Existing applications include a huge amount of knowledge that is out of reach for deep neural networks. This paper presents a novel approach for integrating calls to existing applications into deep learning architectures. Using this approach, we estimate each application's functionality with an estimator, which is implemented as a deep neural network (DNN). The estimator is then embedded into a base network that we direct into complying with the application's interface during an end-to-end optimization process. At inference time, we replace each estimator with its existing application counterpart and let the base network solve the task by interacting with the existing application. Using this 'Estimate and Replace' method, we were able to train a DNN end-to-end with less data and outperformed a matching DNN that did not interact with the external application.

While drivers experience most of the stress of a drive, it's important to remember that passengers are also prone to anxiety. After a long day at work (or fighting Twitter trolls) it can be tough to unwind even when you're being chauffeured home. Volvo's S90 Ambience Concept vehicle aims to help those tensions melt away while sitting in the back seat. Unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show, the specially built S90 has "seven visual themes synchronized with audio and scent." A pampered passenger would lean back and watch a relaxing scene projected on the ceiling of the vehicle while they listened to an audio track and was surrounded by "one of four bespoke scents" which would be emitted by a specially built portal in the center console.

With massive breakthroughs in smart technologies being reported every month, it won't be long until our transport industries are dominated by AI. Here are just some of the ways artificial intelligence is changing the face of transport, and what we can expect in the near future. Autonomous cars have quickly moved from the realm of sci-fi into reality. Though still in the early stages, these AI-driven vehicles could drastically change how we get from A to B in the near future. From plowing snow to collecting garbage, self-driving trucks could soon be taking over a lot of our dirty work. The technology behind these trucks could also be utilized in freight, capable of transporting 2,000,000 pallets a year each.

Robots that can weld, lift and bolt are being developed to help cope with a shortage of human workers at Japanese construction sites. However, their use will be limited to night shifts when no human workers will be nearby due to safety and regulatory concerns. Japanese construction company Shimizu Corp. showed off several robots Monday, including one already in use at construction sites that picked up a big pile of boards and took them into an elevator. Shimizu Corp.'s Robo-Welder is demonstrated during a press tour to the major Japanese construction company's robot laboratory in Tokyo, Monday, April 23, 2018. The Robo-Welder has a robotic arm that uses laser shape measurement to determine the contours of a groove, or channel, on a steel column to be welded.

Kai-Fu Lee is the founder and CEO of Sinovation Ventures, a Chinese technology venture investment firm. He was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2013. Before founding Sinovation Ventures, he was president of Google China and previously held executive positions at Microsoft, SGI, and Apple. While in Vancouver attending the TED conference, Lee sat down with Martin Reeves, director of the BCG Henderson Institute, to talk about the impact of artificial intelligence on companies, industries, and nations. Drawing from his new book AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order -- which will be released in September 2018 -- he discussed the case for the regulation of AI applications, how AI affects company and national competitiveness, and how CEOs might be underestimating the effect of AI on the future of work. A transcript of the conversation follows. We hear all sorts of extreme predictions about the possibilities for AI.

Robotics has come a long way in the past few years. Robots can now fetch items from specific spots in massive warehouses, swim through the ocean to study marine life, and lift 200 times their own weight. They can even perform synchronized dance routines. But the really big question is--can robots put together an Ikea chair? A team of engineers from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore decided to find out, detailing their work in a paper published last week in the journal Science Robotics.

Robots that can weld, lift and bolt are being developed to help bridge labor shortages at domestic construction sites, though their use will be limited to night shifts when no human workers will be nearby due to safety and regulatory concerns. Major construction firm Shimizu Corp. showed off several robots Monday, including one already in use at construction sites that picked up a big pile of boards and took them into an elevator. The Robo-Welder and Robo-Buddy, with twisting and turning mechanical arms, will be deployed at construction sites later this year, the company said. Japan's construction sector is booming but contractors are struggling to fill labor shortages -- a problem playing out in other parts of the world, including the U.S. The robots demonstrated at a Shimizu test facility in Tokyo can reduce the number of workers needed for each of the tasks they carried out to about a third or a fourth of what's required today. But construction work is so varied, delicate and complex that the robots are able to handle just 1 percent of overall construction work, according to Masahiro Indo, Shimizu's managing executive officer, who oversees construction technology.

As some warehouses start to roll out robots to work alongside humans, BBC Click meets an employee at an Alibaba packing centre in China to find what it is like to have non-human colleagues.

The growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) is driving more organisations in Asia to turn to high-performance computing (HPC), according to a senior Lenovo executive. The race is on to get ready for GDPR next year. Computer Weekly looks at how to deal with data under the regulation, how compliance will affect businesses, and what organisations should do to prepare. You forgot to provide an Email Address. This email address doesn't appear to be valid.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone has invested in a Delhi-based Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot "Visit" which is the brainchild of students from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani in Rajasthan. Stared in 2016 by Anurag Prasad, Vaibhav Singh, Shashvat Tripathi and Chetan Anand, "Visit" is an AI-powered chatbot for health advice learning from, and assisting, existing doctors. The bot follows up with relevant questions to collect more symptoms and risk factors (is the person hypertensive, diabetic, a smoker). This triaging is conversational and low stress," Stone wrote in a blog post on Medium on Sunday. "In India, for every doctor there are 2,000 patients lined up in-clinics -- waiting for hours.