Goto

Collaborating Authors

 Government


European politicians have voted to rein in the robots

#artificialintelligence

Mady Delvaux wrote a report urging European politicians to enforce regulation around AI and robotics. European politicians have voted in favour of a controversial report calling for regulation on robots and artificial intelligence (AI). The vote, which took place in France on Thursday, was based on a report from the Legal Affairs Committee, which warned that there is a growing need for regulation to address increasingly autonomous robots and other forms of sophisticated AI. The report passed 396-to-123, with 85 abstentions. "MEP's (Members of the European Parliament) voted overwhelmingly in favour of the report," said a spokesperson for the European Parliament.


Trump Administration Re-evaluating Self-driving Car Guidance

U.S. News

She said the Trump administration wanted to ensure it "is a catalyst for safe, efficient technologies, not an impediment. In particular, I want to challenge Silicon Valley, Detroit, and all other auto industry hubs to step up and help educate a skeptical public about the benefits of automated technology."


Luddites Against Job-Killing Automation And Technology Enthusiasts Creating New Industries

Forbes - Tech

This week's milestones in tech history include the first mass movement fighting automation, the first photography studio in New York, and the first meeting of the hobbyists club where the first Apple computer was demonstrated throughout its development. Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in a parliamentary debate on the Frame Breaking Act. During the short time I recently passed in Nottingham, not twelve hours elapsed without some fresh act of violence; and on that day I left the county I was informed that forty Frames had been broken the preceding evening, as usual, without resistance and without detection. Such was the state of that county, and such I have reason to believe it to be at this moment. But whilst these outrages must be admitted to exist to an alarming extent, it cannot be denied that they have arisen from circumstances of the most unparalleled distress: the perseverance of these miserable men in their proceedings, tends to prove that nothing but absolute want could have driven a large, and once honest and industrious, body of the people, into the commission of excesses so hazardous to themselves, their families, and the community.


Kenneth Arrow, Nobel-Winning Economist Whose Influence Spanned Decades, Dies at 95

NYT > Economy

The backdrop for Professor Arrow's influential early work was the centuries-long recognition that majority voting can produce arbitrary outcomes. Consider a legislature choosing its leader from among three candidates: Alice, Betty and Harry. If the legislature were to vote first on Alice versus Betty, with the winner running against Harry, it could come to a different decision than had it first started by voting on Alice versus Harry. Because the order with which the legislature takes votes is arbitrary, the ultimate winner of this system of majority voting becomes arbitrary. That puts politics in an awkward corner.


The Future of Work: The Future of Not Working

NYT > Economy

The village is poor, even by the standards of rural Kenya. To get there, you follow a power line along a series of unmarked roads. Eventually, that power line connects to the school at the center of town, the sole building with electricity. Homesteads fan out into the hilly bramble, connected by rugged paths. There is just one working water tap, requiring many local women to gather water from a pit in jerrycans.


£17 million boost for the UK's booming artificial intelligence sector - GOV.UK

#artificialintelligence

New measures to support Britain's world-leading AI sector are set to be announced as part of a bold Digital Strategy to boost growth and deliver a thriving, outward-looking digital economy that works for everyone. Accenture has estimated AI could add in the region of £654 billion ($814 billion) to the UK economy by 2035. So the Strategy, due to published by Culture Secretary Karen Bradley MP on Wednesday (March 1), builds on the plan set out in the Government's Industrial Strategy to capitalise on Britain's existing strengths and back new technologies where the UK can take a lead. Britain already has a competitive advantage in Artificial Intelligence, with some of the world's most innovative AI companies based here and a rich ecosystem of investors, employers, developers and clients. It is a fast-growing area for research and commercial investment, including by major global digital companies, and was identified as one of the technologies that could be supported through the Government's new Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund and the Challenger Business Programme.


Supreme Court considers law banning sex offenders from Facebook

The Independent - Tech

The US Supreme Court is considering a law banning convicted sex offenders from social media sites such as Facebook. The lawsuit was sparked by a North Carolina sex offender who posted on Facebook after his traffic ticket was dismissed. Thanks, Jesus," Lester Packingham Jr wrote. Mr Packingham was forbidden by a 2008 North Carolina law from using social networking sites that children could join, because he is a registered sex offender. He was convicted of indecent liberties with a minor when he was 21 and served 10 months in prison. A Durham police officer investigated the post and determined Mr Packingham used an alias rather than his real name. He was prosecuted, convicted of a felony and received a suspended prison sentence. However, his lawyers say no evidence pointed to him using Facebook or his computer to communicate with minors, or that he posted anything inappropriate or obscene. The Supreme Court will now decide whether the law, meant to prevent communications between sex ...


UK government to announce £17.3m boost for artificial intelligence and robotics

#artificialintelligence

The UK government is set to announce new measures to support the country's artificial intelligence sector as part of a'bold' Digital Strategy. With the measures, the government will seek to spur growth and deliver a "thriving, outward-looking digital economy that works for everyone". Due to be published on 1st March by culture secretary Karen Bradley MP, the new proposals will build on plans set out in the government's Industrial Strategy. Culture Secretary Karen Bradley said: "Britain has a proud history of digital innovation – from the earliest days of computing to Sir Tim Berners-Lee's development of the World Wide Web. Bradley continued: "We are already pioneers in today's artificial intelligence revolution and the Digital Strategy will build on our strengths to make sure UK-based scientists, researchers and entrepreneurs continue to be at the forefront.


Robert Mercer: the big data billionaire waging war on mainstream media

#artificialintelligence

Just over a week ago, Donald Trump gathered members of the world's press before him and told them they were liars. "The press, honestly, is out of control," he said. "The public doesn't believe you any more." CNN was described as "very fake news… story after story is bad". That night I did two things. First, I typed "Trump" in the search box of Twitter. My feed was reporting that he was crazy, a lunatic, a raving madman. But that wasn't how it was playing out elsewhere. The results produced a stream of "Go Donald!!!!", and "You show'em!!!" There were star-spangled banner emojis and thumbs-up emojis and clips of Trump laying into the "FAKE news MSM liars!" Trump had spoken, and his audience had heard him. Then I did what I've been doing for two and a half months now. I Googled "mainstream media is…" And there it was.


Universities to get £17 million to develop robotics and Artificial Intelligence

#artificialintelligence

Universities are to get £17 million to help develop pioneering robotics. Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics which can "transform how we live, work, travel and learn" are in line for a boost in the Government's digital strategy. Universities will get £17 million to help them develop pioneering robotics and AI as part of the plans to support the "booming" sector, which is behind smartphone voice and touch recognition technology and digital assistants such as the iPhone's Siri. AI also forms the bedrock of video games and music and film recommendations services, as well as improving online customer services, and is used in fraud detection tools used by banks. Among the projects supported with the money from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a move by the University of Manchester to develop autonomous robots for hazardous environments such as nuclear facilities.