Artificial Intelligence (AI) has undoubtedly been the technology story of the 2010s, and it doesn't look like the excitement is going to wear off as a new decade dawns. The past decade will be remembered as the time when machines that can truly be thought of as "intelligent" – as in capable of thinking, and learning, like we do – started to become a reality outside of science fiction. While no prediction engine has yet been built that can plot the course of AI over the coming decade, we can be fairly certain about what might happen over the next year. Spending on research, development, and deployment continues to rise, and debate over the wider social implications rages on. Meanwhile, the incentives only get bigger for those looking to roll out AI-driven innovation into new areas of industry, fields of science, and our day-to-day lives. Here are my predictions for what we're likely to see continue or emerge in the first year of the 2020s.

Kiss 2019 goodbye--we're heading into 2020! Over the last year, let alone the last decade, recruiters have had to deal with unusually low unemployment, the rise of automation and artificial intelligence, and a candidate-driven market that's thrown old practices to the wind, resulting in creative strategies to secure top talent. What does 2020 have in store for recruiters, hiring managers, and HR professionals? And, Nina Cofer, Product Marketing Manager at Breezy HR, shares three technology predictions talent acquisition pros should be aware of as well. As technology continues to make work easier for everyone, it also brings about the rise in remote work.

HELSINKI (AP) - Finland is offering a techy Christmas gift to all European Union citizens - a free-of-charge online course in artificial intelligence in their own language, officials said Tuesday. The tech-savvy Nordic nation, led by the 34-year-old Prime Minister Sanna Marin, is marking the end of its rotating presidency of the EU at the end of the year with a highly ambitious goal. Instead of handing out the usual ties and scarves to EU officials and journalists, the Finnish government has opted to give practical understanding of AI to 1% of EU citizens, or about 5 million people, through a basic online course by the end of 2021. TOP STORIES Ricky Gervais blasts Hollywood figures as unprincipled, ignorant at Golden Globes'We'll do it for half': George Lopez doubles down on Iran's bounty on Trump Black Americans are coming home to the GOP It is teaming up with the University of Helsinki, Finland's largest and oldest academic institution, and the Finland-based tech consultancy Reaktor. Teemu Roos, a University of Helsinki associate professor in the department of computer science, described the nearly $2 million project as "a civics course in AI" to help EU citizens cope with society's ever-increasing digitalization and the possibilities AI offers in the jobs market.

The United States government says it will limit the export of certain types of artificial intelligence software that's used to analyze images from satellites in order to keep it out of the hands of foreign rivals such as China. Reuters said the ban, which goes into effect Monday, relates to a 2018 law known as the Export Control Reform Act that requires the government look into how it can restrict the export of new technologies it deems "essential to the national security" of the U.S. The scope of the ban is rather narrow, at least for now. It applies specifically to software that uses neural networks, a component of machine learning, to discover "points of interest" in geospatial images created by satellites. For example, software that can identify houses or vehicles. Furthermore, the ban only applies to software that has a graphical user interface.

A team of researchers from the RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project (Saitama, Japan) has developed a machine-learning platform capable of identifying features associated with prostate cancer recurrence in pathology images that were previously unknown to clinicians. In combination with pathologist-developed criteria, the technology may allow for more accurate cancer recurrence predictions. Conventionally, when clinicians and/or researchers train artificial intelligence (AI) systems, the technology is only able to learn and make predictions based on the information that has been inputted – there is no scope for the system to learn outside of what is currently known. In this study, no medical knowledge was inputted into the platform, rather, investigators employed'unsupervised' deep neural networks, called autoencoders, and utilized a subset of 13,188 non-annotated, whole-mount, diagnostic prostate pathology slide images from the Nippon Medical School Hospital (Tokyo, Japan), allowing the AI system to learn and make predictions independently. The team developed a method for translating the features identified by the machine-learning platform into high-resolution images that could be understood by clinicians.

The "LegalTech Artificial Intelligence Market" is evolving at an exciting pace driven by changing dynamics and risk ecosystem, an analysis of which forms the crux of the report. The study on the global LegalTech Artificial Intelligence Market takes a closer look at several regional trends and the emerging regulatory landscape to assess its prospects. The critical evaluation of the various growth factors and opportunities in the global LegalTech Artificial Intelligence Market offered in the analyses helps in assessing the lucrativeness of its key segments. Summary of Market: The global LegalTech Artificial Intelligence market is valued at xx million US$ in 2019 is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of xx% during 2019-2025. Legal technology, also known asLegal Tech, refers to the use oftechnologyandsoftwareto providelegal services.

Below we summarize some of the significant developments employers should be on the lookout for in the new year. On August 12, 2019, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York signed into law a bill that, as previously reported, significantly strengthened and expanded workplace anti-discrimination protections in New York State. For additional information regarding the developments already in effect, refer to our previous posts. In terms of changes still to come, contracts and other agreements entered into on or after January 1, 2020, that prevent the disclosure of information relating to any future claim of discrimination on the basis of any protected characteristic will be unenforceable, unless the provision notifies the individual that it does not prohibit them from speaking with law enforcement, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the New York State Division of Human Rights ("NYSDHR"), a local commission on human rights, or an attorney retained by the individual. Likewise, effective February 8, 2020, the New York State Human Rights Law will be expanded to include all employers in the state, regardless of size.

A table-waiting robot cat built by a Chinese technology firm can carry plates of food, navigate a restaurant, miaow at diners -- and even react to having its ears stroked. Making its debut at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas tomorrow, the so-called BellaBot was built for Chinese restaurants lacking enough waiters. The cute service bot is just one of a number of wacky automatons featuring in the tech show -- alongside a robot that can do yoga and tai chi poses. BellaBot -- which can navigate around obstacles and its fellow robots -- is the brainchild of the Chinese robotics and artificial intelligence firm PuduTech. It features four shelves in the centre of its tower-like body to carry plates.

Samsung and LG are going head-to-head with their new smart fridges that scan the inside of the fridge and offer meal suggestions at CES 2020 this week. The smart fridges use updated AI technology that not only recognises food inside and sends smartphone updates, but also makes meal suggestions based on the available ingredients. The updates mean Samsung and LG smart fridge users will get a little help with planning what to cook for the week. The technology is another step towards the fully-automated kitchen of the future, where users don't even have to think about mealtimes because the machines do it all for you. Samsung's Family Hub features new AI capabilities that suggest recipes and works out meal plans Samsung's next-generation refrigerator in its Family Hub range uses AI-enhanced cameras to scan the contents of the fridge and suggests recipes based on what you have in stock.

Do you ever feel as if your voice assistants – whether Siri, Alexa, or Google – don't understand you? You might repeat your question a little slower, a little louder, but eventually you'll get the information you were asking for read back to you in the pleasing but lifeless tones of your voice-activated assistant. That's the question facing many of the 3 million people in the United States who stutter, plus the thousands of others who have impaired speech not limited to stuttering, and many are feeling left out. "When this stuff first started coming out, I was all over it," said Jacquelyn Joyce Revere, a screenwriter from Los Angeles who stutters. "In LA, I need GPS all the time, so this seemed like a more convenient way to live the life I want to live."