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With the relocation of so many people from offices equipped with enterprise-level bandwidth, to measly residential wi-fi connections during COVID-19, it is not surprising that networks are overloaded and zoom call quality can be low. Researchers at NVIDIA have developed a solution to the problem effecting millions of workers across the world. They are using neural networks – a technique utilized in AI — to replace outdated video transmission practices. Not only is this technology improving the quality of calls for existing video users, but it is also broadening accessibility for those who did not have sufficient bandwidth to make video calls previously.

Australia’s governmental research arm — the Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) — is looking to artificial intelligence to help solve some of the big systemic problems facing the nation. Fueled by a need to invest in science in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, CSIRO plans to invest in data modeling and AI through an initiative it calls ‘Team Australia.’ To tackle environmental problems, CSIRO is partnering with Microsoft to implement machine learning techniques that can prevent waterways and oceans from being polluted.

With the election decided and the next four years ahead of us, President-elect Biden is putting forward his plans to innovate and expand technological advancement. The Biden Harris Administration announced their Innovate in America plan that commits $300-billion to Research and Development (R&D) and Breakthrough Technologies. The funding aims to ‘unleash high-quality job creation in high-value manufacturing and technology,’ and specifically highlights electric vehicles, 5G, and artificial intelligence as areas that will receive funding.

There have been a lot of AI-driven companies that have come out of China over the past decade, putting that nation on par with the AI innovation generated in tech companies in the USA. Now, both the U.S. and Chinese autonomous driving markets are getting a boost from China-based self-driving car company Pony.ai. The company announced recently that it has raised a further $1-billion in funding, taking the valuation to $5.3-billion.

The Global AI Summit took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia last month, billed as an opportunity to explore what the new global era means to AI, and how AI’s transformational potential can be best used to create a better future for all. During the event Saudi Arabia announced its National Strategy for Data and Artificial Intelligence (NSDAI) and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Chinese technology companies to further its AI ambitions over the coming years

The nonprofit Center for New Data launched this week, and its Observing Democracy project is seeking to understand how far people travel to vote and how long they wait in line. It is turning to AI-fueled data synthesis derived from smartphone geolocation to provide answers.

A takeaway from the University of Kansas study is that how people, feel, think, and behave in relationships – their attachment style — predicts trust. Further, the research found that it was possible to predict an individual having less trust in AI if that person shows signs of attachment anxiety in the way they view relationships in general. In people that exhibit attachment security, there was typically increased trust in AI.