As noted in the paper Derisking ML and AI by McKinsey [4], ML algorithms are typically far more complex than their statistical counterparts and often require design decisions to be made before the training process begins. The benefits of ML include superior performance and accuracy but their complexity leads to an added layer of challenge of interpretation, bias and compliance for ML. This is not just a technical problem though. The paper rightly points out that the degree of interpretability required is a policy choice. Feature Engineering -- ML is more complex because of the inherent difficulty of feature engineering -- that is, which features to use? How sound is each feature? Is it consistent with policy?

If you were to start a law firm today, leveraging all available technology and new ways of thinking - how would you do it? That, among other questions, is what I asked Piotr Spaczyński, managing partner of SSW, the only independent law firm from Poland, and one just shortlisted in the prestigious Innovative Lawyers ranking by the Financial Times. The legal industry - conservative, slow-moving and based on precedent - is a fascinating case study for the disruptive impact of AI and automation. Piotr and I discussed what the legal AI stack of the future might look like, from the use of algorithms to analyze contracts to predicting the outcome of litigation under particular judges. So when the legal system becomes increasingly standardized, contracts more automated and legislation akin to computer code - will the best lawyers of the future be less like Harvey Specter and more like Bill Gates?

FARMERS are met with many challenges in their daily activities due to unpredictable weather and geographical conditions, market factors, and local, regional, and national policies. All of these variables directly impact agricultural production and ultimately have a negative effect on the farmer's income. Further, if agricultural activities are disrupted, present needs for food and textiles cannot be met, and if disruptions are prolonged, future needs might be compromised as well. To ensure the sustainability of the agriculture industry, farmers need to be able to make sense of all existing variables and be fully informed about the current state of the ecosystem. This will help them charter the right strategies.

Viz.ai, a healthcare startup that's using artificial intelligence (AI) to help medical professionals spot early signs of stroke, has raised $50 million in a series B round of funding led by Greenoaks, with participation from Alphabet's VC arm GV and Kleiner Perkins. In the U.S. alone, someone has a stroke every 40 seconds, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), culminating in some 140,000 deaths each year -- or 1 in every 20 deaths. Moreover, those who survive a stroke often suffer long-term disability as a result. As with many medical conditions, early stroke detection is the key to treating and negating the impact of strokes, but they can be difficult to diagnose. And even then, coordinating treatment among the various specialists can cause unnecessary delays.

A national AI strategy is not just for the superpowers: while the US and China are battling it out for the future dominance in AI, smaller states are making their own plans to capitalize on the benefits of machine learning. The government of Scotland believes artificial intelligence technologies could add £13 billion to the county's economic output and improve quality of life for its citizens. For this reason, as part of its program for 2019-2020, Holyrood has just announced plans to develop a comprehensive roadmap aimed at maximizing the potential AI development. The task of shaping the strategy has been entrusted to The Data Lab, the state-sponsored innovation center for data and AI, opened in 2014. The final text is expected to launch in September 2020.

Last summer, the Dutch national television made a small report on a large organic arable farm on the young sea clay in the province of Flevoland. Men and women were working in organic parsley, which was due to be harvested mechanically the next day. It still had to be manually stripped of weeds, such as polygonum. The question was whether field robots are already capable of taking over this unpleasant and labour-intensive (i.e. The farm's owner shares his thoughts about a robot taking over these chores in his fields in front of the camera.

Electronics firms and other non-automotive companies are eager to expand their businesses in the auto sector, where innovations are seen as essential amid the growing need for autonomous and electric vehicles. At the Tokyo Motor Show, open to the public from Friday to Nov. 4, many electronics firms including Hitachi Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and Panasonic Corp. are showcasing their products and services. Such companies are trying to take advantage of their experience and knowledge to manufacture motors, inverters and sensors that will become indispensable to assemble autonomous and electric cars. More than 50 percent of vehicles will be fully or partly powered by electricity by 2040, according to an estimate by the International Energy Agency. Hitachi Automotive Systems Ltd., an automotive unit of Hitachi group, produces motors and inverters for electric vehicles as well as electronic control units for advanced driving assistance systems.

Kuzushiji, a cursive writing style, had been used in Japan for over a thousand years starting from the 8th century. Over 3 millions books on a diverse array of topics, such as literature, science, mathematics and even cooking are preserved. However, following a change to the Japanese writing system in 1900, Kuzushiji has not been included in regular school curricula. Therefore, most Japanese natives nowadays cannot read books written or printed just 150 years ago. Museums and libraries have invested a great deal of effort into creating digital copies of these historical documents as a safeguard against fires, earthquakes and tsunamis. The result has been datasets with hundreds of millions of photographs of historical documents which can only be read by a small number of specially trained experts.

NASA will send a golf cart-sized robot to the moon in 2022 to search for deposits of water below the surface, an effort to evaluate the vital resource ahead of a planned human return to the moon in 2024 to possibly use it for astronauts to drink and to make rocket fuel, the U.S. space agency said on Friday. The VIPER robot will drive for miles (km) on the dusty lunar surface to get a closer look at what NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine has touted for months: underground pockets of "hundreds of millions of tons of water ice" that could help turn the moon into a jumping-off point to Mars. "VIPER is going to assess where the water ice is. We're going to be able to characterize the water ice, and ultimately drill," Bridenstine said on Friday at the International Astronautical Congress in Washington. Because water ice represents something significant.

KUWAIT: The Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) is eager to restore scientific culture to reach a wide sector of audience, said KFAS' deputy director general for support programs and functions Amani Al-Baddah. Speaking on the sidelines of a lecture on the'Space Month' held at the KFAS' Scientific Center, she said this event is part of a series, called KFAS Links, in various scientific fields. David Hansen, the creator of inventor of Sophia the Robot, was selected to speak in the lecture, she noted. She pointed out that there is a wide sector of young people and school students interested in artificial intelligence in particular, and science and technology in general. She indicated that the lecture was a chance to educate youngsters on the relationship between arts and technology.