US military and DARPA team up to develop tech to uncover fake news
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The advent of powerful AI tools, adaptable neural networks and the democratisation of hi definition rendering have taken fake news to a new level and this program aims to unmask the fakes. We’ve all seen that video where Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered algorithms make it seem like Barack...
Simple pixel hack cripples state of the art AI medical imaging systems
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As AI becomes increasingly pervasive in healthcare companies need to be aware that a new simple attack on their AI imaging and diagnostic systems could cause untold chaos, and even result in deaths. Recently we’ve seen how a duelling AI that adjusted a pixel or...
General AI, the “holy grail” of AI, demonstrated for the first time
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF AI’s that can learn quickly, and from very small data sets, will fundamentally change how we train AI’s, their capabilities, and how fast they are deployed into the market. Recently we saw a new “Master algorithm” that could be used to create the first...
Researchers use duelling AI’s to defeat facial recognition technology
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As both our online, as well as our offline privacy, continue to be eroded, scientists are using AI to fight back. Most of us probably don’t like the idea of some stranger finding out who we are, and then where we live, or what...
AI recruiters are using advanced surveillance like tech to interview job seekers
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The same technologies that are helping us catch and profile criminals, or surveil civilians at scale, AI, biometrics, machine vision and so on, are also helping companies find, interview, analyse and categorise job seekers faster and more effectively than ever. Companies, like RBS and...
Nvidia unveil Isaac, a virtual simulator to help companies create advanced robots
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the world comes to rely more and more on bots and robots we need better, and faster, ways to train them. A newly expanded simulator system could be our high-speed ticket to building fully autonomous bots and robots, or so says Nvidia’s CEO....
Researchers use AI to turn smartphones into lab grade microscopes
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Not everyone has access to a lab grade microscope, and if you’re a doctor in the middle of nowhere that’s an issue that will delay disease diagnosis and potentially put lives at risk, this breakthrough will revolutionise front line medicine. Today we are on...
The US military is funding an AI that’s learning to write its own code
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF One day non-programmers will be able to instruct AI’s to create software on their behalf, this is one step in realising that goal and it has wide ranging ramifications for al of us, and AI development. If you’re tired of writing your own boring...
Google’s lifelike sounding AI assistant, Duplex, blows past uncanny valley
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF I’ve been saying this for a long time, very soon you won’t know whether the content you’re consuming was generated by a human or a machine, and Google’s latest product, Duplex, moves us all one step closer to that time. At Google’s I/O developer...
Intel unveils Loihi, a revolutionary new Neuromorphic self-learning processor
WHY THIS MATTER IN BRIEF As the age of silicon based computing systems nears its natural conclusion new computing platforms are emerging that are capable of self-learning and revolutionising AI development, and which are millions of times faster and more energy efficient than today’s “antiquated” systems. Intel recently held...
DARPA funds programs to get black box AI’s to explain their decisions
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As AI continues to be weaponised by military powers, getting it to explain its decision making, and actions, will be crucial, and it’s not going to be an easy task to achieve. Intelligence agents and military operatives may come to rely heavily on Machine...
Creative AI’s generate video from plain text
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Imagine not being able to program or code, but still being able to write a description or a script and have an AI create an HD image or video of it for you, this is the technology that’s now arriving. In 2016 an Artificial...
Microsoft’s newest AI is an artist with an imagination
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There is a great tussle going on between people who believe AI can never become “creative” and those who do, but depending on how you define “imagination” Microsofts latest AI could prove the naysayers wrong. Ever since computer scientist Alan Turing first proposed his...
Google just gave its AI its own “human” psychologist
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Many AI’s are black boxes, and as we plug them into the world’s digital fabrics not knowing how they think, or make decisions, or how “rational” they are is a problem, so companies are trying to design new ways to test it. Artificial Intelligence (AI)...
Google’s AI can rate photos on aesthetic appeal
WHY THIS MATTER IN BRIEF Google’s AI is moving from just being able to identify and categorise images to being able to identify them according to their aesthetics, and that’s big. Today’s slew of photo apps can help you find objects in your pictures but they don’t tell you...
Baidu’s AI can clone anyone’s voice in under a minute
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to clone people’s voices, and mimic them, opens up a range of well meaning opportunities, but it also paves the way for fake news chaos and everything in between… In the near future, just as it is today, fake news will become...
Researchers use mind-reading AI to put people’s thoughts on TV
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to read people’s minds, and visualise what they’re thinking and their memories on a screen will revolutionise almost every part of society, and that’s before we start talking about telepathy and futuristic brain downloading. It already seems a little like computers can...
America’s most powerful supercomputer is building superior AI’s
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF It normally takes human data scientists and the best AI’s weeks to build neural network software, but ORNL’s Titan supercomputer is building them in a day, and the AI’s it’s producing are far superior to anything humans can create. Last year, in a world...
vFuturist in Vienna: The Future of FMCG and Innovation, Henkel Innovation Summit
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In the next decade the world of FMCG will be irrevocably altered by the new technologies and autonomous retailers who design, manufacture and deliver goods autonomously, at speed, and on demand. This Monday I was supposed to be delivering a keynote in Vienna, Austria,...
MIT researchers read a neural networks mind to boost its performance
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Neural networks are incredibly powerful and increasingly capable but they’re a black box, now a team from MIT has figured out a way to read their minds. Neural networks, which learn to perform computational tasks by analysing huge sets of training data, have been...
