SONAL SHAH: It's also about how do we make data more useful for people to use and to solve problems in their communities? TANYA OTT: Okay, that is a big job. Who is this superhuman who fills it? TANYA OTT: We'll tell you, in a moment. But first, let me say, you're listening to the Press Room, where we talk about some of the biggest issues facing businesses today. I'm Tanya Ott and joining me today are Bill Eggers … I am the executive director and a professor of practice at Georgetown University's Beeck Center. TANYA OTT: Bill and Sonal are coauthors of The CDO Playbook – a guide for Chief Data Officers. For the last decade, government has been focused on making data more open and easily [accessible] to the public.

"The increasing amount of available data, mainly due to the proliferation of access to the internet in countries where peacekeeping missions take place, has caused a technology-driven transformation of the operational environment. This comes at a time of significant developments in the fields of artificial intelligence and particularly machine learning, most of whose applications still rely on massive amounts of data. As such these developments have produced some promising individual initiatives to exploit this new and growing potential for United Nations operations." At least as early as 1996 researchers have used machine learning (ML) to predict conflicts[1]. Today, mainly due to significantly higher amounts of available data[2], advancements in computing power and the progress made in natural language processing, several artificial intelligence (AI) tools have been added to the peacekeeping arsenal.

QuantX recently became the first-ever computer-aided breast cancer diagnosis system cleared by the FDA for use in radiology, but it's not putting radiologists out of a job any time soon. "Radiology is the backbone of diagnosing many diseases today," said Jeffrey Aronin, chairman and CEO of Paragon Biosciences. "We believe the future is radiologists with technology." The combination of humans and machines apparently works really well. In a clinical study, QuantX helped radiologists interpret MRIs, noting the differences between cancerous and noncancerous breast lesions.

Advancements in artificial intelligence software in the commercial space have gained traction in recent years. From Watson assisting with diagnoses in doctors' offices to the computer programs running risk analysis for banks making lending decisions, AI has permeated many facets of our lives. However, the federal government's use of AI has received far less attention, despite directly impacting most citizens across the country. The term "artificial intelligence" has been co-opted for a wide array of applications. The definition often includes everything from marginally automated systems to advanced machine learning programs that make decisions independently of a human operator.

Elon Musk doesn't think his newest endeavor, revealed Tuesday night after two years of relative secrecy, will end all human suffering. At a presentation at the California Academy of Sciences, hastily announced via Twitter and beginning a half hour late, Musk presented the first product from his company Neuralink. It's a tiny computer chip attached to ultrafine, electrode-studded wires, stitched into living brains by a clever robot. And depending on which part of the two-hour presentation you caught, it's either a state-of-the-art tool for understanding the brain, a clinical advance for people with neurological disorders, or the next step in human evolution. The chip is custom-built to receive and process the electrical action potentials--"spikes"--that signal activity in the interconnected neurons that make up the brain.

Some Uber drivers in New York City want to see a decrease in the commission taken by the company. SAN FRANCISCO -- Gig economy workers are increasingly ubiquitous, shuttling us to appointments and delivering our food while working for Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and others. Thanks in large part to the app-based tech boom emanating from this city, 36% of U.S. workers participate in the gig economy, according to Gallup. But not all gigs are created equal, Gallup adds, noting that so-called "contingent gig workers" experience their workplace "like regular employees do, just without the benefits of a traditional job -- benefits, pay and security." California lawmakers are weighing what is considered a pro-worker bill that, if passed into law, would set a national precedent that fundamentally redefines the relationship between worker and boss by forcing corporations to pay up.

We hear a lot about AI and its transformative potential. What that means for the future of humanity, however, is not altogether clear. Some futurists believe life will be improved, while others think it is under serious threat. Here's a range of takes from 11 experts. Join nearly 200,000 subscribers who receive actionable tech insights from Techopedia. That is the first sentence in Yudkowsy's 2002 report entitled "Artificial Intelligence as a Positive and Negative Factor in Global Risk" for the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI).

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly finding applications in nearly every walk of life. Self-driving cars, social media networks, cybersecurity companies, and everything in between uses it. But a new report published by the SHERPA consortium – an EU project studying the impact of AI on ethics and human rights – finds that while human attackers have access to machine learning techniques, they currently focus most of their efforts on manipulating existing AI systems for malicious purposes instead of creating new attacks that would use machine learning. The study's primary focus is on how malicious actors can abuse AI, machine learning, and smart information systems. The researchers identify a variety of potentially malicious uses for AI that are well within reach of today's attackers, including the creation of sophisticated disinformation and social engineering campaigns. And while the research found no definitive proof that malicious actors are currently using AI to power cyber attacks, they highlight that adversaries are already attacking and manipulating existing AI systems used by search engines, social media companies, recommendation websites, and more.

Elon Musk's secretive "brain-machine interface" startup, Neuralink, stepped out of the shadows on Tuesday evening, revealing its progress in creating a wireless implantable device that can – theoretically – read your mind. At an event at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, Musk touted the startup's achievements since he founded it in 2017 with the goal of staving off what he considers to be an "existential threat": artificial intelligence (AI) surpassing human intelligence. Two years later, Neuralink claims to have achieved major advances toward Musk's goal of having human and machine intelligence work in "symbiosis". Neurolink says it has designed very small "threads" – smaller than a human hair – that can be injected into the brain to detect the activity of neurons. It also says it has developed a robot to insert those threads in the brain, under the direction of a neurosurgeon.

Summary: Despite our concerns about China taking the lead in AI, our own government efforts mostly through DARPA continue powerful leadership and funding to maintain our lead. Here's their plan to maintain that lead over the next decade. Think all those great ideas that have powered AI/ML for the last 10 years came from Silicon Valley and a few universities? Hard as it may be to admit it's the seed money in the billions that our government has spent that got pretty much all of these breakthroughs to the doorway of commercial acceptability. Dozens of articles bemoan the huge investments that China is making in AI with the threat that they will pull ahead.