We continue our series of posts on Panda Securitys cybersecurity survey, this time focusing on home automation and artificial intelligence (AI). Home automation refers to the automation of homes through the use of smart, internet-connected devices that allow users to interact with their living spaces. Among these devices are virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri, as well as AI systems that regulate networks, devices, and applications.

According to the survey, 38% of respondents reported using voice assistants such as Alexa or Siri. Additionally, more than 9 out of 10 Europeans who have voice assistants use them, although only 25% use them frequently. However, more than half of Europeans (55%) believe that internet-connected devices, including voice assistants, do not respect their privacy.

The survey also revealed that nearly 70% of respondents are aware that these devices can collect and share data even when not in use. Furthermore, 62% of respondents expressed significant concern over the collection of personal information and audio recordings by these devices.

This data highlights two important points. First, the internet of things is not yet widely adopted in European countries, and second, many people have concerns about privacy and the security of AI devices. Factors contributing to the slow adoption of home automation include a lack of knowledge, high costs, complexity and difficulty of use, and distrust towards AI.

Transparency from companies and developers regarding data collection and usage remains a major issue. European lawmakers, through regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the AI Act, are emphasizing the need for transparency and security in the use of AI technologies.

To make the best use of home automation and AI applications, it is essential to take certain safety precautions. These include checking security settings, reading privacy policies, protecting Wi-Fi networks, regularly updating devices, using complex passwords and two-factor authentication, monitoring device activity, and downloading apps and plugins from trusted sources.

By following these security tips, users can approach home automation and AI technologies with less fear and enjoy the benefits they offer.

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Europeans' Use of Home Automation and Artificial Intelligence - Fagen wasanni

In Morocco trucks from a Connecticut logistics company ferry car parts and clothing across the Strait of Gibraltar. In Japan a new semiconductor plant transforms a once-quiet farm town. In France a battery plants staff learns to supervise new colleagues: robots.These moments, which might seem unrelated, represent a transformation in world trade. US-China tensions and Russias invasion of Ukraine are leading companies to bring supply chains closer to home. A shift from fossil fuels is spurring demand for materials essential for electrification. Artificial intelligence is forcing employees to learn new skills so they wont be replaced by computers. Long before these trends are reflected in government data, theyre already changing global commerce, which amounts to $32 trillion a year in goods and services, according to the World Trade Organisation. Bloomberg Markets dispatched reporters to discover what this upheaval looks like on the ground.Local trade routes are stretched thinOn a good day, Shelby Alamillo crosses the Rio Grande eight times. He drives along the World Trade Bridge, whose eight lanes of dusty roadway connect Mexicos industrial heartland and South Texas.A trucker for a company called Super Transporte Internacional SA de CV, Alamillo, 39, is haulingor, as he says, movingauto parts to and from the US and Mexico. Its very impressive, all the trailers that cross per day, he says. The first move that I made, wow, I was in shock.Port Laredo, as its called, includes an airport, one rail and four vehicle bridges. No other US land, sea or air crossing has been handling a higher dollar value of goods each day. Avocados, furniture and cars make their way north from Mexico. Auto parts, corn and gasoline head south from the US.

For now, Alamillo says, traversing the bridge can take as little as 10 minutes, though about once a week, he runs into backups of three to four hours. The Texas Department of Transportation predicts that by 2050 its average crossing time could reach 8 hours and 47 minutes. This year, South Koreas Kia Corp. and Austin-based Tesla Inc. announced plans for new electric-vehicle production in the Mexican border state of Nuevo Len, where foreign investment is booming.

The port of entry is situated in Laredo, a city of Spanish colonial buildings and a quarter million residents. Nearby, developers are building millions of square feet of warehouse and industrial space because of the surge in international trade. Local officials are pushing for federal approval to expand the bridge to 10 lanes, as well as add an eight-lane crossing alongsideat a cost of at least $40 million for both. Were probably a few years behind where we need to be, says Gene Lindgren, chief executive officer of the Laredo Economic Development Corp. But we have a plan to catch up. Laura Curtis

After just five weeks of training, Ludovic Josien, who previously spent his career in traditional car factories, has to be ready to intervene when the machines do something wrong. Everything here is really a new world, he says. All the modern protocols have to be learned and taken on board very, very fast.

Then, hell head 650 kilometers (400 miles) north, to the companys so-called gigafactory in Douvrin. ACC is hiring two or three people a day as it builds the factorys staff of 2,000, while employees continue training to keep pace with the latest technology. We have to do better than the competition while also moving faster, says Gilles Tardivo, the factorys manager. William HorobinFriends may also be frenemies

Consider this Windsor, Ontario, project a monument to the risks of national industrial policy, which can pit one friendly country against anothereven when theyre united in their desire to manufacture closer to home rather than in China. The plant had been slated to produce batteries for millions of EVs across North America. NextStar Energy Inc.a joint venture of Stellantis, which owns the US brands Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep, and South Koreas LG Energy Solutionsaid it would create 2,500 jobs.

But NextStar halted the project in May, saying it could get a better aid package from the US. The Canadian and provincial governments had initially offered subsidies worth C$1 billion ($755 million). Afraid of losing an economic prize, Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus administration in July upped the offer to C$15 billion, and NextStar accepted. In other words, Stellantis and LG extracted an additional C$14 billion from taxpayers. Not bad for two months of no work.

Before the US started offering richer subsidies, the companies and Canada had been fine with a less generous deal, according to Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association in Canada. This negotiating strategy, and the governments response, he says, will become a business case to study. Sam Kim

Innovators need incubatorsTucked in the rolling green hills of County Kerry in western Ireland, a startup is conducting an experiment that could shake up global manufacturing. The company, Wazp, makes hand and face mannequins for Ikea that are used in interior design and retail displays.

The Swedish retailer, known for affordable prices, would typically look to low-cost countries such as China for manufacturing. But Wazp can offer Ikea an alternative: 3D printing. A Wazp employee uses the boxy white printer, roughly the size of the office Xeroxes of yore, to make a life-size mesh hand. With a keystroke from a computer, the machine makes one in minutes out of plastic resin, and employees then brush off excess powder as if it were snow from a windshield.

For co-founders Shane Hassett and Mariana Kobal, its the next frontier: manufacturing on demand. Hassett and Kobal spent a year at a local university incubator developing a business plan. The Irish government is helping fund the businessuntil, ideally, the company attracts more private capital. Hassett says profitability is within sight. The company has already expanded into making the outsoles of Vivobarefoot shoes.

Until recently, 3D printing has been used for making prototypes, not for mass production. Hassett says it wont be long before it supplants labor-intensive factories, bringing manufacturers closer to customers and reducing waste and carbon emissions. As companies look to alternatives to Chinese factories, Hassett sees a booming market. 3D printing has really exploded in the United States and in Europe, he says. Brendan MurrayBrexit offers an unexpected boostIn a Namibian village, Tueurora Kaatahi grew up in a homestead made of corrugated iron, held together with cow dung and mud paste. Her grandmother sold sugar, maize meal, salt and tobacco out of her house, and her grandfather raised cattle. In September shell complete an unexpected journey: Shell graduate from SOAS University of London with a masters degree in creative and cultural studies, which prepares students for a career in the arts.

The first in her family to go to college, Kaatahi benefited from the UKs decision to turn away from Europe. After Brexit, UK universities braced for a devastating decline in foreign enrollment because EU students faced more barriers. So the government liberalized visa requirements for the rest of the world, resulting in a flood of students from Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Kaatahi plans to work for five years in London before returning to live in Namibia. I didnt want to go to any country other than the UK, says Kaatahi, 29. You feel connected to the whole world when youre in London.

Kaatahi and her non-British classmates are one bright spot for the post-Brexit UK, according to Jonathan Portes, an economics and public policy professor at Kings College London. They contributed 41.9 billion ($51.9 billion) to the UK economy during the 2021-22 school year, up 34% from three years before. We would be in big trouble if we didnt have these international students, Portes says. Bryce Baschuk

War scrambles supply chainsThe maritime traffic never stops cutting through the cobalt-blue Mediterranean waters of Brindisi, a port in southern Italy. Cruises, cargo vessels and, increasingly, ships carrying liquefied natural gas negotiate a tangle of concrete piers packed with cables, cranes and containers.

LNG is moving through Brindisi as never before, because the European Union no longer wants to import natural gas from Russia. Before the Ukraine invasion, gas flowed freely from north to south. Now, the direction has reversed. Gas from North Africa and the Middle East is replacing Russias, through pipelines and LNG containers often unloaded on Italys southern coast, in towns such as Brindisi.

The EU is helping pay for an expansion of Brindisis port to let more containers come through the dock. A new pipeline, called EastMed-Poseidon, is wending its way from Israel. Italian gas transport company Snam SpA is planning 2.4 billion ($2.7 billion) in investments for a network of pipelines along Italys east coast.

Environmental groups are opposing EastMed-Poseidon and the widening of the port because of the potential impact on marine life. Longtime Brindisi residents worry the energy-related construction will damage the beauty of an ancient town of cobblestones and Roman columns. But others are reveling in the citys heightened position in global commerce, as well as growing employment in a relatively poor part of Italy. We are proud of our role and working hard to meet the new challenges and opportunities, says Gabriele Menotti Lippolis, who leads the Confindustria Brindisi business association. Alessandra MigliaccioA country hedges its betsEach day, some 60 trucks from XPO Inc. board ferries heading across the Strait of Gibraltar. Theyre hauling car parts, clothing and other goods from Africa to Europe. The XPO vehicles rumble through a port near Tangier, the ancient Moroccan city of whitewashed houses and winding streets. The Tanger Med port opened only in 2007 and is already the busiest container port in Africa.

At Greenwich, Connecticut-based XPO, annual revenue in Morocco, recently $99 million, has been growing at a 30% a year clip. Its booming business illustrates how the country is ideally positioned to prosper. It doesnt matter whether Europe and the US continue relying on China for manufacturing or instead accelerate a shift of their supply chains closer to home. XPO has long handled freight for US and European companies. Now, two of its largest customers are Chinese auto-component makers.

European and American businesses are filling Moroccos rural north with factories. Thousands of Moroccans already work in Renault SA and other auto-assembly plants, and American aircraft giant Boeing Co. has plans to add as many as 8,700 jobs by 2028. The port is expanding its berth space to handle the EV boom.

The Chinese and Moroccan governments are planning to transform a rugged landscape of rolling hills and sheep farms a half hours drive inland into what theyre calling Tanger Tech City, a home for hundreds of Chinese companies. Morocco is taking the opportunities from several countriesseveral, lets say, powerful countriesthat want to invest, that want to produce, that want to commercialise from Morocco, says Luis Gomez, XPOs European president. Brendan MurrayHigh-tech factories bring low-tech troublesIn the Japanese farm town of Kikuyo, mornings begin with some of the countrys worst traffic jams. Thousands of engineers, many suffering through 90-minute commutes, inch past fields of daikon and carrots. Its the price they pay for working in what will soon become the countrys most advanced semiconductor hub.

To regain its former leadership in the industry, Japan is planning to offer $14 billion in subsidies for new factories and production lines. The government is paying half the cost of a new Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TSMC, factory in Kikuyo and is in talks to help fund a second plant nearby. From a US perspective, it helps that these crucial chips will be made outside Taiwan, which China considers its territory.

Resentment in Kikuyo is building among residents, undermining political support for the countrys silicon ambitions. More drivers now take side roads to avoid the congestion, speeding down narrow lanes that border the towns farms.

TSMC brings nothing but trouble, says Satoru Futa, a longtime member of Kikuyos town council. The 70-year-old blames semiconductor-related traffic for the deaths of three friends. The company says its working with local governments to expand roads and encouraging its employees to take public transportation. Mayumi NegishiIndia is coming for ChinaBefore they reach the factory floor where they assemble mobile phones, workers at Dixon Technologies (India) Ltd. walk through an air shower that blows away any dust theyre carrying. For each phone, the plant must put together hundreds of parts, as if they were tiny jigsaw puzzles. It takes about 45 minutes to assemble each shiny new Motorola handset.

To reduce Indias reliance on China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is providing financial incentives to promote domestic manufacturers such as Dixon, which operates in Noida, about 40 kilometers from New Delhi. For now, the share of manufacturing in Indias gross domestic product stands at 13%, well below Modis 25% goal.

China outperforms India in making sophisticated technologythe so-called value-add that leads consumers to pay more for items such as electronics. Chinese manufacturers value-add is currently 49%, compared with 20% for Indias, the government says.

Brand-name companies hire Dixon as a contract manufacturer. Along with Motorola, its phone customers include Samsung Electronics, Nokia, Reliance Jio and Xiaomi. Dixons annual revenue, most recently $1.5 billion, is five times as much as it was five years ago. The factory is running at 100% capacity, says Chief Financial Officer Saurabh Gupta, who adds that India will need more semiconductor capacity to compete with China. The change will be painstakingly slow, he says. Ruchi Bhatia

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War, AI and climate change shake up $32 trillion in global trade - The Economic Times

A local dentist in Toledo, Dr. Alap Choksey, is utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to improve dental care. Dr. Choksey explains that AI, specifically a software called Overjet, is used during the x-ray process to provide more accurate and detailed information.

Dr. Choksey emphasizes that AI is not meant to replace dentists but rather act as a helpful tool. The software provides guidelines and highlights potential areas of concern that may go unnoticed by the human eye. By using AI, dentists can detect issues, even at their early stages, that might have been easily missed before. The color-coded highlights on the x-rays make it easier for patients to understand their dental health.

One of the advantages of Overjet is its ability to adapt and improve over time. Dentists can reject findings they disagree with, allowing the software to learn from these disagreements and refine its recommendations. This iterative process aims to enhance the accuracy of diagnosis and treatment.

The integration of AI in dentistry is not meant to replace the expertise of dental professionals but rather to augment their skills. With AI assisting in the diagnosis process, dentists can identify potential trouble spots with more clarity, leading to more effective treatment plans.

By harnessing the power of artificial intelligence, dentists like Dr. Choksey are revolutionizing dental care, ensuring early detection of dental issues and improving the overall quality of treatment. The future of dentistry looks promising as technology continues to advance and assist dental professionals in providing optimal care to their patients.

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Artificial Intelligence Improves Dental Diagnosis and Treatment - Fagen wasanni

In the past few months, the American public has become increasingly fixated on artificial intelligence (AI), especially generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), because of the economic and social considerations associated with this developing technology.

AI has inspired contemplation of its potential benefits in the fight against cancer, has become one of the issues in the Hollywood writers and actors strikes, has led a group of tech executives to warn that humans could face extinction from AI, and has led many people to crack jokes, perhaps a bit nervously, about the robots taking over.

While many people in business, medicine, and the arts (to name a few) are contemplating how to harness its capabilities, there is increasing interest among Members of Congress to determine whether and how the federal government can and should regulate AI, especially GenAI. One House Member told us that in the past couple of months, interest in AI at the Member level has gone from zero to 60. Reflecting the concerns that some policymakers share about GenAI, in one recent Senate hearing, Subcommittee Chairman Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) made the case for regulation by creating his own deepfake using AI and an AI-generated voice (lifted from his speeches) to deliver an AI-generated opening statement that he developed by asking ChatGPT to draft remarks he would make at the beginning of a hearing on AI. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives took the step of laying out guidelines for use of ChatGPT by Members and their staffs for research and evaluation only at this time.

Given the widespread policy implications of AI, we can expect continued Congressional activity in this area. This alert provides an overview of what the current Congress is doing to educate itself and legislate on topics associated with AI.

For the purposes of this alert, we are using the term GenAI to mean the kind of AI that can create new content, like text, images, and video, by learning from pre-existing and publicly available data sources. As our colleagues noted in a June 7 alert on GenAI and legal considerations for the trade association and nonprofit industry, popular examples of GenAI include Open AIs ChatGPT, Github Copilot, DALL-E, HarmonAI, and Runway, which can generate computer code, images, songs, and videos, respectively, with limited human involvement.

The environment for Congressional action on AI is hazy at the moment. While there is great interest in the issue, many of the major players in Congress are trying to address very different problems that AI and GenAI will impact in the coming years. Because the universe of issues is so vast, each Member of Congress seems to have his or her own pet priority in this area. For example, on July 13, 50 Democratic Members wrote the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to express concern about the impact of AI-generated campaign advertisements, particularly those that are fraudulent in nature, and have requested that the FEC begin setting up a framework to regulate AI political ads.

AI has inspired contemplation of the potential benefits of AI in the fight against cancer, has become one of the factors at issue in the Hollywood writers and actors strikes, has led a group of tech executives to warn that humans could face extinction from AI, and has led many people to crack jokes, perhaps a bit nervously about the robots taking over. Companies, trade associations, and nonprofits with a stake in the AI debate and with particular insight to share should be active at this time, focusing on the Members who are most active and on the multiple committees of jurisdiction.

Dan Renberg, Government Relations Practice Co-Leader

The national security implications of AI have caught the attention of many in Congress. For example, on April 19, under the leadership of Chairman Joe Manchin (D-WV), the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Cybersecurity held a hearing to receive testimony from outside experts and industry leaders on the state of AI and machine learning applications to improve Department of Defense operations. Expert witnesses in Defense AI highlighted the technical challenges identifying key technologies and integrating them into the system while ensuring that the applications deployed are secure and trusted.

With enormous stakes for the United States, there is a universal appetite in Washington for regulation of AI but no consensus about AI policy, or the regulatory regime to sustain it. The proposals circulating in Congress are merely the starters gun for a debate challenging policymakers and regulators to develop expertise and adapt to rapid tech developments. Key formative decisions about regulatory design are looming that will permanently impact on Americas AI position globally.

Congressman Phil English, Senior Government Relations Advisor

Others are focused on the impact on consumers and disenfranchised populations. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) has focused his efforts on protecting human rights and ensuring that peoples civil rights are not violated as AI scrapes the web (read our recent Privacy Counsel blog post on increasing lawsuits involving data scraping and GenAI tools). Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) is focused on the impact of AI on patents, trademarks, and the creative economy. At a June 7 hearing, his Senate Subcommittee on Intellectual Property considered questions such as whether, and how, to compensate artists if GenAI creates a song that sounds like Taylor Swifts music, but is not a sample or carbon copy. At a recent hearing on AI in the same Subcommittee, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) stated that the creative community is experiencing immediate and acute challenges due to the impact of generative AI. Others like Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have focused on the need to protect children from adults who create AI-generated child sexual abuse materials by instructing platforms to create child pornography that uses real faces and AI bodies.

Congressman Jay Obernolte (R-CA) has begun to attract attention as a leading expert on AI because of his professional and educational background, which includes an advanced degree in computer science and a former career as a computer programmer. In addition to being Vice Chair of the Congressional Artificial Intelligence Caucus, Rep. Obernolte recently authored an op-ed column in The Hill in which he provided an overview of multiple policy implications of GenAI, called for industry and government guardrails to prevent misuse of this promising technology, and noted the need to align our nations education system with the changes that AI will bring over time.

Chinas advancement in AI research and technologies has also been a major focal point of discussion in Congress, especially during AI-related hearings. At a June 22 hearing of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) stated: While the United States currently is the global leader in AI research, development, and technology, our adversaries are catching up. The Chinese Communist Party is implementing AI industrial policy at a national scale, investing billions through state-financed investment funds, designating national AI champions, and providing preferential tax treatment to grow AI startups. We cannot and should not try to copy Chinas playbook. But we can maintain our leadership role in AI, and we can ensure its developed with our values of trustworthiness, fairness, and transparency. To do so, Congress needs to make strategic investments, build our workforce, and establish proper safeguards without overregulation.

We rely on AI every day. It is navigation for our cars, Siri on our iPhone, robotic vacuum cleaners and so much more. But the advance of AI to develop machines that think, reason, and possess intelligence requires us to understand how we prevent building machines with the capability that would threaten human life. Congress and the Administration are beginning to recognize that there are many policy questions that relate to AI, including Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) and Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI). Time is short for us to decide how to regulate AI.

Senator Byron Dorgan, Senior Policy Advisor

There are also big philosophical questions about how and where the government should insert itself in the process of regulating and fostering AI development. Europe has created an AI sandbox, where developers can test out their AI products in a safe environment that allows academics to study the harms, impacts, and other implications. In the US, observers have thus far landed in two camps: (1) advocates for creating a new federal agency to regulate AI; or (2) those who prefer to let the private sector innovate and do what scaled the technology to this point. These viewpoints cross party lines and political ideologies at various intersections. Some free-market Republicans have said that the government can use Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which has traditionally been used to manage online speech and moderate social media content, to regulate AI. This set of small government Republicans also thinks that there is no need to create a new agency because Section 230 should suffice. On the left, some policymakers are pushing for a new federal agency to collect data on AI and study this issue in detail. One example is the bill introduced in May by Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Peter Welch (D-VT) which would establish a Federal Digital Platform Commission that would, among other things, regulate GenAI. This is also the stance of the Biden Administration, which has requested from Congress $2.6 billion for the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Task Force. The Biden Administration also released an AI Bill of Human Rights last fall, which landed with a thud in Washington among the major players.

At the moment, given the novelty of GenAI and the lack of deep technological understanding among some Members of Congress, there is some confusion about the nature of GenAI and the diverse issues it can create. It is a positive development that on the Senate side, to help bring everyone up to speed, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Todd Young (R-IN), and others are holding three bipartisan briefings for the entire Senate that will feature academics, major industry players, and government officials. Leader Schumer also laid out a framework on June 21 that explained what he intends for the Senate to focus on regarding AI in the coming months. This follows on the heels of an educational session on AI that Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) held for Members of the House of Representatives earlier this year and private briefings that other groups of House Members have planned for themselves.

It is worth noting that the European Union has been actively working on a regulatory framework for AI, with the European Parliament approving a massive EU AI Act in mid-June that aims to protect the general public from abuses that could arise through the use of AI. Reactions from US policymakers were mixed, with Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) commenting, The United States should be the standard-setter. We need to lead that debate globally, and I think were behind where the EU is, while Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) indicated that he was not as concerned about falling behind the EU on the regulatory front and was more concerned about continuing to facilitate US dominance in developing new innovations like GenAI.

The nature of AI is such that it will take time for Members of Congress to gain a comfort level with its true potential and what, if any, guardrails are needed. As they increase their familiarity and consult with industry and other stakeholders, it is possible that a consensus will occur and some initial regulatory steps will take place beyond merely introducing bills or holding hearings. As AI dominates public discourse, we can expect a ramping-up of legislative activity. Constituents expressing views positive or negative about GenAI when Members are home in their states could also impact the timeline.

The legal and policy framework for regulating AI is going to be a front burner issue for Congress and the Administration for some time to come. It is incumbent upon stakeholders with interest in this issue to develop policy principles and recommendations and to convey them to the Hill and relevant agencies.

Senator Doug Jones, Counsel

It is worth noting that according to a study by OpenSecrets, which tracks money in politics, 123 companies, universities, and trade associations spent a collective $94 million lobbying the federal government on issues involving AI in the first quarter of 2023. Accordingly, companies, trade associations, and nonprofits with a stake in the AI debate and with particular insight to share should be active at this time, focusing on the Members who are most engaged with the issues and on the multiple committees of jurisdiction.

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Artificial Intelligence: Recent Congressional Activity and a Look to ... - JD Supra

As the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) icebreaker Healy takes part in a voyage across the North Pole this summer, it is capturing images of the Arctic to further the study of this rapidly changing region. Lincoln Laboratory researchers installed a camera system aboard the Healy while at port in Seattle before it embarked on a three-month science mission on July 11. The resulting dataset, which will be one of the first of its kind, will be used to develop artificial intelligence tools that can analyze Arctic imagery.

"This dataset not only can help mariners navigate more safely and operate more efficiently, but also help protect our nation by providing critical maritime domain awareness and an improved understanding of how AI analysis can be brought to bear in this challenging and unique environment," says Jo Kurucar, a researcher in Lincoln Laboratory's AI Software Architectures and Algorithms Group, which led this project.

As the planet warms and sea ice melts, Arctic passages are opening up to more traffic, both to military vessels and ships conducting illegal fishing. These movements may pose national security challenges to the United States. The opening Arctic also leaves questions about how its climate, wildlife, and geography are changing.

Today, very few imagery datasets of the Arctic exist to study these changes. Overhead images from satellites or aircraft can only provide limited information about the environment. An outward-looking camera attached to a ship can capture more details of the setting and different angles of objects, such as other ships, in the scene. These types of images can then be used to train AI computer-vision tools, which can help the USCG plan naval missions and automate analysis. According to Kurucar, USCG assets in the Arctic are spread thin and can benefit greatly from AI tools, which can act as a force multiplier.

The Healy is the USCG's largest and most technologically advanced icebreaker. Given its current mission, it was a fitting candidate to be equipped with a new sensor to gather this dataset. The laboratory research team collaborated with the USCG Research and Development Center to determine the sensor requirements. Together, they developed the Cold Region Imaging and Surveillance Platform (CRISP).

"Lincoln Laboratory has an excellent relationship with the Coast Guard, especially with the Research and Development Center. Over a decade, weve established ties that enabled the deployment of the CRISP system," says Amna Greaves, the CRISP project lead and an assistant leader in the AI Software Architectures and Algorithms Group. "We have strong ties not only because of the USCG veterans working at the laboratory and in our group, but also because our technology missions are complementary. Today it was deploying infrared sensing in the Arctic; tomorrow it could be operating quadruped robot dogs on a fast-response cutter."

The CRISP system comprises a long-wave infrared camera, manufactured by Teledyne FLIR (for forward-looking infrared), that is designed for harsh maritime environments. The camera can stabilize itself during rough seas and image in complete darkness, fog, and glare. It is paired with a GPS-enabled time-synchronized clock and a network video recorder to record both video and still imagery along with GPS-positional data.

The camera is mounted at the front of the ship's fly bridge, and the electronics are housed in a ruggedized rack on the bridge. The system can be operated manually from the bridge or be placed into an autonomous surveillance mode, in which it slowly pans back and forth, recording 15 minutes of video every three hours and a still image once every 15 seconds.

"The installation of the equipment was a unique and fun experience. As with any good project, our expectations going into the install did not meet reality," says Michael Emily, the project's IT systems administrator who traveled to Seattle for the install. Working with the ship's crew, the laboratory team had to quickly adjust their route for running cables from the camera to the observation station after they discovered that the expected access points weren't in fact accessible. "We had 100-foot cables made for this project just in case of this type of scenario, which was a good thing because we only had a few inches to spare," Emily says.

The CRISP project team plans to publicly release the dataset, anticipated to be about 4 terabytes in size, once the USCG science mission concludes in the fall.

The goal in releasing the dataset is to enable the wider research community to develop better tools for those operating in the Arctic, especially as this region becomes more navigable. "Collecting and publishing the data allows for faster and greater progress than what we could accomplish on our own," Kurucar adds. "It also enables the laboratory to engage in more advanced AI applications while others make more incremental advances using the dataset."

On top of providing the dataset, the laboratory team plans to provide a baseline object-detection model, from which others can make progress on their own models. More advanced AI applications planned for development are classifiers for specific objects in the scene and the ability to identify and track objects across images.

Beyond assisting with USCG missions, this project could create an influential dataset for researchers looking to apply AI to data from the Arctic to help combat climate change, says Paul Metzger, who leads the AI Software Architectures and Algorithms Group.

Metzger adds that the group was honored to be a part of this project and is excited to see the advances that come from applying AI to novel challenges facing the United States: Im extremely proud of how our group applies AI to the highest-priority challenges in our nation, from predicting outbreaks of Covid-19 and assisting the U.S. European Command in their support of Ukraine to now employing AI in the Arctic for maritime awareness."

Once the dataset is available, it will be free to download on the Lincoln Laboratory datasetwebsite.

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A new dataset of Arctic images will spur artificial intelligence research - MIT News