China plans to launch a constellation of AI-powered satellites

China is planning to launch a constellation of AI-powered satellites, according to a state broadcaster.

The constellation will be 192-strong and called ‘Xingshidai’ reports China Central Television.

China intends to use the satellites for environmental monitoring, disaster prevention, and traffic management. AI will help to process images to avoid sending poor quality pictures back to Earth.

Xingshidai satellites will likely use China’s Julang-1 booster...

2 July 2019 | China

AI health startup Nuritas expects to discover five new drugs by 2021

antibiotic resistance healthcare ai artificial intelligence mit research

A startup based in Ireland expects to discover five new healthcare ingredients by 2021 using artificial intelligence.

Nuritas, headquartered in Dublin, has already proven it's up to the task. The startup used AI to discover an ingredient to help treat inflammation which is expected to reach sports nutrition products by the end of 2019.

The debut ingredient was discovered as part of a collaboration with BASF, a German chemical giant. Whereas the standard to discover a new...

1 July 2019 | Healthcare

Volvo picks up Nvidia to assist with AI for self-driving vehicles

Volvo and Nvidia have formed a partnership that will see the pair collaborate on AI technology for self-driving vehicles.

Speaking to investors and media at Volvo’s annual event for the capital-markets community, Volvo Group CEO Martin Lundstedt said:

“Partnership is the new leadership. If we are to succeed in the future with speed, quality, and safety – and to gain benefits of autonomous driving – we need to partner up with the best guys. In this world of...

18 June 2019 | Connected Cars

Accenture: How automation, augmentation and innovation will mean success in AI initiatives

According to a report from Accenture, artificial intelligence is forecast to double economic growth by 2035. The opportunity is a big one; the chance to transform business, as well as society in general, is there – but overcoming ethical and technological roadblocks needs to occur before progress is truly made.

Cyrille Bataller (left), managing director of emerging technology innovation at Accenture, has been involved with artificial intelligence in some capacity for the...

18 June 2019 | Enterprise

Adobe has trained an AI to detect photoshopped images

Adobe has trained an AI to detect when images have been photoshopped which could help in the fight against deepfakes.

The software giant partnered with researchers from the University of California on the AI. A convolutional neural network (CNN) was trained to spot changes made to images using Photoshop’s Face-Aware Liquify feature.

Face-Aware Liquify is a feature designed to adjust and exaggerate facial features. Photoshop automatically detects facial features to...

17 June 2019 | Deepfakes

Spy connected with targets on LinkedIn using AI-generated pic

A spy used a profile pic generated by AI to connect with targets on LinkedIn, further showing how blurred the lines between real and fake are becoming.

Katie Jones was supposed to be a thirty-something redhead who worked at a leading think tank and had serious connections.

Connections included people with political weight like a deputy assistant secretary of state, to groups ranging from the centrist Brookings Institution to the right-wing Heritage Foundation. It’s the...

14 June 2019 | Society

San Francisco hopes AI will prevent bias in prosecutions

San Francisco will soon implement AI in a bid to prevent bias when prosecuting a potential criminal.

Even subconscious human biases can impact courtroom decisions. Racial bias in the legal system is particularly well-documented (PDF) and often leads to individuals with darker skin being prosecuted more, or with tougher sentencing, than people with lighter skin tones accused of similar crimes.

Speaking during a press briefing today, SF District Attorney George Gascón...

13 June 2019 | Law Enforcement

Zuckerberg is deepfaked a month after Facebook refused to remove others

A deepfake of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is making the rounds a month after his company refused to remove similar videos.

Last month, Facebook refused to remove a deepfake video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Rather than making Pelosi appear to say things she never did, the video aimed to portray her as being intoxicated.

Deepfakes have the potential to spread misinformation and damage the reputation of individuals. Particularly in the world of politics and...

12 June 2019 | Society

Research: AI is a ‘welcome boost’ that could add millions to GDP

New research from McKinsey and Quantumblack suggests UK businesses adopting AI could see their value increase by 120 percent within a decade.

AI overall could provide a 22 percent GDP boost worth millions to the UK economy, according to the research.

However, the report warns that firms which do not integrate AI into their day-to-day business risk around 20 percent of their cash flow today.

In separate research last year, McKinsey wrote:

“By 2030,...

11 June 2019 | Europe

Apple reportedly wants to ‘acqui-hire’ self-driving car startup Drive.ai

Apple is reportedly mulling a purchase of self-driving car startup Drive.ai in an ‘acqui-hire’ deal to grab its talent.

Drive.ai is full of skilled personnel after being founded in 2016 by a pioneering team of graduates from Stanford’s AI lab. With AI talent in short supply, it seems Apple is considering purchasing a whole company to get the skills on its side.

Apple would not get any of Drive.ai’s intellectual property as part of the deal, only the minds behind...

10 June 2019 | Apple