Years ago my (then) 10 year old niece asked me what I do. I tried to explain to her that I work on this super-exciting thing called Distributed Software. She asked me - "When I go to Google and search for something - does what you do help me? After I started working in Artificial Intelligence (AI), I am much better able to explain to my now 11 year old daughter what I do. My daughter and her friends can already see how AI impacts their world, and thanks to advancements in AI technologies, they are already able to build their own AI to solve problems they see around them.

Fundamental problems in robotics involve both discrete variables, like the choice of control modes or gear switching, and continuous variables, like velocity setpoints and control gains. They're often difficult to tackle, because it's not always obvious which algorithms or control policies might best fit. That's why researchers at Google parent company Alphabet's DeepMind recently proposed a technique -- continuous-discrete hybrid learning -- that optimizes for discrete and continuous actions simultaneously, treating hybrid problems in their native form. A paper published on the preprint server Arxiv.org "Many state-of-the-art … approaches have been optimized to work well with either discrete or continuous action spaces but can rarely handle both … or perform better in one parameterization than another," the coauthors wrote.

Fundamental problems in robotics involve both discrete variables, like the choice of control modes or gear switching, and continuous variables, like velocity setpoints and control gains. They're often difficult to tackle, because it's not always obvious which algorithms or control policies might best fit. That's why researchers at Google parent company Alphabet's DeepMind recently proposed a technique -- continuous-discrete hybrid learning -- that optimizes for discrete and continuous actions simultaneously, treating hybrid problems in their native form. A paper published on the preprint server Arxiv.org "Many state-of-the-art … approaches have been optimized to work well with either discrete or continuous action spaces but can rarely handle both … or perform better in one parameterization than another," the coauthors wrote.

LAS VEGAS – In a controversy-stirring appearance on the keynote stage of the country's largest technology trade show, Ivanka Trump unrolled her vision of what companies and the government must do to prepare the workforce for the future. "To do the same job today in many industries outside of what's considered sort of a traditional quote-unquote technology industry, there is a technical application and a technical literacy that's required," she said Tuesday at CES 2020 on the Las Vegas Strip. "So it's not only about training for the jobs of the future – people need to be thinking about investing in their current workforce so they can enable those people to do their same job using different equipment to help them." President Donald Trump's daughter and adviser joined Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, in the Venetian's Palazzo Ballroom for a discussion called "The Path to the Future of Work." Trump, who came to Washington in 2017 as an adviser to her father, referred to her father as "the president" and focused on the work of the White House.

It is the first boat to be showcased at CES in Las Vegas, but the state-of-the-art Sea Ray SLX-R 400e is far from a traditional water vessel. The 40-foot yacht is equip with auto-docking capabilities and allows passengers to communicate with it using gestures and voice commands through a new'Future Helm'. It seats 22 people and comes with a lithium battery pack that can power the craft's high-performance engines in order to save energy. Steve Langlais, Sea Ray president, said: 'CES presents a unique opportunity to debut the new SLX-R 400e in front of an audience that will truly appreciate its beauty, capabilities and incredible suite of new technologies.' 'This pioneering new model, which will be available in 2020, showcases the kind of unique, advanced technologies that are worthy of the world's largest consumer electronics show.'

Artificial intelligence has no doubt had a huge impact on business and society as a whole. As 2019 comes to a close, let's take a look at the new developments in automation, hardware, tools, model development, and more that will shape (or accelerate) AI in 2020. Signs point toward an acceleration of AI adoption. We see the AI space poised for an acceleration in adoption, driven by more sophisticated AI models being put in production, specialized hardware that increases AI's capacity to provide quicker results based on larger datasets, simplified tools that democratize access to the entire AI stack, small tools that enables AI on nearly any device, and cloud access to AI tools that allow access to AI resources from anywhere. Integrating data from many sources, complex business and logic challenges, and competitive incentives to make data more useful all combine to elevate AI and automation technologies from optional to required.

The Trump administration is proposing new rules to guide future federal regulation of artificial intelligence used in medicine, transportation and other industries. But the vagueness of the principles announced by the White House is unlikely to satisfy AI watchdogs who have warned of a lack of accountability as computer systems are deployed to take on human roles in high-risk social settings, such as mortgage lending or job recruitment. The White House said that in deciding regulatory action, U.S. agencies "must consider fairness, non-discrimination, openness, transparency, safety, and security." But federal agencies must also avoid setting up restrictions that "needlessly hamper AI innovation and growth," reads a memo being sent to U.S. agency chiefs from Russell Vought, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget. "Agencies must avoid a precautionary approach that holds AI systems to such an impossibly high standard that society cannot enjoy their benefits," the memo says.

In 2019 HHS, the largest privately-owned support services company in the U.S., made history – the first that will deploy a fleet of Avidbots Neo floor-scrubbing robots in hospitals. It began several years earlier. The healthcare facilities management industry – among HHS' key markets – was in a state of flux and custodial services were feeling the squeeze. As medical facilities sought ways to reduce overhead, patient support functions like housekeeping and custodial were natural targets. HHS was being asked to do more with less.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will cancel plans to visit Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman this weekend, TV Asahi reported on Wednesday, after Iran struck back at the United States for the killing of a top Iranian general. Kyodo News reported separately that Abe convened a National Security Council (NSC) meeting, likely to discuss Iran's attack on U.S. forces based in Iraq. Iranian state TV said it was in revenge for the U.S. killing of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, whose death last week in an American drone strike near Baghdad prompted angry calls to avenge his slaying.

Google is at CES this week touting all the different partners it has to bring the personal Assistant to speakers, smart displays, phones and the like. One partner is popping mad - wireless speaker pioneer Sonos. The Santa Barbara, California maker of speakers that can be added to home systems for improved sound without that last-century accessory, speaker wire, filed two complaints against Google Tuesday, and called for an immediate cease-and-desist order. If granted, it would mean Google would have to stop selling the Google and Nest Home speakers, Pixel phones and laptops. That was the cease-and-desist request sought by Sonos in a complaint filed with the International Trade Commission, along with a separate patent violation lawsuit in federal court in California.