Can artificial intelligence, or machine learning, be deployed to predict earthquakes, potentially saving thousands of lives around the world? Some seismologists are working to find out. But they know such efforts are eyed with suspicion in the field. "You're viewed as a nutcase if you say you think you're going to make progress on predicting earthquakes," Paul Johnson, a geophysicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, told Scientific American. In the past, scientists have used various criteria to try to predict earthquakes, including foreshocks, electromagnetic disturbances, changes in groundwater chemistry.

Under the watchful eyes of the public and lawmakers, several traditional automakers and tech companies have been racing to the finish line of "fully autonomous driving." Companies are already testing their cars in real-world conditions on public streets, and to date, some have driven millions of miles. Though opinions vary, it is hypothesized that we will be safer in autonomous vehicles (AKA self-driving cars). And while we would really need significantly more data to determine this as a statistic, I can imagine the experience of riding in full autopilot will be somewhat like flying: though much scarier than driving (for most), you are still safer, statistically-speaking. Regardless, it will be some time before the majority of average consumers have replaced their conventional vehicles.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence are terms that any carbon-based humanoid operating in 2017 has probably heard or discussed in one way or another. What was the stuff of science fiction two decades ago is now science, and it is present everywhere. Machine Learning – type of artificial intelligence enabling computers to learn without the explicit programming to do so. It is essentially the evolution of programming, whereby millions of formulae and functions are converged to work in synchronicity and analyse masses of data. Almost like adding a trend line to a data set, on top of a data set, on top of another data set, ad infinitum.

Like all hardware device makers eager to meet the newest market opportunity, Intel is placing multiple bets on the future of machine learning hardware. The chipmaker has already cast its Xeon Phi and future integrated Nervana Systems chips into the deep learning pool while touting regular Xeons to do the heavy lifting on the inference side. However, a recent conversation we had with Intel turned up a surprising new addition to the machine learning conversation--an emphasis on neuromorphic devices and what Intel is openly calling "cognitive computing" (a term used primarily--and heavily--for IBM's Watson-driven AI technologies). This is the first time to date we've heard the company make any definitive claims about where neuromorphic chips might fit into a strategy to capture machine learning, and marks a bold grab for the term "cognitive computing" which has been an umbrella term for Big Blue's AI business. Intel has been developing neuromorphic devices for some time, with one of the first prototypes that was well known in 2012.

A machine-learning'breakthrough'on Alphabet's Loon project to connect the unconnected in the world's underdeveloped and remote areas could accelerate progress on global Internet connectivity. Project Loon has "now exceeded even their own expectations for how well their smart software algorithms can help their balloons navigate the globe, and in the process they've leapt much closer to a day when balloon-powered Internet could become a reality for people in rural and remote regions of the globe," wrote Astro Teller, the head of X, Alphabet's self-described'moonshot factory' that houses Project Loon and has produced such innovations as Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving car project. Project Loon is a network of free-flying, high-altitude balloons that beam Internet to earth. And the machine-learning breakthrough announced yesterday comes at an important time, because the project has struggled with several issues that have brought its viability into question, including renegade balloons that floated off-course or crashed. "Although our navigation algorithms can get even better, and we need to test them in many other parts of the world, this is a positive sign for Loon's economic and operational viability," Teller wrote.

SAN FRANCISCO – Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt says artificial intelligence is key to advances in diverse areas such as healthcare and datacenter design and that security concerns related to it are somewhat misguided. In a wide-ranging on-stage conversation here at the RSA Security conference with Gideon Lewis-Kraus, author of The Great A.I. Awakening, Schmidt shared his insights from decades of work related to AI (he studied AI as a PhD student 40 years ago) and why the technology seems to finally be hitting its stride. In fact, last year Google CEO Sundar Pichai said AI is what helps the search giant build better products over time. "We will move from a mobile-first to an AI-first world," he said. Asked about that, Schmidt said that Google is still very much focused on mobile advances.

Artificial intelligence, popularly referred to as AI, is no longer seen only in movies and TV series. Many of us are already taking advantage of it through mobile apps and smartphones. AI specifically refers to the enhanced ability that a piece of software may have, where it can understand specific information, add contextual knowledge to it and suggest responses based on that. For example, the suggestion about which content to view on YouTube has an element of AI working in the background. Available by default in many Android smartphones, Google Photos uses AI and machine learning to identify objects or human faces in a photo and club ones with common elements and the same faces into specific folders without the user's intervention.

Stanford University has invited leading thinkers from several institutions to begin a 100-year effort to study and anticipate how the effects of artificial intelligence will ripple through every aspect of how people work, live and play. This effort, called the One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence, or AI100, is the brainchild of computer scientist and Stanford alumnus Eric Horvitz, who, among other credits, is a former president of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. In that capacity, Horvitz convened a conference in 2009 at which top researchers considered advances in artificial intelligence and its influences on people and society, a discussion that illuminated the need for continuing study of AI's long-term implications. Now, together with Russ Altman, a professor of bioengineering and of computer science at Stanford, Horvitz has formed a committee that will select a panel to begin a series of periodic studies on how AI will affect automation, national security, psychology, ethics, law, privacy, democracy and other issues. "Artificial intelligence is one of the most profound undertakings in science, and one that will affect every aspect of human life," said Stanford President John Hennessy, who helped initiate the project.

SAN FRANCISCO – Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt says artificial intelligence is key to advances in diverse areas such as healthcare and datacenter design and that security concerns related to it are somewhat misguided. In a wide-ranging on-stage conversation here at the RSA Security conference with Gideon Lewis-Kraus, author of The Great A.I. Awakening, Schmidt shared his insights from decades of work related to AI (he studied AI as a PhD student 40 years ago) and why the technology seems to finally be hitting its stride. In fact, last year Google CEO Sundar Pichai said AI is what helps the search giant build better products over time. "We will move from a mobile-first to an AI-first world," he said. Asked about that, Schmidt said that Google is still very much focused on mobile advances.

Mumbai, January 27, 2017: HDFC Bank Ltd., today announced the launch of IRA, its interactive humanoid, at the Kamala Mills branch in Mumbai. IRA, which stands for Intelligent Robotic Assistant, will help branch staff in servicing customers. With this launch, HDFC Bank becomes the first bank in the country to introduce a humanoid for customer service. Developed using Robotics and Artificial Intelligence technologies, IRA will be positioned near the Welcome Desk, where it will greet customers and guide them to the relevant counter in the branch such as Cash Deposit, Foreign Exchange, Loans, among others in the first phase. After the customer selects an option, IRA will offer to guide the customer to the respective counter, by displaying'Take Me There' on the screen.