Artificial Intelligence, Automation, and Robotics

NSF has released its 2018 CPS solicitation. The program funds projects for engineered systems that are built from and depend upon, the seamless integration of computation and physical components. The CPS program aims to develop the core research needed to engineer complex cyber-physical systems, some of which may also require dependable, high-confidence, or provable behaviors. Core research areas of the program include control, data analytics, autonomy, design, information management, internet of things (IoT), mixed initiatives including human-in- or on-the-loop, networking, privacy, real-time systems, safety, security, and verification. Small projects: $500k/3 yrs Medium projects: $500k-1M/3 yrs Frontier projects $1M-7M/4-5 yrs Proposal Deadline: May 8, 2018 Links: Program Description Solicitation

In this Wired article , former Google/Uber wunderkind Anthony Levandowski envisions the future of AI as a "for-prophet" not-for-profit venture. Levandowski seeks converts who embrace the tenets of his newly founded religion Way of the Future . It's goal - to herald and shape mankind's new relationship with our inevitable AI divinity. When it comes to AI, it seems no job is safe.

We've spent a fair number of pixels prognosticating the future of AI. This article from the Harvard Business Review refreshingly discusses what AI can do for you lately . The good news is if you use AI to guide your food choices, then since 2016, your risk of accidentally consuming a chihuahua's head has decreased dramatically. Enjoy!

Presented By: N. Katherine Hayles, Distinguished Professor Emerita, Literature, Duke University What:  Special Speaker for the Hall Center Seminar on "The Posthuman?" Where: KU Alumni Center When: Monday, November 13, 2017, 7:30-9 p.m. Suggested Background Reading : How We Became Posthuman (1999) Questions? 864-2519 or relliott@ku.edu Hosted by: Hall Center for the Humanities .

Stanford University Junior Joshua Browder's AI Legal chatbot DoNotPay has purportedly helped defeat 375,000 parking tickets over the last two years and is now available nationwide, according to The Verge . TechCrunch reports that IBM's Watson technology has been offered to DoNotPay for free to enable users to express questions using natural language. Should attorneys worry that AI will replace them? Not according to the ABA's Litigation News . Indeed, although large firms are retaining various AI systems for tasks such as due diligence, lease abstraction, and contract analysis, at least one firm characterizes those systems as supplemental tools to help attorneys produce results faster, learn more quickly, and improve - not to replace them. Which raises the question - is the potential to generate more legal work truly limitless? At least from an output perspective , DoNotPay  would seem to suggest it might be. Below is a hastily-generated sample. Interestingly, the ...

From Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook, during a visit to Iowa 80, The World's Largest Truck Stop: "I asked a number of truckers what they think about self-driving cars and trucks and what they think about the future. Everyone I met was skeptical self-driving trucks would replace jobs for different reasons. Some thought it would be impossible to pack all the sensors you need to deal with things like weather into trucks. Others thought computers could handle the interstate but not the last mile to the store. And some truckers think we'll end up with something like autopilot on planes -- with trucks driving themselves with people in the cab. From all the research I've seen, I'm confident we'll solve these problems. But it's interesting that people in the industry don't believe this will happen soon." Link to full post and comments  here .