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

Babylon Health’s GP at Hand causes £21.6m funding gap

Babylon Health's AI-powered healthcare service GP at Hand has caused a funding gap in excess of £21 million just as further cuts are being made.

Health secretary Matt Hancock has championed GP at Hand since 2017. The digital service has come into question for providing unsafe recommendations, and for taking money away from surgeries already struggling with cuts.

The service has operated through the Hammersmith and Fulham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) across London....

24 May 2019 | Healthcare

Google’s Duplex booking AI often relies on humans for backup

Google Duplex often calls on humans for backup when making reservations on behalf of users, and that should be welcomed.

Duplex caused a stir when it debuted at Google’s I/O developer conference last year. The AI was shown calling a hair salon to make a booking and did so complete with human-like “ums” and “ahs”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qCanuYrR0g

The use of such human mannerisms goes to show Google’s intention was for the human to be unaware...

23 May 2019 | Bots

UK gov is among the ‘most prepared’ for AI revolution

The UK has retained its place among the most prepared governments to harness the opportunities presented by artificial intelligence.

An index published today, compiled by Oxford Insights in partnership with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Canada, places the UK as Europe’s leading nation and just second on the world stage.

Margot Editor, Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries, said:

"I'm delighted the UK government has been...

21 May 2019 | Europe

Tencent is bullish on British AI startup Prowler.io

Chinese technology giant Tencent has led a $100m (£78.4m) funding round for promising British AI startup Prowler.io.

Dr Ling Ge, Chief European Representative at Tencent, said:

“The UK is a global leader in AI and is increasingly becoming a focus for companies looking to invest in the sector. PROWLER.io’s data-efficient approach and focus on human-machine teaming really set it apart.

We are looking forward to PROWLER.io applying its AI decision platform to...

20 May 2019 | China

AI – To infinity and beyond? Let’s focus on wireless networks and cybersecurity first

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is deemed to be one of the biggest technological innovations of this decade. However, like with all innovations, we must focus on fundamental applications first before we quite literally reach for the stars. AI has huge potential for wireless networks and for the people that must protect them, as well as those who try and attack them. So how will AI come into play this year and how will it shape the future?

The reality is AI can or will — at least...

17 May 2019 | Security

UK government announces board members of AI Council

The UK government has announced the names of board members appointed to its dedicated AI Council.

As one of the global leaders in AI, the global community will be looking to who the UK has appointed to its council and awaiting its guidance.

Digital Secretary, Jeremy Wright, said:

“Britain is already a leading authority in AI. We are home to some of the world’s finest academic institutions, landing record levels of investment to the sector, and attracting...

16 May 2019 | Government

League table shows under 5% of councils are using AI

A league table created by Transformation Network shows that under five percent of councils are using AI for their operations. Furthermore, the ‘vast majority’ have no plans to explore artificial intelligence technology in the future.

The researchers conducted their study due to the dire outlook of councils. According to the Local Government Association, councils in England face a total funding gap of £8 billion by 2025.

A survey by the Local Government Information...

10 May 2019 | Government

AI in the workplace: a blessing, not a curse

Artificial intelligence is beginning to permeate many aspects of our daily lives – it’s embedded into apps on our smartphones, leading the charge in entertainment, it’s helped to modernise industries such as manufacturing and the supply chain, and it’s promising to make a big difference in the world of medicine.

At its core, AI has a huge amount of potential to improve the way people work: think automating cumbersome processes, or helping employees be more efficient by...

9 May 2019 | Enterprise

Google condenses AI to just 0.5GB for speedy on-device Assistant

During this year's I/O Keynote, Google announced it's managed to condense 100GB of AI to just 0.5GB for a drastically sped-up Assistant.

Google's Assistant has always been among the most impressive, but it's not exactly been known for its speed. Often it felt quicker to just do the task manually rather than wait for Assistant to respond.

The main reason for Assistant’s sluggishness, it transpires, is that it required around 100GB of storage in addition to an internet...

7 May 2019 | Google