Addressing thousands of developers at the annual Google I/O conference on Wednesday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai outlined the company's new strategy to transition from mobile first to artificial intelligence and machine learning. The goal is to equip the company's line of digital assistant products and services to anticipate the needs of users, and comprehend sights and sounds in ways never before possible on a massive scale. Google's deep learning and computer vision capabilities have advanced dramatically, according to Pichai, and now impact everything from cloud computing to Gmail, search and mobile devices. "We spoke last year about this important shift in computing from mobile first to AI first," Pichai recalled. "Similarly, in the AI-first world, we're rethinking all our products and applying AI and machine learning to solve human problems."

A Thomson flight this week was grounded because of concerns over a Wi-Fi hotspot named "Jihadi London". The aircraft, which was due to fly from Cancun to London Gatwick on Tuesday afternoon, had to be evacuated after a passenger spotted the network and reported it to the crew. Security and police were then called on board to check the plane, and the flight was eventually rescheduled. 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.

Mark Zuckerberg finally has his Harvard degree. The Facebook CEO and famous college dropout left the Ivy League university 12 years ago to found the social network, but he returned Thursday to pick up a honorary doctor of laws degree and drop some wisdom on the class of 2017. In prepared remarks provided to The Washington Post ahead of the speech, Zuckerberg called on his alma mater's newest graduates to tackle major, ambitious "public works" projects that bring together masses of people for the general benefit of society. He noted that many technologies - including some being developed at Facebook - are changing the world and also presenting new challenges. "You're graduating at a time when this is especially important," Zuckerberg said in the prepared remarks.

It is my pleasure to be invited here to give this keynote speech about a topic I happen to be particularly passionate about. Today's conference is also the two-month anniversary of the formation of the Data Analytics Group, or DAG for short. Hence a timely opportunity for us to share, from the onset, our approach – the direction in which we are heading – and what it means to us, in putting data science and machine learning in practice. We will take a broader perspective on this topic. We are now starting to put in place the necessary tools, infrastructure and skillsets to harness the power of data science to unlock insights, sharpen surveillance of risks, enhance regulatory compliance and transform the way we do work.

Its name may not be familiar to ordinary consumers, but U.S. chipmaker Nvidia is cementing its position as a major player in artificial intelligence applications with its graphics processing units. Highlighting its potential, a 10 trillion yen ($89.9 billion) investment fund which Japan's SoftBank Group recently set up jointly with the Saudi Arabian government and other entities has decided to buy an equity stake worth about 400 billion yen in Nvidia. An autonomous-driving Lincoln MKZ equipped with Nvidia technology gives a demonstration ride during the 2017 CES in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Jan. 5. Reuters An autonomous-driving Lincoln MKZ equipped with Nvidia technology gives a demonstration ride during the 2017 CES in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Jan. 5. Reuters Nvidia has a large presence in self-driving technology, where it has gained a dominant position. It is regarded as a likely favorite to grow into a chip industry behemoth in the medium-to-long term. The fund's acquisition plan reflects Softbank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son's aim to invest in companies that support growth industries at the fundamental level in a long-term perspective.

For much of the past two decades, Qi Lu, a search-technology whiz, waged losing battles against Google, first at Yahoo Inc. then at Microsoft Corp.'s Bing. Four months ago, he relocated to his native China to take on a challenge that some in the tech world think is just as quixotic: reviving Baidu Inc. The company's core search engine business once made it the Google of China, but it has been beset by bad decisions, scandals and falling profits, leaving its future uncertain. Mr. Lu says he's confident he can turn Baidu around -- and take on Google once again, this time on the new battlefield of artificial intelligence. Mr. Lu has been prone to hubris before. When he joined Microsoft in 2009, he threw down the gauntlet at Google, saying Bing would be an effective competitor.

BENGALURU: International Finance Corporation (IFC), the investment arm of the World Bank Group, is investing $3 million in pi Ventures' maiden fund. An early-stage investment firm, pi Ventures is focused on startups in the area of applied artificial intelligence, machine learning and internet of things (IoT). The amount will be used for investing in companies leveraging technologies such as applied artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and IoT across a range of sectors. "Getting IFC to back us in our journey is very meaningful to us," said Manish Singhal, founding partner of pi Ventures. "Not only do they bring a wealth of knowledge but also a worldwide network, which can be very useful for our investee companies."

Google's AlphaGo AI has once again made the case that machines are now smarter than man -- when it comes to games of strategy, at least. AlphaGo made its name last year when it defeated high-profile Go player Lee Sedol 4-1, but now it has beaten the world's best player of Go, the hugely complex ancient strategy game. Today, it won against Go world champion Ke Jie to clinch a second, decisive win of a three-part series that is taking place in China this week. "I'm putting my hand on my chest, because I thought I had a chance. I thought I was very close to winning the match in the middle of the game, but that might not have been what AlphaGo was thinking. I was very excited, I could feel my heart thumping!" he said in a post-tie press conference.

Technology is gradually taking over workplaces and that is one of the reasons why'human workers' are becoming redundant. As a result of which, time and again we see reports about companies laying off employees. While imagining the repercussions of having automation in other industries is palpable, what does it mean for the technology industry? Adoption of newer technologies is believed to be one of the key reasons for the job cuts and if tech workers are not trained in advanced skills, the future for human workforce appears all the bleaker. India would lose about 69,000 jobs until 2021 due to the adoption of IoT technology, according to a research conducted by a consulting firm.

Will artificial intelligence (AI) replace radiologists? During a session on AI and imaging yesterday at the Big Data in Biomedicine conference, panelists preempted this question (which keeps some radiologists up at night) by clarifying how, at least for now, AI isn't a replacement for doctors, but a tool to help them. "The human-machine system always performs better than either alone," said Curt Langlotz, MD, PhD, a professor of radiology and biomedical informatics at Stanford. And while AI is achieving human-level performance, it's not necessarily superseding it -- yet. All panelists spoke about AI's capacity to increase efficiency.