• Microsoft said its researchers stored the Warner Bros. film "Superman" on a piece of quartz glass the size of a coaster.
• The feat was a proof of concept for a years-long effort to store data in glass. The researchers used a combination of laser optics and artificial intelligence.
• The glass is designed to last hundreds of years and withstand being baked, microwaved, scoured, doused in water, demagnetized, and subject to "other environmental threats."
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Microsoft said its researchers had produced a piece of glass that is 7.5 centimeters long and 2 millimeters thick and contains the entire 1978 film "Superman."

The feat is the culmination of years of research, made possible by recent advances in ultra-fast laser optics and artificial intelligence, Microsoft said in November.

Researchers used lasers to carve tiny three-dimensional etchings into the glass's surface that could be read by machine-learning algorithms trained to look at the patterns created when a light is shined through the glass.

The research builds on other Microsoft projects that aim to store data more efficiently in the long term. A concurrent project is centered on an invention dubbed Pelican that uses cold storage to preserve dozens of disk drives, The Register reported.

Microsoft isn't the only company exploring cutting-edge long-term storage tech. Millenniata, a startup founded in 2009, has said it developed ultra-durable DVDs that will be readable for 1,000 years.

Lab photos show the meticulous process behind Microsoft's latest accomplishment. Take a look:

SEE ALSO: Facial recognition is on the rise, but artificial intelligence is already being trained to recognize humans in new ways, including gait detection and heartbeat sensors

The project is meant to provide new ways to physically store information for long periods at a lower cost. Unlike film reels or microchips, which are relatively fragile and must be stored under certain conditions, the piece of quartz glass is "surprisingly hard to destroy," Microsoft said.

Source: Microsoft

The glass is designed to withstand being baked in an oven, microwaved, scoured with steel wool, demagnetized, and subject to "other environmental threats," the company said.

Source: Microsoft

The glass was encoded with a device called a femtosecond laser that releases extremely short pulses, allowing for a high level of detail.

Source: Microsoft

"One big thing we wanted to eliminate is this expensive cycle of moving and rewriting data to the next generation. We really want something you can put on the shelf for 50 or 100 or 1,000 years and forget about until you need it," Ant Rowstron, a partner deputy lab director of Microsoft Research Cambridge, said in the company's blog post.

Source: Microsoft

The lasers encode data in "voxels," a 3D unit carved directly into the glass. The 2-millimeter-thick glass can fit more than 100 layers of tiny voxels.

Source: Microsoft

Once the data is encoded, it can be retrieved by a system that uses artificial intelligence and optics.

Source: Microsoft

The researchers partnered with Warner Bros. to examine old film archives. Among the archives were radio serials preserved on record-sized glass discs from the 1940s, which were in good condition because of the resilience of the glass.

Source: Microsoft

"If you're old enough to remember rewinding and forwarding songs on cassette tapes, it can take a while to get to the part you want," Richard Black, Microsoft's principal research software engineer, said in the blog post. "By contrast, it's very rapid to read back from glass because you can move simultaneously within the x or y or z axis."

Source: Microsoft

"Storing the whole 'Superman' movie in glass and being able to read it out successfully is a major milestone," Mark Russinovich, Microsoft Azure's chief technology officer, said in the blog post. "I'm not saying all of the questions have been fully answered, but it looks like we're now in a phase where we're working on refinement and experimentation, rather asking the question 'can we do it?'"

Source: Microsoft

• The world's first "AI inventor" has been denied recognition by patent authorities in the UK and Europe. 
• A nine-strong squad of international legal experts is battling for designs conceived by artificial intelligence to be recognised in law, and has filed patent applications on its behalf around the world. 
• The UK Intellectual Property Office said it was "right [that changes to the law around AI-designed patents] be debated more widely". 
• The landmark case has highlighted growing anxieties among lawmakers about the role of machines in the creative process internationally.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

The world's first artificially intelligent "inventor" has been rejected by British and European patent authorities, marking an historic moment in an ongoing debate around the role of creative machines. 

In July last year, an international squad of legal experts challenged patent authorities around the world to recognise the "inventorship" of artificial intelligence, arguing that the current regimes were outdated and do not protect machines' creative output. 

The nine-strong group, led by University of Surrey professor Ryan Abbott, made headlines after submitting patents designed by an artificially intelligent machine with the US, UK and European authorities. They have since filed more applications in Germany, Israel, Taiwan and China. 

The team is battling for recognition of a particular AI inventor called Dabus. 

Dabus, created by Missouri-based AI expert Dr. Stephen Thaler, came up with two designs after being fed a wealth of information, including abstract concepts related to design, practicality, color and emotion. 

The first was a fractal beverage container, capable of changing its shape, making it easier for prosthetic or robot hands to grip. The second was a flickering lamp or "neural flame", as the team dubbed it, which mimics brain activity in a way that could draw more attention from the human eye in an emergency situation. 

In a written response seen by Business Insider, the UK's Intellectual Property Office said it would not recognise Dabus as an inventor because the machine was "not a person"– and therefore ineligible.

It added: "Inventions created by AI machines are likely to become more prevalent in the future and there is a legitimate question as to how or whether the patent system should handle such inventions...The present system does not cater for such inventions and it was never anticipated that it would. 

"But times have changed and technology has moved on. It is right that this is debated more widely and that any changes to the law be considered in the context of such a debate, and not shoehorned arbitrarily into existing legislation." 

The European Patent Office also rejected Dabus' work, saying it "[did] not meet the requirement... that an inventor designated in the application has to be a human being, not a machine". 

Business Insider approached Ryan Abbott, head of the Artificial Inventor Project, for comment. 

The UK IPO and EPO declined to comment further. 

Join the conversation about this story »

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• Campaigners have challenged British and European patent authorities over their rejection of the world's first "AI inventor". 
• The nine-strong squad of international legal experts is battling for designs conceived by artificial intelligence to be recognised in law, and has filed patents on its behalf around the world. 
• UK officials withdrew the applications – but admitted it was "right [that changes to the law] be debated more widely". 
• The landmark case has highlighted growing anxieties among lawmakers about the role of machines in the creative process internationally. 
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

The decision by UK and European authorities to reject the world's first "AI inventor" is being challenged in court.

On Friday, Business Insider revealed the world's first artificially intelligent "inventor"had been rejected by British and European patent authorities, marking an historic moment in the debate around creative machines.

Now the Artificial Inventor Project has filed legal challenges with the UK's High Court and the European Patent Agency's boards of appeal.

In July last year, the international squad of legal experts challenged bodies in the UK, EU and US to recognise the "inventorship" of an AI called Dabus, arguing that current regimes were outdated and failing to protect machines' creative output. The team has since filed further applications in Germany, Israel, Taiwan and China.

Ryan Abbott, head of the project and a professor of law at the University of Surrey, told Business Insider he was "not surprised" by either decision.

"We anticipated this project would require judicial involvement," he said. "The patentability of AI-generated inventions is a novel issue of law in every jurisdiction, and whether patent offices allow protection for such inventions is a matter of significant importance to innovation."

Professor Abbott and his team are fighting for patents on two inventions by Dabus.

The first: a fractal beverage container, capable of changing its shape, making it easier for prosthetic or robot hands to grip. The second: a flickering lamp or "neural flame", as the team dubbed it, which mimics brain activity in a way that could draw more attention from the human eye in an emergency situation.

In a written response seen by Business Insider, the UK's Intellectual Property Office rejected Dabus as an inventor because it was "not a person" and therefore ineligible.

It added: "Inventions created by AI machines are likely to become more prevalent in the future and there is a legitimate question as to how or whether the patent system should handle such inventions...The present system does not cater for such inventions and it was never anticipated that it would. 

"But times have changed and technology has moved on. It is right that this is debated more widely and that any changes to the law be considered in the context of such a debate, and not shoehorned arbitrarily into existing legislation." 

The European Patent Office also rejected Dabus' work, saying it "[did] not meet the requirement... that an inventor designated in the application has to be a human being, not a machine". 

Simon Davies, chair of Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys' committee on computer and technologies, said it was "not a surprise" the UK IPO refused to recognise Dabus under existing legislation. 

He added: "It is possible the courts could construe an 'inventor' to include an AI system, but this would be a departure from the original understanding of the legislation. It would require a lot of goodwill and elasticity from the courts." 

The UK IPO and EPO were approached for further comment. 

Join the conversation about this story »

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• Airbnb has software designed to scan someone's online presence, including social media, to predict their behavior and personality traits.
• The software, first reported by Evening Standard, is meant to flag people who show signs of "narcissism, Machiavellianism, or psychopathy," among other traits.
• Airbnb has faced an uphill battle to screen people using its app amid reports of guests' rowdy parties and long-term scams run by hosts.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

If you've been rejected from booking an Airbnb rental, it may be because the app's artificial intelligence determined that you're a psychopath. 

Airbnb owns the rights to software that's designed to scan people's online presence to predict whether they're trustworthy, according to a patent filed last year. The software digs through people's internet posts, including social media activity, to detect illegal activity and scan for traits including "neuroticism,""narcissism, Machiavellianism, or psychopathy."

The short-term rental app has attempted to ensure the safety of guests and hosts in the wake of several high-profile crises in the past year. The company banned parties in its listings after five people were killed in an October shooting at an Airbnb in California, and other hosts have accused guests of incurring millions of dollars in damage.

According to a recent VICE report, Airbnb is also grappling with fraudulent hosts running long-term scams through the app.

In a statement to Business Insider, an Airbnb spokesperson confirmed that it owns the patent, but said it isn't currently implementing all of the software's screening methods as described in the patent filing, adding that the company conducts background checks of user's criminal records. 

"As with any other company, there are a number of patents we file, ranging from searching listings to automating booking availability, and it does not mean we necessarily implement all or part of what's in them," the spokesperson said.

Airbnb's website says that the app uses "predictive analytics and machine learning" to flag suspicious accounts, but it's not clear whether the patented software is being used. Airbnb acquired the patent after buying the background check startup Trooly, according to Evening Standard.

SEE ALSO: Airbnb hosts reportedly used closed Facebook groups to gossip about guests and share lewd, personal information

Join the conversation about this story »

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• Grimes, the Canadian singer, posted a photo on Wednesday to Instagram and Twitter that appears to show her pregnant.
• The internet is already furiously speculating whether the father is Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO who Grimes has been in a public on-and-off relationship with since 2018.
• Here's everything you need to know about Grimes, who has been alongside Musk as he faced off against the SEC over his infamous "funding secured" tweet.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

At the Met Gala in 2018, a surprising new couple showed up on the red carpet: billionaire tech CEO Elon Musk and Canadian musician and producer Grimes.

While Musk has long been known to date successful and high-profile women, the two made a seemingly unlikely pairing. Shortly before they walked the red carpet together, Page Six announced their relationship and explained how they met — over Twitter, thanks to a shared sense of humor and a fascination with artificial intelligence.

Since they made their relationship public in May 2018, the couple has continued to make headlines: Grimes for publicly defending Musk and speaking out about Tesla, and Musk for tweeting that he wants to take Tesla private, sparking an SEC investigation. But shortly after Musk's run-in with the SEC, Grimes and Musk unfollowed each other on social media, igniting rumors that the pair had broken up. 

However, the couple appeared to have reconnected soon after, and have been spotted out together. Grimes was in the car when Musk was spotted driving his new Cybertruck prototype around Los Angeles, and Musk made an appearance at the 2019 Game Awards to watch Grimes' performance at the event. 

Now, a photo Grimes shared both on Instagram and Twitter (Note: the photos are NSFW) appears to show the singer is pregnant. The internet has since been speculating whether the father is Musk, and has produced a deluge of hilarious memes about the couple's unborn child.

For those who may be wondering who Grimes is and how she and Musk ended up together, here's what you need to know about the Canadian singer and producer.

SEE ALSO: Everything you need to know about e-girls and e-boys, teen gamers who have emerged as the antithesis of Instagram influencers

Grimes — born as Claire Boucher — grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia. She attended a school that specialized in creative arts, but didn't focus on music until she started attending McGill University in Montreal.

Source: The Guardian, Fader

A friend persuaded Grimes to sing backing vocals for his band, and she found it incredibly easy to hit all the right notes. She had another friend show her how to use GarageBand and started recording music.

Source: The Guardian

Grimes has been described as an electronic-pop artist, whose music is "dark and ethereal, catchy and strange." In a 2019 profile, the Wall Street Journal described her music as "the kind of music you imagine a group of vampires would listen to if this group of vampires also happened to be on a cheerleading squad."

Source: Wall Street Journal

In 2010, Grimes released a cassette-only album called "Geidi Primes." She released her second album, "Halfaxa," later that year and subsequently went on tour with the Swedish singer Lykke Li. Eventually, she dropped out of McGill to focus on music.

Source: The Guardian, Fader

In 2012, Grimes signed to the British indie label 4AD and released "Visions," which would become a breakout success. Two years later, Pitchfork named "Oblivion" the best song of the decade so far.

Source: Pitchfork, The Guardian

Grimes signed with Jay-Z's management company, Roc Nation, in 2013.

Source: Fader

As she worked on the follow-up album to her widely acclaimed "Visions" album, Grimes considered a move to Billboard-charting pop music. She even wrote a song in 2014 for Rihanna, who ended up not putting the song on her album. Grimes released the song herself, but fans were upset she was "pandering to the radio."

Source: New York Times

Grimes released her fourth studio album, "Art Angels," in the fall of 2015. The single of the album, "Flesh Without Blood," features a character she created named Rococo Basilisk who is "doomed to be eternally tortured by an artificial intelligence, but she's also kind of like Marie Antoinette," she told Fuse.

Source: Business Insider, Fuse

Beyond singing, Grimes is a producer, and she's been vocal about how the music industry and media treat female artists. "The thing that I hate about the music industry is all of a sudden it's like, 'Grimes is a female musician' and 'Grimes has a girly voice,'" she told the Fader. "It's like, yeah, but I'm a producer, and I spend all day looking at f---ing graphs and EQs and doing really technical work."

Source: Fader

Grimes is also an avid gamer, and she has streamed herself playing the fantasy role-playing game "Bloodborne" on Twitch, the video-game-streaming platform. Her handle, "@Ocarina_of_Grimes," is a reference to the video game "Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time," released in 1998.

Check out her Twitch channel »

Source: Noisey

In May 2018, Grimes attended the Met Gala with Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. At the time, reports said they had been "quietly dating" for the past few weeks. Musk later told the Wall Street Journal that he loves Grimes for her "wild fae artistic creativity and hyper intense work ethic."

Source: Page Six, Wall Street Journal

Grimes and Musk met on Twitter. Musk was planning to make a joke about artificial intelligence — specifically, about the Rococo Basilisk character in her "Flesh Without Blood" video — and discovered she had beaten him to the punch.

Source: Page Six

Since then, Grimes has taken to Twitter several times to defend Musk and Tesla. In since-deleted tweets, Grimes said Musk has never tried to stop Tesla workers from unionizing, and claims to have encouraged a union vote among Tesla employees. In a 2019 interview, Grimes said she was "simply unprepared" for how much attention her tweets would get.

Source: Business Insider, Wall Street Journal

Grimes contributed her talents to a song on Janelle Monae's album, "Dirty Computer," released in April 2018. After initially teasing an album of her own for 2018, she said on Instagram that she wouldn't be releasing new music "any time soon" and alluded to a rift between her and her label, 4AD.

Source: Spin

In July 2018, Grimes wrote on Twitter that she and rapper Azealia Banks were collaborating on a song. A month later, Banks flew to Los Angeles to work on music with Grimes at one of Musk's properties, which was the beginning of a tumultuous story involving Banks, Grimes, and Musk.

Source: Business Insider

The day before Banks arrived in LA, Musk posted the now-infamous "funding secured" tweet about having enough money to take Tesla private. Banks said she overheard Musk "scrounging for investors" while at his house, and that Grimes and Musk essentially went into hiding as Tesla sought funding. Banks compared her stay to "a real life episode of 'Get Out,'" and said the couple got her to stay with the promise of collaborating on music.

Source: Business Insider

The relationship between Banks and Grimes devolved from there. Banks later shared with Business Insider a series of messages between the two singers, where Grimes states: "he got into weed cuz of me and he's super entertained by 420 so when he decided to take the stock private he calculated it was worth 419$ so he rounded up to 420 for a laugh and now the sec is investigating him for fraud."

Source: Business Insider

Musk deleted his Instagram and unfollowed Grimes on Twitter in August 2018, prompting rumors that the couple may have broken up.

Source: Business Insider

In September 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Musk on charges that he made "false and misleading statements" about taking Tesla private at $420 per share. As part of the filing, Musk said he chose that price-point because he thought his girlfriend, Grimes, "would find it funny, which admittedly is not a great reason to pick a price." Musk later settled with the SEC.

Source: Business Insider

It seems that Grimes and Musk reconnected in October 2018: the couple was spotted at a pumpkin patch with Musk's five sons. It was the first time they were spotted in public together since the SEC investigation. Musk also re-followed Grimes on Twitter after a period of flip-flopping on his follow.

Source: Business Insider

Grimes kept a low profile following the "funding secured" scandal. In January 2019, she tweeted she was "randomly" in China on the same day Musk was there to launch Tesla's new factory project in Shanghai.

Source: Business Insider

Grimes returned to the public eye with a profile in the Wall Street Journal's magazine in March 2019. Grimes — who said she now prefers to go by the name "c" instead of her birth name, Claire — referred to Musk as "a super-interesting goddamn person."

Source: Wall Street Journal

In November, Musk unveiled Tesla's new battery-powered Cybertruck. The truck was unveiled by a mysterious "cybergirl" hologram, who many have speculated was actually Grimes (although that hasn't been confirmed). The hologram sported a leg tattoo that appears to match one Grimes has.

Source: Business Insider

Grimes' possible appearance as the Tesla "cybergirl" would be fitting, given the e-girl aesthetic that the alt-pop singer portrays. The "e-girl," popularized by teens in 2019, has become a term for the modern-day scene teens who sport a grungy vibe, love video games, and shirk the mainstream, manicured Instagram aesthetic.

Source: Business Insider

A month after the Cybertruck was unveiled, Musk was spotted driving his company's new prototype vehicle around Los Angeles. Grimes was spotted in the truck alongside Musk, who was seen in a video mowing down a traffic sign.

Source: The Cut, Business Insider

Grimes performed in December at the 2019 Game Awards, which celebrates the best of the video game industry. Grimes debuted a new song, called "4ÆM," and it was revealed her music — and voice, for a character named Lizzy Wizzy — would be featured in a not-yet-released video game called "Cyberpunk 2077." Musk made a surprising cameo in the audience to watch Grimes' performance, and even gave a short standing ovation at the end.

Source: Business Insider

The song she debuted at the Game Awards, "4ÆM," is from Grimes' upcoming album, called "Miss Anthropocene," which is scheduled for release in February 2020. Grimes has so far released three singles off the album, including "So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth" and "Violence."

Source: Pitchfork

Grimes shared a photo in January, on both Instagram and Twitter, that appeared to hint that she was pregnant. Internet users immediately began to speculate whether the father is Musk, and have already flooded Twitter with memes and jokes about the couple's baby.

You can view Grimes' post on Twitter and on Instagram. (Note: these photos are NSFW.)

Source: Business Insider

• Walmart is leading retailers in adopting artificial intelligence and machine learning, but the world's largest retailer still runs into cultural issues that undermine the push to implement the advanced technology. 
• The company currently has roughly 1,500 data scientists, according to chief data officer Bill Groves, and is hiring more, including a role to develop voice-activated shopping applications. 
• Walmart has three core questions that guide all of its AI and machine-learning projects. If the answer to any of them is "no" then the initiative is shelved immediately. 
• The retailer just opened up a new warehouse completely ran by robots that can fulfill online grocery orders 10 times faster than store associates. 
• Click here for more BI Prime content.

Walmart is a leader in the push to adopt artificial intelligence and machine learning. This week, it unveiled a new robotic system called Alphabot that can fulfill online grocery orders roughly 10 times faster than store associates. 

The Salem, New Hampshire, facility that houses the system has roughly 30 robots that can independently pick and pack items from around 4,500 total products. The aim is to significantly increase Walmart's ability to fulfill online orders, a key growth area for the company. Humans, however, still manually pick fresh produce, while the robots gather everything else. 

Still, the world's largest retailer runs into many of the problems other organizations experience when pursuing the advanced technology. 

The company currently employs roughly 1,500 data scientists throughout the enterprise, according to chief data officer Bill Groves, who directly oversees a smaller staff of 100 tech workers. Groves also said the company employs around 50,000 software engineers, though a Walmart spokesperson later said the numbers is closer to 10,000.

Those employees help support the over 100,000 different machine learning or AI-based projects the organization currently has in production. Among the applications that Walmart is currently rolling-out are AI-powered cameras to monitor for theft. 

"I do more work in the AI and [machine learning] space then I have ever done in my life," Groves said at the MLOps NYC conference two weeks ago.

"We're involved in robotics, we're involved in micro-personalization, we're involved in probably the biggest supply chain in the world," he added.

And it's continuing to build-out that staff. Among the positions Walmart is hiring for is a data scientist to help develop voice-activated shopping applications. The company already uses the technology in grocery pickup and deliveries. Overall, Walmart has 67 data science openings, 43 software development vacancies, and 90 available data analytics jobs, according to its careers website.

But the success rate for artificial intelligence or machine-learning projects is still just 75 percent, Groves said at the event. One way Walmart is aiming to address that is through its core three tenets that guide all the high-tech initiatives. 

"If the answer is 'no' to any of these three, we'll typically put a stop to the project immediately so that way we aren't spending money that we shouldn't spend," he said.

1) Why are you doing it?

One of the first questions that Walmart employees have to answer when deciding whether to pursue an AI-based project is: will someone pay for it? That can include the company itself, or a vendor that may purchase the application from Walmart.   

Groves forbids what he refers to as "cool projects," or those that might be fascinating to pursue but produce no tangible benefit for the company. 

"If nobody will pay for, then why am I doing it?," he said. "The business has to see the value, the business has to want it." 

While that's a relatively simple question to answer, Groves says it "doesn't happen often enough." One key reason is the lack of communication across teams. 

2) Can you explain it?

A problem that companies routinely run into is how to break down the organizational barriers between sectors. That encourages more collaboration between technology teams and those on the operational side of the business, like managing the supply chain.

Key to that succeeding, however, is software engineers or data scientists being able to explain tentative or pending applications to other business units. "If I cannot explain to an executive what I'm doing, then why am I doing it," Groves said.

Often those in departments like human resources think of problems from an analytical mindset, like how to make it easier to onboard new employees, and may not be as knowledgeable on the underlying technology. That poses a challenge to data scientists and engineers who are accustomed to outlining projects from a technical standpoint.

At Walmart, Groves knows an AI-driven project is "going to fail" if his team of data scientists and engineers discuss it and "the business isn't even really part of the conversation," he says.

Read more: Walmart's artificial intelligence-powered 'store of the future' might sound like hype, but AI has big potential for retailers big and small

3) Can you implement it?

While the tech teams are in charge of creating and managing the AI-based applications — like using cameras and sensors to help determine when shelves need to be restocked — the business side must be able to implement it to ultimately drive down costs or improve profits.

"It's a massive challenge just due to the size and scale we have," Groves said. "Money is being thrown out the window."

That's a key reason why communication between the teams is essential. A major impediment, however, is also price, particularly given the immense amount of projects Walmart already has in production. So initiatives must have a plan in place to go from development to production in an affordable way, and it must have buy-in from all parties involved.

"The data scientists talk to the business, they came up with an idea, they didn't include the business or the technology team with the implementation," said Groves. "They come back, they have a model that stands no chance of ever making it into production with the systems you have. Definitely not cost affordable."

While relatively basic questions, Walmart's approach to AI exemplifies just how critical cross-collaboration is for advanced tech initiative to succeed — and how quickly they can fail it there isn't broad support internally. 

SEE ALSO: Walmart has cracked the code for merging AI rollouts with employee feedback to produce buzzy (and cost-saving) new tech

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• Tim Draper, a venture capitalist, believes bitcoin, blockchain technology, and artificial intelligence will disrupt major industries, including healthcare, finance, and government.
• The transformation of those industries will create huge opportunities for entrepreneurs and investors such as himself, Draper told Business Insider in a recent interview.
• Draper has bet big on bitcoin and has been investing in bitcoin- and blockchain-related startups.
• Though he's had some big investment successes, including Tesla, his track record on forecasting the future of government and innovation is somewhat checkered by his failed effort to split up California and his backing of the healthcare startup Theranos, which has since been shut down amid allegations of fraud.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

In the past two decades, internet and digital technologies have transformed industries from publishing to food delivery.

But Tim Draper, a longtime venture capitalist, thinks a new generation of technologies could have an even bigger effect by shaking up some of the biggest sectors in the world, including healthcare, commerce, finance, insurance, and government. Artificial intelligence, big data, and especially cryptocurrency-related technologies, such as smart contracts, will decentralize power, tie the globe closer together, and yield some big opportunities for investors such as himself, Draper told Business Insider last week in an interview.

"This is going to be a really interesting transformative time," said Draper, whose track record includes backing companies including Tesla and Cruise Automotive, which was acquired by General Motors. "And I'm excited to be a venture capitalist during that time because it's the entrepreneurs and the venture capitalists that benefit the most when the biggest industries get transformed."

It would be fairly easy to set up an insurance company or program using some of the new technologies, Draper said. Smart contracts — agreements built on blockchain technology in which the terms are written into lines of code — can automatically determine eligibility for benefits and pay them out. Artificial intelligence can be used to catch fraud. Add in some good actuaries to determine risks, and you're in business — ostensibly without having to hire a bunch of workers.

"All that can be done right now," Draper said.

Draper thinks government will be transformed by new technologies

But that capability has obvious applications for governments, he said. Much of what governments do involves offering kinds of insurance, including for health, retirement, and disasters, he said.

"What is government, but a bunch of different insurance companies," Draper said. He added: "Government is one of the biggest industries in the world, and that's about to go through a transformation."

But Draper said the new technologies promise even more profound change. Bitcoin, blockchain, and smart contracts are all decentralized systems. Governments and companies have little direct control over them. Smart contracts don't require courts and government to enforce them, for example; they're self-enforcing via software.

They're also global systems. Bitcoin can be exchanged around the world and isn't subject to controls by national governments. Holders of the cryptocurrency in different countries can conduct transactions using the same coins without worrying about exchange rates.

Governments to date have been directly tied to particular geographic areas. But the new technologies will eventually decouple that relationship, Draper said. They will allow governments to serve, compete for, and be accountable to citizens around the world, he said.

"Geographic borders are going to be less and less relevant as more and more governance happens virtually," he said.

Draper's effort to reshape California failed

Draper has a somewhat checkered history when it comes to governments and borders. For years, he pushed an effort to break up California, first into six separate states and then into three via the state's initiative process. The first effort died when it didn't secure enough valid signatures to get on the ballot.

The latter effort failed when opponents challenged its constitutionality. After the state Supreme Court blocked Draper's initiative from appearing on the ballot— but left open his ability to show its constitutionality and get on the ballot at a later date — Draper withdrew the effort. Public pollssaid that more than 70% of California respondents opposed the breakup.

In follow-up email with Business Insider, Draper said internal polling by his team suggested that initiative's chances were much closer, with more than half of respondents either in favor of his three-state-breakup plan or undecided about it. After the Supreme Court decision, he decided not to continue to fight in favor of the initiative because he felt the fix was in.

"I would face the same California Supreme Court," he said. "It would be a waste of money."

But when it comes to the future transformation of government and other industries, Draper is putting his money where his mouth is — at least when it comes to the cryptocurrency component of that change. He's a big supporter of bitcoin, holding at least 30,000 coins, which are worth about $247 million at current prices. He has also backed a slew of bitcoin-, blockchain-, and smart-contract-related startups, including the digital-currency exchange Coinbase; Ledger, which makes a physical gadget on which people can store their private cryptocurrency keys; Bancor, a cryptocurrency-wallet provider; and Tezos, which is building a new kind of blockchain network.

Draper is on record as predicting that bitcoin will hit $250,000 a coin within the next three years, and he stuck by that forecast in his interview with Business Insider. The currency is growing easier to use and for people to exchange, new services are promising to speed up transaction rates — long one of bitcoin's biggest weaknesses — and people are fed up with the fees banks charge for customers' use of credit and debit cards, he said. Together, all that is going to drive demand for the currency, he said.

"I think it's a virtuous cycle," he said. "I think the adoption grows, and the price grows. Adoption grows more, and the price grows more."

To be sure, the bitcoin price in dollars has fluctuated wildly in recent years, hitting a high of more than $20,000 a coin in 2017 before falling to less than $3,200 a coin about a year later. It's presently trading at about $8,000 a coin after an up-and-down year last year. 

Bitcoin enthusiasts have been predicting for years that its inherent benefits will lead to mainstream adoption. But use of the currency tends to fluctuate with its price, indicating that it's still largely seen as a speculative investment rather than one that is a key piece of users' financial transactions.

Draper moderated his defense of Theranos' Elizabeth Holmes

Draper invested early in bitcoin and has seen a windfall from that. But his judgement as an investor is open to question. For years, he has defended Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the now defunct healthcare startup Theranos, in which he also invested. Holmes, who was childhood friends with Draper's daughter, has been accused of defrauding investors regarding Theranos' technology. It was supposed to allow medical professionals to run multiple blood tests with only small quantities of blood; reporting indicated that its technology didn't work.

Holmes settled civil fraud charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2018, paying a $500,000 fine and agreeing to a 10-year ban on serving as an executive at a public company. She is slated to go on trial for criminal fraud charges this summer.

Despite that, Draper continued to stick up for Holmes in his conversation with Business Insider. Theranos' technology looked promising, he said. Holmes got in trouble because she was challenging powerful drug, health-insurance, and blood-testing companies, he said.

"There were a lot of special interests that did not want her to succeed," Draper said.

But he acknowledged that he may not know the whole story about Holmes.

"I don't know all of the facts," he said. "We'll have to let all of those come out in court."

Got a tip about venture capital or startups? Contact this reporter via email at twolverton@businessinsider.com, message him on Twitter @troywolv, or send him a secure message through Signal at 415.515.5594. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

• Read more about venture capital and startups:
• WeWork and other top startups were cut down to size in 2019. This VC thinks 30% of the more than 400 other unicorns will soon see their valuations slashed too.
• DoorDash, the $12.7 billion food-delivery startup, could make or break tech IPOs in 2020. Early investors explain why they backed the company and its founder.
• This VC built an email marketing company in Indianapolis that he sold to Salesforce for $2.5 billion. Here's why he thinks the city could be the next big tech center.
• A 'reckoning' is coming for self driving car startups says an early backer of Lyft. Here's how the founder of Autotech Ventures is betting on the transportation shakeup.

SEE ALSO: A VC invests in dozens of companies each year and helps them raise their next round of funding. Here's his top advice for creating a winning pitch deck.

Join the conversation about this story »

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• Apple has purchased a little-known artificial-intelligence company for a reported $200 million.
• According to GeekWire, the acquired company, Xnor.ai, is a Seattle-based startup that specializes in low-power, edge-based artificial-intelligence tools.
• Apple recently acquired a similar startup called Spectral Edge, a British startup that used machine learning to dramatically enhance the quality of photos that could be taken on the iPhone camera.
• Business Insider has approached Apple and Xnor.ai for comment.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Apple just can't get enough of AI startups, it seems.

The tech giant has reportedly purchased a little-known artificial-intelligence company for about $200 million. According to GeekWire, the acquired company is a Seattle-based startup called Xnor.ai, which specializes in low-power, edge-based artificial-intelligence tools.

Bloomberg confirmed the acquisition with Apple, which did not confirm the price. Apple and Xnor.ai did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

Despite its acquisition by Apple, Xnor.ai owes its existence to Microsoft — sort of. That's because it's an alumnus of AI2, an incubator for AI startups funded by the Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen's Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

Though it's not yet clear exactly how Xnor.ai's products will be used by Apple, the startup is also thought to specialize in image-recognition software.

Apple's purchases of Xnor.ai as well as Turi form part of a wider recent tendency on its part toward buying small AI firms.

Last month, it acquired the British AI firm Spectral Edge, a Cambridge-based firm that combines image-fusion technology with machine learning to dramatically enhance the quality of iPhone photos.

In May, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the tech giant acquired a company "on average, every two to three weeks," with the company "primarily looking for talent and intellectual property" when making these purchases.

SEE ALSO: Apple is actively scouting for visual effects startups and has quietly bought motion capture company iKinema

Join the conversation about this story »

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• AI startup Mine scans user emails to uncover which companies have their data – then lets them take it back at the click of a button.
• The "right to be forgotten" has been in place throughout Europe since 2014, with Google having received more than 2 million requests since 2014.
• The $3 million seed round was led by Saban Ventures and Battery Ventures, the latter of which previously invested in cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Mine, an AI startup allowing users to take ownership of their personal data, has launched after raising $3 million in an investment seed round led by Battery Ventures.

Since 2014, EU data protection rules have allowed individuals to ask organisations to delete their personal information, including phone numbers, dates of birth and email addresses. Google has been among those most impacted by this "right to be forgotten", with 2.4 million people submitting requests in just four years.

The Mine app works by using what the company calls "non-intrusive" machine learning algorithms, which root out the companies flooding your inbox with promotions or other sign-up material.

Users are then presented with a list of corporations which currently hold their personal information, and can then send them an email requesting that their data be deleted with the click of a button.

"We are entering a decade where people are increasingly concerned with how intrusive everyday apps and platforms have become," said Gal Ringel, co-founder and CEO.

"Therefore, we decided to invest our efforts into building a solution that will provide consumers with a real choice about who gets to keep their data and how it's used. We are kickstarting the future of data ownership."

The funding round was led by VC firms Saban Ventures and Battery Ventures.

In October last year, the firm was chosen by tech giant Intel as one of 160 startups to join its "Ignite" accelerator scheme, a 20-week program offering pre-seed startups hands-on mentorship.

Itzik Parnafes, general partner at Battery Ventures, said: "Understanding the problem is half of the solution… Mine has developed a tool that both illustrates your digital presence and allows you to take control. Battery Ventures is proud to have partnered with Mine to drive this revolution."

David Hoffman, global privacy officer at Intel, said Mine was solving "one of the most urgent issues in privacy".

He added: "Intel believes privacy is a fundamental human right and technologies like Mine play a critical role with legislation in realising the promise of optimising for the ethical and innovative use of data."

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Watch Elon Musk unveil his latest plan for conquering Mars

• CB Insights compiled a list of artificial intelligence companies that have reached a valuation of at least $1 billion, including several businesses that surpassed that mark in 2019.
• These AI unicorns are using the technology across industries like cybersecurity, transportation, healthcare, agriculture, retail and finance.   
• The AI industry saw record-high funding levels in 2019, with total deal value exceeding $26 billion, according to a CB Insights report released Wednesday.
• Read the full list of all 46 companies which includes Babylon Health, Dataminr, Argo AI, and ByteDance. 
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Funding for artificial intelligence startups surpassed record-high levels in 2019, with more than 2,200 deals totaling nearly $27 billion, CB Insights found in a report released Wednesday.

Those funding levels are up about 20% from a year ago, and an increase of more than 500% over the past five years as the AI space has exploded.

Last year also brought a historic number of exits for these private companies, with the firm tracking 231 M&A deals and 10 initial public offerings. And other AI startups are just arriving, with 24 surpassing a $1 billion valuation in 2019, the analysis found.

The research group also compiled a list of every AI company that has reached so-called unicorn status. CB Insights included companies focused on AI-related algorithms, hardware, software-as-a-service or consultancies. 

Read more: One sector has emerged as the hottest area for AI investment. A top investor at Andreessen Horowitz told us why it's the 'natural next step' for the industry.

Take a look at all 46 private AI unicorns, spanning the business world from transportation to healthcare to agriculture. The list also includes the year they were founded some of the their most prominent backers.

This article was originally published on August 8, 2019. It has been updated. Clarrie Feinstein contributed to an earlier version of this article.

iCarbonX - $1 billion

What it does: An AI platform that facilitates research related to the treatment of diseases, preventive care and nutrition, and is used to develop personalized medicine. 

Where it's based: China 

Year founded: 2015

Key investors: China Bridge Capital, Tencent Holdings, Vcanbio

Icertis - $1 billion

What it does: It provides cloud-based contract lifecycle management services to other companies.

Where it's based: US

Year founded: 2009

Key investors: Eight Roads Ventures, Greycroft, Ignition Partners

DataRobot - $1 billion

What it does: Works with organizations to help them use AI with its enterprise machine learning platform.

Where it's based: US

Year founded: 2012

Key investors: New Enterprise Associates, Accomplice, IA Ventures

Lightricks - $1 billion

What it does: Lightricks sells subscriptions to Facetune and Enlight, content creation apps that use AI to fine-tune selfies.

Where it's based: Israel

Year founded: 2013

Key investors: Viola Ventures, Insight Partners, ClalTech, Goldman Sachs

Scale AI - $1 billion

What it does: The company helps develop AI applications by turning raw information into the human-labeled training data.

Where it's based: US

Year founded: 2016

Key investors: Accel, Y Combinator, Index Ventures

Anduril - $1 billion

What it does: Its border control technology, including towers and cameras, uses AI to track movement 

Where it's based: US

Year founded: 2017

Key investors: Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Revolution Ventures

Faire - $1 billion

What it does: Its free platform lets retailers find and A/B test new products for their stores.

Where it's based: US

Year founded: 2017

Key investors: Khosla Ventures, Forerunner Ventures, Sequoia Capital

Intellifusion - $1 billion

What it does: The company offers facial recognition technology and is accelerating visual recognition in IP cameras, robots and cloud.

Where it's based: China 

Year founded: 2014

Key investors: BOC International, TopoScend Capital, Hongxiu VC

Globality - $1 billion

What it does: The company is a marketplace for business services, and can help link large companies with small and midsize service providers. 

Where it's based: US

Year founded: 2015

Key investors: SoftBank Group

Momenta - $1 billion

What it does: The company develops driving technology for self-driving cars. 

Where it's based: China

Year founded: 2016

Key investors: Sinovation Ventures, Tencent Holdings, Sequoia Capital China

Meero - $1 billion

What it does: A platform for photography that uses AI to enhance images.

Where it's based: France 

Year founded: 2016

Key investors: Aglae Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Alven Capital

OrCam Technologies - $1 billion

What it does: The company created an eyeglasses device that can read words to people who can't see.

Where it's based: Israel 

Year founded: 2010

Key investors: Intel Capital, Aviv Venture Capital

SoundHound - $1 billion

What it does: The company specializes in using AI technology to understand sounds. It offers an app that can identify music when a user hums or sings a melody into their phone. 

Where it's based: US

Year founded: 2005

Key investors: Tencent Holdings, Walden Venture Capital, Global Catalyst Partnera 

TuSimple - $1 billion

What it does: The company uses AI technology to make trucking safer and more efficient, by introducing self-driving trucks.  

Where it's based: US

Year founded: 2015

Key investors: Sina Weibo Fund, Zhiping Capital, Composite Capital Partners

ZipRecruiter - $1 billion

What it does: The company runs an online jobs marketplace which uses some AI technology.

Where it's based: US

Year founded: 2010

Key investors: Basepoint Ventures,Industry Ventures, and Institutional Venture Partners

Coveo - $1.1 billion

What it does: Improving search and recommendaitons with its cloud-based, AI-powered technology.

Where it's based: Canada

Year founded: 2005

Key investors: Fonds de Solidarite FTQ, Propulsion Ventures, BDC Venture Capital

Outreach - $1.1 billion

What it does: The company offers a sales engagement platform that aims to improve customer interactions. 

Where it's based: US

Year founded: 2014

Key investors: Mayfield Fund, M12, Trinity Ventures

Unisound - $1.2 billion

What it does: The company offers speech recognition technology for devices like wearables, navigation tools, and smart appliances. 

Where it's based: China 

Year founded: 2012

Key investors: Qiming Venture Partners, China Internet Investment Fund, Qualcomm Ventures

4Paradigm - $1.2 billion

What it does: The company provides AI technology and services, helping financial firms detect fraud, reduce risk, and improve efficacy. 

Where it's based: China 

Year founded: 2014

Key investors: Sequoia Capital China, China Construction Bank, Bank of China

Infi - $1.25 billion

What it does: Its EmpathAI platform builds predictive algorithms with machine learning, offering insights into people's traits, feelings and motivations.

Where it's based: Israel

Year founded: 2013

Key investors: Pacific Century Group

Butterfly Network - $1.25 billion

What it does: The company created a handheld ultrasound scanner called the Butterfly iQ.

Where it's based: US

Year founded: 2011

Key investors: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Aeris Capital

Trax - $1.3 billion

What it does: Uses computer vision to work with retail companies to boost how their products look and perform on the shelf.

Where it's based: Singapore

Year founded: 2010

Key investors: Hopu Investment Management, Boyu Capital, DC Thomson Ventures

C3.ai - $1.4 billion

What it does: The company provides AI software for functions like fraud detection, supply network optimization, and energy management. 

Where it's based: US

Year founded: 2009

Key investors: Makena Capital Management, TPG Growth, Breyer Capital

Dataminr - $1.6 billion

What it does: The company provides alerts about important or breaking news and events in real time.

Where it's based: US

Year founded: 2009 

Key investors: Venrock, Institutional Venture Partners, Goldman Sachs

Darktrace - $1.65 billion

What it does: Darktrace helps defend companies against cyberattacks.

Where it's based: UK

Year founded: 2013

Key investors: KKR, Ten Eleven Ventures, Summit Partners

XANT - $1.7 billion

What it does: Previously known as InsideSales.com until November 2019, the company sells services to boost sales, marketing and account performance teams. 

Where it's based: US

Year founded: 2004

Key investors: Microsoft Ventures, US Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Pony.ai - $1.7 billion

What it does: The company is building technology to create self-driving vehicles. 

Where it's based: US

Year founded: 2016

Key investors: Sequoia Capital China, IDG Capital, DCM Ventures

Graphcore - $1.7 billion

What it does: The company created a chip and software to help power AI technology.

Where it's based: UK

Year founded: 2016

Key investors: Dell Technologies Capital, Pitango Venture Capital, Amadeus Capital Partners

Afiniti - $1.8 billion

What it does: The company has developed AI for customer call centers that can match customers with agents based on behavioral patterns.

Where it's based: US

Year founded: 2006

Key investors: GAM Holding

Babylon Health - $2 billion

What it does: The digital healthcare company connects patients and doctors within minutes with video consultations, phone calls and texts.

Where it's based: United Kingdom

Year founded: 2013

Key investors: Kinnevik, Vostok New Ventures, Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia

Avant - $2 billion

What it does: Using advanced algorithms and machine-learning, the company offers a customized approach to help online banking customers borrow money.

Where it's based: US

Year founded: 2012 

Key investors: RRE Ventures, Tiger Global, August Capital

Preferred Networks - $2 billion

What it does: The software development company applies real-time machine learning technologies to transportation, manufacturing, and biotech and healthcare. 

Where it's based: Japan 

Year founded: 2014

Key investors: Toyota Motor Corporation, Mizuho Financial Group, FANUC

Cambricon - $2 billion

What it does: The company has developed a processor chip that simulates human nerve cells and brain processing to conduct deep learning. 

Where it's based: China 

Year founded: 2016

Key investors: Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund, CAS Investment Management Co., Lenovo Ventures Group

BenevolentAI - $2.1 billion

What it does: The company is an advanced AI technology platform that synthesizes and extracts important data from complex scientific data sets to help find potential new medical treatments.

Where it's based: UK

Year founded: 2013

Key investors: Woodford Investment Management

Uptake Technologies - $2.3 billion

What it does: The company provides predictive analytic software that collects and interprets sensor data for clients from industries like mining, rail, energy, aviation, retail, and construction.

Where it's based: US

Year founded: 2014

Key investors: Revolution, New Enterprise Associates, Caterpillar

YITU Technology - $2.4 billion

What it does: The company works on areas including computer vision, voice and face recognition, reasoning, and robotics. 

Where it's based: China 

Year founded: 2012

Key investors: Sequoia Capital China, Banyan Capital

Horizon Robotics - $3 billion

What it does: The company offers AI technology that can analyze traffic patterns and road conditions and is also working on technology for cars.

Where it's based: China 

Year founded: 2015

Key investors: Hillhouse Capital Management, Linear Venture, Morningside Venture Capital

Zoox - $3.2 billion

What it does: The company is working on self-driving vehicles.

Where it's based: US

Year founded: 2014

Key investors: AID Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson 

CloudWalk - $3.3 billion

What it does: The company provides a payment network that processes transactions from credit and debit cards and other payment products. 

Where it's based: US

Year founded: 2013

Key investors: Oriza Holdings, Guangdong Technology Financial Group 

Indigo Agriculture - $3.5 billion

What it does: The agricultural company uses microbiology and other technology to improve the growth of crops like cotton, wheat, corn, soybeans, and rice. 

Where it's based: US

Year founded: 2016

Key investors:Activant Capital Group, Alaska Permanent Fund, Baillie Gifford & Co.

Face++ - $4 billion

What it does: The company offers facial recognition technology to clients in government, retail and other sectors.

Where it's based: China 

Year founded: 2011

Key investors: Ant Financial Services Group, Russia-China Investment Fund, Foxconn Technology Company

UiPath - $6.4 billion

What it does: The company provides a software platform to help organizations automate business processes. It is used in industries like healthcare, finance, and human resources.

Where it's based: United States 

Year founded: 2005

Key investors: Accel, capitalG, Earlybrid Venture Capital, Seedcamp 

Automation Anywhere - $6.8 billion

What it does: The company helps businesses automate key tasks like data collection and entry.

Where it's based: US

Year founded: 2003 

Key investors:General Atlantic, Goldman Sachs, New Enterprise Associates

Argo AI - $7 billion

What it does: The AI company is developing machine-learning software for self-driving cars.

Where it's based: US

Year founded: 2016

Key investors: Volkswagen Group, Ford Autonomous Vehicles

SenseTime - $7.5 billion

What it does: The company offers AI technologies in areas ranging from image recognition to autonomous driving. It says its tech can be used in smart cities, mobile phones, online entertainment, and retail.

Where it's based: China

Year founded: 2014

Key investors: Star VC, IDG Capital, Infore Capital, Alibaba Group

ByteDance - $75 billion

What it does: The company provides online creative content platforms. The company's most well known platform is TikTok, an app allowing users to share short videos. 

Where it's based: China

Year founded: 2012

Key investors: Sequoia Capital China, SIG Asia Investments, Sina Weibo, Softbank Group

• Toyota is building a 175-acre smart city in Japan at the base of Mount Fuji, the company announced earlier this month.
• The "city of the future" will function as a testing ground for technologies like robotics, smart homes, and artificial intelligence.
• It will start off with a population of 2,000 Toyota employees and their families, retired couples, retailers, and scientists.
• Residents will live in smart homes with in-home robotics and artificial intelligence systems to assist with daily living and monitor health.
• Only self-driving, zero-emissions vehicles will be allowed to drive on the main roads.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Toyota is building a 175-acre smart city at the base of Japan's Mount Fuji, about 62 miles from Tokyo, the company announced earlier this month at CES, the biggest tech trade show of the year.

The "city of the future" will function as a testing ground for technologies like robotics, smart homes, and artificial intelligence and will be home to a starting population of 2,000 Toyota employees and their families, retired couples, retailers, and scientists, who will test and develop these technologies.

Residents of the city, which Toyota has dubbed the "Woven City," will live in smart homes with in-home robotics systems to assist with daily living and sensor-based artificial intelligence to monitor health and take care of other basic needs.

It will be designed by famed Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, who's behind high-profile projects such as 2 World Trade Center in New York City and Google's California and London headquarters. Ingels has designed the Woven City to be fully sustainable, with an ecosystem powered by hydrogen fuel cells and roads dedicated to self-driving, zero-emissions vehicles.

Construction of the Woven City will start in 2021, and Toyota plans to have the first residents move in within 5 years, a spokesperson told Business Insider.

Here's what the 175-acre smart city will look like when it's finished.

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Toyota's planned 175-acre smart city will sit at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan, which is about 62 miles from Tokyo.

Called the "Woven City," the development is expected to be fully sustainable, powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

The "city of the future" will function as a testing ground for technologies like robotics, smart homes, and artificial intelligence, according to the company.

"Building a complete city from the ground up, even on a small scale like this, is a unique opportunity to develop future technologies, including a digital operating system for the city's infrastructure," Toyota president Akio Toyoda said in a press release.

"With people, buildings, and vehicles all connected and communicating with each other through data and sensors, we will be able to test connected AI technology… in both the virtual and the physical realms … maximizing its potential," Toyoda added.

Toyota plans to send 2,000 people to live in the Woven City to start and then gradually grow the population.

The first residents will be Toyota employees and their families, retired couples, retailers, visiting scientists, and industry partners, according to the company.

Residents will live in homes outfitted with the latest in-home robotics technology to assist with daily living as well as sensor-based artificial intelligence to monitor health and take care of basic needs.

Despite the planned high-tech homes, Toyota says that "encouraging human connection will be an equally important aspect of this experience."

The city will include multiple parks and a large central plaza for social gatherings.

Toyota's president says the city is part of a "quest to create an ever-better way of life and mobility for all."

The city's buildings will be made mostly of wood to minimize the carbon footprint.

And rooftops will be covered in photo-voltaic panels to generate solar power and hydrogen fuel cell power.

Toyota says it plans to "weave in the outdoors throughout the city" with native vegetation and hydroponics.

The city will be designed with three different types of streets: streets for faster vehicles only, those for a mix of lower speed vehicles and pedestrians, and a park-like promenade for pedestrians only.

These three types of streets will form an "organic grid pattern" to help test autonomy, according to Toyota.

A fleet of Toyota's self-driving electric vehicles, called e-Palettes, will be used for transportation, deliveries, and "changeable mobile retail" throughout the city.

Construction of the Woven City will start in 2021, and Toyota has not yet revealed an estimated completion date or estimated cost.

• Palantir executive Shyam Sankar described the company's work developing AI targeting capabilities for drones as "this generation's Manhattan Project," according to two people familiar with the comments.
• The comments, made during a January all-hands meeting, come as the company expands its work on "Project Maven," a department of defense project which Google stopped working on in March following protests inside of the company.
• Sankar also told employees the company was profitable in 2019, the people said, though it's not clear by what metric.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Secretive data analytics firm Palantir believes its work helping drones autonomously identify enemy targets is as urgent and important as America's race to develop a nuclear weapon during World War II, two sources have told Business Insider.

At a company all-hands meeting earlier this month, Palantir President Shyam Sankar described Project Maven, the artificial intelligence defense initiative that Palantir joined after Google announced its departure in 2018, as "this generation's Manhattan Project," according to two sources with knowledge of the meeting.

Sankar's remarks served as a rallying cry for beleaguered staffers at the Peter Thiel-backed company, which has struggled to balance lucrative government and military contracts with growing ethical concerns from employees, one of the people said.

Palantir started working on Project Maven, a Pentagon effort to develop artificial intelligence software capable of independently interpreting drone imagery and identifying potential targets, in 2018 after Google announced it would pull out in the face of protests from employees who decried the company's participation in the "business of war." 

Critics of the project describe it as a major step toward autonomous weapons that could select and destroy targets without human intervention. 

One person familiar with Palantir's role in Project Maven said that the company's initial task was to train drones to analyze potential targets against ground terrain, but that it has recently expanded into building tools that can identify objects on oceans and seas.

Read more: Palantir grabbed Project Maven defense contract after Google left the program: sources

It's unclear how much the Project Maven contract is worth to Palantir — Google's contract was reportedly worth up to $250 million per year — but it appears to be helping the bottom line: Sankar also told employees at the all-hands that the company had achieved profitability, the sources said. It wasn't immediately apparent on what basis he made that claim.

Palantir co-founder and CEO Alex Karp made a similar claim in two video messages sent to employees in December and January. One of those videos, sources said, featured Karp taking a break from snow skiing to address the camera.

Palantir, now in its 17th year of operation, has struggled to justify the $20 billion valuation it received in its most recent 2015 funding round. Co-founder Joe Lonsdale told the Wall Street Journal last year that it would likely be "a few years" before the company is ready for an initial public offering — a timeline that stretches the limits of what most venture capital firms regard as feasible for realizing returns on their investments.

Private shares, which make up the bulk of compensation for many employees, have seen little movement on the secondary markets in recent years, leaving many shareholders without an exit opportunity. 

In December, the company announced a $110 million contract with the Army to build a military readiness tool which pulls together data about soldiers, including location and mental health status, to establish which troops are ready for deployment. 

Palantir is currently competing for a similar military readiness contract with the Air Force, and a battlefield intelligence project with the Navy, one of the sources told Business Insider. In March, Palantir won a similar Army contract for battlefield intelligence, known as Distributed Common Ground System or DCGS, which is worth as much as $800 million. 

In 2019, Palantir faced internal pushback from employees over its work to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement digitally profile targets for deportation. Karp ultimately decided to renew its contract, valued around $50 million, in September.

The Grace Hopper Celebration, which is the world's largest conference for women in computing, dropped Palantir as a sponsor in August because it gives "direct technology assistance that enables the human rights abuses of asylum seekers and their children at US southern border detention centers," Robert Read, an executive with the conference's parent company, told Business Insider at the time.

Other tech CEOs have taken the controversy as an opportunity to speak out in favor of defense contracts. In December, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said the US tech industry has an obligation to support the Pentagon.

"I know it's complicated but you know, do you want a strong national defense or don't you? I think you do. So we have to support that,"Bezos said at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum, in reference to Project Maven. "We are the good guys, I really do believe that."

At the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland on Thursday, Karp stood by the company's decision to work with ICE to find "people in our country who are undocumented," though he conceded that some employees left the company over the issue.

″​The core mission of our company always was to make the West, especially America, the strongest in the world, the strongest it's ever been, for the sake of global peace and prosperity, and we feel like this year we really showed what that would mean," Karp said in an interview with CNBC.

When asked by CNBC about the Business Insider report on Project Maven, Karp stopped short of confirming the contract.

"If this were true, I'd be very proud," he told CNBC.

Palantir declined to comment.

Got a tip about Palantir? Call our tips line at +1 (646) 768-4744, text it via encrypted messaging app Signal, or contact this reporter directly at bpeterson@businessinsider.com, or Twitter DM at @BeckPeterson. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

SEE ALSO: The founders of a billion-dollar Israeli spyware startup accused of helping Saudi Arabia attack dissidents are funding a web of new companies that hack into smart speakers, routers, and other devices

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• For the past 10-plus years, Apple has made billions of dollars by manufacturing and selling the iPhone.
• But what's next, after the iPhone? That's the big question.
• Apple has a few major projects in the works, from a set of smart glasses to self-driving car technology to — yes — more iPhones.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Apple dominated the last decade in tech with the ubiquitous iPhone, and it's gearing up for the next 10 years with a variety of projects.

Notably, at least one of those projects is intended to outright replace the iPhone. 

From self-driving cars to smart glasses to taking on Netflix, these are Apple's plans for continued domination in the decade to come.

SEE ALSO: Apple reportedly revealed the devices it expects to replace the iPhone during a secret employee meeting in October

1. The iPhone replacement: Apple's smart glasses.

Apple's looking to replace the iPhone "in roughly a decade," according to a new report in The Information.

But what comes after the iPhone?

Some version of smart glasses, the first pair of which could arrive as soon as 2022, the report said. A "sleeker" pair is scheduled to arrive in 2023 — and Apple's senior managers see the headsets replacing the iPhone "in roughly a decade."

Neither product has been announced by Apple, but the two headsets were reportedly detailed to a packed room of employees in a secret October meeting at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California.

According to people who attended the meeting cited in The Information's report, Apple detailed the two devices as such:

• The first device, expected in 2022, is said to resemble the Oculus Quest virtual-reality headset, with a high-resolution display, cameras mounted on the outside, and the ability to map its surroundings.
• The second device, expected in 2023, is more akin to sunglasses, with a thick frame to house a battery and processors. These glasses are intended for all-day use and are a step closer to Apple's eventual goal of releasing a device that replaces the iPhone.

Previous reports about Apple's smart-glasses project have pointed to a release as soon as 2020. Apple has reportedly been working on some form of so-called augmented-reality eyewear since at least 2015.

2. Services galore, and maybe even a bundling of those services.

First it was Apple Music, and then it was Apple News Plus, and Apple Arcade, and, most recently, Apple TV Plus.

In the last few years, Apple has rapidly evolved into a major player in a subscription services market dominated by the likes of Netflix and Spotify. But the company's next big move in that space may be a contraction of sorts: Apple is considering a subscription bundle that would include Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, and Apple News Plus, according to a report from Bloomberg's Gerry Smith and Mark Gurman.

And that new bundle could arrive as soon as this year, according to the report. The bundle of services that is said to be coming in 2020 doesn't include Apple Arcade, the video game subscription service Apple launched in September.

Starting with Apple Music in 2015, Apple has pushed hard into digital subscription services across the last several years. In 2019 in particular, Apple has launched three major new subscription services: Apple News Plus, Apple TV Plus, and Apple Arcade.

And Apple is showing no signs of slowing down in the coming years — especially as competition from the likes of Disney, Netflix, HBO, and more continues to heat up.

3. Self-driving cars, anyone?

Even the secret codename for Apple's self-driving car efforts is grandiose: "Project Titan" is what it's known as internally.

The company has been working on self-driving car tech for five years at this point — the project has thousands of employees, and has even had layoffs along the way.

Apple hasn't officially unveiled Project Titan, but the company has acknowledged that such efforts are underway. "We continue to believe there is a huge opportunity with autonomous systems, that Apple has unique capabilities to contribute, and that this is the most ambitious machine learning project ever,"the company said in a statement to CNBC back in January 2019, when it moved hundreds of employees to other projects.

So, uh, what is the mysterious project?

At one point, it was said to be an entire car — an Apple car! — with self-driving technology. In the years since, Project Titan has reportedly evolved into a software-focused project.

4. The fastest iPhone yet, with 5G speeds, could be coming as soon as this year.

It's true: Apple will continue to make the iPhone for years to come, regardless of the various projects in the works.

2020 is no exception, with analysts and media expecting the iPhone 12 (or whatever it's called) to have 5G connectivity.

5G is the next major step for smartphone data after 4G LTE, the current standard. In short, 5G will bring faster-than-ever speeds to smartphone users. But the jump from current speeds to 5G will be gradual, and only phones with hardware that works with 5G networks will be able to take advantage of the speed increase.

According to several reports thus far, Apple's next iPhone will have hardware built-in that enables it to work on 5G networks. 2020's iPhones are also expected to feature better cameras and a new form of Touch ID underneath the glass screen — Apple holds its iPhone reveal event each year in September, so we're unlikely to learn more about the next iPhone until many, many months from now.

• Swiss drugmaker Novartis wants to become a data science company and use artificial intelligence to solve some of the industry's most intractable problems.
• Novartis enlisted Microsoft to create an "AI innovation lab" and develop new research and applications with a focus on macular degeneration, cell and gene therapy, and drug design.
• Novartis has become Microsoft's shining example of "tech intensity," a philosophy championed by CEO Satya Nadella that every company needs to not only adopt tech's latest tools, but also to develop their own on top of them.
• The partnership is still very young, but is strategically important to both companies: Novartis wants to prove itself as a tech company, and Microsoft is striving to establish itself as a good partner to healthcare companies.
• Click here to read more BI Prime stories.

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When Bertrand Bodson became digital officer of Novartis – one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies – in 2018, he found the healthcare industry was rife with problems that could be helped by technology.

It typically takes 12 years and billions of dollars to get a drug from the lab to the market, he said for example, and fewer than 5% of patients have access to clinical trials.

Bodson, formerly the chief digital officer of British retailer Sainsburys' Argos and a senior group product manager at Amazon, and other members of the Novartis leadership team agreed that the Swiss drug maker would have learn to behave like a tech company. To solve its most intractable problems, he said, it would have to figure out how to apply artificial intelligence, data science, and other cutting-edge techniques.

In other words, Novartis would have to undergo what's often called a digital transformation. 

"My sense is its non-negotiable," Bodson told Business Insider on the concept of digital transformation. "But we cannot do this alone."

Novartis recently partnered with Microsoft to create an "AI innovation lab" and develop research and applications to transform the pharmaceutical company into a data science company.

The partnership is still very young, and the two companies have so far done little more than set a very ambitious agenda to follow in the coming years. However, this partnership is important to both companies: Novartis, to prove that it has the technical acumen to become a tech company, and Microsoft, to show that it can be a good partner to companies in the healthcare space.

Microsoft's shift

Around the time Bodson joined Novartis, Microsoft was making a change, too.

The 45-year-old company through most of its history created general-purpose products meant for the broadest possible swath of customers, but has in recent years started to dig deeper into the needs of specific industries and fine-tune products to suite them.

Peter Lee, a computer scientist and researcher, had long worked on broad technology problems as a key leader in Microsoft Research when he was asked by CEO Satya Nadella to take over the company's emerging healthcare vertical and find new uses for artificial intelligence and cloud computing in the industry.

"Microsoft traditionally is a horizontal platform company," Lee said. "When Satya became our CEO, he thought the future of transformation and evolution in tech intensity, and thought [the company] would need to get deeper, violate the horizontal nature of Microsoft and get a little more vertical, and think about how Microsoft evolves to go deep."

Nadella in 2018 unveiled a new vision for Microsoft customers – something he calls "tech intensity"– which is the idea companies can get the most out of technology if they not only adopt the latest and greatest products and services, but build on top of them. Nadella has called healthcare AI's "most pressing" application.

The partnership 

Bodson and Novartis sought out Microsoft, and met with Lee. They talked about how Novartis could use Microsoft's existing applications, or include some custom engineering like Microsoft does in its partnership with Walmart– then Lee realized Novartis' ambitions.

"Bertrand started to describe the vision of Novartis as a data science company, and our conversation really shifted," Lee said. The companies organized a more ambitious partnership intended to "change the game" and "lead to a real transformation."

Microsoft and Novartis inked a five-year deal with two major components.

The first component echoes Microsoft's original mission statement to put a computer on every desk and in every home, in that it aims to "bring the power of AI to the desktop of every Novartis associate."

The companies are combining Novartis' datasets with Microsoft's artificial intelligence technology to build new AI models and applications. One of them is what Lee described as an "Excel for data science." Lee declined to share details about how the application works, beyond saying that its goal is to "democratize data science in the same way Excel democratized the spreadsheet."

The other side of the partnership is research. The companies, Lee said, takes the "very best researchers from Microsoft Research" and integrates them with some of Novartis' top scientists to establish joint teams to work on "moonshot" projects including macular degeneration, cell and gene therapy, and drug design.

One of the focuses is to improve guidelines for dosing frequency and treatment plans for people who have macular degeneration, Bodson said, one of the biggest causes of vision loss. The companies work together on research at Novartis' headquarters in Switzerland and one of its campuses in Dublin, Ireland, plus Microsoft's research lab in Cambridge, UK. 

Microsoft isn't the only tech titan with which Novartis partners. The company struck a deal with Amazon in December to use cloud technology from Amazon Web Services, Microsoft's dominant rival in the market, to build a data and analytics platform.

Tech intensity

Novartis has become Microsoft's shining example of "tech intensity" as it tries to sell similar products and services to other companies.

Tech intensity is Nadella's idea that all industries need to adopt the latest technology platforms and tools — ideally, Microsoft products — and then train their workforce to be able to create their own uses for advanced technologies like artificial intelligence.

Microsoft also wants to be part of the second half of the equation, too. The company is investing in educational resources, including recently building a new team capable of training users at any technical level on how to get the most out of its Azure cloud-computing business.

Microsoft's focus on finding ways to tune products for specific industries is apparent in the company's hiring choices in the past year, during which it has added top pharmaceutical and health care, financial and energy executives.

Lee said Microsoft's broader goal is to make data science and machine learning easier for companies of all types to use.

"Democratizing data science and machine learning capabilities is fundamental to tech intensity today," Lee said. "If you think of the concept of tech intensity – where every company is a tech company not only adopting very quickly best-in-class technologies [but having its] own capabilities, for example, in data science or machine learning – what is the path to get there?"

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• Companies are investing heavily in artificial intelligence, and the adoption of the advanced technology promises to further divide successful firms from those struggling to adapt to the new digital world.
• Second-quarter earnings at Target and Walmart, which are leading the field in AI adoption, exceeded expectations, providing early evidence to investors and analysts that investments in this field can help cut costs.
• While some firms regularly tout the new tech offerings, the vast majority of companies are staying quiet on AI.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Legacy retailers like Target and Walmart are upping artificial-intelligence efforts to get the desired products into the customer's hands easier, cheaper, and faster.

The better-than-expected earnings for some firms — along with the uneven performance of others — demonstrates the potential that AI has to transform the retail industry and the treacherous road ahead to get there. 

And other major companies are jumping on board the digital bandwagon. Macy's, for example, said it would close 100 stores and lay off 2,000 employees to help fund new technology investments. In a leaked memo, chief technology officer Naveen Krishna said the goal is to empower its frontline workers with new digital tools to "support growth and profitability initiatives."

Macy's has some catching up to do. Walmart is already rolling out new technology in thousands of its stores, with the goal of eliminating the "mundane" tasks done by store associates so they can spend more time with customers. 

"Pretty much everything that we focus on is just making things that you know and do today a lot easier," John Crecelius, Walmart's senior vice president of central operations, told Business Insider. "What makes this exciting and fun is the ecosystem you create. It's the art of the possible when you have several pieces of technology in the same store gathering data and interacting with each other."

Walmart and Target provide parallel examples of AI implementations. 

Investment in AI-based startups specific to the retail industry grew to $1.8 billion between 2012 and 2018, the marketing-intelligence firm CB Insights found. Global spending on AI is expected to reach $7.3 billion by 2022, based on estimates from Juniper Research. 

Walmart has implemented an automated process to unload shipments from trucks and speed the time under which new products reach the floor. The technology will be used in 1,800 stores this year, according to Crecelius. The company is also using its partner Bossa Nova's robots to scrub floors and restock shelves and cameras to monitor self-checkouts to curb theft. 

That emphasis on operational efficiencies helped underscore solid second-quarter earnings, including a better-than-expected 2.8% growth in same-store sales, according to a UBS report provided to Business Insider. 

Walmart doesn't view any single offerings as a key cost-cutting mechanism. Instead, they're "individual, small changes that add up to an ecosystem for our stores," Crecelius said. 

The firm is also testing a number of new applications in a store in Levittown, New York, including using cameras, sensors, and other hardware to inform when store employees need to restock certain items on the shelves. 

Meanwhile, Target reported second-quarter earnings this month that far exceeded expectations. Among other initiatives, the retailer is using new technology to help dictate employee tasks and improve shipping, according to John Mulligan, its chief operating officer.

Target has also explored using blockchain to better manage its supply-chain operations, initially experimenting with a database to certify its paper providers, according to a blog post earlier this year. 

The Minneapolis-based firm is also investing in additional automation in the backroom of its stores to "help them become more productive," Mulligan recently told investors. 

But while AI might be a popular topic, executives are shying from touting the tech they're adopting.

Executives are typically coy on the actual initiatives under development, but trends around AI deployment have developed. Implementations generally focus on improving online operations, streamlining in-store inventory through better supply-chain management, analyzing vast amounts of consumer behavior to better match the customer with preferred products, and even using robots to clean the floors of their brick-and-mortar locations.

And while AI is a popular buzzword for some retailers, many companies have refrained from mentioning it publicly. Among more than 50 publicly traded firms, just nine retailers discussed strategies for using AI in their operations on earnings calls through the start of 2018, according to a recent analysis of 1,600 calls by CB Insights.

Executives remain hesitant to move too quickly to implement new AI-based applications.

Target and Walmart are approaching the adoption of AI cautiously, limiting investments to tech that can help reduce costs for the company and improve the shopping experience. Such returns are difficult to predict on a large scale, indicating that customers could be waiting a while before their preferred locations roll out the advanced offerings.

And while investors saw promising results from the two retailers, other companies have yet to show any material impact from their own AI-related initiatives. 

Last year, Nordstrom acquired two firms that would allow store associates to better communicate with shoppers when they are not physically in stores in hope of ultimately creating a more seamless shopping experience. Like other retailers, the firm is also experimenting with AI-based visual-search tools that allow customers to better find the desired items more quickly. 

But the department store's results remain lackluster. On Wednesday, Nordstrom reported uneven second-quarter earnings. Analysts didn't pinpoint AI as a factor, instead questioning the extent of price discounts implemented in the three-month period to counter slowing sales. 

The outcome, however, is evidence that simply ramping up technology within stores does not produce instant financial returns. 

"The decision to pursue AI does not imply immediate impact. It's more than just [getting] the right technology," David Simchi-Levi, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a consultant for several top retailers, told Business Insider. "You need the right processes, you need the right transformation, and you need the people with the right skills — and that's probably the main bottleneck."

Some firms have been successful without pivoting to AI, but experts say that's not the case for the majority of companies

Adding pressure to legacy retailers is the rise of upstart companies that are entirely AI-based. San-Francisco-based Stitch Fix offers personal-styling services online, using the technology to determine which clothes a user might like before shipping them. The firm then analyzes returns to craft a better profile of the customer. It now has over 3 million customers.

For the bulk of retailers, experts say it's no longer a question of whether to put resources toward AI-based applications. Still, implementing AI is not guaranteed to lead to major savings. Companies like T.J. Maxx continue to excel despite largely forgoing major investments in new technology. 

"You start learning and investing in this, or you will be behind the competition that surely is going to invest in this type of technology," Simchi-Levi added.

SEE ALSO: AI is going to change your career. IBM is showing how that can be a good thing.

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• Facebook has sent a cease-and-desist letter to a facial recognition startup after it scraped billions of images from the social media site without permission.
• The social media giant told Buzzfeed News it had sent "multiple" letters to Clearview AI about the issue and claimed the startup's actions "violate" its policies.
• New York-based startup Clearview AI, which describes itself as operating in "full compliance with the law," develops facial recognition technology for catching criminals used by over 600 US police departments.
• Facebook follows Google, YouTube and Twitter in sending a cease-and-desist letter to Clearview AI, with the startup believed to have scaped similar content from those respective platforms.
• Clearview's CEO defended the company's actions Wednesday, claiming the firm has a "First Amendment right" to access data in the public domain.
• Business Insider has approached Facebook and Clearview AI for comment.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Facebook has become the latest major tech firm to send a cease-and-desist letter to facial recognition startup Clearview AI over unauthorized photo scraping.

"Scraping people's information violates our policies, which is why we've demanded that Clearview stop accessing or using information from Facebook or Instagram," Facebook's spokesperson told Business Insider. 

New York-based startup Clearview AI develops facial recognition technology for catching criminals, and describes itself as operating in "full compliance with the law."

Despite Clearview's relatively low profile, the New York Times estimates that at least 600 police departments across the US use its vast, searchable photo database as part of their law enforcement efforts.

Facebook follows Google, YouTube and Twitter in sending a cease-and-desist letter to Clearview AI, with the startup believed to have scraped similar content from those respective platforms.

On Wednesday, a YouTube spokesperson told Business Insider: "YouTube's Terms of Service explicitly forbid collecting data that can be used to identify a person. Clearview has publicly admitted to doing exactly that, and in response, we sent them a cease-and-desist letter."

A cease-and-desist letter is generally sent to an individual or a company to stop any unauthorized activity and to not restart it. 

At heart, the issue seems to hinge on whether there's a real distinction between publicly accessible information and publicly available information. If information is publicly accessible, does that necessarily mean such information is available for others to use as they see fit?

For its part, Clearview has fiercely defended its actions.

In an interview with CBS on Wednesday, Clearview's CEO Hoan Ton-That defended the company's actions, arguing that the firm has a "First Amendment right" to access data in the public domain.

Business Insider has approached Facebook and Clearview AI for comment.

SEE ALSO: British police will scan people's faces to see if they're criminals, and critics say it's a massive expansion of surveillance

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• Robo-analysts seem to make better stock recommendations than human research analysts, according to a University of Indiana study.
• The study examined 76,568 reports issued by seven robo-analyst companies between 2003 and 2018.
• It found that portfolios based on the buy recommendations of robo-analysts outperformed those of human analysts, suggesting robo-analysts' buy recommendations are more profitable.
• It's not clear that investors act on robo-analysts' recommendations, however.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

In the long run, robo-analysts appear to make more profitable stock recommendations than human research analysts, according to a study from the University of Indiana.

The study's researchers examined 76,568 reports issued by seven robo-analyst companies between 2003 and 2018, and published their preliminary findings back in January.

They found that portfolios based on the buy recommendations of robo-analysts outperformed those of human analysts, suggesting robo-analysts' buy recommendations are more profitable.

What's more, they found that robo-analysts collectively produce a more balanced distribution of buy, hold, and sell recommendations than do human analysts, and are less likely to rely on companies' periodic earnings reports when carrying out their analysis.

In contrast to human analysts, robo-analysts typically work by poring over the reams of data released in firms' annual reports.

Robo-analysts should also be distinguished from their close relatives, robo-advisers.

Though the two are similar, robo-analysts typically deep-dive into SEC filings to analyze companies' finances, while robo-advisers tend to perform more coarse-grained tasks like determining and communicating asset allocation strategies based on questionnaires they carry out with investors.

Financial analysts worried about losing their jobs should resist alarmism, though.

For one thing, robo-analysts don't appear to outperform human analysts when it comes to the other side of the equation: sell recommendations. The Indiana study found "no evidence" to indicate that robo-analysts' sell recommendations are incrementally more profitable than those of human analysts.

More pertinently, it's debatable how seriously investors take recommendations made by robots – even if, as the Indiana study suggests, they shouldn't be dismissed out of hand.

To its credit, the study also examined how far investors actually respond to robo-analysts – and found that investors do not appear to incorporate and trade on the signals provided by their recommendation revisions.

What's more, it's still far from clear that robo-advisers – robo-analysts' cousins – will become a dominant force on Wall Street.

While the typically more old-school Goldman Sachs is set to launch a robo-advisory service this year, asset management giant Investec closed its own robo-advisory service in 2019 after operating losses reached £26 million ($33 million).

SEE ALSO: BI Prime The new head of Wells Fargo's massive wealth arm explains why human financial advisers should embrace roboadvisers, not fear them

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• In Beijing, China, subway passengers are being screen en masse for symptoms of coronavirus by artificial technology and temperature scanners.
• Two Chinese tech companies have rolled out AI and infrared-scanning devices in the city.
• Beijing officials hope to control the spread of the virus as millions return to work after the Lunar New year holiday.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

In Beijing, China, subway passengers are being screened en masse for symptoms of coronavirus — but not by health authorities.

Instead, artificial intelligence is in charge. 

The measures, implemented last week in several locations, came just days after the Beijing government started using infrared-imaging temperature scanners and handheld thermometers in all city subway stations.

Two Chinese AI giants, Megvii and Baidu, are behind the AI and temperature-scanning developments. They have implemented scanners to detect body temperature and send alerts to company workers if a person's body temperature is high enough to constitute a fever.

'Body detection, face detection, and infrared cameras'

In early February, Megvii initiated pilot programs in the Mudanyuan subway station, not far from the elite Peking University, and a nearby government administration building. 

And days prior, Baidu rolled out temperature-scanners at a single subway station in the city. 

Megvii and Baidu's roll-outs came shortly after the Beijing government established temperature-monitoring measures in all of the city's subway stations. 

Megvii's AI system, which monitors as many as 16 checkpoints in a single station, can detect body temperatures for up to 15 people per second and at a distance of up to 16 feet. 

According to a company representative, the system operates almost completely autonomously, requiring just one worker to monitor the technology. 

The system "integrates body detection, face detection, and dual-sensing via infrared cameras and visible light,"Megvii said in a statement.

"The system can accurately detect and flag high body temperature even when people are wearing masks, hats, or cover[ing] their faces with other items," the company added.

Baidu, one of the largest search-engine companies in China, screens subway passengers at the Qinghe station with infrared scanners. But it also uses a facial-recognition system, taking photographs of passengers' faces. 

If the Baidu system detects a body temperature of at least 99 degrees Fahrenheit, it sends an alert to the staff member for another screening. The technology can scan the temperatures of more than 200 people per minute. 

Megvii's system also sends alerts to an on-site staff member.

Beijing is pressing to implement widespread temperature-tracking technology as millions of people return to work after the Lunar New Year holiday, hoping to control the spread of coronavirus. 

Using data to stem a crisis

The latest corporate- and state-surveillance developments have prompted concerns from some, including the Council on Foreign Relations, a centrist think-tank in Washington, DC. 

"The [coronavirus] epidemic has given the Chinese government an argument for acquiring and monitoring private-sector data. This has tied tech companies closer to the state and led to an increase in surveillance in the name of public health,"according to two researchers with the organization.

China's National Health Commission (NHC) recently told local governments to "use big data technology to track, screen priority [cases], and effectively forecast the development of the epidemic in real-time,"Japan Times reported. 

"Strengthen the information link between … public security and transportation, and other departments," the NHC statement added.

• Read more:
• Scientists say at least 500,000 people may become infected with the coronavirus in Wuhan before it peaks in the coming weeks
• The Wuhan coronavirus has killed more than 1,000 people and infected more than 43,000. Here's everything we know about the outbreak.
• Mistrust, low pay, and a tradition of bribery in China's healthcare system have crippled efforts to contain the Wuhan coronavirus
• Photos show how China is grappling with the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak as 16 cities are quarantined and hospitals run out of space

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• Artificial intelligence is becoming more advanced than ever, and retail experts say it will become increasingly essential in making stores more efficient and convenient for shoppers. 
• The artificial intelligence market in retail is expected to surpass $8 billion by 2024, according to the business management company Global Market Insights.
• "The speed at which AI can work through issues and create solutions — and just the sheer volume of data that it can collect, but more importantly, analyze in a really intelligent way — can improve lives," Chelsea Grayson, board member of Inheritance AI and former CEO of American Apparel, told Business Insider. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

While the term "artificial intelligence" may summon futuristic images of robots and machines, in the retail industry it has become a catchall term for everything from customer service chatbots to virtual reality apps. 

Artificial intelligence services have become big business in retail: The sector is expected to surpass $8 billion by 2024, according to business management company Global Market Insights. As e-commerce continues to reign supreme, AI continues to flourish out of business necessity, according to Emil Alon, CEO and founder of augmented reality company Resonai.

"Retailers can finally map and understand the full shopper journey across both digital and physical sales channels to achieve an omnichannel picture," Alon said. "It allows retailers to gather a more detailed understanding of their customer segments to refine their product portfolios and better connect brands with target customers."

Today, nearly everything a shopper does is being mined and tracked for data. While this may sound scary on its face, retail experts say AI will become essential in making stores more efficient and convenient for shoppers. 

"Everything that a consumer does online, and an increasing fraction of what they do offline, generates data which is associated with them," Andrew Konya, CEO and cofounder of the AI startup Remesh, told Business Insider. "This data is sewn together across devices, people, companies, and transactions. It is leveraged by increasingly advanced algorithms which are continually getting better.

How AI is improving inventory management 

According to Chelsea Grayson, board member of Inheritance AI and former CEO of American Apparel, AI has been most beneficial to retail by improving the way companies track and manage inventory. 

"No retailer I have ever worked with has this down to a perfect science," she told Business Insider. "In fact, the predominant majority of retailers I work with are terrible at inventory management and demand forecasting."

Inventory challenges have been a major thorn in the side of retailers struggling against the retail apocalypse, specifically those that continue to over-index on apparel that goes unsold before being pushed to clearance racks at significant discounts. Such sales are dangerous because they can weaken the brand by establishing a "promotional culture," she said. 

However, growing AI technologies like RFID tracking are helping brands streamline the inventory process by tracking it online. Today everyone from Nike to Outdoor Voices uses this system, which Grayson said is especially helpful in tailoring product based on geographic region. 

"[Retailers struggle with] having a particular item or set of SKUs in the right place at the right time," she said. "They often have the same item in every single one of their locations, for example, without figuring out that in a particular geography, a floral skirt might work, while elsewhere they're going to need a big puffer because it's cold." 

On the consumer side, Grayson said augmented reality technology like Sephora's Color IQ program has already proven beneficial to helping shoppers pick out products. In addition to allowing shoppers to "virtually" try on makeup, it saves information on favorite hues, a move that can help drive consumer loyalty and prevent "the graveyard of makeup."

How AI can improve shopping

With so much data at their disposal, retailers are still identifying the best ways to use this information to bolster sales and engage with consumers in a way that doesn't feel invasive. This is easier said than done — while brands like Gucci have implemented intelligent customer service chatbots, a New York Times report found that the company powering the bot could see what shoppers were typing before they sent it, and used this intel for future targeting. 

"It is one thing to think, 'O.K., somehow my clicks are being recorded somewhere,'" Christine Bannan, a consumer protection lawyer at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, told the Times. "But to think of an individual sales rep watching all of your clicks, I think it will resonate with people that this sort of tracking is so prevalent and what it really means."

Grayson said that despite concerns over the technology, the pros of retailers tracking consumer habits through artificial intelligence ultimately outweigh the cons. 

"The speed at which AI can work through issues and create solutions — and just the sheer volume of data that it can collect, but more importantly, analyze in a really intelligent way — can improve lives," she said. "AI is going benefit humanity far more than it hurts any individual." 

• Read more in our Revolutionizing Retail series:
• The retail apocalypse has forced stores to abandon the mall and transform into a destination where shoppers can take a 'vacation from reality'
• These 17 companies are revolutionizing the retail industry
• This startup wants to help retailers like Toys R Us, Macy's, and Lowe's revamp their store experience — and it's raised $88.5 million to do it
• From robotic shop assistants to AR, these 10 pieces of tech could change shopping forever

SEE ALSO: How AI is changing everything

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• The rise of artificial intelligence is giving companies capabilities they've never had before to automate job tasks, recruit top talent, and better know their customers, among other applications. But adopting the advanced tech is not an easy shift, and many efforts still fail.
• Business Insider is exploring how companies can successfully implement the tech without succumbing to the roadblocks that stymie so many efforts.
• These reports can help prepare executives as they ready themselves to lead the AI efforts, as well as provide guidance for getting the enterprise onboard.
• Business Insider regularly interviews executives about their company's AI efforts. You can read them all by subscribing to BI Prime.

Companies across corporate America are harnessing artificial intelligence and machine learning to, among other things, automate the more mundane-aspects of jobs, help to recruit top talent, and know more about customers to tailor promotional offers or product recommendations. 

But the move to adopt the advanced technology comes with significant challenges and often requires a major cultural shift. It's one reason why many AI-based projects still fail.

Business Insider is exploring how companies can successfully implement the tech without succumbing to the roadblocks that stymie so many efforts.

The push for new AI laws: Top CEOs are increasingly sounding the alarm over the need to regulate AI. Here's what the top execs at Google, Tesla, IBM, and others have said about the advanced tech.

Moving on past layoffs at a hot AI startup: A top UiPath exec called its recent layoffs a 'natural part of the evolution.' Here's how the hot AI startup now plans to scale in 2020.

Start on the path to becoming an AI whiz: 7 books to read right now if you want to become the ultimate authority on artificial intelligence

Combining AI training with cultural reinforcement: Why KPMG is treating employees who want to learn AI to a $450 million training center that feels like a luxury resort

The 2019 upshots: These were the top 3 most critical issues for companies facing digital overhauls in 2019 — and why they'll still matter in 2020

Chipmakers are battling to be dominate in the AI era: Why one longtime industry analyst argues Intel's $2 billion purchase of AI startup Habana Labs is a direct challenge to Nvidia

The most in-demand digital roles in 2020: The 3 most important executive hires all companies need to make in 2020 if they're serious about digital transformation

Determining the investment return on AI and other digital projects: How to know if your company's digital initiatives are on the path to success

Why culture is more of a limitation than tech in the push to AI: CarMax's CIO says culture is more of an impediment than technology for organizations pursuing a digital overhaul. Here's how he managed the shift at the nation's largest used car retailer.

How Frito-Lay is trying to overcome AI hurdles: Frito-Lay's transformation chief outlines the biggest challenges facing the digital overhaul effort at $189 billion PepsiCo's most profitable division

Using AI to predict fast food orders:All the ways McDonald's is using AI to learn what you'll order — sometimes even before you know what you'll want

Why tech companies struggle with AI culture:IBM's global chief data officer explains why changing culture to support AI is harder in a traditional tech company — and one way it's easier

How to kickstart your AI effort successfully:Here are the 3 steps companies that are just pivoting to AI should take to guarantee the process starts on a solid footing

Using AI to find better talent:CareerBuilder used artificial intelligence to figure out veterinary technicians could make good prison guards. It's just one way the hiring platform is employing the technology to revolutionize HR.

Learning from an AI leader:I spent a day at IBM's mysterious research hub north of NYC, where I met some of the top AI leaders in the country. Here are 4 takeaways on where they think the tech is headed.

How Walmart evaluates AI projects:Walmart has 1,500 data scientists and is hiring more amid a push to adopt artificial intelligence. The retailer's chief data officer recently shared the 3 questions that guide all its AI projects.

Regulating AI is still a key challenge:There are no laws regulating the use of AI in the hiring process, and it's setting back how companies recruit. Here are the people trying to change that.

What to weigh before pouring resources into AI:Accenture's head of artificial intelligence shares the 4-step plan every company should consider before investing in AI

Using employees as AI testers:Walmart has cracked the code for merging AI rollouts with employee feedback to produce buzzy (and cost-saving) new tech

Using AI to improve retail operations:'It's the art of the possible': How Walmart and Target are harnessing AI to rocket past the competition

Using AI to power tools for employees:IBM is using its AI star Watson to pinpoint salaries and coach employees. Here are 9 robot tools that could one day find their way to your office.

The biggest AI opportunities in the workplace:AI is going to change your career. IBM is showing how that can be a good thing.

How Accenture uses AI for retraining: Accenture's AI program 'Job Buddy' helps retrain workers who've lost jobs to automation, and it could be a game-changing model for other companies to follow

Why it's important to avoid extremes when discussing AI:An NYU professor says the debate about the future of AI is distorted by 'a tremendous amount of misplaced optimism and fear'

SEE ALSO: THE CHANGING C-SUITE: What the rise of information, data, and tech chiefs says about the future of leadership in America's top companies

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