US Department of Defense adopts ethical principles for AI use

The US Department of Defense (DoD) has formally adopted a set of principles to use artificial intelligence (AI) for military use.

In October 2019, the recommendations for use of the technology were provided to Secretary of Defense Dr. Mark T. Esper by the Defense Innovation Board. These recommendations came after 15 months of consultation with leading AI specialists in several industries like the government, academia, commercial, and the public.

The move aligns with...

By | 26 February 2020 | Ethics

MIT software shows how NLP systems are snookered by simple synonyms

Here’s an example of how artificial intelligence can still seriously lack behind some human attributes: tests have shown how natural language processing (NLP) systems can be tricked into misunderstanding text by merely swapping one word for a synonym.

A research team at MIT developed software, called TextFooler, which looked for words which were most crucial to an NLP classifier and replaced them. The team offered an example:

“The characters, cast in impossibly...

By | 12 February 2020 | Education

UK govt ‘failing on openness’ around public sector AI – but specific regulator not the answer

The UK does not need a specific regulator for artificial intelligence (AI), according to a new government report – yet more clarity needs to be given around usage and ethics in the public sector.

The report, ‘Artificial Intelligence and Public Standards: A Review by the Committee on Standards in Public Life’ (pdf, no opt-in, 78 pages), said the government was ‘failing on openness’, although adding that fears over ‘black box AI’, whereby data produces results...

By | 11 February 2020 | Ethics

Airbnb uses AI-enabled trait analyser to check if its customers are psychopaths

A new technology developed by Airbnb conducts background check and evaluates the users’ reliability, compatibility, behavioural and personality traits.

According to a report by the Evening Standard, the technology, which is a ‘trait analysing software’, was built after the online lodging and homestay platform received complaints from hosts in London that some of their guests used their properties for rowdy parties. One such incident reported by an owner reveals that her...

By | 9 January 2020 | Ethics

Google claims its AI can beat human doctors at spotting breast cancer

Google has found a new way of scanning X-rays to find signs of breast cancer through its artificial intelligence.

Reports suggest that over 55,000 women in the UK are diagnosed with breast cancer every year and Google reported in its blog post that its new AI-based system helped reduce false negatives by 1.2 per cent and false positives by 2.7 per cent. The tech giant collaborated with DeepMind, Cancer Research UK Imperial Centre, Northwestern University, and the Royal Surrey...

By | 3 January 2020 | Healthcare

Moveworks raises $75m in series B funding to accelerate conversational AI for IT support

Moveworks has raised $75m in a series B funding round to boost its conversational AI technology for automated IT support as the company says it is ‘still in its first inning.’

The round was led by new investors ICONIQ Capital, Kleiner Perkins and Sapphire Ventures. Along with these new investors, existing investors like Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, and Comerica Bank. The fundraiser also received personal investment from John W. Thompson, partner at...

By | 15 November 2019 | Enterprise

Elif Tutuk, Qlik: On securing data literacy and the evolution of AI with BI

This time last year, a fascinating report from venture capital firm Work-Bench assessed the future of enterprise software.

The study argued that the largest technology companies were winning at artificial intelligence (AI) – not surprising, given they can hoover up all the best talent – but more importantly, business intelligence (BI) vendors wanting to ensure their future going forward needed to beef up their skillsets with AI. “Expect all modern BI vendors to release an...

By | 16 September 2019 | Big Data

UK government to invest £250m in NHS AI lab

The UK health secretary Matt Hancock has announced £250m to be put forward for a new National Artificial Intelligence Lab, aimed at improving the healthcare system in the country.

The lab would bring the industry’s finest academics, specialists, and tech firms to tackle some of the biggest challenges in healthcare, which includes cancer detection, dementia treatments, and more personalised care. The investment would back the NHS Long Term Plan under which AI will be used to...

By | 12 August 2019 | Healthcare

Intel and Lenovo enter into multi-year partnership over AI and HPC

Intel and Lenovo have signed a multi-year partnership agreement where both companies will focus on converging high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) to build solutions for organisations of all sizes and solve the world’s most challenging problems.

As part of the collaboration, Lenovo will be enhancing Intel’s complete portfolio of HPC and AI hardware and software solutions. Both will help accelerate the convergence of the technologies to unravel new...

By | 7 August 2019 | Applications

AI should be recognised as inventor, team insists

An artificial intelligence system should be credited as the inventor of two ideas, according to the team which filed patents on its behalf – but it would mean patent law would need to be changed in the process.

DABUS, a machine architecture, has been given credit for designing a ‘fractal container’ (pdf) which is easy for robots to grasp, as well as a ‘neural flame’ (pdf) which attracts enhanced attention.

The Artificial Inventor Project has been put together...

By | 2 August 2019 | Ethics