The sentiment across the legal technology community is that this year's ILTACON was a smashing success. More than 1500 members and 1700 exhibitors attended the conference in Orlando this year. Their vibe was energetic and people were definitely in good spirits. The need for and growth of technology continues and that's ultimately why we were there. We spent time in the exhibit hall and demo rooms talking to companies in the legal technology space to identify what's new and interesting.

The sentiment across the legal technology community is that this year's ILTACON was a smashing success. More than 1500 members and 1700 exhibitors attended the conference in Orlando this year. Their vibe was energetic and people were definitely in good spirits. The need for and growth of technology continues and that's ultimately why we were there. We spent time in the exhibit hall and demo rooms talking to companies in the legal technology space to identify what's new and interesting.

If federal prosecutors successfully prosecute Anthony Levandowski for 33 federal charges of theft and attempted theft of trade secrets, the self-driving engineer could face millions in fines and decades in prison. The accusations aren't new--they rehash the core of Waymo's civil case against Uber, which settled in February 2018--but their resurfacing in this format threatens to put a dismal end to a career remarkable for its range and variation. For nearly 20 years, the French-American Levandowski has played a kind of purposeful Forrest Gump for the world of autonomous driving. Rather than stumbling into the center of one momentous event after another, Levandowski has put himself there. And he has left a mixed trail in his wake: Former colleagues have described him as brilliant, engaging, motivating, fast-charging, inconsiderate, a weasel, and just plain evil.

The multi-disciplinary international team is led by Professor Ryan Abbott at the University of Surrey. The AI inventor, named "DABUS" by its creator Stephen Thaler, relies upon a system of many neural networks generating new ideas by altering their interconnections. A second system of neural networks detects critical consequences of these potential ideas and reinforces them based upon predicted novelty and salience. Professor Adrian Hilton, Director of the Centre for Vision, Speech and Signal Processing, said: "Modern AI may fundamentally change how research and development takes place. In some cases, AI is no longer a tool, even a very sophisticated tool; in some cases, AI is automating innovation."

After a career as a film composer in L.A., Drew Silverstein moved to New York where he co-founded Amper Music. To combine the highest levels of artistry with groundbreaking artificial intelligence technology to empower anyone to create unique music, instantly. In 2017, Amper raised $4 million in seed funding and is now at the cutting edge of the race to crack AI music. Hot Press caught up with the Amper CEO in Rome, after his recent TEDx Talk, to find out what AI means for our future music consumption, how it will affect our approach to songwriting, how to collaborate with a digital version of yourself, the exploitation of intellectual property by Facebook and Google, the probability of robot composers with feelings, and why he predicts AI to be the greatest creative revolution in the history of music. MARK HOGAN: What is Amper? DREW SILVERSTEIN: Amper is an AI composer, performer and producer that creates unique and professional music in a matter of seconds. The music can be tailored to content or it can be standalone. Our mission is to enable anyone around the world to express themselves creatively through music regardless of their background, expertise or access to resources. Because fundamentally, every person is creative – by the fact that we're people. But just being creative doesn't mean we have the ability to express our creativity. Singing in the shower is easy.

Over the past decade, rapid advancements have made it possible for AI systems to do things we once only dreamed about. However, much of the hype around AI and machine learning tends to focus on its potential for business, productivity, and profits. Perhaps there should be more spotlight on how we can use AI for good. AI has the power to tackle many of the biggest problems on the planet and could make a huge impact on sustainability, our environment, and even humanity itself. As you'll see from the real-life examples in this post, robots, and humans are already showing they can be an incredible team.

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) said on Wednesday (Aug 28) that it has granted an artificial intelligence (AI) patent to Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group in a record time of three months. The patent was granted under IPOS' Accelerated Initiative for Artificial Intelligence (AI2). The average time needed for such patents is usually two to four years, IPOS said. The hope is that with the expedited application-to-grant process under AI2, innovators can bring their AI inventions faster to the global market through Singapore. This could be a crucial development in Singapore's bid to be the intellectual property (IP) hub for cutting-edge technologies.

Over the course of the past few decades, Singapore has grown into one of Asia's most vibrant economies, and much of the credit for the stupendous growth is down to the fact that the government does not indulge in bureaucratic delay when it comes to business deals. That has seen billion of dollars in investment flowing into the country over the course of the past decades, and it will continue in the same vein as long as the same principles are maintained. In a new development, it has emerged that the Chinese e-commerce and tech giant Alibaba has been granted an Artificial Intelligence (AI) by the concerned authorities in Singapore within a record time of 3 months. As it has now become well known, Alibaba is now no longer only an e-commerce company and has expanded into a range of business, including payments and tech in a big way. The patent was granted by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) under the provisions of its Accelerated Initiative for Artificial Intelligence (AI2) initiative.

The 3-0 decision from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco over Facebook's facial recognition technology exposes the company to billions of dollars in potential damages to the Illinois users who brought the case. It came as the social media company faces broad criticism from lawmakers and regulators over its privacy practices. Last month, Facebook agreed to pay a record $5 billion fine to settle a Federal Trade Commission data privacy probe. "This biometric data is so sensitive that if it is compromised, there is simply no recourse," Shawn Williams, a lawyer for plaintiffs in the class action, said in an interview. "It's not like a Social Security card or credit card number where you can change the number.

How artificial intelligence is changing the workplace is starting to get the attention of congressional lawmakers at a time when some employment attorneys are sounding alarms about the need for legislation. The House Education and Labor Committee plans to hold hearings on machine learning's impact on workers and their jobs after Congress returns from recess in September. However, while a hearing is usually a precursor to legislation, employers using AI-based tools and tech companies developing those programs probably don't need to worry about new bills anytime soon. The focus on Capitol Hill remains on trying to understand what the effect of artificial intelligence on workers could be. The rise of algorithms and machine learning technology is already changing the way people work.