Lifeboat Foundation

Privacy advocates have raised concerns about patients’ data after Google said it would take control of its subsidiary DeepMind’s healthcare division.

Google, which acquired London-based artificial intelligence lab DeepMind in 2014, said on Tuesday that the DeepMind Health brand, which uses NHS patient data, will cease to exist and the team behind its medical app Streams will join Google as part of Google Health.

It comes just months after DeepMind promised never to share data with the technology giant and an ethics board raised concerns over its independence.

Continue reading “Privacy concerns as Google absorbs DeepMind’s health division” »

“We’re going to get these massive pools of sequenced genomic data,” Metzl said. “The real gold will come from comparing people’s sequenced genomes to their electronic health records, and ultimately their life records.” Getting people comfortable with allowing open access to their data will be another matter; Metzl mentioned that Luna DNA and others have strategies to help people get comfortable with giving consent to their private information. But this is where China’s lack of privacy protection could end up being a significant advantage.

To compare genotypes and phenotypes at scale—first millions, then hundreds of millions, then eventually billions, Metzl said—we’re going to need AI and big data analytic tools, and algorithms far beyond what we have now. These tools will let us move from precision medicine to predictive medicine, knowing precisely when and where different diseases are going to occur and shutting them down before they start.

But, Metzl said, “As we unlock the genetics of ourselves, it’s not going to be about just healthcare. It’s ultimately going to be about who and what we are as humans. It’s going to be about identity.”

Continue reading “Designer Babies, and Their Babies: How AI and Genomics Will Impact Reproduction” »

The tech firms plan to use AI to combat the spread of drug use.

Health.

The technology and innovation that Alibaba has developed to serve the needs that arise from Singles’ Day have allowed Alibaba to expand into a variety of services, including Alibaba Cloud, logistics, and artificial intelligence.

Within minutes of the clock striking midnight on November 11 this year, consumers across China will be racking up billions in purchases on Alibaba’s e-commerce marketplaces. Alibaba engineers and employees watching the transaction numbers on big screens will whoop as the figure instantly crosses the hundred million yuan mark, then zooms into the billions.

As the orders start to roll in, the company’s proprietary cloud computing platform Alibaba Cloud will, at its peak, process hundreds of thousands in transactions and payments per second. Robots in the automated warehouses of Alibaba’s logistics arm Cainiao will begin sorting and packing the orders that come in, readying them for the battalion of trucks, scooters and millions of deliverymen that will send an estimated 1 billion packages to their rightful owners within days of November 11.

Continue reading “How Singles’ Day has helped Alibaba ascend on an AI-powered cloud in China” »

This lifelike ‘news anchor’ is actually just AI.

Preprogrammed AI definitely won’t.

Anarchy AI ✌️😆

There’s a big new feature for iPhone experts this year: It’s an app called Shortcuts, and with a little bit of logic and know-how, you can stitch together several apps and create a script that can be activated by pressing a button or using Siri.

Some early uses are predictable, like saving Instagram photos, sharing the song you’re listening to, or creating a morning routine that activates your lights and plays a song.

Continue reading “‘Siri, I’m getting pulled over’: A new shortcut for iPhones can automatically record the police” »

• China’s state press agency has developed “AI news anchors,” avatars of real-life news presenters which read out news as it is typed.
• It developed the anchors with Chinese search engine giant Sogou.
• There was no detail given as to how exactly the anchors were made, and one expert said they fell into the “uncanny valley,” when avatars have an unsettling resemblance to humans.

China’s state-run press agency Xinhua has unveiled what it claims are the world’s first AI-generated news anchors.

Xinhua revealed the anchors at the World Internet Conference on Thursday. Modeled on two real presenters, the agency showcased two AI-generated anchors, one who speaks Chinese and another who speaks English.