Did Artificial Intelligence Just Make a Major Advance? Are the Experts Worried About the Existential Risk of Artificial Intelligence? Humans does A.I. better than Westworld without resorting to nudity and orgies Here's how close AI is to beating humans in different games'Nightmare Machine' is an AI project that uses our own fears against us Stay up-to-date on the topics you care about. We'll send you an email alert whenever a news article matches your alert term. It's free, and you can add new alerts at any time.

Oren Etzioni, a well-known AI researcher, complains about news coverage of potential long-term risks arising from future success in AI research (see "Are Experts Worried About the Existential Risk of Artificial Intelligence?"). After pointing the finger squarely at Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom and his recent book, Superintelligence, Etzioni complains that Bostrom's "main source of data on the advent of human-level intelligence" consists of surveys on the opinions of AI researchers. He then surveys the opinions of AI researchers, arguing that his results refute Bostrom's. It's important to understand that Etzioni is not even addressing the reason Superintelligence has had the impact he decries: its clear explanation of why superintelligent AI may have arbitrarily negative consequences and why it's important to begin addressing the issue well in advance. Bostrom does not base his case on predictions that superhuman AI systems are imminent.

Despite predictions of a tech slowdown, big-name businesses like Facebook, Apple, and IBM are pouring resources into artificial intelligence (AI), changing the field and gaining the interest of venture capitalists everywhere. As investors actively seek innovative players in the AI space, more entrepreneurs are gravitating toward the technology as they build and grow their own companies. Businesses such as Sentient, Context Relevant, and Scaled Inference all continue to work on their own multifunction AI platforms for computation and analysis, but this is only a small segment of the AI market. Multiple businesses now invest time and effort into purpose-built AI products. Here are a few of the businesses that are capturing attention in their respective industries for their AI work. With total capital of $58 million, AI specialist Kensho is already showing just how serious investors are about the technology.

A lot of the press we see on AI tends to be of the big iron variety recognition algorithms for Facebook images, Google TensorFlow and IBM Watson systems. But AI is already on edge-nodes such as smartphones and home automation hubs, for functions like voice-recognition, facial recognition and natural language understanding. Qualcomm believes there are good reasons for functions like this not only to stay on the edge but to continue to evolve there. I talked with Gary Brotman, director of product management at QTI to understand what s driving this trend. Part of the reason is availability.

A battle between the U.S. government and China is now brewing in the market for semiconductors, the foundation of electronics. The U.S. alleges that China is rigging the semiconductor market in its favor by indulging in unfair trade practices. "This unprecedented state-driven interference can distort the market and undermine the innovation ecosystem," Penny Pritzker, U.S. secretary of commerce, said during a Wednesday event organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The Chinese government is using its own resources to artificially reduce chip prices, which is hurting global competition, the U.S. alleges. Pritzker called on China to play fair and in accordance with "global trading rules," with healthy competition and free and fair trade, not through state investments aimed at distorting global markets.

When you want a person to do something, you train them. When you want a computer to do something, you program it. However, there are ways to make computers learn, at least in some situations. One technique that makes this possible is the perceptron learning algorithm. A perceptron is a computer simulation of a nerve, and there are various ways to change the perceptron's behavior based on either example data or a method to determine how good (or bad) some outcome is.

Summary: If you want to capitalize on all the amazing advancements in data science through your own venture-funded start up, where are the best opportunities? With all our recent talk about Convolutional Neural Nets (CNNs) and Recurrent Neural Nets (RNNs), innovations in text, speech, and image processing and now third generation Spiking Neural Nets you probably share my feeling that these new cutting edge data science technologies are huge opportunities waiting to be exploited. Perhaps you are thinking like an entrepreneur and wondering how you can capitalize on this in a venture-funded company. It's an interesting question and quite different from deciding to use these technologies to the benefit of your current employer or client. To be VC funded in anything, including a data science based opportunity there are many criteria, not the least of which is to be out in front of everyone else.

What is Wizeline AI Academy? Wizeline AI Academy offers qualified applicants tuition-free coursework on artificial intelligence, machine learning and other advanced software engineering skills and technologies. AI Academy will offer three course tracks: Intensives, which are multi-week programs designed for those who wish to become subject matter experts, and weekend Crash Courses. Following the completion of any of the courses, students with a background in computer science or engineering will be prepared to take on artificial intelligence development work at technology companies.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Wizeline, the leading provider of digital product and customer experience solutions powered by artificial intelligence, today announced the launch of Wizeline Artificial Intelligence Academy, or Wizeline AI Academy for short. The program, which will matriculate its first classes starting in December 2016, offers qualified applicants tuition-free coursework on artificial intelligence, machine learning and other advanced software engineering skills and technologies. The courses will be given at Wizeline's office campus in Guadalajara, Mexico. Interested candidates can apply by visiting AI Academy's website. With its main software engineering campus in Guadalajara, Wizeline has more than tripled in size in the past year.

Mastercard has announcedplans to launch an artificial intelligence (AI) bot platform that allows consumers to transact, manage finances, and shop via messaging platforms. The Mastercard bot for banks will extend Mastercard services to customers on messaging platforms and make financial information and decisions part of consumers' everyday lives. In the pilot phase, Mastercard is partnering with Kasisto, the company that powers branded virtual assistants and smart bots for financial services and is a current participant in the Mastercard Start Path Global program. The Mastercard bot is powered by KAI Banking, a conversational AI platform with deep knowledge in financial services. It can fulfill customer requests and solve problems on messaging platforms such as Facebook Messenger and SMS, enabling financial institutions to create entirely new consumer experiences – ones that are as easy and natural as texting a friend.