Accounting fraud is a global concern representing a significant threat to the financial system stability due to the resulting diminishing of the market confidence and trust of regulatory authorities. Several tricks can be used to commit accounting fraud, hence the need for non-static regulatory interventions that take into account different fraudulent patterns. Accordingly, this study aims to improve the detection of accounting fraud via the implementation of several machine learning methods to better differentiate between fraud and non-fraud companies, and to further assist the task of examination within the riskier firms by evaluating relevant financial indicators. Out-of-sample results suggest there is a great potential in detecting falsified financial statements through statistical modelling and analysis of publicly available accounting information. The proposed methodology can be of assistance to public auditors and regulatory agencies as it facilitates auditing processes, and supports more targeted and effective examinations of accounting reports.

China was late to the last industrial revolution, but with the arrival of AI it is determined not to miss the next one. The Chinese government is introducing a textbook called "Fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence" to 40 high schools, according to the South China Morning Post. It describes the history of AI and how the technology can be applied in areas like facial recognition, autonomous driving, and public security. Last year, the central government asked the country's education policy makers to include AI courses in primary and secondary schools. The nine-chapter book was penned by an all-star lineup, including the chairman of one of the world's most valuable AI startups, SenseTime.

May 7, 2018 --A streak of rocket fire pierced the foggy predawn skies of southern California Saturday, as NASA sent off its latest Mars mission. The InSight mission is set to rack up a series of "firsts." It will also be the first time CubeSats will deploy in deep space. And, if the mission is successful, it will be the first time that scientists gather direct data on the interior of another planet and detect quakes on another planet. Despite all these firsts, the mission marks the 45th time humans have sent robotic envoys to uncover Mars's secrets (although only about half of those missions are considered a success).

Uber's new CEO told a New York City crowd that all technology companies, not just Facebook, must start making ethical decisions to minimize problematic impacts their innovations may have in society. Car equipped with Uber's self driving technology. SAN FRANCISCO -- Uber has brought on a former head of the National Transportation Safety Board to conduct a "top-to-bottom" safety review of its self-driving car program, which killed a pedestrian in March. The move comes as clouds of doubt gather over the ride-hailing company's autonomous car initiative, which was rushed into existence a few years ago by ousted CEO Travis Kalanick and has been playing catch-up to the nine-year effort by Alphabet-owned Waymo. Uber announced Monday that it was bringing on board former NTSB chairman Christoper Hart to "advise us on our overall safety culture," said spokesperson Chelsea Kohler.

It's no secret that our planet is struggling with the pressures humans are putting it under. Discarding plastic in oceans, burning fuels and using an abundance of petrol are only some of the ways we're melting the ice caps and thinning the ozone layer. Warnings from experts are becoming more severe and many organisations are working on methods to help combat global warming. Microsoft has just announced that they are broadening their AI for Earth program and'investing $50 million over the next five years to put artificial intelligence technology in the hands of individuals and organisations around the world who are working to protect our planet.' With advances in artificial intelligence, we can learn more and more about the planet and are able to identify elements such as the conditions of the oceans, the well-being of wildlife, and the pollution levels of the air to help us make informed decisions on how to reduce this.

Some jobs are simply too dangerous for humans. Near the top of that list is nuclear cleanup -- so to keep us mere homo sapiens safe, we're sending in robots. To help improve the bots' decision making skills, scientists at the University of Lincoln have won a grant to develop artificial intelligence systems for self-learning robots deployed at nuclear sites. The team received £1.1 million ($1.5 million) from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to develop machine learning AI. The algorithms will help robots handle tasks like decommissioning, waste handling and site monitoring. Researchers will develop AI for mapping and navigation, as well as vision-guided grasping, manipulation and cutting.

My family and I just completed our annual pre-Christmas pilgrimage to ski and snowboard in Colorado. For the ride we listened to "We Are Legion, We Are Bob" by Dennis E. Taylor. "We are Legion…" is the story of Bob Johansson, an entrepreneur software developer who in the process of setting up for his future, on the eve of selling his company, signs up for cryonic freezing in the event of his death. Bob is subsequently killed by a car and wakes up as a "replicant" AI 117 years into a dystopian world on the brink of mutually assured destruction. Bob is given the task of becoming a self-replicating, interstellar probe to claim habitable planets in an international space race.

Uber has reportedly discovered that the fatal crash involving one of its prototype self-driving cars was probably caused by software faultily set up to ignore objects in the road, sources told The Information. The autonomous programming detects items around the vehicle and operators fine-tune its sensitivity to make sure it only reacts to true threats (solid objects instead of bags, for example). Unfortunately, the car's software was supposedly set too far in the other direction, and didn't stop in time to avoid hitting bicyclist Elaine Herzberg. There was a human driver behind the wheel, but they reportedly took their eyes off the road in the seconds leading up to the crash. Uber settled with the family of the victim, but the resulting panic caused the Arizona governor to halt all testing, and other companies voluntarily delayed their own testing until the dust settled.

We have initiated a top-to-bottom safety review of our self-driving vehicles program, and we have brought on former NTSB Chair Christopher Hart to advise us on our overall safety culture,

We also invented… cross-functional partners.