Last December, China's top AI scientists gathered in Suzhou for the annual Wu Wenjun AI Science and Technology Award ceremony. They had every reason to expect a feel-good appreciation of China's accomplishments in AI. Yet the mood was decidedly downbeat. "After talking about our advantages, everyone mainly wants to talk about the shortcomings of Chinese AI capabilities in the near-term--where are China's AI weaknesses," said Li Deyi, the president of the Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence. More than two years after the release of the New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan (AIDP), China's top AI experts worry that Beijing's AI push will not live up to the hype.

An impressive level of technological progress and wealth characterize modern economies nowadays. While in the early period of human history, the pace of technological progress was relatively slow, the success of today's companies is strongly defined by time-to-market and state-of-the-artness. Key factors for competitiveness are therefore the capability of reacting quickly and predicting successfully the development of new and old technologies. A look into the landscape of technological trends 2018 reveals that innovativeness seems to be driven by data, cloud, intelligence and algorithm. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is thereby rapidly moving from theory to reality. The simulation of human intelligence processes, as can be defined AI, has become an omnipresent buzzword and is undoubtfully shaping the direction of technological progress.

Between 6,000 and as many as 24,000 people are killed by lightning every year. Switzerland's leading university has found a way to predict when and where lightning will strike to the nearest 10 to 30 minutes and within a radius of 30 kilometres. The method developed by researchers at the federal technology institute ETH Zurich combines standard data drawn from weather stations and artificial intelligence. Lightning is one of the most unpredictable and lethal phenomena in nature. It regulary kills people and animals, sets fire to homes and forests, keeps aircraft grounded and damages power installations.

With the burning desire and passion to equip ourselves and others with Artificial Intelligence skills, the mission and vision of global AI6 resonated with Azeez Oluwafemi and I the moment it was announced. We were quick to kick-start AI6 in our local community, Lagos, Nigeria on January 6th 2018. We organized and facilitated 16 weeks of study group from January till April and then from August till November. As ambassadors, we played a pivotal role in empowering the AI community in our city to get updated with the latest methods in artificial intelligence, and be able to implement the most cutting-edge AI models out there. For our first cycle, we walked our participants through Computer Vision from Stanford CS231n and Fast AI deep learning for coders.

Just when we thought it was safe to go back in the water, a new threat has emerged to equal employment opportunity as employers base hiring decisions on artificial intelligence powered video and game-based "pre-employment" assessments of job candidates. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit research center based in Washington, D.C., recently asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to investigate HireVue, a recruiting company based in Utah that purports to evaluate a job applicant's job qualifications through online "video interview" and/or "game-based challenge." According to its web site, HireVue has more than 700 customers worldwide including over one-third of the Fortune 100 and such leading brands such as Unilever, Hilton, JP Morgan Chase, Delta Air Lines, Vodafone, Carnival Cruise Line, and Goldman Sachs. The company states it has hosted more than ten million on-demand interviews and one million assessments. The EFF complaint follows a wave of lawsuits in recent years charging that employers are using software algorithms to discriminate against older workers by targeting internet job advertisements exclusively to younger workers.

Since lightning is considered one of the most unpredictable natural occurrences of nature, researchers found a method of predicting when lightning may strike. At EPFL's School of Engineering, researchers in the Electromagnetic Compatibility Laboratory, led by Farhad Rachidi, have developed a simple and inexpensive system that can predict when lightning will strike to the nearest 10 to 30 minutes, within a 30-kilometre radius. The system uses a combination of standard meteorological data and artificial intelligence. The research paper published in -- Climate and Atmospheric Science -- a Nature partner journal. The researchers are now planning to use their technology in the European Laser Lightning Rod project.

We are hiring innovative minded Software Development Engineer interns into our technical development teams throughout the US. We are headquartered in Seattle, WA, but also have exciting opportunities at our offices across the US and Canada! In Canada, we are growing rapidly in: Vancouver, BC, Toronto, ON, and Ottawa, ON. Our interns and co-ops write real software and partner with a select group of experienced software development engineers, who both help and challenge them as they work on projects that matter to our customers. You'll be given the opportunity to have direct impact on the evolution of Amazon's technologies and lead mission critical projects early in your career.

When Megan Gray, CEO of Moment AI, first tested one of her company's services -- a tool using AI to determine facial signs indicating a driver may have fallen asleep or suffered a medical issue -- it didn't work. "The technology worked on our CTO, who is a white male. But then I tried it, and it couldn't detect that my eyes were closed," Gray said. This is just one example of how a lack of diversity in the field of AI affects the technologies that are created. At GTC DC, this week's Washington edition of the GPU Technology Conference, a range of events focused on sharing ideas on how workplaces can become more inclusive, and how researchers can improve their AI technology to avoid bias.

Learning new skills to enhance your abilities to do a task effectively can be a hectic schedule especially if you are an employee. It's hard to chase coaching or learning centers after spending 8-10 hours in the office per day. And when it comes to becoming technology-efficient specifically in the field of data science, you need to have the best qualification, handy experiences to get better job opportunities in this high in-demand profession. To ease out people's hectic schedules without compromising with the quality of the education, online platforms like Coursera, Udemy, eDX and many more have a collection of data science certification and courses. Adding a touch of extra bonanza, these courses are free of cost.

Disruption of the job market and the economy from automation and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the primary ideas animating Andrew YangAndrew YangThe Hill's Campaign Report: Bloomberg looks to upend Democratic race Yang on potential Bloomberg 2020 entrance: 'It's probably going to change the price of advertising' Poll: Biden support hits record low of 26 percent MORE's surprising campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Alone among the candidates, Yang is directly engaging with one of the central forces that will shape our futures. Over the past ten years, I have written two books on the subject of artificial intelligence and its impact on the job market and the economy. I've spoken at dozens of events in more than 30 countries. The majority of my presentations were given to what you might call elite audiences -- executives, technologists, Wall Street financiers, economists, government technocrats and so forth.