Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the world's leading memory semiconductor companies, have launched investment and employment plans for their AI semiconductor and foundry businesses. Samsung Electronics is trying to develop next-generation AI semiconductor products by leveraging its strengths in mobile chipset design and memory manufacturing. Samsung develops its own neural processing units (NPUs) and integrates them into multiple processing platforms, including the Exynos mobile processor and the Exynos auto processor series. Once secretly focusing solely on their own product development, major companies are starting to open up relations with the academia and research communities to learn the latest AI technologies and engage with well-educated researchers. Another notable product development direction is putting AI computation logic into memories.

Artificial intelligence: it's one of those mind-bending subjects that provokes fascination yet is misunderstood by almost everyone (myself included). If you bring it up in the pub to sound brainy, the conversation might only go as far as Alan Turing, Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov and perhaps the new series of BBC drama The Capture, in which foreign spies seem to use AI to manipulate CCTV and live broadcasts. But AI has long moved beyond the realms of gripping fiction and headline-grabbing experiments into the real world. For instance, DeepMind, a British subsidiary of Alphabet, recently released almost the entire make-up of the protein universe, mapped for the first time by its AI programme AlphaFold. This data is already being used to advance our understanding of life-threatening illnesses and help protect honeybees. Amid all the scaremongering about AI, perhaps we should be more aware of these positive developments, particularly if we're investors.

Artificial intelligence has seeped into almost every corner of our lives, including how people are hired for work. AI is used to screen and evaluate applicants, but there's a problem with that. Research has shown that AI can produce biased results, especially against women and minorities. That's something that Kenneth Chenault, chairman and managing director at the venture capital firm General Catalyst, is trying to address with his Data and Trust Alliance. Chenault is the co-chair of the organization.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly gaining traction. We have all seen AI-related news and documentaries on TV. Everything around us seems to be on the verge of becoming ultra-smart. Despite all of that, there is one big problem which currently prevents AI from big-time mass adoption. This article tries to shed some light on this highly interesting subject.

Kicking off a new year is always a great opportunity to look back at what transpired over the last 12 months. We passed along the top robotics stories and most-funded robotics companies of 2018. Now it is time to look ahead at what to watch in 2019. Stay tuned for trends and startup companies to track, but 2019 is also a pivotal year for major companies working in robotics, too. Below, in alphabetical order, are major companies in the robotics space to watch in 2019.

Phone a call centre and the person on the end of the line will often try to sell you something. Now it seems this upselling is fuelled by artificial intelligence. Afiniti, an AI firm based in Washington DC, claims to be able to pair call-centre agents with the people they are most likely to be able to influence, based on a prediction of how both will act during the call. Many large firms around the world, including Virgin Media and Sky, use Afiniti's software to manage millions of calls …

The White House on Thursday plans to convene executives from Amazon, Facebook, Google, Intel and 34 other major U.S. companies as it seeks to supercharge the deployment of powerful robots, algorithms and the broader field of artificial intelligence. The Trump administration intends to ask academics, government officials and AI developers about ways to adapt regulations to advance AI in such fields as agriculture, health care and transportation, according to a draft schedule of the event. And they're set to discuss the U.S. government's power to fund cutting-edge research into such technologies as machine learning. For the White House, the challenge is to strike a balance between the benefits of computers that can spot disease or drive cars and the reality that jobs – or lives – are at stake in the age of AI. "Whether you're a farmer in Iowa, an energy producer in Texas [or] a drug manufacturer in Boston, you are going to be using these techniques to drive your business going forward," Michael Kratsios, deputy chief technology officer at the White House, said in a recent interview. Among those expected to be in the room for that private gathering Thursday will be representatives from tech giants like Microsoft, Nvidia and Oracle, as well as other businesses like Ford, Land O'Lakes, Mastercard, Pfizer and United Airlines, according to the White House.

The concept of AI has been a subject of fascination for almost as long as computers have existed. However, we've only recently begun to see what a future with AI might actually look like and -- despite the grim picture that is often painted in sci-fi stories -- the outlook is pretty exciting. Luckily for us, the AI industry is currently less focused on the task of replacing the human race with an army of brutal machines and more occupied with solving big data problems. While this might stave off the cyborg apocalypse for a few years, it does create a more immediate issue for the global community. As the demand for skilled professionals in AI continues to expand, employers are struggling to keep up.

Artificial intelligence that can understand and answer any work-related question it is asked has been made available in the UK for the first time. The computer software, called Starmind, uses machine learning to understand queries, then source answers from previous staff conversations on a subject or track down experts within the company who are able to help. Its creators refer to it as'brain technology', adding its aim is to become a central knowledge bank within any company, an instant database of information that can be accessed by anyone. AI software which understands and answers work-related questions has been made available in the UK. Starmind is an artificial intelligence software for the workplace, designed in Switzerland.

Artificial intelligence that can understand and answer any work-related question it is asked has been made available in the UK for the first time. The computer software, called Starmind, uses machine learning to understand queries, then source answers from previous staff conversations on a subject or track down experts within the company who are able to help. Its creators refer to it as'brain technology', adding its aim is to become a central knowledge bank within any company, an instant database of information that can be accessed by anyone. AI software which understands and answers work-related questions has been made available in the UK. Starmind is an artificial intelligence software for the workplace, designed in Switzerland.