In a week when London is named Europe's capital for AI, it's no surprise that over half of us now feel that our job is threatened by the new technology.

But even though artificial intelligence might threaten our careers, the past week has also shown us the benefits that it can bring to our own health and the health of our planet.

A breath of fresh AI-r

Whilst we all have the ability to detect garlic in someone's lunch, even long-after they’ve eaten, a Loughborough University’s data science team hopes that your breath might also reveal the early stages of disease. 

The technology to detect compounds in your breath has existed for a few decades, but until now analysis of the breath has been a slow process. With the introduction of AI, the team hopes to speed this analysis process to a practical level. 

"Among the several hundred compounds present in the human breath, a few of them might reveal the presence of various cancers, even at early stages," wrote Loughborough University lecturer Andrea Soltoggio in an article for the World Economic Forum. 

"Deep learning systems can be trained to detect small amounts of volatile compounds with potentially wide applications in medicine, forensics, environmental analysis and others," she said.

AI and drones team up to fight a wave of waste plastic

A new project hopes to combine two of tech's hottest buzzwords to fix the ocean’s plastic problem. 

The Plastic Tide project plans to use the new technologies to ‘create an open source map of the plastic pollution problem, in the UK and beyond.’ 

After sending drones over beaches and seas to take photos, the team will put them through a machine-learning algorithm which can automatically identify bits of plastic. 

As yet the drones can’t pick up the litter. And, until we humans learn how to put trash in a bin, it's only right that this remains the dirty job of a human being.

Is London Europe's AI capital?

A new report suggests that London is crushing the AI game. 

The report, ommissioned by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, suggests that our capital city is home to twice as many AI companies as Paris and Berlin combined. 

The report mapped the capital's AI ecosystem and found 758 AI companies reside within it. 

"The research describes a city with a rich technology ecosystem, a strong pipeline of AI innovation and an academic and investment base set up for the long term," said Khan. 

This is fantastic news until we leave the EU, when we'll have to downgrade our headline to the far less impressive 'London is UK AI capital'.

Uber wants to know if you're drunk before picking you up

Ride-hailing app Uber has filed a patent which will use AI and machine learning to identify your ‘normal’ state so it can flag abnormalities. 

This is a fancy way of saying that it knows when you're acting out of character, for instance if it’s 2am on Saturday and it's taken you six prods of the screen to hail your ride where it normally takes two. 

The patent says "the model predicts whether a user submitting a trip request is in a normal state or an uncharacteristic state (i.e., whether the user's actions are not aligned with actions that would be expected of the user under normal circumstances)".

So, if you’re drunk and in desperate need of an Uber, just make sure you’re walking in a straight line first.

Most of us expect to lose our job to a robot

More than half of people in the UK are worried about tech taking away their job, according to new research. 

Streetbees' survey asked 3,400 people about their thoughts on AI and found that one in four Brits believes a machine could now do their job. 

It's safe to assume that this survey was anonymous, then. 

Whilst Brits believe that the robots will eventually put us all out of work, the survey suggests that we expect data processing and data collection professionals will be first to go. 

Those of us who aren’t threatened by looming AI said that it could not replace 'the human touch' which humans offered.


The (little) Big Game

Could there be a better way to watch England be eliminated from the 2018 World Cup than with augmented reality? 

New research technology which combines a neural network with Microsoft’s Hololens headset might soon allow you to watch the big game on your table top, reports Science Magazine.


The UK's AI Innovators

If you’ve got this far you’ve probably got an interest in the ever-evolving world of artificial intelligence, so why not tell us your favourite UK AI businesses?

 With your help, we’ll soon be announcing the UK's '51 AI Innovators'. You can nominate a business or submit your own, but be quick! The deadline for submissions is fast-approaching.