Ken Garen, CPA, Co-Founder and President, UBCC

Seeking to outsmart US, China races ahead on artificial intelligence BY TIM JOHNSON February 21, 2018 05:00 AM Updated February 21, 2018 03:13 PM WASHINGTON When a Google computer program beat the world’s best player of an ancient Chinese board game last May, it might have seemed like an incremental milestone. But for some, the success of the program known as AlphaGo marked more than a man vs. machine clash. It set up a broader race between China and the United States over artificial intelligence, a competition that could mold the future of humankind just as the widespread arrival of electricity did in the last century. The Go tournament took place in Wuzhen, a city of canals that is more than 1,300 years old, a fitting venue for a competition involving the strategy board game Go that has been played for several thousand years. Go is renowned for its complexity, and it is said that there are more variations to the game than there are atoms in the universe. Perhaps...

AI WARNING: Robots will need 'chipping' to stop 'MURDEROUS THOUGHTS' ROBOTS will need to be chipped to prevent them having murderous thoughts and wiping out the human race, a top scientist has warned. By David Rivers / Published 22nd February 2018 Famed futurist Prof Michio Kaku gave his harrowing take on artificial intelligence during a Q & A session with fans on Reddit. The US physicist outlined the evolution of robots in future, but it's absolutely terrifying. He believes robots will eventually become so advanced they run the risk of replacing the human race. And to stop them having "murderous thoughts" before killing us, humans will need to act fast and chip them with preventive technology. A user asked the renowned author: "Professor Michio Kaku, my question to you is will artificial intelligence eventually render human labor and intelligence obsolete? "If so, in what areas can human excel at that machin...

Human speech will be replaced by thought communication by 2050, claims expert HUMAN speech will become a thing of the past by the year 2050, by which time we will communicate by thought via a computer-generated collective consciousness, it has been claimed By CIARAN MCGRATH 08:48, Sat, Feb 17, 2018 | UPDATED: 09:03, Sat, Feb 17, 2018 'It is very similar to the work of Elon Musk – it is an open source platform for humanity.' Marko Karjnovic unveiled his ideas at The Museum of the Future as part of the World Government Summit in Dubai. The Hybrid Intelligence Biometric Avatar (HIBA), will understand the feelings of people connected to it, take on their personas, exchange information with them and even become part of the fabric of their brains. Mr Karjnovic, who has produced the exhibit, explained: "It is very similar to the work of Elon Musk – it is an open source platform for humanity. "HIBA will have the ability to connect the minds of th...

AI is coming for you, warns ominous new study February 21, 2018 If you weren’t already worried about AI, the ominously named “The Malicious Use of Artificial Intelligence” report has just been released to fuel your nightmares. Written by 26 authors from 14 academic and industrial institutions and think tanks including nonprofit research OpenAI, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the national security think tank Center for a New American Security, the report acknowledges the many positive applications for AI, but argues it is also ripe for exploitation by rogue states, as well as criminals and terrorists, and that it makes war inevitable. So we need to prepare. The 100-page report examines three areas–digital, physical, and political–where bad actors could exploit AI, some of which sound quite familiar: bots automating “fake” lifelike videos for political ends. Other Black Mirror-esque scenarios include the possibility of criminals outfitting drones with facial re...

The Post's View Opinion Opinion A column or article in the Opinions section (in print, this is known as the Editorial Pages). Tech giants should resist Russia’s iron grip of censorship By Editorial Board February 20, 2018 WHAT IS a good, reliable test of an open society? Can a citizen post something online calling the president a crook or a fool? Not in Russia, where speech is not free and the Kremlin’s whims rule. Consider the online protest of Alexei Navalny, a Russian anti-corruption campaigner and leading voice of opposition to President Vladimir Putin. Blocked by the Kremlin and courts from running for president on arbitrary grounds, he has called for a boycott of the March election in Russia, at which Mr. Putin is expected to claim an easy victory and fourth term. Mr. Navalny has turned to YouTube to get his anti-corruption message out. The Russian censors are not happy. Mr. Navalny’s latest YouTube video — he has made several in recent years — is a 25...

Germany set out to delete hate speech online. Instead, it made things worse. By Bernhard Rohleder February 20 at 2:25 PM Bernhard Rohleder is the chief executive officer of Bitkom, Germany’s federal association for information technology, telecommunication and new media. BERLIN — The German government’s Network Enforcement Act, which came into effect on Jan. 1, aims to improve law enforcement on the Internet and more effectively fight hate crime. The law targets criminal online offenses including defamation, incitement and sharing unconstitutional symbols, such as the swastika. But within just a few days of coming into effect, the inevitable has become apparent: legitimate expressions of opinion are being deleted. The law is achieving the opposite of what it intended: it is actually hampering the fight against crime. The operators of social networks that are subject to the law now have to delete “obviously illegal” content within 24 hours of being notified. Other ...

‘No Cash’ Signs Everywhere Has Sweden Worried It's Gone Too Far Cash usage declining both as share of GDP and in nominal terms Riksbank committee could publish report on issue in summer By Amanda Billner February 18, 2018, 3:00 AM PST Updated on February 19, 2018, 1:40 AM PST The value of notes and coins in circulation are the lowest in nearly 30 years. Bloomberg’s Amanda Billner reports. “No cash accepted” signs are becoming an increasingly common sight in shops and eateries across Sweden as payments go digital and mobile. But the pace at which cash is vanishing has authorities worried. A broad review of central bank legislation that’s under way is now taking a special look at the situation, with an interim report due as early as the summer. “If this development with cash disappearing happens too fast, it can be difficult to maintain the infrastructure” for handling cash, said Mats Dillen, the head of the parliamentary review. He declined to give more d...