Daily Archives: July 24, 2017

At a global robotics competition, teens put aside grown-up conflicts to form alliances – The Denver Post

Posted: July 24, 2017 at 8:15 am

WASHINGTON As six robots battled it out on the floor of the DAR Constitution Halls auditorium during the FIRST Global Challenge competition Tuesday afternoon, a cheer rose above the din of voices echoing across the stands.

Team Hope! Team Hope! Team Hope!

The cheering came from a corner of the stadium where a group of boys from Team Lebanon wearing rainbow clown wigs stood next to Team Palestine. They, and teams from Libya and Jordan, were lending their voices to support a group of Syrian refugees, known as Team Hope. It was one of many times when teens would spontaneously break out into cheers for competitors.

When they werent cheering, hundreds of teens from 157 countries mingled, chatted and leaned in for selfies in the sweltering corridors of the concert hall at the first international Global Challenge competition. In between making final adjustments on their robots, a bonding experience that has become central to this competition, they signed each others T-shirts and exchanged pins. If they did not speak the same language, they all understood the thrill, the frustration and the anxiety that comes with competition.

Salwan Georges, The Washington Post

These are precisely the kinds of friendships FIRST Global founder Dean Kamen, an inventor, hoped to build ones that crossed languages, cultures and geopolitical frontiers. His lofty vision is one in which graduates of this program put aside politics to solve the worlds most pressing challenges, like shortages of clean water and the myriad problems wrought by global climate change. In this years competition, teams built robots to sort contaminated water from clean water actually orange and blue plastic balls to get them thinking about the real-life challenge that many face getting enough clean water.

If we can get kids from around the world to deal with the same issues . . . we could compete on the same team, Kamen said on Sunday evening, in remarks at the opening ceremony. You dont have to have self-inflicted wounds created by arbitrary differences and politics.

This cauldron of competition with countries sending some of their brightest and best aspiring engineers forged plenty of unusual friendships. Team Armenia and Team Turkey, who come from countries whose relations are strained were allied in one match. The Armenian team also helped Lesotho make modifications to their robot.

You have to put politics aside, said Lilit Tarumyan, a 16-year-old team member. Her teammate. Maria Ter-Minasyan, chimed in: They were some cool guys!

The contest is called a coopera-tition, with points given to teams for working together to form alliances.

Salwan Georges, The Washington Post

Under their countrys flag, three young Iranian men tinkered with their robot on Tuesday afternoon, in preparation for the final, nerve-racking matches of the FIRST Global Robotics competition. Just feet away, Team Israel was busily making adjustments to theirs. The two countries have hostile relations. But in this corner of the DAR Constitution Hall, separated by no more than 30 feet, the teens from both countries forged an unlikely bond.

They chatted about robots and politics, and then the two teams huddled together for a group photo with founder Kamen. And then the teens wished each other good luck.

Please, see us today, we Israelis and Iranians were together and happy,said Mohammad Reza Karami, the mentor for Team Iran. You also can see, learn and be together.

The competition capped weeks of drama in which two teams one from Gambia and Afghanistans all-girls squad appeared to be in jeopardy of competing in the U.S. when their visas were initially denied. Their plight garnered international attention and sympathy. The Gambian team finally received their visas in early July, according to the Associated Press. But the Afghan girls did not get their visas until President Donald Trump intervened at the last-minute, granting them passage to the U.S.

Alieu Bah, an 18-year-old Gambian team member from Serakunda, said the team was crestfallen when their visa applications were initially denied. But they did not give up and continued to put in hours of work sometimes seven hours at a stretch on their competition robot, with plans to ship it to Gambians living in the U.S., who would compete in their place.

We worked hard. And even when we didnt get it, we worked hard, said Bah, who added that he was just excited to see Gambia represented in the international competition. But he was still thrilled when he heard the State Department had reversed its decisions. Im proud to be here.

Tuesday, First Daughter Ivanka Trump came to the hall and met with five other all-girl squads, including the teams from Jordan, Brunei, Vanuatu and the U.S. She then pulled the lever to start a friendly match between the six teams.

Kawsar Roshan, a 15-year-old member of Team Afghanistan, said Trump was welcoming, telling her through a translator: Youre most welcome. Im happy you made it to the U.S.

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At a global robotics competition, teens put aside grown-up conflicts to form alliances - The Denver Post

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Next Leap for Robots: Picking Out and Boxing Your Online Order – Wall Street Journal (subscription)

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Wall Street Journal (subscription)
Next Leap for Robots: Picking Out and Boxing Your Online Order
Wall Street Journal (subscription)
HBC -1.08% and Chinese online-retail giant JD.com Inc., JD 0.37% have recently begun testing robotic pickers in their distribution centers. Some robotics companies say their machines can move gadgets, toys and consumer products 50% faster than human ...

and more »

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CFD’s Rodeo Tech Zone exhibit shows visitors where rodeo meets robotics – Wyoming Tribune

Posted: at 8:15 am

CHEYENNE A new exhibit at Cheyenne Frontier Days is allowing visitors to see where rodeo meets robotics.

One of the first CFD attendees to experience the Rodeo Zone Tech exhibit was 4-year old Kinney Hammond from Denver. She bravely rode a mechanical bull under the supervision of owner and founder Jim Donnelly.

I wasnt scared, Hammond said. I liked when it went this way and then that way.

The Rodeo Zone Tech exhibit is Donnellys brainchild.

Were the innovators of robotics and the Western world, he said.

Visitors to the exhibit have the opportunity to experience rodeo without the risk. They can rope a motorized pony, ride a mechanical bronc and more in one of the most interactive exhibits at CFD.

Its not Donnellys first time at CFD, either. For 18 years, he participated in rodeo himself. In the 1970s he was a contestant at the Daddy of em All in Cheyenne. Those experiences, he said, informed him on how to make a successful interactive rodeo exhibit.

It gave me the experience to develop robotic animals that were correct in how they buck, he said. Ours move away from you and jump and kick just like a real animal does.

In traveling to rodeo events, Donnelly said he realized there wasnt really a safe and realistic way for people to practice rodeo.

Kids need something safe, a good vehicle for them to learn the sport of rodeo in a safe setting we set out to do that, he said

Initially, the inventions were used by college and high school rodeo teams for practice. But what started as a way for young rodeo contestants-to-be to practice turned into something that people of all ages can enjoy, whether they rodeo or not.

Weve kind of taken it to the next step where its a Western amusement experience, he said.

The Rodeo Zone Tech exhibit now makes its way across the nation to a variety of events that allow people to safely explore rodeo. When the CFD General Committee visited Donnellys ranch in Texas, he said they knew it would be a great fit for Wyomings biggest celebration of Western culture.

They loved it, and wanted us to come here, so here we are, he said.

The newest and greatest part of the exhibit, Donnelly said, are the motor ponies. He said theyre horses that look like a horse, ride like a horse and can do about any rodeo event using them, from team roping to barrel racing.

Theyre just a huge hit everywhere weve been, he said.

Kinney Hammonds father, Adam Hammond, said its the first time theyve been to CFD. Between Saturdays parade and the Rodeo Zone Tech exhibit, he said he and his family are already having a great time.

Weve been wanting to come, he said. We have family in town this week, so we wanted them to experience the old West. The parade this morning was so patriotic. It was awesome.

In addition to facilitating their exhibit, Donnelly said his family is looking forward to experiencing what CFD has to offer decades since his rodeo years.

Its way different than it was the in 70s, he said. Theyve remodeled things and brought it up to date. The arena is real pretty. Its an awesome venue and an historic rodeo that continues to go on.

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Greater User Flexibility a Key Factor in NetDimensions Talent Suite 13.1 – PR Web (press release)

Posted: at 8:14 am

NetDimensions Talent Suite 13.1

(PRWEB) July 24, 2017

The latest version of the NetDimensions Talent Suite version 13.1 is here and includes a number of exciting new features, including improved Artificial Intelligence (AI) functionality and revamped forums.

The emergence of Artificial Intelligence in the L&D industry presents managers and learners with unique training opportunities. Artificial Intelligence uses technology to analyze a situation or environment and to make increasingly intelligent choices based on that information, says Adrian Weaver, Director of Global Product Management at NetDimensions.

Artificial Intelligence in e-learning has been hotly tipped to revolutionize the industry and NetDimensions Talent Suite 13.1 follows on from its first introduction in version 12 in July 2016. Dynamic Load Analysis saw the Artificial Intelligence engine monitoring run-time loads to provide a rating for online and overall activity, so that NetDimensions Talent Suite performance parameters could be adjusted in real-time. In release 13.1, this same engine is used to deliver user-oriented recommendations with a new feature called AI Assistant Recommendations.

AI Assistant Recommendations analyses a user's current training history and then suggests other courses that may be of interest based on their training.

Here are just some of the other new and enhanced features in NetDimensions Talent Suite 13.1: In addition to the new AI feature, the forum functionality has been completely reworked to provide a new user interface and user experience, and specifically to include better capabilities around uploading and moderating user-generated content.

Drag-and-drop support allows administrators to make rapid adjustments to classroom planning using drag and drop, and resizing event chips.

Were extremely excited about the new features in the NetDimensions Talent Suite version 13.1. With more Artificial Intelligence capabilities than ever before and a forum thats been streamlined with the end-user in mind, NetDimensions Talent Suite 13.1 puts the power of choice and user-friendliness firmly in the users hands, said Bill Mastin, Senior Vice President of Sales.

/ENDS.

About NetDimensions Established in 1999, NetDimensions is a global provider of performance, knowledge and learning management solutions to highly regulated industries.

NetDimensions provides companies, government agencies and other organizations with talent management solutions to personalize learning, share knowledge, enhance performance, foster collaboration and manage compliance programs for employees, customers, partners and suppliers.

NetDimensions' solutions also include custom content and learning portal development services, as well as off-the-shelf course libraries and regulatory compliance courseware developed by NetDimensions' subject matter experts and content partners.

NetDimensions' award-winning solutions have been chosen by leading organizations worldwide including ING, Cathay Pacific, Chicago Police Department, Geely Automotive, Norton Healthcare, and Fresenius Medical Care.

NetDimensions is ISO 9001 certified and NetDimensions hosted services are ISO 27001 certified.

NetDimensions is part of Learning Technologies Group plc (LTG).

For more information, visit http://www.NetDimensions.com or follow @netdimensions on Twitter.

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One Man’s Two-Year Quest Not to Finish Final Fantasy VII – The New Yorker

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In 2012, David Curry, a thirty-four-year-old cashier from Southern California, came across a post on an online forum by someone who went by the handle Dick Tree. It contained a herculean proposal: Tree planned to play the 1997 video game Final Fantasy VII for as many hours as it took to raise the characters to their maximum potential, without ever leaving the opening scene, which unfolds in a nuclear reactor. Final Fantasy VII is a role-playing game, a form popularized in the nineteen-seventies by Dungeons & Dragons, in which players featsbeasts felled, maidens wooedare quantified with experience points. Accrue enough of these points, and your character ascends a level, at which point it confronts stronger opponents worth more points. Curry estimated that, even playing for a few hours every day, Trees attempt to raise a character to Level 99 by fighting only the games weakest enemies would take more than a year to complete.

Nevertheless, Tree attracted a following of forum users, including Curry, who cheered the project on and watched it unfold in sporadic posts. Over time, Curry told me recently, Trees updates became more infrequent. After two years, Tree stopped altogether. I got fed up with Dick Tree, he said. So I declared that I would do it myself.

Curry had first played Final Fantasy VII several years after its dbut, but had set the game down after a few hours, underwhelmed. Although he had participated in a few Web endurance projectshe once provided commentary on twenty-three seasons worth of The Simpsonshe had never undertaken a video-game marathon before. I dont consider myself anything more than a casual gamer, Curry said. But then, on January 18, 2015, he switched on his PlayStation and loaded the game disk. After that first session, I felt confident that I could complete the challenge, he told me. I was also confident that I would teach Dick Tree a lesson about finishing what you start.

Sometimes Curry played every day, and sometimes he went weeks without picking up the controller. Sessions might last one hour or twenty-four. As time passed, the forum users rallied behind him. At one point, Tree reappeared, claiming to have, in fact, completed the challenge already, without telling the group. He couldnt back up his claim with any sort of evidence, so we went on in spite of him, Curry said.

A few months into his endeavor, Curry bought some hardware that allowed him to record his activity. He started uploading the footage to YouTube, then broadcasting it live on the streaming service Twitch . In April, a full two years after he had embarked on the project, his characters reached Level 98. When the final session first started, mostly what I felt was pain, Curry recalled. He had recently undergone surgery on his arm, which was still heavily bandaged and resting in a sling. Using his free hand, Curry began the fifty-six-minute session that would take him past the finish line. It didnt take very long for the Twitch chat to fill up with far more people than usual, he said. Before the finale, I would struggle to keep five viewers, but that day I had around fifty. Just keeping up with reading and responding to comments took most of my attention. When the moment came, Curry met it with an appropriate sense of ceremony. Im going to hit the button and were going to get that glorious half a second where it says Level up, he says in the video , his voice quivering. I want us to savor that level-up, because it is the last one . . . Brace yourselves.

The human predilection for combining tenacity and tedium goes back a long way; in the early twentieth century, for instance, there was a fad for pole-sitting, in which practitioners would sit atop flagpoles, often for days at a time, winking at crowds. Video games offer a new avenue for the old impulse. Indeed, Curry is one of many players to engage in arcane endurance challenges. Every year for the past decade, an Internet sketch-comedy troupe called LoadingReadyRun has driven a virtual bus from Tucson, Arizona, to Las Vegas, Nevada, in Desert Bus , an unreleased video game from 1995 conceived by the American entertainers Penn Jillette and Teller. Tens of thousands of people tune in to watch the troupes progress through the mind-numbing, unpausable game, and their donations have, to date, raised more than $3.8 million for a childrens charity. Another man, Kurt J. Mac, is several years into a two-decade-long quest to walk to the edge of the Minecraft universe . Efforts like this redefine the traditional parameters of success in video games, which typically reward quickness and dexterity. Not everyone can set the world record in Donkey Kong, Curry said. But all it takes to walk to the edge of the Minecraft map or reach Level 99 in the first reactor in Final Fantasy VII is time.

Many have poured scorn on Currys venture, particularly since it doesnt have a charitable component. This is the most pathetic waste of man hours that could have been used for good that Ive seen in a long time, one typical YouTube comment says. On the forum where he first heard about Dick Trees idea, Curry posted a spirited, if nihilistic, rebuttal. To say that our lives are pointless and our achievements meaningless is to state the obvious, he wrote. No matter how grand our achievements or how broad their scope, time turns all to dust and death destroys all memory. But that does not mean we cannot ascribe our own meaning to what we do. For Curry, the Final Fantasy VII challenge proved not only comforting but also instructive. It taught me perseverance, of course, he said. But more important than the ability to finish what you start is what I now see as the moral goodness of finishing what you start.

Curry has already moved on to another endurance challenge, set in the preceding game in the series, Final Fantasy VI. But he may not be done with VIIs opening scene just yet; the game is currently being remade in Japan, at vast expense, and the new version is expected to come out in the next few years. Im already thinking about doing it again, he told me.

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First 10000 Instagram followers: a few valuable tips from the experts – The TechNews

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First 10000 Instagram followers: a few valuable tips from the experts

If you are a regular Instagram user I believe you have already noticed how drastically it has bridged the gap between businesses and consumers. Businesses now have the ability to knock on the screen of your smartphone through Instagram for reaching your first 1000 Instagram followers.

P.S: This guide is not applicable for users that are already famous.

Select a simple or an easy-to-pronounce name for your business so that others can easily recall and later search for you on Instagram. Keep the name of your business within the first segment of the username as it raises the probability of potential customers to across to your name.

The entire name of a business must be given on the Name field under the Options menu. Also, switch off the Private Account menu for turning it into Public.

Most importantly, the logo is for reminding customers about abusiness or a service; therefore, choose or design a proper logo and use the same logo across other social networking channels.

For users that want to promote their businesses through their respective and personal accounts can attach the URL under their bio section. A customized BITLY or a COINURL shortened link can trigger wonderful results too! Enable notifications option to find out about followers interaction rate.

Investment is mandatory for amazingly fruitful outcomes to occur in the future. As a result, hire an individual that can provide unique graphical contents related to your business so that you can later upload them to your page.

Since youre already paying a content generator, hand over your pictures to the person for editing them before uploading them to Instagram.

Or

Before you decide to upload your contents, download this template for planning out the timing of your posts on Instagram.

Besides, keep in mind that finding an appropriate time for scheduling posts will require several trials before you can find out the perfect timing for maximum exposure.

It is impossible for one person to keep track of contents you wish to share on your Instagram account. As a result, maintaining a cloud space where every member of your team can upload valuable information on the cloud space, and you can designate your content generator later.

Trust me, the practice will truly ensure further efficiency as the number of your posts gets larger.

Along with regular images and vines, a touchy and relatable caption can do wonder for your brand. Captions are like toppings on your favorite pizza; hence, ignorance can never be an option for this case.

A well-thought caption will flaunt your unique personality while making your brand communicate personally with each of your customers to make them aware of your presence.

Hashtags that are relevant to your posts will help in expanding your customer base as a hashtag is meant for connecting different users. The intelligence level of digital strategists can be observed by the hashtags they use; moreover, a smart strategist will always limit the number of hashtags to three while maintaining acute relevance.

For finding out commonly used hashtags for your niche, the Instagram app itself can reveal the commonly used hash tags after tapping on the Explore button (magnifying glass). Check out the suggestions for #inboundmarketing.

On top of everything, once you have accumulated a considerable number of following, your brand can be made prominent through your unique hashtags.

Commenting based on contexts and sharing posts of your followers indicate that youre an actual human being but not a bot. Feel free to interact with posts you may find amusing and this is the most organic way to grow your first 1000 followers over a period of time.

Oftentimes users will choose to follow you simply because youve shared their post(s).

Most of us have been constantly ignoring the Instagram Stories for prolific branding without realizing its huge potential to guarantee success.

These are the information that I have managed to collect over the years through personal experiences and shared knowledge by proficient online marketers. Feel free to comment underneath if youre willing to share your thoughts.

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HoloLens 2 will have a custom AI chip designed by Microsoft – The Verge

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Today, Microsoft announced that the next generation of its mixed reality HoloLens headset will incorporate an AI chip. This custom silicon a coprocessor designed but not manufactured by Microsoft will be used to analyze visual data directly on the device, saving time by not uploading it to the cloud. The result, says Microsoft, will be quicker performance on the HoloLens 2, while keeping the device as mobile as possible.

The announcement follows a trend among Silicon Valleys biggest tech companies, which are now scrambling to meet the computational demands of contemporary AI. Todays mobile devices, where AI is going to be used more frequently, simply arent built to handle these sorts of programs, and when theyre asked, the result is usually slower performance or a burned-out battery (or both).

But getting AI to run directly on devices like phones or AR headsets has a number of advantages. As Microsoft says, quicker performance is one of them, as devices dont have to upload data to remote servers. This also makes the devices more user-friendly, as they dont have to maintain a continuous internet connection. And, this sort of processing is more secure, as users data never leaves the device.

There are two main ways to facilitate this sort of on-device AI. The first is by building special lightweight neural networks that dont require as much processing power. (Both Facebook and Google are working on this.) The second is by creating custom AI processors, architectures, and software, which is what companies like ARM and Qualcomm are doing. Its rumored that Apple is also building its own AI processor for the iPhone a so-called Apple Neural Engine and now, Microsoft is doing the same for the HoloLens.

This race to build AI processors for mobile devices is running alongside work to create specialized AI chips for servers. Intel, Nvidia, Google, and Microsoft are all working on their own projects in this department. This sort of AI cloud power will service different needs to new mobile processors (itll primarily be sold directly to businesses), but from the viewpoint of designing silicon, the two goals are likely to be complementary.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Microsoft Research engineer Doug Burger said the company was taking the challenge of creating AI processors for servers very seriously, adding: Our aspiration is to be the number one AI cloud. Building out the HoloLens on-device AI capabilities could help with this goal, if only by focusing the companys expertise on chip architectures needed to handle neural networks.

For the second generation HoloLens, the AI coprocessor will be built into its Holographic Processing Unit or HPU Microsofts name for its central vision-processing chip. This handles data from all the devices on-board sensors, including the head-tracking unit and infrared cameras. The AI coprocessor will be used to analyze this data use deep neural networks, one of the principal tools of contemporary AI. Theres still no release date for the HoloLens 2, but its reportedly arriving in 2019. When it lands, AI will be even more central for everyday computing, and that specialized silicon will likely be in high demand.

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China aims to become global AI leader by 2030 – ZDNet

Posted: at 8:13 am

China's top administrative body has laid out a three-step approach to make artificial intelligence (AI) the key driving force of the country's economic growth for the next decade.

According to the plan initiated by the State Council and released last week, China will first keep pace with other leading countries in terms of AI technology and applications by 2020, aiming for a core AI industry worth 150 billion yuan ($22 billion) and AI-related fields worth 1 trillion yuan, according to a Tencent news report.

After the conclusion of the second phase by 2025 when legal grounds for the industry are established, the government plans to be the global leader in AI theory, technology, and applications and the major AI innovation centre globally by 2030. At which time, the core AI industry will value 1 trillion yuan and AI-related industries 10 trillion yuan, according to the blueprint.

The government has also pushed for vigorous development of AI-related emerging industries in China, including intelligent hardware and software, intelligent robots, and Internet of Things based devices.

Research on brain science, brain computing, quantum information and quantum computing, intelligent manufacturing, robotics, and big data will be greatly upheld, while intelligent upgrades in manufacture, agriculture, logistics, and home appliances will also be sped up.

A PwC report released last month has estimated the global GDP will become 14 percent higher in 2030 due to the wide deployment of AI.

"China will begin to pull ahead of the US's AI productivity gains in 10 years," the report said, and estimated that China will have the most economic gains from AI, which may boost China's GDP by 26 percent by 2030.

Chinese companies Alibaba, Baidu, and Lenovo are stepping up AI investment in a range of industries such as ecommerce, IoT, and autonomous driving.

Baidu announced the acquisition of Seattle-based startup Kitt.ai and a partnership with US chipmaker Nvidia this month, while Alibaba recently revealed an AI-powered smart speaker.

Lenovo also said AI will be a key feature of its products going forward, which include a digital assistant, connected health devices, and augmented and virtual reality platforms.

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Innovate UK seeks help from AI on improving efficiency of its operations – FinanceFeeds (blog)

Posted: at 8:13 am

Innovate UK is looking for as many ideas as possible for the application of machine learning to its existing data.

An increasing number of UK institutions and organizations are looking at artificial intelligence (AI) solutions that may help them enhance their work. The latest piece of proof in that respect, somewhat unsurprisingly, comes from Innovate UK, the organization that aims to propel growth by working with companies to de-risk, enable and support innovation.

Innovate UK, which has committed more than 1.8 billion to innovation since 2007, is inviting applicationsfor funding of projects involving machine learning. The aim of the proposals should be to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Innovate UKs operational functions. Innovate UK is to invest up to 250,000 in such ideas.

The organization welcomes ideas for the application of machine learning to Innovate UKs existing data. The areas that may be covered include:

The competition opens today July 24, 2017. The registration deadline is set for September 6, 2017 Midday (12:00pm).

Earlier this month, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has indicated its willingness to use regulatory technology (regtech) and AI solutions in orderto improve regulatory compliance. The FCA is examining the possibility of making its Handbook machine-readable and, then, fully machine-executable. This means that machines can interpret and implement the rules directly.

The variety of applications currently examined by the FCA range from the enhanced use of speech-to-text analytics tools within the FCA to solutions allowing better use of social media analytics. The regulator would also utilize AI to detect financial irregularities, according to Nick Cook, Head of Data and Information Operations at the FCA.

AI was one of the areas that dominated in the second cohort of the FCA regulatory sandbox, which allows firms to test innovative products and services in a live environment while making sure that consumers are appropriately protected.

The Bank of Englandis also welcoming AI solutions as shown by the third round of Proofs of Concept (POCs) completed by its FinTech Accelerator.

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AI will fix healthcare’s biggest and least sexy problem – MedCity News

Posted: at 8:13 am

When discussing the growing use of artificial intelligence, a hotly contested view is that AI will become a game-changer in healthcare diagnosing and treating patients with serious diseases, like cancer or diabetes.

While algorithm vs. doctor and clinical moonshots dominate the headlines, AI is quietly solving another big problem that has long plagued healthcare: waste and inefficiency.

Unlike clinical issues, inefficiency is often overlooked because its complicated and unsexy. However, many now believe that solving operational issues is the biggest lever for fixing healthcare and the area where we can really move the needle on cost and patient experience. This is more important than ever, as hospitals are seeing more bankruptcies and face growing uncertainties around reimbursements and operating margins in the face of ACHA and other turbulent policy issues.

But tackling inefficiency is hard. Thats because hospitals are complex, unpredictable organizations. Data was expected to help. But given the massive amount of information involved, standard industry tools like dashboards and reports arent useful enough. In healthcare, the stakes are much higher and require more practical solutions. How can we expect busy nurses and doctors to make sense of dashboards in high-pressure moments and figure out what decision to make? Its unreasonable and impossible.

We must also move away from rear window insights and into the proactive management of our problems. Lets say that a nurse reviews a report indicating that, the day before, a toddler had her surgery canceled due to lengthy delays in the OR. This insight is meaningless because its too late to fix the situation.

Many correctly believe that success requires predictive analytics, but predictions are hard to interpret. They cant help a busy nurse know exactly what she should do in that moment to prevent the chaos that may be heading her way. To make things work better for the frontline decision-makers, our tools have to be able to evaluate the possible interventions and suggest data-validated, real-time course corrections.

For example, in the situation of the toddler, AI can predict potential scheduling conflicts in the operating room, or flag when a delay is likely. It instantly identifies the best option and then prompts the nurse to take the specific action needed to prevent the cancellation. This way, better decisions are made and issues can be dealt with before they even arise.

The results associated with the use of AI in healthcare operations are compelling. During Beckers 8th Annual Symposium, a leading academic childrens hospital talked about a 25 percent reduction in same day surgery cancellations by using AI. Also, a prominent Midwest health system discussed steps for successfully transforming a low-performing emergency department reducing patient wait time for a doctor by 20 percent.

Using AI, our industry can extrapolate this success to avoid many issues currently affecting healthcare costs and patient experience such as surgery delays, overcrowding, patient falls and excessively lengthy hospital stays.

And, for our society, there are bigger goals that can be realized by focusing on these important and costly situations. Could we reduce painful facility closures facing our rural communities? Could we slow hospital spending that is now nearly $1 trillion dollars and represents a third of all healthcare costs in the U.S.? Could we reduce the 250,000 annual deaths from medical errors by making it easier for caregivers to do their job? On the most basic level, could we get patients in and out of the hospital faster and with less frustration?

To make an impact on these big picture outcomes, we have to change our mindset. Rather than seek out silver bullets, we must begin to value the small, day-to-day actions that, over time, can drive large-scale impacts.

Its crucial that we equip all healthcare staff with the best tools to do so. Thats where AI can be a game-changer the game; if we can mold the information it delivers into the right, actionable decisions. In the next few years it will be increasingly clear that those who are able to do so will see the greatest success.

Photo: Getty Images

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