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BotBeat 2016: This year's top bots stories The Next BOT - The collaborative news feed about BOT, AI & Machine Learning
VentureBeat's Bots Channel tracks the most important news and analysis from the exploding fields of bots and messaging. Each week, we select the top stories and present them in our free weekly newsletter, BotBeat. We include news stories by VentureBeat staff, guest articles from leading figures in the bots community, and posts from a wide variety of other outlets. You can subscribe to our BotBeat newsletter to receive this information in your inbox every Thursday.
A Very Short History Of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
By using this "Contrivance," "the most ignorant Person at a reasonable Charge, and with a little bodily Labour, may write Books in Philosophy, Poetry, Politicks, Law, Mathematicks, and Theology, with the least Assistance from Genius or study." Bayesian inference will become a leading approach in machine learning. The boat was equipped with, as Tesla described, "a borrowed mind." The word "robot" comes from the word "robota" (work). It features a robot double of a peasant girl, Maria, which unleashes chaos in Berlin of 2026--it was the first robot depicted on film, inspiring the Art Deco look of C-3PO in Star Wars.
Trends for 2017: Chatbots, social media, Trump tactics
Investment in artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to triple in 2017 according to Forrester research, as brands tap into the potential of machine learning and look to take a leading position on the'Internet of Things' (IoT). Amazon and Google have already entered the fray with the launch of their connected home devices โ Echo and Home โ exhibiting the emerging power of voice to order services online and set personalised alerts based on users' previous behaviour. The rise of the'zero user interface', whereby people reduce their interactions with screens in favour of speaking directly to faceless machines, is set to redefine how brands communicate with consumers. Expect to see the growing importance of AI in CRM systems following the unveiling of Salesforce's Einstein software, which boasts predictive capabilities based on previous customer interactions. Rapid adoption of chatbot technology will continue apace, led by Facebook's roll-out of news feed ads that open directly into Messenger chats and hybrid products such as Google Allo, a smart messaging app with an integrated AI assistant.
How a Machine Learns Prejudice
If artificial intelligence takes over our lives, it probably won't involve humans battling an army of robots that relentlessly apply Spock-like logic as they physically enslave us. Instead, the machine-learning algorithms that already let AI programs recommend a movie you'd like or recognize your friend's face in a photo will likely be the same ones that one day deny you a loan, lead the police to your neighborhood or tell your doctor you need to go on a diet. And since humans create these algorithms, they're just as prone to biases that could lead to bad decisions--and worse outcomes. These biases create some immediate concerns about our increasing reliance on artificially intelligent technology, as any AI system designed by humans to be absolutely "neutral" could still reinforce humans' prejudicial thinking instead of seeing through it. Law enforcement officials have already been criticized, for example, for using computer algorithms that allegedly tag black defendants as more likely to commit a future crime, even though the program was not designed to explicitly consider race.
Mediatech startups using machine learning to create personalised news feeds for users
BENGALURU: Mediatech startup Dailyhunt, InShorts and ScoopWhoop -through its latest acquisition Touchfone -amongst others are increasingly leveraging machine learning capabilities to improve personalisation and interaction for the end user. From InShorts introducing quizzes to Dailyhunt's personalised news feed, they aim to increase end users' monthly time spent on the app, ultimately targetting higher ad revenue potential. InShorts recently integrated a quiz into its app, which is in its beta phase and has been introduced to 10,000 users. While the user swipes through news content, the quiz emerges as an option. The user can play with a random opponent or share an invite with a friend through WhatsApp.
A Ben Affleck flop inspired this script-reading robot
The process used to create a major motion picture hasn't changed much in a century. Someone has an idea that they turn into a screenplay, which is then edited, developed and handed to a director, who brings it to life. The only difference now is that there's plenty more focus-grouping, audience analysis and number crunching to ensure each film is a hit. Except that doesn't really work, since 2016 alone has seen scores of movies unceremoniously crash and burn. But maybe that will change with ScriptBook, an algorithm that its creators say can spot most turkeys before they've even been made.
'Paterson,' '20th Century Women' and more critics' picks
Arrival Amy Adams stars in this elegant, involving science-fiction drama that is simultaneously old and new, revisiting many alien-invasion conventions but with unexpected intelligence, visual style and heart. The Eagle Huntress A portrait of a 13-year-old Kazakh girl from Mongolia who defies eons of tradition by learning to hunt with fierce golden eagles is a documentary so satisfying it makes you feel good about feeling good. The Edge of Seventeen Hailee Steinfeld gives a superb performance as a high-school misfit in Kelly Fremon Craig's disarmingly smart teen dramedy, the rare coming-of-age picture that feels less like a retread than a renewal. Elle Paul Verhoeven's brilliantly booby-trapped thriller starring Isabelle Huppert is a gripping whodunit, a tour de force of psychological suspense and a wickedly droll comedy of manners. The Handmaiden The most absorbing feature in years from South Korean director Park Chan-wook ("Oldboy") is a teasingly witty and elegant puzzle-box of a thriller about two women (played by Kim Tae-ri and Kim Min-hee) pursuing their destinies in 1930s Japanese-occupied Korea.
Huge 'Avatar' robot is real
Robots can be terrifying all on their own, but stick a human being inside and give them control of the mechanical muscles that provide superhuman strength and you've got a recipe for a horror movie. South Korean robotics firm Hankook Mirae Technology has done exactly that, and its Method-2 robot just took its first steps towards world domination this week. "METHOD-1" large manned robot project for which I had a pleasure to make the design. Very fortunate to be part of the incredible Hankook Mirae Technology team. The robot is just one year into development, but it's already a hulking beast that could give anyone nightmares. The bot stands over 13 feet tall and weighs over one and a half tons.
Artificial Intelligence Is The Next Big DJ
You may not know it yet, but our music is already highly reliant on artificial intelligence. AI is already being deployed to develop music scores for advertisements and movies. Artificial Intelligence is also finding itself developing mood based music for games and smartphone apps. While they don't produce music themselves, Siri and Cortana are at our disposal if we need music suggestions. The same goes for streaming services such as Spotify, which rely on AI to deliver new music to our tastes.
E money The Future Of Money
Using real cash may seem like such a major convenience today. Far out in the digital future, though, cash will mutate from one form to another at blazing speeds. One minute, you'll be transacting in crypto-currencies; the next you'll probably exchange digital credits to purchase new gadgets -- and for almost any other monetary transaction. In a 2011 science fiction movie, In Time, currency is measured by a digital clock, which extends one's life, and "time" credits are exchanged between people, essentially meaning that people earn or spend time credits. When one's "time" credits are exhausted, that person dies, i.e. has'timed out.'