The Allen Institute for AI (AI2) started its incubator up two years ago, helping launch companies like Xnor.ai, Blue Canoe, and WellSaidLabs. Their success has attracted funding from not just local Seattle VC outfit Madrona, but Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, and Two Sigma as well, resulting in a new $10M fund that should help keep the lights on. The AI2 Incubator, led by Jacob Colker since its inception in 2017, has focused on launching a handful of companies every year that in some way leverage a serious AI advantage. Blue Canoe, for instance, does natural language processing with a focus on accent modification; Xnor.ai is working on ultra-low-power implementations of machine learning algorithms, and was just acquired yesterday by Apple for a reported $200M. Apple buys edge-based AI startup Xnor.ai for a reported $200M "We think the next generation of so called AI-first companies are going to have to graduate into building long term, successful businesses that start with an AI edge," said the program's new managing director, Bryan Hale.

You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license. A new system leverages artificial intelligence to rapidly analyze hundreds of thousands of comments on social media and identify the fraction that defend or sympathize with disenfranchised minorities such as the Rohingya community. The Rohingyas began fleeing Myanamar in 2017 to avoid ethnic cleansing. Human social media moderators, who couldn't possibly manually sift through so many comments, would then have the option to highlight this "help speech" in comment sections. "Even if there's lots of hateful content, we can still find positive comments," says Ashiqur R. KhudaBukhsh, a postdoctoral researcher in the Language Technologies Institute (LTI) at Carnegie Mellon University who conducted the research with alumnus Shriphani Palakodety.

China is on its way to becoming the first global superpower for Artificial Intelligence. The People's Republic of China has the most ambitious AI strategy of all nations and provides the most resources worldwide for its implementation. China combines a gigantic amount of data with talent, companies, research and capital to build the world's leading AI ecosystem. In 2017, the State Council of the People's Republic of China (also known as the Central People's Government) published the Artificial Intelligence Development Plan (here you can find the original document in English). This strategy is part of the even bigger national "Made in China 2025″ plan and will also be linked to the new (digital) Silk Road.

Mysterious drone swarms have been seen flying in Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming at night since December, sometimes over locations believed to house nuclear missile silos. A federal task force has been formed to investigate the drones' origin and purpose. The Phillips County Sheriff's Office in Colorado reported the first drones on 20 December. There have been hundreds of sightings since, some of groups of drones flying in grid patterns. Some observers assumed the drones were part of a military exercise, but the US Air Force has denied involvement.

Cows have their own language and talk to each other about food and the weather, according to a new study by scientists in Australia. They created a software programme dubbed'Google Translate for cows' to get a better idea of what the heifers were saying when they go'moo'. The study, by a PhD candidate from the University of Sydney, discovered that dairy cows also respond to positive and negative emotional situations. Cows each have their own individual voice and linked their moods to their'moos', said lead author Alexandra Green. Biologists made the discovery by listening to Holstein-Fresian heifer cattle, a European breed, mooing into a microphone and analysing the pitch.

Artificial intelligence should treat all people fairly, empower everyone, perform reliably and safely, be understandable, be secure and respect privacy, and have algorithmic accountability. It should be aligned with existing human values, be explainable, be fair, and respect user data rights. It should be used for socially beneficial purposes, and always remain under meaningful human control. These are some of the high-level headings under which Microsoft, IBM, and Google-owned DeepMind respectively set out their ethical principles for the development and deployment of A.I. They're also, pretty much by definition, A Good Thing. Anything that insists upon technology's weighty real-world repercussions -- and its creators' responsibilities towards these -- is surely welcome in an age when automated systems are implicated in every facet of human existence.

Through play children (and adults) learn how to use their imaginations, to experiment with different ways of doing things. This might seem like it has relevance only for their self-development, but it's also through imagination and experimentation that the human race as a collective arrives at the solutions to its problems. As such, it's vital that we encourage children and people more generally to use their imaginations and to experiment, and it's to this end that LEGO, of all things, has an important role to play in nurturing the next generation of engineers, scientists and problem solvers. And we're not just talking about informal play with LEGO here, since one organization in particular has taken it upon itself to incorporate the famous Danish toy in competitions and workshops, all of which aim to instil a love for science and engineering in children. This organization is FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a not-for-profit public charity based in New Hampshire that works to inspire young people to pursue careers and education in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects. Beginning in 1999, it partnered with the LEGO Group itself to launch the FIRST LEGO League, tapping into the LEGO brand to bring children to science.

At CES, LG Electronics (LG) unveiled its most advanced innovation in laundry, deploying artificial intelligence to deliver precision washing for optimal results without the guesswork. The AI DD washer builds on 20 years of advancements in LG's groundbreaking Direct Drive motor, which delivers both effectiveness and efficiency. LG's new washing machine not only detects the volume and weight of each unique laundry load but also uses AI and advanced sensors to identify fabric types in each load. Using deep learning technology, the washer then compares this information against more than 20 thousand data points related to washer usage to program the optimal wash cycle setting for the best results, improving cleaning and extending the life of garments by 15 percent.* LG's most intelligent washer is able to detect a mixed load of t-shirts and pants (different from bedding, delicates and other fabric combinations) and program the wash cycle to use customized motions, temperatures and times for the optimal wash.

AI and machine learning have become unavoidable trends in customer relations. AI is unlocking and redefining the possibilities to appeal to today's most demanding consumers; meeting their ever-growing expectations and developing emotional connections to deliver a fulfilling customer experience. A report published by Juniper Research predicts that retail industry spending on AI will reach $7.3 billion per year by 2022. Notable applications like Uber and Lyft have changed the expectations of consumers with regards to taxis. The experience of traditional taxis now seems outdated and ineffective.

The second generation of Google's smallest smart speaker gets a new name, more eco-friendly, a little smarter and more bass. The £49 Nest Mini replaces the Google Home Mini as part of a revamped and renamed line of Google smart home products under the Nest brand, pushing its predecessor to a clearance price of only £19. From the outside you would be hard pushed to see what has changed. The Nest Mini sticks with the same pincushion design with a fabric top and nonslip rubber pad on the bottom. The top contains three far-field microphones and is touch sensitive.