Revealed: how TikTok censors videos that do not please Beijing
By: Alex Hern September 29, 2019 TikTok, the popular Chinese-owned social network, instructs its moderators to censor videos that mention Tiananmen Square, Tibetan independence, or the banned religious group Falun Gong, according to leaked documents detailing the site’s moderation guidelines. The documents, revealed by the Guardian for the first time, lay out how ByteDance, the […]
AI used for first time in job interviews in UK to find best applicants
By: Charles Hymas September 27, 2019 Artificial intelligence (AI) and facial expression technology is being used for the first time in job interviews in the UK to identify the best candidates. Unilever, the consumer goods giant, is among companies using AI technology to analyse the language, tone and facial expressions of candidates when they are […]
One in five workers have skipped meals to make ends meet in past year, survey finds
By: Ben Chapman September 27, 2019 One in five workers has skipped meals over the past year to make ends meet, according to research by the Trades Union Congress.When asked the same question two years ago, one in eight respondents said they had gone without food because they were short of money. This year almost […]
‘Afraid We Will Become The Next Xinjiang’: China’s Hui Muslims Face Crackdown
By: Emily Feng September 26, 2019 Gold-domed mosques and gleaming minarets once broke the monotony of the Ningxia region’s vast scrubland every few miles. This countryside here is home to some of China’s 10.5 million Hui Muslims, who have practiced Sunni or Sufi forms of Islam within tight-knit communities for centuries, mainly in the northwest […]
‘Absolute revolution’: UK biotech firms thrive despite Brexit threat
By: Julia Kollewe December 26, 2019 Biotech is one of the most promising parts of the British drug industry, not least according to the investors who continue to pump vast sums into the sector despite the looming shadow of Brexit. In the first eight months of 2018 alone it received nearly £1.6bn, compared with £1.2bn […]
Proof emerges that a quantum computer can outperform a classical one
By: Schrödinger’s cheetah September 26, 2019 IN AN ARTICLE published in 2012 John Preskill, a theoretical physicist, posed a question: “Is controlling large-scale quantum systems merely really, really hard, or is it ridiculously hard?” Seven years later the answer is in: it is merely really, really hard. Last week a paper on the matter was—briefly […]
AI equal with human experts in medical diagnosis, study finds
By: Nicola Davis September 24, 2019 Artificial intelligence is on a par with human experts when it comes to making medical diagnoses based on images, a review has found. The potential for artificial intelligence in healthcare has caused excitement, with advocates saying it will ease the strain on resources, free up time for doctor-patient interactions […]
The “internet of things”: a trillion connected devices—each a tempting target for hackers
By: The Economist September 23, 2019 International sanctions have crimped the regime, and the country’s people. Yet President Nicolás Maduro is still in charge. The only way out is for him to share power, not relinquish it. The “internet of things” will eventually comprise perhaps a trillion connected devices—each a tempting target for hackers. And, […]
The Guardian view on machine learning: a computer cleverer than you
By: The Guardian September 22, 2019 B rad Smith, Microsoft’s president, last week told the Guardian that tech companies should stop behaving as though everything that is not illegal is acceptable. Mr Smith made a good argument that technology may be considered morally neutral but technologists can’t be. He is correct that software engineers ought […]