A team of Afghan girls whose plight resounded with the world won a silver medal for "courageous achievement" at an international robotics contest in the United States, with judges praising the group's "can-do attitude". The First Global Challenge event in Washington ended on Tuesday, having attracted teams of teenagers from more than 150 nations. But all eyes were on the squad of girls from Afghanistan, who had twice travelled 800 kilometres to the American embassy in Kabul, only to have their visa applications turned down. They were finally granted entry with just one week to go until the event began after their story had gone viral. In an interview with Al Jazeera, before US officials decided to allow them in the country, team member Rodaba Noori said: "We wanted to show our talents to the world so they would know that we do have skills."

Strict Minimum Message Length (SMML) is a statistical inference method widely cited (but only with informal arguments) as providing estimations that are consistent for general estimation problems. It is, however, almost invariably intractable to compute, for which reason only approximations of it (known as MML algorithms) are ever used in practice. We investigate the Neyman-Scott estimation problem, an oft-cited showcase for the consistency of MML, and show that even with a natural choice of prior, neither SMML nor its popular approximations are consistent for it, thereby providing a counterexample to the general claim. This is the first known explicit construction of an SMML solution for a natural, high-dimensional problem. We use the same novel construction methods to refute other claims regarding MML also appearing in the literature.

Tesla will partner with French renewable energy company Neoen to build the 100-megawatt battery farm in South Australia state. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says the government should consider regulations for artificial intelligence because it poses "a fundamental existential risk for human civilization." Musk made the comments over the weekend during the National Governors Association's summer meeting in Providence, R.I. Musk says AI is the "scariest problem" because of its potential to harm humans beyond just disrupting the job market. Musk wants the government to set regulations in place to root out threats early. "AI is a rare case where I think we need to be proactive in regulation than reactive," said Musk. "By the time we're reactive in AI regulation, it's too late."

The Department of Defence has delved into researching'Trusted Autonomous Systems' (aka, robots), as part of the Turnbull government's $50 million investment into launching the Defence Cooperative Research Centre (CRC). The Defence CRC is a collaborative program that brings together academia, publicly funded research agencies, industry (particularly small to medium enterprises) to create an interlocking research and innovation capability that is focused on driving a Defence outcome. It is a federal government initiative of the Next Generation Technologies Fund, which complements the Defence Innovation Hub as the two core initiatives of the new Defence Innovation System outlined in the Government's Defence Industry Policy Statement. These two signature innovation research and development programs, together with the Centre for Defence Industry Capability, deliver on the government's $1.6 billion commitment to grow Australia's defence industry and innovation sector. Minister for Defence Industry, the Hon Christopher Pyne said the first Defence CRC will focus on Trusted Autonomous Systems to deliver'game-changing' unmanned platforms that ensure reliable and effective cooperation between people and machines during dynamic military operations.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An undersea earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 struck off the South Pacific island nation of Tonga on Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake, at a depth of 97 km (60 miles), was located 180 km (112 miles) south-southwest of Neita in Tonga. No tsunami warning was issued and there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties from the quake. Not all U.S. presidents are missed once they leave the White House. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO urged governors to regulate artificial intelligence before it's too late.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's military will be more readily deployed to respond to "terrorist incidents" on home soil under proposed changes to laws announced by the government on Monday. The government said in a statement that state and territory police forces remained the best first response, but the military could offer additional support to enhance their capabilities. Australia has seen a series of "lone wolf" Islamist-inspired attacks, prompting a review of police tactics and the powers of state and federal authorities. "The key thing we need is the most flexible possible arrangements -- the threat's changed very significantly," Justice Minister Michael Keenan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday. Under the proposed law changes, state and territory governments would be able to call for military aid before the ability to respond to an incident exceeds the capabilities of their police forces.

The subjugation of humanity by a race of super-smart, artificially intelligent beings is something that has been theorized by everyone from generations of moviemakers to New Zealand's fourth-most-popular folk-parody duo. But the latest prophet of our cyber-fueled downfall must realize why people would be inclined to take his warnings with a grain of silicon. He is, after all, the same guy who's asking us to turn over control of our cars -- and our lives -- to a bunch of algorithms. Elon Musk, who hopes that one day everyone will ride in a self-driving, electric-powered Tesla, told a group of governors Saturday that they needed to get on the ball and start regulating artificial intelligence, which he called a "fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization." When pressed for better guidance, Musk said the government must get a better understanding of the latest achievements in artificial intelligence before it's too late.

"How are you doing today?" "What's going on in your world right now?" "How do you feel?" These might seem like simple questions a caring friend would ask. However, in the present day of mental health care, they can also be the start of a conversation with your virtual therapist. Innovative technology is offering new opportunities to millions of Americans affected by different mental health conditions. Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) are bringing psychotherapy to more people who need it.

Tennis - Wimbledon - London, Britain - July 16, 2017 Switzerland's Roger Federer celebrates winning the final against Croatia's Marin Cilic REUTERS/Toby Melville Reuters From 1877 to 1921 the men's singles was decided on a challenge-round system with the previous year's winner automatically qualifying for the final (British unless stated): Winner of all-comers' final declared champion. Not all U.S. presidents are missed once they leave the White House. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO urged governors to regulate artificial intelligence before it's too late. Administration officials traveled to Providence to gain support from key players like Gov. Brian Sandoval. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other foreign leaders reached out to U.S. governors ahead of slated talks.

Lots of algorithms go bad unintentionally. Some of them, however, are made to be criminal. Algorithms are formal rules, usually written in computer code, that make predictions on future events based on historical patterns. To train an algorithm you need to provide historical data as well as a definition of success. We've seen finance get taken over by algorithms in the past few decades. Trading algorithms use historical data to predict movements in the market. Success for that algorithm is a predictable market move, and the algorithm is vigilant for patterns that have historically happened just before that move.