Insights February 1st, 2017


Each week on a Wednesday Nikolas Badminton, Futurist highlights the top stories from the past week relating to the incredible rise of artificial intelligence and its application in society, the workplace, in cities, and in our lives.
In Artificial Intelligence Bulletin – Law, Fashion, and Poker we see law beign revolutionized, robots taking over fashion (maybe), Poker finally conquered, and Apple stepping up.

An AI Law Firm Wants to ‘Automate the Entire Legal World’

Whether it’s a new employment contract, a rental contract, or sale contract, it needs to be checked before signing. Everyone knows the struggle of working through the dreaded small print, searching for pitfalls hidden in the tiniest details, and trying to make sense out of the bizarre language of law.
In fairness to the layman, contract review is also a hustle for lawyers themselves. In 2014, commercial lawyer Noori Bechor got sick of the fact that 80 percent of his work was spent reviewing contracts. He figured the service could be done much cheaper, faster, and more accurately by a computer. Hence, he started LawGeex, a platform for automatized contract review.
On LawGeex, users upload a contract and, within a short period of time (an hour on average), they receive a report that states which clauses don’t meet common legal standards. The report also details any vital clauses that could be missing, and where existing clauses might require revision. All of this is calculated by algorithms.
Read more at Futurism

Robots May Be the Future of Fashion

Robots are terrible at sewing fabric. It’s too complicated of a process, and it’s left the garment industry out of the mechanization revolution that has swept through aviation and the automobile industries. But a man named Jonathan Zornow wants to change that.

Fast Company recently profiled Zornow and his revolutionary new process called Sewbo, whereby fabrics are chemically stiffened with polymers so that automated robots can more easily produce a full garment. The biggest problem with past attempts at automating garment manufacturing, according to the article, was that companies tried to emulate the way humans sew. Which, due to that process’s intricacies, didn’t work. So Zornow went the other direction and manipulated the material to make it more easily handled by robots.

Read more at Esquire

Oh the humanity! Poker computer trounces humans in big step for AI

An artificial intelligence called Libratus has beaten four of the world’s best poker players in a gruelling 20-day tournament that culminated late on Monday.
The Brains vs Artificial Intelligence competition saw four human players – Dong Kim, Jason Les, Jimmy Chou and Daniel McAulay – spend 11 hours each day stationed at computer screens in the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh battling a piece of software at no-limit Texas Hold’em, a two-player unlimited form of poker. Libratus outmanoeuvred them all, winning more than $1.7m in chips. (Thankfully for the poker pros, they weren’t playing with real money)
It’s a crushing defeat for humanity, but a major milestone for artificial intelligence.
Machines have already become smart enough to beat humans at other games such as chess and Go, but poker is more difficult because it’s a game with imperfect information. With chess and Go, each player can see the entire board, but with poker, players don’t get to see each other’s hands. Furthermore, the AI is required to bluff and correctly interpret misleading information in order to win.
Read more at The Guardian

Apple Is Now a Member of a Big Artificial Intelligence Group

Apple has joined a non-profit group focused on spreading the message that artificial intelligence technologies can be used for societal good.

“We’re glad to see the industry engaging on some of the larger opportunities and concerns created with the advance of machine learning and AI,” Tom Gruber, Apple’s head of development for its Siri, said in a statement. “We believe it’s beneficial to Apple, our customers, and the industry to play an active role in its development and look forward to collaborating with the group to help drive discussion on how to advance AI while protecting the privacy and security of consumers.”
Read more at FORTUNE

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Futurist Keynote Speaker and Consultant - Nikolas Badminton

CEO of EXPONENTIAL MINDS and an award-winning Futurist Speaker, researcher and author. His expertise and thought leadership will guide you from complacency to thinking exponentially, planning for longevity, and encouraging a culture of innovation. You will then establish resiliency and abundance in your organization. Please reach out to discuss how he can help you, and read on to see what is happening in the world this week.

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