Adopted by over 430 hospitals across 60 countries, SOPHiA AI has proven to be a robust and standardized decision support technology for clinicians. SOPHiA is the first AI to analyze over 200,000 patients' genomic profiles around the world. This illustrates the rapid adoption of this technology which is trusted by clinicians to support their clinical decisions. The recent use of digital technology in healthcare is creating a new world of opportunity to help better diagnose and treat patients. The development of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS), in particular, promises to enhance patient care for patients suffering from hereditary diseases and cancer.

While slightly more than one-quarter (27%) of working Canadians fear their job is at risk due to the potential introduction of A.I./machine learning/automation in their workplaces, nearly one-in-three (31%) believe the introduction of these new approaches would help them do their job better – more so than any other mainstream technology available today. Three-in-five (59%) said they believe A.I. and automation will have a positive impact on the workforce overall in the future. "Much of the narrative around A.I. and automation in the workforce to date has included speculation about job loss," said Holger Kormann, President, ADP Canada. "However, the reality is that many Canadian employees see these tools as the next wave of resources to help them improve personal productivity and performance and not as a threat to job security or future employment prospects." Nearly all respondents (97%) say that technology has impacted the way they work each day, with smartphones (83%), laptop (80%) and desktop (79%) computers and social media (61%) having the greatest impact.

New Delhi: French multinational oil and gas company Total announced it has signed an agreement with Google Cloud to jointly develop Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions for subsurface data analysis for oil and gas exploration and production. "Total is convinced that applying artificial intelligence in the oil and gas industry is a promising avenue to be explored for optimizing our performance, particularly in subsurface data interpretation. We are excited to work with Google Cloud towards this goal. This builds on the strategy being developed at Total, where A.I. is already used, for example, in predictive maintenance at facilities," said Marie-Noëlle Semeria, Senior Vice President, Group CTO at Total. The agreement will focus on the development of AI programs which will make it possible to interpret subsurface images, notably from seismic studies (using Computer Vision technology) and automate the analysis of technical documents (using Natural Language Processing technology), the company said.

Surex Direct, Canada's fastest growing online insurance brokerage, continues to propel the artificial intelligence and machine learning movement – from a broker's perspective – as evident by their latest feature in CI Top Broker magazine. Already incorporating AI to automate and optimize billing processes, Surex Direct is focused on researching and developing AI and machine learning processes in-house. ''We take pride in being a trailblazer in the online insurance space,'' Lance Miller, CEO of Surex Direct, said. Aside from the development and deployment of AI, Surex Direct plans to license products, allowing other brokerages to increase their efficiencies. ''We're fully invested in the AI and machine learning movement,'' Matthew Alston, COO of Surex Direct, said.

The Commission is proposing a three-pronged approach to increase public and private investment in AI, prepare for socio-economic changes, and ensure an appropriate ethical and legal framework. This follows European leaders' call for a European approach on AI. Vice-President for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip said: "Just as the steam engine and electricity did in the past, AI is transforming our world. It presents new challenges that Europe should meet together in order for AI to succeed and work for everyone. We need to invest at least €20 billion by the end of 2020. The Commission is playing its part: today, we are giving a boost to researchers so that they can develop the next generation of AI technologies and applications, and to companies, so that they can embrace and incorporate them."

A SoftBank Group Corp. subsidiary and two other firms have developed a prototype of a two-seat humanoid robot that can transform into a car for use in amusement parks, the companies said Thursday. Invoking the heroes from the "Transformers" movies, the experimental J-deite Ride can go from humanoid mode to vehicle mode in about a minute. The 3.7-meter, 1.6-ton robot can lumber on two legs at an agonizingly slow pace of 100 meters per hour but go 60 kph in vehicle mode. The electric car can be driven both manually and by remote control, according to a press release from the companies. The robot was developed by SoftBank's software subsidiary Asratec Corp., Tokyo-based start-up Brave Robotics Inc. and Sansei Technologies Inc., an Osaka-based game machine maker.

WIRE)--NEC Corporation (NEC; TOKYO: 6701) today announced the establishment of dotData, Inc., a new startup company based in Cupertino, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley, that develops and globally provides software that automates data science processes using artificial intelligence (AI). NEC will obtain an exclusive license from dotData to provide this software across Japan and will start to provide the software in the first half of FY2018. "NEC is now accelerating the monetization of its competitive technologies by creating diverse alliances as part of the'strengthening of business development capabilities' in the'restructuring of execution capabilities' that are outlined in the Mid-term Management Plan 2020 that NEC announced in January 2018," said Osamu Fujikawa, senior vice president, NEC Corporation. "The establishment of dotData is the first implementation of such reinforcements and a unique strategic carve-out scheme from NEC in which a leader in core technology becomes a founder of the new company and helps accelerate its monetization as a start-up company. Going forward, NEC will continue to promote innovative measures that strengthen our business development capabilities."

With a goal of "providing customers with the tools and insight required to meet rapidly evolving business demands," Oracle NetSuite has launched what it says is the world's first intelligent cloud suite. By natively building powerful artificial intelligence and machine learning-based capabilities within its leading cloud business management suite, NetSuite can deliver the insight, interaction and automation customers need to grow their business. The company announced the launch during its annual conference in Las Vegas. "A pioneer in the cloud, NetSuite has long been a leader in providing powerful business intelligence across its suite," said Jim McGeever, executive vice president, Oracle NetSuite. "With new artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities within NetSuite, we're equipping our customers to understand not only what's happened with their business, but what will happen in the future and how they can stay ahead."

This press release, from which no legal consequences may be drawn, is for information purposes only. The entities in which TOTAL S.A. directly or indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. TOTAL S.A. has no liability for their acts or omissions. In this document, the terms "Total" and "Total Group" are sometimes used for convenience where general references are made to TOTAL S.A. and/or its subsidiaries. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" may also be used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them.

Conversica, the leader in conversational AI for business, today announced that its AI-based sales assistant technology is now deeply integrated with Microsoft Dynamics 365 and is available from the Microsoft AppSource online marketplace. The Conversica AI Sales assistant integrated with Microsoft Dynamics 365 enables Microsoft customers to easily leverage Conversica's state-of-the-art conversational AI technology to automatically follow up with leads in their CRM and marketing automation systems. Conversica assistants, powered by advanced natural language processing and machine learning technology, carry on natural, two-way conversations with leads to engage and qualify them for sales. This automated lead follow-up ensures that 100 percent of marketing's leads are contacted 100 percent of the time and results in more meetings and, thus, more opportunities for sales. "Microsoft Dynamics 365 customers are some of the most sophisticated marketing and sales teams; however, they can still struggle with ensuring all the leads generated by marketing are qualified and handed off to sales at the right time," commented Victor Belfor, Senior Vice President of Business Development of Conversica.