Google's partnered with the NHS' Moorfields eye-hospital in London to apply its DeepMind AI to help identify eye diseases earlier. Google's machine learning division could help curb the number of people suffering from sight loss in the UK, but it's not the first time DeepMind has been applied to healthcare; an app called Hark, acquired by Google, has been working on a pre-warning system for NHS staff to alert them to patients at risk of deterioration or death as the result of kidney failure.

Google's AI unit is getting access to a set of 1 million anonymized eye scans with the aim of improving the detection and prevention of common eye diseases.

Google's DeepMind division has announced a partnership with the NHS's Moorfields Eye Hospital to apply machine learning to spot common eye diseases earlier. The five-year research project will draw on one million anonymous eye scans which are held on Moorfields' patient database, with the aim to speed up the complex and time-consuming process of analysing eye scans. The hope is that this will allow diagnoses of common causes of sight loss, like diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration, to be spotted more rapidly and hence be treated more effectively. For example, Google says that up to 98 percent of sight loss resulting from diabetes can be prevented by early detection and treatment. Mobile app called "Streams" provides medical staff with latest clinical information.

The GEO system will also automatically update with temporary restrictions around wildfires so that drone pilots aren't interfering with firefighting aircraft. DJI announced in January that pilots would be able to unlock restricted areas with a verified account. This ensures that things like inspections and model aircraft shows can still take place, even in a typical no-fly zone. However, locations that could cause national security issues, like Washington, DC, will not be able to be unlocked. The improved GEO system is now available inside the DJI GO app for iOS and Android for use on all Inspire models and the Phantom 4, Phantom 3 Professional and Phantom 3 Advanced drones.

Coding will join this list in time, however, where it differs wildly from the afore mentioned examples is it is unlikely to be lovingly preserved for future generations to admire, fiddle with or better still, reactivate. Its essence will not be reified for one specific reason – it can't be touched and humans value tactility. We touch immediately, both inside and outside the womb. Today, we find ourselves at a pivotal moment in our existence and about to experience an exponential period of rapid technological growth the likes of which is quite probably beyond our comprehension and at a base level, will have serious implications for coding. We rather arrogantly think that because we have a good grasp of our own technological advancement so far, we can somehow predict the mass cultural and behavioural shift about to happen as we question our own skills in the world. Us techies hold on to the notion that we are the masters of code, and we will be forever commanding line by line, the computers to do our bidding.

Google DeepMind has announced a brand new research project in partnership with the NHS. The collaboration will see Google's artificial intelligence division working with London's Moorfields Eye Hospital to develop a machine learning system that will detect the early signs of degenerative eye conditions which humans might miss. Though this is the second project DeepMind is embarking on with the NHS, it's the first time the company has used machine learning in purely medical research and DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman says he thinks "one day this work will be a great benefit to patients across the NHS." Moorfields says that analysing complex eye scans is a time consuming process and traditional analysis tools have been unable to explore them fully. It hopes the research with DeepMind will lead to earlier detection and more effective treatment for patients and ultimately help to avoid cases of preventable eye disease.

A new Guardian report shows where AI is headed next, in a joint venture between Google's Deep Mind and the British NHS … The British team behind Google's AI efforts is teaming up with the UK's National Health Service and London's Moorfields Eye Hospital to build a machine learning system capable of recognizing potentially sight-threatening conditions by simply identifying symptoms from a digital scan of the eye. The core of the research will see about a million eye scans (all coming from anonymous patients) being analysed by an AI-fuelled computer, which Deepmind researchers will use to train a special algorithm. The algorithm will then allow the machine to spot early signs of eye conditions, such as wet age-related macular degenerations and diabetic retinopathy; diabetes, in fact, apparently makes it "25 times more likely to go blind", as per Mustafa Suleyman, Deepmind's co-founder. "If we can detect this, and get in there as early as possible, then 98% of the most severe visual loss might be prevented," Mustafa said. And indeed, allowing a computer to do most of the hard work would help immensely in increasing both the speed and the accuracy of a diagnosis, potentially helping the sight of thousands to be saved.

Top Gun was released 30 years ago and it looks as if the Maverick of tomorrow will be made of microchips. Developed by a University of Cincinnati (US) doctoral candidate, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) called ALPHA has consistently beaten other AIs and a retired United States Air Force Colonel in a high-fidelity, air-combat simulator using what's known as a genetic-fuzzy system that relies on off-the-shelf PC processors to do what was thought to be the reserve of supercomputers. Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs) have made great strides in recent years, going from items of speculation to the decks of aircraft carriers. But however well they've done in taking off, landing, and carrying out assigned aerial missions, there's still been a big gap between what a human pilot can do and what a combat drone can hope to achieve. Until recently, experienced humans have found it easy to beat UCAVs in simulations after learning their tricks and weaknesses.

Coding will join this list in time, however, where it differs wildly from the afore mentioned examples is it is unlikely to be lovingly preserved for future generations to admire, fiddle with or better still, reactivate. Its essence will not be reified for one specific reason – it can't be touched and humans value tactility. We touch immediately, both inside and outside the womb. Today, we find ourselves at a pivotal moment in our existence and about to experience an exponential period of rapid technological growth the likes of which is quite probably beyond our comprehension and at a base level, will have serious implications for coding. We rather arrogantly think that because we have a good grasp of our own technological advancement so far, we can somehow predict the mass cultural and behavioural shift about to happen as we question our own skills in the world.

'We have arrived,' the personal assistant announced as the automated share car pulled up outside Turing & Partners, one of London's best-known AI-powered law firms. Elon Turing looked up from his notes that were projected before him and got out at the curb on Gresham Street, not far from the Bank of England. It was very warm, as it always was these days, though there was a heaviness in the air that promised a thunder storm. Elon nodded to the car, which zipped away into the pollution free morning and disappeared into a sea of auto-taxis, self-driving buses and other share cars. He took a deep breath and marched up to the front door of the building. The door scanned his face and opened, greeting him politely as he walked into the cooled lobby. At the reception desk was Albert.