After helping to launch the Partnership on AI with Google, Facebook and others; and doubling down on AI research, today Microsoft unveiled a new initiative that points to how it plans to target specific verticals in what can potentially be a very nebulous field -- while also raising the public image of AI as some grow concerned about the implications of its encroaching influence. Today, the company announced AI for Earth, a new program that will be dedicated to AI-based projects in the areas of agriculture, water, biodiversity and climate change, where Microsoft proposes to donate up to $2 million in Microsoft tools, services and training per project to help them get a leg up. It will be led by Microsoft Chief Environmental Scientist Lucas Joppa. AI for Earth will not include money grants as such -- although as recent investments from Microsoft Ventures show (and also its acquisitions), the company is also willing to put money where its mouth is, and to take equity in the most interesting projects, too. This program could help create a funnel to identify and follow some of the more interesting projects (and get them using Microsoft services to boot).

The first colony on the moon might be full of robots instead of people, if a plan from the private space company Moon Express works out. It is aiming to build an unmanned lunar outpost, supported by a fleet of spacecraft explorers that would launch from low Earth orbit and deliver supplies to and land on the moon, according to The Verge. The MX explorer fleet would rely on the Electron rocket that the space company Rocket Lab has designed to launch out of New Zealand in order to get into space before heading to the moon. The lunar station, at the moon's south pole, could come as soon as 2020. The plan is to have robots staying around the clock on the moon to mine it for resources like minerals and then sell them, The Verge explains.

Chinese artificial intelligence start-up SenseTime has completed a US$410 million series B round, in what the company calls the largest private financing rounds ever closed by an AI start-up globally. The company said it is now valued at over RMB10 billion (US$1.47 billion) in an announcement, revealing its valuation for the first time. It means another company has joined China Money Network's China Unicorn Ranking, which currently counts 108 unicorns in China with aggregate valuation of US$445.66 billion. The round includes two portions: a series B1 round, which was led by Chinese private equity firm CDH Investments, and a B2 round led by Chinese investment firm Sailing Capital. China Money Network previously reported that SenseTime raised US$120 million last December and US$60 million in April, both were part of the series B round.

Siri and Alexa have now become household names in America, Xiaoice has been an digital friend to million in China since 2014, and the term "chatbot" has been a buzzword for nearly two years. With all the hype about chatbots for consumers, we set out to discover the potential business implications of conversational interfaces or "chatbots". By analyzing the chatbot plans at the "big 4" technology firms (Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Amazon), we set out to answer the following questions for our business readers: We begin with some context on the development of chatbots and why they've become popular, followed by a chatbot overview of the initiatives of Facebook, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, respectively. In the conclusion, we'll tie together the trends and patterns we picked up across all four tech giants, and shed some light on what their progress and vision might mean for other businesses. Readers with a particular interest in different "in use" chatbot applications might want to read our recent article titled "7 chatbot use cases that actually work."

Artificial intelligence technologies could contribute more than $15tn to the world economy by 2030, according to a new report published by Price Waterhouse Coopers. Around $6.6tn of new profits will be gained from increased productivity arising from businesses increasingly automate processes and augment their workforces with artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. Furthermore, $9.1tn will arise from consumption side-effects as consumers move towards more personalised and higher-quality goods. AI researcher at PwC, Anand Rao explained: "The mindset today is man versus machine. What we see as the future is man and machine together can be better than the human."

Snapchat has attracted widespread criticism for the rollout of a new feature that lets people track you in real-time, but a number of other extremely popular apps are also keeping tabs on your movements. Technology giants like Google and Apple could also be quietly tracking you without you even noticing. While Snapchat's location-tracking feature is intended to be a fun way for users to find and interact with each other in the real world, the backlash it has faced shows just how conscious and protective of their privacy people are becoming. The I.F.O. is fuelled by eight electric engines, which is able to push the flying object to an estimated top speed of about 120mph. The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session A man looks at an exhibit entitled'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Electrification Guru Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart talks about the electric Jaguar I-PACE concept SUV before it was unveiled before the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S The Jaguar I-PACE Concept car is the start of a new era for Jaguar.

It's starting to seem like the KFC restaurants in China aren't really interested in serving chicken. Following the chain's earlier experiments with robot-staffed restaurants and facial-recognition technology, KFC China has teamed up with Huawei -- the country's largest smartphone company -- to release a Colonel-themed smartphone in honor of the KFC's 30th anniversary in China. "Both brands have witnessed the rise of China in these 30 years, and both embody the spirit of the times. Our collaboration is a homage to the era," said Steven Li, the senior vice president of KFC marketing for Yum China, in a statement to Campaign Asia-Pacific. The phone, named the KFC Huawei 7 Plus, comes with red casing and features an outline of the Colonel's face on the back.

In a June 29, 2017, photo, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer Sanan Jackson, right, helps a passenger navigate the new face recognition kiosks at gate E7 for a United Airlines flight to Tokyo at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. The Trump administration intends to require that American citizens boarding international flights submit to face scans, something Congress has not explicitly approved and privacy advocates consider an ill-advised step toward a surveillance state. In a June 29, 2017, photo, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer Sanan Jackson, right, helps a passenger navigate the new face recognition kiosks at gate E7 for a United Airlines flight to Tokyo at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. The Trump administration intends to require that American citizens boarding international flights submit to face scans, something Congress has not explicitly approved and privacy advocates consider an ill-advised step toward a surveillance state. In a June 29, 2017, photo, passenger Naoki Iseki takes a picture of one of the new face recognition kiosks at gate E7 before he boards a United Airlines flight to Tokyo at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.

Microsoft has used its artificial intelligence chops to automatically add captions to your selfies and guess your age. Now, the company is applying similar tech to a more practical purpose: making everyday life easier for the visually impaired. The company's new Seeing AI app, which is now available for the iPhone, uses the smartphone's camera to detect and describe nearby people, text, and objects. The app not only recognizes a person based on his or her face, but can also relay mood based on facial expressions, estimate a person's proximity to the user, and describe physical characteristics. In a demo video, Seeing AI provided a description of a woman smiling by saying: "28 year old female wearing glasses looking happy."

In a June 29, 2017, photo, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer Sanan Jackson, right, helps a passenger navigate the new face recognition kiosks at gate E7 for a United Airlines flight to Tokyo at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. The Trump administration intends to require that American citizens boarding international flights submit to face scans, something Congress has not explicitly approved and privacy advocates consider an ill-advised step toward a surveillance state.