Experts generally agree that, before we might consider artificial intelligence (AI) to be truly intelligent --that is, on a level on par with human cognition-- AI agents have to pass a number of tests. And while this is still a work in progress, AIs have been busy passing other kinds of tests. Xiaoyi, an AI-powered robot in China, for example, has recently taken the national medical licensing examination and passed, making it the first robot to have done so. Not only did the robot pass the exam, it actually got a score of 456 points, which is 96 points above the required marks. This robot, developed by leading Chinese AI company iFlytek Co., Ltd., has been designed to capture and analyze patient information.

Uber has just taken another big step from a ride-sharing service to a transportation provider. It announced that it will buy up to 24,000 Volvo XC90s, marking the first major vehicle fleet purchase by a ride-hailing service. Uber will take delivery of the SUVs between 2019 and 2021, then equip them with its own sensors and tech, allowing it to do fully autonomous, driver-free passenger rides. "This new agreement puts us on a path toward mass-produced, self-driving vehicles at scale," Uber's Jeff Miller told Bloomberg. The XC90 starts at $47,000, so this could be a pretty substantial purchase -- over $1 billion worth of cars, to be exact. Uber and Volvo previously signed a $300 million pact, and Volvo, based in Sweden but owned by China's Geely Auto, is using the proceeds to develop its own driverless cars.

Looks like iPhone X users in South Korea won't be able to use the smartphone's Face ID technology when doing transactions in local banks. Apparently, Korean banks have rejected the idea of providing support for the 10th anniversary iPhone's advanced biometric system. The banks' decision reportedly comes after Face ID security concerns were reported. On Monday, Korea Herald learned that Korean banks have rejected the facial recognition security feature of Apple's iPhone X, such that the technology will not be usable when owners use mobile banking services. Financial industry insiders claim that Korean banks are apparently hesitant to accept Face ID after it was found out that some people were able to penetrate the new verification feature.

In July, China's government issued a sweeping new strategy with a striking aim: draw level with the US in artificial intelligence technology within three years, and become the world leader by 2030. A call for research projects from China's Ministry of Science and Technology posted online last month fills in some detail on the government's plans. And it puts Silicon Valley chipmaker Nvidia, the leading supplier of silicon for machine-learning projects, in the cross hairs. The Ministry of Science and Technology document lays out 13 "transformative" technology projects where it wants to put government money in coming months, hoping for delivery by 2021. One is to invent new chips to run artificial neural networks, the form of software propelling the AI ambitions of Google and other tech companies.

About Justin Wang Using AI to Predict the Future with Scry We place too much faith in experts, especially when it come to predicting the future. Experts, of course, failed to predict key world events like the Trump election, Brexit and so on. Justin Wang wants to change that. Scry is an AI powered startup that helps predictors connect with people who want the predictions. Traders can make billions by being right only 51% of the time.

The first time round in a practice run, Xiaoyi barely scored 100 out of a possible 600 points in China's medical licensing exam. It was a disappointing result – the pass mark is 360 – but Xiaoyi then knuckled down, absorbing the contents of dozens of medical textbooks, 2 million medical records, and 400,000 articles to develop the kind of reasoning needed to be a doctor, The Beijing News reported on the weekend. Xiaoyi took the real test in August and, according to the results released earlier this month, romped it in with a score of 456. In doing so, Xiaoyi, meaning "Little Doctor", became the first artificial intelligence robot to pass the exam, taking a fraction of the allowed time to complete the test, according to iFlyTek which developed the machine with Tsinghua University. Wu Ji, deputy director of Tsinghua's electrical engineering department, said the robot could not rely on rote learning to get through the exam.

Dementia is caused by damage in the brain and treatment becomes difficult as it progresses. The new system to be created by Shimane University and Erisa Co. is aimed at detecting early signs of "mild cognitive impairment" with high accuracy, as people with this condition often develop dementia later. Under the system, the AI element will learn a number of MRI images showing brain blood flow to identify what changes are characteristic of mild cognitive impairment and early signs of the disease. Studies have already shown that blood flow in a certain area of the brain changes before the brain starts shrinking. Mild cognitive impairment causes a slight but noticeable decline in cognitive abilities, including memory.

Huawei is going to unleash the next full-screen smartphone in a few days, on November 28 at the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium. The new model is the Huawei Honor V10, which has been designed for younger customers like its predecessor. Therefore, it is going to be priced affordably. Seems nothing surprising, but the manufacturer has started a huge promo campaign sending invitations and posting giant ads in various big cities of China such as Hangzhou, Zhengzhou, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Chengdu, Beijing, and Xi'an. Both of them show the phone will have a few selling points such as an AI, full-screen, and dual-camera. Looking at the invitation envelopes we can see the Honor V10 will sport an AI-based chip, which will also provide faster and smoother performance than the previous models.

Bengaluru: Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) today announced new purpose-built platforms and services capabilities to help companies simplify the adoption of Artificial Intelligence, with an initial focus on a key subset of AI known as deep learning. Inspired by the human brain, deep learning is typically implemented for challenging tasks such as image and facial recognition, image classification and voice recognition. To take advantage of deep learning, enterprises need a high performance compute infrastructure to build and train learning models that can manage large volumes of data to recognize patterns in audio, images, videos, text and sensor data. Many organizations lack several integral requirements to implement deep learning, including expertise and resources; sophisticated and tailored hardware and software infrastructure; and the integration capabilities required to assimilate different pieces of hardware and software to scale AI systems. To help customers overcome these challenges and realize the potential of AI, HPE is announcing the following offerings: • HPE's Rapid Software Development for AI: HPE introduced an integrated hardware and software solution, purpose-built for high performance computing and deep learning applications.

As global giants like Tesla, Uber, and Google take self-driving cars to the streets, Indian companies are still at the experimental stage. Earlier this year, local carmaker Tata Motors sought permission to test its driverless vehicle on Bengaluru's roads. Software behemoth Infosys is training its engineers in self-driving technology. A number of Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) are also working on such automobiles tailor-made for the country. However, there's been one major hurdle to self-driving technology in India: a legion of lawbreakers, from rash drivers and jaywalkers to cattle. But University of Michigan dean of engineering Alec Gallimore believes this isn't an insurmountable problem.