Corporate leaders including Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft President Brad Smith, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and IBM ex-CEO Ginni Rometty have called for increased regulation of artificial intelligence. So have politicians on the both sides of the aisle, as have respected scholars at academic research institutes and think tanks. At the root of the call to action is the understanding that, for all of its many benefits, AI also presents many risks. Concerns include biased algorithms, privacy violations, and the potential for injuries attributable to defective autonomous vehicle software. With the increasing adoption of AI-based solutions in areas such as criminal justice, health care, robotics, financial services, and education, there will be incentives that conflict corporate interests with societal benefits.

I reach out to you still contemplating the profundity of what Mark Zuckerberg told his congressional inquisitors on Wednesday: "The space of people connecting with other people is a very large space." So large, it even includes newsletters in your inbox. Three clear winners and one loser emerged from Wednesday's Big Tech hearing in Washington. The winners were Rep. Pramila Jayapal, our new "eviscerator in chief"; Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai's future career as an anger-management therapist; and Tim Wu. When the going gets tough in coming weeks, I will close my eyes and picture the Google CEO soothingly saying "congressman" with infinite patience, as he did at the beginning of all his answers. The more irate the congressional questioner, the more patient, measured, and empathetic his "congressman" sounded.

The experimental use of AI spread across sectors and moved beyond the internet into the physical world. Stores used AI perceptions of shoppers' moods and interest to display personalized public ads. Schools used AI to quantify student joy and engagement in the classroom. Employers used AI to evaluate job applicants' moods and emotional reactions in automated video interviews and to monitor employees' facial expressions in customer service positions. It was a year notable for increasing criticism and governance of AI related to emotion and affect.

Australia is deploying a fleet of uncrewed robot boats to patrol its waters and monitor weather and wildlife. They will also flag boats potentially transporting asylum seekers, a plan that has concerned human rights groups. The 5-metre-long vessels, known as Bluebottles after an Australian jellyfish, look like miniature sailing yachts. They use a combination of wind, wave and solar power to maintain a steady 5-knot speed in all conditions. Sydney-based Ocius Technology delivered the prototype in 2017 and Australia's Ministry of Defence has now awarded an AU$5.5 million (£3m) …

The federal government on Tuesday asked a federal judge to sentence Anthony Levandowski to 27 months in prison for theft of trade secrets. In March, Levandowski pleaded guilty to stealing a single confidential document related to Google's self-driving technology on his way out the door to his new startup. That startup was quickly acquired by Uber, triggering a titanic legal battle between the companies that was settled in 2018. This story originally appeared on Ars Technica, a trusted source for technology news, tech policy analysis, reviews, and more. Ars is owned by WIRED's parent company, Condé Nast.

In March of 2015, protests broke out at the University of Cape Town in South Africa over the campus statue of British colonialist Cecil Rhodes. Rhodes, a mining magnate who had gifted the land on which the university was built, had committed genocide against Africans and laid the foundations for apartheid. Under the rallying banner of "Rhodes Must Fall," students demanded that the statue be removed. Their protests sparked a global movement to eradicate the colonial legacies that endure in education. The events also provoked Shakir Mohamed, a South African AI researcher at DeepMind, to reflect on what colonial legacies might exist in his research as well.

Website accessibility tech provider UserWay has released an AI-powered tool designed to help organizations ensure their websites are free from discriminatory, biased, and racially charged language. The tool, Content Moderator, flags content for review, and nothing is deleted or removed without approval from site administrators, according to UserWay. UserWay's customers are using its AI-powered accessibility widget, an advanced AI-based compliance-as-a-service (CaaS) technology that ensures brands provide an accessible digital experience that meets strict governmental and ADA regulations, the company said. "Focusing on digital racism and bias is long past due, and our team is eager to contribute to the conversation positively," UserWay founder and CEO Allon Mason said in a statement. In June, Google announced that it would be reevaluating what it considers acceptable language, Mason noted. So far, Google has changed terms including "blacklist" to "blocked list," "whitelist" to "allowed list," and "master-slave" to "primary/secondary," among others, he said.

Over the past decade, many organizations have come to recognize that their future success will depend on data and AI (artificial intelligence) capabilities. Expectations are high and companies are heavily investing in the area. However, our experience advising organizations in diverse industries suggests that many have also become disillusioned in their journey to create companywide, data-driven business transformation. This article discusses some of the common pitfalls in the implementation of data and AI strategies and gives recommendations for business leaders on how to successfully include data and AI in their business processes. These recommendations address the core enablers for data and AI capabilities, from setting the ambition level to hiring the right talent and defining the AI organization and operating model. Many companies are currently investing in data and artificial intelligence (AI). Since the terminology varies, the activities may be called AI, advanced analytics, data science, or machine learning, but the goals are the same: to increase revenues and efficiency in current business and to develop new data-enabled offerings. In addition, many companies see an increasing responsibility to contribute their AI expertise toward humanitarian and social matters. It is well understood that to stay competitive in the digital economy, the company's internal processes and products need to be smart--and smartness comes from data and AI. Over the past 4 years, our company DAIN Studios has been involved in more than 40 Data and AI initiatives in different companies and industries in Finland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Our clients are typically large, publicly listed companies.

Our society is in a technological paradox. Life events for many people are increasingly influenced by algorithmic decisions, yet we are discovering how those very essential algorithms discriminate. Because of that paradox, IT management is in an unparalleled position to select human intervention that addresses diversity and inclusion with a team and equitable algorithms that are accountable to a diverse society. IT managers face this paradox today due to the increased application of machine learning operations (MLOps). MLOps rely on IT teams to help manage the pipelines created.

Perhaps you've heard of AI conducting interviews. Or maybe you've been interviewed by one yourself. Companies like HireVue claim their software can analyze video interviews to figure out a candidate's "employability score." The algorithms don't just evaluate face and body posture for appearance; they also tell employers whether the interviewee is tenacious, or good at working on a team. These assessments could have a big effect on a candidate's future.