Faced with the worst labor shortage in decades, Japanese service companies are finally turning to labor-saving technology, an investment that could lift the sector's woeful level of productivity and allow them to raise wages. While Japan's manufacturers are renowned for deploying advanced robotics, most domestic-focused services companies fell behind in information technology investment, put off by a stagnant economy, restrictive labor rules and a shrinking domestic market. But as the workforce declines and the nation ages, businesses in areas like nursing and retail have found it harder to attract and keep staff. As Partners Co. is among companies looking to software for a solution. It plans to spend about ¥300 million ($2.7 million) to install new technology at its 15 nursing homes in and around Tokyo to make life easier for staff and residents.

Image recognition AIs that have been trained by some of the most-used research-photo collections are developing sexist biases, according to a new study. University of Virginia computer science professor Vicente Ordóñez and colleagues tested two of the largest collections of photos and data used to train these types of AIs (including one supported by Facebook and Microsoft) and discovered that sexism was rampant. He began the research after noticing a disturbing pattern of sexism in the guesses made by the image recognition software he was building. 'It would see a picture of a kitchen and more often than not associate it with women, not men,' Ordóñez told Wired, adding it also linked women with images of shopping, washing, and even kitchen objects like forks. The AI was also associating men with stereotypically masculine activities like sports, hunting, and coaching, as well as objects sch as sporting equipment.

Tropical cyclone wind-intensity prediction is a challenging task considering drastic changes climate patterns over the last few decades. In order to develop robust prediction models, one needs to consider different characteristics of cyclones in terms of spatial and temporal characteristics. Transfer learning incorporates knowledge from a related source dataset to compliment a target datasets especially in cases where there is lack or data. Stacking is a form of ensemble learning focused for improving generalization that has been recently used for transfer learning problems which is referred to as transfer stacking. In this paper, we employ transfer stacking as a means of studying the effects of cyclones whereby we evaluate if cyclones in different geographic locations can be helpful for improving generalization performance. Moreover, we use conventional neural networks for evaluating the effects of duration on cyclones in prediction performance. Therefore, we develop an effective strategy that evaluates the relationships between different types of cyclones through transfer learning and conventional learning methods via neural networks.

For the people most immersed in the tech sector, it's hard to think of a more controversial topic than the ultimate impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on society. By eventually empowering machines with a level of superintelligence, there are many different possible outcomes ranging from Kurzweil's technological singularity to the more dire predictions popularized by Elon Musk. Despite this wide gap in potential outcomes, most technologists do agree on one thing: AI will have a profound impact on the society and the way we do business. Today's infographic comes from the Extraordinary Future 2017, a new conference in Vancouver, BC that focuses on emerging technologies such as AI, autonomous vehicles, fintech, and blockchain tech. In the below infographic, we look recent projections from PwC and Accenture regarding AI's economic impact, as well as the industries and countries that will be the most profoundly affected. According to PwC's most recent report on the topic, the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) will be transformative.

The biggest problem facing Silicon Valley is not undervalued unicorns. Nor is it sexual harassment, diversity, the high cost of housing, the congested highways or the battle for talent. All of these issues are certainly critical to people who live and work here. Silicon Valley has been steadily killing jobs, and the worst is yet to come. Venture capitalists like to fund ideas that can scale, which means new companies will grow by adding more technology than workers.

German multinational software company SAP will participate in DigiTrans -- The Digital Transformation Forum -- scheduled for October 25-26, 2017, in Dubai, as a gold sponsor. The event, presented by MIT Sloan Management Review GCC, will focus on customer-centric experiences and operational efficiency. DigiTrans will offer actionable knowledge for strategy, organisational roadmap, and innovation-based opportunities. "Dubai is a global hub for showing best practices in using digital transformation to transform industry verticals, and the citizen and customer experiences. With digital transformation reaching a tipping point in the Middle East, DigiTrans 2017 Dubai provides the platform for SAP to exchange best practices in digital transformation. Topics such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, machine learning, and the Internet of Things will be vital for the next generation of chief digital officers to lead the digital economy," said Tayfun Topkoc, managing director, SAP UAE and Oman.

Cash will be used for "adding value" to sectors like finance using AI The Taiwanese Ministry of Science and Technology has put its money where its mouth is to make a mark on the world of artificial intelligence (AI) with a TND $16 billion ($527 million) investment, reports Telecoms.com The AI craze is very quickly gathering pace in every aspect of our lives, and those at the top of the pile will be sitting on mountains of cash before too long. Like Amazon Web Services' (AWS) rise to power through the normalisation of cloud computing, AI has the potential to create more global technology super powers, and the Taiwanese government wants to clamber into the race. According to the China Post, the AI development plan will come from Taiwan's flagship infrastructure bill and the Cabinet's annual budget, aiming to create a series of research labs across the country. The focal point will be an AI manufacturing base in Central Taiwan Science Park, set to open in September, as well as an AI development centre in Southern Taiwan Science Park imminently.

A Florida based startup has developed a done that can carry and fire military weapons, including rifles and grenade launchers. The TIKAD drone, which was tested on a target in Israel in 2015, is remotely-operated and has been refined to absorb recoil motion from the firing of a weapon. The drone, which has the potential to reduce the number of boots on the ground in conflict situations, has already been ordered by the Israeli military and is being pitched for use by the US military. Duke Robotics co-founder and 20-year Israeli military veteran Lieutenant Colonel Raziel Atuar told Defense One that the drone can carry up to 22 pounds (10 kilograms) and is remotely operated. This means that a person would control the multirotor drone's flight and targeting from a distance.

According to the recent reports published by a well-known consultation firm known as the Accenture, the investments in the domain of Financial Technology has risen up to 10 percent and has reached a staggering $22.6 billion in the year 2016. The epic rise in Fintech industry is attributed to the rise of industry in China which contributed a lot in bringing this boom. Many would wonder as what brought this excessive boom? The answer is, cutting edge technology which brought together the finance and technology together, along with a little addition of artificially intelligent machine learning algorithms which made the recommender systems more effective and efficient. This merger of finance and AI came proved to be the best for several startups and now that the market has seen the spark in this merger, every second start-up is working on bringing about innovations in lesser possible time.

"However, Musk and the other AI debaters underestimate the biggest threat to humanity in the AI era: humans," Loup Ventures analyst Doug Clinton wrote in a Monday note. Clinton considers the human response to AI as dangerous as any hostile system. Even if AI fulfills the best intended purposes and leads to widespread prosperity, it would establish a world radically different rendering manual and some intellectual labor obsolete, divorcing human value from work and forcing a new understanding of the meaning of life. "Humans will need to find new purpose outside of work, likely in the uniquely human capabilities of creativity, community and empathy, the things that robots cannot authentically provide," Clinton wrote. The disruptions could be cataclysmic.