A major global survey of consumers and business leaders has suggested there is a growing belief among consumers and business leaders that robots handle financial tasks better than humans. According to the study by software infrastructure firm Oracle and personal finance expert Farnoosh Torabi, 2020 appears to have changed our relationship with money, with people … Read more
A café run by robots has opened to customers in one of Dubai’s most popular tourist destinations – ideal in a time where social distancing is still prevalent. It is located in Dubai Festival City, a large residential, business, and entertainment development. Customers can place their orders with German-made robots, who then prepare and deliver the … Read more
Exposure to air pollution in childhood is linked to a decline in thinking skills in later life, Edinburgh University researchers have said. A greater exposure to air pollution at the very start of life was associated with a detrimental effect on people’s cognitive skills up to 60 years later, the research found. The team tested … Read more
A study looking into the accuracy and bias of gender and skin colour in automatic face recognition algorithms tested with real-world data has found that some demographics show higher false positive or false negative rates. Facial recognition has been routinely used by both private and governmental organisations worldwide. Automatic face recognition can be used for … Read more
Millions of children in England are using messaging platforms that they are not old enough to be accessing and the introduction of end-to-end encryption (E2EE) could increase their risk of exploitation, the Children’s Commissioner for England has warned in a report. The Commissioner’s report follows announcements by Facebook – and indications by other social platforms, such as Snap – … Read more
The University of Cambridge will offer a master’s degree course focused on the responsible use of artificial intelligence, which it says will be the UK’s first. The course will be led by the university’s Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI), in partnership with the university’s Institute for Continuing Education. It is designed for … Read more
The UK Government has launched a new approach, through a network of technical experts, to find ways to conduct information warfare. Concepts such as false information, fake news, or information warfare are not novel, but technology and innovation have created an expressway for its dissemination. An information warfare network, called @HutEighteen, has been launched in partnership with … Read more
The engineering profession needs to do more to explain to the public how its work is related to science and the part played by ‘unknown unknowns’. Risk is in the news more than ever at the moment. Our collective behaviour depends on understanding it, but public debate reveals confusion that I believe needs to be … Read more
Instagram’s owner Facebook has agreed to make it more difficult for users to post advertising content to its photo-sharing platform without clearly labelling it as such. Popular users often sign deals to advertise a product or service on their feed, but the distinction between paid-for content and standard posted content is not always clear. Clear labelling … Read more
Facebook has announced the start of its independent Oversight Board on content moderation decisions. Facebook users can now appeal content-moderation decisions directly with its independent oversight board. The social media giant said users could go through this system once they had “exhausted the company’s appeal process”. The Board has the ability to overrule Facebook’s verdict … Read more