Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: robotics/AI

For as smart as artificial intelligence systems seem to get, they’re still easily confused by hackers who launch so-called adversarial attacks — cyberattacks that trick algorithms into misinterpreting their training data, sometimes to disastrous ends.

In order to bolster AI’s defenses from these dangerous hacks, scientists at the Australian research agency CSIRO say in a press release they’ve created a sort of AI “vaccine” that trains algorithms on weak adversaries so they’re better prepared for the real thing — not entirely unlike how vaccines expose our immune systems to inert viruses so they can fight off infections in the future.

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I have discussed driverless trucks before, but the timeline keeps speeding up.

Self-driving trucks before the end of this decade used to seem like a remote possibility. It now seems very likely, if not a given. Moreover, driverless truck convoys will be safer and more fuel efficient than human-driven trucks.

“The technology, developed by Peloton Tech, uses radar and a wireless link so that the following trucks travel at the same speed, braking simultaneously for safety, and doing so on an automated system that doesn’t have the delays of human reaction time. In addition, the drivers of both vehicles also have a video display, expanding both drivers’ vision and reducing blind spots,” reports Popular Science in Robot Truck Convoy Tested In Nevada.

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“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the smartest species of them all?”

“You, oh Homo Sapiens, are smart, it is true. But AI will be smarter even than you.”

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The most popular myth about technology is perhaps the myth that technology is a crystal ball. A crystal ball because it allegedly allows us to see the future. And to evaluate if that is indeed true, or not, we have to understand the etymology of the word technology – what it means and stands for, or at least what it used to mean and stand for.

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McDonald’s Corp. is designing voice-activated drive-throughs and robotic deep-fryers as the burger giant works to streamline its menu and operations to speed up service.

The company is testing voice-recognition software at a drive-through in suburban Chicago. Inside the restaurant, a robot also tosses chicken, fish and fries into vats of oil. Both technologies are meant to shorten customer wait times that executives acknowledge have grown in recent years. McDonald’s also has stopped serving some burgers and given franchisees…

To Read the Full Story.

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Researchers at the University of Washington have used machine learning to teach an AI system to identify when someone is having a cardiac arrest. The system learned to identify agonal breathing, which occurs when someone gasps for breath during cardiac arrest, with a high degree of accuracy. The technology can be embedded into a variety of listening devices, such as smart speakers or smartphones, to alert authorities and loved ones to someone having a heart attack while they sleep.

Approximately half a million Americans die from cardiac arrest annually. Cardiac arrests often happen while someone is at home in bed. This is particularly dangerous, as there is likely to be no-one around, or no-one awake, to help.

Now, researchers have developed an AI system that can work through smart speakers or a smartphone to monitor for signs of a cardiac arrest while someone sleeps. The system listens for something called agonal breathing, which occurs in about 50% of people who experience a cardiac arrest, and patients who demonstrate this characteristic gasping often have a better chance of surviving.

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“Machine Learning: Living in the Age of AI,” examines the extraordinary ways in which people are interacting with AI today. Hobbyists and teenagers are now developing tech powered by machine learning and WIRED shows the impacts of AI on schoolchildren and farmers and senior citizens, as well as looking at the implications that rapidly accelerating technology can have. The film was directed by filmmaker Chris Cannucciari, produced by WIRED, and supported by McCann Worldgroup.

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A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon has made a breakthrough in the field of noninvasive robotic device control. Using a noninvasive brain-computer interface, they have developed the first-ever successful mind-controlled robotic arm exhibiting the ability to continuously track and follow a computer cursor.

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Researchers from CSIRO’s Data61, the data and digital specialist arm of Australia’s national science agency, have developed a world-first set of techniques to effectively ‘vaccinate’ algorithms against adversarial attacks, a significant advancement in machine learning research.

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