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 [...]
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 [...]
Hands-free robotic hands making waves January 12, 2015 New waves in technology come and go, but here's one that will surely last the test of time: a smartphone dock equipped with a pair of robotic arms. "Indi", the brainchild of MBA student Billy Wood, will wave its robotic arms to gain your attention when you have a call. It can also [...]
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 [...]
Google’s Eric Schmidt says artificial intelligence concerns are normal but misguided after Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk warnings December 10, 2014 Google boss Eric Schmidt is the latest to weigh in on the artificial intelligence debate after Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk both offered a dim view of intelligent machines in the future. Schmidt is tabling a much more positive view of the rise of the machines. Nothing to do with Google’s massive investment in AI, [...]
Stephen Hawking: Artificial intelligence could end the human race December 2, 2014 The robot revolution could bring about the end of humanity as we know it, professor Stephen Hawking has warned. In an interview with the BBC he warned that "the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race". He was responding to a question about the artificial intelligence technology which he uses [...]
Bankers, watch out for the robots: Goldman Sachs has invested in a company that could use algorithms instead of analysts November 24, 2014 Bankers are often described as having robot-like qualities. With their ability to work all hours without running out of energy, their ruthless efficiency and mathematical skill, there are plenty of comparisons to be made with the machines. But now, they could actually become robots. According to the FT, Goldman Sachs has invested $15m, in [...]
Will humans be replaced by robots? They might take some of our jobs, but they’ll also create new ones November 23, 2014 Strange, semi-human, and capable of tapping into our fear of the unknown, robots have sent shivers down our spines for decades – long before the Terminator was sent to Earth or the daleks even contemplated exterminating Dr Who. But now, the fictional threat of bloodthirsty machines has shifted to a much more real danger [...]
Creativity and optimism will help Britain cope with the robot onslaught November 10, 2014 THE ROBOTS are coming, and they’re after your job. New research from Oxford University and Deloitte will be sure to send a shiver down the spine of British workers. It showed that up to 35 per cent of jobs in the UK could be destroyed by automation and computerisation. Deloitte argued that this would cause [...]