Consider an alternative history for the war in Ukraine. Intrepid Ukrainian Army units mount an effort to pick off Russian supply convoys. But rather than rely on sporadic air cover, the Russian convoys travel under a blanket of cheap drones. The armed drones carry relatively simple artificial intelligence (AI) that can identify human forms and target them with missiles. The tactic claims many innocent civilians, as the drones kill nearly anyone close enough to the convoys to threaten them with anti-tank weapons.

Some reasons why that's the case are tied to the sheer volume of digital content and the complexity of the internet. For businesses and content creators who want to reach the widest audiences possible and meet the expectations of all users, including those with disabilities, the dynamic nature of content poses an ongoing challenge. Consumers today expect personalized content, interactive features, and intuitive interfaces to find information, shop, get entertainment, etc. This level of personalization requires continuous changes in content based on user behavior, preferences, and other data. Unfortunately, every change comes with a risk of making content inaccessible for users with disabilities.

Do you worry artificial intelligence will take over the world? From Elon Musk worrying about DeepMind beating humans in the advanced game of Go in 2017, to members of Congress, European policy makers (see A European approach to artificial intelligence), and academics, there's this feeling that this is the decade to take AI seriously, and it is taking hold. Though, not for the reasons you might think and not due to any present threat. This is where algorithms come in. What is an algorithm, you may ask?

Video From the department of "we've got this supercomputer on the space station, what shall we do with it?" Wear and tear is a problem for astronauts venturing out of the orbiting lab, and while helmets filling with water may have garnered all the headlines, decades of grabbing for handrails and maneuvering equipment takes its toll on gloves. The gloves have five layers – a rubberized coating, followed by a cut-resistant material called Vectran then three further layers to keep the person inside at just the right temperature and pressure. Problems come when wear reaches the Vectran layer, for beyond that lies the pressure bladder and a bit further, the squishy human. Since, by their nature, the gloves get quite a bit of use, NASA insists astronauts take photos of their gloves and send them back to Earth for inspection prior to reuse. While this is all very well on the ISS, doing something similar on (or in orbit around) Mars, or when communication is constrained, is less than ideal.

The April 4, 2022 report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change makes it clear that it is "now or never" for the planet. We are "firmly on track toward an unlivable world," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in releasing the report. There's every chance that global temperatures will soar by 3 degrees Celsius, twice as much as the agreed-upon 1.5 C limit. Unless we take drastic steps and cut down emissions by 43 percent within this decade, the full force of this existential threat will be upon us. In this context, it is interesting that some researchers have taken artificial intelligence--a technology often considered an existential threat in its own right– and tried to turn it into a vehicle for climate action.

Cancer patients experience high rates of chronic pain throughout the treatment process. Assessing pain for this patient population is a vital component of psychological and functional well-being, as it can cause a rapid deterioration of quality of life. Existing work in facial pain detection often have deficiencies in labeling or methodology that prevent them from being clinically relevant. This paper introduces the first chronic cancer pain dataset, collected as part of the Intelligent Sight and Sound (ISS) clinical trial, guided by clinicians to help ensure that model findings yield clinically relevant results. The data collected to date consists of 29 patients, 509 smartphone videos, 189,999 frames, and self-reported affective and activity pain scores adopted from the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI). Using static images and multi-modal data to predict self-reported pain levels, early models show significant gaps between current methods available to predict pain today, with room for improvement. Due to the especially sensitive nature of the inherent Personally Identifiable Information (PII) of facial images, the dataset will be released under the guidance and control of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The TechCrunch Global Affairs Project examines the increasingly intertwined relationship between the tech sector and global politics. Geopolitical actors have always used technology to further their goals. Unlike other technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) is far more than a mere tool. We do not want to anthropomorphize AI or suggest that it has intentions of its own. It is not -- yet -- a moral agent.

Saudi's state-owned oil company announced today its plan to support artificial intelligence (AI) research in the kingdom. Aramco signed a memorandum of understanding with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology north of Jeddah to create a new research center for AI at the educational institution. The center will focus on research, development and marketing of AI technologies, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. The center will "provide a joint framework for working with Saudi Aramco in a close way to develop proper and quick solutions for the needs of the energy sector, among other relevant sectors," said university vice president Donal Bradley. Why it matters: Saudi Arabia is seeking to diversify its economy and rely less on oil as per the Vision 2030 initiative. The kingdom has had some success in this regard.

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. A Southern California man robbed more than 20 dates he met on a gay dating app and stabbed one victim in the chest during one robbery, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. Derrick Patterson, 22, a resident of the Los Angeles suburb of Compton, was arrested Monday by the FBI. His most recent robbery occurred on March 26 at a Beverly Hills hotel, authorities said.

Artificial Intelligence: The Year in Review Canada January 16 2018 By all accounts, "Maple Valley" is thriving. Based on available data to date, it is estimated that funding raised by Canadian AI companies in 2017 will exceed US$250 million, representing an almost two-fold increase from the previous record historical high of US$143 million in 2015. Notably, the 2017 federal budget provided for C$125 million in research and development funds earmarked for AI initiatives and nearly C$1 billion over 5 years to promote innovation superclusters. Joining dozens of growing start-ups in AI cluster cities such as Toronto or Montreal, global tech giants such as Google, Facebook and Samsung have invested in or opened Canadian AI labs in 2017. As we begin the new year, we pause to reflect on some of 2017's most notable developments in AI and prepare for new trends to watch out for in 2018.