British bank trials a life like digital Avatar to serve customers better
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Avatars and bots are getting more intelligent, and more capable, and while they are being increasingly deployed to help organisations improve customer service, there’s a very real toll on human jobs. This week the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), who recently started using brain...
Chinese researchers have created an IQ test for AI
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Humans have an inane desire to measure and categorise things, and this includes being able to measure an AI’s level of intelligence, but it’s proving to be a difficult problem to solve. Human intelligence is hard enough to measure, and over the decades today’s...
This new test will tell us if AI has become self-aware and gained consciousness
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The proof that we are turning science fiction into science fact every day is all around us, so we should conclude that one day AI will become conscious and self-aware, and now we can test for it. A few weeks ago Facebook unveiled their...
Nike unveils its futuristic running track
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Anything that makes exercise more entertaining and engaging has to be applauded, and nike’s latest innovation is a great example of fun and function. Nike has constructed a pop-up arena track in the middle of Manila that it’s calling the “world’s first LED running track,” that has...
Featured Futurist: Taylor Review of Modern Working Practises, The RSA
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Technology’s impact on human jobs and work isn’t disputed but increasingly powerful technologies now threaten more workers so we need to be prepared. Firstly, thank you to the UK Government and Matthew Taylor and his team at the Royal Society for the encouragement of...
Soldiers digital twins let US Army 3D print replacement body parts in battle
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Thousands of soldiers are injured in battle every year, now the US Army is scanning, digitising and creating digital twins of its soldiers that will let field medics 3D print new body parts in the field that could save their lives. The US military...
Point. Click. Create your own 3D avatar and put yourself in the game
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Avatars will play an increasingly important role in the future – whether they’re being used to depict, or replace actors in movies, VR simulations or to compliment bots, Loom.ai’s new product makes the process of creating one simple. We’re entering a new world of,...
Researchers create human VR avatars with three arms to improve productivity
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Many people forget that virtual reality is just that – virtual, as a result it’s often easy to forget that the rules of the real world don’t have to apply in the virtual one. Researchers at Stanford University think that having a third arm...
Virtual reality plays its role in convicting Nazi SS guards who killed millions
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Criminal convictions, particularly involving historic crimes, are often made or broken on just how well jurors can visualise the scenes of the crimes using second hand evidence, now VR can give them a first person view. Earlier this month I reported that UK and...
Stanford’s humanoid robotic diver recovers treasures from King Louis XIV’s flagship
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Built to go where human divers can’t Stanfords OceanOne takes the plunge. Oussama Khatib held his breath as he swam through the wreck of La Lune, 100 meters below the Mediterranean. The flagship of King Louis XIV sank here in 1664, 20 miles off...
London boroughs new face of customer services is a bot
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The London borough of Enfield has enlisted artificial intelligence Amelia to take on customer service tasks for its residents starting late this year. Developed by IPSoft, Amelia is a cognitive agent – that’s bot to you, I and most people, capable of automating certain...
This CGI school girl has you fooled
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As CGI, and the tools used to create it, get better it will be harder to distinguish what is real, and what is not. Slowly these “digital humans” will be able to replace real humans anywhere there is a screen involved, such as acting, avatars...
