Category Archives: Artificial Intelligence

The National Science Foundation and Amazon teamed up to fund a second round of research projects aimed at promoting trustworthy artificial intelligence and mitigating bias in systems.

The latest cohort selected to participate in the Program on Fairness in AI include multi-university projects to confront structural bias in hiring, algorithms to help ensure fair AI use in medicine, principles to guide how humans interact with AI systems, and others that focus on education, criminal justice and human services applications.

With increasingly widespread deployments, AI has a huge impact on peoples lives, Henry Kautz, NSF division director for Information and Intelligent Systems, said. As such, it is important to ensure AI systems are designed to avoid adverse biases and make certain that all people are treated fairly and have equal opportunity to positively benefit from its power.

Kautz, whose division oversees the program, briefed Nextgov on the complexities that accompany addressing fairness in AIand the joint initiative NSF and Amazon are backing to help contribute to the creation of more trustworthy technological systems.

What is fair?

AI is already an invisible variable that touches many, crucial aspects of Americans lives. Uses range from helping facial recognition unlock smartphones to making recommendations about punishments judges should impose for criminal convictions. But theres still no universal guarantee that the rapidly evolving technology won't be harmful to certain people.

It is important to note that we are still trying to understand fairness, Kautz explained. And once we have a better understanding of the many facets of fairness, the challenge is not just to design AI systems that are as fair as people are, but to actually be even more fair and unbiasedsince we know people can make biased decisions, either implicitly or explicitly.

Mathematical definitions of fairness can hone in on the algorithmic outcomes of different groups using a statistical approach, he noted, so methods in that realm might look to ensure various metrics are consistent across different groups. From a social perspective, on the other hand, officials might consider how AI could improve fairness and equality across society. An AI system might be used to help determine a novel vaccination or food distribution method or the location of medical resources that users would not have thought of without the analysis from the system, Kautz noted. Or, in technical approaches to fairness, officials might consider the accountability of the users of an AI system and what information is needed to guarantee they feel confident that informed decisions can be made.

Thus, there are many ways to look at fairness in AI, and that is what NSF and Amazon are trying to do through this joint effort, Kautz said. We are making progress but are still in the early stages, where we need to understand the different aspects of fairness, in real-world settings, so that we can in turn understand how we can design our systems with fairness built into them.

Advancing Fair AI

NSF has been funding research to promote fairness in AI systems for some time, according to Kautz, while Amazon grasps the importance of building out systems designed with such approaches.

Given our mutual interest in this space, it seemed natural for NSF and Amazon to partner to leverage the resources and expertise that each organization brings, Kautz said, adding that the two intend to provide approximately $10 million each, for a total of about $20 million, over the three-year life of the program they cooperatively steer.

The first cohort came last year, this announcement marks the second, and another is anticipated to rollout in 2022.

Amazon does not play a role in the selection of proposals for the research grants, only NSF selects the awardees, Kautz confirmed.

Through the partnership, the research community submits proposals to NSF, which in turn uses its standard peer review process to identify meritorious proposals, he explained. Agency officials complete NSFs standard award process and provide grants to those chosen while Amazon separately sends its funding contributions. The company additionally offers consultation to the researchers who receive awards.

The response to the solicitations has grown, indicating growing importance and interest in the research community in addressing fairness in AI since the programs inception, Kautz added. The award topics have also broadened, and now include projects in natural language processing, computer vision, and applications to criminal justice.

But what hasnt changed is the efforts overall aim and potential to help scientists push forward toward new technical breakthroughs, accelerate the transition of their research results from laboratories to practiceand train the next generation of researchers and practitioners, which Kautz deemed another dimension that is really important to NSF.

We all appreciate there is a real need for competencies in AI across all sectors of our economy. Providing students studying fairness in AI with exposure to industry, and the problems that they are facing, is one way to develop and nurture talent that our research ecosystem is going to need going forward, he said. Finally, students participating in this programs projects may get exposure to future job opportunities as a result of Amazons engagement.

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How NSF and Amazon Are Collectively Tackling Artificial Intelligence-Based Bias - Nextgov

What if a groundbreaking technology designed to gather and channel contemporary insights from the worlds most brilliant leaders Churchill, Gandhi, Lincoln took a sharp detour and exposed long buried secrets of its creator and his family? In his debut novel, Scarsdale author Marc Sheinbaum explores that possibility.

In Memories Live Here, Sheinbaum writes about what happens when an artificial intelligence project known as CHERL (Computerized Human Experienced as Real Life) and a cybersecurity breach lead to the near downfall of A.I. engineer Josh Brodsky and his two brothers. In their search for the source of CHERLs ransomware they unearth decades-old revelations about their late parents.

Sheinbaum drew some of his knowledge of A.I. from his days as an IT consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and his exposure to neural networks (algorithms that mimic the operations of a human brain) that identify fraud in finance while working in risk management at GE Capital.

He describes Memories Live Here as not so much a hard science fiction novel, as it is a mystery thriller about a dysfunctional family.

I did a lot of searching around the web and conversations with subject matter experts, but mostly on broad concepts rather than the detailed science, Sheinbaum said. Luckily, I didnt have to do too much research on the dysfunctional family part. But well get to that later.

There are those who would think our government would learn a great deal from historys greatest leaders, said Sheinbaum, but I was drawn to the more personal story. What deceased person would you speak to from your own family? From your own past? And could A.I. uncover skeletons in the closet? Secrets we never knew, that we never realized had such a great impact on our lives and shaped who we became? Thats the story I really wanted to explore, but with the pulse of a fast-paced mystery thriller.

As with many second act novelists, Sheinbaum put his early affinity for creative writing on hold while pursuing a 35-year career in finance at corporations like JPMorgan Chase and American Express. After retiring, he enrolled in a writers workshop.

We were given simple prompts and 20 minutes, where we were told to write whatever comes to mind and well share your work. Talk about feeling exposed! Sheinbaum said. Before I knew it, I had two full pages in front of me. The concepts within Memories Live Here came from one of those early prompts, a riff from that one sentence that kept going.

Sheinbaum cites a combination of influences on his writing, like author Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park) and an array of mysteries that dig up family secrets.

Like the brothers in the book, Sheinbaum grew up in Sheepshead Bay, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, but said there are only limited similarities to his own life. Its not autobiographical at all, but of course I mined my own experiences when creating the characters within this family, he said. Luckily, I have a good relationship with my brother, but there was plenty of friction between my parents.

Sheinbaum admits that writing the story was somewhat cathartic. In a way, I gave my parents a voice, to portray one possible explanation, he said. Even though it wasnt their story, or my story, it could have been.

A father of two grown children, Sheinbaum graduated from State University of New York at Albany, where he majored in business administration, and NYU, where he earned an MBA. He and his wife are empty nesters who lived in Chappaqua and Ardsley before moving to Scarsdale in 2018.

In the book, Sheinbaums dedication reads, Its never too late, which, he says, carries a double meaning. Obviously, its never too late to pursue your dreams. But in terms of the story, its also never too late to try to understand, or to let go of the things that can be destructive in our lives, and to forgive. I hope thats a piece of what all readers take away from the story.

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What were they thinking?: Where artificial intelligence meets family dysfunction - scarsdalenews.com

Strawberries can be easy to grow especially, it seems, if you're an algorithm.

When farmers in China competed to grow the fruit with technology including machine learning and artificial intelligence, the machines won, by some margin.

Data scientists produced 196% more strawberries by weight on average compared with traditional farmers.

The technologists also outperformed farmers in terms of return on investment by an average of 75.5%

The inaugural Smart Agriculture Competition was co-organized by Pinduoduo, China's largest agri-focused technology platform, and the China Agricultural University, with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as a technical adviser.

Teams of data scientists competed over four months to grow strawberries remotely using Internet of Things technology coupled with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning-driven algorithms.

In the competition, the technology teams had the advantage of being able to control temperature and humidity through greenhouse automation, the organizers said. Using technology such as intelligent sensors, they were also more precise at controlling the use of water and nutrients. The traditional farmers had to achieve the same tasks by hand and experience.

One of the teams, Zhi Duo Mei, set up a company to provide its technology to farming cooperatives after it generated a lot of interest during the competition.

The contest helped the traditional farmers and the data scientists better understand each other's work and how they could collaborate to everyone's advantage, the leader of the Zhi Duo Mei team, Cheng Biao, said.

Pinduoduo

Numerous studies show the potential for Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies like AI to boost economic growth and productivity.

By 2035, labour productivity in developed countries could rise by 40% due to the influence of AI, according to analysis from Accenture and Frontier Economics.

Sweden, the US and Japan are expected to see the highest productivity increases.

In its Future of Jobs Report 2020, the World Economic Forum estimates that by 2025, 85 million jobs may be displaced by a shift in the division of labour between humans and machines, while 97 million new roles may emerge that are more adapted to the new division of labour between humans, machines and algorithms.

Emerging technologies including AI and drones will also play a vital role in helping the world recover from COVID-19, according to a separate Forum report compiled with professional services firm Deloitte.

The Global Technology Governance Report 2021 considers some of the most important applications for these technologies and the governance challenges that should be addressed for these technologies to reach their full potential.

Reprinted with permission of the World Economic Forum. Read the original article.

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Here's what happened when AI and humans met in a strawberry-growing contest - Big Think

Among the most significant technological advances of the last few decade, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, have the potential to revolutionize the restaurant industry. Already automation is making its way into fast food kitchens, where its taking on repetitive tasks such as flipping burgers and working the fry station.

AI, the smart technology that powers robocalls and helps forecasting models to predict the weather, may also soon play a role in the food service industry, not just by taking on simple tasks but also by dealing with higher order responsibilities like ordering food and writing menus.

OpenAI, a San Francisco-based software company that develops and deploys artificial general intelligence (AGI), recently put its GPT-3 software to the test. GPT-3 is a third generation, deep learning language model that draws upon information it finds anywhere on the internet to develop answers to user queries.

OpenAI put GPT-3 to the test by asking it to develop recipes based on simple language requests like beef bourguignon and Mexican lasagna. The recipes GPT-3 compiled were then prepared and evaluated by a group of volunteers. Well-known recipes developed by the likes of Julia Child, Wolfgang Puck, and Rachael Ray served as benchmarks for the evaluators.

Though GPT-3 produced some interesting results, its recipes, with one exception, were not scored as high as those developed by human chefs.

Nonetheless, the study illustrated AIs potential to take over higher order tasks like menu development and recipe creation. Thus the day might not be very far off when the product development chef at a restaurant chain is actually a piece of AI software.

For the full report on OpenAIs AI vs. Famous Chef Recipes culinary challenge, go to refluxgate.com/ai-vs-famous-chef-recipes.

Winter is a season during which restaurants have traditionally promoted game dinners. This year, given the unique circumstances under which we are all living our lives, those sorts of events arent easy to put together.

Delaneys Market has developed a strategy by which the Log Cabin-Delaney Group can deliver a socially-distanced game dinner experience.

Delaneys Market locations will be featuring a Game Dinner at Home this month. The four-course meal includes bison meatballs, a venison hunters stew, a wild pheasant turnover, and a wildberry cobbler with whipped cream.

Each take-home package is designed to serve two, and Delaneys Market is providing a cooking video to help those receiving the package finish the meal preparation.

Contact one of the three Delaneys Market locations - Longmeadow, Westfield, or Wilbraham - on Wednesday, Feb. 17 to order the Game Dinner package, which will be ready for pickup on Saturday, Feb. 20.

Pancake Sundaes Diner and Bakery in Westfield, a family-owned breakfast and lunch restaurant, has been turning out its own unique style of morning food since it opened in 2015.

Run by the husband-and-wife team of Frank and Shelly Baldwin, Pancake Sundaes is currently limiting its operation to Saturdays and Sundays from 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Pandemic-constrained operating hours arent curbing Frank Baldwins creativity, however. Every weekend he puts together an inventive menu of breakfast specialties to supplement Pancake Sundaes basic repertoire.

Offerings can include the likes of bacon-chocolate chip pancakes, apple crisp French toast, and Baldwins Dirty Philly omelet thats filled with shaved ribeye, sauteed onions, and fried peppers.

Theres usually an exhaustive list of eggs Benedict variations; homemade corned beef hash and crispy Homies are menu regulars. Each weekends specials can be found on Pancake Sundaes Facebook page, Facebook.com/pancakesundaes.

The restaurant, which is currently offering limited indoor dining as well as contactless to-go service, answers at (413) 572-6832.

Maxs Tavern at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield will be presenting its winter food and wine pairing dinner, Cabs & Slabs, on Thursday, Feb. 25.

The dinner this year is different from past such events. In addition to Napa Valley Cabernet varietals, the Cabs include a Washington State vintage by Canvasback Winery of Red Mountain, WA.

Maxs Tavern Chef Nathaniel Waugamans menu for the evening has a game dinner sensibility, featuring Wagyu beef tartare, braised wild boar shank, Denver lamb ribs, and a grilled bison strip loin.

The five-course menu will also include a chocolate raspberry mousse bar for desert.

Reservations for the dinner are available from 5:30 p.m. on through the evening. Cost to attend is $115 per person, not including tax or gratuity.

Call (413) 746-6299 for reservations.

The Munich Haus German Restaurant in Chicopee will be featuring a Valentines Dinner menu on Feb. 12-14.

Available as either a dine-in or a take-home option, the menu includes an appetizer, a choice of any two schnitzel or chicken entrees with side dishes and salad, and a house-made dessert (either red velvet cheesecake or a Black Forest cake heart) to share.

Upgrades are available, including a sausage sampler, salmon filet, or filet mignon option. Selected wines by the bottle are also available.

Reservations for on-premises dining are required, and take-home packages must be pre-ordered. Contact the Munich Haus German Restaurant at (413) 594-8788 for more information.

February limited-time offerings at participating Dunkin locations are, not surprisingly, Valentines Day-themed.

The chain is offering two heart-shaped donut selections - a brownie batter donut filled with brownie-flavored buttercream and a Cupids choice donut filled with Bavarian kreme and iced with pink, strawberry-flavored icing.

Featured beverages this month include a mocha macchiato and a pink velvet macchiato that features red velvet flavoring. Both drinks are available either hot or iced.

Participating McDonalds restaurants are spicing up mid-winter by bringing back Spicy Chicken McNuggets, a menu item that was last featured in Fall 2020.

Mighty Hot Sauce, spicy, garlicky, and slightly sweet, will also be around for the duration of this limited time only offering.

The Spicy McNuggets feature a tempura-style coating enlivened with cayenne and chile pepper. Pricing is the same as for the chains regular McNuggets items.

Partners Restaurant in Feeding Hills will be hosting dinner by candlelight on Valentines Day weekend. For dine-in purposes Mark and Sue Tansey have put together a special prix-fixe, four-course dinner for Friday and Saturday evenings, Feb. 12 and 13. Three dinner to-go packages will also be available.

The dine-in menu, which will be available from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. both evenings, includes a choice from among five entree options: braised short ribs, grilled salmon, chicken saltimbocca, ricotta ravioli, and filet mignon Oscar. Reservations are required for socially-distanced, on-premises dining.

Finish-at-home dinners include short ribs, chicken saltimbocca, or seafood casserole; sides, salad, and a dessert selection are included. Takeout orders must be placed by Thursday, Feb. 11.

More details on these special Valentines Day offerings can be found at the restaurants Facebook page, facebook.com/Partners.RestaurantCatering

Partners Restaurant answers at (413) 786-0975.

Chez Josef in Agawam is offering a delivery or pickup date night this year in the form of a Valentines Dinner for Two To-Go.

The all-inclusive, heat @ home package include a selection of hors doeuvres, a salad course, and a choice of two entrees.

Main course selections include filet mignon, parmesan chicken breast, seared sea bass, or lentil-stuffed sweet pepper. A surf and turf upgrade is also available. Dessert is part of the take-home package, as is a bottle of house wine.

In addition Chez Josef is offering individual meal selections as well as a brunch box that can be customizes to serve either two or four.

Curbside pickup is available at Chez Josefs Agawam location; local delivery is also available. An online ordering platform is available at linktr.ee/chez2go; questions about menus, pricing, and delivery area can also be phoned in to (413) 355-5393.

Hugh Robert is a faculty member in Holyoke Community Colleges hospitality and culinary arts program and has nearly 45 years of restaurant and educational experience. Robert can be reached on-line at OffTheMenuGuy@aol.com.

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Off The Menu: Artificial intelligence lends hand in recipe development - MassLive.com

These eight books about artificial intelligence cover a range of topics, including ethical issues, how AI is affecting the job market, and how organizations can use AI to gain a competitive advantage.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is an ever-evolving technology. With several different uses, it's easy to understand why it's being implemented more and more frequently. These titles answer common questions about AI, discuss what current AI technologies businesses are using, how humans can lose control over AI, and more.

T-Minus AI: Humanity's Countdown to Artificial Intelligence and the New Pursuit of Global Power

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In T-Minus AI, author, national expert, and the US Air Force's first Chairperson for Artificial Intelligence Michael Kanaan explains a human-oriented perspective of AI. He offers his view on our history of innovation to illustrate what we should all know about modern computing, AI, and machine learning. Additionally, Kanaan discusses the global implications of AI by illuminating the cultural and national vulnerabilities already present as well as future pressing issues.

The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values

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The "alignment problem," according to researchers, occurs when the tech systems that humans attempt to teach don't do what is wanted or expected. Best-selling author Brian Christian discusses the alignment problem's "first-responders," and their plans to solve the problem before it is out of human hands. Using a blend of history and on-the-ground reporting, Christian follows the growth of machine learning in the field and examines our current technology and culture.

Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future

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With the possibility of AI making jobs like paralegals, journalists, and even computer programmers obsolete, author Martin Ford looks at the future of the job market and how it will continue to transform. Rise of the Robots helps us understand how employment and society will have to adapt to the changing market.

Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans

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In Artificial Intelligence, author Melanie Mitchell asks urgent questions concerning AI today: How intelligent are the best AI programs? How do they work? What can they actually do, and when do they fail? How humanlike do we expect them to become, and how soon do we need to worry about them surpassing us? Mitchell also covers the dominant models of modern AI and machine learning, cutting-edge AI programs, and human investors in AI.

AI Ethics (The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series)

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AI Ethics discusses the major ethical issues artificial intelligence raises and addresses several concrete questions. Author Mark Coeckelbergh uses narratives, relevant philosophical discussions, and describes different approaches to machine learning and data science. AI Ethics takes a look at privacy concerns, responsibility and the delegation of decision-making, transparency and bias as it arises at all stages of data science processes, and much more.

The AI Advantage: How to Put the Artificial Intelligence Revolution to Work (Management on the Cutting Edge)

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In The AI Advantage,Thomas Davenport offers a practical guide to using AI in a business setting. Davenport not only explains what AI technologies are available, but also how companies can use them to gain a competitive advantage.

The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity

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In her book, author Amy Webb looks at how the foundations of AI are broken--all the way from the people working on the system to the technology itself. Webb suggests that the big nine corporations (Amazon, Google, Facebook, Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba, Microsoft, IBM, and Apple), "may be inadvertently building and enabling vast arrays of intelligent systems that don't share our motivations, desires, or hopes for the future of humanity."

Artificial Intelligence: 101 Things You Must Know Today About Our Future

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Artificial Intelligence: 101 Things You Must Know Today About Our Futurecontains many timely topics related to AI, including: Self-driving cars, robots, chatbots, as well as how AI will impact the job market, business processes, and entire industries. As the title suggests, readers can learn the answers to 101 questions about artificial intelligence, and have access to a large number of resources, ideas, and tips.

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AI reading list: 8 interesting books about artificial intelligence to check out - TechRepublic

Artificial Intelligence has immense potential catering to various aspects of the world be it economic, environment related, social or anything for that matter. AI has made taking decisions based on data easier than ever. Machines with deep learning capabilities have changed our lives for better. With this being said, one of the hottest topics that has garnered attention from across the globe is Can Artificial Intelligence aid in achieving Sustainable Development Goals? Yes, it can! Infact, there are sectors that have already been using this advanced technology of AI in meeting their goals. Some areas where this has proven successful are

The importance of education can just not be put into words. Not only does it open door to a plethora of career options to choose from, but also grooms you as a person. Gone are the days when getting educated required the presence of someone to guide you through. But today, education is far more accessible thanks to Artificial Intelligence. Getting educated without human teachers is probably one of the best innovations AI has come up with in the education sector. It cannot have got any better for the visually challenged students for the sole reason that they too can fulfil their desire of being educated with the help of voice assistants.

AI is also capable of monitoring the students performance from time to time. Recommending content based on the students past experience is yet another area that AI focuses on. All in all, the future is set to see more number of students getting trained by AI powered machine tutors rather than human tutors.

No matter which country you live in, this sector has a unique importance. It is just not possible to imagine life without this sector. Artificial intelligence can help in detecting diseases in plants and also target weeds. Farmers are now using AI forecasting models to predict upcoming weather patterns, thus enabling them to make better decisions.

Needless to say, this is that one sector that people can never get tired of praising. And when the world is shook by a pandemic like the 2020 virus, then the efforts put in by this sector needs no special mention. Since the data pertaining to the healthcare sector is insanely huge, Artificial Intelligence has the ability to collect and process this data for faster treatment. Coming up with technologies to check whether the person is cancerous or not, to estimate the probability of a person to develop cancer, to name a few are taking shape because of AI. India is marching towards an AI driven economy with every passing day. It has partnered with Microsoft to eradicate preventable blindness using an AI-enabled portable eye-scanning device that helps detect retinal diseases. In addition to all of this, AI is being used to deal with the cyber-security attacks in this sector as well.

The havoc created by disasters needs no special mention. AI promises to be a saviour here as well. It plays a pivotal role in minimizing the damage caused due to disasters. Artificial intelligence helps improve dam and barrage water release to minimize the risks.

The above are just few of the many areas where AI has worked wonders. AI has huge potential to serve a lot of sectors. If we come together and put Artificial Intelligence into its best use, then a better society awaits all of us in the years to come.

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Artificial Intelligence and Sustainable Development Goals - Analytics Insight

At the heart of the development of AI appears to be a search for perfection. And it could be just as dangerous to humanity as the one that came from philosophical and pseudoscientific ideas of the 19th and early 20th centuries and led to the horrors of colonialism, world war and the Holocaust. Instead of a human ruling master race, we could end up with a machine one.

If this seems extreme, consider the anti-human perfectionism that is already central to the labour market. Here, AI technology is the next step in the premise of maximum productivity that replaced individual craftmanship with the factory production line. These massive changes in productivity and the way we work created opportunities and threats that are now set to be compounded by a fourth industrial revolution in which AI further replaces human workers.

Several recent research papers predict that, within a decade, automation will replace half of the current jobs. So, at least in this transition to a new digitised economy, many people will lose their livelihoods. Even if we assume that this new industrial revolution will engender a new workforce that is able to navigate and command this data-dominated world, we will still have to face major socioeconomic problems. The disruptions will be immense and need to be scrutinised.

The ultimate aim of AI, even narrow AI which handles very specific tasks, is to outdo and perfect every human cognitive function. Eventually, machine-learning systems may well be programmed to be better than humans at everything.

What they may never develop, however, is the human touch empathy, love, hate or any of the other self-conscious emotions that make us human. Thats unless we ascribe these sentiments to them, which is what some of us are already doing with our Alexas and Siris.

The obsession with perfection and hyper-efficiency has had a profound impact on human relations, even human reproduction, as people live their lives in cloistered, virtual realities of their own making. For instance, several US and China-based companies have produced robotic dolls that are selling out fast as substitute partners.

One man in China even married his cyber-doll, while a woman in France married a robo-man, advertising her love story as a form of robo-sexuality and campaigning to legalise her marriage. Im really and totally happy, she said. Our relationship will get better and better as technology evolves. There seems to be high demand for robot wives and husbands all over the world.

In the perfectly productive world, humans would be accounted as worthless, certainly in terms of productivity but also in terms of our feeble humanity. Unless we jettison this perfectionist attitude towards life that positions productivity and material growth above sustainability and individual happiness, AI research could be another chain in the history of self-defeating human inventions.

Already we are witnessing discrimination in algorithmic calculations. Recently, a popular South Korean chatbot named Lee Luda was taken offline. She was modelled after the persona of a 20-year-old female university student and was removed from Facebook messenger after using hate speech towards LGBT people.

Meanwhile, automated weapons programmed to kill are carrying maxims such as productivity and efficiency into battle. As a result, war has become more sustainable. The proliferation of drone warfare is a very vivid example of these new forms of conflict. They create a virtual reality that is almost absent from our grasp.

But it would be comical to depict AI as an inevitable Orwellian nightmare of an army of super-intelligent Terminators whose mission is to erase the human race. Such dystopian predictions are too crude to capture the nitty gritty of artificial intelligence, and its impact on our everyday existence.

Societies can benefit from AI if it is developed with sustainable economic development and human security in mind. The confluence of power and AI which is pursuing, for example, systems of control and surveillance, should not substitute for the promise of a humanised AI that puts machine learning technology in the service of humans and not the other way around.

To that end, the AI-human interfaces that are quickly opening up in prisons, healthcare, government, social security and border control, for example, must be regulated to favour ethics and human security over institutional efficiency. The social sciences and humanities have a lot to say about such issues.

One thing to be cheerful about is the likelihood that AI will never be a substitute for human philosophy and intellectuality. To be a philosopher, after all, requires empathy, an understanding of humanity, and our innate emotions and motives. If we can programme our machines to understand such ethical standards, then AI research has the capacity to improve our lives which should be the ultimate aim of any technological advance.

But if AI research yields a new ideology centred around the notion of perfectionism and maximum productivity, then it will be a destructive force that will lead to more wars, more famines and more social and economic distress, especially for the poor. At this juncture of global history, this choice is still ours.

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Artificial intelligence must not be allowed to replace the imperfection of human empathy - The Conversation UK

"This year's World Cancer Day's theme, 'I Am and I Will', is all about you and your commitment to act. The new state-of-the-art artificial intelligence integrated PET-CT scanner at Yashoda Hospital Somajiguda is one more step towards our commitment to early detection of Cancer. The new scanner is now two times faster than the old generation scanners primarily due to the advanced technology known as 'Time of Flight'. The scanner provides best quality images with reduced scanning duration and lesser radiation dose," said Dr. G. Srinivasa Rao, Director of Public Health & Family Welfare, Government of Telangana.

Yashoda Hospitals Somajiguda is well equipped with a comprehensive Nuclear Medicine set up providing services like PET-CT, Gamma camera imaging and radionuclide therapy under one roof. Apart from the newly upgraded imaging of FDG PET-CT, the department provides advanced and rare imaging like Ga-68 DOTA, Ga-68 PSMA, 18F DOPA PET-CTs, DAT imaging & WBC scans, apart from routine Gamma imaging like bone scan & renal scintigraphy.

"Yashoda Hospitals Somajiguda is one of the busiest and high volume centres of radionuclide therapies for thyroid cancer, neuroendocrine tumours, and prostate cancer. The Centre also provides rare therapies like radiosynovectomy for inflammatory joint disease. Patients not only from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, but across India, visitus for these rare therapies. NextGen PET-CT is effective in the diagnosis of Cancer, Endocrine Abnormalities and Neurodegenerative Disease," said Dr. Lingaiah Amidayala, Director - Medical Services, Yashoda Hospitals Group, Hyderabad.

The Combined PET-CT Scan at Yashoda Hospitals, Somajiguda merges PET and CT images and provides detailed information about the size, shape and differentiating cancerous lesions from normal structures with accuracy. It is a diagnostic examination that combines two state-of-the-art imaging modalities and produces 3 dimensional (3D) images of the body based on the detection of radiation from the emission of positrons. It helps in early detection of cancer and any potential health problem that reveals how the tissues and organs are functioning by identifying a variety of conditions.

Dr. Hrushikesh Aurangabadkar and Dr. A Naveen Kumar Reddy, Consultants in Nuclear Medicine while explaining about the PET-CT said, "The cancer cells require a great deal of sugar, or glucose, to have enough energy to grow. PET scanning utilizes a radioactive molecule that is similar to glucose, called fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). FDG accumulates within malignant cells because of their high rate of glucose metabolism. Once injected with this agent, the patient is imaged on the whole body PET scanner to reveal cancer growth, which are usually difficult to characterize by conventional CT, X-Ray, or MRI."

With this new technology, motion artifacts caused by respiration can be decreased and accurate diagnosis achieved.

The use of PET scans will also help the doctors to more accurately detect the presence and location of new or recurrent cancers.

Relevant Links: https://www.yashodahospitals.com/location/somajiguda/

Nuclear Medicine: https://www.yashodahospitals.com/specialities/nuclear-medicine-hospital-in-hyderabad/

About Yashoda Hospitals Hyderabad

Yashoda Group of Hospitals has been providing quality healthcare for 3 decades for people with diverse medical needs. Under astute leadership and a strong management, Yashoda Group of Hospitals has evolved as a centre of excellence in medicine providing the highest quality standards of medical treatment. Guided by the needs of patients and delivered by perfectly combined revolutionary technology even for rare and complex procedures, the Yashoda Group hosts medical expertise and advanced procedures by offering sophisticated diagnostic and therapeutic care in virtually every specialty and subspecialty of medicine and surgery. Currently operating with 3 independent hospitals in Secunderabad, Somajiguda and Malakpet and an upcoming hospital (currently under development) in Hi-Tech city, Telangana which is expected to be one of the largest medical facilities in India and will be spread over 20 lakhs sq. ft. with a capacity of 2000 beds. With a constant and relentless emphasis on quality, excellence in service, empathy, Yashoda Group provides world-class healthcare services at affordable costs.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1433696/AI_PET_CT_Launched_Yashoda.jpg

SOURCE Yashoda Hospitals Hyderabad

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'Artificial Intelligence' Integrated PET-CT launched at Yashoda Hospitals, Hyderabad on the occasion of World Cancer Day 2021 - PR Newswire India

Laptop screen webcam view different ethnicity and age people engaged in group videocall. Video ... [+] conference lead by african businessman leader. Modern technology, easy convenient on-line meeting concept

Have you given any thought how the post-pandemic workplace might look and function? Our working practices have changed dramatically since the pandemic struck, undergoing one of the biggest shake-ups since the industrial revolution and bringing the wheel full circle with many of us returning to home working.

Overnight, many of us turned from being office-based commuters to stay-at-home knowledge workers. Now we liaise remotely with colleagues as we work on projects, deliver great customer service or simply manage the work of others. Weve done all this remotely using our webcams and laptops. Its a massive change that would ordinarily have taken a decade to achieve but which has now happened in an instant because of a virus.

Thankfully, effective vaccines are being rolled out and some sort of end is in sight. The pandemic has shown large corporations that remote working is viable and, in many cases, can increase productivity. Many of us prefer this new way of working. As a result, some companies will downsize offices and rely on hot-desking to make best use of available space. Of course, there will still need to be some sort of central hub for workers to meet because some people enjoy office life and face-to-face contact is still essential for some kind of work.

Group Of Diverse Businesspeople Looking At Television While Video Conferencing In Boardroom

Remote working has worked well, especially with colleagues who already had a working relationship before the pandemic struck. All they needed to do was continue their working relationships remotely. Unfortunately, itss not so easy for workers joining companies since the pandemic. Many are working alongside team members who already know each other. This is where video conferencing can help and why some companies encourage workers to hold social activities online after-work usingZoomorMicrosoft Teams.

Another change triggered by the pandemic is the shutting down of business travel. We now depend on video conferencingto liaise with overseas colleagues. The days of hopping on a plane to make a presentation halfway around the world are at an end. In my own world of journalism, most trade shows, product launches and interviews are now conducted by video. I havent had to travel this past year and its done wonders for my productivity and carbon footprint.

Eventually, though, the day will come when we return to a more blended way of working with some time will be spent at the office and the rest of our time working from home. How will we adapt to this more mixed way of working when were not in front of our personal webcams? This is a question Logitech thinks it has an answer to. The webcam and mouse manufacturer also makes high-end video conferencing equipment. Its teamed up with Zoom, the developer of one of the most popular video conferencing software being used this past year, to shake up the market.

Logitech is using AI to make video conferencing as a group easier and more personal by tying in ... [+] equipment with software packages like Zoom Rooms and Microsoft Teams Rooms.

Both companies have collaborated to develop a new style of video conferencing. Theyve realized that when we return to our offices, were going to be using video much more because weve become so used to using it at home. We find it a much better way of communicating than a voice call.

Because were now used to making webchats in solo mode instead of being grouped around a conference table, its clear our approach to video conferencing will have to change in the office. In the past, big corporations had video conferencing rooms filled with expensive equipment and reserved for the senior management. Now were all used to being able to see as well as hear the people were calling.

The old exclusive way of video conferencing has its origins in the days of expensive 128kbps ISDN lines and costly international calls. In the past, the video conference room was too expensive for just anyone to use and was largely reserved for senior management. Now the coronavirus has democratized the whole process and that change must be embraced in the post-pandemic office.

To address this challenge, Logitech has been researching artificial intelligence for use in its video conferencing equipment. In future, video conferencing will be less boring and not limited to static and wide-angle views of a meeting room showing people sitting around a table. Were now used to seeing peoples faces close up and we can register facial expressions and hear voices more clearly. The old style of video conferencing simply wont cut it.

New video conferencing using AI will zoom in on speaker's faces and dynamically alter the volume and ... [+] microphone sensitivity for a more enjoyable experience.

There also needs to be changes in the software we use for video conferencing.Zoomssingle-user mode needs to adapt to the office environment of teams. This is where Logitech and Zoom have been working together to create a new experience. Recently,I spoke withScottWharton, LogitechsVice President and General Managerfor video conferencing, and Oded Gal,Chief Product Officerat Zoom. They explained how both companies see the professional end of the video conferencing market changing as we come out of the pandemic and some of us return to the office.

ScottWharton explained: Its no longer good enough to see people sitting around a conference table in a static wide-angle shot. We need to see peoples faces and reactions. We need to see them close up and hear them clearly as well. That can be a challenge in a larger space.

Zooms Oded Gal agreed. The video conference room has to mirror the experience workers have had at home with Zoom calls.

The companies collaborated on a newproduct portfolioof video equipmentcalled Rallyincluding the Rally Bar, Rally Mini andRoomMate. Each of the new products has been purpose-built to work withZoom Rooms. Logitechs native appliance integration forZoom Roomshas been designed to enhance the user experience while still delivering enterprise-grade video and voice quality, as well as the robust security that companies demand.

The latest Logitech Rally videoconferencing products are designed to work with Zoom and Microsoft ... [+] Teams to bring a more personal experience to the video conferencing room.

The idea of the new portfolio ofproducts is to harness AI to identify participants in a meeting if required and to zoom in on the face of the person talking so the experience feels more like using an individual webcam at home. Logitech has also been working on the sound side of things with microphones that can home in on a voice and ensuresthat someone at the back of the room is heard as clearly as someone sitting at the front.

This is a major shift in how we communicate, a practise that has been stuck for so long in a static group-shot mode. The new Rally productscan blend two images on one screen to add context to a video call. Wharton says: Its a bit like having your own TV studio director in the conference room, adjusting the framing shots while altering sound levels dynamically to create a less static and a more enjoyable meeting.

The new products offer video resolutions up to 4K and the cameras have motorized pan-and-tilt heads, as well as optical zoom lenses, enabling crisp images and perfect framing. The lens on the Rally Bar has a 5x optical zoom that can be extended to 15x digital for larger spaces.

Both video bars also feature ultra-low distortion speakers that can fill a room with sound while an adaptive beamforming mic array picks up voices for much clearer audio quality. The microphone array can focus on the active speaker and auto-adjust for louder and softer voices while suppressing any unwanted background noise in a room such as HVAC or any other persistent sounds. Logitech has also included a patented anti-vibration suspension system so speaker vibrations are minimized from being carried through walls, stands or tables.

The new video bars are equipped withLogitech RightSensetechnology and an AI Viewfinder. This viewfinder works like a second camera but is purely dedicated to computer vision for detecting human figures and can process and track where faces are in the room in real-time. This AI technique enhances the precision of the auto-framing feature and the camera control. Participants are always in focus, whether they are late joining the meeting or moving about while making a presentation.

How will we manage the transmission to using video conferencing at home to a more collaborative ... [+] group set up when we are back in the office?

Logitech has worked closely with Zoom and Microsoft to ensure that the software and hardware work seamlessly together.The company hasalso developedRoomMate, a dedicatedAndroidcomputer designedsolelyto work withthe Rally Bar and Rally Bar Mini vas well as USB conferencing cameras such as Logitechs older Rally Plus, turning them into an appliance. Alternatively, users can bring their own Mac or PCs to a meeting and plug that into the video bar.

Its interesting to see Logitech partnering with big names in video conferencing software space to improve peoples experience by tying in the hardware more tightly. The use of hardware and AI can anticipate shots and framing as well as adjusting sound levels for a more enjoyable and productive meeting experience.

However, the tech doesnt just address the audio and visual side of things. Both Wharton and Gal say facial recognitioncould eventually bedevelopedto count the participants in a meeting room and then post a notice to an active display screen outside the room indicating if the meeting room is full or being used. Extra participants could be directed to another meeting room where they can join in with the conference. This could be a game-changing feature in an era of social distancing.

Facial recognition also has downsides and both Wharton and Gal were at pains to point out that privacy is at the forefront of their minds and something both companies are determined to protect. My suggestion that facial recognition could be used to conduct a register of attendees or send a reminder to anyone who is late for the meeting was noted but not endorsed. That, they said, would have to be a decision for the companys employing the technology and the employees who are using it.

It was fascinating to get a brief glimpse into the future of video conferencing from these two giants in the field. It looks like AI could change the way we use video conferencing when we get back to our workplaces. The hardware is ready and waiting in the form of the Logitech RallyBar, RallyBarMini and RoomMate. The software integration with Zoom is also ready and waiting to go. Now, all we need is to get our vaccinations and wait for the call to return to the office.

Pricing and Availability: Logitech Rally Bar is the first from the next generation appliance portfolio that will be broadly available at the end of this quarter. Rally Bar also comes with built-in support for Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android and Zoom Rooms Appliances, with Zoom available immediately. Rally Bar Mini and Logitech RoomMate availability will follow. Pricing for Rally Bar starts at $3,999; Rally Bar Mini starts at $2,999; and Logitech RoomMate starts at $999. Logitechs portfolio will also work with GoTo, Pexip and RingCentral.

More info:www.logitech.com

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Artificial Intelligence Will Change The Way We Work Once We Get Back To The Office - Forbes

Newswise Oak Brook, IL The February edition of SLAS Technology is a special collection of articles focused on Artificial Intelligence in Process Automation by Guest Editor Cenk ndey, Ph.D. (Amgen, Thousand Oaks, CA, USA).

This SLAS Technology special collection targets the use of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques and technologies as applied specifically to drug discovery, automated gene editing and machine learning. As AI becomes increasingly more prevalent in research, medicine and even everyday life, laboratory automation has gone beyond hardware advancements toward new levels of precision and complexity. Beyond research, AI serves as a powerful tool for clinicians diagnosing and treating patients in a medical setting. The AI advancements presented in this issue highlight the wide spectrum of medical AI breakthroughs.

This months issue of SLAS Technology also celebrates the top 10 most-cited articles within the journals history. Over the past decade, the publications priority has been to provide a platform for researchers to share technological advancements as well as a resource to continually share the impact of technology on life sciences and biomedical research.

The February issue of SLAS Discovery includes nine articles of original research in addition to the cover article.

Articles of Original Research include:

Other articles include:

Access to Februarys SLAS Technology issue is available at http://journals.sagepub.com/toc/jlad/26/1.

For more information about SLAS and its journals, visitwww.slas.org/journals. Access a behind the scenes look at the latest issue with SLAS Technology Authors Talk Tech podcast. Tune into Februarys episode by visiting https://slastechnology.buzzsprout.com/.

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SLAS (Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening) is an international professional society of academic, industry and government life sciences researchers and the developers and providers of laboratory automation technology. The SLAS mission is to bring together researchers in academia, industry and government to advance life sciences discovery and technology via education, knowledge exchange and global community building.

SLAS Discovery: Advancing the Science of Drug Discovery, 2019 Impact Factor 2.195. Editor-in-Chief Robert M. Campbell, Ph.D., Twentyeight-Seven Therapeutics, Boston, MA (USA).

SLAS Technology: Translating Life Sciences Innovation, 2019 Impact Factor 2.174. Editor-in-Chief Edward Kai-Hua Chow, Ph.D., National University of Singapore (Singapore).

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SLAS Technology Special Collection on Artificial Intelligence in Process Automation Available Now - Newswise