This month we are very proud to have Bank of Ireland as host, in their nice event space in Grand Canal Square. IMPORTANT NOTES: • This event is strictly for Machine Learning professionals and students only • If you finally can't make it, please RSVP to "NO" as soon as possible so that other people can take your place.

In the latest attempt to fulfill sci-fi movie fantasies, tech firms have been lining up to provide you with a virtual assistant. From well-known voice-powered AIs such as Apple's Siri to upstarts like Viv, the goal is to quicken the actions you already take on your phone and other devices, growing ever-more efficient at the job by learning from your behavior. But like any hired help, each of these AI assistants has different skills, blind spots, and quirks. Bio: A voice-driven assistant that talks back to you--invoked by long-pressing the iPhone or iPad home button--and proactively recommends actions to take. Recently took up residence on Apple TV and Apple Watch.

Fujitsu Laboratories today announced the development of technology that can be easily set up and autonomously carry on a dialogue, based on AI technology, while accurately understanding a user's request and naturally eliciting the necessary information. The technology is intended primarily for customer service support. With previous technology, dialogue with computers required preparations of dialogue scenarios laying out how to respond when certain things are said, and business systems usually operated based on these scenarios. Now Fujitsu Laboratories has developed a new technology that can structurally extract the relationships between word meanings of input text to deal with the multiple meanings, ambiguity and other problems particular to Japanese language expressions, enabling a highly accurate understanding of users' speech and realizing smooth dialogue. In addition, by properly incorporating information from external databases, such as linked open data (LOD), while also using a knowledge-based dialogue creation technology that automatically learns response options for natural dialogue from records, Fujitsu Laboratories has developed technology that can autonomously conduct dialogue.

A Silicon Valley startup founded by former Google employees is looking to radically change long-haul trucking. Otto is developing a self-driving truck upgrade kit for commercial rigs. As with the race to develop self-driving cars, Otto is not alone in these ambitions, but self-driving trucks could lead to unintended consequences for local economies, particularly in small towns that rely on the trucking industry. Otto debuted with its plan in a Medium post published Tuesday. The startup highlights the need for self-driving trucks by citing the deteriorating quality of life for drivers, road congestion, pollution and safety.

Britain's first astronaut has said the UK risks becoming a "backward nation" if the government does not pay to send more people into space. Helen Sharman believes the country would lose many of the benefits of Tim Peake's mission if a commitment to more flights is not made very soon. Ms Sharman said that this was the UK's "last chance" to be involved "in the future of the human race". She spoke to BBC News on the eve of the 25th anniversary of her spaceflight. The government has effectively paid for one spaceflight, Tim Peake's, according to Ms Sharman.

Four years ago tomorrow, James Young's life changed for ever in a freak accident when he fell under a train. As well as sustaining multiple injuries - including collapsed lungs, a fractured skull and face, rib fractures and cracks in his spine - he damaged his left arm while his left leg was severed below the knee at the scene. James, then 22 and working as a biological scientist, had been about to board a Docklands Light Railway train in East London for a night out with friends. James Young, 26, from London, became'part cyborg' in experiment that fitted him with prototype bionic arm Walking too close to the platform edge as the train pulled in, he had put his hand out to push the button to open the doors. But the momentum of the still moving train caused him to spin and lose his balance.

The naval base at La Spezia in northern Italy is in an advanced state of decay. The grand Mussolini-era barracks are shuttered; the weeds won their battle with the concrete some time ago. But amid the crumbling masonry, there is an incongruously neat little building, shaded behind a line of flags, with smartly outfitted security men behind its glass doors. This is Nato's Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE). As one battleship after another has been removed from what remains of the Italian navy, and the base is wound down, the centre is preparing for a new kind of marine warfare amid the wreckage of the old. In a line of workshops along the quay, technicians tinker at the innards of the next generation of naval weapons. They may look like large bright yellow torpedoes, but they are in fact underwater drones, capable of being remote controlled on the surface and taking autonomous actions in the deep.

The consumer electronics company has invested in AI startup Cogitai to build intelligent systems that will learn from their own experiences in the world. "We have a shared vision for where AI needs to go," Dr. Satinder Singh, co-founder of Cogitai, told Engadget. "The next wave will be'continual learning.' It's the idea that machine intelligence will continually grow as it interacts with the world." Continual learning isn't just about creating smart devices that sense your presence, or virtual assistants that understand you better.

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

Former employees of Google, Apple, Tesla, Cruise Automation, and others -- 40 people in total -- have formed a new San Francisco-based company called Otto with the goal of turning commercial trucks into self-driving freight haulers. Prominent staffers include former Google Maps lead Lior Ron and Anthony Levandowski of Google's self-driving car team. Rather than building their own trucks, Otto is hoping to make hardware kits for existing truck models that would either be installed by service centers, or possibly at the factory if the company is able to forge manufacturer partnerships. Unlike Google's self-driving car project, Otto would at least initially focus on highway driving, which account for the overwhelming majority of a typical truck route; the human drivers would still handle surface streets, loading, unloading, and the like. Right now, the company is testing with the Volvo VNL 780, but hopes to work with many so-called Class 8 trucks, which are the largest, heaviest trucks on American roads. If the name Anthony Levandowski sounds familiar, there's a good reason: his work on autonomous driving pre-dates Google's, and he served as the central character in a sprawling profile of the self-driving car project in The New Yorker several years ago.