A new Guardian report shows where AI is headed next, in a joint venture between Google's Deep Mind and the British NHS … The British team behind Google's AI efforts is teaming up with the UK's National Health Service and London's Moorfields Eye Hospital to build a machine learning system capable of recognizing potentially sight-threatening conditions by simply identifying symptoms from a digital scan of the eye. The core of the research will see about a million eye scans (all coming from anonymous patients) being analysed by an AI-fuelled computer, which Deepmind researchers will use to train a special algorithm. The algorithm will then allow the machine to spot early signs of eye conditions, such as wet age-related macular degenerations and diabetic retinopathy; diabetes, in fact, apparently makes it "25 times more likely to go blind", as per Mustafa Suleyman, Deepmind's co-founder. "If we can detect this, and get in there as early as possible, then 98% of the most severe visual loss might be prevented," Mustafa said. And indeed, allowing a computer to do most of the hard work would help immensely in increasing both the speed and the accuracy of a diagnosis, potentially helping the sight of thousands to be saved.

Google's DeepMind is embarking on a new research project to help doctors spot the early signs of sight-threatening eye diseases. The company's British-based artificial intelligence division will use machine learning to analyze more than one million anonymous eye scans, creating algorithms that can detect early warning signs that humans might miss. The project is DeepMind's second collaboration with the UK's National Health Service (NHS), but the first to use artificial intelligence. DeepMind is hoping to spot two eye conditions in particular: wet age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, the latter being the fastest growing cause of blindness around the wold. "There's so much at stake, particularly with diabetic retinopathy," DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman told The Guardian.

Moorfields Eye Hospital is one of the oldest and largest health centres for ophthalmic treatment, handling more than 600,000 patient visits each year. Staff conduct "many thousands" of optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans each week -- these are complex and can take time for healthcare professionals to analyze. If DeepMind's research is successful, this workflow could be accelerated and, as a result, ensure that many people retain their sight. Some conditions, such as diabetic retinopathy, can be prevented or severely limited provided they are detected early enough. "But that doesn't always happen," DeepMind explains.

One million anonymised eye scans from Moorfields Eye Hospital will be used to train an artificial intelligence (AI) system from Google. Machine learning algorithms will scour the images for signs of diseases such as macular degeneration and diabetes-related sight loss. Moorfields is teaming up with Google's AI division DeepMind during the scheme. Previously, DeepMind faced criticism over a little-known data sharing agreement with three London hospitals. An agreement to share patient data from the Royal Free, Barnet and Chase Farm hospitals over the past five years and continuing until 2017 was revealed by the New Scientist in May.

Nvidia's microprocessors have long been the chips of choice for computer game addicts who crave realistic graphics as they chase aliens or battle enemy soldiers. The same powerful semiconductors are now being put to new uses at companies including Alibaba, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft. Nvidia's graphics chips underpin speech recognition systems, software to develop gene therapies, and programs that transform satellite photos into detailed maps. Researchers at DeepMind, a Google-owned lab in London, harnessed thousands of Nvidia's K40 graphics processors, which cost 3,000 apiece, to train a computer to play Go, an ancient board game. In what was praised as a milestone in artificial intelligence, DeepMind's machine beat a European Go champion in five out of five matches last year.

Artificial Intelligence is developing at a rapid pace, with companies examining its potential to propel business growth. According to CNBC, Google has stated that it aims to win the artificial intelligence game, following news that it had purchased UK artificial intelligence firm Deepmind for more than US 537 million at the beginning of 2014. Artificial intelligence is still developing in the container terminal industry, however, intelligent autonomous machines are used at some fully automated terminals globally. These machines will be controlled by a central terminal operating system (TOS), which will coordinate the movement of automated cranes and other such equipment. Simulation and emulation company TBA are currently developing simulated virtual training techniques to allow terminal operator staff to train in a virtual environment.

OpenAI, a nonprofit created by Elon Musk and other tech entrepreneurs to make fundamental breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, has said that one of its big goals will be teaching robots to do the laundry and other household chores. OpenAI doesn't want to make robot hardware itself but, rather, to supply the brains for off-the-shelf bots. You might think that learning to fold underpants is a modest goal, but such dexterity and adaptability is one of the grand challenges of robotics. It also fits with the organization's stated objective to "advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole." Applying the sort of machine-learning techniques OpenAI is working on to robotics should, in fact, have huge practical benefits, and it will be a necessary component of any more general form of artificial intelligence.

Keep calm and carry on; artificial intelligence will not take all our jobs and achieve world domination, according to a report released by Forrester. Prominent figures including Elon Musk, co-chairman of OpenAI, and Professor Stephen Hawking have publicly warned people about how the advent of AI will cause an existential threat to humankind. The frenzy around AI has led to groups rallying for future safety measures. Google's DeepMind has even collaborated with Oxford University's Future of Humanity Institute to develop [PDF] an AI "panic button." Forrester, a technological research and advisory firm, believes the panic is exaggerated, however, and said: "Don't believe the hype – Google AlphaGo's gaming successes and IBM Watson will not usher in a dystopian triumph of machines over humans."

Keep calm and carry on; artificial intelligence will not take all our jobs and achieve world domination, according to a report released by Forrester. Prominent figures including Elon Musk, co-chairman of OpenAI, and Professor Stephen Hawking have publicly warned people about how the advent of AI will cause an existential threat to humankind. The frenzy around AI has led to groups rallying for future safety measures. Google's DeepMind has even collaborated with Oxford University's Future of Humanity Institute to develop [PDF] an AI "panic button." Forrester, a technological research and advisory firm, believes the panic is exaggerated, however, and said: "Don't believe the hype – Google AlphaGo's gaming successes and IBM Watson will not usher in a dystopian triumph of machines over humans."

Neuroscientists at DeepMind, a Google-owned AI lab in London, have teamed up with academics at Oxford University and UCL to try and determine how the human brain navigates an underground train network. The group -- whose work was published in the journal Neuron this week -- asked humans to plan a journey in a virtual subway network. Participants were tasked with getting from A to B while MRI scans of their brain were taken. These scans showed which parts of the brain are involved in planning and making decisions. The group, which included Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, concluded that the brain splits the task of completing a journey into different jobs, with different parts of the brain handling different elements of the task.