The technology secretary has demanded an overhaul of the UK's leading artificial intelligence institute in a wide-ranging letter that calls for a switch in focus to defence and national security, as well as leadership changes. Peter Kyle said it was clear further action was needed to ensure the government-backed Alan Turing Institute met its full potential. In a letter to ATI's chair, seen by the Guardian, Kyle said the institute should be changed to prioritise defence, national security and "sovereign capabilities" – a reference to nation states being able to control their own AI technology. The call for new priorities implies a downgrading of ATI's focus on health and the environment, which are two of three core subjects for the institute, alongside defence and security, under its "Turing 2.0" strategy. "Moving forward, defence and national security projects should form a core of ATI's activities, and relationships with the UK's security, defence, and intelligence communities should be strengthened accordingly," Kyle wrote.

In the 1930s, there were around 6.8 million farms in the United States. The size averaged at around 155 acres. Over the next several decades, the number of farms rapidly declined to around 1.9 million in 2023. Those farms grew larger, averaging around 464 acres. As farming has changed over time, experts believe artificial intelligence (AI) can help farmers and producers make food faster and more efficiently.

As intractable problems accrue and grow, artificial intelligence is increasingly being called upon as part of the solution. Carnegie Mellon University AI researchers have stepped up to help surmount these obstacles where large data sets must be analyzed and patterns discovered to find answers. Last year, the National Science Foundation teamed up with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, as well as corporate sponsors Accenture, Amazon, Google and Intel to provide $220 million in grants to create 11 new institutes specifically dedicated to AI research across a wide range of sectors. CMU's School of Computer Science and College of Engineering faculty will work with four of these new institutes: the AI Institute for Resilient Agriculture, the AI Institute for Collaborative Assistance and Responsive Interaction for Networked Groups, the AI Institute for Future Edge Networks and Distributed Intelligence, and the USDA-NIFA Institute for Agricultural AI for Transforming the Workforce and Decision Support. Learn more about these institutes and meet the researchers leading the work in our magazine, The Link.

As Editor-in-Chief, it is my pleasure to introduce a new program: Communications' digital initiative that connects leading-edge research and technology insights and breakthroughs from ACM's conferences to a much larger audience. The idea is to select compelling topics of broad interest and highlight them in a vibrant conversation with key leaders in an interactive digital event--one you can participate with live or view later via the ACM Digital Library. We held our first digital initiative in February. Below are some details about the event and link to watch it. Communications' first Digital Event was an exciting discussion with AI research leaders from academia and industry who explored how science and AI are transforming each other.

The AI Institute's mission is to expand Canadians' understanding of AI, guide the trustworthy development of powerful AI solutions and facilitate knowledge-sharing by building a network of like-minded organizations. AI is transforming organizational decision-making, creating efficiencies, building new capabilities and businesses, and powering sustainable, value-driving activities. The Deloitte AI Institute helps private and public sector organizations learn about their options while advocating for ethical AI use, and educating Deloitte practitioners and Canadians on AI's potential.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a force multiplier that has the potential to deliver faster, smarter and safer military effects with less resources. It is an essential technology that is at the heart of advances in decision support, situational awareness, logistics, robotic process automation, natural language processing and digital twin modelling. Massive investments have already been made by both allies and competitors seeking to lead or gain advantage through application of AI. To highlight this, a recent report from the US National Security Commission on AI recommends that, "by 2025, the (US) Department of Defense and Intelligence Community must be AI-ready". What does an "AI-ready" organisation look like, and what does Air Force need to do to realise the benefits?

Iowa State University researchers are growing two kinds of corn plants. If you drive past the many fields near the university's campus in Ames, you can see row after row of the first. But the second exists in a location that hasn't been completely explored yet: cyberspace. The researchers, part of the AI Institute for Resilient Agriculture, are using photos, sensor data and artificial intelligence to create "digital twins" of corn plants that, through analysis, can lead to a better understanding of their real-life counterparts. They hope the resulting software and techniques will lead to better management, improved breeding, and ultimately, smarter crops.

Colby College has hired a language processing expert to lead its newly formed Davis Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Amanda Stent, considered one of the country's leading authorities on natural language processing – which gives computers the ability to understand human text and spoken words – will start in October. Stent most recently served as the natural language processing architect at Bloomberg L.P., where she led the People and Language AI Team. Stent has authored or co-authored more than 100 papers on natural language processing and is a regular speaker on the subject. She was also involved in the CALO (Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes) project that led to a range of AI applications, including the well-known virtual assistant Siri.

Indiana University will be a principal organization in two of the U.S. National Science Foundation's 11 new NSF National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes, helping advance artificial intelligence to improve people's lives. Overall, the 11 institutes are focused on AI-based technologies that will result in advances such as helping older adults lead more independent lives, creating solutions to improve agriculture and food supply chains, and transforming AI into accessible "plug-and-play" technology, the NSF said in an announcement. The IU Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering and the Center of Excellence for Women and Technology, both based at IU Bloomington, will collaborate with the AI Institute for Intelligent Cyberinfrastructure with Computational Learning. Researchers from the IU School of Education at IU Bloomington and the Luddy School are part of the team for the NSF AI Institute for Engaged Learning, which will advance natural language processing, computer vision and machine learning to engage learners in AI-driven narrative-centered learning environments, particularly in STEM. Students will be engaged through story-based problem scenarios.

Imagine a classroom where student teams are learning with a computer simulation, planning a scientific expedition to Mars. They might be challenged to think about the tools they need or the clothing and food they will bring. As the students make decisions about their voyage to the red planet, the simulation changes until each group is following a storyline all their own. That level of personalized learning is just one vision of researchers who are harnessing artificial intelligence to improve education. They're getting a boost through 11 grants of $20 million each that the National Science Foundation has awarded to establish new AI research programs for education and other fields.