AI needs to be created by a diverse range of developers to prevent bias, but the World Economic Forum (WEF) has found a serious gender gap. Gender gaps in STEM careers have been a problem for some time, but it's not often the end product matters what gender it was developed by. AI is about to be everywhere, and it matters that it's representative of those it serves. "The equal contribution of women and men in this process of deep economic and societal transformation is critical. More than ever, societies cannot afford to lose out on the skills, ideas and perspectives of half of humanity to realize the promise of a more prosperous and humancentric future that well-governed innovation and technology can bring." Shockingly, the WEF report found less than one-fourth of roles in the industry are being filled by women.

Never thought that artificial intelligence (AI) can save our planet? Disaster response, smart farming, and pollution control are only a few ways environmental scientists are saving the earth with AI. When we think of the innovative technology AI, the first and the foremost thing that pops up in our mind might be robots. Though robots are one of the applications of AI, there are many other applications that increasingly have the potential to help humankind. One such AI application area where the technology shines through is in the field of environmental services.

In a multi-year initiative, the team will consult experts across relevant fields (ranging from psychology, to industrial design, to AI science, to technology law, etc.) through formal desk research (including a dedicated Masters course at UC Berkeley and an evidence review by Baker Mckenzie), phone interviews, workshops, etc. to fill in the gaps in evidence where it is most needed to further child rights in the context of the extremely far reaching, fast-paced, and in some cases unpredictable, development of AI technologies. We will strengthen our formal research with collected insights from children relaying their hopes, worries, and visions for how technology may impact their lives. Taken together, this work will inform sets of actionable, specific recommendations for governments, companies, and caregivers that we will stress test before striving to implement through strategic partnerships.

The mother of a Fortnite fan known online as Orange Shirt Kid is suing the game's creators for including a dance he created. It is the latest lawsuit to be brought against Epic Games relating to emote dance moves, following similar cases brought forward by Fresh Prince of Bel-Air actor Alfonso Ribeiro and'Backpack Kid' Russell Horning. The latest lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages for Epic Games including the'Orange Justice' emote within Fortnite. It states: "Through its unauthorised misappropriation of Orange Shirt Kid's highly popular signature dance, the'Random,' along with his well-known catchphrase'It's also a great exercise move!" in its smash-hit, violent video game, Fortnite Battle Royale, defendants have unfairly profited from exploiting Orange Shirt Kid's protected creative expression, likeness, and trademark without consent or authorisation." The lawsuit goes on to describe Orange Shirt Kid as a "child performer", adding that the dance move and catchphrase is "now inextricably linked to Orange Shirt Kid and continue to be a part of his celebrity persona."

Today, bigness means the retailer's machine learning efforts benefit from data generated by people who shop at Walmart every week and activities around the tens of millions of items on its website. "Scarcity of data is what makes artificial intelligence really hard," Mr. King told Ms. Castellanos. "If you have volumes of data like we do, you can really apply it much quicker across the board," he said. Mr. King shared his take on several technologies, some not quite ready for prime time. Overseas traders charged with hacking SEC's public filings site.

The Consumer Electronic Show (CES) was full of artificial intelligence (AI) agents of change this past week. Amazon noted that 28,000 products are now partnered with Alexa, up from 4,000 this time last year. Distributing more content is a key focus of AI home devices, and Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Samsung were all showcasing the AI-enabled life-enhancing features of their digital assistants. For this trend to continue, we need to embrace the policy challenges that AI brings to data collection and privacy. The explosion in AI products has been made possible by today's network speeds.

On Tuesday, a group of 90 advocacy groups penned a letter to Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, requesting that the companies pledge not to sell facial recognition technology to the government. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) were among the groups that pressed these companies. The letter marks mounting pressure on some of Silicon Valley's most influential companies and their ramping efforts to build facial recognition systems. "We are at a crossroads with face surveillance, and the choices made by these companies now will determine whether the next generation will have to fear being tracked by the government for attending a protest, going to their place of worship, or simply living their lives," Nicole Ozer, technology and civil liberties director for the ACLU of California, said. Recently, Google and Microsoft have acknowledged the risks involving facial recognition services and their potential for misuse and surveillance by bad actors.

Big data analytics and machine learning are on the rise and set for massive further growth over the coming years. The results of a survey conducted jointly by MIT Technology Review and Google Cloud showed that 60 percent of respondents have already implemented a machine learning strategy in their organization. Furthermore, Deloitte predicts that spending on machine learning (ML) and AI will nearly quadruple from $12 billion in 2017 to $57.6 billion in 2021. Amidst this growing popularity, a growing concern is that algorithms are only as good as the data that's fed into them. The old adage "garbage in, garbage out" applies to AI and ML as much as it does to any other computing-based system.

In the year ahead, artificial intelligence (AI) is set to move into the mainstream as many new high-tech innovations are ready to make their debut. Creating a well-planned infrastructure for these high-tech products is essential for ensuring they have favorable outcomes and become major drivers of economic growth. Expected to yield benefits in terms of labor productivity and time-saving, AI could drive up the world's gross domestic product if it is strategically implemented in accordance with consumer demand. Redefining the way we live in ways never thought possible, many AI applications, such as self-driving cars and facial or speech recognition, have already been introduced. Having reached the level of sophistication needed for widespread implementation, in the months ahead many more such technologies will be employed for public use. As it is a virtual step into the unknown, it is time to evaluate the prospective impacts of some of these applications.

Oregon's two senators are urging the head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to update federal regulations to permit interstate commerce of food products containing a key non-psychoactive ingredient of cannabis.