Artificial intelligence

The iconic “stomp-stomp-clap” of Queen’s “We Will Rock You” was born out of the challenge that rock stars and professors alike know all too well: How to get large numbers of people engaged in participating during a live performance like a concert — or a lecture — and channel that energy for a sustained time […]

People moving in and out of photographs used to be reserved for the world of Harry Potter. But now computer scientists at the University of Washington have brought that magic to real life. Their algorithm, Photo Wake-Up, can take a person from a 2D photo or a work of art and make them run, walk or […]

A tiny crack in a nuclear reactor, skyscraper, bridge or dam can cause catastrophic consequences. The Minneapolis bridge collapse, which killed 13 people in 2007, is just one example of what can happen when structural integrity is compromised. Unidentified or under-identified structural damage in nuclear reactors can be cataclysmic. Inspection of critical systems such as […]

If the art of film didn’t change with new technology, thought processes, and public fascinations, it wouldn’t be as amazing as it is. But, it’s always a bit of a surprise when something new and foreign bursts onto the scene. Naysayers conservatively hold to the older forms of art—typically what they grew up on, and […]

In Back to the Future II (1989), fingerprints are used to lock and unlock doors. It’s a benign technology, apart from the rise of “thumb bandits” who amputate thumbs. Gattaca (1997) envisages a bleaker future, where corporations collect DNA samples and genetic discrimination reigns. Three decades on, “biometric recognition” technology is no longer science fiction. Should we embrace it […]

Engineers at the University of New Hampshire have designed a unique living laboratory on a heavily traveled iconic bridge which could change the way infrastructure is viewed. The Memorial Bridge, which links Portsmouth, New Hampshire to Kittery, Maine, has been outfitted with data sensors that have transformed it into a self-diagnosing, self-reporting “smart” bridge that […]

Combining big data with artificial intelligence has allowed University of Copenhagen researchers to determine whether you wrote your assignment or whether a ghostwriter penned it for you—with nearly 90 percent accuracy. Several studies have shown that cheating on assignments is widespread and becoming increasingly prevalent among high school students. At the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Computer […]

IPlytics, a German market intelligence company, reveals in a recent report entitled ‘Who is patenting AI technology?‘, the companies leading the way in AI research – at least in terms of volume. The forerunner in terms of AI-related patents is Microsoft, which owns 18,365 as of January 2019. Another U.S. company, IBM is in second place with […]

One of the reasons for the popularity of smart speakers is how easy they are to use. So easy in fact that children quickly figure out how to get Alexa, Siri or Google Assistant to follow their orders. So how do children typically interact with their new virtual family members?  The good news is that, according to […]