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Ensure What You See Is Real

With the internet and particularly social media awash with pictures, videos, news, and other content which may not be all that it seems, here is a guide to spotting fake news and content. Misinformation There are a number of sources and…
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AI-Faked Photos and Videos Concerns

Social media analytics company Graphika has reported identifying images of faces for social media profiles that appear to have been faked using machine learning for the purpose of China-based anti-U.S. government campaigns. Graphika Detects Graphika,…
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AI, Data Protection & The ICO

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published guidelines to help clarify how data protection principles apply to AI projects. The Document The guidance document (now a pdf available online on the ICO website) was produced…
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Face Masks Beat Facial Recognition

New research has shown that even the most advanced facial recognition algorithms can only identify as little as 50 per cent of faces when masks are worn. Test Although necessary in the pandemic, mask-wearing appears to be posing a serious…
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Facial Recognition Backlash

The recent killing of George Floyd by U.S. police appears to have been the catalyst for a backlash by tech companies such as Amazon and Microsoft who are banning the police from using facial recognition software until more regulations are in…
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Facial Recognition, Photo Identity and Privacy Protection

With phone cameras, surveillance cameras with facial recognition seemingly everywhere and the world entering a new phase of social change, many people are looking at how they can take simple steps to retain and protect their privacy rights. Faces Enshrined…
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Are Masks A Challenge To Facial Recognition Technology?

As questions about the continued use of potentially unreliable and unregulated live facial recognition (LFR) technology continue. Masks used to protect against the spread of coronavirus may be presenting a further challenge to the technology. Questions…
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Facial Recognition and Super Computers Help in COVID-19 Fight

Technology is playing an important role in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic with adapted facial recognition cameras and super-computers now joining the battle to help beat the virus. Adapted Facial Recognition Facial recognition camera…
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AI Skills Course Available

A free, basic AI skills course, funded by Finland’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment (MEAE), is being made available to citizens across the EU’s 27 member states.  Success in Finland The decision by the Finnish government…
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AI, Supercomputers ... and Storms Dennis & Ciara

The disruption and damage caused by weather events affect businesses across the UK but having the benefit of early and detailed insights provided a by a new supercomputer system could enable businesses, organisations, agencies, local authorities…
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Amazon Offering Custom ‘Brand Voice’ to Replace Default Alexa Voice

Amazon’s AWS is offering a new ‘Brand Voice’ capability to companies which enables them to create their own custom voice for Alexa that replaces the default voice with one that reflects their “persona”, such as the voice of Colonel…
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Police Images of Serious Offenders Reportedly Shared With Private Landlord For Facial Recognition Trial

There have been calls for government intervention after it was alleged that South Yorkshire Police shared its images of serious offenders with a private landlord (Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield) as part of a live facial recognition…
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EU Considers Ban on Facial Recognition

It has been reported that the European Commission is considering a ban on the use of facial recognition in public spaces for up to five years while new regulations for its use are put in place. Document The reports of a possible…
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AI Better at Breast Cancer Detection Than Doctors

Researchers at Good Health have created an AI program which, in tests, has proven to be more accurate at detecting and diagnosing breast cancer than expert human radiologists. Trained The AI software, which was developed by…
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Google Announces New ‘Teachable Machine 2.0’ No-Code Machine Learning Model Generator

Two years on from its first incarnation, Google has announced the introduction of its ‘Teachable Machine 2.0’, a no-code custom machine learning model generating platform that can be used by anyone and requires no coding experience. First…
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Microsoft Beats Amazon to $10 Billion AI Defence Contract for ‘Jedi’

After a long and difficult bidding process, Amazon has lost out to Microsoft in the battle to win a $10bn (£8bn) US Defence Department AI and Cloud computing contract. For ‘Jedi’ The contract was for the Joint Enterprise Defence…
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AI and the Fake News War

In a “post-truth” era, AI is one of the many protective tools and weapons involved in the battles that make up the current, ongoing “fake news” war. Fake News Fake news has become widespread in recent years, most prominently with…
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AI and Facial Analysis Job Interviews

Reports of the first job interviews conducted in the UK using Artificial Intelligence and facial analysis technology have been met with mixed reactions. The Software The AI and facial analysis technology used for the interviews comes…
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Deepfake Ransomware - A Worrying Threat

Multinational IT security company ‘Trend Micro’ has highlighted the future threat of cybercriminals making and posting (or threatening to post) malicious ‘deep fake’ videos online in order to cause damage to reputations and/or to extract…
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Autonomous AI Cyber Weapons Inevitable Says Security Research Expert

Speaking at a recent CloudSec event in London, Trend Micro’s vice-president of security research, Rik Ferguson said that AI cyberattacks operated autonomously are an inevitable threat that security professionals must adapt to tackling. If…
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AI Destined For McDonald’s Drive-Throughs

The acquisition of AI voice recognition start-up Apprente by the McDonalds franchise gives the restaurant chain its own Silicon Valley technology division and promises an automated ordering system for drive-throughs, self-order interfaces and…
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AI Mimics CEO’s Voice To Steal £201,000

A recent Wall Street Journal report has highlighted how, in March this year, a group of hackers were able to use AI software to mimic an energy company CEO’s voice in order to steal £201,000. What Happened? Reports indicate that the…
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Record Levels of Investment in UK AI

A Tech Nation Report has shown that AI investment in the UK reached record levels in the first six months of the year making it the third biggest market in the world for AI investment, just behind the US and China. Surge Crunchbase figures…
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Four-Year Lifespan For Self-Driving Cars

As large car manufacturers seek to reinvent themselves as ‘mobility companies’ in an effort to compete for global leadership in the growing autonomous driving sector, a Ford Executive has predicted that self-driving cars will only…
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Grammar Correction Capabilities For Gmail and G Suite

Google has announced that it is rolling out new real-time, AI-powered spelling and grammar correction capabilities for G Suite users and personal Gmail accounts. Real-Time, As-You-Type The real-time, as-you-type spelling autocorrection…
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Facial Recognition at King’s Cross Prompts ICO Investigation

The UK’s data protection watchdog (the Information Commissioner’s Office  i.e. the ICO) has said that it will be investigating the use of facial recognition cameras at King’s Cross by Property Development Company Argent. What…
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Brain Implants That Link Humans To Computers

Head of SpaceX and Tesla, Elon Musk, has announced that human brain implants that can link directly to devices could be a reality within a year. Neuralink The implanted brain-computer interface (BCI) that Mr Musk talked about recently…
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MPs Call To Stop Police Facial Recognition

Following criticism of the Police use of facial recognition technology in terms of privacy, accuracy, bias, and management of the image database, the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee has called for a temporary halt in the use…
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‘Mobile-Sensing System’ Could Evaluate Your Workplace Performance

A newly developed ‘Mobile-Sensing System’ that uses a combination of smartphone, fitness bracelet, app and cloud-based machine learning algorithms can track and rank the workplace performance of employees with 80% accuracy. Based On…
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Facial Recognition Glasses For Covert Surveillance

The “iFalcon Face Control” AR glasses that incorporate an 8-megapixel camera in the frame and NNTC facial recognition technology (due to go on sale next year) are reported to have already been deployed into several security operations. US…
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Revenue Risk To UK Companies Too Slow To Adopt AI

Research from the McKinsey Global Institute shows that UK companies could lose 20% of their cash flow if they are too slow to invest in and adopt Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools. Could Miss Out Even though the report highlighted the…
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New AI Feature For Microsoft Word Online To Improve Your Writing

The new ‘Ideas’ feature, an AI-powered editor in the cloud for Microsoft Word is intended to provide intelligent suggestions to make your writing more concise, readable, and inclusive. Ideas The new ‘Ideas’ feature, which is already…
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Robot Programmed to Carry Out Unbiased Job Interviews

TNG and Furhat Robotics in Sweden have developed a social, unbiased recruitment robot called “Tengai” that can be used to conduct job interviews with human candidates. Existing Robot, Modified The robot, ‘Furhat’, was developed…
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Chatbot Supports Students

Lancaster University has announced that it has launched a chatbot “companion” for students which allows them to ask almost any question about their university experience, from student life, and welfare, to academic studies and more. Ask…
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Report Says 90% of NHS Jobs Will Need Digital Skills, But AI and Robotics Could Enhance Services

Marketing report company Singular has produced an ROI index for mobile advertising, based on its own research which shows that Facebook and Google appear to offer the best value for mobile advertisers. A report, commissioned by health secretary…
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Man Fined After Hiding From Facial Recognition Cameras

A man was given a public order fine after being stopped by police because he covered his face during a trial of facial recognition cameras in Romford, London. What Facial Recognition Trial? A deliberately “overt” trial of live facial…
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London Police Facial Recognition Trial

It has been reported that the police are conducting a trial of a facial recognition system in Soho, Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square over two days in the run-up to Christmas in a bid to identify people among the Christmas shoppers who…
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Hard of Hearing? Skype Offers Live Captions And Subtitles

On 3rd December, Skype announced that it was celebrating United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities by launching its new call captioning with live captions and subtitles feature. Inclusivity & Accessibility Skype says…
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ICO Investigation Into Police Use of Facial Recognition Technology

ICO head Elizabeth Dunham is reported to have launched a formal investigation into how police forces use facial recognition technology (FRT) after high failure rates, misidentifications and worries about legality, bias, and privacy. Concerns…
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Facial Recognition For Border Control

It has been reported that the UK Home Office will soon be using biometric facial recognition technology in a smartphone app to match a user’s selfie against the image read from a user’s passport chip as a means of self-service identity verification…
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Facial Recognition For Buyers Of Alcohol & Cigarettes

A pilot scheme involving NCR, the US self check-out machine maker for Asda, Tesco and other UK supermarkets, and Yoti’s digital identity app will use an integrated camera linked to facial recognition software to help improve, simplify and…
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New Tech Laws For AI Bots & Better Passwords

It may be no surprise to hear that California, home of Silicon Valley, has become the first state to pass laws to make AI bots 'introduce themselves' (i.e. identify themselves as bots), and to ban weak default passwords. Other states and countries…
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Microsoft Introduces AI Automated Audio and Video File Transcription

Microsoft’s new AI tool in OneDrive and SharePoint automatically transcribes the contents of video, audio, and image files, thereby making it much faster and easier to find specific topics and references made in those files. No More Lengthy…
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Are You On The Wrong Side Of An Algorithm?

Research carried out in Australia by US data experts have highlighted the possible dangers of a future where, by default, many of us could fall foul of unchecked big-data and automated algorithmic decision-making. Travels Yield Insights After…
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IBM Makes Test Version of New Stealth AI Malware ‘DeepLocker’

IBM has announced that it has created its own stealth, ultra-evasive AI malware called ‘DeepLocker’ that can evade all traditional cyber-security protection, hide in normal applications, and only strike when it is sure it has reached its…
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Social Mapper Can Trace Your Face

Trustwave's SpiderLabs has created a new penetration testing tool that uses facial recognition to trace your face through all your social media profiles, link your name to it, and identify which organisation you work for. Why? According to…
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AI, ML & ‘Robot’ Business Spending Will Hit $232bn by 2025 Says Report

A recent KPMG reports claims that whereas business spending on artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning(ML) and robotic process automation (RPA) technologies is $12.4bn this year, it will increase to $232bn in 2025. Ready, Set, Fail? The…