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Category: robotics/AI – Page 2304

Hoping Google/ Alphabet, Microsoft are paying attention.

Robin Li (right), chief executive officer of Baidu Inc at the launch of” Baidu Brain” on Sept 1, 2016 in Beijing. (Photo/China Daily)

Chinese tech giant reveals its latest bid to gain the upper hand in the field of artificial intelligence

Chinese internet giant Baidu Inc officially unveiled its latest plans in the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence, including “Baidu Brain”, which simulates the human brain with computer technology, and a partnership with Nvidia Corp to develop driver-less vehicles.

Continue reading “Baidu offers brainy solutions” | >

As mankind grows ever closer to technology, we need machines to better understand humans and arguably vice versa. This is the vital challenge for communications, tech and creativity in the 21st century – as we advance, how can we keep the human in the machine?

The pointed end of this relationship is reflected by a recent UN report that recommended “Autonomous lethal weapons systems that require no meaningful human control should be prohibited.” And anyone who is anyone – Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk for example – think AI could spell the end of the world, be that at the hand of Terminators or through some other machine instigated apocalypse.

Dystopian visions aside (for now), the reality is probably more mundane, but no less breathtaking in potential. In a recent response to the White House on AI, IBM, creators of world-beating (and magazine-editing) AI ‘Watson’ had this to say: “We believe that many of the ambiguities and inefficiencies of the critical systems that facilitate life on this planet can be eliminated. And we believe that AI systems are the tools that will help us accomplish these ambitious goals.”

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Using tech to stop terrorists dirty bombs.

DARPA’s SIGMA program undergoes real-world testing with state, federal and international partners to defend against radiological threats.

A DARPA program aimed at preventing attacks involving radiological “dirty bombs” and other nuclear threats has successfully developed and demonstrated a network of smartphone-sized mobile devices that can detect the tiniest traces of radioactive materials. Combined with larger detectors along major roadways, bridges, other fixed infrastructure, and in vehicles, the new networked devices promise significantly enhanced awareness of radiation sources and greater advance warning of possible threats.

Continue reading “Technology Looks to Stop a Dirty Bomb Before It Happens” | >

Whoops.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An explosion rocked a SpaceX launch site Thursday during a routine rocket test.

SpaceX was conducting a test firing of its unmanned rocket when the blast occurred shortly after 9 a.m., according to NASA. The test was in advance of a planned Saturday launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which is next to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

Buildings several miles away shook from the blast, and multiple explosions continued for several minutes. Dark smoke filled the overcast sky. A half-hour later, a black cloud hung low across the eastern horizon.

Continue reading “Explosion rocks SpaceX launch site in Florida during test” | >

A pocket-sized AI that sees everything you see, learns who you are, and anticipates your needs? Meet Asteria, the future of artificial intelligence.

To date, the promises of AI have largely remained unfulfilled. 2016’s cast of artificial characters—Siri, Cortana, Alexa—are still glorified chatbots, summoned only when we remember to check the weather, or when we need a gimmick at a house party.

Real artificial intelligence—the kind that thinks; the kind that feels; the kind that observes; the kind you might fall in love with if you’re not careful—is still a developer’s daydream. Meanwhile, the AI we do have seem trapped in the same cycle of incremental evolution as the devices they inhabit.

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The film about pushing the limits of technology recruited Watson to make a trailer.

For a film about the risks of pushing the limits of technology too far, it only makes sense to advertise for it using artificial intelligence.

Morgan, staring Kate Mara and Paul Giamatti, is a sci-fi thriller about scientists who’ve created a synthetic humanoid whose potential has grown dangerously beyond their control. Fitting, then, that they’d employ the help of America’s AI sweetheart IBM Watson to build the film’s trailer.

IBM used machine learning and experimental Watson APIs, parsing out the trailers of 100 horror movies. It did visual, audio, and composition analysis of individual scenes, finding what makes each moment eerie, how the score and actors’ tone of voice changed the mood—framing and lighting came together to make a complete trailer. Watson was then fed the full film, and it chose scenes for the trailer. A human—in this case, the “resident IBM filmmaker”—still needed to step in to edit for creativity. Even so, a process that would normally take weeks was reduced to hours.

Continue reading “IBM Watson Created The First-Ever AI-Made Movie Trailer For ‘Morgan’: Movie Trailer” | >