Abu Dhabi Digital Authority (ADDA) has launched the'Artificial Intelligence Lab,' a new initiative which will provide a dedicated platform to develop innovative digital solutions using AI and machine learning. According to ADDA, the AI Lab will apply these solutions to improve the efficiency in services and contribute to excellence in government performance. The AI lab, which was announced at the recently concluded'GITEX Technology Week', forms part of ADDA's strategy to employ cutting-edge technology applications in developing innovative digital solutions for various government services in partnership with Abu Dhabi government entities. The lab offers high-performance computing abilities and has been made available for all Abu Dhabi government entities as a service, where users can access the platform and have the opportunity to know more about machine learning techniques, develop simulation and predictive models with their data sets, engage with AI experts, and experiment with Data Sets for Data Visualisation. ADDA has trained more than 70 Abu Dhabi government employees on AI technologies and has already adopted plans to train 120 employees more over the next two months.

In an age when artificial intelligence can churn out poetry, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is expanding its query into how intellectual property protections need to adapt to cover creations by non-humans.

An Astronomer has released our best and sharpest look to date at Comet Borisov, the second ever-known interstellar object to visit our solar system, using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to capture the new image. The comet was travelling at around 110,000 miles per hour when University of California Los Angeles astronomer David Jewitt studied it on October 12, 2019, when it was 260 million miles away. The comet -- which is named after the Crimean astronomer who discovered it -- will pass within around 177,000 miles (285,000 kilometres) of the Earth in early December this year. It is trailing behind it a 100,000 mile-long tail of dust, which is released as the comet melts in the Sun's glare. After this, it will head back out towards interstellar space, passing Jupiter around the middle of 2020.

The Digital Single strategy of the European Commission sets out to "open up digital opportunities for people and business and enhance Europe's position as a world leader in the digital economy."(1) This article will briefly examine a part of that by looking at the work of the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (Unit A.1). We know that the Unit sets out to push forward the development of a competitive industry in robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) throughout Europe. Certainly, this includes industrial and service robots plus the growing field of autonomous systems from drones and driverless vehicles to computing and cognitive vision. Also, the Unit encourages the wide uptake and best use of robotics and AI in all societal and industrial fields.

Humans developed technology to serve them and now it threatens their very existence. "Deepfakes" or Deepfake videos are the latest addition to the league of AI-powered advancements that are doing more harm than good. Imagine this: Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder, who is theoretically privy to the private data of two billion people, sinisterly claimed in an Instagram video, "I owe it all to Spectre. They showed me whoever controls the data, controls the future." To mimic the appearance of genuine news, the video is framed by broadcast chyrons saying "We're increasing transparency on ads."

We're looking back at the highlights from the Digital Pathology and AI meeting in 2018 as we anticipate this year's Digital Pathology and AI Congress in December. This second post in our mini-series reviews Marylin Bui's keynote presentation where she explained how the combination of Digital Pathology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds huge potential for patient care. In the first keynote address for the 5th Digital Pathology & AI Congress (Europe), Professor of Pathology, Marilyn Bui, focused on how digital pathology is impacting on precision medicine. During her address, 'Unleash the Power of Digital Pathology and Artificial Intelligence for Precision Medicine', the professor outlined how digital pathology provides connectivity and accessibility by combining with image analysis and AI; leading to improved quality and efficiency, and transforming pathology data into clinically actionable knowledge to help deliver precision medicine. The next phase of advanced imaging analysis combined with AI is a'game changer' in advancing the field, she added.

Abu Dhabi announced the establishment of the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, which will enable graduate students, businesses, and governments to advance the artificial intelligence field. The University will introduce a new model of academia and research to the field of AI, providing students and faculty access to some of the world's most advanced AI systems to unleash its potential for economic and societal development. Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of State, who has been appointed Chair of the MBZUAI Board of Trustees and is spearheading the establishment of the University, said, "Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence aligns with the vision of the UAE leadership that is based on sustainable development, progress and the overall well-being of humanity. Experts from around the world have been selected for the University's Board of Trustees, WAM reported. They include MBZUAI Interim President, Professor Sir Michael Brady, professor of Oncological Imaging at the University of Oxford, UK; Professor Anil K. Jain, a University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University, USA; Professor Andrew Chi-Chih Yao, Dean of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China; Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, a technology executive and venture capitalist based in Beijing, China; Professor Daniela Rus, Director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, USA, and Peng Xiao, CEO of Group 42. The Board of Trustees will be supported by an Advisory Board, chaired by Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, and will include Sarah bint Yousif Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Sciences; Dr. Ahmad bin Abdullah Humaid Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Higher Education and Advanced Skills; Jassim Al Zaabi, Chairman of the Department of Finance, and Dr. Wan Li Min, Chief Machine Intelligence Scientist at Alibaba. Over the next decade, AI is set to have a transformational impact on the global economy, with experts estimating that, by 2030, AI could contribute nearly US$16 trillion to the global economy. Al Jaber added, "The invention of electricity, the railroad, smartphones all transformed the world as we knew it.

Interactions and transactions today are becoming digital. This is especially true in India where the Government is aiming at empowering citizens by harnessing digital technologies. Several e-initiatives such as AADHAR, Smart Cities, e-Panchayat to name a few, under the aegis of infrastructure, services and empowerment, have been launched by the Government of India (GOI), and are seamlessly enabling digitization services across sectors. Proliferation of smartphones, social media and reduced data tariffs has further transformed India into one of the most digitally active and connected regions in the world. Over the last few years, we have witnessed a dramatic increase in the breadth and depth of digital services as organizations leverage game-changing technologies, such as cloud and Artificial Intelligence (AI), to digitally transform their business models, products and customer engagement approaches.

In 2018 the Reddit community r/deepfakes gained international attention thanks to a piece of investigative journalism by Samantha Cole, deputy editor at VICE. Members of the forum had been using a burgeoning technology to superimpose celebrities' faces onto pornographic videos. For the general public – and no doubt the unwitting stars – it was a shock. Most were unaware this technology existed. Very few believed it was possible to produce such realistic footage.

But what if the final assembly was the only assembly, with the whole plane built out of a large array of tiny identical pieces, all put together by an army of tiny robots? That's the vision that graduate student Benjamin Jenett, working with Professor Neil Gershenfeld in MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA), has been pursuing as his doctoral thesis work. It's now reached the point that prototype versions of such robots can assemble small structures and even work together as a team to build up a larger assemblies. The new work appears in the October issue of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, in a paper by Jenett, Gershenfeld, fellow graduate student Amira Abdel-Rahman, and CBA alumnus Kenneth Cheung SM '07, PhD '12, who is now at NASA's Ames Research Center, where he leads the ARMADAS project to design a lunar base that could be built with robotic assembly. "What's at the heart of this is a new kind of robotics, that we call relative robots," Gershenfeld says.