"November 8th is National STEM day and we honor the dedication, creativity, and passion of JAIC's science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) professionals who drive our AI capability delivery forward." The Department of Defense stands at a rare moment of historical significance. Just as in 1957 when the world was caught off-guard as we watched Sputnik launch into space, our nation must again align our STEM capabilities to our national defense needs. We have entered a time when AI technologies will transform not only society, but the very character of warfare. Our country's leadership role is dependent on our next-generation STEM expertise.

As far as the ongoing debate over who is going to be most impacted by the AI trend -- blue-collar or white-collar workers -- the answer, as it turns out, is white collar, says new research from the Brookings Institution. "Better-paid, white-collar or office occupations may be most exposed to AI," Brookings said in summarizing the major findings of a report set to be published today (Nov.

Japanese electronics giant Sony today announced the establishment of Sony AI to "unleash human imagination and creativity with AI. This new organization, with offices globally in Japan, Europe, and the United States, will advance fundamental research and development of AI (artificial intelligence). Sony AI will drive the research and development of AI in both physical and virtual space through multiple world-class flagship projects as well as other explorative research projects, including AI ethics. Initially, Sony AI will launch three flagship projects in the areas of gaming, imaging & sensing, and gastronomy. But the Japanese electronics giant wants to play a bigger role in the food industry. "AI and robotics will not replace chefs.

London-based Nexus FrontierTech, an AI solutions firm specialising in modernising data-intensive processes within the regulatory and compliance realm, has announced that it has closed a $3.8 million seed round to propel its R&D and global expansion. Founded in 2015, Nexus builds configurable, scalable solutions to help businesses streamline operations and tackle the issues of inefficiency and data waste. The company also has a proprietary AI automation platform that enterprises can use to shorten the implementation cycle of production-level AI models from months to within hours. The funding round was led by a family office based in Geneva, Switzerland, followed by a number of private investors, which include Nick Fry, former CEO of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1, Jennifer Lewis, former Managing Director of GIC, Singapore Sovereign Wealth Fund, and Tom Yoritaka, former Managing Director of Cisco Global Ventures. A number of these investors are also on the firm's Advisory Board and heavily involved in the company's expansion and growth strategies.

The role of the development of artificial intelligence in geopolitics usually means competition between the United States and China. While reports are inconclusive about which country will ultimately win (if this is the right term), there is a glaring shortcoming in the United States that China will largely avoid. In 2017 China accounted for 48% of global AI venture capital while the US only accounted for 38%. But only two years later the trend reversed, possibly because of headwinds from the trade war. Neither is it talent acquisition and a brain drain.

You could be forgiven for thinking that AI will soon replace human physicians based on headlines such as "The AI Doctor Will See You Now," "Your Future Doctor May Not Be Human," and "This AI Just Beat Human Doctors on a Clinical Exam." But experts say the reality is more of a collaboration than an ousting: Patients could soon find their lives partly in the hands of AI services working alongside human clinicians. There is no shortage of optimism about AI in the medical community. But many also caution the hype surrounding AI has yet to be realized in real clinical settings. There are also different visions for how AI services could make the biggest impact. And it's still unclear whether AI will improve the lives of patients or just the bottom line for Silicon Valley companies, health care organizations, and insurers.

AI and machine learning algorithms require data. But the bulk of that data is of no use if it isn't first labeled by human annotators. This predicament has given rise to a cottage industry of startups, including Scale AI, which recently raised $100 million for its extensive suite of data labeling services. That's not to mention Mighty AI, Hive, Appen, and Alegion, which together occupy a data annotation tools segment that's anticipated to be worth $1.6 billion by 2025. CloudFactory is yet another vying for attention.

Agencies should look to early artificial intelligence adopters in government and industry when crafting strategies for adopting such technologies, according to a new report. Deloitte surveyed about 1,100 executives from U.S. organizations using AI in the third quarter of 2018 -- 10% of them from the public sector -- and found 74% of respondents felt the technologies would be "very" or "critically" important within two years. But government is lagging behind its peers in adopting the new technologies, according to the study. Bill Eggers, executive director of Deloitte's Center for Government Insights, said this reflects agencies' investment and strategizing around AI. "Governments were on the lower end of the AI maturity curve compared to other industries, and it's certainly no surprise that financial services and technology companies were the higher end," Eggers told FedScoop. "The reason why this might be is both a skills gap issue, but also the public sector is investing the least in AI of all the different industries that we looked at."

In recent years, a whole host of management experts have visited Turkey to show how the country's industry can construct smart factories to greater ease their production processes. However, what most of us do not know is that there are already many business pioneers with factories in Turkey that share this vision and have successfully implemented all stages of digitalization - a cornerstone of the Industry 2.0. In fact, many of these companies are setting the bar higher internationally. Digital solutions developed with 100% local brainpower at German luxury brand Hugo Boss' factory in İzmir, for instance, have shown the world "tailoring in advanced technology." If individuals in a team do their jobs correctly, it means they have been paired correctly and will thus be motivated to use their labor efficiently.

AI training data provider Samasource has raised a $14.8 million Series A funding round led by Ridge Ventures. The San Francisco headquartered company delivers Fortune 100 companies with the inputs they need for machine learning development in fields including autonomous transportation, e-commerce and robotics. And it does so with a global work-force of data-specialists, a large number of whom are located in East Africa. In addition to San Francisco, New York and the Hague, Samasource has offices and teams in Kenya and Uganda. The company has a global staff of 2900 and is the largest AI and data annotation employer in East Africa, according to CEO and founder Leila Janah.