Tag: bots

29 SEP

Tiny, self-assembling bots will create more work for humans

Enlarge / The robot is controlled by magnets, so a human is always in the loop. Until we get robots to control the magnets! And then a robot to control the robot who controls the magnets! And then… (credit: Rus, et al.) It sounds like the ultimate in job-destroying automation: these robots can turn into […]

23 SEP

Even bots need to build character

GUEST: Conversation designer Mindy Gold once prototyped a fitness bot with no stated name or gender. Its function was to keep female exercisers motivated with daily prompts. While testing it with a potential customer, Mindy realized the woman was referring to the bot as “him.” “He just told me I had to burn 50 more […]

15 SEP

Slack VP: Shared channels could lead to business bots that speak to each other

EXCLUSIVE: Shared channels that allow two businesses to share a workspace in Slack was made available for the first time Tuesday, bringing businesses that collaborate closer together — but that could just be the start. In an interview with VentureBeat, Slack VP of product April Underwood said shared channels could be a precursor to a […]

11 SEP

4 Slack bots disrupting the enterprise

GUEST: Conversational interfaces have become increasingly common in daily life, from consumer bots on Facebook to Alexa and Google helping us at home to Slack bots that make our working lives easier and more productive. To understand more about the products helping shepherd conversational UI into the enterprise, I interviewed four companies that are preparing […]

27 AUG

Russian bots posing as regular people are trying to sow discord on Twitter after Charlottesville

Getty Images/Chip Somodevilla Although the recent events in Charlottesville happened 5,000 miles from Moscow, Russia didn’t sit this one out. As has become almost routine after every polarizing U.S. political event in the past 12 months, online Russian propagandists quickly got involved. This time around, they took to Twitter with an army of bots to […]

25 AUG

Racist & sexist AI bots could deny you job, insurance & loans – tech experts

Published time: 25 Aug, 2017 21:44 Artificial intelligence programs designed to assess candidates for university places and bank loans may be inherently racist and sexist, according to technology experts. Researchers believe that machine-learning algorithms, far from making the world more equitable, are now mimicking society’s inequality by discriminating against women and ethnic minorities.     “This […]

25 AUG

AI Weekly: Elon Musk is worried about killer bots again. Or is he?

Killer robots might be coming for us, but not if Elon Musk has his way. In a letter to the United Nations, Musk championed the cause for 116 entrepreneurs and AI experts to set guidelines for future robots that can make decisions about killing humans. Of course, everyone went into hysterics. The “killer robots” phrase somehow became […]

18 AUG

AI Weekly: Amazon bots are helping bring the USPS back from oblivion

The United States Postal Service is not exactly bouncing back from oblivion these days, but it’s worth noting that there’s been a slight bump in one area. For the low-margin Shipping and Packages division, there was an 11 percent increase in revenue over last quarter. In general, these items — small packages that come to […]