DeepZen’s synthetic AI voices finally make audio books you want to listen to
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF AI is sounding more and more human-like, and that’s an issue if you make a career out of your voice … Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Over the past couple of...
IBM Watson filters public opinion to help Bloomberg debate redistributing wealth
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Most humans are good at debating, and now AI is getting better at it too, but its ability to analyse huge volumes of data in real time makes it a formidable tool and opponent. Interested in the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof...
IBM’s floating space robot just got an emotional upgrade
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As software improves and AI gets better one big advantage that robots have over humans still is that they can get upgrades and CIMON just got an EQ upgrade. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. How many times...
IBM’s Project Debater AI barely convinces Cambridge University audience that “AI is good”
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF An AI debating whether AI is “good or bad” with people sounds like a good marketing ploy, but it has real world implications for human decision making. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. IBM have just announced that...
NASA’s ISS robot companion CIMON gets caught copping an attitude
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As more machines and humans work alongside one another how we interact with one another will become increasingly crucial. As he entered his final month on the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday, Alexander Gerst could be proud that he’s helped given birth to...
Lexus turns to IBM to create the world’s first AI scripted advert
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In time all adverts, and the majority of content, will be created by AI, and people won’t be able to tell it from the “real” thing. Over the past eighteen months or so I’ve been discussing how Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been becoming increasingly...
IBM’s AI wins debates in San Francisco against champion debating team
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The art of debating often helps humans learn new things and see topics from new perspectives, so an AI that can debate with humans on a vast range of topics could be incredibly useful. Checkmate is a simple concept. It’s a final, decisive move...
Daimler hires Soul Machine’s lifelike Avatar to answer customer queries
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Bots are evolving and increasingly it’s going to get more difficult to tell bots from real people, whether they’re just text bots or, in this case, life like looking avatars. New Zealand based company Soul Machines, the company behind a sophisticated high definition digital...
IBM’s “flying brain” Watson heads into space
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the space industry steps looks to explore more space and even colonise and mine new planets the demands on astronauts is increasing, so CIMON and its descendents will be used to help lighten their load and make them more productive. IBM Watson is...
Japanese insurer announces it will replace office workers with artificial intelligence
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF More and more companies are experimenting with AI as a way to automate away jobs, and as the human toll continues to increase this is just the beginning Fukoku Mutual Life, a Japanese insurance company with a turnover of $6.8 Billion in 2016, announced...
The world’s largest hedge fund is using AI to automate its entire management team
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The news is filled with news about automation and machines that are taking our jobs, arguably for the first time we can see companies who are automating both the workers at the base of the pyramid, and the executives at the top. In the next...
Apples CEO Tim Cook speaks out the future of AI
Apples latest announcements on its plans for AI are, well, boring Pixar founder George Lucas might have given the world the word “Droid” before he sold the company to Apple’s Steve Jobs but now Apple CEO Tim Cook is making no secret of the fact that he wants the company to play...
An AI Bot posing as a Teaching Assistant fooled students for five months
A quiet revolution is coming, one that will eventually turn every industry into a dumb pipe and flip the world of commerce, decision making, jobs and transactions on their heads. Here come the Bots. Earlier this year Eric Wilson who was taking an online Artificial Intelligence course at Georgia Institute of Technology...
Your new kindergarten teacher is a small, green dinosaur
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Can AI help children learn better? Perhaps… What is green, very small, sounds like Yoda and boasts almost endless wisdom? The answer is Elemental Path’s CogniToys small talking and listening dinosaur that taps into IBM Watsons powerful AI and Cognitive Computing smarts to help children learn – or that,...
Meet Olli the self driving bus, perfectly disruptive, perfectly purposeful
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Local Motors represents a new breed of company, one that competitors would be wise to watch out for. Local Motors, an Arizona based automaker that crowd sources vehicle design, has introduced a 3D printed, autonomous, partly recyclable, electric shuttle bus called Olli. Local Motors...
How Artificial Intelligence will shape the future of management
The field of artificial intelligence has been static for quite a while; AI funding started plunging in the late seventies after the US government became frustrated with the slow progress on efforts such as automated robots. The market finally collapsed in the mid-eighties, when personal computers from IBM and Apple...
Eclipse, the world’s first AI produced short film hits the screens at Cannes
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The worlds first AI produced short film is a portent of things to come. Earlier this year I wrote a thought article showcasing how emerging technology will change how entertainment is produced, distributed and consumed and here I am, just months later, writing another...
Meet Ross, the world’s first AI lawyer
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF If AI can automate the legal profession is any job safe? Law firm Baker & Hostetler has announced that they are employing IBM’s AI “Ross” to handle their bankruptcy practice, which at the moment consists of nearly 50 lawyers. According to CEO and co-founder of...
Under the skin of Ross the worlds first AI lawyer
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Lauded as the world’s first AI lawyer the story of “Ross” began with a divorce. When Jimoh Ovbiagele was 10 years old, his parents decided to separate. His mother started seeking out divorce lawyers, but was quickly halted by the astronomical hourly rates....
