Facial-recognition technology is not new, but it has progressed immensely in the past few years, mainly because of advances in artificial intelligence. Naturally, this has drawn the interest of Silicon Valley, advertising agencies, hardware manufacturers, and the government. But not everyone is thrilled. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and 35 other advocacy groups, for example, sent a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos demanding that his company stop providing advanced facial-recognition technology to law enforcement, warning that it could be misused against immigrants and protesters. Early iterations of the technology, which dates back to the 1960s, were clunky. Police had to create a facial-recognition database, which required a human user to specify key points on a photo of each subject's face, such as the center of pupils and corners of the eyes, mouth, and nose.

As the lead trend watcher at Andreessen Horowitz, Frank Chen has a unique view into what's next. But how did he -- and the tech platform shifts we watch and participate in -- get here in the first place? From on-premise software to cloud and SaaS; from mobile first to AI first; and from internet 1.0 to crypto, this conversation with Frank covers his career arc as it maps to the evolution of the tech industry as a whole. He also offers practical advice for entrepreneurs, from managing founder personalities to what will will important tech trends like machine learning and the rise of the developer (as evidenced by Microsoft's acquisition of Github) mean for business? This video is based on an event that took place with one of Europe's leading entrepreneurship accelerators, Entrepreneur First, hosted by its cofounder Matt Clifford (along with Bart Dessaint, now associate partner at Mosaic Ventures).

From keeping our inboxes free from SPAM to mining your favorite cryptocurrencies, algorithms are all around us. While we feel like we're drowning in an ocean of big data, clever algorithms are actually helping us to make sense of it all. And although these algorithms are ruling the world, we seem to know very little about them. By whom were they created? I decided to ask the top experts (professors and professionals) which algorithms they think made the biggest contribution to artificial intelligence and science in general.

Google's forays into Africa have culminated in the announcement of the company's first AI center on the continent, which is set to launch in Ghana's capital of Accra later this year. Google chose Ghana for its strong set of local universities in a bid to lure the brightest graduates. Ghana is also home to an office of the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences. "We're looking at Ghana, and more widely at Africa, as a location where we want to invest in new areas of interest," Jason Freidenfelds, a senior communications manager at Google, told Adweek. "There are many talented researchers working on AI in Africa now, and it's our goal to collaborate with them more closely by opening a location in Accra."

Football may be unpredictable, but its injuries aren't. Artificial intelligence can work out when players are likely to get hurt so that coaches can let them rest. A machine learning algorithm developed by data scientists at the University of Pisa, Italy, and FC Barcelona recently predicted 9 out of 14 injuries sustained by an elite Italian football team during a single season. The researchers fitted the team's 26 players with GPS sensors during their training sessions to measure how far … To continue reading this premium article, subscribe for unlimited access. Existing subscribers, please log in with your email address to link your account access.

'Fortnite' is fast becoming a cultural phenomenon and has set a new YouTube record for a live gaming stream. The multiplayer shooter game, which lets players navigate a vast landscape, has racked up a huge following. The survival video game "Fortnite" exploded in popularity this year, boasting 125 million players and taking over as the most popular video game to date. Since it arrived on the scene it's made addicts out of kids and adults alike. Instead of parents setting boundaries for screen time and then enforcing some outdoor time, they've enabled the behavior by hiring coaches to improve their kids' scores.

LONDON – More than half of the world's population now live in cities -- and the figure will rise to more than two thirds by 2050, according to a United Nations forecast. Growing numbers of city residents put pressure on energy and water resources, transport networks, environment, national healthcare budgets as well as many more aspects of the city. Thankfully, some of the most important problems faced by cities around the world can be solved or reduced by Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) enabled solutions. Rapid urbanisation and a growing population is causing more and more problems for mobility in the city. Commuting has become a hassle; congestion in the EU is often located in and around urban areas and costs nearly EUR 100 billion annually, or 1 % of the EU's GDP.

Nearly a decade ago a 47-year-old black woman named Denise Green was pulled from her vehicle and held at gunpoint by six San Francisco police officers. One of them pointed a shotgun at her face, another handcuffed her and directed her to kneel. Despite having a history of knee problems, Green complied with every order given. Twenty minutes later she was released, free to go about her life. The police initially suspected Green of driving a stolen vehicle when a machine learning algorithm designed to scan license plates misidentified hers, and incorrectly flagged her car as stolen. Needless to say, AI isn't perfect.

And when you arrive at the office, you are faced with a choice: You can be treated by a senior physician who speaks soothingly, is the senior expert in his field and seems to have years of experience. "I've been working as a doctor for 35 years," he says. "We'll find out what's wrong with you." Or would you go with the resident, who has been licensed for three months and has virtually no experience on the job? The young doctor holds a tablet computer under his arm.

Many people are already using, perhaps without knowing it, tools based on artificial intelligence (AI). Almost everyone probably ignores the absence of laws that govern how it works. We are surrounded by absurd regulations (for example, in Alabama it is illegal to drive while blindfolded; in France, you can't name a pig "Napoleon," etc.), however, there are no guidelines that regulate the use of software for autonomous driving vehicles nor the algorithms that support decision making to prioritize care for hospital patients or that pre-select which job candidates should be interviewed. Fortunately, it seems that our political systems have finally understood the urgency with which we need to apply legislation to this area. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and Representatives John K. Delaney (D-Md.) and Pete Olson (R-Texas)-- introduced a bill called The Fundamentally Understanding the Usability and Realistic Evolution of Artificial Intelligence Act of 2017, also known as the FUTURE of AI Act.