Category Archives: Ai

In a world rife with opposing views, lets draw attention to something we can all agree on: if I show you my pen, and then hide it behind my back, my pen still exists even though you cant see it anymore. We can all agree it still exists, and probably has the same shape and color it did before it went behind my back. This is just common sense.

These common-sense laws of the physical world are universally understood by humans. Even two-month-old infants share this understanding. But scientists are still puzzled by some aspects of how we achieve this fundamental understanding. And weve yet to build a computer that can rival the common-sense abilities of a typically developing infant.

New research by Luis Piloto and colleagues at Princeton University which Im reviewing for an article in Nature Human Behaviour takes a step towards filling this gap. The researchers created a deep-learning artificial intelligence (AI) system that acquired an understanding of some common-sense laws of the physical world.

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The findings will help build better computer models that simulate the human mind, by approaching a task with the same assumptions as an infant.

Typically, AI models start with a blank slate and are trained on data with many different examples, from which the model constructs knowledge. But research on infants suggests this is not what babies do. Instead of building knowledge from scratch, infants start with some principled expectations about objects.

For instance, they expect if they attend to an object that is then hidden behind another object, the first object will continue to exist. This is a core assumption that starts them off in the right direction. Their knowledge then becomes more refined with time and experience.

The exciting finding by Piloto and colleagues is that a deep-learning AI system modeled on what babies do outperforms a system that begins with a blank slate and tries to learn based on experience alone.

The researchers compared both approaches. In the blank-slate version, the AI model was given several visual animations of objects. In some examples, a cube would slide down a ramp. In others, a ball bounced into a wall.

The model detected patterns from the various animations and was then tested on its ability to predict outcomes with new visual animations of objects. This performance was compared to a model that had principled expectations built in before it experienced any visual animations.

These principles were based on the expectations infants have about how objects behave and interact. For example, infants expect two objects should not pass through one another.

If you show an infant a magic trick where you violate this expectation, they can detect the magic. They reveal this knowledge by looking significantly longer at events with unexpected, or magic outcomes, compared to events where the outcomes are expected.

Infants also expect an object should not be able to just blink in and out of existence. They can detect when this expectation is violated as well.

Piloto and colleagues found the deep-learning model that started with a blank slate did a good job, but the model based on object-centered coding inspired by infant cognition did significantly better.

The latter model could more accurately predict how an object would move, was more successful at applying the expectations to new animations, and learned from a smaller set of examples (for example, it managed this after the equivalent of 28 hours of video).

Its clear learning through time and experience is important, but it isnt the whole story. This research by Piloto and colleagues is contributing insight to the age-old question of what may be innate in humans, and what may be learned.

Beyond that, its defining new boundaries for what role perceptual data can play when it comes to artificial systems acquiring knowledge. And it also shows how studies on babies can contribute to building better AI systems that simulate the human mind.

Article by Susan Hespos, Psychology Department at Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois, USA and Professor of Infant Studies at MARCS Institute, Western Sydney University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Researchers trained this AI to think like a baby heres what happened - TNW

Artificial Intelligence (AI) feels like a popular buzzword in healthcare over the last few years. In a piece for Digital Health, David Newey, deputy CIO at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, explores bias in AI and what needs to be done.

On the night of my birthday celebrations in December 2021, I received an email followed by several texts alerting me to the cyber vulnerability that was log4j. This piece of innocuous code was originally developed in January 2001 as part of the apache logging services and was in use in technology stacks worldwide. Written 21 years ago without forethought to its future, this code was to prove a cyber security headache for at least 4 months as hackers looked for ways to exploit it.

This example demonstrated the fact that code has consequences, and in particular, historic code has consequences. Even now we can look to other systems such as IBM Z/OS mainframes which, still to this day run COBOL and FORTRAN dating back to the 1950s, but are now happily virtualised and still working for the US Department of Defence.

But as well its impact on legacy code, time also affects societal attitudes and changing demographics. For marginalised communities, the experience continues to change and evolve, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse; but nonetheless they change. Contemporary examples demonstrating a shift in attitudes include the redaction or warnings placed on literature such as Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre or Charles Dickenss Great Expectations; or the tearing down of statues such as Edward Colston in Bristol. These illustrate how much society has changed since 1958 when the oldest piece of working software code, US Department of Defence MOSCAT (Mechanisation of Contract Administration Services) was written.

Consider now the development of AI machine learning, and its utility in the field of healthcare. The utility of AI is already hotly contested with proponents seeing it as a way to revolutionise medicine, such as in the rapid detection of abnormalities from CT images or digital pathology slides. AI is increasingly being seen as a way to sure up services that already have an acute shortage of trained staff, fighting against a backlog Tsunami driven from Covid-19.

Opponents say that AI is another over-hyped technology which, along with virtual reality, blockchain, NFTs and cryptocurrency, is destined to end up on the heap of technological white elephants. Opponents would point to IBMs recent move to sell Watson as an example of blue chip companies deciding that it just isnt worth it. Yet the reality is that AI is here to stay, and just like the advent of the desktop PC, the internet and the mobile device is rapidly moving up the adoption curve, growing more powerful in line with Moores law.

The introduction of bias

Simply put, AI relies on two key components; the development of an algorithm, and the use training data to develop a propensity model to predict outcomes. It is here that various factors can introduce bias and hard bake into an algorithm societal injustice.

Bias in development of AI can be introduced through a number of ways:

For the purposes of this article however, it is temporal bias that we seek to consider.

Just like societal values, an AI algorithm is affected by temporal factors derived from:

As a result, and despite best efforts to eliminate bias, code written in 2022 could legitimately be out of date within 5 years or less depending on the changes that occur in those factors over time. For example, if an AI algorithm was developed in 1981 to provide clinician decision support for HIV patients; how applicable would its advice be in 2022? Would it be aware of the use of antiretroviral therapies or the change in communities affected?

So how can this be addressed?

There is precedent for addressing these types of concern. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for example provides ongoing pharmacovigilance for newly licenced drugs involving:

Feedback about drugs is captured through an adverse reaction reporting system (Yellow Card Scheme) as well as ongoing research studies, published literature and morbidity and mortality databases.

Government intervention

Already General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) legislation has provisions regarding the need to for organisations to provide transparency around the use of AI based decisions; and includes the ability for an individual to opt out of being subject to an AI based decision that has legal or similarly significant effects.

In December 2021, the government published a roadmap to develop a regulatory framework to address the use of AI in real-world applications including the need for the MHRA to expand its remit to incorporate AI. Prior to its merger with NHS England and Improvement, NHSX had begun to consider this issue; but until legislation is passed there are still plenty of examples of historical and contemporary AI algorithms that are out in the wild.

Local changes for best practice

Much like best practice derived from Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) for the creation of application and data registers. It is should now be incumbent on CIOs to now urgently look at their own digital ecosystem and put governance measures in place to both track and review regularly the AI algorithms in use within their organisations.

An AI oversight committee should be formed that regularly approves the use AI algorithms against set criteria addressing applicability and bias, as well as setting licenced use dates for software after which it should either be re-licenced or taken out of service. By being proactive at this stage, organisations can get ahead of the curve and be in the best possible place to comply with future legislation and regulation.

Time to change

In summary, we are now at a pivotal point whereby AI algorithms developed now could affect the way in which future generations are treated, potentially hard-baking in inequality and societal injustice. It is a given that use of artificial intelligence in healthcare will only increase, however IT professionals need to be conscious of the effects of the passage of time on the development and use of AI algorithms in every area that affects individuals and communities. Despite the fact that it is only a matter of time before government regulation takes effect, CIOs should now put steps in place at organisational level to both prevent and mitigate the negative effects of bias which may be introduced into such algorithms either at inception or arising from the passage of time.

After all time waits for no one.

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Bias in AI: It's a matter of time - Digital Health

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Elix, Inc., an AI drug discovery company with the mission of Rethinking Drug Discovery (CEO: Shinya Yuki/Headquarters: Tokyo; hereafter referred to as "Elix") launched Elix Discovery, the only all-in-one platform that provides everything needed for AI drug discovery, from models for property prediction and molecular design to AI consulting and implementation support.

Drug discovery using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning is attracting attention to shorten the time required for drug discovery, reduce associated costs, and improve success rates. However, pharmaceutical companies face major barriers in the adoption of AI due to insufficient knowledge of AI technology, difficulty in understanding how to use existing AI tools, lack of an intuitive and integrated platform, and the need to consider the best way to utilize AI for each specific drug discovery project.

Elix Discovery is the only all-in-one platform that provides a wide selection of AI models, intuitive Graphical User Interface (GUI), expert implementation support and consulting, and knowledge for AI drug discovery. The platform provides essential features for AI drug discovery, and will continue to grow from ongoing updates as new developments are made in the ever-evolving AI field. While many AI companies are secretive and do not disclose their knowledge and methods to clients, Elix, Inc. values transparency and openly shares knowledge with our clients to help them accumulate experience in AI drug discovery.

Key modules of Elix Discovery

Features of Elix Discovery

Pharmaceutical companies need multiple types of AI models and data processing functions to conduct AI drug discovery, and Elix Discovery is an all-in-one platform that implements these models and functions. From property prediction to molecular design, Elix Discovery has all the essential functions for AI drug discovery, and provides them in a modular architecture that allows users to leverage these functions seamlessly across the platform.

Many pharmaceutical companies feel the need to have their own AI drug discovery platform. However, building the entire system in-house entails a number of difficulties, including the many years and large costs required for development, hiring and training of talented engineers with expertise in multiple fields, and the need for on-going updates and technical support. By introducing Elix Discovery, which has already been developed specifically for AI drug discovery and tested in the field by existing users, a high-quality environment for AI drug discovery can be established in a short period of time. Furthermore, the platform is continuously updated, allowing for the easy and rapid adoption of cutting-edge technology in a fast changing field.

Pharmaceutical companies have been slow to utilize AI not only because of the lack of superior AI tools, but also a lack of know-how about AI in specific, individual situations that occur in drug discovery. In cases where pharmaceutical companies rely on consulting AI companies, it may not be possible to accumulate in-house expertise.

Elixs researchers, who have consulting experience with numerous companies, will provide support while openly sharing their knowledge, from proposing solutions to specific issues to lectures on how to use the platform and background knowledge about AI and deep learning. For complex issues, Elixs engineers will work on behalf of the client to create and analyze AI models, and provide them in a format that can be reproduced by the client.

Even in pharmaceutical companies that employ computational chemists, the small number of such chemists limits the support that they can provide to medicinal chemists in the use of AI. Elix provides a complete, integrated platform and consulting service for AI drug discovery, including the training of medicinal chemists who can utilize AI via the Elix Discovery platform.

Drug discovery is by no means a challenge that can be solved by AI alone; the knowledge of the medicinal chemist is critically important. Elix Discovery is a platform developed with this philosophy in mind, and designed to let the medicinal chemist leverage the power of AI and deep learning. Even medicinal chemists with limited knowledge of AI can use the system intuitively without worrying about choosing AI parameters and other details thanks to an automated optimization procedure when creating AI models. In addition, computational chemists who are more familiar with AI can perform detailed configurations, and easily share the models they create on the platform with medicinal chemists for immediate use.

Kaken Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. has concluded a contract to use the Elix Discovery

Elix has already provided the Elix Discovery platform to Kaken Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (President and Representative Director: Hiroyuki Horiuchi/Headquarters: Tokyo; hereinafter referred to as Kaken), and began consulting and supporting operations for AI drug discovery at its Drug Discovery Center (in Kyoto) in May 2022.

Kaken was established in 1948 with its roots in the Riken Foundation, which has produced many extremely important scientists in the history of Japanese science, including Yoshio Nishina, considered the father of modern physics, as well as Nobel Prize winners Hideki Yukawa and Shinichiro Tomonaga. Starting with manufacturing and sale of penicillin in the same year, Kaken has introduced many ethical drugs, including Mentax, Fibrast, and, more recently, Clenafin and Regroth, with particular strength in therapeutic areas such as dermatology and orthopedics (https://www.kaken.co.jp/english/).

Elix will continue to contribute to solving challenges in drug discovery through the on-going development of Elix Discovery.

About Elix, Inc.

Elix, Inc. is an AI drug discovery company with the mission of Rethinking drug discovery. We are developing our business for pharmaceutical companies, universities, and research institutions by focusing on machine learning to reduce the enormous cost and time involved in drug discovery and improve its success rate. Visit https://www.elix-inc.com/ for more details.

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Elix Launches Elix Discovery, the Only All-in-one Platform That Provides Everything Needed for AI Drug Discovery, from Models for Property Prediction...

King Abdullah Financial District KAFD (KAFD)

After spending two and a half years in Asia, I finally started traveling the world and giving talks in person. My latest trip was to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, or KSA for short. The primary reason for my trip had very little to do with longevity and focused primarily on the new applications of artificial intelligence in chemistry. However, quite serendipitously, it coincided with the recent media hype surrounding the launch of Hevolution Foundation, a $20 Billion Saudi initiative aiming to spend over $1 Billion annually to extend healthy human life for everyone on the planet. The leadership of Hevolution will be presenting at the 9th annual Aging Research & Drug Discovery (ARDD) conference I am co-organizing with the University of Copenhagen. After meeting the team, I decided to write a series of articles exploring the countrys plans to lead the world in several critical technologies including the area I dedicated my life to - productive longevity.

A screenshot of the Board of Directors of the Hevolution Foundation chaired by HRH Crown Prince ... [+] Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud

Usually, mention of Saudi Arabia calls to mind sand dunes, difficulty getting a visa, oil money, religious police, and suppression of womens rights. These stereotypes have been reinforced through a steady stream of negative news in the Western media. But little attention is paid to the countrys technological advances. The Absher app, for instance, allows residents to seamlessly interact with all government systems and compete with the technological marvels of China. My trip to KSA actually started in Palo Alto, where I met the head of a technology investment powerhouse. He showed how the app can be used to buy and sell property, renew vehicle licenses (no more visits to DMV), and monitor ones financial affairs. Using Absher, I was able to obtain a visa to KSA in a matter of just a few clicks. (Yes, getting into KSA is almost as easy as getting into the UAE, with no paperwork or needless bureaucracy).

And from what I saw in Riyadh and Dammam, Saudi Arabia is getting better every day. For example, the building that looks like a spaceship behind me is the KAFD Grand Mosque. And the building behind it hosts Hevolution Foundation which I am planning to cover in a separate article.

Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, the KAFD Grand Mosque is the Juma'ah (Friday) mosque, and an architectural ... [+] centerpiece of the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Under the rule of Saudi Arabias de-facto leader, His Royal Highness (HRH) Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, or MBS as he is affectionately known by many of his people, this middle eastern country is transforming itself into one of the worlds next big hubs for science and technology. If this pace continues uninterrupted, I believe that within the next 10 years, Saudi Arabia will be better recognized as a place that leads global efforts for advanced artificial intelligence and cutting-edge innovation than as a land of conflicts.

The King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) in June, 2022

It is true that Saudi Arabia has an oil-based economy with strong government controls over major economic and social activities. It possesses about 16% of the worlds proven petroleum reserves, and oil is the cornerstone of its development. However, under MBS vision, Saudi Arabia plans to reduce its dependence on oil, diversify its economy, and develop public service sectors such as healthcare, recreation, tourism, and education. This vision is soon to become a reality under the Saudi Vision 2030, a strategic framework and a brainchild of MBS.

Vision 2030 is built upon three pillars: a vibrant society, a thriving economy, and an ambitious nation. The first theme is vital to achieving the Vision and a strong foundation for economic prosperity. This includes urbanism, culture and entertainment, sports, and UNESCO heritage sites. The second theme calls for a thriving economy with opportunities for all, by building an education system aligned with market needs. This includes the development of investment tools to unlock the various economic sectors, diversification of the economy, and creation of job opportunities. The third theme is built on an effective, transparent, accountable, enabling, and high-performing government. When combined, these three pillars provide the perfect landscape for entrepreneurs, small enterprises, and large corporations alike.

In order to see the full picture of how and why Saudi Arabia is driving its full resources to achieve these goals, we need to take a quick look at the origination of Vision 2030.

Saudi Arabia was mainly a subsistence economy during the start of the 20th century. It wasnt until 1933 that the Saudi government signed an oil concession agreement with Standard Oil Company, which led to the development of oil fields in the country managed by Aramco a joint venture company formed by Texaco and Chevron. By 1949, Saudis oil production reached 500,000 barrels per day, and rose to 1 million in 1954. In 1960, OPEC was created, with Saudi Arabia as one of the founding members. During the oil crisis in 1973, the price of oil increased to nearly $12 per barrel from $3, leading to a rapid growth of the Saudi economy. One estimate suggests that the economy grew from $15 billion in 1973 to $184 billion by 1981.

Fueled by enormous revenues from oil exports, plus an abundance of capital, vast development projects sprung up that turned the country into a modern state. Long-term economic development, such as a series of five-year plans, established most of Saudis infrastructure. This leads us into the 21st century, where Saudi Arabia is one of the most developed and modern countries of the world. Today, Saudi Arabias economy is worth over $700 billion.

After the IPO, Saudi Arabian Oil Copmany, Aramco became the most valuable company in the world, with a market capitalization exceeding $2.3 Trillion dollars which surpassed Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook. It is more valuable than Amazon and Facebook combined, and, considering the global hyperinflation and geopolitical tensions in the less developed oil-producing countries, the value of the company and its prominence is expected to increase.

In response to the Vision 2030 strategy, Aramco set up Prosperity7 Ventures a global venture fund to invest in the disruptive technologies that may lead to the creation of the next-genreation giants and bring prosperity on a vast scale.

R&D facility, Aramco, Dammam

During my trip to the KSA I briefly visited Aramcos headquarters in Dammam. In the past I visited the R&D facilities of several large petrochemical companies in Europe and in the US. And all of them had two things in common: extremely high levels of security and ostentatiously expensive facilities. Aramcos HQ had nothing to do with this stereotype. I took a regular Uber from the hotel to get to the main R&D facility. All of the buildings on the premises including the headquarters have very little or excess - people here are clearly more interested in business and hard work than in showing off. The visitors experience is seamless and paperless. Many key projects are supervised by women and the level of cultural and gender diversity makes you feel like back in Canada.

The key engineering and innovation staff is trained mostly at the top Western universities with Harvard, Stanford, MIT, University of California, Oxford, Cambridge and other top institutions, and have active collaborations with the local and global academic institutions. From the entrance to the conference room, the company makes it very clear that it is focused on environmental sustainability.

On the way to Aramco, you can see many architectural marvels like the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture.

King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, Dharhan, Saudi Arabia

Every government around the world aims to organize itself with agility, continuously restructuring and aligning their systems to national priorities. When MBS took leadership of restructuring the Saudi economy, he kept in mind the ever-evolving global challenges. Thus, when he introduced the Vision in 2016, it detailed a strategic orientation for the next 15 years. This style of governance and framework helped to speed strategy development and decision-making, as well as enhance performance of all Saudi economic and social sectors.

The Vision 2030 framework is not only limited to diversifying the economy of Saudi Arabia. It is actually designed to make Saudi Arabia one of the most competitive countries in terms of scientific innovation. That is why it matters a lot to scientists. The Vision involves a lot of programs for innovation in the health sector especially. In fact, the Saudi government has earmarked $20 billion for the advancement of artificial intelligence alone. The health sector is one of the main beneficiaries of advanced technologies since healthcare has grown increasingly complex to physicians, patients, and governments. The rising costs of healthcare services, and rising expectations of healthcare quality, demands a transformational shift in this field. To ensure that healthcare reaches its full potential, it needs to be modernized by incorporating information technology, health informatics, and AI.

The SDAIA was created in 2019 with a core mandate to support and drive the data and AI agenda within the Kingdom, and its vision is to position Saudi Arabia as a global leader in data-driven economics. The Authority announced in 2020 the National Strategy for Data and AI, or NSDAI, with a vision to put in place where the best of data and AI is made reality.

The three core entities within SDAIA are the National Data Management Office, the National Information Center, and the National Center for Artificial Intelligence. These three entities help deliver the promise of a data-driven and AI-supported government and economy.

The NDMO is designed to digitize national data as a national asset, while the NCAI is envisaged to co-create a portfolio of AI use cases along priority sectors (e.g. health), driving AI use cases development. The NIC provides the latest technology services and digital solutions for government agencies in the Kingdom. All three rely heavily on the role played by AI.

The SCAI enables the ecosystem to shape the future of AI through best-in-class partnerships, targeted investments, and strategic capabilities addressing market gaps globally. One of its solutions is AI-based document extraction platforms that automatically extract text and data from scanned documents. Another is an audio analytics platform that uses voice or speech recognition to receive and interpret dictation, or understand and carry outspoken commands. The SCAI also has natural language understanding platforms that focus on reading comprehension and semantic analysis. And this company is working on much, much more.

Under Saudi Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia is also keen to partner with leading global companies in the field of AI. The Kingdom recently signed a series of partnership agreements with international tech companies at the Global AI Summit held in Riyadh.

The NCAI signed a memorandum of understanding with Huawei to enable strategic cooperation on the Kingdoms National AI Capability Development Program. Under the MoU, Huawei will train Saudi AI engineers and students, and also address Arabic language AI-related capabilities. NCAI and Huawei will also explore the creation of an AI Capability Platform to localize technology solutions.

Likewise, the SDAIA signed an MoU with the International Telecommunication Union, a specialized agency of the UN, to collaborate on initiatives to support efforts to optimize the benefits of AI technologies and applications for sustainable development. Under this agreement, Saudi Arabia will support ITU in developing projects, activities, and initiatives that will facilitate multi-stakeholder participation, international cooperation, and knowledge sharing.

SDAIA also signed an MoU with Alibaba Cloud to develop digital and AI services in such areas as safety and security, mobility, urban planning, energy, education and health. Through the partnership, Alibaba Clouds AI platform will enable intelligent management of Saudi Arabias cities, and provide other smart solutions for citizens.

Saudi Arabia and MBS recognize the significance of data and AI technology. The Kingdom may run out of oil one day and Vision 2030 is just one way to reduce its reliance on this non-renewable energy resource as a primary income source. More broadly, Vision 2030 is a modern-day example of how strong leadership, albeit faulty by Western standards, can transform a nation and the world. MBS is putting his countrys resources to good use. Although it is still in the earlier stages in terms of innovation and technological advances, Saudi Arabia could very soon transform its economy through effective use of AI. The various government agencies working to revolutionize AI, coupled with the dozens of partnerships with leading technology companies are only the beginning. As global oil prices fluctuate wildly, and the COVID pandemic becomes a thing of the past, one must wonder what the future of Vision 2030 will look like, and if it will actually be successful. Until that day comes (2030), it is evident that Saudi Arabia will only benefit from Vision 2030 and the scientific world will reap some of its rewards, too.

Link:

The New Saudi Arabia - Vision 2030 and AI - Forbes

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --FedLearn, the first-to-market, online training provider with content specialized and contextualized to meet mission requirements of federal government agenciesparticularly those in the U.S. Department of Defense and Intelligence Communityand the government contractor organizations supporting them, today transitioned to an artificial intelligence-enabled platform that customizes learning experiences in real time.

FedLearn logo (PRNewsfoto/FedLearn)

The platform's predictive algorithms track learner behaviors to adapt and tailor content to reveal the most relevant materials to meet specific professional interests and areas for skill development.

In addition to this capability, FedLearn now offers:

Real-time learner assessment: Ability to predict to a 90%+ confidence level if a learner is absorbing content (or not). The AI also provides additional learner engagement and outcome metrics via a user-friendly dashboard.

Clearinghouse of defense and intelligence content: Access to a growing repository of hundreds of publicly available DoD and Intelligence Community materials (e.g., joint publications, reports, books, videos)

Personalized learner experience: Recommendations for additional content available on the platform to review based on individual learner areas of interest

Social learning: Peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and increased learner engagement through social networking

Micro-learning: Division of content into "bite-sized" modules to provide learner access to the exact pieces or sections of interest (e.g., the specific two minutes of a 60-minute video)

"FedLearn is disrupting the traditional approach to learning and development in federal government and government contractor organizations," said J. Keith Dunbar, FedLearn founder and chief executive officer. "Learners can now control how, where, when and what they learnimproving engagement and retention of subject matter while reducing the time required to gain new knowledge or skills in support of mission success."

Story continues

The entire FedLearn course catalog of online, self-paced courses is available on the new learning experience platform. FedLearn will also continue to offer virtual, instructor-led learning opportunities on subjects of critical importance to the mission requirements and business goals of customers.

To learn more about FedLearn and its AI-enabled capabilities, visit fedlearn.com.

About FedLearn

FedLearn (fedlearn.com) is transforming learning for federal government and government contractor organizations. We offer the first artificial intelligence-enabled, online learning platform with specialized and contextualized content directly supporting government mission areas. Our solution combines the best of traditional classroom and elearning settings to offer a rich, dynamic and personalized learning experience with quantifiable outcomes. FedLearn is a certified service-disabled veteran-owned small business.

ContactMichelle R. SnyderChief Operating and Marketing OfficerFedLearnmsnyder@fedlearn.com703.253.6229

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Taipei

An artificial intelligence (AI) institute in Hefei, in Chinas Anhui province, says it has developed software that can gauge the loyalty of Communist Party members something that, if true, would be considered a breakthrough, but has sparked public outcry.

Analysts said China has improved its AI-powered surveillance, using big data, machine learning, facial recognition and AI to get into the brains and minds of its people, building what many call a draconian digital dictatorship.

Smart thought education?

The institute posted a video called The Smart Political Education Bar, on July 1 to boast about its mind-reading software, which it said would be used on party members to further solidify their determination to be grateful to the party, listen to the party and follow the party.

In the video, a subject was seen scrolling through online material that promotes party policy at a kiosk, where the institute said its AI software was monitoring his reaction to see how attentive he was to the partys thought education.

The post, however, was taken down shortly after sparking a public outcry among Chinese netizens.

Hung Ching-fu, a professor of political science at National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, in southern Taiwan, said that the Communist Party has abused technological advances to serve its own political interests.

It has used cutting-edge technology to empower its party state. China has upgraded from early-day facial recognition to AI programs that try to get into brains and minds (more) than meet the eye. Its adoption of advanced AI will reinforce its total controls, Hung told VOA over the phone.

Hung added Chinas AI-fueled police state will weigh on its people, who are likely to self-censor or live in fear.

Digital repression

But he cast little confidence in what he called Chinas digital repression, which he said will likely put the Communist Party in the dictators dilemma a political term that describes a government leaders failure to win the hearts and minds of its people.

The taller you build your wall [of power], the further youre cut off from the people This constitutes what we call the dictators dilemma in politics. That is, despite their enormous powers, dictators keep out of touch with the people. I dont think any political systems that are against human nature will sustain, Hung added.

VOAs calls and emails to the Hefei-based institute for comment went unanswered.

The so-called mind-reading software is but the latest digital control China has implemented.

China reportedly has long deployed facial recognition in Xinjiang to keep tabs on ethnic Uyghurs while having enhanced its surveillance in recent years with one person, one file software to make it easier to track its people.

Late last year, authorities in Henan province reportedly launched a similar system to track what they see as suspicious journalists, foreign students and women. At the same time, prosecutors in Shanghai reportedly adopted AI prosecutors, who can file indictments on eight criminal offenses, including credit card fraud and charges of picking a quarrel and provoking trouble.

Chinese online newspaper The Paper reported that a Communist Party school in Sichuan had developed Smart Red Cloud as early as 2017, which was already able to monitor party member reaction to its political education and calculate their loyalty.

Victims of Chinas surveillance system

Several rights lawyers and activists told VOA on the condition of anonymity that they fell victim to Chinas digital surveillance system.

A rights activist from Wuhan, Hebei, said he was once taken away by police who were able to identify him after a roadside camera captured his face while he was on the street.

A Beijing-based rights lawyer complained that he was unable to post online messages or make an online registration as a result of Chinas tight censorship and digital tracking system.

Another rights lawyer revealed that Chinas police have been illegally collecting biometric data from the pupils of peoples eyes, fingerprints and urine samples of those in its custody to enhance what he called a precise but evil surveillance.

Chinas widespread application of AI technologies, however, is stimulating the sectors innovation, according to the findings of recent research by author Martin Beraja, an assistant professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and three other scholars at Harvard University and The London School of Economics and Political Science.

Their research concluded, while new technology bolsters autocratic power and autocratic demand stimulates innovation, this mutuality of advantage may even generate long-term, sustained AI innovation in China, creating what they call an AI-tocracy.

AI-tocracy

In the process of procuring that government contract, they [AI firms in China] get access to this data that allows them, of course, to innovate for the government application that has to do typically with public security or preventing crime, or the like. This has spilled over to their commercial innovation, because, potentially, they may use either the same government data or, if thats restricted, they may use the same algorithms that were trained with that data to develop commercial products that are used in the private sector, Beraja told VOA.

One such commercial software, for example, is used in supermarkets to track consumers as they move along the aisles, the professor added.

Beraja, however, expressed concerned over Chinas AI exports, which he found in his research are likely aiding other repressive governments.

One thing that we do observe is that the countries that are more autocratic or relatively weak democracies are indeed importing more facial recognition AI from China, more likely facial recognition AI from China than other technologies. And to me that says that there is a sense in which these technologies indeed are used for surveillance and repression, Beraja added.

Zola, a prominent blogger from China who is now a citizen of Taiwan, said that most netizens in China oppose the countrys digital suppression although their opposition is often muted.

He questioned the sustainability of Chinas AI-tocracy.

China may be exporting these technologies to other countries. But in the long run, such a governance model will lead a society to go to extremesrepeating the irrational policymaking pattern during the (Chinas) Cultural Revolution period. That will lead to its own collapse, Zola told VOA.

This article originated in VOAs Mandarin service.

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China Boasts of 'Mind-reading' Artificial Intelligence that Supports 'AI-tocracy' - Voice of America - VOA News

Facebook says it wants to help fix misinformation running rampant across the internet a problem it may have helped create in the first place.

Facebook parent Meta announced a new AI-powered tool on Monday, called Sphere. It's intended to help detect and address misinformation, or "fake news", on the internet. Meta claims that it's "the first [AI] model capable of automatically scanning hundreds of thousands of citations at once to check whether they truly support the corresponding claims."

The announcement comes after years of criticism over Facebook's own role in allowing online misinformation to thrive and rapidly spread across the globe. Sphere's dataset includes 134 million public webpages, according to Meta's research team. It relies on that collective knowledge of the internet to rapidly scan hundreds of thousands of web citations, in search of factual errors.

It's perhaps fitting, then, that the AI model's first client is Wikipedia. According to Meta's announcement, the crowd-sourced internet encyclopedia is already using Sphere to scan its pages and flag sources that don't actually support the claims in the entry.

Meta also says that when Sphere spots a questionable source, it will also recommend a stronger one or a correction to help improve the entry's accuracy.

"Wikipedia is the default first stop in the hunt for research information, background material, or an answer to that nagging question about pop culture," Meta said in a statement, noting that Wikipedia hosts more than 6.5 million entries in the English language alone and adds roughly 17,000 new entries to its pages each month.

The company also released a video showing how Sphere works:

The arrangement with Wikipedia reportedly does not involve any financial compensation in either direction, Meta told TechCrunch. Meta gets to access a widescale training grounds for Sphere, and Wikipedia gains an AI tool that could potentially streamline its verification process and improve its factual accuracy.

Existing automated systems were already capable of identifying pieces of information that lacked any citation. But Meta's researchers say the complexity of singling out individual claims with questionable sources and determining if those sources actually support the claims in question "requires an AI system's depth of understanding and analysis."

In a statement, Shani Evenstein Sigalov a Tel Aviv University researcher and vice chair of the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees called Sphere's work with Wikipedia "a powerful example of machine learning tools that can help scale the work of volunteers."

"Improving these processes will allow us to attract new editors to Wikipedia and provide better, more reliable information to billions of people around the world," Sigalov said.

Sphere marks Meta's latest effort to address online misinformation while potentially deflecting criticism over the company's own role in allowing that misinformation to persist.

Meta has faced consistently harsh criticism over the past several years from users and regulators over the spread of misinformation on the company's social media platforms, which include Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Former employees and leaked internal documents have added fuel to claims that the company has valued profits over battling misinformation, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been called in front of Congress to discuss the problem.

Last summer, President Joe Biden accused the social media giant of "killing people" by allowing Covid-19 vaccine misinformation on its platforms to spread. The company pushed back, claiming that Facebook and Instagram were providing "authoritative information about COVID-19 and vaccines" to billions of users.

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Meta has a new AI tool to fight misinformationand it's using Wikipedia to train itself - CNBC

Telangana government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) announced Data in Climate Resilient Agriculture (DiCRA) as the latest addition to the Digital Public Goods Registry, a move aimed at equipping farmers with information on impact of climate change.

Using remote sensing and pattern detection algorithms, DiCRA is able to identify farms resilient to climate change and those highly vulnerable. It harnesses open-source technologies to facilitate analysis and insights sharing on climate resilience, based on empirical inputs crowdsourced from hundreds of data scientists and citizen scientists on best performing farms. The platform, powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), is geared towards strengthening food systems and food security, Industries and IT Minister K.T.Rama Raos office said in a release.

The DiCRA platform will put vital data and analytics in the hands of farmers, enabling them to mitigate the effects of climate change on their crops and livestock thus boosting resilience of their livelihoods and wider food security, UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner said.

With UNDP Accelerator Labs and partner organisations, we are proud to facilitate this first-of-its-kind digital commons to drive climate action not only for Telangana but for the entire world, the Minister said.

Describing DiCRA becoming a part of Digital Public Goods Registry as an important milestone in Telanganas commitment to open data policy, service delivery to farmers and anticipatory governance to combat the global challenge of food security, he said in partnership with the vibrant innovation ecosystem in the State it provides intelligence on climate resilience at the farm-level.

Within a period of three months, DiCRA gained more than 500 citizens and scientists from local digital ecosystems to support climate action in 112,077 square km of land in the State. DiCRA provides open access to both data as well as analytics derived through open software, allowing it to be replicated across the world.

The impact of climate change on agriculture is multifold, affecting crop yield, nutritional quality and livestock productivity. UNDP Resident Representative in India Shoko Noda said digital technologies hold immense potential in building resilience as we fight climate change. With DiCRA, we are happy to combine new-age data-driven technology for informed decision making to boost agricultural productivity. We look forward to scaling the use of the platform across India.

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Farmers to get AI inputs on climate change - The Hindu

OTTAWA, Ontario & PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Winner of the Best A.I. Product at the recent TA Awards, TC Market Buzz helps modern investors & traders tackle infobesity while improving brokerage platforms' return on news investment.. The cutting-edge technology employs proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) in particular natural language processing (NLP) trained by market analysts to crunch incredibly large amounts of content into simple actionable insights. Its disruptive iconic interface, designed for the mobile consumer, leverages beautifully simple visualizations to convey whats happening in the markets.

Key specs:

TC Market Buzz declutters the digital news experience making it easier to identify and act on trade opportunities for the large number of retail investors accessing their platform once a week or less. TC Market Buzz help investors Read less, know more thanks to concise analytics such as:

The recent addition of French and Chinese reading skills to Trading Centrals AI and NLP engine adds tens of thousands of articles from leading content sources to crunch in order to derive ever more powerful analytics. Market Buzz users are seamlessly provided with deeper insights into global stocks buzz score, sentiment score and trending topics.

"At Webull, we believe in delivering reliable, actionable research to our investors within an interface they enjoy using", says CEO Anthony Denier. "Trading Central's news and sentiment APIs provided the flexibility we needed to integrate layered insights and education throughout our platform."

Providing traders with actionable insight is incredibly important to us," says Olly Stevens, Product Director at StoneX Retail. Our clients want to know about the hottest conversations in the market and fact-check those stories from the most reputable sources. Combining Refinitiv news products with Trading Central news & sentiment analytics provide a unique vantage point into the performance of an instrument."

"We're passionate about providing high-quality, actionable insights across the full spectrum of investors, from those just getting started to the active trader," says Vincent Sangiovanni, Chief Executive Officer at Money.Net. "That's why we integrated Market Buzz, alongside Technical Insight and Strategy Builder within our Scout platform. The combination of Trading Central's award-winning research, robust AI and NLP capabilities, provides our investors a holistic view of a security, while their flexible, intuitive interfaces helped us deliver insight in a seamless fashion."

Trading Central has been supporting investment decisions through the world's most admired brokerage and wealth tech brands since 1999. Learn about our award-winning, embeddable research solutions: http://www.tradingcentral.com

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Actionable news insights surfaced by Trading Central Artificial Intelligence - Business Wire

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is partnering with the Pulitzer Center to offer pro bono legal support to the Centers first cohort of Artificial Intelligence Accountability Fellows.

The ten journalists representing four continents are pursuing stories of local and global scope that touch on themes crucial to equity and human rights, such as AI in hiring, surveillance, social welfare, policing, migration, and border control.

Reporters Committee attorneys will work with the journalists to vet stories before they are published to reduce legal risk, and to provide other pro bono legal assistance related to newsgathering and First Amendment issues.

Were thrilled to partner with the Pulitzer Center on its new initiative supporting journalists reporting on the impact of artificial intelligence and surveillance in their communities, said Katie Townsend, deputy executive director and legal director for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Our attorneys are looking forward to providing the AI fellows with much-needed legal support to help them pursue and publish this important work with greater confidence.

Reporting on the impact of AI technologies, especially in marginalized and vulnerable communities, is urgent and foundational to democracy, said Marina Walker Guevara, the Pulitzer Centers executive editor. We are grateful that the AI Fellows will have the support of the Reporters Committees world-class and dedicated attorneys as they pursue their stories.

The Pulitzer Center empowers a global community of journalists and media outlets to deepen engagement with critical underreported issues, bridge divides, and spur change. It supports more than 200 journalism projects annually that are published in local, regional and global outlets. The Centers K-12 and university programs connect journalists and stories with students and teachers, fostering critical thinking and media literacy in classrooms.

Through the AI Accountability Network, the Pulitzer Center seeks to address the knowledge imbalance on artificial intelligence that exists in the journalism industry, especially at the local level, and to build the capacity of journalists to report on this fast-evolving and underreported topic with skill, nuance, and impact.

The Reporters Committee regularly files friend-of-the-court briefs and its attorneys represent journalists and news organizations pro bono in court cases that involve First Amendment freedoms, the newsgathering rights of journalists and access to public information. Stay up-to-date on RCFPs work by signing up for their monthly newsletter and following them on Twitter or Instagram.

For media inquiries, contact the Reporters Committee at media@rcfp.org, or Sarah Swan at the Pulitzer Center, sswan@pulitzercenter.org.

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RCFP partnership with Pulitzer Center will support journalists reporting on AI, surveillance - Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press