Out of curiosity, Teresa Chen recently went to an unmanned convenience store, EasyGo, near the China Plaza shopping mall in Guangzhou, China. She used her WeChat app to scan a QR code to get into the store, where she found imported snacks, candy and soft drinks. Every product had a price tag powered by radio-frequency identification, a technology that can automatically track and identify tags attached to objects. After she selected a box of crackers, Chen stood in the payment area and the bill automatically appeared in WeChat. Once Chen paid using her WeChat Wallet (a mobile payment service developed by Tencent), the door opened to let her leave the store. "The whole experience was seamless, as I didn't even need to scan the price tag to pay," said Chen, a product manager for a nutrition supplement company in Guangzhou.

Deep learning models (aka Deep Neural Networks) have revolutionized many fields including computer vision, natural language processing, speech recognition, and is being increasingly used in clinical healthcare applications. However, few works exist which have benchmarked the performance of the deep learning models with respect to the state-of-the-art machine learning models and prognostic scoring systems on publicly available healthcare datasets. In this paper, we present the benchmarking results for several clinical prediction tasks such as mortality prediction, length of stay prediction, and ICD-9 code group prediction using Deep Learning models, ensemble of machine learning models (Super Learner algorithm), SAPS II and SOFA scores. We used the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III (MIMIC-III) (v1.4) publicly available dataset, which includes all patients admitted to an ICU at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center from 2001 to 2012, for the benchmarking tasks. Our results show that deep learning models consistently outperform all the other approaches especially when the `raw' clinical time series data is used as input features to the models.

Google has snapped up yet another artificial intelligence (AI) startup. This time, it is Bengaluru-based Halli Labs, which claims to apply AI and machine learning (ML) techniques to old problems and domains. Halli Labs shared the news in a Medium post earlier today. "We will be joining Google's Next Billion Users team to help get more technology and information into more people's hands around the world," it noted in its post. Halli Labs was founded by Pankaj Gupta, who was earlier the CTO at the now-defunct Stayzilla.

As governments and tech giants alike target AI advances, one facial recognition start-up has secured a huge amount of funding in China. The Dubai police force is welcoming AI into its operation with open, robotic arms. Apple is reportedly testing a new 3D facial-scanning feature that will unlock your iPhone instead of using a fingerprint. Facebook is powering ahead with its augmented reality camera trials, taking in Meitu (and its 1.bn users) in its latest project. The money it's attracting is massive, too.

The UAE recently made a bold move that is perhaps the strongest demonstration of any government's official endorsement of Artificial Intelligence technology. An Artificial Intelligence minister has been appointed, implying enough reliance and expectations of reliance on the technology to warrant the position. The official title will be State Minister for Artificial Intelligence, and the activities of the position will coincide with UAE's 2031 AI Strategy, a comprehensive government effort that will integrate all AI technologies in the society. The young appointee is 27-year-old Omar Sultan Al-Ulama, who brings his experience as Deputy Director of the Future Department and now Managing Director of the World Government Summit to the position. The announcement came on Thursday from UAE Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed, part of a general restructuring of the Cabinet: "We announce the appointment of a minister for artificial intelligence. The next global wave is artificial intelligence and we want the UAE to be more prepared for it."

A study from Redwood Software and Sapio Research released October 4th revealed that IT leaders believe automation could impact 60% of businesses by 2022 and threaten jobs in the process. Now, a new, separate report from PwC, the second biggest professional services firm worldwide, suggests a similar timeline; one in which people may need to practice and learn new skills -- or be left behind as automation takes over. The report, titled Workforce of the Future, surveyed 10,000 people across China, India, Germany, the UK, and the U.S. to "better understand the future of work." Of those, nearly 37% think artificial intelligence and robotics will put their jobs at risk; in 2014, 33% had a similar concern. A startling scenario the report envisions for the future is one in which "typical" jobs -- jobs people can steadily advance in through promotions -- no longer exist, prompting the aforementioned move to develop new skills.

Imagine becoming gravely ill and yet being able to receive an accurate diagnosis with a recommended treatment plan in just 10 minutes. This is actually happening now with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The University of Tokyo recently reported that Watson, IBM's cognitive supercomputer, correctly diagnosed a rare form of leukemia in a 60-year-old woman. Doctors originally thought the woman had acute myeloid leukemia, but after examining 20 million cancer research papers in 10 minutes, Watson was able to correctly determine the actual disease and recommend a personalized treatment plan. AI – and its related applications, Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) – are changing healthcare as we know it. The advancements made in AI will revolutionize research and, ultimately, personalized medicine.

Attendance: Participation is by invitation due to space constraints. Participants will include government delegates from a range of domains including digital economy ministries, labour ministries, space agency representatives, research ministries, data protection authorities and consumer protection agencies. Contact: For further information, please contact AI@oecd.org. Webcast: You will be able to follow the event live on this page. The conference is being organised by the OECD with support from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan (MIC).

Samsung's revamped Bixby takes on Amazon Alexa - Samsung announced it is upgrading its Bixby digital assistant and making it available for a range of connected devices, setting up a clash with Amazon's Alexa and others competing for leadership in artificial intelligence. The South Korean electronics giant, which is the world's biggest smartphone maker, launched Bixby last year but only for its own flagship Galaxy handsets....

At the 19th Communist Party Congress, Chinese President Xi Jinping is stamping his authority by mapping out his vision for China for the next 30 years. "The banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics is flying high for the world to see. It will be an era that sees China move closer to the centre stage," Xi said. He aims for the "the rejuvenation of the great Chinese nation" and wants to build a "digital and smart society", a "country of innovators". At the heart of his strategy is an economy built on homemade innovation - with a particular emphasis on robotics, electric cars and artificial intelligence.