ABU DHABI -- The capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced the launch of the world's first university dedicated to artificial intelligence, in a bid to stay ahead of the disruptive technologies and diversify its economy from the reliance on oil. Named after the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and de facto leader of the UAE who has long championed science and technology development in UAE, Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) will offer academic post-graduate (MSc and PhD) courses in three key fields of AI – computer vision, machine learning and natural language processing – with access to some of the world's most advanced AI systems to unleash its full potentials. All graduate-level students admitted to the school will be eligible for a full scholarship along with several benefits such as a monthly allowance, accommodation arrangements and health insurance. The first class of graduate students is scheduled to start coursework at MBZUAI campus in Masdar City, a new urban area in Abu Dhabi, in September 2020. "MBZUAI aligns with the vision of the UAE leadership that is based on sustainable development, progress and the overall well-being of humanity and underpinned by capacity-building and active participation in finding practical solutions based on innovation and state-of-the-art technology," said Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State, who also served as Chair of the university's Board of Trustees, at the press conference in Abu Dhabi.

Another study is saying facial recognition software is proving unreliable when dealing with people of color. The American Civil Liberties Union of California recently released their study of Amazon's Rekognition software marketed to law enforcement authorities.

Every week, there are news reports on how AI will impact jobs, but what about the impact of AI on indie authors? Can we surf the change instead of being drowned by it? Could it make our lives better as creative entrepreneurs? I recently did a mega-solo podcast on 9 Ways that Artificial Intelligence Will Disrupt Authors and the Publishing Industry, and in this interview, Orna Ross interviews me about some of the specifics that might impact indie authors, in particular. The interview is on the Alliance of Independent Authors AskAlli Podcast feed. The interview starts after the introduction around 12:25 mins. Links and notes here and you can subscribe below. Click here to watch the interview on YouTube. But today we are going to talk about something that sounds maybe mysterious, sounds maybe scary for a lot of authors. But that you have been investing a lot of time and attention and you're hugely interested in and you're actually making work for you. And that is artificial intelligence. And our theme for today is really how can indie authors harness the power of AI? Where are we with it? What can it do for us? And on all things AI, you are our guru so I'm going to be quizzing you, but first, before we start on what it can do for us, what is it? Explain to the people, what are we talking about when we're talking about artificial intelligence?

SINGAPORE, October 18th, 2019 – Asia/Pacific* spending on artificial intelligence (AI) systems will reach USD 6.2 billion in 2019, recording an increase of almost 54% when compared to 2018, according to the latest IDC Worldwide Semiannual Artificial Intelligence Systems Spending Guide. Evidently, as industries invest aggressively in projects that utilize AI software capabilities, IDC expects spending on AI systems will increase to USD 21.4 billion by 2023 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 39.6% over the 2018-23 forecast period. From providing chat bots for better customer service to improve the efficiency of operations and tasks for their business models, industries like Banking, Retail and professional services are spending in this technology at scale says," Ritika Srivastava, Associate Market Analyst at IDC Asia/Pacific. In 2019, Asia/Pacific* spending on AI systems will be led by the Banking industry with 10.7% share of the total, followed by retail with a 10.2% share.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning have been utilized for years in the field of healthcare and continue to grow tremendously each year with its ability to advance medicine and discoveries in the industry. The term "precision medicine", sometimes referred to as "personalized medicine," is a relatively new term in the healthcare field but the idea has been around for many years in the industry. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, precision medicine is "an emerging approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle for each person." Precision medicine helps physicians determine more personalized treatments for patients considering individualized approaches instead of a blanketed approach for all patients. They do this by looking at a patient's genetic history, location, environmental factors, lifestyle and habits to determine a plan of action for treatment.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning have been utilized for years in the field of healthcare and continue to grow tremendously each year with its ability to advance medicine and discoveries in the industry. The term "precision medicine", sometimes referred to as "personalized medicine," is a relatively new term in the healthcare field but the idea has been around for many years in the industry. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, precision medicine is "an emerging approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle for each person." Precision medicine helps physicians determine more personalized treatments for patients considering individualized approaches instead of a blanketed approach for all patients. They do this by looking at a patient's genetic history, location, environmental factors, lifestyle and habits to determine a plan of action for treatment.

Humans aren't always great at identifying a person's gender based on visual cues, and a new study suggests that computers may be even worse at it than humans. A group of researchers from University of Colorado Boulder tested the four biggest commercially available facial recognition software providers for potential race and gender biases. The researchers found the systems misclassified trans men up to 38 percent of the time and had no options for nonbinary people, meaning they were misclassified 100 percent of the time by default. 'These systems don't know any other language but male or female, so for many gender identities it is not possible for them to be correct,' researcher Jed Brubaker told CU Boulder Today. The facial recognition software was much more accurate when evaluating cisgender, accurately identifying cisgender women 98.3 percent of the time and cisgender men 97.6 percent of the time.

USGIF's GEOINT Community Week brings together the defense, intelligence, homeland security, and geospatial communities at-large for a week of briefings, educational sessions, workshops, technology exhibits and networking opportunities. USGIF is looking for volunteers to share our Intro to GEOINT presentation at your local schools during GEOINT Community Week. This is a great way to give back by helping EdGEOcate our future leaders. We have prepared presentation materials for you that are geared toward upper elementary through lower high school grades and provide an overview of GEOINT--geography, maps, satellites, imagery, remote sensing, GIS, and careers. The presentation takes 45 minutes to one hour and is highly interactive with games, Q&A, stories, videos, and much more.

In the framework of the presentation of what will be ClaroTec 2019, its event focused on the technological world the Claro telecommunications company announced that Sophia, the humanoid robot will come to the Dominican Republic. The android, which utilizes artificial intelligence and has been invited to numerous events in the area of technology in various countries, will be part of the attractions of the activities that are scheduled to take place this October 27 at the Port of Sans Souci. Sophia wears black, blinks and shakes her head when she hears questions. Her expressive light eyes and the artificial skin with which she is covered suggest that the speaker is a human, except for the circuits that are visible on the back of her head. Her body of about 30 kilos in weight is built from the waist up and rests on a table from which she replies that humans "are the most creative creatures on the planet, but also the most destructive and cruel."

From machine learning and AI right through to securing the IoT, here are five things we learned about at this year's event, which took place in Lisbon on October 14. Have you ever thought about how many decisions machines have made today? Or how many of those decisions were based on gender, race, or background? Chances are you don't even realize just how many decisions are made by artificial intelligence instead of a human. Kriti Sharma, Founder of AI for Good, explained that algorithms are being used all the time to make decisions about who we are and what we want.