Scene text removal (STR) is the image transformation task to remove text regions in scene images. The conventional STR methods remove all scene text. This means that the existing methods cannot select text to be removed. In this paper, we propose a novel task setting named selective scene text removal (SSTR) that removes only target words specified by the user. Although SSTR is a more complex task than STR, the proposed multi-module structure enables efficient training for SSTR. Experimental results show that the proposed method can remove target words as expected.

Conventional deep reinforcement learning methods are sample-inefficient and usually require a large number of training trials before convergence. Since such methods operate on an unconstrained action set, they can lead to useless actions. A recent neuro-symbolic framework called the Logical Neural Networks (LNNs) can simultaneously provide key-properties of both neural networks and symbolic logic. The LNNs functions as an end-to-end differentiable network that minimizes a novel contradiction loss to learn interpretable rules. In this paper, we utilize LNNs to define an inference graph using basic logical operations, such as AND and NOT, for faster convergence in reinforcement learning. Specifically, we propose an integrated method that enables model-free reinforcement learning from external knowledge sources in an LNNs-based logical constrained framework such as action shielding and guide. Our results empirically demonstrate that our method converges faster compared to a model-free reinforcement learning method that doesn't have such logical constraints.

Yahoo Japan Corp. said Wednesday it will delete hateful and defamatory comments from all of its online posting sites with the help of artificial intelligence, beefing up efforts to tackle cyberbullying after the suspected suicide of a reality television show star. The operator of Yahoo online services is strengthening its monitoring of hateful posts following the death earlier this year of Hana Kimura, a cast member of the popular reality show "Terrace House," who had been the target of bullying on social media. Yahoo Japan will release a list of expressions that could be taken as malicious and clarify the criteria for deleting. Posts that are judged harmful by AI will be automatically removed. If a user known to have made inappropriate posts gets a different ID, Yahoo Japan will suspend them.

A lawmaker with severe physical disabilities attended his first parliamentary interpellation Thursday since being elected in July and became the first lawmaker in Japan ever to use an electronically-generated voice during a Diet session. In the session of the education, culture and science committee, Yasuhiko Funago, who has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a condition also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, greeted the committee using a speech synthesizer. He also asked questions through a proxy speaker. "As a newcomer, I am still inexperienced, but with everyone's assistance, I will do my best to tackle (issues)," he said at the beginning of the session. An aide then posed questions on his behalf and expressed his desire to see improvements in the learning environment for disabled children.

Japan's biggest IT-electronics trade show is at a crossroads. The annual Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies, or CEATEC, kicked off Tuesday in the city of Chiba. Though it earned fame as a major exhibition of consumer electronics such as TVs and home appliances such as washing machines, it now seems to be leaving that image behind. The show's organizer is shifting the focus to the so-called internet of things and related technologies including artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, while also aiming to facilitate business tie-ups between companies in different fields to foster innovation. "When you think of value in our society now, there is not so much value in just releasing some new products," said Hisato Nagao, president of Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association, one of the organizers of CEATEC, which runs through Friday.