 UN representatives from 120+ countries failed to reach a consensus on how to regulate lethal autonomous weapons systems, or LAWS. The AI-guided robots and technologies can operate, select, and potentially kill targets without any human intervention. Last week, representatives convened during the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons to discuss LAWS, but didn't take any action. More: - Instead, countries agreed to "intensify" discussions about the weapons in the future.
- It's unclear when that could occur. Last week's convention takes place every five years and has led to restrictions on incendiary weapons, land mines, and other weaponry.
- The U.S., Japan, Australia, South Korea, India, Russia, and Israel currently oppose efforts to establish a "legally binding instrument" to outright ban the weapons.
- The U.S. supports a non-binding code of conduct rather than a blanket ban, saying it's the best way to promote "responsible behavior and compliance with international law."
- At least 30 countries have voiced support for a full ban. Similarly, China has called for a limited set of restrictions on military AI.
- From 2016-2020, the U.S. budgeted roughly $18B for autonomous weapons systems.
THE CONVERSATION 
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The U.S. Senate approved a bill that would provide further training for federal workers who manage and purchase AI technologies. The Artificial Intelligence Training for the Acquisition Workforce Act, or S-2551, passed unanimously and now moves to the House of Representatives for consideration. More: - Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) authored the bipartisan legislation to reflect a recommendation from the former National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence.
- Per the bill's text, it would order the Office of Management and Budget and General Services Administration to develop the training and update it once every two years, at minimum.
- Program topics would include introductory AI and ML concepts, their risks and benefits, privacy, ethics, and future AI trends in national security.
- Portman said the bill will help government procurement employees "discern which AI systems are useful to the government and which are not."
- It will also help the U.S. maintain global leadership in AI, he noted.
FEDWEEK
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Artificial intelligence and machine learning were the most discussed technologies online in 2021, according to a new WalkMe.com analysis. The digital adoption platform counted 175,837 online articles about AI from January through November, or about 526 articles per day. More: - Machine learning was second at 103,508 articles overall, followed by virtual reality (64,509 articles) and augmented reality (34,632 articles).
- Rounding out the top 10 most discussed tech were quantum computing, cloud computing, robotic process automation, 5G, digital twins, and edge computing.
- Chatbots, smart contracts, 3D and 4D printing, nanotechnology, and human augmentation did not make the final list.
- WalkMe.com used ITProPortal and Forbes to create the seed list of technologies and a Buzzsumo database to identify published articles.
Zoom-out: - Israel-based WalkMe is a website navigation company that provides a desktop product to help companies with their digital transformations.
- In April, WalkMe acquired Zest, an AI enterprise search company that uses natural language processing to "create an on-demand, graph database that mirrors the data held within an organization."
TVTECH
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 Chinese autonomous driving startup Haomo.AI, a Great Wall Motor spinoff, raised 1B yuan ($157M) in a funding round, bringing its valuation to more than $1B. Haomo said it plans to launch its Level 2 partially autonomous driving system in 34 vehicle models by late 2022. More: - The Series A included investors GL Ventures, Meituan, Shoucheng Holdings Limited, Qualcomm Ventures, and JZ Capital.
- Haomo said it will use the funds to enhance its R&D and hire additional talent.
- The company is the former intelligent driving department of Chinese automaker Great Wall Motor.
- Haomo's NOH (Navigation on HPilot) system is currently available in five Great Wall vehicle models, assisting drivers with automatic lane changing and other features primarily on highways.
- The company also producers unmanned Level 4 autonomous driving logistics vehicles with partners Meituan, Dmall, and Alibaba's DAMO Academy.
REUTERS
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The majority of proposed bans or regulations on facial recognition technology were rejected at the state level in the past two legislative cycles, data shows. Overall, 17 states rejected efforts to ban government agencies from using the technology, either by not taking up the legislation or voting it down, said Jake Parker, government relations senior director for the Security Industry Association (SIA). More: - "Only a handful" of the proposed regulations were actually adopted at the state level in 2020 and 2021, Parker said.
- Washington state, for example, adopted a law restricting facial recognition use for public agencies, including law enforcement, effective July 1.
- Only three cities — King County, Wash., Minneapolis, and Baltimore — actually adopted bans on government use in 2021.
- Baltimore's law goes even further by banning city residents and businesses from using facial recognition.
- This makes it the second U.S. jurisdiction, after Portland, Ore., to include private-sector restrictions, according to Parker.
- SIA has noted the positive use cases for facial recognition, such as investigating human trafficking and child sex abuse crimes. Many law enforcement agencies still support some sort of regulation.
CAMPUS SAFETY
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🍋 FRESH FUNDING 🍋 - Vay (Hamburg, Germany), self-driving car services using teledrive: $95M from Kinnevik, Coatue, Eurazeo, et al.
- Forethought (San Francisco, Calif.), Human-Centered AI Platform: $65M C led by Steadfast Capital Ventures, participation from NEA, Sound Ventures, K9 Ventures, et al.
- Signal AI (London, U.K.), AI platform trawling the internet and publicly available data to provide organizations with sentiment insights: $50M led by Highland Europe, participation from MMC, Hearst, Guardian Media Group Ventures.
- Elementary (Los Angeles, Calif.), AI machine vision platform for quality and inspection in manufacturing: $30M B led by Tiger Global, participation from Threshold Ventures, Fika Ventures, Fathom Capital, Riot VC, Toyota Ventures.
- Kneron (Taipei/San Diego), AI semiconductor producer: $25M led by Lite-On Technology, participation from Alltek, PalPilot, Sand Hill Angels, Gaingels.
- Greeneye Technology (Tel Aviv, Israel), AI-enabled precision spraying technology for agricultural applications: $22M led by JVP, participation from Syngenta Group Ventures, Hyperplane Venture Capital, One Way Ventures, et al.
Note: For the latest on AI startup funding and more in the VC community, subscribe to our newsletter Inside Venture Capital.
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- Mobileye is now piloting autonomous robotaxi rides in Paris.
- The European tech's market cap surpassed $3T in 2021, growing from $1T in 2018, according to Atomico Ventures' State of European Tech 2021 report.
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 |  | Beth is an Inside Analyst and a former public policy/investigative reporter. She has covered AI, VR, technology, and e-commerce for Inside. When she's not busy writing, she's hiking in Arizona's desert, playing pickleball, or trying out new Mexican food recipes. |   | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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