MIT’s AI paints a dire picture if social distancing is relaxed too soon

According to an AI system built by MIT to predict the spread of COVID-19, relaxing social distancing rules too early would be catastrophic.

Social distancing measures around the world appear to be having the desired effect. In many countries, the "curve" appears to be flattening with fewer deaths and hospital admissions per day.

No healthcare system in the world is prepared to handle a vast number of its population hospitalised at once. Even once relatively trivial...

17 April 2020 | Government

Aussie police use Clearview AI’s facial recognition to fight child exploitation

Police in Australia have employed the use of Clearview AI’s controversial facial recognition to tackle child exploitation.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) admitted to using Clearview AI’s system despite not having a legislative framework in place for the technology.

Deputy commissioner Karl Kent said that the AFP trialled the facial recognition system but has not entered any formal arrangements with Clearview AI to procure their technology.

In a...

15 April 2020 | Face Recognition

Google’s chatty Duplex AI expands to the UK, Canada, and Australia

Google’s conversational Duplex AI has begun expanding outside the US and New Zealand to the UK, Canada, and Australia.

Duplex probably needs little introduction as it caused a bit of a stir when it debuted at I/O in late 2018 (when conferences were things you could still physically attend.)

The human-sounding AI could perform actions like calling a business on a person’s behalf and booking in things such as hair appointments or table...

9 April 2020 | Google

Apple acquires Voysis to boost Siri’s language skills

Apple has reportedly acquired Irish AI startup Voysis, with the move set to help enhance Siri’s skill at natural language understanding.

Voysis specialises in improving digital assistants inside online shopping applications wherein the software could respond more precisely to voice commands. According to the start-up, its technology could narrow product search results by processing shopping phrases like “I need a new LED TV” and “My budget is $1,000.” This AI was...

9 April 2020 | Apple

Clearview AI has been found to have extensive far-right ties

Controversial facial recognition firm Clearview AI has been found to have extensive ties to far-right individuals and movements.

Clearview AI has come under scrutiny for scraping billions of photos from across the internet and storing them in a database for powerful facial recognition services. Privacy activists criticise the practice as the people in those images never gave their consent.

“Common law has never recognised a right to privacy for your face,” Clearview...

8 April 2020 | Ethics

Nvidia and IBM provide further AI solutions to fight COVID-19

Nvidia and IBM have released further AI solutions to help in the global fight against COVID-19.

COVID-19 knows no borders and has resulted in around 75,896 deaths as of writing. People around the world are hoping AI can deliver solutions for tackling the coronavirus which has wrecked social and economic havoc.

AI News has already covered work from predominantly Asian tech firms including Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, Daergen, and Insilico Medicine, but more and more Western...

7 April 2020 | Healthcare

Google’s latest AI could prevent deaths caused by incorrect prescriptions

health ai uk deepmind google

A new AI system developed by researchers from Google and the University of California could prevent deaths caused by incorrect prescriptions.

While quite rare, prescriptions that are incorrect – or react badly to a patient’s existing medications – can result in hospitalisation or even death.

In a blog post today, Alvin Rajkomar MD, Research Scientist and Eyal Oren PhD, Product Manager, Google AI, set out their work on using AI for medical predictions.

The...

3 April 2020 | Google

Babylon Health says its AI can appropriately triage 85% of patients

AI healthcare startup Babylon Health believes it can appropriately triage patients in 85 percent of cases.

Babylon Health is best known for GP at Hand, a service which is supported by UK health secretary Matt Hancock and integrated into Samsung Health.

GP at Hand links patients with health experts 24/7 using video calls and can facilitate any prescriptions to be sent to local pharmacies. The service, however, has been criticised for an AI chatbot which repeatedly gave...

1 April 2020 | Healthcare

AI project aims to diagnose COVID-19 using voice analysis

covid 19 diagnosis diagnose ai artificial intelligence voice speech recognition

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University are developing an AI-powered voice analysis system for diagnosing COVID-19.

Governments around the world are racing to obtain sufficient and effective testing kits to diagnose COVID-19. The current widely-used test requires a thin cotton swab to be put up the nasal cavity and reach to the back of the throat. It’s not a painful procedure, but it’s invasive and uncomfortable.

COVID-19 tests which only require a finger prick...

1 April 2020 | Healthcare

AI enables Star Trek: Voyager to be remastered in 4K

AI is helping to overcome difficulties with older filming techniques and enabling Star Trek: Voyager to be remastered in 4K.

Older shows like Voyager shot their effects during filming rather than adding them digitally after the fact. Remastering these scenes in a higher resolution is incredibly difficult, to say the least.

Star Trek fan Billy Reichard has employed AI to do the painstaking work that upgrades the image quality as much as possible. For some idea of how long...

30 March 2020 | Entertainment