Warren Enskat Weekly AI Summary Jan 21, 2019 (WE-WAIS)

Warren Enskat / Weekly AI Summary (WE-WAIS) / 1-21-2019

Some of the AI developments and thoughts from this past week:

– Israel’s Innovation Authority … from startup nation to smart-up nation via AI: The State of Israel is facing significant challenges in the field of innovation during a period in which artificial intelligence is establishing itself as the central technological platform of our generation”, is the introduction for this year’s overview by Chairman Appelbaum and CEO Aharon. Read more here.

– Manulife/John Hancock and their “LOFTy” AI Ambitions – now in Silicon Valley: Manulife – and under its John Hancock brand in the US – has established a global network of LOFTs in Boston, Toronto and Singapore, starting with a team liftout in 2016. Read more here.

LOFT = Lab of Forward Thinking.

– DARPA Turns 60: Disruptive Tech, Inventions and AI: The 140-page summary of DARPA over six decades includes fascinating technologies, research articles and nuggets of wisdom from the DARPA directors. With an annual budget of close to $3 billion, the agency pushed the boundaries of technology through its Grand Challenges, the invention of the modern internet, and much more, driven by the passion of its scientists and leaders. Read more here.

– NVIDIA’s new Director of Robotics Research to head up Seattle AI Lab: The charter of the lab is to drive breakthrough robotics research to enable the next generation of robots that perform complex manipulation tasks to safely work alongside humans and transform industries such as manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, and more, said Nvidia in a release. “ Read more here.

– DARPA‘s $2B Next AI, KAIROS, and AIE Campaigns to generate actionable understanding of real-world phenomena: Understanding world events quickly is critical to informing US national security efforts, and the program aims to create a semi-automated system capable of identifying and drawing correlations between seemingly unrelated events or data, helping to inform or create broad narratives about the world around us (e.g. changes in the natural world or human society). Read more here.