President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday designed to beef up how the U.S. approaches artificial intelligence. The effort comes as China continues making inroads in AI development. The so-called American AI Initiative does not directly target the communist country, but some experts believe approach leaves no doubt about the administration's designs. The move is light on details but comes as China's telecommunications industry comes under withering criticism. "Continued American leadership in Artificial Intelligence is of paramount importance to maintaining the economic and national security of the United States," Trump noted in a press statement attached to the order.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday directing the U.S. government to prioritize artificial intelligence in its research and development spending, the White House said. The order, which comes amid concerns about China's ambitions to dominate the sector and the likelihood of disruption for workers as the technology automates millions of jobs, doesn't outline specific funding goals, but says it aims to ensure that AI develops in a manner that reflects U.S. values and to push training for the future workforce. Ivanka Trump and Chris Liddell, a former Microsoft Corp. chief financial officer who is now a deputy chief of staff to the president, planned to attend the signing ceremony, according to a statement the White House issued in advance. The moves occur less than a week after Trump's State of the Union address, when he said investments in "cutting edge industries of the future" are "a necessity." The White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy said in a statement during the speech on Feb. 5 that AI was among the industries Trump was referring to, alongside 5G broadband, advanced manufacturing and others.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai brought good tidings to investors on parent company Alphabet's earnings call last week. Alphabet reported $39.3 billion in revenue last quarter, up 22 percent from a year earlier. Pichai gave some of the credit to Google's machine learning technology, saying it had figured out how to match ads more closely to what consumers wanted. One thing Pichai didn't mention: Alphabet is now cautioning investors that the same AI technology could create ethical and legal troubles for the company's business. The warning appeared for the first time in the "Risk Factors" segment of Alphabet's latest annual report, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission the following day: "New products and services, including those that incorporate or utilize artificial intelligence and machine learning, can raise new or exacerbate existing ethical, technological, legal, and other challenges, which may negatively affect our brands and demand for our products and services and adversely affect our revenues and operating results."

An artist has created elaborate symbols with his drone to draw them in under fifteen minutes using the expanse of the Colorado sky as his canvas. Giant light paintings including Pokemon characters Pikachu and Ellie, a perfect outline of a giant cube, the famous Batman symbol and the Broadway show Hamilton's logo lit up the night sky. Artist and photographer Russell Klimas uses a Lumecube, a powerful LED light, which he attaches to his drone to create bright, white streaks in the sky depicting the images. He also uses Google Earth and a navigation app called Litchi to create detailed flight plans for making waypoints to make the intricate paintings at the clearest point in the sky. Time lapse footage also shows him making the symbols in the sky in real time.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday will sign an executive order asking federal government agencies to dedicate more resources and investment into research, promotion and training on artificial intelligence (AI), a senior administration official said. Under the American AI Initiative, the administration will direct agencies to prioritize AI investments in research and development, increase access to federal data and models for that research and prepare workers to adapt to the era of AI. There was no specific funding announced for the initiative, the administration official said on a conference call, adding that it called for better reporting and tracking of spending on AI-related research and development. The initiative aims to make sure the United States keeps its research and development advantage in AI and related areas, such as advanced manufacturing and quantum computing. Trump, in his State of the Union speech last week, said he was willing to work with lawmakers to deliver new and important infrastructure investment, including investments in the cutting-edge industries of the future, calling it a "necessity."

Are algorithms and artificial intelligence inherently prejudiced? Do Facebook, Google, and Twitter have political biases? But if the question is whether the tech industry doing enough to address these biases, the straightforward response is no. Yaël Eisenstat is a former CIA officer, National Security Advisor to Vice President Biden, and CSR leader at ExxonMobil. She was the Elections Integrity Operations Head at Facebook from June to November 2018.

Overinnovation can be a distinct problem, and it may be infecting the fast-growing and competitive AI industry, said Shawn Rogers, senior director of global enablement, digital content and analytic strategy at integration and analytics vendor Tibco Software Inc. Businesses in just about every sector are deploying AI and intelligent automation in their workflows, and a growing number of vendors sell AI products and services. As AI users and AI vendors seek to beat the competition by offering the latest and the best, they risk overinnovating -- knowingly or inadvertently sacrificing safe and ethical practices to better meet the perceived needs of their clients. An AI user, for example, may replace human workers with automated ones or use a recommendation system that provides more personalized choices to customers but collects and uses more of their information. Conversely, an AI vendor might train a machine learning model with biased data or create AI-assisted healthcare software that doesn't comply with the HIPAA privacy standards established under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. President Donald Trump has now ordered U.S. government agencies to develop new regulatory approaches on AI.

America may be the current world leader in artificial intelligence, but its place is anything but assured. While nations around the world have launched programs to stimulate AI development, the Trump administration has practically ignored the topic. That changed today, when President Tump signed an executive order creating the "American AI Initiative" -- a high-level strategy guiding AI development within the US. But the program includes no new funding for AI development, and is thin on details. The administration is not sharing any timelines for reaching its stated goals, and is instead promising a more detailed plan some time in the coming six months.

But by 2017, that price tag had ballooned to $3.5 trillion flowing to and from insurers, Medicare and Medicaid via patient premiums and claims payouts to healthcare providers and drug companies. All told, keeping the U.S. healthcare system spinning took six billion insurance-related transactions (an increase of 1.2 billion transactions from 2016), according to the nonprofit Council of Affordable Quality Healthcare. Could artificial intelligence (AI) technologies help control the industry's rising costs and tsunami of paperwork? Insurers could save up to $7 billion over 18 months using AI-driven technologies by streamlining administrative processes, according to a recent Accenture study. By automating routine business tasks alone, the study projects that health insurers could save $15 million per 100 full-time employees.

WASHINGTON (AFP, BLOOMBERG) - United States President Donald Trump on Monday (Feb 11) ordered the US administration to give greater priority to artificial intelligence, a move seen as firing up a battle for leadership with China. The American AI Initiative executive order calls for the administration to "devote the full resources of the federal government" to help fuel AI innovation. "Americans have profited tremendously from being the early developers and international leaders in AI," a White House statement said. "However, as the pace of AI innovation increases around the world, we cannot sit idly by and presume that our leadership is guaranteed." The order however stops short of specific funding or a detailed strategy for deployment of artificial intelligence.