Government
Artificial Intelligence Is Far From Matching Humans, Panel Says - NYTimes.com
Artificial intelligence researchers are grappling with more realistic questions like whether their creations will take too many jobs from humans. Eight years after leading artificial intelligence scientists said their field did not need to be regulated, the question of government oversight has re-emerged as the technology has rapidly progressed. On Tuesday, at an event sponsored by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, legal specialists and technologists explored questions about autonomous systems that would increasingly make decisions without human input in areas like warfare, transportation and health. Still, despite improvement in areas like machine vision and speech understanding, A.I. research is still far from matching the flexibility and learning capability of the human mind, researchers at the conference said. "The A.I. community keeps climbing one mountain after another, and as it gets to the top of each mountain, it sees ahead still more mountains," said Ed Felten, a computer scientist who is a deputy chief technology officer in the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Soon You'll Swallow Origami Pills and Get Magnetic Colonoscopies
This might be a tough pill to swallow, but the future of medicine is all about ingestible sensors. Things like cameras to scope out your bowels and electronics that detect if you've taken your medicine (recently FDA-approved, by the way). Researchers at MIT have developed a frozen gizmo made of pig intestine that you drop down the hatch. As it thaws in your stomach, it unfolds. Using a magnetic field, a doctor could theoretically lead the device to something you've gone and swallowed but really shouldn't have--batteries aren't as tasty as they look--and hurry the offending object out of your system.
Creating Machine Intelligence with Intelligent Interactive Visualisation Studentship - UWE Bristol: Postgraduate research study
The use of a range of Machine Learning algorithms to help people make sense of large complex unstructured data sources is increasing rapidly. As a provider of solutions addressing major challenges in the area of defence and national security, Montvieux is involved in a number of projects applying state-of-the-art techniques such as Deep Belief networks to model significant patterns in data and predict future events. Their clients' needs are by nature fast-moving, and they have identified a need for intelligent visualisation and support tools to assist in their work. UWE's Artificial Intelligence group has a long history of theoretical and applied work creating and applying Machine Learning systems, with an emphasis on the use of intelligent interactive systems to facilitate this process. The student's time will be equally split between UWE and Montvieux's offices in Tewkesbury, to provide a valuable range of experiences and environments.
Artificial Intelligence Roundup: Google, China's Expansion Plans, AI In Banking
The world of artificial intelligence (AI) is making rapid strides in technological development, from Google's AI program defeating a human in the game of Go, Russian scientists building the'Terminator' and another project from Google's Brain Team, where the AI program attempts to write post-modern poetry. The AI market is projected to expand to USD 5.05 billion by 2020 (from USD 419.7 million in 2014), at a CAGR of 53.65% from 2015 to 2020, largely due to greater applications in diversified fields, enhanced productivity and increasing consumer satisfaction. Machine learning technology, a key component of the overall AI market, is estimated to gain traction over the next five years, on account of higher anticipated demand in media & advertising and finance sectors, as well as retail, healthcare, law, and oil & gas. Multinational technology giants such as Google, IBM, Microsoft, and governments of different countries across the globe are looking to boost their investment in AI. According to reports, Google has announced a new research project dubbed'Magenta' that is aimed at exploring the use of AI to produce art. The research team will initially study what kind of algorithms are used to generate music and then subsequently move to video and other visual arts.
Afghanistan Sees Taliban Leader As Rigid Conservative Uninterested In Peace
The Afghan government is looking warily at the conservative religious scholar who has assumed leadership of the Taliban, seeing in him a rigid proponent of hardline orthodoxy who is unlikely to favor peace talks, officials said. A day after the Afghan Taliban announced that Haibadullah Akhundzada would take over after Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan, officials on Thursday were trying to form a picture of a leader best known for relentlessly applying strict sharia, or Islamic law. In his former role as one of the Taliban insurgency's senior judges, he was responsible for issuing a series of death sentences against opponents of Mansour, according to General Abdul Razeq, police chief of Akhundzada's home city of Kandahar. Officials said he appeared to favor a return to the austere and often harsh Islamic rule in Afghanistan before the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-led forces in 2001, something that would be unacceptable to the Afghan government and its Western backers. "He is a simple religious cleric," said Haji Agha Lalai, an adviser to President Ashraf Ghani, who added that Akhundzada would rely heavily on his deputy Sirajuddin Haqqani, leader of the feared Haqqani network, for battlefield decisions.
US Army to test driverless vehicle technology in Michigan
They are already promising to make the journey to work more bearable for commuters, but self-driving vehicles could also soon transform the way the US armed forces operate in dangerous areas. A convoy of US Army autonomous trucks is due to cruise along a stretch of public highway in Michigan in June as part of a trial of driverless military vehicles. Although the vehicles to be used in the trial will be flatbed military trucks, the technology could also be rolled out for tanks and armoured vehicles. Due to current road laws, each vehicle in the test will have someone sitting behind the wheel, but the autonomous technology will use sensors to help it stay on the road. Each truck will use adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assistance to stay within the convoy.
Trump Goes Into Robot Mode Answering Question About Trans Rights
Jimmy Kimmel took Donald Trump to task over the ongoing controversy over transgender bathroom use this week. Suffice it to say, Kimmel didn't get very far. Previously, Trump pledged to allow transgender people to use the restroom that best corresponds with their gender identity. The statement was enough to prompt Caitlyn Jenner to drop by the Trump Tower to use the ladies' room during a recent visit to New York, and capture the experience on video. But Trump quickly changed his tune -- or at the very least clarified it -- claiming that states should be the ones to decide if and how they want to implement trans rights.
Microsoft bans most common passwords in attempt to keep its users safe
Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display
The Woeful TSA Doesn't Need More Staff. It Needs This Tech
American airport security has never been something to look forward to, but in the past few weeks, it's attained new levels of misery. The busy summer travel season is only just starting, and already the public's been warned to expect the worst. Understaffed Transport Security Administration checkpoints mean lines spilling out of airport doors. Hauled before Congress for a ritual grilling, TSA chief Peter Neffenger pledged to increase staffing (including sniffer dogs) and encourage more people to enroll in the TSA Pre-Check program, in which trusted travelers (who've undergone background checks and paid a fee) pass through a quicker, less rigorous screening. He sacked his head of security.
Army's life saving trucks
Representatives from the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center and the Michigan Department of Transportation held public information sessions on the testing Monday in eastern Michigan. In late June, the vehicles will test a piece of technology that's critical in the development and testing of driverless and connected vehicles, the Times Herald of Port Huron reported. Someone will be behind the wheel of each vehicle, which is equipped with features from the driverless vehicle systems, including adaptive cruise control and lane keep assist, The Flint Journal reported. Six radio transmitters will be set up along Interstate 69 to allow for groups of five vehicles to broadcast speed, distance, and traffic issues as directed over the frequency, said Alex Kade, chief system architect in ground vehicle robotics for the Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center. If the testing is successful, the technology could save the lives of soldiers serving overseas, according to officials.