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MITs School of Engineering and Takeda Pharmaceuticals Company Limited today announced the MIT-Takeda Program to fuel the development and application of artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to benefit human health and drug development. Centered within the Abdul Latif Jameel Clinic for Machine Learning in Health (J-Clinic), the new program will leverage the combined expertise of both organizations, and is supported by Takedas three-year investment (with the potential for a two-year extension).

This new collaboration will provide MIT with extraordinary access to pharmaceutical infrastructure and expertise, and will help to focus work on challenges with lasting, practical impact. A new educational program offered through J-Clinic will provide Takeda with the ability to learn from and engage with some of MIT's sharpest and most curious minds, and offer insight into the advances that will help shape the health care industry of tomorrow.

We are thrilled to create this collaboration with Takeda, says Anantha Chandrakasan, dean of MITs School of Engineering. The MIT-Takeda Program will build a community dedicated to the next generation of AI and system-level breakthroughs that aim to advance healthcare around the globe.

The MIT-Takeda Program will support MIT faculty, students, researchers, and staff across the Institute who are working at the intersection of AI and human health, ensuring that they can devote their energies to expanding the limits of knowledge and imagination. The new program will coalesce disparate disciplines, merge theory and practical implementation, combine algorithm and hardware innovations, and create multidimensional collaborations between academia and industry.

We share with MIT a vision where next-generation intelligent technologies can be better developed and applied across the entire health care ecosystem, says Anne Heatherington, senior vice president and head of Data Sciences Institute (DSI) at Takeda. Together, we are creating an incredible opportunity to support research, enhance the drug development process, and build a better future for patients.

Established within J-Clinic, a nexus of AI and health care at MIT, the MIT-Takeda Program will focus on the following offerings:

James Collins will serve as faculty lead for the MIT-Takeda Program. Collins is the Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering and Science in MITs Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES) and Department of Biological Engineering, J-Clinic faculty co-lead, and a member of the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology faculty. He is also a core founding faculty member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and an Institute Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

A joint steering committee co-chaired by Anantha Chandrakasan and Anne Heatherington will oversee the MIT-Takeda Program.

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MIT School of Engineering and Takeda join to advance research in artificial intelligence and health - MIT News

Artificial Intelligence Could Help Scientists Predict Where And When Toxic Algae Will Bloom

Climate-driven change in the Gulf of Maine is raising new threats that "red tides" will become more frequent and prolonged. But at the same time, powerful new data collection techniques and artificial intelligence are providing more precise ways to predict where and when toxic algae will bloom. One of those new machine learning prediction models has been developed by a former intern at Bigelow Labs in East Boothbay.

In a busy shed on a Portland wharf, workers for Bangs Island Mussels sort and clean shellfish hauled from Casco Bay that morning. Wholesaler George Parr has come to pay a visit.

"I wholesale to restaurants around town, and if there's a lot of mackerel or scallops, I'll ship into Massachusetts," he says.

But business grinds to a halt, he says, when blooms of toxic algae suddenly emerge in the bay causing the dreaded red tide.

Toxins can build in filter feeders to levels that would cause "Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning" in human consumers. State regulators shut down shellfish harvests long before danger grows acute. But when a red tide swept into Casco Bay last summer, Bangs Island's harvest was shut down for a full 11 weeks.

So when the restaurants can't get Bangs Island they're like 'Why can't we get Bangs Island?' It was really bad this summer. And nobody was happy."

As Parr notes, businesses of any kind hate unpredictability. And being able to forecast the onset or departure of a red tide has been a challenge although that's changing with the help of a type of artificial intelligence called machine learning.

"We're coming up with forecasts on a weekly basis for each site. For me that's really exciting. That's what machine learning is bringing to the table," says Izzi Grasso, a recent Southern Maine Community College student who is now seeking a mathematics degree at Clarkson University.

Last summer Grasso interned at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay. That's where she helped to lead a successful project to use cutting-edge "neural network" technology that is modeled on the human brain to better predict toxic algal blooms in the Gulf of Maine.

"Really high accuracy. Right around 95 percent or higher, depending on the way you split it up," she says.

Here's how the project worked: the researchers accessed a massive amount of data on toxic algal blooms from the state Department of Marine Resources. The data sets detailed the emergence and retreat of varied toxins in shellfish samples from up and down the coast over a three-year period.

The researchers trained the neural network to learn from those thousands of data points. Then it created its own algorithms to describe the complex phenomena that can lead up to a red tide.

Then we tested how it would actually predict on unknown data, says Grasso.

Grasso says they fed in data from early 2017 which the network had never seen and asked it to forecast when and where the toxins would emerge.

"I wasn't surprised that it worked, but I was surprised how well it worked, the level of accuracy and the resolution on specific sites and specific weeks," says Nick Record, Bigelow's big data specialist.

Record says that the network's accuracy, particularly in the week before a bloom emerges, could be a game-changer for the shellfish industry and its regulators.

Once it's ready, that is.

"Basically it works so well that I need to break it as many ways as I can before I really trust it."

Still, the work has already been published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is getting attention from the scientific community. Don Anderson is a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who is working to expand the scope of data-gathering efforts in the Gulf.

"The world is changing with respect to the threat of algal blooms in the Gulf of Maine," he says. "We used to worry about only one toxic species and human poisoning syndrome. Now we have at least three."

Anderson notes, though, that machine-learning networks are only as good as the data that is fed into them. The Bigelow network, for instance, might not be able to account for singular oceanographic events that are short and sudden or that haven't been captured in previous data-sets such as a surge of toxic cells that his instruments detected off Cutler last summer.

"With an instrument moored in the water there, and we in fact got that information, called up the state of Maine and said you've got to be careful, there's a lot of cells moving down there, and they actually had a meeting, they implemented a provisional closure just on the basis of that information, which was ultimately confirmed with toxicity once they measured it," says Anderson.

Anderson says that novel modeling techniques such as Bigelow's, coupled with an expanded number of high-tech monitoring stations, like Woods Hole is pioneering in the Gulf, could make forecasting toxic blooms as simple as checking the weather report.

"That situational awareness is what everyone's striving to produce in the field of monitoring and management of these toxic algal blooms, and it's going to take a variety of tools, and this type of artificial intelligence is a valuable part of that arsenal." Back at the Portland wharf, shellfish dealer George Parr says the research sounds pretty promising.

"Forewarned is fore-armed, Parr says. If they can figure out how to neutralize the red tide, that'd be even better."

Bigelow scientists and former intern Izzi Grasso are working now to look "under the hood" of the neural network, to figure out how, exactly, it arrives at its conclusions. They say that could provide clues about how not only to predict toxic algal blooms, but even how to prevent them.

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Artificial Intelligence Could Help Scientists Predict Where And When Toxic Algae Will Bloom - mainepublic.org

Update: An in-the-know source has reached out to correct some of the information in this story. Turns out that Cinelytic is only being used by Warner Bros. International as an additive tool to help select release dates, and not, as many have suggested, in any sort of major creative capacity. Our original story continues below.

The frequent tug-of-war between art and commerce means that there have long been Hollywood studio executives whose jobs include looking at analytics and trying to assess whether greenlighting a certain film will be financially beneficial to their shareholders. Now Warner Bros. is inviting artificial intelligence into the equation, because the studio has signed a deal with a company called Cinelytic to use itsproject management system and leverage the systems comprehensive data and predictive analytics to guide decision-making at the greenlight stage. Is this situation as bad as it sounds?

The Hollywood Reporter has the story, saying that Toby Emmerichs film division of Warner Bros. is going to utilize this system, which is supposed to help find patterns in the numbers that might be missed by human eyes. The platform is capable of assess[ing] the value of a star in any territory and how much a film is expected to make in theaters and on other ancillary streams, and its supposedly going to reduce the amount of time executives spend on low-value, repetitive tasks and instead give them better dollar-figure parameters for packaging, marketing and distribution decisions including release dates.

According to Cinelytic head Tobias Queisser, who invented this system four years ago, The system can calculate in seconds what used to take days to assess by a human when it comes to general film package evaluation or a stars worth. But as Thor and X-Men: First Class screenwriter Zack Stentz wrote on Twitter,the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe was built on [Jon] Favreau convincing a bunch of executives that a middle-aged actor not long out of rehab and prison, who had described himself as box office poison even during his earlier 1990s heyday, would be the perfect Iron Manthese analytics that purport to tell you which actor is worth how much in these territories are useless compared to the casting intuitions that end up creating magic onscreen.

Still, I can sympathize with this level of desperation. Its easy to see why studios would be eager to minimize risk and find a way to compete against Disney, which absolutely crushed all competition last year and became the first studio to cross the $10 billion mark in a single year (the House of Mouse pulled in$11.12 billion total worldwide). And its not like all of a sudden every movie will be chosen by an algorithm Queisser says that an AI cannot make any creative decisions and explains its real intended use in this setting. What it is good at is crunching numbers and breaking down huge datasets and showing patterns that would not be visible to humans, he said. But for creative decision-making, you still need experience and gut instinct.

Emmerich has been in this business for a long time, and anyone who expects him to just cede all creative control over to Skynet is misreading this situation. Im betting the studio will look at these AI-crunched numbers to help figure out better release dates every once in a while, and leave the real creative decisions to the people who are getting paid millions of dollars a year to make them.

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Warner Bros. Will Use Artificial Intelligence to Help Decide Which Movies to Greenlight - /FILM

The future where people can delegate mundane tasks to a machine is not far from happening. From starting the laundry down to cooking dinner after a long day is about to be over. Artificial Intelligence has really helped shape our internet today.

After all, we can already communicate with virtual assistants like Apples Siri and Amazons Alexa for small things around the house, like calling Uber or ordering a pizza. Things that we only see on sci-fi movies may be closer than you think. With the internet making things possible, which is unthinkable decades ago, you will wonder what it is capable of under the influence of AI.

It is no wonder why this fast-technological advancement will get you into thinking; How AI is Helping Shape Up the Internet Today?

Artificial Intelligence or AI is the technology that transforms a computer to think, operate, and act human-like. This process is possible by taking in data and information from its surroundings. After collecting this data, it will then decide on a response based on what it had learned and sensed.

Without a doubt, AI is becoming an integral part of our society. Now with the technology behind it evolving faster than ever, the internet could transform sooner than any of us could have anticipated.

People can utilize Artificial Intelligence to do impressive tasks and jobs faster than any human can. That is why people use AI with almost everything to speed up the manual process. In the present day, you can find AI in all sorts of industries. This development can only prove that the importance of AI in our everyday life is equivalent to efficiency and accuracy.

AI-powered software and equipment can provide fast and accurate X-ray readings and laboratory results. Before lab results could take hours before yielding results. But now, with smart equipment available in hospitals, health care is better than ever.

Not just health institutions, as you can also have access to personal health care assistants. These AI-powered apps can serve as a useful partner in reminding you to take your medicines on time and follow a fit lifestyle. It can also advise you on your everyday diet and coach you in exercise routines.

Virtual shopping that offers shoppers their very own personalized recommendations is made possible through AI. It can also present options with the consumer for a better retail experience. For store owners, stock management is more streamlined than ever.

Better business models and more accurate data is vital to earning more significant profits. With AI automating backend processes it will not just eliminate human errors but will also boost productivity.

AI is equipped to analyze a factorys IoT (Internet of Things). Thanks to the data that streams from all the interconnected equipment, it can make a detailed analysis of the factorys operation. It can predict machine life and its productivity to reduce costs.

Artificial Intelligence improves the speed, accuracy, and effectiveness of everyday human tasks. Now, financial institutions such as banks have started to utilize AI techniques to identify highly suspicious transactions that can result in fraud. AI can adapt fast and calculate a more accurate credit scoring than any manual process can. It can also automate intensive data management tasks. With transactions fully automated, it will lessen human error and the possibility of security leaks.

The internet is a part of a life that is now widely affected by the rise of AI technology. Almost every household has internet, and everybody owns a smartphone. We are always plugged-in, and AI has come in to revolutionize the internet as we know it.

With machines becoming better and more efficient at learning and processing data, it is inching towards human beings faster than ever. However, dont worry as they wont replace workers anytime soon, but the tasks getting delegated to them is growing faster every day.

AI algorithms can now build websites from scratch, and the most popular are Wix ADI, Firedrop, and Grid. The AI assistant can determine the type of site you are making and offers suggestions. Unlike before, where you have to hire a website developer and designer, you can now cut costs and opt for an AI designer.

Virtual customer service agents are a revolutionary approach to how customers are getting served. Automated customer experience is no longer a thing in the future. But chatbots are not limited to the food sector, as social platforms, and other sites use them as well. These intelligent service agents learn from customer interactions to answer questions.

A study suggests that in the year 2020, machines will take over 85% of customer interactions. This research means that humans powering these channels may soon find themselves replaced by AI.

Voice-powered AI assistants like Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant and has become a part of most homes in the past few years. So, it is not impossible for online stores to adapt to this technology in the future. Imagine talking to online retail assistant online, how convenient would that be?

With e-commerce on the rise, a fully automated transaction for goods and services online is not unlikely. Having AI recognize voice commands to run stores will not just cut unnecessary costs but can also increase work efficiency compared to manual labor.

AI is helping businesses to have a better understanding of day to day operations. Not to mention how good it is in predicting risks that are attached to the information traveling via the internet. It can also help with deploying a rapid response during unforeseen accidents such as financial losses and cyber threats.

AI-powered applications are being utilized in detecting fraudulent transactions at bank ATMs and driver insurance that is based on the clients driving patterns. They can also identify potential hazards workers to prevent accidents. It is also used for law enforcement surveillance data that can help in recognizing developing crime scenes ahead of time.

As a writer, one of first, you need to do before you can start crafting a piece is research. You need to compile and consolidate data from all sources so you will only have the best information; this process can be time-consuming, not to mention labor-intensive. Fortunately, with how fast the advancement of Artificial Intelligence is, we might be able to delegate this task to them in the future. When I say in the future, it is not in the far one, but in an immediate one.

After all, salesforce is already equipped with an algorithm that can summarize longer texts. Understanding the market is much easier compared to crunching numbers before. More and more people are reaping the benefits of having data delivered to them more quickly and much more precise than manual research with AI processing information faster.

Though it is true that spell check is not a new tech anymore, AI is learning to do much more than that. AI is becoming more better at comprehending the context and purpose behind written words. Hence, it can soon learn to correct style and grammar more efficiently and accurately. Grammarly and Atomic Reach are already into this, so who knows how this tech will revolutionize writing?

AI and content creation are made possible and currently being improved thanks to algorithms that are continuously getting updated. With Googles religious updates in recent years, online content has shifted from the one ruled by keyword stuffing to real digestible content directed at human readers. But of course, the SEO elements are still mixed in.

As a matter of fact, AI journalism has been around for a while as machines can now automatically generate content like business reports, hotel descriptions, stock insights, and sport event recaps.

However, is it possible for them to start writing novels anytime soon? The reasonable assumption will be a no. Creative tasks still need complex thinking and rationality that is still impossible for AI. But for less original content and data-driven writings, then it is more than possible for AI to rise to the task.

AI is revolutionizing the internet as we know it. With tons of automation available, not to mention the rise of virtual assistants, we can say that the future is upon us. The constant evolution of technology that is furthered fueled by humanitys desire for progress has propelled the rise of AI.

Making our lives better and performing tasks more efficiently is the main reason for the inception of AI. They are designed to aid humans in leading to a better quality of life. That is why it is not surprising if AIs growth will leap bounds in the upcoming years. Because after all, if there is one thing humans are consistent with, it is progress.

Hayk Saakian is an entrepreneur who has a keen interest in everything tech related. He can usually be found writing informative articles at hayksaakian.com, in which he shares valuable insights in today's modern trends.

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How Will Artificial Intelligence Shape Up the Future of the Internet - ReadWrite

SEOUL (Reuters) - In cram school-obsessed South Korea, students fork out for classes in everything from K-pop auditions to real estate deals. Now, top Korean firms are rolling out artificial intelligence in hiring - and jobseekers want to learn how to beat the bots.

Kim Seok-wu, a university senior majoring in management, demonstrates an AI interview program in Sungnam, South Korea, November 20, 2019. Picture taken November 20, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

From his basement office in downtown Gangnam, careers consultant Park Seong-jung is among those in a growing business of offering lessons in handling recruitment screening by computers, not people. Video interviews using facial recognition technology to analyze character are key, according to Park.

Dont force a smile with your lips, he told students looking for work in a recent session, one of many he said he has conducted for hundreds of people. Smile with your eyes.

Classes in dealing with AI in hiring, now being used by major South Korean conglomerates like SK Innovation (096770.KS) and Hyundai Engineering & Construction (000720.KS), are still a tiny niche in the countrys multi-billion dollar cram school industry. But classes are growing fast, operators like Parks People & People consultancy claim, offering a three-hour package for up to 100,000 won ($86.26).

Theres good reason to see potential. As many as eight out of every 10 South Korean students are estimated to have used cram schools, and rampant youth unemployment in the country - nearly one in four young people are not in the workforce by certain measures, according to Statistics Korea - offers a motive not present in other countries where cram schools are popular, like Japan.

The AI wont be naturally asking personal questions, said Yoo Wan-jae, a 26-year-old looking for work in the hospitality industry. That will make it a bit uncomfortable ... Ill need to sign up for cram schools for the AI interview, said Yoo, speaking in Seouls Noryangjin district, known as Exam Village, packed with cram schools and study rooms.

Businesses around the world are experimenting with increasingly advanced AI techniques for whittling down applicant lists.

But Lee Soo-young, a director of Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) Institute for Artificial Intelligence, told Reuters by telephone the new technology is being more widely embraced in South Korea, where large employers wield much influence in a tightening job market.

According to Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI), nearly a quarter of the top 131 corporations in the country currently use or plan to use AI in hiring.

One AI video system reviewed by Reuters asks candidates to introduce themselves, during which it spots and counts facial expressions including fear and joy and analyses word choices. It then asks questions that can be tough: You are on a business trip with your boss and you spot him using the company (credit) card to buy himself a gift. What will you say?

AI hiring also uses gamification to gauge a candidates personality and adaptability by putting them through a sequence of tests.

Through gamification, employers can check 37 different capabilities of an applicant and how well the person fits into a position, said Chris Jung, a chief manager of software firm Midas IT in Pangyo, a tech hub dubbed South Koreas Silicon Valley.

Preparing for such tests doesnt necessarily involve simply memorizing answers. Some games dont even have a right answer, as they are aimed to spot the problem-solving attitude of the applicant, Jung said.

At People & People, consultant Park said he gave AI hiring talks to over 700 university students, graduates and lecturers in 2019.

Students are struggling from the emergence of AI interviews. My goal is to help them be fully prepared for what they will be dealing with, said Park.

In an online chat room monitored by Park, with more than 600 participants, numerous messages indicate thanks for the classes and success in AI interview quests.

But elsewhere, some who havent yet taken lessons have already given up.

Kim Seok-wu, a 22-year-old senior at a top university, recently failed to get beyond an AI interview for a management position at a retail company, and decided to pursue graduate school instead of trying to find a job.

I think I will feel hopeless if all companies go AI for hiring, Kim said. The AI interview is too new, so job applicants dont know what to prepare for and any preparations seem meaningless since the AI will read our faces if we make something up.

Reporting by Sangmi Cha; Editing by Jack Kim, Josh Smith and Kenneth Maxwell

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'Smile with your eyes': How to beat South Korea's AI hiring bots and land a job - Reuters