In an exclusive interview at the Googleplex in California, Google CEO Sundar Pichai spoke to NDTV on why India is important for Google, the benefits and dangers of Artificial Intelligence, privacy and data security, and Aadhaar. He told NDTV about a simultaneous translation tool that Google announced at its large event today. "I think we are few years away from where two people you know, regardless of language they know can converse with each other and that is absolutely in line of sight," he said. He also spoke about ambient computing as the future. "Today computing means you go to a device, start it and work with that device. But to me ambient computing is that you are going about your day to day life (and) computing is there working for you," he said. Here's the full transcript of the interview: NDTV: Sundar Pichai, God Bless you, thank you very much for joining us. NDTV: Your success is an absolute, absolute inspiration for all of us. Sundar Pichai: Thank you, you know I grew up watching you on the news channel as well. Sundar Pichai: Not quite kindergarten, I was in college by then. NDTV: You know I say that we are really inspired by you but there is a real puzzle to fix, one you are not a dropout, how can you be so successful and b), you're a good guy, don't you have to be slightly nasty to be successful? Sundar Pichai: First of all, IIT was too much fun to actually drop out, so wasn't there a movie about it or something? It was more like that. It was too much fun to drop out. And I've always felt being a good guy and doing well aren't necessarily at odds with each other, so always felt that applied.

Today's leading minds talk AI with host Byron Reese Visit VoicesInAI.com to access the podcast, or subscribe now: Byron Reese: Hello, this is Voices in AI brought to you by Gigaom. I am your host, Byron Reese. Jeff is a Google Senior Fellow and he leads the Google Brain project. His work probably touches my life, and maybe yours, about every hour of every day, so I can't wait to begin the conversation. Welcome to the show Jeff. Jeff Dean: Hi Byron, this is Jeff Dean. I'm really good, Jeff, thanks for taking the time to chat. You went to work for Google, I believe, in the second millennium.

Here is the announcement that some developers found in their mailbox two days ago. After almost ten years of development, we have the regret to announce that we will put an end to our Theano development after the 1.0 release, which is due in the next few weeks. We will continue minimal maintenance to keep it working for one year, but we will stop actively implementing new features. Theano will continue to be available afterwards, as per our engagement towards open source software, but MILA does not commit to spend time on maintenance or support after that time frame. The software ecosystem supporting deep learning research has been evolving quickly, and has now reached a healthy state: open-source software is the norm; a variety of frameworks are available, satisfying needs spanning from exploring novel ideas to deploying them into production; and strong industrial players are backing different software stacks in a stimulating competition.

Byron Reese: This is Voices in AI, brought to you by Gigaom. Today, our guest is Oren Etzioni. He's a professor of computer science who founded and ran University of Washington's Turing Center. And since 2013, he's been the CEO of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence. The Institute investigates problems in data mining, natural language processing, and the semantic web. And if all of that weren't enough to keep a person busy, he's also a venture partner at the Madrona Venture Group. Business Insider called him, quote: "The most successful entrepreneur you've never heard of." Welcome to the show, Oren. Oren Etzioni: Thank you, and thanks for the kind introduction. I think the key emphasis there would be, "you've never heard of." Well, I've heard of you, and I've followed your work and the Allen Institute's as well. And let's start, if that's Okay, let's start there. So if you would just start off by telling us a bit about the Allen Institute, and then I would love to go through the four projects that you feature prominently on the website. And just talk about each one; they're all really interesting. The Allen Institute for AI is really Paul Allen's brainchild. He's had a passion for AI for decades, and he's founded a series of institutes--scientific institutes--in Seattle, which were modeled after the Allen Institute for Brain Science, which has been very successful running since 2003. We were launched as a nonprofit on January 1, 2014, and it's a great honor to serve as CEO. Our mission is AI for the common good, and as you mentioned, we have four projects that I'm really excited about.

This humorous clip, Biologist talks to statistician, featured in the newsletter of the American Statistical Association, Amstat News, takes aim at the statistical ignorance of scientists. Statistics Done Wrong (Reinhart) is a pithy book which digs more deeply into confusion about statistics. Uncertainty: The Soul of Modeling, Probability & Statistics (Briggs) is hard-hitting and takes on both scientists and statisticians. Vital Statistics You Never Learned...Because They're Never Taught is a short interview with highly-regarded statistician Frank Harrell, author of the influential book Regression Modeling Strategies. I would urge any marketing researcher, statistician or data scientist to take a few minutes to read this interview.

Walmart has accidentally leaked details of Google's new $49 mini smart speaker and Pixel 2 handset just hours before they are expected to be launched. The shopping giant accidentally put a preorder page for the'Google Home Mini' revealing its fabric covered design. The images also revealed a fresh look at Google's Pixel 2 handset - even though both products are not being officially unveiled until tomorrow. The $49 Google Home Mini is a smaller version of Google's Home speaker, featuring the same Google Assistant software. Walmart's site describes the speaker as a'powerful little helper' that gives you answers to questions, controls your smart home, shares weather info, and even plays music.

Why? What could possibly have motivated Stephen Paddock, a retired accountant, to open fire from a balcony above a Las Vegas music festival, killing at least 59 people and injuring more than 500? Police found 23 guns in Paddock's hotel room, but have not discovered any connection to international terrorism, despite a claim of involvement from so-called Islamic State. President Donald Trump described the act as "pure evil" and some investigators say there is reason to believe the gunman, 64, had a history of psychological problems. Meanwhile, searches have uncovered explosives at Paddock's home in a retirement community in the small town of Mesquite, north east of Las Vegas. There is a second house in northern Nevada which Swat teams are due to check for booby-traps before carrying out a search. The authorities have yet to confirm the identities of any of the people killed, but Jordan McIldoon, 23, from British Columbia in Canada, has been named as a victim of the attack by CBC News.

Google's Pixel 2 handsets have been leaked ahead if its unveiling on October 4th. Evan Blass, renowned for leaking handsets from almost every manufacturer ahead of their launch, posted the images to his Twitter account today. Two versions of the handset will be launched, a Pixel and a Pixel XL, and the images reveal a new homescreen Google has developed for Android phones. Manufactured by HTC and LG, respectively, the handset are codenamed Walleye and Taimen, and Blass says according to a person familiar with Google's release plans, they will be released on October 19 for Pixel 2 and November 15 for Pixel 2 XL, both preceded by preorder periods. Droid Life recently also claimed to have images of the new handset, alongside a new mini wireless speaker, and images of an updated Daydream VR headset.

RPA is a promising new development in business automation that offers a potential ROI of 30–200 percent--in the first year. Employees may like it too. Robotics are beginning to have a profound effect on business. In this interview, Xavier Lhuer, an associate principal in McKinsey's London office, speaks with Leslie Willcocks, professor of technology, work, and globalization at the London School of Economics' department of management, about his work on robotic process automation--its impact on work, and how companies can capture its strategic and financial benefits.1 1. Leslie P. Willcocks and Mary C. Lacity are coauthors of Service Automation, Robots and the Future of Work, Steve Brookes Publishing, UK, 2016. McKinsey: Can you start by defining robotic process automation (RPA)?

We're hurtling toward the holiday shopping season, which means companies are putting the finishing touches on their gadgets and getting them ready for the impending crush of consumerism. This week, we met a bundle of new Alexa-based products from Amazon, and Spotify sent everyone on your friends list into a full-on nostalgia bender. Here's what you might have missed last week. Amazon gave the Echo smart speaker lineup a near-total refresh last week. Taking the place of the old $179 Echo are two new devices: an adorably small $99 Echo speaker, and a $150 Echo Plus--which has bigger speakers and more advanced smart home controls.