Working together, the likley modified commercial drones could be good indoor scouts. There is little detail in the 1 million contract award posted yesterday. The award, from the Army, but through the Pentagon's brand-new tech-focused "Defense Innovation Unit Experimental" DIUx, is for a nine-month "prototype project in the area of Autonomous Tactical Airborne Drones." Two other salient features stand out in the little, obligatory blurb attached to the notice. The contract comes from the Naval Special Warfare Command, which mostly oversees Navy SEALs, and the contract was awarded to Shield AI.

When you think of a concrete object, you think wordlessly, and then, if you want to describe the thing you have been visualising you probably hunt about until you find the exact words that seem to fit it. When you think of something abstract you are more inclined to use words from the start, and unless you make a conscious effort to prevent it, the existing dialect will come rushing in and do the job for you, at the expense of blurring or even changing your meaning. In recent years, in my reporting, I've come to uncool conclusions. For one thing, I've begun to think that instilling public purpose into private communities is the hardest thing in the world. Last week, the University of Chicago's college dean of students riled the Internet when he dispatched a welcome letter to freshmen that declared the university to be a space safe from safe spaces.

Cybersecurity research involves publishing papers about malicious exploits as much as publishing information on how to design tools to protect cyber-infrastructure. It is this information exchange between ethical hackers and security experts, which results in a well-balanced cyber-ecosystem. In the blooming domain of AI Safety Engineering, hundreds of papers have been published on different proposals geared at the creation of a safe machine, yet nothing, to our knowledge, has been published on how to design a malevolent machine. Availability of such information would be of great value particularly to computer scientists, mathematicians, and others who have an interest in AI safety, and who are attempting to avoid the spontaneous emergence or the deliberate creation of a dangerous AI, which can negatively affect human activities and in the worst case cause the complete obliteration of the human species. This paper provides some general guidelines for the creation of a Malevolent Artificial Intelligence (MAI).

We summarize the potential impact that the European Union's new General Data Protection Regulation will have on the routine use of machine learning algorithms. Slated to take effect as law across the EU in 2018, it will restrict automated individual decision-making (that is, algorithms that make decisions based on user-level predictors) which "significantly affect" users. The law will also effectively create a "right to explanation," whereby a user can ask for an explanation of an algorithmic decision that was made about them. We argue that while this law will pose large challenges for industry, it highlights opportunities for computer scientists to take the lead in designing algorithms and evaluation frameworks which avoid discrimination and enable explanation.

Google's DeepMind's Health initiative will soon work to explore how artificial intelligence could save hours and hours of precious time in the treatment of oral, head and neck cancers, the company announced on Tuesday. Whatever it is Zuckerberg is calling his personal home AI system. Yesterday he updated an audience in Rome about his personal project this year. He had Facebook (FB) engineers work on a computerized domestic assistant as his personal challenge. The AI controls his AC, lighting, opens his security gate, and can even make him toast.

Electric utilities across the U.S. are wasting no time to take advantage of FAA rules authorizing use of drones for commercial purposes. Electric utilities across the U.S. are wasting no time taking advantage of new FAA rules authorizing use of drones for commercial purposes. "We've certainly heard from our members that they're excited about this technology," said Chris Hickling, the director of government relations for the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the trade group for investor-owned utilities in the U.S. "They see it as part of building a smarter infrastructure. We see it as an area that's going to continue to grow." More than 20 utilities have already tested unmanned aerial vehicles for inspecting transmission and distribution lines for damage from storm and normal wear and tear, using temporary rules from the Federal Aviation Administration, and are now ready to demonstrate them even more.

Enterprise architecture (EA) is entering a new phase, driven by the ongoing splintering of enterprises. The discipline has been carefully crafted over the past couple of decades as a process-driven, well-documented exercise intended to develop a roadmap to prevent organizations from spending big money on technologies that don't produce value for the business. This model of EA worked well within established enterprises that viewed IT as a budget item that needed to be justified and monitored -- and constantly explained to executives. Nowadays, however, IT is integral to everything the business does, and is viewed as a strategic weapon. Tom Graves, a self-identified "enterprise architect, business-anarchist, confusionist,"whose work I greatly respect, says a major disruption is reshaping the role of EA and the mission of enterprise architects.

In a report commissioned by the Pentagon's Defense Science Board, top defense and technical professionals argue that the United States needs to prepare for artificial intelligence in warfare – because other countries might prepare for it first. "While evident that the DoD is moving forward in the employment of autonomous functionality, it is equally evident that the pull from diverse global markets is accelerating the underlying tech base and delivering high-value capabilities at a much more rapid pace," the introduction to the 121-page report reads. Along with this comes a caveat that the study isn't recommending major projects, "given the current budget environment." Instead, it suggested a wide variety of experimental projects, plus recommending that the DoD reach out to private "non-traditional R&D communities." The report operated under the idea that autonomous weapons capabilities were going to be developed eventually, and that the United States needs to avoid an AI Cold War.

The last time state lawmakers tried to place limits on drones in the skies above California, they were met with the veto of Gov. Jerry Brown, who said he did not want to create new crimes to enforce bans on the use of such devices. This year, the pushback to new rules is coming not from the governor but through the lobbying efforts of a budding industry that hopes to influence policy at the state Capitol and nationwide. As drones multiply in number and category, cities and states want to set boundaries. But drone manufacturers and associations this legislative session boosted their politicking, successfully beating back several bills they said would create a patchwork of laws that vary by state and hinder innovation. "We want to solve problems and address concerns, but to do it in a way that is constantly clear across the country," said Brendan Schulman, vice president of policy and legal affairs for DJI Technology Co., the world's largest drone maker. "Otherwise, it will be too confusing for commercial users and consumers to understand what the rules are when they travel from place to place."

It is already changing the face of warface, with AI adversaries and electronic spies taking centre stage. However, America has fallen catastrophically behind in the hi-tech battlefield, a new report has claimed. The Defense Science Board's report into autonomy concluded'there are both substantial operational benefits and potential perils associated with its use,' and called for immediate action. The Defense Science Board's report into autonomy concluded the DoD must accelerate its exploitation of autonomy to remain ahead of enemies. 'This study concluded that DoD must accelerate its exploitation of autonomy--both to realize the potential military value and to remain ahead of adversaries who also will exploit its operational benefits.'