The US company says putting AI processors in space would ease pressure on the Earth's resources. The US company says putting AI processors in space would ease pressure on the Earth's resources. US technology company's engineers want to exploit solar power and the falling cost of rocket launches Google is hatching plans to put artificial intelligence datacentres into space, with its first trial equipment sent into orbit in early 2027. Its scientists and engineers believe tightly packed constellations of about 80 solar-powered satellites could be arranged in orbit about 400 miles above the Earth's surface equipped with the powerful processors required to meet rising demand for AI. Prices of space launches are falling so quickly that by the middle of the 2030s the running costs of a space-based datacentre could be comparable to one on Earth, according to Google research released on Tuesday.

Covariant, an AI robotics company, has announced it has raised an additional $75 million in Series C funds, bringing its total funding to $222 million. Returning investors Radical Ventures and Index Ventures co-led the round, which also saw additional funding from returning investors Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Amplify Partners. The round also welcomed new investors Gates Frontier Holdings, AIX Ventures, and Northgate Capital. The funding will be used to ensure today's leading retailers and their logistics providers are able to deploy robotic picking quickly and without disruption to their current operations, Covariant stated. This comes at a time when retail executives are eager to invest in AI-powered robotic automation: according to a Covariant-led research survey from February 2023, more than 80% of retail leaders see automation as a key solution for navigating operational uncertainty in an unpredictable marketplace – and 98% plan to further invest in AI Robotics in 2023 despite current economic conditions.

The global pandemic has paused or inhibited momentum for a number of industries, but not the trucking industry. The economy relies heavily on drivers and fleets. Although it faces various obstacles -- including increased demand and fewer drivers to meet it – the trucking industry continues to see significant growth. According to the American Trucking Association, the trucking industry was short roughly 60,800 drivers back in 2018, and the shortage has continued. Experts estimate 80,000 fewer available drivers on the roads in 2021 vs. a year ago.

Employees see plenty of potential in artificial intelligence (AI), not just for the betterment of society, but also as an opportunity to work on the newest tech within their organisations. This is according to a new report from global professional services firm Genpact, which states that nine in ten UK employees are willing to learn new AI-centric skills. However, organisations are hesitant to provide their employees with the training necessary to make this dream a reality. Genpact claims this is the third consecutive year employees' wishes have not been met, with less than a third (31 percent) of businesses offering AI-related reskilling opportunities. Further, it appears female staff are not afforded the same reskilling opportunities as their male colleagues, with more than three quarters of respondents agreeing businesses do not provide equal opportunities to both genders.

The government must take strategic action to ensure the nation's AI workforce will meet future demands because current supply is falling short, a new report warns. The report from CSIRO's data sciences arm Data61 focuses on how the nation can capture the full potential of artificial intelligence technology, which is already being used in a wide range of fields. The Artificial Intelligence: Solving problems, growing the economy and improving our quality of life report found that Australia currently has 6,600 AI specialist workers, which is up from 650 AI workers in 2014 and is predicted to grow. However it is well short of the up to 160,000 workers that may be required in the next ten years. "We estimate that by 2030 Australian industry will require a workforce of between 32,000 to 161,000 employees in computer vision, robotics, human language technologies, data science and other areas of AI expertise," the report says.

Healthcare supply chains face logistics challenges, changes in software, as well as the need to reduce costs to meet demand. Following are a few ways to better segment products and markets, lower costs, and increase partnerships and collaborations across the supply chain. "The good news is that models do exist to strengthen and improve the health-care supply chain. We believe that by learning from the experience of industries such as fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), the health-care sector could cut production lead times and obsolescence, while manufacturers, distributors, hospitals, and pharmacies could carry significantly smaller inventories," McKinsey. Like any other industry, healthcare supply chain management aims to to improve overall quality and lower costs.

We need a better way of building smart societies from the ground up. Smart cities, smart transportation agencies, smart businesses and smart factories share a common trait – they are all comprised of smart spaces. Smart spaces can best be defined as urban, commercial, and industrial areas that use video, IoT, analytics and AI technologies to deliver intelligent insights to people, buildings and machines that help their organizations be more effective and improve their customer and constituents' experiences. Traditionally building something as ambitious as a smart city has been conceived as a massive undertaking to be done all at once, to get the world onboard with making our societies and cities smarter. But these are, in fact, enormous ecosystems made up of smaller, more manageable systems, like buildings, shops, factories, streets and urban infrastructure.

Apple ordered its suppliers to reduce the accuracy of its facial recognition software to make it easier to manufacture, an industry source has claimed. Face ID uses a mathematical model of users' faces to let them sign in to their smartphone, or pay for goods, with a steady glance at their handset. The news comes just days after Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak expressed concerns over the feature. Apple has ordered its suppliers to reduce the accuracy of it's facial recognition software to meet demand, an industry source has claimed. Apple's preorders will go live on Oct 27th at: Apple is also expected to have limited stock in its stores on November 3rd.

While Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX may have ambitions to set up a colony on Mars, Jeff Bezos, CEO of rival, Amazon, is setting his sights slightly closer to home. In a talk this week, Bezos has revealed that wants to colonise the moon. And his plans don't just involve sending a handful of people to live on the lunar surface, as he has said that he'want(s) to see millions of people living and working in space.' In March, Bezos announced plans to ship packages to the moon by 2020 to help set up a human settlement. He has already reserved a parking spot near the Shackleton Crater on the south pole.

To Succeed in the Digital Economy, Health Organizations Must Tap Digital Models That Place People First and Scale Expertise to Meet Demand, Accenture Report Finds Annual outlook predicts five converging digital trends that will shift how healthcare applies key innovations LAS VEGAS; June 16, 2016 – To succeed in the digital economy, health organizations will need to place people first and adopt strategies to scale expertise to meet changing demand, according to an annual report by Accenture (NYSE: ACN) released at the annual America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) Institute & Expo in Las Vegas. The industry report, Accenture Digital Health Technology Vision 2016, identified five digital forces that [Accenture predicts] will converge over the next three to five years to reshape healthcare delivery: Intelligent Automation; The Liquid Workforce; The Platform Economy; Predictable Disruption; and Digital Trust. The five digital forces Accenture identified and their likely impact on the healthcare industry are described below. The Digital Health Tech Vision 2016 from accenture Intelligent Automation According to Accenture, the health industry will increasingly embrace intelligent automation--powered by artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and augmented reality – to streamline basic tasks, such as collecting patient intake data, enabling clinicians to focus where their training and experience have the greatest value. Significant investments in intelligent automation are already underway, as Accenture's survey found that roughly seven in 10 health executives are investing more in machine learning and AI-related technologies than they were two years ago.