Each week 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 – Facebook’s 10 Year Plan  we see a great interview with Facebook’s CTO, a Google Senior Fellow talk about the lack of diversity in AI, Invisible UI, and Japan stepping up as world leaders.

Facebook’s 10-Year Plan: Connectivity, Artificial Intelligence, And Virtual Reality

Earlier this year at Facebook’s F8 conference, the company revealed three innovation pillars that make up the company’s ten-year vision: connectivity, artificial intelligence (AI), and virtual reality (VR). Facebook’s Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer is responsible for leading each of them. Despite the fact that the vision is ten-years in duration, the company has made significant progress in each.
Facebook’s progress in AI can been seen in everything from the company’s news feed to the way in which people are tagged. The virtual reality innovations are best demonstrated through the Oculus Rift, which I demo’d last Thursday. More recently, the company made a great flight forward on the connectivity pillar as Acquila, a long-endurance plane that will fly above commercial aircraft and the weather, took flight in Arizona. The goal is for this v-shaped aircraft that has a wingspan longer than a Boeing 737, but weighs under 1,o00 pounds to bring basic internet access to the developing world.
I met with Schroepfer at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, and we discussed these three pillars and a variety of other topics, including the company’s recruiting methods, how the company maintains its innovative edge, and the logic behind its headquarters – one of the largest open-space offices in the world…
Read more at Forbes

The head of Google’s Brain team is more worried about the lack of diversity in artificial intelligence than an AI apocalypse

“I am personally not worried about an AI apocalypse, as I consider that a completely made-up fear,” Jeff Dean, a senior fellow at Google, wrote during a Reddit AMA on Aug. 11. “I am concerned about the lack of diversity in the AI research community and in computer science more generally.” (Emphasis his.)

Ding, ding, ding. The issue that the tech industry is trying to maneuver their way around, for better or worse, is the same issue that can stunt the progress of “humanistic thinking” in the development of artificial intelligence, according to Dean.

Using artificial intelligence to create invisible UI

Interaction with the world around us should be as easy as walking into your favorite bar and getting your favorite drink in hand before your butt hits the bar stool. The bartender knows you, knows exactly what drink you like and knows you just walked through the door. That’s a lot of interaction, without any “interaction.”
We’re redefining how we interact with machines and how they interact with us. Advances in AI help make new human-to-machine and machine-to-human interaction possible. Traditional interfaces get simplified, abstracted, hidden — they become ambient, part of everything. The ultimate UI is no UI.
Everyone’s getting in the game, but few have cracked the code. We must fundamentally change the way we think.
 
Read more at TechCrunch

Japan well placed to lead in artificial intelligence, expert says

Japan lags Silicon Valley in conventional internet services but could become a global leader in the deep-learning technology of artificial intelligence, a leading AI expert has said.
Yutaka Matsuo, 41, Project Associate Professor at the University of Tokyo, believes machine learning will revolutionize sectors such as image recognition.
“In deep learning, Japan still has a great chance to compete,” Matsuo said in an interview.
He singled out Sony Corp., Ricoh Co., Olympus Corp. and Canon Inc. as companies that show promise.
“Changes happening now are in image processing technology, and Japan has been good at this,” he said.
With Japan traditionally strong in robotics, Japanese companies should be able to take a lead in self-learning robots and machines in fields including farming, construction and nursing care, Matsuo said.
A graduate of the University of Tokyo, Matsuo has worked in AI research at institutions such as Stanford University.
He is now one of Japan’s leading AI researchers and has served on numerous government advisory panels involved with the sector and robotics.
Read more at The Japan Times

Nikolas Badminton, Futurist: Artificial Intelligence Keynote

Nikolas Badminton, Futurist talks about Artificial Intelligence, it’s history, it’s evolution, and how it can be practically applied in today’s world. Nikolas’ keynote was supported by COMMUNITECH and held in a packed house at the Tech Leadership Summit in 2016.

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Nikolas Badminton is a world-respected futurist speaker that researches, speaks, and writes about the future of work, how technology is affecting the workplace, how workers are adapting, the sharing economy, and how the world is evolving. He appears at conferences in Canada, USA, UK, and Europe. Email him to book him for your radio, TV show, or conference.