Jun 21, 2017

Preparing for the rise of AI

Rebecca Zisser / Axios

People who enjoy a lot of respect — like Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk — warn of a coming artificial intelligence apocalypse. Others say the conversation has become alarmist — either that general AI is unlikely, or that even if it arrives, it will be here to help, not harm us.

Those are good debating points. But whatever the case, shouldn't we start preparing for any eventuality, especially since some researchers appear to be rushing far ahead of our think-tankers and policymakers? So what should we know now? We asked four varied experts for their thoughts. Here are their answers:

Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway: Teach kids how to use AI as a positive tool
Andrew Moore, computer scientist, Carnegie Mellon University: The U.S. needs more AI researchers
Azeem Azhar, entrepreneur, Exponential View: China will win the AI race
Ian Bremmer, political scientist, Eurasia Group: The U.S. will win the AI race, but at a cost

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Coronavirus spreads to more countries, and U.S. ups its case count

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the CDC, and China's Health Ministry. Note: China numbers are for the mainland only and U.S. numbers include repatriated citizens.

The novel coronavirus continues to spread to more nations, and the U.S. reports a doubling of its confirmed cases to 34 — while noting those are mostly due to repatriated citizens, emphasizing there's no "community spread" yet in the U.S. Meanwhile, Italy reported its first virus-related death on Friday.

The big picture: COVID-19 has now killed at least 2,359 people and infected more than 77,000 others, mostly in mainland China. New countries to announce infections recently include Israel, Lebanon and Iran.

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Stat du jour: 😀 Satisfaction "with the way things are going" in U.S. hits 15-year high
S&P 500: 3,373.23 (👇 12.92 — 0.38%)
1 2020 thing: 🤐 Bloomberg offers to release women from 3 NDAs
1 showbiz thing: ☕️Friends reunion coming to HBO MAX in May
1 biz thing: 😔Wells Fargo to pay $3 billion for opening fake accounts
1 sports thing: 👟 Another distance running record falls with high-tech Nikes

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Orion Rummler

Wells Fargo agrees to pay $3 billion to settle consumer abuse charges

Clients use an ATM at a Wells Fargo Bank in Los Angeles, Calif. Photo: Ronen Tivony/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Wells Fargo agreed to a pay a combined $3 billion to the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday for opening millions of fake customer accounts between 2002 and 2016, the SEC said in a press release.

The big picture: The fine "is among the largest corporate penalties reached during the Trump administration," the Washington Post reports.

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