The WHO has released a major report on assistive technology. It says almost 1 billion children and adults can’t get the glasses, wheelchairs, technology, devices or other supports they need.
Virtual character may soon be smarter than us.
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Police, private security and sporting events are turning to a growing but largely unregulated industry that claims its technology can detect suspicious individuals.
Machine logic can be too precise to seem fully human. Chatbots that learn logic from Aristotle instead might behave more like people.
A doctor measures a worker’s temperature in Kitui, Kenya. With technology, AI and human resources, Africa’s health systems can take on COVID-19.
Photo by LUIS TATO/AFP via Getty Images
We don’t always realise it, but emotions play a positive role in decision making.
Monaco and Japan have some of the highest life expectancies in the world. But calculating an individual’s life expectancy will require taking data analysis several steps further.
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Predicting life expectancy remains in the realm of science fiction, but it may soon be possible. Are we prepared for such information? And who else would benefit from this knowledge?
A recent study conducted by Brookings Institute researchers found artificial intelligence could “affect work in virtually every occupational group”. However, it’s yet to be seen exactly how jobs will be impacted.
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As machine automation and artificial intelligence surge, there’s paranoia our jobs will be overrun by robots. But even if this happens, work won’t disappear, because humans need it.
Sometimes it feels like everybody on social media is fighting about what’s “right” and what’s “wrong”. Well, figuring out why we all have such unique opinions is now helping experts tackle fake news.
Telecommunications company Huawei has used artificial intelligence to complete Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony. But the result fails to capture the spirit of Schubert’s original compositions.
The South Korean go player Lee Sedol after a 2016 match against Google’s artificial-intelligence program AlphaGo. Sedol, ranked 9th in the world, lost 4-1.
Lee Jin-man/Flickr
The history of human-machine collaboration suggests that AI will evolve into a “cognitive partner” to humankind rather than as all-powerful, all-knowing, labour replacing robots.
Detail from Divide 2011 by Sam Jinks. Mixed media, 86 x 60 cm,
collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
The quest to create a robot that is indistinguishable from humans has become all-consuming for some scientists, engineers and technicians. The consequences could be both beneficial and catastrophic.
Associate Professor, Rehabilitation, Ageing and Independent Living Research Centre and Occupational Therapy Department, School of Primary and Allied Healthcare, Monash University