Obtaining a non-parametric expression for an interventional distribution is one of the most fundamental tasks in causal inference. Such an expression can be obtained for an identifiable causal effect by an algorithm or by manual application of do-calculus. Often we are left with a complicated expression which can lead to biased or inefficient estimates when missing data or measurement errors are involved. We present an automatic simplification algorithm that seeks to eliminate symbolically unnecessary variables from these expressions by taking advantage of the structure of the underlying graphical model. Our method is applicable to all causal effect formulas and is readily available in the R package causaleffect.

Smart factories are on the verge of becoming the new industrial paradigm, wherein optimization permeates all aspects of production, from concept generation to sales. To fully pursue this paradigm, flexibility in the production means as well as in their timely organization is of paramount importance. AI is planning a major role in this transition, but the scenarios encountered in practice might be challenging for current tools. Task planning is one example where AI enables more efficient and flexible operation through an online automated adaptation and rescheduling of the activities to cope with new operational constraints and demands. In this paper we present SMarTplan, a task planner specifically conceived to deal with real-world scenarios in the emerging smart factory paradigm. Including both special-purpose and general-purpose algorithms, SMarTplan is based on current automated reasoning technology and it is designed to tackle complex application domains. In particular, we show its effectiveness on a logistic scenario, by comparing its specialized version with the general purpose one, and extending the comparison to other state-of-the-art task planners.

Fraud detection is a difficult problem that can benefit from predictive modeling. However, the verification of a prediction is challenging; for a single insurance policy, the model only provides a prediction score. We present a case study where we reflect on different instance-level model explanation techniques to aid a fraud detection team in their work. To this end, we designed two novel dashboards combining various state-of-the-art explanation techniques. These enable the domain expert to analyze and understand predictions, dramatically speeding up the process of filtering potential fraud cases. Finally, we discuss the lessons learned and outline open research issues.

The World Health Organization says that compulsively playing video games now qualifies as a new mental health condition, in a move that some critics warn may risk stigmatizing too many young players. While it's hard for some investors to wrap their arms around the significance of gaming, the short answer is it is massive and expected to continue to exhibit huge growth for years to come. Can someone truly be addicted to video games? The World Health Organization thinks so – but a major professional organization for psychiatrists strongly disagrees. The World Health Organization on Monday classified "gaming disorder" as a diagnosable condition, giving mental health professionals a basis for setting up treatment and identifying risks for the addictive behavior.

The self-driving revolution has now taken to the seas after Volvo has revealed a yacht capable of docking itself. Volvo Pento gave a live demonstration of its new self-docking yacht at the Gothenburg, Sweden stopover of Volvo Ocean race on Sunday. The 68-foot vehicle parked itself into the tightest of spaces between two of the Volvo Ocean Race 65 racing yachts. 'Docking is one of the most challenging boat handling maneuvers – getting it wrong can be embarrassing, expensive and precarious,' said Björn Ingemanson, President of Volvo Penta. The Inboard Performance System (IPS) is a complete and integrated propulsion system that enables secure, automated dock departures, according to the company.

A group of Amazon shareholders is asking CEO Jeff Bezos to stop selling and marketing facial recognition technology to governments after civil liberties groups warned of the potential for abuse. Earlier this year, a group of advocacy organisations led by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) published a report detailing how Amazon was marketing its Rekognition tool to American law enforcement agencies. In addition to touting the technology as helping to find suspects, Amazon has said it could be used to preemptively identify "persons of interest" and prevent crimes. A letter signed by 19 shareholders - and provided to The Independent by the ACLU - urges Mr Bezos to halt the tool's expansion until those concerns can be addressed. Amazon supplier investigated over'mistreatment' of workers in China How Alexa recorded a family's conversation then sent it to someone Amazon told to stop selling facial recognition tools to police Amazon supplier investigated over'mistreatment' of workers in China How Alexa recorded a family's conversation then sent it to someone Furnishing police and sheriff's departments with the tool would bolster "government surveillance infrastructure technology" and could drive down Amazon's value, the letter warned. It also echoed concerns about the potential for misuse. "While Rekognition may be intended to enhance some law enforcement activities, we are deeply concerned it may ultimately violate civil and human rights", the letter said.

MS Amlin has enlisted the help of artificial intelligence (AI) firm Cytora to enhance its commercial underwriting performance and drive premium growth. Announcing the partnership, the global (re)insurer said it will use Cytora's technology to improve processes and power open market underwriting. Cytora, through its Risk Engine API integration with Acturis, will also facilitate better risk selection and pricing in MS Amlin's small- and medium-sized enterprises automated trading book by providing risk scores. "AI technology is transforming the way insurers do business," noted Dr Paul Taffinder, director of strategy & innovation at MS Amlin. "This new and exciting partnership with Cytora is a testament to MS Amlin's commitment to digital innovation and the use of smart technology, further cementing our position as an insurer of the future." Meanwhile Cytora chief executive Richard Hartley, who described MS Amlin as "an ambitious insurer and proven market leader," said its new partner shares the tech company's vision to make insurance more frictionless and data-driven.

Visa Canada, a unit of Visa Inc. V, recently announced a strategic collaboration with Finn Al, to add new stimulus to its conversational banking chatbots and artificial intelligence (AI), powered by the Visa Developer Platform. Stocks to Consider Investors interested in the Financial Transaction Services industry might take a look at some better-ranked stocks, namely Cardtronics plc CATM and WEX Inc. WEX, both sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here . Cardtronics offers automated consumer financial services through its network of automated teller machines (ATMs) and multi-function financial services kiosks. The company managed to come up with an average four-quarter positive surprise of 27.17%.

Alex Krizhevsky didn't get into the AI business to change the course of history. Krizhevsky, born in Ukraine but raised in Canada, was just looking to delay getting a coding job when he reached out to Geoff Hinton about doing a computer-science PhD program in AI at the University of Toronto. The fateful moment was when, as a graduate student, Krizhevsky and a fellow student named Ilya Sutskever, decided to enter the ImageNet competition, a test for AI consisting of a huge database of online images. The competition, open to anyone in the world, was to evaluate algorithms designed for large-scale object detection and image classification. The point wasn't just to crown a winner, but to test a hypothesis: with the right algorithm, the massive amount data in the ImageNet database could be the key to unlocking AI's potential.

The week's news has once again been dominated by AI. The first and perhaps most worrying thing to come out of the world of AI this week was'Norman'. Now admittedly creating a psychopathic AI sounds like a terrible idea but the creation of Norman's is designed to help to raise awareness of growing issues within AI research. Norman was purposely fed data from some of the darkest corners of the web and was then asked what it could identify from inkblot drawings. The results were compared with another AI that was fed normal data.