China’s massive and unparalleled “AI in education” experiment has begun
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There’s no doubt that China’s AI in education initiative will bring a wide range of benefits and improve educational outcomes, but questions remain about the best way to deploy it. Last year China unveiled their ambitious plan to become the world leader in Artificial Intelligence...
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...
This AI reads your mind to recreate the faces you’re thinking of
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to read someone’s mind leads down two roads. It can either be used as part of a dystopian state apparatus, or to help catch criminals and help people who can’t communicate communicate. It’s frustrating to have a clear mental image of something...
Chinese workers are having their emotions monitored by “mind reading” tech
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The future of work is an increasingly important topic, particularly as the spectre of AI driven automation looms, but the ability to read employees emotions and thoughts fundamentally changes the employer-employee relationship. Today I have the tech to stream images, movies and sentences directly...
AI starts reading sentences directly from people’s brains
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As AI becomes increasingly adept at helping unlock the secrets of the brain it’s also becoming more adept at helping decode and visualise complex thoughts onto TV’s and other devices. The capabilities and accuracy of Artificial Intelligence (AI) “mind reading” systems, as they are increasing...
Experts believe AI will be used to hijack brain machine interfaces, form consortium
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As brain machine interfaces become more capable, and as their use cases and adoption broaden, experts are worried that regulators will leave it to late to protect people from bad actors and misuse. Ever since Tesla CEO and founder Elon Musk announced his plans...
China bans people with bad “social credit” from planes and trains
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Technology is a tool, it’s down to governments and individuals how they use and deploy it, and as such it can be used to do great good, or great harm. In another nod to Black Mirror, and to show it isn’t just a sci-fi...
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...
Hitachi’s newest surveillance AI can follow you through a crowd
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF You might not care too much about your privacy today, but what about your children’s privacy tomorrow? The technologies to track and analyse our every thought and move have already been assembled, the next step is deployment. Not only can a new Artificial Intelligence...
AI can now beat polygraph tests to tell when you’re lying
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to tell when someone is lying is important, but as with any technology authorities will have to know where to draw the line between just cause and violating a person’s rights to privacy. Scientists have long known this, our pupils widen ever...
China’s surveillance network found a BBC reporter in under 7 minutes
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As nation states roll out increasingly advanced and sophisticated surveillance networks, how we use them and the agenda of those who control them become increasingly important to understand. It took Chinese authorities just seven minutes to locate and apprehend BBC reporter John Sudworth using its...
Self-destructing algorithms could usher in a new era of cyber security
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF One time programs perform obfuscated calculations within a “true black box” that then self-destructs keeping all the details of that calculation a secret forever, it has applications for encryption and software protection. Imagine two millionaires, you and your better half, or alternatively two random...
AI can now listen to individuals in a crowd
WHY THIS MATTERS This new breakthrough will let our Connected Home devices hear us better, but on the other it also gives organisations the ability to eavesdrop on everyone. Devices like Amazon’s Echo and Google Home can normally deal with requests from a single person, but like us they often still...
The FDA just approved it’s first trackable smart pill, more to follow
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Not everyone takes their medication but now companies and doctors can tell precisely when and if a patient has taken their prescribed meds, but it opens up a whole set of questions about ethics, privacy and security. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)...
Researchers have developed an AI that can identify masked individuals
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Technology is increasingly helping governments and multi-nationals strip away our anonymity and privacy, and the pros and cons depend on which side of the fence you sit, but one thing is certain, in the future there will be no such thing as privacy – online...
Blockchain, EU GDPR privacy law could finally give users back control of their privacy
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF None of us have any control whatsoever over our personal privacy and the information that companies store on us, but Europe’s new GDPR law is about to change all that and as companies struggle to meet the deadline a paradigm shift in the way we...
US Intelligence director: “AI will replace 75 percent of spies”
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF One day the world’s best spy could very well be an AI, and that’s bad news for Starbuck’s whose biggest coffee shop is on the NSA campus… The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and an increasingly connected society has already, according to the UK’s...
Elbit’s persistent surveillance drone can watch entire cities in real time
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In an age where threats can lurk anywhere authorities are calling out for new surveillance systems that can watch entire areas, or cities, in real time, and industry is answering them. Yesterday at the Paris Airshow Elbit Systems, an Israeli defence company, demonstrated their new,...
Companies want to use AI to judge your ‘Character’ from just a photo
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF We are well on the path to creating a society shaped and guided by digital, and genetic, profiling and that can be a good, and a bad, thing. Dangerous dystopian tech, or a must have pre-crime tech in an increasingly dangerous world? I’ll let...
