Marines work on armed MUTT robot in MIX-16 experiment. WASHINGTON: The debate over the use of artificial intelligence in warfare is heating up, with Google employees protesting their company's Pentagon contracts, South Koreans protesting university cooperation with their military, and international experts gathering next week to debate whether to pursue a treaty limiting military AI. While countries like Russia and China are investing heavily in artificial intelligence without restraints, the US and allied militaries like South Korea face a rising tide of opposition. The international conclave has the kind of name you only encounter when dealing with the United Nations and related organizations: the Convention on Conventional Weapons Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (CCWGGELAWS?). Those experts meet next week and in August.

International travelers could soon be greeted by AI powered lie-detecting robot kiosks before crossing borders. The system, known as the Automated Virtual Agent for Truth Assessment in Real Time, was tested at the U.S.-Mexico border on travelers deemed a low risk six years ago. Since then, it has been tested at the Canadian Border Services Agency and the European Union, and it is hoped this can soon help agents screen for criminals and even potential terrorists. The system, known as the Automated Virtual Agent for Truth Assessment in Real Time, has been tested by Canada, the U.S., and the European Union and it's hoped this can soon help agents screen for criminals and even potential terrorists The robot uses eye-detection software along with an array of sensors to pick up on the physiological signs that indicate a person is lying, and once it becomes suspicious, it can flag the passenger for further inspection. Donald Trump requested $223 million from Homeland Security for 2019 for'high-priority infrastructure, border security technology improvements,' as in addition to $210.5 million for hiring new border agents.

Barron Trump almost certainly knows more about tech than his dad. The White House committee on artificial intelligence is pretty artificial itself. Last week the Trump administration announced the formation of an advisory council on AI and other tech issues. This committee was the culmination of the Artificial Intelligence for American Industry Summit, which brought together over 100 tech, science, government and business leaders. "AI is quickly transforming American life and American business, improving how we diagnose and treat illnesses, grow our food, manufacture and deliver new products, manage our finances, power our homes and travel from point A to point B," the final summit report concluded.

Artificial intelligence researchers have called on Google to abandon a project developing AI technology for the military, warning that autonomous weapons directly contradict the firm's famous'Don't Be Evil' motto. The experts join more than 3,100 of Google's own employees, who signed an open letter last month protesting the company's involvement in a controversial Pentagon program called Project Maven. The partnership between the technology giant and the US Military involves using customised AI surveillance software to analyse data from drone footage in order to better recognise target objects, such as distinguishing between a human on the ground and a vehicle. Around a dozen employees have reportedly resigned in protest at Google's refusal to cut ties with the US military, each one citing ethical concerns to Gizmodo. Google did not respond to a request for comment from The Independent.

Darktrace has become a rarity in the British tech scene: a Unicorn. The cybersecurity company, which provides what it calls a network "immune system" powered by artificial intelligence, hit a $1.25 billion valuation last month, two sources close to the deal told Forbes. The new valuation came after a secondary round of financing in which former investors sold off their stakes. Vitruvian Partners, sources said, is the acquirer of the stock. How did Darktrace find itself at the vaunted Unicorn status?

Very recently, the outbreak of AI-doctored pornographic videos in which the faces of the original actors had been swapped with those of celebrities and politicians caused panic over the implications of artificial intelligence applications blurring the line between what's real and what's not. Similar concerns surfaced when Google demonstrated an AI technology that could create human voice patterns that were indistinguishable from humans at last week's I/O Conference. For the most part, the concerns are well-placed. Thanks to advances in machine learning and deep learning, AI applications are becoming extremely convincing at reproducing human appearance and behavior. There are already several applications that can convincingly synthesize a person's face, voice, handwriting, and even conversation style.

Israel's education system and military service have created a pool of talented people working in cybersecurity and "that is something we deeply need to take advantage of", Quentin Clark, who leads engineering, product and design at Dropbox, told reporters on Tuesday during a visit to Israel.

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - U.S. file-sharing and storage company Dropbox plans to expand its development center in Tel Aviv by hiring more staff and looking out for acquisition opportunities in security and machine-learning. Israel's education system and military service have created a pool of talented people working in cybersecurity and "that is something we deeply need to take advantage of", Quentin Clark, who leads engineering, product and design at Dropbox, told reporters on Tuesday during a visit to Israel. Dropbox, which went public on Nasdaq in March in the biggest tech IPO in over a year, established a presence in Israel in 2015 when it bought mobile productivity startup CloudOn. Clark said it was now looking for potential acquisitions in the fields of security and machine learning. He said he would be visiting universities in Israel this week to look at machine-learning technologies.

Artificial Intelligence, which has suddenly caught the attention of the IT industry and the governments across the world, is facing a large skills shortage, a top Microsoft official has said. The fast-emerging field of Artificial Intelligence, which has suddenly caught the attention of the IT industry and the governments across the world, is facing a large skills shortage, a top Microsoft official has said. The Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also facing the challenge of appropriate use of data, group programme manager of Microsoft Learning Matt Winkler told PTI. "There is a pretty large skills shortage. Lots of folks are talking about it (AI). A lot of folks are very, very excited about it and then they want to go and make that real. And when they go to make that real, there's a really large skills shortage," Winkler said.

I can't sit here and guarantee you a robot won't take your job one day--capitalism kind of has a thing for automation. What I can tell you is that in the near future, robots will be doing jobs that no one wants to do. Which is why for its next robotics competition, Darpa is going underground, with the Darpa Subterranean Challenge. If you don't remember, that's the same far-out federal research agency that put on the Grand Challenge (which helped kick off the self-driving car revolution), and the Robotics Challenge (which helped get humanoids walking among us). And now it's calling on researchers to autonomously explore the innards of Earth.