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Royal Navy to develop autonomous AI mine-hunter

One of the Navy’s first AI projects, the autonomous submersible, will be delivered by BAE Systems and Envitia

autonomous submersible

The Royal Navy’s Route Survey and Tasking Analysis (RSTA) project aims to deliver an automated capability for detecting and rendering harmless underwater mines in UK waters by 2022. Currently, a fleet of mine-hunter ships use sonar to detect anomalies on the seabed, but the AI-enabled submersibles to be developed by BAE Systems Applied Intelligence and British geospatial data company Envitia are expected to work in a fleet to scan objects, identify threats and make decisions about what action to take much faster.

‘DeepNude’ app that ‘undresses’ women shut down after furor

DeepNude already put on its clothes.


WASHINGTON, United States—The creators of an application allowing users to virtually “undress” women using artificial intelligence have shut it down after a social media uproar over its potential for abuse.

The creators of “DeepNude” said the software was launched several months ago for “entertainment” and that they “greatly underestimated” demand for the app.

“We never thought it would be viral and (that) we would not be able to control the traffic,” the DeepNude creators, who listed their location as Estonia, said on Twitter.

Samsung’s Creepy New AI Can Generate Talking Deepfakes From a Single Image

Our deepfake problem is about to get worse: Samsung engineers have now developed realistic talking heads that can be generated from a single image, so AI can even put words in the mouth of the Mona Lisa.

The new algorithms, developed by a team from the Samsung AI Center and the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, both in Moscow work best with a variety of sample images taken at different angles – but they can be quite effective with just one picture to work from, even a painting.

mona lisa talk 1024 (Egor Zakharov)

Brain cells for 3D vision discovered

Scientists at Newcastle University have discovered neurons in insect brains that compute 3D distance and direction. Understanding these could help vision in robots.

Could a Mediterranean diet and exercise reduce dementia risk?

Researchers at Newcastle University are launching a new study to see whether eating a Mediterranean-style diet and being more physically active could improve brain function and reduce dementia risk.

Waymo starts self-driving pick-ups for Lyft riders

Autonomous driving company Waymo has launched its tie-in with Lyft, using a “handful” of vehicles to pick up riders in its Phoenix testing zone, per CNBC. To be eligible, Lyft users requesting a ride have to be doing a trip that both starts and ends in the area of Phoenix that it’s already blocked for for its own autonomous testing.

The number of cars on the road is less than 10, since Waymo plans to eventually expand to 10 total for this trial but isn’t there yet. Those factors combined mean that the number of people who’ll get this option probably isn’t astronomical, but when they are opted in, they’ll get a chance to decide whether to go with the autonomous option via one of Waymo’s vans (with a safety driver on board) or just stick with a traditional Lyft.

Waymo and Lyft announced their partnership back in May, and the company still plans to continue operating its own Waymo One commercial autonomous ride-hailing service alongside the Lyft team-up.