Google announced today that it has made energy produced by wind farms more viable using the artificial intelligence software of its London-based subsidiary DeepMind. By using DeepMind's machine learning algorithms to predict the wind output from the farms Google uses for its green energy initiatives, the company says it can now schedule set deliveries of energy output, which are more valuable to the grid than standard, non-time-based deliveries. According to Google, this software has improved the "value" of the wind energy these farms are providing by 20 percent over a baseline where no such time-based predictions are being performed. We don't know exactly what that value is in monetary terms or in terms of energy output. We also don't know where exactly this is being deployed, although Google works with wind farms largely in the Midwest, where some of its US data centers are located.

WIRE)--Obsidian Security, the intelligent identity protection company, has raised $20 million in a Series B financing round, bringing the company's total funding to $30 million. Wing led the Series B with participation from GV and Series A investor Greylock Partners. With the unabated growth in adoption of cloud services, security teams are dealing with poor visibility of users and activities across SaaS and the cloud. Administrators do not have visibility into what users do after logging on to these services. Managing user privileges across disparate applications is siloed, burdensome and error-prone.

FedEx is making its first moves into autonomous delivery. The company announced today that it's working on the SameDay Bot, a small vehicle that can travel independently along sidewalks and roadsides, helping retailers make same-day and last mile deliveries to their customers. The bot is being developed using the same technology used in mobility device iBot, and will feature pedestrian-safe tech, multiple cameras, LiDAR and machine learning to help it detect and avoid obstacles, and navigate uneven surfaces. FedEx doesn't anticipate the bot replacing its existing same-day delivery services, but instead complementing them. Trials kick off this summer in a number of areas, including Memphis, Tennessee (pending city approval), and between FedEx Office locations.

Sandbox environments are a common feature of many cybersecurity solutions in their fight against advanced malware. Firewalls, endpoint protection, and even next-generation machine learning systems use sandboxes as one of their lines of defense. However, not all sandboxes are created equal. Sandboxes can take different approaches towards malware analysis and detection, and some of these approaches are clearly more effective than others. New strains of malware are designed to evade the detection techniques used by older sandboxes, rendering them largely ineffective.

As a disruptive technology, artificial intelligence has the potential to impact every sector and education is no exception. While innovation in AI is still climbing the hype curve, we're already seeing its use cases begin to proliferate. Education Secretary Damian Hinds' call for innovative technologies such as AI to be implemented to relieve pressure on teachers is the latest recognition of the potential benefits which can be gained. By deploying AI and automation solutions to non-teaching tasks such as marking, admin and planning, time will be freed up for the UK's educators to focus on the'human' side of teaching. The increase in hands-on time in the classroom will not only benefit those in education, but also raise teachers' job satisfaction by allowing them to focus on the more fulfilling aspects of the job.

Sandbox environments are a common feature of many cybersecurity solutions in their fight against advanced malware. Firewalls, endpoint protection, and even next-generation machine learning systems use sandboxes as one of their lines of defense. However, not all sandboxes are created equal. Sandboxes can take different approaches towards malware analysis and detection, and some of these approaches are clearly more effective than others. New strains of malware are designed to evade the detection techniques used by older sandboxes, rendering them largely ineffective.

One thousand new research and business leaders will be created to ensure the UK leads the global revolution in Artificial Intelligence (AI). This new generation of PhD students will use AI technology to improve healthcare, tackle climate change and create new commercial opportunities, thanks to a £100m investment from UK Research and Innovation announced today, Thursday 21 February 2019. They will be trained at 16 new Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) based at 14 UK universities with 300 partners, including AstraZeneca, Google and Rolls-Royce, and NHS trusts. Project partners are investing £78 million in cash or in-kind contributions and partner universities are committing a further £23 million, resulting in an overall investment of more than £200 million. Business Secretary Greg Clark said: "The UK has long been a nation of innovators and today's package of AI skills and talent investment will help nurture leading UK and international talent to ensure we retain our world-beating reputation in research and development. "Artificial intelligence has great potential to drive up productivity and enhance every industry throughout our economy, from more effective disease diagnosis to building smart homes.

We already had a robot that could make fast food burgers. And now we have an artificial intelligence that can take your order for one. Earlier this month, Colorado-based startup Valyant AI announced the launch of a voice-based AI customer service platform, which is now taking customer orders at the drive-thru at Denver's Good Times Burgers and Frozen Custard. "We're excited to deliver a customer service experience unlike anything you've ever experienced before," Valyant AI CEO Rob Carpenter said in a press release. Unlike multipurpose assistants such as Alexa or Siri, Valyant's fast food AI has just one ability: greet drive-thru customers, take their order, and send them down the line.

BlackBerry Limited (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) today completed its previously-announced acquisition of Cylance, a privately-held artificial intelligence and cybersecurity company based in Irvine, California. "Today BlackBerry took a giant step forward toward our goal of being the world's largest and most trusted AI-cybersecurity company," said John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO, BlackBerry. "Securing endpoints and the data that flows between them is absolutely critical in today's hyperconnected world. By adding Cylance's technology to our arsenal of cybersecurity solutions we will help enterprises intelligently connect, protect and build secure endpoints that users can trust." Cylance's machine learning and artificial intelligence technology is a strategic addition to BlackBerry's end-to-end secure communications portfolio.

In a deal that made few ripples outside the energy industry, two very large but relatively obscure companies, Rockwell Automation and Schlumberger Limited, announced a joint venture called Sensia. The new company will "sell equipment and services to advance digital technology and automation in the oilfield," according to the Houston Chronicle. Yet the partnership has ramifications far beyond Houston's energy corridor: It's part of a growing trend that sees major tech companies teaming with oil giants to use automation, AI, and big data services to enhance oil exploration, extraction, and production. Rockwell is the world's largest company that is dedicated to industrial automation, and Schlumberger, a competitor of Halliburton, is the world's largest oilfield services firm. Sensia will be, according to the press release, "the first fully integrated digital oilfield automation solutions provider."