Can you see the random forest for its leaves? The Leaf Classification playground competition ran on Kaggle from August 2016 to February 2017. Kagglers were challenged to correctly identify 99 classes of leaves based on images and pre-extracted features. In this winner's interview, Kaggler Ivan Sosnovik shares his first place approach. He explains how he had better luck using logistic regression and random forest algorithms over XGBoost or convolutional neural networks in this feature engineering competition.

That's the kind of question asked by image-recognition systems, which are becoming increasingly prevalent in our everyday devices. They may soon be used for tumor detection and genomics, too. These systems rely on what is known as "deep-learning" architectures – an exciting new development in artificial learning. But EPFL researchers have revealed just how sensitive these systems actually are: a tiny universal perturbation applied across an image can throw off even the most sophisticated algorithms. Deep-learning systems, a major breakthrough in computer-based image recognition, are however surprisingly sensitive to minor changes in the data they analyze.

More and more companies are putting drones to work, including tech giants, manufacturers, utilities, and news organizations. With a broad range of practical applications and rapidly evolving technology, drones offer huge untapped potential, but not every market offers equal opportunities for growth. Here are seven facts and forecasts to know before investing. The demand for drones in the U.S. is projected to rise 10% annually to $4.4 billion in 2020, and the number of vehicles sold will more than double to 5.5 million. Drones sold to commercial and consumer users can cost less than $100 on the low end for toy drones to $10,000 or more on the high end for professional drones with sophisticated sensors and controls. Civilian markets are in the early stages of development, and over the next decade sales are expected to grow at explosive rates, similar to those posted by smartphones following the introduction of the iPhone in 2007.

Impressive advances in artificial intelligence technology tailored for legal work have led some lawyers to worry that their profession may be Silicon Valley's next victim. But recent research and even the people working on the software meant to automate legal work say the adoption of A.I. in law firms will be a slow, task-by-task process. In other words, like it or not, a robot is not about to replace your lawyer. "There is this popular view that if you can automate one piece of the work, the rest of the job is toast," said Frank Levy, a labor economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. An artificial intelligence technique called natural language processing has proved useful in scanning and predicting what documents will be relevant to a case, for example.

Drones are changing the ways in which scientists' investigate the footprints left behind by dinosaurs. Researchers in Australia have started using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to map prehistoric tracks in remote locations and are using the data to build 3D models of track sites. They're also using lidar, a laser scanning technology, and light aircraft to aid their research, which is detailed in a paper published at PeerJ. The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session A man looks at an exhibit entitled'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Electrification Guru Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart talks about the electric Jaguar I-PACE concept SUV before it was unveiled before the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S The Jaguar I-PACE Concept car is the start of a new era for Jaguar. Japan's On-Art Corp's CEO Kazuya Kanemaru poses with his company's eight metre tall dinosaur-shaped mechanical suit robot'TRX03' and other robots during a demonstration in Tokyo, Japan Japan's On-Art Corp's eight metre tall dinosaur-shaped mechanical suit robot'TRX03' performs during its unveiling in Tokyo, Japan Singulato Motors co-founder and CEO Shen Haiyin poses in his company's concept car Tigercar P0 at a workshop in Beijing, China A picture shows Singulato Motors' concept car Tigercar P0 at a workshop in Beijing, China Connected company president Shigeki Tomoyama addresses a press briefing as he elaborates on Toyota's "connected strategy" in Tokyo.

A team from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) has developed a facial recognition technique, which could help identify a rare genetic condition, DiGeorge syndrome affecting Africans, Asians and Latin Americans. "Human malformation syndromes appear different in different parts of the world Even experienced clinicians have difficulty diagnosing genetic syndromes in non-European populations," Paul Kruszka, a medical geneticist in NHGRI's Medical Genetics Branch said in the press release. Read: Facial Recognition Should Be Used To Track Undocumented Immigrants, Rep. Chaffetz Says The DiGeorge disease is a gene (22q11.2) deletion syndrome, also called the velocardiofacial syndrome, which causes multiple defects in the body such as cleft palate, heart defects and learning problems. It is difficult to diagnose in diverse populations, especially with people of mixed race origin. The NHGRI study published in the American Journal of Medical Genetics Thursday cites its goal as helping diagnose the disease to enable early-stage medical intervention.

NEW YORK: While the rise in machine learning technology may be making people's lives smarter and easier, it has conversely given rise to fear and anxiety among people about losing jobs to artificial intelligence (AI) devices, a study has showed. "Technophobes" -- persons who fear robots, artificial intelligence and new technology that they don't understand -- are three times more likely to be fearful of losing their jobs to technology when compared to others and nearly three times more likely to fear not having enough money in the future, the study has shown. This is a real concern among a substantial portion of the population. They are not simply a subgroup of generally fearful people," said researcher Paul McClure, a sociologist in Baylor University's College of Arts & Sciences, in Texas, US. "People in certain occupations may legitimately fear losing their jobs to robots and software that can work for cheaper and for longer hours than any human," McClure added, in the paper published in the journal Social Science Computer Review. Technophobes also have 95 per cent greater odds of not being able to stop or control worrying when compared to others, and 76 per cent greater odds of feeling as if something awful might happen and are also more likely to suffer anxiety-related mental health issues.

Responses to a 2016 Tech Pro Research survey indicate that artificial intelligence and machine learning will be a significant area of development for IT in the next few years. In this recent survey, only 28 percent of respondents, most of whom were in IT leadership positions, said they have firsthand experience with artificial intelligence or machine learning. However, if the survey results hold true, the majority of respondents will be using the technologies at work in the next few years. Forty-two percent of respondents, most of whom were in tech leadership positions, said their company lacks the skills necessary to implement and support artificial intelligence or machine learning. Almost as many respondents (41 percent) said all the implementation and support work would be done in house when the time comes, and that their company is working to address artificial intelligence and machine learning in the corporate security plan.

There are only a few industries in which automation isn't threatening some job roles. "While automation will eliminate very few occupations entirely in the next decade, it will affect portions of almost all jobs to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the type of work they entail," according to McKinsey Quarterly. Roles that require empathy, like therapists and psychologists, as well as jobs that are highly reliant on social and negotiation skills, like managerial positions, are less threatened by automation, according to The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation? Those of us in roles that require creative thinking and original ideas -- like content creation -- are also deemed at less risk of having our jobs swiped from under our noses by something harder-working, "smarter," and cheaper to maintain. It's pretty tough to envision a machine generating great content ideas, not to mention creating that content -- content worth consuming.

At the start of the year, I was part of a panel that aimed to offer career guidance to graduating students at a local secondary school in Singapore. The panel dished out the usual advice about the need to have passion, work hard, and always strive to do better. A student then posed a question that struck a chord: "How can I ensure the skills I learn in school will not be obsolete by the time I enter the workforce?" These students were no older than 16 or 17 years and, if they took the typical route to university, would not begin life as working adults for at least another five to seven years. With technology changing so rapidly these days, it might very well be possible their course modules would no longer be relevant by the time they graduated.