More than $124 million in new funding for artificial intelligence research and industry development support allocated in the federal budget in May is still locked up inside the Industry department, with no clear signal on how and when it will be rolled out. The Australian Information Industry Association says Australia can't afford to sit on its hands in relation to the AI research and commercialisation – the industry is moving too fast, and the nation can't afford to fall behind. AIIA chief executive Ron Gauci says national capability in artificial intelligence is critical, because of the transformational impact that AI-based products and services are having across all industries. The AIIA has been pressing government for a funding allocation to drive commercialisation outcomes in the sector. The industry association had been told its "modest" proposal to bring together industry partners and state governments in a dollar-for-dollar funding arrangement with the Commonwealth had been agreed to.

South Korean tech giant Samsung has started working on the sixth next generation cellular technology and it expects completion of the 6G standard and its earliest commercialisation date could be as early as 2028. Mass commercialisation of 6G may occur around 2030, Samsung said on Tuesday, adding that both humans and machines will be the main users of 6G. Samsung, which released a white paper entitled "The Next Hyper-Connected Experience for All," said 6G will be characterised by provision of advanced services such as truly immersive extended reality (XR), high-fidelity mobile hologram and digital replica. The development comes even as the world is still far from realising the full potential of the fifth generation cellular technology, commonly known as 5G. Samsung said its vision for 6G is to bring the next hyper-connected experience to every corner of life.

A university spin-out company developing artificial intelligence to enable devices to have long conversations with humans is predicting demand to ramp-up on the back of the coronavirus outbreak. Alana, which is based at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, said it is already seeing a huge increase in sales of touch-free gadgets which its software can be deployed in. The technology developed by the firm aims to manage conversations during long interactions, while learning about the user's interests. This enables it to proactively suggest new and relevant subject matter. The newly-launched company is now working with clients across a range of sectors including education, healthcare, and finance.

In July 2017, China published its Next Generation AI Development Plan. As analysts such as Jeff Ding of Oxford University point out, it was not a green-field programme. It rather sought to gather and focus a diverse set of existing initiatives in response to what local academics called a'Sputnik moment': the 2016 defeat of the world's best Go player, Lee Sedol, by a Google-owned AI. For context, China's AI industry was estimated to be worth around RMB15bn (£1.7bn) when the plan was released. The plan often provokes sceptical responses outside China but the country has made significant advances toward the 2020 goal (indeed large parts of it have arguably already been achieved).

NEW DELHI: In a concerted effort towards making India a leading nation in the field of artificial intelligence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked Niti Aayog to familiarise all ministries with the high-end technology and explain how it can be leveraged to address the country's socio-economic problems. Central ministries will be required to set up dedicated artificial intelligence cells and eventually they will all be integrated to help scale up the performance of all social indicators. Following this directive from the PM, the government's think-tank is likely to periodically review the progress made on AI across ministries. The Aayog has already initiated pilot projects on adoption of AI across health, education and agriculture. By May end, it will formulate a national strategy/policy on AI, outlining the scope of research, adoption and commercialisation of the technology.

Manufacturing with digital platforms for competitiveness, high employment and wealth generation advanced manufacturing is a wide spectrum multi- and inter-disciplinary domain where learning from experiences, simulation and modelling, materials, sensors with Internet of Things (IoT), supply-chain robustness, life cycle management, innovations through imaginations and commercialisation should work in synergy with right expertise of human resources, facilities, infrastructure and polices. Current day manufacturing covers a wide spectrum of industries -- crafts, processed food, textiles, pharma, medical devices etc. The emphasis is on software, design, manufacturing, validation of the products and capturing the imagination of customers for needs and delight through larger and more effective use of digital technologies. Manufacturing remains an engaging frontier of all emerging and advanced nations. High value and high-end customers choose products based on differentiating qualities of the products.

How can artificial intelligence fit into human life and society in India? That will be the primary focus of a high-powered team tasked by the Indian government to understand and recommend how best AI can be shoehorned into India, the largest contributor to the global workforce in the next 10 years. The 18-member task force, set up by the central government on August 25, has been asked to make recommendations to leverage AI, widely acknowledged as an altering force in the world economy in the next few decades, for the country's economic benefit. Other mission objectives include a policy and legal framework to accelerate deployment of AI technology and five-year recommendations for specific government, industry, and research programmes. The task force has identified over a dozen domains of focus.

China has pledged to prioritise the development of artificial intelligence for the first time within the government's latest annual work report, underlining its ambition to lead what has fast become one of the hottest areas of global technological innovation. One analyst is now projecting the industry in China to grow by more than 50 per cent in value to 38 billion yuan (US$5.5 billion) by 2018. "We will implement a comprehensive plan to boost strategic emerging industries," said Premier Li Keqiang in his delivery at the annual parliamentary session in Beijing over the weekend. "We will accelerate research & development (R&D) on, and the commercialisation of new materials, artificial intelligence (AI), integrated circuits, bio-pharmacy, 5G mobile communications, and other technologies." Artificial intelligence, which focusses on creating machines that work and react like humans, will create the next industrial revolution and China and "should grab the opportunity to overtake other global competitors" in the field, added Zhou Hanmin, a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the nation's top political advisory body, during the "two sessions".

The billionaire entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley have not all been recycling their earnings into Napa Valley vineyards. With publicity commensurate with their wealth and ambitions, such notable visionaries as Elon Musk (co-founder of PayPal, the online payments giant owned by eBay) have staked out claims at and beyond the frontier of available technology, from Tesla's all-electric cars to the proto spaceships of SpaceX. This is a moment when the Silicon Valley style and brand – Go Big or Go Home -- has appeal. The recovery from the Great Recession remains frustratingly slow. In response, governments across the developed world have perversely embraced austerity.