Artificial intelligence avatar Una will appear at the U.N. pavilion at Osaka Expo later this month as part of initiatives to combat climate change. An artificial intelligence avatar will appear at the U.N. Pavilion of the 2025 World Expo in Osaka in late September, sharing stories from Pacific island nations under threat from rising sea levels caused by climate change. The anime-inspired female character, Una, developed as part of climate initiatives supported by the Japanese government, will be showcased with the use of 3D hologram technology from Sept. 29 to Oct. 4. Launched online in May, Una can automatically respond to questions in English, Japanese and other languages. She will be like a strong voice to raise awareness on environment and climate, what is happening in the Pacific, Kanni Wignaraja, U.N. assistant secretary-general and regional director for Asia and the Pacific at the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), said in an interview in Tokyo. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

Simultaneous interpretation (SI) has been described by research scientists as "an extremely difficult job […] requiring careful concentration and having very little margin for error." Enhancing the difficulty is the fact that the practice of interpretation, per se, is "as much interpersonal as it is linguistic," as one professional interpreter put it. Little surprise then that interpretation -- heretofore largely unchanged by software advances -- would be a highly attractive target for AI research. Hoping for a shot at the brass ring of automated SI is the Japanese government, which will fund the development of AI-powered software that can deliver SI in 15 languages in time for the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, according to an August 28, 2019 article in Nikkei Asian Review. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications will ask for JPY 2bn (USD 18.9m) in the fiscal 2020 budget to fund the program, the same article said.

AeroMobil released its flying car for consumer orders. As expected, the price tag will be hefty and you'll have to wait for a while before it comes home with you. In this conceptual sketch, a vertical take off and landing craft hovers above the skyline of Dallas, one of Uber's new partners aiming to develop a flying car network by 2020. SAN FRANCISCO -- Uber is targeting 2020 for a demonstration of ride-hailing technology that will take to the skies. The on-demand car service company -- facing a leadership crisis and lawsuits over its business practices -- announced Tuesday at its Elevate Summit in Dallas that it has formed partnerships with cities and companies to develop flying cars and the infrastructure needed by machines that take off and land vertically like helicopters.

AeroMobil released its flying car for consumer orders. As expected, the price tag will be hefty and you'll have to wait for a while before it comes home with you. In this sketch, a vertical take off and landing craft hovers above the skyline of Dallas, one of Uber's new partners aiming to develop a flying car network by 2020. SAN FRANCISCO -- Uber is targeting 2020 for a demonstration of ride-hailing technology that will take to the skies. The on-demand car service company -- facing a leadership crisis and lawsuits over its business practices -- announced Tuesday at its Elevate Summit in Dallas that it has formed partnerships with cities and companies to develop flying cars and the infrastructure needed by machines that take off and land vertically like helicopters.

PARIS – The government on Monday filed a candidacy for the city of Osaka to host the 2025 World Exposition with the Bureau International des Expositions in Paris. France has already submitted the bid of Paris, which is likely to be a tough rival for Osaka. The deadline for submitting bids is set at May 22, and the BIE will select the host city by a vote by member states at its general meeting in November 2018. The Japanese plan is based on the theme "Designing Future Society for Our Lives." The papers for Japan's bid to host the event were submitted by Japanese Ambassador to France Masato Kitera, Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui and Keidanren Chairman Sadayuki Sakakibara, who serves as head of the bidding committee for the envisaged Osaka exposition.