An Apple employee suspected of stealing trade secrets faces 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 after the company reportedly found their intellectual property on his personal hard drive. Jizhong Chen is the second Chinese national working on their autonomous project to be accused of the crime in six months, after Xiaolang Zhang was arrested by FBI last July. Now electrical engineer Chen is in hot water after Apple Global Security allegedly discovered'over two thousand files containing confidential and proprietary Apple material, including manuals, schematics, and diagrams' about Project Titan. Materials allegedly found on his device include an'assembly drawing of an Apple-designed wiring harness for an autonomous vehicle' as part of their Project Titan Approximately one hundred photographs taken from within the California Apple building and containing information on the driverless car project were allegedly stored on his computer. Employees said he allowed them to search his device after a fellow worker caught Chen taking pictures in an area that was deemed sensitive, NBC Bay Area reported.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has transformed the consumer financial services market and how consumers interact with the financial services ecosystem. This paradigm shift has been driven by the accelerated maturation of the algorithms; the historic level of investment flooding the financial services market; the competition for market share between incumbents and new entrants; and rapid changes in consumers' preferences for digital financial products. From AI-driven chatbots to sophisticated wealth robo advisors, AI applications have clear potential to expand opportunities for consumers living at the margin. However, experts have yet to discuss the relevance of AI for consumer financial protection in earnest, including the implications of AI solutions that could better protect consumers. With traditional banks vying to maintain market share and maximize shareholder values, it's safe to say that the gold rush toward AI will only intensify.

Individuals and organizations alike are setting goals and resolutions for the new year. It's a great time for government entities to think about how they can improve their operational strategies with artificial intelligence (AI). In recent years, government agencies have increased efficiency and effectiveness by finding new and better ways to use their data. And big data and analytics are helping governments better serve citizens in a more cost-effective manner. AI will be a big topic of conversation in the public sector in 2019 since it presents an opportunity for governments to take the next step in their analytics journey.

Army scientists recently attempted to answer a similar question due to an ongoing concern that artificial intelligence, which can be opaque and frustrating to many people, may not be helpful in battlefield decision making. "The U.S. Army continues to push the modernization of its forces, with notable efforts including the development of smartphone-based software for real-time information delivery such as the Android Tactical Assault Kit, or ATAK, and the allocation of significant funding towards researching new AI and machine learning methods to assist command and control personnel," said Dr. James Schaffer, scientist for RDECOM's Army Research Laboratory, the Army's corporate research laboratory (ARL), at ARL West in Playa Vista, California. According to Schaffer, despite these advances, a significant gap in basic knowledge about the use of AI still exists, and it is unknown which factors of AI will or will not help military decision-making processes. University and corporate research has made significant headway into solving this problem for applications like movie and restaurant recommendations, but the findings do not exactly translate to the military world. "For instance, many research studies and A/B testing, such as those performed by Amazon, have experimented with different forms of persuasion, argumentation and user interface styles to determine the winning combination that moves the most product or inspires the most trust," Schaffer said.

If a local tech industry critic has his way, San Francisco could become the first US city to ban its agencies from using facial recognition technology. Aaron Peskin, a member of the city's Board of Supervisors, proposed the ban Tuesday as part of a suite of rules to enhance surveillance oversight. In addition to the ban on facial recognition technology, the ordinance would require city agencies to gain the board's approval before buying new surveillance technology, putting the burden on city agencies to publicly explain why they want the tools as well as the potential harms. It would also require an audit of any existing surveillance tech--things like gunshot-detection systems, surveillance cameras, or automatic license plate readers--in use by the city; officials would have to report annually on how the technology was used, community complaints, and with whom they share the data. Those rules would follow similar ordinances passed in nearby Oakland and Santa Clara County.

China and the United States are ahead of the global competition to dominate artificial intelligence (AI), according to a study by the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) published on Thursday. The research found tech giant IBM had by far the biggest AI patent portfolio with 8,920 patents, ahead of Microsoft with 5,930, and a group of mainly Japanese tech conglomerates. China accounted for 17 of the top 20 academic institutions involved in patenting AI and was particularly strong in the fast-growing area of "deep learning" - a machine-learning technique that includes speech recognition systems. "The US and China obviously have stolen a lead. They're out in front in this area in terms of numbers of applications and in scientific publications," WIPO Director-General Francis Gurry told a news conference.

Artificial intelligence is emerging as the driving force behind many advancements in technology, even though the industry has merely scratched the surface of what may be possible. But how deeply AI penetrates different market segments and technologies, and how quickly it pushes into the mainstream, depend on a variety of issues that still must be resolved. In addition to a plethora of technical issues, there needs to be progress in sanitizing data sets, resolving political, legal and ethical issues, and instilling trust in machines. None of these challenges is insurmountable, but a failure to deal with any of them will could delay the adoption of AI and slow or prevent it from reaching its full potential. Data cleaning AI applications start with large data sets. If the data is bad, the application is bad.

The inaugural MIT AI Policy Congress recently convened in Massachusetts, bringing together leading researchers, industry insiders, and policy experts for a series of discussions about the future of artificial intelligence. Hosted by MIT's Internet Policy Research Initiative (IPRI) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the conversation stressed the importance of collaboration and ethical behavior in the developing field. The key takeaway is that businesses, governments, and private citizens will need to work together to craft sensible regulations around the use of AI. "The right interaction between computer science, government, and society at large will help shape the development of new technology to address society's needs," said Daniel Weitzner, the founding director of IPRI. "There is simply too much at stake for all of us not to have a say," added R. David Edelman, IPRI's Director of the Project on Technology, the Economy, and National Security. The trouble, of course, is that different fields will incorporate AI in different ways, each of which will require different policy solutions.

It seems each new year brings with it more headlines around cybersecurity, usually the negative sort decrying the latest data breach or cyber attack. The truth is that as technology grows more sophisticated and ubiquitous, so does its seedy underbelly. This is a frustration for the consumer, and it can potentially sound the death knell for the enterprise. Fortunately, the cybersecurity industry is working overtime to prevent, harness and mitigate attacks from every angle. Add to that a more savvy consumer, more invested regulatory agencies and new market entrants poised to offer increasing levels of security and privacy protections, and it feels like we're paying greater attention and looking into better ways to keep our digital lives safe.

Allianz Insurance has rolled out its latest artificial intelligence (AI)-based digital solution that allows its injury claims handlers to automate Ministry of Justice Stage 3 claims at a single click. The new system, dubbed Defendant Hub, has been developed in collaboration with UK law firm Keoghs. The digital solution provides Allianz's injury claims handlers with an end-to-end solution for Stage 3 claims. Ministry of Justice Stage 3 claims represent the phase of the process where legal proceedings may be issued in case the parties cannot agree how much a claim is worth. The new system will eliminate the manual feeding of data and generate a response.