The world's top automaker Toyota Motor Corp. and small rival Suzuki Motor Corp. that specializes in tiny vehicles are tying up in a partnership, the two automakers said Wednesday. Both sides announced in a joint statement they will study areas they can work together in developing technology for the environment, safety and information networking. They said such areas are likely to benefit from a partnership since the industry is changing rapidly in those areas. Toyota and Suzuki said they will continue to compete in other ways. They expressed hopes other automakers will join the partnership to help work toward an industry standard in such areas.

The Chinese tech giant Baidu has recently been investing in pretty much every branch of the tech industry, from smartwatch operating systems to self-driving cars and artificial intelligence. Regarding the latter, the company has just announced the immediate launch of Melody, an AI conversational bot app designed to help doctors collect information from patients regarding their various medical conditions. More specifically, Melody's main purpose is to chat with patients who are experiencing health issues then relaying that information to doctors in a way that's that's more convenient to use for the purposes of diagnosing specific conditions. It's convenient to use, it saves time, and it's free, so Chinese industry experts are predicting that this app will have a bright future ahead of it. In addition to all of the features mentioned above, it's worth noting that Melody isn't just an AI chatbot, it's an AI chatbot connected to neural networks which means that it's capable of deep learning and gradually becoming better at providing useful medical information to doctors.

The artificial intelligence (AI) component in these programs aims to make create a world in which everyone can have a virtual aide that gets to know them better with each interaction. Google is making a high-profile push into AI, with the internet titan's chief referring to it as a force for change as powerful as powerful as smartphones. Google Assistant software is being built into new Pixel handsets - aiming to outdo Apple's Siri - enabling users to organise and use information on the devices and in the cloud - to check emails, stay up to date on calendar appointments, news or ask for traffic and weather data. Google also offers AI through its Allo messaging application which can be installed on smartphones, and its Google Home hub, a standalone device similar to Amazon's Echo which responds to voice commands to manage tasks and fetch information where people live. The South Korean electronics giant moved to jumpstart its AI efforts by purchasing the US startup Viv Labs, launched by the creators of Apple's Siri.

Google just debuted a digital assistant, which it hopes to place inside smartphones, watches, cars and every other imaginable internet-connected device. It's already hit a snag. The Alphabet Inc. division launched new smartphones last week with the artificially intelligent assistant deeply embedded. It also rolled out a speaker with the feature at its core and announced plans to let other companies tie their apps and services to the assistant. A day later, Samsung Electronics Co., one of the largest manufacturers of smartphones and other consumer devices, said it was acquiring Viv Labs, a startup building its own AI voice-based assistant.

Schools are not preparing children to succeed in a world where intelligent robots have transformed the workforce, MPs have warned. A report by the cross-party Science and Technology Committee suggests that the education system should be adapted to "focus on things that machines will be less good at for longer," rather than skills that are rapidly becoming obsolete. The committee also warned that while "robots as portrayed in films like Star Wars" remain some way off, the government's role in preparing for major social change is lacking. Dr Tania Mathias, acting chairwoman of the committee and Conservative MP for Twickenham, said: "Science fiction is slowly becoming science fact, and robotics and AI look destined to play an increasing role in our lives over the coming decades." Mathias told ttold the Guardian that the school curriculum, particularly in secondary schools, did not reflect the "fourth industrial revolution" in robotics and AI that is underway.

HYDERABAD: Tucked away in a little corner at Koramangala, Bengaluru, is a medical technology startup, SigTuple, that has built a device to digitise images of blood captured by a microscope and aid analysis through its cloud-powered engine. This, the founders believe, will help automate diagnosis, as they work towards branching into chest x-ray and retinal scan analyses. After being adapted in technology companies, artificial intelligence and machine learning are now being used in diagnosis and pathology by startups which are trying to increase efficiency and reduce redundancy in the world of healthcare. And, they are gaining investor attention -- these include Kalaari Capitalbacked Advenio Technosys, Bengaluru-based Spectral Insights and Cardiac Design Labs, among others. Founded in June last year, SigTuple is backed by Flipkart founders Sachin and Binny Bansal, and Accel Partners.

Recognizing the central role that technology now plays in the global economy, the World Economic Forum is establishing a new center in San Francisco to connect tech companies and policymakers in the heart of the world's technology industry. Building off the Forum's thesis of a "Fourth Industrial Revolution," the new facility will focus on bringing government officials and tech companies together to create frameworks for more productive legislative policies that can be implemented worldwide. "Depending on the collective choices we make -– as consumers, as communities, as business, government, and civil society leaders -– these technological breakthroughs could give us the power to move into a world that is even more prosperous, while being more sustainable and more inclusive," reads an early version of remarks prepared by World Economic Forum founder and chairman, Klaus Schwab. "Alternatively, we could end up in a world where our economic, political and social systems are more rigid, more unequal and more conflicted." Despite their deep roots in government-funded research, the relationship between policymakers and the tech companies that have sprung from the civic-minded seeds they nurtured with financing has always been a thorny or even openly antagonistic one (cf.

Apple has bought Tuplejump, a machine learning technology company with operations in both India and the United States, TechCrunch reports. Apple continues to buy companies with machine learning expertise. The reason the company had its eyes on Tuplejump was for its "FiloDB" project, according to the report. The lead engineer on FiloDB has been working at Apple since this May, according to his LinkedIn. The purchase price is unknown, although it's almost certainly lower than Apple's last machine learning purchase, Turi, which was bought for around 200 million earlier this year.

Super human artificial intelligence is coming, says Sam Harris, a Stanford grad with his PhD in neuroscience from UCLA. He has five New York Times bestsellers under his belt. "It's very difficult to see how they won't destroy us or inspire us to destroy ourselves," he says. How should we be preparing? Sam says our current emotional response--that it's cool--is woefully lacking.

In July, the Pentagon announced it was putting 20 million towards counter-drone weapons, citing the threat from ISIS. Shortly afterwards, pictures surfaced of an American-made anti-drone rifle in Iraq. Rather than destroying a drone with bullets, the Battelle Drone Defender stops drones by jamming GPS and radio signals, causing it to lose contact with its pilot and, ideally, land. Going further, DARPA wants the United States to have anti-drone lasers by 2020, a goal every part of the military, from the Air Force to the Marine Corps, is independently working towards. Laser weapons are costly to build, but their appeals as an anti-drone weapon is that every shot of directed energy is cheap, so one laser system could shoot down many cheap drones, without spending expensive missiles or lots of bullets to do so. In the meantime, people and police departments are exploring everything from elaborate net-guns to eagles as a way to take down drones.