Hitachi has entered into a definitive contract for the acquisition of the robotic system integrator business mainly operated by an American headquartered company, JR Automation. Hitachi will conduct the acquisition with Crestview Partners. Subject to the terms and conditions of the contract, Hitachi will acquire JR Automation, which builds production lines and logistics systems using industrial robots. As a result of this acquisition, Hitachi will enter the robotic systems integrator business in North America, which is a region that is expected to see a high rate of growth. The acquisition is expected to be executed by the end of 2019, subject to the satisfaction of certain regulatory and other customary closing conditions.

Product suggestions are an ingrained part of the ecommerce experience. With the up- and cross-selling opportunities that a good system can provide, a thoughtful ecommerce experience is invaluable, as Amazon's paid search and display advertising strategy has shown. For consumers, suggested products should bring real value. Rather than being haunted for weeks by a product they searched for once, consumers should experience helpful product suggestions which complement their purchases. Often, this is the case.

I'm at the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM) annual meeting this week, and looking forward to collaborating with the industry and share our latest work at the intersection of AI and medicine with the informatics community. Radiology has had a history of pushing leading edge technology in hospitals. For example, many of the earliest computer networks installed in healthcare were required because of the demands of the earliest networked modalities transmitting images to storage. That trend has continued ever since, where young startups to industry titans are exploring the tremendous potential AI holds to save the medical imaging field time and money while working to improve patient care. The field of radiology is embracing this opportunity.

"One man's trash is another man's treasure," is a familiar expression. When it comes to health and genomics, "junk" DNA may turn out to be a goldmine. In a recent study, Princeton University-led researchers used whole-genome sequencing and artificial intelligence (AI) deep learning to identify the contribution of noncoding mutations to autism risk--demonstrating that mutations in "junk" DNA can contribute to a complex disease. The study was led by Princeton professor Olga Troyanskaya, who is also deputy director for genomics at the Flatiron Institute's Center for Computational Biology (CCB) in New York City, along with professor Robert Darnell of The Rockefeller University, also an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Published on May 27 in Nature Genetics, the study presented an AI deep learning framework that "predicts the specific regulatory effects and the deleterious impact of genetic variants," and used it on autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

For nearly 50 years, FedEx's local package delivery method has largely gone unchanged, but it may soon evolve. The multinational corporation is currently working with the city of Manchester to begin testing a new last-mile delivery method. It involves a highly automated robot, resembling a mini fridge on wheels, that will transport products from local hubs to their final destinations. Thanks to state-of-the-art cameras and sensors, the FedEx Sameday Bot can efficiently cover the last leg of deliveries without a human operator. And because it can travel on sidewalks, this technology could increase shipping speed while reducing roadway congestion – greatly benefiting New Hampshirites.

Every year, the OECD Forum brings together experts, academics and thought leaders from the private and public sector to discuss key economic and social challenges on the international agenda. The theme of this year's Forum was "World in EMotion" – a theme that reflects the profound changes brought about by globalisation, shifting politics and digitalisation, and the challenges and opportunities that they present. Nowhere are these changes more rapid – and perhaps far-reaching – than in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), and its implications for values and ethics. I attended a very interesting panel on this subject, alongside Peter Gluckman, Chair of the International Network for Government Science Advice in New Zealand; Geoff Mulgan, Chief Executive of NESTA in the UK; Eric Salobir head of Optic; Pallaw Sharma, Senior Vice President at Johnson & Johnson; and Jess Whittlestone, Research Associate at the Centre for the Future of Intelligence at Cambridge University. As Pallaw explained, technology and AI are not magic powers; they are just extraordinary amplifiers and accelerators that add speed and accuracy.

Lovecraftian-overtones. Ada Hoffman's debut novel The Outside seemingly has it all! We asked her about writing autistic characters and why the development of AI's is causing so much fear in society today. Why did you want to include an autistic character in your novel and how did you approach accurately and sensitively tackling this? For THE OUTSIDE, I was hesitant to make Yasira autistic, given how dark of some of the story's elements are, but once I had a first draft I knew that autism was integral to the story I was telling. It was a story that came from a surprisingly personal place and it revolved around the idea of perceiving reality differently than others, of being overwhelmed by one's perceptions, and of whose perceptions are considered real or true and why.

A woman uses her smartphone near a booth for the Chinese Internet company Tencent at the Global Mobile Internet Conference in Beijing. The company is now preparing to take a firm lead in AI practices. Yet in the midst of uproar and angst, China tech company, Tencent has decided to draw a firm line in the sand and took the opportunity while at the recent Cannes Lions Festival to outline a strategic approach that just may be a huge game-changer in corporate standards around AI practices now and in the future. Delivered onstage by Seng Yee Lau (known as S.Y.), Tencent's Senior Executive Vice President and Chairman, Tencent offered a bold strategy around Tech for Good that, if the company can fully execute, will continue to make it one-t0-watch as a massive global player in the technology space. While the company may have missed its most recent earnings target when it reported figures last month, Tencent still reported adjusted earnings of 32 cents per share on revenue of a whopping $12.69 billion, up 16 percent from a year ago.

We are on the brink of yet another technological revolution; self-driving vehicles will dominate the roads, artificial intelligence (AI) will diagnose medical conditions or find the perfect property, and half-hour long rocket rides from London to New York will (supposedly) be available from 2022 onwards. Our workforce will be a part of this transformation, with machine learning and AI innovation improving workplace productivity, accuracy and output across the board. Of course, this also means a number of key responsibilities and roles are under threat – a harsh reality that is of concern to 79% of UK workers, according to our recent Talent Trends research. In theory, most roles follow a similar process: first you gather data, then you analyse it and interpret the results; finally you recommend a course of action and implement it. Automation and AI technology will have a significant impact on the gathering and analysing of data – but making thoughtful interpretations, determining practical solutions and delivering results through to completion is where the human element comes into play.

Artificial intelligence is all the buzz. A recent article by Jon Schuppe of NBC news asks if we are ready for police to use facial recognition software to track our every move. Well, ready or not, it's already starting to happen. The Maryland Image Repository System was used to identify the Annapolis Capital Gazette shooter. The shooter's image was captured on a security camera, and software was used to match that image to the repository, which includes driver's license photos as well as state and federal mug shots.