This May, the global group of Google AI Impact Challenge grantees gathered in San Francisco to kick off the six-month Launchpad Accelerator program. With $25 million in funding from Google.org, credits from Google Cloud and mentorship by Google's AI experts, the teams sought to apply AI to address a wide range of problems problems, from protecting rainforests to coaching students on writing skills. Now in the second phase of the program, Tech Sprint Week, the grantees tackled their projects' greatest technical challenges with support from a team of mentors from Google. At Google for Startups' campus in London, teams continued work on their ideas and learned user experience design principles along the way. Grace Mitchell, a data scientist at grantee WattTime, opened up about her team's experience at Tech Sprint Week--and how they're using AI to build a globally accessible, open-source fossil fuel emissions monitoring platform for power plants.

Brainshark's AI-Powered Machine Analysis Engine Helps Companies Create a More Confident, Better-Prepared Sales Force Brainshark, Inc., delivering SaaS-based sales enablement and readiness solutions, today announced it is a winner in the 2019 Customer Sales and Service World Awards – honored for applying artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance sales effectiveness. Brainshark's Machine Analysis, an AI-based engine for improving sales coaching and practice, was honored as a "Best New Product: Cloud Computing/SaaS Product for Sales." This marks the sixth year in a row Brainshark has been a winner in the Customer Sales and Service World Awards – which recognize the world's best teams, solutions and achievements in sales, customer service, business development and more. It is also the sixth industry award Machine Analysis has won since its launch a year ago. "AI has amazing potential to drive sales enablement and readiness, and we're proud to harness that with Machine Analysis," said Brendan Cournoyer, vice president of marketing, Brainshark.

Fermilab scientist Nhan Tran is developing computer systems to cope with the increasing amounts of data that particle colliders produce. The field of particle physics produces colossal amounts of data as it pushes the frontiers of human understanding. Fermilab scientist Nhan Tran is working to make sure researchers have the innovative techniques and technology they need to handle the data deluge and to select the details that are likely to reveal exciting new physics phenomena. And now he has received a prestigious award to advance this work. The Department of Energy Early Career Research Award will provide Tran with $2.5 million over five years to lead efforts to apply artificial intelligence to push the frontiers of both physics and technology.

The function was held recently at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. SuperStartUps Asia Awards are selected through a rigorous 3-tier process. The award gives the start up an exposure to investors and helps boost the profile of the business among various stakeholders, vendors, employees, regulatory authorities and prospective customers. The award not only benefits the business but also helps the owners to have a better understanding of the trends and industry through brainstorming and interactive sessions. Mr Kiran Kalakuntla, founder and CEO of ekincare said, "ekincare is pleased to receive the SuperStartUps Asia 2019 award. This is an achievement of the ekincare team who supported a vision that I had. Not only for the team, it is also an assurance for our clients that they have trusted the right platform for their employee's wellness. For us, this award is a motivation to perform better and match up to the expectations of our clients. The insights by the industry experts during the interactive sessions were educative and we are looking forward to achieve more with their help."

The increasing use of Artificial intelligence, Big Data and IoT devices are changing the pattern of the healthcare business. Neha Rastogi, co-founder and COO of Agatsa, in an email interview with Zee Business online, talked about various aspects of healthcare business and innovations in this space. Do you think Budget 2019 was successful in addressing problems faced by startups? The Budget did address some major areas including simplification of tax compliances and income tax scrutiny. Further, the provision of expanding PMKY by including cutting-edge skills like AI, analytics and 3D printing, etc. are welcome steps.

If you thought the battle between machines and jobs – the dislocation of labor and society resulting from digitization or automation – has been one-sided so far, just wait. The next wave of attack is well underway, and it's called AI. Artificial Intelligence, most simply, refers to computers that perform tasks that normally require human intelligence – things like visual perception, speech recognition, even decision-making. Earlier this year the management consulting firm McKinsey famously wrote that "25 percent of the global workforce will either need to find new professional activities by 2020 or significantly broaden their technological skills. The World Economic Forum's "Future of Jobs Report: 2018" states, "By 2022, the skills required to perform most jobs will have shifted significantly… [and] no less than 54% of all employees will require significant re- and upskilling." The greatest concerns are not just that AI destroys jobs, but that it increases inequality – that low-wage employees get displaced, while high-wage employees maintain or even extend their value that's more difficult to replace with a machine. Of course, new technologies have disrupted existing processes for centuries. Will the experience with AI be different than with previous technologies? Most importantly, what can governments, corporations, small businesses and individual workers do to not just avoid massive disruption, but rather position themselves to take outsized advantage of the opportunities? To find out, I recently hosted an excellent roundtable discussion at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice with NYU Professor Robert Seamans. Prof. Seamans' studies how technology and governance structures affect strategic interactions between firms, affect incentives to innovate, and ultimately shape market outcomes. Previously he served under President Obama as a Senior Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

"It has nothing to do with how smart you are, what school you went to, or how many PhDs you have in your innovation lab. If your team can't emotionally deal with the prospect of failing and having to wear egg on your face for five minutes, it's going to be difficult." Davyde Wachell is the CEO of Responsive, a hybrid wealth-focused startup. Backed by plug and play ventures, Responsive helps wealth managers in upgrading advisor productivity and decisions with next best actions driven by predictive analytics. Davyde studied AI in the Symbolic Systems program at Stanford and has worked in wealthtech for over 15 years, having built everything from quant research platforms to compliance automation tools. His film and opera work have been seen at Tribeca, Sundance and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. He lives in Vancouver his partner Holly, who works for Sanctuary AI, a humanoid robotics company. Now hit the Play button! This episode of Wealth Management Today is brought to you by Ezra Group Consulting. If your firm is evaluating new technology or looking to improve your current wealth platform, you need to contact Ezra Group. Don't spend another day using technology that doesn't offer an elegant user experience. Your advisors and clients deserve better and you can deliver it to them with the help of Ezra Group. Craig: Today on the Wealth Management Today podcast I am very happy to have Davyde Wachell, the Founder and CEO of Responsive. He's talking to us today live from the Tuscany region of Italy. Craig: Thanks for taking the time on your vacation overseas to talk on my podcast.

Business adoption of artificial intelligence is picking up steam, but still today only 20 percent of organizations that are aware of AI actually use this rapidly advancing technology. One reason: many executives are still wondering, "What can AI do for my business?" Earlier this year at the AI Frontiers conference in Santa Clara, California, we sat down with AI experts from some of the world's leading technology-first organizations to find out about current and future applications of AI. An edited version of the experts' remarks follows the video. Rajat Monga, engineering director, TensorFlow, Google: AI is going to be part of nearly every application we have around us.

In moments of digital anxiety I find myself thinking of my father's desk. Dad was a travelling furniture salesman in the 1980s, a job that served him well in the years before globalisation hobbled the Canadian manufacturing sector. He was out on the road a lot, but when he worked from home he sat in his office, a small windowless study dominated by a large teak desk. And yet every day Dad spent hours there, making notes, smoking Craven "A"s, drinking coffee and yakking affably to small-town retailers about shipments of sectional sofas and dinette sets. This is what I find so amazing.

As the Veterans Affairs Department's inaugural Director of Artificial Intelligence, Gil Alterovitz aims to leverage the emerging technology and the agency's cornucopia of data to proactively anticipate and tackle problems afflicting veterans like never before. In a conversation with Nextgov, Alterovitz detailed his present efforts and future-facing vision to support VA in executing that mission. "Nowhere in the country is there such potential for research to be developed and translated into clinical care so quickly. In this case, it's to help our special population of veterans … and those patients have actually asked us to deal with their needs," Alterovitz said. "We really want to be the go-to place for veterans through AI research and development--so instead of reacting, we can really anticipate their needs."