Artificial intelligence and machine learning systems are made up of code and algorithms, and as such, they work as fast as computers can process them. Often this means massive amounts of learning can be accomplished every second without stop 24x7x365. Code doesn't need to take weekends off, holidays, or sick time. It can recognize complex patterns, areas of potential improvement and problems in real-time (aka digital-time). Given these available computing capabilities and speeds, what are executives to do with AI and machine learning, when we live and operate in relatively slow human-time, and work within organizations that work at an even slower pace of organizational-time.

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) and Carnegie Mellon University held the first part of the two-part joint Carnegie Colloquium on Digital Governance and Security in Washington D.C. on Oct. 31. The first part of the colloquium was titled "The Rise of Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Military Operations and Privacy," and the second part, titled "The Future of the Internet: Governance and Conflict," will be held this year in Pittsburgh on Dec. 2. CEIP is a series of foreign policy-based research centers located in Russia, China, Europe, the Middle East, India, and the United States, with headquarters in Washington D.C., that collects itself under the phrase, "The Global Think Tank." It was established in 1960 by Andrew Carnegie and, according to a report by the University of Pennsylvania, is the third most influential think tank in the world. The colloquium, held for the benefit of both Carnegie Mellon and the CEIP, aimed to allow for communication between the academics at Carnegie Mellon and the foreign policy and ethics experts from all the CEIP stations across the world to discuss the implication of artificial intelligence on foreign policy and the challenges posed by it. The second part of the colloquium will focus on cyber-security norms and internet governance. "Designing safe software systems and attempting to create the learning abilities of the human brain are natural progressions towards the two of the modern world's most pressing concerns -- cyber security and privacy," said President Subra Suresh, in the welcome address.

According to the Financial Times, Pablo Picasso once said, "Computers are useless. They can only give you answers." Unfortunately for us, computers may now be asking more questions than they answer. As a result, the possibilities are rather overwhelming, with answers more ambiguous and uncertain than straightforward. Similarly, we might ask ourselves where we draw the line when it comes to what we find ethically acceptable in terms of artificial intelligence (AI) as it relates to composition/creation in the worlds of art, writing, performing arts and music--as well as liberal arts education. Most of us are aware of music streaming services that select songs for us based on data about users' listening preferences.

Toronto-based IT software developer announced today the pilot program, Karen by Karen.ai, a cognitive recruiting chatbot that engages candidates throughout the application process, matches candidates to alternative positions and provides screening support before, during and after the recruiting process. "Karen derives concepts and personality traits from candidates' resumes and cover letters and assesses the level of engagement and gains deeper insights through a simple text chat conversation. This conversation improves the candidate's experience of the recruitment process and represents the company's brand," said founder Noel Webb. Webb also noted Karen can follow up with candidates during and after the requisition and provide alternative options within the company for which they may be better suited. While automated solutions have existed in recruitment for nearly a decade, Karen takes these automations one step further, because Karen can learn from conversations with candidates and predict other positions for which they might be a match.

Google and the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust have announced a fresh five-year collaboration today, which will see the former's DeepMind AI used to improve patient care across the trust's various hospital sites. The partnership will focus on Streams, a mobile app the pair have been working on since late last year that's been approved as a medical device by the UK's health regulator. DeepMind will analyse blood test results as they come in and flag when patients might be at risk of acute kidney injury, proactively alerting carers through the Streams app. It'll go live across the trust in early 2017, and there are plans to expand the blood analysis to look for signs of sepsis and other causes of organ failure. The pair hope to add messaging and task management features over the course of the collaboration too, and Streams is said to be built on open standards that will allow other developers to easily add new services.

We report a novel altimetry-based machine learning approach for eddy identification and characterization. The machine learning models use daily maps of geostrophic velocity anomalies and are trained according to the phase angle between the zonal and meridional components at each grid point. The trained models are then used to identify the corresponding eddy phase patterns, and to predict the lifetime of a detected eddy structure. The performance of the proposed method is examined at two dynamically different regions to demonstrate its robust behavior and region-independency.

Cognitive systems - in the form of ANN is a technology that High-Tech Bridge is particularly familiar with, because the company's ImmuniWeb web security testing platform is based on machine learning technology. High-Tech Bridge uses artificial neural networks (ANN) and advanced human augmentation to implement intelligent automation of vulnerability scanning, but each scenario needs careful preparation, and unsupervised ANN is not on the menu, as Kolochenko explained: "We continuously aggregate knowledge and skills of humans to feed into the ANN. You have to teach the network to make the decisions. Our intelligence needs to be very specific, so we use supervised learning."

Technology consultant and software developer Prakelt has announced that its new chatbot, Feersum Engine, is ready to start talking using WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and other established messaging platforms to interact with end users in a way that feels familiar and comfortable. Feersum Engine is a chatbot that can engage people in conversation using natural language processing and machine learning. Tipped for exponential growth, chatbots and conversational interfaces are already being adopted by many banks and financial services around the world, and their applications are becoming more varied as designers better understand the technology. Streamlining interaction Locally-built Feersum Engine brings artificial intelligence and conversational interaction to large audiences for customer support, brand marketing or public service outreach. One use case for Feersum Engine, for example, is to cut down the number of simple to answer requests that overwhelm support and service agents, and is claimed to be its flexible enough to work in any environment from product support to government healthcare initiatives.

TEDxMontreal, which had Perspectives as its theme in 2016, aims to stimulate curiosity by showcasing a diversity of viewpoints from the Montreal community. It is among the TEDx program of self-organized events, designed to bring a TED-like experience to local cities. This year, the conference was held on Nov. 12 at Espace DCMTL, located in Parc-Extension. This neighbourhood is away from the spotlight of downtown, and was chosen to represent the uncovering of underground ideas and culture in Montreal. Created in 2008, TEDx is a global event in which communities worldwide self-organize day-long TED conferences, all with a common mission to foster innovation and spread ideas.