IBM wants to combine blockchain's distributed ledger technology with its artificial intelligence arm to make the billions of smart devices connected to the internet safer, and by doing so it would allow virtual time travel by letting regulators rewind to the point when the problem occurred and see just what happened. According to a report by CoinDesk, IBM is still in the very early stages of developing this project that brings together the company's Internet of Things Foundation and Watson divisions to create the Watson Internet of Things group, which is attempting to marry those technologies with the emerging blockchain technology that underpins the bitcoin network. The project is being overseen by IBM's chief architect in charge of Internet of Things security Tim Hahn who told CoinDesk that the possibilities of the collaboration of artificial intelligence, IoT and blockchain were huge. "What we're doing with blockchain and devices is enabling the information those devices supply to effect the blockchain. You begin to approach the kind of things we see in movies."

Now, a source claims the Small UAV Coalition is recommending the ban be relaxed to encourage commercial development in the area. The recommendations call for creating four categories of small drones that commercial operators can fly over people, including crowds in some cases. The first category of drones would weigh no more than about a half-pound (230 grams). They essentially could fly unrestricted over people, including crowds. Drone makers would have to certify that if the drone hit someone, there would be no more than a 1 percent chance that the maximum force of the impact would cause a serious injury.

NuTonomy, a driverless car startup that spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology three years ago, has its sights set on operating a fully autonomous taxi service in Singapore. The firm, which raised 3.6 million in seed funding in Jan., is planning to debut a pilot program at One North, a business park in downtown Singapore, later this year, reports IEEE Spectrum. Last month the company passed its first driving test in that country, one of the founders told MIT News. The 25-person firm is facing off against a number of bigger-name rivals such as Google, Tesla, Uber and traditional automakers such as Ford, General Motors, and Toyota, in the race to deploy autonomous vehicles. Thanks to nuTonomy and MIT's partnership with Singapore, a country with dense urban areas has been highly receptive to driverless car technology, the comparatively small company could become the first to operate fully self-driving cars, known as "level four," in a city commercially.

Larry Doherty was in good hands, steady hands, like the metal ones you can find on an automaker's assembly line. The 64-year-old bean salesman from Bow Island, Alta., had come to the University of Calgary's Department of Clinical Neurosciences and Hotchkiss Brain Institute to undergo arteriovenous malformation surgery – to untie the tangled blood vessels in his brain. When everyone in the operating room was ready, the operating surgeon began his work sitting in a whole other room surrounded by computer monitors, including one with a 3-D image of Mr. Doherty's brain. Using specially designed hand controls, Dr. Garnette Sutherland manoeuvred the robot to its ready position. For Mr. Doherty, it was the first time in his life he had undergone surgery.

At the NULLCON International Security Conference in Goa, India, a startup presented a prototype vulnerability scanner... This email address is already registered. By submitting my Email address I confirm that I have read and accepted the Terms of Use and Declaration of Consent. By submitting your email address, you agree to receive emails regarding relevant topic offers from TechTarget and its partners. You can withdraw your consent at any time.

Salesforce is set to acquire deep learning start up MetaMind in an effort to bolster it artificial intelligence capabilities. While terms of the deal have not been released, it would appear to be an "acqhire" based agreement, as Salesforce will integrate MetaMind's technology into its current services. Long-term intentions have not been announced, though MetaMind's capabilities will be used to automate and personalize customer support in the first instance. "With MetaMind and Salesforce coming together, we'll be able to offer customers real AI solutions with breakthrough capabilities that further automate and personalize customer support, marketing automation, and many other business processes," said MetaMind Founder Richard Socher. "We'll extend Salesforce's data science capabilities by embedding deep learning within the Salesforce platform."

With robotic research on the rise, the implementation of artificial intelligence is paving the way for robotic achievements. An AI passed the first round of a literary competition, begging the question, how safe are the creative arts? After an artificial intelligence software proved creative enough to -- with the help of humans -- pass the first round of a national Japanese literary competition, people have now become more afraid of AI. Of course, now AI has seeped into the arts, so there's no stopping them. We're going to be taken over by computers, right?

Employing artificial intelligent robots in Chinese restaurants – an idea that attracted national headlines – has not proved such a smart idea after all, mainland media reports. A number of restaurant owners have chosen to fire about 10 robots because they were just not clever or sophisticated enough to do their jobs properly, the Xiamen Daily reported. The plug has been pulled on a number of the robots – employed as chefs and waiters – only a few years after a catering business in the seaport city of Xiamen, in southern Fujian province, scrambled to employ them instead of people, the newspaper said on Tuesday. Workers are ready for the robot revolution, but are their managers? Another restaurant, which opened last October, made local headlines for using four automated waiters that were able to take orders and deliver food to customers' tables.

Have you ever begun a Google search, only to click on the words the box lays before you? Tagged a friend's face when Facebook prompted it? Have you spoken to your iPhone? The artificial intelligence technology behind these tools is neither self-aware nor homicidal. But they are driven by a computational technique called machine learning, which is, at its simplest, a way to teach machines to teach themselves.

We identified 32 companies that are already applying machine learning techniques and predictive analytics to reduce drug discovery times, provide virtual assistance to patients, and diagnose ailments by processing medical images, among other things. The 32 startups on the list have raised more than 530M in aggregate funding. This year, New York-based AiCure raised 12.3M in Series A funding and National Science Foundation-grantee Cloud Pharmaceuticals raised a 350K round from undisclosed investors. London-based health services startup, Babylon Health, raised a 25M Series A round from investors including Google-owned DeepMind Technologies and Hoxton Ventures. The company will reportedly roll out a Siri-like voice recognition interface this year.