Daily Archives: January 7, 2022

Robo-dogs and therapy bots: Artificial intelligence goes cuddly – CBS News

Posted: January 7, 2022 at 4:55 am

TOKYO As pandemic-led isolation triggers an epidemic of loneliness, Japanese are increasingly turning to "social robots" for solace and mental healing.

At the city's Penguin Cafe, proud owners of the electronic dog Aibo gathered recently with their cyber-pups in Snuglis and fancy carryalls. From camera-embedded snouts to their sensor-packed paws, these high-tech hounds are nothing less than members of the family, despite a price tag of close to $3,000 mandatory cloud plan not included.

It's no wonder Aibo has pawed its way into hearts and minds. Re-launched in 2017, Aibo's artificial intelligence-driven personality is minutely shaped by the whims and habits of its owner, building the kind of intense emotional attachments usually associated with kids, or beloved pets.

Noriko Yamada rushed to order one, when her mother-in-law began showing signs of dementia several years ago. "Mother had stopped smiling and talking," she told CBS News. "But when we switched the dog on, and it gazed up at her, she just lit up. Her behavior changed 180 degrees."

And a few months ago, when the mother-in-law was hospitalized for heart disease, Koro the robot again came to the rescue. "Because of COVID, we couldn't visit her. The nurse said Mother was responding to pictures of Koro, and asked us to bring in the dog. So, Koro was the last person in our family to see Mother alive."

Robots as companions are an easier leap for Japanese, many manufacturers and users say, because the country is steeped in friendly androids, like the long-running TV cartoon "Doraemon," in which a cute, roly-poly pal provides not only constant company, but an endless supply of useful tricks.

But one robot startup is proving looks aren't everything. Despite having neither head, arms nor legs, the Qoobo bot sold more than 30,000 units by September, many to stressed-out users working from home under COVID restrictions. The retail price starts at about $200.

Yukai Engineering CEO Shunsuke Aoki told CBS News that Qoobo leverages the most pleasing parts of a pet a fluffy torso, and a wagging tail. "At first, it seemed weird," he said. "But when you pet an animal like a cat, you usually don't bother to look at its face."

Frazzled adults aren't the only Japanese turning to robots. At Moriyama Kindergarten in the central Japanese city of Nagoya, robots are replacing the traditional class guinea pig or bunny. Teachers told CBS News that the bots reduce anxiety and teach kids to be more humane.

Two years ago, the preschool bought a pair of Lovot brand bots named Rice Cake and Cocoa. Weighing as much as an infant, with the price tag of a French bulldog, the cybernetic machines are designed to love-bomb their owners -- or, in this case, a roomful of fidgety five-year-olds.

"Our kids think the robots are alive," said principal Kyoshin Kodama. "The bots have encouraged the kids to take better care of things, be kinder to each other, and cooperate more."

Lovot is a so-called "emotional robot" programmed to autonomously navigate its surroundings, remember its owners and respond to hugs and other affection, gazing out with its oversized, quivering, high-resolution eyes. Over the last year sales have jumped 11-fold.

"Their body temperature is set to 98.6 degrees," Groove X company spokesperson Miki Ikegami told CBS News. "Robots are usually hard, cold and inhuman. But since our bots are built to soothe, we made them warm and soft."

Japan's oldest and most successful social robot is an FDA-approved device called Paro.

Resembling an ordinary plush toy, the artificial intelligence-powered bot customizes its response as it gets to "know" each patient. Inventor Takanori Shibata, based at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, told CBS News that clinical trials have backed the device's benefits as a non-drug therapy. "Interaction with Paro can improve depression, anxiety, pain and also improve the mood of the person."

Since launching in 1998, thousands of Paro robots have gone into service, worldwide, relieving stress among children in ICUs, treating U.S. veterans suffering from PTSD, and helping dementia patients.

Like real flesh-and-blood pets, Paro has been shown to stimulate brain activity, helping reconnect damaged areas. "One lady didn't speak for more than ten years," Shibata said. "When she interacted with Paro, she started to talk to Paro and she recovered her speech and she spoke to others."

Neuroscientist Julie Robillard, who studies social robots for children and seniors, told CBS News that robotics experts are trying to tease out the exact nature of the human-robot relationship and the notion of machines as friends is not as farfetched as it might seem.

"We can be attached to various types of devices and objects," said Robillard, an assistant professor of neurology at the University of British Columbia. "Some people have given names to their robot vacuums Some people feel strongly about their cars or about their wedding bands."

Evidence supports the use of social robots, she said, in areas like imparting social skills to children with autism, or teaching exercises to rehab patients offering instruction without judgment.

But in other areas, it's unclear how well social robots really work, she said. "What we can say from the science right now is that robots have a huge amount of potential."

And discovering that potential is all the more urgent now, in the covid era, as robots offer the promise of social connection without social contact.

Creators say intelligent social robots will never replace humans. But when companions, caregivers or therapists aren't available, robots are lending a friendly paw and are already earning their keep.

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Artificial Intelligence: FinTech’s innovation driver – BusinessWorld Online

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FinTech refers to any idea or innovation that improves or optimizes the way individuals or companies conduct financial activities. Early FinTech concentrated on developing add-on products to complement existing financial services.

This combination of finance and technology has spawned a slew of valuable goods and services that redefine financial services and make them more accessible to the general public. Some of these products and services include insurance aggregators, mobile wallets, AI investment management advisers, peer-to-peer (P2P) lending and crowdfunding tools, and platforms for trading financial assets. The cutting-edge solutions that contributed to such technologies include Blockchain, Deep Learning, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). FinTech allows financial services organizations to collect massive amounts of consumer data, determine usage patterns, and even replace human participation with automated algorithms.

The distinction between banks and FinTech is becoming increasingly hazy. It is crucial to understand that banks and FinTech are not necessarily mutually exclusive. In fact, many well-known banks have evolved from being mere prepaid card providers that link to applications. They have won the right to full-fledged banking licenses after demonstrating to the world that it is feasible to combine sophisticated technology with trustworthy financial services. FinTech can emerge from one of three sources: (1) a stand-alone company develops technologically advanced goods to address unique market concerns; (2) a company develops a full-fledged body to become a complete bank; or (3) a conventional bank incorporates technological advancement by acquiring a smaller FinTech to modernize its service.

SIGNIFICANCE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN FINTECHArtificial intelligence (AI) is gradually gaining a foothold in practically every business in the twenty-first century. FinTech is used mostly to improve and automate different financial operations. With the advent of knowledge engineering, financial institutions employ AI-based models in conjunction with their FinTech apps to maximize operations and revenue.

Some of the major significant uses of AI in FinTech are:

Large-scale wealth and finance management: Traditionally, the wealth management sector has catered to high-net-worth individuals. AI solutions are assisting to considerably expand this industry by allowing it to scale its ability to supply to a much larger segment of the population. In addition to specific financial advice, the AI may analyze spending habits to ensure that customers have adequate emergency money and provide continually updated net worth predictions for improved retirement planning.

Enhanced security: Many FinTech firms and conventional financial institutions are already using AI-based solutions for various fraud monitoring and prevention applications, but there is always room for improvement as fraudsters escalate their attacks.

Contract management: Contracts are an integral aspect of the financial business, as they are in many other sectors. Keeping track of all contracts, whether between institutions and clients or between enterprises, requires a significant amount of effort. AI can assist in speeding up this process by combining optical character recognition (OCR), machine learning (ML), and natural language processing (NLP).

Improved customer services: Through intelligent software bots, AI has been able to fill a need in this field. These bots suggest personalized products and services that better meet customers needs and demands. Financial institutions that employ chatbots have ample motivation to keep using and enhancing them, with worldwide savings from chatbot use anticipated to exceed $7 billion by 2023.

RISK FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN FINTECHWhile the applications listed above demonstrate how technology is revolutionizing the financial industry, the deployment of AI is not without hazards. The primary factors that need to be understood are:

Embedded bias: The increasing use of AI in the financial sector, which is heavily regulated and where public confidence is critical, has sparked debate over the potential of inherent bias. Embedded bias is defined as computer systems that routinely and unjustly discriminate against some persons or groups of individuals in favor of others. Customer classification algorithms applied in AI/ML might lead to prejudice in the banking industry through price or service quality differentials. Biases in AI/ML judgments are frequently caused by biased training data derived from existing biased processes and data sets, which teach automation models to be prejudicial.

Explainability and complexity: The term explainability refers to the concept that AI models and their outputs can be expounded to humans at an acceptable level. The explainability of AI results is critical, especially when utilized in the financial industry. Because they are not easily explainable by the user, AI is sometimes referred to as a black box. This trait may make detecting the appropriateness of AI conclusions difficult, exposing businesses to vulnerabilities such as skewed data, inappropriate modeling methodologies, or wrong decision making, thus undermining faith in their robustness.

Privacy factors associated with data: AI raises new and distinct privacy concerns. Big data privacy problems are well recognized and even precede the mainstreaming of automation. Tools have been created to aid in the preservation of data anonymity and data subjects privacy. Legal data policy frameworks are being implemented across the world to address these problems. However, the resilience of AI models in limiting data leakage from the training data set poses additional privacy problems.

Cognizant of the abounding risks, enterprises should leverage on the agile nature of technology and adapt to new work methods. This would reshape the organizations ways of doing things through the use of intelligent software bots, minimize manpower costs by utilizing AI and robotic process automation, and most importantly, enhance security, employee engagement, and client satisfaction. As the financial sectors use of AI and ML continues to surge, it is becoming a must to have professionals who are very much capable of optimizing the usage of advances in processing power, data storage capacity, big data, and modeling.

The views or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Isla Lipana & Co. The content is for general information purposes only, and should not be used as a substitute for specific advice.

Jan Brian P. Despi is a senior associate at the DTS Department of Isla Lipana & Co., the Philippine member firm of the PwC network.

jan.brian.despi@pwc.com

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Artificial Intelligence authentication in 2022 – App Developer Magazine

Posted: at 4:55 am

Sanjay Gupta, Global Head of Product, at Mitek shares his 2022 predictionson the rise of touchless technologies, the impacts of digital banking, and the increasing use of voice and behavioral biometrics to verify identification.

Touchless technology will gain adoption in new industries

Technology designed to reduce friction in consumer behavior and improve the overall user experience will continue to see adoption, and in more sectors than years past. Weve seen airlines begin to rollout touchless airport technologies to speed passengers through airports. In 2022, well see more airlines use touchless technologies, as well as new industries like concert/sports arenas, public transportation, stores, and more. In addition to decreasing wait times in lines, biometrics-based authentication also prevents ticket fraud, an issue that's been on the rise in recent years as more consumers are buying digital event tickets.

During the height of COVID fears, consumers were no longer coming into big branches to manage their finances, and competition from smaller more digitally focused banking groups began to steal customers away. As a result,banks poured an influx of funds into their digital strategies to add more value for digitally-minded consumers, and in seeing the success of those efforts last year, will continue to push for moremobile-first, customer-focused technologies in 2022. These digital services will focus heavily on minimizing friction to make apps faster and easier to access. Combining a focus on digital technologies with consumers longstanding trust in the banking industry will also provide opportunities for banks to explore newer and sometimes riskier financial services, such as decentralized finance, where consumer interest is growing.

Voice and behavioral biometrics are the future of authentication

The use of AI, including biometrics, to verify identification and support secure online transactions will continue to expand in 2022.According to new researchfrom airports that have implemented biometrics systems in 2021, many consumers support these common types of identity verification, such as fingerprint matching. In the next year, we will hear more about behavioral biometrics and voice matching as these new methods enable people to conduct business and transactions online more securely.

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How artificial intelligence will power the future of fitness and well-being – YourStory

Posted: at 4:55 am

Imagine a day in the future when you wake up to an alarm buzz of a smart assistant. Well, you may wonder is that not something available already in the present day? Thats right, but what if the smart assistant also transforms itself into a smart fitness trainer that can interact and guide on a personalised workout routine depending on your wellness goals, prevailing health conditions, and recovery needed based on previous nights sleep pattern?

Yes, in future, those smart assistants could become ones true wellness companion to help individuals keep up with their habits and maintain healthy lifestyle be it Mindfulness, Exercise, Diet, and Sleep (MEDS).

That day in the future is not too far away.

The pandemic has driven an unprecedented digital transformation and shifted the gears to accelerate on the adoption of at-home fitness and wellness technologies.

From smart mats and smart mirrors to kettlebells and cycling bikes, everything is connected to understand the users lifestyle better to create a more holistic and personalised fitness journey and deliver an immersive virtual workout experience straight to individuals fitness / living room.

Based on the evidence and various case studies, a healthy lifestyle with daily MEDS discipline has been found to hold the potential to reverse the lifestyle diseases and eventually replace the prescribed meds.

While it is true that world is slowly coming out of the pandemic and people have started cautiously stepping into the gyms, the pandemic fundamentally changed the way we live, play, work, and even workout.

Fitness revolution actually began a few years before the pandemic struck the world. The primary reason was the alarming rise in the heart disease due to inactive lifestyle and mental stress, which according to the WHO report has been the leading cause of death (70 percent) and besides the early onset age down to mid 30s was really concerning.

Around the same time, Yoga became prime movement ever since the UN declared International Day of Yoga on June 21 in 2015, and now, with 300 million practitioners globally. Yoga, a mindful practice of physical postures (asanas) in tandem with the right breathing pattern, when performed under the expert guidance, could reverse many lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, GERD, chronic neck, and back pain, and in some cases doctors prescribed it as lifestyle medicine for faster rehabilitation of cancer patients.

As per Google Search, Yoga was reportedly the most widely searched topic during the pandemic, and naturally it has now become part of doctors prescription for preventive healthcare, resulting in the surge in demand for online yoga with content everywhere.

Last five years also observed technology evolution at a speed like never before. Artificial intelligence taking a place in our daily lives is a real thing. Specifically, healthcare industry has adopted AI and same is the case with its adjacent vertical of at-home fitness and wellness.

However, multiple challenges come in the way of integrating the ancient best practices into ones daily lifestyle for a stress-free life --lack of access to good wellness coaches, packed schedules, missing personalised attention in yoga classes, lack of consistent motivation, overwhelming online content causing injury than good, and lastly, no tangible ways to track ones progress.

Flexibility is a vital factor that has been associated with improved performance and reduced sports related injuries.

By adopting a mind-body lifestyle approach, yoga - that teaches mindfulness along with physical activity - is well suited for stress and symptom management. It is also safe to say that yoga along with modern medicines has been an effective intervention in the treatment of chronic non-communicable diseases

According to areport by Research N Reports, the value of the global fitness technology market is estimated to grow from $17.9 billion in 2019 to $62.1 billion by 2025.

Fast-paced lives and hectic lifestyles in the contemporary times have made it difficult for us to make time to go to the gym. Not everyone can find the motivation to travel long distances to work-out and this is where AI comes in the picture.

AI provides users with a step-by-step workout session that they can enjoy from the comfort of their home, finding balance between work and yoga. An AI-based assistant guides people to accurately perform asanas to enhance flexibility and balance.

Now, anyone can practice Yoga at home without travelling and worrying about additional expenses, anytime, with the help of voice assistant that gives flawless instructions to improve the poses of the practitioner.

A few visionary and innovative startups have already scripted this future with their smart and connected fitness tech equipment in the market and paving the way for this tech to evolve and build a healthy generation and happy community in future.

This technological advancement must be unconventional for Yogis but these concepts are gearing up to reach larger audiences. Virtual Yoga assistance is being adopted by people in large numbers lately, making obvious that Tech Yoga is here to stay.

(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)

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Iktos and Astrogen Announce a Research Collaboration to Use Artificial Intelligence Platform for Drug Design against a Novel Parkinsons Disease Target…

Posted: at 4:55 am

PARIS & DAEGU, South Korea, January 05, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Iktos, a company specialized in artificial intelligence (AI) for novel drug design and Astrogen, a clinical and research-oriented biotech company focused in developing innovative new drugs for treatment of intractable neurological diseases today announced that the companies have entered into a research collaboration agreement aimed at discovery of innovative small molecule pre-clinical drug candidates for Parkinson's disease.

Under the terms of the agreement, Iktos will apply its proprietary active learning based deep docking and de novo structure-based generative modelling technologies to design and optimize novel compounds and expedite the identification of pre-clinical drug candidates targeting an undisclosed target for the treatment of Parkinsons disease. Astrogen will contribute to in-vitro/in-vivo efficacy screening of lead compounds/pre-clinical drug candidates and will lead the entire development process from pre-clinical stage. The companies will share responsibility for generating lead compounds and pursuing the optimal development path for selecting pre-clinical drug candidates.

"We are thrilled to collaborate with Astrogen, a leading biotech company based in S. Korea focused on developing innovative drugs for neurological diseases. We are proud and excited to announce our first collaboration deal in S. Korea bio-pharma sector commented Yann Gaston-Math, President and CEO of Iktos. "Our objective is to expedite drug discovery and achieve time and cost efficiencies for our global collaborators by using Iktoss proprietary AI platform and know-how. We are confident that together we will be able to identify promising novel chemical matter for the treatment of intractable neurological diseases. Our strategy has always been to tackle challenging problems alongside our collaborators where we can demonstrate value generation for new and on-going drug discovery projects."

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"We are very pleased to collaborate with Iktos, one of the leading AI companies in drug design and discovery. Iktos has successfully utilized their proprietary AI platform in multiple real world drug discovery projects as demonstrated by several collaborations established to date with leading global pharmaceutical companies. We are looking forward to this collaboration, as we believe that there is good chance to build up a mutually beneficial business model, by combining the strengths of biotech companies specialized in novel target identification and AI companies with their proprietary drug designing platform technology" commented JoonBeom Park, the director of Business Development at Astrogen.

About Iktos

Incorporated in October 2016, Iktos is a start-up company specializing in the development of artificial intelligence solutions applied to chemical research, more specifically medicinal chemistry and new drug design. Iktos is developing a proprietary and innovative solution based on deep learning generative models, which enables, using existing data, the design of molecules that are optimized in silico to meet all the success criteria of a small molecule discovery project. The use of Iktos technology enables major productivity gains in upstream pharmaceutical R&D. Iktos offers its technology both as professional services and as a SaaS software platform, Makya. Iktos is also developing Spaya, a synthesis planning software based upon Iktoss proprietary AI technology for retrosynthesis.

More information on: http://www.iktos.ai/

About Astrogen

Founded in 2017, Astrogen is a S.Korea based clinical and research-oriented biotech company developing treatment of intractable neurological diseases. The company is specialized in discovering new therapeutic targets, conducting efficacy tests of compounds, and planning/administration of clinical strategies. The lead candidate in the pipeline is AST-001, under phase 2 clinical development in S.Korea for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The company aims to become a leading a biopharmaceutical company in neurodegenerative and intractable neurological diseases by utilizing innovative business models.

More information on: http://www.astrogen.co.kr

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220105005498/en/

Contacts

Yann Gaston-Math (CEO), +33 6 30 07 99 26, contact@iktos.com

Somin He, Manager of Business Development, +82-70-5038-5190, somin@astrogen.co.kr

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Iktos and Astrogen Announce a Research Collaboration to Use Artificial Intelligence Platform for Drug Design against a Novel Parkinsons Disease Target...

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Artificial intelligence is restoring lost works by Klimt, Picasso and Rembrandt, but not everyone is happy about it – Bowling Green Daily News

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United States of AmericaUS Virgin IslandsUnited States Minor Outlying IslandsCanadaMexico, United Mexican StatesBahamas, Commonwealth of theCuba, Republic ofDominican RepublicHaiti, Republic ofJamaicaAfghanistanAlbania, People's Socialist Republic ofAlgeria, People's Democratic Republic ofAmerican SamoaAndorra, Principality ofAngola, Republic ofAnguillaAntarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S)Antigua and BarbudaArgentina, Argentine RepublicArmeniaArubaAustralia, Commonwealth ofAustria, Republic ofAzerbaijan, Republic ofBahrain, Kingdom ofBangladesh, People's Republic ofBarbadosBelarusBelgium, Kingdom ofBelizeBenin, People's Republic ofBermudaBhutan, Kingdom ofBolivia, Republic ofBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswana, Republic ofBouvet Island (Bouvetoya)Brazil, Federative Republic ofBritish Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago)British Virgin IslandsBrunei DarussalamBulgaria, People's Republic ofBurkina FasoBurundi, Republic ofCambodia, Kingdom ofCameroon, United Republic ofCape Verde, Republic ofCayman IslandsCentral African RepublicChad, Republic ofChile, Republic ofChina, People's Republic ofChristmas IslandCocos (Keeling) IslandsColombia, Republic ofComoros, Union of theCongo, Democratic Republic ofCongo, People's Republic ofCook IslandsCosta Rica, Republic ofCote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of theCyprus, Republic ofCzech RepublicDenmark, Kingdom ofDjibouti, Republic ofDominica, Commonwealth ofEcuador, Republic ofEgypt, Arab Republic ofEl Salvador, Republic ofEquatorial Guinea, Republic ofEritreaEstoniaEthiopiaFaeroe IslandsFalkland Islands (Malvinas)Fiji, Republic of the Fiji IslandsFinland, Republic ofFrance, French RepublicFrench GuianaFrench PolynesiaFrench Southern TerritoriesGabon, Gabonese RepublicGambia, Republic of theGeorgiaGermanyGhana, Republic ofGibraltarGreece, Hellenic RepublicGreenlandGrenadaGuadaloupeGuamGuatemala, Republic ofGuinea, RevolutionaryPeople's Rep'c ofGuinea-Bissau, Republic ofGuyana, Republic ofHeard and McDonald IslandsHoly See (Vatican City State)Honduras, Republic ofHong Kong, Special Administrative Region of ChinaHrvatska (Croatia)Hungary, Hungarian People's RepublicIceland, Republic ofIndia, Republic ofIndonesia, Republic ofIran, Islamic Republic ofIraq, Republic ofIrelandIsrael, State ofItaly, Italian RepublicJapanJordan, Hashemite Kingdom ofKazakhstan, Republic ofKenya, Republic ofKiribati, Republic ofKorea, Democratic People's Republic ofKorea, Republic ofKuwait, State ofKyrgyz RepublicLao People's Democratic RepublicLatviaLebanon, Lebanese RepublicLesotho, Kingdom ofLiberia, Republic ofLibyan Arab JamahiriyaLiechtenstein, Principality ofLithuaniaLuxembourg, Grand Duchy ofMacao, Special Administrative Region of ChinaMacedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic ofMadagascar, Republic ofMalawi, Republic ofMalaysiaMaldives, Republic ofMali, Republic ofMalta, Republic ofMarshall IslandsMartiniqueMauritania, Islamic Republic ofMauritiusMayotteMicronesia, Federated States ofMoldova, Republic ofMonaco, Principality ofMongolia, Mongolian People's RepublicMontserratMorocco, Kingdom ofMozambique, People's Republic ofMyanmarNamibiaNauru, Republic ofNepal, Kingdom ofNetherlands AntillesNetherlands, Kingdom of theNew CaledoniaNew ZealandNicaragua, Republic ofNiger, Republic of theNigeria, Federal Republic ofNiue, Republic ofNorfolk IslandNorthern Mariana IslandsNorway, Kingdom ofOman, Sultanate ofPakistan, Islamic Republic ofPalauPalestinian Territory, OccupiedPanama, Republic ofPapua New GuineaParaguay, Republic ofPeru, Republic ofPhilippines, Republic of thePitcairn IslandPoland, Polish People's RepublicPortugal, Portuguese RepublicPuerto RicoQatar, State ofReunionRomania, Socialist Republic ofRussian FederationRwanda, Rwandese RepublicSamoa, Independent State ofSan Marino, Republic ofSao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic ofSaudi Arabia, Kingdom ofSenegal, Republic ofSerbia and MontenegroSeychelles, Republic ofSierra Leone, Republic ofSingapore, Republic ofSlovakia (Slovak Republic)SloveniaSolomon IslandsSomalia, Somali RepublicSouth Africa, Republic ofSouth Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsSpain, Spanish StateSri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic ofSt. HelenaSt. Kitts and NevisSt. LuciaSt. Pierre and MiquelonSt. Vincent and the GrenadinesSudan, Democratic Republic of theSuriname, Republic ofSvalbard & Jan Mayen IslandsSwaziland, Kingdom ofSweden, Kingdom ofSwitzerland, Swiss ConfederationSyrian Arab RepublicTaiwan, Province of ChinaTajikistanTanzania, United Republic ofThailand, Kingdom ofTimor-Leste, Democratic Republic ofTogo, Togolese RepublicTokelau (Tokelau Islands)Tonga, Kingdom ofTrinidad and Tobago, Republic ofTunisia, Republic ofTurkey, Republic ofTurkmenistanTurks and Caicos IslandsTuvaluUganda, Republic ofUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited Kingdom of Great Britain & N. IrelandUruguay, Eastern Republic ofUzbekistanVanuatuVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofViet Nam, Socialist Republic ofWallis and Futuna IslandsWestern SaharaYemenZambia, Republic ofZimbabwe

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Artificial intelligence is restoring lost works by Klimt, Picasso and Rembrandt, but not everyone is happy about it - Bowling Green Daily News

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GGRAsia Bets off on Macau recovery pace in 2022: JP Morgan – GGRAsia

Posted: at 4:53 am

Jan 04, 2022 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck 

A brokerage said in a Monday note it wont try to predict the level of casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) recovery for Macau in 2022.

It would hinge on the pace and level of travel normalisation around the region, and we now know we cant predict it, said the memo from JP Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Ltd, referring to the potential for outbreaks of Covid-19 in either mainland China, Macau or Hong Kong.

In commentary on the full-year 2021 GGR numbers for Macau, released by the citys government on Saturday and which showed 43.7 percent GGR improvement judged year-on-year the institution estimated mass-market GGR recovered to 37 percent of 2019s pre-pandemic trading, compared to 23 percent of 2019 in 2020.

Macaus year-on-year gain came despite a number of disruptions to tourism business in the second half of the year, due to community cases of Covid-19.

The citys 2021 VIP GGR was only 17 percent of 2019s, the same level as 2020, suggested analysts DS Kim, Amanda Cheng and Livy Lyu.

Those 2021 figures were under half of what we and the market had expected a year ago, added the JP Morgan team.

We had modelled mass and VIP GGR would recover to 75 percent and 35 percent of 2019s in 2021, which was actually more conservative than investor consensus at that time, and frankly we feel less confident about our numbers now than a year ago, stated the analysts.

Brokerage Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd said in a Monday memo it forecast January GGR to be down 71 percent versus January 2019, and down 9 percent month-on-month against December, with mass strength offsetting VIP weakness.

The wild card will be any travel restrictions from China or a Covid outbreak in Macau, stated analyst Vitaly Umansky.

He added that the Chinese New Year holiday in mainland China would run from January 31 to February 6 this time, and that the weeks leading into Chinese New Year are typically soft in terms of Chinese consumer demand for trips to Macau.

Regarding the impact of Suncity Groups and potentially other junket brands- exit from the Macau VIPgambling market, JP Morgan stated concerning Decembers result: If we assume junket VIPs were near-zero, the print suggests mass GGR has recovered to 45 percent to 50 per ent of pre-Covid levels, better than 35 percent to 40 percent recovery, during the first 11 months of 2021.

Sanford Bernstein stated regarding December GGR: VIP wound down significantly this month on the back of the Suncity closure and other junkets business slowing down: however, visitation into Macau has held up well and was further boosted by the year-end holiday week.

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CE never made remarks on cryptocurrency trading Statement – Macau Business

Posted: at 4:53 am

The SAR government said in an announcement today (Thursday) that Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng has never made any remarks on investment in cryptocurrency automatic trading system (Bitcoin Era) in any interviews, regarding of an online post that was widely circulated recently.

The incident has been handed over to the police and the SAR government will retain all legal rights to pursue further investigations, according to the same announcement.

Also, the government calls on citizens to obtain true information from official websites and channels of the government and maintain high vigilance on false news, adding that citizens should report and seek help from the police immediately when they suspect to encounter any frauds or other criminal behaviours.

The Macau Monetary Authority (AMCM) also in an reminder today stated that virtual currency is not a legal tender or financial instrument in Macau but a highly speculative virtual commodity, emphasizing that the transaction of virtual currencies involves a lot of risks and that these are not supervised by the AMCM. In the same reminder, AMCM also underlined that residents should beware of possible frauds, illegal activities and criminal acts caused by virtual commodity.

AMCM also pointed out that all banks and payment institutions in Macau can not provide or participate in any kinds of financial services involving virtual commodity transactions, empathizing that any institution that provides financial services without AMCMs permission, such as settlement or cross-border fund transfers, is in violation of the Macau Financial System Act.

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Love is All: Cartier and DFS unveil festive omnichannel experience in Macau – The Moodie Davitt Report – The Moodie Davitt Report

Posted: at 4:52 am

A flying augmented reality ribbon, interactive lighting wall and Karaoke Box add a festive feel to Cartiers Love is All experience at T Galleria by DFS Macau City of Dreams

CHINA (MACAU). French luxury house Cartier has transformed its boutique at the T Galleria by DFS Macau City of Dreams into a socially-driven omnichannel experience. The Love is All experience runs until April 2022. It was launched to coincide with various gifting holidays including Christmas, Chinese New Year and Valentines Day.

The immersive environment underscores the core values of Cartier and was inspired by the brands global Love is All campaign. The boutique offers omnichannel elements, brand discovery, gifting and interactive features to celebrate the festive season.

The elegant boutique is wrapped in Cartiers striking red shade, taking inspiration from its signature packaging. The customer journey starts with an augmented reality experience on mobile which sees the red Cartier gifting ribbon fly across the boutiques faade.

Unwrapping the Cartier red box: The boutique highlights the French luxury houses watches and jewellery, fragrance, leathergoods and lifestyle products in a gift box-themed environment

Inside, customers are invited to unwrap the gift box-themed space and discover Cartiers watches, jewellery, leathergoods, fragrances and lifestyle products. One of the highlights is the Cartier Profile application which offers personalised Cartier product recommendations based on various client preferences.

The space also features an interactive lighting wall game that immerses shoppers into Cartiers fragrance universe and a Cartier Karaoke Box that encourages them to sing along to the Love is All soundtrack and share their performances on social media.

Shareable experiences: Various elements in the store encourage customers to share their shopping experiences on social media. The pop-up is also supported by a WeChat Mini Program.

The Cartier ribbon takes flight on consumers mobile phones through an augmented reality application

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The festive activation at the Cartier boutique resonates strongly with our consumers who are seeking elegant gifts and shareable experiences from brands to elevate their luxury stay in Macau, commented DFS Group Senior Vice President Watches and Jewellery Matthew Green.

We would like to thank Cartier for creating a truly memorable omnichannel shopping journey, filled with love, and hope our guests enjoy this special experience over the coming months.

In addition, a dedicated Cartier WeChat Mini Program enhances the experiences digital footprint by engaging with travellers pre- and post-trip.

Cartier Global Travel Retail Director Virginie Martignac added, It is a pleasure to share love from Cartier with travellers at T Galleria by DFS, Macau, City of Dreams this festive season with a creative and joyful multi-layered experience. We sincerely crafted this unique concept with the will to surprise and entertain our clients and immerse guests in the thrill of unwrapping the iconic red Cartier box.

Love is all: The omnichannel store was launched to coincide with various festive gifting periods including Christmas, Chinese New Year and Valentines Day

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Health Bureau calls for reduction of public gatherings – Macau Business

Posted: at 4:52 am

*By Therese Tu

Health authorities today (Friday) called on citizens to reduce unnecessary gatherings, get vaccinated, and keep wearing masks, due to the surge of Omicron variant globally and the new COVID-19 outbreaks in Hong Kong and Mainland China.

The Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre emphasized in a statement that citizens should keep wearing masks, take personal pandemic protection measures, and reduce non-essential gatherings such as wedding banquets, ceremonies and festival celebrations, since epidemiological investigations show that recent Covid outbreaks in Hong Kong and Mainland are related to large gatherings.

Also, Health Bureau calls on citizens to avoid going to medium risk and high risk countries, adding that if they need to leave Macau, they should take personal pandemic protection measures and pay attention to the pandemic situation of the destination.

Citizens who havent be vaccinated, and those who are qualified to get the booster shots, are encouraged to take the vaccine as soon as possible, according to the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre.

Health authorities in an press conference yesterday stated that all people over 18 years-old who have completed the first 2 doses of vaccines are encouraged to receive the booster shot from Thursday on, adding that people in urgent need, such as visiting foreign countries and Taiwan, can get the third dose after at least 12 weeks receiving the second dose.

In the announcement today, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre also emphasized that public and private facilities should strictly follow the pandemic prevention measures, such as monitoring body temperature before entry, social-distancing, and avoiding large public gatherings.

Health authorities do not rule out the possibility of making compulsory presenting negative COVID test certificates with a 7-day validity or vaccine proof as requirement to enter restaurants and entertainment venues, according to the press conference on Thursday.

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Health Bureau calls for reduction of public gatherings - Macau Business

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