The Pope has joined forces with Microsoft and IBM to create a doctrine for ethical AI and facial recognition. Here's how the Vatican wants to shape AI. (MSFT, IBM)

• The Vatican called for stronger regulation of the use of artificial intelligence in a plan announced Friday, as first reported by Reuters.
• The document also said AI tools should work fairly, transparently, reliably, and with respect for human life and the environment.
• Microsoft and IBM joined with Pope Francis in endorsing the document, according to Reuters.
• This isn't the first time Pope Francis has weighed in on the moral and ethical issues that come with new technologies.
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Pope Francis wants to see facial recognition, AI, and other powerful new technologies follow a doctrine of ethical and moral principles. 

In a joint document made public on Friday, the pope, along with IBM and Microsoft, laid out a vision that outlined principles for the emerging technologies and called for new regulations, as first reported by Reuters.

The Vatican's "Rome Call for AI Ethics" said that AI tools should be built "with a focus not on technology, but rather for the good of humanity and of the environment" and consider the "needs of those who are most vulnerable."

The "algor-ethics" outlined in the document included transparency, inclusion, responsibility, impartiality, reliability, security, and privacy, alluding to debates that have emerged around topics like algorithmic bias and data privacy.

Along those lines, it called for new regulations around "advanced technologies that have a higher risk of impacting human rights, such as facial recognition." Facial recognition technology in particular has sparked concerns in recent years, thanks to research showing its problems with racial bias and the lack of transparency from companies that develop it.

The document, which was also endorsed by Microsoft and IBM, is not the first time Pope Francis has weighed in on ethical issues surrounding technology. At a Vatican conference last September, the pontiff warned that technological progress, if not kept in check, could lead society to "an unfortunate regression to a form of barbarism."

Others, both within and outside of the tech community, have rolled out plans to address the potential side effects of AI. In January, the Trump administration unveiled a binding set of guidelines federal agencies must follow when designing AI policies, while the European Union announced its own non-binding principles last April.

Various individuals and organizations within the tech industry have spoken out about regulating AI, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, as well as AI ethics groups like AI Now and OpenAI.

SEE ALSO: Twitter is testing a system that lets users label false or misleading tweets by politicians, taking a cue from sites like Wikipedia and Reddit.

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The year's biggest video game development trade show just got 'postponed' due to concerns over the ongoing coronavirus outbreak

• For the first time in over 30 years, the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California is "postponed" until this summer due to the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19. A new date was not announced.
• Several major companies pulled out of the conference ahead of the announcement: Sony's PlayStation group, Facebook, Microsoft's Xbox group, "Fortnite" maker Epic Games, and Unity.
• "After close consultation with our partners in the game development industry and community around the world, we've made the difficult decision to postpone the Game Developers Conference this March," the event organizers said.
• Nearly 30,000 people attended GDC 2019, and conference exhibitors are still planning to offer some of their GDC 2020 programming online.
• COVID-19 has infected more than 78,000 people in China and infections have spread to at least 40 countries. On Tuesday, US health officials warned that the coronavirus outbreak could soon reach the United States.
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The annual Game Developers Conference, scheduled to take place in San Francisco from March 16 to 20, is "postponed" until "later in the summer" due to concerns related to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, or COVID-19, the event's organizers said in a press release.

"After close consultation with our partners in the game development industry and community around the world, we've made the difficult decision to postpone the Game Developers Conference this March," the release said. It did not give an exact date for when the event will now be held.

GDC's postponement comes amid a string of announcements from major exhibitors pulling out: Facebook, Sony's PlayStation group, Microsoft's Xbox group, Unity, Electronic Arts, and "Fortnite" developer Epic Games all announced they would skip this year's show to safeguard their employees from the COVID-19.

Many of the exhibitors who planned to attend have promised to make their GDC programming available online, including Microsoft, Facebook, and Unity.

Earlier this month Facebook cancelled its own Global Marketing Summit, which was scheduled to take place at the Moscone Center a week before GDC, from March 9 to 12. San Francisco has announced a state of emergency due to the coronavirus outbreak, though no cases of infection have been reported in the city. One patient from a cruise ship was transported to a San Francisco hospital on Feb. 20.

COVID-19, the coronavirus disease, originated in China, where more than 78,000 people have been infected, according to the World Health Organization. Nearly 3,000 more cases have been reported in 40 countries around the world, including 53 cases of infection in the United States. The WHO reports that 2,762 people have died due to COVID-19 infection as of February 26, most of them in China.

SEE ALSO: Coronavirus concerns push Facebook and Sony to skip the year's biggest gathering for video game makers

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Now more than ever, we should be supporting SLO county's small organic farms - New Times SLO

Now more than ever, we should be supporting SLO county's small organic farms  New Times SLO

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Read the pitch deck that Uber founder Garrett Camp created for the ride-hailing giant back in 2008 – before the company became the $120 billion giant it is today (UBER)

It's a big year for Uber.

The first name in ride-hailing had a ton of hype around it for the first half of 2019 thanks to its IPO. And though the $8 billion valuation fell well short of speculations of $100 billion, Uber is still one of the biggest names on the market today.

With such eye-popping numbers, it's difficult to remember a time when the 10-year-old company wasn't the juggernaut it is today. Uber currently has more than 2 million drivers ferrying passengers in more than 63 countries.

But back in August 2008, founder Garrett Camp was laying out his dream of a "next-generation car service" in a slideshow on his computer. Little did he know that dream would grow exponentially into a company that now handles grocery delivery, that has a rapidly growing on-demand food delivery segment in Uber Eats, and is developing a fleet of self-driving taxis.

As part of our coverage of the genesis of today's successful companies, BI Prime took a look at how Camp envisioned Uber (then UberCab) 10 years ago in his original pitch deck:

• The core concept was largely the same: a fast and efficient on-demand car service that he described as the "NetJets of car services"
• Uber originally wanted to screen its customers by only picking up members and banning hailing from the street
• All of Uber's projected use cases, from airport pickup/dropoff to travel to and from restaurants, still hold up today

Some of what Camp laid out in the pitch deck no longer holds up, such as a few of Uber's projected eco-friendly benefits and the makeup of Uber's fleet of cars.

The rest of the deck outlines some key points such as:

• Plans for surge pricing
• The company's project valuation
• Potential outcomes for the company, including a best-case scenario
• Future optimizations
• Marketing ideas
• And more

BI Prime is publishing dozens of stories like this each and every day, chock full of exclusive content and industry analysis. Want to get started by reading the full pitch deck?

>> Download it now FREE

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Student Organic Farm celebrates National CSA Day - MSUToday

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