper on National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence (NSAI). In its discussion paper on national strategy for artificial intelligence released today, NITI aayog has identified sectors -- healthcare, agriculture, education, infrastructure and transportation as key five sectors that can benefit from AI adoption. The NSAI paper gives many disruptive suggestion including one to utilize market place models for data, annotation, and deployable solutions in AI. We need to democratise access to and development of this technology.

Japan is aiming to launch self-driving vehicle services on public roads by 2020 when Tokyo hosts the Olympics and Paralympics, according to a draft growth strategy presented Monday. The government set a goal of increasing the number of locations where such services are available to over 100 across the country by 2030, reflecting its ambition to spread the use of autonomous driving technology. The draft strategy, presented to a government panel on future investment, pointed to the need for Japan to make better use of advanced technology such as artificial intelligence and big data. A slow response will leave the country lagging behind in the intensifying global technology race, the strategy document said, adding that advances can be utilized to solve Japan's dual challenges of its aging society and falling birthrate. Automakers and other companies are competing to develop self-driving technology that the government hopes to show off in autonomous vehicles when the Olympics and Paralympics are held in Tokyo.

DigiConnectt, an artificial intelligence startup that offers sales analytics and enablement solutions, has raised $125,000 (Rs 83.75 lakh) in seed funding from US-based transport management solutions company Aspire Logistics LLC. The Bengaluru-based firm said it plans to use the fresh capital for advancing its technology, strengthening its product line-up and consolidating its research capabilities. Ltd, the startup aims to help organisations with business intelligence insights and focuses on developing products that enhance sales productivity. DigiConnectt was founded last year by Prrashanth H Nagaraj, who is also the firm's managing director. Nagaraj has previous sales experience across industries such as banking, insurance, manufacturing, IT and digital media.

News reports of May 20, 2018 have reported the government has embarked upon an ambitious defence project for incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance operational preparedness of the armed forces in a significant way. The project is to include equipping the military with unmanned tanks, vessels, aerial vehicles and robotic weaponry. The DRDO has been talking of preparing the military for robotic warfare for past several years but without much to show on ground other than few applications. DRDO's Centre for Artificial Intelligence & Robotics (CAIR) has developed a range of robots with varied applications, and is also developing: man portable Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) for low intensity conflicts and surveillance in urban scenario; wall climbing and flapping wing robot; walking robot with four and six legs for logistics support; Network Traffic Analysis (NETRA) which can monitor internet traffic. But considering the pace at which developments are taking place, particularly in China in combining robotics and AI, our slow progress in this field is liable to leave us at huge asymmetric disadvantage.

This is reportedly the tallest humanoid robot built in India. Created by researcher Santosh Vasudeo Hulawale, INDRO is an autonomous robot was made inside a house with easily available low-cost material like aluminium, wood, cardboard, plastic etc. According to a research paper, INDRO can be used for lightweight tasks like entertainment, education and a few household works. The autonomous humanoid robot is not fully autonomous and can be controlled both autonomously and manually. It has 31 motors and can perform actions like a human.

YANGON, MYANMAR – A Japanese information technology venture in Myanmar has launched a gourmet information app assisted by artificial intelligence technology to cater to growing numbers of smartphone users in the country. World Street Myanmar Yathar Co., established by Aichi Prefecture-based advertising agency Nagata Co. as a major shareholder, says it recently kicked off an app named Yathar, which means taste in the Myanmar language, to offer personalized recommendations at eateries and post customer feedback. Shunsuke Ichikawa, CEO of the local venture, told NNA his firm is introducing the foodie platform in Myanmar because it is good timing to invest in the emerging economy in light of recent developments in its telecommunications infrastructure. The nation's telecom market liberalization in 2013 sharply boosted the smartphone penetration rate from 2 percent in 2011 to 95.6 percent in 2016, according to International Telecommunication Union data cited by the IT venture. Ichikawa said Yathar will provide users with fair and supportive information based on reviews of food services ranging from high-end restaurants to stall vendors.

In this April 12, 2018, photo, a visitor watches a Chinese company displaying a Chinese-made industrial robot demonstration on processing soybean at the International soybean exhibition in Shanghai. China says it will narrow its trade surplus with the United States but rejects pressure to change technology development tactics seen as a path to prosperity and its rightful place as a global leader. Beijing highlighted the sensitivity of the issue with its threat to scrap deals aimed at settling a sprawling trade dispute with Washington if President Donald Trump's threatened tariff hike on $50 billion of Chinese technology goes ahead.

A Pand-auto's electric car controlled by Baidu's Apollo autonomous driving system is on display at Chongqing Internet Industrial Park on May 24, 2018 in Chongqing, China. Baidu and its partner Pand-auto car sharing service started a one-month trial operation of autonomous car-sharing service in Chongqing Internet Industrial Park today. Two Silicon Valley executives have a friendly bet on when a commercially available autonomous car will transport them within Las Vegas, with no intervention from a human driver. The more bullish one has placed his bet on May 27, 2024. A driverless future will happen sooner than 2024, and it won't happen first in the U.S., Europe or Japan.

Tencent is a Chinese tech company founded in 1998 and based in Shenzhen that hosts 55% of China's mobile internet usage on its platforms. Its mission is to "become the most respected internet enterprise." The company is China's biggest social network company with 1 billion users on its app WeChat and 632 million monthly user accounts on social networking platform Qzone, is worth more than Facebook and has extended beyond instant messaging (its product is QQ) and social networking to gaming, digital assistants, mobile payments, cloud storage, education, live streaming, sports, movies and artificial intelligence. The company's dedication to artificial intelligence is evident in one of its slogans, "AI in all." In 2016, Tencent opened an AI lab in Schenzhen with a vision to "Make AI Everywhere."