The Decade, Reviewed looks back at the 2010s and how it changed human society forever. From 2010 to 2019, our species experienced seismic shifts in science, technology, entertainment, transportation, and even the very planet we call home. This is how the past ten years have changed us. Bots are a lot like humans: Some are cute. Some are annoying ... and a little racist.

The central government aims to stop net population inflows into the greater Tokyo area by fiscal 2024, it was learned Tuesday. The goal was included in a draft of the government's second five-year comprehensive strategy for regional revitalization, set to run from fiscal 2020. The government hopes to gain Cabinet approval for the new strategy, a successor to the first strategy that covered fiscal 2015-2019, by the end of this month. In the second strategy, the government will scrutinize steps taken under the first strategy and indicate a direction for new measures to accelerate regional revitalization. To alleviate the concentration of people in Tokyo and the three neighboring prefectures of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa, the government will make efforts to increase the number of people who have side jobs in rural areas or visit the countryside while living in urban areas.

The UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in the'Application of Artificial Intelligence to the study of Environmental Risks' (AI4ER) will, through several multi-disciplinary cohorts, train researchers uniquely equipped to develop and apply leading edge computational approaches to address critical global environmental challenges by exploiting vast, diverse and often currently untapped environmental data sets. Embedded in the outstanding research environments of the University of Cambridge and the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the AI4ER CDT will address problems that are relevant to building resilience to environmental hazards and managing environmental change. The primary application areas will be: a) Weather, Climate and Air Quality, b) Natural Hazards, c) Natural Resources (food, water & resource security and biodiversity). The AI4ER CDT is offering at least 10 fully-funded PhD studentships to start in October 2020. Students in the CDT cohorts engage in a one-year Master of Research (MRes) course with a taught component and a major research element, followed by a three-year PhD research project.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) are being rapidly adopted in the financial services industry for a range of applications, from optimising workflows to processing the large amounts of data required for fraud detection, reconciliation, and cash and liquidity management. Regulation Asia Co-founder and CEO Brad Maclean sat down with Andreas Burner, Chief Innovation Officer at SmartStream Technologies, to understand the different approaches to adopting AI/ML tools, and how centralising data is key to generating analytics and predictions.

WalkMe, a CA-based digital adoption platform, secured $90 million in the funding round. Vitruvian Partners led the latest funding round while Insight Partners also noted their participation. Founded in 2011, CA-based, WalkMe offers a digital adoption platform. The platform is powered by Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, automation, and analytics capabilities. To date, the company has raised a total of $307.9

The manufacturing industry is turning to robotics and artificial intelligence as well as a range of other strategies to navigate an increasingly challenging economic landscape, according to a report by Deloitte. The management consultancy says that, as the risk of a global economic downturn grows, the industrial manufacturing industry faces a challenging landscape in 2020 replete with trade tensions, muted job growth, supply chain volatility and an ongoing skilled talent shortage. Yet, despite these headwinds, industry leaders are rapidly developing coping strategies – not only to weather the brewing storm, but to thrive in spite of it. Paul Wellener, US industrial products and construction practice leader, shares his insights into these and other topics in his 2020 Manufacturing Industry Outlook. One of the key findings of the report is the way the current business climate is driving manufacturing, with companies entering partnerships with companies that offer complementary technologies in order to build "digital muscle".

In February 2019, CB Insights announced our third annual AI 100 -- a list of the 100 most promising AI startups across the globe. We take a look at where these companies are now. In 2019, companies from 3 continents and 18 industries made it to the CB Insights AI 100. They were selected from a pool of 3K companies based on a range of criteria, including patent activity, investor profile, news sentiment analysis, market potential, partnerships, competitive landscape, team strength, tech novelty, and more. Since announcing our list, 7 of these startups have been snapped up by major corporations, 4 went on to become unicorns, and several have entered into partnerships with corporations like Microsoft, Oracle, HSBC, and General Electric.

In late November, a college senior at Brigham Young University named Nick Walton published a short fable called "My Musical Troupe of Orcs Uses Music to Advance Orc Rights." In the story, written in the second person, you are a goblin. "I am a goblin!" you say proudly. "And I'm glad to be one." "Well then, congratulations," says the orc captain. Over the course of a few hundred words, some big things happen: You ask if you can join the orc band.

Back in August 2019, the USPTO published a notice requesting public input on the interplay between patent law and artificial intelligence (AI). The PTO has now extended that deadline for comments until January 10, 2020. For example, should it be sufficient if a person (i) designed the AI algorithm or process that created the work; (ii) contributed to the design of the algorithm or process; (iii) chose data used by the algorithm for training or otherwise; (iv) caused the AI algorithm or process to be used to yield the work; or (v) engaged in some specific combination of the foregoing Start Printed Page 58142activities? Should authors be recognized for this type of use of their works? For example: Should a company who trains the artificial intelligence process that creates the work be able to be an owner?

Back in August 2019, the USPTO published a notice requesting public input on the interplay between patent law and artificial intelligence (AI). The PTO has now extended that deadline for comments until January 10, 2020. For example, should it be sufficient if a person (i) designed the AI algorithm or process that created the work; (ii) contributed to the design of the algorithm or process; (iii) chose data used by the algorithm for training or otherwise; (iv) caused the AI algorithm or process to be used to yield the work; or (v) engaged in some specific combination of the foregoing Start Printed Page 58142activities? Should authors be recognized for this type of use of their works? For example: Should a company who trains the artificial intelligence process that creates the work be able to be an owner?