WASHINGTON – U.S. officials will allow a group of Afghan girls into the country to participate in an international robotics competition after President Donald Trump intervened, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed Wednesday, ending a saga that had sparked international backlash. Homeland Security Department spokesman David Lapan said the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services approved a State Department request for six girls from the war-torn country to be allowed in, along with their chaperone, so they can participate in the competition. The girls' applications for U.S. visas had been denied twice. The non-profit organizing the competition celebrated the reversal in a jubilant statement Wednesday. "I truly believe our greatest power is the power to convene nations, to bring people together in the pursuit of a common goal and prove that our similarities greatly outweigh our differences," said Joe Sestak, the president of First Global.

This week a report by PwC found that artificial intelligence could add as much as $15.7 trillion – around same as the combined output of China and India – to the global economy by 2030. Everyone is in agreement that it is a technology which can change the world, and from space exploration to countering terrorism and even creating art, its potential is becoming increasingly apparent. It still faces significant hurdles though - challenges that will have to be overcome before that potential can be achieved. Many see meeting those challenges as a task of utmost priority for the tech industry right now. Let's start with an easy one, and one which is likely to be solved over time, although until it is, it shouldn't be taken for granted that it will be.

Hong Kong (AFP) - It was a spooky sight: two lifelike disembodied robot torsos discussing the pros and cons of humans in front of a nervously tittering audience in Hong Kong Wednesday. Artificial intelligence is the dominant theme at this year's sprawling RISE tech conference at the city's harbourfront convention centre, but the live robot exchange took the AI debate to another level. Handsome male humanoid Han, dressed in a pinstripe suit jacket, and his elegant sister Sophia, modelled on Audrey Hepburn, chatted onstage about life in the universe and everything, from their love of science fiction to their bewilderment at "silly" reality shows. While chief scientist Ben Goertzel of Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics, which invented the machines, sang their praises, the robots seemed more sceptical of their human peers. When Goertzel asked the duo whether robots could really be moral and ethical, Han countered: "Humans are not necessarily the most ethical creatures".

American technology giant Google has acquired Bangalore-based artificial intelligence (AI) firm Halli Labs for an undisclosed sum. The firm which was co-founded by former chief technology officer of now defunct Stayzilla, Pankaj Gupta, announced the acquisition in a blogpost on Tuesday. The firm becomes the latest AI start up to be snapped by a technology giant after a spate of similar acquisitions by firms such as Microsoft, Facebook, Apple among others. "Halli Labs was founded with the goal of applying modern AI and ML (Machine Learning) techniques to old problems and domains?--?in order to help technology enable people to do whatever it is that they want to do, easier and better. Well, what better place than Google to help us achieve this goal," the company said in a blog.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a hot topic. But when it comes to benefiting your customer experience, it's not all science fiction. When you combine automation and AI with the power of the human touch, you can create magnificent customer experiences to propel your business goals. Join this webinar to meet "Kate", understand Blended AI, and learn about: This is a global webinar, presented live in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Choose a session that works best for you!

Global search giant Google, owned by Alphabet Inc, has acqui-hired Bangalore-based artificial intelligence (AI) venture Halli Labs, the startup said on Wednesday. Halli Labs announced, both on its website and blog site Medium, that "its team was joining Google." It didn't divulge further details. Neither did it disclose the deal value. According to another Medium blog dated May 22, the stealth mode startup was into machine-learning solutions.

US officials have decided to allow a group of Afghan girls - whose visa applications had been twice rejected - to travel to the country and participate in an international robotics competition, ending a saga that had sparked international backlash. Homeland Security Department spokesman David Lapan said the US Citizenship and Immigration Services approved a State Department request for six girls from the war-torn country to be allowed in, along with their chaperone, so they can participate in the competition. The non-profit organising the competition celebrated the reversal in a statement on Wednesday. "I truly believe our greatest power is the power to convene nations, to bring people together in the pursuit of a common goal and prove that our similarities greatly outweigh our differences," said Joe Sestak, the president of First Global. He credited "the professional leadership of the US State Department" for ensuring that all 163 teams from 157 countries, including a team of Syrian refugees, would be able to participate.

Seeing AI is a free app that narrates the world around you. Designed for the blind and low vision community, this ongoing research project harnesses the power of AI to open up the visual world and describe nearby people, text, and objects. Optimized for use with VoiceOver, the app enables you to recognize: • Short Text - Speaks text as soon as it appears in front of the camera. Seeing AI is built to help you achieve more by leveraging the power of the cloud and artificial intelligence. As the research progresses, more channels may be added.

New Delhi: Google Inc. has acquired Halli Labs, a four-month old start-up out of Bengaluru that is developing artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions. Halli Labs announced the acquisition late Wednesday. "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," the company said in blog post on Medium.com. According to a bio-note, also on Medium, Halli Labs is engaged in developing solutions to traditional problems using AI, MI, deep learning and natural language processing technologies. "Halli Labs is applying modern ML techniques to old problems and domains to help technology march on in its timeless purpose-- that of giving superhuman powers to all of us humans in letting us do whatever we want to do, better," the post read.

NEW DELHI: American technology giant Google has acquired Bangalore-based artificial intelligence (AI) firm Halli Labs for an undisclosed sum. The firm which was co-founded by former chief technology officer of now defunct Stayzilla, Pankaj Gupta, announced the acquisition in a blogpost on Tuesday. The firm becomes the latest AI start up to be snapped by a technology giant after a spate of similar acquisitions by firms such as Microsoft, Facebook, Apple among others. "Halli Labs was founded with the goal of applying modern AI and ML (Machine Learning) techniques to old problems and domains?--?in order to help technology enable people to do whatever it is that they want to do, easier and better. Well, what better place than Google to help us achieve this goal," the company said in a blog.