Oxford Insights’ AI News Roundup #1
By Katie Passey and Scarlet George
Welcome to the first edition of AI Roundup — your fortnightly newsletter on AI from around the world — brought to you this week by our researchers Katie and Scarlet.
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Europe
The U.K. Wants to Become the World Leader in Ethical A.I.
The U.K. has settled on a path to become a leader in the A.I. game. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May announced her country’s goal to become a world leader in “ethical A.I.” Three months later, the U.K. unveiled its A.I. Sector Deal, a comprehensive policy that establishes a partnership between government, academia, and industry to address residents’ and businesses’ goals and concerns with respect to A.I.
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North America
Using artificial intelligence to fix Wikipedia’s gender problem
Quicksilver, a software tool by San Francisco startup Primer designed to help Wikipedia editors fill in blind spots in the crowdsourced encyclopedia is helping to address Wikipedia’s underrepresentation of women in science. The world’s fifth-most-visited website has a long-running problem with gender bias: Only 18 percent of its biographies are of women.
To make real progress in Artificial Intelligence we need the best, brightest and most diverse minds to exchange ideas and build on each other’s work. Research in isolation, or in secret, falls behind the leading edge.
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South America
Automation in Latin America: A Threat or an Opportunity?
Latin America has much at stake in this oncoming era of automation. Regions that have high percentages of undereducated, low-skilled workers are likely to be hit the hardest by machine replacement. It stands to reason that if robots are considered to be justifiable replacements for low-skilled laborers in manufacturing, retail and other areas, humans’ share in production value will be dramatically reduced.
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Middle East and North Africa
Happiness May Make Or Break Saudi Arabia’s City Of The Future
A border is being drawn in the Middle East for a “new civilization.” Spanning across Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, the enclosed 10,000 square miles will house Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s $500 billion vision for the future of living: a fully-automated megacity run on artificial intelligence (AI).
AI will raise efficiency and boost productivity
Governments across the Middle East have identified digital strategies as key priorities, as they push ahead with their economic diversification agenda. It is estimated that AI’s contribution to the region’s economy will reach around $320 billion (Dh1.17 trillion) in 2030.
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Sub-Saharan Africa
Beijing’s Big Brother Tech Needs African Faces
Zimbabwe is signing up for China’s surveillance state, but its citizens will pay the price.
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Asia
How Chinese Retailer JD.com Uses AI, Big Data & Robotics To Take On Amazon
Often referred to as the Amazon of China, JD.com started in 1998 as a brick-and-mortar store in Beijing, but it has aspirations to be the world’s leading e-commerce retailer. Based on its tremendous growth, it might not take long for the company to get there. Richard Liu, the company’s founder, CEO, and chairman, has even gone so far to predict his company soon won’t need humans; 100% operated by AI and robots.
Artificial Intelligence in Singapore: pervasive, powerful and present
According to Seagate Technology’s latest survey of IT professionals across the Asia-Pacific, AI adoption in Singapore is already so robust that at least six in 10 organisations have already implemented AI in one form or another within areas such as information technology (60 per cent), supply chain and logistics (48 per cent), customer support (49 per cent) as well as research and development (41 per cent).
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Oceania
Australia invests in artificial intelligence for medical imaging
The Australian Government has given a grant to the Sydney Neuroimaging Analysis Centre (SNAC) for the development of new medical imaging techniques based on artificial intelligence.
Optus and Curtin University partner for artificial intelligence research
A new research group that will operate out of the School of Electrical Engineering, Computing and Mathematical Sciences has been stood up under the partnership, which will focus on the impact of AI on regional telecommunications, higher education, and the urban environment.
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