Adversarial attacks are an increasingly worrisome threat to the performance of artificial intelligence applications. If an attacker can introduce nearly invisible alterations to image, video, speech, and other data for the purpose of fooling AI-powered classification tools, it will be difficult to trust this otherwise sophisticated technology to do its job effectively. Imagine how such attacks could undermine AI-powered autonomous vehicles ability to recognize obstacles, content filters' effectiveness in blocking disturbing images, or in access systems' ability to deter unauthorized entry. Some people argue that adversarial threats stem from "deep flaws" in the neural net technology that powers today's AI. After all, it's well-understood that many machine learning algorithms--even traditional logistic-regression classifiers--are vulnerable to adversarial attacks.

Horizons Ventures has backed 3 unique companies on the map: Viv Labs, Sentient Technologies, and Affectiva. Increased investor interest in AI startups – from around 10 deals in Q1'11 to over 120 in Q2'16 – can be attributed to recent advances in machine learning algorithms, particularly "deep learning" technology, a souped up version of AI. Just this week, Google integrated deep learning into its Google Translate tool; Baidu announced the launch of DeepBench, an "open source benchmarking tool for evaluating deep learning performance across different hardware platforms"; and NVIDIA introduced Xavier, a deep learning-based supercomputer for driverless cars. In the private market, Google put deep learning in the spotlight back in 2014 when it acquired 4 startups focused on this AI tech in quick succession: DeepMind, Vision Factory, Dark Blue Labs, and DNNresearch. Apple, which joined the race in 2015, most recently acquired Turi, which has developed a deep learning toolkit, among other AI-based solutions.

Artificial intelligence technology has promise for healthcare, but providers looking to deploy the technology could run into some significant challenges. AI tools are being applied to cybersecurity, precision medicine, wellness and a variety of other major initiatives in the industry. But for them to truly work, providers must analyze the costs effectively and tie the tech to a particular issue, write Jennifer S. Geeter and Dale C. Van Demark, healthcare attorneys at McDermott Will & Emery, in an article for Hospitals & Health Networks. RELATED: Plenty of buzz for AI in healthcare, but are any systems actually using it? Experts have warned that the sky-high expectations for AI should be tempered.

I find it appropriate that my first post on this platform will be on a topic that is in many ways central to my life and ever-more so to the lives of us all-- namely, artificial intelligence, or AI. This is actually just going to be a repost of my response to a Quora question asked by someone, where a number of other people, including famed Professor Andrew Ng, have responded. This topic of AI regulation is complex and multi-faceted, involving many (all?) people from various fields. However, as someone who's used AI in his work extensively, and as a long-time technologist and programmer, I wonder at some of the responses this question has received in the wider media, in particular by the AI community and other technologists-the most common view (and I exaggerate and simplify here) is that technological progress is good and must continue as fast as possible. Most of the rest of the technological and scientific world has a variety of monitoring systems and regulatory systems in place.

The next 10 years will likely see a revolution in the use of cognitive technologies for health care. Admittedly, the industry has not been a leader in the use of data and analytics in the past. Multiple disconnected systems, poor data quality, and difficult-to-change patient and provider behaviors have often been part of the challenges related to health care information. "Imprecision medicine" has generally been the rule. But there are clear signs of change in the $3 trillion US health care industry1 that we believe will come to fruition over the next decade. And from an information technology perspective, cognitive technologies are probably the only resource that can make that revolutionary vision for personalized health care possible.

Australian cybersecurity expert Nick Patterson created quite a stir when he told the Daily Star hackers could theoretically hijack high-tech sex dolls and use them to kill people. "Once a robot is hacked, the hacker has full control and can issue instructions to the robot," Patterson told The Daily Star. Patterson later told Men's Health the tabloids sensationalized his broader observation about artificial intelligence: AI-powered robots are still machines. They can get hacked just like any other computer connected to the internet. Regardless, there's no need to fear sex tech.

The increasing number of satellites and advancements in climate models has improved the weather forecasting over the last many years. Weather forecasting, is not a perfect science; it still needs a lot of improvement in terms of timing, location, and intensity of forecast weather. The same goes for analyzing climate change. And, the prime reason behind this is lack of data to make more accurate forecasts. Global warming researchers face lack of important data.

Lockheed Martin has released new footage from tests with its laser weapon system, revealing how'Athena' can deliver an invisible killing blow to take down an enemy drone. In the tests conducted last month at New Mexico's White Sands Missile Range, the prototype weapon successfully shot down five unmanned Outlaw aircraft. The hair-raising footage shows the moment flames burst from the tails of the flying drones one by one before they plummet toward the ground, as the silent attack causes both loss of control and structural failure. Lockheed Martin has released new footage from tests with its laser weapon system, revealing how'Athena' can deliver an invisible killing blow to take down an enemy drone. Lockheed Martin's laser is a beam combined fiber laser, meaning it brings together individual lasers, generated through fiber optics, to generate a single, intense laser beam.

Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke installed "Big Buck Hunter Pro" in the Department of the Interior's cafeteria Tuesday as part of an attempt to promote hunting and fishing. "Big Buck Hunter" is an arcade game with plastic guns that simulates hunting deer and other animals. "To highlight #sportsmen contributions 2 conservation I installed Big Buck Hunter in the employee cafeteria. Get excited for #hunting season!" said Zinke in a tweet. To highlight #sportsmen contributions 2 conservation I installed Big Buck Hunter in the employee cafeteria.

IBM Chief Executive Officer Ginni Rometty was interviewed on Sept. 13 in New York City by Bloomberg Businessweek Editor Megan Murphy. Following are excerpts from their discussion, which appear in the Sept. 25, 2017, edition of Bloomberg Businessweek. People may not know that IBM doesn't call it AI. They call it " cognitive computing." Tell us why that is. Ginni Rometty: I have actually had to explain this to my husband as well, because he said to me, "Ginni, of all words, why cognitive?" It was really a very thoughtful decision. The world calls it AI.