Two legal challenges have been launched against police forces in south Wales and London over their use of automated facial recognition (AFR) technology on the grounds the surveillance is unregulated and violates privacy. The claims are backed by the human rights organisations Liberty and Big Brother Watch following complaints about biometric checks at the Notting Hill carnival, on Remembrance Sunday, at demonstrations and in high streets. Liberty is supporting Ed Bridges, a Cardiff resident, who has written to the chief constable of South Wales police alleging he was tracked at a peaceful anti-arms protest and while out shopping. Big Brother Watch is working with the Green party peer Jenny Jones who has written to the home secretary, Sajid Javid, and the Metropolitan police commissioner, Cressida Dick, urging them to halt deployment of the "dangerously authoritarian" technology. If the forces do not stop using AFR systems then legal action will follow in the high court, the letters said.

The Oversight and Government Reform IT Subcommittee has been on a mission to increase the presence of artificial intelligence in government. After a series of congressional hearings on the matter Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, is realizing how far behind we are from robots taking over the world or replacing our colleagues. In these hearings, the committee heard from members of government, industry, academia and nonprofits about the challenges and opportunities AI brings -- including ethics, funding, capabilities, security, consumer expectations and more. In a recent piece written by Hurd in Fortune, he emphasizes that government adopting AI doesn't mean it'll be run by AI; but rather, it'll be "run by people with help from algorithms dramatically improving government services for all Americans," he writes. Hurd also believes AI can make it easier and faster for citizens to interact with government, while increasing government response time and speed.

Tech giant IBM has unveiled a new line of power system servers that can handle intensive computing workloads at organisations using new-age technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). "The next-generation power systems servers incorporate a newly designed POWER9 processor. This has been built specifically for compute-intensive AI workloads... Using this, enterprises can over a period of time build more accurate AI applications, faster," Satya Sharma, IBM Fellow and Cognitive Systems CTO (IBM Systems), said. He added that data scientists can build applications faster, ranging from deep learning insights in scientific research, real-time fraud detection and credit risk analysis. IBM Director (Systems) India/South Asia Viswanath Ramaswamy said over the next 2-5 years, AI will become embedded in enterprises across sectors retail and financial services.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman has agreed to open a new investigation into Centrelink's Online Compliance Intervention (OCI), better known as'robo-debt'. The OCI is a government initiative to recover supposed welfare overpayments. As part of the OCI, hundreds of thousands of letters have been sent to current and former welfare recipients asking them to explain discrepancies between Australian Taxation Office (ATO) income data and income reported to Centrelink. If they were unable to explain the difference, then a debt would be raised against them. The program was widely criticised for putting the onus on individuals to explain discrepancies in government data.

The Greater Paris Region and Beijing Municipality signed on Tuesday a five-year deal to focus on smart cities and sustainable development, Greater Paris Region President Valérie Pécresse told a press conference held in Beijing. Cooperation between the two cities, which began in 1988, will extend beyond fighting air pollution to domains such as artificial intelligence (AI), smart cities and autonomous driving, Pécresse said, noting that the two sides will fund a joint lab named City of the Future. "270 Chinese companies have invested in the greater Paris region, creating 3,700 jobs," Pécresse said, noting that there is room for further growth. Paris has become a more attractive destination than London for the first time when it comes to luring investment, Reuters reported, citing a report from consultancy firm EY. The result was partially thanks to French President Emmanuel Macron's economic reforms, the report said.

Without a doubt, retailers enjoyed a very good holiday season last year. Not only was U.S. retail spending up 4.9 percent over the previous year, but the new tax law promised to leave both businesses and many consumers with more money to spend in 2018. The critical question for retailers this year is, how can they capitalize on this changed landscape when the next holiday season rolls around in November? With an eye on making the most of the coming holiday season, Dennis breaks down how smart retailers are already using technology to drive sales. The answer, according to Steve Dennis, a leading retail consultant, blogger and former executive at Neiman Marcus and Sears, is a mixture of traditional tactics and investment in new technologies.

Apps created for the iPhone and other Apple products have helped created hundreds of thousands of jobs, the company says. Across Europe, more than 1.7 million jobs have been created and supported by Apple products. That's according to a new section on Apple's website which claims that it expects all of those numbers to keep growing. Many of those jobs are spread across the continent. That includes 22,000 Apple employees and 170,000 jobs created through suppliers – but also takes in the 1.57 million jobs that a study has shown have been created by the app economy. The I.F.O. is fuelled by eight electric engines, which is able to push the flying object to an estimated top speed of about 120mph.

This report examines some of the challenges for policymakers that may arise from the advancement and increasing application of AI. It draws together strands of thinking about the impact that AI may have on selected areas of international affairs – from military, human security and economic perspectives – over the next 10–15 years. The report sets out a broad framework to define and distinguish between the types of roles that artificial intelligence might play in policymaking and international affairs: these roles are identified as analytical, predictive and operational. In analytical roles, AI systems might allow fewer humans to make higher-level decisions, or to automate repetitive tasks such as monitoring sensors set up to ensure treaty compliance. In these roles, AI may well change – and in some ways it has already changed – the structures through which human decision-makers understand the world.

Artificial intelligence and Big Data get lots of ink (and electrons) these days about their awesome promise for the future. But here are two things of real and immediate importance that AI could do today to improve people's lives and strengthen our economy. Big Data is a Big Deal because we are being already overwhelmed with information, and it's going to get a lot more overwhelming very, very soon. The research firm IDC estimates that within two years we will have be awash in an astonishing 40 zettabytes of data (a zettabyte is one sextillion bytes), or 50 times the data that existed just in 2010. This will be the equivalent of 5,200 gigabytes of data for every man, woman, and child on the planet.

Artificial intelligence and Big Data get lots of ink (and electrons) these days about their awesome promise for the future. But here are two things of real and immediate importance that AI could do today to improve people's lives and strengthen our economy. Big Data is a Big Deal because we are being already overwhelmed with information, and it's going to get a lot more overwhelming very, very soon. The research firm IDC estimates that within two years we will have be awash in an astonishing 40 zettabytes of data (a zettabyte is one sextillion bytes), or 50 times the data that existed just in 2010. This will be the equivalent of 5,200 gigabytes of data for every man, woman, and child on the planet.