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Mountaineer develops new model for environmental and energy uses – Tech Check News


A new machine-learning model developed by a West Virginia University student has the potential for energy, environmental and even healthcare applications. The model, which can be used to predict the adsorption energies, i.e. adhesive capabilities in gold nanoparticles, was developed by Gihan Panapitiya, a doctoral physics student from Sri Lanka. Gold nanoparticles have historically been used by artists to bring out vibrant colors via their interaction with light. Now they are increasingly used in high technology applications, electronic conductors and others. "Machine learning recently came into the spotlight, and we wanted to do something linking machine learning with gold nanoparticles as catalysts," he said.

Facial Recognition in Law Enforcement – 6 Current Applications Emerj - Artificial Intelligence Research and Insight


According to the US Government Accountability Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's database contains over 30 million mugshots of criminals and ID card images from 16 states. This is just one of many law enforcement databases which also contain further identity information, including fingerprints and text data. With needs to improve investigation times and streamline the task of matching suspect images within a pool of numerous identities, government officials, law enforcement offices, and commercial vendors are researching how AI, specifically computer vision, can be used to improve facial recognition. Through our research, we aim to show insights on how various law enforcement agencies and companies are implementing facial recognition technologies. Readers interested in AI for law enforcement might be interested in our founder's presentation at a joint INTERPOL-UN conference on AI in law enforcement given in the summer of 2018.

The Sound Of AI Music: How AI Is Taking Over Music Industry


When we talk about artificial intelligence, people always tend to think of the only spaces where this tech can replace humans. However, there is another vertical, which is one of those least expected, that AI has influenced in recent times -- Music composition. The music industry has also witnessed tremendous transformations done by AI over the past couple of years -- not only in terms of listening to music but also in terms of how music is made. American singer-songwriter, Taryn Southern in 2017 created a big, moody ballad song Break Free entirely produced by an AI. Not only the song but Southern also went on to create the entire album I AM AI which is the first LP to be entirely composed and produced using AI.

Machines that listen


A group of scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (United States) has created a machine learning system that processes sounds like people. This model can understand the meaning of a word and classify a song according to its genre or style: classical, jazz, pop, rock, blues, soul, hip hop, techno, house, etc. It is the first invention of this type that mimics the way the brain works. As the experiments carried out at MIT show, it can compete in precision with humans. The research, published in the journal Neuron, is based on deep neural networks, that is, a structure inspired by brain cells that analyses information by layers.

Largest ever great white shark 'Deep Blue' spotted in Hawaii

Daily Mail

For most it would bring back terrible memories of the scene from Jaws when the immortal line'you're going to need a bigger boat' was uttered. But when a team of divers spotted the largest great white shark on the planet they only hesitated to grab their cameras before they jumped into the sea. The enormous predator named Deep Blue is up to 50 years old, weights 2.5 tons and measures 20ft long. It was drawn to the water around Hawaii for what one diver described as an'all you can eat buffet' - to feed on a dead sperm whale. Deep Blue was last spotted in Mexico in 2013 where it was fitted with a tracker which is how divers were able to identify it this time.

Intelligent Information for the Enterprise: Smartlogic


Founded in 2006, Smartlogic is a leading San Jose, CA-based computer software company. Smartlogic's Semaphore is an enterprise-grade semantic platform that allows organizations to realize the business value of their information. Bringing structure to the unstructured, Semaphore scales to manage organizational volumes, and supports industry-standard semantic vocabularies. Its model-driven, rule-based semantic approach solves complex business problems that traditional technologies cannot. It integrates into and enhances the capabilities of existing technology to improve time to value for new opportunities.

AI, the law, and our future

MIT News

Scientists and policymakers converged at MIT on Tuesday to discuss one of the hardest problems in artificial intelligence: How to govern it. The first MIT AI Policy Congress featured seven panel discussions sprawling across a variety of AI applications, and 25 speakers -- including two former White House chiefs of staff, former cabinet secretaries, homeland security and defense policy chiefs, industry and civil society leaders, and leading researchers. Their shared focus: how to harness the opportunities that AI is creating -- across areas including transportation and safety, medicine, labor, criminal justice, and national security -- while vigorously confronting challenges, including the potential for social bias, the need for transparency, and misteps that could stall AI innovation while exacerbating social problems in the United States and around the world. "When it comes to AI in areas of public trust, the era of moving fast and breaking everything is over," said R. David Edelman, director of the Project on Technology, the Economy, and National Security (TENS) at the MIT Internet Policy Research Initiative (IPRI), and a former special assistant to the president for economic and technology policy in the Obama White House. Added Edelman: "There is simply too much at stake for all of us not to have a say."


FOX News

Hawaii officials said they have received reports some people have allegedly attempted to remove the animal's teeth. Hawaii officials were horrified to receive reports that swimmers were allegedly seen harvesting a dead whale's teeth and approaching its body -- at least one man reportedly standing on top of it -- while dozens of hungry sharks surround it. Both state and federal officials with the Hawaii Division of Conservation and Resource Enforcement and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, respectively, have been called to investigate after obtaining copies of a video that shows a man, who is currently unidentified, standing on the animal's carcass. WORLD'S LARGEST GREAT WHITE SHARK'DEEP BLUE' GIVES DIVER A CLOSE-UP: 'THOUGHT MY HEART WAS GOING TO EXPLODE' "If this incident or any others happened within state waters, state laws come into play. Additionally, since sperm whales are protected by the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered Species Act, any violations could bring about federal charges as well…no matter whether they happen within state jurisdiction or further out to sea in U.S. waters," said Jason Redulla, the chief of the Hawaii Division of Conservation and Resource Enforcement, according to to the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR).

Twitter bug made people's private tweets public, company admits

The Independent

A Twitter bug meant that private tweets were made public, the site has admitted. Android users who had kept their private for more than four years were vulnerable to the bug, which would have exposed their posts despite them having chosen for them not to be public. The company allows users to protect tweets, hiding them from public view so that only approved people can follow and read posts from an account. Twitter users often protect their tweets because allowing anyone to read them might endanger them or cause other problems. Those using Twitter for Android may have been affected by the bug if they made changes to their account's settings, such as changing the email address they use on their account, Twitter said.

'Collection #1' data breach is just the beginning, cyber security experts warn

The Independent

The vast data breach that might be the biggest ever posted on the internet is just the beginning, cyber security experts have warned. The trove of sensitive information known as Collection #1 was published to the internet this week, allowing anyone to download a collection of hundreds of millions of email addresses and passwords. They are likely to be used for years, as hackers attempt to break into people's personal acounts. But there are a host of similar collections being passed around the web, many of which are far bigger than the collection that arrived this week, researchers say. Cyber security journalist Brian Krebs reported that he had spoken to someone selling the collection, and that it is just one part of a numbered series that taken together dwarfs the initial data breach that has been posted publicly.