Lifeboat Foundation

Alphabet’s self-driving car subsidiary, Waymo, has kicked off speculation about its ambitions for the Chinese market by creating a small outpost in Shanghai.

What’s it mean?: If Waymo is aiming to break into China, then this would be a very preliminary step. The new office might also be something less exciting: a means of working with Chinese hardware suppliers for instance.

Auto revolution: T hat said, it would make a lot of sense for Waymo to target China. It is the world’s largest auto market and a hotbed of technology and market innovation. And while Google’s plans to re-enter the Chinese market have proven controversial, the truth is that China cannot be ignored by any tech company that wants to a global force.

Continue reading “Waymo takes a tiny step into China” »

This years paper that Mark Waser and I did covering our research published by BICA 2018 yesterday with a special thanks to Dr. Jordan from the medical facility in Salt Lake to help with the ‘medical’ related elements of this study, titled:

Feasibility study and practical applications using independent core observer model AGI systems for behavioral modification in recalcitrant populations.

This paper articulates the results of a feasibility study and potential impact of the theoretical usage and application of an Independent Core Observer Model (ICOM) based Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) system and demonstrates the basis for why similar systems are well adapted to manage soft behaviors and judgements, in place of human judgement, ensuring compliance in recalcitrant populations. Such ICOM-based systems may prove able to enforce safer standards, ethical behaviors and moral thinking in human populations where behavioral modifications are desired. This preliminary research shows that such a system is not just possible but has a lot of far-reaching implications, including actually working. This study shows that this is feasible and could be done and would work from a strictly medical standpoint. Details around implementation, management and control on an individual basis make this approach an easy initial application of ICOM based systems in human populations; as well as introduce certain considerations, including severe ethical concerns.

An early moment in the new documentary Do You Trust This Computer? is actually a shot from the Terminator franchise. Human skulls and bones rest among dust and ashes as the robotic soldiers of Skynet march through the remains of an apocalyptic war. What happens between humans and robots in the Terminator films, or other sci-fi movies like The Matrix, War Games, and Ex Machina, might feel like the far away future, but Do You Trust This Computer? suggests that that’s not the case. In fact, the doc implies that we’re much closer to sentient robots walking the Earth than we think – only they may not look exactly like we’ve always imagined, and we are woefully unprepared for the consequences of their consciousness.

Directed by Chris Paine, Do You Trust This Computer? (now playing in New York and available on VOD) explores the role of artificial intelligence in our everyday lives. The film features interviews with some of today’s top AI experts, theorists, professors, and scientists, such as Elon Musk, Westworld creator Jonathan Nolan, and futurist Ray Kurtzwiel. While some people — predominantly those on the side of tech and invention companies — think that AI can help better humanity, most of the others interviewed suggest that we’re on the cusp of something potentially world-ending. As such, the doc offers up a vision of the real near-future that is as fascinating as it is terrifying.

So, what exactly do we have to be so afraid of? After all, there’s plenty of potential good that can come from advancements in AI. Self-driving cars could potentially prevent crashes and save millions of lives around the world; robotics in the medical field can find ailments faster; surgical machines can go where human hands cannot. But automation can also lead to major job loss, the film suggests. Much like the industrial revolution put many humans out of work, so too will robotics. Just take Baxter, an industrial robot, who costs the same amount as one minimum wage worker would in a year, but lasts much longer and can do the work of three people, since he doesn’t need to eat, sleep, or take breaks. Everyone from long-haul drivers and taxi drivers to data entry workers to those in white-collar industries like business, journalism, and medicine will be affected.

Continue reading “This New Tech Documentary Says We’re Totally Unprepared For The Upcoming Robot Apocalypse” »

The rise of AI means a revolution is coming in the world of software development.

By integrating Watson with the Unity game engine, IBM is pushing its AI services to game and VR developers.

The country isn’t a world leader in autonomous or electric vehicles, but it’s all in on putting cars in the sky.

The news: Japan announced today that it’s bringing together 21 companies and organizations, including big hitters like Uber, Boeing, Airbus, Cartivator, and Japan Airlines, to bring aerial vehicles to the skies within 10 years.

The challenge: The government said it will address one of the major things holding back flying cars: regulation. “The Japanese government will provide appropriate support to help realize the concept of flying cars, such as creation of acceptable rules,” the ministry said. If Japan is able to quickly establish a legal system in which flying cars can function, it could get a jump start over countries like the US, whose Federal Aviation Association has been notoriously slow-moving on things like drone regulation.

Continue reading “Japan teams up with Uber, Boeing, and Airbus to deploy flying cars within a decade” »

The facial recognition technology the US is testing for airports has caught its first imposter merely three days after Washington Dulles International started using it. According to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a 26-year-old man from Sao Paulo, Brazil successfully fooled people with a French passport until he presented it to a Dulles officer who used the new facial comparison biometric technology. The system determined that his face wasn’t a match with the person in the passport, and he was sent for a comprehensive check, which revealed the Republic of Congo ID hidden inside his shoe.

[Image credit: US Customs and Border Protection].

Continue reading “US airports’ new facial recognition tech spots first imposter” »

AI, and more specifically machine learning, deep learning and neural machine technology, will soon take over jobs which are currently performed by experienced and well-educated humans. Here we take a look at translators and how their job will be augmented and automated by intelligent machines.

Fully-programmable annealing quantum computer simulates phenomenon behind 2016 Nobel Prize. Promises faster materials prototyping at lower cost.

BURNABY, BC – (August 22, 2018) — D-Wave Systems Inc., the leader in quantum computing systems and software, today published a milestone study demonstrating a topological phase transition using its 2048-qubit annealing quantum computer. This complex quantum simulation of materials is a major step toward reducing the need for time-consuming and expensive physical research and development.

Continue reading “D-Wave Breakthrough Demonstrates First Large-Scale Quantum Simulation of Topological State of Matter” »