It's well established that deepfake images of people are problematic, but it's now clearer that bogus satellite imagery could also represent a threat. The Verge reports that University of Washington-led researchers have developed a way to generate deepfake satellite photography as part of an effort to detect manipulated images. The team used an AI algorithm to generate deepfakes by feeding the traits of learned satellite images into different base maps. They could use Tacoma's roads and building locations, for example (at top right in the picture below), but superimpose Beijing's taller buildings (bottom right) or Seattle's low-rises (bottom left). You can apply greenery, too. While the execution isn't flawless, it's close enough that scientists believe you might blame any oddities on low image quality.

Across the globe, energy systems are changing and creating unprecedented challenges for the organisations tasked with ensuring the lights stay on. In the UK, National Grid is facing shrinking margins, looming capacity shortages and unpredictable peaks and troughs in energy supply caused by increasing levels of renewable penetration. At the recent Reinventing Energy Summit, Michael Bironneau, Head of Technology Development at Open Energi, explored how the same machine learning techniques that have let machines defeat chess and Go masters, can also be leveraged to orchestrate massive amounts of flexible demand-side capacity – from industrial equipment, co-generation and battery storage systems – towards the one goal of creating a smarter grid; one that is cleaner, cheaper, more secure and more efficient. For World Cities Day 2016, Michael talked to Nikita Johnson of Re:work about utilising data science in energy, creating a smarter grid, political challenges, and more. What are the main transformative technologies that will help create a smarter grid?

Across the globe, energy systems are changing and creating unprecedented challenges for the organisations tasked with ensuring the lights stay on. In the UK, National Grid is facing shrinking margins, looming capacity shortages and unpredictable peaks and troughs in energy supply caused by increasing levels of renewable penetration. At the Reinventing Energy Summit, Michael Bironneau, Head of Technology Development at Open Energi, will explore how the same machine learning techniques that have let machines defeat chess and Go masters, can also be leveraged to orchestrate massive amounts of flexible demand-side capacity – from industrial equipment, co-generation and battery storage systems – towards the one goal of creating a smarter grid; one that is cleaner, cheaper, more secure and more efficient. For World Cities Day 2016, I asked Michael a few questions to learn more about utilising data science in energy, creating a smarter grid, political challenges, and more. What are the main transformative technologies that will help create a smarter grid?