European electric scooter startup Voi is turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to enable its vehicles to detect pedestrians and sidewalks, a move designed to ingratiate itself to municipalities worried about chaotic micromobility schemes. Escooter (and ebike) sales have surged throughout 2020 as travelers sought alternatives to crowded public transport, but this proliferation serves to stoke…

AI researchers from Virginia Tech and Western University have concluded that an unequal distribution of compute power in academia is furthering inequality in the era of deep learning. They also point to the impact on academia of people leaving prestigious universities for high-paying industry jobs. The concentration of compute power at elite universities crowds out mid- to low-tier research…

Rekor, a controversial startup providing license plate-scanning technology, today announced that the state of Oklahoma will use its software to spot uninsured motorists on the road. As a part of an Oklahoma program (the Uninsured Vehicle Enforcement Diversion Program) that encourages cited uninsured drivers to avoid court appearances by acquiring insurance and paying a $174 fee, Rekor will…

Some polls predicting results of the U.S. 2020 presidential election appear to have missed the mark. Aggregator RealClearPolitics showed former vice president Joe Biden with a 7-point advantage over current president Donald Trump, while FiveThirtyEight suggested Biden was ahead by at least 8 points at the national level on average. In reality, the race turned out to be substantially tighter. In…