Artificial intelligence was on the tip of the tongue this week at CES, the annual technology extravaganza formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show. From Samsung's Neon avatars and LG's smart washing machine, to Intel's Tiger Lake processors and the gun-detecting PATSCAN, AI seemed to be everywhere. Samsung's research subsidiary, STAR Labs, unveiled its latest AI project, called Neon. Similar to a chatbot, Neon generates a photo-realistic digital avatar that interacts with people in real time. The South Korean technology giant plans to weave the Neons into people's day-to-day lives, where the avatars will play the role of doctors, personal trainers, and TV anchors giving you the evening news.

A prototype of a self-driven industrial vehicle stole the show on the first day of the India Science Fest at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) held on Saturday. The self-driven industrial vehicle offers shifting of material from one place to another at the moment. Another exhibition will be organised on Sunday, January 12. At the exhibition held on Saturday, various organisations came forward to present innovative and futuristic experiments and prototypes of models which offer solutions to modern problems. Another highlight of the exhibition was a mutant fly which could possibly be a replacement for mice in pharmaceutical experiments, according to the exhibitors.

Maybe AI consciousness first arises via self-driving cars. There has been a lot of speculation that one of these days there will be an AI system that suddenly and unexpectedly gives rise to consciousness. Often referred to as the singularity, there is much hand-wringing that we are perhaps dooming ourselves to either utter death and destruction or to becoming slaves of AI once the singularity occurs. As I've previously covered (see link here), various AI "conspiracy" theories abound, oftentimes painting a picture of the end of the world as we humans know it. Few involved in these speculative hypotheses seem to be willing to consider that maybe this AI emergence would be beneficial to mankind, possibly aiding us humans toward a future of greatness and prosperity, and instead focus on the apocalyptic outcomes. Of course, one would be likely safest to assume the worst, and have a faint hope for the best cases, since the worst-case scenario would certainly seem to be the riskiest and most damaging of the singularity consequences.

While CES is first and foremost a consumer electronics showcase, car manufacturers have had a massive presence for a number of years now, showcasing concept cars and their latest in-vehicle technologies. Almost a third of the massive Las Vegas Convention Center was dedicated to vehicles and vehicle technology in 2020. Here is a rundown of some of the splashiest and most outrageous cars and flying vehicles that we came across on the show floor this year. In the most theatrical car presentation of CES, Mercedes-Benz showed off the VISION AVTR, a far-out curvy concept that looks straight out of the movie Avatar. It was no coincidence that the automaker teamed up with Avatar director James Cameron on this wild concept that attempts to merge humans and machines.

While CES is first and foremost a consumer electronics showcase, car manufacturers have had a massive presence for a number of years now, showcasing concept cars and their latest in-vehicle technologies. Almost a third of the massive Las Vegas Convention Center was dedicated to vehicles and vehicle technology in 2020. Here is a rundown of some of the splashiest and most outrageous cars and flying vehicles that we came across on the show floor this year. In the most theatrical car presentation of CES, Mercedes-Benz showed off the VISION AVTR, a far-out curvy concept that looks straight out of the movie Avatar. It was no coincidence that the automaker teamed up with Avatar director James Cameron on this wild concept that attempts to merge humans and machines.

NAMM 2020: Neural DSP's all-new Quad Cortex is the Helsinki-based company's first step into the hardware scene, and uses machine learning techniques to power the tech company's unique modelling methods. The Quad Cortex features new technology called Neural Capture, which is powered by a unique neural network architecture that is capable of autonomously analysing, learning, and replicating an amplifier's sound and dynamic response in a way that's akin to human perception. The brand claims that Neural Capture's ability to profile rigs is unparalleled in terms of accuracy and realism. Another feature of the Quad Cortex includes a significant amount of processing power. In turn, this amount of power allows for more simultaneous amp models, digital effects, routing and sound-shaping capabilities.

The year 2020 is almost upon us, and in the B2B technology press, this means one thing: predictions. Hundreds of predictions from dozens of vendors, containing all sorts of wishful thinking about where their particular industry is heading next. Now, as AI graduates from a research subject into a technology with business applications and machine learning gets embedded into all sorts of products and services, artificial intelligence is becoming the new favorite of this annual prediction extravaganza. But why not consume all of these predictions in bulk? Why not binge-read everything that the hardware and software vendors, service providers and consultancies expect to happen in the year ahead, all at once? Here we have collected a total of 37 predictions about the state of AI and machine learning in 2020, and we've even arranged them in alphabetical order by vendor, from ABBYY to WWT. "Think back to the beginning of this century when everything was touted at Internet-enabled – as we begin this next decade, access to AI enabling technologies will be everywhere and consumers will experience AI without knowing it's being used. For those who are the owners of processes and customer experience, their access to using AI will become more readily available." "RPA will become more integrated into'smart platforms' that form the foundation for next generation intelligent automation platforms for handling more complex tasks or activities. BPM is still central to orchestration but these new intelligent automation platforms keep it simple by defining robotic routines that can handle narrow tasks or activities."

Ford has announced that it is purchasing a new two-legged, two-armed robot produced by Agility Robotics, which the car-maker hopes will soon be walking around neighborhoods carrying parcels from the delivery vehicle right up to your door. Going by the name of Digit, the five-feet tall humanoid can navigate its way across urban settings ranging from sidewalks to flowerbeds in a surprisingly human-like manner, due to the mobile limbs attached to its upper torso. The uncanny valley effect is fortunately avoided thanks to the robot's lack of a head. Digit has only just gone on sale, and the reason that Agility can boast Ford as the very first buyer is that the robot provides a solution to the so-called "last 50 feet problem". In the home delivery industry 2.0, those 50 feet are the final steps between the autonomous vehicle carrying a customer's order, and that customer's doorstep.

We are living in a time of enormous scientific innovation and promise for improved human health. Our understanding of biology is expanding enormously alongside increased identification of novel targets and their associated modalities. Still, drug-development costs and timelines continue to rise, and the likelihood of success continues to fall. Collectively, the top 20 pharmaceutical companies spend approximately $60 billion on drug development each year, and the estimated average cost of bringing a drug to market (including drug failures) is now $2.6 billion--a 140 percent increase in the past ten years. 1 1. We believe the time is right for a true step change in drug development.

This year, we've seen business leaders and technologists take an increasing interest in artificial intelligence. Many businesses are integrating artificial intelligence into their workflows and businesses. Many businesses are disrupting their industries with applications of AI that not only bring on change but also bring in different types of customers. Often, leaders, technologists, programmers, and workers of every profession misunderstand Artificial Intelligence and how it is applied today. Countries like China apply AI in different ways that alter the structure of their society.