Articles about AI

A few months after adding background blurring to its Teams tool, Microsoft has brought the same option to Skype on the desktop.

The feature serves two purposes. Firstly it helps to focus attention on the person that is speaking, but secondly -- and perhaps more importantly -- it hides any untidiness (or secrets) that may be going on behind the speaker. It's another push from Microsoft to move people away from Skype Classic to Skype 8.

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The introduction of new regulatory and privacy laws around the world is forcing companies to become more aware of the personal customer info they are holding, but it can be hard to identify sensitive information.

AI-based compliance platform Cognigo is launching a new data protection capability that can differentiate between sensitive and non-sensitive data based on language context.

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Netflix has millions of users around the world, but how many of these are actually paying customers? Many of us either know (or are) people who share their Netflix account with friends and family, or leech off the one person they know that's willing to pay for a subscription.

But Netflix free rides could be coming to an end. At CES, UK-based firm Synamedia revealed artificial intelligence software that could be used by Netflix and other companies to detect and block the sharing of account credentials.

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There are a lot of benefits to be gained from artificial intelligence, but its use also raises concerns over the impact it is likely to have on jobs, privacy and more.

Enterprise AI specialist noodle.ai has produced an infographic looking at the positive and negative impacts of the technology.

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When you're taking a flight, you can check the arrivals and departures section of your airport website to see if you're going to take off on time, or just rely on an airline announcement. Or you could just ask Google Assistant.

Google has announced that it will start to predict flight delays, using a combination of historic flight information and machine learning. The company says that it is able to deliver predictions with 85 percent confidence.

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Business software specialist Zoho is launching the latest version of its Zoho CRM Plus suite, an all-in-one customer experience package that enables sales, marketing, customer support, and operations teams to work as one.

Using Zia, Zoho's intelligent assistant, and Zoho Analytics, the company's business intelligence and reporting engine, the package helps users to understand customer sentiments, provide better experiences across channels, and enable actions to keep customers content throughout their journey -- all from one place.

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Since the birth of social media, employee vetting, including social media background checking, has been a way for employers to legally or illegally gain information about employees or prospective hires. They know what we all know: posts on Facebook and Twitter can shed a light on our true selves in a way that a resume or job interview might not.

Until now, employee screening tactics and social media checks have only been as powerful as the amount of time employers sink into them. That could change dramatically as artificial intelligence gets in on the action.

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Google recently rolled out a floating keyboard option to Gboard, and now the company has introduced another new feature -- AI-driven suggestions for GIFs, emoji and stickers.

The move sees Google acknowledging that we increasingly communicate with images rather than words. Or, as the company puts it, it's a feature designed "for those of us who just can't even without the perfect GIF".

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Medicine and other scientific areas have always used computing power wherever they could find it-- to help modeling go faster and arrive at viable drugs more quickly.

But when we apply the most recent advancements in artificial intelligence to the most advanced drug development programs, we get something else entirely: truly "personalized medicine." But what's personalized about it, and how does AI play a role?

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Last week, Google said that it had concerns about the use of AI in the US Department of Defense's JEDI (Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure) project, and as such it would not be bidding for the contract.

Now Microsoft employees have published an open letter expressing their concerns about JEDI, the secrecy it is shrouded in, and the potential for it to cause harm or human suffering. The letter has a simple message: "Microsoft, don't bid on JEDI".

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Thirty years ago, those of us who wanted to go on vacation or just visit friends and family for a weekend had to go through a travel agent to make arrangements. Then came the internet, and with it the launch of online travel agencies like Orbitz and Expedia, which enabled customers to research, find, and book their own vacations for the first time. Soon after that, the emergence of new "sharing economy" companies like AirBnB and VRBO transformed the travel industry by leading customers to consider new destinations and accommodations outside of a traditional hotel -- or B&B. Given how the pace of transformation has accelerated, the travel planning industry is ripe for another major transition to AI (Artificial Intelligence)-assisted travel planning.

The rise of the sharing economy, combined with increased household net worth and persistently low airfares led to record summer travel, with more than a quarter of a billion travels -- the most in TSA history. Given how the pace of transformation has accelerated, the travel planning industry is ripe for another major transition to AI-assisted travel planning.

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Google has announced the release of a new Content Safety API with the aim of helping to combat child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online.

The announcement comes as UK home secretary Sajid Javid called on technology companies to do more to tackle the problem of child abuse imagery on the internet, and the API has two main aims. The first is to make it quicker and easier to detect and remove CSAM, while the second is to do so without having to expose human content-checkers to so much abuse content.

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Artificial intelligence for operations (AIOps) is gaining ground, allowing businesses to use AI and machine learning on big data from their devices and IT tools to find and address problems in real time.

Pioneer in the field Moogsoft is launching a new tool that extends its core AIOps platform capabilities from centralized analytics outwards to the data source.

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As an analyst, I’d like to have a universal fact checker. Something like the carbon monoxide detectors on each level of my home. Something that would sound an alarm when there’s danger of intellectual asphyxiation from choking on the baloney put forward by certain sales people, news organizations, governments, and educators, for example.

For most of my life, we would simply have turned to academic literature for credible truth. There is now enough legitimate doubt to make us seek out a new model or at a minimum, augment that academic model.

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Microsoft president Brad Smith has called on government to regulate facial recognition technology, citing concerns that it is open to abuse. While he acknowledges that technology company have a role to play, he that it is down to elected representatives to put rules in place.

Using a terrible analogy ("All tools can be used for good or ill. Even a broom can be used to sweep the floor or hit someone over the head.") Smith points out that while facial recognition technology is undeniably useful, there is also potential for it to be "misused and abused by private companies and public authorities alike". He wants government to do something about it.

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