TORONTO, ON - APRIL 30: Saudi Arabian citizen Humanoid Robot Sophia is seen during the Discovery exhibition on April 30, 2018 in Toronto, Canada. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is nothing if not controversial. Whether the subject of scrutiny behind hair-raising advances in sex robots which was heavily reported the other week or the topic of the latest disgruntled executive voicing opinions about Elon Musk's crusade against AI's perceived perils, all eyes are on this new area in tech. While no one is yet absolutely sure of AI's definitive path, one thing is certain. Value and expenditures pertaining to this area of emerging technology are on a definite upward curve.

Samsung phones sold in the UK will soon come pre-installed with Babylon's AI-powered medical consultation technology, according to Financial Times. The Korean tech giant has reportedly forged a deal with the startup, which you might know for its partnership with the UK's NHS called "GP at Hand" that lets you book doctor consultations via video chat. Like GP at Hand, the technology Samsung will pre-install on its devices will also allow you to arrange video consultations with a doctor and to check symptoms through its Health app. FT says the deal will "propel Babylon further into the market for private medical care," which probably means you'll be able to use the technology to secure video appointments with private GPs. Unfortunately, the service won't come free: it will set you back £50 (US$67) a year or £25 (US$33) for a one-off appointment.

When it comes to diagnosing skin cancer, man may actually be worse than machine. A new study from the University of Heidelberg found that a form of artificial intelligence known as a deep learning convolutional neural network (CNN) was able to more accurately identify malignant and benign skin lesions than a fleet of dermatologists. "For the first time we compared a CNN's diagnostic performance with a large international group of 58 dermatologists, including 30 experts," wrote the researchers. "Most dermatologists were outperformed by the CNN. Irrespective of any physicians' experience, they may benefit from assistance by a CNN's image classification."

According to a local report in Belgium, an owner of a Tesla Model S claimed it started on its own, without a driver, and drove into five other cars in the municipality of Saint-Gilles, Brussels. The article said the strange journey, explained by the owner to the police, met its end with a Dacia Logan across the street. It is unclear if there were any injuries and as to what the extent of damages were. This comes on the back of the fact that on Tuesday morning a Tesla Model S running on Autopilot mode crashed into a parked police vehicle in Laguna Beach, California, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. Laguna Police Sgt. Jim Cota explained the collision happened at 20652 Laguna Canyon Road and said "Thankfully there was not an officer at the time in the police car."

Xiaomi may have already released the Mi Mix 2S earlier this year, but it's actually kept its true 2018 flagship, the Mi 8, for marking its eight anniversary -- hence the jump from last year's "Mi 6." As announced in Shenzhen today, the new handset starts at 2,699 yuan (about $420) and comes in a familiar-looking dual-sided glass design, with the most notable difference being the new vertical dual camera -- exactly the same module found on the Mix 2S, according to Xiaomi. And yes, there's a notch, which is for accommodating an infrared front camera for facial recognition. There's even a higher-end Mi 8 Explorer Edition which uses a more powerful 3D face scanner instead -- one that's similar to the TrueDepth camera on the iPhone X. Not only that, this version also has a fully transparent back to show off its chips and battery. For the sake of this cool look, there's no rear fingerprint reader; instead, this device uses an in-display fingerprint reader, which is backed by pressure activation to save power.

A large part of the usefulness of artificial intelligence (AI) is its ability to make surprisingly accurate predictions based on the collected data. That's how your favorite online store recommends products to you, and Netflix suggests shows you might like. The worst that can happen is that you see a product that doesn't interest you. What happens when the stakes are higher? Law enforcement and the courts are beginning to explore the use of AI in efforts to predict and prevent crimes.

Six clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) across south east London will soon be able to access VisualDX's AI-powered visual diagnostic tool, as per terms of a deal between the NHS and the healthcare software company. The move, which focuses on enhancing diagnostic accuracy and aiding therapeutic decisions and diagnosis, marks a first for VisualDX, as it launches its first foothold into the UK's National Health Service (NHS). Art Papier, chief executive officer of VisualDX, said: "This agreement with NHS CCGs in South East London helps patients and clinicians alike to share in the decision-making process to optimise patient-centred outcomes in the pursuit of clinical excellence." According to the ECRI Institute, misdiagnoses took the top spot for safety concern among patients. While the cause for each misdiagnosis varies, VisualDX has build a library of more than 41,000 peer-reviewed medical images to help physicians, especially generalists, to make better informed diagnoses by allowing direct imagery comparison and offering diagnostic possibilities.

The European Commission's recent outline of an artificial intelligence strategy does not give in to European Parliament calls to grant personhood for AI. The Commission is right in this, though not for the reasons mentioned in a recent open letter published by experts, writes Thomas Burri. Thomas Burri is Assistant Professor of International Law and European Law at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. In a resolution of 2017, the European Parliament urged the European Commission to propose what it called "electronic personality" for sophisticated autonomous robots. This move by the European Parliament prompted a number of experts to publish an open letter in April 2018 calling upon the Commission to ignore the Parliament's move and reject "electronic personality".

The need to provide an enhanced customer experience is the primary factor augmenting the growth of the AI in BFSI market. As the competition among the market players is mounting day-by-day, companies have started to focus on providing a better experience to the customers to gain the customer loyalty. This encourages financial institutes to integrate advanced analytics tools and solutions to analyze customer data to fulfil their requirement, understand the customer experience, and to make smarter predictions about their behavior and requirements. Furthermore, companies are also looking forward to connecting with the customers on their choice of channels to provide a more seamless experience. Furthermore, as digitalization is spreading across the globe, customers are becoming more empowered.

The impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on our daily lives is intensively discussed in all areas of society and technology, around the globe. How relevant is patenting to the world of AI? The European Patent Office will be addressing the challenges and opportunities of patenting AI at a one day conference, connecting people from business, academia, the judiciary, policy making and patent offices in a series of lectures and panel discussions. Are you involved in patents and AI developments? This is the event to attend!