It seems like everyone including the U.S. government is getting hacked on a regular basis. Like the British broadband provider TalkTalk recently found out, we can all do more to protect ourselves. But fighting against cyber threats seems futile as staying a step ahead of criminals seems almost impossible. So it begs the question, is Machine Learning (ML) the answer we have all been waiting for? The amount of data that's being generated individually and collectively is multiplying rapidly.

I'd be willing to bet that if you were asked to list ten uses for your smartphone, you probably wouldn't include "medical device" in your answer. But as smartphones become increasingly capable, highly-portable computing platforms, researchers are looking to the computer in everyone's pocket as a way to improve global health. As Wired UK declared earlier this year, the next revolutionary medical device is likely to be your smartphone. Scientists have already developed smartphone-based apps that can monitor asthma, detect skin cancer, and diagnose traumatic brain injuries. The latest app that joins the "doctor in your pocket" list is helping screen for anemia.

Pop culture has primed us to think that our robot friends of the future will be quick-witted quipsters. Television and films have their fair share of sardonic androids, from the foul-mouthed alcoholic Bender in Futurama to the acerbic J.A.R.V.I.S. from Ironman. But the reality of such amusing sidekicks remains far off. Cognitively speaking, sarcasm is one of the most complex forms of human expression--and it's therefore one of the hardest to teach AI systems. While voice recognition, machine translation, and other such tools are constantly improving, AI still lacks the ability to detect this uniquely human linguistic trait in either verbal or written conversation.

Summary & Key Insights Our latest digital platform survey reveals an overriding pressure to reduce spending on IT operations while also moving faster to transform IT. This Strategic Perspective identifies the evolution of enterprise IT, and the dominant and strategic technologies that will most influence and affect the business of IT. The key takeaway from our latest research is that planning for, and acting on, uses of data science – natural language processing and machine learning for now – and the Internet of Things are the key technologies reshaping the business of IT going forward. Perspective The results from our most recent digital platform survey reveal that while IT leaders are being c...

With the rise of the mobile, always-on consumer, it is easier than ever for customers to demand immediate responsiveness from brands. Companies are expected to deliver fast, reliable customer service across channels and are under pressure to incorporate new tools and processes to engage with customers wherever they are. Fielding messages into traditional help desks has historically resulted in longer wait times and a disorganized messaging experience for support representatives. Chatbots assist in solving simple, quick-response needs, leaving more time for customer service representatives to focus on complex customer demands and high-touch interactions. In recent years, bot-enhanced customer support use has increased, due in part to new technology that allows businesses to easily identify and resolve customer problems through messaging services.

Any future war with Russia or China would be "extremely lethal and fast" and produce violence on the scale not seen for 60 years, according to US generals. Artificial intelligence and automated weapons systems will accelerate any future conflict, Major General William Hix has warned. "A conventional conflict in the near future will be extremely lethal and fast," he told a future-of-the-Army panel on Tuesday, Defense One reports. "And we will not own the stopwatch." General Hix described his vision of accelerated future warfare: "The speed of events are likely to strain our human abilities.

If Salesforce delivers artificial intelligence as part and parcel of everyday business applications as promised, its customers are ready to use it, at least according to an informal and very unscientific survey. AI is a class of technology that teaches itself how to perform tasks. In one form, AI can learn to act as a personal assistant to its human users. But to date, much of the available AI technology has been expensive and hard to implement. At the company's annual Dreamforce event in San Francisco, Salesforce crm chief executive Marc Benioff and other execs again talked up the company's plan to integrate AI into its various sales, marketing, e-commerce, and customer service software products.

The folk at Orion Health have been busy following the announcement of its intention to put machine learning to work in its products within a year. It has just released a report, in conjunction with the University of Auckland, which makes clearer how that will work. The Introduction to Machine Learning in Healthcare report is co-authored by Dr Kevin Ross and Dr Kathryn Hemstalk, with an introduction by Orion Health CEO Ian McCrae. Among other things, the report lifts the lid on data that is useful for the practice of precision medicine, and which will become part of an electronic health record and provides an introduction to different types of machine learning models. The report's publication coincides with the official launch of Precision Driven Health at the University of Auckland, which the company described in a statement as'one of the largest data science research initiatives to be undertaken in this country'.

Artificial Intelligence technology development, application, and production are growing rapidly. As we being to understand the scope of the change that lies ahead, two simple questions come to mind. First, is it even possible to ensure that the technology is developed solely for the benefit of the humankind and not to cause harm? Second, if such an ideal is achieved, who controls and monitors it? The first assumption we have to make – and frankly it is not a big leap – is that artificial intelligence technology, like other technologies, can be used to do both good and bad.

Applied artificial intelligence is maturing fast. With maturity comes adoption, commercialization, and diffusion. What also comes is the responsibility to protect and safeguard the interests of businesses and households. As artificial intelligence products and services become mainstream and the technology becomes consumer facing, we have two responsibilities: to enhance and to protect. Hence, the mission of the AI Post (and The American Institute of Artificial Intelligence) is: To advance artificial intelligence safely and responsibly.