The massive growth in computational power and increasing abundance of data have vastly improved the capabilities of AI and robotics, giving them more real-world applications. In light of this, stakeholders in both the public and private sector have begun to pursue these technologies with a view to revolutionizing fields such as healthcare, transportation, agriculture and the financial and legal systems, by enhancing efficiency, optimizing resource allocation, reducing costs and creating new revenue opportunities. The technological advances taking place in the fields of AI and robotics can also have many positive effects for law enforcement and security agencies, for instance in terms of identifying persons of interest, stolen vehicles or suspicious sounds and behavior; predicting trends in criminality or terrorist action; tracking illicit money flows; flagging and responding to terrorist use of the internet, and even contributing to international cooperation by supporting the research, analysis and response to international mutual assistance requests from the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL). At the same time however, these technologies are only as good as the user that employs them. In the hands of criminals or terrorist organizations such dual-use technologies could equally enable new digital, physical or even political threats. The event will seek to build upon the success of the UNICRI-INTERPOL meeting in Singapore by further raising awareness of the risks and benefits of AI and robotics for a crime, terrorism and security perspective and contributing to fostering a coordinated international movement on the issue.

Currently, the robot consists of two hinge-joined sections that both have a lot of protruding wires. Down the line, however, plans call for its workings to be encased within a protective outer shell. It may then be field-tested at a cacao plantation in Costa Rica, where it would utilize existing cables that are used to transport the cacao. Those cables are also utilized as a sort of "highway" by real sloths, which the SlothBot could observe unobtrusively.

A school district in western New York is launching a first-of-its-kind facial recognition system, generating new privacy concerns about the powerful but controversial technology. The Lockport city school district is beginning implementation of the Aegis facial recognition system this week, officials said, with the technology expected to be fully up and running in time for the new school year in September. "Much to our dismay, school shootings continue to occur in our country. In many cases, these shootings involve students connected to the schools where these horrific incidents occur," superintendent Michelle Bradley said in a message to parents. "The Lockport city school district continues to make school security a priority."

BEIJING - Thirty years after the crackdown on Tiananmen protesters, the tanks that lined Beijing's central avenue have been replaced by countless surveillance cameras perched like hawks on lampposts to keep the population in check. The Chinese Communist Party has gone to great lengths to prevent another pro-democracy movement, clamping down on student activists, labor movements and lawyers with the help of high-tech surveillance. But the party has also pushed economic reforms that have made millions of people wealthier -- and less interested in rebelling like the students whose protest ended with hundreds killed on June 4, 1989. Over the past decade, small police booths have been set up block by block across the country to monitor neighborhood disputes, prevent crime, and keep tabs on anyone suspected of disturbing social order. Now China's obsession with artificial intelligence and facial recognition adds another layer of sophistication to this intricate surveillance web, allowing police to pound on the door of any perceived troublemaker, several activists have said.

Facebook has patented a high-tech drone that uses a unique apparatus to stay afloat. The filing, titled'Dual-kite aerial vehicle,' describes an unmanned aerial vehicle that is attached to two kites and can be flown at different altitudes. The kites allow the drone to remain in the air for an extended period of time'while consuming little or no fuel,' according to the patent. Facebook has patented a high-tech drone that uses a unique apparatus to stay afloat. The filing, 'Dual-kite aerial vehicle,' describes an unmanned aerial vehicle tethered to two kites The drone is attached to the two kites via a tether, which are each able to maintain flight at different altitudes.

It's been roughly a year since I posted my viral "AI winter is well on its way" post and like I promised I'll periodically post an update on the general AI landscape. I posted one some 6 months ago and now is time for another one. And there has been a lot of stuff going on lately and none of it has changed my mind - the AI bubble is bursting. And as with every bubble bursting we are in a blowoff phase in which those who have the most to lose are pulling out the most outrageous confidence pumping pieces they could think of, the ultimate strategy to con some more naive people to give them money. But let's go over what has been going on.

Artificial Intelligence has the potential to transform healthcare and the pharma industry; making health services more predictive, more effective and more equitable. But can AI's potential be realised, and what can chief information officers and clinical chief information officers do to get the most out of the new technology? The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Executive Leadership summit last month attended by NHS CIOs and CCIOs, leaders from NHS England and NHS Digital and other health IT innovators, expressed the potential AI-driven data analytics has in supporting the NHS's Five Year Forward View, narrowing gaps in health provision. The summit discussed how AI could address the health and wellbeing gap by predicting which individuals most risk illness, allowing the NHS to target treatments accordingly, with AI giving health professionals and patients bespoke diagnostics and treatments. It was also noted that AI could help address the efficiency and funding gap by automating tasks, triaging patients to the most appropriate services and allowing them to self-care.

Much has been made in recent years about the explosion of artificial intelligence (AI) in radiology and how it might impact the role of radiologists themselves. But artificial intelligence is, by definition, artificial. In an itnTV video from the 2018 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting, ITN Contributing Editor Greg Freiherr explored how AI cannot take the place of people, but it can help people get what they need. You can view the video at https://bit.ly/2FMgDvH. "I doubt any radiologist could build an MR or a CT scanner from scratch. They probably couldn't even build it from pieces," said Bradley J. Erickson, M.D., Ph.D., chair, radiology informatics/associate chair, research-radiology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., in the itnTV video.

On May 22, Congress held a hearing on facial recognition technology. Here are 4 things everyone needs to know about facial recognition tech. On May 22, the House Oversight and Reform Committee held a hearing on facial recognition technology. The Congressional hearing examines the use of facial recognition technology by the federal government, businesses, social media platforms and law enforcement. Specifically, lawmakers address privacy and civil rights concerns.

Panaji: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Goa, has signed a five-year MoU with US-based marketing analytics services firm Express Analytics, where both parties will collaborate in the field of data science and analysis, including in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology. This is the first time IIT-Goa has entered into such a partnership with a private enterprise in data science This will also open internship opportunities for IIT-Goa students with Express Analytics. The MoU was signed between IIT-Goa director B K Mishra and Atul Dixit on behalf of Express Analytics. Along with industry partners like Express Analytics, IIT-Goa plans to train more students, including from non-IIT institutions, to prepare them as ready workforce in the area of artificial intelligence, Mishra said. "The main aim of the partnership is to facilitate the exchange of ideas, the development of new knowledge, and to enhance high quality research acumen in the fields of artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, data science and data analysis, data mining and knowledge discovery," Mishra said.