Lifeboat Foundation

Cloud-based, AI-powered location technology is creating the highly accurate and always up-to-date maps that can revolutionize everything from autonomous cars to connected cities. To learn more about the application of data-enriched mapping to industries from retail to automotive, manufacturing, transportation and city planning, don’t miss this VB Live event!

Register here for free.

Location is at the heart of everything: it’s the nexus between a device or an individual and the environment they interact with, and it can become the foundation of a smarter society. Location data is powered by cloud capabilities: global maps, traffic information and hundreds of millions of connected devices brought together to create the most up-to-date maps and power the “The Location of Things.”

Continue reading “AI-powered location: A step closer to the future? (VB Live)” »

Tired of writing your own boring code for new software? Finally, there’s an AI that can do it for you.

BAYOU is an deep learning tool that basically works like a search engine for coding: tell it what sort of program you want to create with a couple of keywords, and it will spit out java code that will do what you’re looking for, based on its best guess.

The tool was developed by a team of computer scientists from Rice University who received funding both from the military and Google. In a study published earlier this month on the preprint server arXiv, they describe how they built BAYOU and what sorts of problems it can help programmers solve.

Rain Design isn’t the first company to fall victim to the aggressive techniques Amazon uses to achieve market dominance. Although its retail site is the most visible of its business strands, the $740bn company has quietly stretched its tentacles into an astonishing range of unrelated industries. Google and Facebook might have cornered the online advertising market, but Amazon’s business successes now include groceries, TV, robotics, cloud services and consumer electronics.

With its profound knowledge of its customers, Amazon can move into almost any sector – striking fear into the hearts of rivals. And the $740bn company is ‘just getting started’

By Olivia Solon and Julia Carrie Wong in San Francisco

Continue reading “Jeff Bezos v the world: why all companies fear ‘death” »

The EU wants to invest 20 billion euros in research by 2020.

By Marty Swant

In an open letter that urges governments to act, the scientists describe how Europe has not kept up with the US and China, where the vast majority of leading AI firms and universities are based. The letter adds that while a few “research hotspots” still exist in Europe, “virtually all of the top people in those places are continuously being pursued for recruitment by US companies.”

Exclusive: In an open letter, the scientists say the proposed Ellis institute is essential to avoid brain drain to big tech firms.

Ian Sample Science editor.

Continue reading “Scientists plan huge European AI hub to compete with US” »

Very fascinating…

AI systems are now more likely to snoop on agents than their human counterparts.

“Here are some AI generated nude portraits I’ve been working on🍑

Usually the machine just paints people as blobs of flesh with tendrils and limbs randomly growing out — I think it’s really surreal. I wonder if that’s how machines see us…”

There are certain classes of technology that, by their nature, put those who possess their secrets in danger: Nuclear weapons. Ballistic missiles. Advanced encryption software.

Now, add unmanned aerial vehicles—drones—to that list.

A Palestinian electrical engineer who had published research on drones was assassinated in Malaysia, the Wall Street Journal reported (paywall). A helmeted person on a motorcycle fired 10 shots at 35 year-old Fadi al-Batsh, killing him as he walked to a mosque for morning prayers.

Continue reading “The Israel-linked killing of Fadi al-Batsh in Malaysia shows that drone technology is now dangerous enough to kill for” »

The program awards cloud computing resources to individuals and organizations working on data-intensive projects, specifically focused on leveraging AI technologies.

AI for Earth is a Microsoft program aimed at empowering people and organizations to solve global environmental challenges by increasing access to AI tools and educational opportunities, while accelerating innovation.