If J.K. Rowling was ever concerned that artificial intelligence could do her job for her, she let out a sigh of relief this week. A fan of the Harry Potter series in San Francisco had an artificial intelligence computer algorithm write a few chapters for the iconic series, after teaching the computer to read earlier novels. The results are far from ideal. Max Deutsch, a product manager at Intuit, trained a a Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) Recurrent Neural Network computer by teaching it to read the first four Harry Potter novels. A LSTM computer is trained to notice patterns (say, in genomes or handwriting), which makes it a great test subject for writing patterns.

Looking for something to read? Check out:There was a good amount of eye-rolling in the Engadget Slack channel when Shervin Pishevars mobile app response to recent police shootings was brought up (Okay, most of it was mine). Maybe his heart was in the right place, or maybe it was just his pocketbook, but the fact remains: It might be time to admit that not everything needs an app or a Silicon Valley-style "disruption" to be solved. Because Verizon is our parent company, people often think we can't write about them objectively. Cherylnn Low's honest coverage of Verizon's new data plans is sure to ruffle some feathers on both sides of the fence (and has already provoked quite a few thoughts in the comment section).

WALTHAM, MA--(Marketwired - Jun 23, 2016) - CloudLock, the leading provider of Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) and Cybersecurity-as-a-Service solutions, today announced the release of the next generation of its innovative machine learning capabilities to include suspicious login activity monitoring, location-based anomaly detection, and IP reputation analysis to identify anomalies, zero in on suspicious behavior, and pinpoint true threats across SaaS, IaaS, PaaS, and IDaaS cloud platforms. The inability to detect real threats from millions of alerts they receive daily as well as the lack of timely response capabilities are the greatest challenges facing security teams today. Pioneered by CloudLock's research intelligence arm, the CyberLab, machine learning capabilities are the foundation of the Cloud Security Fabric, helping security teams narrow their focus on user activities indicative of true threats. Using the company's Cloud Threat Funnel methodology, along with big data technologies and multiple advanced clustering algorithms, CloudLock's machine learning technology continuously evolves based on analyzing the industry's largest data set spanning over one billion files and events monitored daily. CloudLock's expanded machine learning capabilities include: Suspicious Login Activity Monitoring captures high frequency login anomalies, such as login failures and login challenges from unusual devices, geographies and time periods for a given user, indicate potential threats to corporate user accounts.

Palantir in particular is interesting because of their B2B business model and their lack of traditional marketing or sales teams1.] They helped convict Bernie Madoff 2, analyzed roadside bomb patterns in Afganistan, and are rumored to have helped locate Osama bin Laden 3. They've worked with the FBI, CIA, Marine Corps, Air Force, and at least 8 other government organizations 4. With that sort of pedigree, you'd think Palantir was some sort of top-secret government program. Complete with free meals and gym memberships, Palantir is actually one of the most successful privately-held startups in Silicon Valley. Started by a group of former PayPal people about a decade ago, Palantir is now worth 15 billion 5. They focused on one core product – machine augmented6 data analysis – and built an almost-exclusively engineering team to make it happen.

Ford Europe has installed a pair of'collaborative robots' on its production line in Cologne, Germany, ostensibly to help fit shock absorbers to Fiestas. But in a video that the company just released, you can see their real purpose - making coffee for the workers. The robots, which were developed in collaboration with German robotics firm KUKA Roboter, are about a metre tall and equipped with sensors that stop them if they detect obstacles in their path. That's important, as last year a worker was killed at a Volkswagen production plant by a malfunctioning industrial robot. Ford says that its new bot is capable of pinpoint accuracy, strength and dexterity, which probably comes in handy when brewing coffee and giving high fives.

A Placer County man was taken into custody Friday on suspicion of flying a drone into a firefighting effort northeast of Sacramento. Information posted on social media helped lead to the arrest of Eric Wasser, 57, of Foresthill. Cal Fire officers took him into custody, booked him into the Placer County Jail in Auburn and charged him with interfering with firefighting operations, a misdemeanor. He also could face prosecution from federal authorities for violating restricted air space, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Berlant said the arrest over a drone's interference with firefighting was a first in California. The presence of the drone prompted authorities to ground aircraft for 30 minutes the evening of June 28, the day that the Trailhead fire broke out.

When it comes to drones, AT&T wants to be in the driver's seat. The massive U.S. carrier is already using drones to inspect its cell towers and may someday put cells on drones to boost service at big events. But it's also eyeing a major role in the way others use drones. At the heart of it all is AT&T's network, technology executives from the company said Friday at AT&T's Shape conference in San Francisco. They see the network as a future backbone for command and control of drones or even a drone traffic management system. Air traffic control is one of the big challenges looming over the future of commercial and recreational drones.

HONG KONG, July 15, 2016 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Today Mills Media Arts LLC (MMA), formerly known as Mills Agency announced the acquisition of Jump City Media, a Hong Kong based mobile media think tank with a core focus on artificial intelligence. The acquisition gives MMA a global reach with offices now in New York, Los Angeles, London and Hong Kong while also adding more depth to the MMA marketing and mobile media expertise. The advanced mobile solutions group will operate in a new division within the company called Mobile Media Arts lab. Through the use of advanced technologies such as augmented reality, artificial intelligence and proximity aware services, the Mobile Media Arts Lab builds and integrates interoperable technology that propels advances in productivity and profoundly changes how people live in ways that they could not have imagined. The Mobile Media Arts Lab includes some of the top graphic artists, developers, engineers and data scientists in the industry.

By learning how to pitch his bot idea while driving a robot, Button.ai Organized by VentureBeat, the international botathon took place July 9-10 in New York, Melbourne, Tel Aviv, and San Francisco. A fifth finalist category was made for people participating online elsewhere in the world. Finals for popular vote and judges' categories were held Tuesday in San Francisco at MobileBeat, a two-day gathering of chatbot and AI leaders, held July 12-13 at The Village. Skoolbot won the portion of the competition decided by judges Phil Libin, an investor in bots from General Catalyst; SmarterChild creator Robert Hoffer; and Alfred Lin, an investor at Sequoia Capital.

Andrew Heikkila is a tech enthusiast and writer from Boise, Idaho. A recent Pew report found that a majority of Americans believe that most human jobs could be automated by 2065. With tech giants like Google and Chrysler collaborating to produce autonomous passenger vehicles, as well as new tech firms like Otto positioning themselves to revolutionize the commercial transportation industry, many are already discussing how we'll handle history's first slew of "driverless" experiences. It's no wonder, then, that talk about technological unemployment is becoming increasingly popular, with many commercial drivers beginning to question whether or not they'll still have jobs in the coming years. While the concept of a world filled with autonomous workers is relatively new to us, digital disruption obviously isn't, and we've consistently overcome technological unemployment in the past.