One of the most important things that the U.S. can do to improve economic growth is to invest in artificial intelligence, or A.I., said the White House, in a new report. A.I.-driven, intelligent systems have the potential to displace millions, such as truck drivers, from their jobs. But potential negative impacts can be offset by investments in education as well as by ensuring there is a safety net to help affected people, the White House argued, in what will likely be the Obama administration's final report on technology policy. Some of the report's recommendations, which include expanded unemployment help and access to healthcare, may be anathema to a Republican-controlled Congress with a focus on tax reductions and spending cuts. But this report -- "Artificial Intelligence, Automation, and the Economy" (PDF) -- which was in the works well before election day, also describes broader, technological-driven changes that will impact jobs and may pose issues for President-elect Donald Trump.

"Because AI is not a single technology, but rather a collection of technologies that are applied to specific tasks, the effects of AI will be felt unevenly through the economy. Some tasks will be more easily automated than others, and some jobs will be affected more than others--both negatively and positively," the White House report said. "Some jobs may be automated away, while for others, AI-driven automation will make many workers more productive and increase demand for certain skills. Finally, new jobs are likely to be directly created in areas such as the development and supervision of AI as well as indirectly created in a range of areas throughout the economy as higher incomes lead to expanded demand." Researchers across the world have given varying estimates about the size of job losses.

I expected to feel a little out of place at the swanky university event for bioethics. My wife, a professor with expertise in the field, had invited me. But when I introduced myself as a software engineer to the attendees, many wanted to talk about one thing -- artificial intelligence (AI). How would it affect society? What are the goods and the bads?

The growing popularity of artificial intelligence technology will likely lead to millions of lost jobs, especially among less-educated workers, and could exacerbate the economic divide between socioeconomic classes in the United States, according to a newly released White House report. But that same technology is also essential to improving the country's productivity growth, a key measure of how efficiently the economy produces goods. That could ultimately lead to higher average wages and fewer work hours. For that reason, the report concludes, our economy actually needs more artificial intelligence, not less. To reconcile the benefits of the technology with its expected toll, the report states that the federal government should expand access to education in technical fields and increase the scope of unemployment benefits.

Artificial intelligence-driven automation will be a crucial driver of economic growth in the U.S., but if not handled properly, it can also lead to a massive disruption in the current livelihoods of millions of Americans and could -- at least in the short term -- even increase societal inequality. This is the crux of a new report on the economic impact of AI released Tuesday by the White House. The report -- a follow-up to a previous one released by the White House in October -- urges policymakers to be prepared to face "a range of potential outcomes," as an accurate assessment of the AI's impact on the economy is dauntingly hard to make. "It is possible that AI will not have large, new effects on the economy, such that the coming years are subject to the same basic workforce trends seen in recent decades -- some of which are positive, and others which are worrisome and may require policy changes," the White House said in its report. "Because the effects of AI-driven automation will be felt across the whole economy, and the areas of greatest impact may be difficult to predict, policy responses must be targeted to the whole economy."

Artificial intelligence will be essential to the future economic growth of the United States, but if education and social services aren't improved, American workers could lose millions of jobs. The report, released by the White House Tuesday, details the enormous potential benefits as well as the enormous potential job loss that could occur as a result of the rise of artificial intelligence. The solution, according to the report, is to invest more in improving education and the "social safety net" to help prepare American workers for the changes. Emphasizing the upside to artificial intelligence, the report first notes the importance of artificial intelligence technology to growing the economy. "Advances in AI technology hold incredible potential to help the United States stay on the cutting edge of innovation," the report says.

The first successful trials of semi-automated vehicles have just been completed on Melbourne's EastLink with the Volvo S90 driving on its own in live traffic, the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) has said. The trial forms part of an 18-month research project that aims to enable Victorian drivers to safely commute on the tollway with their hands off the wheel by 2018. NBN connection process adversely impacting 40 percent of businesses: ACMA Dump innovation patents and apply safe harbour to all online services: Productivity Commission Former CBA IT exec sentenced to 3.5 years behind bars Australian data re-identification defendants will need to prove their innocence Former CBA IT exec sentenced to 3.5 years behind bars The research project is being led by ARRB, with support from EastLink and La Trobe University, thanks to AU$578,000 in funding provided by the VicRoads Intelligent Transport System (ITS) Grants Program. The project has been broken down into three stages, with the first to develop a "first of its kind" classification system for assessing Australian roads based on the level of automated vehicle features they support. The ARRB said that in the second half of 2017, stage two will see the testing of a range of Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) technologies that allow communication between vehicles and road infrastructure.

Queensland-based image-recognition startup TrademarkVision has landed the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) as the first customer of its new deep learning algorithm. Following a successful beta trial, the EUIPO will now be integrating TrademarkVision's new deep learning algorithm into its eSearch platform to cut down the time it takes to search EU image trademarks. Previously, trademark searches and monitoring required the use of descriptive -- and therefore subjective -- keywords and codes, making it a tedious process with no guarantee of generating accurate results. "When you come across a logo, it's easy to compare it with your own, but when you want to compare it to millions, suddenly the task becomes very daunting," said TrademarkVision's founder and CEO Sandra Mau. "For anyone who has ever wanted to create a unique logo or ensure their IP is safe from possible infringement, they know this process can take hours, days, and sometimes weeks."

The White House has issued a sequel to its October report on how the U.S. should approach artificial intelligence and its effects on various groups and institutions. Today's report focuses on the potential economic effects of AI, and while it's far from a dark outlook, it does warn that with improper handling, automation could drive further inequality in this already deeply divided country. "You look at the last couple decades, we have seen an increase in inequality," said Jason Furman, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, on a press call discussing the paper. "In part that increase has been because of a technological fact: that technological innovation, more recently, has helped complement people with higher skills. So we now have a few decades of experience with technology helping to contribute to inequality."

Today, in order to ready the United States for a future in which artificial intelligence (AI) plays a growing role, the White House released a report on Artificial Intelligence, Automation, and the Economy. This report follows up on the Administration's previous report, Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence, which was released in October 2016, and which recommended that the White House publish a report on the economic impacts of artificial intelligence by the end of 2016. Accelerating AI capabilities will enable automation of some tasks that have long required human labor. These transformations will open up new opportunities for individuals, the economy, and society, but they will also disrupt the current livelihoods of millions of Americans. The new report examines the expected impact of AI-driven automation on the economy, and describes broad strategies that could increase the benefits of AI and mitigate its costs.