"Skynet is here." Orbital Insight is using AI and satellites to predict stock prices

This article was originally published on International Business Times. Space, far from being the final frontier, may turn out to be the key to unlocking unknown insight about planet Earth. From retail traffic levels to agriculture to poverty mapping, the up-and-coming Californian company is taking a scientific approach to data by partnering with satellite firms to blast rockets into space and watch key industrial changes from the black sky above. By 2020, there will be enough satellites in space to take real-time surveillance of the entire world, said AJ DeRosa, an Orbital Insight executive during Newsweek's AI and Data Science conference in London on March 1. "Yes, Skynet is here," he laughed. Yet, Orbital Insight is not hoping to become an AI-based overlord.