With opening of Doctor Sleep this past weekend, we are reminded of the visionary genius of Stanley Kubrick. His powerful impact on art, technology and, yes, even humanity itself remains. Perhaps his most profound contribution was his science-fiction masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was produced in 1968 and was based on the novel (and previously, the short story "The Sentinel") by Arthur C. Clarke. The film explores human evolution, existentialism and, notably, artificial intelligence. This is pure visual poetry about the relationship between man and technology. In many ways, this piece of art inspired today's technology, which is now inspiring today's "art."

In my last blog we focussed on some of the problems with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and public trust that can be compounded by organisational issues such as dark data. This time round we're going to look at a couple of examples that demonstrate how AI can be used as a force for good. Over the past few months we have been working with the World Economic Forum (WEF) to test out some of the guidance on AI that we have been drafting with them. There have been a lot of lively debates as the use of AI is clearly divisive, especially when it comes to image processing. If we look at the UK there has been controversy recently over police using facial recognition techniques on CCTV footage to support the fight against crime.

Most consumer packaged goods companies (CPGs) have struggled to find solid footing in a turbulent industry. Bain research has found that 34 of the world's top 50 consumer goods companies experienced a decline in revenues, profits or both in recent years,1 forcing CPG executives to find new ways to compete. Emerging technologies, including AI, have given a sharp advantage to firms in other sectors. Companies at the forefront of AI are household names, known for changing the playing field and reinventing their industries: Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple. To stay ahead, these leaders are investing heavily in technology. Amazon, for example, ranks No. 1 in R&D, spending more than 10% of its revenues on IT while retailers manage 1% to 2%.

In this session we will discuss the definition of computational thinking and how it exists in everyday life.

Fall armyworm, the larval life stage of a fall armyworm moth, impacts maize crops worldwide but particularly in countries like Uganda, where agricultural businesses employ 70% of the population. Studies show the potential impact is between 8.3 and 20.6 million tons per year, with the fallout amounting to between $2.48 million and $6.19 million per year. The threat of devastating losses prompted developers participating in a Google Developer Group in Mbale to create an Android app -- FlatButter -- that identifies signs of fall armyworm damage in maize crops. It's been featured on a national TV station in Uganda and highlighted by the Food Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, as well as by Google in a short film published today. "The vast damage and yield losses in maize production, due to FAW, got the attention of global organizations, who are calling for innovators to help," wrote Hansu Mobile and Intelligent Innovations CEO Nsubuga Hassan, who led the team that developed the app.

"It describes everything you see outside of your window," said Jiali Wang, an environmental scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, "from the clouds, to the sun's radiation, to snow to vegetation -- even the way skyscrapers disrupt the wind." The myriad characteristics and causes of weather and climate are coupled together, communicating with one another. Scientists have yet to fully describe these complex relationships with simple, unified equations. Instead, they approximate the equations using a method called parameterization in which they model the relationships at a scale greater than that of the actual phenomena. Although parameterizations simplify the physics in a way that allows the models to produce relatively accurate results in a reasonable time, they are still computationally expensive.

Also, be sure to visit the AI Showcase -- formerly known as the Machine Learning Showcase. The RSNA has moved this year's event to a larger space on North Hall Level 2 to provide a central hub of AI activities for attendees. The AI Showcase will feature well over 100 companies, a significant increase compared with last year.

As fears about AI's disruptive potential have grown, AI ethics has come to the fore in recent years. Concerns around privacy, transparency and the ability of algorithms to warp social and political discourse in unexpected ways have resulted in a flurry of pronouncements from companies, governments, and even supranational organizations on how to conduct ethical AI development. The majority have focused on outlining high-level principles that should guide those building these systems. Whether by chance or by design, the principles they have coalesced around closely resemble those at the heart of medical ethics. But writing in Nature Machine Intelligence, Brent Mittelstadt from the University of Oxford points out that AI development is a very different beast to medicine, and a simple copy and paste won't work. The four core principles of medical ethics are respect for autonomy (patients should have control over how they are treated), beneficence (doctors should act in the best interest of patients), non-maleficence (doctors should avoid causing harm) and justice (healthcare resources should be distributed fairly).

The concept of Artificial Intelligence in terms of digital computing has been around since the mid 1950s. Researchers have continued to work in this field since then, and these days, while there might not yet be the kind of artificial general intelligence those early researchers first imagined, there are lots of ways computers are doing work only humans could once do – much of it behind the scenes in the systems we all take for granted. We're joined by Dr. Larry Hall, he's a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of South Florida. Dr. Hall has done research in pattern recognition, artificial intelligence and machine learning throughout his career, with more than 270 peer-reviewed publications. He has current funding from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA.

Fox News Flash top headlines for Nov. 13 are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com Two Army recruiters were recognized last week for providing life-saving aid to two teenagers wounded during a shootout at a San Francisco-area mall over the summer. Michael Marl, 34, received the Soldier's Medal -- the Army's highest non-combat award -- for "heroism not involving conflict with an enemy" for their actions on July 2, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The staff sergeants said they were talking with a potential recruit in their offices at The Shops at Tanforan in San Bruno when they heard gunfire.