Learning is the most important ability and attribute of a Intelligent System. A system which acquires knowledge by experience, trial-and-error or through coaching, exhibits early traces of intelligence. This post explains how ANNs learn. In the previous post, 'Layman's Intro to AI', we explored a simple analogy of how a Artificial Neural Network or ANN gains to understand the'knowledge weight' of a Cat (or what we termed as the Catiness). 'w' is the knowledge weight that the network needs to learn (about the Catiness of a Cat) The '*' operator is a function called the Activation Function, which was introduced in the post titled "Mathematical foundation for Activation Functions".

NVIDIA welcomes Intel into AI era: Fancy a benchmark deathmatch?

Scott Amyx is a thought leader, speaker and author on wearables and the Internet of Things, and is the managing partner at Venture1st and CEO of Amyx . We often highlight our frailties when we fail -- we are, after all, only human. However, technology is quickly redefining what it means to be human. There is no denying that we are considerably different from the people who came before us, not only in that we successfully wield technology to overcome a range of challenges, but we also utilize it to enhance our current condition. From artificial skin, limbs and organs to touchable holograms and gesture-controlled devices, the trend is quite clear: Transhumanism will very likely be the next stage of human development.

TAIPEI Taiwan has asked Uber Technologies to pay a sales tax bill estimated by local media to be up to about 6.4 million, the government said on Friday, as a decision looms on whether the global ride-hailing service may be ordered to leave the island.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is enjoying one of its periodic moments in the limelight. Some of this we can put down to the ongoing fascination Hollywood seems to have with AI. From Stanley Kubrick's 2001 to Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, Stephen Spielberg's Artificial Intelligence to Alex Garland's Ex Machina; Hollywood has made enjoyable films and good money out of AI. These films have inspired generations of AI students. Indeed AI was once described as making computers that behave like the ones in the movies!

First responders will test the use of drones to help sick or injured people this fall in an initiative that could see the remote-controlled devices added to emergency kits nationwide. The trials in Kyushu will involve medics flying medicines, defibrillators and other medical supplies to places where airborne delivery will be faster than on land. "Drones add more options for rescuers to reach patients," said project leader Yusuke Enjoji, an official in the Saga Prefectural Government. Enjoji is CEO of the group behind the project, the Emergency Medical and Disaster Coping Automated Drones Support System Utilization Promotion Council, or Edac. Trials will involve flights at a Kyushu University campus in Fukuoka and locations in Saga.

Facial recognition makes sense as a method for your computer to recognize you. After all, humans already use a powerful version of it to tell each other apart. But people can be fooled (disguises! Now researchers have demonstrated a particularly disturbing new method of stealing a face: one that's based on 3-D rendering and some light Internet stalking. Earlier this month at the Usenix security conference, security and computer vision specialists from the University of North Carolina presented a system that uses digital 3-D facial models based on publicly available photos and displayed with mobile virtual reality technology to defeat facial recognition systems.

Sure, everyone loves a masterfully poured tulip doodle in their morning brew, but there's no need to photograph it for your friends -- again. It's alright, everyone runs out of photographic inspiration from time to time. Mostly leaning on hard-working artificial intelligence and neural networks deep in the back-end of the Internet -- Google's DeepDream being the big one -- these apps can turn your pet pictures into Picaso-esque portraits or your selfies into a scene out of "Starry Night." Check out the results of filtering the same image through the various apps below. They're all works of art, no paint required.

Travis Kalanick, CEO of Uber, recently spoke to USA TODAY about the company's new efforts to develop a self-driving ride-sharing vehicle with the help of Swedish automaker Volvo. "If we don't get the (autonomous car) software thing nailed, we're not going to be around much longer," the captain of the ride-hailing juggernaut told USA TODAY on Thursday. In his mind, self-driving cars are a societal inevitability that will reduce deaths, traffic and pollution. "Will it all take time and storytelling (to reassure consumers)? "But that's where it ultimately ends up." Kalanick, 40, spoke at Uber's sprawling headquarters here just hours after the company, privately valued at 66 billion, announced two major strategic moves aimed at better positioning itself for an autonomous vehicle future. Uber is rolling out the first of 100 Volvo SUVs equipped with self-driving features in Pittsburgh later this month, part of a 300-million partnership. Volvo has targeted 2021 for a self-driving car. And Uber is buying Otto, a 100-person startup focused on bringing autonomous features to tractor trailers. Kalanick insisted that neither deals -- nor Uber's recent sale of its UberChina operations to rival Didi Chuxing --were designed to make the company more attractive to investors for a possible initial public offering. "My statements on this have been well documented, but you gotta ask, I get it," said Kalanick in his characteristically direct style that blends pauses with declarative statements. "If there was a way to get mass liquidity without going public, (which is) that bureaucracy piece, then I'm super excited about that.

Creating original branded content solves many problems for marketers, but also presents challenges -- among them distribution and realizing ROI from what can be a costly investment. Time Inc., CBS and Telepictures are among hundreds of publishers working with IRIS.TV, which recently introduced a product to manage the distribution of branded content. Its video personalization solution uses artificial intelligence and machine learning technology so publishers can automate the programming of their video libraries for the individual based on that person's preferences and behavior. We spoke with Rohan Castelino, director of business development and marketing with IRIS.TV, about how this works. While brands are increasingly looking to partner to create content to engage Millennials, how can publishers deliver guaranteed audiences to watch this content at scale while maintaining their editorial standards and trust with audiences?