Attendees at the ongoing 2019 World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos have highly commended China's high-tech<a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.wionews.com/india-news/india-china-review-progress-of-ties-post-wuhan-summit-192522&amp;sa=U&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjGhpzBrYjgAhUJMI8KHREyD3oQFggFMAA&amp;client=internal-uds-cse&amp;cx=006054055338965708568:09spwrlibei&amp;usg=AOvVaw3WVQ2_tO5WKJJ5VfwDVwzy"> progress</a> in recent years, saying that its development will drive the globe to go forward.

According to Nariman Behravesh, chief economist of the IHS Markit, <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.wionews.com/opinions/china-united-states-relations-and-the-thucydides-trap-192673&amp;sa=U&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjrp4errYjgAhWHiHAKHQmFC9EQFggFMAA&amp;client=internal-uds-cse&amp;cx=006054055338965708568:09spwrlibei&amp;usg=AOvVaw38TO2KzhIprGEwYUNK6iRL">China</a> has made successful achievements in the sector of high technologies.

"They're world-class. In a lot of areas, China's really the leading, sort of, economy, in terms of a lot of high techs, so China will play a leadership role in high-tech," Behravesh said.

Many attendees at the forum have shared their similar views in this regard, as they said the world is now excited about China's fast-growing scientific and technological innovation.

"China, over the last many years, has done amazing innovations as well as contributions to the world. In terms of when you look at smartphones, when you look at BC (blockchains), servers, data centres, e-commerce, retailing, a lot of innovation that has been brought about in China," said Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron.

"Living in China, working in China, I can see the fast development of technology. First one is the artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence will change the life of everyone and change every company everywhere and in the very short term. China is on top of the topic, investing in at the forefront in artificial intelligence," said Charles-Edouard Bouee, CEO of Roland Berger.

Some businessmen said all these achievements can be attributed to China's stable development environment, a large talent pool and vibrant incentives.

"All technological revolutions come out of innovations. We should make the best use of China's system advantage. The state-owned enterprises can make more investment so as to have more money and more efforts to accomplish large undertakings. In addition, we should give full play to the privately-owned companies," said Lu Benxian, president of the China Minsheng Investment Group.

"China has the benefit of a very massive scale, not only advances happening on the technology side, but being able to develop them very quickly at large scale and learn fast, adapt fast, and improve the technology fast to ultimately lead to richer experiences for people around the world as well as for businesses," said Sanjay.

The WEF annual meeting running from Tuesday to Friday in Davos has attracted world economic leaders to discuss a wide range of topics.

Themed "Globalization 4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution", the meeting is attended by over 60 heads of state or government, 40 international organization heads, and 1,700 business leaders for more than 400 seminars.

Attendees at the ongoing 2019 World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos have highly commended China's high-tech progress in recent years, saying that its development will drive the globe to go forward.

Attendees at the ongoing 2019 World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos have highly commended China's high-tech progress in recent years, saying that its development will drive the globe to go forward. According to Nariman Behravesh, chief economist of the IHS Markit, China has made successful achievements in the sector of high technologies. "They're world-class. In a lot of areas, China's really the leading, sort of, economy, in terms of a lot of high techs, so China will play a leadership role in high-tech," Behravesh said. Many attendees at the forum have shared their similar views in this regard, as they said the world is now excited about China's fast-growing scientific and technological innovation. "China, over the last many years, has done amazing innovations as well as contributions to the world. In terms of when you look at smartphones, when you look at BC (blockchains), servers, data centres, e-commerce, retailing, a lot of innovation that has been brought about in China," said Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron. "Living in China, working in China, I can see the fast development of technology. First one is the artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence will change the life of everyone and change every company everywhere and in the very short term. China is on top of the topic, investing in at the forefront in artificial intelligence," said Charles-Edouard Bouee, CEO of Roland Berger. Some businessmen said all these achievements can be attributed to China's stable development environment, a large talent pool and vibrant incentives. "All technological revolutions come out of innovations. We should make the best use of China's system advantage. The state-owned enterprises can make more investment so as to have more money and more efforts to accomplish large undertakings. In addition, we should give full play to the privately-owned companies," said Lu Benxian, president of the China Minsheng Investment Group. "China has the benefit of a very massive scale, not only advances happening on the technology side, but being able to develop them very quickly at large scale and learn fast, adapt fast, and improve the technology fast to ultimately lead to richer experiences for people around the world as well as for businesses," said Sanjay. The WEF annual meeting running from Tuesday to Friday in Davos has attracted world economic leaders to discuss a wide range of topics. Themed "Globalization 4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution", the meeting is attended by over 60 heads of state or government, 40 international organization heads, and 1,700 business leaders for more than 400 seminars.

WEF attendees speak highly of Chinese hi-tech development

Noting that "advancement in technology" has led to "a revolution in military affairs" adding new dimensions to future warfare, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Sunday stressed the need for spending more on "artificial intelligence" to compete with "our adversary on the northern borders."

General Rawat said: "Our adversary on the northern borders is spending a huge amount of money on artificial intelligence and cyber warfare. We cannot be left behind. It is time for us also to focus on artificial intelligence and big data analysis rather than just keeping in confined to near definitions."

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"I dare to say that as of now we understand what artificial intelligence and big data analysis is but I don`t think we really understood how to incorporate this and utilise this to our advantage. So it is important that we incorporate the industry to see what advantages can come through artificial intelligence and all the data available and how can we utilise it to our benefit," said General Rawat.

Speaking at the valedictory session of the national conference on "Self-reliance in Defense Manufacturing edition 2.0" here, General Rawat said: "India should ensure that it empires in military systems in weapons, equipment, and ammunition."

"The Government of India is opening two sectors-one in UP and other in Tamil Nadu for defence manufacturing. Rather than becoming an import industry, we should become export-oriented," he added.&nbsp;

"We do have self reliance to some extent but we need to incorporate the industrial sector into defence manufacturing."

Talking about future dimensions of warfare, General Rawat said: "There is a revolution in military affairs that is taking place due to advancement in technology. Indian defence forces should be prepared for future dimensions of warfare, whether it is defence of our borders, combating proxy walls, terrorism, insurgencies or other internal security disturbances."

He insisted on indigenous production and said: "The time has come to look into what is inwards. Whatever we have imported so far has come with a huge cost. When we come for indigenous production it will be easier to understand what are costs involved in the manufacture. I can say with some hope that the amount we will spend on indigenous production will certainly be lesser than what we are spending on imports."

General Rawat also said: "We want to see good advancement in technology. We want to generate competition and that can only come from the industry. The industry should also try and get some technology from abroad. Eastern countries who have got a good technological base will be willing to support us because they know that the numbers matter and the numbers are here in the country."

Further emphasising the need for defence technologies, General Rawat said: "We should be spending on defence technologies. 'Make in India' initiatives are moving fast. We have opened our procedures to industries. What do we need to address on a priority is intelligence and surveillance. We have huge borders over 4,000 kilometres extending in the north and over 2,500 kilometres in the west."

"To have a deep vision into adversary's territory we need to be capable and have equipment that can look across. This equipment could either be based on satellites, fortunately, we have some but not adequate to keep the continuous surveillance or through other means," said General Rawat.

Noting that "advancement in technology" has led to "a revolution in military affairs" adding new dimensions to future warfare, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Sunday stressed the need for spending more on "artificial intelligence" to compete with "our adversary on the northern borders.

Noting that "advancement in technology" has led to "a revolution in military affairs" adding new dimensions to future warfare, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Sunday stressed the need for spending more on "artificial intelligence" to compete with "our adversary on the northern borders." General Rawat said: "Our adversary on the northern borders is spending a huge amount of money on artificial intelligence and cyber warfare. We cannot be left behind. It is time for us also to focus on artificial intelligence and big data analysis rather than just keeping in confined to near definitions." Army Chief General Bipin Rawat: Our adversary on northern borders is spending huge amounts of money on artificial intelligence & cyber warfare, we can't be left behind. It's time to focus on artificial intelligence & big data analysis than keeping it confined to definitions. pic.twitter.com/lQk1VsWEDs — ANI (@ANI) January 20, 2019 × "I dare to say that as of now we understand what artificial intelligence and big data analysis is but I don`t think we really understood how to incorporate this and utilise this to our advantage. So it is important that we incorporate the industry to see what advantages can come through artificial intelligence and all the data available and how can we utilise it to our benefit," said General Rawat. Speaking at the valedictory session of the national conference on "Self-reliance in Defense Manufacturing edition 2.0" here, General Rawat said: "India should ensure that it empires in military systems in weapons, equipment, and ammunition." "The Government of India is opening two sectors-one in UP and other in Tamil Nadu for defence manufacturing. Rather than becoming an import industry, we should become export-oriented," he added. "We do have self reliance to some extent but we need to incorporate the industrial sector into defence manufacturing." Talking about future dimensions of warfare, General Rawat said: "There is a revolution in military affairs that is taking place due to advancement in technology. Indian defence forces should be prepared for future dimensions of warfare, whether it is defence of our borders, combating proxy walls, terrorism, insurgencies or other internal security disturbances." He insisted on indigenous production and said: "The time has come to look into what is inwards. Whatever we have imported so far has come with a huge cost. When we come for indigenous production it will be easier to understand what are costs involved in the manufacture. I can say with some hope that the amount we will spend on indigenous production will certainly be lesser than what we are spending on imports." General Rawat also said: "We want to see good advancement in technology. We want to generate competition and that can only come from the industry. The industry should also try and get some technology from abroad. Eastern countries who have got a good technological base will be willing to support us because they know that the numbers matter and the numbers are here in the country." Further emphasising the need for defence technologies, General Rawat said: "We should be spending on defence technologies. 'Make in India' initiatives are moving fast. We have opened our procedures to industries. What do we need to address on a priority is intelligence and surveillance. We have huge borders over 4,000 kilometres extending in the north and over 2,500 kilometres in the west." "To have a deep vision into adversary's territory we need to be capable and have equipment that can look across. This equipment could either be based on satellites, fortunately, we have some but not adequate to keep the continuous surveillance or through other means," said General Rawat.

Need to spend more on artificial intelligence, says Army Chief

Facebook has launched German initiatives to defend election integrity and examine the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI), its operations chief said on Sunday, seeking to convince sceptics it is serious about privacy and democracy.

The world's largest social network had a tough 2018 as it was buffeted by revelations that UK consultancy Cambridge Analytica had improperly acquired data on millions of its US users to target election advertising.

Founder Mark Zuckerberg has been grilled by lawmakers on the data lapses and, according to newspaper reports, US regulators are discussing fining Facebook for violating a binding agreement to protect the privacy of its users.

"We are not the same company that we were in 2016 or even a year ago," Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg told the DLD Munich technology conference.

"We have a fundamentally different approach to how we run our company today."

In Germany, Facebook is relatively less popular among users than in other Western countries, partly due to privacy concerns dating back to its history of Nazi and Communist rule in the 20th century.

Sandberg said Facebook had struck a new partnership with Germany's federal cyber-security office to help to uphold the integrity of elections and would also commit $7.5 million towards research into the ethics of (AI) at the Technical University in Munich.

Facebook uses AI to spot and remove terrorist content and hate speech before it is reported to its 30,000 moderators, said Sandberg, adding it is also important to ensure that the technology is managed to prevent bias.

"We have to get this right; this is too important," she said.

Facebook has launched German initiatives to defend election integrity and examine the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI), its operations chief said on Sunday, seeking to convince sceptics it is serious about privacy and democracy.

Facebook has launched German initiatives to defend election integrity and examine the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI), its operations chief said on Sunday, seeking to convince sceptics it is serious about privacy and democracy. The world's largest social network had a tough 2018 as it was buffeted by revelations that UK consultancy Cambridge Analytica had improperly acquired data on millions of its US users to target election advertising. Founder Mark Zuckerberg has been grilled by lawmakers on the data lapses and, according to newspaper reports, US regulators are discussing fining Facebook for violating a binding agreement to protect the privacy of its users. "We are not the same company that we were in 2016 or even a year ago," Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg told the DLD Munich technology conference. "We have a fundamentally different approach to how we run our company today." In Germany, Facebook is relatively less popular among users than in other Western countries, partly due to privacy concerns dating back to its history of Nazi and Communist rule in the 20th century. Sandberg said Facebook had struck a new partnership with Germany's federal cyber-security office to help to uphold the integrity of elections and would also commit $7.5 million towards research into the ethics of (AI) at the Technical University in Munich. Facebook uses AI to spot and remove terrorist content and hate speech before it is reported to its 30,000 moderators, said Sandberg, adding it is also important to ensure that the technology is managed to prevent bias. "We have to get this right; this is too important," she said.

Facebook backs election integrity, AI initiatives in Germany

Tech It Out: Artificial Intelligence Influences Dating Apps

WION Gravitas: Pepper the robot tells British MPs about artificial intelligence

Pepper the robot tells British MPs about uses of artificial intelligence

'4th Industrial Revolution' will change the nature of jobs and provide more opportunities, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday as he allayed fears of job loss due to technological development.&nbsp;

Speaking at the launch of the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, he said his government is open to policy changes to help reap benefits of the fourth industrial revolution.

While the previous industrial revolutions eluded the country, India's contribution to the 4th Industrial Revolution would be astonishing, he said.

"India was not independent when the first and second industrial revolution happened. When third industrial revolution happened, India was struggling with challenges of just attained independence," he said.

"Our diversity, our demographic potential, fast-growing market size and digital infrastructure has potential to make India a global hub for research and implementation," he said.

Artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things, blockchain and big data hold potential to take India to new heights, the Prime Minister said.

Modi said teledensity has increased to 93 per cent and nearly 50 crore Indians now have mobiles.

India is the largest mobile data consuming country in the world and also the one with the cheapest data rates, he said, adding mobile data consumption has increased 30 times in four years.

Over 120 crore Indians have Aadhaar, he said, adding work to connect all the 2.5 lakh village panchayats with optic fibre would be completed soon.

In 2014, only 59 panchayats were connected with optic fibre while presently 1 lakh are connected, Modi said.&nbsp;

'4th Industrial Revolution' will change the nature of jobs and provide more opportunities, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday as he allayed fears of job loss due to technological development.

'4th Industrial Revolution' will change the nature of jobs and provide more opportunities, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday as he allayed fears of job loss due to technological development. Speaking at the launch of the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, he said his government is open to policy changes to help reap benefits of the fourth industrial revolution. While the previous industrial revolutions eluded the country, India's contribution to the 4th Industrial Revolution would be astonishing, he said. "India was not independent when the first and second industrial revolution happened. When third industrial revolution happened, India was struggling with challenges of just attained independence," he said. "Our diversity, our demographic potential, fast-growing market size and digital infrastructure has potential to make India a global hub for research and implementation," he said. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things, blockchain and big data hold potential to take India to new heights, the Prime Minister said. Modi said teledensity has increased to 93 per cent and nearly 50 crore Indians now have mobiles. India is the largest mobile data consuming country in the world and also the one with the cheapest data rates, he said, adding mobile data consumption has increased 30 times in four years. Over 120 crore Indians have Aadhaar, he said, adding work to connect all the 2.5 lakh village panchayats with optic fibre would be completed soon. In 2014, only 59 panchayats were connected with optic fibre while presently 1 lakh are connected, Modi said.

4th Industrial Revolution to change nature of jobs: PM Modi

In his blog post on Thursday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the Internet giant will not "design or deploy" Artificial Intelligence(AI) in "weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people".

Pichai, however, clarified that the company will continue to work with the US government&nbsp;and the military in many areas.&nbsp;

Pichai wrote,"we will not design or deploy AI"&nbsp;in the following application areas:

"Technologies that cause or are likely to cause overall harm. &nbsp;Where there is a material risk of harm...weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people....weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people...technologies that gather or use information for surveillance violating internationally accepted norms...technologies whose purpose contravenes widely accepted principles of international law and human rights".

He further specified that Artificial Intelligence&nbsp;will be used in cybersecurity, training, military recruitment and the veterans’ healthcare, and search and rescue.&nbsp;

Google's decision to retreat from a deal with the US military came in response to the severe backlash it received&nbsp;from its employees against the company's collaboration with the US military.

According to a report, the partnership of Google with the US Department of Defense had jolted the internet company.

Thousands of workers had filed a petition asking Google to stay out of "the business of war". Some even quit the company to protest against the collaboration with the military.

The backlash forced the Internet titan not to continue with the contract aimed at helping the US military analyse aerial drone imagery.

After the protest by the workers, Google has decided not to renew the "Maven" AI project with the US Defence Department after it expires in 2019. 
&nbsp;

After the protest by the workers, Google has decided not to renew the 'Maven' AI project with the US Defence Department after it expires in 2019

In his blog post on Thursday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the Internet giant will not "design or deploy" Artificial Intelligence(AI) in "weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people". Pichai, however, clarified that the company will continue to work with the US government and the military in many areas. Pichai wrote,"we will not design or deploy AI" in the following application areas: "Technologies that cause or are likely to cause overall harm. Where there is a material risk of harm...weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people....weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people...technologies that gather or use information for surveillance violating internationally accepted norms...technologies whose purpose contravenes widely accepted principles of international law and human rights". He further specified that Artificial Intelligence will be used in cybersecurity, training, military recruitment and the veterans’ healthcare, and search and rescue. Google's decision to retreat from a deal with the US military came in response to the severe backlash it received from its employees against the company's collaboration with the US military. According to a report, the partnership of Google with the US Department of Defense had jolted the internet company. Thousands of workers had filed a petition asking Google to stay out of "the business of war". Some even quit the company to protest against the collaboration with the military. The backlash forced the Internet titan not to continue with the contract aimed at helping the US military analyse aerial drone imagery. After the protest by the workers, Google has decided not to renew the "Maven" AI project with the US Defence Department after it expires in 2019.

Sundar Pichai announces Google's retreat from US military's AI weapon's project

Google workers have got word that the internet titan will retreat from a deal to help the US military use artificial intelligence to analyze drone video following an outcry from staff, according to reports. The collaboration with the US Department of Defense was said to have sparked rebellion inside the California-based company. An internal petition calling for Google to stay out of "the business of war" garnered thousands of signatures, and some workers reportedly quit to protest a collaboration with the military.

The New York Times and tech news website Gizmodo cited unnamed sources as saying that a Google's cloud team executive announced told employees on Friday that the company would not seek to renew the controversial contract after it expires next year. The contract was reported to be worth less than $10 million to Google but was thought to have potential to lead to more lucrative technology collaborations with the military.

Google did not respond to a request for comment. Google has remained mum about Project Maven, which reportedly uses machine learning and engineering talent to distinguish people and objects in drone videos for the Defense Department. "We believe that Google should not be in the business of war," the employee petition reads, according to copies posted online. "Therefore, we ask that Project Maven be cancelled and that Google draft, publicize and enforce a clear policy stating that neither Google nor its contractors will ever build warfare technology."

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an internet rights group and the International Committee for Robot Arms Control (ICRAC) were among those who have weighed in with support.

"As military commanders come to see the object recognition algorithms as reliable, it will be tempting to attenuate or even remove human review and oversight for these systems," ICRAC said in an open letter.

"We are then just a short step away from authorizing autonomous drones to kill automatically, without human supervision or meaningful human control." Google has gone on the record saying that its work to improve machines' ability to recognize objects is not for offensive uses. 
The EFF and others stressed the need for moral and ethical frameworks regarding the use of artificial intelligence in weaponry.

"The use of AI in weapons systems is a crucially important topic and one that deserves an international public discussion and likely some international agreements to ensure global safety," the EFF said in a blog post on the topic.&nbsp

Google workers have got word that the internet titan will retreat from a deal to help the US military use artificial intelligence to analyze drone video following an outcry from staff, according to reports

Google workers have got word that the internet titan will retreat from a deal to help the US military use artificial intelligence to analyze drone video following an outcry from staff, according to reports. The collaboration with the US Department of Defense was said to have sparked rebellion inside the California-based company. An internal petition calling for Google to stay out of "the business of war" garnered thousands of signatures, and some workers reportedly quit to protest a collaboration with the military. The New York Times and tech news website Gizmodo cited unnamed sources as saying that a Google's cloud team executive announced told employees on Friday that the company would not seek to renew the controversial contract after it expires next year. The contract was reported to be worth less than $10 million to Google but was thought to have potential to lead to more lucrative technology collaborations with the military. Google did not respond to a request for comment. Google has remained mum about Project Maven, which reportedly uses machine learning and engineering talent to distinguish people and objects in drone videos for the Defense Department. "We believe that Google should not be in the business of war," the employee petition reads, according to copies posted online. "Therefore, we ask that Project Maven be cancelled and that Google draft, publicize and enforce a clear policy stating that neither Google nor its contractors will ever build warfare technology." The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an internet rights group and the International Committee for Robot Arms Control (ICRAC) were among those who have weighed in with support. "As military commanders come to see the object recognition algorithms as reliable, it will be tempting to attenuate or even remove human review and oversight for these systems," ICRAC said in an open letter. "We are then just a short step away from authorizing autonomous drones to kill automatically, without human supervision or meaningful human control." Google has gone on the record saying that its work to improve machines' ability to recognize objects is not for offensive uses. The EFF and others stressed the need for moral and ethical frameworks regarding the use of artificial intelligence in weaponry. "The use of AI in weapons systems is a crucially important topic and one that deserves an international public discussion and likely some international agreements to ensure global safety," the EFF said in a blog post on the topic.

Google retreating from military AI project: Reports

After Russia, China and US, India has decided to include Artificial Intelligence in its defence forces with an aim to enhance the operational preparedness of the armed forces, ANi reported.

News agency ANI quoting Ajay Kumar, Defence Secretary (Production), Ministry of Defence stated that a task force has been set up under the chairmanship of Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran to finalise the specifics and framework of the project.

"Artificial Intelligence is going to influence everything in the future, our common lives also including it also going to affect the future warfare. Most of the major countries in the world are taking steps to ensure that their defence systems are fully empowered by the use of Artificial Intelligence. In India, we have also taken steps in this direction," Kumar was quoted as saying.

The project to equip defence forces with Artificial Intelligence, includes the representation from all defence forces or Defence Research and Development (DRDO) labs, government, BEL, experts, professionals and startups.

"This multi-stakeholder group is looking at what are the kinds of requirements," Kumar said.

He further said that India has a fairly strong IT industry base which will become the biggest strength in terms of developing Artificial Intelligence capabilities.

"We need to work on a partnership model between industries and defence forces which should be different from a buyer-seller proposition," he added.

Artificial Intelligence, which along with robotics, internet and machine learning has been billed as the dawn of the fourth industrial revolution, is a system of computers or machines that have the ability to mirror human intelligence. This means they can learn, reason and do the self-correction on its own.

The project to equip defence forces with Artificial Intelligence, includes the representation from all defence forces or Defence Research and Development (DRDO) labs, government, BEL, experts, professionals and startups.

After Russia, China and US, India has decided to include Artificial Intelligence in its defence forces with an aim to enhance the operational preparedness of the armed forces, ANi reported. News agency ANI quoting Ajay Kumar, Defence Secretary (Production), Ministry of Defence stated that a task force has been set up under the chairmanship of Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran to finalise the specifics and framework of the project. "Artificial Intelligence is going to influence everything in the future, our common lives also including it also going to affect the future warfare. Most of the major countries in the world are taking steps to ensure that their defence systems are fully empowered by the use of Artificial Intelligence. In India, we have also taken steps in this direction," Kumar was quoted as saying. The project to equip defence forces with Artificial Intelligence, includes the representation from all defence forces or Defence Research and Development (DRDO) labs, government, BEL, experts, professionals and startups. "This multi-stakeholder group is looking at what are the kinds of requirements," Kumar said. He further said that India has a fairly strong IT industry base which will become the biggest strength in terms of developing Artificial Intelligence capabilities. "We need to work on a partnership model between industries and defence forces which should be different from a buyer-seller proposition," he added. Artificial Intelligence, which along with robotics, internet and machine learning has been billed as the dawn of the fourth industrial revolution, is a system of computers or machines that have the ability to mirror human intelligence. This means they can learn, reason and do the self-correction on its own.

India aiming at equipping defence forces with Artificial Intelligence

For its updated news application, Google is doubling down on the use of artificial intelligence as part of an effort to weed our disinformation and help users get viewpoints beyond their own "filter bubble."

Google chief Sundar Pichai, who unveiled the updated Google News earlier this month, said the app now "surfaces the news you care about from trusted sources while still giving you a full range of perspectives on events."

It marks Google's latest effort to be at the center of online news and includes a new push to help publishers get paid subscribers through the tech giant's platform.

According to product chief Trystan Upstill, the news app "uses the best of artificial intelligence to find the best of human intelligence -- the great reporting done by journalists around the globe."

While the app will enable users to get "personalized" news, it will also include top stories for all readers, aiming to break the so-called filter bubble of information designed to reinforce people's biases.

"Having a productive conversation or debate requires everyone to have access to the same information," Upstill said.

He said the "full coverage" feed would be the same for everyone -- "an unpersonalized view of events from a range of trusted news sources."

Some journalism industry veterans were skeptical about the effort to replace human editors with machine curators.

"There's been a fantasy of (algorithmic) personalized news for a log time," said New York University journalism professor Meredith Broussard.

"Nobody has ever gotten it right. I think that news designers and home page editors do a good job of curating already."

Google and Facebook have also been criticized for scooping up most online ad revenues and for enabling false information to spread.

Recently, News Corp. CEO Robert Thomson called for an "algorithm review board" that would "oversee these historically influential digital platforms and ensure that there is no algorithmic abuse or censorship."

- Changing news ecosystem - 
In the new app, Google's "newsstand" addresses some concerns by allowing users to sign up for subscriptions using their Google accounts, and will enable publishers to connect with readers directly.

Dan Kennedy, a Northeastern University journalism professor, said the revamped news app appears to be positive for the news ecosystem.

"For many years, Google refused to share ad revenues with news organizations on the grounds that Google was driving traffic to them, and that it was up to those organizations to figure out how to monetize that traffic," Kennedy said.

"Now, with more than 90 percent of all new digital ad revenues going to Google and Facebook, Google is finally acknowledging that it's time to try something else."

Nicholas Diakopoulos, a Northwestern University professor specializing in computational and data journalism, said the impact of Google's changes remain to be seen.

Diakopoulos said algorithmic and personalized news can be positive for "engagement" but may only benefit a handful of news organizations.

His research found that "Google concentrates its attention on a relatively small number of publishers, it's quite concentrated."

Google's effort to identify and prioritize "trusted" news sources may also be problematic, according to Diakopoulos.

"Maybe it's good for the big guys, or the (publishers) who have figured out how to game the algorithm," he said. "But what about the local news sites, what about the new news sites that don't have a long track record?"

Diakopoulos said that while AI can offer some advantages in news curation, "you still need people involved in many different ways. you need to reflect human values, editorial values... you can't quantify every aspect that might be important to an editorial decision."

The growing importance of the platforms raise the questions of whether Google and Facebook are "media" companies and not simply technology firms, a moniker both have resisted.

Diakopoulos said Google "is becoming more and more like a media company," although that is sometimes difficult to define.

"Yahoo started as a tech company and became a media company, and maybe Google is headed in that direction," he said.

According to product chief Trystan Upstill, the news app 'uses the best of artificial intelligence to find the best of human intelligence — the great reporting done by journalists around the globe'

For its updated news application, Google is doubling down on the use of artificial intelligence as part of an effort to weed our disinformation and help users get viewpoints beyond their own "filter bubble." Google chief Sundar Pichai, who unveiled the updated Google News earlier this month, said the app now "surfaces the news you care about from trusted sources while still giving you a full range of perspectives on events." It marks Google's latest effort to be at the center of online news and includes a new push to help publishers get paid subscribers through the tech giant's platform. According to product chief Trystan Upstill, the news app "uses the best of artificial intelligence to find the best of human intelligence -- the great reporting done by journalists around the globe." While the app will enable users to get "personalized" news, it will also include top stories for all readers, aiming to break the so-called filter bubble of information designed to reinforce people's biases. "Having a productive conversation or debate requires everyone to have access to the same information," Upstill said. He said the "full coverage" feed would be the same for everyone -- "an unpersonalized view of events from a range of trusted news sources." Some journalism industry veterans were skeptical about the effort to replace human editors with machine curators. "There's been a fantasy of (algorithmic) personalized news for a log time," said New York University journalism professor Meredith Broussard. "Nobody has ever gotten it right. I think that news designers and home page editors do a good job of curating already." Google and Facebook have also been criticized for scooping up most online ad revenues and for enabling false information to spread. Recently, News Corp. CEO Robert Thomson called for an "algorithm review board" that would "oversee these historically influential digital platforms and ensure that there is no algorithmic abuse or censorship." - Changing news ecosystem - In the new app, Google's "newsstand" addresses some concerns by allowing users to sign up for subscriptions using their Google accounts, and will enable publishers to connect with readers directly. Dan Kennedy, a Northeastern University journalism professor, said the revamped news app appears to be positive for the news ecosystem. "For many years, Google refused to share ad revenues with news organizations on the grounds that Google was driving traffic to them, and that it was up to those organizations to figure out how to monetize that traffic," Kennedy said. "Now, with more than 90 percent of all new digital ad revenues going to Google and Facebook, Google is finally acknowledging that it's time to try something else." Nicholas Diakopoulos, a Northwestern University professor specializing in computational and data journalism, said the impact of Google's changes remain to be seen. Diakopoulos said algorithmic and personalized news can be positive for "engagement" but may only benefit a handful of news organizations. His research found that "Google concentrates its attention on a relatively small number of publishers, it's quite concentrated." Google's effort to identify and prioritize "trusted" news sources may also be problematic, according to Diakopoulos. "Maybe it's good for the big guys, or the (publishers) who have figured out how to game the algorithm," he said. "But what about the local news sites, what about the new news sites that don't have a long track record?" Diakopoulos said that while AI can offer some advantages in news curation, "you still need people involved in many different ways. you need to reflect human values, editorial values... you can't quantify every aspect that might be important to an editorial decision." The growing importance of the platforms raise the questions of whether Google and Facebook are "media" companies and not simply technology firms, a moniker both have resisted. Diakopoulos said Google "is becoming more and more like a media company," although that is sometimes difficult to define. "Yahoo started as a tech company and became a media company, and maybe Google is headed in that direction," he said.

To filter out fake news, Google's news app is using AI

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/india-working-on-unmanned-tanks-vessels-robotic-weaponry-for-future-wars-138405">India working on unmanned tanks, vessels, robotic weaponry for future wars</a>

In an ambitious defence project, the government has started work on incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the operational preparedness of the armed forces in a significant way that would include equipping them with unmanned tanks, vessels, aerial vehicles and robotic weaponry.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/chinas-gold-mine-at-arunachal-border-may-become-another-flashpoint-with-india-report-138412">China's gold mine at Arunachal border may become another flashpoint with India: Report</a>

China has begun large-scale mining operations on its side of the border with Arunachal Pradesh where a huge trove of gold, silver and other precious minerals valued at about $60 billion has been found, a media report said on Sunday.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/sri-lanka-warns-of-looming-foreign-debt-crisis-138410">Sri Lanka warns of looming foreign debt crisis</a>

Sri Lanka is headed for a debt crisis, the finance ministry warned Sunday, blaming a series of costly projects commissioned by the previous government for record-high repayments.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/syrian-monitor-says-insurgents-quit-enclave-state-media-denies-it-138391">Syrian monitor says insurgents quit enclave, state media denies it</a>

A war monitor said buses evacuated Islamic State fighters from an enclave south of Damascus on Sunday in a withdrawal deal, though state media denied the report and said the Syrian army was fighting to finish off the insurgents.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/polls-open-in-venezuela-election-boycotted-by-opposition-138394">Polls open in Venezuela election boycotted by </a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/polls-open-in-venezuela-election-boycotted-by-opposition-138394">opposition</a>

Polling stations across Venezuela opened Sunday for a presidential election boycotted by the opposition in which President Nicolas Maduro is expected to be easily reelected.

&nbsp

India working on unmanned tanks, vessels, robotic weaponry for future wars In an ambitious defence project, the government has started work on incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the operational preparedness of the armed forces in a significant way that would include equipping them with unmanned tanks, vessels, aerial vehicles and robotic weaponry. China's gold mine at Arunachal border may become another flashpoint with India: Report China has begun large-scale mining operations on its side of the border with Arunachal Pradesh where a huge trove of gold, silver and other precious minerals valued at about $60 billion has been found, a media report said on Sunday. Sri Lanka warns of looming foreign debt crisis Sri Lanka is headed for a debt crisis, the finance ministry warned Sunday, blaming a series of costly projects commissioned by the previous government for record-high repayments. Syrian monitor says insurgents quit enclave, state media denies it A war monitor said buses evacuated Islamic State fighters from an enclave south of Damascus on Sunday in a withdrawal deal, though state media denied the report and said the Syrian army was fighting to finish off the insurgents. Polls open in Venezuela election boycotted by opposition Polling stations across Venezuela opened Sunday for a presidential election boycotted by the opposition in which President Nicolas Maduro is expected to be easily reelected.

News brief: Big stories of the day

Google's Artificial Intelligence programme for the Pentagon has met with severe opposition from its employees. Nearly 4000 Google employees have signed a petition to roll back the project more than dozens have already quit.

Google's ambitious AI programme, Project Maven, aims to work with the US military and facilitate easy and faster analysis of footage captured by military drones.

Through machine learning, Google's AI assistance would help the military distinguish people, object and spot targets easily. However, employees at Google have questioned the project on ethical grounds.&nbsp;

The internal petition, that seeks Google to rollback the project, involves nearly 4000 employees who want Google to stay out of the "business of war". Some petitioners have called for a treaty against autonomous weapons systems.&nbsp;

Google, for now, continues with the project explaining that the technology used in Maven is open source and that the US military can access it with or without Google's direct involvement.

Time and again, Google has maintained that it will not apply AI for combat operations.&nbsp;

Time and again, Google has maintained that it will not apply AI for combat operations

Google's Artificial Intelligence programme for the Pentagon has met with severe opposition from its employees. Nearly 4000 Google employees have signed a petition to roll back the project more than dozens have already quit. Google's ambitious AI programme, Project Maven, aims to work with the US military and facilitate easy and faster analysis of footage captured by military drones. Through machine learning, Google's AI assistance would help the military distinguish people, object and spot targets easily. However, employees at Google have questioned the project on ethical grounds. The internal petition, that seeks Google to rollback the project, involves nearly 4000 employees who want Google to stay out of the "business of war". Some petitioners have called for a treaty against autonomous weapons systems. Google, for now, continues with the project explaining that the technology used in Maven is open source and that the US military can access it with or without Google's direct involvement. Time and again, Google has maintained that it will not apply AI for combat operations.

Watch: Row over Google's US military AI project 'Maven', several employees quit

Facebook is committed to ensure the integrity of key elections across the world, including in India, its founder Mark Zuckerberg said as he testified before the US Congress over the massive Cambridge Analytica scandal that has shaken the social media giant.

Zuckerberg's testimony came after it was revealed in March that British firm Cambridge Analytica tied to US President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign improperly collected profile data of up to 87 million Facebook users.

The scandal shook confidence in Facebook, leading some people to go as far as abandoning the social media site altogether&nbspa revolt called the hashtag #DeleteFacebook.

Zuckerberg, who is also the CEO of Facebook, said data privacy and foreign interference in elections were topics that they have discussed at the Facebook board meeting.

"These are some of the biggest issues that the company has faced, and we feel a huge responsibility to get these right," Zuckerberg told lawmakers during the Congressional hearing, adding that "this is one of my top priorities in 2018".

He said Facebook was taking steps to ensure the integrity of elections in countries like the United States, India, Brazil, and Pakistan.

"2018 is is an incredibly important year for elections. Not just in the US mid-terms, but, around the world, there are important elections -- in India, Brazil, Mexico, Pakistan, and Hungary -- and we want to make sure we do everything we can to protect the integrity of these elections," he said.

Zuckerberg organisation faces charges of failing to prevent Cambridge Analytica from gathering personal information of Facebook users to try to influence an election.

Zuckerberg said his one of the greatest regrets was that Facebook has been slow in identifying the Russian information operations in 2016.

"We expected them to do a number of more traditional cyber attacks, which we did identify and notify the campaigns that they were trying to hack into them," he said.

The Facebook CEO said he was now more confident as his company has set the things right. Since the 2016 election, there have been several important elections around the world where it has had a better record, he said.

There was the French presidential election. There was the German election. There was the US Senate Alabama special election last year," Zuckerberg added.

He said Facebook has deployed new Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools that better identify fake accounts, trying to interfere in elections or spread misinformation.

"Between those three elections, we were able to proactively remove tens of thousands of accounts before they could do significant harm," he said.

"And the nature of these attacks, though, is that there are people in Russia whose job is to try to exploit our systems and other internet systems, and other systems, as well. So this is an arms race, right? I mean, they're going to keep on getting better at this, and we need to invest in keeping on getting better at this, too, which is why one of the things I mentioned before is we're going to have more than 20,000 people, by the end of this year, working on security and content review across the company," he said.

Zuckerberg said they had developed tools which identify people when they try to create fake accounts.

Your content has to be authentic. So we build technical tools to try to identify when people are creating fake accounts, especially large networks of fake accounts, like the Russians have in order to remove all of that content," he said.

Zuckerberg said after the US 2016 election, Facebook's top priority was to protect the integrity of other elections around the world.

"What we're going to do is to ask a valid government identity and we're going to verify the location. We are going to do that so that someone sitting in Russia, for example, couldn't say that they're in America and, therefore, able to run an election ad," he said.

Mark Zuckerberg's testimony came after it was revealed in March that British firm Cambridge Analytica tied to US President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign improperly collected profile data of up to 87 million Facebook users

Facebook is committed to ensure the integrity of key elections across the world, including in India, its founder Mark Zuckerberg said as he testified before the US Congress over the massive Cambridge Analytica scandal that has shaken the social media giant. Zuckerberg's testimony came after it was revealed in March that British firm Cambridge Analytica tied to US President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign improperly collected profile data of up to 87 million Facebook users. The scandal shook confidence in Facebook, leading some people to go as far as abandoning the social media site altogether&nbspa revolt called the hashtag #DeleteFacebook. Zuckerberg, who is also the CEO of Facebook, said data privacy and foreign interference in elections were topics that they have discussed at the Facebook board meeting. "These are some of the biggest issues that the company has faced, and we feel a huge responsibility to get these right," Zuckerberg told lawmakers during the Congressional hearing, adding that "this is one of my top priorities in 2018". He said Facebook was taking steps to ensure the integrity of elections in countries like the United States, India, Brazil, and Pakistan. "2018 is is an incredibly important year for elections. Not just in the US mid-terms, but, around the world, there are important elections -- in India, Brazil, Mexico, Pakistan, and Hungary -- and we want to make sure we do everything we can to protect the integrity of these elections," he said. Zuckerberg organisation faces charges of failing to prevent Cambridge Analytica from gathering personal information of Facebook users to try to influence an election. Zuckerberg said his one of the greatest regrets was that Facebook has been slow in identifying the Russian information operations in 2016. "We expected them to do a number of more traditional cyber attacks, which we did identify and notify the campaigns that they were trying to hack into them," he said. The Facebook CEO said he was now more confident as his company has set the things right. Since the 2016 election, there have been several important elections around the world where it has had a better record, he said. There was the French presidential election. There was the German election. There was the US Senate Alabama special election last year," Zuckerberg added. He said Facebook has deployed new Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools that better identify fake accounts, trying to interfere in elections or spread misinformation. "Between those three elections, we were able to proactively remove tens of thousands of accounts before they could do significant harm," he said. "And the nature of these attacks, though, is that there are people in Russia whose job is to try to exploit our systems and other internet systems, and other systems, as well. So this is an arms race, right? I mean, they're going to keep on getting better at this, and we need to invest in keeping on getting better at this, too, which is why one of the things I mentioned before is we're going to have more than 20,000 people, by the end of this year, working on security and content review across the company," he said. Zuckerberg said they had developed tools which identify people when they try to create fake accounts. Your content has to be authentic. So we build technical tools to try to identify when people are creating fake accounts, especially large networks of fake accounts, like the Russians have in order to remove all of that content," he said. Zuckerberg said after the US 2016 election, Facebook's top priority was to protect the integrity of other elections around the world. "What we're going to do is to ask a valid government identity and we're going to verify the location. We are going to do that so that someone sitting in Russia, for example, couldn't say that they're in America and, therefore, able to run an election ad," he said.

Facebook committed to ensure integrity of elections in India, other countries: Zuckerberg

Facebook has deployed technology tools like artificial intelligence and thousands of people to work on security as the company's "major focus" this year is to protect the integrity of upcoming elections in several countries, including India, on its platform, its founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said.

Terming 2018 a "big year" for elections, Zuckerberg said Facebook was enhancing its security features to prevent trolls from spreading information.

The social media giant has been slammed over a major data breach scandal by Cambridge Analytica, a British firm linked to Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

"In the US Senate Alabama special election last year, we successfully deployed some new artificial intelligence (AI) tools that removed Macedonian trolls who were trying to spread information during the election. We now have about 15,000 people working on security and content review and we'll have more than 20,000 by the end of this year," Zuckerberg told reporters during a conference call yesterday.

"This is going to be a big year for elections ahead with the US midterms and elections in India, Brazil, Mexico, Pakistan, Hungary and others. This is going to be a major focus for us," he said.

Several Indian states like Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh are scheduled to go for polls this year and the general elections are due in a little over a year from now.

A day earlier, Zuckerberg said Facebook had taken big steps by taking down Russia's Internet Research Agency (IRA) pages that were targeting the US.

"Since we became aware of their activity after the 2016 US elections, we've been working to root out the IRA and protect the integrity of elections around the world," he said.

"There have been a number of important elections that we've focused on. A few months after the 2016 elections, there was a French presidential election and leading up to that we deployed some new AI tools that took down more than 30,000 fake accounts," he said.

In German election, the company developed a new playbook for working with the local election commission on share information on threats it received, he said.

"We have more work to do here and we're going to continue working very hard to defend against them. There's the Mexican presidential election, there are big elections in India and Brazil as well as in Pakistan and Hungary and a number of other countries and the US midterms, of course," he said.

Zuckerberg pointed out three different types of activity that required different strategies for fighting.

Economic actors, who are basically spammers the second are governments trying to interfere in elections, and then the third is just polarisation and sometimes lack of truthfulness in what you've described as the media, he said.

"If we just make it so that the economics stop working for them then they'll move on to something else. I mean, these are literally the same type of people who had been sending you Viagra e-mails in the '90s. We can attack it on both sides. On the revenue side, we make it so that they can't run the Facebook ad network," he said.

The second category are the national security type issues, Zuckerberg said, adding that is the Russian election interference.

"In order to solve that, what we need to do is to identify these bad actors...What we need to do is to just track that really carefully in order to just be able to remove it from Facebook entirely," he said.

Zuckerberg alleged that some media organisations that are sanctioned news outlets in Russia when investigated closely over time, clearly come out as organisations completely owned, controlled and operated by the IRA.

"So we take them down and treat that as a security issue," he said.

Facebook has deployed technology tools like artificial intelligence and thousands of people to work on security as the company's 'major focus' this year is to protect the integrity of upcoming elections in several countries

Facebook has deployed technology tools like artificial intelligence and thousands of people to work on security as the company's "major focus" this year is to protect the integrity of upcoming elections in several countries, including India, on its platform, its founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said. Terming 2018 a "big year" for elections, Zuckerberg said Facebook was enhancing its security features to prevent trolls from spreading information. The social media giant has been slammed over a major data breach scandal by Cambridge Analytica, a British firm linked to Donald Trump's presidential campaign. "In the US Senate Alabama special election last year, we successfully deployed some new artificial intelligence (AI) tools that removed Macedonian trolls who were trying to spread information during the election. We now have about 15,000 people working on security and content review and we'll have more than 20,000 by the end of this year," Zuckerberg told reporters during a conference call yesterday. "This is going to be a big year for elections ahead with the US midterms and elections in India, Brazil, Mexico, Pakistan, Hungary and others. This is going to be a major focus for us," he said. Several Indian states like Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh are scheduled to go for polls this year and the general elections are due in a little over a year from now. A day earlier, Zuckerberg said Facebook had taken big steps by taking down Russia's Internet Research Agency (IRA) pages that were targeting the US. "Since we became aware of their activity after the 2016 US elections, we've been working to root out the IRA and protect the integrity of elections around the world," he said. "There have been a number of important elections that we've focused on. A few months after the 2016 elections, there was a French presidential election and leading up to that we deployed some new AI tools that took down more than 30,000 fake accounts," he said. In German election, the company developed a new playbook for working with the local election commission on share information on threats it received, he said. "We have more work to do here and we're going to continue working very hard to defend against them. There's the Mexican presidential election, there are big elections in India and Brazil as well as in Pakistan and Hungary and a number of other countries and the US midterms, of course," he said. Zuckerberg pointed out three different types of activity that required different strategies for fighting. Economic actors, who are basically spammers the second are governments trying to interfere in elections, and then the third is just polarisation and sometimes lack of truthfulness in what you've described as the media, he said. "If we just make it so that the economics stop working for them then they'll move on to something else. I mean, these are literally the same type of people who had been sending you Viagra e-mails in the '90s. We can attack it on both sides. On the revenue side, we make it so that they can't run the Facebook ad network," he said. The second category are the national security type issues, Zuckerberg said, adding that is the Russian election interference. "In order to solve that, what we need to do is to identify these bad actors...What we need to do is to just track that really carefully in order to just be able to remove it from Facebook entirely," he said. Zuckerberg alleged that some media organisations that are sanctioned news outlets in Russia when investigated closely over time, clearly come out as organisations completely owned, controlled and operated by the IRA. "So we take them down and treat that as a security issue," he said.

Facebook's major focus polls in India, US, Pakistan: Zuckerberg

A central task force on Artificial Intelligence (AI) has suggested creating a National Artificial Intelligence Mission (N-AIM) that will serve as a nodal agency for coordinating AI related activities in the country.

The report of the task force, set up by the Union Commerce Ministry in August last, has also said: "AI should be seen as a scalable problem solver in India rather than only as a booster of economic growth."

Professor V Kamakoti, Chairman of the task force and a Professor of IIT, Madras, said the report was a "practical" one and that "all our recommendations have been very pointed and it has been seen to it that they are very much implementable in a short time."

According to the report, Artificial Intelligence "is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programmes."

The task force, whose members include those from government and the private sector, besides the academia, has identified 10 domains in India, including Manufacturing, FinTech, Agriculture/Food Processing and Education for implementation of AI.

Kamakoti told that the implementation of AI in labour intensive sectors such as agriculture will not take away jobs, but enhance productivity.

The report has made a set of recommendations to the Government of India, which include the setting up of N-AIM with a budgetary allocation of Rs 1,200 crore over five years.

The task force has recommended that the government fund under the "Union budget an inter-ministerial National Artificial Intelligence Mission (N-AIM), that will act as a nodal agency for coordinating AI related activities in India."

The mission shall involve itself in "core activities, coordination of AI related projects of national importance and establishing Centers of Excellence."

The core activities include funding establishment of a network among Academia, services industry, product industry, startups and Government ministries, besides helping studies to identify concrete projects in each domain of focus.

Enabling policies and forging bilateral cooperation with countries like Canada, Germany, Israel, UK and US to develop AI solutions for social and economic problems and sharing the best practices were also recommended.

Asked about fears of AI possibly affecting jobs, Kamakoti said implementation of technology would actually enhance productivity and referred to agriculture to drive home his point.

"Humans cannot be replaced but the skill sets change- He (farmer) may have to now drive an intelligent tractor...People are already using harvester, smart devices in farming," he said.

"We believe this (AI) will create more opportunities and jobs and make the process of agriculture more reliable. For instance, AI can predict an infection in crops. Therefore it will make agriculture more sophisticated," he said.

The manpower would remain the same but it would be "more tech-savvy," he added.&nbsp

The report of the task force, set up by the Union Commerce Ministry in August last, has said: "AI should be seen as a scalable problem solver in India rather than only as a booster of economic growth."

A central task force on Artificial Intelligence (AI) has suggested creating a National Artificial Intelligence Mission (N-AIM) that will serve as a nodal agency for coordinating AI related activities in the country. The report of the task force, set up by the Union Commerce Ministry in August last, has also said: "AI should be seen as a scalable problem solver in India rather than only as a booster of economic growth." Professor V Kamakoti, Chairman of the task force and a Professor of IIT, Madras, said the report was a "practical" one and that "all our recommendations have been very pointed and it has been seen to it that they are very much implementable in a short time." According to the report, Artificial Intelligence "is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programmes." The task force, whose members include those from government and the private sector, besides the academia, has identified 10 domains in India, including Manufacturing, FinTech, Agriculture/Food Processing and Education for implementation of AI. Kamakoti told that the implementation of AI in labour intensive sectors such as agriculture will not take away jobs, but enhance productivity. The report has made a set of recommendations to the Government of India, which include the setting up of N-AIM with a budgetary allocation of Rs 1,200 crore over five years. The task force has recommended that the government fund under the "Union budget an inter-ministerial National Artificial Intelligence Mission (N-AIM), that will act as a nodal agency for coordinating AI related activities in India." The mission shall involve itself in "core activities, coordination of AI related projects of national importance and establishing Centers of Excellence." The core activities include funding establishment of a network among Academia, services industry, product industry, startups and Government ministries, besides helping studies to identify concrete projects in each domain of focus. Enabling policies and forging bilateral cooperation with countries like Canada, Germany, Israel, UK and US to develop AI solutions for social and economic problems and sharing the best practices were also recommended. Asked about fears of AI possibly affecting jobs, Kamakoti said implementation of technology would actually enhance productivity and referred to agriculture to drive home his point. "Humans cannot be replaced but the skill sets change- He (farmer) may have to now drive an intelligent tractor...People are already using harvester, smart devices in farming," he said. "We believe this (AI) will create more opportunities and jobs and make the process of agriculture more reliable. For instance, AI can predict an infection in crops. Therefore it will make agriculture more sophisticated," he said. The manpower would remain the same but it would be "more tech-savvy," he added.

Central task force on AI recommends setting up of National Artificial Intelligence Mission

Chinese smartphones manufacturing company Vivo launched an iPhone look-alike Vivo V9&nbsp; in India on Wednesday.

Priced at 22,990, Vivo 9 comes with full view IPS LCD display and HD plus screen size of&nbsp;6.3 inches.

Meant for beautiful selfies, Vivo 9&#39;s main highlight is its&nbsp;front camera that comes with 24 megapixels.

The rear dual-camera&nbsp;set up comes with 16 megapixel and 5 megapixels with an in-depth sensor for your perfect bokeh effect photography.

It also has Artificial&nbsp;Intelligence face access technology that scans&nbsp;facial features and unlocks instantaneously upon activation.

The phone is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 626 processor and is supported by a 4 GB RAM.

The phone&nbsp;also has an internal storage of 64 GB and is expandable upto 256 GB.

The phone is currently available for pre-booking on Amazon.

Priced at 22,990, Vivo 9 comes with full view IPS LCD display and HD plus screen size of 6.3 inches

Chinese smartphones manufacturing company Vivo launched an iPhone look-alike Vivo V9 in India on Wednesday. Priced at 22,990, Vivo 9 comes with full view IPS LCD display and HD plus screen size of 6.3 inches. Meant for beautiful selfies, Vivo 9's main highlight is its front camera that comes with 24 megapixels. The rear dual-camera set up comes with 16 megapixel and 5 megapixels with an in-depth sensor for your perfect bokeh effect photography. It also has Artificial Intelligence face access technology that scans facial features and unlocks instantaneously upon activation. The phone is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 626 processor and is supported by a 4 GB RAM. The phone also has an internal storage of 64 GB and is expandable upto 256 GB. The phone is currently available for pre-booking on Amazon.

Vivo unveils new Vivo 9 with AI-backed camera features

SpaceX CEO &nbsp;Elon Musk is in talks with an Israel-based Artificial Intelligence vision firm over prospective investment or acquisition project. Musk, on his visit to Israel, discussed a collaboration between Tesla Inc and Tel Aviv-based AI firm Cortica.

According to reports, Cortica&#39;s technology equips self-driving cars with an ability to identify moving parts in its environment and make informed decisions.

This is not the first time when Musk-led Tesla has collaborated with an Israeli company. The company joined hands with Mobileye and parted ways in 2016 owing to a fatal crash involving a Tesla Model S.

Mobileye was acquired by Intel last year for $15.3 billion.

Musk, on his visit to Israel, discussed a collaboration between Tesla Inc and Tel Aviv-based AI firm Cortica

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is in talks with an Israel-based Artificial Intelligence vision firm over prospective investment or acquisition project. Musk, on his visit to Israel, discussed a collaboration between Tesla Inc and Tel Aviv-based AI firm Cortica. According to reports, Cortica's technology equips self-driving cars with an ability to identify moving parts in its environment and make informed decisions. This is not the first time when Musk-led Tesla has collaborated with an Israeli company. The company joined hands with Mobileye and parted ways in 2016 owing to a fatal crash involving a Tesla Model S. Mobileye was acquired by Intel last year for $15.3 billion.

Elon Musk to collaborate with Israeli Artificial Intelligence firm

Tech giant Google introduced a new resource called &#39;learn with Google AI&#39; &nbsp;that provides ways to learn about machine learning and how it can be used to solve day to day problems of real life.

Machine learning (ML) is an application of artificial intelligence that provides systems with an&nbsp;ability to automatically learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed.

The company announced this through a blog on their site which mentioned. &quot;to help everyone understand how AI can solve challenging problems, we&rsquo;ve created a resource called Learn with Google AI. This site provides ways to learn about core ML concepts, develop and hone your ML skills, and apply ML to real-world problems. From deep learning experts looking for advanced tutorials and materials on TensorFlow, to &ldquo;curious cats&rdquo; who want to take their first steps with AI, anyone looking for educational content from ML experts at Google can find it here.&#39;&#39;

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Machine learning (ML) is an application of artificial intelligence that provides systems the ability to automatically learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed. (Others)
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&#39;Learn with Google AI&#39; also features a crash course for which can be accessed free of cost.

The course call machine learning crash course provides exercises and interactive visualization with instructional videos that anyone can use to learn and practice Machine learning concepts.

The machine learning crash course was first developed for&nbsp;engineers of Google&nbsp;to learn about machine learning use it to further enhance their work in virtual reality for google earth and their other products.

The blog further said that after the success of Machine learning crash course&#39;s success in the company it inspired them to make it available for everyone.

 
&nbsp;

Machine learning provides systems with an ability to automatically learn things without being explicitly programmed

Tech giant Google introduced a new resource called 'learn with Google AI' that provides ways to learn about machine learning and how it can be used to solve day to day problems of real life. Machine learning (ML) is an application of artificial intelligence that provides systems with an ability to automatically learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed. The company announced this through a blog on their site which mentioned. "to help everyone understand how AI can solve challenging problems, we’ve created a resource called Learn with Google AI. This site provides ways to learn about core ML concepts, develop and hone your ML skills, and apply ML to real-world problems. From deep learning experts looking for advanced tutorials and materials on TensorFlow, to “curious cats” who want to take their first steps with AI, anyone looking for educational content from ML experts at Google can find it here.'' Machine learning (ML) is an application of artificial intelligence that provides systems the ability to automatically learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed. (Others) × 'Learn with Google AI' also features a crash course for which can be accessed free of cost. The course call machine learning crash course provides exercises and interactive visualization with instructional videos that anyone can use to learn and practice Machine learning concepts. The machine learning crash course was first developed for engineers of Google to learn about machine learning use it to further enhance their work in virtual reality for google earth and their other products. The blog further said that after the success of Machine learning crash course's success in the company it inspired them to make it available for everyone.

'Learn with Google AI' to teach machine learning for free

Microsoft Corporation has partnered with Chines electronic and software company Xiaomi to work together on cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence, and hardware.

Under the signed memorandum of understanding, Microsoft has allowed Xiaomi to use its computing products including Azure, to develop phones, laptops, and other smart devices.

The move by Microsoft to collaborate with the Chinese company is expected to work in favour of Microsoft as it will give more reach and access to the Chinese market to an American company.

Currently focused on the Asia Pacific, Xiaomi will also be expanding its reach to West market as well.

According to reports both&nbsp;companies are also holding discussions to integrate Cortana, Microsoft&#39;s AI assistant currently struggling to compete with other AI assistants, with Mi AI speaker.

In 2017 Xiaomi was world&#39;s fifth most popular smartphone company trailing Apple and Samsung.

Earlier in 2015, Microsoft had signed a deal with Xiaomi to tests its Windows 10 on Xiaomi devices.

Microsoft had some major stumbles in recent time as they officially announced to end support for windows phone in 2017.

Under the memorandum of understanding, Microsoft has allowed Xiaomi to use its computing products including Azure, to develop phones, laptops, and other smart devices

Microsoft Corporation has partnered with Chines electronic and software company Xiaomi to work together on cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence, and hardware. Under the signed memorandum of understanding, Microsoft has allowed Xiaomi to use its computing products including Azure, to develop phones, laptops, and other smart devices. The move by Microsoft to collaborate with the Chinese company is expected to work in favour of Microsoft as it will give more reach and access to the Chinese market to an American company. Currently focused on the Asia Pacific, Xiaomi will also be expanding its reach to West market as well. According to reports both companies are also holding discussions to integrate Cortana, Microsoft's AI assistant currently struggling to compete with other AI assistants, with Mi AI speaker. In 2017 Xiaomi was world's fifth most popular smartphone company trailing Apple and Samsung. Earlier in 2015, Microsoft had signed a deal with Xiaomi to tests its Windows 10 on Xiaomi devices. Microsoft had some major stumbles in recent time as they officially announced to end support for windows phone in 2017.

Microsoft, Xiaomi collaborate to make AI powered speakers and smartphones

&quot;Artificial intelligence and robots will kill many jobs.&quot;&nbsp;

It&#39;s a depressingly blunt statement for anyone to make, but even more so as it is the prediction of Jack Ma, CEO of the Chinese online sales giant Alibaba.&nbsp;

The rise of AI -- its huge potential and fears over its potentially negative consequences -- is just one of the big issues discussed at the World Economic Forum in Davos, along with breaches of personal data and fake news.

But it is probably artificial intelligence and the ability of machines to not only interact with but manipulate human beings that raises the most suspicion.&nbsp;

Aware of growing governmental and public distrust, the giants of tech are trying to address the issues.

&quot;Technology should always give people new opportunities, not remove them,&quot; Ma said.

But when IBM President Ginni Rometty admits that &quot;100 percent of jobs will be somehow affected by technology,&quot; it might be a tough sell.

It&#39;s not just about jobs.

&quot;People want to trust technology, as long as they know who is behind it,&quot; said Neelie Kroes, now a member of the Open Data Institute, after having been for years the European commissioner in charge of digital issues.&nbsp;

In recent months, US-based Uber, which connects individuals with drivers through an application, found itself in the hot seat after several murders perpetrated by its chauffeurs, notably in the United States and in Lebanon.

&quot;You have to remember that the rating of a driver evaluates his driving but cannot predict if he is a serial killer,&quot; Uber director Dara Khosrowshahi told a panel at this week&#39;s economic gathering in the Swiss resort of Davos.

&quot;In this situation, who is responsible, the individual or the platform?&quot; wondered Rachel Botsman, an expert on the issue and author of the book &quot;Who Can We Trust?&quot;

Uber is the best-known example of a fast-growing company with a bruised reputation: accused of bad working conditions and sexual harassment it has faced chaotic legal proceedings and massive data piracy, which have sapped the firm.

&quot;For a long time, the answer of many digital companies has been to say: we are only the software, the platform, but technology now penetrates every aspect of our lives, our trades, our homes, our relationships,&quot; said Zvika Krieger, who leads digital projects for the World Economic Forum, the organiser of the Davos meeting.

&quot;Our response is no longer audible,&quot; he said.

&nbsp;&#39;Too slow&#39; 
&nbsp;&nbsp;

In Davos, there was also concern about Internet giants hoovering up huge amounts of personal data, sometimes illegally and sometimes sharing it with authorities.

&quot;The danger is that we are too slow and that the world is destroying us while we are still asking who really owns our data,&quot; said German Chancellor Angela Merkel during her Davos speech.

In the same way, attitudes towards social networks and search engines are changing.&nbsp;

&quot;The main question is whether Facebook and Google are technology companies or editorial companies, it is a question that remains unresolved,&quot; said Martin Sorrell, CEO of the British advertising giant WPP.&nbsp;

Amid the mistrust, Davos heard unique proposals from the digital world, which mostly rejects too much oversight by governments, believing it would stifle innovation.

Marc Benioff, the outspoken CEO and founder of Salesforce, a major cloud services company, called plainly for more regulation of the sector.

&quot;We&#39;re the same as any other industry,&quot; Benioff told CNBC in Davos.

Much like &quot;financial services, consumer product goods, food -- in technology, the government&#39;s going to have to be involved,&quot; he said.

Observers hailed what they saw as a change of heart by the titans of tech.

&quot;Regulatory authorities in Europe have been complaining for years that big digital companies are not responding when they&#39;re called,&quot; said WEF&#39;s Zvika Krieger.

&quot;Let&#39;s say they&#39;re picking up the phone now.&quot;

The rise of AI -- its huge potential and fears over its potentially negative consequences -- is just one of the big issues discussed at the World Economic Forum in Davos, along with breaches of personal data and fake news.

"Artificial intelligence and robots will kill many jobs." It's a depressingly blunt statement for anyone to make, but even more so as it is the prediction of Jack Ma, CEO of the Chinese online sales giant Alibaba. The rise of AI -- its huge potential and fears over its potentially negative consequences -- is just one of the big issues discussed at the World Economic Forum in Davos, along with breaches of personal data and fake news. But it is probably artificial intelligence and the ability of machines to not only interact with but manipulate human beings that raises the most suspicion. Aware of growing governmental and public distrust, the giants of tech are trying to address the issues. "Technology should always give people new opportunities, not remove them," Ma said. But when IBM President Ginni Rometty admits that "100 percent of jobs will be somehow affected by technology," it might be a tough sell. It's not just about jobs. "People want to trust technology, as long as they know who is behind it," said Neelie Kroes, now a member of the Open Data Institute, after having been for years the European commissioner in charge of digital issues. In recent months, US-based Uber, which connects individuals with drivers through an application, found itself in the hot seat after several murders perpetrated by its chauffeurs, notably in the United States and in Lebanon. "You have to remember that the rating of a driver evaluates his driving but cannot predict if he is a serial killer," Uber director Dara Khosrowshahi told a panel at this week's economic gathering in the Swiss resort of Davos. "In this situation, who is responsible, the individual or the platform?" wondered Rachel Botsman, an expert on the issue and author of the book "Who Can We Trust?" Uber is the best-known example of a fast-growing company with a bruised reputation: accused of bad working conditions and sexual harassment it has faced chaotic legal proceedings and massive data piracy, which have sapped the firm. "For a long time, the answer of many digital companies has been to say: we are only the software, the platform, but technology now penetrates every aspect of our lives, our trades, our homes, our relationships," said Zvika Krieger, who leads digital projects for the World Economic Forum, the organiser of the Davos meeting. "Our response is no longer audible," he said. 'Too slow' In Davos, there was also concern about Internet giants hoovering up huge amounts of personal data, sometimes illegally and sometimes sharing it with authorities. "The danger is that we are too slow and that the world is destroying us while we are still asking who really owns our data," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel during her Davos speech. In the same way, attitudes towards social networks and search engines are changing. "The main question is whether Facebook and Google are technology companies or editorial companies, it is a question that remains unresolved," said Martin Sorrell, CEO of the British advertising giant WPP. Amid the mistrust, Davos heard unique proposals from the digital world, which mostly rejects too much oversight by governments, believing it would stifle innovation. Marc Benioff, the outspoken CEO and founder of Salesforce, a major cloud services company, called plainly for more regulation of the sector. "We're the same as any other industry," Benioff told CNBC in Davos. Much like "financial services, consumer product goods, food -- in technology, the government's going to have to be involved," he said. Observers hailed what they saw as a change of heart by the titans of tech. "Regulatory authorities in Europe have been complaining for years that big digital companies are not responding when they're called," said WEF's Zvika Krieger. "Let's say they're picking up the phone now."

'Job-killing' robots, Artificial intelligence under scrutiny in Davos

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere now. From phones, Tv&#39;s to retail, e-commerce and even toilets!&nbsp; We are now in an era where anything that uses an algorithm can be called AI.&nbsp;

Facts say that with the upcoming use of AI, millions of people will be out of jobs in few years.&nbsp;

Web Summit, the massive technology conference in Lisbon, Portugal, polled 224 investors in one of the sub-conferences within the Web Summit framework where 93% of them said that AI will &#39;destroy&#39; jobs. Tesla CEO Elton Musk claimed that the race to development of AI will lead to World War III, founder of venture capital firm &#39;Sinovation&#39;, Kai-Fu Lee has said that AI will replace 50% off all jobs in the next decade.&nbsp;

A survey conducted by Quartz - with 1,600 respondents from 84 countries, mostly in the US&nbsp; - stated that 90% respondents thought&nbsp;that up to half of the jobs would be lost to automation within five years.&nbsp;

However, AI may only be able to do about 50 to 60 per cent of the work, one will need humans to fill up the 50-40 per cent. Only using AI algorithms won&#39;t work. That&#39;s when skilled humans come into play. Its all about balance!&nbsp;

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false"><img alt="" draggable="false" src="http://s.wionews.com/photos/33661762980_6662c1840a_b-20180121065614.jpg" />
<div class="media-description">
Jobs related to AI will increase up to 2 million by 2025 (Others)
</div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="javascript:void(0)" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

Therefore, the myth that AI will lead to more job losses can be soundly debunked - that&#39;s what history tells us.&nbsp;

The Industrial revolution spanned a technological revolution in the 19th century. It sparked major changes in virtually every sphere of human existence in Britain where it began. The British economy boomed as a result with new innovations in textile with the mechanised spinning, the advent of steam power to power engines and several other breakthrough designs.

The people adapted too, it did not mean employment fell, in fact, more and more people were added to the workforce as a result of &quot;mechanisation&quot;.&nbsp; It meant upgradation of skills which helped the British economy to expand and seize new markets in Asia and Africa.

The advent of computers in the workplace is another example of &quot;humans adapting to machines&quot;.&nbsp;

During the 60s and 70s in the US, computers increasingly began to enter offices which allowed small business to compete with large corporations. The rise of Apple in the 70s and Microsoft in the 80s can be attributed to the introduction of PCs in that era, despite this today after over 40 years since Apple it has employed more and more people into its company and spawned a culture of start-ups.

In the 80s and 90s, PCs aka &quot;machines&quot; helped &quot;humans&quot; to do away several tedious jobs and eliminated manual labour helping small companies not only to become more efficient but also helped the workforce to become sharper. Today in the era of startups and apps, technology has helped to take humans into a new frontier which promises a new era of growth and prosperity.

In contrary to remarks that robots will replace human workers, research firms predicts that AI may actually create more jobs than expected.&nbsp;

By 2020, AI will generate about 2.3 million jobs - exceeding the 1.8 million that will be ticked off. Moreover, jobs related to AI will increase up to 2 million by 2025.&nbsp;

Humans throughout history have adapted and &quot;re-skilled&quot; themselves as new technologies have entered the cycle, despite rumblings and disruptions it has only meant the &quot;comfort level&quot; has increased for us humans. Artificial Intelligence, in this respect, should not be &quot;feared&quot; rather it should be &quot;adapted&quot;.

For instance, as chatbots, robots, automated kiosks come into existence - more people imagine that it will capture jobs, but all this technology is only creating a better user interface. Look at automated kiosks for instance. Now, Mcdonald&#39;s in New York welcomes customers with a &ldquo;Create Your Taste&rdquo; kiosk - an automated touch-screen system that allows customers to create their own burgers without interacting with another human being. Does this mean cashiers and waiters will go out of jobs? NO. This is just innovation in technology which will, in turn, lead to a shift in skill - not jobs.&nbsp;

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false"><img alt="" draggable="false" src="http://s.wionews.com/photos/untitled%20design%20(49)-20180121065554.jpg" />
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Mcdonalds&#39; &ldquo;Create Your Taste&rdquo; kiosk (Others)
</div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="javascript:void(0)" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple have invested millions in this field (smartbots, chatbots, AI algorithms etc) - why? because this will eventually generate better customer interaction, seamless user journeys, reduce search time, create quick and efficient responses. AI&#39;s role as a mediator between humans and technology has become the greatest triumph.&nbsp;

The jobs will be affected - yes - but that does not infer that jobs will be &quot;destroyed&quot;. The number of jobs that will be affected will vary for different industries, with public sector, education, healthcare booming. AI will &quot;replace&quot; jobs of low-skilled workers in IT sectors in India alone with more medium and high skilled jobs - which are expected to rise to about 1 million in the next five years.&nbsp;

Let&#39;s take driverless cars, for example, though driver won&rsquo;t be entirely displaced by self-driving cars, the nature of their work will fundamentally change. While the percentage of human drivers giving trips may go down, the absolute number of humans may actually go up. The rise of autonomous cars will open new jobs like maintaining the car fleets, jobs that don&#39;t exist today because there has never been a need. Part of advancing technology has always meant that some professions become extinct in the process.&nbsp;

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false"><img alt="" draggable="false" src="http://s.wionews.com/photos/47tfp6tm-20180121065329.jpg" />
<div class="media-description">
The rise of autonomous cars will open new jobs (Others)
</div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="javascript:void(0)" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

The fact is humans need to power the machines, it is a fantasy built by bloggers and science fiction enthusiasts who have, increasingly, through social media played the game of calling AI a barrier for mankind, but history teaches us that man has always &quot;upgraded&quot; himself since time in memorial.

So, once again, AI will eliminate a number of middle and low levels positions but it will give rise to more highly-skilled management and also entry-level and low-skilled jobs, it will accelerate innovation to a new level and fundamentally change the way businesses will run across the board. Focus should be more on augmenting people with AI, transforming culture to make it adaptable to AI-related job opportunities and threats.&nbsp;

AI may only be able to do about 50 to 60 per cent of the work, one will need humans to fill up at 50-40 per cent. Only using AI algorithms won't work. That's when skilled humans come into play. Its all about balance!

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere now. From phones, Tv's to retail, e-commerce and even toilets! We are now in an era where anything that uses an algorithm can be called AI. Facts say that with the upcoming use of AI, millions of people will be out of jobs in few years. Web Summit, the massive technology conference in Lisbon, Portugal, polled 224 investors in one of the sub-conferences within the Web Summit framework where 93% of them said that AI will 'destroy' jobs. Tesla CEO Elton Musk claimed that the race to development of AI will lead to World War III, founder of venture capital firm 'Sinovation', Kai-Fu Lee has said that AI will replace 50% off all jobs in the next decade. A survey conducted by Quartz - with 1,600 respondents from 84 countries, mostly in the US - stated that 90% respondents thought that up to half of the jobs would be lost to automation within five years. However, AI may only be able to do about 50 to 60 per cent of the work, one will need humans to fill up the 50-40 per cent. Only using AI algorithms won't work. That's when skilled humans come into play. Its all about balance! Jobs related to AI will increase up to 2 million by 2025 (Others) × Therefore, the myth that AI will lead to more job losses can be soundly debunked - that's what history tells us. The Industrial revolution spanned a technological revolution in the 19th century. It sparked major changes in virtually every sphere of human existence in Britain where it began. The British economy boomed as a result with new innovations in textile with the mechanised spinning, the advent of steam power to power engines and several other breakthrough designs. The people adapted too, it did not mean employment fell, in fact, more and more people were added to the workforce as a result of "mechanisation". It meant upgradation of skills which helped the British economy to expand and seize new markets in Asia and Africa. The advent of computers in the workplace is another example of "humans adapting to machines". During the 60s and 70s in the US, computers increasingly began to enter offices which allowed small business to compete with large corporations. The rise of Apple in the 70s and Microsoft in the 80s can be attributed to the introduction of PCs in that era, despite this today after over 40 years since Apple it has employed more and more people into its company and spawned a culture of start-ups. In the 80s and 90s, PCs aka "machines" helped "humans" to do away several tedious jobs and eliminated manual labour helping small companies not only to become more efficient but also helped the workforce to become sharper. Today in the era of startups and apps, technology has helped to take humans into a new frontier which promises a new era of growth and prosperity. In contrary to remarks that robots will replace human workers, research firms predicts that AI may actually create more jobs than expected. By 2020, AI will generate about 2.3 million jobs - exceeding the 1.8 million that will be ticked off. Moreover, jobs related to AI will increase up to 2 million by 2025. Humans throughout history have adapted and "re-skilled" themselves as new technologies have entered the cycle, despite rumblings and disruptions it has only meant the "comfort level" has increased for us humans. Artificial Intelligence, in this respect, should not be "feared" rather it should be "adapted". For instance, as chatbots, robots, automated kiosks come into existence - more people imagine that it will capture jobs, but all this technology is only creating a better user interface. Look at automated kiosks for instance. Now, Mcdonald's in New York welcomes customers with a “Create Your Taste” kiosk - an automated touch-screen system that allows customers to create their own burgers without interacting with another human being. Does this mean cashiers and waiters will go out of jobs? NO. This is just innovation in technology which will, in turn, lead to a shift in skill - not jobs. Mcdonalds' “Create Your Taste” kiosk (Others) × Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple have invested millions in this field (smartbots, chatbots, AI algorithms etc) - why? because this will eventually generate better customer interaction, seamless user journeys, reduce search time, create quick and efficient responses. AI's role as a mediator between humans and technology has become the greatest triumph. The jobs will be affected - yes - but that does not infer that jobs will be "destroyed". The number of jobs that will be affected will vary for different industries, with public sector, education, healthcare booming. AI will "replace" jobs of low-skilled workers in IT sectors in India alone with more medium and high skilled jobs - which are expected to rise to about 1 million in the next five years. Let's take driverless cars, for example, though driver won’t be entirely displaced by self-driving cars, the nature of their work will fundamentally change. While the percentage of human drivers giving trips may go down, the absolute number of humans may actually go up. The rise of autonomous cars will open new jobs like maintaining the car fleets, jobs that don't exist today because there has never been a need. Part of advancing technology has always meant that some professions become extinct in the process. The rise of autonomous cars will open new jobs (Others) × The fact is humans need to power the machines, it is a fantasy built by bloggers and science fiction enthusiasts who have, increasingly, through social media played the game of calling AI a barrier for mankind, but history teaches us that man has always "upgraded" himself since time in memorial. So, once again, AI will eliminate a number of middle and low levels positions but it will give rise to more highly-skilled management and also entry-level and low-skilled jobs, it will accelerate innovation to a new level and fundamentally change the way businesses will run across the board. Focus should be more on augmenting people with AI, transforming culture to make it adaptable to AI-related job opportunities and threats.

Don't believe the naysayers, Artificial Intelligence will create 2.3 million jobs by 2020

Gone are the days, when you imagined a pestering &#39;insurance sales agent&#39; who would rigorously follow up for the renewal of the policy. Things are fast changing and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is playing a large role. The disruptive technology has the potential to transform the entire industry and greatly improve the insurance customer experience.

Many insurance companies are already using Artificial Intelligence, and the number of companies following the trend is sure to increase in the near future. Artificial Intelligence is also more easily accessible and affordable, making it imperative for organisations to adopt.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered insurance agents, today, are bringing about an image transformation. These agents are discreet enough not to interrupt a prospective buyers&#39; exploration journey, but prominent enough to help out when needed.&nbsp;

Meet the new-aged insurance agent&nbsp;

Mr. Patel wanted to buy a medical insurance from a top insurance company. Rajesh, an insurance agent, used AI inside CRM to combine the data from Mr. Patel&rsquo;s demographics, public social media information, location weather, telematics and wearable data to conjure up a complete user profile that spoke about Mr. Patel&rsquo;s probable health risks. This empowered Rajesh, to offer a discounted premium plan which delighted Mr. Patel.

Some insurers love tradition. They make humans slog to push generic policies. Others are inspired by trends and make use of AI, machine learning to sell new products. Visionary insurers, though, take the best of artificial and human intelligence, add a hefty dose of machine learning and empower their customers to buy relevant and customised policies. As per the latest survey, 74% of consumers say they would be happy to get a computer generated insurance advice.

Artificial Intelligence for Automated Insurance

The use of AI in insurance empowers insurers to deploy personalised sales tactics. It can analyse big data and create a holistic customer profile that can be used to sell tailored policies and remember customer preferences. But that&#39;s not all. AI brings in many advantages to insurers.

1. Labour cost reduction&nbsp;

Insurers no more need to deploy a team of surveyors to assess risks and audit applications. Availability of abundant data through social channels, medical records, apps, IoT devices makes it easy for insurance CRM platforms to apply machine learning to get the desired results without additional and expensive manpower.&nbsp; AI-powered chatbots can pre-screen inquiries and complete end to end buying journeys online without human intervention. This translates to lower premium for buyers and increases coverage.&nbsp;

2. Possibility to discover and create new products

Insurers can bring out new products by discovering emerging technologies, lifestyle and user trends. For instance, the emergence and prevalence of autonomous Tesla cars have encouraged a leading insurance start-up to offer premiums based on driving habits. Evidence suggests that the driving safety is directly proportional to the amount of time the car is driven in autonomous mode. So, users who drive car autonomously are offered lesser premiums than those who drive manually. This discovery and integration into insurance processes are made possible due to the multitude of information crunched by superior computing power.&nbsp;

3. Predictive Modelling

AI guides insurers in creating predictive models to assist in setting insurance premiums based on -

a. Emerging tastes

b. Historical sales

c. Economic bubbles

d. Man-made threats like burglaries

e. Natural threats and so on...

Digital Insurance CRM &ndash; A Maximiser

Taking advantages of the breakthroughs in computing power, Digital insurance CRMs do most of the legwork. Business processes are made faster with the help of robotic process automation. Visual designers enable agents to create smarter customer journeys. By efficient dragging and dropping of pre-defined objects, customers are captivated while they tend to slip between channels and products.

Insurance CRM integrates seamlessly with multiple data platforms including social media, to get up close and real-time customer intelligence.&nbsp;

Bringing in the AI and digital tools will not displace insurance agents and their selling prowess. Instead, it will act as a relationship innovator that changes the dynamics between technology, insurers and the insured.

&nbsp;

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)&nbsp;&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Artificial Intelligence has the potential to transform the entire industry and greatly improve the insurance-customer experience.

Gone are the days, when you imagined a pestering 'insurance sales agent' who would rigorously follow up for the renewal of the policy. Things are fast changing and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is playing a large role. The disruptive technology has the potential to transform the entire industry and greatly improve the insurance customer experience. Many insurance companies are already using Artificial Intelligence, and the number of companies following the trend is sure to increase in the near future. Artificial Intelligence is also more easily accessible and affordable, making it imperative for organisations to adopt. Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered insurance agents, today, are bringing about an image transformation. These agents are discreet enough not to interrupt a prospective buyers' exploration journey, but prominent enough to help out when needed. Meet the new-aged insurance agent Mr. Patel wanted to buy a medical insurance from a top insurance company. Rajesh, an insurance agent, used AI inside CRM to combine the data from Mr. Patel’s demographics, public social media information, location weather, telematics and wearable data to conjure up a complete user profile that spoke about Mr. Patel’s probable health risks. This empowered Rajesh, to offer a discounted premium plan which delighted Mr. Patel. Some insurers love tradition. They make humans slog to push generic policies. Others are inspired by trends and make use of AI, machine learning to sell new products. Visionary insurers, though, take the best of artificial and human intelligence, add a hefty dose of machine learning and empower their customers to buy relevant and customised policies. As per the latest survey, 74% of consumers say they would be happy to get a computer generated insurance advice. Artificial Intelligence for Automated Insurance The use of AI in insurance empowers insurers to deploy personalised sales tactics. It can analyse big data and create a holistic customer profile that can be used to sell tailored policies and remember customer preferences. But that's not all. AI brings in many advantages to insurers. 1. Labour cost reduction Insurers no more need to deploy a team of surveyors to assess risks and audit applications. Availability of abundant data through social channels, medical records, apps, IoT devices makes it easy for insurance CRM platforms to apply machine learning to get the desired results without additional and expensive manpower. AI-powered chatbots can pre-screen inquiries and complete end to end buying journeys online without human intervention. This translates to lower premium for buyers and increases coverage. 2. Possibility to discover and create new products Insurers can bring out new products by discovering emerging technologies, lifestyle and user trends. For instance, the emergence and prevalence of autonomous Tesla cars have encouraged a leading insurance start-up to offer premiums based on driving habits. Evidence suggests that the driving safety is directly proportional to the amount of time the car is driven in autonomous mode. So, users who drive car autonomously are offered lesser premiums than those who drive manually. This discovery and integration into insurance processes are made possible due to the multitude of information crunched by superior computing power. 3. Predictive Modelling AI guides insurers in creating predictive models to assist in setting insurance premiums based on - a. Emerging tastes b. Historical sales c. Economic bubbles d. Man-made threats like burglaries e. Natural threats and so on... Digital Insurance CRM – A Maximiser Taking advantages of the breakthroughs in computing power, Digital insurance CRMs do most of the legwork. Business processes are made faster with the help of robotic process automation. Visual designers enable agents to create smarter customer journeys. By efficient dragging and dropping of pre-defined objects, customers are captivated while they tend to slip between channels and products. Insurance CRM integrates seamlessly with multiple data platforms including social media, to get up close and real-time customer intelligence. Bringing in the AI and digital tools will not displace insurance agents and their selling prowess. Instead, it will act as a relationship innovator that changes the dynamics between technology, insurers and the insured. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Opinion: Artificial Intelligence is revolutionising insurance-customer experience

Automation and artificial intelligence technologies are <a href="https://theconversation.com/introducing-operator-4-0-a-tech-augmented-human-worker-74117">transforming manufacturing</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-industrial-revolution-really-tells-us-about-the-future-of-automation-and-work-82051">corporate work</a> and the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/retail-meltdown-of-2017/522384/">retail business</a>, providing new opportunities for companies to explore and posing major threats to those that don&rsquo;t adapt to the times. Equally daunting challenges confront colleges and universities, but they&rsquo;ve been slower to acknowledge them.

At present, colleges and universities are most worried about competition from schools or training systems using <a href="https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/03/01/technology-and-the-future-of-online-learning.aspx">online learning technology</a>. But that is just one aspect of the technological changes already under way. For example, some companies are moving toward requiring workers have <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/impatient-with-colleges-employers-design-their-own-courses/">specific skills trainings and certifications</a> &ndash; as opposed to college degrees.

As a professor who researches artificial intelligence and offers distance learning courses, I can say that online education is a disruptive challenge for which colleges are ill-prepared. Lack of student demand is already closing <a href="http://indiatoday.intoday.in/education/story/800-engineering-colleges-to-shut-down-aicte/1/1040312.html">800 out of roughly 10,000 engineering colleges</a> in India. And online learning has put as many as half the colleges and universities in the U.S. at risk of <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2017/04/28/clay-christensen-sticks-predictions-massive-college-closures">shutting down in the next couple decades</a> as remote students get comparable educations over the internet &ndash; without living on campus or taking classes in person. Unless universities move quickly to transform themselves into educational institutions for a technology-assisted future, they risk becoming obsolete.

Existing alternatives to traditional higher ed

Enormous amounts of information are now available online for free, ready for watching, listening or reading at any time, by anyone who&rsquo;s connected. For more than a decade, private companies, nonprofits and universities alike have been experimenting with online courses, often offered for free or at low cost to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-online-courses-can-bring-the-world-into-africas-classrooms-63773">large numbers of students around the world</a>. Research has shown that it&rsquo;s as effective for students to use a <a href="https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/ijesab/vol9/iss2/19/">combination of online courses and traditional in-classroom</a> instruction as it is to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276119100_Innovative_blended_delivery_and_learning_Exploring_student_choice_experience_and_level_of_satisfaction_in_a_hyflex_course">just have classes in person</a>.

<figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200752/original/file-20180103-26163-1brho2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200752/original/file-20180103-26163-1brho2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" /></a>

<figcaption>
Is this the future of a college education? <a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/student-learning-on-line-headphones-laptop-549162715">PR Image Factory/Shutterstock.com</a>

<a href="https://www.class-central.com/report/mooc-providers-list/">Providers of massive open</a> online courses (often called &ldquo;<a href="http://mooc.org/">MOOCs</a>&rdquo;) are refining ways for people who complete the classes to present their accomplishments in ways employers can understand easily. For example, students in certain classes from major MOOC provider <a href="https://www.edx.org/">edX</a> can get an <a href="https://www.edx.org/gfa">official Arizona State University transcript</a> listing their courses and grades. An employer would never know the person studied online. (There&rsquo;s another threat to universities&rsquo; business model, too: Students can take the classes and get their grades for free; they only need to <a href="https://www.edx.org/gfa">pay if they are happy with their grades</a>, and if they want official college credit.)
</figcaption>
</figure>

This is a period of rapid change unlike what universities have dealt with for centuries.

The evolution of the university

Medieval European universities trained would-be clergy members in canonical law, theological discussion and <a href="http://doi.org/10.3386/w17979">religious administration</a>. These institutions amassed huge repositories of knowledge, storing and indexing them in libraries, which became the focal point of the campus.

As European countries explored the world and established overseas colonies <a href="http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=66617">starting in the 15th and 16th centuries</a>, universities evolved to train officers to manage those territories, study navigation across the oceans and look after colonists&rsquo; health. <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-industrial-revolution-really-tells-us-about-the-future-of-automation-and-work-82051">After the Industrial Revolution</a>, colleges changed again, teaching workers how to use new scientific and technological methods and tools.

In the 21st century, the workplace is transforming once more; what businesses, governments and society need from education is shifting, and technology has made the brick-and-mortar library obsolete. It used to be that users of a technology needed to know how it works. In the early days of driving, for instance, it was important for a driver to be able to fix a car that broke down on the side of the road, perhaps far from any expert mechanic.

But in the current <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/post-industrial-society-3026457">post-industrial economy</a>, that has changed: Even a car mechanic uses a computer to connect to car systems to <a href="https://www.solopcms.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Solo-PCMS-automotive-computer-mechanic-768x512.jpg">identify what is not working properly</a>. Very few people need to know how these internal computer systems work; they just need to be able to interpret <a href="https://qz.com/1054261/the-connected-car-of-the-future-could-kill-off-the-local-auto-repair-shop/">sensor readings and error messages</a>.

A changing job market

Now, the number of jobs mostly involving routine skills &ndash; both physical and cognitive &ndash; is <a href="https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2016/january/jobs-involving-routine-tasks-arent-growing">shrinking over time</a>. Increasing automation at factories is rapidly replacing workers at factories, <a href="https://www.zmescience.com/other/economics/china-factory-robots-03022017/">even in low-wage countries like China</a>. Artificial intelligence technologies like machine learning and computer vision are permanently <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/26/technology-is-killing-jobs-and-only-technology-can-save-them/">eliminating high-skill jobs</a> in offices, too. Many world economies &ndash; including in the U.S. &ndash; are turning from manufacturing to service, in which most new jobs do not require advanced education.

The remaining jobs <a href="https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2017/may/growing-skill-divide-us-labor-market">will involve fewer routine tasks</a>. The people doing that work will still need some education beyond high school. But they may not have as much need to attend classes at, or even live on, a physical university campus. Colleges that are outside the very top tier of quality and name recognition &ndash; and those that have taken on large amounts of <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/07/the-paradox-of-new-buildings-on-campus/492398/">debt to build physical facilities</a> &ndash; will suffer as demand for their services lessens.

Competition between colleges

Another factor challenging universities&rsquo; existence is the <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/average-published-undergraduate-charges-sector-2017-18">rapidly rising cost</a> of a traditional college education. So far, in the U.S. demand for degrees from residential colleges has remained high because government-backed <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-for-profit-college-trap_us_5814edb7e4b09b190529c588">loans are easy to get</a>. But student loan debt in the <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g19/current/default.htm/">U.S. has reached US$1.45 trillion</a> &ndash; and as many as <a href="https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/interactives/householdcredit/data/pdf/HHDC_2017Q3.pdf">20 percent of borrowers</a> may not be earning enough to pay them back.

<iframe class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" frameborder="0" height="400px" id="ZIOiu" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ZIOiu/6/" style="border: none" width="100%"></iframe>

Universities might highlight intangible values of in-person learning, like personal contact and nonverbal communication, but the costs are becoming a larger factor. Parents and students in the U.S. are increasingly asking whether it&rsquo;s worth spending <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/tuition-fees-room-board-over-time">around $30,000</a> &ndash; or even <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/about-harvard/harvard-glance">more than $60,000</a> &ndash; for <a href="https://handbook.fas.harvard.edu/book/calendar-academic-year">less than 240 days of school</a> in an elite private residential college &ndash; more than $250 a night.

Private colleges&rsquo; main competition at the moment comes from public universities. Their <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/average-published-undergraduate-charges-sector-2017-18">prices are two-thirds lower</a>, but studying still involves taking many courses that are just as easily taught online.

<iframe class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" frameborder="0" height="400px" id="KGCet" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/KGCet/5/" style="border: none" width="100%"></iframe>

Soon students will want to take a variety of courses from different universities, choosing each class and school for its particular merits and benefits. That will stiffen competition between institutions, lowering students&rsquo; costs &ndash; and universities&rsquo; revenues.

Courses will become shared experiences for online learning communities. Some colleges might seek to charge students for special in-person learning experiences, but these will be extras for those who can afford them, not the higher education norm they are today.

Finding a new way to teach

Some universities &ndash; those at the top, with the most money and expertise &ndash; are responding to the coming changes to higher education. Some are forming partnerships with international universities and online teaching companies, or building remote-learning programs on their own. Some of these, like the <a href="https://www.extension.harvard.edu">Harvard Extension School</a>, are high-tech adaptations of correspondence courses people used to take by mail.

Harvard Extension School enrolls nearly <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/09/did-i-really-go-to-harvard-if-i-got-my-degree-taking-online-classes/279644/">2,000 degree candidates and over 13,000 non-degree students</a>, who <a href="https://www.extension.harvard.edu/registration-admissions">take classes online, on campus or a mix of both</a>. Students can earn a <a href="https://www.extension.harvard.edu/academics/undergraduate-degrees/bachelor-liberal-arts-degree">Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in extension studies</a>. At an <a href="https://www.extension.harvard.edu/registration-admissions">estimated cost of $49,500</a>, a four-year degree is cheaper than a <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/about-harvard/harvard-glance">single year on campus</a> at Harvard.

But the vast majority of people who take its classes <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/09/did-i-really-go-to-harvard-if-i-got-my-degree-taking-online-classes/279644/">never get a degree</a> at all. They&rsquo;re just looking for one particular course, or maybe a few, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/09/25/495188445/shaken-by-economic-change-non-traditional-students-are-becoming-the-new-normal">customizing their own education</a>.

<img alt="The Conversation" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89354/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" width="1" />Employers will soon take advantage of options like this, too: Universities will find themselves asked to build specific programs for particular companies. And universities will find themselves needing to explore other ways artificial intelligence technologies can help reduce the cost of education.

&nbsp;

This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" rel="nofollow" target="blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-must-prepare-for-a-technology-enabled-future-89354" rel="nofollow" target="blank">original article</a>.

&nbsp;

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL).

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Online education is a disruptive challenge for which colleges are ill-prepared. Lack of student demand is already closing 800 out of roughly 10,000 engineering colleges in India

Automation and artificial intelligence technologies are transforming manufacturing, corporate work and the retail business, providing new opportunities for companies to explore and posing major threats to those that don’t adapt to the times. Equally daunting challenges confront colleges and universities, but they’ve been slower to acknowledge them. At present, colleges and universities are most worried about competition from schools or training systems using online learning technology. But that is just one aspect of the technological changes already under way. For example, some companies are moving toward requiring workers have specific skills trainings and certifications – as opposed to college degrees. As a professor who researches artificial intelligence and offers distance learning courses, I can say that online education is a disruptive challenge for which colleges are ill-prepared. Lack of student demand is already closing 800 out of roughly 10,000 engineering colleges in India. And online learning has put as many as half the colleges and universities in the U.S. at risk of shutting down in the next couple decades as remote students get comparable educations over the internet – without living on campus or taking classes in person. Unless universities move quickly to transform themselves into educational institutions for a technology-assisted future, they risk becoming obsolete. Existing alternatives to traditional higher ed Enormous amounts of information are now available online for free, ready for watching, listening or reading at any time, by anyone who’s connected. For more than a decade, private companies, nonprofits and universities alike have been experimenting with online courses, often offered for free or at low cost to large numbers of students around the world. Research has shown that it’s as effective for students to use a combination of online courses and traditional in-classroom instruction as it is to just have classes in person. Is this the future of a college education? PR Image Factory/Shutterstock.com Providers of massive open online courses (often called “MOOCs”) are refining ways for people who complete the classes to present their accomplishments in ways employers can understand easily. For example, students in certain classes from major MOOC provider edX can get an official Arizona State University transcript listing their courses and grades. An employer would never know the person studied online. (There’s another threat to universities’ business model, too: Students can take the classes and get their grades for free; they only need to pay if they are happy with their grades, and if they want official college credit.) This is a period of rapid change unlike what universities have dealt with for centuries. The evolution of the university Medieval European universities trained would-be clergy members in canonical law, theological discussion and religious administration. These institutions amassed huge repositories of knowledge, storing and indexing them in libraries, which became the focal point of the campus. As European countries explored the world and established overseas colonies starting in the 15th and 16th centuries, universities evolved to train officers to manage those territories, study navigation across the oceans and look after colonists’ health. After the Industrial Revolution, colleges changed again, teaching workers how to use new scientific and technological methods and tools. In the 21st century, the workplace is transforming once more; what businesses, governments and society need from education is shifting, and technology has made the brick-and-mortar library obsolete. It used to be that users of a technology needed to know how it works. In the early days of driving, for instance, it was important for a driver to be able to fix a car that broke down on the side of the road, perhaps far from any expert mechanic. But in the current post-industrial economy, that has changed: Even a car mechanic uses a computer to connect to car systems to identify what is not working properly. Very few people need to know how these internal computer systems work; they just need to be able to interpret sensor readings and error messages. A changing job market Now, the number of jobs mostly involving routine skills – both physical and cognitive – is shrinking over time. Increasing automation at factories is rapidly replacing workers at factories, even in low-wage countries like China. Artificial intelligence technologies like machine learning and computer vision are permanently eliminating high-skill jobs in offices, too. Many world economies – including in the U.S. – are turning from manufacturing to service, in which most new jobs do not require advanced education. The remaining jobs will involve fewer routine tasks. The people doing that work will still need some education beyond high school. But they may not have as much need to attend classes at, or even live on, a physical university campus. Colleges that are outside the very top tier of quality and name recognition – and those that have taken on large amounts of debt to build physical facilities – will suffer as demand for their services lessens. Competition between colleges Another factor challenging universities’ existence is the rapidly rising cost of a traditional college education. So far, in the U.S. demand for degrees from residential colleges has remained high because government-backed loans are easy to get. But student loan debt in the U.S. has reached US$1.45 trillion – and as many as 20 percent of borrowers may not be earning enough to pay them back. Universities might highlight intangible values of in-person learning, like personal contact and nonverbal communication, but the costs are becoming a larger factor. Parents and students in the U.S. are increasingly asking whether it’s worth spending around $30,000 – or even more than $60,000 – for less than 240 days of school in an elite private residential college – more than $250 a night. Private colleges’ main competition at the moment comes from public universities. Their prices are two-thirds lower, but studying still involves taking many courses that are just as easily taught online. Soon students will want to take a variety of courses from different universities, choosing each class and school for its particular merits and benefits. That will stiffen competition between institutions, lowering students’ costs – and universities’ revenues. Courses will become shared experiences for online learning communities. Some colleges might seek to charge students for special in-person learning experiences, but these will be extras for those who can afford them, not the higher education norm they are today. Finding a new way to teach Some universities – those at the top, with the most money and expertise – are responding to the coming changes to higher education. Some are forming partnerships with international universities and online teaching companies, or building remote-learning programs on their own. Some of these, like the Harvard Extension School, are high-tech adaptations of correspondence courses people used to take by mail. Harvard Extension School enrolls nearly 2,000 degree candidates and over 13,000 non-degree students, who take classes online, on campus or a mix of both. Students can earn a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in extension studies. At an estimated cost of $49,500, a four-year degree is cheaper than a single year on campus at Harvard. But the vast majority of people who take its classes never get a degree at all. They’re just looking for one particular course, or maybe a few, customizing their own education. Employers will soon take advantage of options like this, too: Universities will find themselves asked to build specific programs for particular companies. And universities will find themselves needing to explore other ways artificial intelligence technologies can help reduce the cost of education. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL).

Opinion: Online learning is the next crucial thing in Indian universities

China&#39;s ambition of becoming a world leader in <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/facebook-using-artificial-intelligence-to-spot-signs-of-suicide-25299" target="_blank">Artificial Intelligence</a> is all set to&nbsp;take off with the country&#39;s new AI development park.&nbsp;

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China is planning to build a 13.8 billion yuan ($2.12 billion) <a href="http://www.wionews.com/science-tech/acquisitions-accelerate-as-tech-giants-seek-to-build-ai-smarts-16103" target="_blank">artificial intelligence</a> development park.&nbsp;

The project will be developed by Zhongguancun Development Group in collaboration with foreign universities.

It will be designed to attract enterprises that work on big data, biometric identification, deep learning and cloud computing.&nbsp;

The park will be constructed&nbsp;to house up to 400 enterprises and to yield an annual output of 50 billion yuan.&nbsp;

It will be built in west Beijing.&nbsp;

Also&nbsp;read: <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/this-black-metal-album-was-created-using-artificial-intelligence-and-sounds-just-like-a-human-band-26258" target="_blank">This black metal album was created using Artificial Intelligence and sounds just like a human band</a>

Also read: <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/opinion-revolutionise-talent-management-with-chatbots-ai-26231" target="_blank">Opinion: Chatbots &amp; AI to revolutionise talent management</a>

China aspires to become a world leader in Artificial Intelligence by 2025.

There is an increasing competition between China and United States of America for utilising the <a href="http://www.wionews.com/videos/is-artificial-intelligence-boon-or-bane-4703" target="_blank">Artificial Intelligence technology</a> in the military.&nbsp;

In the development roadmap released by the country in 2017, China unwrapped a series of plans to boost talent, investment and research in Artificial Intelligence. The roadmap also wanted collective efforts from private, public and military firms on national AI goals.&nbsp;

AI is the intelligence displayed by machines, wherein the device perceives its environment and takes action.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

It will be designed to attract enterprises that work on big data, biometric identification, deep learning and cloud computing

China's ambition of becoming a world leader in Artificial Intelligence is all set to take off with the country's new AI development park. × China is planning to build a 13.8 billion yuan ($2.12 billion) artificial intelligence development park. The project will be developed by Zhongguancun Development Group in collaboration with foreign universities. It will be designed to attract enterprises that work on big data, biometric identification, deep learning and cloud computing. The park will be constructed to house up to 400 enterprises and to yield an annual output of 50 billion yuan. It will be built in west Beijing. Also read: This black metal album was created using Artificial Intelligence and sounds just like a human band Also read: Opinion: Chatbots & AI to revolutionise talent management China aspires to become a world leader in Artificial Intelligence by 2025. There is an increasing competition between China and United States of America for utilising the Artificial Intelligence technology in the military. In the development roadmap released by the country in 2017, China unwrapped a series of plans to boost talent, investment and research in Artificial Intelligence. The roadmap also wanted collective efforts from private, public and military firms on national AI goals. AI is the intelligence displayed by machines, wherein the device perceives its environment and takes action.

China to construct $2 billion Artificial Intelligence development park

Corporate thought-leader and Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy has flayed the high wage hikes that senior managements have been apportioning to themselves when the software industry is in trying times and has advised them to make &quot;sacrifices&quot; to maintain common man&#39;s faith in capitalism.

Conceding that times are difficult for the IT services sector, Murthy dismissed the commonly attributed threats of artificial intelligence and automation as &quot;more hype than reality&quot;.

Terming the trend of no hikes for juniors and freshers as &quot;worrisome,&quot; Murthy rued that the senior level people have been taking handsome hikes.

&quot;I think that is not the way to make capitalism acceptable to the larger masses in a country that has huge poverty,&quot; he said, speaking at the IIT-Bombay over the weekend.

&quot;If we believe in capitalism, if we believe that is the best solution for the country to move forward, then the leaders of capitalism will have to demonstrate self-restraints in apportioning to themselves the part of the benefits that come out of running companies, Murthy, who mostly flies the economy class, added.

Murthy, a strong proponent of &quot;compassionate capitalism&quot; since his days in the company, did not make any reference to Infosys. It can be noted that over the past few months, Murthy had gone public with his displeasure over senior executive compensation at Infosys.

Speaking before the students at the prestigious institute, Murthy said in the last seven years, the salaries of freshers in the software industry have stayed stagnant while the same for senior-level employees have grown by up to 1,000 per cent.

&quot;If all of us make sacrifices, then the youngsters will understand,&quot; he said.

He said the IT sector is passing through a trough that is cyclical in nature and may occur once a few years.

One of the reasons for this is the investments in IT done by the developed world clients in the past, he said, adding they are waiting to reap the benefits of the same before starting to invest again.

However, change in the technological landscape where automation and artificial intelligence are said to be making deeper in-roads was dismissed by him.

&quot;There is this whole thing about automation and artificial intelligence. That is much more hype than the reality, at-least in the software services,&quot; Murthy said.

The domestic IT sector employs over 4 million directly and its revenues have crossed over USD 150 billion, according to industry lobby Nasscom.

The lobby warned that the rate of hiring is slowing down, while some IT companies concede that a fewer number of people are required to do the work for the same revenue billing.

Many industry reports had in the past highlighted steep decline in hiring in the software space primarily because of automation which has been eating up tens of thousands of human jobs annually. So far this fiscal year, there has no net increase in hiring by the industry.

Terming the trend of no hikes for juniors and freshers as "worrisome," Murthy rued that the senior level people have been taking handsome hikes.

Corporate thought-leader and Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy has flayed the high wage hikes that senior managements have been apportioning to themselves when the software industry is in trying times and has advised them to make "sacrifices" to maintain common man's faith in capitalism. Conceding that times are difficult for the IT services sector, Murthy dismissed the commonly attributed threats of artificial intelligence and automation as "more hype than reality". Terming the trend of no hikes for juniors and freshers as "worrisome," Murthy rued that the senior level people have been taking handsome hikes. "I think that is not the way to make capitalism acceptable to the larger masses in a country that has huge poverty," he said, speaking at the IIT-Bombay over the weekend. "If we believe in capitalism, if we believe that is the best solution for the country to move forward, then the leaders of capitalism will have to demonstrate self-restraints in apportioning to themselves the part of the benefits that come out of running companies, Murthy, who mostly flies the economy class, added. Murthy, a strong proponent of "compassionate capitalism" since his days in the company, did not make any reference to Infosys. It can be noted that over the past few months, Murthy had gone public with his displeasure over senior executive compensation at Infosys. Speaking before the students at the prestigious institute, Murthy said in the last seven years, the salaries of freshers in the software industry have stayed stagnant while the same for senior-level employees have grown by up to 1,000 per cent. "If all of us make sacrifices, then the youngsters will understand," he said. He said the IT sector is passing through a trough that is cyclical in nature and may occur once a few years. One of the reasons for this is the investments in IT done by the developed world clients in the past, he said, adding they are waiting to reap the benefits of the same before starting to invest again. However, change in the technological landscape where automation and artificial intelligence are said to be making deeper in-roads was dismissed by him. "There is this whole thing about automation and artificial intelligence. That is much more hype than the reality, at-least in the software services," Murthy said. The domestic IT sector employs over 4 million directly and its revenues have crossed over USD 150 billion, according to industry lobby Nasscom. The lobby warned that the rate of hiring is slowing down, while some IT companies concede that a fewer number of people are required to do the work for the same revenue billing. Many industry reports had in the past highlighted steep decline in hiring in the software space primarily because of automation which has been eating up tens of thousands of human jobs annually. So far this fiscal year, there has no net increase in hiring by the industry.

Narayana Murthy trashes artificial intelligence as hype, asks IT leaders to be less greedy

As artificial intelligence evolves, computers are now capable of creating music which can replicate a human band.

The newest example of this is Coditany of Timeness, a black metal album fully made using AI which has made rounds on the internet.

Coditany of Timeness was created using a New York-based black metal album &#39;Diotime&#39; by the band Krallice, released in 2011.

The music was first broken into small 3,200 eight-second segments of raw audio data which was then put into a type of network of AI created on a biological brain. It was then asked to guess the waveform of the next sample from the first segment.

If the sample sounded decent, the network would work towards strengthening the paths of the model i.e the biological brain to generate familiar sounds - like that of Diotime. It just like a human brain, the more you strengthen your skills the better is the outcome.

Initially the network generated more textured sounds, however, as it was strengthened and made more guesses - almost five million in three days - it started to sound more like the music album.

Coditany of Timeness is part of a side project by CJ Carr, a startup CTO, and Zack Zukowski, a music producer who met at University of Berklee. They were interested in exploring a system that could generate actual waveforms that could range from sounds of a guitar to percussion and even wailing vocals - even if it&rsquo;s imperfect but sounds like electronic music.

This project is one of the first that is developed in AI research in context to music. Academics in Birmingham City University in the UK are creating more such advanced neutral networks that could predict what the next sample of music would sound like by just putting in a segment - somewhat like Pink Floyd covering a Jay-Z tune.

Previously, the AI from Google&#39;s Magneta team created a 90-second music sample just by using machine learning. This has really come a long way!

Coditany of Timeness is Databots&#39; first album which can be listening to on &#39;Bandcamp&#39;.

If you thought that machine learning could only be useful for mechanical or engineering tasks, think again! AI could open doors to new ventures for creativity in art.

As artificial intelligence evolves, computers are now capable of creating music which can replicate a human band. The newest example of this is Coditany of Timeness, a black metal album fully made using AI which has made rounds on the internet.

As artificial intelligence evolves, computers are now capable of creating music which can replicate a human band. The newest example of this is Coditany of Timeness, a black metal album fully made using AI which has made rounds on the internet. Coditany of Timeness was created using a New York-based black metal album 'Diotime' by the band Krallice, released in 2011. The music was first broken into small 3,200 eight-second segments of raw audio data which was then put into a type of network of AI created on a biological brain. It was then asked to guess the waveform of the next sample from the first segment. If the sample sounded decent, the network would work towards strengthening the paths of the model i.e the biological brain to generate familiar sounds - like that of Diotime. It just like a human brain, the more you strengthen your skills the better is the outcome. Initially the network generated more textured sounds, however, as it was strengthened and made more guesses - almost five million in three days - it started to sound more like the music album. Coditany of Timeness is part of a side project by CJ Carr, a startup CTO, and Zack Zukowski, a music producer who met at University of Berklee. They were interested in exploring a system that could generate actual waveforms that could range from sounds of a guitar to percussion and even wailing vocals - even if it’s imperfect but sounds like electronic music. This project is one of the first that is developed in AI research in context to music. Academics in Birmingham City University in the UK are creating more such advanced neutral networks that could predict what the next sample of music would sound like by just putting in a segment - somewhat like Pink Floyd covering a Jay-Z tune. Previously, the AI from Google's Magneta team created a 90-second music sample just by using machine learning. This has really come a long way! Coditany of Timeness is Databots' first album which can be listening to on 'Bandcamp'. If you thought that machine learning could only be useful for mechanical or engineering tasks, think again! AI could open doors to new ventures for creativity in art.

This black metal album was created using Artificial Intelligence and sounds just like a human band

Organisations across the world concur the need to have processes that are technology enabled. While advancements in various functions are planned, Human Resources are not excluded. In fact, it&rsquo;s one of the functions that has got transformed the most, also more recently with the assistance of Chatbots.

The world is not new to Chatbots but have been prevalent for over a decade now. With an expansion on its applications, chatbots currently are designed to execute daunting tasks easily. From screening job applications to hiring, Chatbots are facilitating Human Resources Management. The artificial intelligence-powered with Chatbots are revolutionising work performance in new and smarter ways. Known for automating processes, Chatbots are undoubtedly transforming talent management rapidly.

The Chatbots and Artificial Intelligence together have been providing, a simple yet intuitive approach for interacting with people. Being an aid in assisting employees&rsquo; queries, requests, and other communications, Chatbots are embracing HR innovation for organisations to contend in a candidate-driven market.

The Revolution of bots in HR Sphere

Bots were first introduced to the world some 15 years back as Internet Bots by today&rsquo;s IT giant - Google. Quite popular with the epigraph &lsquo;spider&rsquo;, they were used by Google to crawl the websites.

This was the beginning of the global dominance of the web giant. Popular as chatbots, they are now utilised by a multitude of organisations for varied purposes. However, it is the use of chatbots in the Talent Management space which is thriving at a brisk pace. Once integrated into the HR division, both artificial intelligence and Chatbots speed up all its essential processes, thereby, empowering the organisation in edging out the competitors on the talent management front. With the help of technology in this department, acquiring new talent is a breeze.

Chatbots can interview the candidates and undertake their assessment on various parameters. The insights that the Chatbots yield can be leveraged completely to reduce the attrition rate, as well as, the disconnection between the management and employees. These insights can be further utilised to monitor the well-being of the organisation&rsquo;s people and develop a robust feedback system.

Apart from lending a hand to the organisation, Chatbots make the life easier for employees too. From furnishing them with the answers to their HR queries to bestowing them with a personalised learning and development experience, Chatbots can provide an unmatched experience to the employees.

The advent of AI-powered Chatbots in the HR function has helped it make vital decisions based on insights. Right from the acquisition of a new talent to the reduction of the biases (if any), Chatbots aid in every facet of HR. Also, it&rsquo;s done more logically and transparently in one go, as against real resources.

Thus, branding Chatbots as the invaluable source of data won&rsquo;t be untrue. In fact, with the concrete insights and analytics, HR personnel can address the interests and concerns of the employees and can be used in designing appropriate policies, as well as, developing orientation &amp; training programs.

Chatbots: The Future of HR

With a plethora of Millennial dominating the workplace, it is likely that AI&rsquo;s impact on the HR will exponentially increase in near future. As the competition to acquire cream talent grows, organisations will leverage, AI-powered Chatbots to their full potential, towards talent management becoming seamless and more efficient.

(Disclaimer: The author writes here in a personal capacity).

With a plethora of Millennial dominating the workplace, it is likely that AI?s impact on the HR will exponentially increase in near future.

Organisations across the world concur the need to have processes that are technology enabled. While advancements in various functions are planned, Human Resources are not excluded. In fact, it’s one of the functions that has got transformed the most, also more recently with the assistance of Chatbots. The world is not new to Chatbots but have been prevalent for over a decade now. With an expansion on its applications, chatbots currently are designed to execute daunting tasks easily. From screening job applications to hiring, Chatbots are facilitating Human Resources Management. The artificial intelligence-powered with Chatbots are revolutionising work performance in new and smarter ways. Known for automating processes, Chatbots are undoubtedly transforming talent management rapidly. The Chatbots and Artificial Intelligence together have been providing, a simple yet intuitive approach for interacting with people. Being an aid in assisting employees’ queries, requests, and other communications, Chatbots are embracing HR innovation for organisations to contend in a candidate-driven market. The Revolution of bots in HR Sphere Bots were first introduced to the world some 15 years back as Internet Bots by today’s IT giant - Google. Quite popular with the epigraph ‘spider’, they were used by Google to crawl the websites. This was the beginning of the global dominance of the web giant. Popular as chatbots, they are now utilised by a multitude of organisations for varied purposes. However, it is the use of chatbots in the Talent Management space which is thriving at a brisk pace. Once integrated into the HR division, both artificial intelligence and Chatbots speed up all its essential processes, thereby, empowering the organisation in edging out the competitors on the talent management front. With the help of technology in this department, acquiring new talent is a breeze. Chatbots can interview the candidates and undertake their assessment on various parameters. The insights that the Chatbots yield can be leveraged completely to reduce the attrition rate, as well as, the disconnection between the management and employees. These insights can be further utilised to monitor the well-being of the organisation’s people and develop a robust feedback system. Apart from lending a hand to the organisation, Chatbots make the life easier for employees too. From furnishing them with the answers to their HR queries to bestowing them with a personalised learning and development experience, Chatbots can provide an unmatched experience to the employees. The advent of AI-powered Chatbots in the HR function has helped it make vital decisions based on insights. Right from the acquisition of a new talent to the reduction of the biases (if any), Chatbots aid in every facet of HR. Also, it’s done more logically and transparently in one go, as against real resources. Thus, branding Chatbots as the invaluable source of data won’t be untrue. In fact, with the concrete insights and analytics, HR personnel can address the interests and concerns of the employees and can be used in designing appropriate policies, as well as, developing orientation & training programs. Chatbots: The Future of HR With a plethora of Millennial dominating the workplace, it is likely that AI’s impact on the HR will exponentially increase in near future. As the competition to acquire cream talent grows, organisations will leverage, AI-powered Chatbots to their full potential, towards talent management becoming seamless and more efficient. (Disclaimer: The author writes here in a personal capacity).

Opinion: Chatbots & AI to revolutionise talent management

Facebook on Monday said it was stepping up the use of artificial intelligence to identify members of the leading social network who may be thinking of suicide.

Software will look for clues in posts or even in videos being streamed at Facebook Live, then fire off reports to human reviewers and speed up alerts to responders trained to help, according to the social network.

&quot;This approach uses pattern recognition technology to help identify posts and live streams as likely to be expressing thoughts of suicide,&quot; Facebook vice president of product management Guy Rosen said in a blog post.

Signs watched for were said to include texts by people or comments to them, such as someone asking if they are troubled.

Facebook already has tools in place for people to report concerns about friend&#39;s who may be considering self-harm, but the software can speed the process and even detect signs people may overlook.

&quot;There have been terribly tragic events -- like suicides, some live-streamed -- that perhaps could have been prevented if someone had realized what was happening and reported them sooner,&quot; Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said early this year in a post at the social network focused on building global community.

&quot;Artificial intelligence can help provide a better approach.&quot;

Facebook is rolling out the artificial intelligence tool outside the US and planned to make it eventually available everywhere except the European Union, where data usage is restricted by privacy regulations.

Facebook has been collaborating with mental health organizations for about a decade on ways to spot signs users may be suicidal and get them help.

Software will look for clues in posts or even in videos being streamed at Facebook Live, then fire off reports to human reviewers and speed up alerts to responders trained to help

Facebook on Monday said it was stepping up the use of artificial intelligence to identify members of the leading social network who may be thinking of suicide. Software will look for clues in posts or even in videos being streamed at Facebook Live, then fire off reports to human reviewers and speed up alerts to responders trained to help, according to the social network. "This approach uses pattern recognition technology to help identify posts and live streams as likely to be expressing thoughts of suicide," Facebook vice president of product management Guy Rosen said in a blog post. Signs watched for were said to include texts by people or comments to them, such as someone asking if they are troubled. Facebook already has tools in place for people to report concerns about friend's who may be considering self-harm, but the software can speed the process and even detect signs people may overlook. "There have been terribly tragic events -- like suicides, some live-streamed -- that perhaps could have been prevented if someone had realized what was happening and reported them sooner," Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said early this year in a post at the social network focused on building global community. "Artificial intelligence can help provide a better approach." Facebook is rolling out the artificial intelligence tool outside the US and planned to make it eventually available everywhere except the European Union, where data usage is restricted by privacy regulations. Facebook has been collaborating with mental health organizations for about a decade on ways to spot signs users may be suicidal and get them help.

Facebook using artificial intelligence to spot signs of suicide

Facebook Inc will expand its pattern recognition software to other countries after successful tests in the United States to detect users with suicidal intent, the world&#39;s largest social media network said on Monday.

Facebook began testing the software in the United States in March when the company started scanning the text of Facebook posts and comments for phrases that could be signals of an impending suicide.

Facebook has not disclosed many technical details of the program, but the company said its software searches for certain phrases that could be clues, such as the questions &quot;Are you ok?&quot; and &quot;Can I help?&quot;

If the software detects a potential suicide, it alerts a team of Facebook workers who specialize in handling such reports. The system suggests resources to the user or to friends of the person such as a telephone helpline. Facebook workers sometimes call local authorities to intervene.

Guy Rosen, Facebook&#39;s vice president for product management, said the company was beginning to roll out the software outside the United States because the tests have been successful. During the past month, he said, first responders, checked on people more than 100 times after Facebook software detected suicidal intent.

Facebook said it tries to have specialist employees available at any hour to call authorities in local languages.

&quot;Speed really matters. We have to get help to people in real time,&quot; Rosen said.

Last year, when Facebook launched live video broadcasting, videos proliferated of violent acts including suicides and murders, presenting a threat to the company&#39;s image. In May Facebook said it would hire 3,000 more people to monitor videos and other content.

Rosen did not name the countries where Facebook was deploying the software, but he said it would eventually be used worldwide except in the European Union due to sensitivities, which he declined to discuss.

Other tech firms also try to prevent suicides. Google&#39;s search engine displays the phone number for a suicide hotline in response to certain searches.

Facebook knows lots about its 2.1 billion users - data that it uses for targeted advertising - but in general the company has not been known previously to systematically scan conversations for patterns of harmful behavior.

One exception is its efforts to spot suspicious conversations between children and adult sexual predators. Facebook sometimes contacts authorities when its automated screens pick up inappropriate language.

But it may be more difficult for tech firms to justify scanning conversations in other situations, said Ryan Calo, a University of Washington law professor who writes about tech.

&quot;Once you open the door, you might wonder what other kinds of things we would be looking for,&quot; Calo said.

Rosen declined to say if Facebook was considering pattern recognition software in other areas, such as non-sex crimes.

Facebook began testing the software in the United States in March when the company started scanning the text of Facebook posts and comments for phrases that could be signals of an impending suicide

Facebook Inc will expand its pattern recognition software to other countries after successful tests in the United States to detect users with suicidal intent, the world's largest social media network said on Monday. Facebook began testing the software in the United States in March when the company started scanning the text of Facebook posts and comments for phrases that could be signals of an impending suicide. Facebook has not disclosed many technical details of the program, but the company said its software searches for certain phrases that could be clues, such as the questions "Are you ok?" and "Can I help?" If the software detects a potential suicide, it alerts a team of Facebook workers who specialize in handling such reports. The system suggests resources to the user or to friends of the person such as a telephone helpline. Facebook workers sometimes call local authorities to intervene. Guy Rosen, Facebook's vice president for product management, said the company was beginning to roll out the software outside the United States because the tests have been successful. During the past month, he said, first responders, checked on people more than 100 times after Facebook software detected suicidal intent. Facebook said it tries to have specialist employees available at any hour to call authorities in local languages. "Speed really matters. We have to get help to people in real time," Rosen said. Last year, when Facebook launched live video broadcasting, videos proliferated of violent acts including suicides and murders, presenting a threat to the company's image. In May Facebook said it would hire 3,000 more people to monitor videos and other content. Rosen did not name the countries where Facebook was deploying the software, but he said it would eventually be used worldwide except in the European Union due to sensitivities, which he declined to discuss. Other tech firms also try to prevent suicides. Google's search engine displays the phone number for a suicide hotline in response to certain searches. Facebook knows lots about its 2.1 billion users - data that it uses for targeted advertising - but in general the company has not been known previously to systematically scan conversations for patterns of harmful behavior. One exception is its efforts to spot suspicious conversations between children and adult sexual predators. Facebook sometimes contacts authorities when its automated screens pick up inappropriate language. But it may be more difficult for tech firms to justify scanning conversations in other situations, said Ryan Calo, a University of Washington law professor who writes about tech. "Once you open the door, you might wonder what other kinds of things we would be looking for," Calo said. Rosen declined to say if Facebook was considering pattern recognition software in other areas, such as non-sex crimes.

Facebook to expand artificial intelligence to help prevent suicide

A day after <a href="http://www.wionews.com/business-economy/google-to-utilise-the-chinese-ai-19880">Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi announced his plans of visiting the United States to expand his knowledge on Artificial Intelligence,</a> the&nbsp;matter has become a subject of ridicule on Twitter.

The incident has attracted extensive reactions from people on the social networking site. &nbsp;

Twitterati has&nbsp;poked fun at Rahul Gandhi for his claims of expanding his knowledge&nbsp;in order to improve India&#39;s Artificial Intelligence.

One of the posts on twitter says &quot;Rahul Gandhi is going to deliver lecture on <a href="http://www.wionews.com/videos/is-artificial-intelligence-boon-or-bane-4703">Artificial Intelligence</a>&nbsp;I fear that Albert Einstein may come out of his grave to slap organizer&quot;

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Rahul Gandhi is going to deliver lecture on Artificial Intelligence 
 
I fear that Albert Einstein may come out of his grave to slap organizer
&mdash; Farrago Abdullah (@abdullah_0mar) <a href="https://twitter.com/abdullah_0mar/status/904756854907133952">September 4, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Recently Elon Musk warned the world that Artificial Intelligence may lead to third world war, however, a user made all those claims bogus after Rahul Gandhi&#39;s attempt on learning Artificial Intelligence.

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Elon Musk: Artificial intelligence is a threat to humanity 
 
*Rahul Gandhi speaks on AI* 
 
Elon: I was wrong...this man is the greatest threat
&mdash; InGenious (@Bees_Kut) <a href="https://twitter.com/Bees_Kut/status/904756483832725505">September 4, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Artificial Intelligence, the science of creating intelligent machines that think like human brains, is still in its nascent&nbsp;phase in India. However many other countries including China have already invested in the field.&nbsp;

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Reaction of Elon Musk when told Rahul Gandhi will be addressing Americans on Artificial Intelligence... <a href="https://t.co/ydk9qBKhB5">pic.twitter.com/ydk9qBKhB5</a>
&mdash; The-Lying-Lama (@KyaUkhaadLega) <a href="https://twitter.com/KyaUkhaadLega/status/904743094083510274">September 4, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Sequence Of Events: 
1. Putin:&quot;Leader In Artificial Intelligence Will Rule World&quot; 
2. Rahul Gandhi To Speak On AI 
3.Putin Takes His Words Back <a href="https://t.co/B4cpq735Vg">pic.twitter.com/B4cpq735Vg</a>
&mdash; Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadeja) <a href="https://twitter.com/SirJadeja/status/904745946516398080">September 4, 2017</a></blockquote>
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When Robot heard Rahul Gandhi is coming to address on Artificial Intelligence ?? <a href="https://t.co/4aCZDzwsVT">pic.twitter.com/4aCZDzwsVT</a>
&mdash; Vishal Surywanshi (@vsurywanshi87) <a href="https://twitter.com/vsurywanshi87/status/904910281624584192">September 5, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Mahatma Gandhi ji ne kaha tha, &quot;An AI for an AI will make the whole world blind&quot; 
 
- Rahul Gandhi in his speech on Artificial Intelligence
&mdash; Punk (@punk_hardik) <a href="https://twitter.com/punk_hardik/status/904777972028018688">September 4, 2017</a></blockquote>
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When World Leaders Came To Know Bambino Rahul Gandhi Is Going To Speak On <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ArtificialIntelligence?src=hash">#ArtificialIntelligence</a> At US ! <a href="https://twitter.com/Swamy39">@Swamy39</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Trump?src=hash">#Trump</a> ?????? h <a href="https://t.co/AXS0QIN60A">pic.twitter.com/AXS0QIN60A</a>
&mdash; Mahesh Joshi MJ (@MaheshJoshi_MJ) <a href="https://twitter.com/MaheshJoshi_MJ/status/905258162651004928">September 6, 2017</a></blockquote>
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The genius of Rahul Gandhi lies in how effectively he will blame Modi govt for suppressing Artificial Intelligence. ??
&mdash; Sweetsie C2 (@itssitu) <a href="https://twitter.com/itssitu/status/905307672433524736">September 6, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Prepration done by Rahul Gandhi to address a gathering on the topic &quot;Artificial intelligence&quot;. <a href="https://t.co/0wOSgctA9B">pic.twitter.com/0wOSgctA9B</a>
&mdash; IBN battuta (@theesmaarkhan) <a href="https://twitter.com/theesmaarkhan/status/904749917960151041">September 4, 2017</a></blockquote>
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According to<a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/the-sultanate-has-gone-but-we-behave-as-if-we-are-sultans-still-jairam-ramesh-on-congress-party-18670"> Congress&nbsp;party&nbsp;source</a>, Rahul Gandhi wants India to excel in Artificial Intelligence.

Twitterati has?poked fun at Rahul Gandhi for his claims of expanding his knowledge?in order to improve India's Artificial Intelligence

A day after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi announced his plans of visiting the United States to expand his knowledge on Artificial Intelligence, the matter has become a subject of ridicule on Twitter. The incident has attracted extensive reactions from people on the social networking site. Twitterati has poked fun at Rahul Gandhi for his claims of expanding his knowledge in order to improve India's Artificial Intelligence. One of the posts on twitter says "Rahul Gandhi is going to deliver lecture on Artificial Intelligence I fear that Albert Einstein may come out of his grave to slap organizer" Rahul Gandhi is going to deliver lecture on Artificial Intelligence I fear that Albert Einstein may come out of his grave to slap organizer — Farrago Abdullah (@abdullah_0mar) September 4, 2017 × Recently Elon Musk warned the world that Artificial Intelligence may lead to third world war, however, a user made all those claims bogus after Rahul Gandhi's attempt on learning Artificial Intelligence. Elon Musk: Artificial intelligence is a threat to humanity *Rahul Gandhi speaks on AI* Elon: I was wrong...this man is the greatest threat — InGenious (@Bees_Kut) September 4, 2017 × Artificial Intelligence, the science of creating intelligent machines that think like human brains, is still in its nascent phase in India. However many other countries including China have already invested in the field. Reaction of Elon Musk when told Rahul Gandhi will be addressing Americans on Artificial Intelligence... pic.twitter.com/ydk9qBKhB5 — The-Lying-Lama (@KyaUkhaadLega) September 4, 2017 × Sequence Of Events: 1. Putin:"Leader In Artificial Intelligence Will Rule World" 2. Rahul Gandhi To Speak On AI 3.Putin Takes His Words Back pic.twitter.com/B4cpq735Vg — Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadeja) September 4, 2017 × When Robot heard Rahul Gandhi is coming to address on Artificial Intelligence ?? pic.twitter.com/4aCZDzwsVT — Vishal Surywanshi (@vsurywanshi87) September 5, 2017 × Mahatma Gandhi ji ne kaha tha, "An AI for an AI will make the whole world blind" - Rahul Gandhi in his speech on Artificial Intelligence — Punk (@punk_hardik) September 4, 2017 × When World Leaders Came To Know Bambino Rahul Gandhi Is Going To Speak On #ArtificialIntelligence At US ! @Swamy39 #Trump ?????? h pic.twitter.com/AXS0QIN60A — Mahesh Joshi MJ (@MaheshJoshi_MJ) September 6, 2017 × The genius of Rahul Gandhi lies in how effectively he will blame Modi govt for suppressing Artificial Intelligence. ?? — Sweetsie C2 (@itssitu) September 6, 2017 × Prepration done by Rahul Gandhi to address a gathering on the topic "Artificial intelligence". pic.twitter.com/0wOSgctA9B — IBN battuta (@theesmaarkhan) September 4, 2017 × According to Congress party source, Rahul Gandhi wants India to excel in Artificial Intelligence.

How Twitter reacted to Rahul Gandhi's Artificial Intelligence learning

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