LONDON - Climate activists from Extinction Rebellion have drawn up plans to use drones to shut London's Heathrow Airport this summer in a campaign to stop the construction of a third runway at Europe's busiest airport, the group said. The internal proposal, seen by Reuters, emerged against a backdrop of renewed campaigning by environmental groups who argue that expanding Heathrow would be incompatible with Britain's targets to curb greenhouse gas emissions. "On June 18, we plan to carry out nonviolent direct action to ensure Heathrow Authorities close the airport for the day, to create a'pause' in recognition of the genocidal impact of high carbon activities, such as flying, upon the natural world," Extinction Rebellion said in a statement late on Thursday. "This is not about targeting the public, but holding the Government to their duty to take leadership on the climate and ecological emergency," the group said. Heathrow Airport said the use of drones would be a "reckless action."

CHICAGO & MADISON, Wis.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Arturo, an artificial intelligence (AI) and deep-learning property analytics start-up, announced today the close of Seed Series Transaction, with lead investor and Arturo co-developer American Family Insurance. Following the close of the transaction, Madison-based American Family Insurance will remain a customer as well as an investor in Arturo. Arturo grew out of investment and more than three years of research by American Family Insurance on the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning to satellite, aerial, drone, and ground-level imagery to accurately assess physical property characteristics for residential and commercial properties. Arturo's AI-powered analytics generate detailed property information often in under five seconds. It enables a variety of businesses that insure, lend, invest, or manage residential or commercial properties to make more informed decisions and better manage risk with the most up to date information available.

Air Force researchers working with artificial intelligence code may soon have a platform that gives them secure access to educated end-users and outside developers, algorithms, mission data and computational hardware. Because the Defense Department's does not allow unvetted software or code on its networks, it's difficult for developers to experiment with cutting-edge tools. But the Air Force is looking to dismantle some of those barriers with its Air Force Cognitive Engine (ACE) software platform. "We're trying to create a software ecosystem to hook up the core infrastructures that are required for successful AI development -- that's people, algorithms, data and computational resources," said Maj. Michael Seal, director for the Air Force's Autonomy Capability Team 3, which leads the ACE program. The traditional DOD way, Seal said during the Defense Department's April 25 Lab Day, is for people to use the network they're told to use, use one that houses data from an amalgamation of sources and use whatever tools are approved and available.

The insurance industry, no stranger to gauging risk, is facing one of its most profound disruptions in decades. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things, blockchain, data analytics and other emerging technologies are enabling many startups to nip at parts of their businesses. Incumbent insurers still have the advantage of institutional knowledge and regulatory expertise, as well as robust cash flows. But they can't sit still. Recognizing the technological winds of change, Reinsurance Group of America (RGA), one of the largest global reinsurers, created RGAX in 2015 to incubate and launch new products and services as its insurer clients seek to maintain their competitive advantages. RGAX CEO Dennis Barnes recently spoke to Knowledge@Wharton about the opportunities and roadblocks to digital transformation. An edited transcript of the conversation follows.

The Health and Human Services Department awarded 57 spots on its Intelligent Automation/Artificial Intelligence, or IAAI, contract, a $49 million vehicle that officials hope one day will compete with the massive governmentwide acquisition contracts, or GWACs. The department awarded spots to 28 small business and 29 large vendors, according to data obtained by Nextgov. See the full list at the end of the article. The vendors will offer a "catalog of emerging technologies" centered around robotic process automation, or RPA, and general AI tools. "When we say'artificial intelligence,' we're using the term very broadly," Lori Ruderman, who leads the HHS Buy Smarter initiative and is a senior adviser at the Program Support Center, said in January in the middle of the solicitation process.

The altered video of Nancy Pelosi giving a speech at the Center for American Progress on May 22, which had been slowed down and pitch-shifted to make her seem drunk, catalyzed the return of the debate on deepfakes. Thanks to the voracious nature of social media, the altered video (technically not a deepfake as some claimed) was shared far and wide with many commenting on her apparent inebriation. "She always looks like she's a non-functioning alcoholic," one contributor to a Fox and Friends broadcast said on May 24, and the Former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani retweeted the video questioning Pelosi's "bizarre speech pattern." This seems like intentional use of doctored media for political purposes, a clear potential use of deepfake material--in Pelosi's speech she said President Trump's refusal to cooperate with congressional investigations amounted to a "cover-up"--and Donald Trump, Barack Obama, and Vladimir Putin have all been prominent targets of this technology before.

The deployment of machine learning models is the process for making your models available in production environments, where they can provide predictions to other software systems. It is only once models are deployed to production that they start adding value, making deployment a crucial step. However, there is complexity in the deployment of machine learning models. This post aims to at the very least make you aware of where this complexity comes from, and I'm also hoping it will provide you with useful tools and heuristics to combat this complexity. If it's code, step-by-step tutorials and example projects you are looking for, you might be interested in the Udemy Course "Deployment of Machine Learning Models".

Last year Kate Crawford, a New York University professor who runs an artificial intelligence research centre, set out to study the "black box" of processes that exist around the hugely popular Amazon Echo device. Crawford did not do what you might expect when approaching AI – namely, study algorithms, computing systems and suchlike. Instead, she teamed up with Vladan Joler, a Serbian academic, to map the supply chains, raw materials, data and labour that underpin Alexa, the AI agent that Echo's users talk to. It was a daunting process – so much so that Joler and Crawford admit that their map, Anatomy of an AI System, is just a first step. The results are both chilling and challenging.

For many diseases, early diagnosis and intervention remain key to good outcomes. That has been the rationale behind screening tests for numerous diseases including colorectal cancer. But like many startups that are looking for clues in data, Medial EarlySign -- based in Hod HaSharon, Israel -- is leveraging artificial intelligence to mine EHR data to detect colorectal cancer risk much earlier. Pushing diagnosis further upstream could have many benefits and not just for patients in terms of better outcomes. If the data reveals risk it can push people to take screening tests, that they otherwise don't take.

David Cameron has taken a job as chair of a US artificial intelligence firm's advisory board, it was announced on Friday. The former prime minister "will be responsible for curating and overseeing the strategic guidance" the board provides to Afiniti, the company said in a statement. The position represents one of Cameron's most prominent appointments since he stood down as prime minister in 2016. He has previously taken a number of roles at not-for-profit organisations and has a memoir, For the Record, due out later this year. Cameron said he was "delighted" to take the job working on "transforming the future of customer service and interpersonal communications".