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Hello and welcome to Monday.

The daily rundown Between Saturday and Sunday, the number of Florida coronavirus cases increased by 2,539 (0.3 percent), to 755,020; active hospitalizations went down 37 (1.8 percent), to 2,009; deaths rose by 50 (0.3 percent), to 15,967.

Do it again Well, here comes Round 2.

Catch a wave As Democrats have racked up a large lead in mail-in ballots in Florida the last few weeks, the message from Republicans has been, Just wait. Today, early voting will start in 52 out of 67 counties and this will be a chance to see the first signs of the red wave President Donald Trump promised last week during a campaign swing through the state.

I know theres an answer Four years ago, Republicans edged Democrats in vote-by-mail while Democrats bested Republicans at early voting. Polls showed this year that most Florida Republicans said they planned to vote in-person, an apparent nod to Trumps invective against mail-in voting (although he later clarified he wasnt talking about this adopted home state). Whatever the reason, more than 1.22 million Democrats have mailed in ballots so far, compared to more than 754,000 Republicans.

Here today One adviser to Joe Biden in Florida noting a surge of Democratic enthusiasm said this about the start of early voting: Lets see if GOP argument of all these [vote-by-mail] holders are just sitting on their ballots because they want to return them in person is accurate. Democrats say that even with their emphasis on vote-by-mail this year they will be ready for early voting. They plan to deploy vans, umbrellas, water and thousands of volunteers. Sen. Kamala Harris will be in the state today, where she is scheduled to be at an early voting drive-in rally in Orlando and a mobilization event in Jacksonville.

I Get Around But Republicans counter that their voters in Florida are fired up and will be mobilized. They point to their massive voter contact efforts, their boat and car caravans, and the GOP narrowing the Democrats' voter registration advantage as proof that they will swamp Democrats again just like they did four years ago. So here we go.

WHERE'S RON? Nothing official announced for Gov. DeSantis.

ELECTIONLAND: POLITICO is partnering with Electionland, a ProPublica project that works with newsrooms to track voting issues around the country. The Electionland project covers problems that prevent eligible voters from casting their ballots during the 2020 elections. Were part of a coalition of newsrooms around the country that are investigating issues related to voter registration, pandemic-related changes to voting, the shift to vote-by-mail, cybersecurity, voter education, misinformation, and more. Tell us here if youre having trouble voting.

ITS ABOUT PATRIOTISM Will flag-waving Latinos win Florida for Trump? by POLITICOs Sabrina Rodriguez: President Donald Trump has long known that his reelection hinges on him winning the battleground state of Florida and part of that strategy means getting Cuban Americans in South Florida to the polls in large numbers. But in Hialeah, a working-class, predominantly Cuban city just outside of Miami, a vote for Trump has become about more than just him, or even the Republican Party. Its about patriotism. A drive past the citys biggest intersections shows vendors selling Trump 2020 swag and American flags. And car caravans with dozens of Trump supporters around the city have become a regular occurrence, filled with loud honking and Trump and American flags flung outside windows.

Ahead of early voting, dueling campaign caravans parade through Miami-Dade County, by Miami Heralds Bianca Padro Ocasio

THE APPRENTICE Trump jokes hell fire DeSantis if he loses Florida. Ill find a way, by Tampa Bay Times Josh Solomon: The governor introduced the president on stage at Ocala International Airport. Then [President Donald] Trump got some laughs at [Gov. Ron] DeSantis expense from the crowd especially the line where Trump threatened to figure out a way to fire Floridas governor should the president lose the Sunshine State on Election Day. You know if we dont win it, Im blaming the governor, Trump said. Ill fire him somehow. Im going to fire him. I will find a way.

President Donald Trump gestures during a campaign rally on October 18, 2020 in Carson City, Nevada. | (Stephen Lam/Getty Images)

ON EDGE Voter intimidation looms as a concern. Heres how South Florida will fight it, by Sun Sentinels Lisa J. Huriash: With early voting about to start Monday in Florida, its too early to say which particular problems could surface. Marsha Ellison, a South Florida and statewide NAACP leader, said she fears far-right groups, including those supportive of President Donald Trump, would intimidate Black voters as they head to the polls in predominantly Black communities, all to keep them from voting.

COLLISION COURSE? Will COVID surge before the election in Florida? Everybody wants to know the answer, by Miami Heralds David Smiley and Ben Conarck: Political campaigns in the nations preeminent battleground state are watching two sets of numbers as Election Day approaches: ballot returns and cases of the novel coronavirus. As Floridians begin voting in person Monday and a flurry of political rallies, sporting events and school re-openings bring scores of people together in one of the worst-hit states by the pandemic both epidemiologists and candidates are bracing for the possibility of a pre-Election Day surge. Everybody wants to know the answer to that question: Are we going to see changes in key COVID-19 metrics prior to the election that could influence voting one way or the other? That really remains a big question mark, said Jason Salemi, a University of South Florida associate professor of epidemiology who monitors state and federal COVID-19 data. Youd be unrealistically disconnected not to be paying close attention with all the things that have transpired of late.

At indoor event Florida event, Trump urges seniors to shield themselves from Covid, by POLITICOs Quint Forgey

Byron Donalds tests positive for COVID-19, ahead of Trump event in Fort Myers, by Fort Myers News-Press Amy Bennett Williams

Okaloosa County supervisor of elections and employee test positive for COVID-19, by WEAR

PROXY Puerto Rico, unable to vote, becomes crucial to US election, by Associated Press Danica Coto and Adriana Gomez Licon: The campaigns of President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are rallying people in a place where U.S. citizens cannot cast ballots but have the ear of hundreds of thousands of potential voters in the battleground state of Florida. The candidates are targeting Puerto Rico in a way never before seen, with the U.S. territory suddenly finding itself in the crosshairs of a high-stakes race even though Puerto Ricans on the island cannot vote in presidential elections despite being U.S. citizens since 1917.

RISK FACTOR Post investigation: These Florida voting machines ripe for Russian hackers, experts say, by Palm Beach Posts John Pacenti: Florida may be ripe for the picking, computer scientists say, because numerous counties rely on voting machines that are drawing fire for their vulnerability to a cyberattack. These computer scientists along with election integrity groups familiar with the model that Palm Beach and 48 other counties use, say there are potentially numerous ways for a foreign entity to alter results. They say that state election officials have accepted wholesale the spin from the manufacturer that these machines which voters at polling places feed ballots into after marking candidates of their choice are secure.

WHATS IN YOUR WALLET? City of Jacksonville expects reimbursement for $153,000 in GOP convention planning costs, by Florida Times-Unions David Bauerlein: The city of Jacksonville expects the 2020 Jacksonville Host Committee will cover about $153,000 the city spent to prepare for the Republican National Convention that was slated for Jacksonville before coronavirus concerns forced its cancellation. Mayor Lenny Curry and his staff had said during the run-up to the convention that local taxpayers would not bear any cost for the convention because the host committee and a federal security grant would foot the bill. Jordan Elsbury, chief of staff for Curry, said Friday the host committee has said it will make a payment to the city.

GETTING READY Trump, Biden muster army of lawyers, poll-watchers for Florida election fight, by Sarasota Herald-Tribunes John Kennedy: Thousands of poll watchers and attorneys are being deployed in Florida and other battleground states as the Donald Trump and Joe Biden campaigns ready for an Election Day unlike any other one already sparking a firestorm of court challenges. With an unprecedented 300-plus lawsuits in various stages across key states over the conduct of the election, both presidential camps are bracing for a Nov. 3 contest whose outcome may not be known for days.

DISPATCH FROM DORAL The rise of Magazolano and the battle for the Venezuelan vote, by POLITICO Magazines Jesus A. Rodriguez: Many of these voters are not just Trump supporters but impassioned fans of the president. The most fervent among them call themselves magazolanos, a portmanteau of MAGA and the Spanish word for Venezuelan. Online, magazolanos sometimes go to extremes to defend the presidents record, including embracing conspiracy theories about Democratic nominee Joe Biden and others in his party. As Trump fell ill with Covid-19 in early October, members of a Facebook group called Venezolanos con Trump 2020 posted prayers for his recovery, and one user said the president was the anointed son of God. One recent video posted on the groups page called the Black Lives Matter movement a Marxist group and alleged that the George Floyd protests had been pre-planned to destabilize the country. Nonetheless, the magazolano worldview offers a glimpse into Trumps appeal in the decisive state of Florida: With almost two weeks until the election, this new crop of highly engaged voters just might help deliver the state to the incumbent.

2020 BY THE NUMBERS So far, 2,497,514 vote-by-mail ballots have been cast for the November election, according to the latest information on the state Division of Elections website. Of those, 1,222,436 have come from Democrats and 754,346 have come from registered Republicans. Overall, there are nearly 3.3 million mail ballots requested but not yet returned. Of those, nearly 1.37 million are held by Democrats and nearly 1.05 million are with Republicans.

ITS A SECRET Mystery donor spends $180k on Florida political mail, by POLITICOs Matt Dixon: It calls itself The Truth, but little else is known about a new Florida political committee, its seemingly untraceable donor, or $180,000 in mail it funded just days after its formation.

WHAT WILTONS WATCHING The battle for eyes and votes: Unprecedented air war over Panhandle state senate seat, by Tallahassee Democrats James Call: The campaign for a North Florida state Senate seat has produced a wave of political television advertising an "air war," as some consultants call it unlike anything Tallahassee has recently experienced. To be sure, the thousands of commercials aired in the race to succeed term-limited Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, offer few new policy proposals from either candidate. [Marva] Preston went on the air first, with an introductory ad about attending the first desegregated high school in Wakulla, then launched an offensive questioning [Loranne] Ausley's ethics, family wealth and ties to the Democratic Party. Once Ausley responded to Preston's attacks, the two began funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy air time. This Monday closes out a three-week run which aired 2,793 spots on the ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX affiliates (Sept. 28-Oct. 19).

11TH HOUR Late guidance from Floridas elections chief could affect counties plan for mail ballot drop boxes, by Tampa Bay Times Allison Ross: Late guidance this week from the Florida Department of State on mail ballot drop boxes has forced many county elections officials to reconsider their plans only days before the start of early voting in the 2020 general election. Vote-by-mail drop boxes must be staffed at all times they are in use by either an elections employee or a sworn law enforcement officer, according to a Wednesday memo from the departments general counsel, Brad McVay, to Floridas 67 supervisors of elections.

Floridas election may hinge on mail ballot signatures: The hanging chad of 2020, by Miami Heralds Mary Ellen Klas

Ad claims defense attorney Kagan, in HD 29 race against Plakon, is on the criminals side, by Orlando Sentinels Annie Martin

Brother weighs against Scott Plakon in HD 29 battle with Tracey Kagan, by Florida Politics Scott Powers

Trump flotilla, complete with tribute barge, flows from Jupiter to Mar-a-Lago, by Palm Beach Posts Hannah Winston

Ivanka Trump to attend fundraiser in Naples on Wednesday, by Naples Daily News Devan Patel

Burt Bacharach, singing and rallying Florida seniors for Biden, doesnt hold back on Trump. I cant stand this man, by Sun Sentinels Anthony Man

Donald Trump Jr. holds campaign rally for father, GOP in West Palm Beach, by Palm Beach Posts Julius Whigham II

We have lost a lot: James Clyburn, Al Lawson make rural pitch for Joe Biden, by Florida Politics A.G. Gancarski

BROKEN SYSTEM Florida took thousands of kids from families, then failed to keep them safe, by USA Today Networks Michael Braga, Pat Beall, Daphne Chen and Josh Salman: Six years ago, Florida lawmakers embraced a tough new approach to stop parents from abusing their children. They approved millions of dollars to hire more child welfare investigators and rewrote rules to make it easier to seize children from their parents. Then they told investigators to rewire their thinking. Instead of looking for every way possible to keep families together, they had a new priority: protect children at all costs. The plan, signed into law by then-Gov. Rick Scott, was widely embraced as a historic stand against child abuse, a crucial rethinking of philosophy that had made regulators soft on abusers. But there was a problem. No one had figured out where to put all the children. In a matter of months, the foster care system found itself drowning in hundreds of new cases.

Tried to keep it a secret DCF and the nonprofit agencies in charge of foster care repeatedly tried to prevent USA TODAY from obtaining information about foster parents and the allegations against them. They would not provide a list of parent names and demanded $50,000 for search and copy fees for disciplinary records. In reaction to one USA TODAY records request, DCF officials pressed legislators to pass a law making foster parent names secret from the public an effort that ultimately failed. In a January statement, DCF Secretary Chad Poppell said many problems in Floridas system stem from the decision to privatize foster care in the early 2000s, putting decision-making in the hands of 17 nonprofits across the state.

Florida officials investigate malicious activity in state business regulation system, by Miami Heralds Ana Ceballos

TEAR IT DOWN? Developer makes offer on Jeffrey Epsteins Palm Beach house with plans to raze it, by Palm Beach Daily News Darrell Hofheinz: Developer Todd Michael Glaser has made an offer to buy the Palm Beach home of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein with plans to raze it and build a house there on speculation, Glaser has told the Palm Beach Daily News. But any sale is still in the early stages and not yet finalized. Glaser has put down an initial deposit on the property, but he wouldnt disclose the amount or how much he has offered to pay for the house.

CORCORAN TIME Fla. education chief moves to strip license from principal in Holocaust furor, by Palm Beach Posts Andrew Marra: Floridas education commissioner inserted himself into the roiling controversy over the reinstatement of a Palm Beach County principal who declined to call the Holocaust a fact, directing his administration to strip the principal's educator certificate. Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran said Friday that former Spanish River High School Principal William Latson took advantage of his position of trust and that state officials had a duty to remove the certificate that authorizes him to educate public school students.

YOU HAVE TO FILL OUT A FORM Woman who gave birth in in jail cell: They just wanted to see how much pain I could endure, by Sun Sentinels Rafael Olmeda: The woman who recently gave birth to her baby boy in a Broward jail cell says she begged in vain for anyone to come help. She says she was terrified of having a miscarriage left alone until minutes before her child was born. Stephanie Bretas, in an exclusive interview with the South Florida Sun Sentinel, on Friday gave a harrowing account of delivering her son in jail, describing squalid conditions and decrying the indifference of nurses and detention deputies who failed to help her until it was nearly too late.

DISMISSED Judge cites Stand Your Ground, drops charge against Broward deputy in rough teen arrest, by Miami Heralds Charles Rabin: A judge on Friday cited the states Stand Your Ground law in dismissing a battery charge against a Broward sheriffs deputy who was involved in the rough arrest of a Black teen in early 2019 that made national headlines.

SECRETS OF THE VAULT Big banks entrusted money to GardaWorld. I secretly lost track of millions, by Tampa Bay Times Bethany Barnes: Brian Newell had been a manager at one of GardaWorlds armored truck branches for about a year when a high-ranking supervisor called in 2018 with a bizarre order: Load all the coins stored at his branch in Connecticut onto a truck bound for Massachusetts. Auditors from Bank of America were coming to Gardas Dedham, Mass., branch to count money that Garda was being paid to protect. And some of it was missing.

Hundreds march in Fort Lauderdale to support equal rights, maximum voter participation, justice for all, by Sun Sentinels Wayne K. Roustan

Call to action: Hundreds demonstrate in downtown Fort Myers, We are seeing these rights threatened, by Fort Myers News-Presss Kaitlin Greenockle

Orange Circuit Judge Alan Apte accused of molestation, governors order says, by Orlando Sentinels David Harris and Monivette Cordeiro: Orange Circuit Judge Alan Apte has been accused of molestation, according to an executive order by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The order, signed Wednesday, assigns the case to Daytona-based State Attorney R.J. Larizza because Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala has a conflict of interest as Apte is a judge in her circuit and used to work for the State Attorneys Office.

BIRTHDAYS: State Rep. Ramon Alexander State Rep. Brett Hage (Was Sunday) State Rep. Amber Mariano former Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Fla.) is 6-0 .... CBS Caitlin Conant (h/t husband Alex) Dara Kam, senior writer/editor with the News Service of Florida ... Richard Lobo, former director of International Broadcasting Bureau Alma Gonzalez, former general counsel at AFSCME Valerie Soto Orama (Was Saturday) Mark Hollis, associate state director communications and outreach at AARP Texas and former comms director for Florida House Democrats ... Scott Randolph, Orange County tax collector and former legislator

Want to make an impact? POLITICO Florida has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Sunshine State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause youre promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness amongst this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: [emailprotected].

See the original post:
Early voting starts today in Florida Will Latinos win the state for Trump? Florida's broken child welfare system Developer wants to tear down...

We the undersigned retired Morrow County commissioners, having 24 years combined experience serving as Morrow County commissioners and more than 164 years as lifelong residents of Morrow County, enthusiastically endorse Joel Peterson for the position of Morrow County commissioner.

The Peterson family has a long history serving the residents of all of Morrow County. Joels grandfather served as county judge and was an original organizer of the Port of Morrow.

Joel knows the county from the Blue Mountains in the south as a generational cattle rancher, to mid-county as an operating wheat farmer, to north county as a family involved in irrigated agriculture. This countywide involvement in multiple areas of agriculture gives Joel knowledge of the agriculture needs throughout Morrow County.

Joel is a leader who puts others in the best position to succeed, and as a commissioner would do this by letting well-skilled county staff use their expertise to the fullest, while providing guidance and transparent policies rather than a forceful hand.

He will be a thoughtful deliberator at the county court, will always be prepared, will be inclusive of all views and will work for the success of all residents of Morrow County.

Joel has years of experience serving as president on countywide organizations, including Morrow County Planning Commission, Bank of Eastern Oregon, Valby Lutheran Church, MC Wheat League, Jordan Elevator Corp., ICABO, the school board and the lone School Foundation, as well as serving on the budget committees for the Port of Morrow and lone Fire Department. This extensive list of community service gives Joel unique and broad-based experiences all across Morrow County, and the tools necessary to be an exceptional commissioner for Morrow County to keep Morrow County moving in the right direction, deal with new challenges and keep the Morrow County economy growing.

Please vote Joel Peterson for Morrow County commissioner.

LeAnn Rea, Heppner

John Wenholz, Irrigon

Raymond Grace, Heppner

Original post:
Letter: Peterson knows Morrow County top to bottom - East Oregonian

For countless Americans, the United States military epitomizes nonpareil technological advantage. Thankfully, in many cases, we live up to it.

But our present digital reality is quite different, even sobering. Fighting terrorists for nearly 20 years after 9/11, we remained a flip-phone military in what is now a smartphone world. Infrastructure to support a robust digital force remains painfully absent. Consequently, service members lead personal lives digitally connected to almost everything and military lives connected to almost nothing. Imagine having some of the worlds best hardwarestealth fighters or space planessupported by the worlds worst data plan.

Meanwhile, the accelerating global information age remains dizzying. The year 2020 is on track to produce 59 zetabytes of data. Thats a one with 21 zeroes after itover 50 times the number of stars in the observable universe. On average, every person online contributes 1.7 megabytes of content per second, and counting. Taglines like Data is the new oil emphasize the economic import, but not its full potential. Data is more reverently captures its ever evolving, artificially intelligent future.

WIRED OPINION

ABOUT

Will Roper is the Air Force and Space Force acquisition executive.

The rise of artificial intelligence has come a long way since 1945, when visionary mathematician Alan Turing hypothesized that machines would one day perform intelligent functions, like playing chess. Aided by meteoric advances in data processinga million-billion-fold over the past 70 yearsTurings vision was achieved only 52 years later, when IBMs Deep Blue defeated the reigning world chess champion, Garry Kasparov, with select moves described as almost human. But this impressive feat would be dwarfed in 2016 when Googles AlphaGo shocked the world with a beyond-human, even beautiful move on its way to defeating 18-time world Go champion Lee Sedol. That now famous move 37 of game two was the death knell of human preeminence in strategy games. Machines now teach the worlds elite how to play.

China took more notice of this than usual. Weve become frustratingly accustomed to them copying or stealing US military secretstwo decades of post-9/11 operations provides a lot of time to watch and learn. But Chinas ambitions far outstrip merely copying or surpassing our military. AlphaGos victory was a Sputnik moment for the Chinese Communist Party, triggering its own NASA-like response: a national Mega-Project in AI. Though there is no moon in this digital space race, its giant leap may be the next industrial revolution. The synergy of 5G and cloud-to-edge AI could radically evolve the internet of things, enabling ubiquitous AI and all the economic and military advantages it could bestow. It's not just our military that needs digital urgency: Our nation must wake up fast. The only thing worse than fearing AI itself is fearing not having it.

There is a gleam of hope. The Air Force and Space Force had their own move 37 moment last month during the first AI-enabled shoot-down of a cruise missile at blistering machine speeds. Though happening in a literal flash, this watershed event was seven years in the making, integrating technologies as diverse as hypervelocity guns, fighters, computing clouds, virtual reality, 4G LTE and 5G, and even Project Maventhe Pentagons first AI initiative. In the blink of a digital eye, we birthed an internet of military things.

Working at unprecedented speeds (at least for the Pentagon), the Air Force and Space Force are expanding this IoT.mil across the militaryand not a moment too soon. With AI surpassing human performance in more than just chess and Go, traditional roles in warfare are not far behind. Whose AI will overtake them? is an operative question in the digital space race. Another is how our military finally got off the launch pad.

More than seven years ago, I spearheaded the development of hypervelocity guns to defeat missile attacks with low-cost, rapid-fire projectiles. I also launched Project Maven to pursue machine-speed targeting of potential threats. But with no defense plug-n-play infrastructure, these systems remained stuck in airplane mode. The Air Force and Space Force later offered me the much-needed chance to create that digital infrastructurecloud, software platforms, enterprise data, even coding skillsfrom the ground up. We had to become a good software company to become a software-enabled force.

See more here:
There's No Turning Back on AI in the Military - WIRED

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently hosted the AlphaDogfight Trials putting artificial intelligence technology from eight different organizations up against human pilots. In the end, the winning AI, made by Heron Systems, faced off against a human F-16 pilot in a simulated dogfight with the AI system scoring a 5-0 victory against the human pilot.

The simulation was part of an effort to better understand how to integrate AI systems in piloted aircraft in part, to increase the lethality of the Air Force. The event also re-launched questions about the future of AI in aviation technology and how human pilots will remain relevant in an age of ongoing advancements in drone and artificial intelligence technology.

The Background:

The Experts:

The Cipher Brief spoke with our expert, General Philip M. Breedlove (Ret.) and Tucker Cinco Hamilton to get their take on the trials and the path ahead for AI in aviation.

General Philip M. Breedlove, Former Supreme Allied Commander, NATO & Command Pilot

Gen. Breedlove retired as NATO Supreme Allied Commander and is a command pilot with 3,500 flying hours, primarily in the F-16. He flew combat missions in Operation Joint Forge/Joint Guardian. Prior to his position as SACEUR, he served as Commander, U.S. Air Forces in Europe; Commander, U.S. Air Forces Africa; Commander, Air Component Command, Ramstein; and Director, Joint Air Power Competence Centre, Kalkar, Germany.

Lt. Col. Tucker Cinco Hamilton, Director, Dept. of the Air Force AI Accelerator at MIT

Cinco Hamilton is Director, Department of the Air Force-MIT Accelerator and previously served as Director of the F-35 Integrated Test Force at Edwards AFB, responsible for the developmental flight test of the F-35. He has logged over 2,100 hours as a test pilot in more than 30 types of aircraft.

How significant was this test between AI and human pilots?

Tucker Cinco Hamilton: It was significant along the same lines as whenDeepMind Technologies AlphaGo won the game Go against a grand-master. It was animportant moment that revealedtechnological capability, but it must be understood in the context of the demonstration. Equally, it did not prove that fighter pilots are no longer needed on the battlefield. What I hope people tookaway from the demonstration was that AI/ML technology is immensely capable andvitally important to understand and cultivate; that with an ethical and focused developmental approach we can bolster the human-machine interaction.

General Breedlove: Technology is moving fast, but in some cases, policy might not move so fast. For instance, technology exists now to put sensors on these aircrafts that are better than the human eye. They can see better. They can see better in bad conditions. And especially when you start to layer a blend of visual, radar, and infrared sensing together, it is my belief that we can actually achieve a more reliable discerning capability than the human eye. I do not believe that our limitations are going to be on the ability of the machine to do what it needs to do. The real limitations are going to be on what we allow it to do in a policy format.

How will fighter pilots of the future think about data and technology in the cockpit?

General Breedlove: Some folks believe that were never going to move forward with this technology because fighter pilots dont want to give up the control. I think for most young fighter pilots and for most of the really savvy older fighter pilots, thats not true. We want to be effective, efficient, lethal killing machines when our nation needs to us to be. If we can get into an engagement where we can use these capabilities to make us more effective and more efficient killing machines, then I think youre going to see people, young people, and even people like me, absolutely embracing it.

Tucker Cinco Hamilton: I think the future fighter aircraft will be manned, yet linked into AI/ML powered autonomous systems that bolster the fighter pilots battlefield safety, awareness, and capability. The future I see is one in which an operator is still fully engaged with battlefield decision making, yet being supported by technology through human-machine teaming.

As we develop and integrate AI/ML capability we must do so ethically. This is an imperative. Our warfighter and our society deserve transparent, ethically curated, and ethically executed algorithms. In addition, data must be transparently and ethicallycollected and used.BeforeAI/ML capability fullymakes its way into combat applicationswe need to have established a strong and thoughtful ethicalfoundation.

Looking Ahead:

General Breedlove: Humans are training machines to do things, and machines are executing what theyve been trained to do, as opposed to actually making independent, non-human aided decisions. I do believe were in a timeframe now where there may be a person in the loop in certain parts of the engagement, but were probably not very far off from a point in time when the human says, Yep, thats the target. Hit it. Or the human takes the aircraft to a point where only the bad element is in front of it, and the decision concerning collateral damage has already been made, and then the human turns it completely over. But to the high-end extreme of, launch an airplane and then see what happens next, kind of scenario, I think were still a long way away from that. I think there are going to be humans in the engagement loop for a long time.

Tucker Cinco Hamilton: Autonomous systems are here to stay. Whether helping manage our engine operation or saving us from ground collision with the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System. As aircraft software continues to become more agile, these autonomous systems will play a part in currently fielded physical systems. This type of advancement is important and needed. However, AI/ML powered autonomous systems havelimitations, and thats exactly where the operator comes in. We need to focus on creatingcapability that bolsters our fighter pilots,allowing them to best prosecute the attack, not remove them from the cockpit. If that is through keeping them safe, or pinpointing/identifying the correct target, helping alert them of incoming threats, or garnering knowledge of the battlefield its all about human-machine teaming. That teaming isexactly what the recent DARPA demonstration was about, proving that an AI powered system can help in situations even as dynamic as dogfighting.

Cipher Brief Intern Ben McNally contributed research for this report

Read more from General Breedlove (Ret.) on the future of AI in the cockpit exclusively in The Cipher Brief

Read more expert-driven national security insight, perspective and analysis in The Cipher Brief

Read more here:
The Military's Mission: Artificial Intelligence in the Cockpit - The Cipher Brief

The applications of artificial intelligence have grown over the past decade. Here are examples of artificial intelligence that we use in our everyday lives.

Main Examples of Artificial Intelligence Takeaways:

The words artificial intelligence may seem like a far-off concept that has nothing to do with us. But the truth is that we encounter several examples of artificial intelligence in our daily lives.

From Netflixs movie recommendation to Amazons Alexa, we now rely on various AI models without knowing it. In this post, well consider eight examples of how were already using artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence is an expansive branch of computer science that focuses on building smart machines. Thanks to AI, these machines can learn from experience, adjust to new inputs, and perform human-like tasks. For example, chess-playing computers and self-driving cars rely heavily on natural language processing and deep learning to function.

American computer scientist John McCarthy coined the term artificial intelligence back in 1956. At the time, McCarthy only created the term to distinguish the AI field from cybernetics.

However, AI is more popular than ever today due to:

Hollywood movies tend to depict artificial intelligence as a villainous technology that is destined to take over the world.

One example is the artificial superintelligence system, Skynet, from the film franchise Terminator. Theres also VIKI, an AI supercomputer from the movie I, Robot, who deemed that humans cant be trusted with their own survival.

Holywood has also depicted AI as superintelligent robots, like in movies I Am Mother and Ex Machina.

However, the current AI technologies are not as sinister or quite as advanced. With that said, these depictions raise an essential question:

No, not exactly. Artificial intelligence and robotics are two entirely separate fields. Robotics is a technology branch that deals with physical robots programmable machines designed to perform a series of tasks. On the other hand, AI involves developing programs to complete tasks that would otherwise require human intelligence. However, the two fields can overlap to create artificially intelligent robots.

Most robots are not artificially intelligent. For example, industrial robots are usually programmed to perform the same repetitive tasks. As a result, they typically have limited functionality.

However, introducing an AI algorithm to an industrial robot can enable it to perform more complex tasks. For instance, it can use a path-finding algorithm to navigate around a warehouse autonomously.

To understand how thats possible, we must address another question:

The four artificial intelligence types are reactive machines, limited memory, Theory of Mind, and self-aware. These AI types exist as a type of hierarchy, where the simplest level requires basic functioning, and the most advanced level is well, all-knowing. Other subsets of AI include big data, machine learning, and natural language processing.

The simplest types of AI systems are reactive. They can neither learn from experiences nor form memories. Instead, reactive machines react to some inputs with some output.

Examples of artificial intelligence machines in this category include Googles AlphaGo and IBMs chess-playing supercomputer, Deep Blue.

Deep Blue can identify chess pieces and knows how each of them moves. While the machine can choose the most optimal move from several possibilities, it cant predict the opponents moves.

A reactive machine doesnt rely on an internal concept of the world. Instead, it perceives the world directly and acts on what it sees.

Limited memory refers to an AIs ability to store previous data and use it to make better predictions. In other words, these types of artificial intelligence can look at the recent past to make immediate decisions.

Note that limited memory is required to create every machine learning model. However, the model can get deployed as a reactive machine type.

The three significant examples of artificial intelligence in this category are:

Self-driving cars are limited memory AI that makes immediate decisions using data from the recent past.

For example, self-driving cars use sensors to identify steep roads, traffic signals, and civilians crossing the streets. The vehicles can then use this information to make better driving decisions and avoid accidents.

In Psychology, theory of mind refers to the ability to attribute mental state beliefs, intent, desires, emotion, knowledge to oneself and others. Its the fundamental reason we can have social interactions.

Unfortunately, were yet to reach the Theory of Mind artificial intelligence type. Although voice assistants exhibit such capabilities, its still a one-way relationship.

For example, you could yell angrily at Google Maps to take you in another direction. However, itll neither show concern for your distress nor offer emotional support. Instead, the map application will return the same traffic report and ETA.

An AI system with Theory of Mind would understand that humans have thoughts, feelings, and expectations for how to be treated. That way, it can adjust its response accordingly.

The final step of AI development is to build self-aware machines that can form representations of themselves. Its an extension and advancement of the Theory of Mind AI.

A self-aware machine has human-level consciousness, with the ability to think, desire, and understand its feelings. At the moment, these types of artificial intelligence only exist in movies and comic book pages. Self-aware machines do not exist.

Although self-aware machines are still decades away, several artificial intelligence examples already exist in our everyday lives.

Several examples of artificial intelligence impact our lives today. These include FaceID on iPhones, the search algorithm on Google, and the recommendation algorithm on Netflix. Youll also find other examples of how AI is in use today on social media, digital assistants like Alexa, and ride-hailing apps such as Uber.

Virtual filters on Snapchat and the FaceID unlock on iPhones are two examples of AI applications today. While the former uses face detection technology to identify any face, the latter relies on face recognition.

So, how does it work?

The TrueDepth camera on the Apple devices projects over 30,000 invisible dots to create a depth map of your face. It also captures an infrared image of the users face.

After that, a machine learning algorithm compares the scan of your face with what a previously enrolled facial data. That way, it can determine whether to unlock the device or not.

According to Apple, FaceID automatically adapts to changes in the users appearance. These include wearing cosmetic makeup, growing facial hair, or wearing hats, glasses, or contact lens.

The Cupertino-based tech giant also stated that the chance of fooling FaceID is one in a million.

Several text editors today rely on artificial intelligence to provide the best writing experience.

For example, document editors use an NLP algorithm to identify incorrect grammar usage and suggest corrections. Besides auto-correction, some writing tools also provide readability and plagiarism grades.

However, editors such as INK took AI usage a bit further to provide specialized functions. It uses artificial intelligence to offer smart web content optimization recommendations.

Just recently, INK has released a study showing how its AI-powered writing platform can improve content relevance and help drive traffic to sites. You can read their full study here.

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram rely heavily on artificial intelligence for various tasks.

Currently, these social media platforms use AI to personalize what you see on your feeds. The model identifies users interests and recommends similar content to keep them engaged.

Also, researchers trained AI models to recognize hate keywords, phrases, and symbols in different languages. That way, the algorithm can swiftly take down social media posts that contain hate speech.

Other examples of artificial intelligence in social media include:

Plans for social media platform involve using artificial intelligence to identify mental health problems. For example, an algorithm could analyze content posted and consumed to detect suicidal tendencies.

Getting queries directly from a customer representative can be very time-consuming. Thats where artificial intelligence comes in.

Computer scientists train chat robots or chatbots to impersonate the conversational styles of customer representatives using natural language processing.

Chatbots can now answer questions that require a detailed response in place of a specific yes or no answer. Whats more, the bots can learn from previous bad ratings to ensure maximum customer satisfaction.

As a result, machines now perform basic tasks such as answering FAQs or taking and tracking orders.

Media streaming platforms such as Netflix, YouTube, and Spotify rely on a smart recommendation system thats powered by AI.

First, the system collects data on users interests and behavior using various online activities. After that, machine learning and deep learning algorithms analyze the data to predict preferences.

Thats why youll always find movies that youre likely to watch on Netflixs recommendation. And you wont have to search any further.

Search algorithms ensure that the top results on the search engine result page (SERP) have the answers to our queries. But how does this happen?

Search companies usually include some type of quality control algorithm to recognize high-quality content. It then provides a list of search results that best answer the query and offers the best user experience.

Since search engines are made entirely of codes, they rely on natural language processing (NLP) technology to understand queries.

Last year, Google announced Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT), an NLP pre-training technique. Now, the technology powers almost all English-based query on Google Search.

In October 2011, Apples Siri became the first digital assistant to be standard on a smartphone. However, voice assistants have come a long way since then.

Today, Google Assistant incorporates advanced NLP and ML to become well-versed in human language. Not only does it understand complex commands, but it also provides satisfactory outputs.

Also, digital assistants now have adaptive capabilities for analyzing user preferences, habits, and schedules. That way, they can organize and plan actions such as reminders, prompts, and schedules.

Various smart home devices now use AI applications to conserve energy.

For example, smart thermostats such as Nest use our daily habits and heating/cooling preferences to adjust home temperatures. Likewise, smart refrigerators can create shopping lists based on whats absent on the fridges shelves.

The way we use artificial intelligence at home is still evolving. More AI solutions now analyze human behavior and function accordingly.

We encounter AI daily, whether youre surfing the internet or listening to music on Spotify.

Other examples of artificial intelligence are visible in smart email apps, e-commerce, smart keyboard apps, as well as banking and finance. Artificial intelligence now plays a significant role in our decisions and lifestyle.

The media may have portrayed AI as a competition to human workers or a concept thatll eventually take over the world. But thats not the case.

Instead, artificial intelligence is helping humans become more productive and helping us live a better life.

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8 Examples of Artificial Intelligence in our Everyday Lives - Edgy Labs