There is nothing to fear from the rise of artificial intelligence, says Microsoft’s Eric Horwitz January 28, 2015 We need not fear the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and the doomsday iRobot scenario, according Microsoft's head of research. Steven Hawking caused controversy last year with his dire warnings that intelligent machines pose a threat to the very existence of humanity. In December, he told the BBC "the development of full artificial intelligence could [...]
Humanity “three minutes to midnight” on the Doomsday clock January 23, 2015 The world is apparently teetering closer to all-out catastrophe than it has been since the height of the Cold War. We are, in the words of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Science and Security Boards, back at “three minutes to midnight” on the hands of the “Doomsday Clock“. The last time we were this [...]
Film review: Ex Machina is a psychological techno-thriller tour de force January 23, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★★★★ With everyone from Stephen Hawking to Elon Musk warning we’re about to be slaughtered by artificial super-intelligences, Ex Machina is a timely reflection on consciousness, creativity, hubris, and the possibilities that await us just around the corner. Author-turned-screenwriter Alex Garland’s directorial debut is a psychological techno-thriller tour de force. Caleb [...]
Apple swallows $50m Tech City music startup January 21, 2015 A SHOREDITCH-based music data firm has been quietly snapped up by tech giant Apple in a deal estimated to be worth $50m (£33m). Fresh from its $3bn takeover of Dr Dre’s Beats headphone brand, it was yesterday revealed that Apple has taken over Semetric in a deal believed to have occurred last year. The move [...]
Apple buys London startup Semetric January 21, 2015 Fresh from its $3bn (£2bn) of Dr Dre's Beats headphone brand, Apple has made its next big acquisition: UK music analytics startup Semetric. In the strongest sign yet that it's moving its focus back to music, the US tech giant has paid an estimated $50m for the company, based in London. The company, founded in [...]
Mindfulness, robots and Will.I.Am: Eight things you need to know about Davos 2015 January 20, 2015 Caloo, calay: it's that time of year again, when leaders flock from the four corners of the globe to a smallish mountain town in the Swiss Alps, so they might wear ridiculous snow boots, slide over ice-covered streets in an undigified manner and generally discuss matters of grave world importance. For today, 2015's World Economic [...]
Canary Wharf Group expands Level39 tech startup space for fintech, retail and smart city entrepreneurs January 19, 2015 Canary Wharf’s tech startup space, Level 39, is taking on additional space at One Canada Square to house entrepreneurs focused on developing technology in the fintech, retail and smart city sector. Accenture’s 2015 Fintech Innovation Lab is the first to be housed in the new space and will be joined by another 36 companies taking [...]
Davos 2015: World Economic Forum to get back to basics January 18, 2015 Over the last 44 years the world’s political and business elite has migrated to the serene Swiss Alpine town of Davos to discuss the key challenges facing global development in the ensuing year. The 2015 meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) will be much of the same: 40 heads of state will make up [...]
Gimme 5: Entrepreneurial reads for January January 11, 2015 Playing to Win by A G Lafley The chief executive of Proctor & Gamble shares how he restored the fortunes of the consumer goods giant. Lafley cleverly demonstrates the key connections between daily action and realising a long-term vision. £14.39 (Harvard Business Review Press) The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg The award-winning author [...]
Online gaming transformed by a player you’ll never be able to beat: One robot has played more poker than all of humanity combined January 9, 2015 You might as well give up, people – you'll never be the best poker player in the world. There's now a computer programme so good at it, the Canadian scientists who developed it say it will never make a mistake. They describe the new software as having “solved” the game, with an algorithm [...]