The Mayflower carried some of the first European settlers across the Atlantic Ocean to North America, 400 years ago this year.

To commemorate the anniversary, another vessel is recreating that voyage, with the help of artificial intelligence.

"We don't know how it's going to go. Is it going to make it across the Atlantic?" software engineer and emerging technology specialist Rosie Lickorish told CBS News' Roxana Saberi. "Fingers crossed that it does have a successful first voyage."

The vessel, docked in the harbor of Plymouth, England, will rely on the latest navigation technology when it sets out to sea but it won't be carrying a crew or captain.

"We've got all sorts of cameras We've got global positioning systems on either side," robotics expert Brett Phaneuf said.

What it won't have, he said, is "people space."

Instead the ship will be guided by artificial intelligence designed by IBM.

Phaneuf explained how the technology is supposed to work.

"It looks at its own cameras like eyes, it looks at the radar, it looks at all sorts of other sensors," he said. "Then it charts its own course and it can deal with unique situations without any human input."

Those situations include encountering other ships during the voyage something software engineer Ollie Thompson is working hard to train the ship's programming to recognize using more than a million different images.

"We're simulating what she's seeing," he said of the boat.

Programmers are also setting the ship's destination to Plymouth, Massachusetts to retrace the Mayflower's four centuries-old passage.

It took the wooden merchant ship 66 days to transport dozens of pilgrims across the Atlantic.

A replica sailed from England to Massachusetts in the 1950s, and is still docked there today.

But Phenauf, who grew up near Plymouth, Massachusetts, wanted to mark the Mayflower's famous past by looking ahead instead.

"I thought, well, we should build a ship that speaks to the next 400 years. What the marine enterprise will look like then, as opposed to what it looked like 400 years ago," he said.

An international team turned his vision into the solar-and-wind-powered Mayflower autonomous ship. Its mission is to learn more about Earth's oceans by gathering data on plastic pollution, warming waters and their effects on marine life.

Software developer Rosie Likorish said the autonomous ship is a more cost-effective way to perform the research.

"It's very expensive at the moment for scientists actually go out on these research missions," she said. "So having autonomous vessels like the Mayflower Autonomous Ship is a really important step and kind of actually enabling us to go out to these dangerous places and learn a lot more."

In addition to cost-saving, not having a crew means the size of the vessel can be compact, and there are no concerns over someone getting sick or hurt.

Brett Phenauf said his biggest worry would be if something broke.

If the boat capsized, the team plans to track it via satellite and salvage it.

And if the unknown voyage succeeds, Phenauf says it would commemorate history while charting a new path.

He said, "I want people to look back on this 400 years from now and think about how different this was from what other people were doing."

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A crewless boat is recreating the Mayflower's 400-year-old journey, with the help of artificial intelligence - CBS News

Earlier this year, two partners at prominent venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz published an interesting blog post about artificial intelligence (A.I.). Specifically, is A.I. (and by extension, machine learning) capable of powering a sustainable business? Or is the tech industry infatuated with a technology thats just a lot of empty hype?

Its a worthy question as we close out 2020, considering how much money and resources companies are pouring into all things A.I.-related (often despite budget cutbacks related to the COVID-19 pandemic). Martin Casado and Matt Bornstein, the partners in question, conclude that A.I. is indeed viablebut that A.I.-centric businesses cant operate like traditional software firms.

Specifically, A.I. companies have lower gross margins (dueto the need for lots of expensive and talented humans, as well asinfrastructure expenses), scaling challenges (due to edge cases), and weakerdefensive moats (because of more A.I. tools and apps becoming commoditized,among other issues).

Traininga single A.I. model can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars(ormore) incomputeresources, they wrote. Whileits tempting to treat this as a one-time cost, retraining is increasinglyrecognized as an ongoing cost, since the data that feeds AI models tends tochange over time (a phenomenon known as data drift).

If the A.I. model is training on something storage-intensive like video, things get even worse. Add on top of that the cost of humans to design and wrangle the models, and you can see how any hoped-for profits from an A.I. project could quickly evaporate.

The entire Andreessen Horowitz posting is worth reading, especially if youre debating whether to jump aboard an artificial intelligence startup. Amidst all the discussions of cloud-infrastructure costs and model complexity, though, one thing stands out: the overwhelming presence of human beings within A.I. systems that are supposedly becoming more and more automated.

Its not just a question of employing people who can build and continually maintain models. For many tasks, especially those requiring greater cognitive reasoning, humans are often plugged into A.I. systems in real time, the posting added. Social media companies, for example, employ thousands of human reviewers to augment A.I.-based moderation systems. Many autonomous vehicle systems include remote human operators, and most A.I.-based medical devices interface with physicians as joint decision makers.

And theres no end in sight to intervention: Many problemslike self-driving carsare too complex to be fully automated with current-generation A.I. techniques. Issues of safety, fairness, and trust also demand meaningful human oversighta fact likely to be enshrined in A.I. regulations currently under development in theUS,EU, and elsewhere.

Weve seen these sorts of issues cropping up already among companies with artificial intelligence products. A few years ago, for example, Google rolled out Duplex, its automated voice assistant, which it predicted would revolutionize the process of making reservations and dealing with customer service. However, journalists quickly demonstrated there were relatively straightforward ways to stump Duplex. As of mid-2019, 25 percent of Google Duplex calls were supposedly made by human operators as opposed to an A.I.

Now consider all the A.I.-centric (or A.I. hopeful, for those still trying to develop an application) businesses that dont have Googles talent or resources. The dream of building an artificial intelligence model thats fully capable of performing its assigned task without any sort of human interventionwell, thats likely years away.

Andreessen Horowitz isnt the first firm to warn about thisissue. In 2019, ArvindKrishna, IBMs senior vice president of cloud and cognitive software, warnedthat A.I. initiatives could implode once companies realize how much effort istruly necessary to prep the related data. You run out of patience along theway, because you spend your first year just collecting and cleansing thedata,he told the audience at The Wall Street Journals Future ofEverything Festival,according to the newspaper.

Ina 2018 blog posting,A.I. researcher Filip Piekniewski listed all the ways in which theartificial intelligencehype wasnt matching withreality, includinga lack of progress in Googles DeepMind. Two years later, its clear thatA.I. is still grinding forward as a discipline, consuming lots of cash andtalent as companies hope for incremental advances.

But at least artificial intelligence researchers are still making lots of cash. And, despite these challenges, keep in mind that automation is still a long-term risk to many professions.

Ultimately, A.I. and machine learning technologies that help companies handle customer personalization and communication, data analytics and processing, and a host of other applications will continue to grow, even if it takes longer than expected to achieve seamless automation. An IDC report found three-quarters of commercial enterprise applications could lean on A.I. by next year alone, while an Analytics Insight report projects more than 20 million available jobs inartificial intelligenceby 2023.

Whether youre a manager or a software developer, in other words, prepare for A.I. (even weaker A.I.) to change how you work. Make sure to review the 10 jobs that could be radically impacted by these technologies sooner than you think.

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Artificial Intelligence (AI): Is It All Just Costly Hype? - Dice Insights

Artificial Intelligence (AI)is more than just a buzzword, it is a change. If the 21st century is supposed to be remembered for something, then it is absolutely artificial intelligence and the changes it has brought. Ever sincethe idea of machines came to existenceand the word artificial intelligence was coined in a summer conference at Dartmouth University,AI has made a significant impacton peoples lives. Today, machines understand verbal commands, distinguish pictures, drive cars, play games and much more in a better way than how humans do. Will you believe it if I say the AI applications we see today are merely a tip of the AI iceberg? Yes, there is absolutely a whole mountain of applications that could be discovered in future. Unfortunately, there are threats too. People are engraved with the fear that AI might soon capture the world and wipe off humankind like how it isportrayed in dystopian movies. We cant totally deny it, but the development of AI depends on how human train it. So a large part of the responsibility is in our hands to feed AI with considerable datasets. Mainly AI can be divided into four types,

Reactive machines

Limited memory

Theory of mind

Self-aware

AI can also be classified based ontechnology into three types,

Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI)

Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)

Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI)

Reactive machines are the most basic types of AI systems that perceive the world directly and act on what it sees. The computer is purely reactive, and neither has to form memory nor to use past experience. AI researcher Rodney Brooks argued in a seminal paper that we should only build this kind of AI. For example, Deep Blue, IBMs chess-playing supercomputer that made a breakthrough by beating grandmaster Garry Kasparov in 1997 was a reactive machine. It did not take any pre-applied datasets or look for previous matches. All it knows was how to play the game and conditions. The computer moved chess coins based on its real-time intuition and won the game.

Limited memory machines are ditto of reactive machines added with historical data which will help them take decisions. Almost all the machines that we use today are limited memory machines, which are powered by datasets. AI systems use deep learning and are trained by large volumes of data that they store in their memory to form a reference model for solving future problems. For example, an image recognition AI is trained to determine and label certain things like a cat or a dog from a picture. It knows how a cat or a dog looks from the previously trained datasets. Henceforth, it opts out the matching images.

As the name sounds, the theory of mind machines represents an advanced class of technology and exists only as a concept. This kind of AI requires a thorough understanding of peoples and things feelings and behaviour within an environment. Theory of minds is a critical technological improvement that sorts peoples emotions, sentiments and thoughts. Even though many improvements are made to reach this stage of AI, it is not fully completed. A real-world example of the theory of mind is Kismet, designed in the late 1990s. Kismet can mimic human emotions and recognise them.

Self-aware AI is the exact thing that is portrayed in AI-movies. The critical AI robots that think on their own and destroy humans are the ideology-driven from self-aware AI. However, we cant predict that all might go bad. There are also chances that the futuristic AI might go hand-in-hand with humans. Even though it is impossible for now, self-aware AI is on the bucket list for many scientists. Tech personalities like Elon Musk and Stephen Hawkings have consistently warned us about the evolution of AI which could reach the self-aware stage.

Artificial Narrow Intelligence, also known as week AI is one of the most frequently experienced types of AI. It is something that the tech world has accomplished. Every AI machine we use and see today is from this field, which operates under a limited set of constraints. For example, voice recognition AI is used to predict peoples voice based on the dataset it is trained with. The deep learning model constitutes the Limited Memory type and similar tasks could be a case of Reactive Machines.

Artificial General Intelligence, also known as strong AI allows a machine to apply knowledge and skills in different contexts. This more closely mirrors human intelligence by providing opportunities for autonomous learning and problem-solving. In other words, AGI can successfully perform any intellectual task that a human being can. This is thesort of AI that sci-fi movies portray.

Artificial Super Intelligenceis something more advanced than strong AI which could end the human race. They will not only replicate the multi-faceted intelligence of human beings but will be exceedingly better at everything. The ASI will be designed with better memory, faster data processing and analysis, and decision-making capabilities.

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7 Types of Artificial Intelligence: Propelling the Technology Development - Analytics Insight

My last column for 2019 was titled Artificial intelligence will be more than just talk in 2020. As I bid goodbye to 2020, allow me to close the year with the prediction that we would see AI go mainstream in 2021. In his December 21 Forbes website article, titled Why Covid Will Make AI Go Mainstream In 2021, data scientist Ganes Kesari predicts AI will transform 2021 by accelerating pharmaceutical drug discovery beyond Covid-19. He says the face of telecommuting would change, and that AI would transform edge computing and make devices around us truly intelligent.

A recent article on the Wiley Online Library website, titled How artificial intelligence may help the Covid-19 pandemic: Pitfalls and lessons for the future by Yashpal Singh Malik, et al., presents an overview of the prospective applications of the AI model systems in healthcare settings during the Covid-19 pandemic. In it, the authors highlighted the uses of AI-based approaches in healthcare during the pandemic where AI-based technologies and methods were deployed in modelling the virus spread and optimal utilization of resources. The protein folding problem, a grand challenge of biology that had puzzled scientists for 50 years, was solved through AlphaFold, an AI program developed by Googles DeepMind. Its a big deal for scientists developing a new drug because it helps them predict the proteins shape that will help come up with a molecule that could bind to it, fitting into it to alter its behavior. AI also helped fast-track the coronavirus vaccine, cutting development to 10 months instead of years or decades. Malik and his co-authors agreed that AI-based tools may not totally replace human brain in terms of observations made by virologists, epidemiologists or clinicians; however, the value of AI will play a significant and complementary role by reducing the burden on each stakeholder.

Aside from drug discovery and development, Kesari predicts AI would transform telecommuting and unlock the future of work. Ninety-three percent of respondents in a McKinsey & Company global survey of executives reported an increase in remote working and/or collaboration, with over half of them believing that the shift to remote work would continue. Most of us are into video conferencing applications, but the shift from virtual meetings to virtual workspaces would become more apparent in 2021. Merging mixed reality, 5G, and AI will fuel this trend. I observed this transformation when I was dabbling with the Productivity and collaboration apps in Oculus Quest 2, such as Immersed, vSpatial and Spatial. Facebook launched Oculus for Business, an all-in-one enterprise platform to support companies deploying virtual reality (VR) in the workplace. The possibility of a VR office is not just about holding meetings. Collaborating and socializing in the virtual space will take place. For example, Spatial empowers remote team member, each represented by a photorealistic 3D avatar, to meet and collaborate in virtual project rooms. Soon, physical presence of companies will be replicated in an immersive virtual reality.

In 2021 we will see AI, machine learning, and Internet of Things (IoT) define and shape our lives and behaviors, a phenomenon that will continue for many years to come, says Manoj Choudhary, CTO at Jitterbit. Like Kesari, Choudhary thinks the real star that companies will turn to will be the enabling technologies, such as cloud and edge computing. Forrester predicts that 2021 would be the year when edge computing would take off, which would continue to dominate because of their ability to process and manage all the data that fuels AI, machine learning, and IoT. High-speed chips from Intel and Nvidia, and the rollout of 5G will drive this change. Edge computing will eat into the public clouds growth by shaving five percentage points off cloud growth next year.

A prediction at InsideBigData says most consumers would continue to be skeptical of AI. Many dont understand it or even realize theyre using AI-powered services for free Facebook, Google, TikTok, etc. People should make the effort to understanding the pros and cons in surrendering personal data records to the big data companies. The conversation about AI belongs to everyone, not just people working in the AI ecosystem.

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Artificial intelligence will go mainstream in 2021 The Manila Times - The Manila Times

When people hear the word artificial intelligence, most of us are tend to think about the atrocious robot that takes over humankind asportrayed in sci-fi movies. Even though it is possible whenAI reaches a certain level of improvement, the current developments in technology are mostly human-friendly. Artificial intelligence refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions. Generally,AI benefits in significant fieldslike finance, healthcare, business, and security. Besides, humans can never beat AI in weather prediction, drug discovery, and stock market crashes. We are alreadyemploying AI to do many jobsin our daily routine. For example, Netflix and Spotify use AI technology to sort the viewers preference. A lot of modern home appliances are powered by AI. Henceforth, let us take a moment to think about some extraordinary things that AI is doing today. Analytics Insight brings you a list of AI applications that shows the power of AI.

We always had a thought on how AI will react if it can hear, taste, or smell things. Scientists and researchers have been working to improve such features in AI machines. Even though it is a long way to reach that stage, tech companies are taking baby steps to improve relative technologies. IBM research is collaborated with a German Fragrance House Symrise to introduce artificial olfaction sensation in the perfume industry. They analyzed present fragrance chemical formulas to develop a new way of preparing fragrances. The companies used data to sort consumer choices and preferences by studying historical buying options. Later, they used the data to mix several aromatic components to give people a unique fragrance. In 2019, two AI-prepared aromas were released by the company.

Pet lovers, please take note. AI pets are stealing the market with more love. Generally, children play with cyborg dogs and little robots. It was not a big deal until the real AI pet entered the tech space. AI pets can recognize emotions and respond to your commands. Yes, it is very heartwarming. MOFLIN is an AI pet with emotional capabilities. It evolves like living animals. MOFLIN is designed to learn and constantly grow, using its interactions to determine patterns and evaluate its surroundings from its sensors. The AI pet chooses from an infinite number of mobile and sound pattern combinations to respond and express their feelings.

Thinking AI as a fortune teller might sound funny. But the futuristic technology is bringing breakthrough changes into the modern landscape. AI researchers are working to make technology discover peoples feelings and emotions with high precision. Stanford University researchers unveiled an algorithm that scans faces on images to declare a person as gay. The AI algorithm is efficient enough to detect a gay with 81% accuracy in men and 74% accuracy in women. Social media platforms are also using AI to flag unusual behavior among people, leading to suicide. Facebooks AI detected over a hundred cases that needed attention.

We are at the technological evolution where AI is capable of showing its interest in art and creativity. Today, AI is composing music, drawing pictures and much more. An AI-based system called MuseNet can now compose classical music that echoes the classical legends, Bach and Mozart. OpenAIs MuseNet is a Deep Neural Network that can create four-minute musical compositions with different tech instruments and combine Mozarts country styles with the Beatles. An algorithm developed by Tao Xu at Microsoft Research generates art or pictures. It is trained on a database of photographs and descriptions, matching certain words to particular colors, textures, and shapes.

AI-powered robots are doing the cooking and serving jobs for a long time. Recently, chef robots have invaded the Chinese military to cook food for army men. However, an AI-machine designing the food you crave or suggesting a dish with the left-over ingredients is something to note. IBMs Chef Watson might be the solution home chefs need to overcome a pantry with only a few ingredients that couldnt possibly go together or welcome inspiration to professional chefs who want to evolve their menu through cognitive cooking and take advantage of seasonal ingredients.

We are familiar with how AI is invading every sector and transforming them for good. But we always thought that we are superior to AI in every way. Currently, AI can benefit the resume filtering process, which can be time-consuming and tedious. Even though there are minor issues like AI recruitment facing discrimination problems, the technology is updating its functionalities to conquer them. Besides, AI software can design interview questions for potential hires with a focus on the persons professional competency for a particular job without knowing their race, gender, or ethnicity.

Smart cities are the dream of both governments and people. Many countries worldwide are trying to turn their developing city into a smart city with Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity. According to Omdia, the global smart city AI software market is set to soar to US$4.9 billion in 2025, up from US$673.8 million in 2019. Wireless data communication standards are enabling smart city applications to move into the online realm where they can capitalize on the latest AI innovations.

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Top 7 Amazing Artificial Intelligence Applications that Are Unfamiliar - Analytics Insight

The owner of a New Haven-based software company is hoping his holiday creation of an elf with artificial intelligence will lead to wider discussion of pros and cons of the technology.

East Rock Software Founder Stephen Robinson said the elfs brain, which allows it to reply to questions, comes from GPT-3, an algorithm developed by a San Francisco-based company, Open AI. A tiny credit card sized computer processes the questions that are being asked of the elf into text that can be understood by GPT-3, which generates a response.

Robinson said he created the elf as a small way to step people into conversations about AI.

I thought it could be a great way for people to see what the technology is, to see what it can do and what its limitations are, Robinson said. Its important for society to begin dialoguing about this and not just have technologists driving the conversation.

Researchers from the University of Delaware found that a majority of those who participated in a recent survey are wary about how artificial intelligence is used. The survey, which was released in August, found that 70 percent of survey respondents favored some kind of government regulation regarding artificial intelligence.

Common fears that people have regarding the use of artificial intelligence are it might make machines smarter than humans, Robinson said.

But new technology has made people worried from the Luddites on forward, Robinson said.

Luddites were English workers in the 19th century who objected to new technologies, according to history.com. The term has come to be used in reference to individuals who fear changes new technologies will bring.

Robinson said artificial intelligence can be beneficial in helping humans make better use of their time.

Theres tons of time that is really wasted, he said. We are in a world where were drowning in information and a lot of it is badly structured. Thats all stuff a computer should be dealing with.

Robinson was raised in England and got a bachelors degree in engineering and a doctorate in autonomous mobile robotic control from the University of Durham in that country. He came to New Haven in 1997 to do post-doctorate degree work at Yale University.

While at Yale in 2000, Robinson won $60,000 in a business plan competition at the school. Winning the competition led him to rethink what he wanted to do with his life.

I thought there was more that could be done in the start-up space than could be done writing academic scholarly papers for the rest of my career, he said.

Robinson founded East Rock Software in 2012. He said the company provides software development services to help businesses track and analyze data.

Robinson said the companys clients include businesses in the machine learning and data science fields.

luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com

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Youve heard of Elf on the Shelf; in New Haven theres elf with artificial intelligence - New Haven Register

This week sees a wide-ranging set of stories hitting the industry headlines, with NASCAR, the WPT and Artificial Intelligence all in the mix

By: Andrew Burnett

Well kick off with news that the annual NASCAR Foundations Betty Jane France Memorial High Speed Hold Em Poker Tournament will be moving online for 2021, with the World Poker Tours online sweepstakes-based poker platform, ClubWPT playing host on January 11th.

Phil Hellmuth and Maria Ho will be joining actor Michael Rooker as well as a number of NASCAR legends, including Kyle Busch, Martin Truex, Jr and Brad Keselowski to raise funds for charity.

This year has certainly presented its challenges, NASCAR Foundation Chairman Mike Helton stated.

He added: But it has also created new opportunities and we are very excited to host our first virtual poker tournament allowing greater participation as we raise funds to help the children in our racing communities.

Adam Pliska, CEO of the World Poker Tour, said of the move to virtual poker: The World Poker Tour looks forward to extending its online poker partnerships on ClubWPT with The NASCAR Foundation for this event. Philanthropy is top of mind at the WPT, and the WPT Foundation along with its $27 million raised since 2012, is partnering with The NASCAR Foundation to raise awareness for a great cause and provide a safe environment to play.

The six player final table, to be held at a later date, is expected to include two NASCAR drivers, one poker pro, one celebrity and two qualifiers.

Money raised will benefit The NASCAR Foundations Speediatrics Childrens Fund, and the top 3 finishing drivers in the tournament will see $25k, $15k and $10k respectively going to the charity of their choice.

More details can be found at NASCARfoundation.org/poker.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has long been discussed in the poker world, for many spelling the eventual death knell of the game, for others opening up a wide new world of understanding and knowledge.

A new AI bot, known as ReBel and designed by Facebook, has broken new ground with the ability to play both poker and chess two games which are considered widely divergent when it comes to computers learning them.

Chess, a game of perfect information, recently saw AlphaZero conquer all machines that came before it after teaching itself to play from scratch and mastering the game within mere hours.

Poker, however, as a game of imperfect information has proved much more difficult for a machine to master, although certain versions have seen the bots outplay humans on recent years.

ReBel is set to prove that an AI bot can master both fields, already showing expertise in HUNL (Heads-Up No Limit Holdem) and a game known as Liars Dice.

The algorithm was described by Facebook as as a major step toward developing universal techniques for multiagent interactions, and thus as a step toward complex real-world applications like fraud detection and cybersecurity.

Continuing the AI theme, Tuomas Sandholm, the man behind the poker-playing AI bot Pluribus, has been awarded the 2021 Robert S. Engelmore Memorial Lecture Award from the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) in recognition of his AI research and his service to the AI community.

Sandholm, along with his student at Carnegie Mellon University, Noam Brown, devised the poker bots Claudico, Libratus and Pluribus.

Though a team of pros, including Doug Polk, won against Claudico, the later version called Libratus won $1.7million from four strong poker pros in the rematch.

Sandholms AI then moved on from Heads-Up play to win at 6-max, the Pluribus version defeating pros including Chris Jesus Ferguson and Darren Elias.

Poker is only a small part of the AIs brief, however, and Sandholms award cites him for outstanding research contributions in AI, its application to electronic marketplaces, his highly original use of AI in strategic multi-player games such as poker and the application of AI to optimize transplant organ exchanges.

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NASCAR Team up with the World Poker Tour while Artificial Intelligence Breaks New Barriers - HighstakesDB

How is Artificial Intelligence Transforming the lives of People with Disabilities?

Technology is an excellent way to enhance the lives of people with disabilities. With the advent of artificial intelligence, several avenues of research have opened up that focus on enhancing the lives of people with impairment.

For instance, Facebook has designed an AI tool that can help the blind see again. This AI model explains the images on the Facebook feed of a blind person, so the person using the screen reader gets an idea of what is going on in the picture.This means people with visual impairment no longer have to hear a screen reader say Photo by John Doe. Googles Look to Speak app uses machine learning and computer vision to allow users to control their devices with their eyes

Similarly, OrCam, a Jerusalem-based company, has developed an AI-based called OrCam Read. This handheld device can read full pages or screens of text aloud from any printed or digital surface, including newspapers, books, product labels, and computers and smartphones. Through this device, OrCam aims to help people with reading challenges, such as dyslexia, mild to moderate vision loss, reading fatigue, as well as for those who read large volumes of text.

Even company giants like Microsoft have started afive-year programcalled AI for Accessibility, with an investment ofUS$25 million,aiming to put AI in the hands of developers to make the world more accessible by providing AI solutions for the specially-abled. Artificial intelligence not only assists people with physical disabilities but is also helping people struggling with learning problems and mental health issues. E.g., Microsofts Windows Hello uses biometric login, i.e., fingerprint, face, or iris, which can work for people with physical disabilities or those with dyslexia who might struggle to remember passwords. AI chatbots like Woebot and Wysa are ensuring the availability of consultation for mental health woes, beyond the therapist hours 24/7.

Meanwhile, people suffering from epilepsy can have seizures from blinking lights and animations. This is why accessiBe, a web accessibility platform enables epileptic users to disable various types of animation, such as GIFs and videos so that they can browse the web without complications. Voiceittis an app for people with speech impediments, including both those who need it temporarily after strokes and brain injuries, and those with more long-term conditions like cerebral palsy, Parkinsons, and Downs syndrome. The app uses machine learning to pick up speakers unique speech patterns, recognize any mispronunciations, and rectify them before creating an audio or text output. Livio AI, developed by Starkey,an AI medical device company, is a hearing aid that will enhance the hearing experience by quieting all the external noise from the environment and tracking health-related data to enable patients to seek help during emergencies.

Thanks to artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles also promise toprovide people with disabilities more mobilitythan ever before. Once the self-driving vehicles are fully integrated into society, they can be a resourceful asset for people with different disabilities, including motor impairment. These people would no longer be dependent on other people or public transport.

Further, most of the existing testing methods are highly ineffective at pinpointing learning disabilities like dyslexia or dyscalculia. Artificial Intelligence can help teachers and healthcare professionals diagnose early signs of such conditions and help the students accordingly. For instance, Australian startup Dystechhas developed a screening app for early detection of such learning disorders.

Built on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Dystech employs artificial intelligence and machine learning to screen test if the user has dyslexia or dysgraphia. For the former, the app uses datasets of audio recording from both dyslexic and non-dyslexic adults and children to train the AI and relies on users reading aloud words that appear on the screen while being recorded using their smart device during assessment . And for dysgraphia it uses a photo of a handwritten text for screening. After subjected to a 10-minute screening test, app informs users about their likelihood of having dyslexia or dysgraphia.

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How is Artificial Intelligence Transforming the lives of People with Disabilities? - Analytics Insight

If 2020 hasn't been tough enough for you, there's now an Artificial Intelligence bot that wants to judge your taste in music.

Many added sad ballads to their daily song collections on Spotify to keep up with the mood of 2020. Others queued up throwbacks to remember the good times before masks, quarantines, and COVID pods entered into our daily vernacular.

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Some who pride themselves on their ability to make a playlist have tirelessly continued to curate their Spotify brands in 2020 in order to have a flashy "Spotify Wrapped" to share on Instagram by the year's end.

Even if you tried, according to the bot, you probably failed.

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Whether you think you've put together a collection that Beyonc would approve of or you know your profile consists of a very niche type of sound, The Pudding has you covered.

They created an A.I. bot to help you answer the age-old question: How bad is your Spotify?

Find out below how to take the test and to see some of the internet's funniest responses.

Everyone has a friend or a loved one who thinks his or her Spotify is the pinnacle of good taste. The "How Bad Is Your Spotify" test is for them.

The test was created by Matt Daniels and Mike Lacher for The Pudding, which "is a digital publication that explains ideas debated in culture with visual essays."

Those who click on the quiz will be met with the following message: "Our sophisticated A.I. judges your awful taste in music."

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Those who think that their playlists are immune from criticism may not like what the bot tells them. The purpose of the test is to poke fun at people who take their Spotify brands seriously.

Once you do decide to find out how bad your Spotify is, you'll have to log in to your account. The A.I. bot will then dissect your listening patterns and it will cater an insult based on what kind of music you gravitate towards.

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The results tell users what tracks they "listen to too much" and what creators they stan "to an uncomfortable extent."

Participants will ultimately receive a percentage score for how bad / basic their Spotify account is. To add insult to injury, the bot will also tell you if you're stuck in a particular genre or era.

As expected, Twitter users have gleefully responded to the prospect of sharing their "How Bad Is Your Spotify" results ... both the fake and the real ones.

The content is *chef's kiss* perfection, and it makes taking the test worthwhile.

Because honestly, did you even really take the quiz if you didn't share it online?

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This person was roasted for listening to a lot of rap music, and the A.I. bot even asked him if he was OK. If that wasn't enough, the user was also told that his music taste was stuck in the 2010s.

Unsurprisingly, Swifties were given a lot of heat by the A.I.

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Those who find themselves a bit hurt by what the A.I. had to say about their music tastes should be comforted by the fact that they're in good company. The bot is shady toward everyone's lists.

'Tis the season, after all.

You can find out how awful your Spotify is here.

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How Bad Is Your Spotify? There's Artificial Intelligence to Judge Your Taste - Distractify

Home Threats News Cyber Artificial intelligence measure included in must-pass government funding deal

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A group of lawmakers recently touted the Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Government Act, which was included in the must-pass government funding deal and set to become law.

Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Rob Portman (R-OH), Gary Peters (D-MI), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said the legislation ensures the use of AI across the federal government is effective, ethical, and accountable by providing resources and guidance to federal agencies.

We need to get smart on AI if we want to have a competitive edge against the rest of the world in the next decade, Schatz, ranking member of the Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation and the Internet, said. That starts with making sure the federal government is using AI technology ethically and effectively. With our bill set to become law, we will now be able to coordinate AI strategy so that all federal agencies can take full advantage of these new technologies and do so in a responsible way.

The Acts provisions include expanding an office within the General Services Administration to provide technical expertise to relevant government agencies; conducting forward-looking research on federal AI policy; promoting domestic competitiveness through agency and industry cooperation; establishing an advisory board to address AI policy opportunities and challenges for executive agencies; and directing the Office of Management and Budget to establish a strategy for investing and using AI as part of the federal data strategy.

Artificial intelligence is an emerging frontier, and the United States has a responsibility to ensure our government is using this technology ethically and efficiently, Peters, ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and a founding member of the Senate Artificial Intelligence Caucus, said. I am thrilled this bipartisan measure will become law so government employees and agencies can utilize this innovative technology.

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Artificial intelligence measure included in must-pass government funding deal - Homeland Preparedness News

The programmers of the Center for Artificial Intelligence are developing new unique products that can be used in almost all sectors of the economy.The AI center is developing smart sensor technologies. They take readings about the technical condition, operating conditions, operation of production equipment. Now such sensors are equipped with machines in the shops of PetrozavodskMash.

Vasily Melentyev, Director of the Center for Engineering Systems, said:

With the help of vibration, we can identify various kinds of defects and eliminate them. This will not affect the operation of the equipment, that is, the marriage will not go, and it will be regular.

Specialists of the Center for Artificial Intelligence are post-graduate students, teachers, scientists of PetrSU. They are the ones who develop intelligent systems that develop data analysis and search for patterns using algorithms and machine learning methods. Special attention is paid to the tasks of security and video analytics. For example, with the help of video systems, you can calculate those who walk in public places without a mask or without a helmet in production.

Alexey Marakhtanov, Director of the Center for Artificial Intelligence:

Another area is natural language processing. We are developing a series of dialogue systems to simplify the service of the public, students, employees who work remotely.

In addition, the university is now actively introducing VR technologies (Virtual Reality, VR Virtual Reality, Artificial World), which are used to teach students online. Students without leaving home can visit various educational sites, participate in meetings and project development.

Vice-rector for academic affairs K.G. Tarasov noted:

The university has gained quite a lot of experience, and this is due to the first wave of distance learning in spring and summer. And today we have entered the distance as planned and we believe that it is being successfully implemented.

Link:

PetrSU joined the fight for leadership in the field of artificial intelligence applications in Russia and in the world - India Education Diary