Artificial intelligence can scour code to find accidentally public passwords

researchers at software infrastructure firm Pivotal have taught AI to locate this accidentally public sensitive information in a surprising way: By looking at the code as if it were a picture. Since modern artificial intelligence is arguably better than humans at identifying minute differences in images, telling the difference between a password and normal code Read more about Artificial intelligence can scour code to find accidentally public passwords[…]

This AI-Controlled Roach Breeding Site Is a Nightmare Factory

In the city of Xichang, located in the southwestern Sichuan province, there is a massive, artificial intelligence-powered roach breeding farm that is producing more than six billion cockroaches per year. The facility, which is described by the South China Morning Post as a multi-story building about the size of two sports fields, is being operated Read more about This AI-Controlled Roach Breeding Site Is a Nightmare Factory[…]

‘Forget the Facebook leak’: China is mining data directly from workers’ brains on an industrial scale

the workers wear caps to monitor their brainwaves, data that management then uses to adjust the pace of production and redesign workflows, according to the company. The company said it could increase the overall efficiency of the workers by manipulating the frequency and length of break times to reduce mental stress. Hangzhou Zhongheng Electric is Read more about ‘Forget the Facebook leak’: China is mining data directly from workers’ brains on an industrial scale[…]

Revealed: how bookies use AI to keep gamblers hooked | Technology | The Guardian

The gambling industry is increasingly using artificial intelligence to predict consumer habits and personalise promotions to keep gamblers hooked, industry insiders have revealed.Current and former gambling industry employees have described how people’s betting habits are scrutinised and modelled to manipulate their future behaviour.“The industry is using AI to profile customers and predict their behaviour in Read more about Revealed: how bookies use AI to keep gamblers hooked | Technology | The Guardian[…]

Europe divided over robot ‘personhood’

While autonomous robots with humanlike, all-encompassing capabilities are still decades away, European lawmakers, legal experts and manufacturers are already locked in a high-stakes debate about their legal status: whether it’s these machines or human beings who should bear ultimate responsibility for their actions. The battle goes back to a paragraph of text, buried deep in a European Read more about Europe divided over robot ‘personhood’[…]

Google uses AI to seperate out audio from a single person in a high noise rate video

People are remarkably good at focusing their attention on a particular person in a noisy environment, mentally “muting” all other voices and sounds. Known as the cocktail party effect, this capability comes natural to us humans. However, automatic speech separation — separating an audio signal into its individual speech sources — while a well-studied problem, Read more about Google uses AI to seperate out audio from a single person in a high noise rate video[…]

Watch artificial intelligence create a 3D model of a person—from just a few seconds of video

Transporting yourself into a video game, body and all, just got easier. Artificial intelligence has been used to create 3D models of people’s bodies for virtual reality avatars, surveillance, visualizing fashion, or movies. But it typically requires special camera equipment to detect depth or to view someone from multiple angles. A new algorithm creates 3D models Read more about Watch artificial intelligence create a 3D model of a person—from just a few seconds of video[…]

This AI Can Automatically Animate New Flintstones Cartoons

Researchers have successfully trained artificial intelligence to generate new clips of the prehistoric animated series based on nothing but random text descriptions of what’s happening in a scene. A team of researchers from the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, trained an AI by feeding it over 25,000 three-second clips Read more about This AI Can Automatically Animate New Flintstones Cartoons[…]

FDA approves AI-powered software to detect diabetic retinopathy

30.3 million Americans have diabetes according to a 2015 CDC study. An additional 84.1 million have prediabetes, which often leads to the full disease within five years. It’s important to detect diabetes early to avoid health complications like heart disease, stroke, amputation of extremities and vision loss. Technology increasingly plays an important role in early Read more about FDA approves AI-powered software to detect diabetic retinopathy[…]

After Millions of Trials, These Simulated Humans Learned to Do Perfect Backflips and Cartwheels

Using well-established machine learning techniques, researchers from University of California, Berkeley have taught simulated humanoids to perform over 25 natural motions, from somersaults and cartwheels through to high leg kicks and breakdancing. The technique could lead to more realistic video gameplay and more agile robots. […] UC Berkeley graduate student Xue Bin “Jason” Peng, along Read more about After Millions of Trials, These Simulated Humans Learned to Do Perfect Backflips and Cartwheels[…]

Jaywalkers under surveillance in Shenzhen soon to be punished via text messages

Intellifusion, a Shenzhen-based AI firm that provides technology to the city’s police to display the faces of jaywalkers on large LED screens at intersections, is now talking with local mobile phone carriers and social media platforms such as WeChat and Sina Weibo to develop a system where offenders will receive personal text messages as soon Read more about Jaywalkers under surveillance in Shenzhen soon to be punished via text messages[…]

AI Imagines Nude Paintings as Terrifying Pools of Melting Flesh

When Robbie Barrat trained an AI to study and reproduce classical nude paintings, he expected something at least recognizable. What the AI produced instead was unfamiliar and unsettling, but still intriguing. The “paintings” look like flesh-like ice cream, spilling into pools that only vaguely recall a woman’s body. Barrat told Gizmodo these meaty blobs, disturbing Read more about AI Imagines Nude Paintings as Terrifying Pools of Melting Flesh[…]

AI predicts your lifespan using activity tracking apps

Researchers can estimate your expected lifespan based on physiological traits like your genes or your circulating blood factor, but that’s not very practical on a grand scale. There may be a shortcut, however: the devices you already have on your body. Russian scientists have crafted an AI-based algorithm that uses the activity tracking from smartphones Read more about AI predicts your lifespan using activity tracking apps[…]

Emmanuel Macron Q&A: France’s President Discusses Artificial Intelligence Strategy

On Thursday, Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, gave a speech laying out a new national strategy for artificial intelligence in his country. The French government will spend €1.5 billion ($1.85 billion) over five years to support research in the field, encourage startups, and collect data that can be used, and shared, by engineers. The Read more about Emmanuel Macron Q&A: France’s President Discusses Artificial Intelligence Strategy[…]

Is there alien life out there? Let’s turn to AI, problem solver du jour

A team of astroboffins have built artificial neural networks that estimate the probability of exoplanets harboring alien life. The research was presented during a talk on Wednesday at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science in Liverpool, United Kingdom. The neural network works by classifying planets into five different conditions: the present-day Earth, the Read more about Is there alien life out there? Let’s turn to AI, problem solver du jour[…]

Researchers develop device that can ‘hear’ your internal voice

Researchers have created a wearable device that can read people’s minds when they use an internal voice, allowing them to control devices and ask queries without speaking. The device, called AlterEgo, can transcribe words that wearers verbalise internally but do not say out loud, using electrodes attached to the skin. “Our idea was: could we Read more about Researchers develop device that can ‘hear’ your internal voice[…]

IBM claims its machine learning library is 46x faster than TensorFlow • The Register

Analysis IBM boasts that machine learning is not just quicker on its POWER servers than on TensorFlow in the Google Cloud, it’s 46 times quicker. Back in February Google software engineer Andreas Sterbenz wrote about using Google Cloud Machine Learning and TensorFlow on click prediction for large-scale advertising and recommendation scenarios. He trained a model Read more about IBM claims its machine learning library is 46x faster than TensorFlow • The Register[…]

The Hilarious (and Terrifying?) Ways Algorithms Have Outsmarted Their Creators

. As research into AI grows ever more ambitious and complex, these robot brains will challenge the fundamental assumptions of how we humans do things. And, as ever, the only true law of robotics is that computers will always do literally, exactly what you tell them to. A paper recently published to ArXiv highlights just Read more about The Hilarious (and Terrifying?) Ways Algorithms Have Outsmarted Their Creators[…]

AI software that can reproduce like a living thing? Yup, boffins have only gone and done it • The Register

A pair of computer scientists have created a neural network that can self-replicate. “Self-replication is a key aspect of biological life that has been largely overlooked in Artificial Intelligence systems,” they argue in a paper popped onto arXiv this month. It’s an important process in reproduction for living things, and is an important step for Read more about AI software that can reproduce like a living thing? Yup, boffins have only gone and done it • The Register[…]

MIT builds Neural network chip with 95% reduction in power consumption, allowing it to be used in a mobile

Most recent advances in artificial-intelligence systems such as speech- or face-recognition programs have come courtesy of neural networks, densely interconnected meshes of simple information processors that learn to perform tasks by analyzing huge sets of training data. But neural nets are large, and their computations are energy intensive, so they’re not very practical for handheld Read more about MIT builds Neural network chip with 95% reduction in power consumption, allowing it to be used in a mobile[…]

A video game-playing AI beat Q*bert in a way no one’s ever seen before

paper published this week by a trio of machine learning researchers from the University of Freiburg in Germany. They were exploring a particular method of teaching AI agents to navigate video games (in this case, desktop ports of old Atari titles from the 1980s) when they discovered something odd. The software they were testing discovered Read more about A video game-playing AI beat Q*bert in a way no one’s ever seen before[…]

AI models leak secret data too easily

A paper released on arXiv last week by a team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, National University of Singapore, and Google Brain reveals just how vulnerable deep learning is to information leakage. The researchers labelled the problem “unintended memorization” and explained it happens if miscreants can access to the model’s code and Read more about AI models leak secret data too easily[…]

Amadeus invests in CrowdVision to help airports manage growing passenger volumes using AI camera tech

CrowdVision is an early stage company that uses computer vision software and artificial intelligence to help airports monitor the flow of passengers in real time to minimise queues and more efficiently manage resources. The software is designed to comply fully with data privacy and security legislation. CrowdVision data improves plans and can help airports react Read more about Amadeus invests in CrowdVision to help airports manage growing passenger volumes using AI camera tech[…]