This demo paper presents Emora STDM (State Transition Dialogue Manager), a dialogue system development framework that provides novel workflows for rapid prototyping of chat-based dialogue managers as well as collaborative development of complex interactions. Our framework caters to a wide range of expertise levels by supporting interoperability between two popular approaches, state machine and information state, to dialogue management. Our Natural Language Expression package allows seamless integration of pattern matching, custom NLP modules, and database querying, that makes the workflows much more efficient. As a user study, we adopt this framework to an interdisciplinary undergraduate course where students with both technical and non-technical backgrounds are able to develop creative dialogue managers in a short period of time.

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. An email from a Missouri woman has prompted Merriam-Webster to update its definition of "racism" to include the systemic aspects that have contributed to discrimination, according to a report. Kennedy Mitchum, 22, of Florissant, told KMOV-TV that she was inspired to email the dictionary publisher after getting into arguments with others about the definition of racism. Merriam-Webster defines racism as "a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race."

IBM's CEO said the company will no longer offer facial recognition software while questioning how similar technology is used by law enforcement. In a letter to Congress submitted Monday, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said the company will not support any technology that could lead to mass surveillance, racial profiling or "violations of basic human rights and freedoms." "We believe now is the time to begin a national dialogue on whether and how facial recognition technology should be employed by domestic law enforcement agencies," wrote Krishna. The letter follows protests demanding change among police forces nationwide in the wake of the death of George Floyd, who died while in police custody in Minneapolis last month. It's official:The US is in a recession, ending longest expansion in history The CEO also advocates for federal rules to hold police more accountable, as well as a national policy to improve technology used to maintain transparency, including body cameras and modern data analytics techniques.

Facial recognition software is nothing if not fallible. In 2019, the National Institute of Standards and Technology demonstrated this with a study on A.I. systems used by police departments to identify alleged criminals. The study found that these algorithms falsely identified Asian and black faces 10 to 100 times more often than Caucasian faces. It is these sorts of findings that have led activists to call for bans on facial recognition technology and for technology companies not to develop such products. That movement scored a win on Monday, when IBM CEO Arvind Krishna announced in a letter to Congress that the company will no longer develop, research, or sell facial recognition technology.

U. S. Representatives Stephen F. Lynch and Ayanna Pressley along with a group of other House Democrats have launched an investigation into the Trump administration's surveillance of people protesting last month's killing of an African-American man by a white Minneapolis police officer. "We write with grave concern about the use of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) resources--including drones and armed uniformed officers--to surveil and intimidate peaceful protesters who were exercising their First Amendment rights to protest the murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police Department," the members of the Committee of Oversight and Reform wrote. Lynch, writing as chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security, and Pressley, a member of the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, joined Committee Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney of New York; Jamie Raskin of Maryland; and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York in sending a letter to the Department of Homeland Security demanding the Trump Administration explain its use of Customs and Border Patrol resources to conduct surveillance of people protesting George Floyd's killing. CBP admitted to flying a surveillance drone, commonly known as a "Predator B," over protests in Minneapolis on May 29. The drone reportedly was far outside the bounds of CBP's jurisdiction.

A strange sea creature that lives 1,000 feet below the surface encased in a giant bubble of mucus may be key to removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. These bubble-houses are discarded and replaced regularly as the animal grows in size and its filters become clogged with particles. Once discarded, they sink to the seafloor and encapsulate the carbon for good, preventing it from re-entering the atmosphere. Larvaceans also capture and dispose of microplastics in this way, which can come from clothing and cosmetics and often ingested by other marine species. Researchers used a system of lasers mounted on a 12,000 pound robot to map the giant larvacean's delicate body in a series of 3D images.

Artificial intelligence systems modeled after human neural networks may operate better when given regular rest periods that mimic the effects of sleep on humans. That was the conclusion researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico reached after studying the performance of an AI designed to replicate neural networks in the human brain. A team of computer scientists led by Yijing Watkins designed an AI they hoped would be capable of teaching itself how to accurately classify different types of objects without access to any pre-existing database of classification system. They used what's called a spiking neural network, a system that mimics the way neurons in the brain fire at different times and in different intensities based on the kinds of stimulation they're receiving. The system was ideal for the test because, according to Watkins, it's'analogous to how humans and other biological systems learn from their environment during childhood development.'

A bipartisan cadre of tech-focused legislators in the House and Senate have introduced legislation that would direct the federal government to develop a national cloud computing infrastructure for artificial intelligence research.Introduced by Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Thursday, the National Cloud Computing Task Force Act would convene a mix of technical experts across academic, industry and government. The group would develop a nuanced roadmap for how the nation should build, deploy, govern and sustain a national research cloud for AI."With China focused on toppling the United States' leadership in AI, we need to redouble our efforts with a sustained commitment to the best and brightest by developing a national research cloud to ensure our technical researchers get the tools they need to succeed," Portman said in a statement. "By democratizing access to computing power we ensure that any American with computer science talent can pursue their good ideas."The A report submitted to Congress by the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence outlined how quickly China is closing in on the United States' tech research hold.

When an apple begins to rot it creates a chemical called ethylene. If that apple happens to be in a barrel with a bunch of other apples, and the rotting causes its skin to break, the ethylene will immediately cause the other apples to start rotting. That's why the proverb "one bad apple spoils the bunch" is meant as a warning. If you find one bad apple, all the apples around it are already rotting. Obviously, the smartest thing to do is to locate, isolate, and remove bad apples before they can poison others.

Microsoft News has shed dozens of editorial workers this past week as it moves to an AI-driven system of picking news and away from human editors for MSN.com, one of the world's biggest news destinations. People close to the situation said the layoffs impacted all its contractors in the US, numbering around 50, all of whom are employed by staffing agencies Aquent and MAQ Consulting. Calls and emails to those agencies seeking comment weren't returned. A Microsoft spokesperson said: "Like all companies, we evaluate our business on a regular basis. This can result in increased investment in some places and, from time to time, re-deployment in others. These decisions are not the result of the current pandemic."