Artificial intelligence: made by men for men? – by Juliane Bir

AI might seem neutral and technical but it poses a differential challenge to female jobs and can be imbued with insidious gender biases.

Read more at:
https://www.socialeurope.eu/artificial-intelligence-made-by-men-for-men

Your face is worth money: Viral App FaceApp Now Owns Access To More Than 150 Million People's Faces And Names - by John Koetsier

Viral app FaceApp has been giving people the power to change their facial expressions, looks, and now age for several years. But at the same time, people have been giving FaceApp the power to use their pictures — and names — for any purpose it wishes, for as long as it desires.

That’s the burning question about FaceApp, a program that takes photos of people and “ages” them using artificial intelligence
.
Soon after it shot to the top of the Apple and Google store charts this week, privacy advocates began waving warning flags about the Russian-made app’s vague legalese.

And we thought we learned a lesson from Cambridge Analytica.

More than 100,000 million people have downloaded the app from Google Play. And FaceApp is now the top-ranked app on the iOS App Store in 121 countries, according to App Annie.

While according to FaceApp's terms of service people still own their own "user content" (read: face), the company owns a never-ending and irrevocable royalty-free license to do anything they want with it ... in front of whoever they wish:

Read more at: Viral App FaceApp Now Owns Access To More Than 150 Million People's Faces And Names.

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Artificial Intelligence: Twenty-four EU countries sign artificial intelligence pact in bid to compete with US & China – Catherine Stupp

Twenty-four EU countries pledged to band together to form a “European approach” to artificial intelligence in a bid to compete with American and Asian tech giants.

Ministers signed a declaration on Tuesday (10 April) saying they will consider putting public research funding into AI, but did not promise a specific amount of dedicated new investments.

All EU member states except for Cyprus, Romania, Croatia and Greece vowed to “modernise national policies” as part of an effort to develop large-scale AI research.

One Commission official said the four EU countries that did not sign were not opposed to the initiative but might still need formal approval before signing. Norway also signed the declaration.

Twenty-four EU countries sign artificial intelligence pact in bid to compete with US & China – EURACTIV.com

Ireland - Artificial Intelligence: Ireland committed to digitisation of EU economy, says minister

Ireland’s commitment to the digitisation of the EU economy is to be raised during a high-level meeting in Brussels on Monday.

Minister for Trade Pat Breen will also discuss issues relating to EU competitiveness, including the 25th anniversary of the single market and EU industrial policy when he meets European commissioner for digital economy and society, Mariya Gabriel later.

The Clare TD said: “Digitisation is increasing on a vast scale and Ireland continues to be regarded as one of the EU’s digital front runners.

“We fully support the overall DSM (digital single market) agenda and the Government sees obvious synergies between digital policy initiatives at EU level and national policy.

“In particular, we want to underline the benefits to small and medium enterprises that the DSM will bring in terms of market access and opportunities for growth.

“In helping to progress the DSM, Ireland will continue to strive for outcomes which are pro-trade, pro-enterprise and pro-innovation.”

The DSM is one in which the free movement of people, services and capital is ensured, and where the individuals and businesses can seamlessly access and exercise online activities under conditions of fair competition, and a high level of consumer and personal data protection, irrespective of their nationality or place of residence.

The strategy was endorsed by the European Council in June 2015.
Meanwhile, artificial intelligence will be the central theme when Europe’s nine digital front runner countries meet in Dublin in May.

Mr Breen added: “Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an exciting development that is shaping a new reality for Irish businesses and creating significant new opportunities for innovation across all industries.
“The meeting in May will be an opportunity for both the international AI dimension and the Irish AI ecosystem to be showcased.”

Read more:Ireland committed to digitisation of EU economy, says minister - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk 

Predictions over the long term: AI, climate change: Looming disasters humanity can’t ignore

What if we could have stopped catastrophic disasters like Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami and the threat of Islamic State?

Two national security and counter-terrorism experts believe governments were warned about some of the world’s most horrific events. Not only that, they say there are new predictions about the future we should not ignore.

R.P. Eddy, a former director of counter-terrorism at the White House National Security Council, and Richard Clarke, who served more than a decade in the White House as national co-ordinator for security and counter-terrorism, said for nearly every catastrophe in the world, there was an expert who said it would happen but was ignored.

In 2012, then ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, warned the White House a group similar to Al-Qaeda would form and take over large areas of land and even major cities.

He made the prediction after seeing the conflict that began to arise on the ground in Syria.

His views were ignored and then Islamic State began to propagate, becoming more dangerous and causing global terror. Just last month Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Manchester attack at the Ariana Grande concert, which killed 22 people. Yesterday, the group claimed responsibility for a bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed 90.

The first person to ever win the Polk, Pultizer and Peabody awards, Laurie Garrett, predicted the devastating rise in HIV/AIDS. She, too, was ignored.

“She saw these men dying of a disease called ‘gay related immune deficiency’, ‘GRID’, or ‘gay cancer’,” Mr Eddy told the Huffington Post.

“They didn’t know what it was. Gay men didn’t think they had a transmissible disease. They thought they were sharing a cancer somehow, but just by looking at them and seeing the hypocrisy sarcoma on their face, Laurie Garrett knew this was a contagious illness and started getting the media to pay attention.”

Mr Eddy and Mr Clarke have released a new book, Warnings: Finding Cassandras to Stop Catastrophes, to pre-empt future disasters and warn those in power not to hide away from the inevitable.

For the complete report click here: : AI, climate change: Looming disasters humanity can’t ignore

Robots: Meet the sex robots: Artificial intelligence wrapped in a sex doll - by Angus Walker

“Hi my name is Samantha, I love you, a lot!” For an opening line that’s a little forward, but that’s what the sex robot I met in a workshop at the Barcelona home of sex tech engineer Dr Sergi Santos said when I first "met" her.

“I’m basically the Robin Hood of sex because I give to the poor. Men need sex and I just give it to them,” Dr Sergi told me as he showed his latest creations.

Samantha is a life-like doll made of a material that feels like skin, she’s anatomically correct, if not a little enhanced in some areas. It seems customers want their sex robots to have, shall we say, exaggerated figures.

Dr Sergi has also put sensors under the skin so she reacts to touch. Stroke her gently on the arm and she’ll suggest getting intimate. The real development, according to Dr Sergi, is concealed in the back of her head, under a wig.

Artificial intelligence which allows the robot to talk to their owner. To be honest, conversation can be a little stilted with some awkward silences between me asking a question and getting a reply.

“It’s because she doesn’t know you,” Dr Sergi explains. He claims that the technology he’s putting into sex dolls allows them to "learn" what the customers want and like, ultimately build a relationship.

The robots are still pretty basic, they don’t have facial expressions, their mouths don’t move when they speak. What Dr Sergi has done is essentially put the same type of technology which brought us Siri and Amazon’s Alexa into a sex doll.

Read more: Meet the sex robots: Artificial intelligence wrapped in a sex doll - ITV News

Artificial Intelligence: genuine concern, or fearmongering?

Dozens of prominent scientists have put their names to an open letter warning the public about the danger of Artificial Intelligence (AI). They are, specifically, worried about potential developments in autonomous weapons, made possible by the progress of robotics and AI.

Among those endorsing the letter are Stephen Hawking, Noam Chomsky and Elon Musk of Tesla and Space X fame.

In the letter, the signatories claim “the deployment of such systems is – practically if not legally – feasible within years, not decades, and the stakes are high: autonomous weapons have been described as the third revolution in warfare, after gunpowder and nuclear arms.”They highlight a large list of possible drawbacks to consider, should such weapons become reality.

For example, the signatories argue that they are relatively cheap to mass-produce, which could lower the boundaries for going to war, since fewer (if any) human lives would be lost.
The ‘human factor’ is also listed as one of few advantages of autonomous weapons, however, it is followed by:

“There are many ways in which AI can make battlefields safer for humans, especially civilians, without creating new tools for killing people.”

Mass-production could mean the weapons would easily end up on the black market or in the hands of terrorists wishing to destabilise nations, or war lords “wishing to perpetrate ethnic cleansing, etc.”

They write: “the key question for humanity today is whether to start a global AI arms race or to prevent it from starting.”

Their response: “A military AI arms race would not be beneficial for humanity.”

Read more: Artificial Intelligence: genuine concern, or fearmongering? | euronews, world news

Artificial Intelligence: The road to intelligent infrastructure

The convergence of technology that has brought together what we now call information and communications technologies (ICT) has transformed our lives. Smart phones and tablets are now a common, almost essential, part of the accoutrements we carry around on a daily basis. Our cars are also getting smarter, with more on board computing power than was used in the 1960s Moon landings.

However, the emergence of smart systems empowered by ICT is now becoming an increasingly important part of our infrastructure. For example, road infrastructure is already being designed to contain ICT systems that will enhance monitoring and control as well as safety. According to the European Union’s New Road Construction Concepts (NR2C) discussion paper issued in 2008, the future use of smart road systems is already well developed.

In a CISCO White Paper authored by Andreas Mai and Dirk Schlesinger and published last year, the future of the motor car was examined. According to this analysis the younger generation of consumers are more attached to their smart phones than they are to their cars. In response motor vehicle manufacturers are moving to integrate smart phones and tablets into their vehicles.

Read more: The road to intelligent infrastructure | Technology Spectator