AI plays doctor: Artificial intelligence can detect skin cancer better than dermatologists, according to a new international study. Flesh-and-blood dermatologists in the study accurately detected 86.6 percent of skin cancers from images, compared to 95 percent for a deep learning convolutional neural network, reports Agence France Presse. Still, there’s no substitute for a thorough clinical examination, the researchers said in a Mirror.co.uk story.
AI can teach, too: Many schools in China are now testing AI as a way to grade homework, reports the South China Morning Post. AI is being used to grade essays, and it recommends improvements in writing style and structure.
AI vs. Internet trolls: AI can even predict when an Internet fight is about to break out, says Bigthink.com. Apparently, one way to predict an online fight is about to happen is when a commenter begins to let the accusations fly by using the word “you.”
Hackers target routers: It’s those Russian hackers again, and they’re after your router. The Russian Sofancy group is among the foreign cyber actors who “have compromised hundreds of thousands of home and office routers and other networked devices,” the FBI warned. One way to limit the attack is to reboot your router, Time.com says. (See also: To Tackle the VPNFilter Botnet, It’s Going to Take Help from You and Me)
Money for nothing: Blockchain is an interesting technology with a lot of potential, but sometimes the hype gets to be a bit much. Cayman Islands blockchain start-up Block.one raised $4 billion before releasing its first product, CNBC.com reports. Through an initial coin offering. Block.one is offering a cryptocurrency called eos.
Blockchain takes on spam calls: Promoters of blockchain have been touting the technology as the answer to many problems, including, as Forbes.com notes, ID fraud. But the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India may have come up with a blockchain use that would win lots of converts: blocking phone and text spam. The regulator is looking at ways to use the distributed ledger technology in a system where customers can opt out of phone and text solicitations, reports Coindesk.
Blockchain for IoT security: Meanwhile, blockchain could also be used to help secure the notoriously vulnerable Internet of things, reports Techtarget.com. Blockchain could help IoT devices communicate securely with each other, the story says.
Read the Internet Society’s Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning policy paper and explore how it might impact the Internet’s future.