Pope Francis warns AI risks a ‘regression to a form of barbarism’

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Pope Francis has weighed in on AI and issued a stark warning that failing to consider the moral and ethical implications could lead to a form of barbarism.

Speaking during a Vatican conference last week titled 'The Common Good in the Digital Age,' the pope was joined by theologians, academics, and tech executives such as Mozilla co-founder Mitchell Baker and Facebook's director of cybersecurity law Gavin Corn.

Pope Francis said at the conference:

"The...

1 October 2019 | Ethics

Microsoft chief Brad Smith warns that killer robots are ‘unstoppable’

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Microsoft chief Brad Smith issued a warning over the weekend that killer robots are ‘unstoppable’ and a new digital Geneva Convention is required.

Most sci-fi fans will think of Terminator when they hear of killer robots. In the classic film series, a rogue military AI called Skynet gained self-awareness after spreading to millions of servers around the world. Concluding that humans would attempt to shut it down, Skynet sought to exterminate all of mankind in the interest of...

23 September 2019 | Ethics

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...

16 September 2019 | Big Data

Two grads recreate OpenAI’s text generator it deemed too dangerous to release

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Two graduates have recreated and released a fake text generator similar to OpenAI's which the Elon Musk-founded startup deemed too dangerous to make public.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you'll know the world already has a fake news problem. In the past, at least fake news had to be written by a real person to make it convincing.

OpenAI created an AI which could automatically generate fake stories. Combine fake news, with Cambridge Analytica-like targeting, and...

27 August 2019 | Ethics

Report: Companies like Amazon and Microsoft are ‘putting world at risk’ of killer AI

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A survey of major players within the industry concludes that leading tech companies like Amazon and Microsoft are putting the world ‘at risk’ of killer AI.

PAX, a Dutch NGO, ranked 50 firms based on three criteria:

If technology they’re developing could be used for killer AI.Their involvement with military projects.If they’ve committed to not being involved with military applications in the future.

Microsoft and Amazon are named among the world's ‘highest...

22 August 2019 | Amazon

CBI: UK tech dominance is ‘at risk’ due to public mistrust of AI

cbi uk ai distrust artificial intelligence report

Business industry group the CBI has warned that UK tech dominance is 'at risk' due to public mistrust of AI.

In a report today, the CBI warns artificial intelligence companies of the need to ensure they're approaching the technology in an ethical manner to help build trust.

Among the measures suggested to achieve trust include ensuring customers know how their data is being used by AI, what decisions are being taken, and challenging unfair biases.

Overall, the...

9 August 2019 | Ethics

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...

2 August 2019 | Ethics

No Rekognition: Police ditch Amazon’s controversial facial recognition

Orlando Police have decided to ditch Amazon’s controversial facial recognition system Rekognition following technical issues.

Rekognition was called out by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for erroneously labelling those with darker skin tones as criminals more often in a test using a database of mugshots.

Jacob Snow, Technology and Civil Liberties Attorney at the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, said:

“Face surveillance will be used to...

19 July 2019 | Amazon

AI: Seeking emotional loving human for long-term relationship

Newton's third law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Given the limitless possibilities, very few would have known precisely what this would have been when artificial intelligence (AI) started to become common. Though several years down the line, we’re starting to have an idea.

As AI has become more sophisticated, and its ability to perform human tasks accelerates exponentially, we are seeing a moral wrangling of what this means for humanity...

30 May 2019 | Education

Amazon patent envisions Alexa listening to everything 24/7

A patent filed by Amazon envisions a future where Alexa listens to users 24/7 without the need for a wakeword.

Current digital assistants listen for a wakeword such as “Ok, Google” or “Alexa,” before recording speech for processing. Especially for companies such as Google and Amazon which thrive on knowing everything about users, this helps to quell privacy concerns.

There are some drawbacks from this approach, mainly context. Future AI assistants will be able to...

29 May 2019 | Amazon