Amazon’s ‘Just Walk Out’ tech is coming to airport stores in March

OTG, the company that owns and operates the CIBO Express Gourmet Markets chain, says it plans to deploy the technology at additional stores located at LaGuardia and Newark airports. The company operates approximately 100 CIBO Express locations at 10 major airports across North America. Some of the more notable airports where it has stores include…

Washington state approves stronger facial recognition regulations

The House and the Senate originally couldn’t agree on the language used for Senate Bill 6280. After a series of negotiations, though, they were able to decide on a final version of the bill, which the lawmakers say is “one of the first and most comprehensive laws to regulate facial recognition technology in the nation.”Under…

Drones can navigate like bats using four mics and a speaker

The drone currently has to be stationary to get a feel for its environment, but the scientists hope to use the technology mid-flight. The team will also look at situations where the drone might be restricted.If this system is available worldwide, it could lead to far-reaching improvements. Drones wouldn’t be quite so reliant on cameras…

San Diego police ban Clearview AI’s facial recognition tool

Clearview AI’s platform has raised a number of ethical concerns. Police can theoretically use photos and videos from security cameras to discover your online presence, including details you might not have realized were public. There’s also evidence to suggest some (if not many) facial recognition algorithms have gender and race biases. And that’s assuming the…

IBM and Microsoft support the Vatican’s guidelines for ethical AI

The pledge, presented to Pope Francis today, calls for AI that safeguards the rights of all humans, especially the underprivileged, and for new regulations in areas like facial recognition. It asks tech leaders to “humanise technology and not ‘technologise’ humanity,” Novena News reports.”The Vatican is not an expert on the technology but on values,” Francesca…

Amazon’s checkout-free tech is heading to other retailers

Amazon has been operating a number of these cashless convenience stores in the US since 2018. Shoppers download the Amazon Go app, beep themselves into the store using a QR code, then simply pick up whatever they want and leave. The store’s item-tracking system knows what they’ve selected, and bills them automatically via the app.…

FCC could require phone companies to authenticate calls

Under the STIR/SHAKEN protocol, carriers verify that a call is legitimate (not coming from a spoofed number) before it reaches the recipient. In 2018, Pai urged carriers to implement the protocol by 2019. AT&T, Comcast, T-Mobile and Verizon (Engadget’s parent company) have all implemented the tech in one way or another, but robocalls are still…