Google Employees Are Outraged That The Company Is Working With The Pentagon To Equip Military Drones With AI

Daily Mail: Google is working with the Pentagon to equip military drones with people-tracking AI in secretive 'Project Maven' deal, report claims

* Google is working with the Department of Defense on secretive 'Project Maven'
* Project Maven is tasked with equipping drones with artificial intelligence.
* This would allow unmanned vehicles to detect and identify objects in war zones
* Some Google employees are 'outraged' that the firm is working with the military to develop surveillance technologies, others say it raises ethical questions

The Pentagon may have gained a new, high-profile partner for its sophisticated AI system used to hunt for militants in Iraq and Syria.

Silicon Valley giant Google is working with the Department of Defense to develop advanced artificial intelligence for analyzing drone footage, Gizmodo reported, citing sources close to the situation.

The partnership centers around Project Maven, which is the codename for a system that analyzes aerial surveillance video to look for patterns that can military intelligence analysts.

And it seems some Google employees aren't happy with the move.

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More News On Working With The Pentagon To Equip Military Drones With AI

Google Is Helping the Pentagon Build AI for Drones -- Gizmodo
Google helps Pentagon analyze military drone footage—employees “outraged” -- Ars Technica
The Defense Department is taking on ISIS with Google's open-source AI software -- MIT Technology Review
Pentagon Drone Program Is Using Google AI -- Bloomberg
Google Is Quietly Providing AI Technology for Drone Strike Targeting Project -- The Intercept
Google is using its AI skills to help the Pentagon learn to analyze drone footage -- The Verge

Websites Designed by Artificial Intelligence

From YouTube: Henri Bergius, VP engineering at The Grid, an AI that builds your website based on its content, hacker and occasional adventurer, is the creator of Create.js and NoFlo.

In this second talk of the session Artificial Intelligence, Technology without Alternative? at Lift16, Henri Bergius reveals for the first time how he and his team are automating design processes and how the use of such an AI could radically change the way websites such as the amazon catalog or no-budget blogs look like.

How do you teach a machine to understand beauty, color matching, smart use of blank space? Enter the world of AI-designed websites with Henri Bergius!

CSN Editor: They still have a lot of work ahead of them.

China Wants To Be A Leading Player In Artificial Intelligence

BBC: Tech Tent: China's AI ambitions

On this week's Tech Tent we hear why China's determination to be a leading player in artificial intelligence could lead to tensions with the United States.

We have two other reports on this week's programme. In a compelling interview with Jane Wakefield, YouTube star Chrissy Chambers talks about her court battle against a former boyfriend who uploaded explicit videos featuring her to a pornography website. Her victory is being seen as a key moment in the battle against the internet scourge known as revenge porn.

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CSN Editor: China has the resources, people, and ambition to be a leader in AI. I would take them very seriously.

The Pentagon Wants To Build A Real 'SkyNet'?

Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. John Richardson, gives a keynote address during the Naval Future Force Science and Technology (S&T) Expo, July 21, 2017. This is a slide from his presentation.

Patrick Tucker, Defense One: The Future the US Military is Constructing: a Giant, Armed Nervous System

Service chiefs are converging on a single strategy for military dominance: connect everything to everything.

Leaders of the Air Force, Navy, Army and Marines are converging on a vision of the future military: connecting every asset on the global battlefield.

That means everything from F-35 jets overhead to the destroyers on the sea to the armor of the tanks crawling over the land to the multiplying devices in every troops’ pockets. Every weapon, vehicle, and device connected, sharing data, constantly aware of the presence and state of every other node in a truly global network. The effect: an unimaginably large cephapoloidal nervous system armed with the world’s most sophisticated weaponry.

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SCN Editor: A must read on what could be the weapon systems of the future.

The Pentagon Is Using Software To Hunt Down Terrorists

Marcus Weisgerber, Defense One: The Pentagon’s New Artificial Intelligence Is Already Hunting Terrorists

After less than eight months of development, the algorithms are helping intel analysts exploit drove video over the battlefield.

Earlier this month at an undisclosed location in the Middle East, computers using special algorithms helped intelligence analysts identify objects in a video feed from a small ScanEagle drone over the battlefield.

A few days into the trials, the computer identified objects — people, cars, types of building — correctly about 60 percent of the time. Just over a week on the job — and a handful of on-the-fly software updates later — the machine’s accuracy improved to around 80 percent. Next month, when its creators send the technology back to war with more software and hardware updates, they believe it will become even more accurate.

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CSN Editor: The age of using software to pinpoint and target the enemy is now with us .... and it does not take much of an imagination to know that this is only going to become more effective (and deadlier) with time.

This Is How Machines Learn (Video)

An AI Robot To Combat Loneliness

Elli.Q reminds lonely elderly people to take medication, talk to family and stay active

The Telegraph: AI robot 'friend' launched to chat and play games with lonely elderly

A talking robot which chats to elderly people, reminding them to take their medication and stay active, has been launched in London.

Elli.Q, which is one of the most advanced social companion robots in the world, has been designed to convey emotion through different speech tones, lights and body language to be as engaging as possible.

The little robot suggests activities such as reading, going for a walk, playing games to keep mentally active or phoning friends and family.

And she is programmed to learn what her owner enjoys, gradually tailoring her programming to fit.

Elli.Q has been developed by Intuition Robotics to prevent older people feeling socially isolated, and keep them connected to family and friends.

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CSN Editor: I can see this being valuable for seniors who live alone.

World Economic Forum Warns That Artificial Intelligence Needs Strong Governance

Computer Weekly: World Economic Forum warns of AI business risk

Ahead of its annual meeting in Davos, the World Economic Forum warns that artificial intelligence needs strong governance

The World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report 2017 has highlighted risks associated with artificial intelligence (AI).

Based on a survey of 750 experts, the report warned that AI, biotech and robotics have among the highest benefits to society, but they also require the most legislation.

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CSN Editor: No one is ready for the large scale unemployment that the adoption of AI would create.

Experts Say AIs Will Soon Understand Human Emotions

Daily Mail: The rise of the robot interrogator: Experts say AIs will soon understand our emotions - and could do everything from give therapy to quiz terrorists

* Artificial intelligence (AI) has become increasingly good at reading emotion
* AI can now recognise faces, speech and even turn sketches into photos
* AI may be able to match humans in recognising emotions in a few decades
* An emotionally intelligent AI has potential benefits, be it to give someone a companion or to help us performing certain tasks – ranging from criminal interrogation to talking therapy

How would you feel about getting therapy from a robot?

Emotionally intelligent machines may not be as far away as it seems.

Over the last few decades, artificial intelligence (AI) have got increasingly good at reading emotional reactions in humans.

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CSN Editor: Humans have trouble understanding the emotions of others .... it is going to be interesting to see how AIs will perform.

Mark Zuckerberg Talks About AI And Its Future In The World (Video)

Japanese Company Replaces Office Workers With Artificial Intelligence

Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance believes it will increase productivity by 30% Photograph: Toru Hanai/REUTERS

The Guardian: Japanese company replaces office workers with artificial intelligence

Insurance firm Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance is making 34 employees redundant and replacing them with IBM’s Watson Explorer AI

A future in which human workers are replaced by machines is about to become a reality at an insurance firm in Japan, where more than 30 employees are being laid off and replaced with an artificial intelligence system that can calculate payouts to policyholders.

Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance believes it will increase productivity by 30% and see a return on its investment in less than two years. The firm said it would save about 140m yen (£1m) a year after the 200m yen (£1.4m) AI system is installed this month. Maintaining it will cost about 15m yen (£100k) a year.

The move is unlikely to be welcomed, however, by 34 employees who will be made redundant by the end of March.

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CSN Editor: So it begins.

Former World Chess Champion Kasparov On The Future Of Artificial Intelligence

Chess News: Kasparov on the future of Artificial Intelligence

"You will go down in history as the first person to be beaten by a machine in an intellectual pursuit where you were the most advanced member of our species," says American author, philosopher, and neuroscientist in this extraordinary podcast interview with Garry Kasparov. After discussing the current world political situation they go on to the subject of machine intelligence. Kasparov also announced a book called Deep Thinking that is due for release in May.

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CSN Editor: The interesting part of this entire story is that today's chess programs can easily defeat Deep Blue when it Defeated World Champion Garry Kasparov 20 years ago.

Artificial Intelligence (A Bloomberg Quick-take)

Bloomberg: Artificial Intelligence

It’s the stuff of sci-fi movies and dystopian, end-of-humanity nightmares — and now, of mind-numbingly dull white-collar work. After decades of premature promises, artificial intelligence is finding its way into all sorts of businesses. Its arrival has been low-key. That’s primarily because the line between ordinary software and AI software has blurred as artificial intelligence has been adapted to narrow, unsexy tasks. But there is a difference. AI programs can look at a confusing situation, make an informed guess about what’s going on and act on it — and learn from what happens. The result has been progress so fast that people are now asking themselves two very different questions: What can we do with this to make money, and how do we stop it from going awry? AI could usher in an era of unprecedented prosperity or unprecedented inequality. Bill Gates, Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk, among others, have a deeper fear: That we may be, in Musk’s words, “summoning the demon.”

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CSN Editor: A good brief summary.

The Growing Role Of China In Developing Artificial Intelligence

Wu Haishan, a senior Baidu data scientist, at the Baidu Technology Park in Beijing, China. Baidu is widely seen as being at the forefront of AI in Asia. Photo: Bloomberg

South China Morning Post: The Machines are Coming: China's role in the future of artificial intelligence

After a year of breakthroughs, experts believe they are on the brink of revolutionising our daily lives through artificial intelligence – and Asia can play a leading role in this brave new world

Try typing “the machines” into Google and chances are that one of the top results the artificial intelligence-powered search engine will return is the phrase: “The Machines are Coming”.

After a 2016 filled with high-profile advances in artificial intelligence (AI), leading technologists say this could be a breakout year in the development of intelligent machines that emulate humans.

Asia, until now lagging Silicon Valley in AI, will play a bigger role as the field cements itself at the pinnacle of the technology world in 2017, the experts say.

AI – technically, a computing field that involves the analysis of large troves of data to predict outcomes and patterns – is as old as modern computers but its esoteric nature means it has long endured caricatures of its actual potential – think for example, the 1960s space age cartoon The Jetsons, which featured a sentient robot maid and automated flying cars (both of which we are still waiting for, even 50 years on).

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CNS  Editor: Silicon Valley has always lead the way in developing AI platforms .... but it looks Asia wants to catch-up.

Has Google’s AI Translation Tool Invented Its Own Internal Language?

Tech Crunch: Google’s AI translation tool seems to have invented its own secret internal language

All right, don’t panic, but computers have created their own secret language and are probably talking about us right now. Well, that’s kind of an oversimplification, and the last part is just plain untrue. But there is a fascinating and existentially challenging development that Google’s AI researchers recently happened across.

You may remember that back in September, Google announced that its Neural Machine Translation system had gone live. It uses deep learning to produce better, more natural translations between languages. Cool!

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CSN Editor: It makes you wonder if machines can operate at a far more smarter level than what we have taken for granted.

Google Chairman: Artificial Intelligence Can Help Solve World's ‘Hard Problems’

Eric Schmidt, chairman of Alphabet Inc. Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

Bloomberg: Google Chairman Thinks AI Can Help Solve World's ‘Hard Problems’

* AI could help with population growth, education, Schmidt says
* Field getting crowded with Facebook, Microsoft also investing

Google’s chairman thinks artificial intelligence will let scientists solve some of the world’s "hard problems," like population growth, climate change, human development, and education.

Rapid development in the field of AI means the technology can help scientists understand the links between cause and effect by sifting through vast quantities of information, said Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Alphabet Inc., the holding company that owns Google.

“AI will play this role to navigate through this and help us.”

It can also aid companies in designing new, personalized systems. In the future, Schmidt would like to see “Eric and Not-Eric,” he said at a conference in New York, where “Eric” is the flesh-and-blood Schmidt and“not-Eric is this digital thing that helps me.”

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CSN Editor: We are far away from what he is envisioning.

The Quest To Build An Artificial Brain Gets A Big Financial Boost

Denver Post/Washington Post: Microsoft co-founder launches $500M quest to build an artificial brain

Building a machine that reasons well enough to pass a high school science test will be more complex than engineering the first Windows OS.

SEATTLE — Paul Allen has been waiting for the emergence of intelligent machines for a very long time.

As a young boy, Allen spent much of his time in the library reading science fiction novels in which robots manage our homes, perform surgery and fly around saving lives like superheroes. In his imagination, these beings would live among us, serving as our advisers, companions and friends.

Now 62 and worth an estimated $17.7 billion, the Microsoft co-founder is using his wealth to back two separate philanthropic research efforts at the intersection of neuroscience and artificial intelligence that he hopes will hasten that future.

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CSN Editor: I am slightly late on this news item. AI has always been a fascination of Microsoft founder Bill Gates .... and now we know that his partner (Paul Allen) shares the same interest.

Elon Musk Artificial Intelligence Quotes

Tech Emergence: (All) Elon Musk Artificial Intelligence Quotes – A Catalogue of His Statements

Over the last two years there has been a general “up-tick” in media attention around the risks of artificial general intelligence, and it seems safe to say that though Bill Gates, Stephan Hawking, and many others have publicly articulated their fears, no one has moved the media needle more than Elon Musk.

When I set out to gather perspectives from businesspersons on AI risk, I aimed to sift through the “whiz-bang” re-blogged articles about Musk’s statements and figure out what the man actually said about the matter… and as it turns out, that was rather difficult. Due to the possibly sensational and novel claims (combined with Musk’s growing celebrity attention), most of the articles about “what Musk said” are in fact not about “what Musk said,” but about what some reporter said about what a reporter said about what Musk said.

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CSN Editor: Yup .... all of his comments and concerns are here.

Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg Wants To Build An Artificially Intelligent Butler

The Independent: Mark Zuckerberg to build robot butler to look after his child as part of 2016 New Year's resolution

The system will be able to control his lights and music as well as helping him run his company

Mark Zuckerberg intends to build a robot to look after his house and keep tabs on his newborn daughter.

The Facebook founder and CEO’s resolution for 2016 is to build an artificially intelligent system that will be able to control his house, watch over his child and help him to run Facebook.

Mr Zuckerberg has in the past taken on “personal challenges” that have included reading two books per month, learning Mandarin and meeting a new person each day. But now he has undertaken perhaps his most ambitious plan — an artificially intelligent robot that seems to be able to run his whole house.

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More News On Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg Wants To Build An Artificially Intelligent Butler

Mark Zuckerberg unveils 2016 plans for artificially intelligent butler -- Reuters
Mark Zuckerberg plans to make his own AI butler - like Jarvis in Iron Man -- The Guardian
Mark Zuckerberg’s 2016 Challenge: Code an Artificial Intelligence Assistant -- WSJ
Facebook founder Zuckerberg wants to build artificially intelligent butler -- FOX News/SKY News
Mark Zuckerberg's 2016 goal: Code his own personal assistant -- CNN
Mark Zuckerberg wants to develop his own A.I. butler -- CBS
Mark Zuckerberg Wants to Make an A.I. Butler Like the One in Iron Man -- Slate
Why Mark Zuckerberg’s New Year’s challenge to himself just might work -- Jena McGregor, Washington Post

MIT Technology Review's 2015 Annual Summary On Developments In Robots And AI

Will Knight, MIT Technology Review: What Robots and AI Learned in 2015

It was the year that self-driving cars became a commercial reality; robots gained all sorts of new abilities; and some people worried about the existential threat posed by super-intelligent future AI.

The robots didn’t really take over in 2015, but at times it felt as if that might be where we’re headed.

There were signs that machines will soon take over manual work that currently requires human skill. Early in the year details emerged of a contest organized by Amazon to help robots do more work inside its vast product fulfillment centers.

The Amazon Picking challenge, as the event was called, was held at a prominent robotics conference later in the year. Teams competed for a $25,000 prize by designing a robot to identify and grasp items from one of Amazon’s storage shelves as quickly as possible (the winner picked and packed 10 items in 20 minutes). This might seem a trivial task for human workers, but figuring out how to grasp different objects arranged haphazardly on shelves in a real warehouse is still a formidable challenge for robot-kind.

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CSN Editor: A brief and concise summary of the year.